24 Apr

Posted at 10:15h in The Beginning, Way of Way

Duality, duality; within and without. Duality within is when we have conflicting minds. For example, one mind tells us to go out and have fun, while another mind tells us to do homework. This happens when we don't have integrity. Duality without is when we perceive our self as apart from all that is not our self. Dualities within and without are the cause of much of the stresses and conflicts in our lives. Duality without begins at birth and ends when the our mind's self-perception of separateness is vanquished; when our self is confined to its purpose of providing us and those for whom we are responsible with food, shelter, security and health. At birth, we are separated from having been eternally one with everything in the womb to being temporary; finite in time (birth to death) and space (our physical form). Being one with everything before our birth must be idyllic as no one has ever complained about it. However, upon birth,  rudimentary complaining begins: crying. Upon our birth, we are no longer one with everything and now begin to suffer the stresses and conflicts between us and that which is not us. Moreover, duality distracts us from our purpose in life: to have a wonderful go of it, realize divine consciousness and help others likewise. To dispel duality without, we need to know who we are. We have two principle identities, the role and the soul. The role is whichever role we play in the now, the world as it unfolds. We play many roles; family member, professional, personal interests, etc.. The roles are temporary, ever-changing. The roles presume the existence of duality, our role at the moment vis-à-vis the roles of others who are not us. When our identity is our roles, we are forever imprisoned by duality. Unlike the role of which there are many, the soul is the but one; sole. It is the present, the pre-sent; what everything is before it is; before time begins, before the now. The soul is eternal, forever unchanging. The now is the manifestation of the soul. As the soul is one, when our identity is the soul we are one with everything and dispense with duality without. We are at peace....

10 Apr

Posted at 10:15h in Observations, The Beginning, Way of Way

When I was 16, living in Brooklyn with my parents, one summer night I drove to Brighton Beach and sat on the rocks along the shore. Reflections from the moon danced on the water, the ocean breathed in the surf and breathed out a roar. The night sky was a black blanket with pinholes to unknowable worlds on its other side. Lights and sounds vibrating the air, every-thing teeming with aliveness; unique, unlike anything experienced before. I wondered why the ocean, expressing itself with motion and sound, was not considered as alive as are plants and animals. What did it mean to be alive? The "alive" classification made little sense. Classifications, descriptions and thoughts generally felt artificial, man-made; helpful for organizing and communicating, but otherwise empty of aliveness. Who am I in all this? The sounds, the lights, the ever-changing shapes unfolding from nothing, the ocean smells; overwhelmingly beautiful, yet eerie. Then, the infinite number of finite things were no longer finite, but manifestations of one infinite thing. I was infinitesimal before the infinite, until I realized I was the infinite. This was a religious experience, but not connected to an organized religion. It was initially animism and then pantheism. This was my awakening and realization of our immortality.   At the time, I thought the forgoing experience, in whichever personal form, was a common rite of passage that, at the least, lead to sustained happiness. However, now, as I realize there are many who are unhappy, I guess that heretofore everywhere I looked I only saw myself....

21 Mar

Posted at 10:42h in Observations, The Beginning, Way of Way

Every night at sleep-time we die. Every morning upon awakening we are born. Each day is not a day in a life, it is a life in a day. Our awakening marks our birthday. Thus, we've lived thousands of lives before our reincarnation today. As few remember that every day is our birthday, we should remind whomever we meet with the greeting: "Happy birthday." Whether they recognize today as their birthday or not, they will undoubtedly have a laugh. What better gift can we give someone on their birthday?   Before sleep-death, we acknowledge each other with "good even-ing;" for in sleep-death everyone (the smart, the stupid, the rich, the poor) is even, equal. In sleep-death, our soul leaves our body and merges with the universal soul, God. When the soul returns to our body, we are born. Upon awakening, we greet each other and ourselves with "good mourning;" have a good time mourning the people you were in past lifetimes (yesterday and all days now passed, as each day is not a day in a life but a life in a day) by remembering them in the light of wisdom and compassion and don't identify their life experiences as your own. Then, before we become oblivious as to who we are as we assume the role and circumstances of the person we were yesterday, we can truly awaken by reciting out loud the Mourning Prayer. The Mourning Prayer acknowledges God's creation, the universe, and expresses our gratitude for the life and consciousness we have been given which allows us to be one with God. Moreover, we declare that we are free from karma (our intentions, actions and consequences in past lifetimes (days of our life)) and look forward to realizing our purpose in life: to have a wonderful experience, realize our potential of divine consciousness and help others likewise.   Mourning Prayer Oh eternal universe oh ever-changing universe oh timeless universe oh endless universe. Thank God for creating the universe, granting us consciousness to realize our oneness with everything. The people I’ve been and the roles I’ve played in days passed, my prior lives, are illusions in the seemingly real form of memories. Now, I am who I am and every-thing is what it is whatever it is. Regardless of circumstances, I am grateful for however my life unfolds today, hopeful to realize divine consciousness, happy helping others likewise and laughing at my efforts to realize that which is always here. Shanti Shanti Shanti   We recite the mourning prayer aloud, again and again and again, until we feel it and truly awaken. Then, hopefully, we won't forget who we are as we make our way through this day of life with the peace that comes from not taking our self too seriously; as we know that our self, which will die in the even-ing when our soul departs, is not who we are. At day's end, it is time for the Even-ing Prayer before our sleep-death.   Even-ing Prayer Oh eternal universe oh ever-changing universe oh timeless universe oh endless universe. Thank God for my  role in the universe and for now, sleep-death, when my soul joins God which is what every-thing is before it is the universe. Shanti Shanti Shanti...

26 Jan

Posted at 10:26h in Observations, The Beginning, Way of Way

Heaven is above and hell is below. Our lives are a journey in hell or heaven; depending on who we are, the temporary self or the eternal soul. Our self engages us with never-ending needs (food, shelter, security and health) and desires (that which we think we need but otherwise don't) for which we can realize but temporary satisfactions and happiness. This is the endless cycle of hell; where happiness is but temporary, leading us to search for more temporary happiness. We search here, there and everywhere. The more we look, the less we see. Eventually, we come upon a rabbit hole into which we and and others like us descend. It is a lightless place where our eyes cannot see. What we think we see are individual and collective illusions of our self's creation; stories, descriptions and generalizations to which we react as if they are real. As the illusions are not real, we keep searching; searching for the duration of our lives. This is the journey in hell. Those of us who have no needs or desires are grateful. Gratitude brings us sustained happiness; a calm state devoid of the self's distractions and illusions. We are in the pre-sent, the time before time begins and before everything is what it is whatever it is in the now. Happy, we don't search the Earth for temporary satisfactions. Then, we can look up and see the sun revealing our world and trillions of stars revealing trillions upon trillions of other worlds; the endless, infinite universe. We realize how infinitesimally small, meaningless and insignificant we are in the scheme of things; that taking our illusions, our selves, seriously is silly and laughable. We realize we are not independent entities in the universe; we are the soul, the universe before it expresses itself. As the light of the sun and stars enter our eyes, we realize we are the light; that what we see is who we are; that I am who I am and the universe is what it is whatever it is. This is enlightenment. This is the journey in heaven....

22 Jan

Posted at 01:59h in The Beginning, Way of Way

The ten men and the elephant is a parable in many variations from the Indian subcontinent, dating back more than 2,500 years. In a small village in India there were ten men who had heard of but had never seen the greatest animal in the jungle, the elephant. Determined to see an elephant, they hired a guide to find one. After several days of trekking in the jungle, the guide saw an elephant and called forth the ten men. The men approached the elephant and in their excitement each touched a different part of the it. The man who touched its tail said the elephant was like a snake. The man who touched the elephant's leg said the elephant was like a tree trunk. The man who touched the elephant's tusk said it was like a seashell. Each of the ten men described the elephant very differently. Soon the ten men, each insisting that their view of the elephant was right, started to argue and eventually came to blows. Clearly, the ten men were blind and didn't know it. As to the elephant, it is like the universe, big; bigger than one blind man can imagine it. Moreover, it appears different to each viewer; as such, it is beyond description, it is what it is whatever it is. The moral of this parable is that the one who sees the universe can guide others to see it but others may not see it as he does. Moreover, the universe is beyond the limited perception of anyone who cannot see; especially when experienced up close, from a specific perspective and based on memories of other experiences associated in likeness. As well, when we are certain of the infallibility of our perceptions, we are blind and don't know it. Further, taking our perceptions too seriously, we make fools of ourselves and at times hurt others and/or ourselves. Even holding as many as ten funny, as in odd and at odds, views doesn't not allow us to know what we are looking at; but it's funny, as in laughable, when we think we do....

26 Dec

Posted at 10:24h in The Beginning, Way of Way

IAWIA, the initials of "I am who I am." Acronym: "I why?" (ia-wia). Why do I exist? Why am I here? There is only I and there is no why. It is what it is whatever it is. Whoever shall come to know this revelation will not suffer death.   The universe is a glass of sparkling water. Each of us a bubble that seems to come out of nowhere, takes a unique journey to the top of the glass and then seems to disappear. We don’t disappear. We become one with everything as we are before we appear as bubbles.   My name, until recently, was Victor Teicher. Teicher is a German name. In German, "teich" means to ponder; hence, Teicher is a ponderer. That's what I do, ponder what I see in reflections from the universal mind which is like a reflecting pond. In English, a digraph (two letters together that are pronounced as only one of the letters) made of two vowels is pronounced as the first vowel with the second vowel silent. Thus, in English, Teicher would be pronounced as "teacher." Teaching, sharing what I have come to know from reflecting, is the purpose of this blog. Moreover, Teicher as pronounced in German (wherein the second vowel of the digraph is pronounced) is likewise pronounced in Japanese as "taisha." Taisha is the large ancient shrine in Japan where all the gods meet annually. Finally, the etymology of  "Victor" is "conqueror." The purpose of this blog is to conquer the self, our individual identity that's based on our individual mind, which imprisons us; precluding us from experiencing the world through the universal mind. Recently, I changed my first name to Vector, a directional arrow; for my aim is to point the way out of our mind's prison. Once our self is conquered and our mind is freed, we are selfless in our interactions with others. What remains is the eternal soul of which our life is but one of infinite temporary manifestations. As the eternal soul, we are God and anyone who doesn't recognize us as God doesn't recognize that they too are God. Moreover, in mathematics, "i" represents an "imaginary unit" and "e" represents Euler's number which is a transcendental number, whatever those mathematic concepts mean. Likewise, my transitioning from Victor to Vector is a transition from the imaginary to the transcendental. P.S. I claim no ownership of the words and thoughts in this blog as I am merely a conduit for the author who is us....

10 Dec

Posted at 10:15h in Observations, The Beginning, Way of Way

The way is the nature of the universe; ever-changing, interdependent, eternal and infinite light manifestations of the sole One, the soul. The Way is the path we take from when we are a manifestation in bodily form at birth to our bodily death when all that remains is the soul. When we know the way of Way, we can be one with the One before our bodily death. Then, the Way disappears as the illusion it always was and all that remains is light. We are present, the soul before it is realized as light manifestations. When the present is realized as light, our sensuous experience of it cannot be described (it is what it is whatever it is) but as the acronym of the way of Way ("WOW"). The sound of WOW is made by puckering our lips like when we kiss what we love, that to which we connect with as one. WOW is also our reaction upon awakening, when we don't remember who we were yesterday, what we need to do later today and everything around us appears as we've never seen it before....

07 Oct

Posted at 10:40h in Observations, The Beginning, Way of Way

The Buddhist path to liberation refers to enlightenment. Liberation is liberation from the personal mind. There is only one mind, the universal mind, the mind of God. The universe is the manifestation of the universal mind in the now. Dwelling in our finite body (which seems apart and separate from the universe) is a personal mind that is connected to the universal mind. However, we identify with our personal mind and are mostly oblivious to the universal mind. The path of liberation is realising our connection to the universal mind. The personal mind buffers us from directly experiencing the now. In other words, we experience the now not as it truly is but as a function of our personal mind. The personal mind defines, describes and compares; transforming the now, which is a flow, into a static experience. The now we experience with our personal mind is illusionary, empty of reality. However, we embrace our personal mind for we fear losing our identities and in turn being alone, not knowing who we are and where we are. The personal mind is grounded in memories. The memories are stories we create based on our intentions, actions and their consequences in previous lives. (Previous lives are previous days of our life.) These illusionary stories frame, define and describe the now. These stories are our karma. By not allowing us to experience the now directly, our karma essentially holds us in a karmic prison. Liberation is liberation from our karmic prison. Once liberated, we can experience the now as it is and in so doing we become one with the now, one with everything, eternal. There are no words to describe or compare this experience. All that can be said is that it is what it is whatever it is. The path to liberation is how we escape the karmic prison of our mind. Our escape is difficult, blocked by fears created by our personal mind. To escape, we need to quiet our mind until it falls asleep. Then, we can sneak passed it to liberation. Meditation puts our mind to sleep. When our mind is asleep via meditation, we transition from our personal mindlessness to universal mindfulness as our personal mind merges with the universal mind. Beyond meditation, we can renounce our personal mind. This is done by surrendering to the reality that we know nothing and that every-thing our personal mind tells us is not real, just illusions. Then, our curiosity is aroused; what am I, who am I, why am I? To answer these questions, we observe the universe with our eyes; not with our personal mind. We know we are experiencing the universe with our eyes when every-thing is unique, an experience like no other; nothing can be described, nothing can be compared. All we can say is WOW, as we feel connected to and love every-thing and everything. (Mouthing the word "wow" is like mouthing a kiss.) With our eyes open, we can see the light and come to know that we and the light are one. Now the path is clear. We are the path, the way of way (WOW). This is the path of the Buddha. A path guided by the light, not by a guru who at best can only reflect the light....

24 Sep

Posted at 10:15h in The Beginning, Way of Way

There are seemingly an infinite number of books, each providing insights into the human experience. The insights are thoughts whose foundation is words. We focus on the thoughts, while are often oblivious to the words themselves. However, sometimes a structure's foundation reveals what the visible structure does not. There is one book that reveals the mystical aspect of the human experience that's hidden in words: the dictionary. With definitions, etymologies, synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, the dictionary is the key to kotodama, the mystical power of words. For example, "good evening" and "good morning" are simple and superficial greetings. However, they reveal much about reincarnation and experiencing life as it is in the now. At night, when we go to our sleep-death, we say "good evening" because in sleep-death everyone is made "even;" the rich, the poor, the smart and the stupid; all are even or equal in sleep-death. Upon awakening from sleep-death, we say "good morning" as in "mourning;" that is, have a good time mourning the person you were yesterday who is now no longer. Upon awakening, we are reincarnated into familiar circumstances, but we are not the same person who went to their sleep-death the night before. In other words, every day is not a day in a life but a life in a day; days past are past lives. When we realize we are reincarnated, we experience everything as new because it is new to us; though familiar to the person we once were. Our presumptive "past," the experiences of the person who is now no longer, has "passed." Another example is happiness. The bedrock of happiness is gratitude. When we are grateful, regardless of the difficulties we face, we are "great-full;" full with feeling great, happy. We're happy as we realize how lucky we are as our circumstance could always be worse. "Hap," the root of happiness, means "luck."...