~ ∞ ~ The Essence of Zen - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
Alan Watts - Individual and the World Pt 1 Full Lecture.We talk in ordinary ways about my body. My feet. And when we go to the dentist to have out teeth fixed, we regard him rather as a mechanic. Like you take your car to the garage so you take your body to the surgeon or the dentist or whatever it is to be fixed how the parts changed or something of that kind. And they’re really getting to work on that now. And so the question is when somebody has a heart transplant. That sounds very radical because we say in my heart of hearts. But nowadays most of us seem to feel that whatever it is, that I is, is located in the head. Somewhere behind the eyes and between the ears is the center. And the rest of us is an appendage a vehicle which carries the self around. Now popular speech also reflects the sensation. That I am very different from what we call the other. Other people, other things. Anything that we can become aware of is sort of other.
There is an opposition apparently between the knower and the known. And so we talk about facing reality. We talk about coming into this world. As if somehow we didn’t belong. As if instead of being leaves growing out of a tree we were a lot of birds that had alighted on bare branches. And it has become common sense for most people living in the twentieth century today to adopt the nineteenth century philosophy of science. Which interprets the physical universe outside human bodies as being a mechanical contraption which is essentially stupid, unfeeling automatic, Composed of mainly geological elements: rocks gases and so forth. And therefore we feel rather alone and left out of this thing. In contrast with the ideas of Ptolemaic astronomy. Instead of being at the center of the universe. We are on the outer limits of a minor galaxy revolving around an unimportant star. On a small minute ball of rock. And therefore that astronomical way of looking at things is simply overwhelming. It makes us feel not only of no importance but also very much left out. And as a result, that is the common sense of most people living today.
We did of course have a religious view of our nature that we were the children of a loving God who is in charge of this whole operation. But very few people actually believe that anymore. A great many people think they ought to believe it and would like to believe in it but they don’t. Most ministers that I know don’t believe it but they feel guilty about this because they feel they ought to. But it became implausible. There never was a serious argument against it. It simply became unthinkable in comparison with the dimensions of the universe as we now see it. So having lost a way of looking at the world, an image of the world which gave us some sense of meaning, we now have an image of the world which gives us none at all. And so we feel rather inclined to put up a fight against the whole show. Interestingly enough, when in the nineteenth century we switched our common sense from supernaturalism to naturalism, one would think that a naturalist would be a person who love nature. Just as a materialist ought to be a person who loves material but certainly isn’t. With what is called a philosophy of scientific naturalism. Naturalism is used in a negative way.
Ecology is that aspect of science which deals with the relationship between organisms and their environments. Ecology is the study of the balance of nature. Of the way in which every living being depends upon innumerable other living beings of all species. And also upon inanimate forces. Air, water, temperature, gases, vegetation and all sorts of things. And this is one of the most important sciences that we can possibly study today. Because we are in a position where we realize that we cannot help interfering with the world. To be alive is to interfere. You must interfere. You cannot go back and say: Hands off nature. let’s leave it all alone. Because you’re stuck with it. Especially once you’ve started to interfere in a major way. We have so altered our environment that there is no hope for it but to go ahead. But we can, to some extent, change direction. But the only way that I can see of our effectively changing direction is through a transformation of the feeling that we have of our own existence and of what we mean by I.
~ ∞ ~ The Essence of Zen - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
What Is Reality?. And these basic ideas I call myth, not using the word ‘myth’ to mean simply something untrue, but to use the word ‘myth’ in a more powerful sense. A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world. Now, for example, a myth in a way is a metaphor. If you want to explain electricity to someone who doesn’t know anything about electricity, you say, well, you talk about an electric current. Now, the word ‘current’ is borrowed from rivers. It’s borrowed from hydraulics, and so you explain electricity in terms of water.
Now, electricity is not water, it behaves actually in a different way, but there are some ways in which the behavior of water is like the behavior of electricity, and so you explain it in terms of water. Or if you’re an astronomer, and you want to explain to people what you mean by an expanding universe and curved space, you say, ‘well, it’s as if you have a black balloon, and there are white dots on the black balloon, and those dots represent galaxies, and as you blow the balloon up, uniformly all of them grow farther and farther apart. But you’re using an analogy–the universe is not actually a black balloon with white dots on it.
So in the same way, we use these sort of images to try and make sense of the world, and we at present are living under the influence of two very powerful images, which are, in the present state of scientific knowledge, inadequate, and one of the major problems today are to find an adequate, satisfying image of the world. Well that’s what I’m going to talk about. And I’m going to go further than that, not only what image of the world to have, but how we can get our sensations and our feelings in accordance with the most sensible image of the world that we can manage to conceive.
All right, now–the two images which we have been working under for 2000 years and maybe more are what I would call two models of the universe, and the first is called the ceramic model, and the second the fully automatic model. The ceramic model of the universe is based on the book of Genesis, from which Judaism, Islam, and Christianity derive their basic picture of the world. And the image of the world in the book of Genesis is that the world is an artifact. It is made, as a potter takes clay and forms pots out of it, or as a carpenter takes wood and makes tables and chairs out of it. Don’t forget Jesus is the son of a carpenter. And also the son of God. So the image of God and of the world is based on the idea of God as a technician, potter, carpenter, architect, who has in mind a plan, and who fashions the universe in accordance with that plan.
So basic to this image of the world is the notion, you see, that the world consists of stuff, basically. Primordial matter, substance, stuff. As parts are made of clay. Now clay by itself has no intelligence. Clay does not of itself become a pot, although a good potter may think otherwise. Because if you were a really good potter, you don’t impose your will on the clay, you ask any given lump of clay what it wants to become, and you help it to do that. And then you become a genius. But the ordinary idea I’m talking about is that simply clay is unintelligent; it’s just stuff, and the potter imposes his will on it, and makes it become whatever he wants.
~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 6/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
When it comes to the process itself – it can be said that the process of connecting, reading and retrieving is quite difficult to express in words as it boils down to awareness – being aware of Life itself. Indeed, the experience of receiving information from Living Intelligence that permeates all Life is beyond words. As such, there are no other possible ways to describe the process than saying that it resembles that of Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence, which is embedded holism throughout the organism known as Life; and because Life is an Intelligent Living System – this particular type of dynamic emergence is its very nature.
When we read the records of Living Library of Life, we are forming a symbiosis that allows us to feel and experience a deep connection to something greater; as we read the Living Library, it simultaneously reads us – from this exchange arises the mutual acknowledgment of Interconnectedness of All Life. It is this frequency of interconnectedness of everything that permeates throughout this work; this frequency is seen in the writing style – the tone, the rhythm, the choice of words and the way the words are put together – every part of it – is infused with this frequency. This type of writing style is a natural way for Living Intelligence to express itself. In this way, Life can effortlessly communicate with itself as it recognizes itself reflected in another – see?
As we are getting near the end of this section, these next three paragraphs will conclude our discussion in this introductory prologue, which means that we are now ready to move yet another step further in our journey. But just before we do that, there are a few more things to add. In this chapter, we have talked about Living Intelligence within Life itself, and taking into account everything else we have talked about in this Prologue, one cannot help but see that everything seems to point to an Intelligently Designed Universe.
On that note, when it comes to the idea of Intelligent Design, it is much easier to view it in this way: Intelligent Designer is alive within the construct itself, which is another way of saying that the Designer is within the Design itself. In this way, Creation can be seen as a product of Intelligent Design, while at the same time being an inseparable part of the Intelligent Design and the Designer itself; yet, the Creator and the Creation are not the same – see?
There are many aspects or facets of intelligence, as there are of wisdom. With regard to humans, it is needless to say that the best use of one’s faculty of intelligence is to utilize all the knowledge and wisdom one has acquired for the betterment of humanity as a whole; use one’s intelligence and ingenuity to further improve the quality of human life, to grow and develop one’s skills and talents, and inspire others to do the same, you see? With regard to this book, it is worth highlighting the following: at the core of this work lies the two-fold Jewel of Wisdom: 1.) Mindfulness, 2.) Compassion.
Mindfulness is the virtue of living in the moment with clarity and awareness, and compassion is the spiritual principle from which all other positive inner values emerge. Mindfulness develops clarity of vision, and compassion leads to a deeper understanding of oneself and others. By cultivating these two virtues in one’s life, it is possible to grow in wisdom.
As wisdom grows, it is possible to reach a level of understanding which allows one to directly see the nature of suffering and the cause behind it. This allows one to renounce it completely and embrace virtue – the cause of peace and happiness. Hopefully, through this book, with the guidance it provides, the reader is able to find this Jewel of Wisdom that dwells within.
In closing, now that you have reached the end of this section, you should be familiar with the following ideas: Knowledge and Wisdom, Consciousness and Awareness, God, Spirit and Soul, Spirituality and Religion, Reality and Actuality, Change and Transformation, Interconnectedness, Intelligence – all of which help to establish a strong foundation upon which to build further knowledge. What awaits us in the following sections is nothing short of spectacular. You see, in the following sections, the pace picks up rather quickly, and everything that was discussed in this introductory section comes together in a fascinating and marvelous way.
Extra Material:Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 5/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
Let us go a little further with this, shall we? By definition, information is that which informs; the word itself comes from the Latin verb informare, which means to give form, or to form an idea of. At its most fundamental, information is any propagation of cause and effect within a system; information is used for communicating a message, and is therefore an act of intelligence.
One of the most recognized forms of information is DNA – a molecule that carries most of the genetic instructions used in the development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms; all living organisms share this key component – information of unknown origin, which is a living proof of an act of Intelligence.
And so you see, the existence of the human body should be enough evidence for anyone that we are the products of an Intelligent Designer and Creator, and not merely the by-product of an accident. If one really stops to contemplate this magnificent feat, it becomes undeniable that everything points to an Intelligently Designed Universe; every attempt to prove otherwise points directly to this truth. Intriguing, isn’t it?
Here we arrive at an important point: DNA as we understand it today is a fairly recent discovery; and equally so is our understanding of it. This evidently brings us to a point of realization: certainly it has not brought us any substantial understanding of our true origins or any inkling of our true nature. The reason as to why this is so may be found in our perception.
This brings about the question: Is it in the realm of possibility that we are looking at this wholeness through such a narrow perspective that we are only seeing a fraction of the whole? In other words, it seems as though we can’t see the forest for the trees.
We still know far too little about DNA and genetics to say anything substantial about what Life is and is not, how it came to be, and what role do we play in this great existence we call life; this is a much larger topic that will be covered later in this book. What we can say for certain is that since the discovery of the DNA double helix, a lot has happened, most notably in the area known as epigenetics*1 – yet, we are stuck in old ways of thinking and seeing.
As a result, our ability to comprehend is also limited by the confines of the old paradigm*2. And so you see, at the moment we find ourselves in between conscious of the limitations of the old and needing a new paradigm which transcends not only our ways of thinking and seeing, but also our ways of living and being, doing and acting.
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*1 Epigenetics is the study of phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. Epigenetics most often denotes changes in a chromosome that affect gene activity and expression. The term also refers to the changes themselves: functionally relevant changes to the genome that do not involve a change in the nucleotide sequence. Examples of mechanisms that produce such changes are DNA methylation and histone modification, each of which alters how genes are expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence.
*2 A paradigm is the collection of ideas and assumptions that pass from one generation to the next and which seem to be immutable. The paradigm shift, then, is when the paradigm shifts. In this process, everything that no longer serves its purpose – begins to fade away, to be replaced with something else; and with it goes all the old, outdated and outmoded structures that are limiting us. This in turn gives way to a new understanding, a new way of seeing, a new way of living, being, and doing. Paradigm shifts are necessary for growth and transformation. This area is explored more in detail in the section titled INFINITE, in a chapter Metaphysical Paradigm Shift.
By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to genetics, many fail to understand that DNA in its deepest essence is not merely some arbitrary representation of the molecules in our body, neither is it merely some static set of genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of living organisms, nor is it some predetermined destiny – it is way more than that.
Indeed, the observable part of the DNA double helix is merely the surface level of the multilayered structure that goes beyond our current level of understanding. Again, this goes back to the way we see things: we humans are so insistent on the assumption that life is nothing more than self-organizing chemistry that we fail to consider other approaches.
If we shift our thinking to include such notions as energy, frequency, and vibration – it opens up a whole new level to our understanding; combined with the ideas of consciousness, awareness, and presence – we can achieve a perspective from which we can see that our DNA is alive – full of Living Intelligence that interacts with fields of information.
From this perspective, we can also see that our DNA acts like a tuning crystal in a radio that focuses various frequencies and vibrations into the form we see as our bodies – our DNA is sending and receiving information all the time, whether we are aware of it or not.
It is against this backdrop that we can more easily understand the process through which this book came into being – that of Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence. As information is all around us, we can tune into these frequencies. You see, our DNA acts like an antenna that is able to receive different frequencies and information coded in these fields.
In epigenetic level, there are natural mechanisms that can change how different genes express themselves – with these epigenetic changes we can tap into an infinite combinations of gene expressions, and thus into an infinite combinations of frequencies. This can be better understood with a simple analogy of a radio: all the channels (frequencies) exist at the same time, but we can only listen to one channel (frequency) at a time. It is a life-long process to learn how to change these channels, but it is indeed possible for everyone if they so choose.
Extra Material:Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
~ ∞ ~ The Essence of Zen - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
We As Organism - Alan Watts Lecture. And when you look at the world in that image—or in the other image that it’s a stupid mechanism—either point of view you take, you don’t really belong. You’re not really part of all this. And I could use a stronger word than ‘part,’ only we don’t have it in English. We have to say something like ‘connected with it,’ ‘essential to it.’ Or, to put it in the strongest possible way, it is quite alien to Western thought to conceive that the external world—which is defined as something that happens to you, and your body itself is something that you got caught up with—it is quite alien to our thought to consider all that as you, yourself. Because you see, we have such a myopic view of what one’s self is. It’s as if, in other words, we selected how much experience is really to be regarded as “me,” as if you focused your attention on certain restricted areas of the whole panorama of things that you experience and say “I will take sides with that much of it.”
Now, we come here—right at the start—to an extremely important principle, which is the different points of view you get when you change your level of magnification. That is to say, you can look at something with a microscope and see it a certain way, you can look at it with a naked eye and see it in a certain way, you look at it with a telescope and you see it in another way. Now, which level of magnification is the correct one? Well, obviously, they’re all correct, but they’re just different points of view. You can, for example, look at a newspaper photograph under a magnifying glass and where, with the naked eye, you will see a human face, with a magnifying glass you will just see a profusion of dots rather meaninglessly scattered. But as you stand away from that collection of dots, which all seem to be separate and apart from each other, they suddenly arrange themselves into a pattern. And you see that these individual dots add up to some kind of sense.
Now you’ll see at once, from this illustration, that maybe you—when you take a myopic view of yourself, as most of us do—but you may add up to some kind of sense that is not apparent to you in your ordinary consciousness. When we examine our bloodstreams under a microscope we see there’s one hell of a fight going on. All sorts of microorganisms are chewing each other up. And if we got overly fascinated with our view of our own bloodstreams in the microscope we should start taking sides, which would be fatal. Because the health of our organism depends on the continuance of this battle. What is, in other words, conflict at one level of magnification is harmony at a higher level. Now could it possibly be, therefore, that we—with all our problems, conflicts, neuroses, sicknesses, political outrages, wars, tortures and everything that goes on in human life—are a state of conflict which can be seen in a larger perspective as a situation of harmony?
~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 4/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to information, knowledge, and intelligence, it is worth highlighting the following: there is a definite connection between awareness, understanding, and intelligence. This triune connection is interesting in more ways than one. You see, intelligence needs understanding, which in turn needs awareness. Intelligence cannot be intelligence without understanding, and understanding cannot take place without awareness because understanding takes place in consciousness, you see?
This brings us to an important point: understanding, knowledge, and intelligence are intimately linked to, connected with, and dependent upon both consciousness and awareness. This brings up a whole host of other questions, the most obvious being: Is life conscious? Other such questions include: Can matter become conscious? When does matter become conscious, or can it ever become conscious at all?
If we really tune into this idea, one can find through personal, subjective experience, that in all actuality, only consciousness is conscious, and only awareness is aware; and that our ability to be aware enables us to express consciousness through which we experience the world, you see? What does that say about life, then?
And when it comes to chaos, randomness, and disorder — it is essential to note that what we humans perceive as randomness, may instead reflect a degree of complexity of order that we have yet to decode in understandable form. What we classify as being mere randomness, may indeed be Intelligence so far beyond our current level of understanding and comprehension that we disregard it altogether by denoting it as randomness, or just simply labeling it as “disorder”; such level of Intelligence we humans have yet to recognize — after all, we cannot recognize, let alone know something that we are not yet aware of.
In actuality, nature is neither essentially ordered or disordered. You see, what we perceive as regular, patterned information — we classify as order; what we perceive as irregular, unpatterned information — we classify as disorder. The appearance of order and disorder implies more about the way in which we process information than the intrinsic presence of order or disorder in nature — see?
If one sees the universe as a medium through which information is communicated, shared and exchanged, they can also picture the universe as one enormously big, gigantic cell containing all the information life needs to expand, develop and unfold. What makes it remarkable is that this type of information coded in the fabric of the universe by entropy is a magnificent feat, isn’t it?
If one sees the universe as a gigantic process of becoming, of attaining new levels of existence and organization, continually transforming work of art by the master artist, they can easily picture the following: the very fabric of the universe being a canvas of a non-material vibrating energy in which frequency, vibration, consciousness, and awareness express themselves creatively.
You see, it is the very nature of life to intelligently seek to expand, develop and unfold — often in surprising and novel ways. Wouldn’t this then suggest that there is a Greater Intelligence at work here? You see, using entropy as a tool to achieve something like the universe we find ourselves in — is nothing short of spectacular, or do you beg to differ?
Against this backdrop, it can easily be said that in the beginning there was Pure Information, from which everything else is derived. This kind of information is beyond any words can describe — it is something we don’t have words in our vocabulary to describe. What can be said about it, though, is that it has no units and predated energy, and thus no entropy. How can this be? Well, you see, Pure Information just “IS.”
It springs from Pure Being, that is, Living Awareness, or more simply, presence; it springs from that which has always been, always is, and always will be — see? Consider, for a moment, a universe of pure awareness with the appearance of material reality. Now, you are at the point where you can begin to see the bigger picture.
Pure Information helps energy evolve so that the process of universe can continue to create life, including us human beings; it is also the very “place” or “source” from which these words arise — see? While all this may go way over your head at this point, the bigger picture will emerge — eventually.
While one marvels at the extraordinary nature of the situation, one cannot help but arrive at the conclusion that wisdom lies in paradox — for you see, even if something contradicts itself, it can still be true; some would call this ‘coincidentia oppositorum,’ or just simply Unity of Opposites. A thing is both what it is and what it is not, and yet it somehow escapes contradiction — that’s how the Miracle of Life is possible — see?
It goes without saying that things would go much easier for us if we were to embrace the paradoxical character of life, time, and the cosmos, alongside with the coincidentia oppositorum. But for some reason, it is difficult for us to appreciate anything that goes against the norm, that is, logic and reason as we know and practice them today.
Extra Material:Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 3/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
This being the case, we need to add another layer to this discussion, that of protolanguage – a parent language from which actual languages are derived; or as some would say, exolinguistics, xenolinguistics. This kind of language is universal, having the ability to convey different meanings to different people at different times. These kinds of symbols or archetypal alphabets (seen both in this book and on the website) are encoded within the very fabric of our reality, which is another way of saying that the roots of all the languages in all cultures lead to a singular multidimensional source – transcending both space and time, you see?
If one wishes to better understand this, it may be immensely helpful to “flip the script” for a moment and consider a different kind of approach than what we are accustomed to. In so doing, one can easily entertain the idea that not only space and time, but also matter and form, and even energy – are concepts that appear in consciousness; and thereby phenomena that we perceive through our senses, of which the mind is the primary sense-organ. In other words, all experience and phenomena happens in consciousness – see?
Against this backdrop, we can easily see that there is nowhere to go but in, which is another way of saying that in regards to space and time – there really is no space “out there,” and no universal clock “anywhere” to keep time. Rather, there is but an appearance of space and time, matter and form; and thus, it is all here – within the Innerverse, residing within each and every one of us.
Within the heart, within the Innerverse, in the deepest core of our being, there is a sacred space where the Creator dwells – the Divine Presence is found there, alongside with Living Intelligence and Living Wisdom. As we delve into this, we find that there is something beyond the surface – we call this something, Living Awareness, which is the key to unlock the treasure within, you see?
It seems as though this unexplored world of consciousness – Innerverse, is both the great mystery we are afraid to explore, and dogma that we are too afraid and reluctant to burst open. Someday soon, once we reach a new way of thinking that will liberate our minds not only from bias and illusion, but also from ignorance and hubris, can we approach this from another perspective.
This inner transformation could ignite the spark of interest to reach toward something new and exciting; it could spark the flame of curiosity and the will to discover one’s True Self; strive to push the boundaries of what is possible, so that we could gradually venture into the unknown – to discover what lies beyond the limits of the known, you see? There already are some who have crossed over to discover the Great Unknown – hopefully someday soon, many more will follow, for there is plenty more to discover, a plethora of questions to be asked, and lots of answers to be found – the key resides within, you see?
And so you see, in actuality, all information is already within us, which makes information accessible to anyone. It helps tremendously if we think in this way: everything we have ever wanted to know about Life is within us – our bodies are composed of cells, each cell is a fragment of the whole, and yet each cell contains the blueprint for life. What a marvelous revelation, don’t you think?
This means that the Source Code of Life and the vast array of memory banks are readily available to be read, analyzed and interpreted by everyone. All we need to do is to become aware of this hidden treasure within each of us and start reading the Book of Life.
That said, it should also be acknowledged that yes, of course, we can analyze our DNA by using modern technology, but the simple truth is that it can only take us so far. There is so much more within us that no external technology can ever show us, and so the only way to access this vast array of information is to use our innate internal technology.
And when it comes to information itself – well, this is an interesting one to say the least, because it is one of those “chicken and egg” type of situations. There are two facets to look at here: first, information in general, which we will take a look at in a moment. Second, information as it pertains to this book – well, no one can say from where or when it originates exactly. Why? Because of the paradoxical nature of it all.
You see, one could easily entertain the idea that alongside with the paradoxical nature of information itself, we are dealing with another paradox called “bootstrap paradox.” It occurs when the consequences of an event in the future travel back in time and cause an event in the past or present, which in turn is among the causes of the first event, forming a causal loop in which both events are caused by each other. In case of information, this means that it no longer has a discernible point of origin, and thus is said to be “uncaused” or “self-created,” and thus “self-emergent.”
This presents an interesting conundrum: Is information created, or is it discovered? And if information, and as an extension, knowledge, and even Universal Wisdom – is indeed discovered rather than created, can we then say that information just “is?” Furthermore, is it not indeed the case that in the same sense, nothing is ever invented, only discovered? You see, there are more wonders to be discovered in this universe and beyond than one could ever dream of, are there not?
What we can say with certainty is that information in itself is, indeed, a paradox. For instance: we are information, yet we are uncertainty, and paradoxically enough, information is thought to be the resolution of uncertainty; the more we know, the more we realize how much we don’t know – see?
What is certain, though, is that in whatever kind of way the universe and life as we know it came into being, is sustained, and continues to express itself – is due to information and intelligence. The concept of information has different meanings in different contexts, but generally, across the board, information signifies intelligence; other than that, information is considered to be a form of entropy*1, which in turn signifies chaos, randomness, and disorder. However, entropy is also the process of arrangement.
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*1 Entropy can best be described as follows: everything that comes together falls apart. In other words, it is the nature of this universe that entropy increases over time, which means that everything in the universe tends towards disorder or chaos. For example, all living things age and die, they don’t get younger; mechanical things tend to wear out and break down; bricks are not naturally stacked up nicely or become part of a building unless someone has put a lot of effort into making it. And so it seems that chaos or disorder is more probable in the universe than order. This goes on to say that chaos or disorder is the backdrop against which order (life, intelligence) can be seen.
You see, the interesting part is that all life arises out of chaos with ordered set of information (something being informed, and thus in form), which goes on to say that life, in and of itself, is one gigantic process of passing down information. Does it not, then, qualify as intelligence? Here we should remember one important truth: information itself is not intelligence, which means that information by itself is useless and meaningless, unless it is acted upon. And so you see, to use it, a system/entity/person needs enough knowledge to know what it means, and enough know-how to do something with it.
Extra Material:Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 2/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
So without a further due, let us delve right into it, shall we? The above-mentioned process, which is named as Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence, for lack of a better term, is inextricably linked together with the style of writing, which is a unique form of creative expression as explained in the chapter “About Writing Style.” From this, the question arises: Creativity – where does it come from? From what source does creativity spring?
Well, it is good to remember that life itself is a creative process, and as an extension of that process, human life is also a unique creative process. In this respect, we ourselves are an extension of God’s Power in the universe; extension of the creative Spirit of God. It is against this backdrop that we can more easily understand the aforementioned process.
This brings us to an important point: as mentioned in the Preface, sometimes while writing, I had a feeling, or more aptly, an Inner Knowing that the contents of the book was being written through me, rather than by me, which goes on to say that this book was co-created together with Living Life, under Divine guidance, you see?
In other words, all the way through the writing process, I had a sense of certainty that Living Intelligence within Life was guiding me in the writing process. And hence it can be said that this book was, indeed, Divinely inspired; how this really works is but anyone’s guess, which makes it all the more intriguing – a mystery, if you will.
Someone who contemplates the idea of Divine inspiration might propose the following explanation: God provides the thoughts, and the prophet provides the words to express them – but even this fails to convey the true nature of the process known as Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence. You see, the interesting part is that there were no thoughts involved at all – just an awareness of Awareness itself, or simply Living Awareness, through which the Living Intelligence expressed itself.
Everything that follows makes a lot more sense when we reach a point in this book where we delve into the fascinating realm of the Quantum World. You see, in contemporary terms, there is but one way to explain this process alongside with the spiritual one; the only thing that can be said about it in a way that avoids being too specific or complex is to say that the information that was being “communicated” can be classified as being Quantum Mechanical, and yet even this description fails to convey the true nature of the process behind the communication.
Even the very word communication does not lend itself to a precise meaning since there is nothing that is being sent, moved or transported anywhere – Inner Knowing is instantaneous – see? Taking that into account, one might want to challenge themselves by accounting for tachyons, i.e., faster than light particles, combine it with Quantum Nonlocality and Quantum Entanglement, and formulate a hypothesis about how this might work. It is noteworthy, though, that one’s theory is just as good as another’s as to what’s going on. The experience itself tells all that’s important to know about it, though.
By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to the said communication or the process by which this book came about, the following is more than enough to give a peek into the experience: with an inner eye, one is able to look at the holofractographic informational wave, and through awareness, is then able to tap into specific aspects of it, you see? That’s the process in a nutshell, but there is a lot more to it than that. As such, in the following few paragraphs, I will do my utmost to describe the process in as simple way as possible.
The following description should be read with the thought in mind that as we move through this book and learn more about how intelligent Life really is, many of the following sentences will make even more sense. And who knows, it might turn out to be a good idea to revisit this section sometime later – just to see where it all began, how the pieces fell into place, and how the whole came together – see?
With that said, we can now take a closer look at the details. In a nutshell, the process known as Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence consists of becoming aware of Life’s inner workings; that is, accessing, reading and retrieving information embedded both in our DNA and the vast array of memory banks in our cells – extending into the Morphogenetic Fields and the Human Spirit – wisdom passed on from generation to generation. On that note, when it comes to the biological aspect of Life, it is a whole topic of its own, and is therefore discussed in the section titled LIFE, especially in chapters What Is Life?, When Does a Human Life Begin?
Well, then, what was the experience like, I hear you ask? As mentioned earlier, all the way through the writing process, I had a sense of certainty that the Living Intelligence within Life was guiding me in the writing process. This alive, vibrant presence not only guided me through the writing process, but also gave comfort, courage, strength, serenity and peace along the way. It was as if I was being held in the Bosom of Perfect Love; as if I was held in the sweetest, most tender, loving embrace of such knowingness and limitless possibility. It was as if I was diving into the great unknown, whilst knowing that the unknowable is indeed knowable, and knowing how to know is the key.
And so you see, there’s no secret really, because it all boils down to Inner Knowing, which is possible for each and every one of us – through awareness. I would go as far as to say that the communication is the result of extending one’s awareness through the fabric of space and time – into the spaceless space and timeless time; into the nexus point where the known meets the unknown.
This kind of nexus point is the point of Creation – an epicenter of vast interconnections where destiny and opportunity meet, a place where everything connects to everything else and back into itself again. If one would be in such a nexus point, they could contact the time-space of the past, present, and future with ease from that single location.
If one would try to describe this nexus point in any sensible way, one would need to assign some physical attributes for it to make sense. The best possible description for this “place,” if we can even call it that – would be a massive hall of mirrors. On a deeper level, this “place” is both an interconnected gateway and a massive storehouse of information, or simply hall of records. This “place” is made of crystals, and not just any kind of crystals – living crystals to be specific. They look like crystals, but they have no physicality. In other words, they are more like space-time crystals*1, which are structures that repeat in time, as well as in space.
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*1 A time crystal or space-time crystal is a structure that repeats in time, as well as in space. Normal three-dimensional crystals have a repeating pattern in space, but remain unchanged as time passes. Time crystals repeat themselves in time as well, leading the crystal to change from moment to moment. A time crystal never reaches thermal equilibrium, as it is a type of non-equilibrium matter, a form of matter proposed in 2012, and first observed in 2017. This state of matter cannot be isolated from its environment – it is an open system in non-equilibrium.
As one is situated in the middle of these crystals, surrounded by a beautiful vista of awe-inspiring complexity and structure – one will notice that these beautiful fractal-like structures resemble Nested Apollonian Gasket Fractals*1 in multitude of dimensions; each fractal represents an Interconnected Nested Multiverse within the Innerverse, or just simply a world within a world – see?
As one stands in the middle of these space-time crystals, setting their intention, focusing their attention, and expanding their awareness – these multifaceted crystals would begin to respond and start reflecting on their surface everything one would like to see – whether it be past, present, or future.
This, of course, is only one of the many ways in which the mind represents or visualizes what consciousness receives through awareness. You see, the human mind is only capable of comprehending something beyond the ordinary by using the shapes, forms, objects, textures, materials, colors, and events already familiar to us.
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*1 To understand this further, one might want to study Nested Apollonian Gaskets, as well as Apollonian Sphere Packing, which is the three-dimensional equivalent of the Apollonian Gasket.
Extra Material:Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 1/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
Now that we have established a base of understanding about the main themes of the book, we are ready to delve into a more complex topic, that of Intelligence. This is a wonderful way to conclude this introductory section as it crystallizes some of the more important themes which are woven through previous chapters.
This part of the Prologue can be considered as a continuation of the chapter titled About Writing Style – its purpose is to delve deeper into the process known as Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence – an intelligent process which is based on both holographic and fractal principles.
Essentially, this chapter was written to open up a discussion on the topic of Life’s Intelligence. As such, here, in this chapter, we are not so much concerned about the form of intelligence we typically see in humans. Instead, what we are most interested in is Intelligence – emphasis on the capital letter, or more aptly, Living Intelligence within Life itself.
On that note, if we did want to talk about intelligence with regard to human beings, we would be talking about Spiritual Intelligence, or Existential Intelligence – and in a way, we will; you see, it is an essential prerequisite to possess this kind of intelligence to be able to even talk about it, let alone talk about Living Intelligence within Life itself, you see? So, what is this kind of intelligence, exactly?
In short, Existential Intelligence can be seen as the ability to be sensitive to, or have the capacity for, conceptualizing or tackling deeper or larger questions about human existence – the proclivity to pose and ponder questions about life, death, and ultimate realities. On a deeper level, Existential Intelligence includes the capacity to transcend the physical and material aspects of life, and hence the ability to experience heightened states of consciousness, by which the ability of utilizing spiritual resources to solve problems comes to fruition.
As regards to Spiritual Intelligence, it demonstrates not only Unconditional Love (Agape – Universal Love, Loving-Kindness and Compassion) as its ethical value and guiding principle, but also Self-Awareness that is key to many essential aspects of this type of intelligence, such as mindfulness, humility, holism, compassion, and the capacity to be virtuous. It is worth noting that spiritual experiences are but precursors to something deeper.
You see, in order for spiritual experiences to evolve into Spiritual Intelligence, an individual must seek to understand the meaning of those experiences and integrate them mindfully into the totality of one’s life. Intelligence is critical to this process because the experiences can have profound effect not only intellectually and psychologically, but also biologically and interpersonally.
Furthermore, individuals seeking to develop Spiritual Intelligence need to learn to tolerate uncertainty and paradox, recognize and acknowledge that all religions, wisdom traditions, and spiritual experiences contribute important and unique insights into the larger phenomena of consciousness and the collective reality that we experience through our individuated consciousness.
Against this backdrop, we can see that there is an intimate connection between said “Existential Intelligence” and Living Intelligence within Life itself. If one truly experiences this kind of intelligence, whilst directly experiencing it, they would arrive at the conclusion that there is hardly any distinction between the two.
What there is, though, is the difficulty in conveying the essence of it. You see, even the very terms “existential” or “spiritual” with regard to Living Intelligence doesn’t lend themselves to a precise meaning since it’s nature is such that it can only be experienced directly.
And so you see, by naming something, we separate it from totality, and the more are the number of the words, the more is the fragmentation. The very second you assign meaning to it, give it a name, or definition of any kind – locks it in time, and in so doing, externalizes it by breaking it down to something tangible and intelligible, which in turn causes it to lose its essence, which makes it rather challenging to talk about it.
Hence, the term “existential” in this context reflects the conscious recognition and acknowledgement of such deeper underlying Intelligence; likewise, the term “spiritual” reflects the nature of this Intelligence. Unfortunately, there are no other suitable words in our vocabulary that could intelligibly describe such Intelligence, so we need to settle for these two terms.
This is also the reason why we use “Living Intelligence” in this book to give it a more accurate expression. As such, it is worth pointing out that the discussion about Life’s Intelligence will continue in some shape or form throughout the entirety of the book. In the next section titled INFINITE, we will once again return to this topic, especially in the chapter Infinite Living System (The Miracle of Life).
This brings us inexorably to the conclusion that even though the discussion is distributed throughout the other sections, it will not lessen or diminish the difficulty in conveying the essence of Life’s Intelligence or its many ways of communicating with itself and its many emanations.
As such, this part of the Prologue may be one of the most challenging to write, not only because it involves explaining the process that is highly subjective and not fully understood by conventional scientific methods and thinking, but also because the general population is largely unaware of the concepts discussed in this book. Hence, it poses a huge challenge in conveying the best possible explanation – one that is both understandable and easily approachable, yet precise and comprehensive enough to cover the essentials.
Having said that, it should be mentioned that this chapter contains some not so well-known terms that are covered in greater detail later in this book – therefore, we should start with a nutshell version and then expand upon it. Even though some of the terms are briefly explained in the footnotes throughout the book, glossary at the back of the book may be immensely helpful.
Extra Material:Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
