Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Daily Muse | Aspects of Self | 1st Apr. '09

Why do we live in this world? What for? What is the reason of our existence? To get to our higher selves: ah, clichéd; as also is the other answer, the cosmic karmic law.

Why indeed? There is the insistence of a child for an answer from the mother – a question to which the mother has no response. For the only answer is in the child’s growth – he/she learns some things only as the child grows up, and no rational answer can ever satisfy the query.

Talking about queries and answers, is there ever any answer at all? I had asked this question before. Is it to “know” the answers? Can one really “know” something? Is “knowing” a function of time? What does it mean when we say, “I know XYZ – a person or a thing”? The question arises, “know when?” Having known once, is the “knowing” sufficient?

We say that change is constant and that the only constant is change. In Euclidean geometry, we would call this statement an axiom. If that be so, then what I know one moment is not the same the next moment – possibly not. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle demonstrates this for quantum particles. And what is thought after all – is it not a quanta?

So having known, do I know for ever? Perhaps not. Then is it that we have to “know” over and over again? To discover over and over again – is that what life is about? But what does the word “know” mean? I am struggling for an answer. Actually, having asked all these questions, I don’t feel like knowing the answer.

Does it matter that I know something? For if it changes the next moment, of what use is my knowing it in this moment? How many things and how much can I then really know? I would rather prefer to just be.

Ah, so you talk about “being”? “Being” what? Is it important to put the “what” after “Being”? Is not being, simply that – being? However, would just “being” not lead to inactivity (tamas)?

But of what use is being, if there is no “doing”? So the next question is, “why is action so important?” Is it required to fill myself up – so as to avoid myself? For what purpose?

“Knowing” – “Doing” – “Being” – the three positions of self…

Coming back to the original question, perhaps a better question would be, “where does this question come from?”

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