IS IT SAMSARA OR…?
WATCHING the news today, I was impressed by the thought that despite the magnitude and importance of what was being reported, most, if not all of it was about events upon which I had little or no direct control. It suddenly occurred to me that I was, in fact, experiencing Samsara, defined on Wikipedia as “the indefinitely repeated cycles of birth, misery, and death caused by karma,” the key word being “karma,” meaninghuman intentions and actions that influence the future. That is, there are things over which I have direct control, and other things over which I don’t, despite the latter (meaning today’s “news”) holding a surprisingly tight emotional grip on my thoughts and therefore life during the rest of the day. Call it “stress,” if you prefer, where stress is defined as an emotional investment in things over which I have no direct control. So this is to be the “new” inter-COVID world…?
The ostensibly oldest religion, Hinduism, would direct people to seek escape from Samsara in order to attain the ultimate life goal: mindful consciousness, meaning attention to those things — sensations, thoughts and actions — over which we do have control.
And yet…do “news” of events over which we have no control have no value? I think they still do. There is something of value in not allowing oneself to become isolated from the world in which we live and upon which we are ultimately dependent — call it “nature” — and the results of the contemporary thoughts and actions of humanity — call this humanity’s collective momentary “consciousness” — both of which do drive the thoughts and actions of the masses which eventually directly affect our individual existence.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, three coming-of-age firebrands must find their places in a challenging and dangerous future world where today’s hedonism and avarice now abound. In this future world, where individual diversity in friendship, affection, love and romance also abound, presents an interesting ultimatum not entirely unknown to us today: adjust, survive or die. So what do the natural and human actions of our world portend? Is there a “reason” to want to attain mindful consciousness in a world seeming singularly intent against it? I think so, and strongly suggest discounting any fears, instead, stepping up to the very edge of madness to see what’s beyond. And, yes, I’m writing the sequel, tentatively entitled “Prophecy” even now.
The Edge of Madness
Raymond Gaynor is the pen-name of the multi-award-winning, reclusive writer-artist-photographer-videographer, who, in his own words, “lives and breathes” San Francisco. He co-authored with William Maltese on the Tripler and Clarke naughty gay political thriller, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) and with A. G. Hayes on the fifth Koski & Falk adventure, QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016). He is the author of numerous fiction, “sci-fu” and non-fiction works published under a variety of different pseudonyms.
The ostensibly oldest religion, Hinduism, would direct people to seek escape from Samsara in order to attain the ultimate life goal: mindful consciousness, meaning attention to those things — sensations, thoughts and actions — over which we do have control.
And yet…do “news” of events over which we have no control have no value? I think they still do. There is something of value in not allowing oneself to become isolated from the world in which we live and upon which we are ultimately dependent — call it “nature” — and the results of the contemporary thoughts and actions of humanity — call this humanity’s collective momentary “consciousness” — both of which do drive the thoughts and actions of the masses which eventually directly affect our individual existence.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, three coming-of-age firebrands must find their places in a challenging and dangerous future world where today’s hedonism and avarice now abound. In this future world, where individual diversity in friendship, affection, love and romance also abound, presents an interesting ultimatum not entirely unknown to us today: adjust, survive or die. So what do the natural and human actions of our world portend? Is there a “reason” to want to attain mindful consciousness in a world seeming singularly intent against it? I think so, and strongly suggest discounting any fears, instead, stepping up to the very edge of madness to see what’s beyond. And, yes, I’m writing the sequel, tentatively entitled “Prophecy” even now.
The Edge of Madness
Raymond Gaynor is the pen-name of the multi-award-winning, reclusive writer-artist-photographer-videographer, who, in his own words, “lives and breathes” San Francisco. He co-authored with William Maltese on the Tripler and Clarke naughty gay political thriller, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) and with A. G. Hayes on the fifth Koski & Falk adventure, QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016). He is the author of numerous fiction, “sci-fu” and non-fiction works published under a variety of different pseudonyms.
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