Gospel of Seneca (Letters from the Past III)

I'm not gonna lie: I have a serious man-crush on Lucius Seneca.

His insights into human behavior are painfully accurate and just as valid now as they were nearly 2,000 years ago. Dude's a poet, too. He sprinkles vivid imagery and allegories throughout his letters, helping readers grasp ideas that might otherwise elude them. The word "epic" is terribly overused these days but I can think of no better way to describe Seneca's writing.

Seneca's philosophy really speaks to me, but lately it's his spiritual side that gets me inspired. His theology is a fascinating blend of pantheism and pagan spirituality layered with Christian overtones. He uses words like "God" and "heaven" liberally, regards earthly matters as secondary to spiritual ones, and believes that the human soul can be liberated from the body.

Despite the apparent similarities between Christianity and Seneca's Gospel, there is no mistaking Seneca's God with its Biblical counterpart, Yahweh.

Seneca's God is the pantheistic God, aka Nature, aka the universe. It's the intelligent force organizing matter into ever more complex forms, of which we are the pinnacle. 

Likewise, Seneca's soul is radically different from the winged ghost that rises from your corpse and floats peacefully up to heaven after you die.

Or, not so peacefully?

According to the Stoic philosophers, reason is a divine gift, a fragment of the universal programming that keeps the machine running smoothly. As such, Seneca swaps the word "soul" with other terms such as "ruling faculty" or "Logos." He could just as easily call it "mind" or "consciousness," as far as I'm concerned. The semantics aren't that important.

Because he believes that the mind is of divine origin, Seneca holds the material world in somewhat low esteem. This opinion extends by default to the meat-vehicles we inherit at birth. This body of ours, Seneca says,

is a weight upon the soul and a penance; as the load presses down the soul is crushed and is in bondage, unless philosophy has come to its assistance and has bid it take fresh courage by contemplating the universe, and has turned it from things earthly to things divine. 

Note the abrupt departure from Christianity. Whereas Christians believe that only Christ can save one's soul, Seneca believes philosophy is the guide to spiritual freedom.

The soul, imprisoned as it has been in this gloomy and darkened house, seeks the open sky whenever it can, and in the contemplation of the universe finds rest. The wise man, the seeker after wisdom, is bound closely to his body, but he concentrates his thoughts upon lofty things.

Reflecting on the universe frees your consciousness from its prison of flesh and allows it to roam among the lofty things where it may find enlightenment. One who has begun this process of spiritual liberation finds their priorities radically realigned:

Bound so to speak, to his oath of allegiance, he regards the period of life as his term of service. He is so trained that he neither loves nor hates life; he endures a mortal lot, although he knows that an ampler lot is in store for him. 

Such a message will sound backward to someone entrenched in our materialistic society. Why waste time pursuing wisdom and contemplating the cosmos? Why not focus on reality, on the tangibles, on the here and now? As always, Seneca answers with brilliance:

Mortal things decay, fall, are worn out, grow up, are exhausted, and replenished. Reason, however, is nothing else than a portion of the divine spirit set in a human body. 

And then:

Must I be ignorant of the heights whence I have descended? Whether I am to see this world but once, or to be born many times? What is my destination afterwards? What abode awaits my soul on its release from the laws of slavery among men? Do you you forbid me to have a share in heaven?

In other words, do you bid me live with my head bowed down? No, I am above such an existence; I was born to a greater destiny than to be a mere chattel of my body. And I regard this body as nothing but a chain, which manacles my freedom.

Not only does Seneca view the body as secondary to the mind, he goes one step further and identifies it as a form of imprisonment. Epictetus, another Stoic, says: "You are a little soul carrying around a corpse." The body, in other words, is luggage, a burden, an anchor weighing down your soul.

I must restate that Seneca and other Stoics don't promote mistreating or neglecting the body: quite the opposite, they value a life of self-discipline, exercise, and proper diet. The body houses the Logos, after all, a piece of God, and as such should be well-maintained. Seneca is simply saying that the body should serve the mind, not the other way around:

World-matter corresponds to our mortal body; therefore let the lower serve the higher. Let us be brave in the face of hazards. Let us not fear wrongs, or wounds, or bonds, or poverty. 

That last bit is also stated by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, by the way, when he advises us not to "fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul."

The physical world is always pressing us to take action. We scramble and toil to stay afloat and in the process neglect the single most important thing in our lives: our mind. Take a little time out of your day to exercise this gift which you have received from the universe.

Don't let society stifle your curiosity. Send your thoughts outward to explore the wonders of the cosmos. Answer every question that crosses your mind. Contemplate your place and purpose in this vast and glorious universe and you will find the world in which you dwell changed forever.

/rant over

People's Platform

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day when I came across this excellent article by Nora Loreto. The title--Laying the Path to Defeat Harper in 2015--immediately captured my attention. I'm glad that more and more people see Uncle Stephen and his cronies for what they truly are--a bunch of ideological hypocrites, liars, cheats, and thinly-veiled fundamentalists--but I'm also worried that many are missing the point.

Harper and his lot are not the disease; they are a symptom. The Conservatives are merely the most recent in a long line of corrupt politicians dating all the way back to the days of Sir John A. McDonald and you can bet your bottom dollar that the next party to take charge--whether it's the Liberals or New Democrats--will resort to similar behaviour sooner or later.

Getting rid of Harper is a temporary fix at best.

Instead of thinking short-term and plotting Harper's political demise, we should be thinking of ways to implement checks and balances so that we never have to tolerate another Harper again. This mandate takes precedence over all other issues at hand. If we cannot hold politicians accountable for their actions and drastically limit corruption in politics, we'll never be able to address any of the other problems facing our country.

The good news is that we are poised to hit two birds with one stone. We have the opportunity here and now to get rid of Harper and enact changes that would make rampant corruption a thing of the past. We just have to play our cards right.

Loreto mentions a key part of the winning approach in her article: strategic voting.  She is also quick to point out the pitfalls of this tactic:

Strategic voting is dangerous to democracy because it demands that people suspend their desires and vote against their own interests. It requires citizens to vote against something rather than for something. It places way too much faith in polls and is easily corruptible. The result is deep disenfranchisement and the election of a party that is not actually supported by the people.

Ethically speaking, I have no problem with strategic voting. It's the population's way of gaming the system, something politicians do on a regular basis, and I'm all for fighting fire with fire. What I'm against is giving a political party widespread support in exchange for nothing. I want to get rid of Harper as much as the next person but not if it means giving the Liberals or New Democrats the same unregulated power that got us into this mess in the first place.

Loreto encapsulates this as well:

Fact is, either party (Liberal or NDP) would be much better than Harper's Conservatives but neither would bring about the change that we desperately need.

What then?

The ever-astute Loreto lands a glancing blow on part two of the winning approach:

Progressives should unite around a set of demands and push all left-of-centre candidates to unequivocally support these demands. And, where no candidates will support these demands, progressives should put themselves forward as candidates.

Now we're talking! If we're going to offer our votes to a party, why not get something in return? I have a few minor disagreements with Loreto's plan though.

First, why should we limit ourselves to progressives only? I know for a certain fact that many Conservative voters are disillusioned with the Tories. Why not reach out to our brothers and sisters across the political spectrum?

"Because progressives and conservatives don't get along!"

Is that true? Or is that what we've been conditioned to believe after years of bipartisan propaganda? Sure, left and right disagree on a variety of issues, but I'm confident that there are issues on both sides of the imaginary line we can agree on. Why not identify those issues and work together in resolving them? More on that in a moment.

Second, I've already pointed out that certain systemic flaws must be resolved before we can move forward as a nation. I'm not saying that children, women, the environment, indigenous people, and workers--Loreto's hypothetical top five--shouldn't be our priority, only that the best way to address those issues is by repairing the system first.

Until we can install checks and balances to keep our "representatives" in check and doing their job, issues that matter to Canadians will remain unresolved. So long as our government can make policy decisions based on wishful thinking, belief, and ideology, Canadians will never know true representation.

Okay: here's how we hit two birds with one stone.

First, we identify the systemic problems plaguing our government, then list their remedies. Here's what I think such a list would look like:

• Transparency
• Accessibility
• Accountability
• Proportional Representation (or anything but First Past the Post)
• Evidence-based Decision Making

Second, we use these items to create a People's Platform, a list of demands that preferably includes specific bills demonstrating how our Platform should be enacted. We'll need the help of various experts to draft these bills but I don't think we'll have much difficulty finding them. In fact, many of the items on my list are already championed by MP's on the left, be they New Democrats, Greens, or Liberals.

Third, we take our finished product and begin an aggressive media campaign. We educate Canadians about the People's Platform in plain, accessible terms and invite people from both sides of the political spectrum to join us. Corruption, lack of accountability, and misrepresentation affect all Canadians regardless of political leaning. Let's put our differences aside while we give our government a much needed upgrade. After that, we can resume our petty bickering (though I hope we won't).

Lastly, we make an open offer to the political parties: our support in exchange for the enactment of our People's Platform. When a party steps forward, we demand that their leader sign a legal contract ensuring follow-through.

And if no party wants to play ball, we have a backup plan: we start a party and take matters into our own hands.

Loreto's article is a breath of fresh air. Finally, someone who understands the power of the masses and thinks outside the box! To my great pleasure, she also understands that the people have a duty to nurse our ailing democracy back to health:

Together, working from outside the formal mechanisms of politics, we have to offer a peoples' alternative, invite everyone to join us, and challenge those people who refuse.

I'm ready to go to work. Are you?

/rant over

Inner Citadel

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

--Marcus Aurelius 

Your mind can be an impenetrable fortress. Within its walls you can escape suffering and store the weapons you have acquired along life's journey. From its lofty battlements you can widen your perspective and see distant objects unseen by the masses.

Notice how I keep saying "can?"

In order to make your mind a fortress, you must first ensure that it is free of disturbances. By that I mean free of misery, anxiety, restlessness, anger, dissatisfaction, jealousy, and pride. The tranquil mind is indeed an inner citadel, but the disturbed mind is a prison cell.

It doesn't protect its owner; it enslaves him.

You've undoubtedly met people who are prisoners of their minds. They express unfounded opinions and beliefs as absolutes, take great pride in material achievements, deny or are unaware of their shortcomings, identify with falsehoods, act without regard or consideration for others, make poor life-decisions, and are ruled by emotions. They whine and complain, wish for things that aren't so, and are perpetual victims. They are quick to take credit and quicker yet to deflect blame.

Does this sound familiar? Does this sound like you?

If so, don't be embarrassed. Embarrassment is one of those disturbances that prevents you from reclaiming your inner citadel.

If you suspect you might be a prisoner of your mind, don't beat yourself up; rejoice instead!

How can you free yourself from a prison you don't even know exists? Once you realize that you're a prisoner, you can start working on your escape plan. But before you do, let's talk about how you got yourself locked up in the first place.

Your mind is home to a plethora of ideas and memories, judgments and opinions, beliefs and emotions. As these objects crowd into your inner citadel, they obscure the real you. The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart expresses this beautifully:

A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.

When the mind can't pick its owner out of the crowd, it starts identifying with the crowd instead. It starts to identify with thoughts, feelings, memories, actions, possessions, talents, and achievements, all of which are not you.

These false identities combine to form a distorted version of the authentic You, a grotesque doppelganger that will do anything to exert its will over your thoughts and behaviour. Say hi to the Ego!

That Ego is a real motherfucker.

Who do you think tricked you into handing over the keys to the castle? Who do you think lured you into prison and convinced you it was your proper place?

This begs the question: if you're not the body at your disposal, the sum of the roles you play in life, or the summary of your skills, beliefs, and traits, then who are you really?

What defines you?

You cannot truly become master of your mind until, in Meister Eckhart's words, you tear away the skins that cover the depths of your heart. The walls of your prison are made up of false identities and the Ego acts as the warden, but you can rid yourself of both at any time.

The only power they hold over you is the power you have inadvertently given them.

Dig down through the labels and falsehoods and you will hit the bedrock: the real and authentic You. And would it shock you to learn that the authentic You is actually just a single You shared by all humanity? How could it be otherwise?

Peel back all the superficial bullshit and what's left is the objective Self, the observer, the ruling faculty, the Logos.

Maybe I'm getting a little too deep here. Let's pull back to the topic at hand: transforming the prison of your mind into your personal fortress.

The following two tricks can help you assume control of your inner citadel: mindfulness and presence.

I've mentioned mindfulness before: it's the act of keeping a detailed inventory of your thoughts, feelings, and opinions. I recently found out that mindfulness techniques like the ones described in Buddhism and Stoicism are being used to successfully treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, so it's legit.

Presence just means being present. It means no more time-traveling. Stop fixating on negative experiences from your past; don't fret over things that may or may not happen in the future. Learn from your past, plan for the future, but be present.

Mindfulness and presence will help you recognize the Ego's voice and deal with it accordingly. The more you catch yourself engaging in negative thought-patterns, the easier it becomes to prevent those patterns from taking over. The more you connect negative thoughts and emotions to your false self, the harder it is for the lie to remain intact.

One day, the Ego will just shut up.

Don't let the silence fool you, however: the Ego is still around, and it's a crafty sonofabitch. The whole time you think you've got it under control, it's plotting to take charge again. It's biding its time, watching, and learning how to bypass your defences. And when it does, you'll find yourself in that familiar cell without a clue of how you got there or how to get out.

In these situations, it's important to have a guide, mentor, or coach to show you the way out. Some people look to Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad for guidance; others read self-help books. Even Homer Simpson has a guide!

Who is your Space Coyote?

And while you're at it, why limit yourself to just one? Why not put together a dream-team of guides and mentors? Whoever you decide to enlist for the job, just make sure they are always close by.

You never know when the Ego might spring a trap on you.

/rant over

Future First

"We are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP."

--Paul Hawken 

In order to address emerging problems and thrive in our rapidly changing world, Canada needs a government that will trade the vestiges of the past for the ideas of tomorrow; abandon its “this-or-that” attitude in favour of balanced solutions; collaborate with its citizens; encourage public participation; and strengthen its weakest links.

The solution to yesterday's problems cannot solve the problems of tomorrow. It should be no surprise that the political parties of yesterday are helpless to address the issues weighing on the minds of Canadians and people around the world. Climate change, income inequality, political and corporate corruption, and the rise of extremist ideologies form a threat, not to any single person, commercial entity, or political party, nor even to a single nation, but to all humans.

For the past 200 years we have operated within the confines of a socio-economic system forged in the Industrial Age. Such systems are inherently rigid, hierarchical, and secretive. They discourage public participation and encourage the fragmentation and compartmentalization of information. The left hand never knows what the right hand is doing, allowing for rampant corruption.

“What is the alternative?” you may ask. “Free market capitalism and representative democracy may not be perfect but they are better than everything else we tried in the past.”

No one will argue that our current paradigm is superior to the ones created by feudalism, despotism, fascism, and communism. Does this mean we should accept our flawed system as it is because "it's the best one around?"

At one point in time, the Model T was the best automobile around. Based on the above logic, we should all be driving Model T's right now.

Why aren't we?

Because we are constantly learning new things and applying them to our industries and everyday lives. We're constantly innovating and developing new technologies. Everything in the world, from automobiles to computers, is in a state of perpetual improvement.

Except our government.

Our government has regressed. It has become less efficient, less accountable, and less functional. It has lost sight of its purpose--representing the people--and has become a selfish organism concerned with one thing only: self-preservation. Rather than invest in the future, our government--and many other governments across the world--is borrowing from our future in order to finance its selfish endeavours in the present.

It's time to put the future first.

Our detractors will accuse us of oversimplifying issues. They will call into question our ability to lead and cite our lack of experience as proof. They will say that the people cannot be trusted to make decisions for themselves.

Yet who could be better at representing the people than the people themselves? We've put our trust in career politicians and look where it has landed us! What started as a noble idea—a political system that gives voice to the masses—has devolved into a corrupt oligarchy bent on preserving its power and wealth at all cost.

Elected officials no longer work for the people: they work for industries, corporations, special interest groups, and above all else, themselves. They do not make informed decisions based on facts: they make decisions based on belief systems and subjective ideologies.

The time has come for us to rise up and form a government that works for all people, not just a select few. Together we can restore Canada's reputation on the international stage as a forward-thinking, socially conscious, and economically robust nation.

We can lead by example. We can show the world that a country can preserve the environment and stimulate its economy; that the people, when working together toward a common purpose, can do a better job than career politicians; that socialism and capitalism can and should co-exist; that lifting the poor and downtrodden out of misery does not require taxing the rich; that transparency is always better than secrecy; and that evidence always trumps ideology when making decisions that concern the masses.

We can embody these ideals as a people and a nation. We can use them to build something remarkable, admirable, functional, and valuable: the world's first  truly Innovative State. We can spread these ideals outward to our neighbours and watch as the world rearranges itself from a place of violence and conflict to a place of peace and cooperation.

I know it sounds Utopian but we're already halfway there.

We have entered the Information Age. Some institutions are fighting hard to keep us trapped in the past but together we form an irresistible force. If we move as a collective those institutions will be powerless to stop us.

As Napoleon Hill said, "Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds."

True, there are obstacles barring our path, but so what? Our ancestors overcame larger obstacles with less. We are fortunate to be alive in this age of technological wonder. We can start a revolution without leaving our homes and take power without shedding a single drop of blood. We are part of the first generation of humans capable of liberating themselves from oppression.

We need only act.

And if you feel that the obstacles before us are insurmountable, that we're better off just settling for what we have, remember these words from the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius:

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

Let's take the obstacles barring our path and transform them into advantages. Let's leverage those advantages and achieve victory.

Together we can change this country--and the world--for the better. Together we can drag the rest of our society into a world of plentitude, peace, and freedom.

#togetherwecan

Delusion of Consciousness

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. 

--Albert Einstein

You're not your ancestors.

You're not your culture.

You're not your beliefs.

You're not your government, country, or flag.

You're not the labels forced upon you by society.

You're not even an individual. You see yourself as distinct, as whole, as singular, as separate from your fellow humans and your environment, but this is a delusion of your consciousness.

This delusion robs you of your humanity. It distorts your perspective. It tricks you into seeing an enemy in the face of your brother. It causes you to identify with falsehoods and trivial matters. 

Stop attaching yourself to things that aren't you. Stop perpetuating the sins of your fathers. Wake up and do better than your predecessors.

Evolve.

We all come from the same source. Whether you believe that source is Adam, the first man, or a single-cell prokaryote that came to life 3.5 billion years ago, it makes no difference: you agree that we are all related. Look around you at the war, genocide, poverty, famine, and pollution.

Why is our family so dysfunctional?

All humans know love and fear, joy and suffering, hope and despair. Recognize yourself in the face of your so-called enemy. See that they are, on the most basic level, no different from you. They yearn to live, loath to suffer, and pursue happiness.

Beneath your religious beliefs, ethnic identity, cultural conditioning, judgments, biases, and petty grudges, aren't you the exact same? If you loath to suffer, how can you justify making others suffer? If you yearn to live, how can you justify taking the life of another?

So long as a corrupt few succeed in convincing you that we're all different, that we can't get along, and that our well-being and survival depends on the suffering and death of others, we will never know peace. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul writes:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

Greed and ignorance are the powers against which we wrestle.

Greed is a sickness that corrupts men to their very core. It is an insatiable hunger for power that overrides all other desires and decencies. Ignorance, on the other hand, allows the greedy to spread their lies, thereby facilitating their actions. Do you not question why governments are always cutting funds to public education, the one thing that could improve the lives of the masses?

The corrupt spread lies to muddle your identity. Any time you identify as a patriot, God-fearing Christian, libertarian, or anything else that isn't truly you, you are being mislead. False labels are like double-agents; they infiltrate your psyche, sabotage your personality, and create turmoil within. The real you cannot thrive in such a chaotic environment.

As the psalmist wrote, "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." Not for God and the reward of heaven but for yourself, here and now, and for your brothers and sisters across the world.

Everything is made up of the same universal coding, 1's and 0's stacked in a dizzying array of configurations. We see differences by virtue of imperfect sense-organs. We feel solid matter where there is empty space. We see colour where light strikes pigment and rebounds into our eyes. We smell and taste particles with the little receptors in our noses and mouths. We touch surfaces and judge them smooth or rough, yet these are merely signals from nerve to mind.

All is illusion. Nothing is as it seems.

What you call reality is only your imperfect and subjective interpretation of the Truth, which is this: the universe manifests itself through matter and energy, but through humans it also experiences itself.

As Alan Watts wrote:

Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

Come together now. Stop killing one another over superficial and illusory differences. The words "Israelite" and "Palestinian" are symbols attached to vague meaning. We need not be subject to words and labels. We need not recognize imaginary lines drawn by dead men. We need not resort to violence and conflict to resolve our quarrels.

We can work together instead of against each other.

There can be no peace in the world until we find peace within ourselves, and this is impossible to do so long as we believe the lie of individuality. Awaken the light inside yourself and dispel the delusion of your consciousness.

Dissolve your ego. There is no "you," only the collective of which you are a part.

/rant over

Metaphor

Have you ever had a genuine spiritual experience?

No, I don't mean speaking in tongues or hearing a deity's voice in your head--that's called being crazy. What I mean is coming face to face with something profound, mysterious, or unimaginably beautiful and experiencing a moment of peace and wordless understanding.

The feeling eludes definition. Trying to grasp it with your mind simply disperses it back into the ether, leaving behind an imperfect memory. If you tried, you might describe it with words like "awe," "reverence," "wonder," or "zen."

People often experience such moments while deeply pondering biblical scripture. The words, chosen and arranged carefully by people who were well-versed in the language of the spirit, allow the reader to slip through the doors of symbolism and into the deeper meaning hidden within.

That's the core of every spiritual experience: cutting through falsehood, illusion, and symbolism to glimpse the guiding principle that governs and underlies all things.

For a brief moment, you break through the barrier and reconnect, if only briefly, to the source.

Religion is not the only door through which one may experience revelation. One may find it by meditating, stumbling upon a scene of natural beauty, reading an eloquent line of poetry, or contemplating ideas related to the guiding principle.

For me, there is no better way to incur a genuine spiritual experience than by studying the vastness, majesty, and complexity of the universe, and realizing how blessed we are to experience it for this brief moment of awareness.

It's no coincidence that our ancestors felt drawn to the night sky, that the dancing lights and their movements became the first human myths, and that those myths turned into religions. Even back then we sensed that we were a part of something greater than ourselves.

Just how great is that "something?"

Forget the universe for a moment and think only of our Milky Way galaxy, which measures 120,000 light years in diameter. It contains between 100 and 400 billions stars held together in a whirling spiral by the immense gravitational pull of the super-massive black hole at its center. Oh, and it's hurtling through space toward the Andromeda galaxy at 110 kilometers per second. Even at this velocity, the collision won't occur for another 4 billion years or so.

Delve down to the subatomic and here too you will find a micro-cosmos filled with mind blowing factoids. Particles pop in and out of existence and all matter is composed almost entirely of empty space. Want a real spiritual experience? Learn about string theory.

It should come as no surprise that many great scientists and philosophers have come to regard the universe itself as a divine being of sorts. By using reason, thinkers throughout history have been able to scratch and peel away reality's thin veneer, revealing the Truth beneath.

Far from being at odds with spirituality, science actually complements it.

If a greater understanding of space, evolution, nature, biology, and the human mind fills you with awe, reverence, and/or wonder, then you may be a pantheist. And you're in very good company, too. Some of the greatest thinkers in human history were also pantheists.

What is Pantheism?

Pantheism is the fusing together of science and spirituality. It is the recognition of something great, mysterious, and holy in the inner-workings of the cosmos. 

Don't let the "theism" at the end of the word fool you: pantheism isn't a religion. There's no doctrine, church, or holy book. Pantheists don't worship Yahweh or take the Bible as literal truth.

The star-studded firmament is the pantheist's Sistine Chapel; the secluded wood is her temple; science is her scripture.

Who is her God? Let's ask our good friend Seneca:

If ever you have come upon a grove that is full of ancient trees which have grown to an unusual height, shutting out a view of the sky by a veil of pleached and intertwining branches, then the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot, and your marvel at the thick unbroken shade in the midst of the open spaces, will prove to you the presence of a deity.

Nature--and by extension, the universe--is the pantheistic God.

Which begs the question: what if God was always meant to be a metaphor for the universe? What if our ancestors were trying to verbalize what they saw above and felt within? It may not be apparent at first, but God and the universe have a lot in common.

God is without maker; the universe appears to be the same.

God is everywhere at all times; so is the universe.

God is an intelligent designer; so is the universe. Evolution is the universe's unseen hands: with them, it took three elements--hydrogen, helium, and a pinch of lithium--and made all the marvels you see around you.

In Romans 8:11, the apostle Paul writes: "The Spirit of God lives in you." In 1 Corinthians 3:16, he writes: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 2 Timothy 1:14: "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." And so on.

Seneca, who influenced the early Christian movement, wrote the following: "God is near you, he is with you, he is within you."

What about the universe? According to Neil deGrasse Tyson, rock star astrophysicist and host of the TV show Cosmos:

We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us. 

God is a stickler for rules. So is the universe! And whereas God's rules are often nonsensical or arbitrary, the universe's rules are measurable, testable, and constant. Gravity, the speed of light, evolution, thermodynamics, and a slew of other laws govern matter at every level, from the subatomic to the cosmological.

God speaks through divine revelation; the universe speaks through mathematics.

God loves to play favorites. Jews, Muslims, and Christians--not to mention the countless sects fragmenting each of these groups--all claim to be the chosen people of God.

The universe plays favorites, too. It has selected humanity to inherit its most valuable gift--a piece of its own ruling faculty, which the ancients called the Logos. How do we know this? Look around you. No other animal on earth has the ability to reason, to theorize, to test, to create, to unravel complex problems, and to transform its environment. No other animal has discovered a way to decipher the universe's secret language.

Make no mistake: we are not special in the universe's eyes. It did not knowingly choose us to receive its gift. Circumstance made us beneficiaries; we are free to use our inheritance for good or for ill, and in doing so we decide our own fate.

***

So when a pantheist refers to God, he isn't talking about the Abrahamic God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims; he refers to the pantheistic God of Lucius Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, and many others.

Let's be real: he's a closet pantheist.

The pantheistic God won't intervene in our affairs. It won't bring us salvation or damnation. It gave us a powerful tool and set us loose. It is entirely up to us to learn how to use this tool and put it to good use. If enough people can do this, we may one day bring everlasting peace to earth without the aid of an imaginary sky-father.

/rant over

Mantra

Whenever you feel anxious, worried, inadequate, helpless, or overwhelmed, let this be your mantra: to make the best out of every situation and do the best you can with what you're given.

Repeat your mantra. Let it be your prayer, your incantation, your spell of protection.

Nothing else matters. Everything else is superfluous. Here's why.

The things in your life can be divided into three categories: the stuff that's completely outside of your control, the stuff that's partially in your control, and the stuff that's entirely in your control.

If an asteroid slams into the earth right now, for example, that's out of your control. Likewise, if a tornado comes screaming through your neighborhood, or if an earthquake brings your house down on your head, or if the global economy crashes, you can't do anything to stop it.

99.999999% of the universe is unknown and the .000001% we know about is mostly random chaos. Don't waste energy worrying about what might happen, or what has already happened. Instead, recite your line: do your best with what you're given.

People around the world experience natural disaster, war, poverty, and disease on a daily basis. How do they deal with such hardships? They mourn. They endure. They pick up the pieces. They march through horror, oppression, and atrocity. But more importantly, they persevere.

They do their best with what the universe has given them, even when what they've been given sucks. Some people get dealt a terrible hand right off the start. Others never get to play their cards because some warlord comes in and butchers their entire family or a tsunami sweeps everyone they knew into the sea.

Did these people worry beforehand? Would it matter if they did? No. What matters is that bad stuff went down and they dealt with the situation as best they could.

Now some things can be harnessed but not fully controlled. They can be tamed, sometimes briefly, sometimes barely, and be made to work for you. These things are fleeting and fickle. They are never completely secure in your grasp, so if you start to depend on them for a sense of self or happiness, you're definitely going to be bummed out sooner or later.

If you apply for a job, for example, you can partially control the outcome. Your appearance, mannerisms, and words can all contribute to your getting the gig. You have control over those things.

The person interviewing you, on the other hand, is a wildcard. You cannot predict with any real accuracy how they will perceive you. Certainly dressing the part and being prepared are good ways to stack the deck in your favor, but what if you remind your future boss of someone they despise? What if you make an offhand comment that somehow offends them? What if they don't like your cultural background, belief system, way of speaking, tone of voice, or any other number of things you can't anticipate?

The key in these types of situations is to identify the things you control and focus all your energy into them. Everything else is merely a distraction that will throw you off the only mission that counts: using the tools at your disposal to deal with each situation as it comes, without trepidation, dread, anger, or bitterness.

So what do you control, anyway? 

The thoughts in your head, the words that come out of your mouth, and the actions you take; those are the only things you have full control over.

That's it. Everything else is either only partially in your control or completely outside of it.

By focusing your energy into the things you can control, you do what everyone else is doing--the best they can--only better. We all cope with tragedy, misfortune, illness, and irritations, only most of us do it poorly and on a subconscious level. We let our conscious mind get bogged down with useless thoughts ("I wish this person were alive again;" "I wish the pain would go away;" "why does this always happen to me?") when we should be putting it to work on the one thing that matters: the present moment.

Overcoming whatever challenge is in front of you. Making the best out of a bad situation. Learning from past mistakes and moving forward without emotional luggage.

Doing the best with what you're given means taking the hand you were dealt--your biological, cultural, and personal identity, all of which was formed without your consent--and honing it to a fine edge. It means constantly working at being the best possible you there is, weeding out flaws, irrational beliefs, judgments, and biases, while fortifying your best qualities.

You may not be able to control much, but by controlling what you can--yourself--you're doing the next best thing. You're inoculating yourself against the external world. No matter what happens, whether death, disaster, misfortune, failure, betrayal, or loss, you know that you have done everything in your power to prepare for and deal with it optimally.


You'll still grieve. You'll still know moments of frustration, anger, and spite. But you will have a tight leash on such emotions. You will be able to dismiss them back into the basement at a moment's notice.

And suddenly, your sense of self-worth and happiness will cease to depend on external conditions. You will learn to do as Seneca said, to praise the quality within yourself, the quality "which cannot be given or snatched away, that which is peculiar" to you and you alone.

Each one of us is riding the same wave--the present moment--as it rushes forward; behind this wave is the past and before it, the future. Only the present moment is yours and it will sweep you along helplessly unless you learn to ride it. If you master yourself you will become like a surfer, carving a path along the wave's edge and taking it where you wish.

Remember your mantra. Make the best out of every situation; do the best with what you're given. Focus on the things within your grasp and watch as the universe bends to your will.

/rant over