"Nothing special" explains a lot about human nature

A few days ago I'd woken up in the middle of the night. In the course of lying in bed, waiting to get back to sleep, the thought of "nothing special" suddenly came to mind.

I then pondered the fact that I'm nothing special; that all of humanity is nothing special given the vastness of the cosmos; that, nonetheless, religions try to make their followers feel very special by supposedly enjoying a special relationship with God; that if people could somehow have a sense that they're nothing special, along with everybody else, the world would be a better place.

Since, I've been enjoying playing around with this "nothing special" idea. 

It seems to go a long way toward explaining the gap between how reality actually is, and how we humans typically consider it to be.

Meaning, we're really good at deluding ourselves.

And one reason this happens is our failure to look upon ourselves as nothing special. Instead, we have a strong tendency to see ourselves as being in a spotlight on the Stage of Life, while other people play supporting roles in the shadows.

This is to be expected, I guess. The only person we are in an intimate subjective relationship with is our own self. Everybody else we view from the outside, while we know ourselves from the inside.

So it takes some effort, some spiritual work, to alter that I-centered point of view into a more realistic I'm-nothing-special perspective.

For example, we see death all around us and know that no one is able to escape being dead at some point. Yet most people believe in life after death -- because their religion tells them that they're going to have a nice afterlife, while non-believers in that religion won't.

Today I wondered if Amazon had any books with the title Nothing Special. I found several, but only one book that had a similar philosophical perspective on how I viewed that term, Charlotte Joko Beck's book with the subtitle "Living Zen."

Amazon informed me that I'd bought this book on June 24, 2012.

Indeed, I found it in the Buddhist section of my bookcase. Interesting. Maybe my mind popped up with that nighttime "nothing special" thought on its own, but it seemed entirely possible that a memory of the title of Beck's book surfaced out of the depths of my unconscious.

I'd written a couple of blog posts about Nothing Special. 
What zen practice is... so simple...
Anxiety stretches between real and unreal

I've started to re-read Nothing Special, or at least parts of it. Here's how the book starts out. I like this imagery.

We are rather like whirlpools in the river of life. In flowing forward, a river or stream may hit rocks, branches, or irregularities in the ground, causing whirlpools to spring up spontaneously here and there.

Water entering one whirlpool quickly passes through and rejoins the river, eventually joining another whirlpool and moving on. Though for short periods it seems to be distinguishable as a separate event, the water in the whirlpools is just the river itself. 

The stability of a whirlpool is only temporary.

The energy of the river of life forms living things -- a human being, a cat or dog, trees and plants -- then what held the whirlpool in place is itself altered, and the whirlpool is swept away, reentering the larger flow. 

The energy that was a a particular whirlpool fades out and the water passes on, perhaps to be caught again and turned for a moment into another whirlpool.

We'd rather not think of our lives in this way, however. We don't want to see ourselves as simply a temporary formation, a whirlpool in the river of life. The fact is, we take form for a while; then when conditions are appropriate, we fade out.

There's nothing wrong with fading out; it's a natural part of the process.

However, we want to think that this little whirlpool that we are isn't a part of the stream. We want to see ourselves as permanent and stable. Our whole energy goes into trying to protect our supposed separateness.

Comments

[um]

There are no religions or anything else cultural that have to power to make humans selectively feel "special".

... There are only people, individual humans, that consider themselves as "special" and do whatever they can to prove it to those around and themselves.

There are followers of religions or other cultural groups that nobody knows of and others have that have the need to tell others what they do, have, and can, ......... to show off.

The need to show of can have different psychological backgrounds. and expressions.

Those who climb a mountain, use an so called "via ferrata" for their safety. Both untrained people, and seasoned climbers, use it but all for different reasons. Longer practice offers a climber the insight what he can and what he cannot, and that insight is the source of his confidence, and that confidence will make him use the steel wire in a complete different way.

Some people stand mentally on their own feed and others lean on their companions in life, have that desire to be somebody in the eyes of others ...

[albert medina]

I am an insignificant man without a scintilla of importance. That's the truth of "me", because the "me" that I believe is "me" is not the real "me". How can I possibly prove this axiom of truth?

I can't. So, there you have the reality of the fact that I don't count.

Ha! In any event, life can be fun, even with the charade and masquerade of a false "me". Thanks for the wonderful grist for many contemplative sessions, Brian!

[Dungeness]

@ The fact is, we take form for a while; then when conditions are appropriate, we fade out.

The same illusory state happens in dreams. Yet we wake up from
from dreams. Immersed in the dream we believed other dreamers
who asserted this is the only reality and any permanence we cling
to is merely an illusion. "It's like a fast moving video game" they say
and "tomorrow, may be a different outcome is all . You'll play a prince,
a pauper, or maybe just form as an eddy in the stream that will bubble
up, then evaporate."

But, after waking from a dream you know you haven't faded out. Only
the dream has. The other dreamers who, insisted they and objects
of the dream were real, were lying. You, the observer, created them.
A horde of dreamers may try to convince you differently but you won't
believe them. It was a nightmare but now you're awake in your bed.

So, that power of awareness, of consciousness itself, on awakening
is the only reality. All else is illusion.

[Uchit]

Yes your spirit is suppose to fade in and fade back out, but so many souls fall victim to the lies of religion and the new age cults (RSSB and GSD) and they get trapped. life is meant to be simple, but in this duality universe, these demons disguised as gurus and gods, fool you, muddy your clear thinking, and lead you astray. You then stay in the spiders web for lifetimes. Each lifetime is miserable, you are made to live in shame, guilt and fear untill your life becomes unbearable where you make the ultimate sacrifice and take your life. So beware of the slithery snake they call Gurinder Singh Dhillan and his institution RSSB, they are the ultimate deception machine. They will hypnotize you into Love Love Love, to fool you so you stay in an emotional state that you never question the path, the guru, and you surrender everything to the beast.