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The Holistic Mystic: |
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What Is This Universe?© |
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by Lonny Brown, Ph.D. |
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The philosophy of physics is becoming indistinguishable from the philosophy of Buddhism, which is the philosophy of Enlightenment.
- Gary Zukav
We have words for it, yet know It not. We know It exists, yet we know not how. We may refer to It as Creation, Existence, Reality, the Cosmos, Tao, God. We know only a minute fragment of Its body and being; only a few of It's limitless properties and possibilities; only a narrow waveband in the stupendously vast spectrum of the Universe.
We feel some of Its energy, but we cannot begin to conceive of Its power. It is so old, so vast, so complex, so spectacular, so minute, so invisible, so subtle, so intelligent, so brutal, so beautiful, that words and numbers and concepts fail altogether.
So incalculable and miraculous is the Universe, that we should be stunned and in awe every morning that we re-awake to it. So exalted is It, that we should treat even its names with reverence. It is All One. Do we have even an iota of a chance of understanding It, and our place in this Universe?
DON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES, UNTIL YOU OPEN THEM
The earth is a Paradise, the only one we will ever know. We will realize it the moment we open our eyes. We don't have to make it a paradise, it is one. We have only to make ourselves fit to inhabit it.
- Henry Miller
At this very moment, stuck onto a whirling little orb, hooked into an average-looking solar system on the outer spiral of the diaphanous cloud of dusty radiance we call the Milky Way, you are hurtling through space at an unimaginably enormous velocity.
Yet you feel that you are stationary... that the world is always "under" you, the sky is the very definition of "up." The vaulted exploding heavens appear a motionless canopy. We call this non-sense "common sense".
You look up at the stars and assume that they are all "there" at once, namely "now." Yet each star/image streaming into your eyes comes from a different time, spanning numerous billions of years. Not only are you literally looking into the past, but you are actually beholding a multitude of pasts in one enormous starry vista. Many of the celestial bodies you believe to be "there" are "now" long dead and gone. Our beloved, ever-so-reliable night sky, by which we have navigated for thousands of years, is really an antique apparition. At the same time, since the light of billions of "newer" stars has yet to reach us, there is no way of knowing what is really out there, song long as we rely on sight.
YOUR BRAIN FILTERS YOUR MIND.
Great Knowledge is there before we can do anything. It is already perfect. We do not even need to take up a starting position. We are completely free, from the outset.
- Tarthang Tulku
Common misperceptions are caused by the limitations and reality-filtering properties of your brain, which in effect allows you to be somewhere specific and get something done. You sense your body as solid, though you intellectually admit that it is in reality mostly fluid, held in trillions of gelatinous cells, all made of molecules, themselves clever arrangements of atoms which are primarily empty space encapsulated by energy clouds so ephemeral and transient that brilliant nuclear physicists can only say they have a tendency to exist!
Even when the rational scientific intellect proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that ours is a body of light, we still feel like meat and bones, so persuasive is the testimony of the lying senses.
Then too, I instinctively "know" I am someone specific, definable as distinct from all other instances of sentient awareness there are, or ever were or will exist. Indeed, the most fundamental assumption and basis for all my other beliefs is the unquestionable "fact" of my own individuality. So persuasive is this presumption of the primacy of my identity, that I actually (if secretly) experience myself as the center of the universe.
What is the meaning of these perceptual hoaxes? Why do we persist in acting as if we are so special; that our beliefs are the most valuable; that our world is more consequential than all others? Could it be that we fear that the only alternative is to forever feel stupid and small in the face of the infinite?
Where does one turn between solipsism ("I'm IT") and the awful realization of our fleeting insignificance in a vast impersonal cosmos ("I'm nobody")? How can we find a satisfactory Truth behind the mistakes and mysteries of our lives? The answer is closer than you think..
* LIFE'S LITTLE SECRETS
Whatever you think, it's more than that,
more than that.
- Incredible String Band
* All Life Is ONE.
Everything is connected and related to everything else.
* All Time Is NOW.
Infinity is HERE. Reality has no boundaries.
*Consciousness is Omnipresent and Omniscient
(everywhere and all-knowing).
Mind creates the world. Matter is frozen light.
*Energy Follows Thought.
We are creating reality and our destiny every moment.
* Creation Is Constantly Changing Pattern.
Its intelligence is absolute and all-pervasive.
*You Are Already Perfect.
The Universe is your home.
You are never alone.
*Love Is Everything.
Beauty is everywhere. The mundane is Divine.
*You Body Is A Sacred Gift, which you gave yourself.
By a trick of attention, you have come to believe that it contains you,
but actually, you contain it.
*As a corollary, pleasure is no sin. In fact, the very intensity and depth of enjoyment available to you in this body is a kind of brilliant shortcut to the spiritual, and the redeeming proof of the basic grandness of Existence.
*Pain is the greatest teacher, yet
much of your suffering is unnecessary.
*There is nothing to fear. Death Is An Illusion.
*It's ALL Right.
Though we live in a time of unprecedented change and upheaval, you're still OK. Life is worth the trouble. Happiness is not only possible, but practical.
Excerpt from Enlightenment In Our Time - The Perennial Wisdom in the New Millennium© (www.BookLocker.com/lonnybrown) by Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. (www.holistic.com/lonny) (lonny@holistic.com)
Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is the author of "Self-Actuated Healing - The Alternative to Doctors & Drugs is Within You" (amazon.com) and "Enlightenment in Our Time" He is also a regular contributor to AltMed.com (AOL keyword, AltMed) and HealthAnswers.com He teaches Mind/Body Healing, Stress Management, Yoga and Meditation at hospitals, schools, and businesses throughout the US., and offers holistic health counseling by email, phone, and in person in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire, USA. Dr. Brown's website also features essays, tapes, books, and links to a variety of integrative health sources and spiritual Web sites. www.holistic.com/lonny lonny@holistic.com
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Lonny Brown,
Ph.D.
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Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is the author of "Enlightenment In Our Time" and "Self-Actuated Healing" (Amazon.com), and editor of ENLIGHTENMENT ONLINE - The Newsletter for Spiritual Cyberspace.
His writings on holistic health have appeared on AOL's Alternative Medicine Forum and in Alternative Health Practitioner, Yoga Journal, and many other progressive publications.
Dr. Brown teaches meditation, mind/body healing, and stress reduction courses at hospitals, schools and businesses throughout the US.
holistic.com/lonny
lonny@holistic.com
lonnybrown@aol.com
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