The Nature of Experience

Sound waves impinge upon the ear. Delicate instrumentation translates the vibrations into electo-chemical signals. A cacophony of neurons fire, activating each other through charged ions. Only then is there experience; the magic of hearing. The vibrations of molecules and the subsequent activity of brain cells, somehow reflected as music.

There is a delay between the time the sound reaches the body to when it is heard. So what is really heard cannot be said to be sound waves. Nor can it be called brain activity, because no conceivable instrument should feel the dance of charged ions inside a head as music originating from outside the head.

Every experience is a deeply mysterious echo of activity within the body and the world. It is a ripple in some subtle dimension of spacetime, an afterimage of an event that has already happened, palpably felt through some miraculous law of nature.

But the miracle is not just that there is experience. You see, both the body and the world have been used up in explaining this chain of events. They are the instruments whose activity is being reflected as experience. Their activity corresponds to experience, but there is no single entity in this sequence of interactions that can be identified as the subject of experience.

So what is it that possesses the power to know the universe so intimately?

“It is I,” you may venture.

But the “I” being implied by the nature of experience is not at all what we imagine ourselves to be. It is not some thing inside a body. It is not a transient form that can be observed within space and time. It is an all-pervading principle, aware of the interactions of nature so intimately that they are rendered with an artistic flair, known as experience.

Each experience is being rendered beautifully, staying true to its subject matter. And so while the same “I” experiences all that can be experienced, and does so simultaneously, each experience is limited by the underlying interaction. This quality of experience allows for the mind’s misguided concept of “I” – of an independently aware self entity, existing within spacetime. A false identity superimposed on the real. The root cause of misery. 

I dream. Dream of enchanting echoes emanating from a void. Dream of experiences both merry and grim. Until a deep dissatisfaction sets in and the pained expressions of dream characters haunt me. This is not how it should be! Only then do I dare to question what I am. And so I look into the void and begin to unravel, losing myself to the ultimate source of inspiration, love and beauty. All blessings flow from Here.

 

_{Photo from Pixnio.com}