A particular philosophy that I came across states that since this creation is infinite, its parts or components can be arranged in infinite ways. Where does that leave the struggle for the truth? What is the truth at any given time and place, when the facts can be arranged in infinite ways to suit an infinite number of perspectives and needs?
A simple example would be a cow: to the butcher it only matters how many steaks and other cuts can be extracted from its body. To the shoemaker it only matters how much leather can be harvested. To the dairy industry, only the amount of milk the cow gives matters. In India, the cow is regarded as symbol for “mother” and therefore is sacred.
These are the various truths about the cow from various perspectives. The butchers’ truth is meat; the shoemakers’ truth is leather; the dairy industry’s is milk.
Same cow. Different truths for different needs.
This applies to the entire universe that surrounds us. This universe is like one enormous cow that means different things to different people at different times and different places.
Friday, September 4, 2026
The Day of Atonement
Today is the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. People are asked to atone. Atone for what, and ask forgiveness from whom?
Atone for the wrong they have done and ask forgiveness from them whom they have wronged in the previous year. Atonement has nothing to do with YHWH. YHWH does not ask for atonement from people. How could He? He himself always forgives people, all the time, irregardless of their circumstances. And He forgives immediately. He does not wait until October 4th to forgive them. No, He forgives them as soon as people have trespassed against Him, instantly. He does not remember from one moment to the next. He does not have a long memory. In fact, YHWH has the shortest memory in existence. He does not remember from one moment to the next. That is how He is able to forgive and forget the many wrongs people commit against Him constantly.
People commit crimes against YHWH all the time, in thought and deed. YHWH sees that and forgives it immediately, so that people have a chance for redemption. People commit constant trespasses against YHWH, but YHWH does not want to bind them with feelings of guilt. He wants people to see the error of their ways immediately. These trespasses against YHWH do not accumulate over one year and then get forgiven in bulk. Not at all.
What gets forgiven on the Day of Atonement is the trespasses against neighbors, friends, and acquaintances that people have accumulated over the course of the last year. In order for these trespasses to be truly forgiven, people need to approach the ones they have wronged and with sincerity ask for their forgiveness. Only then can the slate be wiped clean. Sitting in temple and feeling “atoned” is not doing the complete trick. It may make some people feel better about themselves, but that alone does not make the tension between the ones they have wronged and themselves go away.
Somewhere in the Bible is written that before approaching God and sacrificing to Him, one should clear the bad feelings with others so that one can approach God with a clear heart.
Atone for the wrong they have done and ask forgiveness from them whom they have wronged in the previous year. Atonement has nothing to do with YHWH. YHWH does not ask for atonement from people. How could He? He himself always forgives people, all the time, irregardless of their circumstances. And He forgives immediately. He does not wait until October 4th to forgive them. No, He forgives them as soon as people have trespassed against Him, instantly. He does not remember from one moment to the next. He does not have a long memory. In fact, YHWH has the shortest memory in existence. He does not remember from one moment to the next. That is how He is able to forgive and forget the many wrongs people commit against Him constantly.
People commit crimes against YHWH all the time, in thought and deed. YHWH sees that and forgives it immediately, so that people have a chance for redemption. People commit constant trespasses against YHWH, but YHWH does not want to bind them with feelings of guilt. He wants people to see the error of their ways immediately. These trespasses against YHWH do not accumulate over one year and then get forgiven in bulk. Not at all.
What gets forgiven on the Day of Atonement is the trespasses against neighbors, friends, and acquaintances that people have accumulated over the course of the last year. In order for these trespasses to be truly forgiven, people need to approach the ones they have wronged and with sincerity ask for their forgiveness. Only then can the slate be wiped clean. Sitting in temple and feeling “atoned” is not doing the complete trick. It may make some people feel better about themselves, but that alone does not make the tension between the ones they have wronged and themselves go away.
Somewhere in the Bible is written that before approaching God and sacrificing to Him, one should clear the bad feelings with others so that one can approach God with a clear heart.
The Poet
The poet has to dig deeper,
Find a way to the essence.
What essence? The essence of life.
The essence that’s driving it all.
The essence beneath it all.
The beyond the beyond.
The beyond of it all.
To point to the beyond
For the benefit of all.
To unearth that which is hidden.
Hidden underneath the myriad forms
That this universe projects.
“How magnificent is this pearl!”
“How fabulous was the play!”
“How marvelous is this dish!”
“How excellent is that design!”
The poet points to the essence beneath.
Even to the essence of a simple fly
That scrounges to find its daily meal.
The essence that should be our only zeal.
It’s the poet’s alone, not everyone’s too?
Builders are needed, and cooks and so on.
Not all can spend time in the unknown
Finding out about the great beyond,
Or the world would simply collapse.
The wheels have to keep turning.
The world needs to keep spinning.
The sun needs to keep shining,
So Life keeps on living,
Still, the poet keeps on digging,
Looking for the pure golden essence beneath.
Find a way to the essence.
What essence? The essence of life.
The essence that’s driving it all.
The essence beneath it all.
The beyond the beyond.
The beyond of it all.
To point to the beyond
For the benefit of all.
To unearth that which is hidden.
Hidden underneath the myriad forms
That this universe projects.
“How magnificent is this pearl!”
“How fabulous was the play!”
“How marvelous is this dish!”
“How excellent is that design!”
The poet points to the essence beneath.
Even to the essence of a simple fly
That scrounges to find its daily meal.
The essence that should be our only zeal.
It’s the poet’s alone, not everyone’s too?
Builders are needed, and cooks and so on.
Not all can spend time in the unknown
Finding out about the great beyond,
Or the world would simply collapse.
The wheels have to keep turning.
The world needs to keep spinning.
The sun needs to keep shining,
So Life keeps on living,
Still, the poet keeps on digging,
Looking for the pure golden essence beneath.
The Ghost in the Machine
What machine am I talking about? The machine is the human brain. Actually, it is the brain of all living creatures. A tree does not have a brain. An insect does. Grass not. Worms do. Flies yes. Birds yes. Mammals yes. Fish yes. Someone has called lower lifeforms one-brained beings, more developed lifeforms two-brained beings, and humans three-brained beings.
This someone was Gurdjieff, a philosopher and mystic, who was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This simple distinction of beings into one, two, or three-brained is useful to get a sense of the difference between the various beings on this planet.
There is a ghost in all of these machines, whether one, two, or three-brained. The ghost is the mysterious experience of consciousness. Neurons fire and all of a sudden there is the flash of consciousness. It comes out of nowhere. It sparks itself into existence when there is the recognition of the organism’s existence. In humans this recognition is: “I am, I exist.”
What that recognition is in the one or two-brained beings, only they will know for sure, because only they are experiencing it. It is probably a less clear version than that of the three-brained beings, the humans.
On the surface the brain is like a machine, with observable parts. Currents can be measured. Pictures can be taken showing activity in its various sections. But where in it is that ghost located, exactly? That ghost of consciousness?
There is a mirror that reflects the experience back to the observer and that is when the ghost appears. “Ah,” it says, “that is me!” It finds itself in the experience. It finds itself caught in this feedback loop. It finds itself in a house of mirrors, only seeing itself reflected. That is a highly blissful experience. If you find that you alone exist in everything you are experiencing, wouldn’t you say that that is the greatest experience of your life? If you’d find yourself reflected in the faces of all other people? Your beauty reflected in all beautiful things in existence? You alone exist and you alone are endlessly reflected back at yourself. That is the feedback loop in which consciousness sparks itself into existence. Then there is a “you.”
What or where is that mirror? It is a mirror in which all of the expressions of life are reflected. It is the mind, the instinctual, the feeling, and the thinking mind. The three-fold mind belonging to the three-brained being, humans.
In lower lifeforms there would be the instinctual and feeling mind in two-brained beings, and the instinctual mind in one-brained beings.
This is very simple way of visualizing a matter that is quite complex. There is also the matter of the nervous system that is highly developed in humans and that helps enormously with this feedback loop. The clearer the sense perceptions – the sensing of something – the clearer the mind can reflect the world.
This someone was Gurdjieff, a philosopher and mystic, who was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This simple distinction of beings into one, two, or three-brained is useful to get a sense of the difference between the various beings on this planet.
There is a ghost in all of these machines, whether one, two, or three-brained. The ghost is the mysterious experience of consciousness. Neurons fire and all of a sudden there is the flash of consciousness. It comes out of nowhere. It sparks itself into existence when there is the recognition of the organism’s existence. In humans this recognition is: “I am, I exist.”
What that recognition is in the one or two-brained beings, only they will know for sure, because only they are experiencing it. It is probably a less clear version than that of the three-brained beings, the humans.
On the surface the brain is like a machine, with observable parts. Currents can be measured. Pictures can be taken showing activity in its various sections. But where in it is that ghost located, exactly? That ghost of consciousness?
There is a mirror that reflects the experience back to the observer and that is when the ghost appears. “Ah,” it says, “that is me!” It finds itself in the experience. It finds itself caught in this feedback loop. It finds itself in a house of mirrors, only seeing itself reflected. That is a highly blissful experience. If you find that you alone exist in everything you are experiencing, wouldn’t you say that that is the greatest experience of your life? If you’d find yourself reflected in the faces of all other people? Your beauty reflected in all beautiful things in existence? You alone exist and you alone are endlessly reflected back at yourself. That is the feedback loop in which consciousness sparks itself into existence. Then there is a “you.”
What or where is that mirror? It is a mirror in which all of the expressions of life are reflected. It is the mind, the instinctual, the feeling, and the thinking mind. The three-fold mind belonging to the three-brained being, humans.
In lower lifeforms there would be the instinctual and feeling mind in two-brained beings, and the instinctual mind in one-brained beings.
This is very simple way of visualizing a matter that is quite complex. There is also the matter of the nervous system that is highly developed in humans and that helps enormously with this feedback loop. The clearer the sense perceptions – the sensing of something – the clearer the mind can reflect the world.
There is only the inner Journey
To be thankful for being alive is the highest form of worship. Simply to be thankful to be alive and to know it. To appreciate every moment fully. To savor it. And to extend this feeling of gratitude into every action. The honor to be able to sit here and type these words. The incredible fact that I am reading these words on the computer monitor. This feedback loop of action and consequence, of cause and effect is most astonishing.
In this feedback loop lies the miracle of consciousness. To do something and then to know that it exists outside of me. I can think about a lot of things, but only through taking actions can I see these thoughts materialize. That is the miracle of creation. And the miracle of knowing about it. The knowing takes place inside of me. Not outside. Creation exists outside, awareness inside.
Yes, a tree exists in the forest without me knowing about it, but it has no consequence to me. It does not influence my thinking, my awareness, my consciousness. Correction, just now it did as a generic tree in a generic forest.
Whatever I can think of, that becomes a reality for me. My thoughts and feelings create my world. Some say, I dream the world into existence. That may be true, but it all starts with me. Without me existing, there would be no world to experience. Would there be a world at all? I don’t know. Certainly not the world that I am experiencing. Probably some other world.
And so it goes on, round and round. It all orbits around me. I am the center of my universe. But I am not the creator of me. And I am not the creator of the universe. I may dream it into being in a particular shape, but its substance I did not create, and I don’t know what that substance is.
Well, I think I know. It is energy with particles. Tiny particles that have tiny electric charges. Some particles attract, others repulse. Over time friction arises which leads to the Big Bang. I don’t know why scientists have not come up with a better name for it. Big bang implies that there was something to hear. I doubt that, because the universe created its own space when it exploded and without space there is no sound as we know it.
Anyway, I shifted my thinking mind away from feeling grateful. I could think forever about the state of the universe and will end up right where I left off: in the knowing that I exist, which makes me ecstatically happy, or as it is so aptly put by the Vedic sages: the Self is Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. What more can be said?
In this feedback loop lies the miracle of consciousness. To do something and then to know that it exists outside of me. I can think about a lot of things, but only through taking actions can I see these thoughts materialize. That is the miracle of creation. And the miracle of knowing about it. The knowing takes place inside of me. Not outside. Creation exists outside, awareness inside.
Yes, a tree exists in the forest without me knowing about it, but it has no consequence to me. It does not influence my thinking, my awareness, my consciousness. Correction, just now it did as a generic tree in a generic forest.
Whatever I can think of, that becomes a reality for me. My thoughts and feelings create my world. Some say, I dream the world into existence. That may be true, but it all starts with me. Without me existing, there would be no world to experience. Would there be a world at all? I don’t know. Certainly not the world that I am experiencing. Probably some other world.
And so it goes on, round and round. It all orbits around me. I am the center of my universe. But I am not the creator of me. And I am not the creator of the universe. I may dream it into being in a particular shape, but its substance I did not create, and I don’t know what that substance is.
Well, I think I know. It is energy with particles. Tiny particles that have tiny electric charges. Some particles attract, others repulse. Over time friction arises which leads to the Big Bang. I don’t know why scientists have not come up with a better name for it. Big bang implies that there was something to hear. I doubt that, because the universe created its own space when it exploded and without space there is no sound as we know it.
Anyway, I shifted my thinking mind away from feeling grateful. I could think forever about the state of the universe and will end up right where I left off: in the knowing that I exist, which makes me ecstatically happy, or as it is so aptly put by the Vedic sages: the Self is Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. What more can be said?
The story of Joseph
Joseph was a spoiled child. He was the most handsome of his siblings. His father favored him over his other sons. Joseph felt privileged and he acted so. That brought out his brothers’ ill feelings towards him; they resented his grandstanding, his showing off of his “superior” looks and intelligence.
They despised him and planned to get rid of him. Some wanted him killed. Others just wanted to sell him into slavery, which they ultimately did. Joseph ended up in Egypt as the slave to an influential couple with a large household. His beauty caught the eyes of the wife, and she desired him. He refused and she claimed he had made advances towards her. He proclaimed his innocence, but he was thrown in jail on her testimony.
Meanwhile, his father had been informed of his death that his brothers had staged, with blood on his coat to prove that he had been killed by a wild beast. The father never gave up hope that Joseph was still alive somewhere.
While in prison, Joseph correctly interpreted a prophetic dream by the pharaoh. This brought him into the graces of the pharaoh, who rewarded him with an appointment to a high office.
During the next famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to purchase grains. Joseph was in charge of Egypt’s food supplies at that time. He recognized his brothers whom he had forgiven, but they did not know him. He revealed his identity and eventually his whole family came to Egypt and began living there. His father’s name had been changed from Jakob to Israel, and Joseph and his elven brothers became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.
And then the whole episode of the Exodus from Egypt with Moses occurred to one of the next generations.
They despised him and planned to get rid of him. Some wanted him killed. Others just wanted to sell him into slavery, which they ultimately did. Joseph ended up in Egypt as the slave to an influential couple with a large household. His beauty caught the eyes of the wife, and she desired him. He refused and she claimed he had made advances towards her. He proclaimed his innocence, but he was thrown in jail on her testimony.
Meanwhile, his father had been informed of his death that his brothers had staged, with blood on his coat to prove that he had been killed by a wild beast. The father never gave up hope that Joseph was still alive somewhere.
While in prison, Joseph correctly interpreted a prophetic dream by the pharaoh. This brought him into the graces of the pharaoh, who rewarded him with an appointment to a high office.
During the next famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to purchase grains. Joseph was in charge of Egypt’s food supplies at that time. He recognized his brothers whom he had forgiven, but they did not know him. He revealed his identity and eventually his whole family came to Egypt and began living there. His father’s name had been changed from Jakob to Israel, and Joseph and his elven brothers became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.
And then the whole episode of the Exodus from Egypt with Moses occurred to one of the next generations.
This Moment
This moment is here
And yet it is not really here.
Bits and pieces of yesterday
Are floating around in my mind
Pictures and sounds of yesterday
And of days gone by,
But not completely bye bye.
I hear them, I see them
They are with me
Coming mostly uninvited
Taking up space in my thoughts
Telling me about all the stupid things
I did once and feeling stupid
once again.
This is agony all over
Over what?
Something that happened thirty years ago?
Forty? Fifty? And still it bothers me?
I am here with my mind
Conjuring up all those images,
Sounds, and amorphous projections.
Some from movies, some from music
Some from my own sights.
All is memory, the carpet of the past
Woven by the sights and sounds of life.
And yet it is not really here.
Bits and pieces of yesterday
Are floating around in my mind
Pictures and sounds of yesterday
And of days gone by,
But not completely bye bye.
I hear them, I see them
They are with me
Coming mostly uninvited
Taking up space in my thoughts
Telling me about all the stupid things
I did once and feeling stupid
once again.
This is agony all over
Over what?
Something that happened thirty years ago?
Forty? Fifty? And still it bothers me?
I am here with my mind
Conjuring up all those images,
Sounds, and amorphous projections.
Some from movies, some from music
Some from my own sights.
All is memory, the carpet of the past
Woven by the sights and sounds of life.
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