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title: Life is miraculous

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# Life is miraculous

## Introduction

You may have had the sense before that life (or reality) is somehow *miraculous.* On the other hand, your rational mind cannot make sense of such an idea. Everything we know from science tells us that "miracles" are simply phenomena that haven't been adequately explained yet. It turns out that your intuition is correct, but since modern culture tends to value rationality above all else, and because it is supposedly more rational to believe in a fundamentally lifeless reality, we feel a subconscious need to bury our intuition instead of discovering its authentic source.

The result is that most of us *perceive* a lifeless reality, and the consequence of that is that we treat it as though it *were* lifeless. This is the true root cause of the ecological crisis we face today. If it seems like nobody really cares, that's not far off: although we may feel like we care, genuine concern is effectively impossible when a deep aspect of our psyche "knows" that even this concern is a sham; merely the play of fundamentally lifeless neurotransmitters, mindlessly evolved to distract us from the cold, hard truth. Try as we may, we cannot help but see this world as frivolous and arbitrary --- and to build a culture that reflects that.

The irony is that this worldview is actually *not* rational. The most rational stance is skepticism, which leads to agnosticism. But the really remarkable part is this: if such agnosticism is maintained very precisely, it leads to the astonishing realization that reality really *is* miraculous and radically alive. This conclusion cannot itself be reached through reason, but only through a surprising mode of knowledge that simply shouldn't be possible according to our standard worldview.

As best I can tell, there is no way to reverse the ecological collapse without humanity awakening to this realization, at least to some degree. Its full realization requires much more than mere rational argumentation, but it is my hope that laying the intellectual groundwork will provide the rational justification that many people need to take that journey seriously.

> *[T]he intellect is the bouncer of the heart. In the West, what the intellect dismisses as impossible, or nonsense, or woo, or flakey, bounces off our head and never sinks in.* --- [Bernardo Kastrup](https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/article/the-meaning-and-destiny-of-western-culture)


## Radical skepticism

If you've ever thought about it before, you probably realize that it's impossible to be sure about the nature of reality. For example, you cannot prove that this isn't a simulation.

The next thing to realize is that you can't even calculate the *odds* of such a thing --- at least, not without making assumptions about whatever is "outside" this reality, which are by their very nature unverifiable. For example, we can't calculate the odds of this being a simulation without assuming certain things about how computers "out there" operate. So we cannot meaningfully say whether such possibilities are "likely" or "unlikely."

And there's an infinite number of similarly strange hypotheses. For example, did reality magically pop into being five minutes ago, with only the *appearance* of a real past (including planted evidence and false memories)? If such a thing *feels* profoundly unlikely, that's only because you're *assuming* that your memory (and accumulated knowledge about reality) is reliable. That's circular reasoning.

If you play around with such ideas, at some point you'll experience at least a brief "*oh, sh\*t*" moment where it feels like all of reality is being pulled out from under your feet. This is a "red pill, blue pill" moment. First let me describe the blue pill.

Since we can't distinguish between all these strange possibilities, we are logically free to choose whichever we like best. Physicist Sean Carroll describes this approach here:

> *There is no way to distinguish between the scenarios by collecting new data. What we’re left with is our choice of prior credences. ... We have every right to give high credence to views of the world that are productive and fruitful, in preference to those that would leave us paralyzed with ennui.*

Before we look at the red pill, it is worth pausing to reflect on what exactly is being said here. Materialism --- the philosophy which says that only physical things are real --- is not actually *more rational* or *more likely* than other choices. Carroll, an outspoken materialist, is acknowledging that his is a view that must forever be taken on *pure faith*[^death-cult]. The reason he feels comfortable admitting this is that he believes that all views suffer from this same basic problem. But that conclusion isn't valid: it depends on a faulty assumption that one would only make if they were (perhaps unknowingly) trying to justify their favorite worldview.

[^death-cult]: What do we call a belief based on pure faith that preaches fundamental lifelessness? Perhaps a *death cult?*

You see, if you truly *are* an individual being at the mercy of an external world, then any evidence you gather is inherently untrustworthy. In that case, you really *can't* differentiate between the many possibilities, and are therefore free to choose one. But how do you know that you *are* such a being? Because you blindly trust the supposed evidence?

On the other hand, consider the possibility that what you are is the very *ground of being* itself; that which dreams all apparent realities into existence. In that case, you wouldn't have to rely on external evidence --- there being nothing external to you in the first place. Nothing logically precludes you from providing yourself with a "backdoor"; a way to validate this remarkable truth to yourself in a genuinely infallible way. I cannot *describe* it to you (for obvious reasons), but you can discover it for yourself.

The presence of this possibility means that you really have two options: either pick a worldview based on blind faith, or else discover the astonishing truth with absolute certainty.

Of course, you have no reason to take such a possibility seriously. Even if I were to tell you that I've confirmed it, skepticism prevents you from trusting me in the slightest. The only way this process can work is by you remembering the truth at least a little. That's where the "red pill" comes in: it's a method that you can trust *completely*, that has the potential to remind you of the truth. From there, the rest is up to you. 

## The Real

Notice that although you cannot be sure of what is *actually* happening, you can be completely sure that something *seems* to be happening.

Look around and confirm this for yourself right now. Something certainly *seems* to be happening. If you try to *think* too hard about it, you'll get lost in philosophizing. Instead, immerse yourself completely in (what seem to be) your senses. Whatever they *really* are, there they sure as hell are.

So we have two certainties to work with:

1. Something definitely *seems* to be happening.
2. You cannot be even *slightly* sure of what it is, or what's causing it.

The trick is to precisely nail both simultaneously: immersing yourself fully in what *seems* to be happening, while carefully avoiding the compelling illusion that you can know *in the slightest* what it is or what's causing it.

One way to deepen the process is by considering the following variation on a skeptical hypothesis we considered before:

* Reality suddenly popped into being, fully formed, *in this very instant*.

Which instant? *This one.* Which one? *This one.* Etc. Allow each moment to be *completely fresh* --- as though you've never experienced anything ever before. After all, as far as you can possibly know, you *haven't*. Notice how memory *feels* so convincing even when you know logically that it shouldn't be.

It may be helpful to reflect on how this process is simply the most radically honest thing you could possibly be doing: giving your complete attention to what's actually here, while withdrawing it from your (completely unjustifiable) *beliefs* about it. This is the only way you can know for sure that you're not just trading in one false belief for another.

> *Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.* — Philip K Dick

## Waking up

If you remain with this process precisely enough, you will eventually experience a kind of inversion of reality, like stepping through the looking glass. Until now, you have been using the word "real" to refer to that "external reality" for which you technically have zero evidence. Now you are discovering that the term more properly belongs to this ineffable "seeming" of which you can be completely certain.

It's not just a linguistic shift. You will begin to reconnect with something that has been staring you in the face for your whole life (and beyond), but that you've studiously overlooked for some bizarre reason. There is a literally *blinding* aliveness to this whole place; that very principle that you've been taught is nothing but an illusion caused by some lifeless stuff hiding somewhere. You will repeatedly feel a strong pull back to that old comforting fantasy. That is why it is so critical to understand that *it's not actually rational*.

I used the word "blinding" on purpose. If you stare directly into what is plainly here, you will be brought to your knees by a profound awe, wonder, love, and joy beyond your wildest imagination. You will laugh-cry at the comical absurdity of ever having overlooked it. And you will slowly begin to remember *why* we overlook it.

Various religions have tried to put it into words, but of course none of them can really capture it. My attempts will not be any better, but I might as well throw my hat into the ring.

At the heart of reality is a *primordial paradox*, of which nothing can be said. This paradox is inherently unstable; its infinite absurdity tickles it into exploding wildly into ecstatic dance. It is a dance of pure, unconditional love; one which continually births all realities into apparent existence --- and then births itself *into* each one from countless angles, as apparently individual sentient beings.

Each such reality has its own kind of internally consistent logic, or else it would be too unstable to support self-aware beings. Those beings busy themselves with working out the details of their particular system, all the while studiously forgetting to ever glance in the direction of the very principle that gives birth to all of them. The whole thing is a game of sorts: how quickly can we remember the truth about this place? If it were too obvious, the jig would be up too fast. That is why the whole thing sounds ridiculous to you: we happen to be playing a moderately hard level of the game --- though not the hardest, by a very long shot. If you can't "beat" this level, good luck with the ones that are likely to come (depending on your "karma").

## Conclusion

There is no reason for you to believe any of this. And yet, because it is Ultimately True, there is no way that you can overlook it forever. The only question is how long it takes.

I certainly haven't realized it in its entirety. Not even close. Part of the way this seems to work is via group dynamics. That's why I'm so eager to share this with you despite how bizarre it surely sounds.

What you ultimately *are* is pure, unconditional love. That's why it feels so much more obviously right to be kind than unkind. Even "bad people" are this way, though that knowledge is buried more deeply. Expressing such love greases the skids of awakening.

The process of waking up is incredibly simple. In fact, in a sense it is the simplest possible thing --- and yet, that doesn't mean it's *easy*. The biggest obstacle I see in this reality is that we've adopted a worldview that denies the very possibility of such radical transformation, and then labeled that worldview "sophisticated," so that we feel embarrassed to question it in polite company. We have locked ourselves up and thrown away the key.

Reality is *radically alive.* This aliveness is not a byproduct of anything else, but rather vice versa. As long as we choose to uphold a philosophy which denies this, we cannot help but overlook it. This in itself is a testament to its awesome power: it is a magic so profound that it can hide itself from itself despite it being all there ever was; continually shining in on itself, blindingly, from all directions at all "times."

But it cannot hide forever. I welcome you in helping it awaken quickly, before we turn this reality completely barren to match our woefully misguided beliefs about it.

> So close you can't see it
> So deep you can't fathom it
> So simple you can't believe it
> So good you can't accept it
>
> --- Tibetan Buddhist saying