Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I Think, Therefore I am... What?

Whenever I think of people trying to understand what God is and then when they try to explain it; the unexplainable, the inexplicable and the incomprehensible, I always think of Steven Hawkings explaining how the universe works. I realize this might be in poor taste but it’s honestly what I think of. I think of someone who has become all bent out of shape trying to grasp something that cannot be grasped.

I realize that Hawkings has a disability but the irony of his condition and his occupation always present themselves as a metaphor to me.

I think therefore I am. Before I thought, what was I? What rests behind that and that and that? When you think into the unknown, what is beyond that and that and that? How far out does the universe go before it is once again inside the tiny point of its origin? How do you measure something against itself? Where is the yardstick for something that doesn’t end? If it’s a circle then what is its diameter? If something contains everything then what rests outside of it and outside of that and that and that?

Physicists have proven the existence of ether which penetrates everything, no matter how dense. Doesn’t it serve that something penetrates ether? What penetrates that? Physicists have proven that the universe is thought born so it stands to reason that God thinks therefore I am. Now, if I think- then all of my thoughts are my creation and that makes me God too. There’s a difference though.

This God, whatever it is, operates according to a perfect law, so that everything God creates is perfect, whether perceived so or not. I know that everything I create is not perfect but it is subject to a perfect law so that perfection may well exist in the destiny of every thing in the process of outworking the perfection within. I also know, though many people do not, that all of the thoughts in my mind are not my thoughts. The mind is like an airport and thoughts leave and arrive all the time. They might become my thoughts if I think along with them; identify with them. It appears that wisdom has something to do with casting out thought until the essential appears.

Out here in the wide world of time we have books that stand as records of the words and actions of those deemed to be representations of God in human form. Given what we know about humanity and history, it would seem clear that none of these texts remains unaltered from the time the events and words that they record occurred.

I’ve read a lot of different versions of The Bhagavad-Gita and I think I’ve come across over 20 versions of The Tao Te Ch’ing. They vary widely. Yes, the basic idea is there but along with the basic idea is this coloring that changes certain elements when you compare one version against another. What has happened is that I have found a version of most such texts that satisfies me more than the others. I would not assume that the versions that satisfy me would satisfy everyone. Most people wouldn’t read any version of these books to begin with.

Now, if I met Krishna or Lao Tzu I do believe that the texts would suddenly become a flame alphabet inscribed upon my heart and that would be the true version. This is what I believe about The Bible and The Koran. I believe that the actual text is written in the human heart and that contact with the author causes the letters to flame and speak. This is what I believe. This is not what others believe. In fact, I have never encountered another human being who has expressed this concept to me. I don’t know where it came from. It is simply something that I believe. I believe that whatever God may be that that which is God is a living presence and that it is closer to me than anything else. I believe that it holds me in place and that the only purpose of my life is to recognize this force as deeply as it is possible to do so.

Others have variations on this theme. Fundamentalists in every creed, which make up the majority of those who believe there is a God, have a literal take on the subject. They believe that a particular book is the inviolable absolute regarding divinity; no matter how absurd might be some of the contents or, in the case of The Old Testament, often no more than a record of genealogy. Although there is ample proof, by way of demonstration, they are also mostly unaware that The Old Testament is a book of Gematria written in code.

Meanwhile, these texts have been in the hands of religions that have, over time, proven themselves every bit as venal as the most pathological politician. How unlikely is it that they have remained unchanged? I note that the powerful phrase, “Be not deceived, even the devil is transformed into an angel of light at the given moment.” has been warped out of all recognition and that quite recently. These things are changed for your own good by your betters who do it so that you won’t have to think about certain things that might make you think. They also do it in order to enforce control through dogma because that is what religions do. It’s one reason that the adherents are often responsible for murdering those who most strongly possess the attributes of the founder.

I’m not saying that powerful inspiration does not flow from these texts; ALL OF THEM. I assure you that it does. Millions of lives have been transformed for the better by contact with the timeless truths therein. Millions of lives have also been ruined as a result of interpretations of religious texts by those of material intent out for personal gain. It is the same as it ever was.

Sex, money and temporal power are religion’s biggest problems. We’ve seen what has come to light in the Catholic Church in recent times. We see how the fundamentalist Muslim religion treats the female side. Sex is that power which both enslaves and liberates and it takes a canny mind indeed to understand the channeling of that force. One might say that the fire the sinner’s burn in is the very fire in which the saints rejoice.

Christ had one message for the common population and another for his disciples. The text says so. This is the case with all of the religions. There is lined paper for the common population whose interests are, at the moment pedestrian- and there is unlined paper for the initiates. In the one case the paper is already written on and in the other case the words write themselves upon whatever may be the parchment. Everyone, so I have been told and so I believe, comes to the various doors or veils as they proceed. Life being a spiral staircase into infinity, it behooves one not to piss over the railing; while “seeing through a glass darkly”.

It is pointless to proselytize but people will. War and the aggressive pursuit of gain are also pointless but people will do. Whatever this God may be- being all powerful- it is safe to assume that the whole thing is under control. It may look otherwise to those who have not attained a particular degree of surrender and watchfulness but that doesn’t make the Sun revolve around the Earth. It doesn’t make the Earth flat. Truth is... regardless of belief in it. Here we are not concerned about trees falling unheard in empty forests.

I think therefore I am but what I am... that’s the question. Whatever I think of myself I must necessarily think of others too. Whatever my motives, it stands to reason that I attribute them to others too. If I’m after the treasure of Sierra Madre, I can expect the usual players. It all leads to Samara and in some cases, Shambhala too.

“There is a road, steep and thorny, beset with perils of every kind, but yet a road, and it leads to the very heart of the Universe: I can tell you how to find those who will show you the secret gateway that opens inward only, and closes fast behind the neophyte for evermore. There is no danger that dauntless courage cannot conquer; there is no trial that spotless purity cannot pass through; there is no difficulty that strong intellect cannot surmount. For those who win onwards there is reward past all telling—the power to bless and save humanity; for those who fail, there are other lives in which success may come.” H.P.B.

Visible sings: Color Ball by Les Visible♫ It Must Be Love ♫
'It Must Be Love' is track no. 8 of 12 on Visible's 2007 album 'Color Ball'

Color Ball by Les Visible

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

'Whatever this God may be- being all powerful- it is safe to assume that the whole thing is under control.'
With this understanding fear ceases to exist.
I love that piece of poetry that goes '...though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...'
Tony

Anonymous said...

Did I tell you I'm a frustrated astronomer Visible?
The cosmos is like God.
I don't think you can use words like contain and beyond.
The universe, well OK, it can be understood, it's there in front of our nose. Is contained and stops at its surface.
I’m a universe; I’m contained and I don’t go beyond and I’m ever expanding...
What is the mechanism of the universe/cosmos… well that’s something we have yet to learn, if ever.
It is said, the speed of light limits what goes on in our universe; I can think 186,001 mps so...
Tony

Anonymous said...

There's a semi-famous statement made by Stephen Hawking that I am fond of: "Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?"

I have no problem with Hawking. This is a great post Les, especially in light of all the discussion that followed in your last essay. The problem with fundamentalists and literalists of any stripe is that they are convinced that absolute truth is something that can be encapsulated in thoughts or beliefs; that some particular bundle of thoughts grants one exclusivity and salvation of some kind...superiority when it comes right down to it. But once you've had a brush with something greater than yourself and your own mind you immediately realize the limitations of thought and concept. It becomes quite clear that the word "tree" is a far cry and puny representation of the essence of this miraculous and mysterious thing that we call "tree". Add to it the sum of all human knowledge and description referring to "tree" and we are still no closer to knowing the tree. Just because we have a word for something doesn't mean that we know what it is and this is just a small example. It's puzzling to me that there can be so many people who have convinced themselves that they have God and the mystery of the universe in their back pocket.

Ben

Anonymous said...

Tony,
Is not our whole existence lived, from birth until the inevitable final day, in "the valley of the shadow of death"? We literally have no guarantee, and cannot know whether our individual end could be at any time, within any next 5 minutes. Thus this entire life is within that Valley.

That said, I like to recall the words of Jesus, that those who believe in him - something which can be understood in different senses by different people - have ALREADY passed into eternal life. I think of this to mean, that if my heart is in-line with the knowing of 'God', then, and only then, am I right here and now, living in an eternal sense. Although my corporeal being is still here in the valley of the shadow of death, yet my spirit, through communion with the Eternal One, i.e., 'believing', can already know the freedom of the eternal realms.

Anonymous said...

"You shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free".

That about covers it! :)

You won't know the Truth until you know Him (Jesus the Christ)! - until then, you're in bondage to your own fantasies. Fantasies can be entertaining, though, until they expire. :)

Anonymous said...

Les,

Yes. C'est beautiful!

And now for a little synch: you wrote, "same as it ever was." And just yesterday I wrote those very words on another blog following an essay on poverty:

No wo/man is an island. No justice, no peace. Same as it ever was.
The Golden Rule? It doth rule!


Now how cool is that? Well, I think it is.
------------

While reading your essay, my stomach began churning, I became dizzy, I had difficulty breathing, and I was catapulted back to a Christmas time in my early childhood...to a memory of an experience and a feeling that (still) always leaves me dizzy and anxious, and I always have to shuffle it away into the recesses of my mind in order to make the dizziness, the churning, and the breathlessness stop. It's this --I am alone in the salon helping myself to some chocolates. I close the box and begin to study it. I've always been nerdy this way. (For those of you who might recognize them, they're called Pot of Gold in a long, rectangular black box; but the box has been re-designed and today they have a different look/image.) Well, there's an image of a woman in the upper corner and in her hands is a replica of this chocolate box, and on the replica is a tinier image of the box with her holding the box, and within that an even tinier image of that again...and then I start having trouble breathing...I'm gently hyperventilating...because I'm seeing something that I cannot quite understand...and yet it seems very, very real..and I believe that this is the first time that I'm "seeing" or getting a look at what the adults call *infinity*. And I'm really freaking out inside. So I leave the chocolate box and the room, and go to play with my cousins or do something else because I cannot cope with what I've just experienced or glimpsed, and I try to forget about it. And I don't tell a soul about it...until many moons later.

And just now I'm recalling Forrest Gump saying, "life is like a box of chocolates". And it now strikes me as hilarious and quite profound. Wonder if the writer/s of that line were talking about "my" box of chocolates? heh heh ... deep exhale ...Who knows?

-----------

I think therefore I am,eh? Well, I've got a different take on that. And if as they say, "brevity is the soul of language", then I say that levity is its heart ;) And here's a little levity. I wrote it in the early 90s:

C'est Say What!?!

Monsieur Rene Descartes,
they theenk he's so smart,
'cause he put it so bluntly,
Je pense donc je suis.

I think, therefore I am!
Qu'est-ce que c'est?
What is this?
I struggle, and still I miss
the meaning of those words.

As hard as I try,
I can never get why
I can't seem to comprehend his philosophy.

Perhaps if I repeat them ofen enough,
his words will make sense?
...

It's no good. I lie.
I don't get it. Here's why,
for me it's --
Je suis, donc je pense!

[I am, therefore I think! wink, wink]

Thank you mucho mister. Take care, annemarie

Anonymous said...

As I say Joe, I'm blonde in this blog but I have proven (for myself) that if you give your life over to the powers that be (not the corporations, banks or insurance companies) and place your being at (for want of a better word) Gods disposal, Psalm 23 becomes real.
No fear, no agonising, no shortage, it’s all just there.
Tony

Anonymous said...

Tony - I second that. I've found the same to be true.

I think we're always at God's disposal but once you surrender and appreciate that fact (rather than fight it) things seem to fall into place and peace takes over. I think there's being consciously in God's grace, which works nicely; and then there's living under the mistaken notion that "i" am the one doing it, which doesn't work too well at all.

Anne marie - Love the poem. (especially the title)

Ben

Visible said...

I'm going on the road for around ten days so I don't think I'll be putting up anymore posts until then. I also won't be able to list any comments although someone here at the house may well take care of that so send them in.

See you when I get back

Anonymous said...

Les,
Have a good trip! 'See' you when you get back.

Tony, good nutshell-ization. :)

The thing that takes some learning, at least for me, is how to stay in the spirit of being in the will of God. And that is the subject of Les post - being in tune, so much so, that the higher will of God overtakes the mendacious inclinations of the peevish self-will.

Anonymous said...

Good post. "One might say that the fire the sinner’s burn in is the very fire in which the saints rejoice" and therein lies the paradox. The God of the universe Who on one Hand condemns and on the other redeems. Is it really our choice or His? May be one reason for the insanity of 'christian thought', that a way can be found around the dilemma of His Sovereignty. Or was that His idea? I think, therefore I am...saved. The Master may have said "I have come to bring fire on the earth - and how I wish it were already kindled!" I believe it was the fire of His word, however mangled over the course of time. We all know the way of the fire...painful when burned, hard to contain, sending out sparks, starting smaller fires that grow into larger fires...."It appears that wisdom has something to do with casting out thought until the essential appears." or remains?

Anonymous said...

Les did say ‘talk amongst yourselves’ didn’t he?
My background is engineering so most things to me are black or white or wip. However there are times when dealing with animate objects I can't apply my 'rules',
I ask ‘what would Jesus do?’ Now I know I can’t know the mind of God, blah, blah, blah – but I use my understanding of what He espouses and apply it to the situation. Some times I can’t find an answer so I do nothing for the time being but keep asking.
Extreme cases I will search the bible (only ever done that a few times – not many really big problems).

I have mentioned to Ben (in fewer words) that I think it helps if you are genetically inclines toward ‘spiritual’ thinking. Just as your genetic makeup includes physical characteristics, components of your ‘being’ are genetic as well (logic dictates).

And I never forget that I am only human and although the promise is mind boggling I’m not there… yet.
As I tell my Jehovah Witness visitors, I recon I’m in the ballpark so come the time, I’ll let God decide if He wants me or not. I’ll be happy with His decision.
Then they leave.
Tony

Anonymous said...

" I recon I’m in the ballpark so come the time, I’ll let God decide if He wants me or not. I’ll be happy with His decision."
Tony

-----

That's pretty much how I feel about it Tony. Thanks for putting it into words (for me).

Thanks Ben, am really glad you like it.

Hallo Les. Nice to see you back (smoking mirrors).

annemarie

Visible said...

There's a new essay here

http://zippittydodah.blogspot.com/

Maybe I should have put it here but there was some features that made it seem more appropriate where it is.

Anonymous said...

"I’ll let God decide if He wants me or not. I’ll be happy with His decision"

Hey, Tony, matey..........it's very nice of you to want to let God decide, but in this case (your Salvation) He gave you (and just about everyone else) the responsibility to decide - like it or not! And, if you make the wrong decision, you will definitely NOT be happy with His decision for Eternity - and that's a very long time! ;) Better think that through some more before you run out of time to decide! ;)

Don't be a smart ass and don't be a fool!

Anonymous said...

Hello pamela
Do you not think 'condemn' and ‘redeem’ is our propagandised interpretation of the perceived hellfire and brimstone of the bible.
I don't see it like that.
Basically I feel the bible is an instruction manual for us (homo whatsis’).
I think so called experts on the subject (godsend has set himself up as one – really or as fun) do a literal thing. God says DON’T/DO or you are condemned to a hellfire purgatorial eternity.
If you read the bible and use the mind God has supplied you with and realise He is not One of confusion you can come up with a simple, 'not needing anyone else to interpret things for you', understanding.
It gives you a set of conditions that if followed brings a fruitful life, if ignored, negative things happen. Simply, if you touch fire you are burned, if you think ‘Grrrr!’, you reap the consequences.
My relationship with my Creator is between Him and Me; I don’t need no third party skimming (or scamming as the case may be).
Tony

Braja Rani Devi Dasi said...

i know the sun does go around the earth. but i can't prove it.

this is the thing with all instinct and philosophical understanding which comes from higher intelligence. someone can come and ask you to prove it; and you can just shrug and say you can't prove anything.

what Can you prove to someone who doesn't want the proof anyway - who wants to argue until you tire. the day they are ready they can see the truth too. who am I to save anyone?

Kswan said...

Hello Les,

I know this is a blog from 2007, but ive always been reading through your older blogs, curious about many topics and subjects you have written about in the past, and they are magnificent work. I was reading this post and it happened to make me think of something i came across the other night and thought i'd post it here, because its quite intriguing to see and wonder/marvel at! :) The idea that this universe is thought-born which has been proven to be true, maybe you've seen something like this before....comparing the structure of the universe and that of the brain cell :):

http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/pc/brain-universe.html





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