Wide Open Windows Wide Open Windows
In the spring of 2023, a Dutch translation of one of the most important books of my life will be published: The Ten Thousand Things by Robert Saltzman. De Tienduizend Dingen will be published by Samsara Publishing House and has been translated by yours truly, together with Suzanne Visser and John Devitt.
Why is this book so important?
Robert demonstrates in no uncertain terms that answers to ultimate questions are impossible. Well, there are answers possible, but they are unprovable and so the answers AND the questions are totally irrelevant. Is there life after death? How could we know? What is consciousness? What is the meaning of life? Why is there a universe? All questions that we will never and cannot answer, simply because we are living this life and cannot step out of it to see what is the meaning of it or what happens when life stops. The human mind is not capable of being outside itself. And human senses are limited in range, as are our brains and the rest of our nervous system.
Robert therefore criticises teachers and teachings that claim to have ultimate answers. Such people either suffer from self-deception, lie through their teeth or do both. And people like to believe. They want hope and certainty. They want that heaven or that 'Enlightenment', a permanent pain-free existence full of love and bliss. People also want medicine without side effects. They want to be helped by beings from the 'beyond', and so on. And so there are countless 'teachers', gurus and quacks who want to help you, often for large sums of money...
By reading this book, my own quest for ultimate knowledge came to an abrupt end. By no longer believing in the 'extraordinary', energy is released to face this so-called 'ordinary', and often painful life, to appreciate it all the more. My whole life has been about gaining knowledge. From childhood on. And not just any knowledge of course. I wanted to know the deepest truth. I studied philosophy and was a fan of many a great thinker. And all that deep thinking didn't amount to much, unfortunately. Unprovable castles in the air and fantasies, at best good for entertainment. Then came the 'spiritual' teachers and masters who once again mirrored an unattainable goal in my mind: Self-realisation! Tadaa! To be achieved by many purifying therapies and much meditation. Sure...
Not that I have become cynical or nihilistic now. On the contrary, but they can't tell me anything anymore that I can't see directly, is scientifically justified or is logically proven. I have no need any more for spiritual talk and hopeful thoughts. What is there is there and what is there is constantly changing.
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Robert's book will soon be available in Dutch. If you have trouble with English (or German or Spanish) then this is your chance to clean up your mind and to live this completely mysterious life and see through the stupid fairy tales about 'non-duality' or the 'Higher Self' and see for your self their lack of any worth.
I will keep you informed!