Here I want to talk about words and ideas and how these relate to our human condition. The theme here is this: experience, the totality of our experience as human beings, simply cannot be contained in words, thoughts or ideas. The important implication of this realization is that words and ideas are simply one level among a myriad of levels in our overall experience.
It seems almost obvious when it is said straight out, yet so many act in ways seemingly contrary to this fact. Our experience itself is the primary reality: our loves and hates, motivations and desires, our attitudes, our friends and enemies, our possessions, our thoughts, feelings, and all the zillion other things we contend with day in and day out. These things then become the bottom line in life: they are what's going on here. It's not lofty philosophical platitudes that spell out the important issues, it's our perception of ourselves, of our immediate environment and the ability to react accordingly that defines the "stuff" of our experience. Ideas, explanations, descriptions -- these are secondary, after the fact, so to speak. The experience is first; the thought, idea, conceptualization comes second, as a response, an echo, a reflection of our immediate experience.
There's a real problem in our society, in our hallowed academic intellectual centers, and this is the problem of believing in the things that we think, or the problem of believing in thoughts, or the problem of trying to turn life solely into a set of abstractions; of believing that life can be contained completely or wholly, whatever that may mean, in some type of philosophy or theory, some neat and tidy intellectual package. In terms of my own personal observations, it seems that people try too hard to attempt to mold their experience to their preconceptions instead of allowing their experience to guide their thought process.
The mind's very nature is that of plasticity, flexibility, or more precisely, resonance--the ability to phase-lock to "vibrations". Thus the mind is actually designed to mold to the ever-changing panorama of our experience. Yet we (myself included !) persist in the futile endeavor to fit our total experience into a package of ideas, attitudes and feelings.
The implications of the attitude I am trying to convey here are astounding. One quits believing in word constructions per se. One begins to see a different essence behind ideas, behind the surface content of thought constructions. New colors, new qualities can be seen: emotional textures, reliefs, intensities; forms and patterns of mind, feeling and attitude.
One also becomes blatantly aware of the process of belief itself. This process can be seen to be an intertwining of thought and feeling, the forming of mental constructions through which emotions can flow and eddy, sometimes turbulent, sometimes calm, giving off a particular "scent" or attitude, conveying a very unique mood or context, giving rise to an event, a situation, a moment of experience.
It becomes apparent that word/thought constructions possess validity and meaning only in relation to the primary fact of our experience, and thus are seen in this light, as constructions generated by us which serve to express on the levels of mind and emotion the source from which they sprang--which is the way it is anyway whether we admit it or not. The actual "story" conveyed by the thought construction becomes secondary, and the overall experiential context, the mood, the attitude, intentions and motivations, the texture that uniquely is the situation surrounding the thought construction becomes the focus of scrutiny and investigation.
We quit explaining our experience in terms of words as if it will be something more than just that. We come to expect nothing from word constructions in the sense of gaining security from this or that particular belief. Security becomes a function of one's real and existential relationships in life. And word constructions become decorations, pleasantries meant to enhance and enrich our experience on particular levels.
It becomes apparent that the meaning of life is you and I and all this stuff around each of us. Any explanation of life is just that: an explanation, a set of words or phrases strung together in such a way that, for some conscious or unconscious reason, it tickles our fancy or makes us feel good. Its justification truly lies not in its fundamental truth or falsehood, whatever that may mean, but basically in our subjective orientation. Aesthetics- subjective response-is always, ultimately the bottom line in our experience.
The "reality" I'm trying to describe here is much vaster than any name or label can convey. It is creation bubbling up, frothing over into physical manifestation. It is the creative miracle of us, of you, of me, of our lives, of all of it.
Yet, explanations exist, they are a facet of us, of our existence and experience, and our reaction to this level of our being is just as much an aesthetic event as any other thing in life. But they (explanations, idea constructions) should be understood on their own level as extensions of our experience, extensions into those particular and unique directions that rightly belong only to words and ideas, concepts and conceptualizations.
Independent of anyone's opinion, the actual role that words and ideas will play within our experience is for us to choose, whether consciously or unconsciously, and whether we accept the fact or not. If our goal is a fuller expression of our being (and what else can there really be when you think about it?), then it is apparent that, basically, the ideas should not dictate us. We should dictate the role ideas shall play. Of course, again, this really is the way it is whether we admit it or not. It is my presumption that keeping this fact in mind could really make our experience so much more pleasurable for all of us.
Explanations could serve to enhance the depth and quality of our experience, and in certain respects do (such as the material gains from science), but in other respects serve to belittle us and separate us, create fear, hate and all the other petty realities of half knowing.
No set of ideas, words, philosophies, dogmas or theories is going to be able to do any more than to merely reflect certain facets of our experience, or to highlight particular features (inevitably at the expense of others). The bottom line here is that our lives are so simply and complexly multifaceted that it is a joke to think that any set of words could ever capture the nature and meaning contained in and generated by our experience.
The irony here is that we really don't need to capture life in words because we are life! But there's always someone who'll try (just look at me !), and for those of us who try, it's worth remembering that really, we do it for each other, for our amusement, entertainment, something to pass the time away.
The process of belief binds us to ideas, and often subordinates our lives so that the ideas, conceptions, identifications all become a parasite on our life, energy and vitality. The idea-creatures use us to perpetuate their being instead of us using them to enhance the quality of our own being. The results of our present relationship to the realms of mind and emotion are often not good for you or me. The present situation may help serve the perpetuation of idea creatures such as "freedom" or "democracy" or "enlightenment" or whatever the particular ideas that one is mentally and emotionally trapped within, but the bottom line is that the idea cheats you out of your own self-fulfillment to the degree that you allow the idea to override the natural and healthy expression of your being. Obviously there are many exceptions, but in my experience this tends to be the rule.
Belief is necessarily an individual event. That is, individual personalities believe. And the beliefs harbored by an individual to a large part determine the quality, character and texture of the individual's experience on all levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
Notwithstanding such complex considerations, the ramifications of belief also play a fundamental role at the social level. The "social level" itself is the sum of beliefs of individuals. This leads us to such issues as social hypnosis and mass delusions/beliefs, which in actuality are the process by which thought-forms blind us. I guess the moral of the story is that you simply just can't eliminate belief, but one can most definitely sharpen and clarify how this process fits into the greater framework of experience, of what role this process will play in one's life.
Ultimately though, the main theme here is to see CREATION! To present and point out the nature of our relationship with words in terms of the ultimately mysterious and creational (note: NOT creative as is commonly understood!) nature of this process within the framework of our individual and collective experience. To have the reader see how she/he creates meaning on the spot. How, as you read this, you are right now creating the meaning of these words. To show how the meaning flows from you like tears flow from your eyes, like sweat rolls from your skin; words roll from your lips, meaning pours out of you into your life. This process of meaning creation is constant and plays THE basic role in our experience (not forgetting the paradox of defining experience in terms of words). "Reality" is constantly being created by us as we give meaning to our existence, as we make meaning within our existence. And this process is always here, always NOW. This process is what we mean by "existence". And this process is basically a paradox because any attempt to explain or conceptualize this process is simply another example of the process in operation. Realize that this meaning generating ability of ours is basically a mystery. The same way that we breathe and walk and talk, we make meaning, all quite unconsciously, quite automatically, naturally and spontaneously. I'm sure not going to pretend that I know how it's happening, and I can't believe the audacity of those deluded enough to claim they do. But dammit! Here it is again! As I sit here and write it's happening: meaning bubbling forth. As you sit and read this it's happening. Feel the meaning swelling out of you as you read these words, as you give meaning to this particular statement. Feel the meaning. What is it? Only you know, it is yours.
Once you see it (this process of meaning creation) you can't
help but see it everywhere and on all levels: The sun constantly
creating its light and heat, emanating outward from the inner
depths of its being, much as the words, meaning, emotions, ideas
flow outward from us exposing the inner nature of our being. The
Earth weaving out her seasons bringing forth her fruits of life
creating ever anew the inner essence of her being. Time welling
up from out of apparent nothingness, each moment created new
inside the womb of the previous moment, to swell into its own as
the previous moment disappears, only so that it may fade
imperceptibly into NOW, this very moment right here, right now.
Each thing in your experience shining out its being as the
meaning of its existence.
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