The Journey

I wrote this poem a few months back. Its title is 'The Journey'.

Become comfortable
in not knowing
and continue seeking...

you are dark
so is your path;

But the light at the end of your tunnel
is you

it is marked;


At the end
the giant mirror unfolds
and you meet yourself;


Ego waxes
ego wanes
nothing's lost
nothing's gained
and in the end
nothing remains;

You are
just a dreamer
a void in the grip of a lie
obsessed with a conceptual 'I';

You are
hollow without a core
filled with darkness and gore;

But
your true nature shines brighter than gold
so lighten up, let the light in
learn to swim
and you will meet yourself at the distant shore...


Before I start the explanation, I request the reader to ASSUME, for the sake of this discussion, that eternal life is real. Assuming this is VERY important. If the reader is not convinced about the usefulness of building an argument based on assumptions, he is advised to read the end note of this blog entry, before reading further.

(Discussion on why I feel that eternal life is real will be covered by me in one of my forthcoming posts on 'Eternal Life'. I, however, will offer no proof of eternal life, only pointers.)
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Now let us move forward, on the assumption we have made.

The reader is advised to pause and reflect, after each paragraph.

Become comfortable in not knowing...
This poem is about acceptance of life as it is, without complaints, or bitterness, or sorrow. A state of total acceptance of the past, the present, and freedom from anxiety about the future. I mean strive towards such a state. I have covered this topic in detail, in my post 'The Mental Lens.'

...and continue seeking...
Once total acceptance of life as it is has set in, one becomes free and the magical beauty and wonder of life starts showing itself. The person can now be called a mystic, that is, a person who lives in a state of awe and wonder, much like a little baby. But this is possible only when one finds complete release from the past & future, and stops seeing the present through the eyes of the past or the imagined future.

○We need to stop dwelling on the past, stop worrying about the future, and live in the now.○

...the light at the end of your tunnel is you...it is marked...
Over here I am saying that 'self realisation' or 'enlightenment' is a real phenomenon.
I feel everyone is destined for enlightenment and self-realisation. •Everyone.•

...at the end...the giant mirror unfolds...
I feel we all face our karma(works/deeds) when death comes...A bad person will meet a bad fate in death, and a good person will meet a good fate in death. What I mean here is that the person will re-incarnate, and the quality of his next life will depend upon his deeds in this life. A person who is both good and bad, will find a mixed fate in the next life.

...ego waxes, ego vanes...nothing's lost, nothing's gained...and in the end nothing remains...
Over here I am talking about ego and ego-death. I am talking about problems of the human ego. Nothing is lost, nothing is gained in ego wars...apart from temporary and ultimately inconsequential things; real beauty, joy, peace, companionship, friendship and love - things that ultimately matter, cannot be gained through ego wars of course.

It is the ego that has created the human realm, the realm of decay, and the illusion of death. In a realm where people do not have 'egos' , there would be no death, and life would be eternal. 'In the end nothing remains' is a reference to 'death of the ego', not death of the person.

Note: When I use the word 'ego' I do not have the Freudian perspective in mind.

When I use the word 'ego', I mean it in a spiritual way. From the spiritual point of view, the ego is an aberration, a flaw. It is a flavour of 'I'ness that is selfish and loveless.

The ego in you has only two modes of existence. An over-inflated sense of self-worth, and a deflated sense of self-worth.

The ego is that part of your 'I'ness that indulges in merciless mind games with others and yourself. That part of you that revels in controlling and being controlled.

...obsessed with a conceptual 'I'...hollow without a core...filled with darkness and gore... ---Statement (A)

Over here I am talking about the ego once again. Just explained the concept. But let us discuss the nature of the ego a little more, this time. What I am saying in statement (A) is that the ego is a mental concept, an imaginary creation of the deluded part of your intellect (refer my post 'Killing the Descartes thinker' for more details).

The ego is violent, self-absorbed, cannot love. Words like ego and megalomania are blood brothers.

...your true nature shines brighter than gold...
Over here I am talking about 'self realisation'(or ego-death) again. I am saying that self-realised humans and people on the verge of self-realisation, are very beautiful people, full of love and compassion for living creatures. This is the 'true nature'. Love and compassion.

"The ultimate truth lies in the realm of feelings, and not in the realm of the intellect..." Eckhart Tolle.

...lighten up, let the light in...
Over here I am saying that a person should develop a sense of humour about life. Most people dwell on bitterness and do not have the ability to forgive, do not have acceptance of life's strange twists and turns. This bitterness & negativity strengthens the ego. Acceptance of life as it is, with minimum complaints, dissolves the ego. Makes the person emotionally healthy.

...and you will meet yourself at the distant shore...
Over here I am talking about self realisation, and subsequent life in a realm where people live forever, happy, young and content.

End Note:
All this discussion is based on the ASSUMPTION that eternal life & re-incarnation are real. Building an argument on assumptions is not invalid. This is 'inductive reasoning'. Inductive reasoning runs on established data yes, but it can run on assumptions also.

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Psychosis or Transcendence?

To the left is my version of Fritjof Capra's famous 'Cosmic Dancer'.

Click to enlarge.

The original 'Cosmic Dancer' by Capra has a dancing Shiva surrounded by cosmic particles and lit up cosmic particle streaks.

Instead of Shiva, I have portrayed supermodel Cindy Crawford as the Cosmic Dancer here. Much more appealing to the eye. ;-)

This version of the cosmic dancer was made by me using a playboy photo of Cindy Crawford and Adobe Photoshop. Its my first attempt at photomanipulation.

Fritjof Capra is the author of the cult book, 'The Tao of Physics' which compares the parallels between mysticism and modern physics. A book inspired by none other than Werner Heisenberg, one of the fathers of quantum physics.

On Page 360 of The Tao of Physics, Capra writes on Werner Heisenberg's role in his project:

Heisenberg's book 'Physics and Philosophy', his classic account of the history and philosophy of quantum physics, exerted an enormous influence on me when I first read it as a young student. The book has remained my companion during my studies and my work as a physicist, and today I can see that it was Heisenberg who planted the seed of The Tao of Physics. I was fortunate to meet Heisenberg in the early 70s. I had several long discussions with him, and when I finished The Tao of Physics I went through the manuscript with him, chapter by chapter. It was Heisenberg's personal support and inspiration that carried me through those difficult years, when I went out on a limb to develop a radically new idea.

i.e. Werner Heisenberg, one of the fathers of quantum physics, endorses mysticism---something that is not about 'rational thinking', but about 'feelings and meditative awareness'.

In the introduction to The Tao of Physics, Capra writes:

Five years ago[1969], I had a beautiful experience which set me on a road that has led to the writing of this book. I was sitting by the ocean one late summer afternoon watching the waves rolling in and feeling the rhythm of my breathing when I suddenly became aware of my whole environment as being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance. Being a physicist, I knew that sand, rocks, water and air around me were made of vibrating molecules and atoms, and that these consisted of particles which interacted with one another by creating and destroying other particles. I knew also that the Earth's atmosphere was continually bombarded by showers of 'cosmic rays', particles of high energy undergoing multiple collisions as they penetrated the air. All this was familiar to me through my research in high-energy physics, but until that moment I had only experienced it through graphs, diagrams, and mathematical theories. As I sat on that beach, my former experiences came to light; I 'saw' cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulses; I 'saw' the atoms of the elements, and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I 'heard' its sound, and at that moment I knew that this was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers worshipped by the Hindus.

I had gone through a long training in theoretical physics and had done several years of research. At the same time, I had become very interested in eastern mysticism and had begun to see the parallels to modern physics. I was particularly attracted to the puzzling aspects of Zen which reminded me of the puzzles in quantum theory. At first, however, relating the two was a purely intellectual exercise. To overcome the gap between rational analytical thinking and the meditative experience of mystical truth, was, and still is, very difficult for me.

They [readers of this book] will find that eastern mysticism provides a consistent and beautiful philosophical framework which can accommodate our most advanced theories of the physical world. Mysticism is an experience that cannot be learned from books.

What Capra describes in the above passage is a 'satori' or a state of sudden, temporary illumination of the mind. When higher mental faculties open up suddenly (if only temporarily), a vision that can (sometimes) be translated into a work like The Tao of Physics, is 'seen'.

The reader must have noticed that Capra writes he "saw" the atoms......"heard" the sound of energy dancing. He writes this way because he is not talking about literal seeing or hearing. This is a reference to the opening up of the mind. Or Consciousness expansion. OR...STEPPING BEYOND THOUGHT, INTO THE REALM OF DIRECT EXPERIENCE WITH REALITY.

In my post on 'beliefs', I have written:

"All of us have direct experiences with higher truths, but most of us dismiss them as vague feelings or temporary mental dysfunction.....but there are some who don't....not saying 'hallucinations' are not mental dysfunction---what I am saying is not all 'alleged hallucinations' are mental dysfunction. Some may be visions. Satori."

In Capra's case, it was a genuine satori that inspired him to write The Tao of Physics.

An experience with satori is not a 'rational' phenomenon. It is not psychosis either. It is transcendence.

The Tao of Physics is full of examples of how mystics gather information. It is pretty direct about how mystics realise higher truths by transcending the known world. Werner Heisenberg endorsed it all. And I doubt Werner Heisenberg was deluded or insane.

*** A short note on satori: My understanding of satori is that it is a sudden & temporary illumination of the mind. As compared to Enlightenment, which is sudden and permanent.