On Transcedence

I am reading a book that speaks to the existential isolation of man within his universe. The author attempts to explain how man interacts with language and signs within his world and with other people in an attempt to transcend his essential separateness.

It is interesting to note that in this view of the world, only man is seen as having this concern with his essential "selfness". Animals are portrayed as not discerning this break from nature and from each other.

As we move from our infant stage, gradually becoming capable of responding to the world around us with language and signals so that we are able to communicate, we by default isolate ourselves. This isolation results from our inability to directly transfer our thought or vision to others. We are limited by the language we have available to us. In this we often fall into the trap of trying to assure ourselves that we are being "seen" as we see ourselves, or more often as we would wish to be seen. Thus creating a constant cycle of discomfort as we are never truly able to discern if this is happening or not.

This is further complicated by the evolving social depiction of what is best, or how to be best. Hence the love of the material, the desire to perfect our physical to fit stereotypes of beauty. This can create the corruption of the vision of the self based on our desires to be accepted and perhaps even loved within these contexts.

The art then of transcendance is captured less in our religious and spiritual consensus, as one would expect, but in our ability to cope with these internal demands (shaped in part by our understanding of external expectations.) In seeking transcendance we can be driven in many directions. There are those who seek to stand above the crowd by exceeding in each category of the externally defined perfection of modern life. Hence these people are beautiful, successful, and kind (at least from the public view). These are often the people who are the least kind to themselves and the most likely to be hyper-competitive with those around them. There is of course, the other extreme, those who reject these definitions and strive to reach the polar opposite. They find satisfaction in shocking the mass-senses. Whatever might be the most objectionable is where they choose to act. Be this their state of dress or hygiene to their choice to reject all aspects or the material. Often these individuals find themselves moving in the opposite direction as they mature. Perhaps these two sterotypes are most commonly balanced by those who seek transcendance through either dominance in knowledge or through the arts. These are also forms of the extreme. When knowledge is used as the key, it allows the individual to know all - at some cost to their relationship with others - as they then must know what others think and feel and from where they are driven better than the individual themselves. This blocks their ability to ever truly know anyone as their eyes and ears are forever closed to another's point of view. This point of view being predetemined by their certain knowledge in advance. For the artist in transcendant posture, they often miss the world they live in, by transcribing that which has already occurred or focusing on that which is yet to come. They are too trapped in the habit of painting the past, or in trying to show the world a picture of the future, to truly live in the moment.

How then does the average human escape these traps and reach transcendance? How do we learn to overcome our separateness and find our bond with each other and with our world? This seems at the surface to either be a question that has no answer or to be truly pendantic in nature.

After completing the text regarding the cosmic approach to transcendance, my reaction is less vaguely defined. I think perhaps transcendance occurs only when we open ourselves to the moment we are living in. When we deliberately choose not to edit the moment or ourselves as we live it.

This is not an easy task, it requires us to somehow trust as a child would that the moment and those within it will not judge us. It also requires us to neither judge ourselves nor the participants of the moment. We are by the nature of our society, trained to make these judgements. If we can suspend judgement long enough to live truly in the moment, we can transcend our otherness and truly "BE" a part of our world.

What we do with this experience is ours alone, individually, to absorb and apply. It can help us to truly be comfortable in our skin; to become closer to those around us; to find joy in the act of daily living - or perhaps it will provide a small oasis of calm and nothing more. However, this art of transcendance leads, it seems to me, to the type of nirvana that is so often described within the Eastern religious tomes. I know that meditation is prescribed as a means of getting there. But this is really just the portal for opening oneself to the moment. It is not the end game in and of itself.

The idea of meditation is to free yourself from your self-limiting boundaries such that you are capable of interacting with the world without the limiting filters so easily applied by our judgemental selves.

I think perhaps this art of transcendance relies first and foremost on the ability to accept oneself as a complete being. To stop looking toward a point where you will become enough or reach happiness; to not have a destination in mind - no "tipping point" that will enable the self to embrace its totality with love and acceptance. To transcend one must find a way to accept the human condition of the self in this moment and each moment going forward. You are a whole and complete human being, worthy of every breath and complete, beautiful and substantial in your own right. This in turn leads to respect for others around you, in their natural state. They too are transcendant and whole. In this paradigm all belong within the circle of understanding.

Though we will remain limited by language, we can transcend through acceptance and celebration of the self.

The otter is a wonderful creature, they live in bounty, with true zest for life. Even as they forage for food, they can be seen to flow with the cosmos and to enjoy every moment. Perhaps that is the art of transcendance. To realize that at the core, we are all "otters of the universe" and to begin to celebrate this innate capacity for joy in each and everyone of us.

Live, love, laugh ...........and dance as often as you can, even if everyone is watching.