What's Really Going On Here?
(Good Luck With That.)
What's Really Going On Here?
It is my understanding that all life, from the deepest reaches of inner space to the furthest out we can hardly begin to conceive of, is, in actuality, one thing. One thing expressing itself in an infinite number of variations and experiments. The illusion of separateness is indeed just that; an illusion. We are so intimately connected in the most gloriously subtle yet frighteningly obvious ways that one cannot help but wonder how we ever wandered down the path of abstracting ourselves from others. Not just from other humans but, once again, all life. Plants, animals, insects, air, water, soil, stars, nebulae, moons, wind, amoebas, that drifter in your eye, the tickle in your belly. That disconnect, so to speak, is only as strong as as the illusion itself though. For just because we think we are separate doesn't necessarily mean that we actually are. Which brings us swiftly into the realm of that so weighted of phrases, "What's really going on?"
If all of life is indeed one thing which we, the human animal, have had the strange blessing of witnessing then it could be surmised that we as humans observing this process at work are the eyes of that thing. To borrow an often used phrase, maybe we are “consciousness witnessing itself.” I’ve always enjoyed that sentence. And we are likely not the first variation on that process. This one thing has likely had many, perhaps countless episodes of witnessing itself before us and will likely have countless more beyond the expression of what we call being human. Of course all earth-sprouted creatures have variations on eyes and seeing, whether with eyeballs or with feelers, etc., and following this line of reasoning takes us to the question of what makes our sight THE sight of this One thing? To which I would answer with an agnostic shrug. I don't know. It is very human-centric to believe that we are the mouth piece of consciousness. But we are indeed consciousness talking to itself. Aren't humans just a process that has given itself a name? I would like to meet older versions of this expression and attempt a communication between our variations. Which makes me wonder, if an upright species survived itself long enough to evolve past the fledgling, flailing, violent ape that we still seem to be, does it hold true to the axiom of interconnectedness as well?
In our wildest imaginations we dream of interstellar travelers who have evolved beyond our basic physiological functions and who communicate telepathically. We imbue them with a hive mind and an unmistakable superiority to our puny intellects. And then funnily and somewhat predictably, we project our worst fears of ourselves onto them; for if they are smarter than us than they must want to abuse us, right? Colonize, enslave, experiment on and dare I say … eat us!? I get a kick out of the long-held myth of the malevolent extraterrestrial who performs experiments upon humans and livestock. For what? To test their otherworldly beauty products? I can see the labels on their more "progressive" shampoos now: "not tested on Humans”; "Probe Free Eyeliner.” And while we're on the topic, "Free Range Earthlings,”
Oh, how I love to digress!
What's really going on here is that I don't know what's really going on. Though it has occurred to me on several occasions throughout my life that there's more going on than meets the eye. Ironically it would seem. What does seem almost self evident is that we have erected a cultural philosophy, or shall we say a “consensus," which tells us to not worry so much about what's "really going on" and for the most part keeps us highly distracted from even beginning to look beyond the surface. If nature has taught us anything, it's that animals have a dizzying array of ways to “see." And that should remind us that the way in which we humans see is only one of those ways. So one could ascertain that there is likely more to see than what is physiologically prescribed. For any given animal. Hence the need to accept the notion that there is more going on here than we might have the capacity to understand. And again with the agnostic shrug.
But I smile as I shrug. The excited smile of the twentysomething seeing New York City for his first time. The bewildered smile of the first person to breach Earth's atmosphere. The mischievous smile of the laughing Buddha. And or the smile that follows grief once you realize that everything is going to be OK. How could it not be? If we are interconnected in and at the most fundamental and extra dimensional of ways, then we are never alone. And if that is what is really going on, then I'm happy to bear witness.
June 20, 2015. High above Russia en route to Paris.
P.S.: this is a journal entry that I found from 2015. I would love to continue this conversation about consciousness, consensus reality and perception if any of you have any comments or questions you’d like to leave below.
Cheers,
Brandon Boyd
I am you, you are me. I feel that’s why the synchronicities during this time are so aligned and poignant. Because we are tapping into the same source. The source of all of Us. We.
So the thing about us using only 10% of our brain is a myth, but there definitely are things that our poor little noggins just cannot grasp. Infinity is always the first thing that comes to mind for me, like the concept of Neverending--even though the concept of death, the complete cease of existence, is just as irrational. Surely one of those so-called unused bits of brain holds that ability to understand.
Thanks for sharing!