What Causes this Sense of Irony?

Carl

I sincerely wish you good luck with that approach, Topher.

I know myself too well to even atempt it. I would get all tripped up in my own words and thoughts to "to understand spiritual principles, have my language (thought and word) be in harmony with them, and have my actions be given by my language."

I tried for many years to "figure it all out": life, God, the universe. Then the happy day came when I realized how small and insignificant I am and how much of a megalomaniac I was to think I could do it. I was able to just live the best I could, accepting as much as I could about what life dealt me. I continued my practice of meditation and words fell away.

Have you ever experienced spirituality that goes beyond (under?) words and language? I have; only because of my practice. So although words are useful, they are not the end-all to me. "There is more to heaven and earth than is dreamed of in" my philosophy.

Look up at the stars or see a picture of the Milky Way. We are so very small and not as superior as we are cracked up to be.

Peace.

Carl

I experience irony more as each day passes. I've been wondering what causes this. I suspect that feelings of irony are born at the 'border' between how things actually are, and how my biology along with cultural experience 'believes' they are, or wants them to be. As the years pass, the cultural and biological [chref=65]hoodwink[/chref] wears off a bit, exposing awareness to how things actually are. At those times we become simultaneously aware of two 'paradigms', or rather one paradigm and [chref=19]the uncarved block [/chref] of reality. This induces those funny, ironic, and even spooky feelings. Some example pop to mind...

Kids and the 'Teaching'
From birth, until children gain a solid command of language, they rely on another path to learning. For them, [chref=2]practicing the teaching that uses no words[/chref] is the only teaching that makes sense. However, once our consciousness becomes infused with language things change. From then onward, words become a potent filter of life experience. We then begin living in a 'make believe' world of 'the future' and 'the past'. The irony is that we always think of children as being into 'make believe'. Actually adults are much more susceptible than children to this [chref=53]by-path[/chref].

The fantasy of adulthood
Adults push back on a child's fantasy as noted above. This helps kids know they are just pretending so they don't get ahead of themselves. But we adults have no one to push back on our own fantasies. We don't know that we are just pretending, even though old Shakespear said "the whole world is a stage and we are all actors". We have no Adult adults to bring us down to reality, so we have made up various 'Super Adult' myths (God, Jesus, Buddha...) to serve as role models and to help keep us grounded. It's not that effective, though, because these Super Adults only exist our mind, and thus can only be as effective as our own maturity permits. These role models don't lift us to their level of maturity; rather, we bring them down to our level.

Practicing vs. Playing
What is the difference? Practicing, in practice, often turns out to be nothing more than going through the motions. The mind tells us we 'should' do this or that to become more proficient and so we practice for that 'future'. Simply 'playing', on the other hand is intensely immediate and honest. It is what the other animals do. There is no future, there is no past - only now! There's 'no tomorrow'. Such total 'playing' is done as though we are going to die in the next moment. Thus, without a future moment to look forward to, we can give everything to this '[chref=39]One[/chref]'. The irony is that we often practice for a future that never comes, and squander away a present that is always here.

How do we know we know what we think we know?
We tend to repeat what we 'know' often enough to 'brain wash' ourselves into believing (thinking) that we know - that's education! Education promises to enlighten; instead it narrows the mind to the current culture's paradigm. That is why [chref=48]in the pursuit of learning one knows more every day; in the pursuit of the way one does less every day.[/chref] Do we do one, the other, or both? In the end we must [chref=64]learn to be without learning[/chref], if we ever wish to [chref=47]identify without having to see[/chref].

And last but not least, one of my favorites: [chref=71]To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.[/chref] I've certainly proved that to be true in my own life!