...Coincidece...?
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” -Benjamin Spock
A very frequent
theme in my reflections, articles, blog posts, etc. is the general and complete
distrust we have towards ourselves and to our bodies. From the very simple
things, such as stuffing ourselves full of medicine at the slightest hint of an
illness, to not trying to interpret its signals and pushing it way beyond its
limits. The medicine topic I will cover sometime later, but what I want to
point out now is the general distrust, the contradiction between our minds and
hearts. The fact that we believe that we know better and more than our higher
‘I’, that only contacts with us through dreams, signs, hints, feelings,
warnings. The little voice in the back of your head, your guardian angel, the
‘gut’ feeling, third eye, your intuition, whichever you prefer. But these signs
are rarely something like a gigantic flashing neon billboard with the word
“stop” and fourteen exclamation marks. These things are on higher levels of
understanding, dealing with higher energies. So they are subtle. We have to be
open and know how to listen and interpret them, or else we might miss them.
It is fact that
intuition, or a way of obtaining higher knowledge exists. Scientists all around the word have been
studying this phenomenon, of “knowing without reasoning”. Countless tests and
examples exist, from laboratory testing, of guessing drawings on cards without
looking at them, to the countless predictions that psychics have made throughout
time. If you research, you will find that nearly every singe major catastrophe
has been predicted by psychics or a medium sometimes 10 or even more years
before the event actually happened! But because of people’s cynical outlook on
this, the predictions were ignored and the events occurred. The most famous
examples are perhaps Nostradamus and Vanga, who predicted the 9/11 attack on
the USA, the beginning of the World Wars, the death of Princess Diana, as well
as others.
But if you don’t
believe in that, let’s take a scientific approach: it has been proven
statistically, that airplane flights, or any other mode of travel for that
matter, that are doomed to crash have an unusually low number of passenger
turnout: many passengers change their mind at the last minute, many are late,
as opposed to successful trips, when passengers fly without hesitation and are
on time, its always at least a 15% difference. What influences the people to
miss the doomed trip? Coincidence?
Also a pretty
famous example: the novel “Futility” by Morgan Robertson, which tells the story
of a gigantic ship called the Titan, that crashes into an iceberg and sinks.
Curious thing is the novel was published in 1898, which is 14 years before the
actual Titanic was built, and sank. Coincidence?
What about the
predictions or tests I mentioned before? They cannot be coincidences: from
algebra we know that there is a certain coefficient of probability, which tells
of how likely an event can occur. Well it has been calculated how probable it
is that so many of the predictions will come true, or the probability of
guessing cards without looking. The results are much, much higher than they
should be. Mathematically it cannot be a coincidence. There has to be a
separate factor influencing the events. Fate? Intuition? This is where
scientists shake their heads. Because to be able to see the whole picture we
must look outside the box of materialistic and scientific thinking. Most people
nowadays believe in God, unquestionably, without any real materialistic proof.
Why is it then so hard to believe that there are higher forces that we can use
to make decisions, guess future events, etc? And if we can believe in them,
then, why are we so afraid to trust in them? Why are we so afraid to trust
ourselves?
“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.” Henri Poincare
I see you (?)
“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
Question:
What is truth? What is beauty? What is love? What is sacred?
The
eternal questions, the answers to which people have been trying to find
for as long as we could think. And still we are unsuccessful.
But
the answer may be much simpler than we think.
Answer:
It is whatever we believe it to be.
Ever
had an argument that you couldn't win? About something very simple,
like the temperature? In the same room some people will feel warm, some
cold, some okay. So who is right? People have a tendency to state their
opinions and feelings as facts, but we take for granted the most obvious
aspect of human nature: the fact that everything we know is not fact
after all, but simply our perceptions of things. Everything, without
exception, before we can understand it, is put through a filter of our
senses and beliefs.
“Six blind men came to an elephant. Somebody told them that it was an elephant. The blind men asked, ‘What is the elephant like?’ and they began to touch its body. One of them said: ‘It is like a column.’ This blind man had only touched its leg. Another man said, ‘The elephant is like a rope.’ This person had only touched its tail. Similarly, he who touched its trunk or its belly talked of it differently.” - Hindu tale
Who
is right, who is wrong? Or is the truth really the sum of the
half-truths of all the men?
The
way we think depends on so many factors it seems shocking that people
ever agree on anything. It depends on our physical, sensory
perceptions, to non-tangible factors such as our culture, traditions,
expectations, experiences, our mood or the general context. This
explains why people perceive the same things differently, starting from
the very simplest levels such as color and temperature, to more complex
things such as politics, religion, even love.
Through
these factors we form our viewpoints and opinions, and then we form our
own idea of "common sense.”
“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” Albert Einstein
This
statement throws a clear problem into focus: our perceptions of the
world, once formed and backed up by arguments and experiences, are very
hard to change. But what do we do, then, if our views are, I try to stay
away from the word “wrong,” but how about, “harmful”? For example,
prejudices or stereotypes.
You
may be surprised at how hard it is to break through these barriers,
especially if they have been built up about a certain culture or a
country, for long periods of time.
I
believe that to be able to truly see the world we must be aware of these
differences in viewpoints, be aware of our own filters and prejudices,
keep an open mind. We must be respectful of past knowledge and
experience and add our own to them, without taking any one viewpoint as
the absolute truth, always questioning, thinking for ourselves and
striving for equality and liberation of the mind in all aspects of life.
PUBLISHED, BILNEWS, MARCH 16TH 2010, PAGE 5
Nothing is Impossible
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” - Oscar Wilde
Our
existence on Earth is temporary. Fact. We have a limited amount of
time, but also an unlimited amount of opportunities of how to spend it.
So, it is shocking to me then to observe exactly how many people live
their lives in passivity, refusing, or perhaps simply being afraid, to
take control.
As children our lives
are planned out for us by our parents or guardians. We live in a
passive state, because we do not yet have the freedom to choose. But
once we hit puberty, things start to change. Everybody has a breaking
point, in which the world suddenly goes from pink and fluffy to full
color, contrast, saturation and all that. We realize that we are able
to think and decide for ourselves. But for some strange reason, not
many people take full advantage of this power. We accept stereotypes,
rules and prejudices; we let ourselves be carried along with the flow.
And if we do use our power, we usually use it to protest against rules,
to do things we shouldn't, etc. Just because we can. But this is only
one aspect of this power, and not a very positive one at that.
Nothing is impossible.
In
other words, with a lot of drive and effort, anything is possible. But
why then so we let these opportunities slip by? Our lives, the time we
have is the most important thing we have, how can we be lazy about it?
"Every day, God gives us, as well as the sun, a moment when it is possible to change anything that is causing us unhappiness. The magic moment is the moment when a "yes" or a "no" can change our whole existence. Every day, we try to pretend that we do not see that moment, that it does not exist, that today is the same as yesterday and that tomorrow will be the same too. However, anyone who pays close attention to his day will discover the magic moment… a moment in which all the strength of the stars flows through us and allows us to perform miracles."
(By Paulo Coelho, from "By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept")
We
settle into a routine, our safety blanket, and shut everything else
out. Because of Fear. It is the strongest force that holds us back. We
are afraid of the new, unusual, unknown. Because we cannot categorize
or stereotype something we haven't experienced, it doesn't fit in our
minds, so we push it away. We're afraid to make mistakes, of failing,
or regretting our decisions later.
But what are mistakes anyway? And who has the right to judge?
Why do you think that even YOU have the right to decide what was a mistake and what wasn't? How
do you know? You don't ever, ever see the Bigger Picture, of how
something terrible could have set of a chain reaction that lead to
something wonderful. You can only guess, regret, worry, etc. But what
for? You can think of what could of, should of, would of happened, but
in the end its simply a waste of precious time.
We make decisions. Every minute of every day. With these decisions we control the course of our lives.
Of
course there must be both good and bad things, mistakes are
unavoidable, but we must do the best we can, strive to be the best we
can be. If we never try we will never succeed. If we always retreat we
can never have victory.
So, what are you waiting for...?
So, what are you waiting for...?
(PUBLISHED: BILNEWS, MARCH 3RD 2010, PAGE 5)
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