Greetings, Dreamers!
There is code embedded in our genes. Much of this is governed by mathematical constants, ratios and equations. Why?
We do not know.
The beauty of our sun is irrefutable–a star adrift amongst a multitude of other kindred stars, a family so impossibly large one cannot be special. The family is called the Main Sequence. And we have found, spiraling around these other kindred stars, there are alien planets, strange and beautiful in their own right. One can look at any planet, either within or beyond our Solar Family, and find beauty in it, something wonderful.
One of my favorite books, and one of the first I ever read, is The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury — the Martian genocide. The allegory was immediately apparent to me, but, as I grow older, I find new rabbit holes to explore philosophically each time I read it. I have always been fascinated with ancient cultures, even fictitious ones. The strange, yet alluring, appeal to the Martian culture, for me, was its foundation in humility. History does not make a philosophy real — meaningful thoughts create the future of any philosophy. All we need do is not repeat the mistakes of the past, and history becomes irrelevant. The Martians as Bradbury created them were beautiful and admirable.
With spring here, we are often reminded of the beauty that exists in and beyond our world — despite the chaos and discontent depicted on the nightly news. Winter brings isolation, hibernation and introspection as we huddle beneath quilts, blankets and layers of clothes. Spring unleashes our creativity, with the palette of color splashed over our gardens, forests and parks. We take up our shovels and rakes to restore our yards to what we had before the cruel winter stripped it all away, leaving its mark as if to remind us that it will come again.
Now, you are probably wondering why I am mentioning all this. Why mention the Martians, beauty and our sun? The answer is as simple as the answer to the purpose of life. Life’s only purpose is the pure enjoyment of being.
There is a great deal of turmoil in our world, and it does not seem that there is an end in sight. It is not isolated to one region, people or country. It is a systemic problem that we continue to ignore. The Martian Chronicles is a quintessential lesson on how we as humans trod clumsily through our existence, scarcely aware of the problems we cause because we have not reached a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe or ourselves.
Life is a waking dream — we can mold it, enjoy it, and improve it– but first we must recognize we have the power within us. The purpose of my series The Waking Dream, is not only to entertain my readers, but also to plant that seed of suspended disbelief. Once we start to collectively understand that things can be better, we will crave for them to be better. This requires that we all get involved. And this has been my steadfast message.
For me, the Waking Dream is to create a culture much like the Bradbury’s Martians. A life full of philosophical discussion, creating beautiful things, and embracing the harmony that comes from a collective understanding, and engineering, of our reality. The easiest way to begin is to look skyward to the real master of our world, the Sun. Without its nurturing warmth, and tumultuous demeanor, our lives would be very different. But despite the dangers associated with being dependent on the sun, and its cyclical temper tantrums, it is nonetheless beautiful.
Our world is beautiful, yet, we were discontent to stay in the safety of its caves and caverns, so we have built temporary empires which will be long forgotten when we are no more. The sun and Earth will exist beyond our brief moment in history — billions of years beyond our comprehension. Each moment, each breath, each thought should be cherished. We learn from mistakes and move forward, ever pushed by the arrow of time.
At the beginning of this post I mentioned the code embedded in our genes that define our existence. This is only the operating system. We are all programmers with a keen, yet often overlooked, ability to write new code, new apps. These apps are not limited to our smart devices — “smart” being a grossly overstated term. We can reorder things by reprogramming the world around us — we do it all the time. Every time you move something from one side of the room to the other, you are reprogramming your environment, but this is only the most fundamental ability we have — overcoming gravity.
If we embrace the possibility that the universe is ours to mold, then we can explore new avenues of consciousness. We all have special abilities which we tend to ignore or keep to ourselves, for fear of being labeled negatively. We have a nasty habit of admonishing those who are different from the rest of the herd. This is an instinct we must learn to overcome. Are the things that interest you really things you enjoy, or do you do them because everyone else is? This is a flaw in our societal structure. We are individuals first, and community second. At the end of it all, you will leave this planet by yourself — how do you want to be remembered?
I’ve talked on many occasions about our inherent abilities, things we don’t talk about with a sense of earnestness — telepathy, empathy, telekinesis, communing with the dead. But why are these concepts so difficult for us to grasp as possible. Nothing is impossible, and we know this due to our exploration of the quantum world. However, some things are highly improbable. For instance, a single electron has the probability of being anywhere in the universe at a given moment — the probability never makes it to zero. They pop in and out of existence in ways we cannot understand. There are strange attractions between certain particles that allow them to communicate with one another instantaneously over limitless space, defying what we know about the speed of light. We have only just begun Kindergarten in the school of the universe.
The code in our genes is what allows us to operate on auto-pilot — breathing, protecting, foraging. It also tends to hinder us as we rely on our instincts as well as our social engineering to define us. Whenever I feel as if I am straying from the path I’ve set before myself, I look to the sun and ponder its existence. From a distance it is a perfect orb of glowing life, but up close it is a tempest of plasma and fire. The same can be said of our world. From a distance it is a shining jewel in the crown of the sun, but as we look beneath the clouds, we are a hurricane raging across the planet, unable to find peace in our existence. We are ever rushing forward to meet the future without taking time to enjoy the now.
We must look to the future, so that we can clear a path through existence. But we must ensure that we don’t forget to enjoy our being. The easiest way for one to do that is to step away from the computer, go outside and feel the warmth of the sun on our skin, smell the fragrance of life being renewed, and look within ourselves and ask, “Am I happy?” This question is the most difficult to explore.
Today the sun is shining, and it is a pleasant day. Despite being at work, I steal moments to stand outside and look to the sky. Summer is coming, the flowers are in bloom, and before we know it, we will be back in hibernation. But in the time we are active, we should explore new ways, within ourselves, to change the world around us. Things are not horrible, but they are not what we should want. We should collectively create a dream in which we all are happy, and each of us must strive to make it happen.
You are more than you think you are. We are all stars, we are all god, we are all beautiful. Be different, be yourself, be wonderful and the universe will reveal itself to you.
