Bleeding Edge

I was reminded of this Logical Thinking when was asked to squarely think and share data points and information during a Life Science discussion with a friend. We were actually talking about a new Life Saving drug that we have in the pipeline. A medicine so powerful — that it can mend the broken Hearts. A medicine that can save the lives of people suffering from advanced Heart disease. A salvation for broken people…

As I was conversing and inviting this friend to work with me — all the while thinking that at this moment — indeed here is a Paradox for a logical person. A scientist no less. And what is paradox, but a contradiction. A seemingly straight forward contradiction. Same as when I ask people to take a Leap of Faith, and come work with me, based on limited information.

And indeed I do this all the time. Because the way I see it — this is the job of a Great Leader. I must be the Visionary that other people will follow before all the data paints a complete and highly defined picture that others can follow. And indeed there is Logic and Reason behind these great Acts of Faith and the Leaps of Faith required of those who like St Paul, live amongst us today.

It is indeed the mark of Leadership to be able to communicate the Vision, but it is also the key behind the Human Mystery of Belief, to be able to follow that Vision to the land of milk and honey. The ones who get there, the chosen ones, are the blessed ones to live in a state of Grace of their own choosing.

And yet it all comes down to the Pythagorean geometry of the Theorem of Contradictions, and the rounding the square around the circle.

It is truly an exercise in futility when we only engage the binary, dualistic mind and clearly we cannot deal with this level of contradictions, paradoxes, or mysterious theorems, that require us to think at a different level.

Yet the mysterious thinking of Belief which rests at the heart of faith, is what a small percentage of people have become adept at, while the majority remain quite rigid thinkers because their “point of view” their agnosticism, their religious interpretation — all taught them that in order to be faithful, obedient, and stalwart in the ways they choose to conduct their lives, they had better seek some ideal “order” of things that dovetails fully with their philosophy.

And who can blame people who choose the easy path, instead of growing in their capacity for understanding things beyond understanding…

These are not elliptically thinking people, but rather quite ordinary smart and functional people. Unfortunately, they simply never learned much about living inside of paradox and mystery as the very nature of faith and life.

Albert Einstein, the famous physicist, told us to live Life as if everything is a miracle and then he went ahead and proved that…

Yet when one searches further — the local English language dictionary defines a contradiction as two things that cannot be true at the same time. In short a schizophrenic attitude to thinking. One could say that a contradiction is two things that cannot be true at the same time, being held in your present frame of logic. As long as you do not reframe your reality, as long as you insist on your own frame of reference, you will not be able to find the wisdom in paradox.

Take for example “The Kingdom of God” which is Jesus of Nazareth term for the bigger frame, or what we often call “the big picture” or “in the light of eternity” the ‘Great Hereafter.”

But to get there and to even begin to understand that great hereafter, you’ve got to find some framework that allows you to stand back and look at this moment with the eyes of Compassion for all and sundry, including yourself. Only then you’ll see yourself with compassion and love as well.

And that way, you’ll see in peaceful coexistence, the many things which appear to be contradictory through logical, egocentric, dualistic thinking. In the frame of compassion — things might not necessarily be divided. So much so that living in the here and now becomes the norm and a transcendent belief suddenly becomes easily understood.

Therefore a great paradox which is a seeming contradiction — may nonetheless be true if seen in this different frame. This newfound “Reason” and “Logic” behind the “rational” mind is what transcends understanding through the normal thinking process.

But let’s look at the meaning and the origin of the word “Paradox” in order to fully understand this paradoxical nature of belief.

The word comes from the Greek prefix “para” meaning “beyond” or “outside of” and the verb “dokein” meaning “to appear or to think.” A paradox is beyond the normal way of thinking.

Contradictions are based on logic, a set of assumptions or expectations which we take for granted. Conversion to a new way of thinking, is when a changed mind allows you to call those old assumptions and expectations into question.

If you’re still overly attached to your ego, you normally can’t let go of these opinions. It takes true transformation to allow you to look at yourself from a bit of distance—with some calmness, compassion, and the humility and honesty to know that you don’t know.

In truth, we are all living paradoxes.

No one or no thing is totally good or totally bad.

Yet the miracle of Life is always present with us.

Every moment that we are alive and every moment that we breath — we are a manifested miracle.

And well beyond this Life we are a true Miracle too — only in a changed form and in an unseen [as of yet] reality.

So let’s behave like it.

Yours,
Pano

PS:

As a good example we must examine the Damascus moment of Paul of Tarsus. In his profession, He was a persecutor of the followers of Christ and he may even have been a murderer of many of them — all in the name of being a good Pharisee.

He defended his reality to the hilt.

Yet on a fine day, and quite suddenly, on the road to Damascus, he gets blinded and as a fallen blind man — he sees the “Light” and he finds that the strict line between good and bad, evil and virtue, black and white — gets completely dissolved.

And in that singular moment, the contradictions have been overcome within him, and he joins the eternal Life of Faith…

What a Journey…

So what would be your road to Damascus moment in your Life?

Will you come to truly see after being blinded?

Or you will stumble from proof to proof until there is no longer the Miracle of Life to behold you in this World?

Be in the now and accept what is as it is: A great Miracle to behold…