Faith + Reason = Truth

I want to just sit down and start typing as a blog post, but I'm not going to.  I'm going to put more into it, and then post it as one long-winded entry. It has to do with concepts like "being in the moment," "living in the now," "flow," spiritual awareness, etc., which are all advocated as the preferred state of conscious being, as opposed to thinking about what you need to do or should do or will be doing or planning or worrying, etc. It's just doing, and being keenly aware of all that surrounds you, coupled with being completely absorbed in whatever it is you're doing.

Then, there's the fact that people are guilty of almost perpetually not living in the moment, whereas animals spend their entire existences in the moment.  They sleep when tired, they get food when hungry, they find shelter when required, they procreate when they feel the urge, they defend themselves, they hang out and do nothing but "be." And make no mistake, when a lioness is bounding across the grassy plain hot on the trail of a single wildebeest in the midst of thousands of others that were not singled out by her as this one was, she's not simultaneously fighting off thoughts about what place settings she'll be showing off to her friends, or wondering if the cubs have been picked up from football practice yet. She is, shall we say, "focused on the task at hand."

I think there is a tie-in, a causation, between our tendencies and those of animals. And I think it is language itself, which animals do not have but which people (possibly unfortunately) do. Without language, people could not think about what they aren't doing, because they would have no construct with which to formulate the thoughts. They would be forced, like animals are, to only deal with what they are directly experiencing. If they haven't experienced it, they cannot comprehend it. Only language provides frames of reference, called "words," to allow people to fathom what they have not directly experienced first hand. And that very ability is what distracts us from truly living in the moment and fully experiencing with 100% of our focus and sensory capabilities whatever it is we find ourselves faced with at any given moment.

Finally, this state of all-encompassing mental emptiness for everything other than the present moment is the very goal of various types of meditations as well as some entire religious experiences.  Were it not for language, would we simply directly experience God and Creation at all times, in the way that animals might if they had our higher level of mental faculties, without being continually distracted from that Presence by all of the words going through our minds, words that have nothing to do with the present moment and experience of existence, words that only serve to distract our thoughts and senses from the task and experience and surroundings at hand?

For other posts in this series, search under the "Seeking" Category that can be found in the right hand column of this blog or click the underlined Seeking link earlier in this sentence.  This is going to be fascinating to explore - my apologies in advance if you don't find the topic as riveting as I do!