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Trust Your Intuition - It is one of your most reliable resources in life.
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When people are looking outside, they never have to look inside — until one day, something happens that reveals just how asleep they are. Suddenly, they realize that their sense of self, which has been formed and constructed out of their ideas, images, beliefs, assumptions, interpretations, expectations and desires is not really who they are. As this happens, one has to be overwhelmed how much their life has been driven by someone else’s narrative. When we look around us, and pay attention to our surroundings, we can see that no one seems to have any idea what they are doing and everyone is just pretending, which brings us to an important point: as humans, most of us live immersed in our daily lives with little thought of who we are, why we are here, or where we are going. This means that most of us are completely unaware of the fact that real freedom and happiness can never come to us from outside ourselves — they can only be found within, you see? As such, most of us have never realized the True Self — our innate Spiritual Nature, which is the Living Essence beyond name and form, words, ideas and thinking.
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The Most Expensive Thing In The World Is Trust - It can take years to earn and just a matter of seconds to lose.
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The materialistic worldview has resulted in excessive production of short-lived and disposable items, and thus the Western society has become a “throw-away society” where consumerism is being worshipped. Indeed, we live in a culture of hyperconsumerism where we can, and do buy nearly anything. Sadly, beyond the basic necessities, awful lot is spent on useless things that end up in landfills; in a throwaway culture, even human lives are seen as disposable — see? We take what we need in the form of raw materials and cheap labor to invest in our “culture,” we then feed it back to the world in the form of cheap material possessions, which in turn further the image that we have more and hence somehow better. As long as we keep up the illusion, the gears keep turning. Doesn’t this fit the definition of a parasite? The consumerist-driven capitalist economic system is indeed a parasitic paradigm which is only going to lead to more problems and eventually to self-destruction — one has to be blind not to see it.
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I AM Thankful: I Woke Up - I Have Clothes To Wear - I Have Running Water - I Have Food To Eat - Life Is Good.
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Indeed, we are all on a journey — some more invested and committed than others; the path we tread is full of ups and downs — and some of them are very steep. Sometimes we may feel that we have lost our way on the river of life; with its many twists and turns we might find ourselves wondering which direction to take. But all is not lost, for you see, if we choose to use our free will to find the strength that dwells within, we find hope — a compass directing us in life. With patience and persistence, we continue to move forward, overcoming any obstacles we may face, and eventually we will prevail, you see? And this is where the wisdom lies — sometimes the obstacle is the path, for every obstacle presents an opportunity to grow and become better — see?
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The Eyes Indicate the Antiquity of the Soul.
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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.
~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Akasha (Akashic Records) ~ ∞ ~
Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary
Many ancient views about the World were constructed according the classical elements – Earth, Fire, Water, and Air; Aristoteles later added the fifth element to this list – in the middle ages it was called Aether, getting its name from the Greek word Aither, meaning “Pure, Fresh Air” or “Clear Sky.” Aristoteles believed a space being full of Aether.
In Hinduism, aether is known as “Akasha,” simply meaning unmanifested potential; the basis and essence of all things in the material world; the first material element created from the astral world. In Sanskrit, this word means “Space,” the very first element in Creation. In Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and many other Indian languages, the meaning of Akasha has been accepted as “Sky.” According to the Hindu teachings, the Creation began when the consciousness that inhabits everything took its first and original form as vibration.
Closely related term “Akashic Records,” also known as “The Book of Life,” is said to be a compendium of all human events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, or future – stored in a non-physical plane of existence.
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Free Your Mind.
Because the stories we tell create our future, it is paramount that we learn to tell better stories. To begin to break away from the old, outdated and outmoded, limited narrow view of the world, which is colored by the human condition - we need a new collective story, that of Empowerment, Equality, Compassion, and Unity.
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Many ancient wisdom traditions explore consciousness through direct experience, which is achieved through contemplative practices such as Qi-gong, Zen meditation, and Yoga; these practices teach the practitioner to achieve a state of mental quiescence or stillness in order to comprehend reality in its non-physical manifestations, and in so doing, achieve a state of unity with the ultimate ground of being. There are three classical paths that lead towards being more aware, towards higher consciousness, towards better understanding of consciousness: meditation, concentration, and contemplation. Even though each path is different, each of them can help one to better understand consciousness; when followed and practiced consistently, they all lead to the same final goal or destination — absorption of Self into the Ultimate Reality.
~ ∞ ~ Masters of Storytelling – Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
Now, let us expand this a little. From the above-mentioned, it becomes obvious that human life is clearly a story. More specifically, human life can be seen as a repeated story, or as a series of stories that are more or less related, intertwined and interconnected. If one takes a moment to reflect on their life, they could reasonably see it in terms of various story lines, whether parallel or intersecting or distinct. As it turns out, there is a term for this type of understanding: “samsara,” as it is called in Sanskrit. It refers precisely 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 to wake up. Samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth – see? This brings us to something called a “Hero’s Journey,” or short, a monomyth. In the following few paragraphs, we will briefly look at this, but just before we do that, let me ask you this: Is it not indeed the case that we are all heroes of our lives? Is it not, indeed so, that we are all on a journey – some more invested and committed than others?
Joseph Campbell’s theory of the Monomyth (Hero’s Journey), asserts that various myths, legends, and fairy tales throughout human history share a common story structure involving a hero who departs from known reality in order to confront a series of trials and tribulations before returning home as an initiated master of both realms. In his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell studies many hundreds of fairy tales, folk tales and legends in order to unearth a common “pattern” in the structure of stories. Campbell defines this as the “monomyth” or “hero’s journey” – the typical trajectory of a story, across all cultures and religions. Comprising three stages – separation, initiation, and return – the hero’s journey offers a narrative framework for understanding the progression of a character, namely the protagonist.
The journey, according to Campbell, usually includes a symbolic death and re-birth of the character. The religious idea of “cleansing” is also important, giving a sense of the character transforming from old to new – the character arc. The journey undertaken sees the character undergo both physical and emotional battles, which work together to bring them to a better understanding of their life and their place in the world. As such, the journey is full of duality – symbol and spirit; body and soul; manifest and myth; plot and story. In other words, as the character does (action), he or she becomes (character arc).
If there is anything to take away from this, it is this: stories we tell reflect who we are, what we believe, and the futures we envision. This is why powerful stories resonate within us. In a similar way, archetypes of the characters resonate within us – some more, some less. We identify with certain characters more than others, be it heroes or the villains or something in between, because we share those tendencies inside of us. Powerful stories show the light and the dark, point to a greater cause, teach, and leave room for interpretation. The interesting part is that not only do stories share common elements and structure, but so does human life as well – our individual paths may be different, but they share many common elements.
Even though each path is different, they all lead to the same final goal or destination – eventually. Some paths are more difficult than others, having many obstacles to overcome; some are full of hardships and suffering, while others may provide moments of joy only to be followed by extended periods of distress. Even though each path is different, on constant remains: like a river flowing into the sea, the Soul returns to its Source, becoming one with the Ultimate Truth, eventually experiencing absorption of Self into the Ultimate Reality – this is the Hero’s Journey, you see? The journey becomes much more easy when one realizes that life has its own order, its own discipline, if you will. Hence, you simply move with it, you float with it – you don’t try to push the river, you become one with it and the river takes you to the ocean.
Indeed, we are all on a journey – some more invested and committed than others; the path we tread is full of ups and downs – and some of them are very steep. Sometimes we may feel that we have lost our way on the river of life; with its many twists and turns we might find ourselves wondering which direction to take. But all is not lost, for you see, if we choose to use our free will to find the strength that dwells within, we find hope – a compass directing us in life. With patience and persistence, we continue to move forward, overcoming any obstacles we may face, and eventually we will prevail, you see? And this is where the wisdom lies – sometimes the obstacle is the path, for every obstacle presents an opportunity to grow and become better – see?
If we take into consideration all the above-mentioned, we can arrive at the conclusion that everything seems to be cyclical – not only the stories we tell, but also our lives and everything in it, including our thoughts and ideas; 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 will be done again; 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 – see?
And with this, we arrive at another aspect of the same. Earlier in the section titled PROLOGUE, we briefly discussed the idea of “Original Thought,” and reached the conclusion that this thought preceded any other, and hence everything springs from this singular source. Therefore, everything arises in dependence upon this thought. This is also the main reason why we don’t actually have any original thoughts, even though we might think we do. Everything that can be written and everything that can be said, has already been written and said before using different flavors of words.
Indeed, there is no such thing as “original ideas,” for you see, everything is derived from the one and only Original Idea there ever was, is, and ever will be. All we have are merely new creative expressions of what has already been said, written, or otherwise expressed – see? And now you may ask: Why? Well, to answer that question we would need to start with the following truth: the very words we use to express our thoughts are coming from outside of ourselves, and therefore it is extremely difficult to think freely and independently. The words we use in our language comes from the community we live in and were brought-up. Words themselves are symbols representing things and ideas known to us; language is created out of these words and used by masses of people to express things and ideas experienced by their senses and mind. So when we think in a language that our community gave us – it means that eventually we are not thinking our own thoughts. Intriguing, isn’t it?
And when it comes to originality: at first glance, it might seem that everything that is presented as being “new, fresh, and original,” is actually a variation of what has been done before. We see this clearly in our world today – every story we tell each other is in some way or another a recycled version of previous stories we have told. For instance, the movies and TV-shows of today are just retelling of the same stories that have been told for thousands of years. In much the same way as traditional stories are recycled versions of previous stories we have told, science is also a story, a narrative, and scientists are storytellers who keep circling the same ideas and theories time and time again. Science, therefore, is a work in progress, a construction that emerges at a very specific juncture in the hi(story) of humanity; it is a story about ideas – often abstract, often technical, often complex – and all the energy and profundity and drama of science comes from the interactions between these ideas. All this drama that comes from the battle of ideas might be our downfall in science, and its salvation in spirituality – intriguing, isn’t it?
We can conclude this chapter with the following: considering all the aforementioned, one should be inclined to ask the following question: Is it not, indeed so, what has been said long ago, in the Bible (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10), and is it not, indeed, that it holds true even today?
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new?’ It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.”
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"
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Fall In Love With Taking Care Of Yourself - Mind, Body, Soul.
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Even though panpsychism is one of the oldest philosophical theories concerning mind, reaching far back into pre-Socratic times, it is paramount to highlight the fact that this “new wave” specifically deals with the mental aspect of it all — covering only a tiny fraction of the spectrum of consciousness. Therefore, it is unfortunate that with the rise in interest in the “hard problem of consciousness” in Western science, it has misleadingly become synonymous with consciousness, resulting in a lot of ensuing confusion and misunderstanding. You see, the claim is that “I — the body am conscious,” and because “I am composed of physical matter,” therefore also the physical universe (matter) must be conscious. Panpsychism is often considered to be equivalent to the Non-Dual understanding of consciousness, which entails that consciousness pervades everything; and herein lies both the problem and misunderstanding. You see, the core of this misunderstanding lies at the very beginning of the statement — the mistake is: “I — the body am conscious.” And so you see, when you build on this ground, every other step also contains this initial misunderstanding.
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Synchronicity - Gateway to Interconnectedness.
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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 fleeting experiences. Now, let me ask you this: Is it not true that we all want the same things in life: health, happiness, and love — very much in that order, and most of all, contentment and fulfillment? Is it not also true that none of them 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 through various means, methods, and activities. And so you see, when people are looking outside, they never have to look inside.
~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within - Success Life Quotes - Infinite Quantum Zen ~ ∞ ~
Alive, Blessed, Grateful (Inspiration Vibration).
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All this leads us to conclude that, it is, indeed, possible to Awaken From the Dream of Life; it is, indeed, possible to realize our True Self, and it is, indeed, possible to become free of suffering. Awakening from the dream of life is simply becoming aware; and being aware, each moment, of what we are doing as we are doing it, of what we are thinking as we are thinking it, and how we are feeling as we are feeling it, you see? Remaining aware each moment is Self-Mastery, which can eventually lead to Self-Realization and Self-Actualization. Thus, if we awake from the illusory aspect of life (dream — unconscious, unaware state), the quality of our consciousness is elevated; likewise, the quality of our mind is elevated, and in turn, the quality of our thoughts, words, and actions is elevated.
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Love Is Like Playing The Piano - first you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your Heart.
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It is only by becoming more aware, more conscious, of ourselves and our surroundings, which will lead us to grow and evolve, realize our true potential, and fulfill the telos of human existence. This is something that can only be achieved through awareness, and hence it is important to highlight the following truth: all development and progress, growth and maturation — whether spiritual, mental, or physical, comes from within the individual. This goes on to say that spiritual development is a process like any other — it arises from discipline and continuous self-improvement. Mindfulness, meditation, concentration, and contemplation are the keys through which, and by which, one can make real progress — see?
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The Best 6 Doctors Are Sunshine, Exercise, Water, Rest, Diet, Air.
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More broadly, Self-Awareness means of being aware of the things one should be aware of and paying more attention to that — this allows one to see where their thoughts and emotions are taking them. When individuals are aware of themselves, they are more calm and responsive to what is happening. To be conscious of who we are, how we think, and what we do — is invaluable because it leads to Self-Knowledge, and in turn, to change that could eventually lead to Self-Mastery, to Self-Realization — realizing one’s deepest desires and capacities, fulfilling the possibilities of one’s potential, and to Self-Actualization — expressing one’s creativity, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, and desire to give to society. And so you see, when one becomes realized and actualized, one does not simply know Life — one is Life, one is existence, one is awareness, one is knowledge, one is wisdom.
~ ∞ ~ Masters of Storytelling – Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
In the previous chapter, we touched upon the truth that the stories we tell build up our world. The context in which this was brought up involved something called the human condition, from which the false sense of self originates and springs. You see, the human condition is basically a collective story, an unstructured narrative we buy into and believe in. This collective condition, or story, if you will – has shaped not only the individuals themselves, but also our culture. This is because stories are the foundation of our lives and character, and because our lives are influenced by the stories we tell, they have the power to create our reality. This brings us to an important point: if there’s anything we humans excel at, it is most definitely storytelling. We make stories for everything, and this is why stories are how we learn and remember – they provide a way of understanding our place in the scheme of things by structuring our understanding of events. Stories are how we make sense of life because they root us in an on-going stream of history by providing us with a sense of belonging and helping establish our identities.
For thousands of years, we have used the art of storytelling to enlighten, to inform, to provoke, and to entertain. And so it can be said that at the very core, our shared reality is based on stories – the stories we tell build up our world. Indeed, every culture is built upon stories and beliefs passed on by its leaders, family members and elders. All cultures have stories about the beginnings of the universe, and thus all religions have stories at their heart explaining our existence and purpose here on Earth. Stories are our interpretation of reality – they describe to us how we believe the world is. Indeed, our entire worldview and memories are created out of our stories.
Stories are clearly a double-edged sword. You see, at best, stories can encourage, inspire, and inform; they can also be healing and cathartic for both the teller and the listener alike. At worst, stories can be harmful in several different ways: they can express falsehoods, half-truths, attitudes and dispositions that can lead people feeling and behaving differently than they would otherwise. This, in turn, can have much greater consequences and impact than most realize, even long-lasting, civilization-wide consequences. You see, unfortunately, often times, we adopt our stories as truth, and because we believe in them, stories become our reality – they create the world we perceive and inhabit. This leads to the creation of an agreed-upon concepts of reality – more specifically, a social construct*1 called “consensus reality.” It refers to an agreed-upon concepts of reality which people in the world, or a culture or group believe are real (or treat as real), usually based upon their common experiences as they believe them to be.
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*1 A social construct is something that exists as a result of human interaction – it exists because humans agree that it exists; some examples of social constructs are countries and money.
In this type of consensus view of reality, we are often involved not only with our representations of the world, but with our representations of those representations. This is why we humans believe that there is a real world “out there,” but in all actuality, the “real world” is always interpreted by our mind and filtered through our senses, which goes on to say that what we see and hear are merely interpretations of reality through our minds and bodies. In other words, based on our beliefs we create representations of what might be out there in the world — see? It is against this backdrop that we can understand the following: each moment everything is happening on the canvas of Life, which is being painted with non-material things like awareness, consciousness, feelings, emotions, experiences, memories, thoughts, and will, but also with material things such as particles, cells, neurons, and endless other interconnected pieces that come together like the colors of the spectrum. It is precisely through our stories how we make sense of it all, you see?
Although storytelling has evolved along with our language, communication and technology — the basic premise remains intact — stories (narratives) communicate ideas, and thus we teach and learn through story. In so doing, we learn to perceive the world around us through the stories we tell each other. And because the stories we tell create our future, it is paramount that we learn to tell better stories. To begin to break away from the old, outdated and outmoded, limited narrow view of the world, which is colored by the human condition — we need a new collective story, that of empowerment, equality, compassion, and unity — see? Hence, it is reasonable to ask ourselves: What would our life be like if we would include the storyteller into our stories? Not as some external unspecified entity narrating the story, but as an intrinsic part of the story — the listener, the story and the storyteller becoming one intertwined symbiosis of Living Life; we humans ourselves being active storytellers of our collective human story, you see? Now, let me ask you this: What could we accomplish if we truly cared about each other and each others’ well-being? What could we accomplish if we really took care of the whole world — allowing people to think clearly and express themselves in creative ways instead of suppressing every non-conventional creative endeavour?
Because stories are the foundation of our lives and character, they have the power to create our reality, and this is precisely why the stories we tell ourselves can make or break our future. This realization has many implications that have not been fully recognized. You see, without awareness, we give our personal power to the story, and in so doing, the story writes itself. But with awareness, we recover the control of our story, and in so doing, we can choose what stories we believe, and in turn we can change the old story to better fit our needs and values. Should we choose to reclaim our personal power and recover the control of our story is entirely up to us, is it not? Should we choose to learn from one another and help each other along the way, is once again, up to us — both individually and collectively. Now, take a moment and imagine the endless possibilities we could achieve, dream, envision, and create together.
What will our future hold and what will it look like is but anyone’s guess, what matters most is the truth that our future is ours to envision, discover and co-create together. We are the ones who write our own destiny, with how we choose to live our lives, with what we choose to learn, unlearn, and relearn, with what we choose to let go and leave behind, with what we choose to envision and create, and what we choose to cherish and value — see? Should we choose to use our free will to rewrite our story and redefine how we do things — is entirely up to each and every one of us. Is it not, indeed, up to us to choose our path? The decision is ours, and ours alone, and has been so from day one. Should we choose to acknowledge it, is once again, up to us. Whichever path we choose, it will surely determine the fate of our species for a long time to come.
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"
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The Moment You Start Acting Like Life Is A Blessing, It Starts Feeling Like One.
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Self-Awareness is developed through practices in focusing one’s attention on the details of one’s personality and behavior, in focusing one’s attention on the present moment, you see? It is through mindful awareness of the present moment that we can become aware of thoughts, emotions, feelings, physical sensations, behaviors, and speech. The practice of mindfulness is therefore more important than ever before — it is the aliveness we bring to our everyday lives that makes all the difference. Having a developed sense of Self-Awareness allows us to understand other people, how they perceive us, our attitude and our responses to them in the moment. Self-Awareness allows us to sense that we are separated from each other, resulting in the perception of individuated consciousness, which goes on to say that while consciousness is being aware of one’s environment, body, and lifestyle, Self-Awareness is the recognition of that awareness. Therefore, Self-Awareness is the ability to recognize oneself as an individual and separate from the environment and other individuals.
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You will be amazed at how things fall into place once you let go of the illusion of control.
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Awareness is the state or ability to feel, to perceive, to know, and to be conscious of our own existence — within and without. As such, awareness is closely linked to, and intimately connected with consciousness that makes us conscious of our body and mind, our environment and the world around us. This, in turn, makes us aware of our beingness as a living and breathing expression of life. The physical level of awareness is represented by the body and its sensations of the world. Although our sensations are experienced through the body, this awareness is distinct from awareness of sensation within the body itself, which goes on to say that there is more to awareness than meets the eye — a spiritual dimension or component, if you will. The spiritual level of awareness goes much deeper than the ordinary everyday states of wakefulness — it can be said to be a direct connection to all that is — knowing reality, knowing existence, knowing one’s being, and ultimately, knowing God, you see?
~ ∞ ~ Humanity – The Pinnacle of Evolution? 4/4 – The Essence of Life ~ ∞ ~
And with this, we arrive at a conclusion of profound importance: when we exploit nature, we exploit ourselves – as individuals, and as a species. From this, the question arises: If we are doing all this, can we call ourselves civilized? Oh yes, most certainly we call ourselves civilized alright – how could we not, after all, we are humans, not animals, are we not? But now the question becomes: How civilized are we? If we are civilized, which by definition means to be at an advanced stage of social and cultural development, would it not require us to treat all living things with respect? What would it take for us to see that we as a species are on borrowed time? Needless to say, for those who have eyes to see, it may come as a bit of a shock to realize that our lives are intimately bound up with the fragile organism of life on Earth and the interdependence of all species.
This is where we face the inevitable: you see, there’s no gentle way to say this – the survival of our species is threatened as never before by an ethos that seeks dominance and control of nature. This ethos reflects a vicious and brutal desire to conquer and master nature for our own purposes, shows no respect for the Earth, and disregards the perils of our present interference with the intricate web of relationships upon which life on Earth depends. We are an integral part of this great web of life, and cannot survive without respecting all aspects of it. If we destroy our habitat, whether inadvertently or deliberately by continuing on our present path – we may risk destroying ourselves. What we leave behind for those who might survive is but a fable of a highly advanced race of beings called humans – who in their naivety allowed themselves to be destroyed by their hubris.
Here we can but imagine how this fable might be told several thousands of years from now; how there might be a myth of once great, highly advanced race of beings, but the archeologists and scholars of that time would dismiss as complete nonsense; how there was a myth that told of a time when there was an advanced civilization living on Earth. Their level of advancement was so incredible that they could harness and control the forces of nature. They were so advanced that they were almost gods – they had supernatural powers – you see, they could look at the little device in their hands and speak to one another, even see one another on opposite sides of the Earth. They could fly around the Earth; they could even send people to the moon, but they became corrupt; they became cruel; they became conceited and arrogant; they imposed their powers on other less powerful people around the world. And so it happened that this once great species faced their own demise, and only few lived to tell the tale.
From the previous, it becomes clear that the human story unfolds against a backdrop of deteriorating conditions of the Earth – the only habitat for human life in the universe. On that note, nowadays there are people in the scientific community who have come to the conclusion that maybe we have messed up this planet; but worry not, because these people think that they have a solution. You see, they have suggested that we should go find (or perhaps create) a new one. These people think that with the aid of technology, we could export life from Earth to other planets, and someday perhaps even leave our solar system. This has to be the ultimate delusion of a throwaway society*1, don’t you think? What does it tell about us, if among other things, we are ready and willing to throw away our home, as well?
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*1 The materialistic worldview has resulted in excessive production of short-lived and disposable items, and thus the Western society has become a “throw-away society” where consumerism is being worshipped. This area is explored in more detail in the chapter The False Sense of Self.
From this, the question arises: Are we really so disconnected from everything that we truly think that the only way to solve our problems is to relocate – so that we could mess it up all over again? The reason we are having problems on Earth in the first place is because we have ignored what nature is capable of giving us when we live with nature’s principles rather than against them. Hence, yet again, we should ask ourselves: Why is it that we are geared towards the destruction of life – rather than nurturing and preserving the Gift of Life itself?
It is against this backdrop that we begin to see the absurdity of our current situation. Therefore, one should be inclined to consider whether we deserve to live here on Earth. If we are incapable of respecting and caring for it, do we really deserve to live here? Even more importantly, we should be asking the question of whether humanity is worth saving, and at what expense? The honest truth is that it’s no one else’s responsibility but ours to change our ways, which brings about the question: Are we capable of saving ourselves from the path of self-destruction we are on?
And if we are incapable of saving ourselves – who’s to save us? Aliens? Well, I would not count on that, and I bet you wouldn’t either. What about Angels and other Celestial Beings of the Divine nature? Or perhaps God? Maybe, who knows? And if so, is it probable? It is here where the reader of this book is called to use their faculty of reason and inner knowing, for you see, it is up to us individually to arrive at a conclusion whether there is a greater plan for humanity or not; whether or not there is a higher power that guides us.
But let us suppose, for a moment, that somewhere out there in existence there would, indeed, be such beings. So, let us entertain this idea for a brief moment, if not for any other reason than to illustrate just how obnoxiously absurd our present day situation in all of its paradoxical absurdity is. Well, then, what purpose could it possibly serve to save a species that is naive, irresponsible, and immature? And to what end? So that they could repeat the same mistakes all over again? And if some kind of Divine intervention were to take place, how would it affect our free will? Is it not, precisely, through our free will, by which we are permitted to be ignorant in the first place, repeating our mistakes? Is it not, precisely, through our mistakes, and by the difficulty and suffering they cause that we are eventually able to see, realize, and acknowledge the error of our ways, and through this process, in turn, change?
Extra Material:Video: Society, A Perpetual Cycle [Alan Watts]. Video description: "Alan Watts talks about how our society conditions children to live with a constant frustration and worry about the future, and never learn how to live in the present."