How do we understand the nature of what our earth environment actually is? And is it important? It is important. Developing a perspective on our earthly experience helps us orient ourselves within it. The who and what we are, as a being of self-aware consciousness. In addition, and perhaps even more important, what happens to us once we finish this incarnation? Do we discover a doorway, or just a blank wall? Such questions give rise to how we wish to function within the world – do we have a “platform” on which to build our relationships, our interactions with others? And one with an ever-evolving capacity to assimilate new, expanded perspectives. Personal growth.
Everyone experiences difficult times. The Buddha spoke of life as suffering – but not as a given. Suffering as an aspect of mind, which could be remedied. There are resources available to minimize this, both externally, but more importantly internally. For in the final analysis, each of us is responsible for our own journey. External influences may set the stage for that journey. Yet with our free will and the power to make decisions about how that journey will be approached, we can contribute to how those difficult times can be navigated. Perhaps not ideal resolutions, as seen from the perspective of the mind. But this is where our internal platform, belief, faith, perspective take the stage.
How restrictive, expansive, or inclusive is our perspective? Is it one of just reacting to circumstances encountered? Or do we have the opportunity with our minds, but more importantly with our hearts, to embrace that which is taking place? There are numerous accounts of people transcending even the most horrific circumstances. That possibility is always available. Even when presented with a life-and-death circumstance, a noble deed of sacrifice may provide the ultimate meaning to one’s life. A broader perspective.
The experiencing life on this world, in this environment, is one of limitations. Unlike birds, we can’t fly. Unlike fish, we can’t stay underwater indefinitely. Similarly, the vast majority of people are unable to understand the nature of this world. All of those questions of meaning, of life, the universe, and everything, are not really knowable with a high degree of certainty. We are only able to comprehend to a certain level. We recognize a tree as a tree, leaves, branches, roots etc. But getting down to the subatomic level, solidity as we know it, becomes unrecognizable. It is energy, vibration, light, and frequency. Which begs the question – what and why does it all hold together? What are the organizing principles involved? Randomness, from any vantage point of observing that tree, makes no logical sense.
More. What has been described as multiple dimensions beyond our third dimensional experience, has more to do with our abilities to perceive a broader spectrum of creation. We can only perceive so much visual information, only hear so much of what has been transmitting through the air. Yet, of course, we know there’s much more going on. This is where the Materialist** view of creation, this earth experience, falls short. It wishes to define reality by what can be seen, measured. Reducing different expressions of consciousness to a mere function of brain activity—something quantifiable and potentially extractable.
What is important here is that the Materialist viewport closes the door to transcendent access. In order to expanded considerations of reality, such limitations must be abandoned. Concepts such as duality, fundamental in Materialism, and the functionality of this world, at some level, become a contrived restriction on the infinite expression of the Universe. We cannot ignore experiences that fall outside the parameters of man-made definitions, even if they seemingly challenge or contradict a “solid” outer expression of matter.
There is an incredible order in the universe we inhabit. Basic Newtonian physics can attest to part of that state of creation. But we must ask why and how such an organization came into being. We may not be able to answer those questions. But transcendent experiences, and everyday synchroneities’ point to a state of being that underlies all existence. In other words, an overall, self-aware Consciousness, capable of manifesting an incredibly choreographed expression of itself. One that, with the right perspective, can be discovered in plain sight.
A.S. 10/13/25
** “Materialism is a form of philosophical monism in metaphysics, according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are caused by physical processes, such as the neurochemistry of the human brain and nervous system, without which they cannot exist. Materialism directly contrasts with monistic idealism, according to which consciousness is the fundamental substance of nature.”
