The Quest

^{Original Image: Ellora Caves, Maharastra, India Photo by: @yangyanje}

The Ws

Where am I ?

A Human Life starts with questions like : 'Where am I?' For some maybe : 'Am I awake or is this a dream?'

Here, in me, myself, /geographic location, earth, solar system/sol, orbiting a galactic center etc., surrounded billions of galaxies, consisting, yet engulfed by a vast ocean of atomic sand scattered through what we perceive as empty space? Entangled ripples, resonating waves tunnelling beyond the barriers of space time vacuum's on our path to discovering consciousness? Or it could just be anyone sitting under a tree while a butterfly passes, realising the simple notion of presence and being mindful of it. Depending on what sequence, 'Where' plays an important role and poses questions about where we come from. Our parents, their ancestors, humans and where they came from? Their history, cultures, languages, migrations, our planet, the universe and what possibly all lead to the now. When we ask where we come from and question our origins, human history tells a mysterious tale of a past that can reveal puzzling details, depending on your geographic location and the influence of cultures there. Throughout our lives we can begin to understand one or several out of the many languages used by our species as means to communicate and might get a clearer picture? Popular tales are often suited to the advantages of victors.

What am I ?

Questions such as 'What am I?' then answers some things about how we perceive our surroundings and other human beings. If we were born pure, what we see and the actions committed towards us and our actions in this world moulds us into a shape, distorting our essence. The world that should be a playground for us to explore and discover ourselves, becomes a society we are supposed to conform to and it does this through collective indoctrination. We excuse the actions of others as soon as they are viewed as a common traits in our species and allow ourselves to fall victim to the same actions whether ethical or not. For example ivory. They used to make piano keys from elephant tusks. People might be shocked at this today, but think about what people in the future might think about Canada goos jackets? We then excuse ourselves by hiding behind the actions of others. We forget that, as we learn to see the world as everyone else does, that we actually have a choice. If a monkey sees another monkey eat a banana, it eats a banana. Monkey see, Monkey do. Every word that I am writing here, an identical copy to the word in your vocabulary needs to be retained in order for you to understand that word. It is therefore axiomatic that groupthink is a common trait that makes us loose our individuality in various forms of expressions and linguistics. If we all hear and read the same, the question is how much of it do we truly understand and how much of who we truly are is left of ourselves? Interestingly these languages and the ways we use our senses, can create cultural patterns. Most people say what they heard like parrots and live what they see. Some just recite newspaper articles from journalists that write what they heard, following the news trends. The person who recites it might never have been present during the incident. This can also make most humans very predictable, as their belief systems become dogmas? Instead of exploring the extend of what one knows, by finding out what one doesn't know, people become trapped in the constructs of the masses or create their own out of them. At some point in life they loose their open mindedness to question this construct and give in. If what I am is truly an individual, then I see myself as alone and that there is none other inside of me. As soon as I live what's out there, I am not myself. This makes the question an even greater one to answer.

"Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who am I ?

If you know where you are and what you are, you might want to ask: 'Who am I ?' When you know where you are, what you are, and who you are, you can find out what you are capable of. When you know who you are and what you can do, you can can find out where you want to go? This creates a path. In the process of becoming an ambitious being, you might prefer to live by the moment. If life is a path, you can also just go for a walk, not knowing where you're going. I guess it's important to reach the station on time if you have a train to catch though? Maybe that involves learning a skill, discovering your traits or even finding a vocation. Many struggle in this process and that's perfectly normal, as surroundings can put pressure that we voluntarily then inflict on ourselves. Instead of living inside, we start living outside ourselves, becoming a concept or a conceptualisation of an ideal human being. The profound honesty of our innermost self is waiting to unwind and unfold by expressing itself in what we do and are passionate about by challenging ourselves. We often forget that we can't trust others unless we trust ourselves. Trust and know ourselves enough to trust others. This means developing intuition. Once we trust ourselves, we are also able to develop a sense of self awareness. As we can realise the distinct nature of our path, being individuals, there might be one laid out for each of us. One way in where all space is open to those who see the path.

“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” ― Morpheus (The Matrix)

When ?

If you think you know you've stopped learning. If you think you are, you've stopped becoming. When is a better time than now? The now is everything. Presence. What are we waiting for? If you were you from the future, what would you tell yourself right now? Of course you could not go back in time and tell yourself to buy bitcoins? The real question you can ask yourself is what you don't know. Isn't then the limit to your ignorance to know the same as others and the barriers to evolve doing the same as others? How much are you truly aware of your actions? If you're in there, you have a choice!

Why ?

Once you have reached this conclusion, you are on the right path. 'Why ?' is the Question. In our restless search for pleasure taste and bliss, success and the craving for the greener grass on the other side, our thirst is never quenched. What makes us happy once we have it, can also make us unhappy. Like an amazing car. Once we have to change the tire, get it to a mechanic or pay for insurance, we realise there is always something antagonistic associated with it. Be it luxury articles or fashion brands. The quest never ends. Material objects are desired in quantity. More and more, the greed never ends. This results in ignorance, envy, and we often see them on others. They have what we don't have. In modern society consumerism starts with creating an absence by depicting someone who has attained something materialistic. A sensation causes the consumer to realise that the depicted bait has something they don't. The person depicted often has everything the regular consumer would like to possess. The consumer then compensates this absence by attaining that material object. Once the action is repeated the absence is never addressed again. Why? As I previously mentioned, we live outside ourselves as soon as we don't live ourselves. The true absence is the lack of knowing that you have everything to create. The void and emptiness is an opportunity to become fulfilled by being creative. We aren't just made to be consumers, we are born to be producers.

"There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can." - Henry Ford

Karma

Imagine if you never learned what cO2 emission is in School? Wouldn't you drive a car not knowing that it creates pollution? How could you then decide to ride a bicycle with the sole purpose of reducing emissions? Well, you couldn't and it wouldn't make a difference because you didn't know anyways. You would simply share the same karma with everyone else who drives a car unaware of pollution being created through emissions. If you travel in a bus you will share the emission with all the bus passengers. The real question that you could ask yourself is how many things you aren't doing, just because you don't know that you could be doing them instead? Doesn't that determine what path you are on? Also who you are bound to meet, why this post appeals to you and why you are still reading it?

Dharma

What we should be doing as a species is questionable? At least we shouldn't destroy the planet in the process of our species attaining spiritual enlightenment? What if we'd look at it as the process of reaching a higher state of evolution or to evolve our species as a whole to a higher plane of existence? Wouldn't that mean for each of us to be a part of that? Our actions define our path and the purpose of human life is to attain spiritual enlightenment. Kevalya, Nirvana, Mukti, Moksha... Your Dharma has lead you to read until this line...

^{Original Image: Ellora Caves, Maharastra, India Photo by: @yangyanje}

Conclusions

I am not religious nor do I view Buddhism as a religion. The Buddha was a human being, idealised long after his death by the Ashokan Empire. They put up statues of him all over Asia. Apart from universities that he founded that taught mathematics and astronomy, the practice of holistic thinking was also a part of what students during the Gupta dynasty in India and the Tang and Song dynasties in China and many parts of Asia pursued as higher studies. The Buddha never wanted to be worshipped. A humble being, who was praised as the enlightened, but simply pointed out that we all have our own paths like branches and twigs in the tree of life. He never wanted anyone to embark on his path. There is no one truth for all, only each truth that's a part of all and makes the whole complete. Your truth. There is no wrong or right but only what you choose to do. We can still make our own choices once we know the consequences of our actions and are aware of the ones of others.

As explained above, self awareness and self realisation leads to presence. Once you know that you are not only in control of your mind and your body, what remains is to ask yourself who is in there and how far you truly tabbed into your potential? Humans often fear, unaware that they eat it. There are many ways to heal ourselves, such as chakra tuning and healing ourselves through our parasympathetic nervous system. I think anyone can become a spiritual master. I'd like to end this post by reminding everyone that the most overlooked and important thing in life is to breathe.

'If you remember who you are in essence and strip away superficial external indoctrination, that self has no form or shape that the world moulds us into. When you look deep within, you can find resilience in who you were all along.' - @yangyanje

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