5

Parasitic Patterns of the Unnatural World

It is hard to fathom the experience and life of an organism when it undergoes a cycle of entropy. From a human perspective, we see species come and go almost on a daily basis. Yet we need not be too distressed about this fact. The scientific point of view holds that all organisms will eventually decline, only to bring forth new life, because a fundamental principle of the universe is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. According to the first law of thermodynamics, we only have transformations of energy. This law states that “energy can be transformed, i.e. changed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed. It is usually formulated by stating that the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the amount of heat supplied to the system, minus the amount of work performed by the system on its surroundings.”¹

The extinction of certain species is usually attributed to human activity. But we cannot be the sole cause of everything that goes through entropy, because this is of a universal nature. We cannot fundamentally explain the cosmic unfolding of Tao, as this is beyond human comprehension. But it would appear that whatever the intelligence of the Tao is, it knows exactly when an organism has exhausted itself and what process of transformation it should go through, like the transformation from a caterpillar into a butterfly, for example. We can never categorically know why such a transformation occurs, although it does happen in the same way that we go through our own sort of transformation at death. But we cannot comprehend what is behind that mysterious door.

ENTROPY AND DEATH? OR DEATH AND TRANSFORMATION?

Though we know that entropy and transformation are a reality, what does this mean for the human race? From our current position, we would like to think that we are outside of both entropy and transformation. But the reality is that we are blind to what this experience may be like for us in much the same way that we cannot fathom what it is like for other life forms.

The way the world is now, with all of its suffering—could this be how entropy presents itself to human life? Are famine, poverty, greed, cultural hypnosis, and wars the physical and mental advent of entropy? We all feel this suffering, and our instincts are informing us that we are undergoing some sort of process of change. But in many people the “fight or flight” tendency keeps them in fear that the beautiful human race has now begun its descending course. Though this may be the common perception of our current situation, the Way of the Tao moves in a manner that is beyond the intellectual notion of good or bad. If we could step back from such dualistic perspectives, we would discover that the human species is an astonishingly complex system, and we can determine whether it is in our best interest to move on and exist in another direction.

Our fate is the choice we make right now. And our choice becomes clear when we can step out of the analytic detail of life and discover a holistic perception of the human kingdom. From this perspective, it would be absurd to assume that the human race is going through any form of physical annihilation; rather we evolved on this planet in order to transform into something of which we cannot yet conceive. The many civilizations we have produced on Earth are nothing short of breathtaking, especially when we consider that everything we have created on Earth is driven from within the primordial place that we call Tao. Nevertheless, these cosmic vibrations continue to flow through our psyche as spontaneous thoughts that inspire the canvas of life. This cosmic flow of Tao through the human mind is increasing exponentially in the modern era, because we are undergoing the death and transformation of a different kind.

The inspiration of li, which harmonizes with the world through many individuals, comes when a monumental choice has to be made. A common trait among all organisms is that when a species is on the precipice of extinction they are somehow compelled to adapt and evolve. The human race has been residing on the precipice of extinction for quite some time, and now it is our turn to go through a death and transformation. According to many ancient cultures, we have been going through this process for thousands of years, but it is only now that we can understand that it is the inner world of the individual that drives either decay or transformation.

The choice to do sincere self-work and contribute to the great work of eternity is the small change that will transform the whole world piece by piece. We can avoid the decay of our species if we become aware on the physical, mental, and spiritual planes of consciousness. Our transformation does come at a cost, because there does have to be a death, but death does not always take the form of physical decay. Being the complex organisms that we are, death for us is different than it is for other species. The death that we are going through is taking place within the inner landscape of the individual.

In order for both the individual and the collective to transform, we need the parameters of the unnatural world to either change or die. Everything that has brought suffering to us is due to the fact that we believe in the illusion of a linear world, where we can control life to suit our own temperaments. The disharmonic aspects of suffering—famine, poverty, greed, cultural hypnosis, wars, and all forms of conditioning—can all be alleviated if we undergo the death of the linear world and come back into natural harmony. The way of the natural world is the only possible way by which any form of evolution can take place.

As I have mentioned, the natural world is a mysterious expression of a nonlinear spontaneity coming from the depths of the unknowable Tao. The unnatural world is a mental construct built on control, while the natural world is something that grows of itself. Identification with the external world alone causes the majority of humanity to project their insecurities onto the social fabric in a vain attempt to avoid responsibility for their own fears.

Our intellect discerns between pleasurable experiences and those that are viewed as unpleasant from past experience. In this fear of past experience, we discard the very thing we should embrace. When we do not embrace our fears and become responsible, these ignored emotions and feelings become tyrannical and dictatorial. The failure to look within ourselves has made for us a relationship with the world that is rigid and one-dimensional.

The institutions of our society and culture are of the same disposition as the psyche from which they arose: they are based on security and the fear of control. When we perceive only the world of forms, we wrongly assume that this world is built upon a step-by-step process with a linear structure. This is the masculine aspect of perception, which is born in the logic of the left brain. Existing and thinking in such a way leads to an unnatural concept of reality. A good example of this is how many religions erroneously believe that God is an entity bound to the human limitations of form, time, and space.

We are constantly attempting to translate our experience of reality through linear methods. But if nature is nonlinear, how could we interpret it through a linear process? This unnatural perspective on life must be exposed, both within and without, for us to grow.

CHAOS OF THE LINEAR WORLD

The unnatural world is usually thought of in the superficial sense of man-made structures versus naturally growing organisms. Yet as we have established, nature is the spontaneous receptivity of the nonlinear world as opposed to the control and planning of the linear world. When we inquire into our own lives, we discover that when we try to control or plan our experience, we invariably encounter heightened feelings of anxiety and stress. This occurs because we have overstrained our system in order to try and force the issue, whatever it may be. All of this leads to unbalanced individuals whose vital force is continually spent in trying to appease their own intellectual and social conditioning. The result is constant frustration in our lives.

In giving away our individual responsibility, we have created linear-based institutions and organizations. They are built on the premise that evolution is a straight-ahead, time-bound concept, a view that keeps humanity in a state of hypnotic servitude. Government, politics, banking, religion, and the commercial sector are all constructed on linear rules, regulations, and laws, which make all of them part of an artificial, unnatural system, centered on force, control, and the illusion of lasting success (though the spiritual core of some religions, especially Eastern religions, is based on individual liberation). These institutions are not part of nature because they are designed to control humanity, which in the end makes us feel that we do not belong.

The present-day chaos is fueled by governments, politics, banking, religions, and commerce, because these organizations embed an unnatural way of being and thinking into our psyches. As a result, a fight for control, both individually and collectively, has begun in earnest. For example, these institutions demonize death, as if death is an inherently bad thing that one should ignore and somehow avoid. This linear concept develops a fear of death that allows us to be ruled by society and culture. This is the art of government, which preys on our acquiescence. When we succumb to such systems, we shed our humanity for sheep’s clothing.

HARMONY OF NONCONFORMITY

In a linear world, the external order dictates an artificial way of life to the individual, creating a conformist society and forcing us to relinquish our power to a machine that is unnatural and devoid of life. This passive conformity can be traced back to the origins of the Vedic Hindu caste system and the feudal system under medieval Western Christianity. When a settled agrarian culture such as these is born, it tends to build towns, not only to protect people from outside influences, but also to develop a mental framework based on rules and regulations.

The complexity of agrarian culture leads to a division of labor and a division of function. From this division, the ancient Hindus (the Vedic civilization of Dravidians and Aryans) developed a caste system. The Hindu caste system is made up of the Brahmins (priesthood), Kshatriyas (nobility), Vaishyas (merchants and farmers), and the Shudras (laborers). A direct parallel to the Hindu caste system can be found in medieval Christian society, where we see the priesthood and the church, feudal lords and nobility, farmers and merchants of the commons, and the serfs.

Although we no longer have a caste system, this underlying pattern is still with us today. When we are born into this world, we come out of our mother’s womb (nature) and are taught to submit to the rules of society and culture according to our socioeconomic status. This is the crucifixion of the individual; it is the sacrifice we all make. According to the tyranny of the machine, this crucifixion is for the “common good” or “greater good.” But there is a stark difference between the Hindu and Christian societies of ancient times.

First of all, the function of the Vedic caste system was an act of surrender to Brahman (ultimate reality/godhead). Individuals would crucify their egos and their desires in favor of the lives they had been given by nature. This means they would not seek another path or to try and control their lives according to their interests. Instead they would abide by the order of society, which helped them diminish their egos so that they could feel the presence of Brahman within themselves. This is dharma as social duty. The second difference is that, once Hindus have fulfilled their social duties in this life, they are allowed to break away from caste and become renunciate sages in the forest, a practice and title known as vanaprastha in Sanskrit. (This possibility is loathed by Christian society, because one is thought of as useless if one does not contribute to the social order.) This breakaway from caste is viewed as a return back to nature and could be thought of as a resurrection. A sage is not part of society and does not conform to its rule. Jesus was a sage in this mold. This is why he was not thought of as a particularly good member of society and he was actually put to death (if we take the story of Jesus to be real). Those who submit invariably lose their natural innocence. Conformity is the result of force. When individuals are forced by society and culture into life situations that are against their will, they give away their natural sovereignty in exchange for comfort and servitude and are psychologically reduced to sheep. We have developed this sheeplike behavior as a result of the belief that the morals and ethics forced upon us by society are avenues to success and freedom. But this notion is absurd inasmuch as the success and freedom of our world are unnatural. These goals are gauged only by finances. But obviously this is not true success or freedom, as money is empty and void of meaning, and it provides no happiness other than that of acquisition. Happiness cannot be contained in anything that we need to force to happen.

As human life is forced into a sheeplike way of being, happiness is reduced to momentary stimulants of excitement. In such a life we can never express our natural divinity, li, because we are following the model of someone else’s idea of life. Yet conforming to anything other than one’s own innate world destroys us physically, mentally, and spiritually, as te, the virtue of Tao, cannot come through the organic pattern of the individual, li. Anxiety, depression, and stress are so prevalent in this day and age partly because we are forced to live such lives. Wars and social unrest then reflect the individual’s anxiety.

Liberated individuals are in alignment with their own nature and with the Tao. They do not benefit the accepted social order and are regarded as useless in the eyes of institutional and organizational power. Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu were treated this way, because they could see the unnaturalness of an artificial society. The Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth were two other such sages who could see through the hypnotic veil. A liberated sage understands that anyone who continues to act out the unnatural patterns of conditioning is contributing to chaos and destruction, either consciously or unconsciously. One who is liberated, on the other hand, begins the yoking process until a crystal-clear perception of the Tao in reality can be experienced. In Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching, he states:

Not every man has an obligation to mingle in the affairs of the world. There are some who are developed to such a degree that they are justified in letting the world go its own way and in refusing to enter public life with a view of reforming it. But this does not imply a right to remain idle or to sit back and merely criticize. Such withdrawal is justified only when we strive to realize in ourselves the higher aims of mankind. For although the sage remains distant from the turmoil of daily life, he creates incomparable human values for the future.²

Evidence for these “incomparable human values” can be found in the legacy that a sage leaves behind. Lao-tzu is a good example. It has been over 2,500 years since he lived, and yet his wisdom still reverberates within our consciousness today. This is the power of te.

As I have mentioned, the virtue of te is only available to those who do not seek power, control, or force. Governments, politics, banking, religions, and commerce, on the other hand, are constantly striving for control by forcing the population to their will. This poses a significant hurdle for humanity to overcome. What would it take to bring the individual and the collective back into harmony with the Tao? How can the natural course of the Tao grow unfettered from these parasitic patterns?