Each Species Has an Imagination

The day was quiet, and all the creatures that had once stirred now seemed void of existence. There were no crickets in the early morning’s dawn, no birds to stir the forest’s creatures of light.

"So, how do you feel about this? How is this coming off on you?"

I sort of feel like you’re being... arrogant.

"Arrogant? Why is that?"

Because you’re telling me what you’re saying is right, or ‘is’, which I think is the same thing. What about other beliefs and perceptions? Are they wrong?

"Anything, then, that anyone says is mere arrogance. Anything you tell me you believe is going to be arrogant, because someone else will disagree. So I am an arrogant being by telling you ‘what is’, or what you think I believe ‘what is’, and you are an arrogant being by telling me I am an arrogant being. What confusion that is. Who is wrong, my friend? Who is right? I am going to have to ask you to try to step to another level of understanding... Beyond this right and wrong business."

How the hell can I ‘step’ beyond right and wrong?

 

"You are a creature of earth, and as a creature you grow legs and arms and move about. You are born helpless. You die helpless. In between you are gifted with freedom to explore and thrive physically. This is a given."

"Yup."

"Soon, however, it is a lesson to all of your kind that your limbs will not carry you forever. They become weak and frail. You can no longer move as you please. Soon you ache and wither, physically and sometimes mentally - the brain being organic itself."

I gestured an agree.

"The body at last is at its dying breath. Your mind is rushing with thoughts of the end: ‘What’s next? Is anything next? How do I know? I am leaving everything behind. It’s over. This is it. Finality.’ And then...."

"... And then?"

"What happens, do you think?"

"You die."

"Hm. ‘You die’. By ‘you’... what are you referring to?"

I caught a hint at what the voice was implying.

"My body dies."

"... And what ever happens to you?"

"I still can’t say for sure."

"It has been questioned infinitely. Death, that is. Countless generations have attempted to answer it, even glimpse it. Born from this inquiry: heaven, hell, purgatory, perhaps even reincarnation. Your species fears the end, because, in the end, you are not in control anymore. Your life is given to the hands of nature. Some greater force - within us all or far away, watching admirably, or perhaps distastefully. Maybe even forgotten us. Perhaps the force is beyond the concept of watching at all. Infinite religions, infinite doctrines, philosophies all ponder it. None have been able to answer it."

I listened, not about to say anything.

"You may ask me now, why would I ask you the question? The unanswerable question. You believe you are in no disposition to give me a correct response."

"You’re right. I won’t even try."

"Humanity must not seek its answer within itself. It will receive great clues from the universe surrounding him. Your eyes must gaze to the heavens, to the forests and the life that sprouts out infinitely around you. Observe the laws obeyed, natural and simple. Observe what repeats, what continues. Life will become infinitely clearer."

"You’re telling me to... Forget about our religions, our doctrines, our beliefs. You’re telling me to throw away everything and simply look around me, open-minded."

"Yes, but not imperatively. Simply look. I point to the clouds to show you something. I do not say it is right or wrong. I simply say: ‘There it is.’ From that moment, you may judge as you will. Or, perhaps, you will not judge. Perhaps you will simply ‘see’."

 

"And what is death?"

A fresh corpse appears before me. As if the man had just died.
I was startled a little, but my voice betrayed me.

-"The end of life
of course."

The body begins to decompose rapidly, skin withering into
the grass. Somehow like sand scattering through a net. Soon
the bones separated, grass beginning to engulf the gap the
corpse had once occupied. No, not just grass - a plant. Filtering
up through the ribcage, a single green stem reached out. Its
leaves multiplying in a matter of moments, sprouting out branches
to catch the sun's bright gift.

It was a dogwood tree.

The voiced asked again, "What is death?"

-I felt helpless.- Checkmate, you got me.

"Life to life, you see, is endless."

So I realize.

"Does anything truly end?"

It seems like one thing leads into another - I glimpsed

at the soft green stem of the tiny tree.-

"Then death is merely the end of one stage, in a continuous

cycle. A transition."

Right. But a transition into what?

"Why, the next chapter of your life of course. What else?"

I wouldn't know.

"You wouldn't?"

 

"I have a more personal question for you, my friend."

"Sure. Shoot."

"Have you not asked yourself the very questions I have asked you? Your whole life has been one of single-minded repetition. You have created for yourself this limited reality, this set path, without thinking of reaching for the infinite. How could you do this to yourself? Do you not see? You have walked through this wonderful Forest blindfolded... and only now, at it’s end, you take it off.


Come, surely you wish to see more? To ignore the possibilities is to ignore the fact that you are alive, whatever the true meaning of that may be."

 

Well, I've posted a bit more. I'm glad you guys can appreciate this . . . Let me know what you think of these additions?

 

That is awesome burn, I really enjoyed reading that.

 

beautiful as always, burn! i've been putting off replying because i want to comment further, but i keep running out of time. i'll admit i didn't enjoy the last addition as much as the first, but i don't know why... i'm going to reread it and let you know. it could be that i haven't had my morning coffee. still, lovely lovely lovely..... would make an excellent book of meditations. can't believe you're only eighteen...

love,
sophia

 

- "So, where do we go from here?"​

"What do you mean?"​

-"I mean, I know that my perception of reality is relative. I know that​

in order to grow and understand I need to step out of my little world and explore. But where do I go? I'm sitting here, realizing this entire reality is just in my mind - now what?"​

"Walk with me, for a little while."​

I stood up, glanced around to see if there was a general direction the spirit wanted to lead me. Nothing came to sight, so I just walked straight ahead. I ended up on an old trail, almost entirely consumed by the forest's underbrush.​

"What do you see?"​

-"Life. I see trees and bushes, birds and squirrels. There are bugs dancing in the air around me. Life."​

"What do you feel?"​

-"Emotionally, you mean?"​

"No. Beyond emotion - and by that I mean having nothing to do what is inside you. ​

I ask: What are you open to? ​

Can you feel that tree without having to touch it? Can you feel the presence of life in this forest without having to see it?​

I ask this."​

-"I'm not sure. I mean, how do you 'open' up to it?"​

"Do you see that sky, between the trees? That bright blue sky hinted between the green canope?"​

I looked up, nodding slowly.​

"Do you see how the momentary breeze rustles each branch, stirring the forest to sway?"​

-"I do. I see it."​

"How did it feel in that first instant you observed it? If you were to describe it to me now, what would you say about it?"​

-"That it was . . . Beautiful. Peaceful."​

"And in that very instant where it took your breath away, were you thinking: ' the wind is rustling the branches and leaves, and I find this simple moment stunning"?​

-"No. I wasn't thinking that."​

"What were you thinking in that first instant?"​

-"Nothing. I wasn't thinking anything at all. There was only that instant in that instant. You know?"​

"Perhaps, but explain it to me."​

-"My mind was completely quiet. I just saw the trees, the forest as they were, in stunning beauty. I was . . . "​

"You were . . .?"​

-"Completely open to that moment. I wasn't filling it up with thoughts, or with anger, happiness, confusion or understanding. I simply was being."​

"Perhaps then, this is the key to the door. When the mind and spirit are open, you may begin to feel the world around you. And maybe, just maybe when the spirit is open to the universe, we may feel the forest. Just like when your mind is empty, you may simply view, share in the beauty of this moment."​

-"So, where do we go now? Learning how to feel?"​

"We simply feel.​

"You see, the world may manifest in thousands of different ways to thousands of different species, but these perceptual senses are merely unique looking glasses. I speak of that which all relative perceptions share. I hint at the underlying force; the source of this limitless imagination of consciousness.​

"You may see as you will, but to feel, to be in this truest sense, is to move beyond relativity."​

-"I think I know what you mean. I think."​

"It is why we cannot see objectivity, but we may simply -be- it. Feel it. We asked this question before: Can humanity view objectivity? Truth? I hope you can begin to understand, now, that Truth transcends relative perception, for relative perception can only view a tiny fragment of the whole. Truth transcends the senses. Truth is the source of this myriad of perceptions. It is the source of both knowledge and imagination, but it is neither of these alone."​

 

gosh, burn, this addition was great.


that's all.

thanks,
love sophia

 

I love this. this is truelly uniquely put together. the only thing in the whole thing that i continued to feel was held back is the use of the word 'imagination' in the first segment, however this may simply be due to our individual interpretations of the word.

do continue.

id like to see where this goes in terms of value of living, but i dont want to steer anything

 

One sees the real masterpiece
the sunrise
is untamed by brush or pen

 

And words, but expressions of that,
painted by thought,
given feeling by human expression.

Beautiful, Varuna.

Another thought:

All words and imagery, created by humans,
to capture a moment about the sunset,
but not give it to you.
merely shadows of the sunset. . .

their purpose, the shadows, is to point the way to the light.

 

The eye that sees the sunrise seen,
the awe and wonder one's words adorn,
the communion inspiration brings,
who knows which is more divinely borne?

Just a thought,

Peace and Love

 

One more thought:

What has more substance?
Either or? Neither nor?

Both shadow and substance are but reflections,
On the ocean of infinite.
No weighing or judging,
No greater or less.
To this ocean, all is movement.

 

-"I've been thinking."​

The moon was on the eastern horizon; the dawn of night, so to speak.​

"About what?"​

-"Well. Everything we've been talking about. It brought to mind the old philosopher, Plato. He believed that knowledge is the ultimate objectivity."​

"Do you know the reasoning behind this?"​

-"Yeah... It was something like this: We all KNOW certain things without having to observe them. Like, for instance, a straight line. Perfectly straight lines do not exist . . . well, as far as I know . . . in common life. We've never seen a true straight line, yet we know that it is the shortest distance between two points. This knowledge is considered a shared 'objectivitiy', because. . . well, everyone knows it. They can see it in their minds, and it's true."​

"Well, let's look at this for a moment. The first thing that comes to mind is the new 'objective' fact that the shortest distance between two points is a curve. How did this objective truth . . change?"​

I felt a bit embarrassed. Was this a foolish question?​

-"Uhm. I guess it wasn't objective then."​

"No, go on, try to understand it. Don't jump to any conclusion. Investigate. Observe. There could be a twist."​

I stared into the air, as if it were somehow the Spirit. I gave a blank look, trying to force my mind to find a place to start. ​

-"So, it could be objective." I threw that out, just as starting ground. "We know when we can have a straight line between two points we can get across the distance faster. We can observe this, test this . . . Yet never have the straightest line. Neverthless we know it is true. Hm . ."​

The air was silent.​

-"Quantum physics found the curve thing? Yeah. It was those guys. . . It was because they began to explore uncharted territory. Am I getting warmer?"​

Still silence. Then, suprisingly, humor: "You're getting colder."​

I scrambled through my mind to try to find some other reason.​

-" All right. So first it was a straight-line, now its a curve. Yet, in everyday life we can't easily bend space-time. So . . . "​

"A little warmer."​

-" . . . So, then . . . "​

-"In every day life, we can just take a straight line and know it'll get us there fastest. In every day life."​

"Go on . . ?"​

-"Is there more?"​

"Just a bit."​

Another moment of silence, then, -" Well its a fact to us here. But when we looked at another perspective, the quantum perspective, it no longer was true."​

"But it is true. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, here at least. In another perspective, it isn't. We commonly, universally know in every-day life the former of the two facts is true."​

-"All right. . . So knowledge is relatively objective."​

I could almost feel the spirit smile.​

"Indeed. . . Knowledge is fragmented half-truths that make sense within the framework of limited perception. It is relative at a universal level: that of the common human experience."​

-"I get this."​

"That is good. One needs to understand the limits of thought in order to transcend them."​

The moon had creeped up a little since I had last looked. The stars began to twinkle and shimmer in the void of sky. I breathed in the cooled air, comfortable in the silence.​

 

love,

 

Yes

 

-This uncharted territory. This Undiscovered country...."​

"Yes?"​

-Could it even be us?​

"It could be. Perhaps the least explored aspect of your life is yourself. What you are, where you are going, what you're doing and why."​

-Or even... Why you are.​

"Even that."
​

 

i definitely want a copy of this book one day.

 

presumably what you are suggesting is that every sort of existence has some kind of awairness. this may very well be. though in all but some mamels and a very few other creatures, it is very difficult to conferm convincingly one way or another.

with or without awairness, everything does have a kind of intrinsicness, even spiritness, and definately worth. even the damd mosquito is bird food. though i could live just fine in a world without birds if that ment being able to live without mosquitoes. IF a world without birds could be stable and self perpetuating, which is of course by no means certain.

as for minerals and angiosperms, not to mention trees and other forms of vegitation, it IS good and sufficient that they exist. neccessary for ourselves to do so as well.

and we are NOT the reason anything else needs to. if needs to is even the word for it.
but we are in a sense, a part of everything else, just like everything else is. or at least everythink else on our home planet.

awairness as we experience awairness is certainly universal to anything that has a central nervious system.

immagination IS another question. and an interesting one. it HAS made us human. and the only objectively observable thing that has.

we are also the only species on our own planet, and almost certainly within our own solar system, to have so completely surrounded ourselves by our own artifacts as to be able to be unawaire of our connectedness with the ground we walk on and everything else that walks on or grows in it, though there are several other species that HAVE demonstrated the ability to solve problems by actualy creating tools with which to solve them.

there are of course billions and billions of other solar systems out there, each likely to have one or more planets with an as yet indeterminate probability of harbouring recognizable life.

=^^=
.../\...