An Elaborate Hoax

The things we see, the things we feel, the thoughts we have, the time we perceive, the space we travel, the people we meet, the events that we encounter, the poetry we read, the music we listen to, the science we enjoy, the long journey of life that we experience, the books we read.. hard to believe its all one big hoax.

Its fascinating , its mind boggling, its thrilling, its exciting , its incredible and fantastic. This idea that all of our experience is a detailed fabrication appearing to be experienced and reported by our mind is beyond wildest of imaginations. The memories, the detailed recollections of early days, the joy of childhood , the vivid memories of uncles, aunts, grand fathers and grand mothers, cousins and friends, school and home and all the fun and not so fun times, are impossible to be dismissed as unreal.

The unsure beginnings, the progress, the falterings, the love, the sighs of reliefs, the angers, the shame, the embarrassments, the pride, the inquisitiveness, the pursuits, silence ... all of these are so intense and so real, they are the experiences, they are the very definition of life.. can all this be unreal?

The sequence we call life that we have lived so far, is organized, and orderly, its always the same no matter how many times we recollect. Same people, same events, so very real. So many years and so many moments, can they all be myth?

The history as we know, the birth of rational thought with Descartes, the wonderment of Kepler, the insatiable Leonardo, Newton's debacle in the stock market, the discoveries, the invention, the progression of thought, Peano's Axioms, Fermat's Last theorem..Vivaldi's Four seasons, Sankara's writings, Parmenides, Zeno, Russel, Einstein.. all unreal?

This long string of events, both personal and impersonal whole, can happen only in the passage of time. A sequence can happen only in time. One after the other, after the other, followed by another.. An investigation of time reveals, that time does not exist. The possibility of an yesterday and a tomorrow, a past and a future, even at the momentary infinitesimal level, does not exist. All that is, is a mere Now. and a mere Here. In this singularity of Now and Here, the past is one complex sequence of recollections from a non existent memory by an unreal Mind!

This revelation makes One rest in amusement at this incredibly elaborate hoax called life.

I am the ONE but its not me the person.

The greatest mystery of life is life itself. the place we live, the events that we encounter, the people we meet, the thoughts we have, the feelings that we experience ... everything is a mystery. 

We have our good days, we have our bad days. The Yin and the Yang, the dormant and the dynamic.. its an exciting world.. endless in size. People are the most interesting of its ingredients. 

There are countless number of things in this world. from sub atomic particles, to atoms, to minerals, to liquids, to more things like food, plants, eyes, hair, paper, ink, paintings, light.. and so on. The most interesting of them all is the people. They offer the maximum bang for the buck. The reason must be because unlike all other things we encounter, people seem to have a mind of their own. They behave in such a believable manner that one might even think they are aware! That precious thing called awareness is reserved for the One. and the One can only be One! Yet people we see appear to be aware. they appear to think. they appear to feel. they appear to have a consciousness! Isn't that incredible! well.. that is the reason they are the most interesting of all. They possess the greatest ability to make you focus on the world, and effectively get lost in it!

Well since it is simply not true that they can have a mind of their own with consciousness and awareness, it must appreciated that such a thing called humans exist. the most brilliant idea indeed.. this idea of people!

In the apparent journey towards understanding this complex world, a person inquires, introspects and then after realizing the truth. transforms to the true self, its the mother of all journeys, the greatest adventure of all times, the most daring, the most slippery, and astonishing travel. In the travel, the destination is the most fascinating. The journey takes the person to the true beginning, where everything started.

The truth is amazing, the person realizes that the only One in the Universe is the person itself! Well.. not really. When I understand the ultimate reality to be the simple fact that 'I am the One', the tendency is to falsely conclude that I as the person is the One. It is the 'I-I' that is the One and not me as a person. This is the most tricky endgame move that keeps me from truly getting it.

I as the person can never be the One. Its completely on the contrary. Only when I get rid of even the slightest trace of consciousness from the I as the person, can I see the One. Once this distinction is clear, the final piece of the puzzle is set in its place, and the destination is reached.

Who Am I? Whence Am I?

EXISTENCE
There is a clear "sense" of existence.
A "sense" of being is there.
There are sensations.
There is sensory perception.
The sensations and the perceptions define or reveal a "world".
Some of these become available somehow even after the physical sensations or absent.
We can define them as memory or thought.
The world is a set of such sensory perceptions.
A short sequence can be termed an event.
There is a continuous "stream" of such sensory perceptions.
Various objects appear in the world.
The sensory perceptions are "interpreted" as objects, with such and such attributes.
An "apple" is defined "out" of a plethora of sensations.
This is very similar to identifying a pattern of digits 314159 out of a stream of random numbers.
Digits are generated at random, and are streaming past.certain patterns are identified and named and recognized.
Relationships between objects are defined/identified.
Some objects are inert.some seem to interact and have a sense of existence, and seem to know it.
Some objects/events appear/identified as good/nice.
Perception of such objects/events seems to bring about a very desirable state.
Various such patterns are defined.
A more complex sequence of such patterns are termed as "explanations"/"theory".
A sequence is identified from this infinite bundle of sensory perception.
A sense of now, a sense of before and after are created.Time gets defined.
A sense of here and there is created or identified.Space gets defined.


IDENTITY
Identity/definition is sense of limited experience.
(when there is no limitation then the identity is lost)
As an infant, first awareness of a limited sense of existence/identity comes from the name.
I am my Name. A sound.
People point at me and keep on calling me by that name.
I am now this name.
This name is identified with a body.
A body is a sensory perception.
A particular pattern is defined as "my" body.
I come to be associated with it.
In a world where all humans and aware-objects are destroyed the moment I am born, it would be interesting to know if I will ever identify myself with a limited part of the experience.
Anyway that's just a thought. we can move on.
So, by a sequence of events, an "I" gets defined, and I come to be associated with it.
All events/objects in the sensory perception, form relationships with the I.
Or rather, relationships/associations get defined.
The world is now viewed as a relationship and interaction between this I and all other objects/events.
The I begins to play a very important role in all experiences.
What is "desirable" is now very dependant on the I and its relationship to the world.
Blood is sensory perception. A mere experience.
Blood coming out of a bruise on my fingertip "becomes" an undesirable experience.
This false identification becomes central.
Initially there was no identity.
Now there is this wrong/false identity.
Is there a right/true identity?
We are defined/identified by a specific pattern of sensory perception. and this pattern is called the body.
The boundary is the body.I end at the body and beyond it the world begins.
Any clothing, accessories such as glasses, shoes etc are clearly outside the boundary.
False teeth, an implanted lens, a pace maker, any such thing also clearly is not me.
A tooth which falls off or a hair that is cut off is not me.
It was part of me, now no longer part of me.
So this boundary is little flexible. things come in, things go out.
It appears that this identification, is merely a definition, and not absolute.
We can define the I in this manner as whatever we want it to be.
We can also get rid of this identity completely and say the world/totality of sensory perception is Me.
Question is , is there an identity beyond such mere definitions?
Is this sense of "I" an absolute one, or a simply acquired/assumed one?

Initially there was no identity, then the false identity, hence the question.

Let us try shrinking this boundary inwards of the body.
The teeth, and hair, whether it is part or not, is not the I.
So are the hands,legs and so on.
Next we have the heart, stomach, kidneys, liver etc.
The life force is essential for the body. but it is only a perception.
(Life-physiology itself is merely part of the perception)
So these organs are not part of the identity.
The brain? It is also part of the sensory perception and no need to give special status.
So the whole body is not my identity.

So am I not part of the sensory perception, including thoughts etc.?
What we are actually doing in the pretext of going "inside", we are going "beyond". Inside/outside anything is still part of the world. Is part of the sensory perception.
What we are actually doing is we want to go "beyond" the world, seeking this identity.
But what all exists, what all is experienced is the world. And as long as we identify as part of this world, it is merely a definition.

So..Did we "find" it? ..... No
"Can" we find it? ..... Cannot. If we do find it, it would be part of the sensory perception/experiences, and only a mere definition. We can say it is the I. But wouldn't mean anything.

So Who and Whence am I?

There is no I, there is no Who or Whence :)