["The importance of being clear" - last text revision: December 21, 2008]
I want to be clear so that I may live more fully the mysteries of existence...
I will use the word "clarity" in a very specific sense, to designate the property of a medium to transmit, to pass-through, without distortion. In this context clarity is the property of a medium that lacks distortion, audiophiles search for it in high fidelity. Basically, to avoid musical distortion, to have" high fidelity", a medium must not: i) introduce extraneous sound; ii) exclude any of the music's sound; iii) change the sound properties (temporal order or rhythm, volume, frequency, spatial localization (in stereo systems), etc.)
So clarity, in our restricted sense, demands just one thing: absence of obstacles in a medium; and if you have it you'll see through that medium quite well, if not, well... it will just reflect some other thing, it might be like having a dirty windshield, not god for driving, but interesting in other perspectives.
"Texas Women" - An example of a dirty but very interesting windshield by Scott Wade
Obviously a clear medium might be of no use if we lack either a creator of messages and someone able to receive those messages (someone having consciousness). However we should leave these two aside for a moment and concentrate on the medium.
In a psychological sense being clear is having a consciousness open to the world, without barriers. I don't know if total clearness is possible, I can't even conceive what that would be like. We see and understand the world through limited concepts and senses, we see only a tiny amount of what exists, and even that only at very limited spatial and temporal scales. And even when, in our experience of the world, we do understand how some objects or forces are related to each other, we fail to understand why these fundamental forces and objects are the way they are. We are also confronted with two kinds of obviousness: from a first person perspective it seems that the I is the only thing whose existence we can be absolutely sure of (after all, as Descartes remarked almost four hundred years ago, our whole experience of the world might be just a "dream" imposed on us by some "evil genius", we have no way to determine that what we experience continues to exist while we are not experiencing it). But from a third person perspective, a scientific, objective approach to the world, it seems that we are clear that matter exists and that it works mechanically, the same causes always bringing about the same consequences, but in that material, understandable, world, there seems to be no place for consciousness and that kind of freedom without which life is nothing but the unveiling of fate. With all these kinds of limitations, confusions and doubts, total clearness does not seem to belong to the kind of mind that humans (or any animal that we know of) may have. In any case, do we want to be clear?
Wherever we look we see people engaged, it is relatively easy to fall in love, with people, ideas, contexts, etc. But it is also easy to fear or despise people, ideas or contexts. In any case it seems clear that we are naturally able to become "engaged" with the world around us, either by running to or from things. As children we search for our mother's breast, we avoid anything that has caused us pain, and through "education" we learn to shape and expand those engagements. We are culturally and biologically "programmed" to be engaged, either through needs and desires, either through aversion, violence and hatred. But what about clarity? When we look at the history of humanity we can see that there were short periods in which man attempted to get rid of all superstitions and speculative theories to sift "true knowledge". But although these periods have given us all the science and technology in which our current civilizations are based, they were short and met with great hostility. Even today truth is pursued more because of the power it brings than as an end in itself, although this is probably the civilization that has devoted more resources to fundamental questions than any other that we are aware of.
In any case clarity does not seem a big goal of humanity, it is more the exception rather than the rule, the only case I know of in which our "programs" ask for clarity is when they cannot by themselves achieve a particular result. For instance suppose you are in love with a beautiful woman. As long as everything runs fine there is no need to be clear. You will love her and conquest her, she will love and conquer you and everything will be just dandy. Being in love is just like flowing in a beautiful river, you just flow with it, you feel the pleasure, you nurture, you get nurture, and that might last for a whole life. But sometimes things go awkward, she does not respond the way you would like or expect, after a few times it gets worrisome, the future of the relation might be at risk. You try several things, they don't work. Now you are both unhappy, and perhaps neither of you even know what is causing the problem. This is where a desire for clarity generally comes forth. Now you want to understand: why is she reacting in that way, why are you reacting in this way, what do you both want, what are you afraid of, or trying to avoid, etc... A multitude of questions arise, an attempt to achieve clarity is now being done, and you start seeing things that were completely out of view before, now you realize many things about your "other half" that you did not even imagined before... At first things just worked, now you are beginning to understand why they worked, and in what circumstances they will work or not. A crisis is therefore an opportunity to go beyond flowing in the river, and to understand what the river, and what flowing is, and what allows them or not. Most of the time they end up in new strategies that may even be shared with others, so that, next time, it will be easier for others to achieve the end result.
The difference between seeking a pre-determined goal and seeking clarity is akin to the difference between being driven to our goals and start driving. To be able to drive we need to see clearly, now we can choose the destination and the way to get there. But for that we must understand many things about cars, roads and the ways to travel on them. On the other hand, if everything is working well, why should we even make an effort to try to see beyond the system that gives us pleasure? If we are satisfied, if everything is working as expected, if we are receiving what we need and desire, why should we want to see beyond the mechanisms that allow us to have such a good life? What could that possibly accomplish if we already have everything that we want?
To increase the efficiency of our strategies it would be certainly be useful to employ a part of the population questioning what makes them work or trying to devise alternative strategies even when things are already running fine. After all there is always space for improvements. Much of current "science and research" projects and grants, both by governments and private institutes have this goal, of advancing (even further) the well-being of well-behaved humans. Globalization, world peace and freedom of speech have brought many advances in this respect. But there is a rather different motivation for extending and developing clarity: the obscurity might unnerve us. The will to unravel the mysteries of the universe is far from being proficuous because it inevitable draws us to the "big questions", those questions that no one can solve in a manner satisfactory to all of us. When we ask if there is life after death, what we should with our lives, if life is worth the trouble, what is consciousness, what is existence, why is there something instead of nothing, etc, we end up with more questions than answers. But the main problem is that, besides not achieving any working or better strategies to deal with reality, these inquiries usually break the solid grasp with which religious and moral discourses wisely guide us to the "good life". We might conclude that this pure desire to know, to "open our eyes" and understand what it is that surrounds us, from rocks to stars, feelings, thoughts, aspirations, intuitions, etc, this pure desire is, not only not helpful, but it might also be harmful. So today we prefer science over philosophy, and, more effectively, we have replaced the ancient philosophical perennial question by other ones, simpler, to which we think we might gather consensus. We simply behave as if the others don't matter. We also prefer religion over philosophy, we prefer solid strategies, proven over centuries: be a good boy and girl, work for the community and everything will be fine, you will be rewarded, etc.
For those of us who feel astonished by the wondrous beauty of the universe, the path must be different. In fact, if we live in a good and beautiful world (like in a caring and understanding family), then, by being open to the world, we are able to absorb more of that beauty, we are able to grow: we learn, we communicate, our understanding expands, our actions gain more reach. For those of us who believe that we live in a world so beautiful that it is impossible to conceive, a world "beyond paradise", it makes sense to be open, to be clear, to attempt in every way to understand it, with no limits regarding the questions asked, the topics open for discussion. The only method, the only restrain, is that we should not elude ourselves with false answers. Whatever we do not really know, we should accept it, and keep the search open. We should only say that we know if and when we do really know, and conversely, we should not deny any of our experiences, just because they don't fit current accepted theories. This is what a person who senses a beautiful world around her would probably do: be open, don't delude herself with her own visions, but try to get to the other side, try to learn, to absorb, to be inspired by Existence. She might not be more efficient than other people, but it is likely that she will be, very happy, living in such a beautiful, meaningful, although inexpressible-by-words, world.
But what if our environment leads to degradation or even destruction (like in a mean and petty working environment)? Then we must defend ourselves, distance ourselves from what is attacking us; the more open we are the more destruction we will face. Well, at least socially I think we live in a scary world. As a species humans have no predators, and even parasites and harmful bacteria are getting rarer in the industrialized world. But we fight each other, not only in war, but in the daily life of boss against subordinates, colleagues against colleagues, the sometimes hurtful relation between friends, relatives and the rare true lovers that come by. Why? Well, one of the reasons is that whenever two people are together and want to communicate, they will have to adapt to each other's world. If one of them has a very limited world then the other will have to talk only about what the other can understand, all the rest will be non-sense to her. As we get older we amass experiences, ways of seeing the world, we get wiser or at least efficient, but different people will gather different experiences and we gradually find that we cannot communicate our experiences with most people. We learn that, if we want to communicate, we will have to restrict our conversations to whatever most people believe, endorse or are interested in, like football, "news", fashion, gossip, new gadgets and computers. The fact that most of us can communicate about these things generates an even bigger interest on these topics, they are fashionable topics of discussion. But the more fashionable, the more repeated, the less we learn. We can be entertained by watching sports and soap operas on the tv the whole time, but we will be repeating the same old experiences over and over again, we will not be growing up, we will just be growing old, stepping over the same old ground over and over again. Our inner child will die, replaced by a collection of fashionable desires and topics of conversation. In this world it would be awful to be clear, for it would amount to seeing our decaying face walking, as if it were lost, the same places all over again, and again, and again... Working places are prodigal in combining people that find hard to communicate meaningful and heartfelt experiences, but any social event will do. Even the rich and powerful are affected by this prison-society, but it is most castrating for the least protected of all: children, who have their decisions made for them, their priorities rearranged, and their time and space taken away by adults whenever they decide it's important.
Well, when and if we are able to look away from the deep walls of social relations, we find a different world, for we live, not only in a country full of people, but also in a galaxy full of stars and planets: this one planet where we work, suffer, and have fun, is just a speck travelling through a universe whose frontiers are beyond what we can see or even imagine: a universe billions of years old, containing a seemingly infinite number of galaxies with their innumerous stars and planets. These swirling galaxies with their infinite diversity seem to be nothing short of a world beyond Paradise, which means, much more beautiful than any Paradise we are able to conceive. Although in this picture our planet is little more than an invisibly small dot, and human kind just a passing experience, this Cosmos, seen as a whole, with its innumerable civilizations of which we are part, with all its histories steaming with life and adventure, is more beautiful then we can express in words, feelings or images, in fact it even encompasses everything we try to say about it. Every image we make of it is a part of it, so it appears no image can contain it. But in spite of all this marvelousness around us it is extremely difficult to keep it in mind for we, as a group, are always concert about only a petit aspect of it: it has almost no place in our society, as if it was "too big to fit". Therefore, it is very difficult to see it or not to forget it almost instantly. How can we remember that we live among the stars, in a fabulous world of mystery and wonder, among innumerable extra-planetary civilizations, inserted in the Cosmic history of "intelligent" beings, when these kinds of thoughts and conversations have no place in our society? We are instead drawn by the daily concerns of getting food, money and appreciation, by the talk on the tv, by the news, by the aesthetics of perfumes, doughnuts and dazzling cars, we see life as nothing more than a struggle for survival and acceptance.
So, to me at least, it is very clear that we live in a wonderful world, but we do not see it; and the suffering of the human species, both in great events like wars and in small events like not getting that smile we searched for, has its deep roots in the smallness of the world we can think and care about. The bigger our inner world the happier we will be, the more we will understand others, the more they will be able to express their thoughts on us. We will want everyone to be clear too, so that we can actually talk to them about anything and be understood. Being clear is also like being an unpainted canvas where others can freely draw their experiences and recognize themselves on our vision of them. It is friendship, being close, it is being able to comprehend and communicate, it is the prerequisite for not being alone and to allow others not to be alone too. The more clearer and open we are, the more we will see others as they really are, and not only in the accepted social roles they represent. But we will also be more open to other beings beyond humans, like animals, plants, rocks and rivers. Gradually, our inner universe will expand, from seeing only our face and our problems, to encompass more and more, we will see ourselves in an ever bigger context, where our actions have a bigger meaning because they are part of bigger story. Our inner universe is composed of everything we are able to love and understand. In the following text I offer a glimpse of my universe, and the inner journey of discovery that has led me to it.