I've all but lost my faith
In true love and happy endings
Many times.
It is the greatest people
Who suffer the most.
Those who have more than earned their happiness
Find their wishes denied,
While those who commit their lives to fraudulence
Find prosperity and cold pride.
In some sort of manner
I find this all so bittersweet.
They say greatness is born from adversity
And I see truth in this.
Yet, why must this be seemingly a law of the universe?
I see two sides to this coin.
Yet perhaps,
In some paradoxical manner,
Both are just as true as the other.
On one side,
Karma seems to work in reverse.
Those who do wrong
Are rewarded,
Unjustly so.
And yet those same people
Never have the opportunity to truly appreciate the greatness life.
How could you comprehend the beauty of the sun if night never fell?
On the other side,
Those who commit themselves to good
Are seemingly punished,
Unjustly so.
And yet those same people
Are able to truly appreciate the greatness of life.
They have seen the darkness of the night
And so they can comprehend the beauty of the sun.
In this way,
This line of thinking,
I am reminded of the Yin and Yang;
The bad in the good and the good in the bad.
Perhaps,
In a world seemingly ruled by chaos,
At first glance,
We are truly living in a universe devoted to balance.
I find it no coincidence that many Eastern religions,
Such as Buddhism and Taoism,
Find more happiness and peace of mind
Than most others who inhabit this earth.
Their very beliefs are rested upon this theory of balance.
Because of this,
They learn from a young age to see the importance of the bad in the good,
As well as be enabled to see the good hidden in the bad.
Perhaps this world has gone so mad
Because we have forgotten such ancient and sacred knowledge.
We spend our lives fighting for what we want,
Putting our own DESIRES above others' NEEDS.
We struggle to avoid the bad at all costs
And have not learned to find the good in the bad.
We have not learned to see the bad in the good
And end up causing ourselves more suffering when it appears to us unexpectedly.
We have lost sight of what may be life's most important lessons,
As well as the very compassion that could restore the balance we so desperately need.
In Buddhism,
It is believed that what we perceive to be reality
Is not reality at all.
It is best to describe it as a dream.
As you experience it,
It all seems so real;
The happiness, the pain.
Then you awake
And return to true reality.
Much the same,
What we see is not what is.
Buddhists believe that reality is Oneness;
The separation we see -
You and I, dog and cat, tree and sky -
Is nothing but an illusion.
We are all one being.
In a sense,
We are all God.
This easily explains Abrahamic religions' belief
That God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient.
It also explains their statements
That we are all made in the image of God.
Enlightenment is attained when you truly realize and understand this;
When you find the peace within the chaos
And release yourself to unshakable tranquility.
How could one not find such tranquility
When you understand the reality of the universe
As it is
And understand
That this suffering
Is not real.
Have you ever realized
While deep asleep
And seemingly trapped in a nightmare
That you were dreaming?
Suddenly
You're no longer afraid.
You know that the danger is not real.
The suffering is not real.
What you are experiencing
Is not reality.
Enlightenment,
I believe,
Is much the same way.
So perhaps I can find faith;
Not just in this world that I see
But in reality.
I am here to experience life
And learn.
What point is there in existing
In a state of omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience?
I believe that is why we are experiencing
Life this way.
No need to ask
"What is the meaning of life?"
This is the answer.
The meaning of life
Is the very existence
Of this perceived reality
And separation.
Did you know
That the Big Bang Theory
Is now the Big Bounce Theory?
The universe itself
Seems to have something of a heartbeat.
The omniverse is released from a single point -
Reminiscent to the "Oneness" -
And returns to this same single point.
The beat is slow
Giving ample time for life to form
And evolve
And for countless generations of beings
To experience existence
In this perceived reality.
Looking at humanity,
we continue to evolve -
Notably mentally -
Over time.
Even now,
Many continue to expand their consciousness,
Realizing the mistakes of the past
And building on them to make a better future.
I believe this time we are given
Is comparable to a single lifetime.
When you enter this world,
You are not self-aware.
You are helpless,
Surviving off of pure instinct.
As you grow,
So does your mind.
Now imagine this baby as being representative
Of the beginning of mankind.
As a toddler,
Your imagination begins to develop.
You believe in fairytales and imaginary friends.
All bias aside,
I believe this is where mankind began forming many religions.
Humans blamed both tragedy and prosperity on Gods and Goddesses.
No matter what happened,
They always found a way to link it to these beings.
As a child,
You began to appreciate community.
You wanted to play with other children.
However, your may have been short when it came to sharing.
Many children begin pointing out that each others' imaginary friends
Are not real.
Obviously, this leads to fights
And temper-tantrums.
I believe this is the point in the development of humanity that we began to form communities,
Albeit the common violence found within them.
As a teenager,
You began to believe you no longer needed to depend on anyone else.
You formed cliques.
You became responsible for your own money,
You became more judgmental.
You became rebellious.
Your emotions became even more turbulent.
Fights became violent,
While friendships became more serious.
I believe this is the point in the development of humanity that nations began to form,
That society became more complicated and separate cultures were born.
I believe this is also when true wars began
As nations fought for
Independence,
Title (to be considered the best),
Resources,
Land,
And even over differences
In opinion
Or religion.
As a young adult,
You began to understand the benefits of peace
And allies.
You began to balance benefit and loss
And think ahead before acting out.
You became more strategic
And less impulsive.
Friendships became stronger and deeper yet.
However,
Your emotions could still be turbulent at times
And you often thought of yourself before others.
This is not to say that you were selfish,
Only that the needs and suffering of others
Wasn't something commonly in mind.
You began to have a serious understanding of economics,
Though still struggling to keep everything in check.
I believe this is the point in human development that countries were born,
Treaties were made,
Alliances were built,
War became more strategic -
In some ways, to do more to help others;
In other ways, to do others more harm.
Society continued to become more complex yet.
We understood the importance of science
And technology,
So we began putting in the great time
We knew it would take
To advance our countries in the future.
However,
Such rapid evolution
Lead to greater responsibility
And governments struggled,
And often failed,
To maintain economic balance.
I believe this is the point in human development in which the majority exists.
When you became a more mature adult,
You began to understand how pointless drama is.
You became more responsible with your income and expenses.
Your friendships became closer than ever.
Disagreements became less volatile,
As you preferred to avoid pointless drama
And attempt to find middle ground.
When no middle ground could be found,
You simply parted ways.
You were more likely to help those in need,
Especially considering your own income and expenses were in order,
Enabling you to give more back to society
Without risking your own stability.
You began to reminisce on the community you felt as a child
With your friends and family
And began searching for ways to find that sense again:
In church, in organizations, in your neighborhood, at work, with your family - extended family, even.
You began to return to religion,
Seeing it as a source of answers to deeper questions beyond what science has yet been able to answer.
Or, perhaps, you turned further away from religion,
Believing it to be primitive,
And continued to believe in science rather than the supernatural.
When both sides came together,
Setting aside their differences
To create an even closer community,
Friends were found in unexpected places
And peace began to spread.
However, others turned away because of these differences.
The polarization began to shift
As you continued to grow older.
More and more people
Set aside their grudges
As they let go of dehumanizing
Those who disagreed with them.
Communities continued to spread
And grow stronger bonds
But without the violence
Once common to primitive communities.
I believe the new generations are the beginning of this phase of human development.
As you grow older,
You embrace the great memories of your existence.
You begin to appreciate everything around you - even the little things.
You look back on the battles of your past
And realize how much you learned from them.
You look back at fights with past enemies
And realize how pointless and ridiculous those fights truly were.
You begin to understand the circle of life
And appreciate every part of your own.
You see the lessons you learned in hard times
And the happiness you found in the good times.
You understand that life is a balance of give and take.
You let go of the stresses that once caused you so much grief,
Accepting that what's done is done
And it doesn't really matter so much in the end, anyway.
You find pride in all the good you have done, though,
In what time you had on this earth.
You realize it may never be in history books
And your life may never be a movie
But you made a difference,
No matter how small,
And that's what counts.
You find happiness in the simple fact that you were here;
You were given the blessing of existence.
You accept things the way things are
And release all fear and apprehension
Of what is to come.
This is the phase of human development that I believe very few people have ever reached thus far.
This is the phase of Enlightenment.
Bear in mind,
You yourself may be between phases.
Some evolve more than others.
This is not to say anyone is stupid or slow.
Remember,
All is One.
The separateness of yourself
Is not reality.
You are but a piece of the whole,
Being gifted with the experience of a sense of individual existence.
You are,
In reality,
Everyone.
Therefore,
You have
Or will have
Experienced every life
That exists
Has existed
Or will exist
In this current illusion of "reality"
That we are in.
All of this knowledge
Brings us to the importance of mindfulness.
It is important
To put things into perspective
Every day of your life,
As many times a day
As it crosses your mind.
When you begin to panic,
To feel depressed,
To feel out of control -
Stop to remember what is truly reality.
Remember the importance of finding the good in the bad
While keeping the sense to see that bad in the good.
Remember that the existence of both is what holds the balance.
Remember that,
Someday,
You will look back on your life.
Although you will see the lessons in your struggles
And the mistakes you made,
Do your best
To be sure
You have many wonderful memories
To hold close to your heart
And find great pride in.
Although this may not be the true "reality,"
You are experiencing things this way
For a reason.
This is a gift to yourself.
Appreciate it
And make the most of it.
If everyone could do this,
This version of "reality"
Would be so much more peaceful;
Our experiences would be that much more beautiful
And rewarding.
This does not mean
That the bad
Will cease to exist.
There will always be
A balance
Of good and bad.
However,
The scales do not need
To be so extreme.
Eventually,
This version of reality
Will return to oneness.
Eventually,
Another version of reality
Will be born from that same oneness.
This is not mere philosophy;
This is science.
This version of "reality"
May never exist again.
Appreciate the miracle
Of all of this.
Bring peace to your soul.
Enlighten yourself.
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