Infinite Quantum Zen

The mystery of human life - the book alan-watts zen meditation mindfulness

~ ∞ ~ The Mystery of Human Life – The Essence of Life ~ ∞ ~

As indicated in the earlier chapter, it seems that the story of the human species is one big mystery; it also appears to be the case that we are suffering from a certain level of collective amnesia – these are the topics of our interest in the following few pages.

And so it goes that as we start to unravel the mystery of human life, we find that all the information about our past is fragmented at best, and quite mysterious to say the least; we also find that many of the books written in modern times are mostly author’s interpretations of other books, which indicates that we clearly prefer to write books about books, enriched with the author’s perception of the subject matter.

On top of that, it seems that instead of contributing something new, exciting and useful, we get enjoyment from arguing against anything new or different; criticising and discrediting other authors and their work. In other words, there are huge amounts of books and information out there in the world, but very little substance, quality, or significance.

As the curious individual peels the layers of the mystery, it is revealed that our recorded history reaches only as far back as some 5000 years ago, and yet we find through DNA analysis that the human species can be traced as far back as almost a million years ago. That is to say, there is a huge gap between what has been recorded in the history books and what has actually happened.

There is a saying that history is written by the victors of war, and that history is destined to repeat itself, which raises the question: Can we really trust the written records, or could we find out the truth about ourselves from some other way? Here we should also be asking the following questions: From whose perspective is history told?

And furthermore: Is there any such thing as one history, or are there many histories? For example, we all know that the same story told by two different people will sound very different. Taking that into account, one should be inclined to ask the following question: What does it mean in the context of history if there is bias involved?

By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to many histories, it is important, then, to not only study many different perspectives, but also make wise choices about whose stories of history to read and what to incorporate into one’s view of the world. One must not only study many perspectives, but also progress on one’s inner journey before one can hope to acquire an inkling of the Truth.

It goes without saying that we cannot blindly trust the written word. You see, the one who controls the narrative, controls history; the one who controls history, controls the society, consensus reality, and in turn the world; the one who is capable of telling a story of history and making that history accepted as true by a large part of the population – is the one who holds the power – see?

And so it goes that from that point onwards that particular version of history becomes part of our consensus reality, and then there is very little we can do about it. Let us go a little further with this, shall we?

Needless to say, in today’s fast-paced information age, our history is constantly being written and rewritten, contested and reinterpreted, and thus it would be almost impossible for the average individual to keep up with all that information. This is why the vast majority of people take it as face value without doing research for themselves.

Furthermore, in today’s fast-paced lifestyle, our attention span is quite low, and thus people prefer second- and third-hand information, or even worse – hearsay, rather than finding out for themselves by reading, studying, researching, travelling and experiencing. This, in turn, further reinforces the collective belief about ourselves and the world we live in – all based on the stories we tell each other. But here we should ask ourselves: Whose stories are to be told, and from whose perspective are they to be told?

Another side of the coin is that with all of this information, it is even more difficult to discern what is true. We are spoon-fed half-truths and sugar-coated information all the time – be it political, religious, scientific, medical, economic, or something else. This is nothing new. On the contrary, it has happened many times in the past and still happens today, regardless of the field or area – it is premature at best, and the height of hubris at worst, to assume otherwise.

As an example of how it works: in a science-driven world, these half-truths are presented as unchangeable facts, although they are based on models and predictions that are very much subject to change. These half-truths masked as unchangeable facts are then quite conveniently marketed to us as “discoveries, breakthroughs, and inventions.”

This brings up a whole host of other related issues and questions, the most obvious being: Has anything changed since the dawn of man? Well, times have changed, yes, but humans have remained much the same. You see, there are still wars and conflict, there is a divide between rich and poor, people are still greedy and cruel, and we still have great suffering in the world.

On top of that, we have developed a formidable intellect, science, and technology that we primarily use to build ever more powerful weapons; and not only that, but we have also weaponized information, largely for the same reason people weaponize anything – to win or gain something, shift perception, control narrative, history, society, consensus reality, and in the end, the world, you see?

As such, nations are in endless arms race to not only acquire more and more powerful weapons, but also to develop ever more sophisticated tactics and strategy. Such is the nature of us human beings with the human condition and collective amnesia – the only intelligent, sentient bipedal species known to exist in this universe.

All this leads to only one conclusion: If there’s any mystery at all, it is most certainly we humans ourselves – how did we end up like this? As far as it concerns us human beings, this is, bar none, the greatest mystery of them all. If we can unravel this mystery, then we are able to answer the questions regarding who we are, why we are here, whence we came from, and where are we going.

This presents an interesting conundrum: as things stand, we live in a world where everything has been turned upside-down – morally, ethically, spiritually, and logically: light has become darkness and darkness has become light; good has become evil and evil has become good; justice has become injustice and goodness has become wicked; the truth has become lies and lies have become truth.

On that note, it is imperative to highlight the following: honesty is the beginning of all wisdom – without honesty, no trust is possible, without honesty, no true communication exists, without honesty, no progress could be made, without honesty, no one can better themselves, and certainly, without honesty, no great spirituality can be accomplished – honesty is the first step toward truth.

“Be honest with yourself. The world of men is not honest with you. The world loves hypocrisy. When you are honest with yourself you find the road to inner peace.” ~ Paramahansa Yogananda.

Unfortunately, as it has been in the past, so it is also now – for you see, once in a while, it happens that these lies, half-truths and fallacies are forced upon us to make it the “truth.” The only real solution to this conundrum is to unlearn what one has learned, and then relearn everything from scratch, from ground up; and not only that, but also transcend one’s views and beliefs.

Unfortunately, as is the case with so many other things, more often than not, this process of unlearning, relearning, and transcending is too much for the majority of people, and thus they continue to buy into this deceit of half-truths, biased information, distorted facts and outright lies.

To be blunt – blinded by groupthink, people are like a flock of birds or herd of sheep, nearly all of them running at a given time in the same direction, which brings about the question: If an individual can be ignorant, naive, and short-sighted – taking into account the human condition and collective amnesia, how misguided and lost can a group of people be? Is it any wonder, then, that the mystery of human life continues to prevail?

There is hope, though, for you see, when a curious individual looks deeper into the reality of their surroundings, instead of blindly trusting other people’s stories and interpretations – quite a different picture emerge, and so it goes that the mystery begins to reveal itself to those who seek the Truth.

From the aforementioned discussion, we can easily draw the following conclusions: there is an ongoing invisible war against our Souls – its nature is Spiritual; it is a war of narratives, of ideas, of knowledge – or the lack thereof. The battleground is our minds and hearts – see?

What it comes down to is consciousness, and moreover – awareness, or the lack thereof. We should take heed of this and reflect on it; to be mindful and prepare for our spiritual warfare with a breastplate of faith and love, a helmet of hope and feet shod in peace – if not for any other reason than for the good of ourselves and our loved ones.

___
~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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

[ Click » here « to read the next part: A Species With Collective Amnesia (The Human Condition) – The Essence of Life: Part III ]

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."

In search for the meaning of life 2 of 2 - alan watts the book of zen meditation happiness mindfulness joy

~ ∞ ~ In Search for the Meaning of Life – The Essence of Life ~ ∞ ~

Now, it is reasonable to ask ourselves: Did people seek contentment and fulfillment before the modern times, and did they seek meaning and purpose? Did people really seek to understand their own existence before the modern times, and was that even a necessary endeavour? Were they fulfilled enough living off of the land, being close to nature?

Did they have a deeper connection to their environment and the world around them than we do? Did they have a connection to God that we apparently don’t? One thing is certain, modern day humans are experiencing an existential crisis of epic proportions. Therefore, as a result, modern day humans are seeking answers to the deeper underlying causes behind the collective human condition.

From the previous, it becomes obvious that throughout the history of humanity, we have struggled to find meaning and purpose in an incredible contradiction of our human condition. The agony of being unable to truthfully answer the fundamental question of why we are the way we are – has been the particular burden of human life.

Our endeavours in philosophy, psychology, and biology have failed to provide a truthful, real, fully accountable and genuinely clarifying explanation. And when it comes to scientific contributions, they focus primarily on describing related empirical facts about the universe, exploring the context and parameters concerning the “how” of life – rather than “why.” This raises the question: Have you ever wondered what life is? If you answered yes – then it’s highly probable that you might have also asked the following questions:

What is the origin of life? Where did it all come from? What caused the universe? What happened before the Big Bang? What is the meaning of life? What’s it all about? Who, and what are we, really? Why are we here on Earth? Why do we exist in the first place, and what is the reason for our existence? Is there any specific purpose to life? What is the purpose of one’s life? What is meaningful and valuable in life? What is the value of life? What is the reason to live? What are we living for?

If you considered any of those questions worth thinking about, then you are like most curious human beings. Furthermore, if you considered any of them worth contemplating over, and if you considered answering any of them, then you are unlike most humans, one of those few whose hearts desire is to know themselves – deeply, inside and out.

Broadly speaking, for centuries, people all over the world have been asking these very same questions, eventually arriving at the same conclusion: We just don’t know, do we? So, then, what do we really know? All we know is that we exist and we are aware of it; likewise, all we know about the world is experience (consciousness), and all we know about the experience is that there is that-which-experiences (awareness).

All we know about the experience and the experiencer is that the human body, including the brain – is the instrument through which awareness experiences consciousness. In other words, there is the content of consciousness (experience) as well as the awareness of it. This dynamic between the experience and the experiencer can be called reality.

And now the question becomes: What came first: reality or consciousness of it? This, indeed, is a mystery. What we know about it, though, is that underlying this consciousness, there is awareness – through which, and by which, we become aware of consciousness, and therefore, of reality, you see?

Furthermore, to be honest, how much do we really know about the past and the origins of the human species? When we really think about this – it seems that the story of the human species is one big mystery. As such, it appears that we are suffering from a certain level of collective amnesia. This amnesiac state seems to have an influence on our way of life, to such an extent that we humans also seem to live in a deep state of denial – most notably of our mortality and suffering.

Against this backdrop, it is fascinating to see that we dream of an eternal life, but at the same time we fail to see that most of our lives are filled with suffering – there’s a huge dichotomy here – don’t you think? Despite this obvious dichotomy, most people just leave it there and continue their way of life as before; choosing an endless cycle of craving, frustration and suffering. In spite of that, there is a point, a moment we arrive at where the inevitable strikes us with its adamant presence: If we don’t choose a path of peace, harmony and balance, we plunge deeper into oblivion.

Even though at some point in everyone’s life there comes a time when each person starts to question their mortality and the meaning of it all – only in some rare cases does this natural process lead to a spiritual awakening, which is something that takes place within each of us whenever we are ready to remember our eternal nature.

As it stands, most humans are not ready to awaken or to be awakened, which goes on to say that most people seem to only touch the surface level of Life – by their own volition. As such, it seems to be the case that more often than not, it requires some kind of critical life event to happen that forces us to look at our deepest questions: Who am I? What is this life? Is there more to this life than I’ve already discovered? There is, indeed, more to us than we know, and much more to Life than meets the eye. Let us explore this further.

When we are talking about the spiritual awakening, it is worth pointing out that it is a complete surrender – a process of harsh self-honesty. It’s a path of complete acceptance of the truth – no matter how difficult it is to bear; this is also the main reason why only so few individuals embark on a spiritual journey. That said, it is important to highlight the fact that all spiritual development comes from within the individual, and thus spiritual development is a process like any other.

You see, spiritual development arises from discipline and continuous self-improvement. This means that no one else but the individuals themselves can increase their own spirituality – no one else can do it for us; we ourselves are responsible for our own growth and development. Our growth is solely dependent upon the amount of work we put in; after all, it is the process that counts, you see?

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, you see? The obstacle can either be a boundary or a horizon; it can be a problem or it can be a solution; it can either be something we run from or something we learn from.

As we navigate the path that life lays out before us – the choice is always ours to make. Remember, it is one thing to talk the talk, and quite another to walk the walk. We can talk the talk without walking the walk; and we can try to walk the walk without talking the talk; but those who both walk the walk and talk the talk – are the ones who succeed – see?

Before we wrap up this chapter, once again, let me ask you this: What is it that most of us are truly seeking? Is it not true that most of us are seeking some kind of happiness, some kind of inner peace and harmony? And is it not also true that beyond it, we seek meaning, purpose, growth, and most of all – we seek connection? But what if, in actuality, there is nothing to seek, and nothing to find? What if, in actuality, there was but one Truth to be found, one Truth to be realized – the great cosmic joke, if you will: that you are what you are seeking?

That there is nothing we must be, do, or have, nothing to achieve, to become, to grow to, or strive for. That we merely discover what we truly are as we unbecome everything we’re not, and in so doing become more of what we are, you see? So, where does the cosmic joke lead us? Plain and simple, back to where we started, but with a completely new and fresh perspective – to the unadulterated pure joy of just being alive, appreciating the Miracle of Life and each day as a precious gift from God.

Taking into consideration all the aforementioned, one should be inclined to ask the following question: Isn’t it intriguing that we all look for happiness, peace, contentment and fulfillment in the things of the world, yet all along, these things are our very nature – our very own center of being, you see?

Now, let us end this chapter with the following words: although life may sometimes seem aimless or random, even absurd, pointless and without meaning – there is purpose in everything; we just need to be aware enough to see it. There is purpose even in the process of realizing the absurdity of life. You see, it is the beginning, not an end, for it fundamentally changes one’s way of living and being, doing and acting, which in turn changes one’s feeling and the ways of thinking and seeing.

It is in these moments where we have an opportunity to gain perspective. These are the moments that allow us to realize that happiness stems from being aware; from being grateful for this moment; from being grateful for what we have. Life is the ultimate blessing – see? So with each morning, why not remind yourself how grateful you are for your health and well-being? For you see, health is not given – it has to be gained and maintained by one’s own efforts; of which being grateful is a big part of the equation. What a marvelous reminder, don’t you think?

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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

[ Click » here « to read the next part: The Mystery of Human Life – The Essence of Life: Part III ]

In search for the meaning of life 1 of 2 - alan watts the book of zen meditation happiness mindfulness joy

~ ∞ ~ In Search for the Meaning of Life – The Essence of Life ~ ∞ ~

When we are exploring the Essence of Life, we are inevitably faced with a series of big questions. Therefore, some would say that from the very beginning, people in all corners of the Earth have been trying to find the answers to life-long questions. These questions arise not only because of our curiosity as human beings, but also because we are thirsty, spiritually speaking, you see?

We are curious beings by nature – just as we want to know who we truly are, we also want to know why we are here, and what is the purpose for our existence here on Earth. And these questions, my friend, arise from our unending desire for fulfillment. You see, driven either by lack, desire, or simply thirst – we are constantly searching for more.

By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to our unending desire for fulfillment, one should be inclined to ask the following question: Are we not, through all of our efforts, searching for more – be it more material possessions, more money, more status, more power, more excitement, more love, more knowledge, or something else along those lines? And is it not true, then, that we discover again and again that the latest attainments provide only temporary satisfaction?

You see, eventually the novelty wears off and the inevitable realization sets in: there is nothing in this physical world that can fill the deepest longing of our heart; this void cannot be filled by excitement nor by material things; this thirst cannot be quenched by any water of the world – it can only be quenched by the Water of Life.

So, can we therefore conclude that within each of us, there is, indeed, a search for something permanent, is there not? Indeed, there certainly is. You see, even today, more so than ever before, people are searching for the ultimate answer to life, to love, to health, to happiness, to success, and to freedom.

It is no surprise, then, that in today’s world, we are drowning in self-help books, podcasts, videos, websites, workshops, workouts, lectures, courses and retreats that promise to explain everything, that promise us success, that promise to teach us how become perfect versions of ourselves, and basically promise to fix all our problems for us.

From this, the question arises: What is it that we are seeking? At first, we search for a way to relieve our own suffering; we look everywhere for something that will quell our hunger and quench our thirst. In our exploration we may try many different approaches only to abandon them when they fail to satisfy our basic craving. We do this in hopes of finding some solace, in hopes of finding peace.

The honest truth is, though, that if we are spiritually lost, wandering through life like a ship lost at sea, and therefore cannot be reunited with the source and ground of our being, everything is temporary and fleeting – like sand running through our fingers, even the feeling of peace and solace, you see? Furthermore, if we don’t find our true purpose, we cannot find meaning either, and so it goes that in our search for meaning, we continue the same cycle over and over – craving begets craving, ignorance begets ignorance, and suffering begets suffering, doesn’t it?

Considering all the aforementioned, one should be inclined to ask the following question: What is it that most of us are truly seeking? Well, most of us are seeking some kind of happiness, some kind of inner peace and harmony, are we not? Beyond that, we seek meaning, purpose, growth, and most of all – we seek connection. Do we not, therefore, seek through all of our efforts something permanent, something lasting, something which we call Truth; something which we call True, Real, God? From this, the question arises: How does one go about obtaining all that and perhaps even more – such as Satori, Samadhi, or even Enlightenment?

Well, let us continue by noting that each of us has the potential for growth; potential for greatness that knows no bounds; potential for creativity; potential for a deeper connection with our True Self, Spirit, and the Divine. By the same token, we would do well to remind ourselves of the fact that not all humans are ready to awaken or to be awakened.

Hence, they will never be able to realize their full potential – unless, of course, something sparks the curiosity within. You see, it is one thing to make a conscious choice to pursue personal growth, and quite another to never try at all and just ponder and wonder. It is for this reason why so many unanswered questions arise in the minds of people.

This is why writers, poets, philosophers and thinkers in many fields throughout history have tried to provide answers – many of whom have never actually done the work on themselves. We have searched for the answers everywhere in the world; we have been looking far and wide, high and low, above and beyond, and yet we have failed to see that the answers we seek lie within each and every one of us.

The question of the meaning of life is the most fundamental of the many questions we face about our existence. After all, we are the only intelligent, sentient bipedal species known to exist in this universe – which, in and of itself, is enough to arouse our curiosity to find answers to the deeper questions, isn’t it? The search for life’s meaning has produced much philosophical, scientific, theological and metaphysical speculation throughout history.

The answer to this question as we generally perceive it is derived from philosophical and religious contemplation of, and scientific inquiries about existence, social ties, consciousness, and happiness. Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, the existence of one or multiple gods, conceptions of God, the Soul or Spirit, and the afterlife.

Because of this, for thousands of years, generation after generation, people have sought to find their place in relation to the larger universe. Thus, even today, we often stare up at the heavens and wonder about the extent of the universe, its origin and its meaning – hoping to find an answer to our existence. As a result, we have invented something called philosophy, which aims to fulfill our intellectual craving by which we try to alleviate our spiritual thirst for deeper fulfillment.

This type of inquiry starts with wonder, leads to thinking, and ends up with even more thinking – eventually leading to nowhere at all – it’s like a dog chasing its own tail. And so it goes that in the midst of this, we end up chasing our proverbial tails, which is another way of saying that we lose our perspective and ourselves in the process. For you see, it is one thing to ponder these questions, and quite another to attempt to answer them; it is one thing to speculate, and quite another to provide answers that arise from experience.

And so you see, in search for the meaning and purpose, we easily get carried away and forget what is really and truly important in life, what is here and now, what is within each and every one of us. The honest truth is that we cannot find meaning in this life by filling ourselves with the things of this world. You can have it all and still want more, you can have it all and still have nothing, you can have it all and still be empty – without meaning, without purpose, without contentment and happiness.

It is only through one’s conscious effort, dedication and will, through which one strives towards higher evolution, towards inner transformation, by which inner peace, happiness, contentment and fulfillment is attained and maintained, meaning found, and purpose realized. Are these not the things many people in the world seeks after, alongside with health, happiness, and love? Are these not the reasons why one seeks to develop the self in the first place?

When one experiences oneself as being one with Life, one with Living Consciousness, one with Living Awareness, one with the Totality, one with the Divine, one with God – it gives ultimate meaning to one’s life. In other words, the only thing that truly brings meaning to life is God. And so you see, no matter where you seek – far and wide, high and low, above and beyond.

Ultimately, there is but one Truth to be found, one Truth to be realized: there is but one God to merge with, there is but one all pervading Spirit, and it is called the Truth, by which The Miracle of Life is made possible – it exists in all Creation, it is timeless, universal, and self-existent; there is but one First Cause that has its Being of itself, and on which all other beings depend; there is but one Infinite Being, so there is but One God – see?

Furthermore, considering the aforementioned, one can say that without God, we are hopelessly wandering through life like a ship lost at sea at night without the guiding light from a lighthouse, drifting farther and farther off course, and like a ship lost at sea, we need to find that ray of light to center us back on course.

And so you see, if we choose to use our free will to see that light and find that hope, we will overcome any obstacles we may face; with patience and persistence we will prevail, and in so doing we continue to move forward. With God in our lives, we have hope and peace, but also contentment and meaning; with God in our lives, we have a compass directing us in life, you see?

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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

[ Click » here « to read the next part: In Search for the Meaning of Life (2/2) – The Essence of Life: Part II ]

What Is Life? 3 of 3 - All Life Exists in an Interconnected Web - Infinite Quantum Zen, Successful Life

~ ∞ ~ What Is Life? 3/3 – Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

Before we move on to the next chapter, we would do well to summarize what this chapter has taught us about life. In this chapter, we have seen how we as human beings are always eager to pin everything down, categorize, label, define, explain, classify, and prescribe that which we don’t understand; and that, of course, we do in the hopes that someday we may understand what we don’t yet understand.

As such, we have traditionally defined life to be just some “physically” organized structures that are able to grow, develop and reproduce – “living” organisms aiming towards evolution. Thus, most scientists seem to agree that all living things share certain basic characteristics like organization, reproduction, growth and development, homeostasis and evolution.

However, we should keep in mind that these, too, are but mental abstractions and approximations – not actuality; which brings us to our first conclusion: in spite of all our efforts and extremely detailed and fine-tuned descriptions – we have failed to define life. This brings about the question: Could the reason be that there was never anything to define in the first place?

Here we should challenge ourselves by asking the question: Does life really exist at all? Is there any such thing as life, or have we just invented it as an abstraction to represent something we don’t quite yet understand? Well, the honest truth is that the mission to define life is in many ways – futile, for the simple reason that the materialistic view is incomplete.

Having said that, it is important to emphasize the following: the scientific definition of life is valid only in its context, which leads us to realize that life is indeed a concept that we invented, and hence it doesn’t reflect the actuality of existence. In other words, what we call “life” is merely our failed attempt to capture the essence of our being, which in its deepest core – is pure awareness.

And so you see, one should not make the mistake of confusing the idea of a thing with the thing itself; or in this case, the appearance with the essence. You see, the Essence of Life is not the same as the description or explanation of it. So, can we therefore conclude that what we call “life” is but a facade?

Against this backdrop, we can see that what constitutes our existence is something beyond words, symbols, numbers, formulas, definitions, descriptions and explanations. The aforementioned methods are essentially tools by which humans convey information to one another, which is another way of saying that all of these methods are extensions of language; and language, in and of itself, always, ultimately, fails to describe the actuality of existence.

So in this sense, there’s a certain irony in that we have to use words to explain why words are so limited; the problem arises when we start to confuse descriptions and explanations with the actuality. And with this, we arrive at an astonishing conclusion: recognizing life as a concept would free us from the old way of seeing and lead us in a direction to discover a completely new way of approaching our existence.

Therefore, when we ask the question, “What Is Life?” we should want to know what Life is at its highest form beyond mere chemistry, DNA, RNA, proteins, enzymes, and heredity. It is well known throughout the world that Life in its deepest core is Spirit, or just simply pure Awareness; it is active, sentient, feeling, thinking, purposive, valuing, social, other-respecting, relating and caring.

Hence, it goes without saying that if we really want to know what Life is, we should start our search within ourselves. It is clear that if we pay close attention, we find that deep within each and every one of us, there is, indeed – a Life Force that permeates everything in the universe. However, this Vital Spark of Life becomes obvious to us only when the organism is imbued with purpose and self-regulation, as is a living plant or a human being.

In this chapter, we have talked about life and concluded that what we call “life” is but a vague definition of a finite. Life – emphasis on the capital letter, on the other hand, is something completely different – it is more like a living Spiritual Organism than anything else: it learns and gains experience by expressing itself through its many emanations – including us human beings.

From this perspective, all of life is essentially one gigantic ocean of life; one gigantic being of all beings; one gigantic Life of all lives. It is only our self-grasping ignorance which cuts up the ocean of life into discrete, independent beings that are somehow separate from one another. In other words, we grasp at self and other as being distinct and separate beings – but in actuality, we are all part of the same Living Life.

One last thing before we move on: considering all the aforementioned, one should be inclined to ask the following question: If life isn’t what we think it is, maybe death isn’t what we imagine it to be, either? Here we should challenge ourselves by asking an intriguing question: What is the opposite of death?

Most people would probably say that it’s life, but when you really see clearly – you cannot help but arrive at the conclusion: the opposite of death is birth; both are gateways through which Life passes in and out of time in physical existence.

Life Force that moves through us is the same Eternal Essence that moves through every living being, including trees and plants – Living Life expressing itself through all life – constantly finding the best and the most efficient ways for life to grow, flourish and thrive. Life Force is beginningless, which means that Life has always been, always is, and always will be.

In other words, death is but a temporary putting away of the physical expression of existence by the Soul or Spirit, which is the real “I” in all of us. This “I” is the center of Life in each and every one of us; it is the unchanging Eternal Truth in us; the real “I” in all of us. When the individual arrives at this realization, their whole perception irrevocably changes.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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

[ Click » here « to read the next part: In Search for the Meaning of Life (1/2) – The Essence of Life: Part II ]

What Is Life? 2 of 3 What happens to the Earth affects everyone

~ ∞ ~ What Is Life? 2/3 – Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

So let us continue our discussion about life and slowly transition our focus towards “Life.” This is the point where we should ask ourselves the following questions: What do we really mean when we are talking about life? Where do we draw the line between living and non-living? And on what grounds do we say that something is alive and something is not? Furthermore, we should consider the following: If life isn’t what we think it is, maybe death isn’t what we imagine it to be, either?

In trying to define life, we have drawn a line at an arbitrary level of complexity and conveniently declared that everything above that imaginary border is alive and everything below it is not. In actuality, there’s no clear distinction anywhere on the Earth’s surface between living and non-living; there’s merely a hierarchy of intensity going from the ‘material’ environment of the rocks and the atmosphere to the living cells.

In other words, this division doesn’t exist outside the mind – there’s no threshold at which a collection of atoms suddenly becomes alive, no categorical distinction between the living and inanimate. It’s not that there’s no material difference between living things and the inanimate; rather, we will never find some clean dividing line between the two.

This is because the notion of life and non-life as distinct categories is just that – a notion, not actuality; and yet we are still very eager to judge whether something is dead or alive, living or non-living, animate or inanimate.

Even though dualistic thinking is under challenge, it is still influential, and thus we are very keen to dualism in our thinking when it comes to the subject of life. To give an example: there is no uniform consensus on whether viruses are a form of life or just some organic structures that interact with living organisms.

Viruses are essentially strands of DNA or RNA packaged inside a protein shell; they don’t have cells or a metabolism but they do have genes and they can evolve. Thus viruses have been described as “organisms at the edge of life,” since they resemble organisms in that they possess genes, evolve by natural selection, and reproduce by creating multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly.

So therefore, yet again, it is more than reasonable to ask ourselves: What Is Life, really? Could Life be something much more complex than we have used to? Could there be something “outside” the material structures that gives birth to life as we know it? Something that we’re not able to see through microscopes, e.g., morphic fields*1 that contain an inherent memory transmitted from similar past organisms by the process of morphic resonance*2.

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*1 Fields that play a causal role in morphogenesis. This term, first proposed in the 1920’s, is now widely used by developmental biologists. According to the morphosis of formative causation, these fields contain an inherent memory, transmitted from similar past organisms by the process of morphic resonance.

*2 The influence of previous structures of activity on subsequent similar structures of activity, organized by morphic fields. According to the hypothesis of formative causation, morphic resonance involves the transmission of formative influences through or cross time and space without a decrease due to distance or lapse of time.

Could these morphic fields explain why viruses seem to have intelligence of their own – shared intelligence that drives the extent of the mutations to ensure organisms survival? Keeping that in mind, quite curiously, a recent study has found that not only are viruses alive, they are also really, really old, and they share a long evolutionary history with cells.

They simply have an atypical mode of living that’s slightly different from ours – they are not fully independent; instead, they move in and out of our bodies – stealing the resources and producing their offspring. Having said that, it is quite obvious that we need to broaden the way in which we define life and its associated activities.

Although the discussion in this chapter is mostly about life in general, it would not be complete without briefly talking about human life in the context of evolution. You see, in the Western worldview, which has its roots in scientific materialism, it is strongly believed that humans*1 emerged in evolution through random genetic mutations as the result of a spontaneous reshuffling of molecules in the genes.

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*1 This area is explored in more detail in the chapters, 1.) Humanity – The Pinnacle of Evolution? 2.) The Preciousness of Human Life, 3.) When Does a Human Life Begin? 4.) Our Spiritual Nature.

More precisely, it is considered as a given fact; with a leap of faith, scientific materialism accepts this assumption as truth, giving us the impression that no truths lie beyond the domain of science.

As such, it is pretty clear that scientism (the claim that science is the only source of knowledge; that science is the absolute and only justifiable access to the truth) has taken a considerably larger foothold in the world today. 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.

The problem here is that the scientifically oriented people most often tend to believe that the only way to understand the nature of the universe and life in it, 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 and therefore as truth. Scientific materialism essentially reduces human existence to our physical existence, and so it goes that we are fooling ourselves to believe that we are merely these physical bodies and mind.

But when we account for sentience, intelligence, and qualia (subjective, conscious experience) – something that cannot be measured or quantified, it becomes a whole lot more complicated than that. If we are to better understand ourselves, we should consider that there may be some other factors in play, other than the biological ones – especially when it comes to us human beings.

Unfortunately, we seem to be fixated on this romanticized idea of biological evolution, as if it would somehow solve the problem of consciousness, and therefore our existence as intelligent sentient beings. As a result, human life has become a philosophical issue increasingly forgotten, obscured, or passed off as a mere subjective appearance.

This presents an interesting conundrum. You see, isn’t it the other way around – life in general being a subjective interpretation filtered through layers of perception to produce a limited perception of Reality? Let us flip the script for a moment, shall we? Now, if we are to suppose for a moment, that we humans are, indeed, the pinnacle of evolution – would it not then mean that consciousness is the end goal for evolution?

And now, if we can see evolution as a spiritual path, we must then see that consciousness is the most spiritual thing there is, and therefore we must be willing to surrender to the spiritual process – the process of fulfilling the telos of human existence if we are to evolve further, you see?

This romanticized idea of biological evolution serves the role of being “the” one, all-inclusive, “be-all-end-all” explanation for almost everything. What an excellent way to avoid the conundrum of the most profound – don’t you think? When a different kind of approach is presented – especially those dealing with spiritual matters, things get interesting to say the least.

In this kind of situation, one can experience almost eerie-like feeling, a disturbance in the force, a resistance of sorts. The possibility that life’s origin may be spiritual in nature scares the heck out of people, even the very mention of such a possibility or even the very idea itself makes people uncomfortable and uneasy. There is clearly something to it – at the grandest level.

However, somehow, somewhere along the way, as is the case with so many other things, the “survival of the fittest” became the new normal; forming the narrow perspective through which we perceive ourselves – molding the structures of society that are based on a competitive struggle for existence. All based on a belief – a matter of chance and necessity; life guided by the randomness of mutations channeled by the determinism of mechanism in the interplay between organism and environment.

It is this narrow lens which makes self and others seem wholly disconnected. Both as individuals and as a species, we suffer from a sense of self that feels disconnected not only from other people but from the Earth itself. This kind of view doesn’t leave any room for purpose in nature; all progress and evolution is believed to be merely the injection of novelty through mutations – selected according to the necessities of survival in a particular niche.

Against this backdrop, we can easily see that this kind of limited materialistic view has created many levels of distortion into our collective worldview, which is another way of saying that the more rigid and narrow our thinking becomes, the more we seem to miss and dismiss the big picture of it all.

And so it seems that modern philosophy and science tries to limit the knowledge of the world and ourselves by reducing reality to what can be detected through sensory experience or can be analyzed with reason – leaving no room for intuition, insight and Inner Knowing*1.

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*1 Inner Knowing is the ability to know what you need to know when you need to know it.

When we are perceiving the world around us through the narrow scope of vision, we are also limiting the definitions that constitutes something as being alive, and therefore we tend to draw a strict line between living and non-living. The latter is believed to be something that lacks or has stopped displaying the characteristics of ‘life.’

Therefore, solid inanimate objects like crystals and rocks are often considered as being non-living because of their seemingly solid nature. But in all actuality, they are very much alive – it’s just their energy vibration that’s condensed to such a low vibrating motion that we perceive them as solid objects.

This is to say that crystals e.g., take thousands of years to grow, and when we observe them a little closer, we can see that underlying within their dense and physical appearance, there is, indeed, energy filled with living, vibrating Life – a living sea of consciousness.

In a crystal we have clear evidence of the existence of a formative life principle, and though we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is nonetheless a living being. ~ Nikola Tesla

This goes on to say that there’s something beyond the surface – something much more wonderful and mysterious that is neither being nor not-being, neither living nor not-living. This something is a state of pure awareness beyond the limitations of space, time, and form.

This core essence is found in everything within nature and the universe – including us human beings. But for some reason, it is difficult for us to recognize that we are something much more than the physical body we inhabit. And for that reason we use the words “Soul” or “Spirit” in our attempt to describe that which is within our body; that which gives us our personality; that essence which ultimately animates our body – our Life Force.

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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

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What Is Life? 1 of 3 All Life Exists in an Interconnected Web

~ ∞ ~ What Is Life? 1/3 – Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

Now that we have reached a level of understanding that is more than adequate enough to carry us through some of the more complex topics, we can delve deeper into the subject of life, and more specifically – human life.

Naturally, in this section, we explore the deep and fundamental questions about life and death, existence and non-existence, examine the meaning of life, and also touch upon the human condition that is inherent and innate to all human beings. In the following chapters, we will take a deep dive into humans as we know humans, in the context of life and existence.

Each of these chapters build upon each other, gradually adding new layers of depth and complexity, which in turn gives room for more context to emerge, slowly painting a bigger picture. In a way, this bigger picture is a story of humans as we know humans – their challenges, weaknesses and shortcomings, but also their strengths and opportunities.

In this regard, this section – as a whole, can be said to be an unapologetic exploration of the human species – the only intelligent, sentient bipedal species known to exist in this universe that seeks to find answers to the deeper questions concerning existence and life itself.

As a way of introduction, let us consider the following: When we ask the question, “What is life?” most people seek to answer this question from the world of phenomena, and thus they fail to address the deeper level of the question: What is it that makes you – you? What is it that makes up the whole of who you are?

Obviously, there is no all-encompassing answer, which makes it all the more intriguing, doesn’t it? We can begin answering these questions by shedding some light on how we currently see and define life, and then expand upon it by exploring various aspects of the same.

Perhaps it is best to start the discussion about this topic with the following thought: throughout the history of humanity, thinkers in many fields have tried to define life – failing to provide a universally accepted definition. For as long as we have studied life, we have struggled to define it, and even today scientists have no satisfactory or universally accepted definition of life.

No one has been able to explain what causes something to be alive, and what distinguishes animate from inanimate matter. There hasn’t been much success on this front in philosophy or medicine either. In other words, there is no closure – there are models, and there are questions.

Furthermore, as of 2022, there’s no single, generally accepted model for the Origin of Life either – only several theories or hypothesis exist which are all based on the molecular or chemical evolution of life. In other words, no one knows how did life start, or what is the process that makes “normal matter” living matter.

We seem to be focusing solely on the biological aspect of life – so much so that we have forgotten to consider that there may be some other factors in play – especially when it comes to us human beings. As such, biologists study what life does, not what life is. Having said that, let me ask you this: Why does it appear that we are fixated on this one single aspect of life, completely disregarding other possibilities? Well, let us find out, shall we?

At this point, we should introduce a term that’s important to keep in mind as we explore the subject of life. Not only because it helps us see how limited our thinking is, but also because it can show us important aspects that we have overlooked. The term is “scientific materialism,” which goes hand in hand with another term called “positivism.”

The former is a view according to which all phenomena in the universe, including the human mind, have a material basis, are subject to the same physical laws, and can be most deeply understood by scientific analysis. The latter is a philosophical system recognizing only that which can be scientifically verified, or which is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and therefore rejecting metaphysics and theism.

This leads us to conclude that scientific research into the nature of life often focuses on the material, energetic and temporal limitations within which life can exist. The problem is, though, that no matter how advanced our level of science and technology is, no matter how sophisticated our equipment, or how complex our methods of analysis have become, we still don’t have a clue what life is – this is why we have so many theories, you see?

These theories are quite fantastic to say the least because they postulate that life arises from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds, and yet, Earth remains the only place in the universe known to harbour life as we know it. And so you see, it stands to reason, then, that life – and more specifically, intelligent life – is incredibly rare.

Considering that the odds against the existence of life on Earth are on the order of 10^10^123 – as mentioned earlier in this book, it seems plausible, though not entirely impossible, yet probable, and very much possible, that intelligent life in the universe is so incredibly rare that it only happened once.

If that is indeed the case, then what does it say about life, especially human life? That we are special beyond imagination? And when these two unfathomably rare, if not mystical occurrences – the creation of our fine-tuned universe and intelligent life in it, happened to even happen at all, makes you wonder is there a plan, a purpose or a reason to our existence?

What is clear is that the universe we find ourselves in, has, indeed, a purpose – to facilitate intelligent life, which makes it a purposeful universe, does it not? If one really stops to contemplate this magnificent feat – the fine-tuned universe and everything in it – galaxies, stars, planets, and all other forms of matter and energy; the existence of the human body, a biological marvel, one of a kind – it becomes undeniable that everything points to an Intelligently Designed Universe – intriguing, isn’t it? What is even more intriguing is that every attempt to prove otherwise points directly to this truth.

Having said that, let me ask you this: Isn’t it fascinating that despite all of our knowledge and advances in so many fields, still no one can say for certain what ignited that original spark*1 that started life for plants, animals, fish, birds, and people? Indeed, there’s a certain irony in knowing that the one significant event in cosmic history that organic evolution by means of natural selection cannot explain is the Origin of Life itself; and so the question remains: Is there some greater purpose to it all, or no purpose at all?

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*1 The “Big Bang” is a name given to a theory that has become the prevailing cosmological model for the observable universe. According to this theory, there was a primordial explosion, an enormous bang billions of years ago which brought our universe into existence.

Furthermore, considering the fact that what we know is infinitesimal compared to what we don’t know, it is reasonable to ask ourselves: Is there any other lens through which we can look at life? And could it be possible that life may actually be something much more than we know; something quite different from what we have thought it to be – a way more complex wholeness, yet simple enough to be understood if looked at from different angles and points of view – in particular through the terms of energy, frequency, vibration, consciousness, and awareness.

This brings us to the wonderful world of the Quantum*1 – it opens up a totally new level to our understanding of the world, which in turn brings a deeper understanding of life itself and its relation to the aforementioned energy, frequency, vibration, consciousness, and awareness.

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*1 This area is explored in more detail in the section titled QUANTUM.

You see, 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. Let us explore this further and see where it takes us, shall we?

In the 20th century, a new science – Quantum Mechanics*1, the science of the very small, was discovered that didn’t obey any of the familiar classical rules. Most scientists believed that this new science was only relevant to the tiny particles of which atoms and molecules are composed.

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*1 Quantum Mechanics, the science of the very small, describes how fundamental particles can be in one or several places at once, can pass through impenetrable barriers or possess instantaneous connections that are maintained over vast distances.

But as the attention of 21st century biology turned to probing the dynamics of ever-smaller biological systems, something unusual began to emerge. This something is often coined as “quantum weirdness,” because particles can be in one or several places at once; can pass through impenetrable barriers; or possess instantaneous connections that are maintained over vast distances.

Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of Quantum Mechanics, proposed in his 1944 book What Is Life? that some of life must be ruled by quantum rather than classical rules. As expected, most biologists pretty much ignored Schrödinger’s proposal and continued to treat life as a complex chemical machine made of molecules; and so it seems that we as the collective human species are stuck in old, outdated & outmoded beliefs dating back to the nineteenth century, the time when scientists arrived at the conclusion that life was just an extraordinarily complex chemical reaction based on the principles of classical chemistry and physics.

Because we are so insistent on the assumption that life is nothing more than self-organizing chemistry – we fail to see the obvious. As a result, in today’s world, the prevailing belief is that we live in an unliving universe – meaning that all the models for the Origin of Life are pathological*1 in nature. As a result, the power of our belief affects the consensus reality*2 that we perceive and experience.

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*1 Pathological comes from a Greek word, pathologikos, which means “treating of diseases” – pathos means “suffering.”
*2 Consensus reality 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. This means that our collective perception of reality is programmed to validate the beliefs we hold. In other words, consensus reality is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a limitation, a box – it defines our expectations, and because we only perceive what we expect to perceive, it limits us.

In a nutshell, the core belief is this: in the beginning there was nothing, and nothing happened to nothing, and then this nothing magically exploded for no apparent reason creating everything, and then a bunch of everything mysteriously rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever – into self-replicating bits which then turned into living beings – makes perfect sense, does it not?

This kind of underlying belief reinforces another, much more harmful one: the belief that humans are nothing special in the context of the Cosmos – as if the Earth and its inhabitants were just a big “cosmic accident” of some sort; that humans were thrown randomly into this world, born by chance into a random environment – death being the end of everything.

Now, let us flip the script for a moment, shall we? If we really think about it, wouldn’t this then suggest that everything that exists is indeed a result of a miracle? Does it not, indeed, require a miracle to have living beings come out of non-living matter? There’s a certain irony in that every attempt to prove otherwise points directly to this truth. You see, if we were to calculate the probability of life existing at all, it would be so infinitesimal that the “accidental” or “coincidental” creation of our universe is an impossibility.

The improbable odds of life existing in the cosmos surely suggests that we are not the result of random chance, does it not? And yet, in spite of this, all too many continue to deny the obvious. Interestingly, there are but two ways of seeing life – like nothing is a miracle, or as if everything is a miracle – the choice is, obviously, yours, and yours only to make.

And here we cannot but arrive at the conclusion: those who are of the opinion that the creation of our universe, the Earth and its inhabitants is the result of a big “cosmic accident” of some sort, are clearly of the former bunch, are they not?

And now you may be wondering: How can something come out of nothing? Well, it can’t – not without a miracle, you see? The first step in understanding creation out of nothing or just simply ‘ex nihilo,’ is to learn to appreciate and understand paradox – accommodating different viewpoints within a broader perspective; seeing the opposites as complementary which are equally important parts of the whole.

You see, the wisdom lies in paradox: even if something contradicts itself, it can still be true; some would call this ‘coincidentia oppositorum,’ or just simply Unity of Opposites. A thing is both what it is and what it is not, and yet it somehow escapes contradiction – that’s how the Miracle of Life is possible – see?

This, of course, is the obvious part we have failed to see, or better yet, we have willingly disregarded it altogether – choosing ignorance over truth, blindness over sight, and in the end – darkness over light; after all, it makes many people uneasy, particularly because it would mean that there is a Creator – Truth we cannot handle, it seems.

It is simply astonishing how deep we have fallen into ignorance. This is fascinating to say the least because in so incredibly brief and short period of time our whole worldview has taken a drastic turn for the worse. This is to say that for most of human history the answer always was that Life was special; it was animated by some kind of Spirit, Soul, or just simply Life Force*1 – a Vital Spark that was absent from the non-living.

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*1 Life Force has many different names in different parts of the world. In China it is called Qi, in Hawaii it is called Mana, in India it is called Prana, in Christianity in the Western world it is called the Holy Spirit.

In the Western world, this view is called vitalism – it has a long history in medical philosophies: most traditional healing practices posited that disease results from some imbalance in vital forces. But somehow, by the end of the 19th century, vitalism was pretty much discredited by the discovery that living organisms are made from the same chemicals as the inanimate world – atoms and molecules of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and so on. Yet, no secret or magical ingredient was ever found.

From this, the question arises: Are we really to believe that living beings can come out of non-living matter? Are we really to believe that life can spontaneously come out of something that is not alive, without any reason, without any purpose, without the First Cause?*1 When we stop to think about this, it becomes clear that even the basic common sense says that Life can only come out of Life, and only Life can sustain Life.

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*1 First cause, in philosophy, the self-created being (i.e., God) to which every chain of causes must ultimately go back.

The undeniable truth is that although various aspects of life can be manipulated in many ways, we cannot create Life or consciousness where it doesn’t already exist. In other words, it’s not possible for us to create Life in a lab – just for the simple fact that we cannot create Life Force; we cannot create a new Soul; we cannot create consciousness nor its underlying awareness.

And with this, we arrive at an astonishing conclusion: if we cannot create Life in a lab from scratch, with the same building blocks that Life uses to create multitudes of life forms we find on Earth, would it not then mean that the core essence of our being is not found in matter?

This leads us to a staggering conclusion: the gift of Life is passed on – this is why we have babies, to continue as a species – see? Against this backdrop, it is reasonable to ask ourselves: What is Life, really? It is worth noting that here we use the word “Life” – emphasis on the capital letter; more on this later.

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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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