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By Dev Bhagavān
5
44 ratings
The podcast currently has 81 episodes available.
Being in the World, Part One: the Story of Everybody's Life. Ontology, the science of Beingness, reveals deep insights about the nature of human life and experience. An ontological analysis of the human condition—our way of being—shows that our everyday social relations give us a particular kind of preoccupation with the world. This 'care about the world' involves us in a network of conditions and actions we do not choose, leading us away from our authentic self.
Look up 'ontology'—not just in the dictionary, or not only in the dictionary, but also on Wikipedia and on some philosophy sites. Get some background. Ontology is not well understood, and there's a reason for that. It is omitted from the curriculum of all government-sponsored schools. Don't believe me? Look up John Taylor Gatto, and he'll give you the background on that, how the school system was designed, and why it was designed to be the way it is. They're trying to train up compliant factory workers. That's the program. So you get trained to be a factory slave for over twelve years of your life—and you never looked into the design philosophy of the institution that you spent your childhood in?
You need to remedy that.
Most of us are overwhelmed by the world in which we live. We find ourselves thrust—unasked, naked—into a context we do not understand; surrounded by people, societies, conditions and situations that we do not create or choose. Nevertheless, we must act to survive in a competitive environment that is all too often opaque and baffling, and we will be held accountable for our actions.
In other words, it's the Catch-22 of material existence. Here we are born into a world that is beyond us, yet we have to choose. And we find ourselves in so many situations that we don't agree with, we don't like, and we maybe don't even understand. Yet we have to choose and act on our choices. And we will be held accountable; we will be held responsible.
We find ourselves vacillating between mute acceptance and blind rebellion. Just when we think we understand the game, someone changes the rules. Stricken by uncertainty, we chase admiration, love and sense enjoyment. Sometimes we succeed, but far more often it inexplicably disappears, or we find ourselves betrayed.
Now, isn't this the story of everybody's life? Certainly the story of mine and of everyone I know. But there's something beyond this. There's something higher than this, and you can find it within yourself, if you know where to look.
That's what this series is about: a way of looking at life that allows you to make it meaningful—just the way it is, without changing anything except your point of view.
What is wrong? Why do we suffer? Is there an exit? A relief? A cure? What is wrong is that we are caught in a trap of our own manufacture, like a caterpillar in a pupa. Unfortunately, we do not recall how we wove ourselves into this confining karmic matrix. If we do not learn the structure of the trap, we cannot release ourselves, and we die. If we can understand how we are caught, we can unravel the threads and break free—a butterfly.
The podcast currently has 81 episodes available.