More on external situations and depth

Filed under Notes on 16. August 2007 »

Earlier this week I got an email from a reader regarding the post External circumstances and inner peace, asking for clarification on some of the concepts having to do with seeing the world of form as only the surface level of being. And believe me, I can see how these ideas can get confusing. They sound far-fetched, and I don’t really have a logical understanding of them as such, but they work very well for me as pointers none the less.

Ultimately they are only words, of course, and no words or concepts can ever really capture the truth; they can only point beyond themselves. The concepts can be contradictory, illogical, weird, and still fulfill the function of pointing you towards that which cannot be put into words directly.

And so the key to being able to use them is to not get hung up on trying to make sense of the concepts on the level of thinking and reason, but rather allowing them to sink in and do their work. In many cases, something you read today that makes no sense to you whatsoever may later hit you in a sudden flash of insight. Truth is beyond reason, and yet blindingly simple and obvious when you see it.

Following is the question and then the answer I gave in the email:

"Whatever problems you have in your external situation at the moment, they are neither better nor worse than any other problems that have or can ever come up in your life. On the surface level, this problem is worse and more complicated than that problem, but the differences are only relative to that level. If the surface level is 1% and the problems on that level scale from 1-10, even a level 10 problem will never exceed 1% of the totality."

In a previous article you mentioned something similar with the 95/5 formula. I am not clear what qualifies as the 1% of the surface level, and what the rest of the 99% is? It's difficult for me to accept that the life that i experience 100% of the time is only 1% of my being. Please go into more detail about what the 99% is and what the 1% is. Is everything we experience on a daily basis filed under the 1% of our being and we shouldn't really mind what happens? Or are there things that we experience (relaxation, love, friendship) which occur on the surface but are filed under the 99% of importance? I'm really confused.

It's important to remember that even the surface is part of the totality, so I am in no way dismissing the importance of that 5% (or 1%, 0.001%, 10%, whatever). It's just a matter of depth. When you look at a human being and are only aware of the surface, what you see is only a collection of labels. Whereas when you look at a human being while aware of the totality, you see/sense much more. It's almost like the difference of meeting someone online vs. face to face; the former is a bundle of abstracted labels and information, while the latter is (potentially) a much deeper and richer experience.

Now, the mind cannot possibly make sense of what it means to be aware of the totality. It's impossible to try and figure it out, and the numbers are just a method of pointing towards something that doesn't really make any logical sense. It's not at all about the numbers, or about words or explanations for that matter.

To look at some other perspectives on this:

If you're in a relatively quiet environment, close your eyes for a moment and listen. Observe that there is silence, and then there are sounds that arise and dissolve out of that stillness. The more you are aware of the silence, the more you sense its depth and how the sounds that appear in it are relatively fleeting and insignificant. In fact, consciously being aware of the silence that underlies everything is a great pointer towards sensing the depth beyond the surface level.

Yet another way of looking at it is to use the sea metaphor. The totality is the entire sea, unimaginable stillness, depth and vastness, while the world of form is the continuous play of forms on the surface of the sea, the waves. Sometimes the waves are huge and restless, sometimes it's almost completely still, but whatever happens on the surface doesn't affect the stillness in the depths.

The whole deal with the numbers and all these pointers and tricks is to trigger shifts in awareness. Although I think it's a bad idea and not worth the health risks involved, you could probably do this to some extent with mind-altering drugs also.

Regarding what you mention with relaxation, love and friendship, I would suggest that in a way these can provide glimpses of what is beyond the surface. Remember also that everything is part of the 100%, and so everything is 100% important. So let's say an orange is a 100% important, but we only see the skin of it and believe that to be 100% important, overlooking the fruit inside.

I'm not sure how to explain it any better, but remember that you don't necessarily need to understand any of it on a conceptual level. In fact, trying to work it out on that level may hinder you in gaining the deeper level of understanding, the flash of insight where it everything makes sense on a much deeper level than the thinking-mind can comprehend.