~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within - Success Life Quotes - Infinite Quantum Zen ~ ∞ ~
Your Future Is Created By What You Do Today, Not Tomorrow (Yellow Key).
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One doesn’t need to be particularly observant or to have a keen eye for detail to see that not only are the stories we tell cyclical, but also our lives and everything in it, including our thoughts and ideas, desires and attachments. In the end, we all want the same things in life: health, happiness, and love — very much in that order, and most of all, contentment and fulfillment; none of which are dependent upon external factors such as money or belongings — yet, the peculiar thing is that most people seek these things from the world outside themselves. And because of this, we continue repeating the cycle, retelling the same stories over and over; this is why we continue to embody ourselves, or be reborn in this infinite and eternal universe as a result of these unfulfilled desires — the chain of births lets us resume the pursuit, until such time when we can become aware enough to awaken from this never-ending dream, and realize that we ourselves hold the key that can end this perpetual cycle, resulting in the cessation of suffering that arises from our ignorance of the true nature of reality, and which is caused by our desire and attachments — see?
~ ∞ ~ Living Quantum World: A New Synthesis of Wisdom - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
In the previous sections, we explored not only the core of our being, but also the essence of reality. In our discussion, we considered the relationship of our experience to reality, how our experience of life is filtered through our senses, how our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and intentions affect and shape our reality. The discussion in this section continues the trend by expanding our exploration to cover science of reality, as it were. As such, it is a natural continuation of the previous sections and chapters. In this section, we will further our understanding of life and our experience of it, by expanding our horizon even further – it is dedicated to the Mysteries of the Quantum World, as the title suggests. The purpose of this section is not by any means to give an all-encompassing overview of the subject, neither is it to give a lecture of some kind, nor is it to focus on physics, math and formulas – rather, the purpose of this section is to expand one’s own thinking; to open up new perspectives and ways of seeing.
By now, at this point in the book, it must have become obviously clear that there is an overarching theme throughout this book, namely Interconnectedness of Everything. This section is no exception as it continues to highlight the importance of this Truth. That said, there is one thing to keep in mind before we dive in: Quantum Mechanics is by no means the end-all-be-all way to understand the deeper mysteries of Life, neither is it some magical solution that will fix all of our problems, but it is a very useful tool that can most certainly provide a wonderful bridge to what is yet to be realized, acknowledged, understood, accepted and appreciated by humanity as a whole.
All things Quantum is just the beginning in a long journey of discovery. As is the case with so many other things, in due time, and in due course, Quantum Physics will have a paradigm shift of its own, so that we will one day redefine, in ways not yet imaginable, reality. In other words, as it has become apparent from the previous sections, there is more to life and reality than meets the eye – a spiritual dimension or component, if you will. And so you see, without integrating this component as part of our worldview, we will always fall short in our attempts to understand Life. To evolve and develop further – as individuals and as a species, we need a synthesis of science and spirituality, a combination of both – modern and ancient wisdom – see?
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Now, let us begin with the following: we as the collective human species have come far on our journey to understand our relationship with the world and the larger universe, our place in the world that conforms to the reality of Creation and of our place within it. Our modern-day understanding about the nature of reality has improved profoundly thanks to Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics; the latter being a subset of physics that does its best to explain the behaviors of matter and light on the molecular, atomic and subatomic scales. What’s interesting is that Quantum Mechanics indicates a fundamental discontinuity in the nature of all phenomena, yet we perceive a seamlessly coherent world around us.
This macroscopic integration of a seamless reality from which we derive the characteristics of space and time leads us to believe that they are somehow independent entities in themselves, which brings us to an important point: we are so conditioned to believe that space and time are a priori determining conditions of Creation that we easily forget, or better yet, willingly and willfully ignore the fact that there may be some other factors in play; factors that are found deep beneath the surface. You see, if we look deeper, we can find that instead of a lonely void with isolated particles moving through it – space appears to be filled with connections and interconnected fields; these quantum fields are energy, manifesting into form when they intersect. This is why ideas, concepts and metaphors transform into a web of information and weaving, or to the world of dreams and infinite possibility.
From this, it becomes clear that the Quantum World opens up a totally new level to our understanding of the world. The understanding from the Quantum World challenges our entrenched beliefs about the nature of reality, and thus it goes without saying that this new paradigm shifting synthesis of knowledge will usher in a whole new era for humanity. And so it goes that eventually, we will face the inevitable – we need to modify the deeply entrenched belief that body and mind; spirit and nature; mind and matter – are separate and distinct. This will change the way we see and experience reality, the way we live and act, which goes on to say that it is inevitable for us to develop a holistic view of life. It will open up new ways of thinking and being – resulting in sustainable living, prosperity and blossoming humanity as a whole – see?
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Now, if we take a brief moment to consider the differences between the classical view of the world (“legacy physics”) and the new paradigm shifting view (Quantum World) – one may be better equipped to understand everything that was discussed in earlier sections – PROLOGUE, INFINITE, TRANSFORMATION, LIFE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AWARENESS – respectively. The basic premise of classical physics is that the world is material – made from the solid basic building blocks called particles. This material world is based in time & space, and is regarded as being highly predictable. This type of classical or “legacy” physics assumes that there exists an external reality independent of our perception of it; and yet quite interestingly, when the science goes down to the very core of even the most solid-looking object – separateness dissolves, and all that remains are a set of relationships, revealing a deeper level of reality – Interconnectedness of All Things.
This means that everything connects to everything else and nothing is separate from the whole. The interesting part is that the subatomic particles themselves come into form and are observed only as they are in relationship with something else; particles come into being through the interactions with other forms of energy. These unseen connections are fundamental ingredient of all Creation – see? Interconnectedness of Everything is a key factor in the Quantum World – relationships are everything. There are no familiar ways to comprehend the levels of interconnectedness within the Quantum World – so the best way to get a glimpse of it is to think in terms of infinitely repeating self-similar patterns known as fractals. A fractal is a natural phenomenon or a mathematical set that exhibits a repeating pattern – a pattern that displays at every scale.
Another way is to think in terms of an invisible interconnected network, or mycelial network of sorts. You see, mycelium of belowground fungi connect plants and trees together and have even been shown to communicate with each other*1, which makes it “Earth’s Natural Internet,” doesn’t it? Besides communicating, through this interconnected network, mycelium can transport nutrients between different plants or trees. In much the same way as the mycelial network connects plants and trees together, so can the Quantum World be imagined to work as well – connecting the seen and the unseen, the outer and the inner, uniting the small and large-scale happenings seamlessly together – making instantaneous communication possible. If we combine this idea with fractals and holograms (Holographic Fractal Nature of Reality), we would get something as amazing as the “Holofractographic Mycelial Quantum Network” – a vast microscopic web spanning across the multiverse, an intergalactic, interdimensional ecosystem, or an infinite number of roads leading everywhere.
In whatever way this communication in the Quantum World happens, it surely is both more complex than we can imagine, and yet more simple than we think. To further understand this, let us introduce a term that frequently appears in discussions of this kind.
In the Quantum World, entanglement is a phenomenon in which two particles can communicate instantaneously to one another – this enables them to behave like one object even though they are physically apart; something is clearly connecting them faster than the speed of light.
The integral part of entanglement is instant communication – meaning that connectivity is “outside” time and space. The key principle of entanglement is correlation; this means that throughout the universe subatomic particles act as they are connected to each other – meaning that what we do to one particle at one location, happens for another at different location – see?
A musical style called Jazz conveys perfectly the idea of interrelated connections within the quantum canvas of Creation. Jazz musicians are sensing the nature of the Quantum World – only requirement is to be present in the moment and to be willing to surrender to the flow of inspiration through improvisation. In Jazz, the players have a shared idea of what they might play; they agree on the melody, tempo and key, but the music itself rely heavily on improvisation. The players listen carefully, communicate constantly, and suddenly there is music with the possibilities beyond anything imagined. The music itself comes from the interconnected whole – the unified field of information in which patterns are contained within patterns. And so you see, every player have accessed this field among themselves, which goes on to say that this type of music is undivided wholeness in flowing movement, or a relationship that transcends the sense of separateness – fascinating, isn’t it?
~ ∞ ~ The Essence of Zen - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
Myth of Myself is a lecture from the Tao of Philosophy series. It delves deep into the mystery of self and the sensations of ego; comparing Western and Eastern mythologies of how "I" came to be. Did God create us with intention? Did blind forces of the universe collide together and in the process churn out people as a byproduct? The Tao of Philosophy album is part of the Essential Lectures Collection and began its life as the first essential lecture series in 1972 after Alan Watts asked his son Mark to compile a collection of core talks. The series looks at issues of identity, our place in nature, and the limits of symbolic thinking.
I believe that if we are honest with ourselves, that the most fascinating problem in the world is “Who am I?” What do you mean, what do you feel when you say the word “I”, “I, Myself”? I do not think there can be any more fascinating preoccupation than that because it is so mysterious, it’s so elusive. Because what you are in your inmost being escapes your examination in rather the same way that you can not look directly into your own eyes without using a mirror, you can’t bite your own teeth, you can’t taste your own tongue and you can’t touch the tip of this finger with the tip of this finger. And that is why there is always an element of profound mystery in the problem of who we are. This problem has fascinated me for many years and I have made many enquiries “What do you mean by the word I?” And there is a certain consensus about this, a certain agreement, especially among people who live in Western civilization.
Most of us feel “I” – ego, myself, my source of consciousness – to be a center of awareness and of a source of action that resides in the middle of a bag of skin and so we have what I have called the conception of ourselves as a skin-encapsulated ego. It is very funny how we use the word “I”, if we just refer to common speech, we are not accustomed to say, “I am a body.” We rather say, “I have a body.” We do not say, “I beat my heart” in the same way as we say, “I walk, I think, I talk.” We feel that our heart beats itself, and that has nothing very much to do with “I.” In other words, we do not regard “I, myself” as identical with our whole physical organism. We regard it as something inside it, and most Western people locate their ego inside their heads. You are somewhere between your eyes and between your ears, and the rest of you dangles from that point of reference. It is not so in other cultures. When a Chinese or Japanese person wants to locate the center of himself, he points (here, not here, here) to what Japanese call the kokoro or the Chinese call shin, the heart-mind. Some people also locate themselves in the solar plexus, but by and large we locate ourselves behind the eyes and somewhere between the ears.
Western man has, for many centuries, been under the influence of two great myths. When I use the word “myth” I don’t necessarily mean falsehood. To me the word myth signifies a great idea in terms of which man tries to make sense with the world; it may be an idea, it may be an image. Now the two images which have most profoundly influenced Western man are: number one – the image of the world as an artifact, like a carpenter’s table or a jar made by a potter. Indeed, in the Book of Genesis there comes the idea that man was originally a clay figurine made out of the Earth by the Lord God who then breathed into this clay figurine and gave it life. The whole of Western thought is profoundly influenced through and through by the idea that all things – all events, all people, all mountains, all stars, all flowers, all grasshoppers, all worms, everything – are artifacts; they have been made. And it is therefore natural for a Western child to say to its mother, “How was I made?” That would be quite an unnatural question for a Chinese child, because the Chinese do not think of nature as something made. They look upon it as something that grows, and the two processes are quite different. When you make something you put it together: you assemble parts, or you carve an image out of wood or stone, working from the outside to the inside. But when you watch something grow, it works in an entirely different way. It doesn’t assemble parts. It expands from within and gradually complicates itself, expanding outwards, like a bud blossoming, like a seed turning into a plant...
~ ∞ ~ 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.
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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.
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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.
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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"
~ ∞ ~ On Interconnectedness 2/2 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
As everything is interconnected, interdependent, and interrelated, as everything seems to be arising in relation to everything else – it would mean that cause and effect “inter-are,” that all things – both seen and unseen, are bound together by cause and effect. As everything arises in relation to everything else, it would also mean that nothing can exist in absolute independence of other things or arise of its own accord. Everything in the world, therefore, comes into existence in response to causes and conditions, which means that all beings and phenomena exist or occur only because of their relationship with other things. And so you see, with regard to humans, the whole of humanity is a single being – having a collective consciousness, the sum total of all human life, having a collective direction and destiny; each life is a link in a chain of lives, bound together by cause and effect, different, yet the same – see?
This chain of lives or “samsara” as it is called in Sanskrit, refers to the idea that human life is a repeated story; the one we all have been caught up – a dream from which we are unable or unwilling to wake up. This perpetual cycle of interconnected and interrelated chain of lives is caused by a lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, and most of all, ignorance that is caused by our desire for fulfillment outside of ourselves, grasping at passing experiences. And so you see, when people are looking outside, they never have to look inside, and so it goes that yearning for fulfillment outside of ourselves only generates more desire, making the cycle of desire a continuous, perpetual self-sustaining loop. This brings us face to face with another aspect, far too rarely or infrequently discussed or written about. You see, nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to learn, which goes on to say that everything seems to be cyclical.
One doesn’t need to be particularly observant or to have a keen eye for detail to see that not only are the stories we tell cyclical, but also our lives and everything in it, including our thoughts and ideas, desires and attachments. In the end, we all want the same things in life: health, happiness, and love – very much in that order, and most of all, contentment and fulfillment; none of which are dependent upon external factors such as money or belongings – yet, the peculiar thing is that most people seek these things from the world outside themselves. And because of this, we continue repeating the cycle, retelling the same stories over and over; this is why we continue to embody ourselves, or be reborn in this infinite and eternal universe as a result of these unfulfilled desires – the chain of births lets us resume the pursuit, until such time when we can become aware enough to awaken from this never-ending dream, and realize that we ourselves hold the key that can end this perpetual cycle, resulting in the cessation of suffering that arises from our ignorance of the true nature of reality, and which is caused by our desire and attachments – see?
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By virtue of the aforementioned, it should be pointed out that it matters not whether or not one happens to believe in, or subscribe to, the idea of a repeated or continued nature of human life, i.e., rebirth – what matters most is that we ourselves, humanity – as a collective, are enough evidence that there is more to human life than meets the eye. Isn’t it peculiar that besides the cyclical nature of the stories we tell, thoughts we think, ideas we come up with, desires we have, and attachments we cling to – everything in life seems to be rediscovered, reinvented, recycled, reused and repurposed time and time again? Intriguing, isn’t it? And so you see, as it has been before, so it shall be again, and what has been done before, will be done again. Against this backdrop, one should be asking themselves: Is there a deeper meaning behind it all? Could the meaning be as simple as this: Life is a full circle; coming back around, again and again, in hopes of meeting ourselves; in hopes of seeing and really knowing ourselves; around and around and around we go, in this thing we call life. And now the question becomes: Is it really so simple? Hardly. In principle, maybe, but in practice – not so much.
If we could learn to recognize and acknowledge that everything arises in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions, it can lead us one step closer to peace – with ourselves and with others. Pointless conflicts in human relations would diminish greatly, if we as individuals would embrace the view “because of that, this exists,” and, “because of that person, I can develop.” If we manage to do that, then the next step would be realizing that nothing happens by chance – everything happens for a reason, you see? We can use the following analogy to understand this better: this is – because that is; this happens – because that happens. Another way of saying the same is through negation: this is not – because that is not; this ceases to be – because that ceases to be. Whether or not we are aware of the interconnected web of causes and conditions that bring about an effect, one thing is certain: every action has a reaction, or consequence, you see? This goes on to say that eventually we have to face up to the consequences of our actions – both individually and collectively, “we reap what we sow,” as they say.
As our realization deepens, of the interconnected nature of life, we begin to discover that we can’t separate ourselves from the pain and suffering of others, and that the suffering of the world is our own suffering as well – this brings us to the idea of compassion, which is a whole other topic on its own, and is left out of the discussion for the sake of simplicity. For the sake of context, though, it should be noted that the word ‘compassion’ originates from the Latin root meaning “co-suffering.” The essence of compassion is a desire to alleviate the suffering of others and to promote their well-being. Some would say that compassion originates as an empathic response to suffering, while others hold that compassion originates in our own suffering and self-compassion, which is then recognized in the other. Now, let us consider this: If personal suffering stems mainly from craving and ignorance – the same applies to the suffering that afflicts us on a collective scale – ignorance begets ignorance, and suffering begets suffering, doesn’t it?
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We humans are beings who are particularly good at ignoring problems and their causes; we are beings who like to blame others and not take responsibility for our actions – does it not, then, inflict suffering upon others if we behave irresponsibly? To inflict suffering upon others is to become more deeply involved in ignorance, deepening the problems we already have. Indeed, people inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction through external means, but alas, the honest truth is that true happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment. In so doing, in our pursuit of satisfying our craving, we are subject to emotions without properly using our intuition and intelligence, which is why we are in conflict with ourselves and with others. In an interconnected world, this inner conflict manifests in various forms and occurs at different levels. In other words, our inner conditions have a real and tangible impact on the external world – see?
By virtue of the aforementioned, considering the interconnected nature of life, isn’t it intriguing that of all things, it is suffering that unites humanity? Isn’t it intriguing that instead of happiness, contentment and fulfillment, it is the void we feel inside, and our attempt to fill the void what unites us all? Isn’t it intriguing that we all look for peace and happiness, contentment and fulfillment in the things of the world, and we try to fill the void with anything – be it people, money, education, sex, drugs, travel, entertainment, cars, houses, or other material possessions – however big or small? But alas, the honest truth is that satisfaction in life is not a function of what you can buy in a store; happiness in life has little to do with what you wear, drive, eat or drink – see?
Here we should ask ourselves: Why are so many of us driven by the cravings of various sorts? Why is it that everyone seems to want the same things that others do? Why are so many of us driven to accumulate more of everything, without any evidence that they provide us with contentment and fulfillment? We can only arrive at one conclusion: this endless craving of material possessions is our desperate way of trying to alleviate our spiritual thirst for deeper fulfillment. And so you see, all along, these things we seek – happiness, contentment, and fulfillment, are our very nature – our very own center of being.
Wouldn’t all this then suggest that as we live in an interconnected world, taking care of ourselves is intimately linked to, connected with, and dependent upon taking care of each other and the Earth? Wouldn’t this also suggest that the overall health of the individual and society is dependent upon inner well-being more than anything else? This, in turn, can be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness and greed, can it not? How else would an intelligent, sentient species like us humans survive, grow, progress, and eventually prosper – if not through these means? All things living in harmony, live long, and they prosper, do they not? Are humans any different in this respect?
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"
