On duality

Aphorism 92

Life and death; good and evil; mind and body; male and female; time and space; science and religion; real and imaginary; truth and falsity; pain and pleasure; love and hate; past and future; rational and irrational; free-will and determinism; finite and infinite; internal and external; logic and emotion; being and becoming; spirit and matter; chaos and structure; fact and fiction; comedy and tragedy; heaven and hell; virtue and vice; subject and object…

Aphorism 93

There is not a single, not one, dichotomy which does not have some gray area that calls into question the original hard-nosed distinction. We must learn to accept that we cannot live by light alone, nor by darkness alone. Twilight is the true essence of reality and it is where we must learn to reside.

Aphorism 94

Dualisms are methods of organizing, simplifying, and stabilizing what is otherwise an unruly, complex, and mercurial reality. Any duality is merely a pair of concepts that are direct opposition to one another. As instruments of negotiating reality and surviving within it, they are invaluable. Dualities sort out the world into very black and white terms that are easy to follow, easy to understand, and easy to use—thus they are excellent facilitators of survival. But once an individual has reached a state of comfort and luxury where survival is no longer the primary concern, dualities begin to hurt more than they help.

Aphorism 95

The most common way of dealing with dualities falls into two categories. One can polarize oneself into an absolutist that completely denies the existence or validity of the other end of the spectrum, such as a materialist. Or one can be a strict dualist that acknowledges the existence of both ends of the spectrum but is completely ignorant of the gradient in-between them, such as Cartesians. In truth, these are only two different forms of one idea—absolutism: The difference between the two is that one denies the existence of its opposite while the other accepts the existence of its opposite but relegates it to a completely different and distinct realm.

Aphorism 96

The creation of the dichotomy of Form and Matter was popularized by Plato. Plato’s philosophy was an attempt to reconcile the philosophies of Heraclitus and Parmenides, which emphasized flux and fixity respectively. His attempt was unsuccessful at reconciling the two differences in thought, but it was inadvertently successful in creating an intellectual atmosphere that was friendly towards dualism of any variety. Platonism became the womb in which Christianity could grow. Christianity further promulgated the idea that there was a fundamental split in reality between spirit and matter, vilifying the latter. Then the father of modern thought, Descartes responded in reaction to Christianity with his own duality, that of mind and matter. Descartes took Christianity’s philosophy and gave it teeth by creating a scientific atmosphere for it. Some of the biggest and most important names in history are responsible for the privation of creative thinking that the current age exhibits.

Aphorism 97

The importance of understanding that conceptual categories, such as dualisms, exist only in the mind and do not exist independently of us cannot be stressed enough.

Aphorism 98

Reality is a continuum…

Aphorism 99

Absolutists deny reality. They play with half a deck. Absolutists are not only unimaginative, they are dangerous. Their lack of creativity is rivaled only by their hubris. Absolutists bend reality by denying reality—whatever does not fit their categorical concept is abandoned, ignored, or vilified.

Aphorism 100

There were two old men who were friends at a distance. They would correspond through hand written letters. One old man slept from dusk till dawn and worked all day during the sunlight hours; he had never stayed up beyond the light. The other man slept from dawn till dusk and worked all during the night, never having seen the sun. One day the daywalker wrote to the nightwalker about the sky.

“There is a giant yellow star in the sky. It is beautiful.”

The nightwalker wrote back. “I do not understand you. The sky has no such star. It is scattered with a million small white stars.”

“Now I do not understand you. For I can clearly count and there is but one star in the sky.”

“No my friend, there are a million.”

After this conversation the two old men promptly ended their friendship because of their disagreement.

Aphorism 101

During the equinox, there are twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness. But this is not entirely true. In the morning before the sunrise and in the evening before the sunset, there are a few moments, however brief, in which neither light nor darkness dominates. These are moments of uncertainty and vagueness, moments of pure transition. There is no such thing as a straight and clean transition. Reality does not function like a light switch with two settings. Twilight is real, even if it is quick. The temporal length of a phenomenon is no judge of its reality. In fact, in the grand over arching scheme of things, all events—your love affairs, your childhood, the melting of the glaciers, continental drift, the building up of the mountains, the life of a fruit fly, the burning of a candle—last but the blink of an eye, just long enough for you to watch it transition…

Aphorism 102

Because of our inveterate habit of creating patterns in reality, our morality has come to mimic our practical life. Light and darkness have become symbols to represent good and evil. And because light and darkness are associated with the passing of daylight into nighttime, and because we are usually oblivious to those moments of twilight, we have created a moral environment that is dangerously simplified. There are many of us who can only think of the world in the absolute terms of Good and Evil. If only things were that simple. Maybe if we could lengthen the time of twilight so that it occupied a significant portion of the day we could have a morality that was more aware of the vicissitudes and complexities of life. These dualists of Good and Evil cite Gandhi and Nazism as the paradigmatic examples of their point without ever acknowledging the spectrum between the two.  

Aphorism 103

Dualists divide—they divide people, nations, ideas, experiences, and histories. They force one to take a stance and to deny any relationship between polarities.

Aphorism 104

Boundary-dissolvers multiply.

Aphorism 105

Dualists have a full deck but play with only one half at a time. 

Aphorism 106

The appeal to duality is one made by a spirit that is: unreflective, scared, isolated,—or lazy. Dichotomies are a painful and dangerous simplification of processes that are infinitely complex and complicated. They are a way for simple people to do deal with a complex reality.

Aphorism 107

Between every duality there is a bridge. It is scary to be on the bridge. It is rickety, dilapidated, and rundown—poorly maintained. The breeze over the bridge is strong causing it to sway hazardously. The structure creeks and squeaks. There is nothing below one’s feet and nothing above one’s head. There is no stable ground, no foundation. It is wobbly, uncertain, and dangerous—almost excitingly so! Most people flee to one end of the bridge or the other, preferring to live on stable ground even if it means isolation from others. But there are a few spirits who like danger. There are those who like to laugh and dance in the face of uncertainty. Those few spirits that can summon enough strength of will to live in between worlds, with openness below, above, and around them, live in a richer environment than those people for whom the bridge is too scary. Not to mention, the view of the horizon from the bridge is unmatched in its beauty.    

Aphorism 108

Boundary dissolution is, at its very core, the reconciliation and overcoming of dichotomies. Between every dichotomy lies an impenetrable wall artificially set in place to keep to things that are related at distinct odds. Reality is a seamless web of information that is artificially funneled off and distorted by our sense organs, our mental categories, and our cultures. Melt away the boundaries between you and your world and you will reawaken in a world that is greater than you could have ever imagined.

Aphorism 109

We, as spiritual beings, living in the shroud of mystery but also pursuing whatever enlightenment can be attain by creatures as finite and paltry as us, have an obligation to live beyond ourselves, beyond our old notions, beyond life and death, black and white, real and imaginary, science and religion, good and evil, to embrace reality for what it is, how it is, and to what degree it is. It is our duty as spiritual beings to live beyond dualities, in fact, to emphatically dissolve them, so that we may come ever closer and closer to indulging in the aesthetic quality of reality that it is forever and constantly exuding.

Aphorism 110

It is neither day nor night, neither heat nor cold, neither love nor hate, that make reality truly special. It is twilight. The interplay of opposites, the ambiguities of life, the strenuous tension—this is the way reality functions. It is the existence of unlike terms that leads to struggle, strife, and overcoming. Harmony is what happens when unlike terms interact with one another.

Aphorism 111

Life is messy and complicated and all attempts at codifying it into a rational conceptual scheme will necessarily end in paradox. Paradox is the playground out of which emerges reality.

Impermanence: our ephemereality

Aphorism 59

Impermanence is the idea that reality is continually perishing; that each moment is a fleeting instance eagerly waiting to be replaced by the next; that everything flows, panta rhei; that change is inevitable; that reality is an emerging and abiding sway; that we and the reality around us are perpetually in a state of becoming; in sum: it is the idea that nothing lasts.

Aphorism 60

Learning to live with the idea of impermanence is the hardest thing a person can come to do. So it is no surprise that so many people fail to do so. Far too many people go from the cradle to the grave clutching at boundaries that have long ceased to be relevant, helpful, or true—and they are miserable because of it. Clutching at permanence even in the face of impermanence is neurotic and leads to cognitive dissonance: an inability for our categories of understanding the world (our boundaries) to align themselves with the world itself. There is an incongruity that leads to tension. Yet it is the most widespread malady in human history.

Aphorism 61

Impermanence is the hardest lesson to learn: one that we are continually learning, even on a daily basis. It is a lesson that we may learn a hundred, a thousand, a million times over, and still not understand or accept. It is a lesson that defies being learned merely cognitively or abstractly; it is a lesson that touches us deeply and daily in our most intense emotions, our most important values, our most cherished gems of wisdom, our most loved relationships, and in our most meaningful experiences. Cognitively accepting that reality is continually perishing and living like reality is continually perishing are two completely different things. The former does not guarantee the latter.

Aphorism 62

Some of us are not strong enough to accept this lesson and therefore resort to clutching ever more fervently (and desperately) to our boundaries. We regress into a kind of infantile egoism: an inordinate inflexibility and a vehement demand that reality succumb to ME, MINE, NOW, FOREVER. Instead of learning to grow, adapt, and change, we withdraw into the shell of our reality tunnels attempting to reconcile the impermanence of reality with our desire for stability.

Aphorism 63

Sustain, maintain, remain…

Aphorism 64

Stability leads to stagnation.

Aphorism 65

Rather than feeling cheated or slighted by the impermanence of reality, we should feel blessed that we have been given the privilege to experience and participate in something. Our hubris has deluded us into believing that reality will conform to our dreams, our whims, our aims, and our desires but every time we try to make reality conform to us rather than us conforming to it, we end up caught in a tragedy at worst and a comedy at best.

Aphorism 66

Diminish, perish, vanish…

Aphorism 67

“Nothing is built on stone, everything on sand. But our duty is to build as if sand were stone.” Jorge Luis Borges

Aphorism 68

Change is the only constant.

Aphorism 69

Heraclitus, the most well known defender of impermanence, was known as “the crying philosopher.” It was said that he was often shedding tears over the whims and cruelties of the world. Was Heraclitus not strong enough for his own creation?

Aphorism 70

But why be accepting of impermanence? Why not revile and vilify it? Why genuflect to the source of all of reality’s pain and sorrow? Why submit to such evil?

Aphorism 71

Impermanence is responsible for every broken relationship, every deceased loved one, every loss of physical and mental vitality, every missed opportunity, every forgotten and abandoned dream, every decayed beauty, and yet it is the one single fact of reality.

Aphorism 72

Pain, sorrow, and suffering are no fault of reality. They are our own baggage, our own adjuncts to reality. They are born out of our incorrigible inability to accept the death of everything around us. We clutch onto the vapors of the past and become walking effigies of lost things both tangible and intangible. We clutch when we should be letting go. After all, how can one receive the world with a closed fist?

Aphorism 73

Thanks to the likes of Plato, Christianity, and Descartes the intellectual scale between Being and becoming has throughout human history been typically tipped on the side of Being—surely due to all of its gravity. They all created a rift, an insuperable chasm, between what is and what should be, meanwhile ignoring that what is, is special in its own right.

Aphorism 74

Permanence exists in reality—just not in the form we wish it would. The permanence we desire resembles a kind of timeless paradise where our happiness, our dreams, and our loved ones, are frozen in place. This kind of permanence is an illusion. And boring.

Aphorism 75

Is permanence really desirable? What would an infinite paradise be like? If we could freeze things so that they never ended, would we really be happier?

Aphorism 76

Life, despite all its forms and vicissitudes, is a journey. It is a journey from the beginning, into the trials, up into the crescendo and climax, and back down to the end. It is this journey that makes any endeavor special. Every song has its final note. Every book has a last page. Every life has its last breath. Life is a journey and every journey has an end. Cut us off from the end and we miss the point of it all. And yet the endeavor is not merely to reach the end but to love, laugh, sing, and dance along the way.

Aphorism 77

Buddhists flee from life by fleeing from desire of any kind. We should engage life, embrace it for its transience, and revel in the struggle that allows us to bring out who we really are. For only in struggle and strife can a being overcome their boundaries to expand their boundaries.

Aphorism 78

“Nothing lasts. Nothing lasts. Everything is changing into something else. Nothing is wrong. Everything is on track…” Terence McKenna

Aphorism 79

Once we as finite beings can fully and deeply assimilate the idea that “nothing lasts” into the very core of our being, we can then be more playful with our boundaries. The acceptance of impermanence is the necessary precondition for moving beyond boundaries. Playfulness rather than gravity is the proper attitude towards boundaries: an attitude of gravity makes it difficult—if not impossible—to elevate one’s spirit.

Aphorism 80

Reality is something to be in awe of, not something to be demanded of. Every moment is a miracle in its own right. Each and every moment may be continually perishing, making the prospect of having anything continue on for infinity an impossibility. But what is ignored and forgotten is that each moment is eternal—each experience is unique. It is rarity and uniqueness that create meaning and value. But it is a struggle, an infinitely difficult struggle, to maintain a sense of respect and beauty for that which is fleeting and to not feel remorseful once it has left your presence. There is always a desire to do it all over again or to continue it for just a little while longer, when the reality is that you should do what you can while it is here and there will be no regrets in the end.

Aphorism 81

The reason people have such a difficult time dealing with impermanence is because they are rarely in the present moment. They are too busy being bogged down by the past or scared of the future to notice that what they have in front of them is eternal. Rather than letting the present fully disclose itself, they project aims, desires, and opinions onto it, manipulating it into some grotesque creature that is half-past, half future, and no present. Each gifted moment will come to pass and they will end up frantically reaching back to that moment that they weren’t able to appreciate while it was there. And in this way they will perpetuate the cycle of avoiding the eternal present.

Aphorism 82

“You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.” Pink Floyd, “Time,” Dark Side of the Moon

Aphorism 83

No man steps in the same river twice. Will you be the one to learn to swim and dance beneath the waterfall? Or will you be swept away and drowned by the cascade of change?

Aphorism 84

Impermanence is the stage upon which you and I can dance, sing, and create. As one experience in life gives way to the next, it would be best for us to let it go willing.

Aphorism 85

Life is a journey. It is the movement of experiences that shape us into who we are. Change is the teacher.

Aphorism 86

Even as experiences fade and slip through our fingertips like sand, they still retain an eternal quality to them. The physical forms of things perish but they continue to live on spiritually as immaterial entities: as knowledge we’ve learned; as memories we reflect on; as old laughs, and old adventures; as experiences that we value; as intangible forces of meaning and growth. Our past relationships, our deceased loved ones, our past experiences, continue to live on inside of us shaping us into who we currently are. And in this way, we may rejoice in the fleeting nature of reality because what once was still remains as a part of us. When things perish, nothing is lost and something is gained.

Aphorism 87

There is no such thing as death: only transformation.

Aphorism 88

Everything is connected. Who I am is a result of the world I live in and the experiences I’ve had. But the world and the experiences within it are also a result of who I am. We as humans are fractal-like microcosms of reality: we are a gem on Indra’s web simultaneously reflecting every other gem.

Aphorism 89

Reality is a paradox: it is precisely the fleeting nature of things that gives them their eternal value.

Aphorism 90

“Nothing lasts, but nothing is lost…” William Blake

Aphorism 91

It takes a strong spirit—one much stronger than mine—to be able to not just cognitively understand impermanence, but to spiritually live through it. These spirits are few and far between. The rest of us are mired in a tangle of conflicting emotions and desires. The inability to assimilate to a world that is constantly changing, constantly perishing, and constantly becoming something other than what it is, is the source of our need to create artificial boundaries of stability and comfort. Impermanence is the hardest thing to live with. That is why so many of us live with dualities.

On the free-spirit

Aphorism 34

What is the free-spirit? The genius, the artist, the philosopher, the infinite player, the saint, the revolutionary, the lunatic, so forth and so on, are all imperfect and incomplete manifestations of what in its fullest being is known as a free-spirit. A free-spirit is all of these things at once whereas each of these individual guises is only a portion of the whole. The world has seen its fair share of true geniuses, true artists, true philosophers, and true saints, without ever having seen them all together in the manifestation of one individual. What all of these individual guises (the genius, artist, saint, etc) share in common is the ability, proclivity, and tendency to disrupt the ordinary boundaries and reality tunnels of those about them. All of them represent an energy that cannot quite find its place in society. These partial reflections of the free-spirit are untimely beings, spirits that are ahead of their times, pulled from the future to dwell in the past. That is why the villains of one age may be heroes in hindsight. However, the free-spirit is an eternal creation. It is not ahead of its time, nor behind its time—it is beyond time.

Aphorism 35

The brilliance of the free-spirit radiates so brightly that unless one has eyes for it, one will be blinded by it.

Aphorism 36

The free-spirit is a God among mortals: completely incomprehensible, existing on a different plane of existence, and largely unable to relate to others. When it speaks, it is likely to be misunderstood. Where it walks, it is likely to unsettle the earth. The free-spirit is a madman.

Aphorism 37

The free-spirit is a powerful force. The free-spirit is feared because of its destructive side. Like a tornado among straw houses, wherever it goes it upsets the delicate and fragile network of lies, assumptions, beliefs, and reality tunnels that a society has constructed. It is a threat to stability, comfort, security, and power. But the free-spirit is also ridiculed and marginalized because of its creative side. What it creates is so new, so weird and anomalous, that the herd around the free-spirit simply is not ready to handle, comprehend, and utilize it. Over boundary-defined individuals are antiquarians at heart: they preserve the past and project it into the future refusing to compromise with change. The common majority, the herd at large, are over boundary-defined and cannot but help to judge this free-spirit as evil.

Aphorism 38

“The strongest and most evil spirits have so far done the most to advance humanity… What is new, however, is always evil, being that which wants to conquer and overthrow the old boundary markers and the old pieties; and only what is old is good.” Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Aphorism 4

Aphorism 39

The free-spirit is judged by those around him, yet, is in possession of him/herself to such a degree that the free-spirit does not reciprocate the act of judging. The free-spirit is beyond judgment: it understands that its higher perspective cannot be grasped from the ground. The free-spirit has been awakened to the fact that everyone has a unique reality-tunnel and that no individual reality-tunnel has any claim to objectivity or superiority. Therefore, the free-spirit does not impose its reality-tunnel on others; what it does is this: it resists the error of judgment, kindly tries to nudge others in a new direction, to expose them to a world beyond their reality-tunnel, but at the end of the day accepts each and every person for who they are.

Aphorism 40

Who among us has enough compassion to live without judgment?

Aphorism 41

The business of culture—all cultures—is the preservation and pedaling of its own agenda. Culture attempts to suppress free-spirits rather than cultivate and nurture them because the creation of a free-spirit is a threat to its own stability. The continued success of a culture relies on the ability to keep a docile and monotonously driven populace within rigid boundaries that maximize its own success and power while eliminating variability.

Aphorism 42

But of course, many individuals pose as a genius or artist or saint but in reality are as prosaic, base, and as commonplace as the rest of us. Countless charlatans act like geniuses, philosophers, and artists, with their personas. Distinguishing the free-spirit from one pretending to be a free spirit is not a difficult task. The imposter does not possess the same force of character, the same radiance of energy, or command the same type of vibration that seems to resonate forward throughout reality announcing its presence. True free-spirits radiate brilliantly with courage, innovation, and novelty. They are so awe-inspiring to us that we feel like infants among giants in their presence.

Aphorism 43

The free-spirit is a rare manifestation. Their scarcity is rivaled only by their magnitude.

Aphorism 44

Depressingly so, the vast majority of human beings are born with anchors that they will never overcome. A small percentage of them—those that are the most rebellious and defiant at heart—will free themselves from the anchors but have no sense of direction thereafter. Then an infinitesimally smaller fraction of those that were able to liberate themselves will come into themselves and become both the captain and the crew of their own ships. But even these individuals have a difficult time of taking command and staying in command of their ships. There has yet to be a soul on this planet who has not vacillated between commanding and being commanded.

Aphorism 45

Once it is awakened, there is no lulling the free-spirit back to sleep. The threshold has been crossed, the bridges burned, the new spirit transformed, the old spirit reduced to ashes, and there is nowhere to go but forward, upward, and outward. The creation of the free-spirit is a permanent change. Once the free-spirit is awakened to the reality that it, and it alone, can be the master and commander of its reality tunnel, it will no longer be appeased by its inherited boundaries.

Aphorism 46

One cannot unknown the truth that one is at the center of the mandala.

Aphorism 47

The nature of the free-spirit itself is not static: it will continue to change, play, and move with reality as it sees fit but the free-spirit will never be tempted back into blind, obedient submission, never be fooled by the allure of objectivity, and will never, ever, sacrifice its own integrity by returning to its old habits.

Aphorism 48

As spiritual beings, it is our duty to evolve with the times. As time progresses forward we should as well. Therefore, the luminary, the revolutionary, the genius, of one age may be the common rabble of another. In their time, revolutionaries are often stigmatized as evil and subversive because of their threat to the common order. It is only generations later when the actions of the revolutionary have become commonplace and a new paradigm has replaced the old that the individual goes from being vilified to glorified.

Aphorism 49

The transformation from a boundary defined individual into a free-spirit is as dramatic a change as the transformation from Atlas to Prometheus.

Aphorism 50

The free-spirit, after all, now lives in a world that is radically different than that which preceded it. It has metamorphosed from a beast of burden to one that plays with fire. It remembers that reality of security, obedience, and direction which has all vanished from its current life. But the old satisfaction and complacency that was mistakenly mislabeled as “happiness” has been replaced by both true danger and true ecstasy. The path of the free-spirit is not an easy one and often times a difficult one. After all, if a normal person falls, its society, context, and culture are culpable. If a free-spirit falls, there is no one to blame but him/herself.

Aphorism 51

Who among us possesses this kind of strength?

Aphorism 52

Has there ever been a free-spirit to walk across this earth? Has a true free-spirit ever laid foot on this earth? To the best of my knowledge, a true free-spirit, meaning one that has utterly, completely, and uncompromisingly embodied what it means to take control of one’s reality, has never existed. And yet it remains like an image that we chase after, a mirage, an illusion—but an impossibility?

Aphorism 53

It is like the ever receding horizon.

Aphorism 54

None of us may ever fully, truly, and absolutely become free-spirits. But, once awakened, even partially, we are obligated to pursue that ideal. Though we may not become it, we must approximate it. We must seek to approximate the free-spirit, to make of ourselves simulacrums, to make ourselves in God’s image, no matter how imperfect or how far from the ideal we fall. The free-spirit is our ideal: the image we chase after but can never quite attain—the blurred image which upsets and unsettles the strict dichotomy between real and illusory.

Aphorism 55

The free-spirit is an illusion, a complete fabrication of the mind. But make no mistake with confusing this with the meaning that just because something is illusory it isn’t powerful. Illusions can be just as powerful as reality—often times more so! The boundary between the real and the illusory is thin and permeable. Real and illusory—yet another boundary that must be overcome!

Aphorism 56

The free-spirit, or any of its partial manifestations and scintillations, is an enemy of dichotomies. The free-spirit appears to be an amalgamation of paradoxes and contradictions. In truth, the reason the free-spirit appears this way is because it is able to shift reality-tunnels at will. It is author, engineer, and arbiter of its host of reality tunnels. As beings aspiring towards the ideal of the free-spirit our task is to move beyond our inherited boundaries, to move beyond our old notions of good and evil, real and imaginary, subject and object, being and becoming, time and space, love and hate, so that we can mature and blossom into a being who takes life into his own hands and lives as an artist rather than a prisoner.

Aphorism 57

Emerson said, “I see the currents of absolute being flow through me.” To which I say, “I see the currents of the free-spirit flow through us all.”

Aphorism 58

In short, the free-spirit is the embodiment and personification of the externally changing, the constantly shifting and becoming, ebb and flow of reality—in essence, the harbinger of impermanence.

Metamorphosis of the Soul

Aphorism 16

First—assimilation. Followed by—destruction. Finally—creation.

Aphorism 17

The human being is born anchored—anchored to its family, its language, its culture, its environment, its time, and its reality-tunnel. If the human being is fortunate, it will be liberated from these anchors and allowed to elevate itself. Once elevated, and if twice blessed with good fortune, the being will grow wings and be able to fly, where the only limitation is the strength of one’s own wings. The creation of our own boundaries is the culmination of an evolutionary process that results in the death of the old spirit and the (re)birth of the free-spirit.

Aphorism 18

“Of the three metamorphoses of the spirit I tell you: how the spirit becomes a camel; and the camel, a lion; and the lion, finally, a child.” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Aphorism 19

As human beings, we have a complex and ambivalent relationship towards boundaries. Boundaries are both our halo and our noose. Our future as a species will be determined by how each of us individually deals with the challenge of creating our own boundaries, integrating those boundaries into the wider world, and dealing with the boundaries of others. If we continue to bear the burden of our ancestors’ boundaries, then we will be ill equipped to face the challenges of a new world. Reality is in a constant state of flux: it is in a process of constantly remaking itself over and over. To adequately fulfill our lives as spiritual beings we must be able to adapt to the ever arising facets of reality. In short: as reality evolves, the obligation placed upon us is to evolve concomitantly. We are the only species on earth that can palpably, readily, and radically take hold of the course of their own evolution. We can no longer shy away from this responsibility. If we let ourselves be guided into the future with a rear view mirror, then the possibility of catastrophe is not a question of if, but a question of when.

Aphorism 20

“What is difficult? asks the spirit that would bear much, and kneels down like a camel wanting to be well loaded. Is it not humbling oneself to wound one’s haughtiness?” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Aphorism 21

The artist, before he or she can come into their own being, must assimilate to the methods, techniques, and boundaries of those who came before. Only after mastering them, or after being sufficiently mastered by them, can the artist adequately extend the boundaries of what is new and novel. What is true of the artist is true of life in general. Whether we like it or not, being born is synonymous with being brain-washed—the politically correct term is socialized. The human spirit always makes an ass out of itself before it becomes anything else, if indeed it does evolve past the stage of burden—e.g., St. Paul was a Jew before he was a Christian, Freud studied medicine before developing psychoanalysis, Einstein was a Newtonian before creating relativity, etc. All boundaries are overcome, expanded, or dissolved, because they are incomplete, inadequate, or no longer relevant. Dissatisfaction with the current collection of boundaries is the precursor and precondition to moving beyond them. Unfortunately, some individuals become so comfortable with their boundaries, that they are blind to their own dissatisfaction with them.

Aphorism 22

Only bear the burden until it makes an ass out of you.

Aphorism 23

To be sure, being over boundary defined is a palpable and diagnosable disease but the senseless and reckless destruction of all boundaries is a cure worse than the disease. Boundaries are not to be overcome just for the sake of overcoming them. One of the most paradoxical boundaries we have is language—it is, at once, both our halo and our noose. Without the agreed upon rules, norms, and standards of language, communication would be impossible. With language we sacrifice a degree of freedom so that we can communicate with others. Yes, boundaries are impediments to freedom, but they are also facilitators of action. We should only seek to remove boundaries when they prevent us from doing something that assists in the self-actualization of the soul. Before one is ready to overcome a boundary, he or she must be able to feel the burden of it. The weight of the boundary must be too great to bear. But once someone overcomes a boundary, they are now responsible for becoming their own law-maker, their own judge, their own arbiter—a task nearly God-like in stature.

Aphorism 24

“Can you give yourself your own evil and your own good and hang your own will over yourself as a law? Can you be your own judge and avenger of your law? Terrible it is to be alone with the judge and avenger of one’s own law.” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Aphorism 25

It is during the soul’s darkest hour when it cannot bear any more weight, that the lion-spirit is born. With resentment as its mother and revenge as its father, the lion is born to kill. The individual will become a ferocious spirit filled with hostile energy and a taste for destruction. Pugnaciously recalcitrant, the lion-spirit is the force that frees us from our prison and prevents us from going back; it is the eternal nay slayer, the obstinate “No.” It is the great equalizer, the great eraser, that will raze both the living and the dead. The lion-spirit is the source of our dissatisfaction, our resolve, and, most importantly, our courage. The lion-spirit is the great awakener: it is the catalyst of understanding that allows us to realize that the reality-tunnel we have been living through is the creation of others and not our own. The lion-spirit demolishes every chain, lock, and wall that had been in our way and leaves us in a state of being that is radically free. Radical freedom is a liberating experience for some and a terrifyingly debilitating experience for others because it shows us that all meaning, value, truth, and happiness, are created and not found in reality. For those of us not prepared to meet reality on a clean slate, infinity is a paralyzing prospect. But the lion-spirit is too destructive to be the final evolution of the soul; it lacks something… The unabated rampage of the lion-spirit begins in the desire for freedom but ends in cynicism, pessimism, and nihilism. Having destroyed all and everything, the lion-spirit no longer has anything to value or cherish: meaning is lost, value can be found in nothing, and life becomes empty. It remains incomplete…

Aphorism 26

“But Hours will come when you will realize that [the ocean] is infinite and that there is nothing more awesome than infinity. Oh, the poor bird that felt free and now strikes the walls of this cage! Woe, when you feel homesick for the land as if it had offered more freedom—and there is no longer any ‘land.’ ” Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Aphorism 124.

Aphorism 27

Only creation justifies destruction.

Aphorism 28

“To create new values—that even the lion cannot do; but the creation of freedom for oneself for new creation—that is within the power of the lion. The creation of freedom for oneself and a sacred “No” even to duty—for that, my brothers, the lion is needed.” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Aphorism 29

In the wake of the lion-spirit, the creative spirit is now free to (literally) create their own reality, one often quite antithetical to their previously inherited reality-tunnel. But the well of strength must run deep for one to be strong enough to be the artist of their own reality-tunnel. Though strength is required, it is not sufficient for creation. The creative-spirit must also be humble, delightfully easy-going, and playfully flexible in demeanor—its every act of creation is done with laughter and dance. The creative-spirit is an artistic force and not a scientific force. In other words, it is radically (but consciously) a subjective creation and not an objective creation. The creative-spirit realizes the folly of objectivity and therefore decides to weave a reality-tunnel that is conducive to its goals, in line with its dreams, and is beautiful according to its standards. The creative spirit is self-contained and trusts no one, kneels to no one, but neither criticizes others. No longer the slave of its boundaries, the creative-spirit has escaped the illusion of objectivity that has allured and deluded so many of humanity. Because the creative-spirit is the artist of its own reality-tunnel, the spirit is now the master of its boundaries.

Aphorism 30

“Why must the preying lion still become a child? The child is innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, a game, a self-propelled wheel, a first movement, a sacred “Yes.” For the game of creation, my brothers, a sacred “Yes” is needed: the spirit now wills his own will, and he who had been lost to the world now conquers his own world.” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Aphorism 31

Only when we are as free, imaginative, and careless as a child at play can we sculpt our own reality-tunnel.

Aphorism 32

We begin as beasts of burden whom cannot help but say “yes” and proudly accept whatever is heaped upon us. But then we become warriors of freedom, liberators with a bellicose “No” in return to all that had previously been “yes.” Finally, we become transformative spirits whom no longer echo the “yes” of others, whom no longer fight with the obstinate “No,” but now can create with their own sacred “Yes.”

Aphorism 33

The being who can successfully complete the metamorphosis from assimilation, to destruction, to creation, emerges (re)born as a true free-spirit.

Boundaries: a fractal introduction

Aphorism 1

Whether our lives fathom hell or soar angelic is decided by how we as spiritual beings are able to deal with the awesome responsibility of actualizing our birthright and becoming the masters of our boundaries.

Aphorism 2

Reality has been and always will be a story of boundaries. This has been true on every scale, on every level, and in every dimension of reality: microscopic, macroscopic, physical, metaphysical, social, emotional, intellectual, ethical, political, ecological, economical, technological, sexual, spiritual, etc. As space and time have expanded outwards, so have our boundaries. There has been and will continue to be a general trend of moving beyond former states of complexity into greater states of complexity, a process that is more than just the mere acceleration of novelty and creativity—it is the overcoming of boundaries. The universe went from being an amorphous soup of chaotic heat and energy to being a collection of galaxies, solar systems, and planets; the earth went from Pangaea to the United Nations; the evolution of life went from inanimate mud and slime to multi-dimensional beings capable of the sublime.

Aphorism 3

As agents and instruments of separation, boundaries are instances of limitation, demarcation, and definition. They are instruments of action that attempt to remove ambiguity from reality and force us to into very specific categories. The more boundaries that are present in a system—any kind of system: ecological, social, anatomical—the more robotic, mechanical, and automatic that system can run. Chaos is replaced with structure. Freedom is replaced with determinism. Reality conforms to the boundary, not the boundary to reality…

Aphorism 4

Boundaries propagate comfort, security, and stability. Boundaries can come in the form of physical objects, such as walls, fences, windows, rivers, oceans, and such. But even intangible things like cultures, beliefs, desires, knowledge, ethics, language, jealousy, laziness, and fear are boundaries. Boundaries are trans-dimensional. And overcoming them requires a trans-dimensional effort. Boundaries are useful as instruments of action until the accumulation of boundaries becomes too stifling and suffocating and until the actions are no longer desirable. Once we become too enclosed and encapsulated by our boundaries, and once our actions become deleterious to our physical, emotional, ecological, and spiritual health, it is time to overcome our boundaries by dissolving them.

Aphorism 5

Most of the weight and pressure of boundaries goes unnoticed because their constant presence on our being anesthetizes us to them: when this occurs, a drastic boundary dissolving experience is required to remind us of their presence. This experience, which is always traumatizing, is a coin flip between liberation and debilitation—some fly where others fall. But if not for these glimpses beyond boundaries, they remain invisible to us. Rarely, if ever, do we notice the pressure of air—unless we are ten feet from the surface of the water and struggling for breath. Rarely, if ever, do we notice the cultural biases that dictate our thoughts, tastes, and actions—unless we find ourselves in a different country with different ideas, foods, and mores. Rarely, if ever, do we confront the reality of our mortality—unless we or someone we know falls terribly ill. Rarely, if ever, do we reach our creative and powerful potential as human beings—unless we are thrown into a dire situation against our will. Rarely, if ever, do we become aware of our boundaries—unless we deliberately (and radically) step outside of them. The comfort that boundaries provide us with has blinded us to their inimical side-effects. If we are too scared to step beyond our boundaries then we will stagnant and remain frozen in time while all about us reality continues to move forward.

Aphorism 6

“The revolutionaries of any decade will become the reactionaries of the next decade, if they do not change their nervous system, because the world around them is changing. He or she who stands still in a moving, racing, accelerating age, moves backwards relatively speaking.” R.A.W., Prometheus Rising, 214

Aphorism 7

The greatest tragedy is the blindness that we all have toward our own boundaries. It is easy to see how others are limited, biased, and narrow minded—but it is infinitely harder to see that of ourselves.

Aphorism 8

Our personal (collection of) boundaries form the basis for our ‘reality tunnel’ through which we interpret reality. But just like other boundaries, we forget that these intangible barriers are imposed upon reality and may not coincide directly with reality—we forget that our map is not the territory. Our minds function in a way that reinforces whatever reality tunnel we currently have. Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves. There is not a single individual—not Jesus, not Einstein, not you and especially not me—who is not guilty of confusing their perspective of reality for reality itself. Our concepts through which we interpret reality are as real a boundary as any brick wall is. The nexus of particular beliefs, assumptions, morals, truths, experiences, and environments, forms the structure of each individual’s reality tunnel. And the first step to moving beyond the narrow boundaries of one’s reality tunnel is becoming aware of it.

Aphorism 9

As human beings, we are defined by the boundaries that we submit to and that surround us. When we merely inherit those boundaries from our parents, from our teachers, and from our culture, we become tools for others. When we take those boundaries into our own hands and create our own, we become spiritually fulfilled human beings. Inheriting boundaries means living as a tool for others—others who usually do not have your best interests (emotional, intellectual, and spiritual fulfillment) in mind. Creating boundaries means independently living for one’s self.

Aphorism 10

How do you choose to live your life: as a camel or as a child?

Aphorism 11

The origin of our spiritual, existential, and social tension and dis-ease comes from boundaries. I know because I witness their effects first hand. Boundaries—fear, shame, and timidity—plague my life on a daily basis. They provide me with comfort and stability at the expense of my mind’s sanity and my soul’s integrity. But I would trade the comfort for pain and the stability for abandonment if it meant that I could be liberated. I am looking for something radical to dissolve my boundaries—I am not content to change things one at a time—I seek no ember—I seek a conflagration. I sense, though, that I am not the only one who feels this way. Faintly, I can hear the muffled voices of others. I sense that I am merely echoing the lamentable chorus of many. I sense that I am not the only caged bird that sings.

Aphorism 12

“It is by invisible hands that we are bent and tortured worst.” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Aphorism 13

It takes courage, real courage, to move beyond boundaries and to move into yourself. All of our lives we have been conditioned to follow orders, to be normal, and to submit to the authority of others. But the truth of the matter is that there is no greater authority than yourself. You are a beautiful being filled with limitless amounts of potential. Do not let yourself be brought down. Do not let yourself be limited. Take reality into your own hands, weave a reality-tunnel that makes you happy, and embrace the person you were always meant to be.

Aphorism 14

“Finite players play within boundaries; infinite players play with boundaries.” James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games, 12

Aphorism 15

We must overcome our boundaries. Overcoming our boundaries means becoming their masters and not their slaves. We cannot continue to consume boundaries. We must create our own boundaries.

“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written with his blood. Write with blood, and you will experience that blood is spirit… Whoever writes in blood and aphorisms does not want to be read but to be learned by heart. In the mountains the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that one must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks—and those who are addressed, tall and lofty. The air thin and pure, danger near, and the spirit full of gay sarcasm: these go well together. I want to have goblins around me, for I am courageous. Courage that puts ghosts to flight creates goblins for itself: courage wants to laugh…” Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra