A comment before we get into this most recent Origami. A long time reader here has asked me what I know about locations and/or communities/ashrams or the like where he might migrate to. He’s middle-aged with a son who needs care which he provides. I told him that I’m across the sea and thousands of miles away; he’s in the U.S.
Until I am involved in forming a community which may or may not occur in the not too distant future I am at a loss as to any recommendations that I could make. I’m out of the loop and I don’t like tossing out possibilities that I am unfamiliar with in terms of their day to day operations and the general ambiance of their situation. In other words, if I haven’t been there I wouldn’t be in a position to recommend anything.
If any readers out there know of a situation- any situations- that might begin the process for this man I would appreciate it if you would share your ideas in the comments section. Sometimes in the trading of ideas a possibility will emerge that wasn’t even directly connected to what was indicated or said. You know how these things work... mysteriously. So... any help would be much appreciated. He’s not the first person to ask me about this so I imagine there’s some general interest in this and it may benefit others who haven’t said anything but are thinking in that direction. Now we go to Origami already in progress (grin)
At the various blog endeavors where I am engaged, I have noticed a particular phenomenon. It happens even more so at other locations where entries get published. It’s nothing epidemic and maybe it’s been happening all along and I’m just noticing it now. It takes various shapes. One shape is where the reader deliberately distorts what’s been said. An example would be my post on 2012. Certain individuals have indicated that I stated that the world was going to end on December 21st of that year. This is nonsense and even more so given the care I invested in what was an effort to make people think; no more than that. I’ve no idea what will happen in any specific way. I do note trends and I’ve got some grasp of history.
Another shape is where the reader extrapolates on what I said as if I actually said it. Yet another shape is where the reader thinks I’m talking about one thing when I am talking about another. These shapes are all pretty similar and all have to do with not paying attention or lacking the capacity to focus. In a few cases it’s the product of malice based on personality conflicts or a basic intransigence to change. These cases rarely show up at the blogs but they do show up somewhere. Some of us are hardwired into various forms of denial and nothing short of serious trauma is going to alter that. Well... that trauma will eventually manifest. There are laws that govern our existence and no amount of indifference, resistance or bargaining is going to influence them even a little bit.
This puts me in mind of something to talk about which impacts on all of these perspectives... on all perspectives across the board. It affects everything but it is affected by nothing. It’s too small to see yet it contains the entire universe... composes it and remains beyond it all at the same time. It’s conscious of every movement near or far, the way a spider senses a tremble on its web. Most people think of themselves as an autonomous self-contained unit. In a way you could say that they believe that they are this mysterious thing of which I am speaking. In many cases they certainly act as if this were so. The difference is that they have no power whatsoever and this mysterious thing has all power always. Any power we possess as individuals all comes from this mysterious thing.
This thing lives in everything, always awaiting and seeking a deeper communication with each of us. On rare occasions some of us will reach toward it and, if we are persistent, eventually a certain realization takes place. It is much less common in these days than it has been at other times. Because of sensory apparatus, the general focus of most people is outward and it is there where they spend their brief hours between the twin unknowns of whence they came and whither they are bound.
The human ego is a usually inept and dysfunctional God. Because it assumes it possesses things which it does not, it acts against the interests of itself and others as a normal operating procedure. There’s a wide middle of the ordinary and a narrow band of the extraordinary to either side. On one of these sides are the psychopaths and on the other side are the altruists. Both of them engage in most of the various occupations available to all of us with two distinctly different impacts. Depending on the times, there may be more in one band than in the other or it may only be that there is a greater appearance of power in one or the other. The middle stays the same. It doesn’t change much except in times of extremity. The middle is shaped by its reactions to the influence coming from the bands of the extraordinary.
If the times are less materialistic then the altruists have a greater sway upon the mind of the middle. In times of greater materialism, the psychopaths hold a greater sway and in each case, the culture reflects this influence.
Most people are attached to their culture the way they are attached to their temporary families. Their world revolves around the twin focus. They seem to believe, despite all appearances to the contrary and despite all of the evidence of history, that their families and their culture will always be with them. They always seem shocked and surprised at the loss of any part of either, even though every indication and record from the past tells them in no uncertain terms that they and their families and their culture will one day be a thing of the past. As long as they prevail in this illusion it is impossible for them to contemplate anything outside of it in any objective way.
The story of Noah and the ark is much like a movie made about real life events or one based on a book. The movie is not going to reflect the exact details in either case. It’s like a metaphor. Unfortunately for most people they base their lives, their understandings and the decisions they make on a metaphor and you can work out in your own mind what that may mean.
Let us imagine that the story of Noah happened just as it is told, although it certainly did not. One of the features of the story is that the other people who were around at the time considered Noah to be mad. They laughed at him. It’s a matter of historical record that people have always laughed at the thoughts and behaviors of those who did not operate as an example of the middle. In a certain way these strange individuals embarrass them just as the psychopaths confuse and frighten them... though there is more than a little dreadful fascination as well.
People who pay no attention to the warning signs in a culture are deserving of pity and compassion. They can’t be helped and it can be dangerous to try. Even though every culture in the past is now gone and even though many, many cultures preceded these and others preceded these ...as the records of their existence grows ever fainter until they have become only legends and still more cultures preceded these legends... still... they do not imagine that theirs will pass.
Given the temporary nature of manifest life you would think that more people would be curious about the deeper possibilities. Yes, they embrace religions. They embrace them in the same way that they support a particular sport’s franchise; the same way they engage in patriotism and any allegiance they may have selected or had placed upon them, whether it is to family, country or God. The deeper implications of any of these escape them... frighten them... mystify and confuse them. They are mostly along for the ride without much more than hope and a broken paddle, devoid of landmarks and charts, to plot and navigate their course.
Most people look at things but not into them. Peer pressure confines them in concentration camps where no concentration takes place. They would sooner follow their oppressors than any liberator. They freely give themselves to those who hold them in contempt, who use them and throw them away and they mock and abuse those who admire them. Perhaps they know which of the two sees them for what they are.
It is best to pay attention before you are required to pay attention. Paying attention is often, quite literally, the difference between life and death. When a culture has declined and fallen into the inevitable morass of low level sensuality and cheap entertainment, it is on the precipice of doom. It is through the door to enslavement ...and tyranny will always be at hand in these times.
Once the way is lost it moves further and further off course. It does not suddenly find its way back. All manner of bad behavior begins to prosper and becomes the norm. Justifications appear for most anything and the occupation of the learned seems to be tuned to finding more convincing arguments for excess and immorality. What is contrary to the best interests of the whole becomes legitimized as normal behavior. After awhile it even becomes more than normal until no one knows what normal means any longer.
This mysterious thing has a collection of immutable laws which apply to conditions. The further a condition is from the course of an immutable law, the greater is the sensation of the impact of the law upon the condition. This would seem to be common sense, were common sense a common feature anymore.
Things will sort themselves out. They always do. It is more or less pleasant or unpleasant depending on where you are standing and how the sorting out affects your attachment to what is being sorted. Present time is a time of sorting and it does seem that the wiser course would be to sort oneself out ahead of time, rather than waiting to be sorted. Those who cannot hear must feel.
'God's Not Dead' is track no. 3 of 11 on Visible's 2001 album 'God in Country'
Lyrics (pops up)
