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| ~ ∞ ~ The Existential Paradox - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~ |
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In this chapter, we will take a look at something called the “Existential Paradox,” which serves the role of being a preliminary exploration of what comes up in the following few chapters, dealing with the fear of death, the fear of one’s life to be finite, the fear of total annihilation (non-existence). The purpose behind these following two chapters is to highlight the truth that by definition non-existence doesn’t exist, and therefore existence cannot become non-existence, which goes on to say that death is not the end of life – it is merely the end of the physical body we inhabit in this life. In other words, there is no death “as such,” only a change of worlds, for you see, nothing ultimately ever dies, only changes form – transforms and transcends.
We begin this chapter by defining existence and paradox, although we have already discussed about them in earlier sections and chapters in different context. By giving basic definitions, we will lay the foundation for more in-depth discussion of specific aspects of existence in the context of human life with regard to its paradoxical nature. For you see, we are information, yet we are uncertainty, and paradoxically enough, information is thought to be the resolution of uncertainty. Furthermore, there is no fine line between life and death, living and non-living, animate and inanimate, like we have seen earlier in this section, in the chapter “What Is Life?” We can call this Existential Paradox, or ‘coincidentia oppositorum,’ or just simply Unity of Opposites, which means that 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?
The word “existence” comes from the Latin word ‘exsistere,’ meaning “to appear”, “to arise”, “to become”, or “to be”, but literally, it means “to stand out.” So when something is made to appear, or to become visible to the human senses – which can only perceive a very narrow spectrum of light, we are saying that something exists; clearly, this doesn’t mean that ‘something’ isn’t existing if we’re not able to ‘tune-in’ to the vibrational level of it. What it means, though, is that we have collectively agreed upon that we use certain words to explain something that we are able to perceive with our physical senses, or detect through the microscopes and particle accelerators, or through other scientific gadgets and gizmos. And, indeed, if one looks deeper, utilizing the very tools provided by the science itself, namely Quantum Mechanics, it’s just as plausible to argue that consciousness exists before the formation of the brain, and therefore consciousness can exist after the death of the brain. This, then, suggests that there is not only existence, but also pre-existence, as well as post-existence (afterlife).
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From this, we can conclude that there is an intimate connection between the mystery of consciousness, the mystery of existence, and the mystery of reality. This triune connection is interesting in more ways than one. You see, reality needs existence, which in turn needs consciousness. Reality cannot be reality without existence, and consciousness cannot take place without awareness of existence. And so we can pose a question: What came first: reality or consciousness of it? After all, reality is experience in our consciousness, is it not? And now, we can ask: What came first: existence or awareness of it? This, indeed, is a mystery. What we know about it, though, is that underlying our consciousness, there is awareness – through which, and by which, we become aware of consciousness, and therefore, of existence, and, of reality, you see?
Now that we have defined “existence,” we can move on to paradox. As regards to our existence as human beings, it is clear that the most profound questions about life and its mysteries cannot be answered without using paradox as a tool, let alone the mystery regarding what lies across the threshold between life and death. In a nutshell, paradox is a statement that contradicts itself, and when investigated might actually be true; paradoxical statements may seem completely self-contradictory, but they can be used to reveal deeper truths. In this sense, paradox can be seen as a method to reveal the interdependence and interconnectedness of all things, and in turn perceive the higher truth directly without intellectualizing filter, you see?
In the context of paradox, it can be said that the logic behind the Western thought is very much classical in nature, which means that there is an underlying belief, according to which every statement becomes false if a contradiction is true. 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. Hence, it goes without saying that this is, indeed, a narrow-minded approach. In contrast to the Western approach, some ancient wisdom traditions like Advaita Vedanta, Taoism, and Zen, are dialetheist in nature where non-dualistic thought is used to refer to true contradictions. A paradox which is both true and false at the same time and in the same sense – is called dialetheia; a dialetheia is the view that some statements can be both true and false simultaneously, which goes on to say that there can be a true statement whose negation is also true – such statements are called “true contradictions,” dialetheia, or nondualisms.
Hence, it is worth noting that paradoxes only arise in the dualistic mind, with a dualistic mindset, and with a dualistic belief system – beyond it, there is only Oneness – and yet, Oneness is also a limiting concept, because if there is one – it always implies that there must be many – one cannot be if there isn’t many; it’s only through the experience of the many – from where the One is realized, you see? In spiritual terms, this means that there is a definite difference between the ideas of Oneness, Unity, and Non-Duality (Advaita). Oneness is an idea; Unity is a concept from the realization of the idea of Oneness (a generalization from experience), and finally there is Non-Dual Beingness within that realization, you see? Keeping that in mind, it can be concluded that there are some truths that can only be expressed in contradiction by using paradox as a tool – such truths are existential in nature, most profound questions and answers about life and death – more precisely, the questions concerning consciousness, awareness, and presence, you see?
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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~
Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony
~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~
Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony
[ Click » here « to read the next part: The Fear of Annihilation 1/3 – The Existential Paradox: Part II ]
