Life in Arcos

Below is the English transcript of a philosophical talk given by a good friend of ours, José. It took place on the roof terrace here at Casa Campana a few weeks ago. We invited some friends and acquaintances over for the evening and here’s what José had to say…

The motive for this talk is to look into the ‘something’ which exists inside of us. There is a change happening to all of us. The change is an awakening. If this were not the case it’s very likely that we wouldn’t be here.

You may be asking yourself: is this talk related to a religion? Frankly, no. With a sect? Much less! This has nothing to do with religions or sects. The truth is that the four of us [my three friends and I] coincide in certain aspects which we feel are important to share. Why? Because we feel there is a movement towards a new awakening of consciousness which is happening within us. Sometimes you will feel this more clearly, and sometimes in a more complicated form.

The theme of this presentation is: Who am I? What am I? The truth is that these are good questions. When someone asks: “Who are you?,” who do you think you are? The usual reply starts with the job description – clinical psychologist, architect, a roofer, a shoemaker… No, that’s not who you are. What are you? Who are you? I am John Smith. No. That’s your name. That’s the name your parents have given you. We are not our names either.

Really, who are you? The person who gets mixed up by the question, begins by responding with their personal story. The personal story includes successes, failures, emotions, infancy, events, projects, dreams, what happened, how their family was. No, look. You are not that either. You are nothing to do with that. What are you?

In the end what’s left are philosophical or religious concepts, or spiritual ones. It seems you are a soul, or something of that kind.

What is your experience of who you are?

The fact is that the kind of person we are talking about doesn’t know who he or she is, nor knows the reason for existence. He or she confuses what they are with their personal story, and confuses what they are in themselves – their dreams, ideals, development, thoughts, above all, thoughts.

You will say to me: So, what are we? We will, during the course of this presentation try to define and explain, without going into too many details, what it is that we are. But also, when we ask what we are, the question arises: What is reality? Do we think we are living in a reality that is a collective hypnosis? Do you think that the reality in which we live is the authentic reality? Or is it an expression of our senses?

The reality that we perceive is from our interior via the five senses. But if we, instead of being a human, were a bee for example (another living being), our perception of reality would vary. The bee captures the vibration of ultraviolet colours. That’s the reality of a bee. Other species capture infrared rays, while bats use ultrasound – another way of perceiving reality. And if you have studied some classical philosophy you’ll have heard of the Cave Myth by Plato

And so the truth is that our reality is distorted by our senses, captured and assimilated by our senses and experienced from the point of view of the observer. It’s the observer who captures, manifests, develops and understands a reality - and he displays it as authentic. Let’s think about this for a moment. Our bodies as we perceive them are physical bodies, right? They are made of material of some kind, and they are three dimensional. This briefcase [presenter points to briefcase] seems real, doesn’t it?

Any object, according to physics, is made up of molecules. Molecules are made up of atoms. There is a current development in quantum physics which is well worth looking at. I’m not going to go on about quantum physics but it is relevant here. So, I was saying that material is made up of molecules and molecules are made up of atoms.

In the old days we were told, or the books of Hermes told us: As above, so below – just as we see planetary systems in which there is a central sun and a series of planets revolving in different orbits around it, it seems that the most intimate of material has a similar structure, at least for the traditional physical/mechanical. These atoms have a nucleus which, it seems, is made up of subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, neutrinos, bosons, photons etc. and electrons revolve around different orbits. They have negative electrical charges.

Anyway, let’s suppose that the nucleus of an atom was the size of a football. The electrons would revolve at levels a long way from this nucleus. If the nucleus of this atom were approximately of this size [demonstrates size of a football] the electrons would revolve at a distance of approximately 36 kilometres.

What is there between the nucleus of an atom and the orbit in which the electrons move? Emptiness. There is emptiness. Material is formed of emptiness. This briefcase [points to briefcase] is emptiness. Each one of us is made up of emptiness. If we were able to perceive the atomic reality, according to quantum physics, we would see webs of energy with fields and flows moving around. This is what’s known as quantum – packets of energy and information. Such a network appears to be the authentic reality, but if we go even further than that we see that 99.9% of material is made up of emptiness. Each one of us is emptiness, but that emptiness is loaded with energy, with potential.

Let’s look at another field, in this case Philosophy and Mysticism, to see if they can explain to us what reality consists of. Buddhism and other philosophies of a spiritual nature tell us that the only thing which is real is that which remains.

“That which remains”. It’s curious. This briefcase [points to briefcase] - how long will it last? 100 years? 200 years? It seems quite old. Sooner or later it will disappear. If it disappears, according to these philosophies, it is not real. As for us, our physical bodies disappear, so our bodies are not real. Consequently, all that is born, perishes. I remember the case of a doctor who used to define life as a mortal illness of sexual transmission! (laughter) That definition really struck a chord with me. So, what I want to say is that everything that has a beginning also has an end. All that’s physical has a beginning, and if it has a beginning it perishes, so it doesn’t remain and, consequently, it’s not real.

Our character is formed by our education, experience, circumstances we have lived through etc. But as it has been created in time it’s not real either because sooner or later it also disappears. We learn that, aside from our physical bodies, we have an etheric body and an astral/energetic body. They are also born and they also disappear – so they are not real. A thought is really quite curious – where does it originate from, where does it spring from? Well, it comes from the electrical variations of the chemical links of the neurones, but even so the way in which thoughts occur is quite mysterious. Before the said thought was formed, there was nothing. In other words, it’s not real either.

You will say to me: for this guy dressed in black there is nothing real! Indeed, that which is real is that which remains. Does the Solar System remain? No. The Earth, humans… the truth is that nothing remains (forever). According to philosophy in the Buddhist or spiritual mould, nothing is permanent, nothing which surrounds us is real. You will ask me if I’m a Buddhist. No, but like anyone I take what appeals to me, be it from Buddhism, Analytical Psychology, Quantum Physics, Classical Philosophy etc. One analyses, one investigates – because we are here and we have a ‘something’ to do. If we intend to awaken our consciousness, the consciousness of humanity, which I assure you is starting to awaken because this is the next evolutionary step, we have to investigate it, to develop it. As human beings, we were once hunter gatherers. Later there developed a social and intelligent era in which different abilities emerged, different capabilities. However, that process of human evolution has reached its end point. Now there is no greater physical or cerebral development. The next step is one of consciousness, its evolution and its awakening.

All this which we have commented on refers to different aspects of a human being.

Let’s continue. Our lives, how do they unravel themselves on a daily basis? Well, they unravel themselves, practically, in a mental process. We talk of an awakening of consciousness. That is to feel the ‘Here and Now’, the Hic et Nunc to borrow the Latin phrase. How do we feel right now? In this get together today there is a flow of words which go from my person to each one of you. The words are not important, but rather the different reactions they provoke within you, within each of us.

What does ‘to be awake’ mean? To be awake means to be Here and Now, in this moment. Are we here and now conscious in this place? Or are we thinking of what we need to be doing in an hour’s time? I am going to have to go … I am getting tired … I have things to do. These are thoughts which usually come to us which make us lose the ‘now’: I met so and so; my son said such and such to me; my back hurts; what is it I need to be doing tomorrow?

To be here means to be conscious. Each one of us moves to the rhythm of our thoughts. Our thoughts dominate our life. One thought arises now and another afterwards. I don’t know if you have experienced what it’s like to have the mind empty. Has one of you managed to leave the mind empty? It’s not easy. Today I am going to give you a gift. Before you leave out of that door you will have managed to have your mind empty for at least five seconds. That’s an achievement – I know from experience.

You will ask me: so what is my life, how does it move if everything is a sequence of thoughts? That’s it, everything is our personal history, we don’t live the present. Well, I’m referring to the people outside of here – laughter – you are different. I’m referring to those outside as ‘normal’ humans. They don’t live in the present, rather they live the remembered or yearned for past, or they even live the future: What will I do?

There’s always something we lack: “I would be happy if I had such and such”; “I would be happy if that woman loved me”; “I would be happy if I had children”; “I would be happy if I won the lottery, twice” – yes, because if we won the lottery just once, well… (laughter). “I would be happy if I were married to a different person” When will I be happy? Generally I think “I will be happy in the future” … “I will be happy if that particular situation arises”. And that situation might arise, or it might not. If it does occur then rest assured something else will be lacking in order to make you happy. “This woman loves me now, but she’s not the person I thought she was.” This theme would suit another presentation: “Anima and Animus” – and we’re not going down that road now. Anyway, all of this makes us lose that living of the present in our daily lives.

There is a ‘place’, a location where what we really are is situated. That place I will tell you about later.

To live in the present moment consists of awakening, in making ourselves conscious of where we are. We are here in this place, we hear the birds, we sense the smell of the flowers, of the incense … I note how life flows in me. I am here and now, without projecting myself into the future, without taking myself back into the past. I am in this moment - if not this moment then when? And if not in this place, then where? But some thought always arises which distracts us from this present, and if it’s not a thought it’s feelings, and if it’s not feelings it’s emotions or physical sensations.

In some Zen Buddhist temples, the monks spend years and years waiting to understand the significance of Zen. I am no Zen monk, nor a practitioner of Zen, yet today you will know the meaning of Zen. It’s quite a bit simpler than you might think.

Let’s return once again to the present. Our mind unravels itself between the structures of the past and those of the future. However, I only am here and now. When that appreciation arrives in what we know as the Awakening, everything that surrounds us changes. It’s a substantial change, and we cease to be what we were. All those mental structures, thoughts and ideas, disappear, because we are in the emptiness of the present. That present is the only thing we have.

As a little aside, we see that Norse Mythology speaks of the Three Norns : one for the Future, one for the Present and one for the Past. Similar to the Greek ‘Parcas’ . The Norn of the Past was Urd, that of the Future was Skuld (if we change the “d” for an “l” we get ‘Skull’; what awaits the human being in the future if not Death?) The Norn of the Present, a beautiful young woman, intelligent and, typically Nordic, blonde, was called Verdandi. I see a good archetype of the present in her. We will not go into detail here about these myths because they are not the central theme.

Thoughts and forms make up the mental structure of each one of us. Do you want to know Who am I? What each one of us is? I am…

(pause for five seconds)

Well, there are the five seconds I promised you, during which you will have allowed your minds to be empty! (laughter)

And what does this mean? Stillness and interior space. The monks used to ask the Zen Master, “What is the key to Zen?” The answer: stillness and interior space. An interior space full of activity, a space in which the new consciousness will manifest itself. Let’s not understand the consciousness as an intellectual concept, but rather as an interior space in which I Am. It’s where all marvels, miracles, truth and magic can occur. Once we begin to have those moments of awakening, the reality which surrounds us changes.

Humans fear death. In reality, we are dying and being reborn constantly. Our liver regenerates in very little time, even the bones do so over time, and skin cells – in a few years our body completely changes. This briefcase which we have here is the same as it was a few years ago, but I am not. Today I am speaking to you as a person in 2008, but within five years the body is completely regenerated, so I will be a different person.

They tell us that energy does not disappear, but it transforms itself. Material which, in a certain sense, is made up of energy, transforms itself. A quantum physicist told me that each one of us assimilates atoms that once pertained to Napoleon, for example, or Jesus Christ. We are made of the same dust as the stars, we are divine.

Let’s be centred in each one of our selves.

Know that you are Stillness and Interior Space loaded with possibilities - the only thing needed is to Awaken. Don’t allow your thoughts, emotions or projects cater to your every whim. And with that I am not saying that the process of thought is bad. If we need to take an exam, for instance, we use our thought and our mind. Once the exam is finished we don’t need it any more – live the present. We are scared, so we think: if I get rid of my thoughts and my mind, how do I interpret what there is? Do not be concerned, that emptiness, for want of a better word, is complete, full of consciousness which will manifest itself in many forms of intuitive knowledge which will make your life a marvel, full of synchronicities and signals, which you will have to interpret, but always using your Interior Stillness.