Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Castles in the air

Some people denote themselves as Shia and others denote themselves Sunni.
The only difference between them is their different interpretations of Islam.
They are neighbours; they look the same and they speak the same language,
but they still have to kill each other and each others little children.

Their differences and belief systems are delusions, fantasies.
They kill each other and each others children because of imagined differences,
just as Croats and Serbs were killing each other in former Yugoslavia,
and Hutus and Tutsis were killing each other in Rwanda.

People have killed and tortured each other for thousands of years
because of delusions and imagined differences.
It is so sad, the whole thing with delusions.

Is it possible to wake up from these fantasy worlds?
I believe that it is possible.
We no longer believe that the earth is flat
or that diseases are caused by angry Gods.
Beliefs can change, even though it is painful and may take time.
It is possible to drop old misconceptions.

Therefore, you should stop to denote yourself as Sunni or Shia,
Catholic or Protestant, atheist or agnostic, liberal or conservative...
You must stop to denote yourself as Palestinian or Yew, leftist or rightist.
You have to abandon all separating designations.
You have to wake up.
As long as you are not willing to do this, you are a part of the madness,
you are deluded, insane.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The totality

Reality has several levels, or dimensions.
Everyday life is just a small part of the play.

We consist of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and a few other atoms.
However,
a painting is quite different from linseed oil, canvas and pigments.
You cannot submit a painting to a chemical laboratory
and expect to get it fully analyzed.
Key aspects will be missed.
Likewise,
we are something quite different from the atoms and molecules we are made of.
We are also animals, governed by biological laws.

But everyone knows that we are not just a kind of thin-haired apes
and that we are not driven solely by our genes.
Our actions are also governed by our delusions, dreams and misunderstandings.

Grandiose scientific theories about our true nature
are completely meaningless in the everyday dimension
although they may be confirmed by precise experiments.
In the same way,
free will, egoism and conscience
are useless concepts at the level of quantum physics.
String theory does not examine our world.
Darwin's discoveries do not apply to us.
The Law of the jungle does not apply here.

Biology, chemistry and quantum physics
cannot provide a complete explanation of the totality.
There are also other dimensions, mystical dimensions
where words, mathematical computations and chemical formulas are unusable.
These dimensions can not be proved scientifically.
They must be experienced.
Moreover, 
there are also metaphysical dimensions that can never be experienced.
The totality is like an ocean where we are drifting about in a lifeboat.

(Religious speculations have, of course, not much to do with everyday reality either.
Such activities belong to the realm of daydreams
Vedanta, christian eschatology and astrology may admittedly serve a purpose.
They can create meaning, cohesion or entertainment
but they cannot create consensus about what's really going on.)

Saturday, May 11, 2013

The present now

The now is a fly that you can try to capture in your cupped hands
if you get the urge.