Saturday 28 May 2016

Rules of Creation Part 3

3. Sadhakatamam Karanam.
The most direct means to the accomplishment of the desired potential.

In the beginning or when we are very young the most direct means to the accomplishment of the desired potential does not exist or exists in a very limited form based on whatever we have learned so far. As our learning grows we begin to process information faster and more effectively. In time we reach a natural barrier or limit to this ability to process information. This limit occurs because at some point we find that it is not just about processing information but from where that processing takes place. There are two possibilities as to how information may be processed. For most in this period of evolution it will seem impossible to escape the first possibility. To understand these two possibilities it is important to look at the whole thing as a process. It is not that anyone is making a mistake it is just that each individual is looking at the world from a very particular place. This place is what I call the ego. Each of us views the world from this ego which has virtually not changed at all since it was formed. Any change that has occurred in the ego is probably for the worse. In terms of evolution it could be said that the ego is in a very early stage of development. This is not apparent to the individual who feels that what they are is more or less the finished product. Because this early stage of development is based on memory and what we assume to be knowable information we form a preference for what we already know regardless of whether what we know works or not. What we know is deemed safe just because it is in our memory bank regardless of how it got there. What this means is that we trust and act from what is in our memory and seem not to be too concerned as to how that memory or information was obtained. The end result of this is suffering which can be seen as simply the inability to process information effectively because of this preference to trust what we know. In terms of evolution this suffering will continue until it dawns on us to question where the information we are so trusting of came from in the first place. It is only at this point that the evolutionary process can proceed to its next stage of development. The next stage of development begins when we question not only where and how information is obtained but what information actually is. In the first stage information is seen as ‘knowable’. It  is assumed that this form of information is real and true and that a word or a belief is also real and true. With this knowable information we begin to take words and beliefs very seriously, we can be hurt by someones use of words and hurt also if words are used to challenge our beliefs. This is the single cause of most problems in the world that words and beliefs are taken far too seriously. This is why I say that the ego has not changed much at all since it was formed many thousands of years ago. This problem of taking words and beliefs too seriously has a more important side effect which is that so long as words and beliefs are taken too seriously we are blocked from reaching the second stage of this evolutionary process. So long as our attention is focused on what is not true the truth will be impossible to see. Truth will be rejected in favour of our preference for what we assume we already know. The second stage of the evolutionary process can only begin when words and beliefs begin to lose the absolute meaning we give them. Once we are able to accept that this way of looking at the world ourselves and others may be untrue a process is begun in which all words and beliefs begin to lose their validity. The end of this process is what I refer to as a collapse of all beliefs in that beliefs are no longer taken to be absolute, real, or true. They are no longer taken seriously. At the point of collapse what I call consciousness is seen to be what we and everyone else truly are. Words and beliefs are not lost they are now filtered through consciousness. Through this filter all beliefs are seen for what they are and beliefs are found to be useful or not useful. The desired potential therefore is that which will facilitate the accomplishment of this transition from ego to consciousness and what proceeds from there.

Rules of Creation Part 2

2. Karturipsitatamam Karma.
Consequence of activating that potential.

Once the potential has been activated an inevitable and often predictable consequence or series of consequences must follow. This is evolution or the process of continual learning we are immersed in. What we have learned so far is what we are and the consequence of what we are is the world as it appears to each of us. Because all the factors that determine what we are is infinitely diverse no two humans could live in the same world. We literally live in a world we have created based solely on what we have learned so far. This learning involves the formation of matter and energy and the eventual appearance of life. It is estimated that the time this process has been running is around 13.8 billion years. Once there is life there is a being with apparently little or no information as to what we are or why we are here. What all creatures are at this point in time is a perfect consequence of all that has been learned so far. Perfect means that we could not be any more or less than we actually are right now. We  may not believe this and others also may not believe this but it is true. Because of this lack of understanding we assume we are imperfect and we assume this because we experience pain and suffering part of which comes from other peoples opinion of what we are. What we believe is always untrue and although what we are is based on what we believe this does not mean that what we believe is true. When beliefs about what we are are untrue (always) we will suffer and the suffering may take place now or at any time in the future. Because of this gap between learning from suffering now or at any time in the future this process of learning tends to be very slow. Some times we have to wait years to experience the results of our actions. Learning involves reducing this gap by paying more attention to this process as a whole. If we are happy to just wait for the suffering or learning to take place then the process is inevitably very slow or evolutionary.  When we realise suffering must have a cause and further that this cause is the result of what we believe then the process speeds up incrementally. At this point we begin to pay much more attention to both the cause and the beliefs behind that cause. Once the beliefs that cause suffering are understood enough the belief dissolves and along with it the cause to further suffering is negated. When all beliefs are dissolved so too is all suffering negated. Life is the process whereby this learning takes place. It is not an option or something we can choose to partake in or not it is inevitable. Suffering occurs because we believe things that are not true and this suffering must continue until the beliefs that cause it are understood and dissolved. In our mind, brain and bodies as well as the world we reside in is everything we need to solve the problem of  believing things that are not true. Sooner or later all beliefs have inevitable consequences. When we believe things that are not true it seems as though the world itself takes on an active part in that suffering. This is because the world is not separate from what we are and so what we are or believe is mirrored externally. This is not a punishment it is a guide. At every step we will experience directly the result of our beliefs if we do not pay attention this will not be noticed but once it is noticed the end of our beliefs is inevitable. Whatever beliefs we have become activated by the potential that is the root of what we  are. What we truly are has nothing whatsoever to do with beliefs so beliefs have the dual function of revealing what we are and what we are not. All suffering has a cause and cannot exist without a particular belief that is not true. Understand that when you are suffering  you are believing something that is not true keep bringing your attention back to that fact. The real problem is that we take our beliefs to be true and because we believe this we also tend to believe that the way to solve our suffering is to manipulate the world in some way so that it no longer hurts. Because this solution is incorrect the suffering will continue and all we have really achieved is a longer duration of suffering. The world is not responsible for our suffering it merely reflects our beliefs back to us. The universe does not consider how long the learning or evolution should take it just puts everything in place and in movement to achieve its goal.

Rules of Creation Part 1

1. Svatantrah Kartaa
He who has the potential within himself.

Potential here refers to the source of creation. Anything that can be or has been created is created from this source. In Sanskrit this source is referred to as the ’system’ within oneself. Anything  can be created from multiple universes to anger. If it is not created it does not exist. To create, a wish or intention (Sankalpa) is required. This intention may be conscious or unconscious, known or unknown. Anger is an example of an unconscious intention. There is the intention to create anger while at the same time the intention to forget why this emotion needed to be created.  In this sense many aspects of human life are created unconsciously. Once created there must be a consequence to what has been created. This consequence manifests as responsibility and it is through this responsibility that we learn, that is, the physical and mental results of our actions. All that is known is also all that we have created and we are responsible for what we create. The result of what we create can be pain or pleasure, ignorance or wisdom. All that can be created carries with it a consequence until it is understood exactly what creation is. From the moment we are born until the moment the body dies we are in the business of creation. All that can be created can only be created from that potential that is at the heart of what we really are. When the baby that is just born suckles on the mothers breast it is able to do this with the knowledge the child is born with. This can be seen as genetic or instinctive knowledge. Much of what the body learns to do is from a potential we are born with. Walking, talking, eating, urinating non of these could occur without the potential that is the source of all creation. This potential or ability to create is sometimes referred to as Siva and what is created is referred to as Shakti. In quantum theory Siva is wave and Shakti is particle. Everything we have learned so far is due to the potential we are born with. This potential can be likened to electricity or an energy that can be used to power all the many devices that are in use in the world today. Even with electricity and the device say a television it is still necessary to want to use the electricity and the television and if not it remains dormant. When we are born this potential becomes the means to remember what we really are which could be said to be the potential itself. To create something it is necessary to activate the potential, to activate the potential a Sankalpa or intention is necessary. This intention may be conscious or unconscious. Suffering can only exist because we have activated our potential with an intention that is unconscious. To be angry it is necessary to be unconscious that is to be unaware of why we have created a state of anger. Anger could not exist unless we are in an unconscious state and to be in an unconscious state it is necessary that this be an intention in other words we could not be unconscious unless we wanted to be unconscious. The only reason we could want to be unconscious is because it is easier to be unconscious than conscious. This can be proved quite easily by choosing to meditate, it will be seen very soon that there is much resistance to this intention. Meditation is the art of learning to be conscious or awake and it can be done formally through a technique or naturally through living your life fully awake. Either way the resistance to being awake will kick in and create obstacles to hinder this particular creation. To counteract this it is necessary to create an intention that is pure and non personal this would be something like ‘I intend to be awake and conscious so that suffering ends for myself and all beings and that this intention will persevere through all obstacles and resistance however long that may take’. This then is the ultimate use of our potential and leads to the realisation that we are that potential. “I am That’. ‘That’ in Sanskrit refers to the Absolute.