The Layman's Answers to Everything

The meaning of life according to some guy who likes TV and stuff.

Enlightenment. The moment we consciously connect to eternal truth. It’s when we see through the veil of this illusionary world, rising above ego, time, materialism, and our own emotions to see the bigger picture—that we are all one. It’s what all gurus, spiritualists, yogis, Buddhists, monks, meditators, shamans, artists, writers, and religious leaders strive for. It’s the state Neo reached at the end of The Matrix, the level Dorothy attained so she could surpass time and space and return home, and the brief moment you get a taste of, usually in the shower, when your brain skips a beat on the record of reality, resulting in a little inspiration in line with your true self. But is there any way to speed up the process or at least know how close you are to the fully enlightened experience? I believe there is. And it’s something so unbelievably simple, you’ll be able to master it shortly after reading this blog post.

There are a lot of facts about our reality that have continually been shown through scientific methods, yet haven’t quite been digested by our mainstream knowledge. As indicated by Einstein and many others, time is illusionary. He even said that for those who believe in physics, “the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Then there’s quantum entanglement, which tells us that space is also apparently an illusion. Well, if time and space are both illusions, what is the actual truth? Logically, it would be that there is but one moment and everything is actually a part of the same thing. Then again, there is no room for logic in quantum physics—the subatomic world where the laws of our reality break down and do what scientists like to call, “some crazy-ass shit.”

Suffice to say, the world doesn’t work like our senses and mind tell us it does. There’s something bigger going on. Perhaps we are in a computer simulation, or a hologram, or an illusion created by an almighty God that wants to rediscover everything that it already knows. The details don’t really matter. What we do need to agree on (for the purpose of the Enlightenment Test presented in this article) is that something else exists beyond what we consciously experience, and that this dimension has an effect on how our lives play out. Call it heaven, the world above, the real world, another dimension, or The Twilight Zone, the point is that within that reality, there is only one moment and we are all one consciousness.

Our mythology, dreams, meditations, and instincts have given most of us a glimpse of that reality. Then there are some of us who have increased their experiences within this realm beyond just a glimpse as they’ve grown themselves in life. Far fewer still have been able to touch on this barrier-breaking experience at their choosing. We call these evolved beings, “enlightened.”

With the exception of Bodhisattvas, the Dalai Lama, and various prophets and Messiahs, most enlightened beings aren’t born that way, but attain such a stature through a cyclical process of repeated suffering, reduction of ego, and contentment in what is. Each new stage has its own challenges to be overcome, but when they are, the reward is more of a connection to the light realm and less to the material one. Because of this, the person experiences more light world reality (an increased ability to surpass the restrictions of time and space) and less of the material world reality (less material attachments, reactionary behavior, drama, separation of self (ego) from others, etc).

As a whole population, we have all been becoming more enlightened. This is apparent because we’ve increased our ability to surpass time restrictions (the speed of transportation, information, and communication is increasing geometrically faster) and space restrictions (technology has gotten smaller and smaller, as has weapons, to the point of splitting the atom to yield tremendous power). Eventually, we will all come to a point where we can jump to any space or time instantly, but as of now, some are getting there quicker than others. How can you know if it’s you? By using one of the most basic rules of our reality: the law of cause and effect.

The law of cause and effect says that if you throw a rubber ball against a hard surface, it will bounce back with the same trajectory and velocity (within a vacuum). If you dropped a rubber ball off of The Empire State Building, it would take awhile to hit the ground and then reach it’s highest point. It wouldn’t make it all the way back to you due to the interference of air friction and gravity. But if you were to take a rubber ball and throw it against the floor you’re standing on, it would return to you fairly quickly and likely make it all the way back if not beyond since there’s less interference from competing forces.

This is just how radar and sonar work. One can determine the velocity and position of an object (or one’s self in relation to an object) using high-frequency radio or sound waves reflecting off its surface. Just as the law of cause and effect can be used to determine the position of physical objects within the physical world, it can be used to determine the position of spiritual entities in relation to the spiritual, enlightened world. As they say in Kabbalah, as above, so below—whatever happens up there is duplicated in a similar fashion here. Kind of like a computer code (above) and how it plays out in a video game (below).

The most noticeable indicators of the enlightened realm are that time is illusionary and that we are all connected. So the closer we are to making those indicators true for ourselves, the closer we are to being enlightened. Using the law of cause and effect (aka, karma when used spiritually), it’s fairly easy to see where you’re at using some very simple tests.

Since every seemingly separate thing is really all one thing, it’s not possible for you to do something to something “separate” without getting the effect. Just as you cannot punch yourself in the stomach without feeling the force, you cannot do onto others without having a similar energy be done onto you.

So whether you publicly embarrass someone, react negatively physically or verbally, cut someone off while driving, accidentally step on someone’s foot, do something nice for someone, show them love, or go out of your way to help them, that energy, in a similar form, is coming your way. From this perspective, the point of being good isn’t to please God, get into heaven, or follow some golden rule, but to enable more positive energies to head your way.

Yes, this could be seen as being selfish, but even knowing these rules, it’s still not as easy as you’d think. Because the more spiritually evolved you become, the more you have to go outside yourself and be inconvenienced to experience growth. It’s not just about being good, but going out of your way to help someone, not talking negatively, not reacting, and putting others first. It’s about breaking your habits, facing your fears, and overcoming your challenges.

To test your proximity to enlightenment, you can use either positive or negative actions on your part. But the key is the intensity. So if you do something really nasty, to the point where you feel it in your gut, make a note of it. Note the time, date, and rate the intensity from 1-10. Do the same thing if you do something very positive—something you feel lighter for having done. The clearest positive deeds are those that inconvenience you to help someone else, preferably, a stranger or even someone you don’t like. After either scenario, you then need to be mindful. These actions will bounce back at you. Not in your next life. Not to be judged in heaven. But in the here and now. They won’t come in the exact same form, but they will evoke a similar response in you that they did for another.

If you’re fairly close to enlightenment, detecting the action will be easy. The veil separating you from the dimension where time and space are one will be thin. Therefore the effect should manifest shortly after, and be similar to, the cause. If it was something positive, it will come back as something you associate positively, whether that’s love, respect, kindness, or even money. It’s more likely to be something physical if the cause was physical. So if you helped with a charity, and gave more than you usually do at the request of say, someone you don’t particularly like, you might find yourself being given a significant coupon from a stranger, getting a helpful financial tip from a friend you haven’t spoken to in awhile (maybe a Facebook friend), or getting an unexpected check in the mail.

If it was something negative, and you’re relatively close to enlightenment, the effect will almost always come in the form of a lesson, like a parent sternly but lovingly disciplining his child for doing something wrong. Lose your temper, react in anger, act selfishly? Keep your eyes open. It’s coming back at you. Sometimes it’ll have a bit of humor to it—the kind of humor that’s ironic and can be laughed at in hindsight. It may be paired with some clues as well.

In fact, watch for signs coming with any of these effects. Just as the velocity and trajectory of a bounced ball can give a hint to the distance, position, and texture of the surface it hit, so too can clues be gathered from the effects of your actions in life. Once, when I was rushing past people in the subway station trying to find my way to another train, a young woman stopped me to say that I looked lost. When I told her the issue, she pointed to the information that was posted right in front of me on the wall. “Sometimes, you just have to look for the signs,” she said with a knowing smile. Indeed.

On the other hand, if you’re not anywhere near enlightenment, the test results will be much harder to recognize. Because you’re deeper within the illusion of time and space, the effect will take much longer than it would for the more enlightened folks. Your radar/sonar/rubber ball bounce will take much longer to reach its source and return to you. Depending where you’re at, it could take days, weeks, months, or even years to bounce back. If years, it’ll probably be close to impossible to figure out. But not to worry, you’re not nearly that far away. If you were, this blog wouldn’t have found you and you certainly wouldn’t be taking the time to read it.

Once you have a good sampling of the amount of time it took various positive and negative causes to have a returned effect in your life, average those times together. That’s your benchmark. Once you have that number, wait about a month and retest. Then retest again a month later. Is the time compressing? Is the cause and effect becoming more similar to one another? Is the proximity of the events happening closer? Congratulations, you are approaching enlightenment! Just by the fact that you are consciously noticing your actions, looking for signs, and performing these tests, the gap should be narrowing. But sometimes, they may not be.

If you find that the causes and effects are happening at increasingly wider gaps of time, space, and similarity, you’re being sucked back into the material world. This is actually a natural process of enlightenment. Just as a muscle must be pumped to grow, so too must you continually be stretched in both directions. You may have had a long enlightened streak but just did the test during one of the steps backwards. Seeing a power-lifter returning a weight to the ground doesn’t mean he didn’t put it up. It just means you caught it on the return. Continue tracking your most intense positive and negative actions and see where they go. You’ll be back on track in no time.

As you begin getting closer to enlightenment, something else becomes more and more apparent as well: the manifestation of your thoughts. That’s because much like the gravity and atmospheric resistance slowing down a rubber ball dropped from a skyscraper, as you get closer to your target, you experience less interference. And your target is the realm of light, which begat all of creation. And since we are all one, you are part of the entity that created it! You are that creative being you’ve been praying to! You can literally be the change you want to see in your life and in the world! Once you realize this and start praying to yourself, you begin to master manifesting your thoughts. This is why positive thinking, self-fulfilling prophecies, and the law of attraction, popularized in books like The Secret, all work. This is even why praying works. What you focus on expands, and what you resist, persists. Because either way you are thinking intensely about it.

The reason we are taught to pray, say grace before meals, be grateful, not speak gossip, be persistent, and smile our way through challenges is not so that God will reward you, but so that the energy that you’re putting out there will reflect back to you. And in order for it to do so, something that would invoke a similar reaction to the one you were thinking about, must be manifested. So by being grateful for a meal, you are attracting that energy to come back to you so that you have reason to be grateful again (manifesting another delicious meal to come into your life). The more intense the emotional attachment to a thought, the more likely it is to occur in your life. So as they say, be careful what you wish for, and what you think about.

Our life is a result of the collective thoughts we’ve had about it, just as our world is a result of the collective thoughts all of us have had about it. So if you want a life full of love, light, laughter, health, wealth, happiness, and peace, act as though you’re already there—and intensify any emotions that you’d have if your life was like that. Do so without any attachment or need (ego) and your life will manifest whatever it takes so that you continue to have those same thoughts. This is the magic behind every winning or losing streak, every addiction, every habit, lucky and unlucky people, going with the flow, and why you become more of what you already are.

As you get closer and closer to enlightenment, it becomes increasingly more interesting to see how our thoughts and actions manifest back at us. Buy a healthful meal for a homeless person and manifest the boss taking you out for lunch. Help someone with a heavy suitcase up the stairs and manifest someone steady you as you’re about to trip and fall on your face. Give money to charity and manifest getting money for your personal cause—perhaps in line with your destiny. Worried about an upcoming interview? Get a zit on your face the day it arrives. Continually holding your tongue and not speaking out against someone you disagree with? Come down with a case of laryngitis.

The greatest thing about the world we live in is that we create it all through our thoughts and actions. The most horrible thing about the world we live in is that we create it all through our thoughts and actions. The effects are up to you. All you need are some positive causes. Find the most terrifying one that you’re most passionate about and make it your goal. It’ll give you the most intense emotional energy to be duplicated and will very likely be your destiny.

May your inner spark grow to light your way,
The Layman

Einstein at chalkboard image with original writing found here.
The enlightened baby image can be found here.
As Above So Below circle art found here.

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If you aren’t familiar with my books, here’s a brief synopsis:

The Layman’s Answers To Everything is a spiritual comedy (or spiromedy) about an unlucky guy who believes he’s meant to do something amazing, but has no idea what it is. After experiencing many challenges and meeting a bizarre cast of characters, he stumbles upon secret messages hidden in TV, movies, and music that are aimed at guiding humanity. Using these messages, he starts a new religion that changes his life, and ultimately, the world. This is so much more than just a story though, because throughout the journey, we learn how to discover and fulfill our own destiny using the clues of the universe that are all around us.
The Lost book is called, The Myth of Lost: Solving the Mysteries and Understanding the Wisdom. It not only reveals an alternate solution that actually explains all the mysteries of the show, it also explains how the show’s wisdom can be applied to our real lives.