continued

Well, i'm back, not with anything too connected just yet.
Thanks to all the people following, it means a lot to know i'm writing something of interest.
I have realised that i tend to get sidetracked easily when it comes to writing about oh look a butterfly.. wait, what?

Anyway, on the subject of "reaching a state of enlightenment", there are a multitude of methods when it comes to meditation and deep thinking. Many people find Buddhism is the way to go, and I would tend to agree. They promote the emptying of the mind, as the first step in meditation. For the average westerner, this proves to be nigh impossible, as the life many of us lead can often border on the chaotic. Your job, payments on a car/ house, family, friends, making sure you keep it all balanced... almost everyone gets so swept up in the great game of life, that they don't stop to smell the roses.

Although it may seem unintuitive, 'inner peace' can be achieved when all about you is chaos. For this to happen, one must shift one's own perception of the chaos. One must feel the chaos, accept that it is there, and that it may never change. I hate to draw parallels with "The Matrix", but it is just as Morpheus said, "You can, If you think you can", in this case, the chaos ceases to be if you stop seeing it as chaos. Chaos by definition is a subjective state, i.e., one must first perceive chaos to be there for it to exist, therefore, if you stop seeing all your business and social meetings, commitments with family and friends etc as chaos, and instead see it all as a wonderful gift, there for you to enjoy, then so it shall be. Optimism goes a long way.

Keep in mind, that if you do not manage to change the way you think, you will not reach a state of enlightenment. This I cannot stress enough. Everyone is taught to think in a certain way, to act in a certain way, to eat, sleep and fuck a certain way. It is a situation that is endemic of western culture, and civilization as we know it today. I'm sure you have at some point, questioned why everyone is doing what they're doing, why you have to go to school, why you have to get married, why Mr. Henderson down the road washes his car every Saturday, and Mrs. Jones next door goes grocery shopping at the same place for the same shit, week in, week out. I for one ask myself everyday, and I for one, have no idea why.

I remember my Dad telling me once, "If everyone focused on the 'how', and not the 'why', then we would already have a colony on fucking mars!"
Despite our many long and exhausting discussions and arguments, I still ask 'why'. I think it's probably human nature. What I do know, is that my life would be so simple, so uncomplicated if I forgot about 'why' and focused on 'how'. Maybe that is why I keep asking. He has a point, though, the old geezer, in that there would probably be less religion, less conflict, and more industrial and scientific breakthroughs if we were more preoccupied with 'how' instead of 'why'.

But back on topic, you want enlightenment, then get it by first opening your mind. To open your mind, you must also find inner peace, it makes this shit easier. With an open mind and inner peace, you must then meditate. Think long and hard about your own life, day to day struggles, what family and friends mean to you, anything that is close to your own heart.

Just as an example, think about how all your material possessions came to be yours. Are they really yours? Where would they be if you had never existed? What impact does your existence have on the world around you? If you never existed, how are you thinking right now? What link does your consciousness have with your physical body?

If you can, think for as long as possible and follow your train of thought as deeply as possible. Rinse and repeat. If you are unsure of where to start with meditation, read up on as many philosophies as you can, anything dealing with deep thinking. Take it all with a grain of salt, though, don't be like all the religious zealots out there, desperately clinging to anything of meaning in their fragile little cages.

Feel free to get back to me on your own efforts, I would be interested to see how you interpret your own lives. Also, I shall try to post regularly from here on in, this last week has been a doozy.

A perrty picture for y'all