For quite a while a couple of pieces of paper have been sitting by my computer, emblazoned with what I'm sure is very wise advice that I scribbled down.
Only problem is, it's been so long since I penned those scribbles, the inspiration that I wanted to convey through them has faded.
But I still grasp the gist of my pithy platitudes. So here they are. (Now I can throw those pieces of paper away... finally!)
Reality is neutral. Pretty straightforward. I'm speaking here of the reality that exists outside of human minds. Which, given the vastness of the universe, is virtually all of reality -- minus the tiny bit that lives inside our brain cavities.
I like this thought because it puts things in perspective. Often we think something like, "The universe really has it in for me today," or "I think the universe is trying to teach me a lesson."
No, and no. Neither is true. Reality doesn't care about anything, including us. Reality is what is. It is we humans who construct positive and negative meanings out of the neutral materials of reality.
Shakespeare said this in Hamlet:
Why, then, 'tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.
Our stories should be believable. The inspiration for these words probably came from my wife.
She has a habit, which can be annoying at times, of blurting out while I'm engrossed in a movie or show we're watching on our TV, "That's not realistic."
(See my blog post, Why my wife's "That's not realistic" drives movie-watching-me crazy.)
Laurel will even do this with animated films. She has a strong desire for things to make sense in a movie or television show. Me, I'm more comfortable with absurdity.
But when it comes to real life, the stories we tell both about ourselves and the outside world, those stories should be believable. Certainly to ourselves. Ideally to others as well.
Otherwise we end up inhabiting a thinly populated reality, which isn't a sociable way to live.
I am how the world wants me to be. Sometimes I say this to myself when my day isn't going so well, and I'm blaming myself for screwing something up.
That's usually an unbelievable story I've crafted (see above).
Why? Because who we are and what happens to us is a massively complex web of interrelationships, causes and effects that extend far beyond the boundary of any particular person.
So I find comfort in the idea that how I am at any given moment is how the world wants me to be. Not in the sense of a conscious wanting, because that isn't how the universe operates.
Just in the sense of my current state of being reflecting much more than whatever I did a little while ago. That whatever blossomed from seeds planted in a myriad of places.
Genetic. Familial. Environmental. Experiential. All extending from a time prior to my birth and continuing well past my death. There's no way any of us are masters of our own life.
We're minute cogs in a much larger machinery that's far beyond our comprehension.
A. Reality is neutral
B. Our stories should be believable
C. I am how the world wants me to be.
Not sure how C is possible if A is also true.
OK... Here are three of mine.
A. Reality isn't what you think.
B. Unbelievable stuff happens all the time.See A.
C. It may be someone else's fault, but nothing gets better until I quit bitching and take full responsibility.
Posted by: Spence Tepper | July 10, 2021 at 10:54 PM
Thanks Brian. Spence Tepper is sharp...very sharp. I agree with your A, Spence. How can Reality be thought of accurately if thinking, itself, is a later manifestation of the creative process? Thought cannot fathom or reach its own silent source. Thought is fluctuation and percolation of the mind. This is why the average human has 4000 thoughts per hour. Reality (methinks...ha!) must be absolutely stable and unmoving, unchanging, timeless and spaceless or Reality would not be Real...would not be True.
Words are extensions of thoughts. So, any descriptions of Reality with any language is an exercise in futility. Though this has never stopped anyone from trying!!
Love is the backdrop behind all manifestation, gross or subtle. Love and Reality are One, methinks. Go for the Love and you will be moving towards Reality.
Posted by: albert | July 11, 2021 at 07:01 AM
Hi Albert
You have exceeded me.
Rule A. Love all as yourself, even higher, as the divine Father, if He were to exist, would love His own children dearly.
Whatever rule helps us to find peace within ourselves, the Lord within each other, and brotherhood and good will towards all; whatever color, lifestyle or geography we find ourselves around, God there! God in you! .. That's a good rule.
Today, Albert, in this moment, you are my perfect Master!
Let's find that rule within ourselves.
Because external rules may remind us of nice comfortable things But we can forget.
Better still to find it already inside. Then, even if we forget, that rule is still working, moving us to that place of love.
We may never be able to know much. But we can love greatly. We can help each other greatly simply living in brotherhood, finding that within ourselves already. And then, when we tire, we can go within to Him who never tires.
When our mind gets tired of its 4,000 thoughts per hour we can let it rest and connect it to Him. Because most of those thoughts are trying to figure out the next step. But the next step is just one step, not 4,000 maybes. And that one thing is already happening. We just need to accept that fact, and that will help us apprehend that single thought.
So rather than conjecture so many energy consuming thoughts, let us find that place within where we can apprehend in love, bliss, harmony and peace that one next step, and that one greater objective. That One reality. So simple and healthy. Already built in.
Posted by: Spence Tepper | July 11, 2021 at 10:15 AM