Our mind constantly narrows the stream of input it receives down to definitions,  conceptions and categories.

It makes it easy for our brain to manage the wide complexity of modern life, and make predictive decisions and inferences about what is currently happening. I am sure that we have evolved this way with good reason, and I bet we were doing it back when we all lived in caves or the wild grassland of prehistory.

Our minds treat objects not as they are, but as abstract categories of things. Men are treated with a certain subset of behaviours, women with another. We treat all physical objects as if they are the idea and not the thing. Bowls are treated all the same, as are knives, or fridges, or televisions.

But really I think that life is ultimately unquantifiable. Everything always seeks to transcend its definition, and concrete descriptions break down when you turn up the resolution. The harder you study what defines a certain thing, the more you see the diversity within the category.

It’s a hard concept to grasp, or get our minds around, which is always a good indicator that further thought and study would be worthwhile.

Really our every thoughts about a certain thing are not about the real things themselves, but about our internal concept of what that thing is.

This has made it easy for our modern civilization to develop, because when you can quantify something, person or place then you can put a value on it.

But really, what price can be put on an hour of your life, or a finite resource which is the common good of all, or even the land inhabited by a people for thousands of years, and their culture? It just can’t be done unless the quantisation is taken to the extreme levels we see today, where everything is a commodity, and there can be decisions made.

Should I work today or enjoy the sunshine… hmmmm, not working will cost me $200. The sunshine is worth $0. Ok work it is..  What a shame we look at the $, and not the unquantifiable reality that is really there. The pure experience of living and enjoying life.

By Seamus Anthony

Have you noticed a shift in the personal development world lately?

I have, and I know I’m not alone. I believe there’s a quiet movement on the rise that straddles both the worldly “success” field and the spiritual “enlightenment” field.

We’re a movement of connected individuals who DO want powerful tools for personal advancement in this life – but aren’t about to buy into the “bleached teeth and power suit” cliche of the “Wow! Transform Your Life and Get Rich Instantly!” variety.

We’re a movement of connected individuals who DO want to find lasting inner peace and happiness (which is – the way I see it anyway – all enlightenment really is) but who scoff at the idea of the “all-knowing” guru. And we’d rather give the “dolphins and rainbows” aesthetic a miss too, thanks very much.

Choose to Cruise

Example: While there will always be those who worship productivity, and who will run around trying to find systems to leverage their every moment, there is a new movement of those of us who have tried all that shit and have come to the conclusion that it is truly better to just “flow with the Tao”. That doesn’t mean we don’t try and get awesome things done, but it does mean that we don’t invite complexity (even complexity disguised as “simple systems”) into our lives. And we don’t live in a panic, trying to cram so much into our day that we are perpetually stressed out.

Instead we ‘choose to cruise’. We figure out what the few most productive actions we can get done every day are and we Keep It Simple Stupid.

We value the moment. The moment is all we have and we know it. And a moment spent scratching your dog’s ear is no less well spent than a moment spent pummeling away doing the grunt work needed to get something done. I just stopped typing for a moment and looked out the window from my office. My office is a bungalow in my back yard, and my back yard is in the temperate rainforest hills outside of Melbourne, Australia. It’s spring and tiny insects are frolicking, diving and chasing each other through the warm afternoon air. Kookaburras are laughing and there are flowers everywhere.

I may have a to-do list as long as my arm but I’d be a fool not to stop and take all that in.

Sure, we get things done, but if it doesn’t get done on time, it’s not the the end of it the world. Why? Because we have perspective – we are fully aware that we are going to die one day – could be tomorrow even – and once we’re dead, all the glory and money and even the work itself will fade away and become nothing. Even Shakespeare will be a nobody one day and a time will come when Jesus, Mohamed and Buddha are forgotten relics of the past. So the chances of the good work we are doing lasting for ever are nil. Nothing lasts for ever, so why get all bent up out of shape about things?

That’s just one example of what I see as a shifting consciousness amongst those at the ground level of the personal development movement – i.e. the actual people who are developing. It’s not about all those bloody cheeseballs in the Secret DVD, nor is it some “amazing discovery” coming top-down at you from Anthony Robbins or whoever. I mean these people are probably lovely in their own right, but what they represent, or the way they try to sell to us, is off-base and losing relevance fast.

Step Off Dudes

I could go on all night, but I’ve got a lovely family to hang out with and I’m hungry, so I won’t. But if you resonate with what I’ve typed here today, with what is written throughout this blog, and more importantly, with what you are reading and hearing and seeing from other blogs and just from people you meet, then you should know that your time is now.

Our time is now. Let’s do it, in our own laid back way mind you, but let’s do it. Let’s stand up and say to the George Bush’s and Sarah Palin’s of this world “Step off dudes, you’ve got it all wrong.”

And if the Wicketty-Wak Ones question who you are to stand up to them, feel free to say “I’m a Rebel Zen Master, my friend, who are you?”

That’ll give ‘em something to think about

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