The meaning of life

The Meaning Of Life:

Ever since day one I have very much been an observer, and would find myself sitting back and observing learning rather than taking part. I have also spent much time observing observations, and the most fundamental one is about us, and our continuous obsession with the answer to "the meaning of life", it has always amused me how we have gotten stumped on this one. I am not saying that I have never thought about it but it has never troubled or worried or even affected my line of research, as I have progressed : the answer in my mind has changed and inevitably become more complex. I always found Douglas Adams's perception from the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy to be very amusing, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, deep thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. You see we as humans make things very complex, we create then create within this and basically produce and evolve within a framework of our creation. We seek to develop the things around us, thus developing us and then developing systems to function within this structure. Before you know it our reason or incentive for progression or survival, has become a created system where we progress within the structure we have created. This today is the financial system, capitalism which drives our species forward. There are fundamental flaws in this system, which I am not writing to discuss, but it helps to define the point about humanity existing within nature. We tend to isolate ourselves from nature itself, the very source of our existence! 

When I was growing up, I thought the meaning of life was "to survive", due to our current lifestyle we have forgotten this need to survive and aim our minds at the question, unfortunately nature wasn't created to answer one question, although It can answer many and ask even more!

If I had to give a statement about life in the universe and the meaning of it, I would have to say that the characteristics of life is to replicate, express and interact, and that the reason for this if in fact there is one is currently unknown at our level.

Excersize:

Get a piece of paper and a pen, and write down what you think the meaning of life is, and why there has to be a meaning of life, and to whom is this meaning relevant. Place this in an envelope and post it to yourself, and do not open it until you have finished this book.

Perception:

The primary definition of perception is : 

"the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding." 

It is perhaps humanities biggest asset, without this ability to perceive then the questions and the meaning and understanding cannot follow. It is also our biggest weakness if misunderstood, as I believe it currently to be by many. So how do we perceive, well we translate the world around us by using our senses, this combined with our memories and instincts tell us what is literally going on. It is said that we all perceive things slightly differently based on our personal experiences and learning. In many ways when we look at something we "feel" it, as our previous experiences with what we are looking at will influence us. In the past this would have led to life and death situations being resolved, today we have evolved emotionally and this is a consequence of this evolution. 

A good example of this is how we view colours, which there are two factors which influence what we perceive as a given colour. Our learning tells us what each colour is, and if we have learned from different teachers and different diagrams, then they may be a slight difference in what we call colours. This is identity perception, where we see the same thing but our definition differs. The other theory is based on a scientific theory in which we have different numbers of cone cells which lead to us reading the light slightly differently. a key factor in how we view a colour is memories and state of mind, these very much will influence the way we view a colour.

For example, to put this simplistically, we may look at a Bright red poster and this colour may remind us of a memory of a red tent in which a circus performance we witnessed occurred. This memory may be a very vivid early memory where we had a great time and great positive emotion may be attached with this memory. When we view this poster we may relate back to this memory (unconsciously, or consciously) and see it in a different way, or rather "feel" it, it would be inaccurate to say that we see this colour in a lighter or brighter tone but we feel it in an emotionally reactive response which may seem like things are brighter and more positive. Equally if we are depressed or unhappy then we may see things in an emotionally reactive response giving a darker or duller perception. Often the memories can have a mixture of both or perhaps a feeling of nostalgia, and this sense is not limited to sight, it affects all of the sense. For instance, the smell of cut grass for the first time on a summer day, or the smell of a lovers purfume> we may feel of relate back to a memory in which these conditions applied.

There are disorders in which the weather and light contrast can influence our moods, and a product known as a sun box can indeed be used to simulate a bright sunrise in ones bedroom moments before the person needs to wake up. It would seem that perception is a truly influential part of who we are, and our memories and our moods can influence how we perceive the world around us.

As we have evolved from animals we have become self aware, our perception has developed from instinct to ask questions like "what is that", "who are we", "can we do this", "why are we here" and "does my bum look big in this"! The why are we here question has fuelled many quests and searches, we have in a way been searching for our identity. It is possible that civilisations developed their own answers to this question, but in terms of today we are really extremely capable of solving this dilemma, if not for mankind then for our own personal acceptance. 

When I experienced meditation for the first time, for what felt like a short time had passed, several hours had in fact gone by. This was during a spell of incarceration when I had no belongings and learnt to literally escape in myself through meditation. It got me through a difficult time in my life when stress was rife and my actions and character was falsified in order to survive. I always saw meditation as a connection with something, something so vast I could imagine anything, I always imagined nothingness, peace from subconscious thoughts and from stress, allowing release. Incidentally this always felt like release through the chakra points which I would later learn about.

I have tried various meditations, Tai chi excersizes and mental projection techniques which all use the idea that imagination can become intent and intent can become reality. Lets focus on intent, and mental excersizes for a moment.

Excersize:

Get into a comfortable position, sit cross-legged as long as it is comfortable. Loosen up your body, try and relax your thoughts, turn off any instruments, mobile phones and any other distractions. Breathe in through the nose, then relax and breath out through your mouth, slowly close your eyes and focus solely on breathing smoothly. Let the breathing become deeper, don't try too hard to do it it will come naturally if you let it. 

Meditation can seem difficult the first few times through trying too hard, it is not a race nor of extreme importance and there is no right way as such, it will come if you let you mind relax. If you get panicking thoughts enter your head do not be annoyed, let them pass - imagine these thoughts as separate entities and smile at them as you would when someone rushes past you to catch a train you don't need to. Remember you are in no rush and any racing thoughts will gradually pass. After a few minutes slowly bring yourself out of it, and open your eyes slowly. How do you feel? Well done this is meditation, and I see it as a disciplined way of doing absolutely nothing!

You can take this further and envision yourself at a beach relaxing, while listening to the gentle sea lapping on a soft sandy beach with the sun glistening on the water, for example, and you can purchase a whole multitude of listening material to aid meditation but ultimately its up to you. Personally I prefer to create silence and think nothing when I meditate.

Meditation seems pointless for the first few times, and one can get emotional after doing this, one can feel angry, or pointless and stupid. Take a step back and approach it again. You have to remember many around the world use meditation and if it didn't work then we probably wouldn't even know about it!

Meditation can be used to help us define ourself within the universe, by using intent we can literally imagine who and where we are, and this can give us a tremendous sense of resolve. If one ever feels doubt or asks oneself why am I doing this? If for no other reason then this method can help you, this in itself makes it worth while!

We will try some other excersizes later.

Humans, truly amazing miracles!

It Always occurred to me at school, that I was remarkably lucky to be who I was. Imagine a situation before your birth and that before your birth, the universe allocates energy to existence and its your turn, you are a blob of energy with lots of other blobs and you could be potentially anything in the universe. It is possible that you could be a single celled organism on some outer world in the galaxy, it is possible that you could be an underwater creature in the pacific, it is also possible that you could be a polar bear on the north pole. It is possible that you could be a tree in the woods in asia, it is also possible that you could be a starving infant in the third world struggling to survive. It is possible you could be a peasant in the dark ages, it is possible you could be a bright person in a country with limited opportunities somewhere in Europe, it is possible that you could be someone in Britain born into a world abundant with food, electricity, and heated houses. Really when you look at it like that, for me, to be me I feel I am extremely lucky, to be in my situation is very good luck, from a probability perspective. If we then combine this with humanity itself, and the level that we are at in terms of the potential we have,it has never been as high as it is today, information at our fingertips, 24 hour superstores, the ability to travel halfway round the world in a matter of hours, we really are extremely lucky. Of course to appreciate this we will have needed to experience the other things, but by looking at this perspective we soon can become more grateful. It is easy with todays society to always want more and never be satisfied with what we have, but we should try to remember what we have, and how lucky we are to have it.

The human body itself is pretty amazing as well, the ability to fight infections, self repair, and grow. When we look at the human body it is incredibly organised, and intelligent. Consciously when we have an infection we don't know about it, we don't have to tell the cells to attack the infected cells, this is an instinctive response, the body knows. The body has rules and laws, as does nature, but at the same time, no person is alike, each of us is remarkably unique! So I can confidently say "there is no-one else like me" I am one of a kind, and this is, Priceless! This is a remarkable thing, especially in a day and age where we are taught to hate ourselves, through the media and our evolution we can never be perfect, when if you change your perception we are in fact, perfect, and this change alone can have massive differences for our lives.

When we look at ourselves consciously, systematically, against all other life, we are perfect in our own unique way. In a way we are a form of art, created by nature. When one truly understand this then questions like the meaning of life lose their significance somewhat, what if the meaning of life it to simply be, at all levels of perfection…perhaps, food for thought!

The next excersize is all about Learning to love ourselves. It is easy to forget how amazing we truly are, in an age where we are obsessed with physical appearance, we should be able to remember who we really are, and I really mean it when I say YOU ARE PERFECT! So lets look how perfect you really are, remember anything which makes us different is not a bad thing, the fact is EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT, even those pretty celebrities you read about in the latest magazine, who incidentally "hate themselves and their look", have funny belly buttons, have birthmarks, have had surgery to correct their individual traits in order to fit into a box of what is socially ideal, they are as unique as you . Well Im here to tell you this ideal is nothing more than an ideal which will always leave you wanting, so look at yourself and remember your beauty, your uniqueness, your perfection.

So what don't you like about yourself, your legs, your eyes, your belly? I have an unusual belly button, when I was younger I used to cover it up when at swimming, I was so embarrassed by it, even now I feel a little awkward when showing it to anyone. No one in the universe, in existence has a belly button like mine, I am perfectly unique in this way.

Excersize:

Every morning I do an excersize in the mirror, to the point it is no longer an excersize, it just is, and I can honestly say I love myself, even My belly button which is a little unusual, its odd but it makes me, ME! 

I look at myself in the morning and quite literally "love myself", I think about all the things that are accepted to be a good thing, i.e facial features, any muscular activity, physique, and I am extremely lucky, for I am healthy, I have to be thankful for this for the reasons listed above i.e my situation is lucky, then on top of that I am healthy, built well e.t.c. Then I look at the parts which are not so good, my belly (slightly chubby), my belly button, my narrow pencil ankles, and show compassionate forgiveness toward myself for this, they are minor things but I accept myself and forgive myself for these things. If I felt any one of these things was unhealthy and causing a risk to my health and safety I would make plans to change the way these things are, but I would still show myself forgiveness. The only way I can deal with something is to face up to it first, then take measures to fix it/them, but I would NOT EVER hate myself, this hate will lead to more of the same, as it often does especially with weight problems. The bottom line is if you are healthy, happy and love yourself then you need not change anything, just keep loving yourself.

An extension of this excersize is when laying in bed, I use my intent to show love to each part of my body, many healers and spiritual guides speak of health shakras, I tend not to use all of these, they will become clear to you in time and its whatever works best for you.

When focussing any intent I imagine my body part, I normally start off with the feet, and imagine the shape, the texture, the uniqueness. I imagine my foot as an innocent child (A representation of innocent pure love) mentally cuddling the foot, then I move up the leg, imagining how it feels, the cell structure, the arteries, the complexity, yet innocent. Gradually I work my way through my body and finish above my head. 

This excersize works best as well if you forgive yourself for events during the day, which did not go as they should, and perhaps others that are less fortunate than yourself. Perhaps you have a relative who has recently lost a loved one, perhaps send them some good intent. If nothing else this will show yourself that you care about yourself and those around you, this normally works well when trying to get to sleep, almost like tying up loose ends. I find that after this excersize then next morning I feel fresher and "like new", ready to start a new day.