A book of these essays is finally available. Click here if you would like your very own copy.
If you can make do with an e-book, feel free to click here.
Get your hands on God's Balls!
A book of these essays is finally available. Click here if you would like your very own copy.
If you can make do with an e-book, feel free to click here.
Learn by ROTA, not by rote
The philosophy is, Read Once, Throw Away.
Rota: early 17th century: from Latin, literally "wheel"
The idea is not to attach ourselves to thoughts or phrases, learning things by rote.
The idea is to get the wheels turning. Your own wheels. Let the wheels turn, quietly. Cogitate.
Don't do it because you have read this - or any philosophical/self-help/advice. Don't do it because you ought to, or must. Don't do it because you would like to change or be different.
Read out of interest. Read once, and throw away. Let the rest take care of itself, without effort.
Rota: early 17th century: from Latin, literally "wheel"
The idea is not to attach ourselves to thoughts or phrases, learning things by rote.
The idea is to get the wheels turning. Your own wheels. Let the wheels turn, quietly. Cogitate.
Don't do it because you have read this - or any philosophical/self-help/advice. Don't do it because you ought to, or must. Don't do it because you would like to change or be different.
Read out of interest. Read once, and throw away. Let the rest take care of itself, without effort.
Some final words...
Sweeping out the wood-chippings - and any other carpentry-related parallels one would like to make. Last-minute thoughts, things spinning round my head, raggedy old draft of an essay I was attempting from ages ago, and whatever else.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Chapters 14 to 17 of the gospel of John is a veritable patchwork quilt of Messianic sayings. It reads as if John had cut up a papyrus of Jesus quotes, dropped them in to a bag, and then dipped his hand in to see how they would come out, à la David Bowie's Life On Mars. Then he would absent-mindedly drop the quote back in the bag. Subsequently Jesus keeps repeating himself.
He wasn't saying, "no one can come to the Father except through me," as if he were the means - the only means - by which others could get to the Father. He was saying the only way to get to the Father is to go inward - to go in to the "me".
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
The truth is, "I and the Father are one." One and the same. You and the Father are one. You are God. Or with a little "g" if you prefer it. Or not at all. God is nothing, and everything. The alpha and the omega. The yang and the yin.
The truth is, you are nothing. (And you are everything.) But this is not a conclusion arrived at and understood academically - anyone can do that. It is a fundamental realisation that arises unbidden. And then you are free.
I matter!
I, matter.
A COUPLE OF ESSAY IDEAS, (ONE SHORT ONE LONG)
First, the short - a title, basically:
The human race: Taking the game to evolution
"Survival of the fittest" is not a pithy summation of the evolutionary process. It is a frickin' movie tagline.
Second, the long - a collection of notes and shards of ideas:
Tracing the origins of human consciousness
It all starts with a thought. Yet, what is a "thought"? What is thinking, conscious thought, awareness? Animals do not think, or reason, or work things out. They are affected by circumstances.
Humans are animals with added sensations. (What is a sense?)
Humans want to maintain an animal instinct - the ability purely to exist, to be - but with the added benefit of joy, happiness, appreciation.
Conscious awareness can bring nothing but satisfaction and joy. We can learn and understand. Ignorance invents gods. Growing in knowledge brings calm, relief, clarity - "like a light that gets brighter." It is never meant to puff up, or give an attitude of, "I know more than you."
The problem: Awareness of ourselves has separated us. We each become an individual world/universe, fearful of our own destruction. Primarily, we believe we are in danger. We have not just become aware of ourselves as a species, but as individuals within a species. The first person to have experienced this would have been thrown in to confusion. It might not have been an overwhelmingly pleasant experience.
Perhaps it can be perceived through the eyes of a baby: The frown, the confusion, the fear. It can be soothed, pacified, by love. Reassurance. But, where did love arise from? Such a thing never existed. Love is not an individual emotion - it is an overarching definition.
Love draws from stillness, peace, security, nurture, reliability. What does a baby respond to? Having its needs satisfied, reassurance, skin-on-skin touch. Gentle touch, tenderness. Quiet.
We are fragmented within ourselves. At-one-ness.
Did self-awareness first arise when we encountered our reflection? When we first began to realise what we saw reflected was ourselves? Did this give rise to the archetype of the reflection - "image"?
There is a constant need to drink water. The repeated act of going to the source to drink - bending over, seeing the reflection...the hand moves here, the hand moves there...I do this with this part, it does that with that part...
This would gradually begin to register.
What would cause - or increase - man's fear? Sudden death. Attack. Sense of his own mortality. Detachment from life - a feeling of detachment (again, separation.)
Self-awareness translates into self-importance. He is not a part of life, he is all life, the only life that truly matters - all springing from not wanting to die.
The fear of sudden death meant having to defend himself from such a fate. Having to defend himself would soon turn into eliminating even the threat of death. Hence, attack.
This sense of his own mortality, his memory of fear, memory of pain, is then passed on to offspring, and so the continuation begins - the cycle.
Life experience teaches us in the most crucial years that we get everything for nothing - sustenance, covering etc. Then, at some point, it takes a radical about face. Evolution has done the same thing. All life simply exists...but in this incarnation we are left to fend for ourselves and consciously work to live. What happened?
Nature spat man out. After gradual awakening of consciousness - the knowledge of good and bad, or basically, everything - man gets thrust out of the Garden of Eden and its abundant security.
A baby experiences anguish and anxiety when its needs are not met. So it is with man.
Man is caught within a framework of evolution. He is experiencing it as it happens. It is as if he is trying to see the outside of the house while looking out through a window.
He is experiencing what it was like to be rejected because the eye did not work. Worse still, it is as if he has purposefully constructed things so that it guaranteed his failure. As if a particular strain of bombardier beetle had adapted in such a way as his self-destruction was inevitable. The bombardier beetle knowingly manufactured its own lethal combination of chemicals in order to guarantee its own self-destruction. Man's self-destruction is guaranteed, but out from the ashes will arise a strain of homo sapien with a fundamentally advanced thinking process. And even if that incarnation fails (because among them are gun-toting survivalists who have carried forward the sickness of this system) and the one that follows, the next will be more successful.
A monkey baby might die. The parent might prod it, turn it over, carry it around for a while - but is it fundamentally altered at its core?
Penultimately...
TAKE A PEEK AT GOD'S BALLS
I had set myself a tentative goal of writing a book by the time I was fifty. A sort of hodge-podge of old and new essays from this website amalgamated in to a book that I had planned to give away for free.
I was going to give it the title, "God's Balls".
The idea was that, "If there is a God, then he's got some chutzpah, courage, cojones," or, as I decided to go with, "spunk."
I was very amused by this title. The advertising campaign was all planned, and everything. "Have you seen God's Balls? Grab yours." Or, "Get hold of God's Balls!"
That sort of thing. Hilarious.
Anyway, knowing that writing a book was out of the question for various reasons - no compulsion, being one of them - I toyed with the notion of launching a website with the aim of addressing said question, "If there is a God, then why...?" and allowing anyone that wanted to to ask whatever question this raised in their mind. Then, all of a sudden, it just didn't matter any more. None of it did.
Anyhoo...
One morning I arrived at the house of one of my window-cleaning customers. As I set up my ladders he opened the front door.
"This'll be the last time you clean these windows," he said in his languid Suffolk drawl.
"Oh," I said, slightly crestfallen.
"We're having new ones put in. Should be ready next time you come."
I am not planning to pull the same fast one. I am not disappearing here at A carpenter from Nazareth only to resurface somewhere else.
And, finally...
THE OFFENDED ARE GENTLY ENCOURAGED TO GROW A PEAR
If there is a God he/she/it is certainly not offended by this infantile joke of a website title: God's Balls. If there is a God, he is complete, fully rounded, absolutely comprehending of his own self. It is people who are offended.
How to grow a pear
You could stick a seed in the ground and hope for the best. Better to ready the soil. Turn it over. Identify all the rocks and stones that could impede growth. Dig in to the past and see what makes you you. Ask, "Why am I offended?" With understanding comes forgiveness. Dig deep - go back far. The stones are not removed, they are pulverised - reduced to dust and mingled with the soil. They are not pulverised because it is believed they must be. They are naturally pulverised by identifying them without judgement.
Then plant the seed in the rich soil. The seed is there - it's why you're here.
Throw off every belief, nitwit. Nothing is the way I think. Faith as small as a singularity.
And then wait. Sit in silence. Slow down. Stop. Give yourself plenty of time to do nothing. Without you noticing, your pear will grow.
There is simply nothing else that needs to be said.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Chapters 14 to 17 of the gospel of John is a veritable patchwork quilt of Messianic sayings. It reads as if John had cut up a papyrus of Jesus quotes, dropped them in to a bag, and then dipped his hand in to see how they would come out, à la David Bowie's Life On Mars. Then he would absent-mindedly drop the quote back in the bag. Subsequently Jesus keeps repeating himself.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. John 14:6When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," he meant he was. He meant you are the way the truth and the life. The way, the truth, and life, can all be found within you.
He wasn't saying, "no one can come to the Father except through me," as if he were the means - the only means - by which others could get to the Father. He was saying the only way to get to the Father is to go inward - to go in to the "me".
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
The truth is, "I and the Father are one." One and the same. You and the Father are one. You are God. Or with a little "g" if you prefer it. Or not at all. God is nothing, and everything. The alpha and the omega. The yang and the yin.
The truth is, you are nothing. (And you are everything.) But this is not a conclusion arrived at and understood academically - anyone can do that. It is a fundamental realisation that arises unbidden. And then you are free.
I matter!
I, matter.
A COUPLE OF ESSAY IDEAS, (ONE SHORT ONE LONG)
First, the short - a title, basically:
The human race: Taking the game to evolution
"Survival of the fittest" is not a pithy summation of the evolutionary process. It is a frickin' movie tagline.
Second, the long - a collection of notes and shards of ideas:
Tracing the origins of human consciousness
It all starts with a thought. Yet, what is a "thought"? What is thinking, conscious thought, awareness? Animals do not think, or reason, or work things out. They are affected by circumstances.
Humans are animals with added sensations. (What is a sense?)
Humans want to maintain an animal instinct - the ability purely to exist, to be - but with the added benefit of joy, happiness, appreciation.
Conscious awareness can bring nothing but satisfaction and joy. We can learn and understand. Ignorance invents gods. Growing in knowledge brings calm, relief, clarity - "like a light that gets brighter." It is never meant to puff up, or give an attitude of, "I know more than you."
The problem: Awareness of ourselves has separated us. We each become an individual world/universe, fearful of our own destruction. Primarily, we believe we are in danger. We have not just become aware of ourselves as a species, but as individuals within a species. The first person to have experienced this would have been thrown in to confusion. It might not have been an overwhelmingly pleasant experience.
Perhaps it can be perceived through the eyes of a baby: The frown, the confusion, the fear. It can be soothed, pacified, by love. Reassurance. But, where did love arise from? Such a thing never existed. Love is not an individual emotion - it is an overarching definition.
Love draws from stillness, peace, security, nurture, reliability. What does a baby respond to? Having its needs satisfied, reassurance, skin-on-skin touch. Gentle touch, tenderness. Quiet.
We are fragmented within ourselves. At-one-ness.
Did self-awareness first arise when we encountered our reflection? When we first began to realise what we saw reflected was ourselves? Did this give rise to the archetype of the reflection - "image"?
There is a constant need to drink water. The repeated act of going to the source to drink - bending over, seeing the reflection...the hand moves here, the hand moves there...I do this with this part, it does that with that part...
This would gradually begin to register.
What would cause - or increase - man's fear? Sudden death. Attack. Sense of his own mortality. Detachment from life - a feeling of detachment (again, separation.)
Self-awareness translates into self-importance. He is not a part of life, he is all life, the only life that truly matters - all springing from not wanting to die.
The fear of sudden death meant having to defend himself from such a fate. Having to defend himself would soon turn into eliminating even the threat of death. Hence, attack.
This sense of his own mortality, his memory of fear, memory of pain, is then passed on to offspring, and so the continuation begins - the cycle.
Life experience teaches us in the most crucial years that we get everything for nothing - sustenance, covering etc. Then, at some point, it takes a radical about face. Evolution has done the same thing. All life simply exists...but in this incarnation we are left to fend for ourselves and consciously work to live. What happened?
Nature spat man out. After gradual awakening of consciousness - the knowledge of good and bad, or basically, everything - man gets thrust out of the Garden of Eden and its abundant security.
A baby experiences anguish and anxiety when its needs are not met. So it is with man.
Man is caught within a framework of evolution. He is experiencing it as it happens. It is as if he is trying to see the outside of the house while looking out through a window.
He is experiencing what it was like to be rejected because the eye did not work. Worse still, it is as if he has purposefully constructed things so that it guaranteed his failure. As if a particular strain of bombardier beetle had adapted in such a way as his self-destruction was inevitable. The bombardier beetle knowingly manufactured its own lethal combination of chemicals in order to guarantee its own self-destruction. Man's self-destruction is guaranteed, but out from the ashes will arise a strain of homo sapien with a fundamentally advanced thinking process. And even if that incarnation fails (because among them are gun-toting survivalists who have carried forward the sickness of this system) and the one that follows, the next will be more successful.
A monkey baby might die. The parent might prod it, turn it over, carry it around for a while - but is it fundamentally altered at its core?
Penultimately...
TAKE A PEEK AT GOD'S BALLS
I had set myself a tentative goal of writing a book by the time I was fifty. A sort of hodge-podge of old and new essays from this website amalgamated in to a book that I had planned to give away for free.
I was going to give it the title, "God's Balls".
The idea was that, "If there is a God, then he's got some chutzpah, courage, cojones," or, as I decided to go with, "spunk."
I was very amused by this title. The advertising campaign was all planned, and everything. "Have you seen God's Balls? Grab yours." Or, "Get hold of God's Balls!"
That sort of thing. Hilarious.
Anyway, knowing that writing a book was out of the question for various reasons - no compulsion, being one of them - I toyed with the notion of launching a website with the aim of addressing said question, "If there is a God, then why...?" and allowing anyone that wanted to to ask whatever question this raised in their mind. Then, all of a sudden, it just didn't matter any more. None of it did.
Anyhoo...
One morning I arrived at the house of one of my window-cleaning customers. As I set up my ladders he opened the front door.
"This'll be the last time you clean these windows," he said in his languid Suffolk drawl.
"Oh," I said, slightly crestfallen.
"We're having new ones put in. Should be ready next time you come."
I am not planning to pull the same fast one. I am not disappearing here at A carpenter from Nazareth only to resurface somewhere else.
And, finally...
THE OFFENDED ARE GENTLY ENCOURAGED TO GROW A PEAR
If there is a God he/she/it is certainly not offended by this infantile joke of a website title: God's Balls. If there is a God, he is complete, fully rounded, absolutely comprehending of his own self. It is people who are offended.
How to grow a pear
You could stick a seed in the ground and hope for the best. Better to ready the soil. Turn it over. Identify all the rocks and stones that could impede growth. Dig in to the past and see what makes you you. Ask, "Why am I offended?" With understanding comes forgiveness. Dig deep - go back far. The stones are not removed, they are pulverised - reduced to dust and mingled with the soil. They are not pulverised because it is believed they must be. They are naturally pulverised by identifying them without judgement.
Then plant the seed in the rich soil. The seed is there - it's why you're here.
Throw off every belief, nitwit. Nothing is the way I think. Faith as small as a singularity.
And then wait. Sit in silence. Slow down. Stop. Give yourself plenty of time to do nothing. Without you noticing, your pear will grow.
There is simply nothing else that needs to be said.
To be and not to be - that is the answer
"We are not born in to this world. We are born out from this world." Alan WattsEverything is born out of this world. Look all around at the growing things, all springing up and growing out, reaching up and spreading. But only so far as the fruits and leaves die and new ones take their place each year. Each growing thing reaches its limit.
This spherical earth is a rolling, broiling, seething, mass. Each plate heaving and turning, rock and mass rising to the surface, moving, and being dug under - the earth turning itself inside-out, outside-in. Topsoil turned continuously by the worm. The agony and the ecstasy. Being fertilised and giving birth. Living things spring from this earth. Seed is planted and life shoots forth.
Some say there are galaxies in clusters like grapes on the vine. On the earth life burst forth, all various kinds of living things blooming like grapes on the vine.
And mankind born like a piece of fruit on the branch, grows and expands, mostly water. Some fruit falls early, some when they are old and bruised, and are mulched back in to the earth and regurgitated. Nothing is wasted.
Much Ado About Nothing
Who planted the seed for the birth of the universe? What was the soil in to which it was planted?
Being planted it. To be. Existence, vitality, energy. Love. Call it "God" if you want - it makes no difference. God is not God, anyway.
The soil in to which it was planted was the nothing. Thing and nothing. They are one.
And God went on to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.Which brings us round in a circle like a sublime "O".
And who planted the seed that led to the birth of God?
Indeed.
We don't even know where we are headed for. If humankind is not flailing around in its afterbirth, it is certainly no more than an infant first becoming aware of itself. Fearful, paralysed, rebellious, futilely grasping for independence. We have hardly made a mark on the process. We are at the very beginning of the road.
Surely what we are heading for is what birthed us. We are God. Of God. Just because we have not reached full maturity does not mean that we are not made of the same stuff as God.
If the human race does manage to destroy itself, it simply means we have dropped off the branch too early and another piece of fruit will have to grow. This is not a one-off deal.
The stowaway
Halt your vital search elsewhere for that great illusionist, God.
Turns out he was already on board all along.
He is in the cargo hold,
Hiding among the baggage.
In order to find him you only have to remove the baggage.
Of course he could be in one of the pieces,
So each item must be opened,
Pulled apart,
The contents strewn around.
Once the baggage is removed,
The stowaway is not there.
There is only empty space.
Nothing.
It is in the very act of removing the baggage
That the truth is revealed...
Turns out he was already on board all along.
He is in the cargo hold,
Hiding among the baggage.
In order to find him you only have to remove the baggage.
Of course he could be in one of the pieces,
So each item must be opened,
Pulled apart,
The contents strewn around.
Once the baggage is removed,
The stowaway is not there.
There is only empty space.
Nothing.
It is in the very act of removing the baggage
That the truth is revealed...
Relax - you're already dead
The individual life is wafer thin. Hours and minutes and seconds are peeled off like sheaves of paper and blown away in the breeze. Looking back everything is a distant memory. We can barely remember anything, and what we can remember we struggle to remember accurately. We are only left with residual feelings and emotions, and even these may not be true. We are casting an eye over our own demise.
Every minute has passed away. The walk from one destination to another has happened and is no more. A muddy footprint like a memory is the only evidence of where you have been, not where you are right now. Just mud on the floor, footprints in the rain, even they will disappear. A scent a dog might follow, this too will disipate.
The only thing that exists is right now; this very moment. This instant.
You can not die if you are already dead. Do you believe in life after death? You have nothing to fear. Do you believe death is non-existence? Then you will never die. You are not dead tomorrow, for if you were, you would no longer remember this very moment of being alive. You are aware of being alive this very moment - then do the same tomorrow.
It only matters if we are anxious about time running out. Time can run out no more than life can. Life does not run out. Life is. I am. We can no more imagine life ending than we can imagine life beginning. What was there before life began?
Life is for ever.
Every minute has passed away. The walk from one destination to another has happened and is no more. A muddy footprint like a memory is the only evidence of where you have been, not where you are right now. Just mud on the floor, footprints in the rain, even they will disappear. A scent a dog might follow, this too will disipate.
The only thing that exists is right now; this very moment. This instant.
You can not die if you are already dead. Do you believe in life after death? You have nothing to fear. Do you believe death is non-existence? Then you will never die. You are not dead tomorrow, for if you were, you would no longer remember this very moment of being alive. You are aware of being alive this very moment - then do the same tomorrow.
It only matters if we are anxious about time running out. Time can run out no more than life can. Life does not run out. Life is. I am. We can no more imagine life ending than we can imagine life beginning. What was there before life began?
Life is for ever.
What is the purpose of life?
Life has got itself in to a spot of bother. It has turned down a blind alley; got itself in to an endless loop; it is a stuck record, skipping on a scratch; it needs to sit itself down in a corner and give itself a damn good talking to.
The problem is, in taking a monumental step in to self-awareness, life has encountered a troublesome side effect - the bizarre need to justify its own existence; to explain itself; to ask, "Why am I here?" In the very act of accomplishing one of its most significant feats of progress, life has managed to forget what it is for. It is not man who asks, "What is the purpose of life?" it is life itself, for we each of us is life. I am life. You are life. He/She is life. ("It" is life, but it belongs to a previous incarnation. "It" belongs to a period of time before it could take offense at being referred to as "it.")
In making this great leap forward life had failed to look in the one serious place where the danger might lurk. It had neglected to take itself in to consideration. It is as if it has caught a glimpse of itself in a mirror and let out an involuntary shriek of fear. Further still, life has not yet experienced that welcome feeling of relief - "Oh, it's only me." Even worse, life hates what it sees. Like a crow seeing its own reflection in a house window, it has gone at its own image in a most alarming manner, all flailing wings, outstretched scratching claws, and viciously pecking beak.
The monstrous irony of life becoming aware of itself is that it could be its undoing. Life has hobbled itself. It has short-circuited its own progress. We are not coping well with our self-awareness. In trying to answer the question of the purpose of life's existence, life has driven itself to the brink of its own extinction - certainly the edge of the abyss for this human branch of evolutionary progress. While feeling the need to justify man's existence, man has treated each other in a most inhumane manner. He forces man to work hard, to live in humiliating poverty, tells him he has to earn a living, enslaves his fellow man, and is rapidly rendering his precious home uninhabitable.
As grim as this prognosis might be, we do not need to remain as helpless bystanders. On the contrary, it is imperative that we do all we can to help life learn the reason for its own existence: Life doesn't have a purpose - doesn't need a purpose. Life doesn't need to justify its own existence, or agonise over why it is here. Life just is.
If we want to weave God in to the equation, we can replace "life" with "God". God is life is God. This outlook enhances a relationship with God. It no longer renders man an impotent partner. We are helping God attain his goal of growth and unhindered self-awareness. He is in the throes of being, and we can play our part in that process. Our role is vital. God has proved to be somewhat forgetful. He told Moses, "I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be," but he consistently forgets that he is in the process of becoming. Reminding him of this, by reminding ourselves, is no trivial part to play.
What can you do to play an active part in life's evolutionary progress?
Sit Still. Call it prayer, or meditation, or "occupying a space" - call it what you will, it makes no difference. We need to spend more time doing nothing, and less time labouring for what does not exist. Taking every opportunity to remain still and quiet is a necessary and active pursuit replete with unimaginable promise.
Think. Don't Think. The great secret to thinking is not to think. Out of nothing explodes life. Stillness, calm - from these things bursts the "Aha!" moment. Don't force it - it'll happen. And when it does, let it.
Slow Down. Take the advice of Miranda Priestley and, "by all means move at a glacial pace." The evolutionary process is slow. There is no rush. Time is inconsequential.
Be. Life just is, and the same applies to you. You simply are. You don't need to justify life. You don't need to earn your keep, or fight to survive. The way of life is merely to exist. Revel in the belief that "ignorance is bliss." Don't name anything, refuse to define things. Just experience.
Be Healthy. Refuse to pollute your body with the crippling junk that man appears to be dead-set on endlessly producing to the detriment of his very existence. Eat well. Sleep well. All the while, ABC - Always Breathe Correctly
Imagine. Create. Life could be evolving towards a corporeal life-form that does not rot away and decompose. A life-form that is able to renew itself indefinitely. A sensing, feeling being that is able to experience life joyfully forever. A race of humans finally able to love openly and unconditionally.
Don't Be Afraid. Don't fear death. The mere fact that life has manifested itself through you once does not mean that it is a one-off deal. Why should it not mean that it could happen again? Just because it hasn't does not mean that it won't. Every indication is that we are in the very early moments of this extraordinary development. The human species is in its infancy. We have not yet learned to crawl, let alone walk. Certainly it is bad luck to be born during such an unforgiving time, but that need not write off experiencing life again during a more carefree period. Life simply may not have learned to remember - yet. After all, each new manifestation of life has to remind itself that it does not need a reason to be alive.
Love. Most importantly, love yourself. God and love and life are synonymous. Focus on loving yourself and your love for others (and for life) will grow exponentially. In order to love yourself you need to forgive yourself. If you don't think you need to forgive yourself then you haven't done it yet and you will continue to be stuck. Forgiveness is a happy by-product of understanding. So, get to know yourself. Don't think in generalities. Social science has a tendency to lump all the categories in to one: All men do such and such...all women do so and so...Ask yourself, "Why am I like this?" "Why do I do so-and-so?" Focus in on yourself. Teach life self-awareness. Look at yourself in the mirror without attacking yourself. See yourself as you really are and accept it without judgement.
Remain Positive. Life is not able to regress. Once it has learned how to handle its capacity for self-awareness without destroying itself, it will not be able to unlearn it. Life learns and grows and develops. From the moment of the big bang, when life exploded out of nothing, this universe is forever expanding outwards. Like a blossoming flower. Remaining positive does not necessarily mean being optimistic. By all means be pessimistic. Identify the many areas in life that man has managed to completely screw up. Negate everything, as Krishnamurti might say. You can do this and still cultivate a healthy faith.
Finally, in summation, we could say, the purpose of life is to remind life itself that it does not need a purpose. Every new manifestation of life has to tell itself this truth until the message is firmly imprinted. We might yet be able to save ourselves.
The problem is, in taking a monumental step in to self-awareness, life has encountered a troublesome side effect - the bizarre need to justify its own existence; to explain itself; to ask, "Why am I here?" In the very act of accomplishing one of its most significant feats of progress, life has managed to forget what it is for. It is not man who asks, "What is the purpose of life?" it is life itself, for we each of us is life. I am life. You are life. He/She is life. ("It" is life, but it belongs to a previous incarnation. "It" belongs to a period of time before it could take offense at being referred to as "it.")
In making this great leap forward life had failed to look in the one serious place where the danger might lurk. It had neglected to take itself in to consideration. It is as if it has caught a glimpse of itself in a mirror and let out an involuntary shriek of fear. Further still, life has not yet experienced that welcome feeling of relief - "Oh, it's only me." Even worse, life hates what it sees. Like a crow seeing its own reflection in a house window, it has gone at its own image in a most alarming manner, all flailing wings, outstretched scratching claws, and viciously pecking beak.
The monstrous irony of life becoming aware of itself is that it could be its undoing. Life has hobbled itself. It has short-circuited its own progress. We are not coping well with our self-awareness. In trying to answer the question of the purpose of life's existence, life has driven itself to the brink of its own extinction - certainly the edge of the abyss for this human branch of evolutionary progress. While feeling the need to justify man's existence, man has treated each other in a most inhumane manner. He forces man to work hard, to live in humiliating poverty, tells him he has to earn a living, enslaves his fellow man, and is rapidly rendering his precious home uninhabitable.
As grim as this prognosis might be, we do not need to remain as helpless bystanders. On the contrary, it is imperative that we do all we can to help life learn the reason for its own existence: Life doesn't have a purpose - doesn't need a purpose. Life doesn't need to justify its own existence, or agonise over why it is here. Life just is.
If we want to weave God in to the equation, we can replace "life" with "God". God is life is God. This outlook enhances a relationship with God. It no longer renders man an impotent partner. We are helping God attain his goal of growth and unhindered self-awareness. He is in the throes of being, and we can play our part in that process. Our role is vital. God has proved to be somewhat forgetful. He told Moses, "I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be," but he consistently forgets that he is in the process of becoming. Reminding him of this, by reminding ourselves, is no trivial part to play.
What can you do to play an active part in life's evolutionary progress?
Sit Still. Call it prayer, or meditation, or "occupying a space" - call it what you will, it makes no difference. We need to spend more time doing nothing, and less time labouring for what does not exist. Taking every opportunity to remain still and quiet is a necessary and active pursuit replete with unimaginable promise.
Think. Don't Think. The great secret to thinking is not to think. Out of nothing explodes life. Stillness, calm - from these things bursts the "Aha!" moment. Don't force it - it'll happen. And when it does, let it.
Slow Down. Take the advice of Miranda Priestley and, "by all means move at a glacial pace." The evolutionary process is slow. There is no rush. Time is inconsequential.
Be. Life just is, and the same applies to you. You simply are. You don't need to justify life. You don't need to earn your keep, or fight to survive. The way of life is merely to exist. Revel in the belief that "ignorance is bliss." Don't name anything, refuse to define things. Just experience.
Be Healthy. Refuse to pollute your body with the crippling junk that man appears to be dead-set on endlessly producing to the detriment of his very existence. Eat well. Sleep well. All the while, ABC - Always Breathe Correctly
Imagine. Create. Life could be evolving towards a corporeal life-form that does not rot away and decompose. A life-form that is able to renew itself indefinitely. A sensing, feeling being that is able to experience life joyfully forever. A race of humans finally able to love openly and unconditionally.
Don't Be Afraid. Don't fear death. The mere fact that life has manifested itself through you once does not mean that it is a one-off deal. Why should it not mean that it could happen again? Just because it hasn't does not mean that it won't. Every indication is that we are in the very early moments of this extraordinary development. The human species is in its infancy. We have not yet learned to crawl, let alone walk. Certainly it is bad luck to be born during such an unforgiving time, but that need not write off experiencing life again during a more carefree period. Life simply may not have learned to remember - yet. After all, each new manifestation of life has to remind itself that it does not need a reason to be alive.
Love. Most importantly, love yourself. God and love and life are synonymous. Focus on loving yourself and your love for others (and for life) will grow exponentially. In order to love yourself you need to forgive yourself. If you don't think you need to forgive yourself then you haven't done it yet and you will continue to be stuck. Forgiveness is a happy by-product of understanding. So, get to know yourself. Don't think in generalities. Social science has a tendency to lump all the categories in to one: All men do such and such...all women do so and so...Ask yourself, "Why am I like this?" "Why do I do so-and-so?" Focus in on yourself. Teach life self-awareness. Look at yourself in the mirror without attacking yourself. See yourself as you really are and accept it without judgement.
Remain Positive. Life is not able to regress. Once it has learned how to handle its capacity for self-awareness without destroying itself, it will not be able to unlearn it. Life learns and grows and develops. From the moment of the big bang, when life exploded out of nothing, this universe is forever expanding outwards. Like a blossoming flower. Remaining positive does not necessarily mean being optimistic. By all means be pessimistic. Identify the many areas in life that man has managed to completely screw up. Negate everything, as Krishnamurti might say. You can do this and still cultivate a healthy faith.
Finally, in summation, we could say, the purpose of life is to remind life itself that it does not need a purpose. Every new manifestation of life has to tell itself this truth until the message is firmly imprinted. We might yet be able to save ourselves.