There's quite a bit to unpack in the title of this blog post, but I'll try to keep it fairly simple.
"Aspire" obviously means that a radical embrace of reality is something that I'd like to be able to do, but often this is more of a hope than an actuality for me.
"Radical" refers to the fact that I, along with just about everybody else in the world, chooses to not embrace reality much of the time. Too disturbing. Too painful. Too whatever. So we cling to a form of unreality instead. If we always turned toward reality, that would be really radical, being so unusual.
"Embrace" is another word for acceptance. I prefer embrace, because it conjures up an image of actively reaching out to reality, rather than grudgingly accepting it.
"Reality" is, not surprisingly, what's real. Of course, a lie also is real, as is a fantasy, or dream, or hope, or imagination. But those things, being subjective, aren't real in the sense that a mountain is, or a cancer diagnosis, or a missile striking an apartment building.
(The Ukraine war is on my mind.)
I was planning to illustrate this saying, "I aspire to a radical embrace of reality," by sharing some anecdotes from my life that I've written about in other blog posts.
However, some Googling of my blogs via the search box in the right sidebar led me to a 2oo5 Church of the Churchless post, Why bad tsunamis happen to good people. I was both pleased and, in a way, dismayed, by the fact that over seventeen years ago, I was aspiring to the same embrace of reality.
I liked what I said then. Not being able to improve much on it now, I'll share a portion of the 2005 post that most closely relates to the theme of embracing reality.
A believer in karma will consider that those affected by the tsunami are reaping the effects of actions committed in previous incarnations. So even though the ocean may seem to have meted out life and death arbitrarily, on a deeper level destiny was in control of who lived and who died, who needed rescuing and who became a rescuer.
Still, I don’t know if karma is true. In the past my belief in karma has helped me get through some difficult times, such as a car accident on the Santiam Pass where I walked away unscratched and a woman in the other car was killed. The accident wasn’t my fault, but I was one of the drivers. Why her and not me? Further, the accident wouldn’t have happened at all but for some amazingly precise timing and positioning of the two vehicles. Was this accident truly accidental, or were the five of us involved in it brought together by some unseen hand of providence?
I have no idea. I used to think that I did. But now I’m willing to admit my ignorance about the answer to the hidden “why?” that may or may not underly the obvious “why?” (ice on the road’s shoulder; rear-wheel drive; loss of traction by one tire that led to my car lunging into the other lane).
I understand the desire of religious believers to make things that happen in their lives—especially the dramatically “good” and “bad” things—part of a greater spiritual design. I’ve done this myself, a lot. I’ve found comfort in believing either that a benevolent higher power was guiding the course of my life, or (less comfortably) that whatever I’m getting I deserve, because I’ve penned destiny’s invitation in my own hand.
More and more, though, I’m inclined to just take events at their face value. The tsunami occurred because of an earthquake. People died because they lived near the ocean. Why make life more complicated or mysterious than it already is? At the risk of sounding like Donald Rumsfeld: what we know we know, and what we don’t know we don’t know; if we think we know what we don’t know, we know less than we would if we simply don’t know.
(Actually, Socrates expressed ideas like that way before Rumsfeld, and I prefer to associate my not-knowing with a true philosopher rather than a Defense Department poseur.)
If we want comfort, I believe there is much comfort in simply accepting reality as it is. Not as we imagine it to be, or as we wish it would be, but just as it is. If what happens comes from God—great. We have accepted God’s will. If what happens comes from some other source, such as the mechanical workings of nature or man’s free will, then this also is great. We have accepted what is, regardless of how it came to be.
Whether we live just this life or many lives, life is too precious to be denied. To deny any part of life that is real is to rob ourselves of something that will never come our way again. This includes the good as well as the bad.
Eyes wide open is how I aspire to live. Seeing what is real, not seeing what isn’t. Pretty simple to say. Very hard to do.
To expand on that last thought, saying or thinking "I wish this wasn't happening to me" (or to someone else) is a statement in line with reality if that is how you really feel. But that wish presupposes a clear-eyed view of what is actually happening.
Today I was talking with a friend about how I follow Ukraine war news closely. She said, "I can't do that, because it is so disturbing."
I understand her reluctance, and I don't spend as much time reading about the atrocities being committed by Russian forces as I do reading positive stories about the bravery and skill of the Ukrainian military.
But I'm a news junkie in part because I consider it my duty to stay informed about what is happening in the world, even when the news is dismal, bleak, depressing. Job #1 is to know what's going on. Job #2 is to handle that knowledge as productively as possible.
Same applies to the news of our own life.
You know that one person's reality is another's propaganda
But the fact is that there has never been peace on this planet its been ravaged by wars and human abuse and atrocities over others ever since God said to Abraham 'kill me a son' and very long before that.
Throughout nature there has never been peace, its kill or be killed and eat or be eaten, is the law of the jungle, and humanity isn't further from meting out injury and suffering on our own species any different from animals, in many cases far worse.
We're callous cold hearted vengeful creatures who inflict injury and injustice for the sake of our supposed security to guard our survival.
The dinosaurs ate one another as do every specie on the planet inflict death and suffering on another. If our precious self preservation is at stake, or we feel threatened by insecurity, or have the need to project dominance and power over those we deem to be of lesser importance and value to our own person or tribe or nations needs.
Posted by: Hiho silver | April 17, 2022 at 03:26 PM
I believe there is a higher purpose getting people out of trouble if only they could see the bigger picture. For instance, how did I manage to escape from the clutches of the satan, Gurinder Singh Dhillon and RSSB cult after being trapped in this false reality and path for decades. I was absolutly brainwashed into it as like many, I thought I had found the living jesus christ. But I was wrong, something inside did sit right about GSD and RSSB illusion. I was tipped off by someone in the know , and could have ignored it but my instinct to find the truth pushed me to do my own independent research and very quickly find the truth of this self serving greedy and dirty old man, gurinder and how he abused his position for personal gain. So my point is how many times have other brainwashed sangat been in a similar position and have had messages about the false reality of RSSB, and chose to take a blind eye to the elephant in the room. But there is no doubt GSDs time is running out - the shite has hit the fan as all the information is out on the internet. Gurinder and his agents can't keep hiding it and deleting it, distorting and manipulating it. Karma for them will be served.
Posted by: Uchit | April 18, 2022 at 02:33 PM
I think the traditional Eastern Philosophy approach to karma is sort of a cop out. It’s a way of not taking responsibility and playing the victim.
Sure, I believe in cause and effect, but that’s not the same as karmic retribution.
When people feel helpless or victimized they often blame it on their karma instead of doing the right thing—changing their perspective.
We have to change the way we think. Sadly, very few people on this planet understand the tremendous power of thought. The mind never sleeps. Thought is the greatest power in the physical world. It can heal or destroy. And it’s our critical that we as human beings to take responsibility for our thoughts.
Projection makes perception. Our view of the world, especially those closest to us, says more about how we feel about ourselves than it says about the other person.
Posted by: Sonya | April 19, 2022 at 10:15 PM
Some Mystics say that thoughts don’t create karma. The truth is Thoughts are the building blocks of your reality. Thoughts created the material world. Thoughts are quantum.
Posted by: Sonya | April 19, 2022 at 10:24 PM
If you “see” a person’s “karma”, you fail to see the spirit. You fail to see them as God sees them.
Posted by: Sonya | April 19, 2022 at 10:28 PM