(Questions and Answers)
Author: Albert Amao
1. In a nutshell what is the book about?
The fundamental idea underlying these essays is to examine the so-called “conventional wisdom” under which we conduct most of our lives. The majority of the ideas incorporated in the “conventional wisdom” involve concepts that conflict with reality. When we grew up, we did not have the opportunity to choose our religion, our moral values, or our beliefs; we were ignorant and unable to discern between what to believe or not; therefore we accepted as true what our parents, teachers, mentors, religious leaders, and the dominant culture class impose unto us. As children we believe everything adults told us and this constitutes our personal creed, our faith, or outlook of life. This outlook of life (creed) is so engrained in our mind that controls our destiny.
As result human beings usually live in two worlds at the same time; one is the external universe (EU) and the other is the personal universe which can be called “Your Own Universe” (YOU). The external universe is the reality that we all share on Earth and throughout space; “Your Own Universe” (YOU) is the world created in your mind based on the creed or conventional wisdom passed down to us by our parents and teachers. Most of the time, these two worlds are in contradiction and generate problems in our lives.
It appears that man has a natural tendency to uncritically accept and go after what is dictated by “conventional wisdom,” which comes from our mentors, teachers, parents, our society culture and the mass media. For instance the main role of the mass media, on which the big companies spend huge amount of money, is to create needs and make us belief that their products are necessary for our happiness. They have co-create holidays like Valentine’s Day, father’s day, Christmas’s day, mother’s day, grandparent’s day, Halloween, etc. in order to make their products necessary to every holiday celebration. This has created the modern “consumerist society.” Mass media advertisements are based in specific psychological principles and appeal to people’s unconscious feelings and emotions in order to persuade them to buy things that they don’t really need.
We should learn to break through the herd mentality and base our outlook on life on coherent principles according to the laws of nature and reality. These essays will give the readers key ideas for reflection to enhance their awareness in life and to facilitate his/her personal self-exploration for a self-fulfilling inner discovery.
2. What is the Paradox of Life?
The fundamental paradox of life is, as we have indicated above, man lives in two different worlds which pull him in two directions. Thus, man lives in a world of apparent contradictions. Mystic, sages, and masters of life, however, tell us state that the world in which we live is in perfect harmony. We may ask, if the universe is in perfect harmony why is there so much misery, sickness, injustice, and suffering in the world? Why few people have too much wealth and the great majority have too little?
This is the paradox of life; unfortunately, ordinary man cannot understand these apparent inequalities and contradictions in the world until he experiences a higher order of knowing. A materialistic man trying to understand this paradox is like a mouse trying to understand how Albert Einstein’s mind works. The wise Ones, the real Initiates know that things in the world are exactly as they should be. The Law of Duality will always be present in life for the sake of physical manifestation in the tri-dimensional word, and these incongruities, limitations, and sufferings are necessary for the testing of man and for the development of his consciousness. Refer to the essay: The Adversary and the Redeemer, which part of the book.
3. What is the Greatest Philosophical Paradox?
Since man had use of reason, he has wondered about questions such as: Where life comes from? The answer to this question has divided philosophy into two great branches known as: Materialism and Idealism. The first considers that the world is solely a material thing composed of matter and energy, and that a valid understanding of that world depends wholly on the evidence of the senses. The second conception holds that all things have been created by a Supreme Being; this is the province of the religions of mankind. This paradox is reconciled through by a metaphysical conception of the world that holds that matter and all things in the world are expressions of an invisible “Something” that pervades the whole universe. This substance has been called by different names such as: Spirit, One Force, Universal Life force, etc.
The book also attempts to answer long standing questions based on modern scientific and philosophical speculations, questions such as: what is the purpose of our life? What is reality? What is difference between Spirit and matter? What is the role of man in the arena of life? What is faith? Do we need faith to live in this life? What is fear and what is the difference between faith and fear? Is there any point of connection between science and religion? It also examines the fallacies and deceptions on which many of the esoteric and occult doctrines are based.
4. How the Reader would benefit from reading this book?
These essays will inspire the reader to reexamine his/her outlook of life, his/her point of view on religion, philosophy, etc. Even a person who considers himself agnostic, atheist, or undecided in his/her beliefs will find extremely interesting ideas to re-examine his conception about life and the universe. For instance an atheist or agnostic must believe in something that claims his respect and his loyalty, something beyond here and now; by denying the existence of a higher Power, or Absolute, whatever he wants to call It, he or she implicitly is accepting Its existence, because one cannot deny something that does not exist. Some scientists are now positing the existence of a superior Mind that maintains the universe. In that sense, these essays provide a platform for readers to discuss and ponder age-old questions regarding their existence on earth and the meaning of their lives.
NOTE: Constructive critics and comemnts are welcome at:
stgermain777@gmail.com
For more infromation visit: www.albertamao.com and 777.albertamao.com.
