Perceptions And Paradigms

More thoughts from a forthcoming book which I believe I shall call The Book Of Ashavan. If you have read my novel Seven Stones you will know Ashavan was forever scribbling his thoughts in a notebook as he collected a series of stones that gave him a deeper understanding. Here then are some of his thoughts:

Please know that what I ask of you is to stare into the abyss to dig the depths of understanding. You have spent your life distracted. We all spend our lives distracted. We play in the shallows, barely daring to break the surface, let alone plumb the depths. We prefer to live as animals, afraid to look at ourselves as we are,terrified of using our human capacities to explore our world and ourselves.

The illusion is that if I am not one I must be the other. If I am not a bully I shall end up being bullied. If I do not make myself strong I shall be weak. By accepting that we must be one or the other we place ourselves upon the wheel of opposites, give it the energy to spin around. We believe ourselves to be in a battle with a fierce enemy, but if we were to see it truly we would see a dog chasing its own tail.

 There is a center, a reality that is at the heart of all illusion. The problem is that we as humans, we as physical entities, cannot reach it. In reaching towards it we invariably overshoot it only to find ourselves on the opposite side of where we began.

But as we better appreciate it for what it is, we feel it pulling us like planets that ever circle around a sun but keep their distance. The truth is a campfire around which we all sit. We feel its warmth but cannot get too near it. As a society we can only gather around it.

As individuals, ah, the reality is reachable because it exists within us always. We have only to be silent to hear it.

 Do not waste your time in trying to overthrow the dark towers of evil. Instead build up the lighthouses that can steer others to safety. Fighting evil is evil, because fighting is evil. 

People bow to the highest power they’re aware of, pray to the greatest god. Small minds worship primitive gods, devote themselves to small ideas. Corporations and companies benefit from the commitment of people not open enough to see their connectedness to the whole. Countries use people who cannot connect to a higher power as cannon fodder.

Embracing the path means always leaving all idols behind, always letting go. You never have it; it is always leaving. We cannot have, we can only be, cannot know we can only see.

See it as it is, not how it fits into your life story. As you grow towards adulthood and begin to have an understanding of life, the pieces that do not fit the narrative you have written tend to fall to the wayside. So much we perceived in childhood is forgotten because it is inconvenient.

10,000 years of custom and practice bring about a wisdom even if it is not understood. Customs demand respect even as they demand questioning.

Build on questions, do not build on answers. Answers are the death of thought.

Dawn comes, it always comes. As does spring, although not quite as predictably. So it is with culture. There is little doubt our culture is in the dark and cold night now, regardless of our technological achievements. But the farmer is busy even in the winter, preparing for the inevitable thaw. So too do we who mourn the death of what was prepare for the season of rebirth that is to come. We must now be planting the seeds from which great things will someday blossom. We must shine our light as if it were the first rays of a new sun.