Monday, April 21, 2008

Waves on the Ocean and Worlds in the Sea

It is a most interesting thing the way people will use different terms to say the same thing and then believe they are being contradicted by the other. I’ve always been amused by arguments about what cannot be defined due to the subjective experience of what is beyond the senses. I seldom can be attracted into these sorts of debates, primarily because it never leads to anything.

It was fun sometimes when I was younger and new experiences were part and parcel of my day. I realize now that I was just as often caught up in the vanity of my reasoning skills as much as I was sincere about understanding anything. It was just another way of playing ping pong. It’s always satisfying when you are ‘on’ and making those great moves. Sooner or later the games end and the paddles and the ball sit on the table; just two paddles and a ball, a net and a table with a few white lines.

When we strip away all of our self identification with our words and actions, what is left is what we should be looking at. All over the world people spend their lives remarking on the waves, calculating their measurements, predicting outcomes based on their measurements, buying and selling the information, betting on the outcome, theorizing on the movements and attributing meaning to them. But they’re just waves and they will go on behaving as they do for as long as there is a force to set them into motion.

People talk about the wind and make more wind. They talk about the currents and the tides. They speak of depth and coastlines. Along the way all sorts of understandings have come and sciences have emerged that make possible a greater use of the waves. It’s not the waves though. It’s the ocean and the waves are only a portion of the nature of the ocean. We see the waves but we don’t see the ocean. The waves are the part of the ocean that is shown to us but there is a lot more to it.

Life is the same thing. I could begin to talk now about how the fishes in the ocean are so much like the thoughts in our minds and how the behavior of the fish are very similar to the situations caused by our desires. Big fish eat little fish. Many little fish eat a big fish. Small things attach themselves to big fish and behave like parasites. The intricate ecology of coral reefs and the deep unseen conditions of the ocean’s deep are all worlds unto themselves and yet all of these worlds are in the same ocean. There are other oceans. The sky is an ocean and it has its own system of operations and organization. It too can remind us of ourselves. Then there is the land. There is the weather which comes forth from the interaction of the three and the effect of other influences... on and on it goes.

Our senses operate within limited bandwidths. We speculate what might lie beyond these information gathering and measuring devices. Science shows us that forces and things exist outside our operating bandwidth and individuals with awakened siddhis have told us about what they have seen. Mystics from many a different time and tradition have agreed upon the similarity of things and conditions that exist beyond ordinary bandwidths.

In many different cultures, separated by significant time and distance there have evolved similar symbols and architectures for similar purposes. Many professions are devoted to study of inexhaustible minutiae. What lies at the very heart of the smallest particle of matter? What penetrates all time and space? Something does, even science in its ponderous plodding way has told us that something does. What lies beyond the furthest distance of this universe? Is it some immense curve that doubles back, no matter what direction you go in? Does it just keep pressing outward forever? What is it pressing outward against? Is there something beyond that and that and that? Does the relative symmetry between what is found at the deepest within and the furthest without mean something? Does the distance between magnetized particles within matter reflect similar distances to the heavenly bodies?

There seems to be some kind of remarkable order to it all. People dispute this. They talk about chaos theory and all manner of things. It seems that matter moves in one direction toward unimaginable density turning into black holes. Obviously it also moves toward a lesser and lesser density beyond the senses. Is this permeated by something as dense and pervasive after another fashion? Is our world interpenetrated by worlds of increasingly finer substance? Would that explain Heaven and conversely... Hell?

Here we are in the mix. It appears that there may be technologies and laws of operation far beyond anything we have seen and it could be that they all adhere to laws of nature we have yet to discover. Each life decides the meaning of its life according to how much it understands... then the life is gone. Where did that life go?

It seems that a person could never acquire all of the knowledge that is available. They could never acquire all of the goods, or the land or the space. Something acts as a limiter and it could be that the limiter is there to point out the reality that by knowing just one simple thing all other knowledge and information is rendered secondary.

I have toyed with many sciences and religions; philosophies and practices both general and arcane. It’s possible that I have been doing this for much longer than this lifetime and the same may be true of you. Maybe I gained something by all of this probing and seeking. I am more gratified that I spent my time doing this than making money or becoming important in a temporary period of time. However, none of these things are important to me any more. They seem like highways ‘around’ something. All of these words and thoughts, all this speculation seems like waves on an enormous ocean. They don’t have much to do with what lies beneath. It seems that the deeper one goes into the ocean the less likely they are to speak; not so easy with your mouth full of water (grin).

My words... your words... waves on the ocean. Waves can speak of the ocean and waves can speak only of waves. However deep or superficial they may be in their statements they are still both composed of water. Waves are some kind of temporary identity that the ocean takes to say one thing or another, millions of ways every minute of every day and the ocean has made itself into seven separate oceans that are all the same ocean.

Our lives are like a wave on the ocean. We rise from and fall back into the water. There are a million things we can talk about and do within the parameters of a wave among millions of waves but it is hard to imagine that it means anything. It’s more than this of course. I’m just painting a picture to try and make a point but I’ll fall short. I’m only a wave after all.

Everyone has a philosophy, one way or another. They have some passion or predisposition that orders the course of their ship in this ocean of time and the unending phenomena of the waves. I suspect that some ships are more seaworthy and it might just be because one is more able to sail under a particular set of sails.

What I have come to find is that all of the words and arguments and wonders of existence count for nothing in terms of personal effect as a wave upon an unfathomable ocean. Speaking only for myself, I have come to believe that everything is under control and that that control is conscious. If that is so then it indicates to me that whatever that might be it is quite conscious of who I am and where I am; from whence I am come and to where I am bound and that the best thing for me is to have an attitude of listening and a desire for cooperation with it.

I have discovered that the only problem I have is me when I am not listening and not cooperating and when I want more than I have which is everything already. This is not to say that one should not search and reach and study by whatever means one may possess. This is only to say that I suspect one will forever sail under a cloud of unknowing on an unpredictable sea. I am hoping I get invited to dine at the Captain’s Table once I have come to understand how profoundly little I know.

Visible sings: Color Ball by Les Visible♫ It's Changing ♫
'It's Changing' is track no. 5 of 12 on Visible's 2007 album 'Color Ball'
Lyrics (pops up)

Color Ball by Les Visible

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes Les, your essays wash the mind - waves and oceans aside; this is one of them.
Thank you.
Tony

Anonymous said...

It was beautiful.
Tank you very much so.
Hope more from where it came from.
My best.
Ricardo

kikz said...

mornin les:)

love the essay, love the song..
but even as a metaphor... i get seasick..
so frm my landlubber POV...
today's offering put's me in this frame...spinning...

thx to bergman/bergman & legrand.... and lastly sting...

Round, like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnaval balloon
Like a carousell that's turning
Running rings around the moon

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of it's own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream.

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle your head
Why did summer go so quickly
Was it something that I said
Lovers walking allong the shore,
Leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand

Pictures hanging in a hallway
And a fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circle that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Ben There said...

"An enlivening power is nurturing the universe and we can learn to cooperate with it."

--Roy Eugene Davis

Anonymous said...

Wonderful!

Thank you very much for
reminding us of our true nature.
This is now my favorite of all your wonderful essays.
I'm intending to translate it in French because it really hit me and I want to pass that knowledge to my loved ones.
Thanks for your words. :)

-Jidé

Visible said...

Chapter Four of Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World is Here

It's an online book that I am writing about how to not only get by but to improve your life.

Anonymous said...

Waves have been very much in the forefront of my interpretive systems lately only in a different form - sound waves. A fancy new computer recording system I was just given allows the display of all recorded info in a linear waveform graphic and it has been fascinating to zoom in and see what sound "looks ' like. It's all waves neatly arranged in mathematic terms (and could all be written out in strictly numeric terms as well as musical notation
). Watching the low "B" string on my bass vibrate and creating a visible wave has entertained me many times during a long, boring session (I'm easily entertaind, what can I say!) I guess "frequency" is the big variable that "shapes" lots of things into forms we recognize.

Being a big fan of the ocean, I appreciate the water metaphor a great deal and see my own struggles here in this time and place as being perfectly illustrated by the desire to stop being tossed about on the waves as if clinging to some driftwood (my "chaos")and the desire to learn to surf - cooperating with the wave and allowing it to guide me where it would while allowing some measure of grace to be displayed and adventure to be tasted before the inevitable tumble into the surf and a new beginning atop the next swell. Thanks as always for inspiring reflection, Les, and great work with the Survival Guide! Z

Anonymous said...

This is helpful. For a while I've been working with blades of grass bowing in the wind, but waves is better. Waves takes the concept into space, has interesting potential. Ungrounds gravity - puts wings to the visual.
You know we couldn't stop working on it even with a conscious effort.

Hi everybody. I mean, I'm always around, sometimes comment, sometimes not. Its Les's essay in action, waves roll in, break, flatten out, retreat into the larger sea body and roll in again. But I note a crystalizing radiation outward from the mother womb and its sure looks positive. This is different, bigger, farther from, well, since I found this place in '05.

Love and thanks to all,
Nina

Anonymous said...

kikz05
More spinning songs
Les asked me once what sort of music I liked.
I have as much music in me as the sound of a toenail being clipped.
However I do like Don McLean (sometimes) – this is one and of course Vincent - beautiful.
Don McLean - Dreidel
Tony

Anonymous said...

Your words led me to site that resulted in my desktop hosting artwork of Saraswati.
Such beauty and serenity now cover my screen, no "news homepage anymore"

I am Sarasvati, the graceful flowing of the waters of divine poetry
I cause the river of inspiration to enter the artist in joyous swirls and fountains
I cause the waves of bliss to take form within the heart, and emerge as tales of love.
My holy places on earth are small grottoes of strong light and shade
Where the poet may sit and glide off into blue skies
Overgrown banks of streams, full with grass and wild flowers
The moss-covered rocks beneath the waterfall
Small places where the body may be left
While the soul flies into the heavens.

I am seen in art nouveau waters, and the golden lakes on Japanese screens
The scroll whose hidden treasure lies in a small cove
The beautiful place in the middle of a field, where a cluster of white flowers grows
Where birds and animals flock by nature, to rest in the warm breezes and dewdrops.

To those on the winding path of the spirit I say:
I am no guide to the top of the snowy mountains
My home is amid peace and beauty, the swirling of water and music
I work with those who wish to give to the world
Who return from the heights or who have not begun their journey
Who give their love to the world and not to distant gods?

To them I give the gift
Of lovely speech and beautiful voice
Ideas, which do no hesitate, but dance out into the world
Waves of creativity which have only need of media for expression
Music and dance, which occur spontaneously and are perfect

I give patience to the potter, a keen eye to the artist
I form the words of affection in the mouth of the lover
I give rhythm and melody to the musician, so that he does not play
But acts as a channel for the music of the universe.

I have no taste for bickering gods who rule the skies
Nor those so high that they do not wish to communicate
My love is grace and beauty, the joys of creation
I flow in the river, and down the waterfall
Rushing in whirlpools, and rising slowly in shining bubbles
To alight besides a lone musician
To fill him with the love and grace of the universe
Nina, lucky you to have had access to this for years.

Anonymous said...

Stick around Susannah, it reeeely makes a difference.
I am so very happy for you to be on this plane.
Les just cuts loose the anchors, the ropes that keep a balloon grounded, and one day you see you are looking down, gliding over a most beautiful sea.
I cannot say how it happened or when, just that it was there all the time.
We just needed a little affirmation.

Peace, Nina

Anonymous said...

High Tony,
You might also very much enjoy:
Scottish bagpipes,
Irish folk music, especially Celtic Tides lp
Reggae, especially Burning Spear, aka Winston Rodney.
Van Morrison: Astral Weeks lp

Your friend,
Nina

Anonymous said...

So many interesting questions ! So difficult to find a good answer to them because of the limited capacities of our reasoning powers ! Powers that were given to the human kind such a long time ago by cosmic Entities that are still thought of having done so in opposition to God. It was the fire of reason which is now being gradually extinguished in all.
Such loss of reason will allow many to develop their higher faculties in consciousness but that process of evolutionary progress will not be available to the rest of mankind who are not ready because of their immaturity. When I read your articles, Les, I remember what I read so many times during the past 50 years: Krishnamurti, Steiner, Yogananda etc. and the latest: Eckhart Tolle. I particularly refer to his book "A New Earth" and to his reading of same available on cd. He says that the present moment can give answers to all our important questions by just being fully conscious of being there in space in communion with the beauty of creation.

Anonymous said...

So many interesting questions ! So difficult to find a good answer to them because of the limited capacities of our reasoning powers ! Powers that were given to the human kind such a long time ago by cosmic Entities that are still thought of having done so in opposition to God. It was the fire of reason which is now being gradually extinguished in all.
Such loss of reason will allow many to develop their higher faculties in consciousness but that process of evolutionary progress will not be available to the rest of mankind who are not ready because of their immaturity. When I read your articles, Les, I remember what I read so many times during the past 50 years: Krishnamurti, Steiner, Yogananda etc. and the latest: Eckhart Tolle. I particularly refer to his book "A New Earth" and to his reading of same available on cd. He says that the present moment can give answers to all our important questions by just being fully conscious of being there in space in communion with the beauty of creation.

Visible said...

The next chapter of Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World is now Here

Ben There said...

Les -

I'm thoroughly enjoying the chapters over at JustGetThere. Unfortunately I keep getting that "author does not allow comments" error when I try to leave a comment. Good stuff though.

Visible said...

If some of you are having trouble commenting at justgetthere.us you have to have an account and be signed in. Otherwise it says comments are not allowed or something like that.

If it's still a problem then one must contact Ben at the site.

Visible said...

Chapter Six of Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World is Here

I'll get a new Visible Origami out tomorrow (I hope). Today I've got to do a new Smoking Mirrors.

I apologize for being a bit lax with this site but the on line book is taking that space at the moment and I don't want to repost the text here because the webmasters at that site would prefer that I drove the traffic there; fair enough.

Anonymous said...

Ben, I have no trouble commenting over there because I registered in the beginning.
You could move your blog there if you wanted.

I'm thinking about transferring my art blog over there soon as I can figure out how to do that. As of today, that answer hasn't come.

Its an intriguing place.

Nina

Anonymous said...

I just found this from Smoking Mirrors. Man my god your are from another planet. Did you actually write this? This is seriously out of control. I thought you were loose over there but you are/// what? the hedless horseman???? fuck.

Peace out bro. Babylon going down and you could rap wit the angels...word.

65

Visible said...

Hey Nina;

If you want an intro, let me know. I could and would love to be of help. Ask me.

I don't have an opinion about the place except that they wanted me and it was an excuse to write this book. BUT..BUT... if you like it? Darling...and I say that advisably, if you want that I can get you past the velvet ropes.

Damn! I love this kind of thing.

Especially after policing a couple of bad attempts to say the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Didja ever read that book called "The Two Christs of Ypisilanti"?
Two guys in an insane assylum both think they are god. They are made to share a room just to see what happens....and then this Phd candidate wrote a book about it...pretty entertaining.
ummm....If I were god...I would do just what you recommend....Hope you spoke to the real kahoonie and not some "hollowed out instrumental god"
(that is what one madman called the other "god" in his room...

Anonymous said...

just wondering why my comment was deleted?

Anonymous said...

The pebble that you tossed in the visible pond joined the ripples from the High Sierra’s as more came laughing up from South Africa and washed over me—a wave of welcome—so familiarly inviting-- perceived by some—yet not a wave in the sense of sound and power— a wave of greeting, within and without--
Not the fake video fireplace on the TV screen but the warmth and crackling calling of real wood burning and releasing energy perceived by all the senses—and then some

The ripples were warmed by the sun and turned to vapor that I breathed in along with the now vibrationaly alive oxygen, different, yet the same source—joined together in the order of the maelstrom under the waters, coming forth and receding all in the same motion, within the motion of life—no longer swimming against the current but going joyfully along with it when you realize there is no choice to be made—it is the way it is—

Sweet

I got off my ship and left it behind—the waters too inviting, calling me to join—leaving the perceived safety of the shoreline with no charts needed—no destination in mind

Don’t go down below in your ship—keep your eyes on the horizon and hear the sounds of the calling—feel them—know them—allow them—

There is a convergence taking place that in it’s washing away is bringing a peace and beauty—as it should be—

Jj





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