Abstractions and Distortions

The characteristics of all things are nothing more that the cumulative distortions from their original state. With each distortion, we find things changing in character until they become far removed from their original nature.

We see this clearly in the economical world, where concepts of money were once related to the relative scarcity of a finite resource that lent an independent and natural value to it that was objective and clear. In our history we have seen the role of Gold and Silver fulfilling this purpose, having the following innate characteristics that define money[1]:

A medium of exchange:

·         It should have liquidity, and be easily tradeable, with a low spread between the prices to buy and sell, in other words, a low transaction cost.

·         It should be easily transportable; precious metals have a high value to weight ratio. This is why oil, coal, or water are not suitable as money even though they are valuable.

·         It should be durable.   Gold or silver coins are often mixed with 10% copper to improve durability, and coins are made with ridges around the rim to prevent coin shaving or debasement.

A unit of account:

·         It should be divisible into small units without destroying its value; precious metals can be coined from bars, or melted down into bars again, with a low percentage cost.  This is why leather, or live animals are not suitable as money.

·         It should be fungible: that is, one unit or piece must be equivalent to another, which is why diamonds, works of art or real estate are not suitable as money.

·         It must be a specific weight, or measure, or size to be verifiably countable. You must be able to weigh, measure, and count, your unit of account!

A store of value:

·         It should be long lasting, durable, it must not be perishable or subject to decay. This is why food items, expensive spices, or even fine silks or oriental rugs, are not generally suitable as money.

·         It should have a stable value.

·         It should be difficult to counterfeit, and the genuine must be easily recognizable.

A standard of deferred payment:

·         It should be an ultimate extinguisher of debts[2].

However, as Gold and Silver were replaced in circulation by paper depository notes for the same, and then these paper depository notes were replaced by promissory notes, which were replaced by completely irredeemable fiat currency, we can see that the concepts of money have been successively abstracted. With each abstraction was introducing further distortion to the original nature of money to the point that today we find that the currency we hold in our wallets is officially depreciated at a constantly variable rate, it is created at will by central banks as a debt to sovereign nations to be paid for by future generations and it is inflated without limit by the fractional reserve lending of commercial banks and credit card companies. Clearly such actions have destroyed all the original characteristics of money except that of being a Unit of Exchange and that is only maintained under threat of punishment by the taxation and other so called authorities.

To confuse the nature of money even more, those gold and silver coins that are still minted as currency have a nominal exchangeable value printed on them that is so far short of their intrinsic worth as to make the circulation of such as a competitive currency impossible if considered for transactions against the printed paper currency that does circulate.

How bizarre! How is it possible to identify with a currency that doesn’t even fulfil the definition of money?

Obviously, it is possible and it is made possible by degrees, through the progressive changes to the characteristics ascribed to the circulating currency over many decades of time.

In this way we collectively accept such distortions and sink further into a delusional financial existence. Perhaps greed is the motivator that allows such acceptance, as money appears to flow more freely into our hands, due it the ease by which it is created. However, we ultimately are forced to confront the truth that debt based money turns all who use it and rely upon it into the slaves of those who create it. The austerity measures witnessed in Greece, Ireland and other European nations imposed by the ECB and IMF are testimony to this, as these banks seek to preserve the value of the debt that backs their economic regimes.

So there are active participants in the propagation of these monetary distortions and our collective delusion of accepting the use of debt based currency as money. Is this situation reflected also in the delusions we harbour and the distortions from our original nature that we each have?

In the Buddhist context our original nature is the pure universal mind, or our Buddha nature, and it is our compounded distortions in character and our accumulated negative karma over successive lifetimes that define how far we are from being enlightened. In likewise fashion to the vested interests in the money example above, there are many people that are heavily invested into the propagation of our collective existential delusion of the mundane world, including most significantly ourselves.

Should we allow the definitions of the deluded define our existence such that we become enslaved to a paradigm of life that is not even a shadow of our natural estate?

34. Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall into a hole."

Should we rid ourselves of our distortions and delusional ideals before crashing into the immutable barrier of reality as the European nations are currently doing?

21. Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?"

He said, "They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Give us back our field.' They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them.

For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions.

As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come.

Let there be among you a person who understands.

When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!"

Clearly I see some strong parallels between the devolution of money in our society and the devolvement of society itself and if you have read the Parts 1 through 7 of this blog you will not be surprised at this. We are, after all, existing in a fractal, self-referential creation within which we see the same patterns repeating everywhere we look, be they geographical, economical, societal, personal or metaphysical.  It is this very quality, that nothing has its own intrinsic, independent existence, which reflects the causality of the phenomenal world and the truth that ultimate reality is Śūnyatā.

May we all find our path back to the original Bohdi mind.

Namaste.

[1] As defined in Wikipedia and expounded by Jason Hommel.

[2] As clearly articulated by Professor Antal Fakete

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Virtual Reality – A Tour of Delusion

I have observed to my children numerous times when they are commenting on their social networking experiences with “friends” who are more active online than in real-life, “their relationship is not with you, but with the computer they are using. They behave differently behind their keyboard than they would in the company of people.”

What better example of Śūnyatā is there than this? Śūnyatā, the lack or emptiness of any intrinsic reality, an experience void of truth and observation of falsehood masquerading as reality. Such is the world we have historically inhabited and yet, since the turning of the new millennium how much more has this modern society embraced these contrivances of technology and dived into the shallow depths of a virtual reality that is even less real than the previous paradigm of experience.

How ironic is it that instead of turning to face the truth of our experience being Śūnyatā, humanity has turned instead to creating another layer of deception. What chance is there to elevate oneself above the cycle of reincarnation when one seeks not escape from their state of delusion and ignorance, but to compound that delusion with even greater levels of mindless banality?

Are we scared to face the truth of our existence? Can we not realise that the dissatisfaction we harbour that drives us to endless chatter on “social media” is a symptom of a distress that needs remedy instead of avoidance?

When wisdom sees Śūnyatā everywhere, surely it is delusion heaped upon delusion to seek substantiation and self-definition in a virtual reality that is more fraudulent than our current experience. Where is our society going and how are we travelling there? Is it to Nirvana on the enlightened mind under our own power, or to endless suffering through mindless attachment to ever changing technology controlled and delivered by others?

I think in all things it is important to remember that where corporate and state interests are involved, “If you are not paying for the service, then you are the product.”

May we all attain Bodhicitta, the mind of perfect enlightenment, cultivating the causes and conditions that will lead us there.

Are freedom and liberty Śūnyatā?

Introduction

This morning I attended another half-day meditation retreat to spend some dedicated time in meditation away from the interruptions and concerns of the mundane world. It has been a struggle of late to commit time to my meditation practice, so when the opportunity arose to get away in a little bit of seclusion I was glad to accept it.

The initial meditation period began like most other in the Chan Buddhist Monastery with chanting the Heart Sutra, before settling down into your sitting posture of choice. I can sit comfortably in a half-lotus position for around three quarters of an hour and chose this posture, with right leg over left, for the first period. I had just settled in, quietening my mind with the breath-counting technique and then focusing my attention on a subject, when a lecture on concepts of freedom was begun over the broadcast system.

The lecture focused on the difference between self-indulgence and real freedom, contrasting the sense of freedom popularised these days as a freedom to do whatever one chooses against the freedom of being liberated from delusion. In typical Buddhist style, the lecture pointed out that the freedom to pursue whatever pleasure one currently desires is certainly a level of freedom, but it is only freedom in the sense that one is still a slave to the desires that motivate you and that no real freedom can exist while allowing the sensory inputs to dictate your desires. And so it was that with the conclusion of this lecture, the first period of seated meditation finished.

As the second meditative period commenced, I was pondering on the significance of one’s liberty and freedom and chose this as my point of attention and contemplation. Once settled and focused, it was not long before thoughts began to stream into my awareness and I felt a certain penetration and clarity of mind on the subject matter. It is always difficult to recall verbatim what was received in meditation and I am usually left with a more or less vague remembrance of what was comprehended. However, what was clear was that my past concepts of liberty and freedom where fundamentally questioned.

Background concepts of freedom

Historically, my political persuasions have varied in the course of time and in my maturity as an adult. From my early 20’s as a student I was very concerned with the rights of those who were unfortunate and needed the support of others so that they may not lack for the conveniences of a modern existence. The responsibility of an all-powerful government to tax and provide welfare on top of essential services to all was what formed my view. A view that would have had me classed as a socialist, until I decided to marry and assumed the responsibilities of providing for first, my wife and then a growing family. It took no time at all in this new reality of increased demands for my views to change and for utopian ideals of a perfectly equitable welfare state to be replaced by the obvious direct benefits of a lower taxing, less intrusive government where a social safety net was important. These reformed views would have classed me as a left-of-centre liberal, were it not for the rise of Global Warming. With achieving a sense of financial security through paying off and owning my home, I could indulge my socialist persuasions with Global Warming concerns and I became a member of the Greens party that felt the moral imperative to tax income earners to subsidise the development of greener, more sustainable industries and technologies, while improving the distribution of wealth for the common good.  This view would have classed me as an environmental communist, but for yet another change in the circumstances of life. At the same time as Climate Gate revelations of fabricated climate change models and data that hinted at a Global Warming conspiracy and the global financial crisis demonstrated the impacts of collusion between banks and governments around the world, new financial constraints quickly enforced themselves to reshape my views yet again. Seeing clearly the dangers of a life dependent on the benevolence the powerful be they Red, Blue or Green in colour, as they ride roughshod over individual rights for popularised collective outcomes while unrelentingly creating new laws to constrict freedoms, create new taxes, reduce wages, sell assets, expose regulated unprotected domestic businesses to competition from unregulated heavily protected foreign organisations, manipulate currency values and interest rates, I have been firmly encamped with the libertarians since 2007.

At its root, the libertarian ideal is for absolute individual responsibility over personal matters, the rule of common law as the means of protecting the rights and properties of the individual and the operation of a small and constrained government where matters of common wealth and interests exist. That is, individual property rights are guaranteed and protected, government is constrained to its role as facilitator in matters of the common good and the sovereignty of the individual is absolute, within the bounds of no injury to others. But is this seemingly fundamental articulation of liberty and freedom also subject to change?

The true significance of liberty and freedom (within the undistorted mind)

No matter what rights one has secured against the tyranny of government and others that would enslave you to their world view, or the financial freedoms that might be achieved with wealth outside of the fiat currency systems of a totalitarian banking industry, one cannot be free while ever delusional thoughts occupy the mind. This was the insight given in meditation.

As I have outlined above, my ideas of the rights of others have changed over the years commensurate with the degree of delusion I have held over the benevolence and omnipotence of government and that the delusion I have had has been a measure of personal desire, financial constraint and populist opinion presented as fact. How trustworthy are any personal concepts of liberty and freedom when they are subject to such variable inputs?

Instead, true freedom comes through observing the limitations imposed on the conception of ideas by these inputs and realising that liberty can only be achieved through the eradication of these delusional thoughts such that a mind of pure consciousness can be attained. In terms of the Heart Sutra, it is in the absence of thought-coverings, the compounding distortions to the original and universal consciousness, that true liberation is attained.

In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble,

he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.

Contemplations on the 3 Refuges and 5 Precepts

Having one’s ideas and desires stimulated through the senses is, therefore, the path of delusional thought and while there is a degree of freedom to choose how you fulfil those desires, ultimately you are not in control of the formulation (Causes and Conditions) of that which gives rise to what you think and desire. Hence, your volitional actions arising from such thoughts are subject to the control over your sensory inputs. This realisation reminds me of Aldous Huxley’s “A Brave New World”, in which the actions of the masses are controlled by those that control and stimulate the inputs to their senses, while the masses feel they are free and are repulsed by those that have no such controls over them.

It is in this light that one can perceive the value in the 3 Jewels of Buddhism, where the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the rocks that stand fast and provide support against the delusions that exist in a world where nothing can be trusted as authentic or true.

-          The Buddha – an example of enlightenment and realisation of the Bodhi mind;

-          The Dharma – the path to enlightenment and ultimate liberation; and

-          The Sangha – the community that will support your quest for liberation.

The 5 Precepts are likewise observed against this backdrop of delusional ideas and erroneous thinking as guiding principles to navigate through a world of shadow in which one’s own ideas cannot be trusted to be dependable and authentic. The precepts are:

-          Refrain from killing;

-          Refrain from stealing;

-          Refrain from sexual misconduct;

-          Refrain from false speech;

-          Refrain from intoxicating substances.

The path to true liberty and freedom (Role of the 3 jewels and 5 precepts)

Moral rules such as the 5 Precepts can now be considered in a wider context than the behavioural constraints imposed by a religious order for the sake of compliance, and their role considered on the path of seeking liberty and freedom from existence in a world where thoughts are delusional. When the causes (events) and conditions (prevailing public sentiments) that shape our thoughts are apt for control by others, are not the very ideas with which we identity and that define us Śūnyatā, devoid of any intrinsic, unconditioned existence?  Are our understandings and concepts of freedom and liberty likewise Śūnyatā?

The meditation that I undertook this morning was profound in this respect. It is only through directly attaining the unconditioned, that state of consciousness embedded in the very fabric of our existence, that we shall know true liberty. To do so requires the elimination of the layers of delusion and erroneous concepts that have been built up during the multitude of existences in this realm and others. Although our Buddha nature is already within us, discovering it is not trivial and demands a serious undertaking. Vowing to take refuge in the 3 Jewels and to follow the 5 Precepts is a way of committing to the Path.

May we all attain the Bodhi mind.

Namaste.

Sunyata and the coming financial collapse

James Rickards in his book Currency Wars, describes the conditions and causes of a collapse in the financial market in this way:

"Following is one scenario...the triggering event happens at the start of trading day in Europe. A Spanish government bond auction fails unexpectedly and Spain is briefly unable to roll over some maturing debt... ...enough to cause a few Dutch pension fund dollar stalwarts to change their mind in favour of gold...the dollar quickly moves outside its previous trading range to hit new lows...stress in the foreign exchange markets immediately transfers to the dollar-based stock, bond and derivatives markets in the same way an earthquake morphs into a tsunami."

Economists and authors have described the underlying instability of complex systems that lay in wait for the triggering event that adds to the built-up of financial stresses in the global economic system, tipping the balance from the status quo into global disintegration and collapse. The proverbial Black-Swan event. This in-turn has caused a number of economic commentators to wheel out the metaphor of an avalanche being triggered by the last snow flake that lands to help explain the concept.

In all these descriptions and metaphors I am struck by the alignment of the Buddhist maxim that nothing arises independently, the concept and topic of this blog known as emptiness or Sunyata. 

Buddhists have long identified that all of observed existence is a result of causes and conditions and nothing exists independently, or in other words, there is no independent origination. A thing occurs (an avalanche), only as a result of causes (the last snow flake to land) and the existent conditions (a build-up of snow). But the Buddhist insight of Sunyata is much more profound, as it is recursive and exhibits the self-similarity that is the hallmark of the fractal nature of the universe. For instance, the causes (falling snow flakes) and conditions (build-up of snow) are themselves the result of their own respective causes and conditions and so on infinitely, demonstrating the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things. This is so significant that the Buddhists maintain that wisdom and enlightenment come from a deep realisation of Sunyata being the nature of our reality and that without that, we are all living in a delusional state that gives rise to Greed, Anger and Ignorance (The Three Poisons).

What’s more, the realisation of Sunyata provides an understanding of the impermanence of all things. That is, the seeds of an object’s destruction are sown into the very creation of the thing itself, as the nature of that destruction is dependent on the causes and conditions of the destruction event, of which the object is a part. This is no better exemplified than the terminal growth of debt being the conditions for the destruction of a debt based global fiat currency system, with the cause that triggers its destruction being a failed auction of sovereign debt (bonds) as described by Rickards.

In any event (literally), we can certainly see the Greed, Anger and Ignorance of our so called leaders, the global bankers and war mongers everywhere as a clear demonstration of their failure to grasp the concept of Sunyata or the nature of avalanches and by definition, their lack of wisdom and their fundamental delusion.

Namaste,

Gino

The Law of Work

There seems to be a universal law at play in that requires work to create desired outcomes, or in the Buddhist view, things only arise through the existence of their causes and conditions. That is, there is nothing in the universe that arises on its own, including enlightenment. Hence, in the Buddhist view one can not become enlightened without cultivating the mental aptitude for clear and focused thought (condition), building the desire to become enlightened and undertaking the practice of introspection known as meditation (causes). In short, one has to apply work (mental or physical) to achieve an objective.

It struck me that Nassim Haramein provided a great example of that, combining both experiences in meditation and with a study of physics to arrive at his understandings.

Tao Te Ching, Verse 33.

“One who knows others is intelligent,

One who knows himself is enlightened.

One who conquers others is strong,

One who conquers himself is all-powerful.”

Namaste

Sacred Geometry and Unified Fields

I ran into a very interesting video of a lecture given by a fellow called Nassim Haramein in which he gave a somewhat scientific explanation for why there is no independent reality and how geometry plays a fundamental part in the structure of the manifested universe. He also made some interesting observations for how, in a universe of infinite energy density, everything is fundamentally interconnected. I found his explanation of a radiating and spiralling energy vortex very similar to my meditative experience that can easily encapsulate much of what I received about the nature of percieved reality and how consiousness is embedded in the radiated light through both the macrocosm and microcosm.

It is a quite long and detailed presentation, but perhaps worth your viewing if you have found this site.

Namaste

Part 7: The Task of the Present

In 2002 I visited Bangkok and discovered the Royal Palace was home to an Emerald Buddha. Being a keen meditator and alternative healer, I determined to visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and quickly made plans to do so. Upon arriving at the temple I was immediately gratified to see others kneeling and prostrating in various forms of paying homage and meditating and found a spot on the floor where I might kneel, express my gratitude and meditate.

Upon commencing my meditation when I closed my eyes I could still "see" an impression of the Emerald Buddha in my mind’s eye. I began contemplating the significance of the green colour in the context of the chakra system and as I did so I watched and felt a ray of green light extend to my Heart Chakra from the Buddha image. I then began to receive and have thoughts about the significance of the Heart Chakra in the transformation process. Through the rush of communication I most clearly recalled the following:

Emerald Buddha Meditation

1. The heart chakra is the centre of one's compassion, love and understanding for others.
2. Identifying and respecting others as individual expressions of the universe is the first step in cultivating compassion, love and understanding for others.
3. It is only after being able to feel an unconditional compassion, love and understanding for others that we can begin to speak or communicate with a universal truth.
4. It is only after being able to speak on matters of universal truth, with unconditional compassion, love and understanding in our hearts that we will be able to consciously see the realities that lay beyond our current condition.
5. The task of the moment is to open the heart in compassion, love and understanding.

I wrote these words upon returning from the excursion to the temple and have found them to be very profound in forming my view of the universe and our position in it. I hope they might help you also.

References:I must acknowledge the contribution also to my view of the following:
The Law of One, L/L Research. Online reference: http://www.llresearch.org/library/the_law_of_one_pdf/the_law_of_one_pdf.aspx