OK, so I asserted rather dogmatically that the whole universe is based on constant change. And some of you are rising up in arms to protest that in fact the universe is always working at a state of relative balance between stability and entropy. So I'll concede this but only as a clarification of my point, not a negation of my point.
Actually the universe functions very much like the ancient God Shiva - the creator, preserver, and destroyer. Existence itself is a vital fluid living movement from creation to preservation to dissolution to re-creation from the component elements of those things that have been destroyed. Everything is either coming into being, striving to maintain existence, falling apart and losing its essential being, or coming back into being as something else made of different parts of other stuff.
Buddhists tell us that true wisdom is not only knowing intellectually, but training the entire complex mind-structure to recognize and live in harmony with the continual coming and going of everything - every moment, every thought, emotion, action, reaction, experience. Each thing, entity, event, choice, motivation, thought comes into being because of previous conditions, strives to maintain existence, and eventually is dissolved. This is true whether we are talking about molecules, elephants, ideas, or love affairs. Everything changes, nothing stays permanently the same for longer than the conditions upon which it is contingent are in effect.
This is also the case with all the stuff we each believe to be true. What we think, and believe is not some static set of knowledge - like a printed encyclopedia that's always the same each time you look at it. Our knowledge is maintained by a bunch of living neurons firing off in particular patterns in our brain. And it's subject to the same progressions as the rest of the universe: creation followed by preservation followed by dissolution.
On the side of stability, if we continue to think the same thoughts over and over it wears grooves in our brain so that we are more likely to think that way again next time. That's why repetition works to engrain stuff in our memories. But like everything else in the universe, the stability part is just the piece that comes between the creation part and the dissolution part. Our thought patterns will change.
The key to a healthy mental life is the same as it is for a healthy body, healthy bio systems, healthy planets, solar systems, galaxies, universes. The key is not trying to maintain the stability indefinitely, not trying to avoid or curtail the dissolution, but learning to live in the active present moment. The present moment of a body or a thought is a maelstrom of gazillions of elements coming into existence, hanging around awhile and then collapsing and starting over as something else. Living consciously in the flow of that reality is where we find our fulfillment as sentient beings.
Enjoy the period of stability, accept the inevitable descent into dissolution, and celebrate the re-creation of something new and unexpected from the debris and detritus of the falling parts of the disintegration. Ride the wave, don't try to pave the ocean.
Ok on to my defense of my newly minted rule of truth in the next blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment