Then they asked me, what about wisdom?
Wisdom does not speak for itself.
Wisdom only speaks when it is spoken to.
Wisdom believes in silence.
Wisdom believes in the futility of words.
Wisdom recognises feelings as imposters.
Wisdom grows within you and from you it spreads to others.
Wisdom is that which can be understood but never felt.
Wisdom is a mirage in the desert of feeling.
And wisdom is knowing that wisdom is that mirage.
Wisdom seeks you, and evades you when you seek it.
True wisdom grows dim through time as it is lost and rediscovered in equal measure creating an illusion of dimness and brightness simultaneously.
Wisdom is knowing that wisdom is cyclic.
That time is cyclic.
And wisdom is knowing that wisdom too shall grow with time.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Vengeance
And there might come a time when your heart is full of negativity.
When someone has hurt you and you feel like hurting them back.
People say there is a time for vengeance but what is vengeance?
One man's vengeance is another man's torment. And one man's torment is another man's wrongdoing.
And the cycle of wrongdoing and torment and vengeance and torment and re-vengeance, has created enough blood in our history.
Do we really want to continue this tradition of an eye for an eye?
The only solution for a wrongdoing is an apology and forgiveness.
There is no point in bearing grudges to eternity.
What shall you gain from that negative feeling?
Let it go.
Embrace each other as brothers.
People will look upon you strangely as you offer your other cheek. But the solution to wrongdoing is not vengeance but bearing that strange look you will face from the world.
And if enough bore that strange look with honesty and without shame, then that look that seems so strange right now, will become very familiar and thus very comfortable.
Thus, my friends, forgive.
When irritation mounts, forgive.
When strangeness collects and drives you in strange places, forgive.
When you are driven beyond the comfort zones of your own familiar thoughts, forgive.
Vengeance, is not the answer. Forgiveness is.
When someone has hurt you and you feel like hurting them back.
People say there is a time for vengeance but what is vengeance?
One man's vengeance is another man's torment. And one man's torment is another man's wrongdoing.
And the cycle of wrongdoing and torment and vengeance and torment and re-vengeance, has created enough blood in our history.
Do we really want to continue this tradition of an eye for an eye?
The only solution for a wrongdoing is an apology and forgiveness.
There is no point in bearing grudges to eternity.
What shall you gain from that negative feeling?
Let it go.
Embrace each other as brothers.
People will look upon you strangely as you offer your other cheek. But the solution to wrongdoing is not vengeance but bearing that strange look you will face from the world.
And if enough bore that strange look with honesty and without shame, then that look that seems so strange right now, will become very familiar and thus very comfortable.
Thus, my friends, forgive.
When irritation mounts, forgive.
When strangeness collects and drives you in strange places, forgive.
When you are driven beyond the comfort zones of your own familiar thoughts, forgive.
Vengeance, is not the answer. Forgiveness is.
Thought
Sometimes when thought is spoken out aloud, it is so abstract and strange because it is a subconscious stream of meaning stringed together in the form of words.
It is strange in its rhythm and its patterns. It is like abstract art.
The sound of thoughts can be haunting. Sometimes when the frame of mind is not right, you are frightened merely to close your eyes.
For if thought in words is so strange, imagine what it would be to delve in its realm without words. To delve purely in thought through dreams.
We forget our dreams for it is a self defence mechanism. Because pure thought is dangerous.
It is dangerous to think beyond boundaries. Boundaries are our bodies that bind thought.
Boundaries are those instincts of survival that nature has so meticulously ingrained in our mind.
They are defence mechanisms that once crossed, leave us susceptible to pure freedom.
Free thought can be dangerously beautiful. Its beauty can manifest itself through acts of greatness or through acts of intense evil.
Human nature is very dark.
It is as dark as it is bright.
That is why we personify good as God and evil as the Devil.
When thought is free then one has to be very, very careful. But when thought is free, carefulness abandons you like a rotten apple.
In the garden of Eden, God put a tree. It was a tree that bore the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
With the knowledge of good and evil one is free to think because one can classify thought as good or evil and, if one has the maturity, to discard the evil thoughts.
But we, as the sages will tell you, are human; prone to error; resisting maturity as a ball and chain. So we think evil thoughts. And even though those thoughts may not get translated into action, they remain to haunt the goodness within our souls.
God did not want the haunting and therefore he gave us ignorance. And we blissfully ignored our ignorance and delved into the realm of free thought.
And there begins our greatest achievement and our greatest downfall.
Cognito Ergo Sum.
I am because I think.
It is strange in its rhythm and its patterns. It is like abstract art.
The sound of thoughts can be haunting. Sometimes when the frame of mind is not right, you are frightened merely to close your eyes.
For if thought in words is so strange, imagine what it would be to delve in its realm without words. To delve purely in thought through dreams.
We forget our dreams for it is a self defence mechanism. Because pure thought is dangerous.
It is dangerous to think beyond boundaries. Boundaries are our bodies that bind thought.
Boundaries are those instincts of survival that nature has so meticulously ingrained in our mind.
They are defence mechanisms that once crossed, leave us susceptible to pure freedom.
Free thought can be dangerously beautiful. Its beauty can manifest itself through acts of greatness or through acts of intense evil.
Human nature is very dark.
It is as dark as it is bright.
That is why we personify good as God and evil as the Devil.
When thought is free then one has to be very, very careful. But when thought is free, carefulness abandons you like a rotten apple.
In the garden of Eden, God put a tree. It was a tree that bore the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
With the knowledge of good and evil one is free to think because one can classify thought as good or evil and, if one has the maturity, to discard the evil thoughts.
But we, as the sages will tell you, are human; prone to error; resisting maturity as a ball and chain. So we think evil thoughts. And even though those thoughts may not get translated into action, they remain to haunt the goodness within our souls.
God did not want the haunting and therefore he gave us ignorance. And we blissfully ignored our ignorance and delved into the realm of free thought.
And there begins our greatest achievement and our greatest downfall.
Cognito Ergo Sum.
I am because I think.
The urge to simplify
The urge to simplify is born from a creative impulse: the DNA of self preservation of the human race.
Art
Art is nothing but an ejaculation of the soul when the humanness within you experiences an orgasm of reality, or surrealism or other impressionistic alternatives.
But it is an outpouring; an expression of creation.
Our natural instinct to survive is lost upon certain individuals in conventional ways.
Now the world calls such individuals - artists. But nature has ingrained in these individuals a different form of survival.
And their ejaculation is not of life, but of the soul.
And beauty is often misunderstood as something to be pursued only when you are idle and free, but to an artist, beauty is an occupation. And by virtue of being an occupation, beauty is also an occupational hazard.
For when one sees beauty without the sunglasses of humdrum and routine existence, that beauty can be blinding and evokes such passion; such desire to understand and to participate in it, that the realm of reality may be fractured and the artist may find himself drifting into alternative realities to explore beauty without being bothered with the humdrum exercises of routine.
But it is an outpouring; an expression of creation.
Our natural instinct to survive is lost upon certain individuals in conventional ways.
Now the world calls such individuals - artists. But nature has ingrained in these individuals a different form of survival.
And their ejaculation is not of life, but of the soul.
And beauty is often misunderstood as something to be pursued only when you are idle and free, but to an artist, beauty is an occupation. And by virtue of being an occupation, beauty is also an occupational hazard.
For when one sees beauty without the sunglasses of humdrum and routine existence, that beauty can be blinding and evokes such passion; such desire to understand and to participate in it, that the realm of reality may be fractured and the artist may find himself drifting into alternative realities to explore beauty without being bothered with the humdrum exercises of routine.
Peace
And in our conflict - desire, how shall we then find peace? Is peace togetherness with the cosmic rhythm of life? Is peace merely music maintained through the madness of mundane mystic musing?
Where is peace? Where can I find it it, or you?
Where can we collectively find peace?
Peace is within us. Peace is talking to yourself through the madness. Peace is an expression of the self to the self. I can't remember who said it, but someone certainly said "Know thyself".
I would just like to add to the words and say, know thyself and ye shall find peace.
The problem will arise when you meet someone that shakes your beliefs in yourself. This person will not arrive announced. This person shall walk into your life and form the foundations of a new life.
A new life that you did not know yourself in. And that is a tumultuous period. But as you grow through that tumultuous period, you will discover more and more of yourself with these new foundations.
And if you manage to find peace with the new self, the world will say you are in love.
And if you cannot find that peace with your new world, then you will say that "I am in love".
Love exists in that change but what is important is who says you are in love. For if the world says that you are in love then it is a happy place to be. But if you say you are in love then it is like unrequited love.
And unrequited love is not peaceful.
To find peace in unrequited love, one must have a lot of unpleasant experience. And sometimes that experience builds up inside a soul and spills over upsetting the peace.
Therefore, peace under circumstances of unrequited love is like walking on egg shells. Peaceful in its whiteness, but unstable in its character.
Where is peace? Where can I find it it, or you?
Where can we collectively find peace?
Peace is within us. Peace is talking to yourself through the madness. Peace is an expression of the self to the self. I can't remember who said it, but someone certainly said "Know thyself".
I would just like to add to the words and say, know thyself and ye shall find peace.
The problem will arise when you meet someone that shakes your beliefs in yourself. This person will not arrive announced. This person shall walk into your life and form the foundations of a new life.
A new life that you did not know yourself in. And that is a tumultuous period. But as you grow through that tumultuous period, you will discover more and more of yourself with these new foundations.
And if you manage to find peace with the new self, the world will say you are in love.
And if you cannot find that peace with your new world, then you will say that "I am in love".
Love exists in that change but what is important is who says you are in love. For if the world says that you are in love then it is a happy place to be. But if you say you are in love then it is like unrequited love.
And unrequited love is not peaceful.
To find peace in unrequited love, one must have a lot of unpleasant experience. And sometimes that experience builds up inside a soul and spills over upsetting the peace.
Therefore, peace under circumstances of unrequited love is like walking on egg shells. Peaceful in its whiteness, but unstable in its character.
Patience
And a very underestimated thing in life is patience. If you can listen to me speak at this pace, and are still with me following the drift of meaning along these sentences, then you will appreciate that one who was impatient could possibly miss upon some fundamental truths in life.
Now these days, everyone is out to make a quick buck. Everyone is out to get that good job. No one cares about what they want in life. No one has the patience to care.
If one does not care from the very outset, life and impatience must drive one to make a choice even if one is not equipped with the tools to do so.
And one cannot be patient enough to wait to be equipped with the tools.
For life itself is impatient and intolerant.
Not everyone can afford the luxury of patience.
Not everyone can afford the luxury of discovery.
And consequently, the world is full of souls meandering meaninglessly. Earning a quick buck and finding meaning elsewhere in routine, humdrum existence; in survival; in life. Forgetting and disconnecting with the soul.
And in this motley comedy of life, because we do not have the patience for spirituality, because we do not have, or cannot afford to sit and contemplate infinity ad infinitum, one is bound to find a shortcut through impatience and perhaps call it Religion.
And religion itself would have been fine with patience, but patience is not a luxury we can afford so we invent rituals.
And in these rituals and through these rituals, we get our shortcut prayers to God, or our conception or misconception of that spiritual body.
And these rituals gain meaning in our eyes creating a rhythm of impatience.
I am opening a shop. Let me pray. And because I do not have the patience to pray myself, let me call someone to pray for me. And let's call that ritual "puja" and feel happy about ourselves.
Where is the patience, friends? All you need is just a little patience. No guns, only roses.
Now these days, everyone is out to make a quick buck. Everyone is out to get that good job. No one cares about what they want in life. No one has the patience to care.
If one does not care from the very outset, life and impatience must drive one to make a choice even if one is not equipped with the tools to do so.
And one cannot be patient enough to wait to be equipped with the tools.
For life itself is impatient and intolerant.
Not everyone can afford the luxury of patience.
Not everyone can afford the luxury of discovery.
And consequently, the world is full of souls meandering meaninglessly. Earning a quick buck and finding meaning elsewhere in routine, humdrum existence; in survival; in life. Forgetting and disconnecting with the soul.
And in this motley comedy of life, because we do not have the patience for spirituality, because we do not have, or cannot afford to sit and contemplate infinity ad infinitum, one is bound to find a shortcut through impatience and perhaps call it Religion.
And religion itself would have been fine with patience, but patience is not a luxury we can afford so we invent rituals.
And in these rituals and through these rituals, we get our shortcut prayers to God, or our conception or misconception of that spiritual body.
And these rituals gain meaning in our eyes creating a rhythm of impatience.
I am opening a shop. Let me pray. And because I do not have the patience to pray myself, let me call someone to pray for me. And let's call that ritual "puja" and feel happy about ourselves.
Where is the patience, friends? All you need is just a little patience. No guns, only roses.
Pain
And they said, what of pain. And all I could tell them about pain is that it is a useful tool. If it is not used as a tool, then it is a destructive force like water.
A river that flows with full force can be used to create electricity, but if that river is allowed to run free, it can cause floods and wash away villages and civilisations in its powerful destruction.
The same is with pain. If it is used carefully, pain can be used as a tool for creation. But if it is allowed to run free, it can cause maximum destruction.
A river that flows with full force can be used to create electricity, but if that river is allowed to run free, it can cause floods and wash away villages and civilisations in its powerful destruction.
The same is with pain. If it is used carefully, pain can be used as a tool for creation. But if it is allowed to run free, it can cause maximum destruction.
Magnetism
The laws of physics state that what goes up must come down but what goes down, wont come up again unless there is an external stimulus acting upon it.
A force of repulsion, not attraction. For going down is attraction, going up is repulsion.
A force of repulsion, not attraction. For going down is attraction, going up is repulsion.
Love
And people ask me what of love. And I say unto them, look within yourself and you shall find love. Loving someone is loving yourself.
For a man who cannot love someone, truly does not love himself.
It is possible only to love when one also loves oneself. For if one is full of negativity towards oneself, one can find positivity in another but will only treat it as an illusion; as a fractured form of reality.
One cannot believe in the love emanating from another unless one first believes that they are capable and worthy of that love.
And that is the fallacy of human love.
For either one loves themselves and loves some other, or one does not love themselves and is not capable of love.
The concept of selfless love is flawed. The truly selfless person therefore, cannot love.
If one is selfless, one is cursed.
Therefore my friends, be not selfless, be very selfish. Do not fall into the trap of nobility for once you have, it will consume you with its fallacious temptation.
Love thyself as thee would love thy neighbour.
For a man who cannot love someone, truly does not love himself.
It is possible only to love when one also loves oneself. For if one is full of negativity towards oneself, one can find positivity in another but will only treat it as an illusion; as a fractured form of reality.
One cannot believe in the love emanating from another unless one first believes that they are capable and worthy of that love.
And that is the fallacy of human love.
For either one loves themselves and loves some other, or one does not love themselves and is not capable of love.
The concept of selfless love is flawed. The truly selfless person therefore, cannot love.
If one is selfless, one is cursed.
Therefore my friends, be not selfless, be very selfish. Do not fall into the trap of nobility for once you have, it will consume you with its fallacious temptation.
Love thyself as thee would love thy neighbour.
Psychological Voodoo
The most difficult game you will play is psychological voodoo. And as long as the subject of the voodoo; the voodoo doll if you will, is another person, the game is full of fun and merriment, but if you chance to look upon the dark recesses of your own soul, and look upon them and instigate and poke and prod in your own painful spots. If you use acupuncture on yourself then that is a very dangerous thing to do.
And it is only when you remove yourself from yourself and look upon yourself torturing yourself that the realisation dawns that what a futile and dangerous game you are playing.
And that is when you decide never to play this game again. But it remains to be seen whether you can hold yourself to your own promise.
And it is only when you remove yourself from yourself and look upon yourself torturing yourself that the realisation dawns that what a futile and dangerous game you are playing.
And that is when you decide never to play this game again. But it remains to be seen whether you can hold yourself to your own promise.
Guilt and worry
Those that worry, worry in vain for none of their worries can change anything. The only thing that is in the power of change is the worrying itself.
Why worry about another person, why are you feeling guilty?
Your guilt and your worry cannot change anything.
A person changes on their own and taking their own sweet time.
External worry and concern and guilt are of no consequence.
They are wastages of external energy. If they are part of your energy being wasted, I advise you to repent. Do not worry. Do not feel guilty. Just know that what is, is. What will be, will be.
There is no room for guilt and worry. If a person feels guilt or worry, then the person they are feeling guilty towards or worried for, also shares their guilt and worry.
Therefore, the best solution is to let sleeping dogs lie. They will wake up in due time and sit by your side.
Why worry about another person, why are you feeling guilty?
Your guilt and your worry cannot change anything.
A person changes on their own and taking their own sweet time.
External worry and concern and guilt are of no consequence.
They are wastages of external energy. If they are part of your energy being wasted, I advise you to repent. Do not worry. Do not feel guilty. Just know that what is, is. What will be, will be.
There is no room for guilt and worry. If a person feels guilt or worry, then the person they are feeling guilty towards or worried for, also shares their guilt and worry.
Therefore, the best solution is to let sleeping dogs lie. They will wake up in due time and sit by your side.
Experience
And at the age of thirteen I was introduced to Nietsche and existentialism and Sartre and what became from that I could not know at that age but could only experience when I looked back upon myself being introduced to existentialism at thirteen.
My teenage years are a blip, they were full of many an up and many a down. And each up was similar to the previous one; almost an echo. And each down was also echoing a previous down.
Like two mirrors standing face to face, echoing each others' existence in and upon their countenance, praying to each others' Gods to find sanity in the resonance of amplified meaning.
Feedback.
Thought feeding upon thought, image feeding upon image. Desire, feeding upon desire and what of posession?
Emptiness.
Experience is what you have when you don't have anything.
My teenage years are a blip, they were full of many an up and many a down. And each up was similar to the previous one; almost an echo. And each down was also echoing a previous down.
Like two mirrors standing face to face, echoing each others' existence in and upon their countenance, praying to each others' Gods to find sanity in the resonance of amplified meaning.
Feedback.
Thought feeding upon thought, image feeding upon image. Desire, feeding upon desire and what of posession?
Emptiness.
Experience is what you have when you don't have anything.
Existence
Now once upon a time when I was a boy of almost five, I stood upon a stool looking at myself in the mirror, brushing my teeth with a musical toothbrush. And a thought occurred to me that this moment might come again in my life when I look upon myself standing upon a stool, a boy of nearly five looking in the mirror and brushing my teeth with a musical toothbrush.
And that was the beginning of dejavu. That was laying the foundation stone for looking at life backwards.
Experiencing each moment as a moment vacuously lived in a meaningless existence.
And that was the beginning of dejavu. That was laying the foundation stone for looking at life backwards.
Experiencing each moment as a moment vacuously lived in a meaningless existence.
Change
The most difficult thing you will encounter and face in your life is change. Change can change you even. Change in surroundings can cause the appearance of distance.
Change can distort reality and create fractures in the fabric of time.
Beware of change but do not resist it. To resist change is surely a recipe for disaster.
You can only embrace change while being aware of the befuddlement that change is going to cause in your benign existence.
You cannot fear change. If you fear change, change will surely change you.
One has to accept that change is inevitable and take it in ones stride.
Once one accepts change as a part of life, one is not left struggling against inevitability.
The struggle against inevitability is the root cause of all dissatisfaction.
Change can distort reality and create fractures in the fabric of time.
Beware of change but do not resist it. To resist change is surely a recipe for disaster.
You can only embrace change while being aware of the befuddlement that change is going to cause in your benign existence.
You cannot fear change. If you fear change, change will surely change you.
One has to accept that change is inevitable and take it in ones stride.
Once one accepts change as a part of life, one is not left struggling against inevitability.
The struggle against inevitability is the root cause of all dissatisfaction.
History
And it occurs to me, that history is just a process of healing.
For there is no need to record history but in the recording of it there is a certain sense of healing.
A historian heals mankind when he records mankind's triumphs and sorrows upon the pages of a book that extends beyond the existence of the ephemeral human body. It is taking and expanding and elongating human experience beyond the containment of the confines of human mortality.
And in this process of recording, one finds a soulmate in an unexpected place. The soulmate is time and the place is solitude or moments spent in solitude, recording in black and white, the story of a collective but recording it in one voice; true authority.
"Power flows through the barrel of a gun"
"The pen is mightier than the sword"
Such proverbs are meaningless. What is meaningful is the healing and the extent of the realm of human experience beyond human mortality.
For there is no need to record history but in the recording of it there is a certain sense of healing.
A historian heals mankind when he records mankind's triumphs and sorrows upon the pages of a book that extends beyond the existence of the ephemeral human body. It is taking and expanding and elongating human experience beyond the containment of the confines of human mortality.
And in this process of recording, one finds a soulmate in an unexpected place. The soulmate is time and the place is solitude or moments spent in solitude, recording in black and white, the story of a collective but recording it in one voice; true authority.
"Power flows through the barrel of a gun"
"The pen is mightier than the sword"
Such proverbs are meaningless. What is meaningful is the healing and the extent of the realm of human experience beyond human mortality.
Divinity
And you are conduit for divinity. And a conduit through which the divine spirit flows itself is Holy. Therefore, know your body. You must subject your body to divinity but you must know that the body is merely a conduit and if it excess divinity flows through the channel, it shall rupture.
Therefore make it a duty to know your body. Know the excesses of divinity that it cannot withstand and avoid them like the plague.
Divinity shall make your life shine forth like a star. But it can very easily rupture the conduit.
Therefore, be very mindful of the limits of divinity. Excesses of divinity are looked upon the world as insanity. You have to make a choice between insanity and worldly existence.
But being of the world and of human body, it is merely advisable to enjoy this worldly life before it ends in you being a part of that divinity that flows through other conduits.
The human phase: humanity is ephemeral when you consider the cosmic vastness of the universe.
In beholding the cosmic vastness, forget not that you can only behold it in human form thus far.
So let it not overpower you and take you to places you do not want to go yet.
Live through your journey experiencing divinity, sharing it with others like a prophet. Yet, like a prophet, excercise restraint.
Let not the divinity take you to places you do not want to go.
Therefore make it a duty to know your body. Know the excesses of divinity that it cannot withstand and avoid them like the plague.
Divinity shall make your life shine forth like a star. But it can very easily rupture the conduit.
Therefore, be very mindful of the limits of divinity. Excesses of divinity are looked upon the world as insanity. You have to make a choice between insanity and worldly existence.
But being of the world and of human body, it is merely advisable to enjoy this worldly life before it ends in you being a part of that divinity that flows through other conduits.
The human phase: humanity is ephemeral when you consider the cosmic vastness of the universe.
In beholding the cosmic vastness, forget not that you can only behold it in human form thus far.
So let it not overpower you and take you to places you do not want to go yet.
Live through your journey experiencing divinity, sharing it with others like a prophet. Yet, like a prophet, excercise restraint.
Let not the divinity take you to places you do not want to go.
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