Friday 26 October 2007

Bliss is Ignorance



One thing I am odds with my religion over, is I do not believe in an afterlife. I do believe that the entire universe is one consciousness, because it is- in physical- terms one vast information network. If thought is possible in the universe, the universe does it.
It is all deterministic. Therefore, it is God.

I also believe that Christ's teachings ARE the way forward. If we could transcend our base animal urges and overthrow our sense of self- the real point of his teachings- then the ideas which we say won't work because of human nature- Free Love and Communism- WOULD work and society would be a better place for it.

Christ, Marx, Nietzche and Darwin- link them together, humanity's path is clear.

But no, I don't believe in an afterlife. Not really. I think it's a bribe to get us to be good.
I think the real state of contentment is something deeper.
The Buddha spelled it out.

Nirvana. The highest state of consciousness. Complete understanding of the universe.
Beyond pleasure, beyond pain.

When you reach Nirvana, you no longer feel either.
Can humans strive for this?

I don't know. I'm not sure those who reach it ever really had a choice.
I think Jesus reached it, in a sense.
I think I see HOW it is reached. It is all about understanding, and it is a double edged sword.
Both the Buddha and Christ, in fact many prophets, philosophers, messianic figures generally seem to have begun their 'missions' at thirty.

I guess it takes that time to realise, you can't live a lie any more.

Understanding carries a cost. In a sense, you do sell your soul for it.

I have always been driven I guess, to understand, to comprehend, to get to grips with the world.
It has been my prime driving motivation. More than that, it's obsession. Everything else in my life pales by comparison. Everything else is just a microcosm, a part of the picture.
I want the WHOLE picture.
I want the GRAND vision.

It's a lofty aim, I guess, but I really want to see inside the mind of God, before I die.
It either drives you, or it doesn't. For most, it doesn't.

As my twenties have progressed, my range of interests has widened. I have felt compelled to take on new areas of study, so as to increase my understanding of the whole.
Because to understand the World, you need to understand history. To understand history, you need to understand politics. To understand politics, you need to understand economics. To understand economics, you need to understand sociology. To understand sociology, you need to understand psychology. To understand psychology, you need to understand biology. To understand biology, you need to understand chemistry. To understand chemistry, you need to understand physics.

It's all interlinked.

But it's no use just knowing this stuff. You need to apply this knowledge to what you see. The connecting of it all, and adding your own real life observations to it is the key. The truth really is in front of your nose.

Remember, Darwin hit upon his idea of how evolution worked by reading an economics tract- Malthus theory on population. Darwin figured, if that was how human society worked, all animals must be subject to the same laws, and over time, those laws would have effect.

When you start to understand how your own pleasure and pain motivators are wired up, you question them more. It's not good enough to just feel happy. You need to know why. Happiness does stop becoming its own reward, when you start seeing yourself as you truly are, an organism, capable of being conditioned.

Pleasure and pain are not objective, they are neurological responses. They may let you down.

Put another way, mankind has an instinctive fear of spiders, most psychologists agree. it IS actually programmed in. Why?
Because of our ancestors, those who had a fear of spiders, but not trees, tended to live longer than those who had a fear of trees, but not spiders.
Pleasure and pain are programmed as they are for sound biological reasons, but they cannot actually approach true logic.

Objective logic MUST override your individual happiness every time. That is what makes humanity special. The ability to override our animal natures.

A good example of this is liking sweet things. We know too much sweet food is bad for you. So why does it taste so good?
Because in the wild, sweet things are hard to find. But we need them, in tiny doses. But we needed to be incentivised to go and find them. so we are encouraged to scour the forests looking for these nice tasting things.
Now we can create them on demand, that particular programming is a bit of a handicap.



In a nutshell, you can only truly be free when you have the power to endure suffering and to reject happiness.
When you really can rise above your instincts and know yourself.

That doesn't mean you should live in misery. Take happiness, when you can, when it doesn't stand in your way, when it doesn't sidetrack you, when it isn't offered as a bait on someone else's hook.

But there is a sense, really, when true understanding precludes total happiness.
I suppose one day that might not be the case, but not as things stand.

When you truly get your head round the situation we live in, when you see humanity in all its awesomeness- or awfulness, when the scales finally drop from your eyes, somehow, everything else just seems irrelevant.

How can you ever really find contentment , when you see it, in all its naked glory?



A species ruled by a minority controlling them by pressing the pleasure pain buttons.
A species that points missiles at eachother, but can't be bothered to go back to the moon.
A species that thinks marketing Pokemon is worthwhile, building hospitals in Africa isn't.
A species that bands itself into tribal units for the purpose of hating its fellows.
A species lied to, manipulated, conditioned, enslaved and wasted.

A world where so much energy, so much opportunity, so much love is held back.

All to maintain the Matrix of Power.
So that a few fat cats can enjoy the sensation of owning the world. Of owning US.

Not so they can do anything constructive with that power.
They just want to HAVE it, for it's own sake.



It really is a Matrix world we live in. Once you see it, once the truth hammers home through the skull they have spent years thickening, so that truth would never get through, you can never see anything the same again.

Do you wish you took the blue pill?
Sometimes, yes.

Bliss is ignorance.
I want more than that.

The truth will not make you happy.
But it will set you free.

PS I'm away this weekend.
Pleasure seeking.
It's OK, as long you don't lose sight of reality.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was never one for the afterlife either. It's always been a control. The way I see it is what's the point in living to determine what happens to you after you die? Surely you should try living to determine what happens to you whilst your alive?

Anonymous said...

Have a great weekend, plenty pointless pleasure for its own sake I hope. If you keep thinking like this your mind will twist into so many knots. Relax, you sound like you want to know and assimilate everything but you might find that wisdom is in forgetting. It is so much easier to simply trust your instincts. Rage on, all weekend Mr Ingsoc.

Anonymous said...

Pleasure seeking huh? I thought blogging was pleasure seeking.

"In a nutshell, you can only truly be free when you have the power to endure suffering and to reject happiness."

I respectfully disagree. I think we can truly be free when we endure happiness and reject the longevity of suffering. That's not to say that we don't suffer, it's saying that we suffer a little, we get happy. (reading the post further, I see that you elaborated.)

We can maintain the happiness quotient if we know that sometimes we have to suffer a little.

Happy pleasure seeking.

Anonymous said...

Scientists still strive to find a single unifying theory at the root of everything.

Would that be God then ? How convenient.

The Christians are keen to stress that God exists outside of the physical realm. Would that be to put him beyond scrutiny perchance ?

I feel that the religionists' acceptance of any other definition than a sentient and omnipotent being (a bearded man in the sky) is a retreat from what they told us for millennia. And they will keep on retreating never once offering a single iota of proof whilst at the same time demanding the most scrupulous standards of scientific evidence against their superstitions. How arrogant and dishonest. A priest or a monk is no more qualified to attend a debate on ethics than a cook, in fact a cook probably knows more about proper allocation of scarce resources which is what ethical choices are really all about.

It is no longer fair to even say there is a 50/50 chance that God exists - the scientists have gone way WAY beyond proving that the odds are against and often in circumstances of extreme adversity brought about by the protectionist Churches.

We need to break free of this delusion, it grants enormous power to story tellers and I don't trust the future of mankind in their hands - we're going to have to realise this sooner or later. And the Universe won't be any less wonderful a place for it. I can vouch for this - because I'm certain that God does not exist and life seems better for realising it.

Anonymous said...

Have a nice weekend Mr Ingsoc! I hope to have read the post by Monday!!

Anonymous said...

"I really want to see inside the mind of God, before I die."

Crushed, doesn't it follow from your view of the universe as God that you are in fact already seeing his/her/its/their mind from the inside? Whether or not any mortal is capable of fully comprehending what they see, of course, is an entirely different question.

Anonymous said...

wow, this was a really long and interesting post. The first half I nodded along with you - all in agreement. I believe Jesus spent a lot of time in deep prayer - and it seems to be those of us who can really sit and be still and get into a deep medititive state, are much happier and gentle human beings who seem to 'get' stuff.

But the world is made up of too many holes, this society I live in anyway. I think it's made up of too much corruption and the greed outweighs the good people, the humble people. It's too easy not to really, genuinely care. We feel entitled and suffering is for the devout zealots.

I wish it were different but I dont' see how society is going to get better. I think it'll potter along like it always has and God's message will only really connect with the few (lucky) people.

Anonymous said...

A thoughtful post Crushed.
I don't know what to think about an afterlife. Would it be so bad if there wasn't? Although I think most of us like to feel that those whom we see do evil things in this life and are unpunished might get their comeuppance in the afterlife. That those who have such a terrible life on earth for whatever reason might have something better when it is over.

I too want to feel that I have all the answers and I can't achieve that in this lifetime so hope I will in the afterlife. I will finally understand it all, God willing.

Anonymous said...

> In a nutshell, you can only truly be free when you have the power to endure suffering and to reject happiness. When you really can rise above your instincts and know yourself. That doesn't mean you should live in misery. Take happiness, when you can, when it doesn't stand in your way, when it doesn't sidetrack you, when it isn't offered as a bait on someone else's hook.

This is the basis of humanity's 'ethics' (and of defense mechanisms). The 'instinct' you mentioned is the id... the one that keeps wanting everything on the spot. The superego tells it to wait, or that it should not be done... everyone has to develop this conscience... this is what differentiates us from animals..

> The truth will not make you happy. But it will set you free.
Very very true. For me, one of these truths is the afterlife (so our opinions differ there). Sure, I'd like to believe that everyone who is good and loves others will go to heaven. Who wants to go about preaching the gospel and telling ppl they're going to hell if they don't believe in Jesus? It's a burden... (just like thinking of ppl suffering physically... but this one is picturing them suffering for eternity). But Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth and the life'... 'the'... doesn't make one happy, but does set one free if one chooses to accept that truth ...

(hmm, just had a thought... if one reads Terry Pratchett, there's a concept that you go to the kind of afterlife you expect... but since you don't believe in afterlife, where do you go? ;-) I believe that truth is truth; like if you see a sign that says 'you can skate here- the ice is firm', if you still step on the ice, you won't fall through even if you BELIEVE the ice is thin. so doesn't matter so much what you believe in your mind, but how you live out your beliefs... so if one believes in Jesus and lives a life of love, I guess they'll still go to heaven whether or not they believe in heaven....)

> It's a lofty aim, I guess, but I really want to see inside the mind of God, before I die. It either drives you, or it doesn't. For most, it doesn't.
True, for me it doesn't. I'm thinking of Corinthians 'now we see but in a mirror, then we will see face to face... now we know in part, then we will know fully'. So you may have to wait til you get to heaven til you know everything...:-)

Anonymous said...

Talking of Buddhism: I had a really entertaining book published by Penguin called "Buddhist Scriptures"... it was a riot! Telling tales about how when the Buddha was born everywhere he walked jewels sprouted out of the ground... then I realized they were probably talking metaphorically and the same could indeed be said about Jesus... well it's quite an interesting book if you ever come across it...

BTW come and do my "meme": ie. Who was your Favourite Childhood Bear?

Anonymous said...

...the real point of his teachings- then the ideas which we say won't work because of human nature- Free Love and Communism...

The real point of His teachings had zero to do with casual sex and enforced enslavement.

They're incompatible. He was more into decency and integrity. The Gospels are a good source for what he was really into - pretty unequivocal really, Crushed.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm an agnostic as you know, but I would rather place my faith in Christ than anyone else, because he believed in love. I don't believe in an afterlife- I think it's a way of dealing with our fear of death. I wish I did, though. It's hard to go on without faith or, as you put it, when you realise our situation- but we must and we must do our best for others. It's all there in Camus.

Anonymous said...

Oestrebunny- Seems reasonable to me. Anyway, I fel that even if you are wrong aqbout an afterlife, as long as you have used your life thest way, ie maximum experience gained with minimum pain caused, they can't not let you through the pearly gates.

Paul- I did have good weekend, although for once I was actually slightly sensible. Someone was really pressurising me go to a Rave in Bath, called Westfest Saturday night- they sold it very well, but for once I took the sensible option of bed Saturday night. Two nights in a row without sleep is just TOO much, if you are working Monday.

Alexys- I think you can only be truly happy if you KNOW you can endure suffering, because you lose your fear.
True strengeth is being able to disregard pleasure or pain, should the situation demand it.

EK- I don't believe in a bearded man in the sky, and I'm not sure how mant thesis would.
I believe the universe to be conscious and we see God everyday, Physics is the study of how he works.
Most physicista ARE theists, in fact which suggests that many actually see the evience as shopwing a conscious deity.

To me its simple, if there is existence, and it unifiable, it is God.
Mutley- I missed your Autumn Solsice celebrations, I'm afraid. I'll come next year.

Ian- Oh, we see it, it is the COMPREHENDING how it works in its entirity that is the aim. After all the universe sees its enitirity, it knows ALL the answers.because ir so much more intelligent, as in it think with every particle in the universe. We don't have that luxury.

Betty- Its the sense of self that is the problem. Failing to realise that the successs of a species like ours is in its collectivity- not itss its individuality.
I do think we WILL rise above that.

jmb- Ultimately, I think the best always wins longterm- that's the way the universe works. But that doesn't mean that the nicest always win short term.
Each one of us is just a pawn in the overall picture, what happens isn't FAIR, it's determined by the way we are wired up, and the circumstances we exist in.

Eve- I always thought that if you could choose your afterlife, and they were all equally real, Valhalla sounds the place to go.

Shame that its not really a religion with much to offer on the subject of ethics.

Gledwood- I have read a similar book, detailing the life of the Buddha- did the book have a green cover?
I don't remeber the jewels bit, but I have been trying to find a copy of it.

Sir James- Free Love has nothing to do with casual sex, it means being able to love freely. It means that people would make love when they felt a bond with someone.
It would bring an end to casual sex, in fact.

Enslavement is only possible within a power matrix. Democratoc Communism without a power matrix would not be enslavement

Welshcakes- You can have faith, faith in our future. I think that we will master this universe one day, I think we will overcome everything put in our way.
We will die, but the specis will live on, and we will have contributed to it. Isn't that amazing enough?

Anonymous said...

Crushed, what you're saying, by any standard, is twaddle. Firstly, if free love with anyone you happen to bond with is not casual sex, then what is? This is sheer semantics.

However, that's your thing so so be it.

Where I get upset is when you try to tell people on this blog, people who have generally never worked their way through the actual words spoken by JC, things which are completely false.

In no shape or form can the Sermon on the Mount be construed as acceptance of dipping one's wick with multiple females and then trying to justify it as, if not Christianity, at least some sort of extension of it.

This is not the truth.

Anonymous said...

I do not try to cover it up... I am just randy!!

Anonymous said...

Most physicists are theists ? Are you sure ?

Consensus is not what the cutting edge is about - Galileo, Einstein, Copernicus ... these were all individualists who made their names because they went against consensus and history shows, that in order to progress the sum of human knowledge, consensus is always overturned dramatically at some point. Even if your assertion that scientists are generally theists is true this consensus does not bode well for the existence of God if the normal path of overturning consensi is followed. Anyway, the scientists' belief in God cannot be anything other than intuitive and intuition cuts no ice in the hard, peer reviewed world of science - they know this too well.

The universe has intelligence inherent in its fabric ? Why should it ? You may well ask why shouldn't it ? Neither response is an argument.

I happen to think there are many versions of our universe going on simultaneously with every single permutation being played out now. Ours is one of the few where molecules came together, perchance, to give the illusion of sentience. Probability gave us the propensity to ask stupid questions, not God.

But then, even by this rationale, there has to be a version in which God was formed too. Aargh ! But then he too is at the mercy of probability - if this is so then the wider scheme dictates that he is not, and cannot be, the omnipotent being that religionists believe he is.

Ours is a cosmos of probability and this begets inevitability simply because infinite variation will produce you an' me at least once.

In another life I have become a rich plastic surgeon married to Rene Zelwegger; in another I end up as a bus driver married to a harpy. I'll settle for what I have no questions asked thenkyu verry much ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sir James- On your first point, casual sex is just sex, with no emotions attached, just a pure boldily function.

Free Love, is something different. There is a bond.

As to your second point, Christ was talking an imperfect world, where possession existed, where men own women. In such a world, monogamy and sexual fidelity are necessary.

Not in a world where man has risen beyond that.

I don't much care for the expression 'dipping wick', it devalues the act of love a little.

In my case, I don't support Free Love to 'dip my wick'.
I want my partner not to feel she cannnot find fulfillment.

Mutley- I noticed!!