Reality Is Not What It Seems!

Today I think we have come to a place where we need to begin exploring the nature of the reality in which we find ourselves.  I’ll give you fair warning, if you continue reading this material, you are highly likely to be upset by what you learn.  I am going to shake the very foundations of what you think is real.  

Let’s start with stuff.  You know, the ordinary stuff that everything is made of.  We all learned in high school that matter is composed of atoms, which in turn are composed of electrons, neutrons and protons.  The assumption is, these materials are little bits of “stuff.”  All of this is false.

 Matter is not solid:  it is little bits of energy and mostly empty space.

Even the term “bits” of energy is deceptive.  Energy doesn’t come in bits. Imagine, for example, a bit of sunlight, or a bit of electricity.  It doesn’t make sense.

Think for a moment about what this means.  It means that the chair you are sitting on, while it appears to be solid, is mostly empty space interspersed with tiny units of energy.

In actual fact, you are sitting on rapidly rotating bits of energy.  These bits are rotating at a mind-boggling speed.  To give you a rough equivalent, in terms that we commonly use, the electrons in your chair are rotating at 64,000,000 mph. That’s right – 64 million miles per hour!

The reason your chair appears solid is the same reason that a rotating fan blade appears solid.  When you crank the speed up fast enough, the blades of the fan look like they are one solid piece.

I said a moment ago that you are mostly sitting on empty space.  Let me give you something to compare that with.  If you removed the empty space from all the atoms in the bodies of all 8+ billion people currently living on the planet, you would have an object roughly the size of a sugar cube.  Perhaps human beings are not as significant as we thought we were!

Let’s look at Time, shall we?  Everybody knows what time is.  It’s composed of the past, the present, and the future.  Actually, these wonderful ideas about time are completely false!  Let me explain:

It’s pretty clear that the past doesn’t exist.  Once upon a time (perhaps!) it did exist, or so we think, but right now, the past is over and done with.  The past clearly has no existence right now, except as a memory.

In the same way, we know that the future doesn’t exist because it hasn’t happened yet.

That leaves us with “now,” the present moment.  There’s a lot of buzz about the “now.”  People talk about living in the present moment – they say that that’s where the real life is.  On the surface, this seems like a plausible idea, but sadly, this too is false.

When we talk about “the now,” we are distinguishing ‘now’ from other times.  But we have just shown that the past and the future don’t really exist.  They are simply ideas, fabrications, fantasies that we have that we use to try and make sense of the world.  But if there is no past or future, then the concept of ‘now’ must also be a fabrication.

So, what is left to us?  If we are to speak accurately, we have to say that time as we have conventionally understood it does not exist.  What we live in is a state of Being, a state of “Is-ness.”

Just for fun, let’s continue this exploration of our shared delusional reality and look at the three-dimensional world we think we live in.  In everyday language, time and distance are interconnected.  They are linked by the notion of speed, also known as velocity.  The equation that we learned in math and science classes looks like this: Distance = Time X Speed.  But if there is no Time, this equation doesn’t work.  The equation would be simplified to Distance = 0 X Speed.  Which is zero.  Which means distance also doesn’t exist.  Which means we don’t live in a three-dimensional world because height, width and breadth do not actually exist!

It starts to make you wonder, doesn’t it?  These ideas that we have held about the nature of reality begin to appear as they are, simple fabrications or fantasies.  Yet, when you drill down into what actually constitutes the reality we live in, these ideas start to fall apart.

*  *  *

So let’s take a moment and see what we’ve accomplished to this point.

1.  We’ve shown that matter as we ordinarily understand it simply does not exist.  What we call matter is really little tiny units of energy and mostly empty space.

2.  We’ve shown that time does not really exist either.  We thought that there was a past, a present, and a future, but it’s quite obvious that the past no longer exists, it’s over and done with.  In the same way, the future doesn’t exist because it hasn’t happened yet.  That leaves us with the present, the ‘Now.’  But conceiving of a ‘now’ necessarily implies something other than ‘now,’ namely the past and the future which we know don’t really exist.  This means that talking about the ‘now’ is a serious mistake.  It would be more accurate to say we exist in a state of Is-ness, the state of Beingness.

3.  Finally, we’ve shown that if time doesn’t exist, then distance doesn’t exist either.  This means that the three-dimensional world we live in is actually some sort of illusion as well.

By now, I suspect that you are thoroughly confused!  When I feel confused, I typically shut down and back away.  If you are tempted to do the same right about now, let me encourage you to stop for a moment because there’s some good news.  The good news is this: if there is no time, then you are not aging, and all those birthdays that you have celebrated are totally without meaning.  LOL

*  *  *

So, what is Real?  Here’s what a cutting-edge physicist has to say:

"As a physicist who has devoted his whole life to rational science, to the study of matter, I think I can safely claim to be above any suspicion of irrational exuberance. Having said that, I would like to observe that my research on the atom has shown me that there is no such thing as matter in itself (italics mine). What we perceive as matter is merely the manifestation of a force that causes the subatomic particles to oscillate and holds them together in the tiniest solar system of the universe. Since there is in the whole universe neither an intelligent force nor an eternal force (mankind, for all its yearnings, has yet to succeed in inventing a perpetual motion machine), we must assume that this force that is active within the atom comes from a conscious and intelligent mind. That mind is the ultimate source of matter (italics mine)."  

--Max Planck, from his 1944 speech titled "Das Wesen der Materie" ("The Nature of Matter"), delivered in Florence, Italy. 

Let me put this in more conventional language.  What Planck and other physicists are saying is that the universe is looking more and more like an idea in the mind of God.

And this understanding turns our world upside down and inside out, doesn’t it?

*  *  *

I’m going to stop here for now, because I have given you more than enough to think about for the week.  But just as a teaser, think about what this means for the miracles of Jesus.  Water into wine?  Healing the sick?  Raising the dead?  Ascending bodily into heaven?  These so-called miracles suddenly seem possible, and perhaps even ordinary, don’t they?  If all that is necessary is a change of ideas, then all sorts of unusual events are possible, aren’t they?  So ponder on the meaning of all of this, but don’t forget to keep up your meditation practice.  I will continue this exploration with you next week.

With love,

P.S.  Several of you have expressed the desire for an online meditation class.  If there is enough interest, I will try to figure out how to hold a group class on the web.  If you have an interest, please write me at [email protected]. 

Humility as a Tool  → Letting go → Fear → Openness →  Acceptance & Growth

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