Infinite Quantum Zen

the essence of zen alan watts the book of awareness - samadhi, discover the key to inner joy, peace, happiness

~ ∞ ~ The Essence of Zen - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

Now that we have covered the basics, it is time to take a closer look at the Essence of Zen, so that we can better understand the upcoming chapters – in particular those dealing with the ideas of consciousness, awareness, and existence in general. In this chapter, our focus is placed on examining the very core of Zen philosophy – that of mindfulness or effortless state of being.

Mindfulness, in and of itself, facilitates direct intuitive insight (called wisdom) into the ever-changing, conditioned nature of all phenomena from moment to moment; it facilitates understanding that everything is interconnected, and that there is no separate permanent entity such as a self, separated from others, with absolute control over processes and events of life.

When one has the understanding that we are part of the whole and the whole is part of us, that all living things have consciousness, and are inseparably linked to all other living things in this Great Cosmic Web of Life – it can be the key that unlocks inner peace and harmony within, you see? Although the Essence of Zen may be impossible to capture in words, it doesn’t mean that we cannot discuss Zen. In fact, it can be immensely helpful to discuss Zen – what it is, and what it isn’t.

On that note, it is important to keep in mind that language is an external representation of what we perceive or experience – often times used to denote and describe past events. And because language cannot ever describe the true essence of our existence and our experience of it, we are forced to use signs and symbols in an effort to express something that is very much inexpressible.

Thus, no matter what we say, it will always be limited and insufficient to capture the essence that can only be experienced directly – this is especially true with everything Zen related. You see, words can only point to the direct experience which goes beyond any words and definitions. Language can only convey an idea of what direct experiencing is like and what it isn’t; experiencing reality just-as-it-is means that it has to be expressed in daily life – not in words, ideas or concepts.

As to what Zen is, the Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki gave the following description in his essay, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. The description below opens the door to the idea of awareness, which in turn gives us the chance to understand life as a unified, interconnected whole, in which patterns are contained within patterns – just like our consciousness is embedded in awareness, you see?

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring woods – in all these I am practicing Zen, I am Living Zen. No wordy discussion is necessary, nor any explanation... When the sun rises, the whole world dances with joy and everybody’s heart is filled with bliss. If Zen is at all conceivable, it must be taken hold of here.

The word Zen is derived from the Japanese word Chán, which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna – meaning “meditation” or “meditative state”; dhyana is the practicing of the inward life – the silent realization by which the individual is instructed in the great universal truths. Even though the word Zen is derived from Sanskrit, Zen is much more than just meditation and dhyana in its ordinary sense, and hence it can be said that meditation is not Zen.

When we talk about meditation we are talking about reaching in, looking inside. In the context of Zen, it is worth pointing out that the highest meditation is simply to be – effortlessly; being aware of being aware, you see? This is consciousness knowing its own being, which is the only activity that is absolutely effortless. To give an example: even blinking requires more effort than being established in one’s true nature – this is why true meditation is always truly effortless.

The emphasis on the present moment is perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Zen – more than anything else, Zen is about reclaiming and expanding the present moment. A typical Zen understanding is that life exists in the present or nowhere at all, which goes on to say that we come out of the world, not into it, and thus we are each expressions of the world.

This means that we’re not some strangers in a strange land, or flukes of consciousness in a blind, unintelligent, unliving universe – like our current scientific paradigm teaches us. When life exists in the present – it means that there’s just one event with multiple aspects unfolding here and now.

Therefore, it is important to have our focus on the present moment. In other words, trying to see all of life at once is like trying to explore a vast cave with a box of matches – kind of pointless, would you agree?

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our own being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, you see? The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence itself; Zen, therefore – is a total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind.

This goes on to say that Zen is a way of being – a state of mind that involves dropping the illusion and seeing the world as-it-is, without the distortion created by our own thoughts, emotions and feelings. Zen is, therefore, a way of living, a way of being in the world; it is the achieving the balance between the world and the Self, you see?

Zen is always directed towards the world, not away from it, and because of this – it opens up the shapes, forms, objects, textures, materials, colors, actions, and events, in both time and in space, you see? In other words, Zen means waking up to the world, and therefore it is also the realization of the beauty of life.

From this, it becomes obvious that the beautiful Art of Lucid Living arises from the conscious realization that life is a continuous process of evolvement and development, including different stages and cycles of learning, integrating, and expressing.

In Zen, we find all the philosophy of the East in crystallized form – nevertheless, Zen is not a philosophy in the ordinary sense of the term; Zen is not founded upon logic and intellectual analysis – instead of concepts, Zen deals with living facts of life, which goes on to say that whatever teachings there are in Zen, they come out in one’s own mind. In other words, we teach ourselves – Zen merely points the way, you see?

This means that in Zen, there is really nothing that could be taught to a student – every person must discover Zen within oneself. Zen ultimately is, and remains a path that one should follow with a joyous and loving heart, and hence each individual decides how far and how fast they want to progress. That said, it should kept in mind that you alone are your own best master, and thus you should listen to yourself and your inner voice – it alone will lead you to success.

If someone were to ask if Zen is a religion; to that, the simple answer would be: no, Zen is not a religion – Zen is neither monotheistic nor pantheistic; Zen is free from all the dogmatic and “religious” constraints, and hence does not attach any intrinsic importance to sacred texts. Zen emphasizes the inner spiritual experience, and therefore Zen is the spirit of all religions and philosophies, you see?

Infinite Quantum Zen, Living Awareness, Living Life, Awaken to the Living Life - Living Awareness means of a direct connection to Source of All Life. We all have within us the capability of becoming aware of this innate connection

~ ∞ ~ Satori ~ ∞ ~

Zen in its basic essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being; in Zen, Satori is ‘a glimpse of truth’ or a sudden moment of awakening – seeing into one’s true nature; Zen is a product of Satori – achieved by the deepening of one’s experience even further and bringing it into maturation by continuous practice.

Naturally, then, Zen emphasizes the attainment of freedom and points the way from bondage to being fully free – being free from all unnatural constraints. Being free means of giving free play to all the creative and benevolent impulses inherently lying in our hearts – Zen liberates all these energies naturally stored within each of us. In other words, Zen is the Spirit of Man – a way to his inner purity and goodness.

Every human being has within themselves the potentiality of becoming awakened, if one so wills it and endeavours. Each of us have the potentiality to wake up from the dream of life – as we ordinarily take it to be, and find out who we really and truly are – pure awareness. This kind of an awakened individual is one who knows the truth about all things, one who knows just what is what, and so is capable of behaving appropriately with respect to all things.

In other words, the knowing in body, mind, and Soul – that we are One with the Omnipresence of God; and that there is just God’s Infinite Being that we are inseparable part of. When this innermost wisdom is truly awakened, we are able to realize that each and every one of us is identical in Spirit, in essence, in nature with the universal Eternal Living Life.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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~ ∞ ~ Crisis at the Edge of Physics, Science & Cosmology - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

By now, at this point in the book, it should have become obviously clear that there is a definite crisis not only in science and cosmology, but also in religions and philosophical thought, as well. And not only that, but also we as the collective human species are undergoing a crisis that is ethical, metaphysical, and even existential in nature.

It is quite clear that the more we know about life and the universe, the more confused, conflicted, and concerned we as the collective human species seem to become. This is why all too many place all their hopes in science, and even believe that happiness can be achieved by means of what material science can deliver.

Like we have seen earlier in this book, many people hold on the assumption that the scientific view of the world should be the basis for all knowledge – forgetting that there are other aspects of knowledge as well. This simply goes on to say that the current scientific model excludes many aspects of human existence and experience – among which are values, creativity, spirituality, as well as the deeper metaphysical questions about our existence.

It is almost as if in recent years, scientism has taken a considerably larger foothold in the world of science and technology. As a result, science has become ever more so pathological in nature, and thus taken a drastic turn toward being a faith, carrying religious-like undertones in its current structure.

To be honest, it needs to be noted that science is a wonderful tool for showing us the ways of interpreting the physical world, but we also need spirituality into our lives to help us cope with reality. You see, without integrating this component as part of our lives, we will always fall short in our attempts to live a fulfilled, happy and healthy life of wholeness.

The problem here is that the scientifically oriented people most often seem to believe that the only way to understand the nature of the universe is through deterministic facts and evidence, but the honest and harsh truth is that in science there are no facts – there are data and models, and all models are provisional and incomplete. Despite this obvious truth, these models that are based on incomplete data are taken as facts.

When we take a closer look, we can find that these scientific “facts” emerge out of a constellation of human perceptions, values and actions – in other words, out of a paradigm from which they cannot be separated. This goes on to say that our so called scientific facts are tied to our current paradigm through which we perceive the world and ourselves.

And when it comes to modern science, we find that it is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes its knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about nature and the universe. Science, as we know it today, relies on three basic assumptions that are needed to justify the scientific method. Scientists assume that there exists an objective material reality which is shared by all rational observers – independent of the contingency of its observers.

Scientists also assume that this objective material reality is governed by natural laws, and that these laws can be discovered by the means of systematic observation and experimentation – meaning that the data being analyzed within the experiments are also independent of preconceptions, perceptions and experience of the scientist who is performing the test and doing the analysis.

Quite interestingly, over the past few years alone, there has been a growing awareness that many experimentally established “facts” in the scientific worldview don’t seem to hold up to repeated investigation; this is sometimes referred to as the “decline effect” – the tendency of scientific results (i.e., effect sizes) to shrink over time.

On that note, it is evidently clear that the scientific process itself seems to fail us bigger than ever before. There was an article about this in the New Yorker back in 2010, titled The Truth Wears Off – Is there something wrong with the scientific method? The following is from the article:

“For many scientists, the effect is especially troubling because of what it exposes about the scientific process [...] Francis Bacon, the early-modern philosopher and pioneer of the scientific method, once declared that experiments were essential because they allowed us to “put nature to the question.” But it appears that nature often gives us different answers.”

Taking the previous into consideration, it is quite remarkable that modern science reads the Book of Nature, but doesn’t actually understand what it reads. If the scientists could realize that the knowledge they have accumulated isn’t complete in itself, but depends upon the metaphysical aspects of Philosophy of the Ancients for its interpretation – they would progress on their quest for understanding.

You see, ever since the classical antiquity, science as a type of knowledge has been closely linked to philosophy – this was also the case in the early modern Western world, where the words “science” and “philosophy of nature” were used interchangeably – until they were separated in the 19th century. While we are seeking answers to the big questions of life, we should remember that an older meaning of “science” was actually referring to a body of knowledge itself – of the type that can be rationally explained and reliably applied.

From this, the question arises: Could we use the aforementioned definition also as the solution? Could we then be able to explain why our own understanding of nature, the world, and the universe is so profoundly out of whack and out of sync with reality. Why is it that we are in the midst of this crisis in almost every area of life?

Could it be that we as the collective human species have been suffering from a certain level of self-pride and arrogance, or more aptly – hubris of monumental proportions, which in turn has resulted in an ignorance over our own unknowingness? Could it also be that this type of behavior has caused us to deteriorate and fragment from within, and thus we are suffering from the same decline effect than our own science?

Is it not obvious that we are, indeed, suffering from a disease that is eating us from within – a spiritual disease of immorality and inhumanness, inauthenticity and insincerity? Against this backdrop, one should be asking themselves: Could it also be that all of our past actions of ignorant nature has ultimately caused us to distance ourselves from the natural Living Life, which in turn has created profound difficulties in understanding the Mysteries of Life?

On top of the underlying spiritual level, there is the mental layer that plays a major role in all of this. You see, these collective restraints are the product of our mental programming, which goes on to say that our minds run outmoded dualistic software that is way outdated. To a large degree, our inability “to see beyond the box” has prevented us from utilizing everything that we already have discovered in the world of science in creative and beneficial ways.

We as a collective human species should finally mature as spiritual beings – we should loosen up the old habitual ways of thinking & being and upgrade our mental programming to match that of an eternal, evolved spiritual being. This means that we would need to switch the binary software of our minds to match that of Infinite Potentiality of Non-Dual Software.

This upgraded version of ‘thinking’ would be more in the lines of a direct acknowledgement and instant knowing. A way to begin to receive the upgrade of this sort is the willingness to unplug the unnecessary processes of identification, and to loosen up the old habitual ways of thinking and being. This would, thus then, open up a whole new way of perceiving reality and life as a whole, and in so doing, it would become crystal clear that one individuated mind is not separated from the minds of others – see?

From this, the question arises: Why don’t we just start from awareness and keep it as the basis of everything? Consciousness and its inherent awareness links us to spirituality, which in this context can be seen as a science – the type that we cannot understand, yet.

This goes on to say that consciousness can also be seen as a spiritual technology that we have so little knowledge about and understanding of. Consciousness is the most fundamental reality in existence; if we would account consciousness to the equation and see it as fundamental, the only thing we would have to change in science is our viewpoint of what we are actually measuring.

This is to say that everything we have discovered in quantum and relativity theory, molecular biology etc., still stands to a large degree, but to get any further in understanding the reality we inhabit, the scientific community would need to change the basic assumption of what they are measuring – meaning that what is being measured is not actually matter, but rather different levels of potentials for observation; the object for the measurement would thus be an aware field of information arising from consciousness.

Needless to say, the inner experiences seem to be the only viable way to gain profound understanding about consciousness. That is to say, instead of focusing on the external world and finding explanations from the materialist paradigm, we should be focusing on the wisdom gained from these inner experiences. By doing so, we could gain deeper, wider, and broader understanding of consciousness, and therefore of reality, life, and of ourselves.

As mentioned earlier, science is a wonderful tool for showing us the ways of interpreting the physical world; as a tool and system of inquiry, science excels in this role of exploring the physical reality. However, scientific paradigms can become a form of dogma, resisting the scientific revolutions of thinking and discovery that always, eventually, make these old paradigms obsolete.

We cannot solve old paradigm problems by dealing in old paradigm solutions – this is especially true with everything consciousness related. Therefore, it goes without saying that with the current approach, our ability to create and find solutions is also limited to the confines of our thinking, and so it goes that we can only produce limited, finite solutions to the many problems that we ourselves have created in the world.

It certainly would help if the bubble of scientific dogma would burst open and scientism would be dismantled altogether, would it not? Someday soon, once we reach a new way of thinking that will liberate our minds not only from dogma and bias, but also from ignorance and hubris, can we approach this from another perspective, and truly proclaim to do proper science. This is when we can find creative solutions and approaches that will benefit humanity as a whole.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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Holographic Fractal Source Code of Life - Infinite Quantum Zen, Success Life Quotes, Alan Watts Philosophy

~ ∞ ~ Infinite World of Quantum and Zen - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

In this section, we will further our understanding of life and our experience of it; the discussion we are having here is a natural continuation of the one we started in Prologue. We begin this section by briefly exploring the core idea of Zen, which is to come in touch with the essence of life, and to do this in a way that is both simple and elegant.

In this brief exploration, we can see how the Zen approach parallels with the fascinating realm of the Quantum World. Each of them in their own unique ways help us understand life, each of them have something to teach us about life, about ourselves, about interconnectedness of all life, you see?

Therefore, it is not only logical, but imperative that we get familiar with both as they form the backbone of the conceptual framework named Infinite Quantum Zen – the cornerstone out of which this book emerged, you see?

The fundamental core of this dynamic framework is found in awareness – more specifically, in Living Awareness. And because this framework essentially resides within everyone who comes into contact with this book, it is an essential prerequisite to have an understanding which allows one to see beyond the surface.

For you see, it is like a seed – when planted in fertile soil, it can bear the fruits of wisdom, peace, happiness, harmony, and virtues; it dynamically creates and holds the space for exploration and discovery. So therefore, any bit of prerequisite information and prior knowledge can enhance the experience of reading this book, and in so doing can make the journey a little bit smoother.

Soon after we have covered the basics, we will take a closer look at the Essence of Zen, which will lay the foundation for further learning as it opens the door to the idea of present moment awareness – mindfulness, if you will. This will help us tremendously as we progress on our journey of discovery through several other sections; there are plenty more to discover, a plethora of questions to be asked, and lots of answers to be found.

The key here is not to rush; as is the case with all novelties that need time to grow, ripe and mature – so is the case with wisdom. You see, an essential part of mastery (of mystery) is patience, persistence, and consistency, as is the case here – see?

After we have explored the Essence of Zen, we will take a short detour and see how the above-mentioned conceptual framework got started, and how something that was initially conceptual became a living experience – it will be an eye-opening reading experience that will shed some light on the personal side of things. Later in our journey, we will have the great opportunity to delve deeper into the miraculous nature of Life and its built-in Living Intelligence.

In this journey, we will learn a new way of seeing life, which gives us the chance to understand Life as a unified, interconnected whole. In the midst of this, we also get to discuss what is needed of us in the future if we as the collective human species are to pursue the path of conscious transformation, which entails a conscious effort on our part to grow, mature, and progress – and eventually prosper, you see?

This discussion also serves the purpose of laying the ground for what lies ahead in the next section. So without a further due, let us delve right into it, shall we? There’s no better way to capture the Essence of Zen than by saying that Zen is a way of living and being. We can continue by saying that Zen in its basic essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being – seeing into one’s true nature.

In other words, Zen is coming back to this moment, to the natural, obvious simplicity of our true nature, which is another way of saying that Zen is a way of being in the world with mindful awareness of the present moment. As such, Zen is the achieving the balance between the world and the self. If there is anything to take away from this, it is this: Zen approach can teach us how to become empty and receptive.

When we are talking about the similarities between the ideologies of Zen and the Quantum World, we can find one common denominator above all else – Infinity (∞). Not only is the universe of Zen Infinite, but so is the realm of the Quantum.

Infinity is a concept describing something without any limit; Infinity is infinitely infinite, in which even seemingly finite structures are inherently infinite at all points. In other words, Infinity is the unreachable point at the end of a never-ending line that repeats itself ad infinitum.

In the worldview of Zen, the entire universe is found in a single hair, and countless worlds in a speck of dust; likewise, in the scientific world, the Quantum Mechanics is used to explain the natural world’s operations as the understanding of macro is found in micro.

Quantum Mechanics shows that one cannot decompose the world into isolated tiny entities capable of an independent existence. You see, the deeper we look, the more we realize that matter is not a collection of tiny independent particles but rather an interconnected web of relations between parts of a whole.

Another similarity can be found in the idea of sunyata as it is called in Sanskrit. Sunyata signifies that the universe is an open space of unlimited creative potential; similarly, Quantum Mechanics describe potential for existence. To give an example: matter and energy are not in themselves phenomena, and do not become phenomena until they interact with the mind.

These experimental aspects of sunyata are described in quantum phenomena. Although sunyata is often translated to mean ‘emptiness’ or ‘voidness,’ it is not a vacuum or a state of nothingness as generally understood – rather, it is both ‘emptiness’ and ‘fullness’ at the same time; or more aptly, pure potentiality – see?

One of the most glaring examples of the intersection of the worlds of the Quantum and Zen is to be found in the principle of wave-particle duality, which holds that elementary particles can exhibit the characteristics of both particles and waves, yet can be wholly reduced to neither.

Quantum Mechanics recognizes the duality of matter by showing that nature on the smallest subatomic level behaves as both a particle and a wave. A photon, for example, can be a particle, or it can be a wave – or it can be both at the same time.

Thus, one can say that Quantum Mechanics reveals the basic unity of the universe. You see, in Quantum Mechanics, subatomic particles exist in probability waves, and are only defined when something conscious observes them – otherwise they are everywhere and nowhere. And here we can find an amazing parallel: in the Zen way of thinking, opposites can exist simultaneously; contradictory things can exist at the same time.

Like the quantum wave function, a probability matrix used by physicists to describe the state of a system at a given time, wave-particle duality points us to one of the central problems at the heart of the Quantum World: Is there an objective, independent reality that is capable of being quantified, or are all such measurements subjective? Subjective by virtue of the fact that the measurements are always dependent on the observer, thus merely reflecting the observer’s mind, observer’s consciousness.

Let us explore this from the viewpoint of Zen, which contains many parallels to quantum physics in the way it introduces the basic ideas of spiritual duality – heaven and earth, transcendent and immanent. For example, in Zen, there are two domains of reality – emptiness and form – thus the Zen axiom: “Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form.”

The wave-particle duality of quantum physics recognizes two similar domains – potentiality and actuality. Likewise, consciousness plays a role in both realms in quantum physics as it does in Zen, as shown in this parable:

Two monks are arguing. One says, “The flag is moving.” The other says, “No, the wind is moving.” A master, passing by, admonishes them both: “The flag is not moving; the wind is not moving. Your mind is moving.”

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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On Intelligence 6 of 6 - Infinite living system life, the book of zen awareness alan watts, mindfulness key to happiness peace joy

~ ∞ ~ 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.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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On Intelligence 5 of 6 - Infinite living system life, the book of zen awareness alan watts, mindfulness key to happiness peace joy

~ ∞ ~ 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.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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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"

Awaken the Living Awareness Within - Problems of understanding the quantum world, book of zen alan watts

~ ∞ ~ Problems of Understanding the Quantum World - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

Now, let us look more closely as to why it is challenging to understand all things quantum. The following overview outlines some of the aspects that we have overlooked, dismissed and ignored, and hence they are rarely even brought up in discussions. For the knowledgeable – to someone who has gained wider perspective, these aspects are obvious, but for someone who is deeply embedded, involved in, and influenced by the current scientific paradigm – not so much.

You see, the continual exposure to something reduces our awareness of its presence, and so it goes that over time we become blind to the obvious; and for that 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. That said, let us dive in.

When it comes to all things Quantum, metaphysical considerations are unavoidable and more important than most realize. In this respect, science could be the wisdom tradition par excellence of our modern age – but only after a paradigm shift. You see, if one is truly interested in comprehensive knowledge of the whole, it is necessary to burst open the bubble of every scientific dogma. The ever-emerging discoveries of quantum physics are thirsting for the next generation of daring thinkers to further unfold its deeper meaning.

In this context, it is of paramount importance to highlight something that most fail to notice, or just simply don’t have the interest to delve into: the discoverers of quantum physics were deeply spiritual people; unlike many of today’s physicists, the founding fathers of quantum physics were passionately interested in the philosophical implications of their discoveries.

This gets obviously clear when one takes the time and effort to actually read and study their thoughts and opinions about what they had discovered. A good place to start is, obviously, their own publications, but those who are not familiar with the subject matter, it can be said that what gets you really started is Fritjof Capra’s excellent 1975 book The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism.

For more than 100 years ago, Max Planck introduced his quantum theory, which can be regarded as the starting point for the modern day Quantum Mechanics. Even though so many years have passed since then, we still seem to be running in circles trying to figure out even the very basics.

One of the biggest problems in understanding the Quantum Mechanical principles of nature is most definitely the very fact that somehow we have learned to label everything that even remotely relates to the Quantum World as being “weird” or “strange.” This predisposition sets the tone by defining our expectations, which in turn creates even more limitations to our already narrow way of thinking, giving less leeway to creative and innovative approaches.

In other words, instead of breaking out of the box that is limiting our thinking, with this predisposition we are creating evermore tighter box around us than we already are in. The name Quantum Mechanics itself reflects not only the mechanistic worldview but also the underlying beliefs and assumptions therein; this in turn sets limits to our thinking and serves to constrain our ideas and solutions, you see?

As I started to write this chapter, it soon became obvious that the best approach to convey the message of this chapter was through personal experience. There was a time on my path several years ago when I used to listen different variety of lectures and speeches from various people, not only in the scientific world, but also in spiritual world as well. I spent countless hours on studying how consciousness, awareness, presence, intention, and focused attention relates to the Quantum World and the Quantum Mechanical principles of reality.

During this time period, I became very familiar with both schools of thought (scientific, spiritual). I came to realize that in the scientific worldview, there seemed to be a repetitive tendency for making Quantum Mechanics to look more difficult than it really is – almost as if there were a concentrated effort to do so.

Whether this was (is) done in an unconscious level or not, doesn’t really matter as much as the very fact that there is an unbeneficial pattern, a vicious cycle that needs to be broken – shattered into pieces, reordered, reconfigured and restructured, you see?

While I was listening the “best of the best” in the fields of Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and even Quantum Computing – I got almost irritated of the way in which these people kept presenting their understanding of the subject. What stood out for me especially was the fact that almost all of these people kept repeating the words “weird”, “strange”, “spooky,” and so on.

I couldn’t but wonder what could possibly be the reason behind this repetitive statement that has absolutely nothing to do with actuality. Then it occurred to me that maybe it is the collective human tendency to compensate and alleviate one’s own uncertainty by projecting it to a larger audience. And so it goes that this doubt and uncertainty has therefore driven this same ‘spooky program’ for more than 100 years now.

With this kind of behavior we are constantly setting limits to ourselves by forcing ourselves to believe that the Quantum World is weird, and therefore difficult to understand. What makes the situation even worse is the fact that we continue to teach this very same thing over and over to our children – this results in that this same limiting belief is passed down to another generation(s).

The truth of the matter is that every generation seems to be more adapted to this limiting belief because they accept the consensus opinion as default without even questioning its validity. This results in that the ‘average Jane & Joe’ has a very difficult time to grasp even the very basics, not to say anything about the deeper implications.

After a while, I got the impression that even the most educated scientists of today seemed not to be able to fully understand what they themselves were actually saying and lecturing about, and what they were studying and teaching to others.

To be honest, those people who like to believe that the world and its events are always certain and therefore deterministic – are fooling themselves, big time. When we take a look at the events in our own lives, we all come to realize that life is indeterministic. Therefore, all people all around the world can agree that no event is certain and the entire outcome of anything is a probability.

The aforementioned leads us to conclude that the worldview where nature and our own life are completely determined from the past to the future reflects the human need for certainty in an uncertain world. This brings us to one of the essential components of Quantum Mechanics, namely uncertainty principle, which is sometimes referred also to as Heisenberg’s indeterminancy principle; it states that precise, simultaneous measurement of some complementary variables – such as the position and momentum of a subatomic particle – is impossible.

Contrary to the principles of classical physics, the simultaneous measurement of such variables is inescapably flawed. That is to say, the more precisely one is measured, the more flawed the measurement of the other will be. Werner Heisenberg explained his uncertainty principle in a 1927 paper as follows:

“The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.”

Somewhere along the way in my explorations of the Quantum World, I came to the conclusion that it must be the mathematical side of things (mind oriented logical approach) that’s distracting people from the simplicity of the quantum principles; thus making them less attracted to the beauty of the creative infinite potential within the mechanics itself.

As you read on, it gets more clear why this is so (mind oriented thinking vs. intuition). In the context of Quantum Mechanics, this battle between the mind and the intuition seem to boil down to the argument whether the Schrödinger’s cat is dead or alive.

This is to say that those individuals who perceive reality as only being solid, material and predictable – will always see the Schrödinger’s cat as being either dead or alive, and therefore they cannot grasp and accept the idea that the cat is actually both alive and dead at the same time (Quantum Superposition). This leads up to the judgement which denies the co-existent possibility, and therefore causes people to label everything quantum as being “weird.”

The problem originates from the way in which we acquire and process information, which goes on to say that in the world at large, the importance is often placed on the mind and the linear, rational thinking; this type of information gathering and processing is valued over the heart-based wisdom – it always builds up walls that narrow down our perception, and thus limit our understanding.

In the modern world, our understanding comes largely from the mind oriented approach that always involves thinking instead of trusting our intuition. The basic problem with this kind of approach is the fact that the mind won’t ever be capable of understanding something that has been created “outside” of the human mind.

This is to say that Living Life that’s made out of pure Living Awareness – Intelligence far more advanced than we currently know of – must be experienced directly for it to be known; this also means that in order to study Living Life, we would have to become conscious Co-Creators to fully know it.

This implies understanding without using the thinking mind – Innerstanding, you see? At this point, in this context, it is good to remind ourselves of the truth that the human mind was originally created to handle and process worldly matters in physical reality – like figuring out how to use things as tools, not to exhaust ourselves with excess thinking – see?

In summary, it is important to remind ourselves of the following truth: because consciousness and its inherent awareness are the basis of all Living Life – there’s ultimately nothing to discover, but everything to be realized through our innate ability of being aware. It is evidently clear that if the scientists remain within the limited boundaries of their material worldview – they are going to continue running in circles.

This goes on to say that in science everything meaningful has already been discovered, and there is nothing new to be found anymore – at least not in a traditional way; all that remains are more and more precise measurement; what makes the difference is how skillfully we learn to utilize everything we have already discovered.

Hence, it goes without saying that once we reach a new way of thinking that will liberate our minds not only from dogma and bias, but also from ignorance and hubris, can we truly proclaim to do proper science. It would certainly help if the bubble of scientific dogma would burst open, and as a result, scientism would be dismantled altogether, would it not? To crystallize the message of this chapter, let us end with these words by Nikola Tesla:

“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane; The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony

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