New
Year with a New Realization of Reality? !!! ,
Pochemuchka to Ajati vada
[Don’t miss to read I, Pencil-My
Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read mentioned in this article with a link
and also don’t miss to go through all the other references whenever you find
time, you can read the whole article with all the attachments over a period of
15 days but don’t miss any part of it ]
Multiple Punctuations in the
title are intentional because New Year day symbolizes the inevitable
manifestation of polarity principle or dichotomy of life in all its aspects
lived through the dimensions of space and time and how there exists always
either perceived or unperceived, acknowledged or unacknowledged, and an
important link acting as a vital chord between the polarities and in this case
the past and the future which either through a conscious continuation or by
coming together of the polarities manifests that life is not confined as a dyad
but it is a triad which has elements of both factors of the polarity and
something more too, so symbolically three punctuation marks.
In a way Advaitha [Oneness], polarity
or dichotomy [Dwaitha/duality] and Triad are all perhaps the manifestations of
attributes of the self or what is perceived by the self. This is one of the
many reasons for contradictions in every serious search for truth or Reality.
Contradictions are also because of human psyche’s
penchant for generalizing variety, oversimplifying the complex, sometimes
confusing the motives to be either the means or meaning of the quest,
justifying all means, fear of various kinds, predominance of certain types of
thinking, passing everything through a prism of some popular or prevailing
liking, seeing things with jaundiced vision and prejudiced views, presuming
that we need to judge everything and everyone, applying irrelevant metrics to
evaluate everything rather than evaluating anything through its inherent merits and so on.
Contradictions are very often
camouflaged as dichotomies and dichotomies are the indoctrinated and engraved
part of many domains of life as Dudley Lynch puts forth very nicely, “The brain forever has dichotomies on its mind-The
ancient Taoists did it with yin/yang. Religious types with good/evil.
Philosophers with mind/matter. Particle scientists with wave/particle.
Psychologists with nature/nurture. Law officers with good cop/bad cop. On and
on and on. You just had to know that it was only a matter of time before
“dualism”—or … harrumph! …
co-eternal binary opposition—infested neuro discussions like kudzu” and
continues “Maybe, as one thoughtful observer has suggested, even as old dualisms get
knocked down, “it seems that there is something about the wiring of the brain
that leads to new dualisms springing up.” Talk about Whack-a-Mole! That was
certainly what the late George Kelly, the father of personal construct psychology, thought. “Our psychological geometry is a geometry of dichotomies[italics
mine] rather than the geometry of areas envisioned by the classical logic of
concepts, or the geometry of lines envisioned by classical mathematical
geometries.” (Double
harrumph!) in his blog [1] {do not miss to read
the comments about George Kelly in the link as well }
But when we transcend these
fallacies, avoid getting struck at the seams or joints and instead effect a
transition to transformation we can easily infer and perceive with greater
clarity.
As Sherlock
Holmes declares, “From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility
of an Atlantic or a Niagra without having seen or heard of one or the other.
So, all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are
shown a link of it.”
An explanation to the weird punctuation marks in the
title.
I am neither good at
punctuation marks nor a strict adherent of rules of punctuation marks because I
am primarily keen on letting the thoughts flow rather than stressing more on clearly
conveying to others. Sometimes I use punctuation marks very unconventionally
but logically justifiable. This is one such occasion.
Why a question mark?
The terminologies especially Realization and Reality used in the title
are very much discussed, too much explained, too deeply probed by many great
souls in multiple streams of thoughts from different places and in various ages
and they both still remain part of life’s unsolved puzzle eluding a fit all
situations categorical explanations which do not require further exploration.
Therefore, the question mark is to indicate the unsolved puzzle.
Why an exclamatory mark?
Each explanation from each
great soul has enhanced our understanding of reality and enlightened our progress
in realization but they surprise us every time. So, the exclamatory marks are used to
indicate surprise as Albert Einstein says, “Reality is merely
an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”.
Why a comma?
They will continue to be
probed further and many more souls will come up with more and new explanations,
as none of the enlightened explanation by great souls have been accepted with
axiomatic certitude nor have had the approval of whole of humanity, So, a
comma is also used to indicate further possible questions and answers.
Perhaps symbolically we are just having a kiss with the very
attractive, enticing and deeply interesting topics Newness, Realization and
Reality. As Mistinguett says, “A kiss can be a comma, a
question mark, or an exclamation point.”
From vindicating the
punctuation marks let us move on to studying the etymology and symbolism of New
Year Day announcing the first day of the first month January.
Though etymologically and
also as per very logical and climatic conditions -based chronological
classifications, the New Year must start in March, as is obvious from
the number based terminology of the last four months though they happen to be
the 9th,10th,11th and 12th months
of the calendar, namely September [ from ‘sept’ for number seven 7] October [
from ‘oct’ for number eight 8] November [ from ‘novem’ for number nine 9] and
December [[ from ‘decem’ for number ten 10], so strangely we have the new year
starting on January.
However, symbolically it is
an excellent name, January , from the Roman God Janus [January {in Latin, Ianuarius} is named after Janus the god of the doorway; the name has
its beginnings in Roman
Mythology, coming
from the Latin word for door {Ianua} but most importantly usually depicted with
having two heads that face in opposite directions. One looks back to the year
that we have lived {past}, and the other one looks forward to the New Year
{future} ahead.] Janus is the god of doors, gates, doorways, bridges, and
passageways, all of which symbolize more importantly the important and vital
link or transition leading you from something into something else. Nothing is a
barrier, even barriers have a connectivity to indicate a transition to
transformation into something more.[2]
There is this eluding third element/principle/link /connectivity that
unravels the mystery of and meaning of or effect a link between the contrasting
polarities, between many things good and bad, big and small, you and me.
Here I would like to quote Simone Weil, French social
philosopher, mystic and activist in her work ‘Gravity and Grace’
“The world
is the closed door. It is a barrier. And at the same time it is the way
through.
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the
wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of
communication. … Every separation is a link.”
When
talking about boundaries , barriers etc we cannot avoid these very meaningful
messages reiterating the vagueness of boundaries from Ken Wilber in his work ‘ No
Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches
to Personal Growth’ like these two small pieces, “ Even to say
‘reality is no-boundary awareness’ is still to create a distinction between
boundaries and no-boundary! So we have to keep in mind the great difficulty
involved with dualistic language. That "reality is no-boundary" is
true enough, provided we remember that no-boundary awareness is a direct,
immediate, and nonverbal awareness, and not a mere philosophical theory. It is
for these reasons that the mystic-sages stress that reality lies beyond names
and forms, words and thoughts, divisions and boundaries. Beyond all boundaries
lies the real world of Suchness, the Void, the Dharmakaya, Tao, Brahman, the
Godhead. And in the world of suchness, there is neither good nor bad, saint nor
sinner, birth nor death, for in the world of suchness there are no boundaries.” And "The
ultimate metaphysical secret, if we dare to state it so simply, is that there
are no boundaries in the Universe. Boundaries are illusions, products not of
Reality, but of the way we map and edit Reality. And while it is fine to map
out the territory, it is fatal to confuse the two."
Now back to
the terminologies in the title.
What is reality? What must be realized? And is Newness
a part of or fits into the scheme of that reality or process of realization? Or
could anything new be called a reality? Or newness is merely a particular
process of realization?
If we take Reality to be the
ultimate purpose/meaning /truth of life and therefore universally appealing and
applicable, then, we need to find out what is this Reality?
Reality cannot be categorically defined through or
confined to either the host of Gods and Concepts of metaphysics or the guests
of God particle of physics. It cannot be accepted as some philosophical or
religious definitions etc
Then is Reality in reality
what we practice?
Or is Reality what is
prescribed by our religion/culture/nation/society/education/family etc?
Or should all questions on reality proceed
from certain unverifiable assumptions to be made upfront, particularly the
monotheistic concept (a God as the Creator)?
Or is Reality what is perceived by us?
Or is Reality making us aware
of the real uselessness of living in the past [or the limited uses of referring
to the past as ready reckoner to experience and execute easily certain things
in some aspects of life] and the frailty of fantasized future [or perhaps the
inevitable planning and projections to perform in certain aspects/activities of
life] and therefore really pay attention only to the present moment?
Or is Reality the many verbal
concepts as defined by many philosophers/religionists/ spiritual leaders etc?
Or is Reality what is
established by scientific hypothesis/theories or proven experiments until
proven otherwise or proven to be totally wrong and replaced by other new
findings?
Or is
reality as per another popular view which states that the true underlying
reality to everything is consciousness itself? We are a part of that
consciousness, whether we recognize it or not. This is what all of the world
religions have tried to teach throughout the ages. But because religion is an artifact of man, it has failed miserably. [3] [3a]
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Or can we conveniently
shut further debates on reality or about what is reality? by concluding
as Louise Nevelson says, “What we call
reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more
livable.”
Or consign a less important role to the question or debate on
reality? as Royal Floyd Mengot
(Klaus), “I only touch base with reality on an as-needed basis!”
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Or is reality a mere
concept? as Robin William stated, “Reality -- what a concept!”
Or is reality only a
state of mind or is it only fantasy gone stale?
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Or is Reality
merely construed as a bunch of facts? as Ayn
Rand seems to view it when she says "We can evade reality, but we cannot
evade the consequences of evading reality." Even as facts Reality has
immense value as John Adams says, “Facts
are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the
dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
Aren’t all these various
views/facets of Reality sound like quick sands with varying degrees of
hardness/hollowness beneath rather than solid rocks?
If these are the few options
that rational minds can come up with, imagine the many things, much narrower ,
being worshipped or prayed for or obsessively sought after and followed
presuming them to be Reality? These may include many things from superstitions
to traditions to rituals to reverentially praying and worshiping.
All that we see in the
phenomenal world, the multiple creatures, diverse actions etc can be subjected
to and/or explained based on our perception, experience, cognition etc. How
good, great or valid our perceptions, experiences, knowledge etc are highly
debatable and relative. Consequently our explanations and evaluation based
perceptions, thoughts etc are also highly debatable and relative. Most of our interpretations of or
explanations for highly debatable philosophical concepts like what is reality?
What is Divinity? And so on, are mostly ‘merely explanatory artifacts invented
just for appeasing a curious mind – the explanations have no inherent real
value’.
It is in many cases the fallibility
or the limitations of the tools of evaluation like our perceptions,
experiences, knowledge, thoughts all emanating from our mind that gave birth to
most religions, and then religions capitalized on this very well to propagate
and sustain themselves in the process. All these Perception and Reality
disconnect and birth of religions are very well explained in this wonderful
blog link [4]
In short what is Reality is
not a rock solid settled matter with universal appeal and
applicability/application.
So what could be construed as
Reality?
In the following part of the
write up we are going on an adventure involving too many questions, which may
probably throw up too many concepts and in the garb of adventure and liberal
inquiry may even end up confusing but out of confusion and chaos will emerge
better understanding or at least awareness of more avenues and options to
perceive reality. [5]-{more than an hour long excellent speech on reality and science and
hundred plus slides ppt on science and spirituality}
Mostly Reality has been spoken of as some unknown or
unknowable but vital mystery/secret which operates life. It is this presumptive connotation of the word
reality that has made continuous debates and discussions.
Even if we consider Reality to
be just matter or as physical phenomena do we know or have we understood all
qualities, states, attributes of all matter?
We all would be surprised and
puzzled if we read this very interesting book in science which is fortunately
available free on internet ‘The Machinery of the Universe
Mechanical Conceptions of
Physical Phenomena’ by Amos Emerson
Dolbear
Or on a lighter
vein is Reality the jigsaw puzzle involving these things:Nothing, Everything, Anything,
Something. Then as Jarod Kintz says, “
Nothing, Everything, Anything, Something: If you have nothing, then you have
everything, because you have the freedom to do anything, without the fear of
losing something.”
We must not hesitate to
analyze anything and everything in depth from as many angles as possible but
also ultimately find out the points of or areas or domains of synthesis/synergy
leading to harmony and unity with all variety and/or differences in tact. This
is will be the automatic progression of life experience and life itself. Let us
not conclude it as such as that would defeat the very purpose of this essay but
there is nothing wrong if we actively endeavor to develop such a scenario as
experimenters of science or explorers of philosophy. This was briefly defined
by D.J.Mercier, the Archbishop of
Malines as a natural process of philosophical inquiry, “Sound Philosophy sets out from analysis and
terminates in synthesis”
This could be one
of the probable outcomes as a manifestation of well organized and well
understood wisdom of life as Immanuel Kant says, “Science is
organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” And this could probably why a great scientist
like Albert Einstein goes on to
say , “Human beings, vegetables, or comic dust, we all dance to a mysterious
tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player”.
Let us keep all our vague
definitions, interpretations and concepts of Reality as it is and proceed to
Realization.
Coming to analysis of what is
realization?
Have we or do we know what is
realization? Or for that matter even experience?
Is realization predominantly
influenced by physical factors/conditions/conditionings etc?
Or is realization
predominantly influenced by psychological factors/conditions/conditionings etc?
Or is realization
predominantly influenced by any other external factors/conditions/conditionings
etc?
Or some supernatural or
supramental factors/conditions influence our realization?
“Everyone
who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some
spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to
that of man.” - Albert Einstein
Do we know
ourselves first as who we are? The several centuries old and most philosophical
question of Who Am I? [6] {wonderful documentary explaining philosophically WHO AM I ?more than an
hour long } There is a difference between what we are capable of understanding of
the physical world and what we know in our hearts to be the truth. Our science
deals with the natural...the physical...the corporeal....the material....the
rational and the empirical-- and nothing
more! But that is not who and what we really are.[7]
Here we would do well to
remember what Eric Micha’el Leventhal
says, “You are here on earth to unearth who on earth
you are.”
Leave alone realization do we
actually and authentically experience anything at all? [from the
etymology of the word ‘authentic’ meaning ‘author’-as we are not authors of
even our experiences] As Oscar Wilde
says, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's
opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation”.
“Life is the only real
counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal
experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.”
-- Edith Wharton
Now from this vague
introduction of the title let us go on a vaguer journey as we wander in wonder
and try to explore the vast adventure called reality, more specifically New
Realization of Reality and in the process try to learn and to understand what
these things are.
If not the unanswered doubts,
at least the search to know what reality is must continue as it is an eternal
quest sometimes meaningful and sometimes pointless but continue they must and
they do.
Should we search for and try
to experience or realize what we know already? “The door to God is the
insecurity of not knowing anything. Bear the grace of that uncertainty and all
wisdom will be yours”, Adyashanthi. Will
Durant the great scholar says, “Inquiry is fatal to certainty”.
If we know already why must
we search for it at all? “Why search anymore? The whole universe has come
together to make your existence possible. There is nothing that is not you. The
kingdom of God, the Pure land, nirvana, happiness and liberation are all you”,
Thich Nhat Hanh.
On the contrary how can we
search for something that we do not know anything about, just because someone
says that you must search for it, try to experience it, try to realize it etc?
So we embark on a journey full of doubts, vagueness, fuzziness etc.
“The search ends with the
realization that there is no such thing as enlightenment. By searching, you
want to be free from the Self, but whatever you are doing to free yourself from
the Self is the Self”, U.G.Krishnamurthy.
Search for Reality need not proceed from any
presumptive goal then it ceases to be search, it is merely an attempt to
achieve a goal. The very adventure is
the uncertainty and vagueness. But at the same time because of this inevitable
contradiction, on may wonder, then, why any search at all? Of course, there are
motivations and that is at least attempting to try to dispel our lingering
doubts and longing to know the permanent and look out for possibilities to seek
security for at least our temporal life.
Therefore, we are not
necessarily seeking any enlightenment, or any vision of either any God or any
favors from any God. Who knows
serendipity has secrets up her sleeve that she may startle us with sweet
surprises. The famous Sufi saying,” I searched for God and found only
myself. I searched for myself and found only God”.
Or as
‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson says, “The reflection is not in the mirror but of the
mirror”.
So, nothing is needed to
prevent us from the journey of searches but the vehicles used are
a] Coming up with more and/or new questions [if one may use the correct
single word for this, it is in Russian:
Pochemuchka Someone who asks a
lot of questions, probably too many questions]. As James Baldwin says. “The
questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and
become one's key to the experience of others.”
And as John Ciardi says, “ A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into
place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the
hope of greening the landscape of idea”.
b] More or Newer answers to old questions [perhaps including Gadrii Nombor Shulen Jongu (in
Tibetan language) meaning Giving an
answer that is unrelated to the question.]
“And no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured we
may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful
inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in religion as it
is in politics, and is self-evident to all except fanatics and the naïve”-Steve
Allen, comedian, from an essay in the book-- "The Courage of Conviction",
edited by Philip Berman
More answers
emerge when we keep our curiosity is intact as William Lyon Phelps says, “One of our secrets of life is to keep our
intellectual curiosity acute.” Honest appraisal of human status requires as a
great scientist -- Thomas Henry
Huxley (1825-1895) says, “The known is finite, the unknown infinite;
intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of in illimitable ocean of
inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more
land”.
c] More or newer doubts popping up due to the constant
curiosity etc as William Lyon Phelps puts it,
“One of our secrets of life is to keep our
intellectual curiosity acute”. “Sit down before fact as a little child,
be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and
whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.”-Thomas H. Huxley
All these not necessarily following any particular
sequence but at random because we don’t have either a map and therefore no GPRS
and all the routes around seem to have everything:- beauty, blessings, bumps,
boisterousness, barricades, beasts, boons etc with lots of twists and turns
with only constant factor being change.
All these probably chosen as
preferable options going by observations like this one by H.P. Lovecraft, in
The Call of Cthulhu “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the
inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not
meant that we should
voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its
own direction, have hitherto
harmed us little; but some day the piecing
together of dissociated knowledge
will open up such terrifying vistas of reality,
and of our frightful position
therein, that we shall either go mad from the
revelation or flee from the
deadly light into the peace and safety of a new
dark age.”
As
Sascha Vongehr mentions in ‘Science As Rationalization And Ultimate Religion
By’ “Every adaptive system has what can be called
a perception apparatus and information processing structures and so forth.
Science is part of the perception/thinking of social systems. All perception
has its “blind spot”. Perception is ignorant of everything except for a tiny
slice that it evolved to select and focus attention on. Thinking is there to
interpret in a certain evolved way. Humans, being parts as well as environment
of social systems, cannot grasp the perceived world of social systems, let
alone map out their blind spots. Scientists are especially suspect when it
comes to judging the blind spots of science.” [7a]
“I
presume it is the same with many people who sincerely seek intrinsically
valuable answers to many aspects of life, nothing kicks off without doubts,
questions, arguments, contradictions, confusing contemplations etc. Invariably
when we doubt, we enter into real search and enquiry. When in doubt, of course,
nowadays we resort to google which throws up lots of material good, bad, ugly,
authentic and unauthenticated etc. When we seek answers and solutions to many
of our intellectually and emotionally incomprehensible and unjustifiable
happenings and events surprisingly we somehow get lots of answers from multiple
sources. Only thing is we must frankly ask all sorts of questions and fearlessly
put forth our doubts. Fear masquerading as hesitation can and does play havoc
in many things”.[ 7b]
However,
when our soul seeks sincerely some
clarifications for certain things about which we all suffer from varying
degrees of knowledge, or to be more precise, ignorance intellectually,
psychologically etc as they seem to operate beyond the ken of all normal modes
of perception, then serendipity submerges us somehow from totally unexpected,
unheard of, unrelated and hitherto unknown sources as if hammering one more
nail into our coffin of doubts.”[7c]
In brief we are going to
proceed without any basic premise because as
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Hugh Akston says, “A
basic premise is an absolute that permits no co-operation with its
antithesis and tolerates no tolerance.”
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In a way we are going to move
about like a long river sometimes silent and serene, sometimes turbulent and
flooding, sometimes roaring and ravaging, taking unexpected turns and twists.
Let us be clear at the outset
that we are not a spoil sport. Nor are we delving into some idealistic
philosophizing.
But however all these
elements and aspects namely constant questioning, facing new answers, never
hesitating to spell our doubts etc offer us, if not more clarity and complete
understanding , at least more options and alternatives. One
of the important advice I remember in Life is, ‘We must not feel at the end of
our life that we were ignorant about Alternatives.’
I
would like the search also to be more exploratory, not dogmatic, open-minded,
deeply passionate, and perceptive to the appeals of rationalization, but, in
due course, also acknowledge without prejudice and becoming sensitive to the
deeper stirrings and movements that are beyond and beneath rationalization.
This write up must not be
misconstrued as a criticism of anything that anyone does but it is to
enhance human understanding to lead a humane life in tune with nature and a
reasonable concern for the environment and other species from a layman’s
understanding of unfolding of events.
In fact life is a wholesome splendor but our focus and scope of viewing it is
limited. [8]
“The world
of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited in
power! We reach forth and strain every nerve,
but we seize only a bit of
the curtain that hides the infinite from us”.
-- Maria Mitchell
We human beings are programmed to limit the splendor
of life by defining it chronologically. Having programmed it thus, we engage in
various types of calendared celebrations of animated circus of chronology, each
undoubtedly, imbued with its own meaning, identity based cohesion-enhancing
importance and merriment.
New Year is one such occasion
of happy celebration.
We have all celebrated over
the years many New Year days in different ways at different places in different
moods.
But after almost many years
of celebration it strikes to us, probably a clear symptom of old age than
wisdom, what is new there to celebrate
on New Year Day if there is no new realization? Or some realization of what
reality is?
Can Reality, at least
socially speaking, be defined by whatever is perceived by the individual[s]? At
least that’s what it seems going by the manifestation on the one hand of unchanged, unforgotten and unforgiving
attitudes, reactions etc of historical hostilities between nations, groups,
sects etc and on the other hand very firm, fixed and fanatical faith on the
selective scriptures, socially approved and sponsored trends etc.
Both these extreme attitudes
are fundamentally more of a mere reenactment of well anchored and appreciated
behavior patterns or atavistic tendencies. They are due to these abovementioned
reasons rather seem than the result of any enlightenment experienced through
unprejudiced attitudes and unpolluted by past perceptions of the world.
So, we all live in a world shaped by not even our
experiences as we experience it but based on how we are programmed to
experience it. The variations in experiences are merely the result of
differences in programming, and not realities.
So, most of the time really
valuable and worthy wisdom eludes us, why? What to do to get that sort of a
solid wisdom? Do we need to make any changes to our learning process? Or is
that really available in scripture?
Probably a child like curiosity driven, but high sensitivity
based unbiased and passion filled experience is one of the better forms of
learning that can deliver such a wisdom which need not bother about any social
or cultural or academic approval.
Therefore, hypothetically for
a tribe, untouched by modern science, reality would be, the sun as some bright
ball being thrown over a flat stationary earth by some enemy forces to spoil
the darkness. We may disagree, but their reality is precious to them. With all
of our knowledge acquired and accumulated till date we cannot be sure that all
our concepts of the universe are unquestionable.
Are we ready for a new
understanding when old explanations have gone past their expiry date and are no
longer looked upon as a standard of measurement or source of reference or guide
in all streams of life as a whole or in many streams of life in particular?
There is an undeclared
feeling everywhere, that humanity
requires or needs some yard sticks and /or reference manuals as value systems
to emulate and experience life, leave alone getting evaluated, they would use
arguments like the following to justify their stand as Baruch
Spinoza says, “If you
want the present to be different from the past, study the past.”
If that is so, then what are
those value systems? Who or what are going to determine those value systems?
Who or what are going to authenticate them?
Are we willing to accept
Reality from a new perspective with changing belief systems, new life styles
and new religious movements etc? [9]
Do we need to validate
everything concerned with life based on certain situations/circumstance? [10]
As we cannot deal with
everything even in our limited experience both in terms of micro details and
macro perception, how can we claim to do it for the whole of humanity? [11]
The scope of our view,
purview, perception, concern etc are determined by various factors and aspects
like our unbiased observations [if at all that is possible], frames of
reference, tools of perception, [12] focus of attention, fathom of intentions,
intensity of involvement and interest, sensibility and sensitivity of our
selections, clarity and conviction of our choices [13]
etc
Or most of these the result of predominance of left
hemisphere of the brain based thinking and reasoning as IAIN Mcgilchrist a
London based psychiatrist says “The
left hemisphere sees only a very simple version of reality, is black and white
in its view, tends to arrogant certainty, a view that it ‘knows it all already’
and doesn’t have to listen to anything new, and is in denial about its own
short-comings. And it has a tendency to paranoia if it feels its position is
being threatened…” [14].
In addition to these, the
human mind is a pendulum set in motion and swinging between the influences of
pleasure of the familiar, comfortable, and already used to operating modes on
one side and pressure of the well accepted and appreciated methods etc on the
other side and this swinging pendulum in constant motion along with a huge
curtain of many other things together block our view of seeing anything new.
We are programmed by habit
and constant preconditioning to create defenses against and make fences around
us towards anything new [it could be good, better, best or bad I desist from
using the usual good, bad and ugly as it has more negatives] that crops up in
us or around us. It is a sort of protectionism that goes to envelop in some
specific identity or label and further firm up our prejudices and prevent us
from experiencing the new. Gradually this identity creates such strong concrete
walls that enforce us to experience life only in terms of what is approved of
that identity.
Almost all of us are gullible
to this attribute of experiencing life through any existing or well established
or socially well accepted or religiously sanctioned or personally enjoyable and
pleasing identity/identities, which reflect in our actions and attitudes. We
are thus led by the expected experiences which must fit into this readymade or
readily accepted patterns, I am not saying either they are good or bad, but we
are thus prevented from experiencing life as it is happening at this moment.
So, in real terms there is
nothing new when we deal with life based on predetermined and past experiences.
Or attempt to do things to get a result for a future goal. Thus, in a way we
are slaves of our past or to our future. None
of our behavior patterns, perceptions, attitudes or attributes are new or authentic
as they are guided by prefixed identities.
In fact, in a way, most of the individual problems and
group pogroms are the result of identity crisis. This [identity adoration/affiliation] is a very
important part of study of personal psychology and socio-psychology which gets
neglected or does not get the prominence it deserves because the predominant
factors that create these identities and factories that produce these predators
are the patrons and promoters of religious and political ideologies. Now
recently, technological advancement has also jumped into this band wagon [of
course at least this offers tangible comforts and benefits].
These identity creating
factories are afraid of free and open minded persons as these open minded
persons may start questioning some aspects or the very identity itself.
There is nothing wrong with
identities per se nor are they avoidable. For example if someone is born physically beautiful, mentally
brilliant, in a highly respected family
in a particular nation following certain language, religion, culture, tradition
etc with some type of specific behavior then that person would be identified
with all those things. What can that person do about any of those identities
which he is born with, born into, groomed up with along with social
inculcation, indoctrination, insistence or voluntary inclination or interest
etc?
There is nothing wrong even
in human mind getting into judgmental mode based on these identities which is
one of the natural consequences of identity affiliation and which is what is
happening all over.
There is nothing wrong even
in the human mind making comparisons, analysis, criticisms etc based on these
identities which are again natural consequences of affiliation to inevitable
identities. [14a]
The problem crops up when these identities create
narrow walls of prisons of the mind and thereby creating incompatibilities and
intolerances in the functioning of many vital tools of life and not letting
life to move on smoothly in its tracks.
In brief our thoughts, ideas,
actions, feelings, interactions, attitudes etc are to a very great extent
influenced by how we relate to changing situations /circumstances
/scenarios/events/environment/new relations etc while clinging on to our
identities.
Even within specific identities there are varying degrees and
intensities of manifestation.
It would be
pertinent to mention what ― Idries Shah the great Sufi writer says in
Reflections
“You have
not forgotten to remember;
You have
remembered to forget.
But
people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to
remember - and generally more practical.”
As a consequence of this
[doing everything while clinging on to our identities]our understanding of life
itself is to a very great extent depends on how well we understand our
relations/relationships to these changed situations /circumstances/scenarios
/events/environment/new relations etc.
Any
identity is /all identities are a stumbling block to any realization or
unbiased relating/relationship as well. As James Braha writes, in
the wonderful book ‘LIVING
REALITY-My Extraordinary Summer with “Sailor” Bob Adamson’,
“You can only know your self by being yourself
without any attempt at self-definition and self-description. Once you have
understood that you are nothing perceivable or conceivable, that whatever
appears in the field of consciousness cannot be your self, you will apply
yourself to the eradication of all self identification, as the only way that
can take you to a deeper realization of your self. You literally progress by
rejection—a veritable rocket. To know that you are neither in the body nor in
the mind, though aware of both, is already self-knowledge.”
The real nakedness devoid of any cover of identity,
probably this could be one of the connotations of the word ‘Nirvana’, may
enable us and equip us to face reality unbiased and without any pre
conditioning. Some great souls have
even opined that we can even pose real questions only from this state as Terence Mckenna says, “You are not naked when you take off your clothes. You still wear your
religious assumptions, your prejudices, your fears, your illusions, your
delusions. When you shed the cultural operating system, then, essentially you
stand naked before the inspection of your own psyche…and it’s from that
position, a position outside the cultural operating system, that we can begin
to ask real questions about what does it mean to be human, what kind of
circumstance are we caught in, and what kind of structures, if any, can we put
in place to assuage the plan and accentuate the glory and the wonder that
lurks, waiting for us, in this very narrow slice of time between the birth
canal and the yawning grave. In other words we have to return to first
premises."
-
Life is never fulfilled with unfulfilled relationships
within the family, with others in the society, with the environment, with the
many sciences, subjects, systems that we come across which are useful to us,
used by us or we are used by them and so on. So, the quality of life is the
manifestation of the quality of the inter play of these various relationships.
Even in parenting after donating
a sperm and leasing a womb and initially taking care of the physical well being
of the Child it is all about weaving meaningful and mutually respectable
relationships psychologically all the while factoring in many socio-cultural
changes and the generational differences.
Can we ever
succeed in overcoming the difficulties and fulfill all our relationships?
Probably if we
sincerely, seriously and sanely try to understand them through two important
primary factors, namely completely listening and curiously learning followed by
involvement and responsibility and all these done with total intensity and
intense totality. Very often the greatest mistakes in our
relationships, overall perceptions and evaluations occur because we read three
fourths, listen half, understand quarter, think zero and are indifferent
to the impact of our actions, reactions, thoughts and words on humanity and the
environment.[14 b]
The vital
factor/essence of any relationship is the connectivity /link and the best way
to be aware of it, savor it and sensibly understand this vitality is to be
detached to the ultimate results, as Bhagawath Geetha says and again to quote Simone Weil,
“ Attachment is the greatest fabricator of
illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached”.
Because the fact is life is
neither a mere predesigned product with preprogrammed operations nor is it
merely any of the existing proclaimed and sanctified order nor is it the result
of any mere catastrophic accident.
‘Neither our Brain nor our Character is Cast
in Stone’ [15]
Do our perceptions and/or
thoughts, feelings, knowledge etc influence our experience or our experiences
influence our perceptions and/or thoughts, feelings, knowledge etc?
Do we create our identity and
getting confined by it?
Or whether some identity
actually influences and/or creates us?
Or
can we tweak some parts of the brain surgically and create a complete leap away
from affinity to identities so that individual perceptions, actions, attitudes
and social behavior etc all can be freer and at least devoid of problems caused
by contradictions and ideological constraints?
[After all physiologically even DNA is tweaked to produce unimaginable
results][16]
Ultimately
one thing is clear that there are neither any absolutes to something as
temporal as individual life nor any eternally valid or universally applicable
models to emulate as the only way or only option to our mortal life. There are
no eternal explanations to everything in any single source. Nor is there any
omnipotent panacea for everything. The vague randomness that unfolds as we live
life is the very beauty of life and probably the most important sign of human
evolution and growth of civilization. No single person is an expert on
everything.
All relationships effect a
transformation, a transition from a present status influencing and impacting
ourselves, others, our environment and our very relationship which causes this
and so on. This transformation happens due to many of the factors mentioned
above in the normal process in a gradual way or sometimes by suddenly overcoming
the constraints of time and space, and due to different affinities to various
other identities. This happens when there is unqualified complete love as Jeff Brown points out "You don’t measure love in time. You measure
love in transformation. Sometimes the longest connections yield very little
growth, while the briefest of encounters change everything. The heart doesn't
wear a watch- it’s timeless. It doesn’t care how long you know someone. It
doesn’t care if you had a 40 year anniversary if there is no juice in the
connection. What the heart cares about is resonance. Resonance that opens it,
resonance that enlivens it, resonance that calls it home. And when it finds it,
the transformation begins…"
Does reality really require an observer? Not necessarily.
Does reality change because of the observer? Not necessarily.
Has reality any inherent existence irrespective of the presence of
the observer?
If it rains heavily in a very remote place uninhabited by any
human being, still there would be all effects of a heavy rain irrespective of
whether anyone was there to observe it or record it or measure it.[17]
Or as the great Neale Donald Walsch says, “The definition of
everything depends on how you look at it. Nothing is as it seems, and the
moment you change your perspective you see that. Therefore, there is no such
thing as Reality; there is only the reality you create by the way you are
looking at something. You are creating your reality through the use of
perspective”.
So, very meaningful reality exists of its own within the realm of
our observation or sometimes unnoticed, unknown and unnamed, beyond and/or
beside the realm of our observation, our measuring it, our labeling etc.
Various gifted souls and scholars have tried to perceive it
through various methods, expressed their understanding through different
subjects, through different frames of reference in varying degrees of intensities,
each one grasping the splendor of different facets of the same diamond called
the totality of life. What their understanding unraveled is very educative and
enlightening and highly motivating for us to explore further and deeper the
meanings of life.
Some architects and artist have worked through initially various
geometrical and mathematical formulas to understand the visible structural
beauties and unravel the mysteries like the ancient sculptures of Indian
temples, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Fibonacci Series and Spiral, the Golden and
Angle Ratios, The Delauney Triangulation, Voronoi Tessellations etc , in other words they were
some of the discoveries of the marvelous and meaningful structures existing in
nature which the minds of mathematicians succeed so for in unraveling and this
was brought out excellently in the short film ‘Nature By Numbers’ by the
Spanish film maker Cristobal Vila and a peek into inside the world of fractal
geometry through the television documentary by Sir Arthur C.Clarke ‘ Mandelbrot
Set (M-Set).Fractals: The Colors of Infinity’ wherein
he talks about the ‘Mandala of Hinduism’ could be depicting this fractal
geometry etc.
We did not make many things it was evolution which made them or
they evolved and we recognized their existence sometimes soon and sometimes
late. [17a]
We do not know where ideas come from? [17b] How
ideas meet and meet they must?[17c] What are the
unintended consequences of many of our actions and thoughts? [17d]as very often human history is the result of collective
learning and collective behavior[17e]. How certain
factors or aspects of life styles have created certain drastic changes [17f] or even in very precise and rational scientific
subjects wherein we have fathomed great depths and covered vast expanse we have
been humbled to accept that human life itself [including the whole environment]
forms not even one percent [1%] of what
is there to be known about the universe and of which what we know for sure is
only some percent of this less than1%. And this is all the more reason for us
to keep observing everything more keenly and ask more questions and work
towards finding answers to those questions.
Incidentally a person whose
name started with the word new set in motion unraveling the mysteries of the
world which were till then mere speculation. He did that through some important
factors like observation, questioning why what he observed was as it was, then
creating ways and means to get an answer for that why?
All great learning and
discoveries go through this process. So never hesitate to question and never
stop till you find the most convincing answer to that question.
You guessed it right he was
Sir Issac Newton.[17g]
As Dogen says, “A flowers falls,
even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.”
The mere acknowledgment of this fact, leave alone understanding of
it, must enable us and encourage us to foray beyond and/or besides our
comfortable corridors of comprehension; beyond and/or besides our familiar and
fashionable faiths; beyond and/or besides our anchored or atavistic attitudes. [18]
All these continuous debates about what is reality happens because
as Raymond Aron says, “Reality is always more
conservative than ideology”.
So, let us start
understanding each other anew, love each other anew, live together anew,
leaving behind all our past mistakes,
histories, histrionics, hitches, hiccups etc and help one another as global
citizens sharing the resources of this wonderful planet as brothers and
sisters.
Sometimes we can make a new resolve to reverse the trend using the same
materials, same logic, and same vocabulary that we have been using till now [18a]
Can we as global citizens share the resources of this wonderful
planet as brothers and sisters?
Probably as per Farber's Third Law
We're all going down the same road in different directions.
This mere awareness and willingness must lead us to understand the
underlying Oneness of All as suggested, reminded and referred to very often by
many great souls, saints, philosophers, scientists, leaders, writers etc
through their life and works.
|
Everything in life has many facets and multiple inter
connections. Unfortunately our focus is restricted, our priorities
project only certain facets or interlinks or interconnectedness at
certain times and thus reduce the scope of our view as well.
When these facets and
interconnections are positive they reveal an amazing splendor, manifest
multiple marvels and mysteries and the many meanings of life.
Similarly when they are
negative they lead us to the dirty depths of filthy feelings. For example
as Bertrand Russell, the famous philosopher
and Nobel Laureate says about the detrimental quality of 'envy': "
The ordinary beggar in the street envies the more successful beggar, the
more successful beggar envied the King of England, the King of England
envied Napoleon, Napoleon envied the Czar of Russia, the Czar envied
Alexander the Great, Alexander the Great envied Hercules who never
existed!"
Or to make
it more plainly understandable we
are all [human beings and all that exists] are inter related, inter
connected, inter dependent, inter active etc irrespective of whether consciously
perceived or verbally acknowledged.
There is definitely inherent Grand Oneness with Great Variety among all, including all the insects, animals, plants, big
mountains, far off stars etc
This fact of inherent Grand Oneness with Great Variety among all must be realized as an inherent, undeniable fact.
[19] { TALK ON
GENETIC EXPLANATION OF ONENESS 30MINUTES} Not as a mere verbal
statement; Not as a mere sermon with any scientific or spiritual
sanction; Not as one more new psychological approach or revolution;
Not as another political ideology
etc because all these have expiry dates and varying values not only in
terms of time but also in terms of situations or circumstances, trends,
taboos etc .
"The spirit of Advaita is not to keep away
from anything, but to keep in tune with everything." - - Swami
Chinmayananda.
So this fact of inherent Grand Oneness with Great Variety among all must be engraved as an attribute in our spirits
and manifest in our attitudes and approaches socially. That is real
wisdom making great knowledge a part of our being as our attribute, as Orison S. Marden says, “Wisdom is knowledge which has become a
part of one's being.”
|
|
|
We are what we do
frequently and we become what we do frequently. I desist from using the word
‘always’ because our life, individual life itself is mortal and temporal.
Probably the Grand Oneness with Great
Variety could be the only Newness that
we can pledge to follow and influence others too to create an impact which
could slowly but surely lead to real civilized living, co operative habitation
etc that humanity has been longing for.
As this positive humane attribute
manifesting the Grand Oneness with Great Variety
and an attitude based on that attribute could be another new wished for reality
and may be really be the best celebration of New Year with a New Realization of
Reality? !!! ,
Attribute [inherent quality] and attitude
are more important than the state of a person or matter.
Wine, water and coffee are all liquids in
state but what matters really is their attribute which differentiates them.
Therefore, any evolutionary and civilizational growth strategy or program must
get embedded as an attribute of life and manifest in our attitude. So the Newness
as an attribute manifesting the Grand Oneness with Great Variety can
make it really a Happy New Year
This attribute and attitude would be
contributing to peace by
transcending first all subjective
jurisdictional constraints; second
by doing away with the sickening endeavors towards peaceful co-existence
through ironically enforcing
homogenization without respecting the great variety [ implemented as a
national or economic policy, as religious edict, as political ideology etc] [20][21] and third by breaking the shackles of identity orientation [either
consciously developed or innocently imbibed] and help also live life vividly in
the present moment as Marjory Stoneman Douglas,
B. 1890 American Conservationist says, “ Life
should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or
of a longer life, are not necessary.”
And
most importantly we must live that in the present moment and along the way help
others in every small way we can and create moments of happiness in all
possible ways we can. This will rebound in positive vibrations all over in the
interrelatedness and inter connectedness that forms a major part of life.
“Men spend their lives in anticipations, in determining to be vastly
happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one
advantage over every other - it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future
have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock
of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both
are soured by age.”-- C. C. Colton
What I have
written above is just old wine in new fangled bottles.
“I share the belief of many
of my contemporaries that the spiritual crisis
pervading all spheres of Western industrial society can be remedied only
by a change in our world view. We shall have to shift from the materialistic,
dualistic belief that people and their environment are separate, toward a new
consciousness of an all-encompassing reality, which embraces the experiencing
ego, a reality in which people feel their oneness with animate nature and all
of creation”.-- Dr. Albert Hoffman
It is more or less the same
idea that we can perceive reflected in the great work
THE
CELESTINE VISION. Copyright © 1997 by James Redfield in the chapter titled ‘LIVING THE NEW REALITY’
“Here,
then, we can see the larger picture being offered by the new science. Now when
we linger outside in our yards or stroll through a park admiring the landscape
on a bright sunny day, we must see a new world. No longer can we think of the
universe we live in as expanding outward in all directions to infinity. We know
that the universe is physically unending but curved in a way that makes it
limited and finite. We live inside a
bubble of space/time, and like the hyperspace physicist, we intuit other
dimensions. And when we look around at the forms within this universe, we
can no longer see solid matter but energy stuff. Everything, including
ourselves, is nothing more than a field of energy, of light, all interacting
and influencing each other. Actually, most of these descriptions of the new
reality have already been confirmed by our own experience. We all have moments,
for instance, when we can perceive that others have picked up on our thoughts,
or times when we know what others feel or are about to say. Similarly, we have
times when we know something is about to happen or potentially could happen,
and these precognitions are often followed by hunches telling us where we
should go or what we should do to be in exactly the right place at the right
time. Most significant, we know that our attitude and intention about others is
extremely important. As we shall see later, when we think positively, uplifting
ourselves and others in the process, incredible events begin to unfold. Our
challenge is to put all of this into daily practice, to integrate it into how
we live our lives every day. We live in an intelligent, responsive, energy
dynamic universe, in which other people’s expectations and assumptions radiate
outward to influence us. The next step, therefore, in our journey toward living
the new spiritual awareness is to see the human world of energy and expectation
and drama for what it is, and to learn to negotiate this world in a more
effective way.”
I would
therefore, wish, all of you, to read these wonderful materials [mentioned below
which are not affiliated to any particular religion/nation/group] and hence
devoid of any bias but which are highly scientific, extremely pleasant,
extraordinarily brilliant, deeply philosophical, scientifically spiritual and
they all bring out the truth of Oneness in various ways for us to be
consciously aware of and understand.
These along with
the excellent references mentioned in the article are really educative and
enlightening to the avid learners and accomplished scholars alike. Please do
not miss to read the speeches mentioned in references as well as the following
works.
I am not
canvassing for these great souls but I enjoyed and learned enormously from them
and hence would like to share those pleasures.
I
can say with conviction that the selection indicated below has not been easy at
all. Intellectual perceptions tended to become barriers but I have enjoyed and
accept happily and humbly, as even the great Poet Shakespeare once said “I have
bought golden opinions from all sorts of people”.
Some of these explain the grand
Oneness and interconnectedness with very simple and interesting analogies like
this most famous story by a Nobel laureate which is often quoted but analyzed I, Pencil-My Family Tree as told to
Leonard E. Read in his site
Or through write ups, which are highly
educative and also very elaborate, extensive, and enlightening involving
scientific, mathematical, philosophical, psychological, sociological studies
etc like the big book of Guy Murchie
‘The Seven Mysteries of Life’. It is a treasury of evolutionary biology,
evolutionary sociology, evolutionary psychology etc which analysis and
interprets the grandeur of life from a grand prospective.
Or through enlightened question and answers
through the works of Neale Donald Walsch
initially through his first trio ‘Conversations
With God’ followed by his other works.
All the works of J.Krishnamurthy.
These books can really
entertain you, engage your thoughts and enlighten you. After all as Edward P. Morgan says, “A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought
without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off
in your face... It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can
get both provocation and privacy.” [23]
And
probably when we finish with analyzing everything and making all attempts at
realization we may be unwittingly going through the process leading us to Ajati vada [24]
Sometimes once in a while there
are some souls who leap beyond, live aside [like ascetics], leave behind
after a very rational process of realization [ like great philosophers] or
through a spiritual enlightenment [like great saints] all these fallacies or
mayas of life manifesting in differing degrees in the form of various islands
of identities of ideology; but then, the
majority of human beings who lead a normal rational life with all the
enjoyments of ordinary living with all its pressures are great human beings who
leave the stamp of the species and their
role and importance can never be underestimated or undervalued, for, it is they
who create lots of things which is what makes human species a notch above the
other species as Jacob Bronowski
says, “Every animal leaves traces of
what it was; man alone leaves traces of what he created” and not only this
human beings are much more wise as William Gladstone observes, “To comprehend a
man's life, it is necessary to know not merely what he does but also what he
purposely leaves undone. There is a limit to the work that can be got out of a
human body or a human brain, and he is a wise man who wastes no energy on
pursuits for which he is not fitted; and he is still wiser who, among the
things that he can do well, chooses and resolutely follows the best.”
This is inevitable as Maria Mitchell says, “The world of learning is so broad, and the
human soul is so limited in power! We reach forth and strain every nerve, but
we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us.”
"By contemplating the relationship between
the objects in our lives and the forces that created them, we can arrive at the
'thing itself' and know its inherent identity." ~ Dennis William Hauck [here the word inherent identity must
be taken as meaning ‘attribute of’]
So, unless there is real Newness injected as an inherent part of or
aspect of our attribute and attitude manifesting in all our experiences,
perceptions etc extricating ourselves from all our inherited or innate or
acquired identities which block any unbiased experience, assigning any big
significance to any chronologically acclaimed and celebrated event loses any
real importance.
Here are two small quotes which establish well
the uselessness of chronological classification / evaluation much less
celebration without time being infused with meaning. As - H. L. Mencken says, “The
older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom”
and as Benjamin Franklin declared, “Many people die at twenty-five and aren’t
buried until they’re seventy-five.”
Besides Realization of any Newness in Reality is very
tough because by nature we are more creatures of repetition.
“Life, as it is mostly lived,
rightly or wrongly, is in fact caught in the vicious circle of repetition, as I
understood from the philosophy of the great J.Krishnamurthy, with probably some
exceptional and extraordinary deviations, variations and enlightened
emancipations away from the vicious circle of repetitions. You may wonder what
I mean by vicious circle of repetition, simply explained it is like this, we
act or react in life , either physically, emotionally, psychologically, intellectually,
philosophically, socially etc based on our existing storage of experience,
knowledge, thoughts, memory etc irrespective of whatever situation we are in.
Then, based on our action or reaction we gain new or more or similar or same
knowledge or experience and again this newly gained experience or knowledge is
added to our storage of thoughts as additional memory or as a confirmation of
our existing thought or knowledge base. So all our perceptions are confined to
or caged within or conforming to this vicious circle of action/reaction based
on our knowledge, thoughts, memory, and experience and so on.
To encounter better and
enhance the concrete aspects of our life, namely our body and mind, we need to
follow healthy practices physically especially taking appropriate cues from
nature and for both the body and mind sharpen our awareness; use multiple
scales of observation; adopt suitable,
sober, and sensible frames of reference; refine, redefine, refresh our thinking;
prepare it to proceed from and towards multiple aspects and angles so that
nothing gets omitted from our thought process; properly define , label and
categorize everything for suitable identification and reference for life
enhancement; in all the above matters allow variety to flourish; understand the
oneness of everything; accept everything without getting attached to anything;
never resorting to hastily defy or deny the importance of anything or anyone; while following scrupulously all
these things be open and eagerly await the abstract aspect of life to play its
part in a mystic marriage with the concrete aspects of life to make life a
wonderful splendid spectrum because the soul or spirit is free of the influence
of repetition. That’s why real and great philosophies and spiritual experiences,
totally creative artistic works etc emanate from and are part of something that
is beyond the body and mind and are not easily understood by most human beings
and very often not that easily well communicable either. This is one of the
signs of enlightenment.”[25]
Life will
therefore mostly subject us to such acid tests and when we emerge through it we
come out with more wisdom “Acid test of wisdom is evaluation life through
living;” [26]
and real love “Love is a spontaneous affinity generating from
many inner connections dear to the heart awaiting to be synergized” [27]
The brain forever has
dichotomies on its mind
The ancient Taoists did it with yin/yang. Religious types with good/evil.
Philosophers with mind/matter. Particle scientists with wave/particle.
Psychologists with nature/nurture. Law officers with good cop/bad cop. On and
on and on. You just had to know that it was only a matter of time before
“dualism”—or … harrumph! … co-eternal binary
opposition—infested neuro discussions like kudzu.
Maybe, as one thoughtful
observer has suggested, even
as old dualisms get knocked down, “it seems that there is something about the
wiring of the brain that leads to new dualisms springing up.” Talk about Whack-a-Mole!
That was certainly what the late George Kelly,
the father of personal
construct psychology, thought. “Our
psychological geometry is a geometry of dichotomies[italics
mine] rather than the geometry of areas envisioned by the classical logic of
concepts, or the geometry of lines envisioned by classical mathematical
geometries.” (Double
harrumph!)
2] Brief reflection on a fence- by Miroslav Holub
[ translated from Czech to English by Ewald
Osers]
A fence
begins nowhere
ends nowhere
and
separates the place where it is
from the place where it isn’t.
unfortunately, however,
every fence is relatively permeable, some for
small
others for large things so that
the fence actually
does not separate but indicates
that something should be separated.
And the trespassers will be prosecuted.
In this sense
the fence can
perfectly well be replaced with an angry word,
or sometimes even
a kind word, but that as a rule
does not occur to anyone.
In this sense therefore
a truly perfect fence
is one
that separates nothing from nothing,
a place where there is nothing, from
a place where there’s also nothing.
That is the absolute fence, similar to the
poet’s word.
[5] A must listen beautiful lecture covering very
interesting anecdotes and a wide bandwidth of his knowledge which was passed on
to me because someone read two very simple stuffs I wrote.
This one IIT Kanpur organized a Lecture Series
on Science and Vedanta by Swami Atmapriyananda what erudition
Swami Atmapriyananda received his Ph.D. from the
University of Madras, India, in Theoretical Physics for his
work in particle theory. He has a number of research publications in reputed international
journals.
45 minutes of very informative and interesting
lecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jx-m9r68r0&feature=c4-overview&list=UUwxGr_R4cbgn7cDBxWPbHfQ
and also the presentation
[6] What an excellent documentary on such an
abstract topic explained with crystal clear lucidity through appropriate
visuals and adequate scripts which will make even small children understand the
source and completeness of life. Watch the full 40
minutes without any prejudice.
-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-c93ql8Tag&feature=share
It was sheer serendipity that I stumbled upon this
when I was hunting for some reference material for some article. Lord Halifax
was correct when he said," The struggling for knowledge hath a pleasure in
it like wrestling with a fine woman" http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/01/i-reality.html
[14] A London
psychiatrist, IAIN
““The left
hemisphere sees only a very simple version of reality, is black and white in
its view, tends to arrogant certainty, a view that it ‘knows it all already’
and doesn’t have to listen to anything new, and is in denial about its own
short-comings. And it has a tendency to paranoia if it feels its position is
being threatened….
“I do
find it very hard to be optimistic at present, because, as I say in the book,
the left hemisphere’s view pretends to have it all sown up, and people are
taken in by that, especially when it appears to come from the mouth of
‘science’ (usually biologists—the discoveries of physicists forced them long
ago to abandon the Victorian mechanistic model, but the life sciences are slow
in catching up). Not that the current arts scene is much better—post-modernism
is no challenge to the left hemisphere’s view, but, as I suggest, an expression
of it.”
[17]Both
Einstein and Ramana Maharshi made almost identical statements that
"everything is predetermined". Nobel Laureates Eugene Wigner and
Francis Crick (co-discoverer of DNA) made similar statements. The
ground-breaking experimental work of Libet and many contemporary cognitive
neuroscientists support these statements.
This is the first part of a presentation at the Science and Non-Duality
Conference in San Rafael, CA in October 2009. The second part is covered in the
video "Intelligence Choice is Impossible"; the third and last part is
covered in "You Are Not In Control".
There is a new video "Predestination, free will, control and the illusion
of time" which explains much on these concepts.
Additional information is @ blog:happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com website:
happiness-beyond-thought.com book: Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide
to Awakening. Downloadable @ http://preview.tinyurl.com/bslfll8 youTube:
Gary Weber Nonduality FB
Interview @ Towards A Science of Consciousness conf @http://youtu.be/bEOujFKnHwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLDWyk1uLQ
17c] Ideas have sex
17d] Edward Tenner:
Unintended consequences
and Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4
Minutes - The Joy of Statistics
17f] Killer aps
17g] Listen to this wonderful lecture
[18]
" George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the
world.
The unreasonable man adapts the world to
himself.
All progress depends upon the unreasonable man
[23] UN’s WORLD BOOK and COPYRIGHT DAY 23rd April
2013-Why?
[24] “Ajathi Vada is based out and out on incisive
logic and unbiased Self-inquiry (i.e. you have to examine your own mind and
belief systems in order to arrive at the final answer). Ajati vada is spelt out
in his Karika on Mandukya Upanishad. The subtle and the Ultimate kernel of all
Upanishadic teachings is this Ajativada only. This is the final message of Sage
Vasishta in the 32,000 sloka strong Yogavaasishta also. Ramana Maharshi,
Nisargasdatta Maharaj, J Krishanmurti, Atmananda Krishna Menon, Jillellamudi
Amma, Mata Amritananda Mayi, a host of other teachers of Non-duality speak of
Ajativada only.