‘To
be or not to be’…
…is not the question to be asked from man’s
ordinary state of mind once the actual meaning and scale contained in the term
‘to be’ has been fully grasped and appreciated.
Discussing this subject with other people will
soon take us to the conclusion that everyone will have acquired a personal take
or philosophy on this particular word 'being'. That we are be able to communicate on the same level,
as well as to avoid any misunderstanding, the term ‘being’ has got to be
defined in the first place.
In Far Eastern philosophy terms, 'being' is
something, which needs to be further developed, because our relative state of
being is constantly and randomly fluctuating, depending on what we are identifying
with internally or externally. So there is no gravitas or real substance or
even something more permanent in our ordinary state of being.
That’s why from a philosophical perspective the
pure state of 'being', that is 'being’ without any connotations attached to it,
can't be recognised in our relative state of consciousness in the way we live
our lives. This is based on the fact that there is too much other noise, which
distracts us from something internal that is an intrinsic part of the actual
'Self'.
There is a saying that 'Our being attracts our
life', hence if our state of being is negative our life will be experienced as
negative and vice versa. If our state of being is governed by our personal
likes and dislikes it is not free to rise up to higher levels of possible
states of being.
The famous saying in Faust "To be or not to be" requires the exact understanding (experience) and definition of the term
'to be'. To truly grasp this famous saying, one needs to understand that first
we have to evolve into this high state of 'to be', before we even can consider
contemplating the other possibility of 'not to be'. We first have to develop a
state of being that is much more permanent and reliable and as such, not that much
subject to the divided nature of the 'self'.
Once this less divided state of 'to be' has
manifested through conscious effort & continuous work on the mind & the self,
work on the state 'not to be' can be implemented, in which all subject and
object dynamics are transcended. This is accomplished by stilling the mind and
being coalesced by the state of absence of thought.
Both lines of work take place simultaneously,
which is an exciting undertaking that requires a lot of patience and the transformative force of meaning,
as well as a bit of help and support from a source that is connected to higher
knowledge.
So, we all have a lot of exciting work coming
our way, which is an adventure worth embarking on. You will be surprised by how
many things we regularly come across in our lives by which ‘being’ inconspicuously
reveals itself. It can be met and experienced through so many different ways,
whether it is through the arts, science, philosophy or literature.
And by the way, there is no need to rush things,
because it takes as long as it takes - as the famous saying states “…the journey
is the way”.
Alexander Filmer-Lorch
Copyright © July 2013
Alexander Filmer-Lorch – all rights reserved
