Reality?

I went out last night had three beers (that is all I can drink without falling over) and had a meaningless conversation about nothing with two drunken girls at the bar. I feel much better.

Entropienne left a very sweet comment yesterday with some excellent questions:

“Hihi.. Ezparz was a philosopher apparently..
I’ve been reading your posts lately, in the beginning on a daily basis, but honestly. You wear me out too sometimes  I can very much relate to the tiredness you must feel. Don’t overwork yourself.
Anyway questions do have arised reading your posts. As a starter student in philosophy I have to immediately get use for my small amount of learning. You’re talking about the illusionary world, that is the world as we percieve it. Most of us do have a feeling that there is more to it than we can understand or logically calculate. I’m a little bit curious how you came to the conclusions of what is real and what is the optimal life to live? And how you can be so sure of it? As you at the same time reject the world as we logically see it.
Why is feeling so much stronger than reason? Why do you put up intuition higher than the mind?
What is the ultimate goal in life? Meaningfulness? Happiness? Harmony? Knowledge?
Sorry if I sound confusing… And note that I don’t disagree with your beliefs (yet) I’m wondering since I myself am looking for answers to why I’m here and why I put my intuition so much before my mind. Or is it my mind that create intuition? Oh sorry I’m spinning again…
Well, Take care.. Don’t wear yourself out.
Great blog! (Doesn’t mean you have to write everyday)”

I want to say a few things about your comment and answer your questions as goods as I can. Talking about things we consider “deep” is very draining. I think the reason is that what we are talking about is beyond our minds capacity but your mind still tries to figure it out, tries to explain it. It puts us on the edge because we trying to explain the unexplainable.

In Zen Buddhism they use koans. Koans are questions that cannot be answered. A famous one is “what sound does one clapping hand make?” As a disciple you are supposed to find an answer no matter what. Your mind runs on full capacity to come up with something until it collapses because there is no answer. This practice is used to transcend the mind. When we talk about the illusionary self-projecting our reality our mind does try to understand what we are talking about. It does give it’s best but because it’s capacity is very limited it will never be able to grasp what we are talking about. It can only be felt but not be explained. Your heart is connected with the cosmic intelligence. When you feel in your heart that there is more to “reality” then we think there is, that reality is imagined, that is all the confirmation you can get.

I based my assumptions on what is real and not real on Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and enlightened man from India who said: “Everything that has a beginning and has an end is not real”

To me the optimal life to live is a life without having illusions about myself and the world, a life without suffering.

I am not sure about anything. Do I feel what I am saying is true? Yes. Do I know what I am saying is true? No. I honestly don’t feel I am saying anything. The trick is to step out of the way to let “it” speak through us. To step out of the way to let “it” express itself through us in whatever way it wants. Because “it” is what we really are. That is why you do not have to learn anything in philosophy class. You have all the answers in you. All you have to do is let go of who you think you are and you will reconnect with the source of all things.

I do not reject the world how we see it. But I question that what we see is really the world. Based on our conditioning the world looks different for every single one of us. If somebody told you that being rich is the goal of life you look up to rich people and you want to be one of them. If you were told having lots of money is being greedy you will reject making money and you will look down on somebody who has plenty of it. Who is right? Who is wrong? Money is neither good or bad it just is. When you take all these ideas and beliefs away you see the world how it really is. You will also recognize that you are the creator of your own reality. When you feel good about yourself and deserving you will get what you want. If you feel you do not deserve and that you are not a good and beautiful human being you will not get what you want and do get what you don’t want. Whatever you believe creates your reality. What else could that mean then that create what you experience?

Feeling is so much stronger then reason because when you feel you connect with the cosmic mind, the source of all things that knows everything. The cosmic mind has a few billion times the potential of your own small limited mind that can only relay on it’s programming.

The ultimate goal in life? Very good question! I would say there is none and there is joy and that at the end both are the same. There is no goal but if you follow joy, if you only do what you want to do you follow your heart, you do what the universe wants you to do, your ego/mind will loose control and you will live true freedom and true happiness.

Ohhh boy, I think I need another beer and have to find somebody else to have a meaningless conversation with. 

"Reality?" Times Square/Manattan/New York City. 02-01-08 at 1:26 PM.

 

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