We are controlled by our conceptual frameworks, by our beliefs, our assumptions, our arrogance, our ignorance, our illusions; but to awaken is to learn to take control, to learn to control our beliefs and assumptions, not let them control us. That is power, that is freedom.
True power is not controlling others, but controlling yourself; true freedom is not simply to not be in chains, but to control yourself, to not be controlled by that which you can control.
I think as long as people do not understand this, things will be “wrong,” people will be unhappy, and cause pain, and be hurt, and be confused and empty, even if they fool themselves into believing otherwise.
This is not a “belief” of mine that I think others should believe; rather, I think that I am simply seeing things as they are, and others can do the same if they make the efforts to do so, to be open to being themselves and taking control of their own lives.
Reality is there for us to see or not to see. Reality is not something you believe in. For belief itself is a crutch, it is not about what is. There is no need to believe in what is, only what probably isn’t. Therefore, if there were this “God” that so many people talk about so casually and unreflectively, they would not need to believe in it, for it simply would be. But this god must be believed in, it must be taken on “faith.”
I do not think that reality is something you “know,” or “believe in,” but rather something that you are. Just like life is something you live. Just like you cannot see your sight, you see with your sight. This is about seeing things properly, as they really are, not as we want them to be for our own personal gain or redemption, not as we believe them to be, for our belief of something does not speak to it, but only to ourselves.
Belief is not truth, belief is not of truth. Truth is independent of “belief.” Reality simply “is.” It makes no difference (to reality, metaphysically speaking) whether or not you “believe” in it. But it does make a lot of difference as to the way you affect those around you.
Many people sort of see, or have an unconscious notion of this, and that is why faith is the new thing, the new final frontier, for it is something that defies logic, logic being the usual tool of deciding what is right or wrong, correct or incorrect. Faith is now utilized so much because it is seemingly impossible to argue against.
The problem with faith is that it is wielded carelessly and mindlessly. It is also used as a tool to control others, as a means to selfish and arrogant ends.
I do not think that one must take reality on faith, for reality is. That’s all. If you believe in something, if you need to take something on faith, then I do not think that it exists as you think it does. Again, it is not whether something exists, but how it exists for us that really makes the difference in our daily lives. God? I have no idea what it is, and no one has ever really been able to explain it. Why in god’s name should I believe in this non-idea? “God” is a smokescreen, a distraction from reality, a way for people to think they are grappling and dealing with life while not really doing it, for to really do it would entail questioning the illusions and beliefs to which one clings when it comes to this God stuff—it would entail letting it go, not continuing to try to make it compatible with their illusions.
Like every other human being that’s ever exsisted, I have no idea what this “God” is supposed to be. Just as I have no idea what ekratee is. I mean, if I told you that there is ekratee, and you asked me what it was, and I said, “Well, it’s this power, it’s what created the world, and everything, it is the most perfect of perfect things,” you would (rightly) dismiss me as a fool.
Plato was right when he said that you cannot talk about a thing unless you know what it is. Everything people say to tell me what this “God” is is actually saying what this god (supposedly) does, or is like, but not what it is. Why? The answer is quite simple. Because it isn’t. That’s all there is to it. A thing is not its description. A description is not something, it is of something. All we ever get is conflicting, nebulous, nonsensical descriptions not of God, but as God, which is simply ridiculous.
I cannot have an open mind to such nonsense, the way I do not have an open mind to close-mindedness. I am surprised that so many people do. On the other hand, considering the way most people live such delusional lives, I suppose I’m not really that surprised after all. Of course you have to take God “on faith,” there’s nothing else to take it on! But that alone (and that is all there is to it, at the end of day) doesn’t mean that this god is, only that it is believed in, which ultimately means nothing as to whether this thing exists as people want it to. This is the epitome of illusion (and delusion). The things which run most people’s lives—fear, arrogance, ego, ignorance, greed, etc.—all sustain this, the big-daddy of illusions. It, like so many illusions, is just a crutch.
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From my personal notes, 5/16/00
