I have begun this blog for interested people to read. Obviously, you have the choice to stop reading at any moment and remain uninterested. It is a work of fiction to expose fact—a non-fiction effort to offer a mythical tale. This product is not for personal profit. I simply offer it at no cost other than the toll it will extract from false assumptions.
If you are interested in finding out more about the ideas presented here I would be glad to hear from you. Send raves and flames via e-mail to: damien.justice.gmail.com
A Beginning and a Caveat
In these few words of hard copy, I offer you all the resources that I have, and all that I am—an exposure of my frailty. So, like most writers, I exist in this work both materially and aesthetically. Both physically and spiritually. If you read this as you read the works of others, the ideas may appear empty. Project your own understanding onto the ideas, to make them meaningful, and you will drown them or draw from them. You decide. Attachment does not appeal to me, so I will warn repeatedly in an attempt to confound in order to force critical thinking. I know nothing and yet I know everything. For those of you who believe you know me, I will appear to be in more need of psychological help than once thought. And if my warnings touch only a single reader, this effort will have been worthwhile.
The ideas expressed will not be welcomed by the bulk of humanity—history is ultimately the only teacher. Nor has this material ever been intended for such beings—the herd, obsessed with happiness and the preserving of the life—the crowd who sort life dichotomously while running aground in their unexamined shallows, in bondage, ensconced in capitalism. This wisdom, if you choose to accept it as such, is nothing new. In fact it is quite timeless. It is not meant for the public life and the organizations within. It is neither for mass movements nor breakaway sects. Groups appeal to the herd mentality, but the ideas presented here cannot exist in such an environment and in such minds. Consequently, this material is set forth in honor of the mere handful, the true individuals, few though they be and so very far between. You will know yourself to be one of these inestimable ones when the externals of authority and tradition fill you with loathing, and when you at last submit to your own intelligence in search of wisdom.
We barely deserve writings that delve below the surface of our animal nature. Wise words need a special reader. Such a reader must have an irrepressible intellect, a courageous heart, and the ability to take the giant leap. Most importantly, a burning desire to break the chain of bondage to the preconceived. Who among us can leave the animal behind and become human?
There will always be those who find happiness elusive within the mainstream, rejecting it in favor of the uncommon. Such people think that the fewer who share a belief, and the more unlikely that belief is, then the more true the belief must be. The ideas present in these writings may well attract such defeated and desperate minds, which seek the unusual perhaps, labeling it "new age".
More than likely these people will form an organization to "preserve the truth". And if it also provides moral support and gives people something "constructive" to do with their time, then well and good, but as mentioned, organizations do not provide what these individuals truly really seek. Such shells of men will have been attracted for the wrong reasons, and will therefore
Searching for a wise teacher, mentor or coach is mistaken reason, for the truly wise are as rare as life, as we know it, in the universe. You could spend your entire life searching this world without discovering a single one. Much less would you find an organization full of them?
Some may hold these ideas for their own purposes. Not least among them are those individuals who label themselves philosophers and those who claim the merit of reason to confound. Professional thinkers do not discover the truth. Their desire is to compartmentalize. To squeeze into a category, aligning truth with this or that religion or school of thought, much as they might throw a criminal into prison. They say thought corresponds with so and so, while it differs with such and such. They conveniently miss the whole point, and lose everything. How does such ignorance hope to judge infinite human beings? The ideas here will appear in their philosophical pop-up window as contradictory and paradoxical: Access denied.
Only manifest unenlightened lives. Shall we breathe the same air as they?
But if you have thrown your happiness to the wind, with the joy of becoming free of the greatest of burdens. And if you have chosen to trust your life to reason alone, then these ideas can be the air for breathing.
You may be able to regard these writings not so much as dogmatic scriptural injunctions, but as a children's class in the use of the brain. It is all about making the brain a teacher, in order to distinguish between the true and the false, the wise and the foolish.
These words may awaken you to the highest wisdom. But what is wisdom? This is not the "Aha" or "Ah So" of philosophy. If there is wisdom, then where are the wise men? . . . It is ever true that the wise are few, because nothing is hated quite so much as truth, and few can accept such hatred, e.g. Prophets.
Despite the rarity of this sage of wisdom, I will attempt to rough-out a picture of him, just to give an idea of how inhuman he can be, or perhaps to alter the conception of what it means to be human. He is a solitary being, though he is also at home in a crowd. He lacks of human values (whatever they are). He loves nothing therefore he hates nothing. He repudiates happiness, so he never suffers. He depends on nothing, and questions all human motivation.
Of course, this is not just my idea. Only a sage can recognize a sage, just as a specialist in a field of work knows his subject. So the first step in the search for wisdom is to cultivate your own. You will not find it anywhere outside your own mind. If you try to find wise men, you will create your own, and your mind will be swallowed by their false wisdom. For where would you find a man of true wisdom? Even if you did meet one, how would you recognize him? Having disregarded your own mind in favor of your search, you will remain wanton. No doubt you would judge the genuine sage to be destructive of human morals, cynical, negative, and quite mad. And, if so, how would you possibly be able to benefit from his teachings?
Thus you must discover the guru within your own mind. In the end you will find there is no other way. You stand-alone with your own brain tucked securely away inside your skull. There is just you and your thought.
These notes are designed to be a stimulant, or a catalyst, or perhaps even a guide - a guide for a trek across a vast and unfamiliar desert on the expectation of finding an oasis. You must do all the walking. And no less must you also consider the reliability of the guide. Is this a worthy guide? You may do well to listen to his advice, but in the end the decision is yours alone. Ultimately you must rely on your own desert skills, accumulated over many years, to test its judgment. Use its aid to awaken and amplify your own skills. Learn from the guide where its knowledge is greater than your own - and take a different direction where perhaps the guide’s judgment appears to be faulty. Just as sure as the power you posses in your choice to continue reading this treatise or throwing it away so are you slave to the thoughts you choose to hold.
Long desert years can teach many things, but bad habits and biases become ingrained. A guide's advice may seem sound enough, but is it mistaken? The guide may be correct in nine of its directions, but what about that tenth one? This last is the most crucial, determining whether you make it to water or die of thirst. In spiritual matters, a single wayward direction signifies bankruptcy, for once true wisdom is awakened there is never any mistake as to its direction.
Let no one ever say that what I present in these writings is a new religion, or that it reveals profound truths that have been hidden from all who have gone before. The truths I speak of as promised are not new. Many have experienced them deeply. All the essential truths pointed to can be found in the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. And in many respects the teachings of these religions far outweigh the power and effectiveness of what is offered here.
The unfortunate thing is of course, that these religions have become corrupted and their meaning lost. Their teachings have been misinterpreted and have spread through society in a highly damaging form. The physical words of the teachings may have remained relatively unchanged through time, but the interpretation and thus the truth of them has changed radically. Truth is certainly present within most religions, but is absent from them as they exist in all their diverse forms today. The truth can indeed be found within many religious scriptures, but only when you understand them correctly.
The teachings of Buddha, for example, appear essentially complete, when rightly understood, and when the seed is properly winnowed. The material presented here may help in that separation process, to help weed out the mass of unwanted cultural rubbish that has gathered over centuries. As mentioned, I do not expound a new truth, or even improve on an old one. I seek to clarify the very same Truth that has been known for many ages--the very same Truth that has been forgotten for many ages.
I am not one for originality. If I invent new names for god, it may well help you to overcome any preconceptions you have about the old ones, but I will not do this, as new names only create more confusion. There are already enough words, so I will use the words we already have, and try to awaken your minds to their real and intended meaning.
I seek to present the characteristics of Truth in such a way as to distinguish it from all those mystical truths and philosophies that are common barter these days, and which present themselves as the ultimate. I will set reality into sharp relief against the backdrop of worldliness, thus allowing it to be seen in all its glory - and terrifying power.
I have tried to present these thoughts in as efficient a way as possible.
I do not make an effort at writing beautifully. Writing and reading must not become mere entertainment - they can be powerful attachments as damaging as any. Effectiveness is my sole consideration, so forgive me if I have strayed from the traditions of style and content.
I have not written to speak to you, but to trigger your own mind into speaking with itself. I aim to challenge your most deeply cherished of thoughts. I want to invoke you to think with your whole being, rather than allow you to hold ideas at the safe distance of your intellect. It is all about the discovery of courage.
Enough with the "I" already. You, and only you hold the key to self-actualization.
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