Question Reality! The Curious Way to Peace and Happiness In every human being there exists an infinite source of peace and happiness. You were born with it. Your heart would cease beating and your mind would stop functioning without it. It is our common origin, the source of all life, that from which everything arises. Somehow, in the process of living, the knowledge of how to return and connect to the source, to the miraculous Heart of Life, has been misplaced. Returning to the Source is the hero's quest. It is the journey home to the font of our living being. And what we are seeking is The Holy Grail, The Secret of Life. Why is it so difficult for us to Return to the Source of happiness and peace of mind? Our inability to do so causes unnecessary and seemingly endless suffering to us both individually and collectively. It has also placed our entire species in great peril. And our failure to address this question has led us to the very crossroads of human evolution. The path we've been following is the product of the Tyranny of the Mind. This way is leading us rapidly to a dead end--to the unconscious creation of a living nightmare and the rapidly increasing likelihood of our annihilation in a nuclear or ecological catastrophe. But the other path at this Grand Junction leads to a change in individual consciousness that may allow us to create heaven on earth. This other way is The Curious Way, the philosopher's way of self knowledge based upon the ancient observation that the unexamined life is unworthy living. The Curious Way leads us upon The Hero's Quest, the Return to the Source, to our original state of being, so that we may learn to lead our lives from the Heart, the Original Source of Consciousness. To obtain the Secret of Life, we must first learn to Question Reality and end the Tyranny of the Mind. From the moment we are "conceived" we have all been systematically hypnotized and tyrannized by the magic spells created by the mind's inseparable twins of thought and language. As a result we find ourselves living in an Alice in Wonderland world. The stories human beings have created about our world and each other have trapped us all in an endless hall of mirrors, in a maze of our own creation with no recognizable way out. As long as we remain mesmerized, we are only able to see the world and each other through the veil of the mind's imaginary creations. If we are ever to have any hope for peace of mind, let alone peace between individuals and nations, the magical enchantment born of language must be broken. It doesn't matter what language you speak or which culture you were born into. The minds of all human beings are thoroughly programmed by their cultures and languages of origin. Our memories faithfully record this programming. All of our life experiences are filtered through it. Fortunately, it is possible to understand, reverse, and remove the more harmful aspects of our conditioning. This become possible when we begin to Question Reality as we have been programmed to "know" it by our cultures of origin. Question Reality! is about identifying and reviewing the many stories, concepts, beliefs, and ideologies--with which we have all been programmed by our languages and cultures. By pursuing The Curious Way of Self-Enquiry and other meditative practices we may learn to break the magic spell of language and Return to the Original Source of peace and happiness. All real change begins and ends with individuals. When you change yourself, you change the entire world. Nobody else can do this for you. It is entirely up to you to Question Reality and learn to see what's real for yourself. I believe that you will find it well worth the effort. For Returning to the Source of all knowledge and understanding is the key to real happiness and peace of mind.
About the Author: Carl Lyle Jenkins is an accomplished visual artist, an award winning broadcast journalist and news director, and an author of books and essays on a variety of topics. Carl's colorful artwork is found in the homes and offices of collectors from around the world. He has created hundreds of original works of art that have been displayed in shows and galleries on the mainland and in Hawaii. Carl's commissions include a series of murals created for the Universal Pictures movie, Kindergarten Cop, starring Arnold Schwartznegger. Created under the artistic direction of Academy Award winning production designer Bruno Rubeo, the murals were used in Universal Picture's worldwide advertising campaign for the movie. His latest artistic project involves turning his artwork into fantastic music synchronized videos that are created and performed before live audiences. Created using a keyboard and a computer with VJ software having special effects capabilities, the videos are projected unto full-sized movie screens. In his multi-faceted life, Carl has also directed theater companies in Oregon and Hawaii, served as a corporate training and development director, as executive director of a social service agency, and as a men's group facilitator working to help address the issues of domestic and gang violence.