Contrary Wisdom

What is the difference between that which “Exists” and what we define as ”Real”?  Lets look at the definitions of these two words first. 

Exists is defined as:  “be, being (have an existence, be extant)”.
Real is defined as:  “being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory”.

From this starting point, our initial view would seem to indicate that they are similar in meaning. But upon closer inspection, we find that the essential quality of what is Real  is “in fact or actuality; having verified existence”. It is this factual or verifiable existance that sets the wheel of Contrary Wisdom in motion. Only one of them fits the criteria as true when defined by:

Contrary: a proposition so related to another that though both may be false
   they cannot both be true;  i.e. “knowledge and wisdom” are contrary terms.

Existence and Reality are contrary terms. 

That which exists cannot be defined or verified other than through ones individual experience. Therefore that which would be defined as real, i.e. reality, with its essence based in existence is not.

It is easy enough to find examples that show the relationship between existence and reality and how they are contrary to each other. 

• We know that we exist, yet science tells us that the reality of the physical form is made up of 99.99% empty space.  All of what we think of as real, be it a tree, our planet, even the universe, is 99.99% empty space.
• A tree exists, we can experience it with all of our senses, yet it is impossible to define it. What is it that makes it a tree?  How do you define the essence of a tree, especially to someone who has not experienced it before? Is the tree real, does it have reality? It  is this very question that spins most minds into a endless vortex of circular reasoning.  If you can verify its existence, its real, otherwise, its not real.
• Everything we see around us, real or not real? Are we even seeing it? Sight itself is limited to reflection.  What we see are the reflected colors of objects, and not its true colors.  A blade of grass may look green, but that is only a reflection, the grass blade is absorbing the other spectrum colors and reflecting the green light wave that it doesn’t absorb.  The true color of grass is closer to red.  We can’t even verify an objects color, much less its reality.
• Most everyone has heard of the term Photo-shopped, where a digital image is manipulated and retouched to create a new reality.  An example would be a photo of two people sitting next to each other. They both took a photo of the other, and through the magic of computers, created a combined photo that pictured them seated together. The picture exists, but it is not real.

These are just four examples, there are many more, and are easy enough to find now that you know how to look for them. Some schools of Buddhism hold that reality is something void of description, the formless which forms all illusions or maya. Buddhists hold that we can only discuss objects which are not reality itself and that nothing can be said of reality which is true in any absolute sense. Discussions of a permanent self are necessarily about the reality of self which cannot be pointed to nor described in any way. Similar is the Taoist saying, that the Tao that can be named is not the true Tao, or way.

The only thing  we can state is that we exist, but the statement itself is not real.

Wise men have said that you are the center of the universe, in sanskrit “Sat Chit Ananda”.  That everything around you is moving, a dance of light and shadows.  A play at reality but not real.  That we are all walking a path that is not a path. How does one begin to comprehend these statements?  It is a paradox of contradictions, wrapped in circular logic that defies what we think is real.   

Picture this, while driving down the road or highway, have you ever felt as if instead of the car moving past the scenery,  it was the scenery moving past the car.  It was as if the car was stationary with a moving background.  Now take the next logical step, the awareness that is you is stationary, everything else is in movement around that awareness.

Even your physical body is in constant motion, rebuilding and renewing itself completely every seven years.  Our bodies are streaming and sharing molecules and electrons with our environment in a never ending dance.  It is a dance that most are unaware of, but is the underlying realty.  All is in motion, except the awareness, the “I am” that you truly are.

The “I am” awareness that is your true reality has never moved. It is the paradoxical center, which can only be defined by what it is not, not this, not that, “neti neti”.  Not only can it not be defined, it cannot be found.  There is an old buddhist saying, “Looked for, it cannot be seen; Listened for, it cannot be heard; felt, it cannot be touched.”

Dr. Suess, a truely wise man, would have written it this way, or maybe he did: “It’s not here, it’s not there, it’s not any, anywhere.  High or low, near or far, it can’t be found, wherever you are.”  The path that is not a path reveals the simple truth of who we really are.  

If I have thoroughly confused you, get used to it.  The deeper we get into this, the more you will begin to not understand, which is the beginning of “The Path that is not a Path“.

I have been asked by readers to list the quotes presented on the sidebar on this site, so here it is:

“Those that know do not speak; those that speak do not know.”

 Tao Te Ching


“Anyone who flows as life flows, has solved the enigma of human existence.”

by Lao Tzu


“A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.”

by Albert Einstein


“If the moon, in the act of completing its eternal way around the earth, were gifted with self-consciousness, it would feel thoroughly convinced that it was traveling its way of its own accord on the strength of a resolution taken once and for all. So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, smile about man's illusion that he was acting according to his own free will.”

by Albert Einstein


“There is no greater mystery than the following: Ourselves being the Reality, we seek to gain reality. We think there is something hiding our Reality, and that it must be destroyed before the Reality is gained. That is ridiculous. A day will dawn when you will yourself laugh at your past efforts. That which will be on the day you laugh is also here and now.”

by Ramana Maharshi


“Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. ”

by Ramana Maharshi


“The Buddha asked, "What do you think, Subhuti? Is there any dharma that the Buddha teaches?"
Subhuti replied, "The Buddha has nothing to teach, World-Honored One.”

 Diamond Sutra


“As long as there is a 'you' doing or not-doing anything, thinking or not-thinking, 'meditating' or 'not-meditating', you are no nearer home than the day you were 'born'.

However many years you may have been at it, and whatever you have understood or have not-understood, you have not yet started if there is a 'you' that is still in the saddle.

As long as you do anything as from a 'you', you are in 'bondage'.

The difference is between what you are and what you think you are but are not, 'bondage' being identification of the former with the latter.”

by Wei Wu Wei


“...If you set out in quest of words and sentences, cudgeling your brains with their logical meanings, working over a thousand possibilities and ten thousand subtle distinctions, and creating endless questions and debates, all you will gain is a glib tongue, while all the time getting farther and farther away from Tao, with no rest for your wandering.”

by Chan master Yun-men (d. 949 AD)


“Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.”

by Seng Ts'an


“All this Zen stuff is nonsense," said the skeptic.

"You are perfectly correct," responded the master. "But this is a teaching I normally reserve only for my most advanced students.”

 Zen Quotes


“People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I do not think that is what we're really seeking. I think that what we are seeking is an experience of being alive.”

by Joseph Campbell


“Life is what happens to you while
you're busy making other plans.”

by John Lennon


“The wise man chooses the path of joy;
the fool takes the path of pleasure.”

 Upanishads


“I am the master of so many things, that I practically know nothing at all.”

by unknown
 China


“As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.”

by Shunryu Suzuki


“No yesterday, no tomorrow, and no today.”

by Seng-ts'an


“When you get there, there isn't any there there.”

by Gertrude Stein


“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

by Abraham Lincoln


“Mind is consciousness, which has limitations. We are orginally unlimited and perfect. Later on we take on limitations and become the mind.”

by Ramana Maharshi


“Realization is to get rid of the delusion that you have not realized.”

by Ramana Maharshi


“You can never find mind through the mind. Go beyond it, and find it non-existent.”

by Ramana Maharshi


“All actions, past, present and future, become extinct in the case of a liberated one, because his sense of being the doer is gone; it was lost along with the ego, who alone was the doer.”

by Ramana Maharshi


“Nothing is done by me, everything just happens. I do not expect, I do not plan, I just watch events happening, knowing them to be unreal.”

by Nisargadatta Maharaj
 I Am That


“The very notion of doership, of being a cause, is bondage.”

by Nisargadatta Maharaj
 I Am That


“Once my Guru told me: 'You are the Supreme Reality', I ceased having visions and trances and became very quiet and simple. I found myself desiring and knowing less and less, until I could say in utter astonishment: 'I know nothing, I want nothing.”

by Nisargadatta Maharaj
 I Am That


“There are no steps to self-realisation. There is nothing gradual about it. It happens suddenly and is irreversible....Just like on sunrise you see things as they are, so on self-realisation you see everything as it is. The world of illusions is left behind.”

by Nisargadatta Maharaj
 I Am That


“The world and the mind are states of being. The supreme is not a state. It pervades all states, but it is not a state of something else. It is entirely uncaused, independent, complete in itself, beyond time and space, mind and matter. ........There is nothing to recognise it by. It must be seen directly, by giving up all search for signs and approaches. When all names and forms have been given up, the real is with you. You need not seek it. Plurality and diversity are the play of the mind only. Reality is one.”

by Nisargadatta Maharaj
 I Am That


“To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to understand all things.”

 Zen Quotes


“A student once asked his teacher,

"Master, what is enlightenment?"

The master replied,

"When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep.”

 Zen Quotes


“College isn't the place to go for ideas.”

by Helen Keller


“People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.”

by Helen Keller


“Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.”

by Mark Twain


“Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.”

by Dogen


“Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.”

by Dogen


“When you find the way others will find you.
Passing by on the road they will be drawn to your door.
The way that cannot be heard will be echoed in your voice.
The way that cannot be seen will be reflected in your eyes.”

by Lao Tzu


“Looking ahead the way is long,
Looking back it is short.
If you don't go within, you go without.
The beauty of the Way is that there is no Way.”

by Lao Tzu


“The supreme experience is staggering, enrapturing, blissful, and inspiring, but at the same time inexplicable and ungraspable by the intellect. The experience is supremely illuminating because it reveals the grandeur, sublimity and the eternal nature of the soul, but beyond that -- what? All that is beyond lies out of the reach of the intellect, and hence cannot be translated into any language devised by the mind.
”

by Gopi Krishna


“Heaven is in everything:
follow the light,
hide in the cloudiness and begin in what is.
Do this and your understanding will be like not understanding and your wisdom will be like not being wise.
By not being wise you will become wise later.”

by Chuang Tzu


“Should you really open your eyes and see,
you would behold your image in all images.
And should you open your ears and listen,
you would hear your own voice in all voices.”

by Kahlil Gibran

I’ve been asked this question many times over the years by some very perceptive people, “Who are you?”. My reply has usually been “no one”, or if that particular person really needed a better answer, they would get “your reflection”. This would then proceed down the path of identity, when there really was “no one” there to talk to.

The very perceptive would shake their heads, knowing that there was way more to it than that, and begin to make claims as to my being or essence. I generally denied all claims, stating that I know nothing, I do nothing, in fact, I’m really not here. I have confused a good many people in that fashion, which starts them on a grand adventure to enlightenment.

But I have started in the middle, when I should be talking about the gift store where this chapter began. My wife and I own a unusual gift store here on Kauai, Life’s Treasures. Its mission was to provide a unique metaphysical healing environment of hard to find, one of a kind items from around the world. The goal was to create a fun and relaxing atmosphere where everyone felt welcome.

Life’s Treasures Kauai was presented as a gift store, so that people of all walks of life could experience the healing energy, explore new worlds of information and opportunities, exchange ideas and discover the possibilities of our Meta-Science consciousness evolution.

Through the years, we have touched the lives of many people from around the world. My particular specialty was information and the art of Shih. I first came across this word while reading David Zindell, a science fiction novelist. Here is an excerpt from “The Broken God”:

“Shih was opposite of facts and information; shih was the elegance of knowledge, the insight and skill to organize knowledge into meaningful patterns. As an artist chooses colors of paint or light to make her pictures, so a master of shih choose textures of knowledge– various ideas, myths, abstractions, and theories– to create a way of seeing the world. The aesthetics of beauty and knowledge– this was shih.

He explained that the etymon for shih was a simple word in Old Chinese; the Fravashi had fallen in love with this word, and they had borrowed and adapted it when they invented Moksha. From Moksha, the concept of shih had entered into the Language– along with thousands of other concepts and words.

‘Ah, ah, I’ve been saving it for the proper time,’ Old Father said. ‘In the Language, shih is elegance in using one’s knowledge. But in Moksha, this broader meaning: Shih is recognizing and making sense of different kinds of knowledge. It’s the most brilliant art, this ability to gauge the beauties and weaknesses of different worldviews.’”

Through the art of Shih, new ways of viewing anything and everything are possible. Doors that were not even visible suddenly appear ready to take you away.

Shih is a concept that breaks all other concepts, and embraces the wisdom of “knowledge as a flowing river”, to be dipped into as needed, but never held. You can never step into the same river twice; for new waters are always flowing, and it is the same for information, knowledge and wisdom. Information is always flowing, knowledge is always flowing, wisdom is always flowing, as is life.

In the words of Lao Tzu:

“When you find the way others will find you.
Passing by on the road they will be drawn to your door.
The way that cannot be heard will be echoed in your voice.
The way that cannot be seen will be reflected in your eyes.”

In this way, without effort, those whose time it was to awaken, found our store and its magic.

What has all of the above got to do with Self Realization?  Stay Tuned . . .

This is the first post to Contary Wisdom.  I will begin by explaining how this came about, and where we are headed.  But what exactly does Contrary Wisdom mean anyway.

Websters Dictionary defines it as follows:
   Contrary: a proposition so related to another that though both may be false
   they cannot both be true;  i.e. “right and wrong” are contrary terms.
   Wisdom: accumulated philosophic or scientific learning : knowledge.

Therefore, when these two words are used together as such, contrary now becomes a definitive adjective to wisdom.  Contrary Wisdom is wisdom and its definition as knowledge as contrary terms, both may be false, but they cannot both be true.  Knowledge is not wisdom, and neither is wisdom knowledge.

Contrary Wisdom means in simpler terms, wisdom that cannot be known through right and wrong terms, or any contrary terms.  In fact, wisdom is not knowable, and there lies the foundation of this blog.  Wisdom is contrary to itself as defined. 

You should now have a better understanding of  Contrary Wisdom.  I will followup with how this all came about soon.  For now, I will leave you with this old saying from China .  . .

A wise man once said, “I am the master of so many things, that I practically know nothing at all”.

© Mark Naea, 2008