Notes on authenticity

Words may be seen as much magical as a form of art – as mode of expression of the mind (or thoughts). Whatever the potential of consciousness – in terms of handling the length and breadth of thought (or the space-time dimension) can be mapped or expressed or shared through words.

The requirement of authentic thinking – is to have a first hand experience of action not bounded in any known framework. Which means, we will fall down, we will fear, we will get up, we will learn and we will improve along the way. This experience needs to be ‘felt’ in our minds – recorded and interpreted to reveal some principles of existence. This will make our words more authentic to us. We will say things ‘from the bottom of the heart’. Should we say things only after discovery? Or only to confirm or rebel or justify or prove? The question is: what is the intent that creates the words? Can words be said only for sharing? Sharing what? Sharing…that’s it! Feel the word called ‘sharing’…Feel it. Those dimensions of feelings, if generated, can give one a peaceful feeling – through words too.

Hence, one may feel like sharing through everything.

There are a few things that need acknowledgement here – as we grow or as a kind of conscious effort:

We do things for ourselves – we are answerable for us

Silence is important

To cling on to a set of actions is ok.

Do it for yourself

Values are important to be pursued

What we think, we can say. We are sure of that intent. The world may keep judging the intent.

One doesn’t work for expressing the intent explicitly. Anything that is explicit, has an element of ego and ownership, and therefore is limited in scope.

The best subtle beauties in the world have always been implicit and silent.

If I believe in silence, I must embrace it.

Notes on Feelings

Feelings are of various kinds. They can be governed by intellect or by compulsion to respond to desires or urges. The best of the feelings are those that make us see ourselves as expressions of the continuous pattern of space/consciousness to force to manifestations. Feelings generated from this understanding will have huge doses of empathy, connect, awareness, compassion and positive attitude. Feelings, although coming from a unique situation of mind and body, would have reached a universal dimension of existence by then.

From a very limited view imposed by our own body to the universal view of expanding beyond any known situation of place and time, the process of transformation is long and filled with challenges. What we are dealing with is a transformation of worldview for the individual. And at the core, is the effort of transforming our limited sense of view to the universal. It is also with this intent, that the best idea diagrams are illustrated. There is absolutely no such thing as ‘me’ or ‘mine’ alone. What ‘I’ am is much, much more beyond the body and mind. Rather, the mind and body may be said as different dimensions of ‘I’. The same ‘I’ perceives and acts in different way if connected with the phenomenon of ‘mind’ and the same ‘I’ again perceives and acts in a different way by relating to the phenomenon of the ‘body’. If space or consciousness is a neutral element, its principle to appear through the mediums of mind and body are inevitable (And there may definitely be other expressions which ‘we’ may not even be aware of at the moment). This is the principle of manifestation – space/ consciousness will manifest and keep manifesting. It will appear in a visible form and in the form of some ‘pattern’ or a ‘force’.

Anything that we see, hear, touch, taste, smell – are the physical attributes of manifestations. By imagining these signals further (decoding or analyzing or perceiving), we see the ‘force’ behind these visible things. By decoding the nature of force, we may realize the direct experience.

The above may seem as a huge dose of philosophy. How should that translate into day to day existence? Probably by putting faith in entire process of creation and to let go of countless number of distractions and annoyances that we keep entertaining in our minds.

Only when one is prepared to receive blessings and make the soil fertile, will the seeds of universal consciousness be realized in the individual self. This may happen at any instant, may happen in the most subtle ways or may require efforts. Whatever it is, the belief in this idea of transformation should not be compromised. This is what ‘we’ are, as human beings.

zoom in to thoughts

The advaita philosophy is all about realizing a ‘direct experience’ – to see everything  - all events, objects, phenomena as a manifestation of the basic unit – One.  Universe, according to our normal mechanisms of ‘imagination’ (perception +conception or vibrations or nerve impulses) is seen in various forms and names. A name or a physical form or a system is seen as separate or interrelated events. The impulse behind all is the same however. To see this impulse, means to have a direct experience. We, fundamentally, are expressions of the same impulse – that generate thoughts and actions. To see the reality of absolute truth or super conscious state is to have a direct experience.

One may wonder why we continue to be immersed in the illusion of thoughts and see everything as being separate? This is ‘maya’ or the state of consciousness born out of our thoughts (as a phenomenon of existence in a human body). As phenomenon, it is unstoppable and dependent on many things – outside world and the inside world. This phenomenon creates, what ‘we’ call, the ego or the urge to act on a desire and face the consequence and again review the same and to keep continue to do so. It is unstoppable, changing, dynamic and fluid. Talking from the layer of super conscious state – it is a ‘given’ – this impulse of expression. And the retreat from the senses or from imagination of any kind – is also a ‘given’ to the human form. The impulse of action is ‘what is to be done’ and the impulse of retreat is ‘why is it to be done’. Whatever expressions we do – from arts to engineering – are contained in this push and pull urges. Some are aware of this and handle it better than others. Regardless of any situation, this urge acts on everyone. The more we go outwards towards the senses and desires, we become isolated from all. The more we withdraw and see connections in everything, we see patterns and phenomena and we realize that we are connected. All is the effort of our own mind/ imagination. Philosophy may be difficult to understand for all. However, we may try and see the components of our thoughts – feelings and intellect and see the thoughts we create. A thought has so many connections – required or to be discarded. Thoughts go from imaginary past to future. Thoughts may reflect fears. All these need to be reviewed. By asking and observing and questioning each thought, one may arrive at a fundamental realization of this phenomenon and become compassionate to all.

The key to reveal truths is based on one aspect – concentration. One can concentrate on an object or an idea or an action – thoughts will decrease, merge or melt to reveal the super conscious state.

It will be seen that everyone requires support, acceptance, understanding for the struggles and conflicts one faces. Age, gender, and other social constructs are just particular ways of defining uniqueness of a situation. What is one achieving by sharply focusing on the particular? If the aim of being particular is to appear unique or different, then the purpose of connectedness doesn’t arise at all. On the other hand, if the aim of defining particular is to express it as one of the ways of universal, then we are aiming for some connections. I am not against modern or traditional technology or a modern outlook or a traditional outlook. These terms don’t matter. Any term is springing from a universal dimension of consciousness – this is to be realized. There is no room for debate. There are only expressions of consciousness or contextual expressions. Hence modern is tradition as seen from a different angle and vice versa. Whatever we are in at the present moment, we need to realize the universal connect. This is the progression of the state of mind. Situations are just triggers. Thoughts, of any kind, are triggers. Hence, accept all in good faith. There’s room for everything.

Rock or Vapour?

Thoughts are formed from ‘nothing’. Thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to some product – object, furniture, or architecture. Thus, the objects – whatever they may be – are indicators of thoughts/ ideas/ concerns/ beliefs.

As time goes by, the physical object may remain the same, but perspectives towards it, keep changing. At times, the same meanings get reinforced to such an extent, that the thought and the object become virtually inseparable. The meanings get so loaded, so layered and so accumulative of years of perceptions, that the object becomes “heavily” value laden. In such cases, it becomes difficult to change the physical object that is consumed in our experience. I think, that is what seems to happen to objects representing ‘tradition’, a cultural meaning or a symbol. Objects signifying collective memories are also hard to break or change. Examples among them are temples, forts and anything that can be recognized as being “religious”.  Any attempt by architects or designers to change the form of the object is perceived as sacrilege by the society! The society has forgotten the idea behind the object and considers the object as the complete reality – or an end in itself. The idea of the object has now become as hard as a ‘rock’.

If an idea (and the object communicating it) has become as hard as a rock, it will take enormous strength and time to loosen its grip on our mind. However, the rock also disintegrates into granules and granules into dust. That way, everything can go into dust! This should be remembered by all.

The process of loosening the hold of the object on us – is of “decoding”. This simply means to keep asking why and keep going back to the origins of the thought and the connections that have formed by billions of thoughts to make the present object. As we unearth the connections, a sort of fluidity emerges and we encounter the domain of nebulous ideas – continuously forming and dissolving. These ideas can be transformed, adapted, changed, into anything else in any given time at any given place. Thus, we have encountered the zone of pure space – (or void or nothingness) where everything is possible. We have moved beyond the object and the object has dissolved completely for us. The object is not the reality for us any longer; the object is only a temporal expression of space.

This leads me to infer that the link between an ‘idea’ and the ‘object’ it represents, is NOT direct or straightforward or logical. The same idea can generate numerous objects and the same object can communicate numerous ideas. An object can be seen as the container of billions of ideas, so why should we be so concerned about a ‘particular’ object and its specific syntax? Can’t the object be seen only as a gesture to indicate a higher and a nebulous space? In realizing and being aware of this space, it then becomes acceptable for us to represent or express a particular idea in many manifestations (or Avataar).

This is the crux of designing a product, where a potential thought can manifest itself in numerous products. And the products get interpreted in numerous ways by the end users! Students sometimes make a mistake in trying to rationalize their thoughts into some equivalent object of expression. This need not be so. If a student realizes the mystery, the fuzziness, the eccentricity, the intuitional aspects, the spontaneity of thoughts, they will come to accept that the object is NOT the sum total of all thoughts and it is ambiguous in its representation and interpretation. Thus, an object need not prove any definite set of thoughts. It is just an indicator of potential of thoughts. The act of creation is therefore, not just mathematics.

Question

Every person comes with a question – he/she is born with it. The question can be said as a continuous ‘force’ or a vibration that acts on consciousness to perform some action. The question is the medium through which the consciousness acts or expresses itself. This question is called as imagination and has components of perception (because of senses, the nervous network, brain centre) and conception (our response that is communicated back through nervous system). As long as we have this ‘form’ of existence, we are subjected to the process/ force/ vibration that we term as imagination. The basic fact of imagination is that it comes into existence as a bridge connecting the consciousness and the manifested form. Another word for the quality of imagination is called ‘tendency’ – and is categorized as Tamas, Rajas, Satvik. Each tendency is an expression of the extent of boundary - how small or how comprehensive and to the strongest level of attachment (Tamas) to a transcendental level (Satvik); to be immersed in smallest of details and minimum of intellect (Tamas) to the cosmic understanding of things and maximum dissection of intellect (Satvik); to consider the ‘body’ or the event as the only way of perceiving things (Tamas) to see the consciousness in all things (Satvik).

The imagination we are referring above, constructs the feeling of ‘ego’ – attachment to body-mind phenomenon. ‘We’ tend to understand the world by the nature of this ‘ego’. Feelings, intellect, and all the tools used for thinking (observation, comparison, inference and testimony) result in a given tendency of thought. Hence, thought becomes important to be considered. And it is reinforced by self talk or by how it is used to perceive and conceive things and by the actions that get decided. Every sight, smell, touch, sound, breathe, taste (which are inputs of connecting to the outside world) create a ripple/ vibration in our existence and we respond. Many things happen in this process of imagination – many thoughts get generated, many times we are compelled to act. The hold of such a force is enormous. It is only through repeated practice of analysis, decoding and inward looking, that the same force can lead to our own transformation and give us a transcendental experience.

Based on these changes in thoughts, we start to perceive and conceive things differently – from considering events as separate to realizing the interdependence of all systems to realizing a pattern/ phenomenon and converging all patterns into that singular existence of consciousness. All this is possible and is very real. If there is anything that should be wished, is the ability to watch our own thoughts, to decode them and to help others decode theirs. If we are in a position to map and review our own thoughts, greater are the chances of transforming the self.

One of the important learning from this process is that any ‘situation’ represents or mirrors our own tendencies. Any situation can be regarded as a good enough starting point to transform oneself. Thus, our idea of perfection is not dependent on any ‘other’, futuristic or a past scenario. Any situation is good to respond in an appropriate manner. Any situation is going to project fears and securities, constraints and potentials – that is what our mind perceives. Hence to tackle any situation means to actually see our mind untangle itself. Hence, doing many things at the same time is not the answer to the riddle. Concentrating on one situation completely can unlock the reservoir of consciousness and help us see our cosmic connection. Therefore –

Now is the perfect moment to ‘be’ in.

Now is the perfect moment to ‘act’

Now is the perfect moment to ‘start’

Now is ‘better’ than anything else.

He or she is equally perfect – just the way you are.