Being apart together

A strong image in Buddhist philosophy is that of the ocean of existence on which the waves of the phenomena come and go.  It means that, despite differentiation on the surface, all things are actually of the same order, one large field of unity.

If we look at the ways in which things originate in the cosmos, we know that on this cosmic scale it is a play of energies that determine where, when and how stars exist.  Also, in living nature, it becomes more and more apparent that energetic patterns are at work in the origination long before ‘visible’ things materialize.

This great energetic ocean of the universe, from which informative patterns (us!) bubble up…  Is our belief, our faith even in the fact that we are separate from one another and from the world, still valid then?  Does life’s richness really lie in surfing the tips of our own wave?  And how ‘own’ is this then?

 

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“All our actions demonstrate who we are”

This summer, I came across the following in Michel de  Montaigne’s Essays: “Each trait in man, every activity characterizes and reveals him as much as another.” One of Montaigne’s main themes, and also important criterion for living a valuable life, is facing the world in authenticity.  This authenticity manifests itself through your actions – the broad sense of the word: apart from your actions it also includes your ideas, opinions and value statements. How this is done?  We read on: “Things may have their own distinct measurements, weight and characteristics, but our mind shapes them as it understands them.”  This relates to the glasses through which we perceive the world, and the color of the glasses tells us a lot about ourselves.

“Health, conscience, authority, knowledge, richness, beauty and their counterparts lay off their covers upon entering, and are then dressed by the mind in the colors that appeal to it: brown, green, light, dark, hard, soft, deep, flat, as it suits each mind separately, because they did not discuss or agree any rules or models between them for one single style: every mind is king in its own realm.”

Whether we are happy or unhappy, only depends on ourselves.” (Book I, Essay 50)

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