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Arguing On The Net

A Message To Those Who Argue On The Net:

 

 

"I guess my question is, why is it so important to be right? I mean, why put so much energy into debating others? Has anything good ever come from constantly contesting the ideas of all those who either, are not, or don't think like, you? Has any true wisdom ever really arose from such an interaction? Does the need for people to see your intelligence really outweigh your respect for the thoughts and postulations of others?

 

It just seems to me like any conversation of that nature is really just a waste of time. Unless, of course, you are one of those researchers who are actually actively producing the data in question, rather than just trusting in, and regurgitating from, the almighty Google. That's how you will show your true wisdom, by finding your own answers and engaging in such investigations for the betterment of yourself and those around you, rather than just simply trying to prove something to the world and arguing your point until others believe you are right. Only the stubborn and the ignorant do that.

 

Life is a mysterious journey. An intimately personal experience that is not to be dominated and consumed by you, but rather one that is meant to be passionately explored and shared by all..."

 

- Aaron Hutchins

 

 

Why Does The Universe Exist?

This question of the origin of the universe has been on my mind more than any other in my life and the pursuit of an answer to this question is the reason I write an existential blog. I truly wish there were more individuals in the world who pondered this great mystery. 

In this video philosopher Jim Holt starts his talk by asking the question, "Why does the universe exist?", and everyone laughs. Unfortunately, I think that type of response to some of life's bigger questions is a fairly common thing, as it seems we have all taught ourselves not to think too much about those things. We even convince ourselves in many cases that questions of that nature are ridiculous questions to ask, perhaps to protect ourselves from the fear of knowing or the fear of how that might potentially change the way we live and think about our lives and how we perceive our reality. 

In truth though, my whole life I don't think I've ever been able to NOT think about this question because it seems so extremely crucial to our existence, so it's always truly baffled me that anyone could go through an entire lifetime without, at least at some point, contemplating this question as well. I believe it's not only perhaps the most important question we can ask ourselves as living, breathing, members of this fantastical universe, but quite possibly the only real question there is to ask...

The Most Important Truth

"Perhaps one of the most important truths about ourselves that we can realize is that every one of us is filled with the divine nature of the universe and that at the end of the great lifespan of that universe, our faults and shortcomings, and the mistakes we made on this planet, will have had absolutely no significance. Only what we have contributed, and the degree to which we have loved and allowed ourselves to embrace that unity and oneness that we have with all things in existence, will have ever made any relevant difference to the universe at all..." - Aaron Hutchins

We Are The Gods We Have Worshipped

Here's a poem I wrote today about the future of humanity and the journey of each of us to discover our own divine nature... :)

We Are The Gods We Have Worshipped

"In our dreams,

We live as Gods do;

We shape the world to our liking, 

And create not just places but their faces too.

Thus, in our science, 

We do just the same;

We follow those dreams to create,

And believe that those dreams we can tame.

For in our hearts, 

We hear destiny's call;

We know that we will become bigger,

And understand that the Earth will become too small.

So, in our future,

We will blast lightyears beyond Mars;

We can already see we're becoming more conscious,

And how that itself will take us to the stars.

Then...like a star born from other stars,

that will one day explode outward too,

So will we travel the cosmos, 

And seed it with life, as Gods do.

For the universe is filled,

with the the stuff of creation,

And being made from that stuff too,
Means we're also meant to create from the big bang's cremation.

So our dreams are not trivial, 

They are the sayers of sooth;

We need only to listen,

For us to realize our own divinity's truth.

We are the Gods we have worshipped,

As the universe is made from one mind;

So all this time we've been searching,

It's been us that we've been looking to find."

by Aaron Hutchins

(-aka- LightBeing1111)

The Point Of Life

Nothing else matters except that...you...are...here! :)

 

 

"The one thing about life that you can always find to be consistent is that it will always surprise you. You might not be able to see now how the future might be any better, but it always has some tricks up it's sleeve that make us look back at those low times and laugh at the fact that we were ever feeling low to begin with. A lot of my own low times were spent dwelling on all the things that I wanted to do with my life, but didn't make happen. I usued to torture myself for years that I didn't have those things because they were what I thought I wanted, but now I have a bigger perspective on life and I look at all the people who have accomplished what I thought I wanted and can see how their lives are actually no better or more important than mine, as those dreams or ideas of career are not the whole point of life. The point of life is just simply to recognize the fact that you're here right now and the beauty of life is that rain or shine doesn't matter. All of the people who have gone before us had their "go" at life, but their experience is done now, so what matters is that we are still here and that, because we are still here, we are the ones who still have the chance to make our lives into whatever we want ourselves to be... " - Aaron Hutchins

How Can We Make The World A Better Place?

What do you think??? :)

 

Everything Is Perfect

From our emergence into this world at birth, all the way up until our final rest, we're taught to view the world in terms of duality. Good and bad. Happy and sad. Positive and negative. Light and dark. Beautiful and ugly. Right and wrong. In fact, in the whole spectrum of possible experience it seems as if we tend to gravitate towards one polarity or another, when, in all reality, there really is absolutely no difference between either side of that spectrum except for the feelings that we attach to those things. That is to say, for instance, that a thing is only considered "bad" because we ourselves have attached a negative meaning to that thing that says it's bad and therein lies the nature of all things. These feelings we have not only dictate meaning towards the things we encounter in life, but they also fundamentally shape our perceptions of the world. So, in all actuality, everything is neutral until we attach meaning to it and, in this way, the duality that we all experience is really merely nothing more than a projection of our own consciousness.

Where do we get these ideas and interpretations of our reality then? Well, some of these ideas we, of course, develop on our own, but also, I think just by nature of being brought up in any culture, we are subject to being influenced by the collective views of society and by the perspectives of those in our environment around us. The truth is though, that, beyond all those things, everything that happens in our lives, by one means or another, is perfect just the way it is. Granted, there are a great number of things out there that might bring harm to people and, most certainly, anything that imposes upon the will and/or well being of another is a potentially harmful thing to the world, but those things, I think, really come down to more of an issue of common sense. I'm more referring here to all of those things that each of us do everyday that stand as unique and, perhaps even, unprecendented expressions of who we really are as individuals and of what humanity can truly be. We may not understand all of these things to be sure, but I think that as human beings who are just learning about our lives as we go, that there is always something beautiful to be taken in from every experience that we have.

 ~ You've got an angry person in your life? Well, you can almost bet that they're only angry because they're in the same process of learning some deeper lessons about life as we are.

~ You've been dumped by your significant other? Well, isn't it possible that you're here to have experiences with more than just that one person in your life and that, by opening ourselves up to new people, we can only learn new and beautiful things about ourselves and about the world?

~ You feel uncomfortable around people who look, act or even think differently than you do? Well, could it be that you're just struggling with that fear that we all have of the unknown and of those things in life that we simply just don't yet understand because they're maybe just a little different from the way that we have chosen to live our own lives?

The point is that there really are an infinite number of ways to live a life and, although we will certainly never understand them all, they are all beautiful in their own way. In fact, if we can learn to appreciate and even find joy in those differences between us all, while also allowing others to be what they are and to create their own unique expression of the life experience, I think we'll begin to find that, even after we've probed the virtually infinite depths of the entire universe, all of those different individual perceptions and expressions of life are probably one of the most stunningly fascinating things about life that we may ever encounter. I believe that once we're able to recognize that too, that then we will no longer feel the need to waste our energies struggling against the world or in self-defense, as our world suddenly becomes much bigger and we are able to look out at the universe with new eyes and marvel in wonder and awe at the magic of all that is...

An Awakening

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. - Lao Tzu"

Today I awoke with a clarity of vision, an awareness of mind and a deep appreciation for everything that I have and everyone that I know. This new awareness inspired me to make this meme. Hope you like it... :)

The Equality Of All That Is

I think everyone has the right to perceive their life and their presence on this Earth anyway they wish, but I've noticed lately that I've been having an extraordinary number of talks with people who seem to, in one way or another, have somewhat of a "god complex". This phenomenon inspired me to make this meme...

A Letter To Mom

Been really missing you. I hope you know that I do. I know I'm not like anyone else that you know in this world and I know that makes me difficult to understand, but just know that I understand deeply the gravity of the decisions that I make in my life. I think I somehow have a gift for projecting myself into the future and seeing the potential outcomes of each new situation that I encounter. The other night, while meditating, I even had a sort of panicked revelation about my decision to move out of the country. In this epiphany, I saw a future where I was halfway across the world and exploring the path that I feel, somehow, aligns with my true destiny, but I also saw that my family, after years of wondering why I do what I do, had all but given up on me, as the sheer distance between us geographically(and, perhaps, the distance across time) had made it all the more impossible for us to connect. I saw this as if it had already happened and I experienced, simultaneously, the intense joy and excitement of pursuing an existence where I was completely true to the desires of my heart and the deep, distraught, sadness and pain of feeling virtually severed from my family(and friends) who, by no fault of their own, had long stared with vexing uncertainty into the seemingly infinite abyss of when(or even if) they might ever see me again and who had inevitably realized that they might never understand why I went so far away so long ago...

In thinking about this, I became quite devastated and it almost made me not want to go anywhere ever, but then I remembered the extreme wonder of the universe and the deep, burning, curiosity I had within to be out there exploring it all and all of the years of consequential unhappiness I experienced whenever I had ignored all of that and rooted myself firmly in just one place. So, I thought to myself, the ones I love might not understand just now, but this is my chance to look deep within...beyond fear...without hesitation...and truly listen to my inner self and, who knows, maybe even find my true purpose in this life. Some of the greatest philosophical and spiritual minds throughout the ages have conceded, with much wisdom, that the purpose in life must be just learning how TO BE and how to be at peace with that and all that is, but I think the truth is even deeper than all that.

I think there's something each of us is here to do and that something has everything to do with what we each feel in our hearts and that in following those feelings we finally begin to understand who we REALLY are. I think traveling is what I've always dreamed of more than anything and I feel as if it, and the encounters that I will have as a result of doing it, are part of the role that I was born to fulfill. I've begun to realize that all my dreams that I've followed after with such determination in my life were mostly just a means of providing me with the resources to ultimately fulfill that true, underlying, dream of traveling the world and to be honest, I don't think the world is really even enough for me. Perhaps, nothing will ever be, as I see so clearly that there is just too much to see and learn and experience in this life and, because of that, I think I will always feel like I have to know what's out there and seek after the meaning behind it all.

Also, although it may seem like it, even to myself at times, I have no desire to live this life in complete solitude forever. I just have such radical ideas about this life that people rarely seem to understand me enough to truly connect with me. I would travel out to the stars for the rest of my life though if I could and I'd welcome anyone who wanted to take on that adventure with me, but that's just the way that I am. I think I was born with that for sure...that insatiable longing to know what's out there beyond everything...beyond all space and time...beyond the illusions of this three dimensional reality...

In the meantime, however, I travel in my consciousness through meditation and soon I feel that I must set out even further into the world. The need to do so makes no suggestion about how much I care about or love my family or about anyone else, but rather, whether or not I do it...and whether or not I listen to the wisdom of my heart...makes every statement in the world about how much I care about myself... :)

I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH!!! :D

Death Is Not A Fearful Thing

Before I begin here, I just want to say that, despite the fact that this post is about death that, if you can get around that fact enough to read this, it is actually a lot more uplifting and potentially liberating than you might think and definitely worth the read... :)

The subject of death is something that most of the world puts off thinking about until those fateful last moments when their whole life flashes before them. Most of us live in a culture where death is not talked about or acknowledged as a fact of life until someone close to us passes on or we realize that our own clock is winding down and we have no other choice but to think about it. I've spent a great deal of my life thinking about death and therefore a great deal of my life keeping it to myself, as it's something that no one ever really wants to contemplate. It's generally considered to be too grim or depressing a subject to think about and the very idea of death often generates fear within the minds of many people. Many times, even those who say that they are not afraid of death and that they have accepted the inevitability of their own mortality, find that they had really only done so to tuck the idea away conveniently in the back of their minds and perhaps quietly prevent themselves from having to think about it as well...and therein lies the fear of it all.

In a lifetime of thinking about death, however, I can tell you that there is nothing to fear and that people who think about death as much as they think about life are not dwelling on the morbid side of things, but rather they come to know a great, fulfilling, secret about life and about why death is truly not a fearful thing because they begin to see a fuller, richer, view of what the whole picture of life really is. From birth to death. From incarnation to the grand adventure of life and at last into the great beyond...

These individuals see a more full spectrum of existence as a whole and are therefore often much more aware of the things that are truly important in one's lifetime. Rather than having all those regretful epiphanies in their last moments of how much more they could've loved their life and the world, how much better they could've treated people, how many more places they could've gone, how much more they could've explored and learned about nature and so on. They can apply all those things to their life right now and begin living with much more wisdom and love, as they embrace the perspective of life that usually only comes in those desperate last moments towards the end of one's life when they realize that they may not have much more life to live.

The great philosopher Alan Watts, spent a considerable portion of his life talking about death to people and helping to deliver them from the overwhelming fears that people have about it. I think that was an incredible service to have given to the world as, the fear of losing this existence that we all cling to, is really one of the most deep rooted fears that we can have in life and perhaps the most important one that we have to come to terms with. We like to control our lives as much as possible and the prospect of death is likely the most out of control thing that we can ever encounter or think of. We think that if we can just stamp the idea of death out of our minds that it might not be true and somehow that gives us the idea of having some control over our lives and where we're heading. We can overcome these fears of losing control however, just by remembering that while we may fear death, it is something that we simply have no control of...and never did. Death comes to us all eventually and there is a sense of liberation in that. We don't have to struggle against it now or ever because we simply can't.

 

We're afraid of the unknown...of what might lie beyond the veil...of what awaits us on the other side or perhaps an even more teriffying prospect...what doesn't lie on the other side. The thought of everlasting non-existence. We don't need to fear this though. For, everything that makes us up as human beings...our body, our mind, our consciousness and the spirit of everything we are is made up of energy and even science can tell you that that energy is never lost. It is merely redistributed into the universe, breathing life into other things and creating more of everything that you see around you. Your personality, your life experiences, the feelings you had, the things you created, the people you helped or inspired...they are all energies that you created in the universe and they will never die. Our body may feed the soil one day, which in turn may become a tree that might, in turn, feed the birds and so on and we can live on in this way as well, but you are not just your body. You are YOU...and the essence of everything that YOU are is part of the whole universe and will be absorbed into the universe in one way or another and will most undoubtedly live on forever.

We don't know what comes next, but we can know that we have no need to fear it. The very nature of evolution in this universe suggests that, whatever it is, it will be something better and perhaps far more extraordinary than we can imagine. So, in accepting death and releasing the fear of allowing ourselves to ponder what it is, we can become truly empowered within our life and begin to experience the infinite freedom and joy that comes with TRULY living a life without fear...
 

 



Here is a quote by Alan Watts from the video below(9 mins.) of a talk he gave regarding eastern thought on the subject of death and why we have no reason to ever fear it. I hope you watch it and are just as inspired as I was to live more and to fear so much less... :)

"So, the bodhisatva saves all beings. Not by preaching sermons to them, but by showing them that they are delivered...they are liberated...by the very fact of not being able to stop change. You can't hang onto yourself. You don't have to try not to hang onto yourself. It can't be done...and that is salvation..." - Alan Watts
 



Life Is An Adventure

Life is an adventure and unfortunately one that many people might not even be aware that they're on. To those who have had this wakening revelation though, the world can sometimes seem like a very lonely place, as you step back and watch the surging flow of people all around you, moving subsconsciously about their day, perhaps unaware of the infinite beauty of the reality around them. We all live within the same web of illusion, so it is unlikely that anyone sees the full picture of reality, but every once in a while you can look into the eyes of someone and see the sheer limitless, endless, wonder of the whole universe and know that they too have embarked upon the same self discovering journey of finding out exactly what it means to be alive and why every second of our existence in this life is a thing to be enjoyed...

Change

Another Image I Made Recently! :)

Would You Kill Hitler?

If you had a time machine, would you go back in time to kill Hitler? I've been thinking about this age old question recently and have come to some interesting conclusions.

At first glance the answer seems perhaps quite obvious to many of us. After all, killing Hitler would perhaps have prevented the 11-14 million some people from being murdered in the holocaust & would have perhaps prevented a good majority of the 70 million some deaths of World War II. So, it would seem that to trade one life for the lives of millions is easy enough math for any of us to do. The fact that it's still murder by the mind(s) that pass the judgement, the mouth(s) that agree to give the order, the hand(s) that deal the punishment and the heart(s) of those who raise their fists to the sky to rejoice that justice has been done, shouldn't deter us right?

In Western culture it seems that many of us would most likely concur that the act be done. After all, we've been breast fed by Western religion and Judeo-Christian values for hundreds, if not more than two thousand, years; ethics which have brought us such visionary concepts as: "an eye for an eye" must be taken, capital punishment must be upheld, penance must be made to atone for one's sins. Toss him to the lions that he might be judged by God for all eternity! (Our brand of)"Justice" MUST be done.

Conversely, many Eastern philosophies and religions, however, might venture to say quite the opposite. That life is a personal journey of one's own consciousness. That one faces the ultimate judgement for their transgressions in life and beyond from one's own self. That the karmic consequences for our actions and our own revelatory realizations of which...and of our connection to all things in the universe...and of the degree to which we loved those things, might be more severe for the soul of the individual than any punishment that could ever be delivered by man.

Western thinking, on the other hand, seems to teach us to strive for one's own, to right the wrongs of others, to intervene in the destinies of those around us in accordance with our own notions of what should be and how this life should be lived. What if it's not our place however, to make such decisions? Did not even Jesus say, "Let him who has not sin cast the first stone"? Was he not saying that no one among us has the right to pass judgement on another? That it is neither our responsibility or our right to punish the wrongful acts of our fellow men and women? If God created man in his own image and we are all children of God, isn't ending the life of another not much different than ending our own?

It is not my intent to discuss religion here exactly, rather more to present the idea that religion has shaped the beliefs and ideals of the entire world since the dawn of time. It's true that there have been many great teachers and enlightened individuals in the past who have taught us a message love, of peace and unity with all mankind, but religion itself has caused great destruction in the world despite those teachings. It has created a great chasm between the hearts of men that has led us into thousands of wars and to millions upon millions of deaths throughout history. It has brought division to a world that has not yet the eyes to see that the Earth and everything on it is in fact one and the same thing. The earth is a celestial body and every organism on it is a part of that body. We and the Earth are one. 

So perhaps, personally, if I were to travel in time, I think I would not use that opportunity to exact vengeance on those who have wronged us in the past, but rather, I would head to the future with a sense of wonder and curiosity and I would seek out true wisdom from the universe with a heart filled with love.

Deciphering The Mystery Of Happiness

Find a reason to be happy everyday and your life will never go to waste. Too often, it seems, we can become overwhelmed by the specifics of daily life and lose sight of this precious gift that we've all been given. Life is a wondrous journey where even the most seemingly mundane moments can have an air of magic about them. That is, once our eyes have learned to see magical things.

Deciphering the mystery of our own happiness is like peeling back the skin of a luscious fruit. At first glance life often appears to be nothing more than a rough and bitter skin, but once we have learned to uncover the sweet nectar within, we can begin to savor all of life's decadent flavors and the seeds of happiness will begin to appear to us wherever it is that we look.

Happiness is something different for everyone and for this reason it can often elude us, but once we allow ourselves to see how exciting it is to discover those inner parts of us, then the process of living becomes a fantastic adventure.

Severing Your Technological Umbilical Chord

I had recently taken a couple of camping trips into the wilderness to sort of get away from it all & reconnect with nature. It was refreshing to take in the natural environment & get away from my computer & cell phone for a change. The first thing I noticed was the silence. Not just the silence of being out of the city, but the complete & utter silence from my phone. No more calls. No more texts. No more Facebook updates buzzing my pocket every 5 seconds. It was clear to me immediately how much I didn't really need it.

On my last trip, while gazing at this beautiful river running through the forest, I began to examine my life & just how I'd been spending my time the last few years. I started to realize just how dependent I had allowed myself to become on Facebook in particular. This revelation sort of left a deep pit in my stomach as I thought about all the hours I'd spent uploading, tagging, commenting & writing perhaps somewhat hollow posts, in an effort to avoid the somewhat frequent snickers that often arose from attempting anything philosophical. It seems people aren't generally really looking to hear your ideas on Facebook as much as the social scoop, the goings on.

All at once, I could see just how jacked into the internet "matrix" I had become & how Facebook had been this invisible force that sat on my shoulders day after day, frequently beckoning me to log on, as if whispering in my ear to go and see what was happening in the virtual world. It became clear to me that I was actually really tired of having to do that just to know what was happening with people. I started thinking about what life was like before social networks(Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.) and seemed to remember life having more of a natural ebb & flow; an existence not governed by anything but one's own exploratory nature & the natural course of daily experiences. 

Now it seems, not just for myself, but for many of the people that I've had the privilege of knowing, that social platforms are becoming the ultimate medium for planning nearly all of life's daily encounters. I mean, I've rarely known what was going on for some time, except what Facebook seemed to be telling me & this phenomenon doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing. Virtually every branch of my family has joined Facebook to date. Even my grandmother seems to have become somewhat obsessed with Facebook games. It seems to be a phenomenon that has become so far-reaching, for millions & millions of people, the world over & much like the matrix of this illusory, quantum, universe we live in...it's all around us...and it's growing.

So, in an effort to get back to the basics & simplify my life; to reconnect with nature & my spiritual side; I shut down my long time running, heavily invested in, Facebook account & let me tell you...it feels good! :)

The Mystery of Life & Near Death Experiences

I recently watched this video about accounts of what people have seen during near death experiences and was reminded of a poem I wrote about how, despite all of our differences, death seems to be the one unifying factor that binds us all together in life...

Never Alone

Life is a mystery,
as days become years past.
People come and go;
sometimes to emerge once more.
Our lives, they ride,
on the waves of experience.
With each of us, perhaps,
blind to what this "self" is for.
~
This difficult puzzle
that we've come to call living,
May only yet be
no more than a dream;
But one day soon
we shall again awaken,
To extract true meaning
from all that we seem.
~
Everyone does live;
Just as everyone will die.
To each of us
these things must be,
But in this way
we soon find our connection;
For in this, we discover,
that never alone are we.

- A. Hutchins

Inside The Mind Of The Last Person On Earth...

What if you were the last person on Earth and had been for many years? After awhile, I wonder, would it seem like there was a point to anything? Do people provide 100% of our meaning & purpose for existence? When that last soul passes on, be it animal or human or insect, and no one is left to supply conscious observation to the universe, does all time & space just cease to exist as we know it?