It may not be a bad thing that reality has become so completely relative, though it could very possibly destroy civilization. Technology now makes this possible, for things happen everywhere immediately, no longer separated and held intact by time and space. When any semblance of "truth" is no longer credible, people no longer know what to believe or what to hold on to as "real." There is no greater context in which to safely exist or belong, or even to prove that we do exist. Over time we have lost touch with our own "inner truth," which is not really so inner at all but is what we have been taught and in what vein we have interpreted our own life experiences. Such events have occurred in history, such as when classic Greek worship of the gods was replaced with Christianity and when Christianity was affected by Gnosticism in the first few centuries. Civilization was altered. Doubt found its place. There are many reasons for this happening. The point is that cultural beliefs have "shifted" many times throughout history. And cultures have also been "lost." The classical Greek culture broke down so much that it lost its ability to write and read its own language. The Roman Empire disintegrated into feudal states. Civilization broke down--though it in due time appeared again in some form someplace else in the world.
As already noted, we all seek context, a place to belong and a sense of belonging, a state of self that both makes sense, can be readily found, and brings some kind of peace and safety, if not a semblance of control and order. I make assumptions that I believe are based in some kind of social reality as well as in some kind of spiritual reality. My life experiences, not surprisingly, seem to back up my beliefs, for I interpret them accordingly. I observe the culture and society in which I live and interpret it in "my" own way. As a child I was indoctrinated by Roman Catholicism through high school, though the Jesuit college I attended undoctrinated me in various ways. My "spiritual path" led to Buddhism in which I was briefly a Zen monk but practiced zazen for many years, to Theosophy and Hinduism and Daoism, to Indigenous religions, to LSD and other hallucinogens, to Gnosticism, to many mythological and cosmological systems, including the Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian, Nordic, etc., and back to a conglomeration of them all in which there are common threads with clues to escape the labyrinth of superficial existence.
I have come to some conclusions, partly based in my own particular experiences and my own interpretations of them, and also in what others have taught or otherwise reported from many sources from ancient times to the present time. I do have a context, albeit an all too often lonely one, since it is not comprised of a group of worshippers or believers, but rather, of those who have had to trust their own understandings of their own experiences and who have learned to be reticent regarding such, not so much because that which they know is so "special" or "hidden" but simply because there is so little interest, and even less trust in their insight or credibility. Such things are utterly obvious but most people are simply oblivious, that is, could care less, proceeding on their merry way to Hell in a handbasket, as it were. I probably would if I could, but I can't.
What I say can be found in much more articulate forms in many religions, philosophies, and literary sources, some of which I may quote now and then. I am quite aware that others have said what I will say, but also that I am compelled to say it in my own way and from my own experience which could be said to cover a large base. I know a little of everything and a lot of nothing. However, utilizing my original quote, "Too much irony makes one overwrought."
I am too often quite aware of "myself" as an awareness, a "spirit," contained in a physical body living a life at this moment on this planet in this universe. There are "reasons why" I am here but, at this point, they are beside the point. I am here in this body in this life to learn that this is not so real as it appears, that "I" am not so real as I appear, and that life is a test and a process of spiritual development in which we learn to extricate ourselves from the "worldly" levels of identification. In other words, physical life is a preparation for, a springboard to, the non-physical life that follows. And "I" have gone through many such physical lives, just as you have, whether you acknowledge it or not, or are aware of it or not. I have visceral memories of such lives and have been many different people, even as you have been. To me this is not conjecture or imagination or fantasy; it is vivid and graphic, and I remember people I knew then whom I have recognized in this life. We are here to make a difference, to change the world into a better place for all of us. That is what I am certain about. This notion of reincarnation is not the focus of what I am saying, however, it is the vehicle; it is the context. It is a ground of being, as it were, for ourselves, our many selves.
There is also the realization that we are each other. I know this sounds absurd, but my experience is that there is an awareness, a life, a being within me, that I share with other human beings. In a way it's that I know them: I feel them, I sense their very being as though it were my own, as though they are me and I am them. To put it in theological words, the divine spirit that is in me, that is me, is also in them. It is one life existing in many bodies. Sometimes I experience this oneness, this non-separateness, with others, even all others. Much of the time, like when I'm cursing at "stupid idiots" in traffic, I am not experiencing this oneness, but just the opposite. We're all "works in progress" that take numerous lives to do it until it's finally done. I don't want to get too philosophical or theological or psychological, that is, abstract at this point. To my mind I have so far not been abstract but as down to earth as possible.
I don't think that people have to believe in reincarnation to have self-awareness or self-acceptance, however, I do think that people have to have some kind of greater context in which to "hold themselves," or else they cannot; life is just too much to be able to take into oneself. To recognize it as "process," as "being on the ride of your life," or as "learning how to be truly human" makes it more real and puts it all in the realm of possibility. "If not in this lifetime, then in the next." And I speak of goodness and love, not of hate and vengeance. The latter are false and go nowhere except down into pointless existence, theologically referred to as "Hell." In this blog I will tell you my own story at times, for it relates to the stories of others and it informs you of how I have been informed and thus say what I say. I am not seeking agreement; I am only seeking to somehow be able to be of some kind of service to another in the living of his or her life. And, I must admit that I am writing so that I myself might hear what I am saying and thus come to both understand myself more deeply and see myself as I am. For we are here in these bodies in these lives so that we may come to understand ourselves more deeply and to see ourselves as we are. In our becoming better human beings, the world itself becomes better for all.
As already noted, we all seek context, a place to belong and a sense of belonging, a state of self that both makes sense, can be readily found, and brings some kind of peace and safety, if not a semblance of control and order. I make assumptions that I believe are based in some kind of social reality as well as in some kind of spiritual reality. My life experiences, not surprisingly, seem to back up my beliefs, for I interpret them accordingly. I observe the culture and society in which I live and interpret it in "my" own way. As a child I was indoctrinated by Roman Catholicism through high school, though the Jesuit college I attended undoctrinated me in various ways. My "spiritual path" led to Buddhism in which I was briefly a Zen monk but practiced zazen for many years, to Theosophy and Hinduism and Daoism, to Indigenous religions, to LSD and other hallucinogens, to Gnosticism, to many mythological and cosmological systems, including the Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian, Nordic, etc., and back to a conglomeration of them all in which there are common threads with clues to escape the labyrinth of superficial existence.
I have come to some conclusions, partly based in my own particular experiences and my own interpretations of them, and also in what others have taught or otherwise reported from many sources from ancient times to the present time. I do have a context, albeit an all too often lonely one, since it is not comprised of a group of worshippers or believers, but rather, of those who have had to trust their own understandings of their own experiences and who have learned to be reticent regarding such, not so much because that which they know is so "special" or "hidden" but simply because there is so little interest, and even less trust in their insight or credibility. Such things are utterly obvious but most people are simply oblivious, that is, could care less, proceeding on their merry way to Hell in a handbasket, as it were. I probably would if I could, but I can't.
What I say can be found in much more articulate forms in many religions, philosophies, and literary sources, some of which I may quote now and then. I am quite aware that others have said what I will say, but also that I am compelled to say it in my own way and from my own experience which could be said to cover a large base. I know a little of everything and a lot of nothing. However, utilizing my original quote, "Too much irony makes one overwrought."
I am too often quite aware of "myself" as an awareness, a "spirit," contained in a physical body living a life at this moment on this planet in this universe. There are "reasons why" I am here but, at this point, they are beside the point. I am here in this body in this life to learn that this is not so real as it appears, that "I" am not so real as I appear, and that life is a test and a process of spiritual development in which we learn to extricate ourselves from the "worldly" levels of identification. In other words, physical life is a preparation for, a springboard to, the non-physical life that follows. And "I" have gone through many such physical lives, just as you have, whether you acknowledge it or not, or are aware of it or not. I have visceral memories of such lives and have been many different people, even as you have been. To me this is not conjecture or imagination or fantasy; it is vivid and graphic, and I remember people I knew then whom I have recognized in this life. We are here to make a difference, to change the world into a better place for all of us. That is what I am certain about. This notion of reincarnation is not the focus of what I am saying, however, it is the vehicle; it is the context. It is a ground of being, as it were, for ourselves, our many selves.
There is also the realization that we are each other. I know this sounds absurd, but my experience is that there is an awareness, a life, a being within me, that I share with other human beings. In a way it's that I know them: I feel them, I sense their very being as though it were my own, as though they are me and I am them. To put it in theological words, the divine spirit that is in me, that is me, is also in them. It is one life existing in many bodies. Sometimes I experience this oneness, this non-separateness, with others, even all others. Much of the time, like when I'm cursing at "stupid idiots" in traffic, I am not experiencing this oneness, but just the opposite. We're all "works in progress" that take numerous lives to do it until it's finally done. I don't want to get too philosophical or theological or psychological, that is, abstract at this point. To my mind I have so far not been abstract but as down to earth as possible.
I don't think that people have to believe in reincarnation to have self-awareness or self-acceptance, however, I do think that people have to have some kind of greater context in which to "hold themselves," or else they cannot; life is just too much to be able to take into oneself. To recognize it as "process," as "being on the ride of your life," or as "learning how to be truly human" makes it more real and puts it all in the realm of possibility. "If not in this lifetime, then in the next." And I speak of goodness and love, not of hate and vengeance. The latter are false and go nowhere except down into pointless existence, theologically referred to as "Hell." In this blog I will tell you my own story at times, for it relates to the stories of others and it informs you of how I have been informed and thus say what I say. I am not seeking agreement; I am only seeking to somehow be able to be of some kind of service to another in the living of his or her life. And, I must admit that I am writing so that I myself might hear what I am saying and thus come to both understand myself more deeply and see myself as I am. For we are here in these bodies in these lives so that we may come to understand ourselves more deeply and to see ourselves as we are. In our becoming better human beings, the world itself becomes better for all.
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