The Riddle Of Life

I got an interesting New Year's gift from the cosmos today on January 1, 2011.

Possibly it was because of all of the “ones”  lining up together    1/11/11.

While staring at a log from a beautiful tree burning in my fireplace-the key to the answer of human existence became very apparent to me. But then, as often happens-the clarity dissipated because of my human consciousness getting in the way.

But this time I will struggle to recall my memory while it is fresh, and somewhere within this story, is the story of what life is all about.

Here goes, "to my best ability", describing my vision of what life is all about.

I saw the glow of the logs I just put in my fireplace.   As the logs were burning beautifully, with their glow, the same color as the setting sun-giving off warming heat and light with flames beautifully dancing in all different directions, each log burning in its unique own way-not exactly the same, yet all uniquely beautiful.

Now let me figure out the riddle here????????

The tree started as a seed, a seed of the universe created of star-stuff from the original Big Bang. That seed was fed and nurtured by the powers of the universe, until it grew from that original seed, to a magnificent stately tree. The trees are of all different varieties, shapes and colors, again, not exactly the same-but all uniquely beautiful.

From that point the tree was cut down, and the logs eventually ended up in my fireplace because a variety of coincidences that defy logic or understanding.  But somehow-there they were, --- burning in my fireplace, giving off a beautiful heat in their supposed last dance of life in their current form before going back to star-stuff dust again. Eventually their dust will go back to the soil-and possibly be part of the energy to nurture another tree to rise again. And thus the cycle will begin all over.

Now where are the parallels of how this gets back to our human existence????

I am not quite sure of that,-but I do feel sure of the process having those parallels.

Let's look at some options.

The first option that popped into my mind is that the tree took many, many years to grow and be formed into the log that was sitting in my fireplace. It may have taken close to 100 years for it to get into its form of that log. Yet miraculously in less than 100 minutes it will turn back into star-stuff dust again.

But while the logs sat quietly for that 100 years to grow into the original tree, it looked like nothing was happening. In that rhythmic 100 years, if someone continually stared at it, the tree would look pretty much the same. The seasons and size of the tree growing was not noticeable on a daily basis to the human eye. It was a slow beauty of growth-but yet, in that 100 minutes of burning in my fireplace-the log was actively beautiful, flames changing in fractions of a second! And it would totally disappear into dust within one hour.

Yes, in that 100 minutes, it gave back all of the heat that it took from the sun in the 100 years the sun put into it.

In that 100 minutes it gave back the glow of 36,500 sunrises and sunsets. Even the orange color and glow of the burning embers is so similar of the dancing light coming from that log in the exact same hues as the golden sunrises and sunsets of that sunlight 93,000,000 miles away! Yes, those rays of light were captured and bestowed upon the log, all stored into it through the wonderment of nature.

Again, this is not an easy concept-but considering all of the thousands of years of organized religions running around in total confusion trying to figure out the meaning of life, while making hundreds of wars in-between, I bring forth this theory without wanting to shoot anyone because of me forcing them to accept MY THEORY-over their own. Believe whatever you want-that is the glory of freethinking.

But let me not digress here, let's get back to the heart of the subject in the light and heat of that fire.

What the moral of this story is, besides me being possibly insane-is that we, in our very gifted human years of existence-are that log burning in my fireplace. In some strange way the energy of the universe created us as a "spiritual tree"-formed us from a seed of the cosmos into the finished product of being a human being “log.”  Yes, a human being-originally in the form of that living tree-however, possibly in the plane of existence we are in right now, it is not the living tree part, but rather the part-incredibly unknown to us because of the last stop before our log state-we are now in the form of that log ready for the fireplace of the play called "Life on Earth."

When the illusion of our "only life" begins….  it is when the fire is first lit. And in this plane of human existence, it is our time to give off the flames of our individuality, and creating and feeding the heat of our own uniqueness. It is such a joyous time, it is very short-lived against the face of all the other stages within the cycle of the cosmos, and we must make the most of it.

Let your flames soar! Enjoy the light and beauty of each new day recognizing how magnificent the opportunity to give off your individual light is. Recognize that possibly that this is all part of a pattern far beyond our ability within our limited human consciousness to totally understand. No, not even the smartest scholars understand everything-and those smartest scholars recognize that.

Brilliance is when the curtain of our small human mind steps out of the way and for moments , or microseconds, and we see epiphany's of truth which are incredibly revealing. Those moments last a very short time, and then the curtain of the illusion of what our eyes see falls back again. I believe what happened to me tonight was that curtain was pulled back for that very short moment-and I wish to grab my vision in these words, even though much of it does not make sense, but I have it now to refer back to for possibly another glimpse of that moment of an epiphany of the true reality.

I believe much great art, whether it be writing poetry-composing music and a wide array of other inspirational arts is "grabbed" during those small epiphany moments of brilliant insight. All moments are not the same in intensity. Some are small oases of truth, while others cover great cosmic understanding. I believe me staring at the fireplace tonight gave me a very short "cosmic jolt" of the true reality of existence.

Truth is a continually unfolding story-and oftentimes changes. Just ask Copernicus or Columbus-or more recently Einstein. Do not stagnate by the illusion that is put in front of your human eyes staring through your iris-with rods and cones giving as you the real truth. Do not let your human consciousness fool you either. Yes, it is all we have-but I do believe there is so much more!

To me, those trying to sell me organized religion are no different than a man trying to quench his thirst-and a charlatan trying to lead him to a desert oasis that is nothing but a mirage as long as he goes through the tollbooth of the preacher's "bridge of truth."  

The journey of finding truth as Krishnamurti so beautifully said-is a journey of "the self"-a pathless land of unfolding truth that will best be journeyed within the sacred temples of our own mind. And one must look at the forces of nature as being intricately involved with the real truth of what religion an life is all about. My temple is thunder and lightning and the beautiful canopy of the rainforests, and the majestic oceans and estuaries and all of our brethren who we share this Earth with. They are not lower forms of life, they are our common threads.

If anyone got to the end of this-you better check yourself into Bellevue mental hospital.

Please get a room close to me so we can discuss this further.

My spaceship has arrived and I will be leaving here soon………..    Happy New Year………..   Mike Jacobs