Experience of Unconditional Love
[email protected] Copyright 2015 Anoop Alex
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Normality. Commonality. Average. Simple words or loaded words? What is normal? What is common? What is average? We live in a world with many common experiences. But each one of us also has a mind that is having these experiences. Everyone's mind is unique, specialized to each self. And our lives are completely based on our experiences, whatever they are. These experiences can blow our mind or, at the very least, can invoke something within us, whether is a strong emotion or a simple thought. Even the simple action of no-thought, like in meditation, can invoke something strong within us, even if it is just a simple sense of peace. There are many who would call these normal simply because they occur to the majority or happen daily. Science, for one, I think, would call a sunset normal. A waterfall normal. After all, both can be seen everyday or everywhere. But each can evoke or move something strong within the person seeing them. Many times. To science, if it can be defined according to its laws and happens in a majority, it is normal.
But, in science, if it can't be defined it is also not normal. Even if it may happen to many people daily. For example, the phenomenon of what many people call telepathy. Rupert Sheldrake believes this is a normal ability that many people have that can be developed. I admire a man who has willingly become a pariah in the scientific community to propagate his ideas and study what most of science is unwilling to study because it goes against the grain. Science may not have dogma but many scientists do. They are only human, after all.
Interestingly, in science, even if it is defined, it can be abnormal. In the mental health sciences, depression is considered abnormal. Depression has farmed a huge industry of supposedly successive drugs to combat the problem. But recent studies show that these drugs have resulted in a increase of suicides, not a decrease. How do you think a depressed person feels when they are told that their behavior is abnormal? These are people who are unsure of their place in society and are now being told that they do not fit within it. This can only make them feel worse. A drug addict may only desire what he thinks society will consider a normal life. A teenager may desire the opposite. So I say there is no clear-cut definition of normal. In the end, it comes down to our experience in life and how we wish to react to it.
All our manipulation of the two experiential dimensions we are involved with in our existence are based on 3 factors. The two dimensions in this world are our immaterial(inner) experiences and the material(outer) world. The 3 factors are the experiences we encounter in the inner/outer world, the beliefs that form based on these experiences and the actions we perform based on these beliefs. So the world of experiences that lead to an action can also attempted to be controlled by an action, leading to an infinite feedback loop.
We usually have little control over what we experience the inner/outer world. Experience in the outer world is open to a multitude of factors that can be beyond our control and are essentially experienced through our 5 senses --- sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. However, since these 3 factors are in an endless loop we can try to change our experience through our actions.
We have more control over the inner world experiences. Emotions almost always start without our control and so can some thoughts, but we can choose whether to prolong them and give them freedom. The ego can birth these elements within our inner world, but the neutral observer that lies at the core of our existence can decide whether or not to let these inner elements affect us if we are aware of this core. The advantage of an action like meditation is that it makes us more aware of our inner Self and thus gives us the ability to control our inner world.
Our beliefs are the first element we have complete control over and they can reside solely within our inner world if that is what we wish. We don't have to share them. Our beliefs are based on our experiences in life. They can be positive or negative depending on how we perceive the experience.
The actions we undertake to change the material world are always based on our beliefs. We can try to change the experience we are having in material world but there is no guarantee that we will be successful since the future is a sea of infinite potential. Even a simple task like lifting a cup may not take place if, for example, an earthquake takes place as we move to do this. So, in the end, our life experience is what we choose to perceive it to be and we can choose that perception.