(Notes for) CONCLUSIONS—Pragmatic Reality INCONVENIENT TRUTH, Chapter 2.

(sequel to DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism)

Chapter 2

WHERE WE ARE

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Theodore Roosevelt,

26th U.S, President (1858—1919)

For countless years, probably countless millennia if not millions of years, we imagined that we live on Earth for no particular reason, other than to survive for as long as we could. This, after all, seems to be the principal preoccupations of other species, of other animals, who have not yet began to create their own, artificial realities.

And then came the mystics, prophets and even messiahs.

They, until recently, had been the only ones who suggested that we are more than flesh and bones. That we can create realities that we can pretend to be real. They also suggested that life on Earth is not the only form of existence, but rather a transient state of becoming, when-after we shall move, on ‘dying’ (vacating our illusory bodies), to a higher reality. Those ideas were summarily exploited by men who created religions, for the sole purpose of controlling man’s minds. For what purpose they did so, we shall leave for now. While they tended to live in unprecedented luxury compared to those whose minds they controlled, they were also directly responsible for creating, installing and protecting countless architectural, sculptural and paining treasures, which, to this day, we recognize as works of art, and that often serve as an inspiration to wonderful compositions of music.

And then came Albert Einstein and, with a single sentence upset the philosophical, religious and even practical apple cart. He proclaimed that:

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

So much for life on Earth. 

Unless...

Unless the only purpose of life on Earth is to prepare a state of consciousness in which we want to spend extended periods of time. Some Mahatmas¹ claim that the stages between reincarnations in the ‘valley of tears’  can last, on average, 1500 years.

Hence, we don’t retire to do nothing for ever-after, to exist eternally in a state abysmal boredom usually referred to as Heaven, but be retire to Devachan, which is a temporary abode which:

“...is regarded as the place where most souls go after death where desires are gratified, corresponding to the Christian belief in Heaven. However, Devachan is a temporary intermediate state of being before the soul's eventual rebirth into the physical world.”

      (H.P. Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary. Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892, page 98)

Let us make sure that we do not confuse Devachan with the Christian version of  Purgatory, which is far, far more unpleasant state of consciousness than Devachan. While Devachan can be a stint wherein we are rewarded for  having created the existence of joy and pleasure, the Purgatory is a purely punitive condition. According to Christian doctrine, we are not sent there as a reward, but a punishment. After all, all Christianity is built on the carrot and the stick philosophy with the absolutes of Heaven and Hell as unchangeable, irrevocable, permanents states of consciousness.

Alas, for the rest of us, we prefer to believe in the Christ’s teaching, and not in the perverted version of it promulgated by the sacerdotal fraternities. After all, Christ said that “Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). We must assume that the Kingdom of God is as close to Heaven as we can get.

Nevertheless, H.P. Blavatsky, purporting the philosophy of theosophy, assures us that:

“Through Wisdom and Knowledge, one can reach Nirvana and be free from the cycle of birth and death, and even the "false bliss" of Devachan.”

(H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine)

We wouldn’t be able to verify if the bliss of Davanchan is real, unless we’ve been there. There are, however, a number of people throughout history who have strong recollections of previous lives.

On the other hand, we cannot confirm Blavatsky’s thesis as, to my knowledge, no one yet achieved “absolute Wisdom and  Knowledge”, hence failed to return to Earth.

As for life on Earth, it all sounds fairly promising until we return to Einstein. As our phenomenal reality is to be no more than an illusion, it seems that we are creating it with our minds, with our thoughts and desires, and eventually with our resulting actions. We and we alone seem to create realities that we regard as real.

Beauty for one is mundane for another.

Riches for one is near poverty for another.

Physical possession for one, are but irons restricting our freedom for another.

Even happiness of one is a state of boredom for some.

And so forth.

I’d suggest that the only purpose of our life in the illusory reality of the phenomenal Earth is to practice and prepare our consciousness for extended periods we are about to spend in Devachan. After all, 1500 years might be regarded as eternity by some who chose conditions which, in higher reality of Devachan might have no value at all.

Reenter the mystics, prophets and messiahs.

From a mundane point of view, there is one thing that sets them apart. They had the knowledge, and hence the power, to manipulate matter. Now that we know that (according to our science) all matter is energy at different rates of vibrations, and that our reality is an illusion, this ability sounds a lot easier to accept.

All we need do, here and now, is to imagine what our “heaven” should be like, and act as though we could bring it about. We know that like attracts like, no matter how illusory. If you believe in happiness, the chances are much greater that you will be happy. The same goes for all other traits of character which, being a state of consciousness, is the only energy that is real. Yes, even here, on Earth.

So all we really must do, here, on Earth, in this illusory reality, is to make sure that our likes and dislikes are such as would assure our happiness for at least 1500 years. Later, in another stint on Earth, we might change our minds and reach out even higher.

I strongly suspect that Devachan is merely another state of consciousness, in which we create a reality that suits our predilections, at least for a while.

But whatever happens, whatever the truth about building one’s reality of one thing I am certain. There is no “requiescat in pace”, and that would be my version of Hell. Imagine even 1500 years of undisturbed peace without any challenges to conquer.

Not for me.

Hence, to repeat Theodore Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

(1) Mahatma means "great soul", derived from Sanskrit (maha) meaning "great" and (atman) meaning "soul, spirit, life". 

 (To be continued in a few days. In the meantime, enjoy DELUSIONS.)

DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism

(Research for) CONCLUSIONS—Pragmatic Reality,

 (sequel to DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism)

PAST

Where We Were

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Theodore Roosevelt,

26th U.S, President (1858—1919)

As you’ve read in DELUSIONS, according to the still functioning Flat Earth Society the Earth was flat. Since I wrote it, I discovered that in November 2019:

"Brazil hosted a flat Earth conference... in Sao Paulo. In fact, this wasn’t even the first flat Earth conference to have taken place internationally, with last year’s gatherings in Birmingham, UK, Denver, Colorado and Edmonton, Alberta suggesting that flat Earthism is becoming quite the cultural phenomenon."

(From an article by Simon Chandler, a London-based journalist focusing on politics and technology).

You can read my comments about this group of ‘scientists’ in DELUSIONS. For now, I invite you on a more philosophical journey. 

As you must have seen in DELUSIONS, some peoples' brains are flatter than others. If you hadn’t yet read “DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism” read it now. Please. Don't delay! It’s all there.

Moving even further back, in fact for countless years, probably countless millennia if not millions of years, we imagined that we live on Earth for no particular reason, other than to survive for as long as we could. This, after all, seems to be the principal preoccupation of other species, of other animals, who have not yet begun to create their own, artificial realities.

And then came mystics, prophets and even messiahs. They, until recently, have been the only ones, the only true scientists, who suggested that we are more than flesh and bones; that we can create realities which we can ‘persistently pretend’ to be real. They also suggested that life on Earth is not the only form of existence, but rather a transient stage of becoming, when-after we shall move, on ‘dying’ (vacating our illusory bodies), to a ‘higher’ reality.

A reality that manifests at a higher rate of vibrations. But this understanding came much later.

Those ideas were summarily exploited by men who created religions, for the sole purpose of controlling peoples’ minds. For what purpose they did so, we shall leave for now. While the religious leaders often tended to live in unprecedented luxury compared to those whose minds they controlled. On the other hand, they have been directly responsible for creating, installing, and protecting countless architectural, sculptural and painting treasures, which, to this day, we recognize as works of art, and that often serve as inspiration for wonderful compositions of music.

As you can see, there is a reason for everything.

And then came Albert Einstein and, with a single sentence upset the philosophical, religious and even practical apple cart. He proclaimed that:

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

So much for life on Earth.

Unless...

Unless the only purpose of life on Earth is to prepare if not create a state of consciousness in which we want to spend extended periods. Some Mahatmas¹ claim that the stages between reincarnations in this ‘valley of tears’  can last, on average, 1500 years.

Hence, most of us having done relatively little, we don’t retire to “rest in peace” i.e.: to do nothing forever after. We don’t retire to exist eternally in a state abysmal boredom usually referred to as Heaven, but we take a protracted holiday in Devachan, a temporary abode which:

“...is regarded as the place where most souls go after death where desires are gratified, corresponding to the Christian belief in Heaven. However, Devachan is a temporary intermediate state of being before the soul's eventual rebirth into the physical world.”

(H.P. Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary. Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892, page 98)

Paul’s 2 Corinthians 12:2 comes to mind: “I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven...) As you can see, Blavatsky wasn’t just making things up.

Let us make sure that we do not confuse Devachan with the Christian version of  Purgatory, which is far, far more unpleasant state of consciousness than Devachan. While Devachan can be a stint wherein we are rewarded for having created an existence of relative joy and pleasure, the Purgatory is said to be a purely punitive condition. According to Christian doctrine, we are not sent there as a reward, but a punishment. After all, all Christianity is built on the carrot and the stick philosophy with the absolutes of Heaven and Hell as unchangeable, irrevocable, permanents states of consciousness.

Alas, for the rest of us, we prefer to believe in Christ’s teaching, and not in the perverted version of it promulgated by the sacerdotal fraternities. After all, Christ said that “Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). We must assume that the Kingdom of God is as close to Heaven as we can get.

Nevertheless, H.P. Blavatsky, purporting the philosophy of theosophy, assures us that:

“Through Wisdom and Knowledge, one can reach Nirvana and be free from the cycle of birth and death, and even the "false bliss" of Devachan.  

(H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine)

We wouldn’t be able to verify if the bliss of Davanchan is real unless we’ve been there. There are, however, a number of people throughout history who have strong recollections of previous lives.

On the other hand, we cannot confirm Blavatsky’s thesis as, to my knowledge, no one yet achieved “absolute Wisdom and  Knowledge”, and since returned to Earth to bear witness that she was right.

   

DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism

Research for CONCLUSIONS—Pragmatic Reality, (sequel to DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism)

PART ONE, The PAST (cont.)

 

Back to AI. The 100 billion neurons communicate with each other, producing complex answers to simple questions. However, AI, being a product of the phenomenal reality, is just as elusive, and as illusory as the rest of our reality. The prime purpose of our brain is to keep us (temporarily) alive and well.

And here comes a great surprise.

Very few people know how to use their biological computer consciously to produce phenomenal results. Very few of us realize that the assembly of neurons is capable of producing an illusion of one of the countless galaxies, let alone our own, magnificent, no matter how transient, physical bodies.

The mind, not the brain, generates ideas. The brain (the computer) converts them into thoughts. Thoughts, when generated through the alpha brainwaves create significant illusions in our phenomenal reality. The reality that we recognize as real, although Einstein insists that it is “merely an illusion, although a very persistent one.”

The rest is history, except for a pertinent detail.

We forgot to discuss how it all began.

Well, it didn’t.

Creativity is a process that is inherent in our awareness of the reality in which we find our becoming. But as every child must have parents, so our awareness must have originated from a non-phenomenal source. The source which religionists call God and scientists call “nothing which existed before the Big Bang”. I prefer the first option, though not one created in the image of man.

Let us get back to Albert Einstein. He said that ALL IS ENERGY. Hence that which the sacerdotal fraternity refer to as God, must, perforce, also be Energy. All means ALL. No exclusions. ALL must include all the potential that was, is, will be or could be, though not in its phenomenal forms. Thus we must expand our concept of ENERGY to include EVERYTHING. The energy that was, is, will be, or could be.

Eternal, hence Inexhaustible Energy?

There are only a few adjectives that do not diminish or limit the definition of God that even Baruch Spinoza would accept:

Omnipresent, Eternal, Inexhaustible Energy, Infinite Potential...

And to this the impressive quarter we must add the most magnificent definition energy of all:

CREATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS

This, and this alone does not diminish or restrict the religious concept of God.

This definition, however,  opens the gates to include thoughts and emotions in the concept of energies. They are the two elements necessary to fulfill the creative process. Perhaps, in time, we shall discover others, such as love, hate, faith... they all create phenomenal consequences, hence they can be classified as energies. 

 DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism

Research for CONCLUSIONS—Pragmatic Reality, (sequel to DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism)

PART ONE — THE PAST

“...all matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration which holds the atom together. We must assume behind this force is the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.“

Max Planck (1858—1947)

Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918

“Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one.”

Albert Einstein (1879 –1955)

Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921

Chapter 1

Who is right?

"A fanatic is a man who consciously overcompensates a secret doubt."

Aldous Leonard Huxley

British author (1894—1963)

As I’ve stated in my DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism, fundamentalists are always right. Be they of religious persuasion, or steeped in scientific jargon, they are always right.

For thousands of years, some very wise people attempted to break into the mystery of the Universal Laws. Those running religions called them dogmas, the scientific authorities referred to them as... facts. On the other hand, many saints, mystics, even Saviours, as well as noted scientists, tried to know, let alone understand, what Einstein called “the thoughts of God”. “The rest are details”, he’d said.

And, in a way, he was right.

The problems is, however, that in the phenomenal reality all details count. Atoms, subatomic particles such as electrons, protons, quarks... they all count. Even waves count. Do they have anything to do with the thoughts of God? Well, this depends on who or what we mean by ‘God’.

And yet, though neither group would admit it, both religious and scientific communities continue to try to make sense of the phenomenal reality, while supposedly realizing that it is only an illusion.

Why?

At long last Albert Einstein supplied us with an answer. Because:

ALL IS ENERGY.

The ‘visible’ universe might be constructed of (supposedly) ‘solid’ particles, such as atoms, but in fact, atoms are no more than energy vibrating at a very slow rate. Till now we recognized movement mostly by changing localities of matter. Now we had to look at staying in the same location, but vibrating at different rates.

One might have thought that this single statement would put to sleep the eternal struggle between “mind and faith”. 

Not so.

It not only didn’t provide an answer but, instead of defining what might be the thoughts of God, we now had to decide: what is energy.

Back to square one. Though... not quite.

First, let us define what we mean by vibration. In scientific terms, it refers to the transducer which metamorphoses energy. Originally  it was merely:

“a device that converted variations in a physical quantity, such as pressure or brightness, into an electrical signal, or vice versa.” ⁴

Today we accept that a transducer can convert one form of energy into another, essentially by changing its rate of vibration.

Our built-in transducer is not of phenomenal construction. It consists of the energy of Consciousness. What makes this energy different from all the other energies is that it is omnipresent. It is to our thought processes what air is to our lungs. In fact, when reduced to the very first principle, we are individualizations of the  Omnipresent Energy of Consciousness. An omnipresent Transducer.

That’s it. No more and no less.

However, there is a snag in this ointment. While we abide in his phenomenal reality, the process known as evolution has developed a system of developing artificial intelligence. It is a biological computer known to us as our brain. Some 100 billion neurons working overtime to keep us alive. They communicate with each other by firing an electrical or chemical impulse between 5 and 50 times every second across the junction between two nerve cells.

According to Wikipedia:

“Each individual neuron can form thousands of links with other neurons (and) in this way, giving a typical brain well over 100 trillion synapses (up to 1,000 trillion, by some estimates).

This AI (Artificial Intelligence) serves to produce consciousness which manifests as ego. While ego separates us from the rest of the Universe, it is indispensable for the transient survival of our phenomenal body. When our individualized Consciousness leaves our physical enclosures, the artificial consciousness is often in sufficient rapport with the ‘real’ consciousness, to survive until the next reincarnation.

So... who is right?

I question both, the religious and the scientific theories. It is likely that each one of us must define reality for oneself. After all, we are individualizations of the omnipresent Consciousness. Yet there is a strange, for me irresistible boon to my conclusions. My philosophy not only assures me of immortality but enables me to abide, here on Earth, in the antechamber of Heaven. Even if it is a temporary heaven of Devachan (which will be explained in chapter 2). 

 DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism

CONCLUSIONS, (sequel to DELUSIONS) Pt.2 of INTRODUCTION

And this brings us, more or less, up to date. We are all ignorant. Not because we’re all mentally deficient, only because the Universe is stranger than we can, as yet, imagine. This last opinion also belongs to Richard Feynman.

Don’t you just love honest people, let alone honest scientists?

While I do not blame Richard Dawkins for anything within the field of his expertise, I do hold his namesake, Richard Feynman directly responsible for my drifting into the field of metaphysics.

Science was, for me, no longer enough.

After all, science is supposed to be a method, not an answer to all the unknowns. Science produces theories that are taken as working hypotheses until a better theory makes the unknowns just a tad clearer. Just a tad. There is no hurry. We have eternity to find the answers, and by then, the questions will have changed.

That’s the beauty of metaphysics. It reaches beyond physics. Beyond what is. It reaches into the field of what could be.

To be quite honest even after I started writing CONCLUSIONS, I had only a vague idea of what I was going to write. What I did, however, I doubled the time I allotted to contemplation. I’d relax in a prone position, close my eyes, tried my best to eliminate any external detractions, and waited. Within a week I begun to see where I was going. Within two weeks, I started writing.

And then, one day, it came to me.

Finally, I had a clear idea of what this book is going to be about. Conclusions, yes, but what conclusions - that was the point. On Thursday, October 31st, 2019, I saw the Universe in all its glory. Gradually I shall unfold my vision to you. The only surprising thing I discovered was that the mystery, the secret of the “thoughts of God” (to use Einstein’s expression) had been unfolded to us thousands of years ago. Only our pride, our egos, and perhaps our greed, stopped us from assuming the humble role which we are destined to play here, on Earth, in this phenomenal reality.

On the other hand, our purpose is so magnificent that we did not dare to face the truth.

Well, now we must.

The Age of Aquarius demands it of us. We must stop leaning on, relying on, and blaming our leaders for our successes and failures. We must take our rightful place in the scheme of things. In the infinity of the Universe. In the infinity of time.

We must grow up. 

 DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism

CONCLUSIONS, (sequel to DELUSIONS) Cont. INTRODUCTION

"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences."

Robert Green Ingersoll

American social activist, orator and agnostic (1833—1899)

(Please, don’t forget, we are part of nature.)

I shall no longer pretend to follow in Richard Dawkins’s illustrious footsteps. Any man who purports that the phenomenal Universe ‘happened’ out of nothing, or even out of a ‘Big Bang’, does not deserve to be taken seriously. On the other hand, I do like his sense of humour. Anything he does not understand he deems to be nonsense. Like the Bible, which he, (as well as all people who wish to use it to control people’s minds, behaviour, and pocket), regards as a religious document, whereas in fact, it has nothing whatsoever to do with any religion.

The Bible is no more and no less than a compendium of knowledge, compiled over countless millennia, which suggests how to lead a happy life. Hence, it teaches us, how to create our own phenomenal reality.

Admittedly, it has been usurped by various religious fraternities, and used it as a carrot and stick to control those of weaker minds, or even just softer hearts. Don’t get me wrong: there are a few bona fide saints amongst their ranks. Very few, and very many ersatz saints who had been canonized for political purposes. Just like the Noble Prize.

While I still admire Mr. Dawkins’s predisposition to praise the literary merits of the King James Bible of 1611, while ignoring its content, I do wish he’d stop deluding himself that he has any idea what the Bible is about. For that one needs at least an elementary knowledge of symbolism, of which he is sadly bereft. He might find my DICTIONARY OF BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM of some help.

By contrast, the rest of our illustrious scientists continue to treat the Universe as a conglomerate of material objects, completely ignoring the brighter minds amongst them who reached the conclusion some time ago, that ALL IS ENERGY. Not only that all matter could be converted to energy as in E=MC²  but, as an example, like a hydrogen atom that consists of 99.9999999999996%  empty space, and the essence of the remainder is still energy.

And then, in 1927 Louis de Broglie demonstrated the wave-like behaviour of particles which became the basis of the quantum mechanics, which also, to this day manages to confuse even the best brains in the scientific community.

De Broglie was followed by Max Planck, Schrodinger, Born, Heisenberg, Dirac, Bohr, not to mention our dear old Albert Einstein. Finally Richard Feynman, who (together with Sin-Itiro Tomonaga and Julian Schwinger) has been awarded the Nobel Prize for “their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles.”

Having been awarded the Nobel Prize, Richard Feynman publically assured us that:

“It is safe to say that no one understands Quantum Mechanics.” 

I am delighted to belong to such an illustrious fraternity of famous, ignorant scientists. I, too, am ignorant.

(To be continued) 

 

DELUSIONS—Pragmatic Realism

(DELUSIONS/CONCLUSIONS - Chapter 2 Cont.)

Where We Were

As for life on Earth, it all sounds fairly promising until we return to Einstein. As our phenomenal reality is to be no more than an illusion, it seems that we are creating it with our minds, with our thoughts and desires, and eventually with our resulting actions. We and we alone create realities that we regard as real.

Beauty for one is mundane for another.

Riches for some is near poverty for another.

Physical possession for one, are but fetters restricting freedom for another.

Even happiness of one is a state of boredom for some.

And so forth.

I’d suggest that the only purpose of our life in this the illusory reality of the phenomenal Earth is to practice and prepare our consciousness for extended periods we are about to spend in Devachan. After all, 1500 years might be regarded as eternity by some who choose conditions which, in higher reality of Devachan, might have no value at all.

Reenter the mystics, prophets and messiahs.

From a mundane point of view, there is one thing that sets them apart. They had the knowledge, and hence the power, to manipulate matter. Now that we know that (according to our science) all matter is energy at different rates of vibrations, and that our reality is an illusion, this ability sound a lot easier to accept.

All we need do, here and now, is to imagine what our “heaven” should be like, and act as though we could bring it about. We know that like attracts like, no matter how illusory. If you believe in happiness, the chances are much greater that you will be happy. The same goes for all other traits of character which, being a state of consciousness, is the only energy that is real. Yes, even here, on Earth.

So all we really must do, here, on Earth, in this illusory reality, is to make sure that our likes and dislikes are such as would assure our happiness for at least 1500 years. Later, in another stint on Earth, we might change our minds and reach out even higher.

I strongly suspect that Devachan is merely another state of consciousness, in which we create a reality that suits our predilections, at least for a while.

But whatever happens, whatever the truth about building one’s reality of one thing I am certain. There is no “requiescat in pace”, and that would be my version of Hell. Imagine even 1500 years of undisturbed peace without any challenges to conquer.

Not for me.

Hence, to repeat Theodore Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

(TO BE CONTINUED IN A DAY OR TWO)

 

DELUSIONS