A Conversation Between Nobody. "Where should I begin in my quest for wisdom?" "Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it." -Albert Einstein Our greatest source of understanding is that of the senses. The magical manipulation of logic, symbols, and discursive reasoning does have practical value, but only insofar as its superficial conceptual framework of thought will allow, which naturally limits itself from the most important understanding of all-knowing our place in existence. In other words, logic has no merit in the intuitive understanding of awareness itself; how can thought think its way into objectively understanding its own nature? "Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth." -Alan Watts "Why can life be so difficult?" This is one aspect of existence that is undoubtedly rather troubling: dissatisfaction. By dissatisfaction I don't necessarily mean depression or grief; I'm referring to the general state of mind that I and most other people share-one of constant searching for fulfillment followed by all-too fleeting moments of elation and delight. Why does this happen? Is life just a series of temporary moments of satisfaction with intermittent obstacles of suffering? Only if you make it so. The problem is obvious. We direct our attention to the future or past in the form of a desire and unknowingly invest our happiness in its fulfillment. However, the world constantly changes around us while the desires of our apparently rigid and defined egos can't keep up. Therefore, all of our anger, anxiety, sadness, etc., stem from these unfulfilled egocentric desires (e.g. someone hatefully insults you and you react with great sadness or anger because you'd prefer reality to be different, you may have longed for some imaginary reality conjured by your self-destructive analytical mind where this person didn't insult you-naturally impeding your own happiness). If we do get what we want, we bask in the glory of this achievement for however long it lasts and soon go on to desire something else. Thus lasting contentment must simply be a matter of welcoming reality as it happens. “So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.†-Alan Watts This of course is not some feeling of sterile complacency; in fact, whole new vistas of adventure and beauty are perceived upon the unprejudiced appreciation of present reality. The most apparently "mundane" action becomes one filled with exuberant compassion and freedom, all by simply focusing your attention out of your habitually analytical mind and into your sensuous present awareness. Put simply, most people never learn to fully appreciate what's right in front of them because their mind is elsewhere. “The infinite - free, unbounded, full of joy - is our native state. We have fallen from that state and seek it everywhere: every human activity is an attempt to fill this void. But as long as we try to fill it from outside ourselves, we are making demands on life which life cannot fulfill. Finite things can never appease an infinite hunger.†-Eknath Easwaran "What was that about egos?" The downside to having evolved this intellectual prowess which is so characteristic of mankind is that our logical and analytical thought has compartmentalized reality into a bunch of things, all of which are separate from us. Most people think they are some kind of incorporeal autonomous entity which floats around in and controls this sack of unconscious meat we call our bodies. This may be man's greatest folly. If we simply stopped thinking/judging/analyzing and gave attention to our inherent awareness of the enveloping universe, we would discover the obvious: Who we are. "So...who am I?" You are a perpetually volatile and ever-changing stream of conscious perception that is wholly dependent on the "external" world which is also perpetually volatile. You are a new person each moment, with new experiences and memories for your self- delusional intellect to identify with. But there is no thinker of thoughts or experiencer of experiences. There is only thought and experience arising and falling as a result of the unfolding nature of reality. You are change. We're no static selves that play the role of observers. We're no aliens to the universe. We are a necessary execution of the universe. We are something the universe is doing-a flourishing process. We are the universe observing itself. Thus there is no you, there is just the universe and you're it. “Reflect upon the multitude of bodily and mental events taking place in the same brief time, simultaneously in every one of us; and so you will not be surprised that many more events, or rather all the things that come to pass, exist simultaneously in the one and entire unity, which we call the Universe.†-Marcus Aurelius "And what exactly is the universe?" Everything in existence of course. "But, like you said, isn't everything in a state of constant growth and decay?" That's the beauty of it. "What?" There is only one permanent aspect to reality, and that's impermanence. Constant change. An essence of nothingness. "So?" Don't you see? Everything is nothing, and nothing is everything. The majesty and totality of existence amounts to nothing. You are the vacuous image of the cosmos. You are everything and you are nothing. "But what about God, and the afterlife?" With this understanding, such questions are rendered irrelevant. You are "God," and there is no where to go after death because there was no one there in the first place. “So is this some kind of 'higher plane of consciousness' or 'ultimate morality' I should be trying to live for?'†To assume there is a higher plane of consciousness is to validate the existence of a lower plane which can be escaped (i.e. the static ego). There's no need for such dualism. You are already right where you need to be. In fact, there is nothing you can do to know this. It's a matter of not doing. When the mind's attention settles into the present moment and makes no analytical judgement or thought, all that perceivably remains is its intrinsic and universal awareness of joy, love, and all-fulfilling emptiness. “If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?†-Dogen