We are thinking constantly. Every day, in every moment we experience thoughts in our mind, often heard as a voice we call 'I' or 'Me'. Some thoughts are fleeting or pertain to temporary events; yet some are lasting and relate to the eternal aspects of reality -- these define who we think we are; what we think is possible; and what we become as a result.
Temporary thoughts come and go. Yet most of these are fleeting and do not dramatically alter our overall reality. Not so with eternal beliefs – eternal beliefs pertain to facts or interpretations about the world which rest at the foundation.
These eternal thoughts are:
Cosmogenesis (the creation of the Universe)
Biogenesis (the creation of Life)
Consciousness (what it means to be a living experiencer of the world)
History (the story of human kind and the lineage of culture)
Most of us understand a few superficial things about these topics (origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the history of humanity) – generally we consider such basic or superficial knowledge ‘good enough’ because:
a) “someone else is thinking” about the issues for us, and
b) while interesting, they are not ‘practical’ in our day to day lives; (we believe) they have no relevance or value in the ‘real world’ – the world where we are busy with our jobs and families and hopes and dreams and fears and vices, all of which were actually defined by invisible beliefs.
Yet, if one considers work and family, ambitions and fears to be the ‘real world,’ then by definition this ‘real world’ is created or at least governed by the thought structure that interprets these things for us… the thought structure that motivates us to become a business man and not a scientist, a school teacher instead of an accountant, a family man instead of a bachelor, etc…
Or do you honestly think you’d be the same person you are if you were born in the Amazon among an indigenous tribe? YOU are a programmed set of beliefs that are not your own. They belonged to others before they were impressed upon you. This is a very practical fact about the world.
To avoid deep inquiry into the creation of the Universe, the nature and origin of Life, what it means to be conscious, and the real history of life on Earth, is to forfeit control over the Real World.
What we do is not more ‘real’ than who we are… that we so often act the other way around borders on collective delusion.
No one can deny that the foundation of Universal and Life creation are part of ‘who we are’ – yet these events are treated like background noise or trivia. But, the universe is more ‘who we are’ than the short-lived temporary personality of this life-time.
Which identity is more ‘real’ the one millions of years old, or the one who has lived for only decades?
There is a general feeling that because we cannot conceivably know the complete-truth of a thing, that there is no sense in trying at all. That, because we cannot know something as well as someone who studies it for a living, any attempt to learn would be in vain, and as such we are free to ignore it. In this way we block out entire portions of our identity – or worse, let others define it for us.
This selective rejection of personal curiosity is like saying: “I do not know completely who you are, so I will simply never talk to you. I will pretend you do not exist.“
Unfortunately, this is the exact relationship most have with reality: “Oh, well, I’m’ sure something or other happened, and who really cares because we’re here now! And no one will ever really know the answer.”
So we ignore it altogether; we do this collectively – and wonder why our culture is flawed.
We cannot change 'society' until understanding what this term refers to; and we cannot understand 'society' without understanding ourselves (society being a collection of many 'selves', Individual 'I's like you and me) -- we are not required to know all the facts, only to think about them, this contemplation, or simply imagination gives us a perspective on how much we don't know. Knowing what we don't know is as important as knowing what we (think we) do.
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