I am a bad follower of other people but I do like some: Nisargadatta Maharaj,
U.G. Krishnamurti, Jed McKenna, Charles Bukowski, George Carlin.. for
example.
There’s no doubt about Jed McKenna, he has something. He wrote that "Truth realization" isn't as glorious as it is sometimes made out to be. In a way, he disappointed most of the spiritual aspirants by saying that "enlightenment" isn't about universal love or rising consciousness or a peak experience or feeling one with the universe, it is more about ruthless self-annihilation.
Enlightenment (if such thing exists at all) is about taking everything you know to be true, and unraveling bullshit that make up your imagined self. Refusing to look at your own self, just because it makes you feel uncomfortable or scared, is willingly choosing to remain in a state of ignorance and therefore to remain unconscious.
For spiritual seekers, Jed's recommendation is basically an impossible task because they have become so invested in their cherished spirituality. They hold beliefs and views of what the world is, and they are dreaming their personal dream.
Jed claims that only when you stop filtering the world through your imagined self, you can truly see the world for what it is. Then, nothing can shake you out of persistent perception that everything in duality is FAKE. There is no good, and there is no evil. There is no such thing as "wrong". This is a hard pill to swallow.
Jed goes on to say that "no belief is truth", and that "life has no meaning". We all cling tightly to the false dream that we are having, and we refuse the acknowledge truth that is so obviously staring into our face.... and then we come to his last book...
Oh reality, what a concept!
The central premise of Jed McKenna's new book - Dreamstate, A Conspiracy Theory, is the admittedly ridiculous but incontrovertibly true assertion that the universe does not exist.
Jed is living in the mountains far away from people. He is with his dog Maya and he enjoys reading and writing different subjects. He lives in mountain cabin of his friend Lisa, introduced to us in his previous book.
First, in the beginning of the book Jed clearly defines the dreamstate:
Awareness is true, appearance is ever changing and it is just belief, not true. Consciousness is also content of awareness and albeit very close to it, unfortunately it is temporary, so it is not true. Awareness or so called, the Absolute or ParaBrahman, basically has no name. Not this, not that. It is perfection. And there is a problem. Imagine that we live in perfect universe on the perfect planet... what will we do? Look at... Water flowing? Grass growing? Planet spinning? How about shaping the rocks and wind shaping the mountains? How about looking at ocean and waves?
How long could you watch a nature? You'd turn into a drooling idiot before lunch.
Jed said that the boredom is the problem the Absolute trying to solve and the perfection of existence isn't solving it and there is no possibility of imperfection to spice things up. Creation of the Absolute is itself the perfection.
So, that's the setup. Perception, despite not existing must perform the vital but impossible function of amusing the Absolute. This is impossible because the Absolute is not capable of being finite and imperfect. Chaos is not possible, flaws and errors are not possible, irrationality and inadequacy are not possible. Nonsense is not possible. The whole Universe created from the Absolute is perfect, there is no problem.... And that is the problem.
And thus was born the Illusion of Appearance!!! Lets there be something when there is nothing. And thus was born the Illusion of Time, Energy, Matter, Space, Causality, Duality and LIFE. With LIFE, the Illusion of Ignorance or Forgetfulness came around.
So we can ask the question.... What is the meaning of all this? ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪
There’s no doubt about Jed McKenna, he has something. He wrote that "Truth realization" isn't as glorious as it is sometimes made out to be. In a way, he disappointed most of the spiritual aspirants by saying that "enlightenment" isn't about universal love or rising consciousness or a peak experience or feeling one with the universe, it is more about ruthless self-annihilation.
Enlightenment (if such thing exists at all) is about taking everything you know to be true, and unraveling bullshit that make up your imagined self. Refusing to look at your own self, just because it makes you feel uncomfortable or scared, is willingly choosing to remain in a state of ignorance and therefore to remain unconscious.
For spiritual seekers, Jed's recommendation is basically an impossible task because they have become so invested in their cherished spirituality. They hold beliefs and views of what the world is, and they are dreaming their personal dream.
Jed claims that only when you stop filtering the world through your imagined self, you can truly see the world for what it is. Then, nothing can shake you out of persistent perception that everything in duality is FAKE. There is no good, and there is no evil. There is no such thing as "wrong". This is a hard pill to swallow.
Jed goes on to say that "no belief is truth", and that "life has no meaning". We all cling tightly to the false dream that we are having, and we refuse the acknowledge truth that is so obviously staring into our face.... and then we come to his last book...
Oh reality, what a concept!
The central premise of Jed McKenna's new book - Dreamstate, A Conspiracy Theory, is the admittedly ridiculous but incontrovertibly true assertion that the universe does not exist.
Jed is living in the mountains far away from people. He is with his dog Maya and he enjoys reading and writing different subjects. He lives in mountain cabin of his friend Lisa, introduced to us in his previous book.
First, in the beginning of the book Jed clearly defines the dreamstate:
Picture a dead planet; lifeless, featureless, empty. This is your home-world, and you never left. It's a very inhospitable place, but what's worse, it's boring. Living on this dead rock floating in infinite nothingness would drive anyone barshit crazy in thirty seconds, but you have come up with a very clever solution. You sleep, you dream of a better world and you inhabit it. Maybe your dream is sweet, maybe nightmarish, probably a bit of both, but it's way better than being awake on a dead rock in the middle of nowhere.He then says that waking up from the dream is directly related to our ability to think:
All we have to do is stay asleep, and all we have to do stay asleep is not to wake up. The thing that threatens out repose is thinking. Thinking is something we can do and which we believe we do, but which we really don't do. Granted, we might think about trifles like crossword puzzles and nuclear fusion, and what's for dinner, but it's really best not to think about anything too serious, like the fact that you're not awake at this very moment and whatnot.What happens when we wake up?
Great, it's infinite. Duh. So you turn to go back into the amusing albeit unreal reality you left so you could behold the infinitely unamusing infinite and, surprise you can't go home again. You traded the dream of something for the truth of nothing and now you want your something back. But you can't have it.Jed proceeds to explain the nature of all things.
All of creation boils down to two things, one of which does not exist. Awareness is truth and appearance is belief. Instead of awareness and appearance, we can say dreamer and dream, beholder and beheld, or yin and yang. There is plenty to be said about appearance, but the only thing you can say with certainty that untruth doesn't exist. Consciousness is true and truth exist. The content of consciousness is not true and untruth does not exist.What Jed is trying to explain in the last book is answering the biggest question. However you phrase it - What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose? Who Am I? What is true? etc. All creation boils down to two things: Awareness and appearance. (Purusha and prakriti)
Although it's not true and doesn't exist, appearance is absolutely necessary. Without appearance there can be no awareness, but there is awareness so there must be appearance. Without anything to be aware of, awareness is not aware. Without anything to be aware of it, appearance does not appear. Yin and yang.
Awareness is true, appearance is ever changing and it is just belief, not true. Consciousness is also content of awareness and albeit very close to it, unfortunately it is temporary, so it is not true. Awareness or so called, the Absolute or ParaBrahman, basically has no name. Not this, not that. It is perfection. And there is a problem. Imagine that we live in perfect universe on the perfect planet... what will we do? Look at... Water flowing? Grass growing? Planet spinning? How about shaping the rocks and wind shaping the mountains? How about looking at ocean and waves?
How long could you watch a nature? You'd turn into a drooling idiot before lunch.
Jed said that the boredom is the problem the Absolute trying to solve and the perfection of existence isn't solving it and there is no possibility of imperfection to spice things up. Creation of the Absolute is itself the perfection.
So, that's the setup. Perception, despite not existing must perform the vital but impossible function of amusing the Absolute. This is impossible because the Absolute is not capable of being finite and imperfect. Chaos is not possible, flaws and errors are not possible, irrationality and inadequacy are not possible. Nonsense is not possible. The whole Universe created from the Absolute is perfect, there is no problem.... And that is the problem.
And thus was born the Illusion of Appearance!!! Lets there be something when there is nothing. And thus was born the Illusion of Time, Energy, Matter, Space, Causality, Duality and LIFE. With LIFE, the Illusion of Ignorance or Forgetfulness came around.
So we can ask the question.... What is the meaning of all this? ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪
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