Bringing the World to Life: Introduction

Since I started this blog, I've wanted to write a post about "bringing the world to life." This refers to mainly my own personal explorations over the last year or so... and consequently I feel I have a lot of interesting things to put out there. The problem, though, was sheer organization -- I had a handful of vaguely related topics that all fit under the guise of "bringing the world to life." Was I to compose one massive and all-inclusive post? That was the idea, at first.

Yesterday though, the answer presented itself to me. Instead of one gargantuan post trying to include all the topics I wanted to cover (which probably would have done justice to none of them), I would instead compose a mutliple-part series of posts (inspired by an identical approach from the blog Alchemical Braindamage). In a sense, each post would be different than the rest -- yet all would be loosely related and fall under the general umbrella of "brining the world to life." And so with that, I continue with an introduction to my henceforth-proclaimed series.

I want to begin with the idea of one's life following a sort of order, progression or path. As our life unfolds, this path may seem non-existant, or at most veiled and unclear. Quite often, in fact, we may wonder where the hell we are going with a sense of futility and helplessness. However, when looking back at one's progress during fleeting moments of peace and calmness, there may seem to be some sort of structure or guiding principle that was there all along. Various events -- many or all of which seemed unrelated and random at the time -- were seemingly working together to deliver you to the place you are now. There may be one hundred moments in my past that I wished had turned out differently at the time... yet, when I look at where I am right now, I couldn't imagine being in a better situation.

In the "Power of Myth" interviews, Joseph Campbell talked about this exact topic. Examining Schopenhauer's essay "On the Apparent Intention in the Fate of the Individual," Campbell remarks:

[Your life] can seem to have had a consistent order and plan, as though composed by some novelist. Events that when they occurred had seemed accidental and of little moment turn out to have been indispensable factors in the composition of a consistent plot. So who composed that plot?

While examining the many different possible answers to that question isn't my intention, I'll simply skid ahead one summation of Schopenhauer's thoughts on the matter:

And Schopenhauer concludes that it is as though our lives were the features of the one great dream of a single dreamer in which all the dream characters dream, too; so that everything links to everything else, moved by the one will to life which is the universal will in nature.

It would go without saying, then, that this "universal will within nature" is active within all of us, below the radar of consciousness though it may be. As we make our way from day to day, wondering about where it is indeed we are headed, I've grown suspicious that there is a part of us -- shut off from our conscious selves -- that has an inkling of an idea of what is going on. And no matter what path we "choose" for ourselves, we are in fact unable to head in any direction "away from" our ultimate destination.

If anything could be said about the last few months of my life -- which are themselves a product of the last few years of my life -- which again are products of the 20-some years before -- I would say that I've observed (with utmost modesty and humility) an "awakening" to myself and to the world. I don't intent to measure or scale this so-called "awakening" against anything, for that isn't what is important. What matters is that I've slowly become aware of myself observing and becoming aware of myself at the deepest, inner-most levels.

I will admit that, upon entering college, and even a few years after, I thought I had it all figured out. In fact, I was sure of it. I mistook wisdom for that which was empirical, perhaps, and mistook youthful arrogance of deep-rooted knowledge. Slowly, I began to suspect that I might be mistaken... that there might indeed be more out there for me to learn. And slowly, over the last 5-6 years, I've become aware that I still have a very long way to go. Yet, I'm at peace with that. I recently came across a quote from the former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, who said "it's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

And so maybe that is what I'm getting at. When I say "bringing the world to life," I think I'm hinting at the part of myself that is "seeing things as they really are." I am freeing myself from the ego-imposed prison-world I had created for myself by thinking I had it all figured out and that what I saw was what I got. Recently (and this is what I want to write about in this series), I'm discovering that "the world" (or "reality" or "life" or my "experience") is slowly unveiling itself and the radiance is shining through. The more I yield to this -- which is devastating for the ego, and therefore a quite difficult thing to do -- the more things seem to "come to life."

And it is beyond incredible. It surpasses remarkable. It is really and utterly unspeakable. But I'm going to cross the threshold and bring back a description of it that is my very own. Of course, my words (as with everyone elses) can only take you so far. They cannot take you all the way. It is you (or me or any of us) who has to take that final step. We can be shown the way, but we ourselves must take the journey. So please stay tuned. I am quite excited for what lies ahead and hope to shine some light where there is darkness.