Introduction to the Garden

I have never used a blog before, so I am a little uncertain about how to begin. The blog title comes from a story by Jorge Luis Borges of the same title. In the story the narrator explains how all possibilities exist for any moment in time. The Garden is a representation of this perpetual state of potential realities.

I suppose in a way that is how I see the world, as a garden of possibilities. My screen name, sidhart24, is derived from Siddhartha, and it is an allusion to Hermann Hesse's novel of the same name. Perhaps the greatest possibility for any person, at least according to any spiritual perspective, is to attain enlightenment, in whatever form one feels that it takes. It could be the state of Nirvana, ascension to Heaven, becoming one with the cosmos, becoming one with God - the individual must discover what form spiritual enlightenment will take and how he or she will reach this goal. Hesse shows how Siddhartha must ultimately forge and follow his own path to enlightenment. This individual must be open to possibilities, for until we have left this life, we cannot conceive what form enlightenment will take. This is where faith comes in.

It seems that the common idea of faith is thoughtless devotion to one unchanging idea. If one looks at what faith must do, and that is to support the seeker as he or she struggles to attain a state that cannot be conceived, one realizes that faith cannot possibly be static. The individuals must constantly question, confront, and challenge the ideas they are introduced to, in order to see if these ideas help them to gain some understanding of enlightenment and of their own spiritual condition. It seems to me that all religions warn against taking the superficial things in our lives to be the real things of value for the spirit. Well, how can one evaluate what is superficial and what is real without questioning? And how can people say they have faith if they cannot subject their ideas and perspectives to scrutiny? I say that those who cannot question
have no faith. They have no faith because they are afraid to scrutinize their ideas and perspectives, afraid that these ideas will not stand up to scrutiny. They have retreated behind a set of superficial parameters and will find nothing more.

When one uses the word 'questioning,' quite often people take this as implying doubt or displeasure, that by questioning something, those people are just some malcontents looking to undermine others' beliefs because the malcontents are not secure in their own. And this can be the case. The questioning I am talking about is questioning how valid an idea or proposition is in terms of spiritual development, and then deciding how it fits in with one's own perspective and development. If the idea seems useful or valid, it can be assimilated, or parts of it can. If one disagrees, dismissal is only the first step. It is important to understand why one disagrees so that one can reaffirm and even continue to adjust one's own belief. Spirituality is a process of questioning, and one must have faith, not in the ideas themselves or in doctrines, but that one can find his or her way. As one of my heroes, Bill Hicks, would say, we must always remember to "squeegee our third eye."

And that is what this blog will be for: to question. I will question political ideas, religious assumptions, books, movies, pop culture, you name it. Again, by questioning I do not mean simply challenging them to tear them down. I mean exploring their possibilities, brushing away the superficial dust and seeing if there is some value there after all.

I have just realized how serious this all sounds. But never fear, no spiritual exploration would work without some humor. I'll do my best to include some as I go. Some discussiong will just be about what is cool, fun, interesting, or, on the other hand, hopelessly lame. It doesn't all have to be about spiritual growth (although perhaps in some ways it all ties together). But who says you can't have a good time along the way?