Thursday, September 27, 2007

Karma Long on this Journey with Me

Karma is much more encompassing than whatever our own interaction with the world might imply. Killing the mosquito or the ant is related to the karma of the mosquito and the ant as well.
Basically, so long as one does not have a reverence for all life in all its forms, there will be a lingering karma which builds up to a climax where the divinity inherent in all of life becomes glaringly apparent. At that time, one repents and transforms.

Karma is not so concerned with what we do, as it is with what we ARE. We change the world not by what we do, but by what we have become. Right action follows from Being (be the change). Once we are transformed (either via alignment with karma, or by taking a karmic beating in order to learn whatever lesson), then we have transcended the karma which is associated with whatever level of consciousness we were previously dwelling at.

Once one has a reverence for all of life, there is no consequence to the elimination of the mosquito, for it is understood that its life cannot be extinguished. All action follows from a willingness to facillitate the spiritual evolution of others (such action is the consequence of one's essence, not of one's intention, as the personal will by this stage would have been surrendered).

-Rob

The Master and the Student

The master sees the Master in the student. The student just sees the master.

The master is aware of the divine essence flowing through both himself and the student, while the student looks at the divinity flowing through the master and wonders "how can I get that divinity to flow through me too?"

They are both the same...but only the master truly realizes this. (the student might understand it intellectually, but not experientially)

-Rob

The Fun of Philosophical Inquiry

Philosophers are a unique bunch (or so it seems). Who else goes through life so unsure of the reality of Reality? Almost depressing to consider!

Not only can the philosopher doubt the existence of other minds - he can doubt the existence of his own! Who is this mysterious entity which should supposedly feel depressed? As far as I can tell, it is simply a perception (lol, as far as who can tell?).

The linear mind presumes that if there are thoughts, then there must be a thinker of the thoughts...except...the only evidence that there is for a thinker is... thought! We have no way of knowing if there is even one mind, let alone other minds!
And if that's the case, there is no thinker who can be depressed... or disturbed for that matter (though the notion itself does appear disturbing...the question is, who does it appear disturbing TO?).

Though many are content to accept the conventional notions of objectivity, none of them are as fascinated by these conventions as the philosophers. Those who are merely content do not know who they are. They simply know the pleasures of conformity.
Philosophy challenges the status quo... asks the impossible questions... investigates the nature of perception... attempts to discern between perception and reality.

Philosophy is far from depressing! it is enlightening!
...to know that you do not know, and to know WHAT you do not know sets one free from the chains of ignorance which entrain people in a world of CONDITIONAL happiness.
While the philosopher is extremely reasonable and logical, he does not presume that one needs a reason to be happy... which is why he can denounce the world and its contents, because his happiness depends on none of it.

Pity for those whose happiness is too fragile to effortlessly let go of attatchments. Or is it? So fun to be interested! and that's the fun of philosophical inquiry!

-Rob

Negativity Sucks, or How Negative Attractor Patterns Work

Negativity in life is a reflection of negativity in one's heart. This is not to say that anyone 'deserves' to feel the negative energy they encounter in a lifetime. Rather, hostile feelings towards those whom we want to avoid being like and being around for example, is exactly what attracts/ pulls those people into our energy fields.
That which we hold in mind tends to manifest.

This is why it is important to have a 'pro' mentality about good things, rather than an 'anti' mentality about bad things... because it's better to build up than to fight down.
Fighting down just gets you down to the level of negativity that you're trying to transcend.

Meditation, prayer and patience will go a long way in correcting the issue. Acceptance and a willingness to 'be' where you're at are also of utmost importance. You can't just reach for the top rung of the ladder...you have to reach for the one that's directly above the one you're at.

-Rob

The State of the World

A lot of people will say the world is in worse shape now than it has ever been... but if there's any sign that things are getting better, it's that people are noticing the stuff that society needs to work on; noticing the areas of society where there's room for improvement.
Big corporations were LESS rsponsible in the 80s...but now people are aware of it and think that it's bad. Being aware is an improvement though.

People are becoming more and more interested in spirituality and philosophy (even though the interest might not necessarily be a religious one). They seriously question the integrity of going to war. As recently as the mid 1900s, people would barely bat an eye when their country went to fight in a war - Even if the country they were fighting had never attacked them before! Now, if someone flies a plane into a tower and kills thousands of people on your home soil, people examine the integrity of mounting a military response against the transgressors' country. They might arrive at different conclusions on the matter...but it's still an improvement.

Also, we've got the internet! and more people than ever are getting into post secondary education.

there have also been tremendous medical breakthroughs in the last 20 years...

there's no doubt that the world is changing for the better - and fast. Also, it's no surprise that the road is currently bumpy - adjusting and assimilating is no easy task; transitions are never easy, but we're up for it! The state of the world is good.

-Rob

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Abstract thoughts for Feminist Philosophers...

'Men' defile and degrade their perceptions of women.
The inherent perfection of the feminine is transcendent, and thus, impervious to any threats.

One can empower women to not be victimized by an acceptance of such degradation by honouring the divine as it is expressed through the female, and by honouring one's fellow man and reminding him of the divinity that his existence is an expression of, and encouraging him to honour that divinity expressed through himself.

-Rob

Look into My Eyes...

the interesting thing about looking into someone's eyes is that you actually are looking 'INTO' the person...which wouldn't be that significant in itself, except for the fact that the rest of the time we are focused on the near side of objects.
Looking into someone's eyes entails a shift in perceptual context...the focus isn't manipulative (as focus on the near side of things facillitates), rather, the focus is on the far side - it becomes inclusive!
It's basically like a metaphysical hug of sorts.

...interestingly, as much as this supports the notion that the eyes are the window to the soul, it also suggests that they are the mirror to the soul as well...since the soul that we see is often just the reflection of our own in another. (perhaps all there really is is one soul that we all share?)

Whatever the case may be, locking eyes with another person is always a powerful and transformative experience.

-Rob

Pacifism vs. Non-Resistance

If one is a pacifist simply in opposition to violence, then one still has violence in them that requires attention.
There is conflict, and there is the absence of conflict. One cannot have an 'anti-conflict' approach to true pacifism, as such an approach is conflicting in itself. It is self-destructive, and essentially setting oneself up to die for one's beliefs - which really goes against the point since death comes about whilst facillitating conflict.

Peacefulness is a way of being in the world, not of acting in the world, or implementing anything upon the world, or even expecting of the world. It influences by virtue of what it is, not what it does.

Now, of course rigidity is not the best way to deal with the wind. The oak tree loses a lot of branches that way. On the other hand, the lone leaf, which goes wherever the wind blows in a pacifist manner, gets lost, and eventually decays, because it gets nothing in terms of nurturing.
Best to be like the willow tree, which stands against the wind, and is yet unaffected due to its non-resistance.

Non-resistance is favourable to pacifism.

-Rob

Free Will vs. Determinism

If everything is predetermined, then all the meaning which exists is as meaningful as it was predetermined to be. If we happen to think something is meaningful, then it is - at least sociologically speaking.
If we try to look at the situation from a perspective 'outside' all seemingly predetermined events (in a deterministic context), we're engaging in a hypothetical endeavour, which, by virtue of being hypothetical, isn't really based on reality, and is more or less pointless to pursue.

...free will is a matter of subjective context. On the one hand, if a person knew EVERYTHING that there is to know, they would have no free will, as they would be constrained to behaving in the perfect way in every instance. On the other hand, if a person had any degree of ignorance, their will would be constrained by that ignorance - which is to say that they would not be free to choose all of the available options. So, at best, in that situation one might have a limited 'degree' of free will, but not truly free in the purest sense.

In order to be TRULY free, a will would have to be entirely spontaneous - not acting according to any conditioning or programming.
Interestingly enough, if one maintains a deterministic view and traces everything back to its source, whatever instigated all of the deterministic chain of events that we call reality would have had to have arisen spontaneously!

It seems possible to conclude that EVERYthing arises spontaneously of itself since all causality is inferred, not observed directly.
...and we lack the ability to predict our immediately arisisng thoughts - in fact it is only after they occur to us at all that we are able to claim authorship of them. Upon silent reflection, even thoughts appear to arise spontaneously of themselves.

So, for most practical purposes, neither determinism nor free will satisfies any observable qualities of reality. Either they are the same thing, only with two different explanations, or they are nothing but concepts without any concordant reality to speak of. In any case, the debate between them is not one which would have any serious implications should we ever arrive at its conclusion.

-Rob

"The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living" Thoughts on Socrates' assertion...

What Socrates seems to have meant was that one must continually investigate the difference between perception and reality. If one does not investigate the difference between perception and reality they are wasting their life, since no significant growth is possible if one persists in maintaining his own status quo.

People often question Socrates regarding the limits of his assertion, after all, if one were to commit to marriage, one wouldn't want to constantly examine the marriage, thus undermining it, right?
Which is why it seems Socrates meant that examining life simply implies that one tries to discern between reality and perception. It's not about knowing the details - rather it's about knowing what it is that gives the details meaning.
Inevitably, all mistakes are the consequence of a discrepancy between reality and perception. The mistake is just the effect. The difference between res interna and res externa/extensa are the significant qualities of life that ought to be examined constantly.

-Rob

What is Beautiful?

All things radiate forth an intense aliveness.
The willingness to bear witness to this radiance is what allows us to perceive beauty in anything.

It's possible to look at a garbage can, filled with banana peels, coffee grains, egg shells, maggots, used paper towel, mouldy leftovers from the back of the fridge, baby diapers, and a fish carcass, and still see the beauty radiating forth.

Certainly it may not have the aesthetic qualities that make it worthy of becoming a painting for the wall... but it IS beautiful. It is beautiful because it is the perfect expression of that which it is.
A rosebud is not an imperfect rose. It is a perfect rosebud. Neither is more beautiful in its essence...because the essence of all which is real is Truth!

Beauty, in a sociological sense, is simply that which we least object to. Objectively speaking, it is the reward for transcending our objections.

-Rob

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Some thoughts about horoscopes...

...It's like a fortune cookie. Though it may not be a causal factor in your daily routine, it can most certainly be an influential one.
If a fortune cookie says that I will be lucky today, it might influence me to be more perceptive of the good things which do happen in my life, and thus, the quality of my life is directly improved by the influence of an impersonal saying which came out of a cookie.
With horoscopes it's the same. Peraps there is a corelation between the stars and the events and influences in our lives...but that's not the point. It may be the methodology, but it's not the point. The point is personal growth and awareness...and if anything facillitates that, pseudo-scientific or otherwise, it is effective, and thus, interesting.

My personal belief is that some horoscopes are much more appropriate to specific birth dates than others. If you assembled 1000 people of each sun sign, there would most certainly be some qualities which dominate each group.
Though I don't particularly subscribe to astrology, there is most definitely a distinct predisposition which is more common among Aquarians, say, (Note: I am one, so take that as bias, or as support for my assertion - whichever you prefer) which sets them apart from other signs.
It may be related to the season that the child was born (winter babies might be more comfortable with cooler temperatures for example)... but that would most definitely corelate with the position of the earth in relation to the sun, and thus to the stars and planets as well.

But yeah, as easy as it is to substantiate it, it's really the benefits that astrology has in cultivating self-awareness that gets people so entrained with it...so depending on one's approach, it can be good healthy fun. (Although there are probably more effective means of pursuing enlightenment, lol)

-Rob

Why did the chicken cross the road? An important philosophical inquiry.

...without inferring a causal relationship between cognition and action, people get insecure about the degree of influence they have on their own lives. Without any influence on their own lives, it's difficult to identify what one even IS, since there's no thing in that case which could count for the evidence of one's own existence.

Descartes said 'I think, therefore I am'... but if cognition is not causal, then the 'am-ness' becomes suspect. There might be thinking, but it does not indicate that there is necessarily a thinker.

If everything happens spontaneously of its own (uncaused/ unmotivated) then at best we might be like Socrates - brilliant, only for recognizing that we really know nothing.
It's a dismal prospect.

...which is why it is so incredibly important that we never stop questioning the motives of chickens! It is the fundamental basis for all of our problems!!

LOL

-Rob

What's So Funny?

Context is what makes anything funny, since humor is not really a trait that any particular thing really has (some watch the Simpsons and roll their eyes, others watch it and die laughing).

There was an example that a philosophy professor once gave, of a photograph with a bunch of nazi soldiers standing over a beaten, naked Jewish man. The soldiers were laughing, and it was evident that the man was to be killed immediately following the photograph.
Now, to pretty much everyone, there's nothing funny about that scene at all. For the nazi soldiers at the time however, there was a shared context for the experience... and as limited and convoluted as it was, if anyone else could view the situation in the exact same context, it would be just as funny.

...the other thing which makes things hilarious is REcontextualizing things. That's what a lot of great stand-up comedians do. When they talk about ordinary things that happen every day, they make it appear funny by recontextualizing the situation - by revealing how absurd certain emotional responses are in the big picture. It doesn't necessarily degrade the subject of the laugh, it simply deflates the inflated importance or severity that we frame the circumstances with.

Religion, poltics, and other conflict-ridden subjects are all ripe with opportunities to recontextualize the way we view things, since there's a lot of inflated emotionality and importance which is associated with them.

The beauty of recontextualization is that it helps us to grow - which is why laughter is such an effective medicine.
If we can look at our circumstances in a humorous light, they don't seem so dominating, opressive, or severe.
Humor dissolves resistance, and reinforces resolve... by facillitating an acceptance of a situation it enables us to deal with it more effectively (non-acceptance is basically prolonged ignorance of the reality of a situation).

Get it? LOL

-Rob

Acceptance

The key to being really okay with life, in life and at life: Acceptance.
Acceptance is the even keel of beingness…a state of letting go…a state where opinions, esteem, the importance of desires…none of it is inflated.
The good and the bad are taken in stride. No condition is permanent. To dwell on the frequency of good things/enjoyment is to miss out on the actuality of the opportunity for enjoyment! In a state of acceptance there’s no anxiety about trying to make the most of every instant…the moment is what it is…sometimes deep and meaningful, sometimes plain and ordinary…it’s all a part of life.

Acceptance is a pivotal state of awareness.
In terms of higher consciousness, one is faced with the opportunity to either sink down into neutrality, or to rise up to the occasion.
In neutrality, there’s acceptance, but a preference for one’s attatchments. In neutrality, one would sooner keep clear of a problem than resolve it.
When acceptance is used effectively though, it works as a platform to resolution. A problem dissolves into nothing more than a situation…neither good nor bad…desired or undesired…just a situation where the path to resolve is presented.
To make this transition from acceptance, is to achieve a state of willingness.
In spiritual terms, it is the dawning of real faith…knowing that the path leads to resolve, though the end isn’t yet in sight…believing without seeing.
With willingness, one finds clarity…the light at the end of the tunnel…real vision.
And with vision, comes true understanding.
With understanding comes compassion.
With compassion comes love.
From love comes joy, and from joy comes peace.

And so, with acceptance, the path to enlightenment isn’t a struggle!
Happiness isn’t about getting what you want…it’s about realizing the blessing in what you've got.
The rest practically takes care of itself.
Everything is the perfect expression of that which it is.

-Rob

On Prayer and Meditation

The human mind lacks the ability to tell the difference between what it thinks is true, and what is actually true. Most often when we think of prayer, we think about petitioning to God; asking God for things, when we simply can't tell the difference between what we think is the best outcome, and what the best outcome truly is. For this reason, when we pray, it is often most rewarding to pray ABOUT something, rather than FOR something. (Granted, even petitioning to God has its appropriate time and place - calling out for help, surrendering to God's will, etc.).
Praying ABOUT something can happen in a variety of ways, but most commonly, it takes shape in the form of contemplation. We hold the thing, idea, situation, person, etc. in mind and flip it around in our awareness as one might flip a newly discovered artifact around in their hands; examining it from all sides; observing it in the fullest capacity that one is able to. Questions might arise in the mind...but they are not entertained to the extent that they would be if we were simply thinking about something. The questions follow from investigation, rather than proceed it. With contemplation, understanding arises as one isolates the essence of whatever it is that is being held. The details of the thing simply give it a shape...and in order to understand the essence of it, we need to see past the shape.
The Indian sage, Nisargadatta Maharaj, explained it as though he was simply interested in gold, while others were concerned with ornaments. The essence of the ornament is the gold...not the shape of the gold. The ornament, the situation, the idea, the thing we are holding in mind...it is an expression of its essence, not a product of its details. The gold is unchanging; always the same.
This perspective is somewhat contrary to the idea that answers can be arrived at by process of elimination; by focusing in on the details of a thing; by picking it apart and understanding its pieces. Essence cannot be extracted by thinking - only by complete immersion in the nature of the thing's reality. Realizations follow from a passion for Truth, not from a desire for answers (since it is so very easy to arrive at an answer, but so very difficult to know Truth).
As such, prayer is different from thinking, as it does not follow the same linear principles as thinking. With prayer, alignment of the spiritual will facillitates spontaneous revelation.
Even when one is experiencing peace and joy in life, this manner of contemplative prayer is an extremely useful means of facillitating further spiritual growth. One only need hold something in mind like one of the psalms, or some other powerful teaching, until (or as long as) it becomes progressively illuminated with the light of understanding. Even teachings that we think we understand are served well by this process, as the intellectual understanding can yet be overcome by illumination of the teaching's essence (which is, and can only be, Truth itself). For example, contemplating on a simple spiritual principle like kindness may eventually lead one to a complete understanding of the reality of Love.

Much like contemplation, meditation is also an effective device for aligning the spiritual will. While with prayer, there is a precise focus ON something, meditation is more like turning that focus OFF (which is not to imply that meditation is like being distracted). One might make the comparison in terms of one's sense of sight: Prayer is like devoting our attention to what we are focused on, while meditation is like giving complete attention to our peripheral vision. Effective meditation occurs as one lets go of attatchment to details, to thoughts, to ideas...it facilitates a progressive immersion into the silence which preceeds experience (also called 'Source'). It aligns the spiritual will with that which all of reality arises from (Divinity). Sound could not occur without a backdrop of Silence. Time could not occur without a background of Timelessness. Nothing finite can exist outside the context of the infinite. Meditation guides us to that source which everything arises from.

In both cases the idea is that we are passionate to understand (the) reality (of God). In 1 Thessalonians Ch5, Paul advises that we "pray without ceasing"...where he seems to imply that our alignment with Truth is best serviced unendingly...as though Truth is an artifact which we can (and should) continually be flipping around in our hands...
If we think of prayer in the manner described above, Paul's direction doesn't seem quite so impossible to follow. Holding and flipping the world in our hands like the precious artifact that it is, illumination is inevitable.

-Rob

An Infinite Amount of Monkeys...


It’s been said that if you had an infinite amount of monkeys sitting at an infinite amount of typewriters, eventually one of them would write War and Peace. While this is most likely false(odds are that you’d end up with an infinite number of pages full of random letters), it makes for an entertaining thought experiment. If we can’t fathom any monkeys writing this classic piece of literature, then we must not be imagining enough monkeys.
War and Peace exists as a reflection of the totality of all the information in the universe after all, does it not? Tolstoy doesn’t really own authorship of it all as the possibilities had to somehow pre-exist in order for him to capitalize on them, right? which is why an infinite amount of monkeys, on an infinite amount of typewriters would end up with at least one copy of the book (and every other piece of conceivable literature for that matter). With an infinite amount of possibility and an infinite number of expressions of that possibility, it’s got to be inevitable, right? It’s almost as though ‘possibility’ is the author of itself, and we are merely the vessels it chooses….since possibility even precedes our descisions.
It would seem that credit for anything is due more to the totality of existence than to the individuals and segments that compose it. Kind of inspires one to subjectively embrace it all rather than to take on further subjective biases and positionalities.

-Rob

Hope for the Future, Hope for the Present

A sapling is not an imperfect tree; it is a perfect sapling. So it is with the world - always the same, always different. In one of the Soctratic dialogues, one of the interlocutors says to Socrates: "you can't step in the same river twice!" to which Socrates responds, "indeed! nor can you step in the same river ONCE!". The world is in a constant state of flux. As such, what basis do we have by which to deem anything an 'improvement'? That anything is less than the perfect expression of that which it is is entirely a matter of ego. That something is a problem rather than an opportunity is simply a matter of perspective - and yet, in either case, it is both and neither! It is what it is, nothing more, nothing less.
We view cancer as being problematic. The complementary view to that perspective is that it is completely opportunistic. If we think in terms of spiritual growth, and not simply prolonged existence, the whole context is transformed.
And there are countless views which fall in between these two extremes.
One might view a cancer patient with distain and resentment for not taking good care of their health.
One might view them with pity for being too ignorant to properly care for themselves.
One might look at them with despair, and anger for the potential loss of closeness or loss of life that their disease represents.
On the other hand someone might view them with sympathy and try to offer support.
One might view them with compassion and offer them an ear to talk to, or a heart to confide in.
One could even view them as an inspiration, and work to improve one's own life in honour of the struggles of the cancer patient.
One might even simply view the patient as a reflection or extension of oneself...
There's really no right way to view it. Cancer is what it is...neither a problem nor an opportunity, and simultaneously both.

In terms of illuminating people with hope for the future, we must understand that it is we who are the saplings. None of us is an imperfect tree. The struggles that we see are the perfect consequence of that which we are.
A tree could not be tall without a world for it to be tall in, nor can a problem be a problem without someone to perceive it as such. The mere fact that there is an increasing tendency to identify problems and issues in the world is a sign of what we have become.
When the world is not concerned with integrity, these things all go unnoticed. To the unevolved soul, theft is not problematic, it is simply statistical.
Fortunately the world is evolving. Theft is viewed as a problem. The danger is simply that we may begin to lose hope as more and more corruption and greed and pride is identified in the world. We must remember that things are not in fact becoming worse; it is simply that we are becoming more aware of the extent to which things can be improved!

Fortunately, this growth is ongoing. Everything is the perfect expression of that which it is. As things are perfect the way they are now (with growing awareness and compassion) so shall they be perfect in the future (when the perfection of the present is fully illuminated), since what is perfect cannot become imperfect (for that would be an imperfection).

Now, some may dismiss these ideas, citing that believing that everything is perfect, even when we do not see it as such, is not advantageous to anyone in the slightest. It should be noted however, that in alignment with the unseen perfection of the Allness of Creation, one facillitates the growth that one would like to see. It is the resistant states of perfection which such objectors object to! so they would do well to refrain from objecting - "be the change" as Gandhi said.

There is hope!

-Rob

"The universe is uncaused, like a net of jewels in which each is only the reflection of all the others in a fantastic interrelated harmony without end." -Ramesh S. Balsekar

On Wanting

Suppose you are writing a multiple choice exam.

1. You want to choose the correct answer.
2. The correct answer is (a)
3. You think the correct answer is (d)

Suppose you chose (d). Did you do what you wanted?
This is the basic gist of the argument that Socrates makes against Polus in Plato's Gorgias. The gist being that all we want is what is good for us, and so, though we may think that we want one thing, we may in fact want something else.

Consider the example of knowledge. It is possible to believe something that is false, though it is not possible to know something that is false.
eg: One can think one knows that Los Angeles is in the province of Quebec, but one cannot know that Los Angeles is in the province of Quebec.

If we apply the same principle to 'wanting', it seems understandable that one can think he desires something which he truly does not.

It appears as though the main thing which interferes with our acting upon our true wants is the problem of thinkingness. Our thoughts simply are not trustworthy when it comes to discerning these differences.
In the absence of thinkingness, reality, as-it-is, is self-evident. We often seem to be of the persuasion that within our thoughts is contained our humanity, when the case seems to be just the opposite - that in thinkingness we are trapped in a state of oblivion; where we can know about a great many things...only by virtue of such a dualistic view, we're never quite able to truly know such things at all. We fear that if we surrender our dreams, and our thoughts and our ideas, that we will somehow surrender something which is real in the process.
What we call our dreams are really what we think our dreams and ambitions are.
What we call good ideas are merely those things that we think are good ideas.

Having understood these principles it seems as though the way to truth dwells in the silencing of the mind…and since we are not the mind, the task of silencing it is no easy one! …it does not succumb to our will after all (just try and predict your next thought if you're in doubt of this - it's impossible! it arises spontaneously).
The mind is like a tiny tv screen in a massive arena. We give it so much attention that it seems to occupy the whole of our being…but the stadium is mostly empty...there is so much more to us than what we simply think we are.
All we need do is disengage from the mind…thinking will come to rest on its own.

“Truth is verifiable only by identity with it, not by knowing about it.” -David R. Hawkins

-Rob