Follow the White Rabbit..

Along the course of this class I’ve been known to so often compare these works with other’s that I know, others that I am truly fond of and resonate within me. This post will offer little in contrast to that but it should be fun all the same.

There was once a Buddhist master who commented on the states of being. To do this he presented a stick. This stick he then balanced on the tip of one finger so that his finger was acting as a pivot in the center of the stick. He said that the stick was time and one end represented the past, the other the future and in the center, where his finger held the stick, was the present.

The monk went on to explain that there are many ways to ‘be’. We can ‘be’ at many different stages along this timeline but all are dangerous save for one. To demonstrate this he place his finger on the end representing the past and the timeline suddenly shifted as if some great weight threw off the balance of some cosmic scale. This, he said, was the danger of living in the past. Placing his finger on the other end of the stick a similar effect happened and he explained that this was the danger of living in the future. Finally he placed his finger in the center and with a mighty force he pressed against it but there was no shift in the balance of time. He explained then that the only place to be is in the present, in the center where we retain balance.

There are few who believe in a state of enlightenment and fewer still who decide to pursue it. This author, Ouspensky, that I have referred to throughout this quarter has offered insight into my understanding of this course and it seems that he has something to offer in the way of ‘being’ as well.

I’ve often said that we are all asleep and by this I mean that we are not aware. That’s right, you heard me, you are not aware. You are no more aware of yourself than you are of the mind of your neighbor and you are less aware of the world around you than you are of distant solar systems of which you’ve never even seen. This might come as some great shock to you and in the moment of this shock I dare say you are awake but the moment that this realization dawns on you that awareness it gone and back to sleep we return. I bring this to your attention now because I want you to understand that ‘being’ is a state of awareness.

Often in our lines, more often than not, we are in a state of waking sleep where we are on auto-pilot. We go about our days the same as we do every day and the choices that we make are merely an illusion. We often don’t bother to take the time to even consider our actions, why it is that we do them, the ulterior motives or the connection with our personality and our essential being. Rarely, if ever, are we stilled with such insight that suddenly all the pieces seem to fit together, our actions become clear to us and the dizzy haze of our sleep subsides to that for the briefest of moments we can see clearly – this is enlightenment.

It comes as little shock to me the Heidegger might consider the states of being and their connection with one another. It also fails to surprise me that The Matrix is filled with analogies to this same effect as well as metaphors referencing this sleeping and waking state when applied to consciousness.

I believe that the shock that many of us have confessed to, including Daemian, in regards to seeing the Matrix the first time is simply this – we were confronted, in a very real way, with the possibility that we are indeed in a state of non-being, of sleep. The matrix doesn’t need the high-tech gloss that this movie has given us to exists, it already has you. “You have been living in a dream world Neo.” While enlightenment may not grant us the superhuman powers that the movie offers it does hold one ultimate power worth the pursuit – clear sight.

I am the white rabbit.