Jhanon's Philosophical Writings

[Jhanon]

I may appear to be missing the undercurrent of point you're making, but I've found as long as self is allowed to reign, we're in illusion. It's a tricky bastard, and still gets me. But it's becoming more and more distinct. I prefer not even to use the term "perception". It complicates, causing intellectualizing, which the self thrives in. I only used it because of the professor's limitations, which are apparent in the grading. That is only to say that the professor was not at freedom to be less intellectual, due to the demands of the professors job. This is only in "my" experience.

[Jhanon]

If there is a God and gods (which there are), then how did such a notion come to embed itself in completely separate cultures with no contact between each other? Saying "It's only natural for humans to wonder about such things" is just absolutely stupid. There's no logic or reason in that. That's like saying many cultures wondering what the vast darkness and twinkling lights in the sky is, without actually ever experiencing the sky, is just something "only natural for humans to wonder about". NO. Everything has a cause, except God, of course. So, God is experienceable, in the loosest terms of the word "experience."

"There is no God."
"It's only natural for doubt to arise due to lack of experience."

[Jhanon]

The Self Assassin

Know how your self works, and you'll know how every self works. You will then know how to outmaneuver every self. Let them think they know more. Let them think they won. Let them think they're superior. Let them think they're in control. Let them have the last word. Like television, they are being mind washed without even realizing it. Like old age and death, there's no escape.

[Jhanon]

Why do people find it so hard to believe we are a conduit for life? Consider what you do all day. You put things in one end, and they come out the other. Is that not a conduit? Isn't a conduit traditionally thought of as a tube? And what becomes of what comes out (if natural)? It creates more life. So you take this life, like an apple, and put it through you, creating more life. Same with oxygen and everything else that comes in and exits in different forms. Seems awfully indicative of something I'm not saying directly.

[Jhanon]

The Droplet, the Stream, and the Ocean

All water ultimately comes from the ocean, and will at some point become a droplet. Sometimes the droplet sinks down deep into the soil, where it becomes one with the earth for some time, creating more life. Or, the droplet quickly evaporates. Either way, the droplet will eventually make it into the air, into a cloud. Soon it will reform as a droplet and fall to the earth to repeat the process. This happens a multitude of times.

Water droplets eventually enter a stream, or river. And where do rivers lead? Sometimes the ocean, or a sea, or lake. The more vast the destination reservoir, the more at peace the droplet is upon arrival. But the ultimate destination is to return to the ocean.

Droplet = Soul / Awareness
A droplet is not the Ocean, but it's essence is nonetheless the Ocean.

Stream = Jhana / Samadhi
The stream is not the Ocean, but it's essence is also the Ocean. If a trip back home can be so emotional and joyful, then it's clear why the stream to the Ocean is so joyful and blissful.

Ocean = God / Nibbana
It's then obvious why the Ocean, the true source and home, is pure ecstasy.

[Jhanon]

The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack: The Breaking of the Fellowship

The first 60 seconds of this track have always been heart-breakingly beautiful for me to experience. I think it's because it reflects human life from a broad view. Like a tsunami, life can be crushing and devastating. But the Ocean, which makes the tsunami and song possible, is vast and beautiful.

Yes, there are waves and destruction, but without the waves we couldn't know the stillness--without the destruction we couldn't know the potential.

This ultimate Essence, this Ocean, is so still, yet dynamic and perfect that it is absolutely beyond human expression. All beautiful art comes from mere drops in the cup, in our awareness. But to be immersed, fulfilled and pervaded in It...there are no fitting words for such an experience. Every time I try to express It, I am pained. Pained in a way that I could never be pained enough.

Words flow easily from the heart onto the paper, but they go on to seemingly contradict themselves. This is how beautiful It is. So beautiful that It is a paradox. So beautiful that the natural and terrible fear of first experiencing It's tremendous gravity is itself beautiful. It is like standing alone on the beach, watching that 100 foot tsunami wave only seconds from engulfing you. Despite the terror, you are overwhelmed with a paralyzing awe as your Essence is filled with transcendent ecstasy. None know genuine relief until they have such an experience.

It is no coincidence that experiencing deep fulfillment--such as when a mother first sees her newborn birthed--causes water to flow from our eyes. Just as a cup is immersed in water and itself full-filled, so too do we overflow with water during times of fulfillment. Just as tears run down the face of every human who experiences the Ocean. Because it is beyond the capacity of language, of art, of you or me, to describe or contain something so profoundly essential as to be beginningless and endless. At most we can describe the clouds reflected in it, and that takes the form of tears running down our face.

It seems if there is such a thing as a meaning or purpose of life, it is to serve as expression of this Essence, to subtly remind us of it, to realize and ultimately reunite with It. Just as water is rain from the sky, ice in the poles, and rivers running through the landscape, so, too, we are many, but like the water in all its forms, we will ultimately reunite with the Ocean.

I could write about this for ages, and it would not be ages wasted. Even when others read it and see not what is behind the words. Just the dipping of toes into the Ocean for inspiration to write is enough to go days without food or rest.

I've listened to this track and written for over 3 hours, and I am not yet tired. Because it's the Essence that I'm really listening to. And It is everything and anything anyone could ever want or need.

Despite my efforts, I've failed yet again to communicate that from which all things compared are nothing.