Before I start, I wanted to share that you can now become a paid subscriber of my substack. Why would you pay? I have no idea, as I will keep sharing my essays for free whether you donate or not:) But I would be very grateful indeed. Maybe I’ll add some extras for paid subscribers later, but let’s see if anybody values my work first. Want to donate? More on that here. And for the Dutchies among you, me and my girlfriend Mashel will host a one day retreat at our place on August the 21th. Send me a mail or reply beneath this post if you would like to join:) Now, let’s move on to the occuring topic in my mind:
While suffering from Covid for the 3th time, I can not help to share some explorations with you. Explorations of what is happening in the world right now, thereby specifically looking for confluence between seemingly unrelatable phenomena. What I’ve learned however, is that there is no such thing as unrelatedness. Whereas our human mind makes us believe that there is a cause for every effect and that time moves in a linear direction, I personally am not convinced. In a way yes, but in another not so much. In the world we perceive as true, absolutely. Beyond the belief that what we perceive is real, absolutely not. Imagine we are all characters in Grand Theft Auto, governed by the rules programmed by the creators. The true difference then, is whether we are aware to be game characters or not. And more specifically, if we perceive ourselves to be separate self-controlling individuals or actually part of the game itself. Which doesn’t change the rules of the game, but allows to see the world and our own behaviour in a different light.
A light of synchronicity instead of linearity. Which gives rise to an experience of being part of the game or in our case, the organic whole of the Cosmos. You all know the peculiar experience of thinking of somebody who some seconds later calls you right? Does that have a cause? Or is it an effect? Maybe it’s neither and both. But what I know for certain, is that it is unexplainable. Freedom does not come from knowing, seeing cause and effect and trying to influence it in a way that suits you. No, it comes from allowing yourself to fall in the freefall we call time, to eventually be submerged in the organic whole. As the whole. Knowing one thing for certain: The divine workings of the whole cannot be known. But let us go back to synchronicity. Carl Jung, patriarch of the concept of synchronicity, described it as follows:
“a hypothetical noncausal principle serving as the intersubjective or philosophically objective connection between these seemingly meaningful coincidences.” - Carl Jung
Noncausal. Which perhaps might me the most important word here. Beautiful experiences of synchronicity often blow our minds, simply because it is beyond the linear workings of that same mind. Or it is quickly dismissed as “coincidence”, which allows the mind to regain its sense of control in its causal dimension.
To humanity itself, progress is the building block of what we as a species are. A belief in progress is the effect of a linear perspective of cause and effect. Humanity believes that we will build our way towards ever greater succes, mostly in the form of technological innovation and of course science, which may well be the religion of linear thinking. Along the way, the push for progress brought us great inventions that would be unimaginable a couple of years before. Ever increasing the comfort of our lives, ever increasing our lifespan, ever increasing healthcare, ever increasing economic welfare. And if one of those great benefittors of innovation would be challenged, structures would be created to add more regulations, more control. Everything to not let the belief in progress, projected onto the system itself, crumble. But for every light, there is a shadow. Along the way of progress, humanity’s perception of its own abilities were more and more inflated, which may well have started with the well-known depiction in the Age of Reason: Men created in the image of God. It is as if we lost the connection with our true essence and came to belief that we as a species truly are God-like. And while we were focused on the light, the shadows became stronger instead.
The light of science gave us remarkable inventions, but it also provided us with an easy tool to neglect experiences as “not scientific, therefore not true”. The focus on individual progress, symbolized by the Western rugged individual, provided great achievements and welfare, but a nagging feeling of loneliness. A feeling of not being part a higher purpose. A feeling of never being enough. The light of specialized healthcare is its effectiveness beyond measure, but do we still see the whole beneath the parts? We built an amazingly structured financial system, based on the notion that economic welfare must be going up forever, always trying to avoid recessions by using some well-invented tools. Printing some money out of thin air here and there, throwing some stimulus cheques to the public to make sure they keep spending. The shadowside? Having built a global system so dependent on debt and low inflation that minor geopolitical or natural events can lead to a complete collapse of the system, giving rise to chaos. And it comes to no surprise that lately, humanity’s belief in progress is tested to what might well be its limits.
Why? I have no clue. But looking back in human history, it comes to no surprise that the universe is throwing a barrage of chaos-invoking events at us right now. Can it be explained by cause and effect? Perhaps. But let’s look at it from a synchronistical light this time. Or maybe both. But let’s do that in a later post, as I have a feeling that this one might be long enough already.
Do you have specific questions or opinions about this topic? Please do share in the comments!
Warm greetings,
Pim
Hi Pim, Dogen writes about the time being, being in time. There’s no past and no future. This is dawning on me like a flood. The out breath doesn’t leave and the in breath doesn’t come. The synchronicities that happen are absolutely thrilling and immediately become fodder for ME and how special the experiences must be. The collective turning away from a general common good (basics like food and shelter) and towards a progressively widening and limitless expansion is what’s happening. The financial policies of a fairy tale, run by the wicked witch.