Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations. Aldous Huxley
A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention. Aldous Huxley
Chastity - the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions. Aldous Huxley
Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision. Aldous Huxley
De Sade is the one completely consistent and thoroughgoing revolutionary of history. Aldous Huxley
From their experience or from the recorded experience of others (history), men learn only what their passions and their metaphysical prejudices allow them to learn. Aldous Huxley
I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. Aldous Huxley
I'm afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery. Aldous Huxley
Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power. Aldous Huxley
If human beings were shown what they're really like, they'd either kill one another as vermin, or hang themselves. Aldous Huxley
It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than 'try to be a little kinder.' Aldous Huxley
Maybe this world is another planet's hell. Aldous Huxley
My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing. Aldous Huxley
Perhaps it's good for one to suffer. Can an artist do anything if he's happy? Would he ever want to do anything? What is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life? Aldous Huxley
Science has explained nothing; the more we know the more fantastic the world becomes and the profounder the surrounding darkness. Aldous Huxley
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. Aldous Huxley
That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach. Aldous Huxley
The finest works of art are precious, among other reasons, because they make it possible for us to know, if only imperfectly and for a little while, what it actually feels like to think subtly and feel nobly. Aldous Huxley
The impulse to cruelty is, in many people, almost as violent as the impulse to sexual love - almost as violent and much more mischievous. Aldous Huxley
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude. Aldous Huxley
The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own. Aldous Huxley
The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not. Aldous Huxley
The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. Aldous Huxley
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which mean never losing your enthusiasm. Aldous Huxley
The vast majority of human beings dislike and even actually dread all notions with which they are not familiar... Hence it comes about that at their first appearance innovators have generally been persecuted, and always derided as fools and madmen. Aldous Huxley
There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception. Aldous Huxley
There's only one effectively redemptive sacrifice, the sacrifice of self-will to make room for the knowledge of God. Aldous Huxley
We are all geniuses up to the age of ten. Aldous Huxley
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad. Aldous Huxley
From this website:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/aldous_huxley.html
Sunday, June 08, 2008
“How Living in Africa Changed My Life”
Between March 1984 and July 1985, I was privileged to live and work in the Republic of South Africa. My purpose for being there was missionary work, and although I did indeed engage in a great deal of that type of labour, I feel that I gained more from my experience of living there in other ways than would be apparent, were I to mention only that one activity. My brief time in South Africa was one of the two most profoundly life-changing experiences for me in all my life. I hope I can show how and why this was the case.
Although in most respects South Africa is just as modern a country as the United States or Europe, with all the industries, factories, gold and diamond mines, suburbs, cities, towns, shopping malls, interstate highways, railways, airports, and other amenities (and headaches) which modern civilized society offers, and although I there met many wonderful and selfless people, who (unasked) helped me in many ways, it was not so much these aspects that proved to be significantly life-changing for me. Rather, it was my several excursions into the wild “bushveld” (or wilderness) that proved to impact me the most.
Africa is arguably one of the most ancient, primitive and starkly beautiful landscapes on earth, and South Africa in particular does indeed have many wilderness parks and game preserves in which to observe much of that natural beauty—some of them quite large.
Although in most respects South Africa is just as modern a country as the United States or Europe, with all the industries, factories, gold and diamond mines, suburbs, cities, towns, shopping malls, interstate highways, railways, airports, and other amenities (and headaches) which modern civilized society offers, and although I there met many wonderful and selfless people, who (unasked) helped me in many ways, it was not so much these aspects that proved to be significantly life-changing for me. Rather, it was my several excursions into the wild “bushveld” (or wilderness) that proved to impact me the most.
Africa is arguably one of the most ancient, primitive and starkly beautiful landscapes on earth, and South Africa in particular does indeed have many wilderness parks and game preserves in which to observe much of that natural beauty—some of them quite large.
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(above) A spectacular view of the Drakensberg Mountains.
Together with two friends, I visited several of the bigger game preserves--including South Africa's famous Kruger National Park, and the privately-owned Timbavati Game Preserve next to it. I will describe these two momentarily. First, I want to mention Mountain Sanctuary Park, which was one of the grandest and most beautiful of the wilderness parks I saw. This place even has a website, at http://www.mountain-sanctuary.co.za/ . I would recommend looking into their site, as it contains many beautiful and representative photographs of the place.
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We were lucky enough to visit Mountain Sanctuary Park on two separate occasions. This park has a lengthy mountain ridge which runs through most of it--part of the vast Magaliesberg mountain range, which stretches on literally for miles and miles. On the side of this mountain there were no trees of any significance, scattered troops of baboons which dined on small citrus-type fruits, and herds of tiny deer-like gazelles, and the mountain ridge was cut by numerous ravines, gorges, and gullies--some of which were quite large and hundreds of meters deep.
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On both occasions, starting early in the morning, before the sun had become too hot, my friends and I slowly hiked up to the top of the mountain ridge, where the ruins of a fort from the Anglo-Boer War still sat on the edge of a cliff. There had been an important battle during that war not far from here, we were told. Here, the mountain-ridge dropped away to the vast valley below, providing a spectacular view for a distance of many miles. While we were sitting on the top of that mountain-ridge, perched on the ruins of that fort, the wind coming up from the valley below was furious, and, despite the otherwise hot day, it kept us considerably cooled off for a good while. It was a refreshing change from the hot, thirsty trek up the mountainside, and one we were loath to leave behind us.
Eventually, we slowly clambered back down the mountainside, and at one point came upon one of those many gorges that cut through the ridge. From the top, it looked far too deep to climb down into, but my friend Abe (a native of the place) insisted there was indeed a way down into it.
Eventually, we slowly clambered back down the mountainside, and at one point came upon one of those many gorges that cut through the ridge. From the top, it looked far too deep to climb down into, but my friend Abe (a native of the place) insisted there was indeed a way down into it.
One of my American companions sitting on the edge of the gorge, before we began our precipitous descent. This gorge was actually much deeper than is apparent here: the bottom is not even visible in this photo.
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This is the bottom of that same gorge--a photo I took while leaning over that same boulder my friend had been sitting on just a moment before, and pointing the camera straight down. About all that can be seen here are the tops of the trees below. Very soon, we would be underneath those trees, in a very different world.
So we followed him, and eventually, we were in fact at the bottom of the ravine.
Here, a completely different world existed. The top of the ravine (the side of the mountain) was barren, dry, and wind-swept; here, all was tree-shaded, dripping with small waterfalls and mosses hanging down the sides of the cliffs,
Here, a completely different world existed. The top of the ravine (the side of the mountain) was barren, dry, and wind-swept; here, all was tree-shaded, dripping with small waterfalls and mosses hanging down the sides of the cliffs,
At the bottom of the ravine, looking back up at a small dripping waterfall, cascading slowly over moss-shrouded rock walls.
every now and then a raging torrent of a small river, or small series of waterfalls,
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giant tree ferns everywhere growing in the green gloom of the semi-tropical forest canopy, and huge boulders everywhere littering the floor of the canyons.
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I tried to imagine what it must have been like when those boulders had dislodged themselves from the cliff tops, and come crashing down to the canyon floor, and was glad I was never there to witness the event! This landscape was so wild, primitive, and ancient, and on so unimaginably vast a scale, that I honestly kept expecting to look up and see dinosaurs lumbering past. It was a magical land of gods and giants, and there I was, a solitary pygmy, picking my way like a small ant over the giant boulders and down the cascading waterfalls. I was small enough to be stamped out forever if even one of those boulders had decided to come crashing down again!
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At one point, while traversing the canyon floor, we came upon a huge boulder, completely blocking our path. It was easily the biggest one we had seen yet, and was almost the size of a small house. There was nothing but smooth cliff-walls on either side of it. It was indeed possible to climb up the near side of the boulder, but once we had done so, we discovered that the only way to proceed past it (or so we thought) was to jump straight down about twenty meters (about 30-40 feet) into a deep, black pool of crystal-clear water! Our friend Abe laughingly told us that this particular pool (and jumping point) was called "Help Help," and we could easily see why!
After letting us worry about our predicament for a few minutes, Abe then told us (laughingly, again) that there was, in fact, a way around the dreaded pool and jump. This other way involved tip-toeing on a tiny ledge along the cliff-wall, literally hugging the cliff-wall itself, as one slowly stepped past the boulder and deep pool, one tiny, fearful step at a time (and about 30 feet above the pool). If one of us had sneezed, we probably would have fallen down into the pool below. I assure you, that ledge we were walking along was only about four inches wide, and there was very little in the way of rock edges to grasp, so as to keep from falling backward. It was harrowing.
We were never so relieved as when we finally had made it down past the boulder and pool, and were finally able to relax, take our shoes and socks off, and wade into the shallow end of the deep pool. And boy, was that water ever frigid, even in the hot African Summer! I was very glad then that we hadn't attempted the jump into the pool after all.
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After letting us worry about our predicament for a few minutes, Abe then told us (laughingly, again) that there was, in fact, a way around the dreaded pool and jump. This other way involved tip-toeing on a tiny ledge along the cliff-wall, literally hugging the cliff-wall itself, as one slowly stepped past the boulder and deep pool, one tiny, fearful step at a time (and about 30 feet above the pool). If one of us had sneezed, we probably would have fallen down into the pool below. I assure you, that ledge we were walking along was only about four inches wide, and there was very little in the way of rock edges to grasp, so as to keep from falling backward. It was harrowing.
We were never so relieved as when we finally had made it down past the boulder and pool, and were finally able to relax, take our shoes and socks off, and wade into the shallow end of the deep pool. And boy, was that water ever frigid, even in the hot African Summer! I was very glad then that we hadn't attempted the jump into the pool after all.
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I did indeed see a lot of wildlife. But Africa is not quite the place that most Americans expect from watching National Geographic. Wildlife does indeed exist there in great numbers, but it does so only in the larger game preserves, and one often has to travel great distances to see them. Elsewhere in the country are only endless fields, farmland, suburbs, gold and diamond mines, many small towns and occasionally larger cities.
Timbavati Game Preserve, which I mentioned earlier, is where, a few years ago, a minor strain of naturally "white" lions (previously only legendary) made their appearance (see the website http://www.responsibletravel.com/Copy/Copy101740.htm), and the Kruger National Park is the largest game preserve in South Africa (and one of the largest in the world). There are several websites mentioning the Kruger National Park.
The Kruger National Park is so big that you can literally drive around in it all day long and never see a single sign of human life (other than the dirt track in front of you and behind you). It is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island together. It was like being trapped in an episode of Discovery Channel, or National Geographic. I saw plenty of gazelle, giraffe, wildebeest, hippos, lions, elephants, zebras, antelope and springbuck, plus baboons, tree monkeys, wild dogs, hyenas, etc.
That huge diversity of God's creatures there, plus the deafening silence constantly surrounding us, and the incredible sense of desolate isolation, left me overwhelmed with emotion, and thinking that I had at last found the fabled "Garden of Eden" itself. Such a sense of peace and tranquility exists out there! I honestly did not want to return to the States--to my own home, and family! What sort of experience is it that can produce an effect like that?
That sensation of utter and profound isolation is what so significantly changed my life. I was only there in that game park for one day, but that one day, and the raw experiences it contained, was sufficient to forever alter the course of my life and my thinking.
You who have always lived in a house, in a city or suburb, and have never spent more than an hour or two literally a hundred miles from the nearest other human beings (or even sign of human life), have no idea how overwhelming it can be, to experience isolation like that. Persons shipwrecked on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe, lonely explorers in the vast Sahara, or perhaps scientists in Antarctica, or oil-drillers in Siberia, will have had such an experience; but not many people normally have experiences like that. This is why, when they do occur, they are life-changing experiences.
I grasp at words, trying to describe what is was like for me, standing there that day on the hot, dusty African plain, with nothing for literally a hundred miles around, except my two friends, one automobile, one dry, dusty dirt road, and endless miles of grass, bushes, scattered thorn-trees, occasional wild animals, and endless blue sky and puffy white clouds. I struggle, and cannot seem to find the right words to convey just how awesome an experience it was, and how reverently and profoundly moved by it I was. Such overwhelming peace, and tranquility! One could literally sit there all day long, and never hear another sound besides the breeze occasionally rustling through the tall grasses! It is absolutely impossible to imagine what this actually feels like, if one has never experienced it. I felt like we were literally the only people alive and walking on the entire planet—so far away did all other life seem. This gives one a completely new perspective on life, believe me!
Timbavati Game Preserve, which I mentioned earlier, is where, a few years ago, a minor strain of naturally "white" lions (previously only legendary) made their appearance (see the website http://www.responsibletravel.com/Copy/Copy101740.htm), and the Kruger National Park is the largest game preserve in South Africa (and one of the largest in the world). There are several websites mentioning the Kruger National Park.
The Kruger National Park is so big that you can literally drive around in it all day long and never see a single sign of human life (other than the dirt track in front of you and behind you). It is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island together. It was like being trapped in an episode of Discovery Channel, or National Geographic. I saw plenty of gazelle, giraffe, wildebeest, hippos, lions, elephants, zebras, antelope and springbuck, plus baboons, tree monkeys, wild dogs, hyenas, etc.
That huge diversity of God's creatures there, plus the deafening silence constantly surrounding us, and the incredible sense of desolate isolation, left me overwhelmed with emotion, and thinking that I had at last found the fabled "Garden of Eden" itself. Such a sense of peace and tranquility exists out there! I honestly did not want to return to the States--to my own home, and family! What sort of experience is it that can produce an effect like that?
That sensation of utter and profound isolation is what so significantly changed my life. I was only there in that game park for one day, but that one day, and the raw experiences it contained, was sufficient to forever alter the course of my life and my thinking.
You who have always lived in a house, in a city or suburb, and have never spent more than an hour or two literally a hundred miles from the nearest other human beings (or even sign of human life), have no idea how overwhelming it can be, to experience isolation like that. Persons shipwrecked on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe, lonely explorers in the vast Sahara, or perhaps scientists in Antarctica, or oil-drillers in Siberia, will have had such an experience; but not many people normally have experiences like that. This is why, when they do occur, they are life-changing experiences.
I grasp at words, trying to describe what is was like for me, standing there that day on the hot, dusty African plain, with nothing for literally a hundred miles around, except my two friends, one automobile, one dry, dusty dirt road, and endless miles of grass, bushes, scattered thorn-trees, occasional wild animals, and endless blue sky and puffy white clouds. I struggle, and cannot seem to find the right words to convey just how awesome an experience it was, and how reverently and profoundly moved by it I was. Such overwhelming peace, and tranquility! One could literally sit there all day long, and never hear another sound besides the breeze occasionally rustling through the tall grasses! It is absolutely impossible to imagine what this actually feels like, if one has never experienced it. I felt like we were literally the only people alive and walking on the entire planet—so far away did all other life seem. This gives one a completely new perspective on life, believe me!
I suppose a person who is easily bored would probably be driven to the edge of insanity by isolation like that. I could easily envision a possibility like that. But not for me: it was a “balm of Gilead” to my soul. And I have always wanted to go back there and experience it just one more time.
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Needless to say, after having had such a profound experience as that, and coming back to everyday ‘civilization,’ even seeing New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and just about every other sight and experience that America has to offer, I still have felt somewhat cheated—because I was always conscious that something greater still lay elsewhere, and I knew that I had been there, and experienced it firsthand. I suppose the astronauts who walked on the moon must have felt similarly, after they had returned to their usual, routine lives in “suburbia,” commuting to their ‘jobs’ every morning, and I do not wonder when I recall that several of them are said to have experienced severe psychological problems of ‘readjustment’ upon their return. Only those who have had similarly profound, life-altering experiences can know what I mean here. Had I the time, and my listeners the patience, I think I could probably write a whole book about what I saw and experienced there. Hopefully, this brief essay will suffice for the moment.
Needless to say, after having had such a profound experience as that, and coming back to everyday ‘civilization,’ even seeing New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and just about every other sight and experience that America has to offer, I still have felt somewhat cheated—because I was always conscious that something greater still lay elsewhere, and I knew that I had been there, and experienced it firsthand. I suppose the astronauts who walked on the moon must have felt similarly, after they had returned to their usual, routine lives in “suburbia,” commuting to their ‘jobs’ every morning, and I do not wonder when I recall that several of them are said to have experienced severe psychological problems of ‘readjustment’ upon their return. Only those who have had similarly profound, life-altering experiences can know what I mean here. Had I the time, and my listeners the patience, I think I could probably write a whole book about what I saw and experienced there. Hopefully, this brief essay will suffice for the moment.
The World as “Illusion”
The great mythologist and teacher Joseph Campbell (of course) constantly reminded his hearers and readers of the Hindu/Buddhist idea that everything in this world is maya, or illusion.
Many of the ancient ‘Gnostics’ also upheld this same idea, asserting that the only true 'reality' lay in the unseen realm of spirit (and not in this existence), and they were constantly preaching that we should never become too attached to this transitory, illusory (and even deceitful) existence we call "life".
Some of them even went so far as to literally mortify the flesh, or retreat from worldly concerns such as matrimony, sexuality, social, or political duties or engagements, often seeking instead a literal flight from sensual "temptations" to the ascetic world of monasticism. (I feel that this is a profound error on their part, however.)
To illustrate the widely-divergent field of sects making up what we now call "Gnosticism", however, there were a few "Gnostic" sects which (although they attached equal unimportance to matters of the "flesh"), nonetheless insisted that this "illusory" physical existence was so supremely unimportant (compared with the heavenly realm to follow) that it did not matter in the least what one did with the body, or with its natural urges. These libertine "Gnostics", then (in stark contrast to the ascetics), allowed themselves (and taught their disciples) to engage in all sorts of socio-sexual extremes--even bordering sometimes on what some would call 'gross perversions'. ... But again, it is important to remember that these libertine "Gnostics" (nominally "Christian", for the most part, though they were almost universally excoriated and shunned by other, more traditional, or 'mainstream' "Christians"), and among whom were the so-called "Carpocratians", always insisted that the flesh was so supremely unimportant--as long as one remembered where one's true priorities lay (with the heavenly realm of spirit)--that it did not at all matter what one did with the physical body . This is how the evidently homosexual rituals of the "Carpocratians" were possible (within the general rubric of "Christianity", too!).
To move into a modern times, however, quantum physics says essentially the same thing about what we call physical "reality"--that it's all really nothing more than electromagnetic frequency wave-patterns interpreted by our brains. Thus we see that 'science' and 'religion' (as many are noticing nowadays) are indeed gradually converging.
These ideas are really quite simple. The only mistake is reading too much into them. One does not need to search and search for deeper and deeper meanings there. The only message is right there in 'plain English', right on the surface of the words.
What I really mean is more or less exactly what I say (though I admit I am perhaps not the best one to be trying to explain these things): the physical world we see around us constantly (and which we assume is "real") is actually only an illusion created by our brains, when our brains convert the electromagnetic wave-patterns (or frequency-patterns of wave radiation) into meaningful signals. These meaningful signals then appear to our eyes as "sight", to our ears as "sound", and to our fingers and other body parts as "touch". The same is true of the other senses.
But we must remember (as both quantum physics and the 'mystical' traditions of spirituality teach) that that "reality" perceived by our senses is actually no more "real" than a moonbeam. In other words, these "keys" I am typing on in order to produce words (on this computer), although they "feel" solid to my finger-tips, are actually not what I (normally) think they are--they are actually nothing more than another form of electromagnetic wave radiation, or frequency-patterns, which exert enough of a force field of resistance to my finger-tips, that my brain perceives them as a "solid". But my physical "body" is also nothing more than various patterns of electromagnetic wave energy! So essentially, what is going on is that one organised set of frequency-patterns (my brain) thinks it is coming into contact with other frequency-patterns (the keyboard keys). But what is actually happening is nothing of the sort--only one force-field of electromagnetic energy "bumping" into another!
What may help you to understand this is to visualise two magnets in your hands. Now, turn them around so that the same poles are facing each other. Then try to push them toward each other, and make them touch. You can't do it, can you? This is because the force-fields are strong enough to prevent it. Those force-fields generated by those magnets feel almost solid, don't they? And yet we know that they aren't; the only thing you are bumping up against there is simply a very strong electromagnetic force-field. Well, this is exactly and precisely why so-called "solid" objects seem solid to us. But they are actually no more "solid" than the AIR near the pole of a magnet. Remember that the vast majority of every atom is actually only empty space! But it is a space filled with a very strong force-field of energy. Thus, if you multiply those space-filled atoms exponentially, enough to produce a human being, you still have an entity that is "actually" overwhelmingly empty space! So why then do we "seem" to possess "solid" bodies? Quite simply, because of the very strong electromagnetic force fields--just as in the case of the magnets!
I am here only referring to how our brains (and not our conscious minds) interpret electromagnetic wave radiation (frequency-patterns), and convert them into the meaningful images, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells we call our ordinary "physical" existence or world.
Do you begin to see now how this so-called "physical" world is really only an"illusion" cooked up by our senses (and brains)? The only true "reality" is nothing but organised patterns of electromagnetic wave radiation (frequency-patterns). ...
This is why the Hindus, Buddhists, Gnostics, and other Mystics are absolutely right when they say that this physical world is only maya, or "illusion".
To put the main thrust of quantum physics into other (and simpler) words, what we know as ordinary everyday existence in this world (aka "life") is really nothing more than organised patterns of electromagnetic energy-- all of it! If one dwells on this stupendous thought for more than just a brief moment, the implications are literally staggering! Indeed, one could even say that the implications are so staggering as to present a serious problem relative to our existential security (or peace of mind).
Certainly, these facts call into question just about any form of traditional 'religion'! The question then presents itself to our minds: what is one to do in the face of such troubling facts? How is one supposed to be able to carry on a more or less 'normal' day-to-day existence, when all the time, one is faced with this stunning realisation that nothing that one's senses reveals to us is actually 'real' (in the sense we always thought it was 'real')?
Well, I cannot speak for other people on this matter--how to comfortably live with these unsettling facts; I can only offer my own personal strategy for handling them. I also cannot claim that my strategy will work for everyone; only that thus far, it seems to be working rather well for myself. ...
Very simply, although I am profoundly aware of this new 'reality' regarding this world of appearances (what Schopenhauer called "Vorstellung"), I try to take occasional 'breaks' from dwelling thereupon; in other words, I try to make room in my life for other activities and engagements which will allow me to periodically "re-engage" with this apparently 'real' world around me. This is almost akin to Campbell's quotation of the Buddhists' advice to "participate with joy in the sorrows of the world". In other words, I continue to work (when able), go shopping, complain about taxes, bad government, arthritis, back pain, and to study the whole plethora of subjects I always have, just as before, as if nothing had changed.
And (truth be known), it is actually quite easy to do this! (By this, I mean fall back into the old habits of thinking.) In fact, for the untrained, such 'slipping back' into the old, comfortable routines and habits of 'normal' thinking is far too easy--uncomfortably easy even. Indeed, post-modern 'Gnostics' such as Timothy Freke say that such 'back-slippage' (especially in the untrained) is a negative end to be avoided at all costs. They apparently would have the new 'reality' (which is actually a non-reality) constantly and uncomfortably burned into everyone’s consciousness--even if it disturbs emotional peace and stability, and leaves persons distraught and unsettled to the point of insanity (or so it would seem). ...
I feel that the lessons of the new 'reality' (and their spiritual implications) need not be pursued quite that rigorously, in order to be effective, and still produce a profound new awareness, and profound life-changes. Of course (as I said), mine is only one opinion; others may (and have the right to) differ. ...
(6 December, 2007)
Many of the ancient ‘Gnostics’ also upheld this same idea, asserting that the only true 'reality' lay in the unseen realm of spirit (and not in this existence), and they were constantly preaching that we should never become too attached to this transitory, illusory (and even deceitful) existence we call "life".
Some of them even went so far as to literally mortify the flesh, or retreat from worldly concerns such as matrimony, sexuality, social, or political duties or engagements, often seeking instead a literal flight from sensual "temptations" to the ascetic world of monasticism. (I feel that this is a profound error on their part, however.)
To illustrate the widely-divergent field of sects making up what we now call "Gnosticism", however, there were a few "Gnostic" sects which (although they attached equal unimportance to matters of the "flesh"), nonetheless insisted that this "illusory" physical existence was so supremely unimportant (compared with the heavenly realm to follow) that it did not matter in the least what one did with the body, or with its natural urges. These libertine "Gnostics", then (in stark contrast to the ascetics), allowed themselves (and taught their disciples) to engage in all sorts of socio-sexual extremes--even bordering sometimes on what some would call 'gross perversions'. ... But again, it is important to remember that these libertine "Gnostics" (nominally "Christian", for the most part, though they were almost universally excoriated and shunned by other, more traditional, or 'mainstream' "Christians"), and among whom were the so-called "Carpocratians", always insisted that the flesh was so supremely unimportant--as long as one remembered where one's true priorities lay (with the heavenly realm of spirit)--that it did not at all matter what one did with the physical body . This is how the evidently homosexual rituals of the "Carpocratians" were possible (within the general rubric of "Christianity", too!).
To move into a modern times, however, quantum physics says essentially the same thing about what we call physical "reality"--that it's all really nothing more than electromagnetic frequency wave-patterns interpreted by our brains. Thus we see that 'science' and 'religion' (as many are noticing nowadays) are indeed gradually converging.
These ideas are really quite simple. The only mistake is reading too much into them. One does not need to search and search for deeper and deeper meanings there. The only message is right there in 'plain English', right on the surface of the words.
What I really mean is more or less exactly what I say (though I admit I am perhaps not the best one to be trying to explain these things): the physical world we see around us constantly (and which we assume is "real") is actually only an illusion created by our brains, when our brains convert the electromagnetic wave-patterns (or frequency-patterns of wave radiation) into meaningful signals. These meaningful signals then appear to our eyes as "sight", to our ears as "sound", and to our fingers and other body parts as "touch". The same is true of the other senses.
But we must remember (as both quantum physics and the 'mystical' traditions of spirituality teach) that that "reality" perceived by our senses is actually no more "real" than a moonbeam. In other words, these "keys" I am typing on in order to produce words (on this computer), although they "feel" solid to my finger-tips, are actually not what I (normally) think they are--they are actually nothing more than another form of electromagnetic wave radiation, or frequency-patterns, which exert enough of a force field of resistance to my finger-tips, that my brain perceives them as a "solid". But my physical "body" is also nothing more than various patterns of electromagnetic wave energy! So essentially, what is going on is that one organised set of frequency-patterns (my brain) thinks it is coming into contact with other frequency-patterns (the keyboard keys). But what is actually happening is nothing of the sort--only one force-field of electromagnetic energy "bumping" into another!
What may help you to understand this is to visualise two magnets in your hands. Now, turn them around so that the same poles are facing each other. Then try to push them toward each other, and make them touch. You can't do it, can you? This is because the force-fields are strong enough to prevent it. Those force-fields generated by those magnets feel almost solid, don't they? And yet we know that they aren't; the only thing you are bumping up against there is simply a very strong electromagnetic force-field. Well, this is exactly and precisely why so-called "solid" objects seem solid to us. But they are actually no more "solid" than the AIR near the pole of a magnet. Remember that the vast majority of every atom is actually only empty space! But it is a space filled with a very strong force-field of energy. Thus, if you multiply those space-filled atoms exponentially, enough to produce a human being, you still have an entity that is "actually" overwhelmingly empty space! So why then do we "seem" to possess "solid" bodies? Quite simply, because of the very strong electromagnetic force fields--just as in the case of the magnets!
I am here only referring to how our brains (and not our conscious minds) interpret electromagnetic wave radiation (frequency-patterns), and convert them into the meaningful images, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells we call our ordinary "physical" existence or world.
Do you begin to see now how this so-called "physical" world is really only an"illusion" cooked up by our senses (and brains)? The only true "reality" is nothing but organised patterns of electromagnetic wave radiation (frequency-patterns). ...
This is why the Hindus, Buddhists, Gnostics, and other Mystics are absolutely right when they say that this physical world is only maya, or "illusion".
To put the main thrust of quantum physics into other (and simpler) words, what we know as ordinary everyday existence in this world (aka "life") is really nothing more than organised patterns of electromagnetic energy-- all of it! If one dwells on this stupendous thought for more than just a brief moment, the implications are literally staggering! Indeed, one could even say that the implications are so staggering as to present a serious problem relative to our existential security (or peace of mind).
Certainly, these facts call into question just about any form of traditional 'religion'! The question then presents itself to our minds: what is one to do in the face of such troubling facts? How is one supposed to be able to carry on a more or less 'normal' day-to-day existence, when all the time, one is faced with this stunning realisation that nothing that one's senses reveals to us is actually 'real' (in the sense we always thought it was 'real')?
Well, I cannot speak for other people on this matter--how to comfortably live with these unsettling facts; I can only offer my own personal strategy for handling them. I also cannot claim that my strategy will work for everyone; only that thus far, it seems to be working rather well for myself. ...
Very simply, although I am profoundly aware of this new 'reality' regarding this world of appearances (what Schopenhauer called "Vorstellung"), I try to take occasional 'breaks' from dwelling thereupon; in other words, I try to make room in my life for other activities and engagements which will allow me to periodically "re-engage" with this apparently 'real' world around me. This is almost akin to Campbell's quotation of the Buddhists' advice to "participate with joy in the sorrows of the world". In other words, I continue to work (when able), go shopping, complain about taxes, bad government, arthritis, back pain, and to study the whole plethora of subjects I always have, just as before, as if nothing had changed.
And (truth be known), it is actually quite easy to do this! (By this, I mean fall back into the old habits of thinking.) In fact, for the untrained, such 'slipping back' into the old, comfortable routines and habits of 'normal' thinking is far too easy--uncomfortably easy even. Indeed, post-modern 'Gnostics' such as Timothy Freke say that such 'back-slippage' (especially in the untrained) is a negative end to be avoided at all costs. They apparently would have the new 'reality' (which is actually a non-reality) constantly and uncomfortably burned into everyone’s consciousness--even if it disturbs emotional peace and stability, and leaves persons distraught and unsettled to the point of insanity (or so it would seem). ...
I feel that the lessons of the new 'reality' (and their spiritual implications) need not be pursued quite that rigorously, in order to be effective, and still produce a profound new awareness, and profound life-changes. Of course (as I said), mine is only one opinion; others may (and have the right to) differ. ...
(6 December, 2007)
Why I Disagree With ‘Mormonism’
Those Mormons love their 'meetings' (and by that, I'm not referring to 'worship services'). When I say 'meetings', I mean the word in the sense of business 'meetings'. I have said before that they should be called the "Church of the Latter-Day Businessmen" Truly! They preach what can only be called the "Gospel of Wealth" (to borrow the phrase from Andrew Carnegie): they think that being "successful" in life (a word they use an awful lot!) is the same thing as being "blessed," and that the more "successful" a person is (in terms of making money), the more "blessed" he or she must be! Now, how twisted is that? That's the way the primitive-minded Hebrews of Old Testament times thought! ("The more goats and cattle I have, the more wives, concubines, and children I have, the more 'God' has showed favour upon me ...") Good God! To think that these 'Mormons' still think like that! To think that the human race has not budged (or evolved) one inch in all those thousands of years! What a sad, sad commentary on the human race!
Erstwhile 'Mormon' presidential candidate Mitt Romney (the former Governor of Massachussetts) wanted people to think he was good presidential material because he is a "successful leader" and businessman (his exact words). He is certainly every inch a 'Mormon', just like all the rest of them!
The truth of the matter is, that we are constantly being "blessed" by God! Just being alive here on this earth is the greatest blessing of all. And we are being blessed by God, even when we think we are not! As Thoreau, Blake, and Whitman would have all been quick to agree, it is a blessing even to be poverty-stricken! Think about that ... Yet it teaches humility, and compassion for all living beings, doesn't it? Hard to learn those lessons if one is filthy rich ... And as Thoreau pointed out, being poverty-stricken is also a blessing, in the sense that we then don't ever have the chance to become unduly attached to material possessions; instead, we learn to love other people (instead of desiring and growing jealous over our "possessions"). Didn't "Jesus" say that "where your treasure is, there your heart is also"? Yes, of course "he" did. ...
And--though we may not recognise it as such--we are even being 'blessed' when disaster or tragedy visits its awful, heavy hand upon us. ... Think about that! Yet, if you will really think about it, and work it out in your mind, you will realise I am speaking the truth here. "Disasters" and "tragedies" teach us to appreciate the good times. We could never learn to value the "good", if we did not also experience the "bad" (right?) So even the "bad" times are also blessings for us--"blessings in disguise". Much, much more could be said on this subject.
And the 'Mormons' also place far too much emphasis on 'leaders'! Everyone in that church aspires to be a 'leader'! Just how many 'leaders' can there be, before everyone is aspiring to be a 'leader', and no-one is left to follow? "Jesus" had choice words to say about people who desire preeminence among their fellow-men, didn't he? Rather than desiring that human beings should live in a hierarchical, stratified, or layered society (and helping to bring such a thing about), shouldn't we rather strive to serve one another, humbly, with "broken hearts and contrite spirits"? Didn't "Jesus" make this point (beautifully, simply, and elegantly) when he stripped naked in front of his disciples, and washed their feet (which was considered filthy, demeaning work back then)? Of course he did.
The 'Mormons' claim to believe in a doctrine which they call "eternal progression," by which they mean that human beings should be continually evolving and expanding their comprehension of knowledge; but what is actually the case is that the 'Mormons' literally follow the contrary doctrine, which could aptly be referred to as 'eternally staying put right where they are,' thank you very much! Try attending one of their Sunday-School classes. And then do the same for about six or seven Sundays in succession. They merely repeat their standard, basic doctrines--the same doctrines that are taught to "beginners in the faith"--as if even the seasoned church members of forty years and more have learned absolutely nothing in all that time! This is sad, to say the least.
I myself, when I was a child growing up in the 'Mormon' faith, took that "eternal progression" doctrine literally, and went out into the world and began learning things. Unlike the vast percentage of 'Mormons' (and Christians), I did not shy away from an uncomfortable fact when it happened to contradict what I already believed (or thought was the case). To my way of thinking, if a proposition was demonstrably true and correct, why then, I had better get myself accustomed to accepting it.
This process eventually led me to turning my 'Mormon' beliefs completely inside-out, and demonstrating them (and most 'Christian' beliefs) to be based solely on unwarranted and unexamined assumptions--assumptions which when once thoroughly examined and exposed to the light and air, turned out to be sadly false. I say sadly, because it was at first extremely disconcerting to have my world-view turned upside-down, and inside-out. This is because (contrary to what some poeple may think) I am in fact a thinking, feeling human being just like the rest in most respects, and that entails a certain emotional/psychological dislocation when one's existential security happens to be seriously challenged.
Fortunately, I survived the experience relatively unscathed (save for the total loss of certain beliefs that were wholly untenable in the light of sound evidence to the contrary).
I therefore think that the 'Mormons' have got the idea of "religion" completely backwards and twisted around. And (again) that is very sad.
It took me many years to figure this out (since I was raised by them). As you may well imagine, it is so very hard to turn against the beliefs one was taught as a child ...
I have here spoken of (and quoted) "Jesus" as if he were a real human being, but please remember that I only do this so as to better be able to teach certain important points. ... I do not in fact believe "he" ever had any physical existence on this earth (at least not in the guise with which he is familiar to us from our shared cultural heritage).
Now, in saying all of the above, I do not for a moment mean to be understood as saying that all ‘Mormons’ are necessarily ‘bad’ people. There are in this faith (as indeed in all faiths) an enormous number of otherwise decent, wonderful human beings—some of whom I count as friends, and some of whom are my own distant kinspeople. I would never say they are ‘bad’ people—only greatly deluded or mistaken people. I truly believe that if they could only see the serious, profound contradictions inherent in ‘Mormonism’, they would soon have to view the religion in much the same way I now do. …
T.J. White
23 December, 2007
Erstwhile 'Mormon' presidential candidate Mitt Romney (the former Governor of Massachussetts) wanted people to think he was good presidential material because he is a "successful leader" and businessman (his exact words). He is certainly every inch a 'Mormon', just like all the rest of them!
The truth of the matter is, that we are constantly being "blessed" by God! Just being alive here on this earth is the greatest blessing of all. And we are being blessed by God, even when we think we are not! As Thoreau, Blake, and Whitman would have all been quick to agree, it is a blessing even to be poverty-stricken! Think about that ... Yet it teaches humility, and compassion for all living beings, doesn't it? Hard to learn those lessons if one is filthy rich ... And as Thoreau pointed out, being poverty-stricken is also a blessing, in the sense that we then don't ever have the chance to become unduly attached to material possessions; instead, we learn to love other people (instead of desiring and growing jealous over our "possessions"). Didn't "Jesus" say that "where your treasure is, there your heart is also"? Yes, of course "he" did. ...
And--though we may not recognise it as such--we are even being 'blessed' when disaster or tragedy visits its awful, heavy hand upon us. ... Think about that! Yet, if you will really think about it, and work it out in your mind, you will realise I am speaking the truth here. "Disasters" and "tragedies" teach us to appreciate the good times. We could never learn to value the "good", if we did not also experience the "bad" (right?) So even the "bad" times are also blessings for us--"blessings in disguise". Much, much more could be said on this subject.
And the 'Mormons' also place far too much emphasis on 'leaders'! Everyone in that church aspires to be a 'leader'! Just how many 'leaders' can there be, before everyone is aspiring to be a 'leader', and no-one is left to follow? "Jesus" had choice words to say about people who desire preeminence among their fellow-men, didn't he? Rather than desiring that human beings should live in a hierarchical, stratified, or layered society (and helping to bring such a thing about), shouldn't we rather strive to serve one another, humbly, with "broken hearts and contrite spirits"? Didn't "Jesus" make this point (beautifully, simply, and elegantly) when he stripped naked in front of his disciples, and washed their feet (which was considered filthy, demeaning work back then)? Of course he did.
The 'Mormons' claim to believe in a doctrine which they call "eternal progression," by which they mean that human beings should be continually evolving and expanding their comprehension of knowledge; but what is actually the case is that the 'Mormons' literally follow the contrary doctrine, which could aptly be referred to as 'eternally staying put right where they are,' thank you very much! Try attending one of their Sunday-School classes. And then do the same for about six or seven Sundays in succession. They merely repeat their standard, basic doctrines--the same doctrines that are taught to "beginners in the faith"--as if even the seasoned church members of forty years and more have learned absolutely nothing in all that time! This is sad, to say the least.
I myself, when I was a child growing up in the 'Mormon' faith, took that "eternal progression" doctrine literally, and went out into the world and began learning things. Unlike the vast percentage of 'Mormons' (and Christians), I did not shy away from an uncomfortable fact when it happened to contradict what I already believed (or thought was the case). To my way of thinking, if a proposition was demonstrably true and correct, why then, I had better get myself accustomed to accepting it.
This process eventually led me to turning my 'Mormon' beliefs completely inside-out, and demonstrating them (and most 'Christian' beliefs) to be based solely on unwarranted and unexamined assumptions--assumptions which when once thoroughly examined and exposed to the light and air, turned out to be sadly false. I say sadly, because it was at first extremely disconcerting to have my world-view turned upside-down, and inside-out. This is because (contrary to what some poeple may think) I am in fact a thinking, feeling human being just like the rest in most respects, and that entails a certain emotional/psychological dislocation when one's existential security happens to be seriously challenged.
Fortunately, I survived the experience relatively unscathed (save for the total loss of certain beliefs that were wholly untenable in the light of sound evidence to the contrary).
I therefore think that the 'Mormons' have got the idea of "religion" completely backwards and twisted around. And (again) that is very sad.
It took me many years to figure this out (since I was raised by them). As you may well imagine, it is so very hard to turn against the beliefs one was taught as a child ...
I have here spoken of (and quoted) "Jesus" as if he were a real human being, but please remember that I only do this so as to better be able to teach certain important points. ... I do not in fact believe "he" ever had any physical existence on this earth (at least not in the guise with which he is familiar to us from our shared cultural heritage).
Now, in saying all of the above, I do not for a moment mean to be understood as saying that all ‘Mormons’ are necessarily ‘bad’ people. There are in this faith (as indeed in all faiths) an enormous number of otherwise decent, wonderful human beings—some of whom I count as friends, and some of whom are my own distant kinspeople. I would never say they are ‘bad’ people—only greatly deluded or mistaken people. I truly believe that if they could only see the serious, profound contradictions inherent in ‘Mormonism’, they would soon have to view the religion in much the same way I now do. …
T.J. White
23 December, 2007
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