A skunk is eating the cat food in our backyard...(Part 2 of 4)

(Continued from the previous post...)

The following is the continuation of a four page essay written by my oldest son just a few nights ago. I am sharing it with my readers since it is a rare opportunity to look into his thought process and abilities. If you want to make any sense whatsoever of the main idea behind this essay, it would be a really good idea to start reading it from the post that is identified as Part 1 of 4, before continuing to read below. Otherwise, enjoy and please feel free to send me any comments.

The Supercomputer and the Equation of the Universe
(page 2)

One easy way to try to symbolize consciousness is that of an operating system. If the brain is the computer, then your consciousness is the desktop, and your perception's programs. Since the body is programmed to survive as best it can, most of your brains priorities lie there. Many parts of the observable universe go unseen, as it isn't necessary for the brain's primary objective. Hallucinogenic substances temporarily divert the brains attention from survival to attune its focus into higher levels of consciousness; the dullness we naturally perceive in comparison is merely a filter set in place to avoid the distraction it views unnecessary. When we are young we aren't conditioned enough to have developed these filters yet, which is why during these times everything is so much more vibrant and interesting, and therefore much more influential.

This influence is from where we develop personality and diversity, every event as a child causes incredible amounts of adaptation; a child learns and adapts to the personalities of those around him and the actions that he might need to attain positive emotion at the time will stick with him for the duration of his life. As we grow older these intense emotions lesson, and survival starts to kick in more and more. This is true of all animals, however humans have adapted much faster than the rest, and survival is no longer something that takes all our time and energy. This is where intelligence comes from. Being able to go to the store and buy dinner to survive allows us to focus our attention on levels higher than just mere survival. The farther away we get from the base root of the need to survive, and the more we evolve as a species and make it easier to fulfill the basic urges, the closer our consciousness gets to the all knowing universal mindset of the supercomputer. All logical knowledge adds to this and gives us greater understanding of the Universe at large.

One of the oldest visualizations of this rise of consciousness is that of the Hindu's chakras, which is also reminiscent of the Aztec's Tree of Life. At the base and roots is what keeps us grounded, survival and vitality, the need to eat, sleep and procreate. It is necessary for all life to carry on, and rooted so deeply into our subconscious it comes completely naturally. It is associated with the legs and pelvic area of the human body, and the chakras Muladhara and Suadhisthana. Survival motivates the actions of humans, animals, plant systems, and even whole societies, and through transition the whole universe runs on it. It is what keeps everything sustained enough to reach higher up the tree.

At the trunk are the will and emotions that run our personal and social interactions; the basic emotions of love and fear that motivate our actions and represent our own individuality. The chakras Manipura and Anabata are represented by the navel and heart, which is known as the "astral bridge" the point where the purely physical and earthly progress to greater levels of knowledge and understanding outside the strictly necessary realm. It rises to the branches, symbols equivalent to the entropy occurring here, where the basic emotions take more detail and unique trails. All the branches of knowledge are mathematically intertwined, each bringing progress to the others while they extend. Artistic appreciation of the senses develop, previously unnecessary complex forms of communication from one enlightened individual to another assist in the growth of the mind. Visuddha of the throat is how societies evolve, each part of its whole helping feed the others into greater insight.

(To be continued on the next post...)

What do you see in the context of this essay? Is this an elaborate way of projecting and seeking a justification to attain a higher level of knowledge an enlightenment via the use of hallucinogenic substances, or could it simply be that this is truly how his mind fuels his ego via a complex array of ideas gained by the research he has conducted himself and that of the writers of this genre of literature? I am no different than you are as a reader suddenly being bombarded by subject matter that is above not just my interest, but also outside of my lifetime experiences. What I am trying to say to you is that I feel lost, out of touch with his reality. Because this is my child I have taken the time to read the complete four pages of his essay more than five times so far in search of a hidden message. I consider myself to be relatively intelligent, so in all honesty I will not plead total ignorance to his choice of words and subject. Yet I find myself in the middle of an unquestionable dilemma which drives me to keep searching for the true meaning of it all. This controversy of sorts is no more basic than my doubts with regard to the normalcy of his point of view, or worse, his belief system. In the past, when I was much younger, I found myself ignorantly contradicting the opposition and defending my own beliefs from friends that I currently will concede to have been much more knowledgeable than I was at the time. So yes, I have been wrong before several times, and now that time has past and I have matured I suddenly find myself wishing I could go back and learn from these friends that at the time were much smarter than me. For this same reason I do not dismiss my son's apparent advanced way of thinking, but at the same time I am not fully convinced that the mental process that he has been gifted with is necessarily, for lack of a better word, normal. I have learned through life experiences that any ideas that gravitate your lifestyle towards either extreme of right or left are typically not healthy and mostly ego centered. This is why I try very hard to stay as centered as possible. Not because I am undecided, but mostly because I am not so self-centered to believe that I am always right. Regardless of my opinion, you must admit that I hold in my hands, even though much like water between my fingers, the essence of a child that needs to be made into a man. I can only imagine what kind of beautiful mind is behind the mask that his teenage demeanor might be hiding. If you are patient enough and willing, keep reading the next two posts and I promise you will find between it all something you yourself can use to understand your own children.

Dad