There are two things I want to remember, not just this year, but every year:
- There is only today and
- Knowing trumps Believing.
What do I mean? Well, we live our lives as though we're going to live forever, despite the fact that experience (i.e. Knowledge not Belief) has demonstrated the opposite. We are a very vulnerable life form and anything can lead to our personal death. Nobody come with a guarantee that they'll have so many years on planet Earth to enjoy. In my own family I have seen a little sister die at the age of four, a niece of mine died age 16, my parents died, my father with 66 and my mother with 84. So no guarantees. Another aspect, which we forget, is that there is only right now anyway. I've written about this elsewhere. There is no past except the memories in our heads.
Oh yes, there are traces left behind which we can see, but all the myriad of incidents which make up our daily lives are over, and we can't go back and change anything. Why, because there is only now! Tomorrow is an illusion which only lives in our heads. Not even AI can go forward or backward in time - it can only know what is in the databases right now.
So what? One my well ask.
To me, it means I am free; free of the past and free from worrying about tomorrow. I only have to answer the question: what am I doing or going to do, right now? Tomorrow I can plan for, but it will always be different to the plan, so I have to be flexible to adjust the plan or change it completely if necessary. Now is the most fantastic time - enjoy it, be conscious of it, don't miss it - it'll never come back!
It's no different for the second point: knowing is better than believing. People believe the strangest things. Utterly convinced of all kinds of stuff! Most people believe that what they are told or have read is true and a fact without any criticism. Most people have never been taught to question the information given to them. There is a phrase used, "Do your own research". From what I've seen, that means go and find others who say the same thing as that which you want to believe. Critical questioning is seldom done. Not surprising when we see that in Schools, Religions, etc, we are pumped full of all kinds of unprovable nonsense. For example, life after death. I have never met anyone who has met a person after they have died. Many may claim that, but the only proof is their statement and, sorry, but that is not knowledge, that is belief. But we want to live forever so that belief is held by much of the world, despite the lack of proof. Christians claim that Christ was reborn physically for a few days. The only person who claims to have seen him after death is that guy Paul formerly known as Saul. And he claims that while alone on a road with no other witnesses, Christ showed up. Sorry, but that is no proof as far as I'm concerned.
During the pandemic, corona sceptics believed wild claims, like 5G causing COVID-19 or vaccines implanting microchips. Despite overwhelming evidence disproving these ideas, such beliefs spread because people accepted them without critical examination. Similarly, conspiracy theories like flat Earth or moon landing denial show how belief thrives without evidence. True knowledge comes from questioning and verifying through direct experience or credible, repeatable evidence. Just as living only in the present frees us from illusions of time, seeking knowledge frees us from being bound by unverified beliefs. Being conscious of both is the key to a life well-lived.
And so it goes on. So many claims, but no proof. What constitutes Knowledge for me? Knowing is what I can claim through direct experience, or through the substantiated claim of direct experience of many. And the absolute best way is direct, personal experience.
So, my message is, enjoy the moment, it's all you really have, and it's the best there is. Having the gift of life is the enabler to experience all the amazing things, good or bad, which having life offers us every day.
Happy new Year and my this be the year of increased consciousness and all our endless gifts. Thankfulness is the best experience.
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