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On Jul 30, 2019 Bill Miller wrote on The Matrix, by The Wachowskis:
I’ve also often thought that there’s something profound in The Matrix’ story concept. Such discussions though, seem to get tangled up in the meanings of words like reality, dream, and illusion — and which of these are “true” versus false, wrong, or delusional.
“Illusion” often implies something wrong or mistaken - not what one thinks it is. Yet I read a book many years ago, “User Illusion” (Tor Norretranders) that put a more benign and practical spin on the term. In this sense, “illusion” is taking something complex, maybe even beyond understanding, and concocting a simplified model that enables one to engage with the phenomenon even without total understanding. An easy example: I am writing this on a computer screen which gives the illusion of typing letters on a sheet of paper, yet behind the illusion I am flipping digital bits in a memory core. Doing the latter directly would be an oppressive task. Fortunately I have the user illusion.
The structure of ultimate reality is certainly far, far more complex than a computer’s memory and display, but I suspect the analogy of a digital display is a useful, simplified model. A digital motion picture comes to life when, behind the white light of the projector, the millions of two-dimensional pixel display units are turned on and off in the proper pattern and sequence.
Perhaps our experienced reality occurs similarly when, behind the white light of Source, three-dimensional cosmic “pixels” are selectively attended to or not attended to by consciousness. When enough of us agree to attend to the same pixels, we have a common experience of reality that enables a society to function. And when some attend to pixels that most others do not, we label them crazies or mystics.
Ultimately it’s an illusion, but it is also our reality.
On Feb 28, 2019 Bill Miller wrote on Kazoo Player And The Symphony, by Daniel Ingram:
Not having read the book, I took the metaphor as a suggestion to not become overly invested in any particular guru or teacher’s philosophy of life and world, but to always measure it against one’s own immediate experience.
On Jun 26, 2018 Bill Miller wrote on Action Without Desire Of Outcomes, by Vinoba Bhave:
Thanks so much for posting this reminder! Timely for me -- it’s so easy to focus on various projects and causes, then become frustrated when progress or a hoped for outcome seems a long way off. Yet it is helpful to think that, ideally, we all come into life with a unique mission. So long as we are carrying out our mission and applying our particular talents, life can feel meaningful and fulfilling, whatever the external circumstances. The task is to work with one’s abilities and circumstances the best one can - not to control the outcome.
On Apr 24, 2018 Bill Miller wrote on Recycling Karmic Trash, by Shinzen Young:
Thanks for this reminder! I'm kind of an "HSP" (highly sensitive person) who can feel burned out by overly resonating with the plights and problems of others. As the article suggests, that probably happens when insufficiently mindful -- so there's some additional incentive to stay on it!
On Aug 22, 2013 Bill wrote on True Meditation Has No Direction, by Adyashanti:
Last night I attended the “Wednesday” that went with this reading and had something to share, but then balked and simply passed when the mic came to me. It’s sort of an irony - the share was to be about how I’ve found it increasingly difficult to share in recent months.
I’d been feeling bad about that, but in retrospect, this reading and the ensuing comments suggested a new interpretation. Though I’ve always pretty much been a left brain-dominant person, after attending Wednesdays for several years, the experience for me is less and less about the words and more and more about simply *being* with you all.
Not that words are unimportant, but they are simply pointers to reality (and often crude ones at that). Lately, just give me the reality.
On Dec 11, 2012 Bill Miller wrote on The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell:
On Aug 26, 2011 Bill Miller wrote on I Am Nothing, by Paul Buchheit:
There are two ways to interpret the concept of “nothing” in this context - and I think we often confuse them in the West. “Nothing” can mean “the absence of anything” or it can be read as “no thing” - i.e., a phenomenon that cannot be limited, narrowed down to, or identified with any particular subset.
As applied to the self, I like the latter interpretation because it’s expansive, opening up a range of greater possibility. I dislike the former because it basically negates one’s own existence. I don’t think that is what we were put here for. In spiritual circles however, people sometimes fall into a mindset that denigrating the self is somehow the “holy” thing to do.
And there is a mathematical precedent for the above! One formal definition the number zero is not “the absence of anything” but “the sum of all positive and negative integers”. In other words, zero is not nothing or a particular thing, but essentially everything.
That’s how I like to view the human spirit.
On Jul 8, 2011 Bill Miller wrote on Make Death Your Ally, by Duane Elgin:
Well, this is one of those sentiments that I agree with in principle, yet struggle with in practice. This may just pertain to me, but I'm also driven by a sense I'm here, given the gift life, with a mandate to contribute something meaningful to the whole enterprise before passing on. I'm not sure that I've done that, and I'm not sure I've even found my proper niche where that can be accomplished. In that sense then, death seems like a looming, ticking deadline - what if the potential is not realized in time?
I guess the standard answer is to simply be appreciative of the small things - whatever is - and to not be attached to any particular "big" thing. Yet unrealized potential always seems sad to me.
Anyway, I'll be interested to hear other's thoughts.
On Jun 4, 2011 Bill MIller wrote on Live the Questions Now, by Rainer Maria Rilke:
Upon first reading this letter by Rilke, I griped: "Jeez, I feel like I've been 'living the questions' for decades! When am I going to get to live some of the answers?! (grumble, grumble)"
However, upon hearing it read again for the evening, my perspective began to expand. A logical follow-on thought to the above might be: "Well, are you asking the right questions?" (But that also makes me want to grumble.)
Finally, I remembered an idea I'd seen in several books ("The User Illusion", "The Secret Teachings of Plants" - and I suppose Wittgenstein's "Blue" and "Brown" books) - that words, that language, is not reality but merely a pointer to reality. When an experience - or for that matter, a *question* - has been reduced to words (and a mental concept is usually also expressed in words), then you are no longer dealing with reality. You're working with a limited model of reality - sort of like using a map, rather than being in the actual terrain that the map points to.
So that was my ultimate take-away from the Rilke piece: Don't become preoccupied with your verbalized questions. Just be present to the experience. Live it, flow with it - and try to appreciate where it takes you.
On Feb 9, 2010 Bill Miller wrote on Applying Realization to Relationships, by Adyashanti:
On Dec 22, 2009 Bill Miller wrote on Willing to Experience our Suffering, by Charlotte Joko Beck:
The thing I found most interesting in this piece was the little exegesis on the word “suffering”. Note that a literal interpretation of the word does not necessarily imply something bad/negative - it simply points to something to “bear up under”. It could be something good! (Recall the King James translation of Jesus’ request to “suffer the children to come unto me”. I’m sure he wasn’t suggesting they be made to crawl over broken glass.)
In that light, life itself is something that we bear up under, when we are fully engaged with it. It is noteworthy that in contemporary usage, the word “suffer” has become synonymous with ongoing pain - you know, that grim ethic which portrays life as primarily ongoing struggle and torment.
Yet by our individual and collective choices and actions, we create the world we live in. Why not choose to “bear up” the things that are happy and loving?
On Oct 27, 2009 Bill Miller wrote on Disturb Me, Please!, by Margaret Wheatley:
Reminds me of a similar observation that I also find this helpful, by psychologist Karl Pribram, and his holographic model for brain functioning. Things are stored in the brain in a manner similar to a holographic pattern (not localized in particular cells). Emotional experience happens (both positive and negative) when something disrupts or doesn't fit the established patterns (e.g. something desirable or aversive happens that you weren't expecting). I guess the message is to not be too attached to your "patterns" :-)
On Nov 8, 2022 Bill Miller wrote on Two Stonemasons, by Simon Senek: