Philosophy of life

Please click on the item in the list below to go to the article in question:

1. The thought process
Discussion of how this works

2. Strange experience
Temporary loss of the ego

3. Society’s children
On relationships

3. Questions
Answers to some questions one might have after reading the above

4. Letter to the young
Letter on life to those entering society’s doorway

5. Through the Looking Glass
Another view of the only road to freedom – new

6. Comments

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The thought process

Whatever is experienced is thought-induced. Without knowledge you can’t experience. And experience strengthens the knowledge. It is a vicious circle: the dog chasing its own tale – UG

Thought can build beautiful nebulous constructions.  Life in reality is very simple. The human race, our degenerated offshoot, has created a monster that now controls it and will eventually destroy it, unless it is tamed and resumes its normal roll.
This monster is thought, and its instrument of torture is knowledge through memory
Because it is, in reality, a mechanism, it is totalitarian.
As a race we have a collective memory – a racial repository of knowledge. When we think, we are delving into this repository. There may also be an individual connected repository, a sort of rapid access one.
In the natural state thought is used to aid the individual to perform optimally within his environment for the good of the race. It is no more or less important than breathing. It is a mechanism that is used for survival and reproduction. As the individual learns through experience, knowledge is accumulated. When not in use, the thought process is inactive. This is how other species operate.
Even viruses, we must presume, have a similar mechanism that operates for the species. Virus populations mutate, not just individuals. This suggests a means for disseminating knowledge. http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08091536
In man, the thought process has become automated and self sustaining. As the knowledge base increases, so do its capabilities.
The self sustaining part in the individual is our ego. It is a neurological defect which is destroying the normal functioning of the body.
We are thinking now all the time and thought is controlling everything man does, but to reiterate – it is out of control.

Let there be no mistake, Thought the invincible is definitely in control of man. It has outgrown its roll as an element of man’s bodily survival and become a tyrant. Its human apostles are many and diverse. Through science it is creating its own version of the universe; its theories are being maintained even when the facts denounce them as mere fabrications of itself. In short it is trying to duplicate nature in its own image.
The eyes of greed and power are searching the natural world for hidden truths that cannot be discovered, for they can never pierce the skin of reality that is always one step away, a will-o’-the-wisp, laughing as thought wades through its quagmire of illusion – time and space.
The alchemists are active as never before trying to turn base metals into gold. The inquisition has returned to weed out the unbelievers and cast them down.
Thought in its present roll is destructive because it is totalitarian, it is an uncontrolled force expanding and becoming more complex as it feeds on man’s experiences. We are the slaves of a master with no intelligence. It is a beast gorging on man’s thoughts and growing and growing, a force that only exists as a product of man himself. The snake eating its own tail as depicted by the ancients.
If you think this is all hogwash and balderdash then look at the insanity of the world man has created and the devastation and suffering he is causing. Look at the reasons why, the causes of the never ending wars and rivalry where millions die fighting for ideals born of greed and intolerance.
The psychological and physical diseases that are rampant, the hunger and strife, all ingredients of a already ticking time bomb waiting to explode and lay waste to the surface of this planet and its inhabitants.
If thought is to be removed from its throne so that man can assume his natural roll in nature then there must be diligence; no succumbing to illusions; no omitting of observations no matter how strange or damning to current hypotheses. There must be research into the mechanism of thought’s control over man and a realization of its potential dangers for the human race.
Can we not see the madness that is there before us every day? Can we not see the truth of how things were meant to be: the way other species live and survive; how they coexist in harmony? How the individual takes from the environment only what it needs to survive and reproduce, how aggression is used only when food is required, or to avert danger to itself and those within its care?
It is time to open our eyes to the truth before it is too late.

Note:
There is one who might be called an authority on this subject – U.G. Krishnamurti, now deceased. There is a link on my homepage. This is one of the few who have ever broken the stranglehold of thought and lived to tell about it. It is an eyeopener. Everything said here and below gets filtered through the thought ‘censor’ and is therefore in essence subjective.

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Strange experience

Many years ago I had a strange experience. I was working in the garden doing some strenuous work when suddenly my ’self’ switched off. I later learned what had happened.
Apparently, I had walked into the house and asked my wife who had been working in the garden. She looked at me very strangely, of course, and told me that it was me and that I had been removing some small trees. Her answer didn’t seem to register with me and apparently I kept asking this same question over and over again. At a certain point I went into the garden and saw the pieces of wood lying neatly stacked but it seemed to me as if someone else had been busy.
Because my condition persisted, my wife decided to take me to the doctor. Although I have no recollection of what followed, she told me that I talked and acted quite normally during the time in his surgery, though they noticed that my face flushed from time to time. Anyway, the doctor couldn’t find anything physically wrong and decided to consult a neurologist. Even so, their combined diagnosis was inconclusive and I was allowed to go home. There I stayed that afternoon and apparently I still kept asking the question, so often in fact, that my daughter, who was at home that afternoon and played nurse, eventually wrote everything down so that I could read it for myself, which I did.
This situation lasted from early in the afternoon until around seven in the evening.
As we sat on the dinner table my ’self’ suddenly switched on again and I was back to ‘normal’.
The situation has never recurred.
The amazing thing was that even with my ’self’ switched off I acted and communicated quite normally, except for the memory loss of the incident in the garden, which seemed to be a persistent irritation.
The obvious explanation is that my brain was not functioning ‘correctly’ during this period, perhaps due to lack of oxygen or blood, but the doctors were never able to satisfactorily explain my temporary condition.

Note:
In philosophy, the ’self’ is the agent, the knower and the ultimate locus of personal identity.

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Society’s children

If I were to describe the physical difference between man and woman I would say that metaphorically speaking a man is hewn out of a block of wood, while a woman is finely chiselled and polished from marble. Not that I’m inferring that women are harder.
If I didn’t know better (well come to think of it I don’t really) then I’d have to say that originally they could have come from two different planets.
In my opinion, for anything worth discussing, both men and women must be present and for me the women may be in the majority. I find that they generally draw the right conclusions quicker than men because they are generally more practical. Men tend to wander off the subject into byways of conjecture.
I know there are exceptions, but generally speaking women are better survivors than men, being more adaptable and self sufficient. Though generally not physically stronger, women are often tougher than men. Think of the physical and psychological hardships of childbirth, menstruation and the menopause, which leave a man looking on in uncomprehending wonder. Not that a man doesn’t suffer physical and mental changes during his life, but relatively speaking he has it easier.
Not long ago the man provided for the financial needs of the family, while the woman worked in and around the house and largely brought up the offspring. Now society, especially in the west but increasingly in other parts of world too, is rapidly evening things up. Women are, in principle, on an equal footing with men when it comes to following a career and generally earning a living, although there are still areas of discrimination, in both directions. Infants can be admitted to day care centres so that as soon as possible after childbirth the woman can once again take her place in the workforce. Mom and Dad are often equally involved in the care and upbringing of the children and chores around the house.
The rolls of both sexes within the family group have, therefore, largely been fused. Whether this a good or bad thing is an endless discussion, but I personally believe the family unit to be the core of a healthy society and that it is undoubtedly suffering under the present social demands. Male and female bring different influences to bear on a child’s upbringing, and both are important in the natural world.
Of course, society creates an unnatural environment where things are rarely as they should be. Schools are more interested in pounding academic skills into their students than in teaching them how to become good citizens, and parents are often too little involved and/or too ill equipped to bring up their children according to society’s standards. The above arguments also apply, of course, to homosexual couples with children. Luckily children are fairy resilient and in the circumstances are becoming increasingly so, though there is much abuse. Years ago I spent some time amongst a ‘primitive’ people, who though poor, had an enviable caring society where people worked together in small communities to help each other for mutual benefit, sharing social responsibilities. This is something valuable that has largely been lost in western culture.
Our society sees us as members of a workforce (PEGS – produce, earn, give back and spend). We must fit into the holes society has provided for us and not take on shapes that don’t fit. It doesn’t recognise us as individuals, each capable of developing differently according to his or her talents, which is why there is so much unrest. Even prime ministers, presidents and kings and queens quickly disappear into the dark abyss of time when others take their place. They will undoubtedly get written about if they’ve accomplished anything noteworthy, but any literary works will largely be concerned with their achievements for society and much less with their accomplishments or failings within the family sphere.
And that brings me to the subject of sex, not the instinctive natural reproductive act that stands by itself, but the commercially exploited version that has enslaved us.
How often do you do it?
Once a month! My God, what’s wrong with you?
Which of the two thousand positions do you prefer?
Have you seen this apparatus? I don’t even have to wait until my husband comes home.
It would seem that the thought induced sex drive, for that is what it is, has already been taken up by our genes and is here to stay. Even animals and children are not spared when the cravings of some are roused by their perverted imaginations. Not that I’m denouncing sex. It is the seeming lack of awareness of how we are being exploited by those making money out of it that concerns me. Suffice it to say that for the body itself the sexual act is a painful and energy consuming experience, a necessity for reproduction – no more. This is a fact. The pleasure aspect is thought induced. That’s something you won’t hear from any doctors or professors who want to stay in business.

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Questions

The self as used below is also known as ‘ego’ or ‘Id’ or the ‘I’ i.e. it is the identity that is ‘you’.

What is thought?
In its natural form it is a bodily function for converting knowledge, stored in memory, to action for survival
Surely it is more?
In modern man it has also become an 24/7 illusionist
An illusionist?
Yes it manipulates an artificial reality – our world and us
How?
Using the knowledge of the race and the above memory/action process
Why?
No one knows how or why this developed
Where do we come from?
Unknown. There are two theories: creationism and evolution. But we may of course come from somewhere else or the first ones may have been manufactured, for we could also be classed as intelligent computers or robots. The modern human is probably a degenerate species that evolved from earlier humans.
Where are we going?
Where thought takes us.
How long do I have?
The self is maintained until the body ceases to function.
What am I?
The self is an illusion of thought.
What is the future?
Time is an illusion of thought. Memories projected into a future in the artificial reality
What is the past?
Time is an illusion of thought. Just memories.
What is now?
Time is an illusion of thought. In the external reality there is only a continual flow.
What is love?
An illusion of thought. The body seeks out the ideal mate for reproduction. It is a complex instinctive reaction, over which the self has no control. The thought process only inhibits this instinctive process.
Why do I suffer?
Because the self constantly seeks happiness
What is happiness?
An illusion of thought, as are all emotions
What are feelings?
Illusions of thought. But at the natural level, a signal of bodily function e.g. hunger, thirst.
What is bodily pain?
A healing process of the body
What is death?
The ending of the self
What is my body?
A highly intelligent being that lives in the external reality
What are its needs?
To survive and reproduce – that’s all
Is it aware of itself?
Yes
Does it die?
No, its atoms are recycled
Am I alive?
In the external reality – no. The self is built up from memories manipulated by thought (the artificial reality) and because memories are not alive neither are you.
What is living?
A state of existence independent of the artificial reality

Note:
When I talk about External reality and Artificial reality, these are not separate realities but only relative terms for discussion purposes. Both comprise reality.

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Letter to the young

Hi,

You inhabit a wonderful being that just wants to get on with living, oblivious to time and the frivolities of man. Survival and reproduction are its natural driving forces. It moves within the natural flow and does what it must. It doesn’t need anything other than your cooperation. In this world of illusion where money buys everything or sells you down the drain, you have no option. You have to do the best you can – that is your obligation to it.
Thought is not a friend, though it can reveal its weaknesses if you remain astute, and this awareness will give you strength and insight into reality. Realise that thought is your enemy, your devil in the wilderness.
Your being does not fear death because for it there is no death, only resurrection, albeit in another form. Your being is immortal and built for survival on this planet. You are a unique human being with unique possibilities. In the eyes of Nature you are the equal of anyone who has ever walked or will ever walk in this wonderful world.
The direction is forward and the road is laid out before you. Just take it one step at a time and never look back. In the natural world there are no choices only actions. There will be forks in the road; some will lead to wonderful experiences and some perhaps to less pleasant realities. That is thought exerting its assumed dominance. The thing is to forge ahead, come what may, and then, if you remain open to the powerful, silent, resignation of the real world, Nature will be there to help and guide you. The people you will need on your journey will then cross your path when you need them. It is so simple and uncomplicated.
Nothing matters except the doing. There are no truths, just so many lies. I wish you well.
Best regards,
Jan

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Through the Looking Glass

If I could give my ramblings an unoriginal title, I would undoubtedly choose “Life, the Universe and Everything”, in honor of late and brilliant Douglas Adams, who for different reasons used the same title but got there first.
As you might know if you’ve been around here before, I’ve tried to reach out to all corners of this wonderful universe and to delve into the human condition in my writings. To shine, as it were, a light – albeit dim and constantly failing – onto the idiosyncrasies of the world that man has created, his world of hope and fear.
We are trapped in a world continually evolving, as our fertile minds invent new dreams, building on the expectations of the old. Each new generation puts its stamp on the world and then passes the refurbished version on to the following generation, like relay runners reaching out with their batons to grasping fingers.
Most of us do not realize that this world we’ve created is really one big fantasy
Lewis Carroll summed it all up well in his Alice in Wonderland stories. The difference is that Alice awoke from her dreams while we never can, because we are the characters in the story of our lives.
If one lives in a fantasy world then a lot of hardship can be avoided if one becomes aware of the fact. Then one doesn’t have to take all the potentially unnerving inconsistencies seriously, but only those pertaining directly to one’s survival. That is not to say that one doesn’t have to abide by the rules of the society in which one is living, but just to see them as necessary conditions for living in that society. This state of un-seriousness is quite a difficult one to maintain though, especially when most of those around one do take the vagaries of life so seriously. The pleasure element in man’s “self hypnosis” is especially troublesome, as it exerts a tremendous pressure on the body. Consider the extraordinary adventures into the areas of reproduction and eating.
This new state also allows one to live more simply: one takes nothing for granted, questions all that one is told, becomes less dependent on worldly accesses and generally laughs more.
Another advantage is that Nature, the life force, gradually begins to make itself known to you again, the way it did when you were just a very young child – before you got introduced to other ideas and forgot. Of course, our fantasy world is a part of Nature just as our entertainment theatres, with their own fantasy productions, are part of our fantasy world, if you see what I mean. You do! Good!
It’s as if one can step out of the world of man into the “outer reality” now and again, though not far, because one can’t survive there for long in one’s conditioned state. Other signs of increasing detachment are that people tend to have an unavoidable urge to accommodate one’s unselfish demands. Believe me it’s true!
The conscious effort involved in venturing through the looking glass does bare fruit, eventually. From my own experience one can slowly but surely travel further and further afield into the “outer reality” as one’s conditioning eases. Indeed, there have been a few humans in history who have escaped the clutches of man’s fantasy world completely.
The unfortunate thing is that there is nothing one can do to precipitate this latter event. Only Nature can decide who and when it will happen. If it does, then one has returned to the natural state of living, like the other animals.
I have tried here to give a somewhat more graphic version of the rogue Thought process in man.
I wish you well in your travels, whichever road you may take.

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