The Evolving Book Part 1

March 2010

an evolving journey into what it truly means to be human

alan macmillan orr

public domain
2010

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 “If every action has a consequence, and every action begins with a choice, and every
choice begins with a thought, why not make the thought the best it can be! We all need
to start taking personal responsibility for our thoughts and the consequences which arise
from them. I plan to, how about you?”
alan macmillan orr
january 2010

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W ell, here we are in 2010 two years away from our impending doom in 2012. Even if everyone
is wrong about the end of the world coming soon to a town near you, climate change is going
to get you, and if that's not enough to start you having a panic attack, the terrorists are going
to get you, and even if none of that happens we are in economic meltdown, and soon we will be
scavenging through the bins in a most consumer nightmare created by, we are told, us. You see,
everything is your fault. The government has warned you of your errant ways. You who have
mortgages you cannot afford, you who spend too much on frivolous consumer goods, you who are
ruining the planet with your excessive flying! You who... Ok you get the point.
It is no one else's fault but yours and yours alone, and while we're at it, you are more than likely to
blame for the current spate of muslim extremism perpetrated against the peaceful axis of western love
and goodwill to all man. You see, you and your liberal friends have allowed these evil people to have the
ability to board our aeroplanes and kill us all – us all!

Oh my god, we're all going to die!

If you believe all the conspiracy theorists, the scientists, the government, the mayans, and anyone else
who believes we are all doomed, you may be beginning to start to feel the fear rising up within you now.
So what's the answer? Will recycling, banning airplanes from the sky, locking up anyone who looks like
they might be a “terrorist” save us all? Will being more careful with our money, having tight
government control over the banks save us all? No. The sad fact is, what you were hoping I wouldn't
say, I am going to – you are going to die. Every last one of you. And this is no empty threat – I mean it.
You are going to die.

So how does that feel? Knowing what I said was not some prophecy but something that was going
to happen to you? Are you scared, or do you, like me accept that in the cycle of life, where there is a
beginning there must be an end.
Now I am not here to argue the case for or against heaven and hell, reincarnation or any “post-life”
activity, merely to point out that there seems to be some very strong evidence that at some point in life
we “die”. Now you may say that we are all made of energy and we can never die, but what I am talking
is the basic stuff, you know, where it seems that continuing human “life” is controlled by a beating
heart. Heart beating = Good. Heart not beating = Bad.
So now we've got that out the way and we are all happy to accept that life as we know it will not
continue in its same form forever, and that change is inevitable, let us get on with the business of
living.

Living – it's quite good

I like living, it has it's ups and downs, or should I say, I have my ups and downs (i.e. my emotional state
changes, as does my financial state) but on the whole, life's good. I get to experience the earth, the joy
and pain of others, the suffering of the animals, the hatred, the kindness, the greed and the
benevolence, the destruction and the beauty.
Some of you may have what you see as a terrible life, and others may see you as having rather a
good life. You may think you are poor and others may think you are rich, or vice versa. Some of you
may be suffering with mental stress, whilst others may be being tortured physically.
Wherever we turn in the world someone is suffering in some way or another. But whilst we are alive
we have the power to change the world.

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 It's all about me

That's right, it is all about me! And indeed it is. You see, we are the only one's experiencing life, no one
else can experience life for us, no matter how much money we paid them. And that's why I'm here to
talk to you about changing the world. Just send a cheque to ….. Well that's what we normally do, isn't
it? Or we run off down to our nearest african country where everyone is starving to death and help
change the world.
But let's look at this a bit differently shall we? We have said that we can see the world is in a terrible
state, and we agree that we would like to do something about it, so how do we go about helping change
the world. Without even leaving our own home. Well, it is simple, but maybe too simple for everyone
who is always looking for a “complex resolution to a complex problem”.
So here it is, the definitive way to change the world. Wait for it... Ok, ready? The answer you have all
been waiting for... “Change yourselves”.
“Change myself ?” I hear you say. “Why did I waste my time reading this? I could have done
something more useful with my time than reading some guy's story that ends with telling me to change
myself!”
But I'd like you to stop and think for a moment.
And let's go into this very slowly and carefully shall we?
If I am the only one who can experience this life, then who can change? You see, we all want
everyone else to change, we want to help “people” change, and like all other things we try and do they
are external whereas experiencing life is a purely internal matter.
“Wait a minute” says you. “What about people who go around killing people, or people who harm
the environment, that is external not internal!”
And you'd be right! But violence is the external result of an internal state, and only by the
experiencer changing that internal state can the external world change. You may be able to forcefully
change people's actions through threat or coercion, but that is an imposed change, not one
that has been come to through the cultivation of insight and the development of awareness.
“But we live in a dangerous world, we can't just wait around for people to change!” says you, the
government, the human/animal rights activists, the environmentalists, the church, and everyone else
concerned with “change”... “We have to DO something!”
So, go ahead, DO it! Change, and let that be the end of it.
“But just one person changing won't change the world.!” says you. But why are you still worried
about “the world?” When it is only you who can experience it? You have become a vegetarian/gone
green/given up your consumer lifestyle/transcended anger & violence, why are you still concerned with
the external? By changing your internal world you have immediately affected your external world, but it
is not enough for you, you want change to happen faster, you want to see your changes reflected on a
global scale. Why? Why is it not enough for you to change and be the best you can be for yourself and
everyone else, and then just enjoy life?

Personal time

If we accept that the earth has been around for a long time (whoever the original creator) we must
accept that change is always happening, it's just difficult for us to see! Even objects we think are solid
are always changing, nothing is fixed in time, everything is changing state from moment to moment. So
when we say we want to see change in the human world, it is the same as saying we want to see the rock
change! We are just not on this planet long enough to witness the change. So we say we are not
prepared to wait for the rock to change so we invent a hammer and “make” the rock change!
It is the same in the human world where we may say we want to see an end to all suffering in the
animal world. If we change and stop eating meat and its associated products, we have made a change,

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but it is not enough is it? We want the whole world to be vegetarian and we will tireless campaign and
try to force everyone to become vegetarian, instead of just allowing the world to change at its own pace
and concentrate on our own lives.
But I can see people's frustrations and why they want to effect a change NOW. On the surface I can see
that governments and people in power generally are making this world a fairly fearful and violent place
to live in, but hasn't that been the case since man first started organising himself into groups with
leaders? Democracies and dictatorships come and go, and so do leaders; there have been countless
revolutions, and millions of people have died by the hand of the fellow man, whether by the sword,
gun, bomb, or by a lethal chemical concoction all in the name of freedom.
Some people murder others and are then tried, sentenced to death and murdered by the same
system which they may have voted for!
Some people steal to buy drugs, others go to work all week only to pay for an accepted legal drug –
alcohol, to blot out the memory of having to get up at dawn to work for money to pay for the drug to
blot out the memory of having to get up at dawn... you get the picture!

Enough already!

I know I'm bored listening to me going on about how everything is so terrible, and that people are
terrible – things aren't so bad if you just keep your head down and don't complain. If you conform you
can have rather a nice life. Stick in at school, and university and you may get a good job with good
chances of promotion, and you'll meet someone you fall in love with, you'll get married, buy a house
with a long loan from the bank, then you'll have children and you'll make sure they get the best
opportunity in life, and watch them grow up and have their own families, and you will retire and go on
cruises and eventually die, where if you believe in god you will go to a lovely place called heaven, and
everything will be just perfect...You have been a perfect cog in the wheel and your country really
appreciated it.
So stick to the winning formula and you will be alright.
Unfortunately if you don't or can't conform you are destined to live out a miserable life here on
earth and maybe in hell. You have not been a perfect cog in the wheel and are viewed by most as a
blight on the perfect society. So if you have the wrong education, job, religion, clothes, passport,
colour, street address, etc. do not expect too much from your life.

Why can't I have what you have?

So why should I live a miserable life in poverty, or surrounded by violence when you live a “perfect” life
in a lovely house in the country, surrounded by a lovely family, beautiful rolling hills, and plenty to eat
and drink? Why can't I have what you have? Why aren't the government/aid
agencies/army/police/doctors/anyone doing more to alleviate my suffering? Why must this pain go
on? I just want a better life.
And I agree with you. Why can't you have a better life? After all, you deserve it! But first let's look at
what a better life means. Does it mean the ability to go on three holidays a year, and buy random
consumer goods whenever you like, and have someone come in and clean your house every day? Or
does it mean wanting to experience a life free from violence, where you have enough food, to eat, clean
drinking water, a roof to put over your head, and clothing?
You see, both are possible, wherever you live in the world, they both just require a change in your
state of mind. So instead of saying “I wish I had a better life”, and feeling helpless you make a
conscious decision to change the way you think and create the change for yourself. Remember,
anything is possible, you are a part of the most intelligent species on the planet.

A change in state of mind.

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So although we can't see external change as quickly as we would like, due to our extremely short time
here on earth, we can effect an instantaneous change – that of our state of mind, where we choose to
experience life as a powerful creator, not as a helpless victim. And if you want to experience life
through having more possessions, whilst remembering there is no inter-dimensional shipping service
(as the egyptians probably found out), then that is what you must do; if you want to experience life as a
powerful dictator, intent on murdering anyone who crosses you, then that is what you must do. If you
want to experience life as someone who dedicates their life to trying to convert others to their religion,
then that is what you must do. Remember, you are the creator of your world. But your internal choices
may have far reaching consequences in the external world. But as long as you are prepared to accept
that cost, whether it be environmental or human, then all is well.
But whilst making your internal choices, ask yourself why you really want to be powerful, rich, etc.
as these are mere temporary states. Imagine for one moment, that the way you chose to experience life
was free of all these temporary states, where desire, greed, and their opposites were absent in your
internal world, where you were neither a peaceful nor a violent man. Where you were neither a rich nor
a poor man.

No peace and No violence

I can hear you grumbling that this doesn't make any sense, but I am trying to convey to you the
concept that one cannot exist without the other. So whilst we keep opposing states in our mind we can
never truly be free.
We are always told that peace is better than war, rich is better than poor, music is better than no
music, but in order to get to the heart of it all, we have to go much deeper, not into the mystical
cosmos, the ethereal, but into our own brains, the most advanced computer known to man!
It is here we can start to deconstruct the concepts that we have been conditioned to believe
throughout our lives, by our parents, peers, teachers, religions, leaders, and traditions. Where we can
start to explore the concepts that we surround ourselves with – anger, love, hate, jealousy, desire, and
greed amongst others, and by deconstructing them and transcending them, reduce them to a pile of
dust.
“But why should we do this” say you. “What purpose is there to do this it doesn't seem like much
fun!” And I agree, why would you? Well, I'm not about to tell you that you should do this, or should do
that, it is entirely up to you, as this is your life experience, as choosing to share what I am thinking is
mine. There is no obligation on you to explore your inner landscape, transcend violence, or give up
shopping at the mall! What you choose to experience is up to you! Do you understand?
But wouldn't it be fun to find out if there is a state of being that is, and no more? No? But why not?
Finding out, as I did, that I was a greedy, angry, jealous hateful person, with a twist of addiction was
not one that I expected to uncover on my personal journey into what it meant to be human. I expected
to find a life of joy and love, but instead found an empty space where love had dissolved along with
anger, where compassion had dissolved along with selfishness.
It was only through understanding the state which I can only describe as a straight vertical line in my
mind where all opposing states merge into one, that I have managed to carry on living fairly happily in
this world.

And now?

So have we learned anything? Have we managed to save the world from impending doom? Have we
stopped people from starving to death, or being murdered by lunatic dictators? Have we brought clean
drinking water to those in need?
A charge sometimes levelled at me, and the project I run, the natural mind project is “but what do

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you do? You don't actually DO anything. You do not have clean water projects, or fairtrade exchanges
in third world companies.”
A fair point, granted, but there are already many organisations engaged in activities aimed to save as
many people as they can. To make other people's lives better, to slowly improve things... But on the
other hand there are many people engaged in activities deliberately aimed at making people's lives
worse. We seem to be engaged in a constant battle between those who wish to help, and those who
wish to destroy.
I know we have covered this already but whether you call it good vs evil, or anything else, creating
opposing states creates division in the same way that by defining blue vs green you have created
division (as can be seen in rival team colours or different flags).
We need to resolve division, not between black and white, good and evil, muslim and christian, but
in our minds. For when all division is resolved in our internal worlds it shall be resolved in the external.
We just may not see the change spread throughout the world as fast as we would like (remember we're
not here very long)

Firefighting!

We keep trying to “fix” the world when actually, the world (as in planet earth) is in perfect balance, it is
only we humans who are not. And we will never be able to save everyone, nor save the planet. Now
some of you may think that attitude a bit harsh, that I have lost all my compassion, but it may be
precisely our compassion that may be the undoing of us all! We constantly show compassion in the
form of medicine, saving people who would otherwise have died, we have developed clean water in
cities, and have governments that look after our needs, all the while protecting us from evil terrorists
and criminals. We now have a population that has doubled in the last 50 years. but the fact remains that
nearly seven billion people now live on this planet, all with their own conditioned minds, all pushing
their opinions, and violence onto others, blindly crashing through life without any awareness of
themselves in relationship with the rest of the world, how any of their thoughts and actions are
affecting other humans, species, or the delicate balance of planet earth.
So don't worry about your carbon emissions, or the end of the world in 2012, concentrate on
understanding your own mind, and focussing on exploring why you think the way you and the rest will
take care of itself.
Oh, and please don't enforce your thoughts/choices on other people. Always ask yourself how you
would feel if someone was trying to force you to do something. Erm... that applies to you too mums
and dads!