The Cosmic Hologram

Harari is replaced by Jude Currivan, discovered on You Tube, her latest book The Cosmic Hologram arrives via Hive, your ethical alternative to the tax avoiding, bookshop destroying, worker exploiting Amazon ... not just bookshops but most of the High Street under threat if we allow it ... Hive promotes local independent bookshops and donates cash on every sale to support them practically ...

Before leaving Harari, who claims to meditate for two hours every day, an observation on his residual conditioning, which allows the dismantling of Syria as part of the ongoing U.S. plan to rearrange the oil fields to their advantage, to be referred to as the Syrian Civil War ... lazy language, though perhaps not different from calling the 1936 military insurrection, supported by the Catholic Church, to destroy the democratically elected government, the Spanish Civil War. Harari also, though identifying as a liberal secular Jew, finds it acceptable to characterise the rogue state of Israel, which has ignored dozens of warnings fron the UN over its violation of human rights, as a civilised nation. Still, his book is worth a look, along with his previous Sapiens and Homo Deus ...

Currivan's cv is compelling, with a combination of scientific training, including an Oxford Masters in Physics, focusing on quantum and cosmology, and a sense of the numinous starting at the age of five and miraculously surviving through the rigours of an academic system geared to suppress ways of seeing not currently in the mainstream ...

The book is hard going for one not used to scientific concepts ... and swiftly disposes of the Many Worlds Interpretation, a story faintly integrated into the W&D worldview. .. an infinite and eternal universe also is disposed of ... the problem of what lies beyond dealt with by positing our universe as only the latest in an infinite cosmic plenum ... let's see how the rest goes, though she is quite persuasive ...

Meanwhile, morning walks turn bracing as snow arrives beautifully on the hills ... a snowy owl flies close by magically. .. feet think they are resting with two or three hours walking daily, legs happy to move and whole organism fires up for its own sake each day and in preparation for longer stages with full pack in Spring ... March or April maybe ... as for looming EU exit it's unclear why a crisis is called for ... what exactly will change except for different queues at passport control ... delays on freight ins and outs as tariffs are sorted and maybe a new smuggling opportunity all round, especially on the proposed new EU land border in Ireland, though an all Ireland solution might look attractive to some if not the DUP ... all the more reason to encourage a referendum on the question ... after all they manage to play rugby under one banner without any noticeable problems ...

What with reading, walking, visiting and occasional minibus driving time passes gently and spaciously ... this retirement idea a liberation indeed ...

Stories

A rest from K story means contemporary philosopher Yuval Noah Harari's "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" has a turn and sets off the mind on a tangent with his story of the 3 competing macro stories of the 20th Century - Communism, Fascism and Liberalism ... suggesting that whilst the first two were archived, the survivor is currently struggling, with no clear successor in sight ... sceptics will note reworking of the first two as reactions to the obvious failures of the third ... whilst Charles Eisenstein and friends are writing a New Story with "The Beautiful New World Our Hearts Know is Possible" ....

The worlds as stories is not a new idea of course ... Shakespeare, said to have covered all available stories in their essence, gave us "All the world's a stage ..." to ponder ... the insight from the fuller quote is to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously, whilst choosing and playing our roles authentically, as if they were real ... beyond the roles, as previously observed, no substantial individual self is to be found ... whether this realisation is experienced as liberation or not is apparently dependent on our preparation for such disturbing news ... ongoing acceptance dependent on resisting the trap of the Gurus, who, having seen it, fail to notice the persistent, pesky little ego returning to bask in new found fame ...

Using the frame of nestled hierarchies, we might imagine stories within stories within stories at all levels ... the macro stories mentioned above as micro stories at cosmic scale suggesting the insignificance of our little dramas ... maybe a misreading of the nature of Infinity and Eternity and the potential for each of us to create our own stories, therefore realities, therefore worlds. ..

Meanwhile, in Stanhope, the weather turns cold and clear, ideal for early walks through the woods and over the fells ... later walks a little marred by the custom of heather burning as part of the management of the land for rearing grouse so wealthy killers may satisfy their blood lust by blasting semi-tame birds for sport ... the Buddhist story might point out the Karmic perils in such activity, though reincarnation is by no means fully embraced in contemporary Western stories, nor anything much beyond a life of slavery and a final exit ... the last chapter, The End ...

A visit to a friend nearing the end continues the question of ongoing consciousness, though as a convert to the once true faith his focus seems on the binary choice of heaven or hell and some doubt about what any of it means ... still, he seems reconciled to departing soon as the system slowly shuts down ... the vital spark flutters persistently,  as often seen, raising the question of conscious dying ...

Energy and its transmuted form, Power, and how the need for it drives the stories is next up ... Sun is still shining and outdoors calls ...

More K

The story of Krishnamurti continues to hold the attention, between longish walks and the routine of cooking ... a satisfying creative process with no pressure of disappointing fellow diners since they are rare, especially as the downstairs room continues its slow transformation ...

Mary Lutyens' biography fills out Mary Zimbalist's, whilst a surreptitious peek at the autobiography of Radha Sloss, nee Rajagophal, "Lives in the Shadow of Krishnamurti", offers the suggestion of an answer to the question of her parents' rift with K ... the book itself yet to be sourced, the revelation quite compelling, its suppression by K supporters understandable, if misguided ... truth will always emerge ... if indeed K's oft hinted at sexual experience was with Rosalind ... other devoted female admirers, of which there were many, seem to have been content with platonic love ...

The biographies offer a fascinating perspective on the amazing story, big news worldwide throughout the middle part of the last century, with politicians and celebrities keen to meet K, yet nowadays information is confined to smaller groups, the messenger, despite insisting that it was the message that was important and not the messenger, has left a space yet to be filled ... his insistence on resisting any attempts to form new religions in his name after his death so far observed ... his legacy of schools and Centres in India, England and California still alive ... the question, raised by himself, as to whether any individual has radically transformed as a result of attending the places or studying the teachings is still open .... though it seems that Freedom From the Known played a big part in Wear and Dao, the journey ... enlightenment, however, is not claimed ... though life does become more and more interesting by the day, and Brockwood Park continues to offer a spiritual home ....

2019

A belated New Year post after the wifi and alcohol free retreat at Brockwood Park ... wonderful connections, new perspectives, fresh information ...  and the simple, clean, warm Centre a welcome respite from house half finished, albeit habitable for one with low standards ... however, a small room upstairs provides a sanctuary for study between morning and afternoon walks ... Mary Zimbalist's "In the Presence of Krishnamurti" providing fascinating glimpses of the prophet and his teachings ... a detective story in itself, appropriate since K and Mary enjoyed reading novels in that genre, as the life they led, travelling between  California, Switzerland, India and England, giving talks to thousands of devotees ... the following that K explicitly warned against consistently ever since quitting the Theosophical Society in 1929 ... having been discovered by Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant on a beach in India, recognised as the long awaited World Teacher, surrounded by wealthy aristocrats, educated and groomed for his destiny ... naturally many TS folks were not amused, though some stuck with K and others hedged their bets ... hardly surprising if your whole social circle revolves around that esoteric life ...

Mary Z was a relative latecomer, without TS conditioning, and attracted to K's teachings in California before becoming married to Sam Zimbalist, the film director and producer ... a few years after his death she became closer to K and spent the last 17 years of his life dedicated to taking care of him, as companion, administrator, housekeeper and friend ... herself from a wealthy family, she was able to take up the mission without worrying about money, which was just as well, since K's years with Annie Besant, Emily Lutyens and others left him with expensive tastes in clothes, cars and fine food, albeit vegetarian ... none of which infers ego, since he was just about universally recognised as being without one ... simplicity has various levels ...

Much of the book details the long legal battle with renegade TS folks who had control of K's early writings ... Rajagopal and his estranged wife Rosalind, both living in California ... the virulence of these two towards K is only partly explained by the financial aspects of case - copyright issues and lack of transparency in accounting for charitable funds ... what is not mentioned by Mary is the love affair between K and Rosalind, a startling omission and perhaps an attempt to conceal such carnal matters for the sake of K's reputation ... though he never proclaimed celibacy or promoted it as a necessary element in the spiritual life ...

Anyway, the tale continues, Mary Lutyen's three volume biography of K arrives, internet searches reveal other aspects and the detective story unfolds ... not leading to any particular conclusion, least of all about Rosalind, but fascinating to follow the journey of one sometimes referred to as the reincarnated Buddha ...