Monday, May 20th, 2013
The universe is always beckoning our attention. Its request is that we not only ask the questions or even hear the answers, but to fully experience them as well. We do this by engaging in the magic of life.
This is a philosophy that is consistently articulated by someone whom I greatly respect and that is writer, teacher and philosopher Neil Kramer. Much of what is expressed in this essay will be based on his thesis about living an authentic life and exploring its immensity. We begin by retreating from what he calls the unreality and finding the will to engage life, without delay or equivocation.
But first, what does “unreality” mean? As Kramer defines it, the unreality is a system – a proposed version of reality that is put before us, usually at birth. He says that it is a one-dimensional version of reality and we are told that if we stay within this 1D framework, we’ll be fine. Many have called this living within the box.
One could liken unreality to the matrix; a construct largely developed by a set of rules. When those rules are collectively followed it further fortifies and sustains the unreality. Rather than being placed in a vast terrain and invited to explore all the twists and turns that the terrain offers, we are given a map, complete with directions as to where to stop, go, turn right, left, etc. As Kramer has said, don’t confuse the map with the terrain, for the enormity of life cannot be framed within any one set of parameters despite what we’ve been so adamantly taught.
It is only if and when we decide to say “no” to this framework that true exploration can begin. And yet, saying “no” and meaning it can be a tricky affair.
In one interview, Kramer discussed a typical philosophy of life. One is told to get an education, then get a job – work until 65 or so, with the expectation of retirement, and if one is lucky enough to follow this syllabus to the letter, they will retreat to a more relaxed life wherein they get to go on cruises and eat delectable food. Even though this particular version of unreality is quickly fading into past expectations, still many have a similar aspiration that they strive to achieve at some point in their lives. Neil admits that even early on in his life, he suspected that something was wrong with this picture – right from the start. It’s as if to say, you must put off life until tomorrow, for today you are only working toward that end.
I concur, there is something inherently broken with this framework. And yet still too many are following its edict like the road map in which the destination is always “just around the bend.” This has been largely a part of the authoritarian “rule” – those who engender “authority” in our lives, whether it be from our elders, our teachers, our priests, our government – well meaning as some of them may be. The truth is no one has authority over us in the ultimate sense. So if we are to set ourselves free amongst the vast terrain and set course on a true investigation, the first thing we must say “no” to are these perceived representations of authority.
Our course cannot be hindered. When we postpone the adventure of existence – when we relegate our authority to outside sources, we are projecting our power onto external figures and thus thwarting our own ability to engage reality in an authentic and meaningful way.
Philosophy and the exploration of consciousness
The word philosophy stems from the Greek philos which means loving and sophy or sophia, meaning wisdom. Simply, philosophy is having a love of wisdom. Our innate desire to immerse ourselves in wisdom by extracting from knowledge experienced first-hand is a quality inherent in being human. And yet, throughout the course of history, largely shaped by a patriarchal dictate, philosophy was not encouraged to the masses as a natural activity of life.
Without the freedom to develop a philosophy of life from a perspective that shows the terrain for the vastness that it is, how might we explore our own consciousness, let alone that of the universe?
Understanding consciousness and the world around us is what it means to be human and to be here now. But what is consciousness? Is it simply awareness? If it is, certainly there is magic intrinsic in this quality in and of itself. It is said that one of the unique features of being human is this process we call awareness. We are aware of the trees in the forest, the shopping cart in front of the store, the mosquito bite on our toe or the sensation of cold water quenching our thirst. Although these little bits of awareness may seem mundane, the act of fully experiencing them is the first step in understanding what consciousness is. As Kramer has put it, “the mundane is actually where the action is.” By this, what he is saying is that despite how ordinary a thing is, when we focus our attention on it for a given amount of time and then develop a reverence for the person, place or thing that we are aware of, we have taken the first step in cracking open the magical element of consciousness. Some call it mindfulness; that undivided attention that we bring to a given situation in order to transform ourselves from being somewhere else into being here now. When we start doing this on a regular basis we begin the process of engaging with life and also alchemizing or transforming it!
Interestingly, we have been systematically discouraged from developing these subtle but profound qualities. And yet these elements of awareness may be the key to true power and transformation.
How can one be mindful of anything when they’re encouraged to multitask? How can one be present in any given situation, when they are worried about something that might happen tomorrow that maybe they glimpsed on the nightly news? How can one know consciousness if they are rushing to get the next device that is sure to encourage pre-occupation with it rather than the occupation of self?
The program to ensure a lack of consciousness, no matter its origin seems more obvious than ever. It is in this realization and the emotional response to it that we can use to fuel our desire to engage with life on our own terms without any one telling us if we can, when we can or how we can.
In a recent conversation I had with intuitive expert, author, and teacher Sonia Choquette, she spoke of several innovators who dared to engage with life outside of the boundaries typically set before society. She acknowledges that all of us have access to what is called the quantum field or nonlocal mind, but we also have a “spirit.” And it is that spirit that many of our world’s innovators and thought leaders engaged to accomplish their dreams. This spirit has no boundaries. It is the terrain without the map.
“Those who turn on the light switch (in
their heart) and give it value are the ones
who are being informed at the highest
levels of knowing.” –Sonia Choquette
Choquette says, “(There is) that exponential knowing that comes from spirit….and here’s the good news: it’s not selective to certain individuals. It’s a light switch in your heart space…and those who turn that switch on and give it value are the ones who are being informed at the highest level of knowing.” This is what it means to engage life to its fullest and in the process explore and develop our consciousness.
How do we engage the “mystery of life?”
Many feel that life holds way too many unanswerable questions so why bother to engage the mystery when it is far easier to follow the map that has been given to us? In large part, our modern science has become that map (or text book) to tell us what reality is and isn’t, reducing the vastness to a deterministic set of equations and conditions.
But it was scientist and philosopher Richard Feynman who had this to say, “Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is ‘mere.’ I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination – stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million year old light. A vast pattern – of which I am a part…What is the pattern or the meaning or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little more about it.”
Perhaps it is our mission to engage the mystery – to explore without the map. It begins by disengaging from the matrix conveniently set before us – a process Neil Kramer calls deconstruction. Even through this process we begin to weave the mystery together, we become the experiencer and the experience, the observer and the observed. By fully engaging life, we re-ignite the magic that we all inherently possess.
Visit Neil Kramer’s site at www.neilkramer.com
