Thursday, November 15, 2007

Serpent With Tail in Mouth; a still life.

Sometimes a person can wonder what the point of the truth is if no one wants to hear it. I shouldn’t say ‘no one’ because that wouldn’t be the truth. It is true however that the truth is not generally welcome. In Hindu metaphysics, Lord Shiva represents the truth; the truth as destroyer. It’s true that the truth destroys illusion and there is nothing in this world that is not an illusion because everything here changes and the truth never changes.

When there are celebrations, Lord Shiva is seldom invited because the truth compromises the festivity of the moment. No one who is alive wants to be reminded that they are going to die. The funny thing is that you don’t die, you just cast off garments. It makes the whole funereal sorrow of the loss of loved ones into a sham really. Why weep for what you cannot lose?

Some might say the truth is different according to circumstance and occasion but... that would be relative truth and not the truth being referenced here. Relative truth is not the truth because that changes too. So, if you’re going to pursue the truth. If you are going to speak the truth, you are going to be generally unwelcome.

As mysterious and complex as existence seems to be it is really a simple affair. What makes it complex is that we want things to conform to our desires. We want to have what we want and do what we want and we want it all to fit in with what we believe to be true and what we believe to be true is only a fabricated construct that permits everything we want to have and do. We explain and define things according to our desires. Since there are a number of desires common to everyone it makes the world appear sane when it is in fact, a madhouse.

We get born into one religion or another and grow up in one country or another, speaking one language or another and if we just can’t bear some aspect of this we change it. We get another religion or we get rid of religion altogether or we keep our early years in a hideaway basket to trot out on ceremonial occasions or when we are in danger or troubled. It’s the same for all the rest of it.

Understanding the cosmos and our place in it is a simple affair. There is an operating system that moves everything and it has been going on for a long time. It moves the planets and it fuels the stars. It holds us on the ground with gravity and it brings night and day and maintains us between many poles of opposites both within and without us. According to what we want, comes whatever moral code we possess. Our moral code is directly defined by the lengths we will go to get what we want and the degree of cost we are willing to incur; who and what we are willing to sacrifice.

Some of us are restrained, to a greater or lesser degree by a conscience and some of us- far more of us lately- possess very little conscience at all; if any.

The one thing you notice more than anything else when you are observing Nature is that it is cyclic. Planets have their courses. Animals have their routines. Everything has a routine according to its nature. You also notice that things repeat which is certainly a feature of cyclic operation. You might also notice that some things are obvious and can be apprehended by the sense and that some things are not palpable but their effects can be witnessed. Hey, you can’t see the wind but you can see what it does.

You notice generation, you notice aging and you notice dissolution. You notice that everything seems to be connected somehow. Then again, most people notice none of this and are not very curious about it either because it doesn’t have anything to do with what they want. There are more shoppers than philosophers and there is more selfishness than selflessness. There are more people in and around the cities than outside of them and there are more people in towns than there are in the more remote countryside.

In spiritual things there are more people concerned with religious forms than are concerned with the essence upon which these are based. There are more people who are prepared to accept than there are those who question. It makes for a ‘shooting fish in a barrel’ kind of format for the predators among us.

Given that everything is cyclic it stands to reason that the life force in us does not dissipate into the atmosphere upon death. It goes somewhere. Given that we can see some part of the bandwidth of existence and given that everything is cyclic it stands to reason that the life force that is you returns here again given the way nature operates and given that nature is a mirror. Did I say these things were ‘given’? They are.

I could use up a lot of virtual ink laying out a groundwork for understanding but I’d rather just get to the point. It doesn’t matter to me if you believe me or not. All that matters to me is if what I say is true. If it’s true, well... it will be demonstrated sooner or later and seen with whatever sense is operating in whatever field it applies to.

Reincarnation is a fact. You can see more examples than you could possibly catalogue just by observing nature. I know it to be a fact because I have first hand experience of it. I am not the only one. There are others with far more bonafides than I who also say that it is true. There are unimpeachable sources who say this and one finds that it can be found in the testimony of the founders of every major religion. It’s expressed differently but that’s why religions differ. They say the same thing another way. Those who are not able to connect the dots get the idea that there’s more than one source, more than one truth and so on.

There’s only one source for everything and everything is composed out of it. It’s a living thing. It never dies and neither do you. You either keep coming back to experience the things you want or you move on to other locations because that is what you want. No matter where you are you have a body that is experiencing life which is a portion of the one life that permeates and composes everything.

This truth and all attendant features of this truth; because the truth is like a diamond or a disco-ball with many facets through with shines a single light... this truth is inconvenient to the desires of the majority of people and that is why it is complex. It is complex because it is inconvenient. If you accept the truth then you have to let go of the things you think you want. People will kill to protect this right; nations war upon nations in order to preserve their assumed right to look out for their interests.

There is a unity that connects all things and that is why you hear that God is Love; despite all of the contrary evidence that this world provides to those who put their desires before the greater unity of life. Yes, God is Love but a great deal more than that; given that we no more understand Love than we do God. God, Truth, Love, these are incomprehensible to the mortal mind. And there is a clear delineation between a mortal and immortal mind. I’ll leave the import of that to the inquiring mind that needs look no further than the mind inquiring to discover it.

We don’t see and we don’t comprehend because we don’t want to. It costs more than we want to spend. The irony is that it actually costs a great deal more not to and the payoff for understanding is incomprehensibly larger. Well, we’ll leave it at that for now. It’s not going anywhere. Everything else may move around and play musical chairs for eons and epochs and kalpas beyond count but the prime mover isn’t going anywhere. Sooner or later, no matter what direction you head in and no matter what you are you will encounter it. And what a surprise that is going to prove to be.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Les,

It looks like you've moved into your new locale. Hope you got your lawn issues resolved smoothly! I had a great trip and as usual it was great to get to see Roy again. Hey I still seem to be missing your email address. When you get a chance can you send me the best email to reach you at. (I'm bjd2222@hotmail.com). Glad to see that you've found your way back to the web.

Ben





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