Surfing Consciousness

Walking in Seoul today, purposely lost, I stumbled upon the Han river.

What a gorgeous sight. As I walked along the shore it felt as if I was

moving to the natural rhythm of the universe. One of those moments I

can only describe as the rapture of existence. Breathing and moving

such that your very being is in accord with the world around. There is

nothing quite like this state-- no drug can compare (although some

come close). It is a dreamlike state. All things appear as they truly

are-- infinite and beautiful-- everything at once in perfect harmony.

All that is and should be is there surrounding you.

 

In that moment I realized that our perceptions, how we see and react

to the world, are concerned only with our survival. Impulses for good,

bad, and the various perceptual ethos-- it is our animal nature. I

think of it as a flesh and blood subconscious; reactive to

programmable instincts. It's hard not to think of the human animal as

amazing; every action, every step we take, every stroke of a pen, all

is according to a programmed instinct, all concerned with survival.

We can reprogram and guide our actions through simple conscious

awareness. We learn, we repeat and copy to acclimate into the

surroundings. If you want to be happy, then acclimate into

happiness-- find happy people and learn from them. It is an

incredible powerful capability and well worth practicing throughout

your life.

 

Perhaps as an evolutionary side effect this capability has thrust us

out from the wild and into man made environments. Everything

necessary for our survival is now at our disposal and yet we are often

lacking purpose. Many, and I dare say most, people do not know who

they are or what they ought to be doing with their life.

 

The answer used to be simple: to survive and participate in this

struggle for existence; to be the best of who you are and survive. In

the wild this is obvious-- there are few, if any, existential crises

in nature. A squirrel does not wonder why it exists, it just simply

exists and follows its instincts without question. Modern humans have

little to no life or death struggles. We are left to shape the world

and whether we want to or not, this has become our function. Perhaps

it is wise for us all to acclimate into this new purpose, to embrace

it as fully as our ancestors in the wild embraced their struggle to

survive. Their struggle, and the very best of them is with us today.

We are their legacy, and we are the shapers of worlds they could only

imagine.

 

But for today I will relax, and move to the natural rhythm of the

universe; dream with eyes open and experience the rapture of

existence...

Done