Wednesday, January 19, 2011

MIQ #2: The Default Answer (The Abyss)

"A certain fish swam all over the ocean asking everyone he met if they knew the way to the sea."

There is an unstated property of the Default Answer, Divide by Zero worldview that deserves some special attention. It is the concept of Freedom. If I were to discuss my search for the right worldview with the Divide by Zero worldview, it would teach me that all worldviews are right (and wrong). It doesn't matter which worldview I choose, only that I fully engage whichever one I want to follow. It would teach me that I am free. That I am not bound by any concept, law, doctrine or tradition. It would show me that all of these things actually hold me back, and keep me from experiencing the freedom of thought and mind that the Divide by Zero worldview promotes.

Freedom without boundaries. The Divide by Zero worldview connotes that boundaries and freedom are mutually exclusive, and so long as I try to live within any set of boundaries, I am not free - not in the true sense of the word. The highest form of happiness and perfect peace comes from outgrowing or overriding all boundaries, all pleasures, all sorrow, all pain. I can experience this happiness only through living in the immediate moment all of my life.

Man, that sounds good. I think this is what the serpent in the Garden of Eden sold to Eve. Transcend the boundaries. Be like God. Eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and know that neither are important. Be free.

I question whether this kind of freedom is true freedom, or if it is just disorientation. Consider this: A blind man is "free" from seeing any horrible thing. He is free from seeing any beautiful thing too. If you ask a blind man, "What does 'beautiful' look like?" How could he answer the question? He has no frame of reference to evaluate beauty. Is this really Freedom?

If freedom=blindness, I think I do not want to be free. On the contrary, the question, "What does beautiful look like?" is subjective. I think that in my search for a worldview to build my life around, I want to try to find objective, universal answers to questions like, "What does beautiful look like?"

It seems to me that without boundaries, one cannot be free - only lost. Freedom without boundaries is not enlightenment, it is the abyss; the void. Freedom without a frame of reference is not meaningful, beneficial or productive. It is just a delusion.

Freedom comes from knowing and respecting the very boundaries that the Divide by Zero worldview negates. I want to be free - free to perceive and gravitate towards a universal Good, Beautiful, Right, Pure, Wonderful Expression of Everything. I want to be free to be proud of that Center, and live inside of its context. Living there IS Freedom, Meaning, Fulfillment, Identity, and Belonging.

For me, I reject the Divide by Zero, Default Answer worldview on these grounds. I do not want to live in the Abyss. I want to avoid the Void. I can conceive of better than this. I want better.