Eventually, I always think that real life starts when we go beyond concepts. Now we are blind, and we live as blind men. Even the so-called spirituals do so. First, a concept is created and then we add meaning to that concept. After that, we live according to those concepts, but we cannot see the true essence. This is also true for people. When the name “Cem” is mentioned, it evokes many concepts. Yet, an image of “Cem” is formed in my mind. I think that I am talking to Cem. Indeed, I am talking to that image in my mind. This is why sometimes I do not grasp your words totally, and find your improper demeanors odd. Still, I cannot perceive your real self. I am still a blind zombie.
Cem: Very well understood. If he is in the mood, Master Hsu makes things disappear. For example, he takes a glass and poof; all of a sudden it vanishes. This is quite an experience. You are aware that something has disappeared just now, but you just cannot remember what it is. The thing that disappeared also loses its meaning. If it ever comes back, then you may remember and say, “Of course! I knew it. It is a glass.”
I had diabetes, panic attacks and depression. As far as I remember from my own experience, there was way too much fear involved. All of a sudden you lose all your meaning. It’s fearful! Remember in the movie Perfume lacking body odor drove the man crazy. Now compare this situation to the case where you lose all your meaning. It is as eerie as that. In our daily lives, quite often we experience similar situations of loss of all meaning, but then we find ways to escape the situation, sometimes by using drugs, or a better alternative by finding clarity of our limits through special concepts of thought or theoretical information. That is, we find relief in concepts; we assign meaning to ourselves or redefine ourselves. In turn, we may transform into something else or make us ego-focused. Ego is nothing more than a definition of self, Hasan, a concept. If there is a definition, you can simply define yourself by it, Hasan. If I know something, then I would most certainly know/predict what that thing is capable of. Bottles stores water, fire burns, trees blossoms… Things must perform what they are made for. A pine tree seed will become a pine tree. You cannot make a chestnut tree out of an oak seed. Similarly, all your actions are predetermined. Can you follow me up to this point? As I have told you before, this subject is quite complicated.
Sonsuz: It’s all clear. I always think to myself that we perceive the world through concepts. I mean, why do we name a table “table”? Because we articulate it that way. We have assigned that meaning to “table.” If we take its meaning away, then it will become something else. For instance, do you remember when we were robbed in Egypt? Normally, if that incident had happened in Turkey, I would certainly have been depressed. But it did not bother me at all. Why? Simply because Egyptian currency means nothing to me: It is nothing but paper with a sphinx prints on it. On the other hand, can you imagine what some people are capable of doing for that paper!? 20 The Wise
The thing you have mentioned is huge. Enlightenment is the ability to see things as they are, without shifting them or their meanings. This is why I see the world as it is. Not like any image I have in my mind. This also applies to how I perceive you, Hasan, and even what I assume to be me. That is, when I totally and utterly free myself from the fiction of my mind, only then can I be truly me. Only then can I be unpredictable. What you are supposed to do is predictable, Hasan. Any action you commit is pre-determined even before you do it. It happened before you did it. Now that we have covered almost all the necessary background, we may go back to the beginning of our conversation. We have a full package now, so let’s get to work.
Sonsuz: I see; this is why what happened happened before. The only thing you can do to put an end to it is to change for good. That is, when you break out of the matrix, or at least you are on the threshold of doing so, only then may you behave unpredictably. Only then you are totally and utterly free. Only then you may act on free will. Dude, here comes a question: How will our lives be after we are totally free? I have asked similar questions to a number of people. I asked them: “Suppose you are rich. You have a beautiful family. You have everything a man longs for. There is no other desire that compares to it. Yet you have another 60 years before you. How would you spend those years?” In the movie Meet Joe Black, Anthony Hopkins said he would rather be dead. He was an old man, and he chose to die. In fact, the Western way of thinking may never provide a better answer: When you have all earthly possessions, you have nothing more to acquire. Nobody could provide a satisfactory answer to the question of how would you live after you have fulfilled all your desires. We cannot answer this question properly because there is no such code to be satisfied in full in our minds. The most common answer to my question was that man may never reach a point where they have everything with nothing left to acquire.