Philosophy - January 2007

Silencing the storm

Have you ever found yourself looking at the waves in the swimming pool and wondering where they are going? The ripple moves across the surface, seeking an end and a return. The energy seems wasted. Notice how the impulse to move away is countered by a matching impulse to return. We can see the limits to which the wave can move and know the consequences of the action. Each new disturbance causes myriad secondary impulses which spread in ever widening patterns until compelled to return.
Is this not much like our thoughts? We cast our imagination out to what we feel is its farthest edge, and our thoughts rebound. Sometimes these edges are pushed farther out. Sometimes, sadly, they are retracted. N reality, there are no edges to the reach of your thoughts, the fluidity of your mind. The only limits are those you impose on yourself. Fear, distrust, judgment, these are all echoes in the well of forever. Our mind disturbs the surface with the stream of constant thought, aware and dreaming. Our consciousness is contained by our perception of reality, formed by our own creations of “I should” and “I want” and “I need”. We are ripples in the pool, no where to go but to the edge and back, over and over again.

But what if there was no edge?

Look at the waves of the ocean. The power and the majesty as they rise, swell, and crash to the sand. See the wave run up the beach, then retreat quickly, to where it came from. Sometimes, as you watch, you see a reverse wave, crest and all, rise from the shore and rush to greet the on coming flood. This is nothing more than the return of an earlier wave, going back to its source to begin again. While you may perceive the sea as unfathomable, it is still finite, and subject to those same rules which govern the small pool of water. The waves ripple out from their source to find the boundaries of their existence and then redouble on themselves to return. This is the way of all things finite. Our growth (expansion) is limited by the perception of our limitations. Does a ripple in the universe carry on for eternity, or does it ultimately reach an end and return? What of light? Does the beam of light, from your flashlight, pointed at the night sky, if unobstructed continue to travel across the emptiness of space on an eternal path? Because some of this universe appears to be finite, it seems reasonable that all of it is finite. If some of a thing is one way (Yin) , then some of a thing must be the other (Yang). The universe is not the absolute void. It is populated with many physical bodies, responding to laws which are understood and witnessed. The void of space, although vast, is not the perfect nothingness, a condition we know must exist as the opposite to our being. Et that itself becomes a paradox. If not being is opposite to being, it becomes something, the absence of being. Postulate the scientific theory of anti-matter. This imagined property is suggested to contain vast power, where exposed to structures of physical being. This is the Yin to the Yang of our reality. This is a focus for contemplation.

But what is nothingness.
Contemplate the ultimate, unknowable and eternal

To think about it is to become lost in the contemplation. This is the true nature of meditation, the nothingness that is the eternal, the Tao. Not the face of God, as that describes form, and becomes less/more than the totality of the void. E fear the abyss because it is unthinkable. Even the weight of though causes ripples in the surface of the nothingness, changing our perception of it being. If there is a ripple, there is a non-ripple, hence two things, not no-thing. This is the birth of the Yin/Yang, the Father and Son, the God and the Lord. It is the character of action versus in-action, all played on the eternal surface of what exists forever in the spaces between. To think about it is impossible, as it can not be considered. To experience it is impossible, as it would become something thought about and thus become something. It is neither mortal nor immortal, these phrases describing a thing. It can not be felt, or seen, or experienced in any way or it becomes something else and ceases to exist. It is the canvas on which the universe was drawn, or perhaps the place where the canvas came from, or perhaps the space that gave birth to that place. And so onward forever the thoughts must run to no resolve. It is the greatest of mysteries and the most simple of ideas. Nothing. Not a thing. Neither light nor dark, cold nor hot, wet nor dry, now or later. Nothing. Timeless. Not eternal, not finite. Without time; without anything.

Meditate deeply on this nothingness. Stare boldly into the void. Non-think, non-see, non-understand. Discard all of your ideas, all of the structure in which you find security and let your mind wander out and away to a non-place of unthinking. Do not force the connection with false assumptions, but float freely , attaching to nothing. You can not penetrate this nothing, you can not be a part of it or experience it, as you are always with you on this journey. But perhaps, from the smallest corner of your minds eye, you can catch a glimpse of its possibility. Think about the star filled night sky. Have you every experienced the odd and disconcerting phenomena that sometimes happens when you stare directly at a star and have it disappear, only to reappear when you look away? The more you try to see it, the less visible it becomes. Yet it is clearly there, in the corner of your vision. It is only when you try to contemplate its reality directly that it becomes impossible to see. So, too, the nothingness of the perfect void. Do not attempt to study or understand, as this act causes transmutation. You are not looking at the nothingness, but at the opposite of your own reality, the dark mirror.

2007-01-25 07:16:03 · 10 answers · asked by ecol528 1

Would it have been successful?
Why or Why not?

2007-01-25 07:12:28 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-01-25 07:06:14 · 9 answers · asked by spin spin sunshine 4

If God is everywhere and knows everything, then he will know you asked a question here. Do you think He might really answer?

DISCLAIMER: Yahoo selected the category for this question. I had nothing to do with it.

2007-01-25 06:22:31 · 19 answers · asked by In Honor of Moja 4

2007-01-25 06:20:48 · 17 answers · asked by Meeowf 3

can you think of an example to support your answer?

2007-01-25 06:18:04 · 24 answers · asked by jay dee 1

2007-01-25 06:10:38 · 18 answers · asked by Meeowf 3

Looking at this world and what it offers to the living creatures; like air, water, food and other. I wonder if all this was created to keep us going or maybe we adopted to what was originally there.

2007-01-25 05:55:04 · 10 answers · asked by Snow 3

Do you let the pain remain forever in your heart for the reason that for every throb it brings is one moment spent with the happy memories of the past...?

2007-01-25 05:32:08 · 11 answers · asked by ? 3

If they are relative to a person then what good are they?

2007-01-25 05:27:57 · 12 answers · asked by Emperor Insania Says Bye! 5

2007-01-25 05:20:27 · 19 answers · asked by pleasebenice 2

2007-01-25 05:19:00 · 17 answers · asked by Alex 5

Faith drives you to seek evidence. You gather evidence generally in a scientific way.

Seems like you got to have faith in your observations to experiement to prove them. Then doesn't your faith increases as more of your observations leads to more evidence and proof?

I ask this question here because the R&S section is a zoo and question like this creates a lot of insults...

2007-01-25 05:08:49 · 9 answers · asked by Emperor Insania Says Bye! 5

To look past their prejudice ways and evolve into a selfless race? What can we do to try to better ourselves for the benefit of humankind?

2007-01-25 04:20:43 · 21 answers · asked by Titan A-X-E 2

2007-01-25 04:19:30 · 26 answers · asked by cristina h 1

2007-01-25 04:10:20 · 39 answers · asked by Anonymous

In Isaiah 45, God says "I make peace, and create evil". Does this mean God created evil? If God made everything, didn't he make evil, too? Why?

2007-01-25 04:09:09 · 19 answers · asked by Meeowf 3

remember zan and jan the wonder twins?

2007-01-25 04:05:20 · 13 answers · asked by Meeowf 3

2007-01-25 03:58:29 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-01-25 03:55:36 · 18 answers · asked by Intellithug 3

2007-01-25 03:45:49 · 43 answers · asked by Anonymous

I really wanna be a REAL HUMAN!;-) its my Wish!

2007-01-25 03:43:59 · 8 answers · asked by Mehraban G 1

2007-01-25 03:32:12 · 29 answers · asked by ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♪ 5

What would make your life really nice? Or anyone's life, for that matter?

2007-01-25 03:30:42 · 34 answers · asked by Anonymous

In some moments of life, there can be that little moment when it seems like it is illuminated, and causes change in ones' life. For me, as a jr. high kid, i was late for work and was giving some lame excuse, and my manager let me know that people don't want excuses, they want results and the truth, and reason.
It made me more responsible for my behavior toward others.

2007-01-25 03:28:38 · 8 answers · asked by Wood Smoke ~ Free2Bme! 6

please avoid derogatory terms.

2007-01-25 03:26:44 · 33 answers · asked by adroit y 1

2007-01-25 03:25:01 · 20 answers · asked by bluenose 4

If God was proven to be true, would people be nicer to each other or not? Would they be more apathetic towards the human race because they know they are not the best thing anymore? If God was disproved, would people start rioting? I would...

2007-01-25 03:23:29 · 11 answers · asked by johnmfsample 4

2007-01-25 03:23:16 · 16 answers · asked by bluenose 4

2007-01-25 03:19:36 · 6 answers · asked by Zebedeesnose 2