A Post Dogmatist Philosophy on the Nature of Being (an artist). (2)

Journal Entry: September 4, 2022

Continued from the previous article by the same name.

…However, let us say that, as whisps of divine imagination, we are not entirely awakened from the delusion of our condition of being a lark of the Divine Mind but rather think of ourselves as separate autonomous beings with an individual identity. Yes we are.  After all, this appears to be exactly the point of our existence, to take respite from our aloneness as the one Entity and explore the infinite possibilities of being many. As many, we have the opportunity to experience the endless variety of the One Being from infinite vantage points. How amazing is that?

In the ancient Hindu texts, this ever-conscious spark/strand of the Entity existing in each of us is called the Atman or Self. If we accept that we are all only One dreaming of being many, and there are endless hints of this truth throughout world literature, then, how will this realization effect our approach to the world around us and to each other? How will it affect our own sense of ourselves and hence our approach to living?

How we choose to go about living on a day-to-day basis is the purpose of this philosophical inquiry. In one way of looking at things, we could say, that if the One Being is on vacation through each of us from the reality of Its endless aloneness, we should spend our time accepting this condition and just go about our lives however we wish to and that in itself would serve the greater purpose of Life. If that is the case what could be better than happily pursuing your creative life?

But, there are those who have thought deeply on this topic over the millennia and have come up with and practiced a variety of programs and possible goals of how we might live our lives and develop ourselves in a way that is in harmony with this deeper reality. As artists we can use all the help we can get and all the best ways to think about things.

In my own case I grew up from childhood as a Catholic. At the age of 14 I had a significant mystical experience which altered my understanding and my direction and when I was 21 years of age I had my deepest soul shaking mystical experience with the infinite which revealed the deeper bedrock of my being and, soon after, I was visited in a dream by the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan. I didn’t know who he was at the time but I soon found myself in a home that had books of his lectures and each had a photo of him. I recognized him as the man in my dream some months earlier. Hence, I took initiation in the Inayati lineage of Sufism. I was later ordained by the head of the order; Pir Valayat, his son, as a cherag (which is a religious minister for conducting various services). This led to a deep, ongoing study of the sacred texts of the world to reveal and explore the unity of religious ideals. As mentioned, I am an artist not a scholar, but my adult life has been spent in contemplating our place in the universe.

Over the years I have developed a variety of strategies for myself of how to go about the day-to-day existence of life as a personage in a physical body that needs to eat, sleep, take shelter, occupy oneself and get along with other instances of Ourself. In many ways it is an ongoing theatrical production of which none of us are aware of the vastness of its scope nor need to be. But it would be best if we take notice of our own part in the whole thing and where we fit into the grand production.

From a Post Dogmatist point of view, each of us is a fraction of the totality but inwardly, at our depth, open out into the Totality whether we are aware of it or not and seemingly almost none of us are. However, the Entity is ever aware through all of us. Cognizant or not, all of us are unique expressions of that Entity, have arisen from it, are immersed in it, sustained by it and will return to it.

There are various opinions around the world and across time how we return to it when we die either through dissolution after death or some form of reincarnation, transformation, or transmigration. Maybe being a physical person is an unusual condition for us and what we were previously or what we will be afterward is our natural state that we return to which is likely more familiar to us than being in our present condition – a mind in a physical embodiment.

Since nobody knows for sure, it is not worth thinking about too hard except to know that birth is a terminal condition. We are all on the way to dead. This being a known certainty, we all need to accept it and plan on it. But, we are alive at this moment so let’s make the best of it.

We are all on a big camping adventure. At some point we all have to put out the campfire, fold up our tent, pick up our trash and leave no trace behind except our footprints so the next campers can enjoy our spot.

Something in us assumes we will live forever so probably we do in some way or other or some part of us does. We have always been here, and we will always be here. So, what are the implications of that? Does that change one’s approach to how to go about living? It does for me.

Let us assume (I do anyway) that everything up to this point is as reasonable a view of the universe as any: there is one Entity of which we are a part. That Entity is living through each of us whether we know it or not. We are It, It is us and it is beyond any of us. We are all one thing together. Unless we have a direct encounter with our foundational state of being that gives us a direct personal mind-blowing experience, whatever we know is all speculation, hearsay and assumption. This being the case for most of us, then to make the above assumptions are as reasonable a way to look at ourselves and the world around us as any other and maybe a lot better than most.

So this is my personal basis of how I think about Post Dogmatism - at least for myself. Every other post dogmatist will have a completely different view based on their own experiences in life and this is based on our general idea of a holographic bureaucracy where each member is the whole group from a specific viewpoint. Hence, the Standard Disclaimer.

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