referring to a kind of optical delusion of consciousnessthe above is a screenshot from an excellent March 2017 post on this at The Marginalian*
some thoughts arising on reading the letter:
nothing doesn’t change
nothing depends on nothing
nothing is other than what is
there is only this being
there are no other beings
for someone to imagine there are is
a kind of optical delusion of their consciousness
2023-01-14 / notes
*a link; see the about page for how posts – and copies on fw – use links
thoughts arising / as anything arises, ask to whom it arises and then ask: Who am I? (!*)
nothing … depends on nothing / anicca, anatta (!?)
nothing is other than what is / no one is
/ only in the mind or by convention is anything or anyone an entity (!*)
further notes are not appended to posts on fewer wurdz
the takeaway from Einstein’s letter:
to see anyone, along with their thoughts and feelings, as
something separate from the rest of the universe is delusional
to see this delusion as delusion brings peace of mind
a related point of view:
nothing doesn’t change
nothing is perfect
nothing depends on nothing
those are the three marks of existence,
of any and all being, of this being, just as it is
nothing is other than this
no one is
no one need do more than need be done to be and let be,
to live and let live with love, compassion, joy, and equanimity
… and that is being well
may all be well and want no more
*
Ishmael author Daniel Quinn said in
The New Renaissance – the prepared text of a talk he called a concise expression of the basic message of all his books – that while the Renaissance shattered several medieval beliefs, it left intact the most harmful one: that humans belong to an order of being separate from the rest …
*
Einstein called it ”a kind of optical delusion of … consciousness” to see anyone as separate from the rest …
click on either of the embedded images below to go to where they are on Flickr
this is as good a place as any to park a screenshot from
here of another letter, the so-called
God letter:
