Let Us Now Come Out of Planetary Denial

Paul Erlich is an enormously influential and respected scientist and a noted Stanford professor. He wrote The Population Bomb in 1983, when the earth was inhabited by 4.7 billion people. Today there are 7.2 billion, a 65% rise in just 32 years. It’s hard to say he was wrong.

This video was cut a few days ago when he and his colleagues published their latest findings on the state of the planet. Take two and half minutes to listen to him. And then, regardless of whatever else you do, actively begin to notice the sense of being.

If you’re not drawn to meditation, then begin to notice right here, right now, that you can always truthfully state, “I Am.” Notice the feeling that arises when you pause to do that, and stay with that feeling as long as you can. If you are drawn to meditation here are two links to two different meditative twists on that simple practice.

If the planet shrugs most of the flora and fauna off of it for a sixth time, from an absolutist point of view it won’t “matter”. There’s nothing here anyway, nothing is happening, nothing has ever happened. I’m keenly aware of all of that. But I have no interest in a philosophy that tries to deny or nullify experience.

I, Oneness, am experience-ing itself. I don’t mean I’m doing it, I mean I’m it!  I am not a noun; I am a verb. Yes, it’s Maya, illusion, mere appearance. I, Oneness, know all about that aspect of Myself. But are we to deny the experience of apparent relativity? Do we think this experiencing is a problem instead of an opportunity? It is the make-believe opportunity to overcome a make-believe problem, and isn’t it a blast? I don’t care how much I’ve suffered; I’m not suffering NOW.

I, Oneness, had to knock Myself in the head with a hammer in order to notice how good it felt when I quit. So be it. It was worth it, because This, whatever the heck This is, is a party worth attending, and worth attending to. It counts.

In the absence of a universe, I still exist. I can’t not exist. I am Existence. I can not show up as Noneness, or I can show up as Oneness; there’s no intrinsic difference between the two, and thus no genuine difference in value. One side is the Void and the other side is the World. The Void is peaceful, and the World is juicy. Juicy is good.

I, Fredness-Oneness, appear to exist, to love my wife, to water roses, to feed birds, and to play with my apparent animal companions. What a hoot!

Simultaneously, I, Oneness-Fredness have come to consciously know My True Nature via this apparent human unit on this apparent blue ball in an apparent universe. What a hoot!

Maya counts. How I, Fredness-Oneness live my life counts. How I, Fredness-Oneness treat others counts. How skillful Fredness-Oneness is, and what kind of footprint it leaves on the planet counts.

But of course nothing truly matters. This is the deep beauty of living in and as nondual Truth: everything counts, but nothing matters. It’s all party and no cleanup.

Do something nice for Yourself today,Oneness-youness. And while You’re at it, notice that You Are. It’s the biggest single favor You’ll ever do for Yourself.

The Sense of Being Meditation

Falling Into the Sense of Being