Nothing to Report

I have nothing to write about this week.

 

I’m not entirely sure why.  Perhaps it’s the heat wave that’s descended upon the city and is compelling me to spend more time outdoors, enjoying the sun and fresh air; or perhaps it’s due to the recent series of events that has kept me caught up in a flurry of activity and thus unable to devote my attentions to writing; or perhaps I am simply feeling uninspired or uncreative.  Then again, I’m not sure if the reason matters all that much anyway.

 

All I know is that I feel a sense of deep and abiding contentment…  that I could be doing everything or nothing and still find joy in it, that no matter what happens tomorrow – for good or ill – I will be able to accept it with grace.  And in that same spirit I have accepted this lack of writing as a chance to reflect on the things that I have written on thus far, to ensure that my words are echoed in the way I live my life.  I guess even spiritual growth cannot continue unabated without the occasional time of rest.

 

So rest I shall.  Maybe I’ll have something new to write about next week.  Until then – Viva Summer!

Not Systemic

“There’s one hole in every revolution, large or small.  And it’s one word long: People.  No matter how big the idea they all stand under…  it’s people that kill every revolution.”

~ Spider Jerusalem, Transmetropolitan

 

The thought occurred to me last night that we spend an immense amount of time complaining about the government.  We discuss how various situations could be improved if only the system were replaced by another, more efficient one.  On any given day there must be thousands of such conversations giving rise to myriad ideas of how this can be done, ranging from peaceful petitions to violent revolution.

 

But revolution is not a new idea.  Countless revolutions have been staged in the course of human history, and each time it gives rise to a new system that leaves some people discontent.  The problem does not lie with the system, then; it lies with the people who create it.

 

The government – any government – is merely a crutch, a necessary tool to maintain peace and order among a crippled humanity.  What must be done is not to overthrow one system and raise up another that is equally flawed in its stead…  that would be no more effective than replacing one crutch with another.  Rather, we should tend to our wounds until the crutch is no longer needed, changing the nature of humankind until we do not need to rely on government at all.

 

And how do we go about mending the wounds caused by centuries of hate?  That’s a question that I have no answer to.  I don’t know what can change the nature of a single person, let alone the mass of humanity as a whole.  All I know is that I can just do my own small part in my own small way, to strive to do as much good for as many people in as many ways as I can.  And maybe, if I can’t change the world, I can at least be a positive influence on the people whose paths intersect with mine.

 

Change has to start somewhere.  It may as well start with me.

Through a Glass Darkly

The thought occurs to me that God – or, at least, my concept of God – is the single entity that knows more of the absolute Truth of the cosmos than any other creature that has existed or ever will exist.

 

We are limited by our perception.  We cannot see the Truth of the cosmos directly, but instead perceive it through filters that allow us to make sense of the world around us.  Relativity is born of the differences in perception from one individual to another.  If we could begin to remove those filters, we would see more and more of the Truth free of our interpretation and misunderstanding; we would know what is really there.  We would know what is.

 

My understanding of God is the entity that can see the Truth with unfiltered perception.

 

But if there are no filters between what is being observed and the observer, if the Truth is not being observed at all but truly known, then there cannot be any separation of the two.  Any distance – physical or metaphorical – introduces uncertainty, the possibility of misunderstanding.  So for the Truth to be known, the observer and the observed must merge into one.  Thus God becomes an entity that does not merely see Truth with perfect clarity, but is itself Truth.

 

The entity that is God is separate and distinct from the Truth and yet is one with Truth at the same time.  As a being that is one with the Truth, God must then be aware of everything that is a part of the harmony and balance of the cosmos; and as a being that is distinct from the Truth, God must be the only being that can follow the Tao perfectly, walking the Way that cannot be walked. 

 

Perhaps this also makes God one with the Tao as well.

 

Perhaps God is the entity that is the Way and is the Truth.

 

And perhaps I am completely mistaken.  For I am a finite being attempting to understand infinite things, perceiving them as though I am looking through a dark, smoke-stained window.  I can only look forward to the day that the window is opened and I can see clearly that which I devote my life to. 

 

Oh, that I might hasten that day.

Truth, the Tao, and Other Mysteries

For those of you who have missed the flurry of comments on my last entry (or felt disinclined to tackle such an intimidating wall of text), my discussion with Baravis has made me realize a couple of interesting things.  The first is that I haven’t quite represented my thoughts accurately.  The second is that must learn how to express myself more clearly if I am to have a meaningful discussion about anything.  This entry is an attempt to address both of these issues.

 

I previously wrote on two subjects:  absolute Truth and the Tao.  I’ll deal with each one in turn.

 

As far as absolute Truth is concerned, the example I used is fundamentally flawed because, as Baravis pointed out, aversion to killing and eating babies may well be a cultural norm and may have nothing at all to do with the absolute.  Any example I use to illustrate how I understand this concept would fail for similar reasons.  So instead I’ll speak from the abstract…

 

It strikes me as self-evident that, at the deepest possible level of reality, there is something that just is.  Any philosophical argument or question must have an answer, even if that answer is inaccessible to human understanding, and that answer is the Truth.  The old philosophical question of whether a falling tree makes a sound if there is no-one present to hear it must have an answer that is absolutely True, some fundamental fact about the nature of the universe. 

 

There are those who will argue that everything is relative – that what they perceive as blue and call blue someone else will call blue but actually perceive as green.  But even this indicates some kind of absolute Truth – if everything is completely relative, if I am no more than a free-floating consciousness in a void that perceives whatever I want to perceive, then the very fact that I am a mind in empty space is itself the absolute Truth of the matter.  Or, to put it differently, if everything is relative, then relativity is itself the absolute Truth.

 

I’m not saying that this Truth is knowable.  In fact, I’m claiming the opposite – that this kind of absolute Truth about the deepest possible layer of reality is so deep as to be completely beyond human comprehension.  But just because it cannot be understood doesn’t mean that it’s not there.  It is this kind of Truth, the facts of the universe that were there before us and will be there long after we’re gone, the existence of which is required for existence itself to exist, that I believe in.  The Truth simply is, and will be regardless of what we think of it.

 

No, that’s not quite right.  Belief is too limited a word for this.  In the place that exists before belief and before thought, I know that this Truth is.  I just don’t know what it is.

 

(My previous comment on the sum of all religious worldviews is the result of my hope that the totality of human knowledge would lead to a better understanding of Truth than what each of us would be able to reach independently.  I still don’t think that this would lead to a complete picture – it would be more akin to getting a few steps further in a race that has no finish line – but it would still be better than all the senseless bickering and killing that seems to be going on in the name of the world religions.)

 

As for the Tao:  what it represents to me is the Way that a person – indeed, all people – can live a balanced life, in harmony with each other and the universe.  In other words, it is the Way in which I can live according to the Truth without ever knowing fully what the Truth is.  This is no new concept; it has been espoused by Zen Buddhists, meditative Taoist monks, and contemplative Christian mystics alike.  Absolute Truth is the way that the cosmos is, the way in which it remains ever-changing and seemingly chaotic but always against a backdrop of perfect balance.  The Tao is the Way that we can move with this chaos yet maintain a state of fluid balance; it is the Way that defines how we can fulfill our nature and be in harmony with the Truth of Nature.

 

In this sense, it is not the universe that mirrors us, but we who mirror the universe.  What I’m striving for is to polish the mirror, to realize my true nature and more accurately reflect the universe.  It strikes me that the closer I get to being by true self, the less of myself will be seen. 

 

But maybe that’s the point.  I guess I’ll just have to see.