Wednesday 21 March 2012

Hypothesis – A Bridge to the Absolute



A definition of the word hypothesis - a proposition, or set of propositions, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, either asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation (working hypothesis)  or accepted as highly probable in the light of established facts.


Krishnamurti once wrote that logic should be taken as far as it can go or to be as truthful as it is possible to be. This is good advice, another way of saying this is to look for a truthful and consistent hypothesis that can be tested and if necessary adjusted or even dropped. I realize I have been doing this for many years without really knowing that was what I was doing. My first book ‘Blood Washing Blood’ is full of these hypotheses and my recent book ’Everything That is Not a Belief is True’’ is concerned with what I consider to be the ultimate hypothesis.  If used correctly a hypothesis can be a bridge to the absolute. Logic or truth are honed relentlessly until their limit is reached. This limit involves another hypothesis which is that the limit is seen as a point in which all beliefs break down and we are left at the door to the absolute. The absolute is another hypothesis that is similar to a singularity in physics – a place or event where all the rules of nature break down. Some of the early hypotheses I worked with were to do with power and the ego. Blood washing blood is a very powerful hypothesis first used by zen master Bankei in regard to meditation. I found that blood washing blood is a universal hypothesis that when applied to the ego makes many important questions clear. Blood washing blood when applied to the ego becomes – the cause of suffering in the world is the result of the ego or believing something to be true that is in fact not true.  The ego is the cause of suffering yet it is also the ego that offers us solutions to this suffering which usually involve more suffering. For instance when we feel unloved the ego may suggest that the solution can be found in food, drugs, alcohol or sex. The ego invents solutions such as thinking, religion, philosophy, science and just about everything that the human mind can construct. All these things are constructions of the ego and sometimes they are useful  and sometimes they are disastrous. Most of these things excluding the simply practical and useful cannot be trusted as they are blood washing blood – trying to wash a blood stained garment with blood and expecting to clean it. This is not possible, not only are the solutions of the ego futile they can also deepen the problem.  In the world most of us as a result of experiencing pain arrive at the conclusion that we are unlovable and then resort to strategies to attain various forms of power like money, intelligence, beauty or even aggression and violence. None of these can ever give us true power because the power that was lost is the result of what we came to believe about ourselves. None of these strategies for attaining power can ever reverse this kind of belief. Having a lot of money for instance may feel good for a while but only for a while,  it cannot change what we really believe about ourselves. Blood washing blood is a hypothesis that quickly and clearly shows us all the constructs of the ego that cannot be trusted. Once we are free of the trap of looking for the solution where it cannot be found the true journey can begin. I heard a physicist recently say "we have to experiment with every stupid wrong idea before we can get on to the right one".


One night a neighbor of Mullah Nasrudin was walking home and found Mullah squatting on the ground beside a lamp post evidently looking for something.
"What's the matter mullah?" asked the concerned neighbor.
"I have lost my keys" replied mullah
"Oh! Here let me help you." and the kindly neighbor got down on his knees and started searching for Mullah's keys as well.
After some time spent looking the neighbor straightened up and quite puzzled asked "are you sure you dropped your key's here?"
"Oh, I didn't drop them here." replied Mullah.
"Where did you drop them ?!?" exclaimed the now bewildered neighbor.
"Over there" and Mullah pointed to the front of his house that was in darkness.
"So why are you looking for them here ??!!??" shouted the angry neighbor.
"Because there is light here." replied mullah.

2 comments:

  1. Ray,
    Could you say something about 'Powerlessness'. Aren't we truly powerless against any event whether it be external or internal and therefore the ego being quite impotent to 'do' anything. This relates to Blood washing blood' and I was wondering whether accepting this wholeheartedly is similar to being 'vulnerable'?

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  2. Kite, I have answered your question in my newest post 'When Consciousness Realises Itself'.

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