It’s been a week of packing and unpacking as we move offices. Things that I thought were lost—such as part of my driving licence—have been found, and papers that inexplicably I’d saved have been thrown away.
I also uncovered some very early notes and jottings I’d made as I was working though the ideas that would eventually become The Untrue Story of You. The foundation ideas tumbled out one afternoon after the Biblical-like statement suddenly came ready-formed into my head: That to which you do not fully attend shall weigh you down.
But this was followed by years of thinking, researching and working through the details in workshops and talks, including the jottings I made along the way.
The jottings begin with a statement that would have most neuroscientists and psychologists nodding in agreement: ‘Our understanding of ‘reality’ works in sequential logic, which, in turn, is based on the recognition of patterns. ‘Reality’ is therefore a self-contained loop system that is first created by, then interpreted by, the same system!’
The notes continue: ‘The problem with a self-contained system is how it can have thoughts beyond itself’.
And, of course, we do. That suggests only part of us is a self-contained system, and that is in time and space (and I go further and agree with Kant that we participate in the creation of time and space in order to make sense of experience).
From that, we can assume there is an element of us that is outside of time and space, and therefore immortal and infinite. Some call it a soul, or consciousness, the Atman—call it what you will, it’s something to cherish and honour this Christmas time.
So—a merry Christmas to you all, my fellow souls on our remarkable journey of discovery.