The Meaning of Living (or, as they say "life")

The point of it all is it all. The point of life is living. The movement of experience good, bad, or indifferent is the point of it all. And, here is the kicker. The experience is not ours. We, as the self, normal everyday experience, mystical, inter-dimensional, sacred, profane, happy, or sad is what life, as it is lived, is all about. The experience is not ours. That is the point. We do not live. We are merely instruments for that which does. I use the word that loosely. This is not metaphysics or ontology. This is not a statement of conceptual fact. This is what we live every day. No self-continuity is obvious to us in actual, full-blown living. No matter the quality of it, the living is taking place and we are merely a phenomenal component of the movement. Experience is selfing through it all. Selfing is what experience does. The reality of life is experience itself. That's it. The meaning of life is experience itself. That's it. The point of it all is living. Living as experience is all there is. Here is the proof, and watch it happen, after reading this, we will make something of it whether we want to or not. Just watch. We can't stop it. We don't have a choice. We have to act. We must do. It is the first real commandment. Thou shalt act!


The good try to change things for the good. The bad try to change things for the good, for themselves.

--Yogi Ananda Viraj 

On the Nature of Mind

Often, I do not say nor write things that I expect people to figure out nor come to a conclusion with regard to their veracity. What I write, more often than say these days, is what I would like my readers to experience directly and see the truth of. Now, what do I mean by truth? Well, I would like the reader to actually observe what the writings point to because in so executing the same or similar exercises in the type of observation I propose here, one may come to realize the manner in which our common human experience works to generate unnecessary difficulties and open a door to the much-vaunted peace that many have already realized in their navigation of human life on the sea of vast and sentient emptiness. This emptiness is actually brimming with a past that is vectorial in nature, i.e., it is headed somewhere and some time--always in an evanescent present. This present is one that is arising as much as it is dissolving, beginning as much as it is ending, emerging from as it is headed toward, coming as it is going.

With the above in mind, let's look at our use of the word mind in this context, meaningful experience as mind and mind as meaningful experience. Let's take a close inspection of thought as thinking. Mind is always minding. There is no mind; there is minding, in the specific sense that we here and now are conducting this exercise. Through it, we intend to cultivate an attitude of simplicity in watching. At the end of honest observing, i.e., one that is not meant to harvest any theory or general conclusion about anything but to simply observe and by this observation alone free us--in a manner of speaking--from a set of narratives regarding mind that will allow us to simply watch. I know, why should we do that?

Because in doing this, in simply watching, we find release from sticky narratives that cause trouble, which are trouble itself. In seeing narratives for what they are, just narratives, there is release from their gripping effect. So, for the moment, at the very least, while performing this exercise, even if you have to play along, just watch the rising and falling of thinking or feelings or even both.

Mind is desire. 

Unedited and incomplete but still worth your attention if you are the observing type or just plain dissatisfied with life itself. This exercise has another dimension that will be added when I can find the time and situation that elicits it from my life and yours.  

Aphorisms* or now "observations" on Free Will, Ongoing...

*I believe we have moved on from the aphorism stage of this blog posting on free will. Why not call it observations regarding free will or its absence. After all, it is based on observation of our experience and that will remain the source of our language regarding free will narratives. Far too many of us are used by misguided narratives, or to be more precise misguided intentional narratives, regarding decisions and the narratives pertaining to this linguistic nightmare.

I'm sure you have heard the phrase "sentient beings" before, as in "We humans are 'sentient beings.'" Well, forget that. Let's say, arguing against the notion of free will, that there is sentience but let the "being" part drop. So, there is the incarnation of history or karma and sentience. Lose the "being" part--unless you mean be-ing.

*******

7/10/2019--Did you ever notice the fact that when our so-called thoughts are actually occurring or being lived, they are not thoughts? How did thoughts become thoughts? In thinking or, as we wish to say here, in living, there are no thoughts. "Then what is there," you may ask, you tell me. The intention or content being intended in our so-called thought is what is alive. Thoughts are non-existent then. No one is thinking them either, are they? Yet, we have the distinct impression and, most importantly, feeling* that we are thinking them--but in retrospect only. In the movement or living of intentions, we are what is in the thought and who we are is the self that abides as a dynamic person or self or being or whatever one's theoretical language deals in its abstraction-intentions that are, by the way, also lived in.

*This deserves a comment all its own. It's way too important for a mere inclusion.


Those of us who have tried, mostly in vain I might add, to lessen the number of thoughts (felt-narratives) that contain unpleasant and even evil feelings, found that methods or mind-training has failed them. Why is that? Well, to begin with, those difficult thoughts are not yours. Go from that working hypothesis and you may stumble upon some very interesting conclusions. Give it a whirl and test this out for yourself. One is left with the distinct impression, assuming you have exhausted all the possibilities of thinking otherwise, that you have been unsuccessful. That's when a change may occur. Don't believe me, see for yourself. Those of us who are not plagued by unpleasant, shall we say, thoughts consider yourself lucky and forget you read this post--which you may find to be impossible. 

"He deserves the death penalty," you have heard this before haven't you? Was this decided upon by his or her own free will? Was there some deliberation about responsibility or some such nonsense prior to this thought or statement arising? This statement is, most often pure reactivity. What do you think? Did something just "come to mind"? It's always that thoughts just come to mind.



All of a sudden, "I feel like having a piece of chocolate." Again, that pesky free will. 

Here is an example of free will with respect to getting a glass of water: "I'm thirsty; I'm getting a glass of water." The incarnate, i.e., felt narrative is the will. Looking for something outside, alongside, behind, or in front of the feeling-narrative will prove to be futile upon close observation. See for yourself.

Ever watch your hands perform? This kind of watching may take place in, for example, doing dishes or tying shoelaces. We may be carrying the assumption "I am doing the dishes," or "I am tying my shoelaces." However, if we are watching the movement of our hands, very carefully--without suspicions or expectation--you may observe the action is performed without you. Don't believe it? Watch and see. Now, this observation may be made with respect to all acts, even including speaking and thinking. After all, do we ever know what thought will occur next, honestly? Honestly here translates as clear-minded observation alone.    

A Post by Philosopher Evan Thompson, please take a look

Aim: Building a bridge between mind science and Husserl’s genetic/generative phenomenology of intersubjectivity Two central ideas: (i) Self and other. - ppt download: Subchapters: A) Intentionality and Open Intersubjectivity (pp ) B) The Phenomenological Concept of Empathy (pp ) C) Affective and Sensorimotor Coupling (pp ) D) Imaginary Transposition (pp ) E) Mutual Self and Other Understanding (pp ) F) Moral Perception (p. 401f.) G) Enculturation (pp )