The Answer to No Answer.

Occasionally, I do an unexpected research journey. By this I mean I am taken from one subject to another via the vast internet that somehow mysteriously leads me to the perfect tidbit of information either for myself or another. I am sure I am not unique in this phenomenon. It is like I am lead down a serious of hallways and doors just to find treasures with each opening. And sometimes I am there just to take a peek, other times I get to take “home” a souvenir. In one such case I was led link by link to a blog authored by Fred Alan Wolf (I’m still not sure how I ended up on his blog page, but it was fun to find). He is best known as the wild and crazy quantum physicist in the movie “What the Bleep do we know?” In one of his blog spots he relayed one of the many stories of Buddha.

In this story, Buddha is approached by a follower who asks, “Is there a soul?” Buddha responds with silence. The man then rephrases and asks, “My Lord, is there no soul?” Buddha again says nothing. The man leaves with no answers. A disciple who had been watching the whole event approaches and asks Buddha why did he not answer the man’s question – either one of them. Buddha calmly responds, had he answered yes to the first question, he would be supporting the ideology and all implications that come with indeed there is a soul. Had he answered yes to the second question, Buddha would be supporting the suggestions of all those who believe there is no soul. In fact, Buddha goes on to say to his disciple, that both are correct and both are of no consequence. To explain to the student that we are both a soul and not a soul would create confusion. An attempt to explain that a soul does AND does not exist would not help the questioner. In my words, it is like saying there would be no compartment for such information and trying to it fit into any particular box would produce turmoil rather than peace.

Mr. Wolf goes on to imply that in science and those who really understand the nature of science have an understanding that there are no absolutes. That even “hard” evidence in being able to reproduce a result does not mean it is ever “the end”. Even I recall from basic science, energy is in motion and only changes shape and form, but does not disappear. And thus, those who understand the deepest levels of science, in particular the large percentage of science that is apparent but not absolutely provable by “hard” evidence such as quantum physics, also know that to explain the deepest levels of our spiritual mystical selves is just as impossible and will change and move much like “energy” changing shape and form, but never disappearing.

Thus we are left with the quandaries of conflicting information, no absolutes and an answer to one question may counter the next question. And yet it is possible for both to be correct. Our outlook in life so often gives us this experience where we wish to have an absolute, an unshakable solid ground in which we know we can stand upon. Yet, again as we delve into science, the solid ground really isn’t solid, now is it? There is a lot of space between those molecules that make up dirt and rock. Our ideas make up our world and create expectations in which our world shall appear before us. Thus we go out to prove an answer to one of our questions.

Friends and family give input to their theories and provings of their experiments of what they know and what they have read, etc. Perhaps they have found (or been told to find) a certain answer. When we begin to question and search and find that maybe, just maybe, it is more than, it can create confusion like Buddha’s curious one had Buddha answered. And when we begin to create an idea of our own truth, finding ways that do not “fit in the box” may bring feelings of being separated for some.

When I was in college, I decided that I could not decide on being an art major or a creative writing major. So I decided to conduct my own personal experiment and take an art class and a writing class (both upper levels) in a single semester and see which one was more fun when taken seriously. The winner would be my major. Silly as it sounds as a means to pick a journey of a lifetime, it was the easiest way for me to see what I would do surrounded in the energy of such an exercise. So I wrote and I created art. I chose art in the end, deciding that writing just took too much of my time. I had other things to do, like study my favorite classes of philosophy and philosophy of religion. It was not on my radar yet to have a third option as a life passion, since I asked only two questions: Is it art? Is it writing? It was not until much later did I realize that while I loved learning and doing art, what really held my attention was the philosophical perspectives people held and how these very beliefs created a day, a marriage, a life, and a death. And how these beliefs can create change or prohibit change.

Had someone suggested philosophy as a possibility it would have created confusion for me in that semester of proving my major. I was focused elsewhere – art or words, art or words, what do you mean “thoughts/beliefs?” I had no way of knowing that once I moved into the possibilities of myself that all and none of the above would be so present in my life. My very being is filled with creative expressions with writing these articles, writing books and manuals for my students, recording a CD, designing my studio space. It is both my “majors” that I thought I had to choose between. But most importantly, the assimilation of the both together, along with the third “option” of philosophy is very present in my life. I teach others to expand thinking out of the box. I show others “door number 3” (and 4 and 5 and 6, etc.). The journey does not end. There are no absolutes. There is nothing for you to prove except what you know is true for you. And that truth is an energy, moving and changing shape, but never disappearing.

As you grow, expand, have experiences, do experiments, prove findings, you will also find the further you explore any subject, there really is no “it.” The “it” factor that is so important in the beginning of many of our journeys is like telling Buddha or any other deity,” give me the yes and I’ll finally know the truth.” When the lead character in Kung Fu Panda, Po, realizes that there is no secret ingredient (sorry about the spoiler) in his Dad’s special soup, his father explains, the people believe it is special therefore it is so. “There is no secret ingredient” and yet belief is the actual secret ingredient. It may not have been a scientifically provable physical ingredient, but the metaphysical ingredient is present.

My dear ones, questions we ask ourselves are often meant to get us moving toward a direction. “Hmm, I wonder what that is about?” I ask as I click from link to link to find another groovy internet educational, philosophical or artistic expression. Whether I am lead by my own soul or by no soul at all, I only know that I am lead. I do know that deep in my own heart, I contain some kind of secret ingredient. And it is an ingredient worth sharing, regardless of physical authenticity. As are you.

Like the season of seasons, pepper of events, and the salt of experience, moving into the possibility of who you are and living it can be out of box. And yet, when one person steps forward into their possibilities, the energy changes shape all around you! Nothing disappears, nothing is left behind that you find valuable. It is interesting, though, what we find of value does change. Do not be concerned about unanswered questions nor the ideas of what you started with. It changes and so will you. The only thing I know for certain is in this moment I feel all spaces between the solid appearances. And in this moment, change happens. It is both still and moving. All and none. I type, I write, I am none of these words and yet they come from me, or rather more accurately, through me. To be confused is to mean that you know of something or you would not know to be confused. Thus we begin to ask, and then we change. Share what you know, be open to change, believe that there is always more, always more!

Take heart, you may not have answers for others when they ask you, either. Sometimes we grow when the answers that are placed before us are not to the questions we ask, but to the questions we have yet to ask. Let the Earth breathe wonders upon you and the ocean, well, the Sufi poet and theologian, Rumi says it best: ”I have one small drop of knowing in my soul. Let it dissolve in your ocean.”

Breathe deep, Light of Lights, you are the unprovable absolute.

~Bright Star