Animism something

[ararat]

What I really loved about travelling in rural India, even though I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, was the sense of aliveness of the landscape. The trees seemed more alive than in the scientific sense of the word. Not merely exchanging gases and nutrients, they seemed to posses a spirit of their own, a spirit that was recognized by the people living there, a spirit that was not different from the material. You notice that the trees were not seen merely as source of lumber or something that stands in the way for a street. You knew that, because these trees were standing in the middle of the road, adorned with kitchy girlands and incense sticks, meaning to celebrate the immanent divinity of the plant.

Coming home, I still did recognize the spirit of the things, but there seemed to be a tabu about it. Here, we don't really honor the plants and rocks, here it is a source of income, something to fill your bankaccount with, or something that's in the way of a new street or a fence.
Voir la pièce jointe 5733

I don't really know where I'm going with this post, maybe I'll post some more when I come to know. Enjoy this beautiful poem:

Just now
A rock took fright
When it saw me
It escaped
By playing dead

 

[BrainEater]

hey man... interesting topic!! i would say just because you can't see something doesn't necessarily mean, that it isn't there...
the question is why can't you see it? it's interesting to note that we also perceive with the mind/intellect and it uses the senses..
i have been to thailand for some months and i think i can say that i experienced a similar thing like you.
the way all nature seems to be alive and the sense of the people for it etc etc... it surely can be an overwhelming experience.
sometimes i feel like i had been blind before. it seems to be an illusion of the mind, thinking you can't learn something new or so...
well at times it can help to just switch to another perspeective... like changing gears... lol
btw beautiful and very inspiring poem!! what we give comes back to us somehow... maybe in another form or so etc etc...
but it all comes back... i "think" i am sure of that.
the truth is that a lot of people are actually blind, but a lot of them fail in admitting it. a lack of self-observation.
the quantum observer effect is a very interesting one. as i understand it, it means that a lack of self-observation
is equal to a lesser probability of being able to change oneself.
because according to that effect, something can be changed simply by observing it.... at some point it almost becomes
a mystical notion lol... i hope you understand what i mean.




peace

 

[ararat]

the question is why can't you see it? it's interesting to note that we also perceive with the mind/intellect and it uses the senses..

I think it has something to do with the upbringing in this culture that just does not recognize these things. when I travel somewhere, I am more or less quite removed from our culture. of course I still carry lots of it with me, but it loosens up and I-don't-know-how-much-of-it is blown away over time. the first time I went abroad, I got into the real travelling flow and open eyes for the different culture after about one and a half months. the following times it took less time.
it seems to me that culture and seeing are polar opposites. the more you are in a culture the less you see, the less your mind is rooted in culture the more you see, thus, the more you are free. it's probably not as simple. culture could be likened to a tool, like the mind, which on its own is just plain destructive, but employed correctly makes things easier.

i have been to thailand for some months and i think i can say that i experienced a similar thing like you.
the way all nature seems to be alive and the sense of the people for it etc etc... it surely can be an overwhelming experience.

it's beautiful isn't it

btw beautiful and very inspiring poem!! what we give comes back to us somehow... maybe in another form or so etc etc...
but it all comes back... i "think" i am sure of that.

a sentence that reverberated in my head sometimes: "what you care for, cares for you". it helps me take confidence to venture out to do the things that are not very promising to bring me lots of money I don't need it... food and shelter (and clothing and maybe internet) is what floats my boat, social interaction is still free as of now, thank god.
I'm pretty sure of it too the universe might just not be as lifeless as it seems.

the truth is that a lot of people are actually blind, but a lot of them fail in admitting it. a lack of self-observation.
the quantum observer effect is a very interesting one. as i understand it, it means that a lack of self-observation
is equal to a lesser probability of being able to change oneself.
because according to that effect, something can be changed simply by observing it.... at some point it almost becomes
a mystical notion lol... i hope you understand what i mean.

I do, it's the idea what I'm basically living by, even though I fail at it sometimes, sometimes more, sometimes less. haven't heard of quantum observer effect though, I got the idea from krishnamurti and eckhart tolle and later the empirical insight itself by myself

 

[BrainEater]

i think i agree with you man. i have reflected about stuff like that a bit, too. the conclusion that i have come to is that
everything is alive in its own way. the question is just because you can't see the life, does it necessarily mean that
it isn't there or so? maybe it's alive on another level/more levels that we aren't aware of.
the concept of frequency is interesting in that context. because in some sense everything can be described as vibrations/frequencies/vibrational frequencies.

it somehow reminds me of this quote:

MORPHEUS: "What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

The MATRIX: The movie. 1999

it seems it's also a lot about using the "mind's eye" if you want to see reality.

because the fucked up thing is that a lot of people can't even see reality lol....

so it seems also that it can be of benefit (to be able) to understand your own brain.... :!:


regarding culture i am always reminded of terrence mc kenna... he puts it like culture is the operating system
of the people and how these days what is being called culture is becoming less and less our friend.
it's like people don't understand each other, even though they speak the same language. :x


hmm also the other quote from matrix seems to symbollically make more sense from a psychonautic point of view now.

Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?
Morpheus: You've never used them before.

logically i would say life is everywhere. because god is everywhere, too. as i understand it, not being able to accept god,
means to not being able to accept oneself. the illusion of separation is an illusion of the mind/intellect.
it's like the ego needs that illusion for its survival. but the ego is not real etc etc....
or maybe even like there can be a false and a right ego.... i really don't know lol...
maybe any of that makes sense to you.


p.s. edit: i just remembered a phrase that i heard from a youtube guru that maybe relates a little bit and has helped me with some strange ego issues or so... it's something like : "just give your best and then leave it."

lol i also got remembered of more quotes, because it's about life, maybe in some sense or so, it's also about water, because water is supposedly the element of life, right??? there you go.
well i am sure you know it, but i would say it's worth to be mentioned again. bruce lee is my hero lol...

water is so amazing lol... its wisdom is that it always takes the way of least resistance. a very deep wisdom. :wink:

"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
? Bruce Lee

peace

 

[ophiuchus]

hadn't heard the first bruce lee quote, i like it.

"haven't heard of quantum observer effect" i believe you may know it under another name, "the double slit experiment", implying that the very (outcome of) fabric of reality is altered, simply by the act of observing it.

 

[BrainEater]

well maybe the water is teaching us. i have watched it for long times and it has helped me a lot. i have had times in my thailand travel when i just spent days and days gazing at the ocean lol.... i guess peace of mind is very much underestimated..
for me at least it's one of the most important things, if not the most important. 8)



peace