My first thought upon reading this was "wow, what a cool
exercise, I love this list" and I even hopped onto shack to
emit "burn scruts the inscrutable, film at 11" before putting
on pants in preperation to go to work.
But then I realized that I do actually have some theories to
answer this with; it's just that I'm not totally willing to
accept any of them as The Whole Truth, or even most of it.
First, though, lemme adjust #2 a bit. I still think that
the ultimate stuff of the universe is love. Conciousness is
another level of complication (and structure) up from that.
The physical world is to the greater mind as a dream image is
to the individual mind because the greater mind is just so
totally amazingly in love with the idea.
So, there's the theory of "supportive nature," which basically
states that if you do things in accordance with the laws of
nature (including those which most Western scientists have not
yet codified), then nature will support your desires. What's
interesting about this one is that the cause and effect is not
quite as obvious as that: if your life is in accordance with
nature (or God, or universal love, or whatever words you want
to use), then your desires will be too, and so you may simply
no longer desire that Mercedes Benz.
I often like this theory, but I'm not quite willing to
subscribe to it because then there's a risk of simply assuming
that my desires are in accordance with nature. And, while that
may be true at times, it's not an assumption I want to make.
Another theory could be called "conscious fate," and seems to
be common in religious which have anthopomorphized God. Some
greater power out there has a Plan, man, and that power has
plans for YOU. Don't try to break from those plans, just go
with 'em and have faith.
It's not all that different from supportive nature, except
that there's more of a feeling of being directed, as opposed
to a feeling of being part of the whole. But then again, I've
never lived according to this one.
There are more, of course -- "you make your own fate," for
example -- but I'll leave those for others to describe.
And, Jim, thank you very much for twisting our minds (or mine,
at least) with this one. You're a pleasing experience.
