Everybody Is The Best

Open letter to everybody:

Did you ever notice that every single individual on earth feels himself or herself in a way superior to everyone else? What about you? Do you also have a subtle, deep, but convincing feeling that in a way, you are better, nicer, smarter, deeper or more intelligent than all others? Of course this is a tricky subject, since now you know that at least I, as the author of this letter, do have a kind of superiority feeling. Surely, someone who is not sympathetic towards me, will put me off straight away, and conclude that I am suffering from some kind of superiority complex. I will not argue with these persons, but I do hope that I still have your attention.

I would like to direct your attention to a level inside of us, which is even deeper than the level on which complexes reside. I invite you to look as deep as possible into your own mind, beyond the intellect and also beyond the ego. Can you do that? Formally, this is the purpose of meditation techniques and the like. But leaving all meditation techniques aside, I am sure that every one of us, on a deep level, can easily locate a subtle feeling that informs him or her that in a way, he or she is better, more sane, more intelligent, morally superior, ethically more correct, or internally more free, more peaceful, more smart, more authentic, or even more happy and contented than everybody else! This holds true in respect to all persons one knows, and persons that one sees on television or hears about in the news. Do you get where I am hinting at? It is a very deep and subtle feeling that resides in the deep recesses of our soul!

We can even expand this idea, and note that even animals do have a place deep inside of them, in which they feel superior to all and everything else. I once observed it astonishingly clear in a pussycat with which I was happy to share my living quarters.
At some point I had annoyed her by pushing her away too often from the keyboard, on which I was trying to type. She had chosen it to be her favorite place to relax and purr. After four or five times pushing her ever so gently aside, so that my fingers could reach the necessary keys again, she suddenly jumped up, stood before my face with her forelegs wide apart, and looked me straight into the eyes, hissing furiously as if she were saying: “who do you think you are, that you think you can push me around according to your liking? Don’t you think that simply because your body happens to be larger than mine, that you can tell me where to lay myself down and where not!”

I was deeply moved and impressed by the strength of character that this little creature had demonstrated in this act! She laid herself down again, and we managed to find a compromise, that was likable to both of us. I slowly shove my hand under her, and continued typing, while she lay stretched out across my slightly moving forearm. If you ever have had the honor and joy to be the servant of a pussycat, then you surely will understand that this incident increased and deepened my love for her even more! She had established the law of equivalence, just in case I tended to forget who she was!

And if cats do have a sense of superiority in them, then surely humans have it also. But it is a very deep sense. It hardly comes to the surface, and if it does, it loses its purity and perfection. It is a feeling that ideally stays on the background, and usually it does so. In fact it is so deep that some people are not aware of it. However, in my research into this phenomeno
I found out that almost all people can agree to it. That is, when they are honest to themselves and to me, in this case.

For several years I was living in a community, consisting of persons from over 30 nationalities. One day, it was decided to honor the group of Italians - about ten persons - for the fact that they were remarkably harmonious amongst themselves. Someone asked what the secret of their harmony was. To everybody’s astonishment, the answer was as follows: “It is the result of a principle that we all recognize and adhere to. We all agree on one thing: each one of us is the best of us.” This incident took place in the nineties and since then I have been contemplating on it again and again.

I came to understand that it is a very profound principle. It is based on pure metaphysics! But before I go deeper into this phenomenon, I want to ask you if you also can feel a kind of silent superiority, deep inside of your soul. Maybe you have to think a little bit about it, before you answer this question. Maybe you take a moment to become mentally quiet, and contemplate this idea for a while. Do you feel what I am talking about, at the basis of your personality, at the basis of you identity?

It is namely this innermost feeling that accounts for the fact that no one of us would like to swap his/her life with anybody else! Did you ever realize this for yourself? You may like to watch celebrities with all their wealth. You may look at the politicians with all their power. We see people of other cultures, races, religions on different continents. But it never occurs to us that we would like to be anyone of those we see or hear about, however famous, rich, beautiful, powerful or wealthy they may be! Somehow this is an amazing fact and one that asks for an explanation! Why is it, we can ask ourselves, that even the homeless beggars in our cities seem to be centered in their own identities, and would not want to change with anyone else? That is not to say they would not like to be rich, and have a home. This can very well be the case. But we are speaking here about a deeper thing. All people, whatever the condition they are in, are somehow deeply grounded in, and deeply contented with their own identity! They are contented with their way of looking at things. They are contented with their opinions, religions and worldviews.

Now there are about seven billion people in the world, and each of them is having his or her own opinion on many topics. And all of them feel that their opinion is the best. This certainly counts for President Bush, as we all know. But isn’t it noteworthy to mention that also Osama Bin Laden has this same feeling? This kind of inner contentment with oneself, accompanied with a sense of self-assuredness, applies to the religious people as well as to the atheists. It applies to the spiritually inclined as well as to hard headed materialists. It applies to saints as it does to criminals. It applies to the optimists, as it does to the pessimists. It applies to the happy ones as it applies to those who commit suicide. It applies to scientists, artists and philosophers. It applies to the powerful and the powerless. It applies to the healthy and to the sick. To the beautiful and to those who are not so beautiful. It applies to the young and to the old. It certainly applied to the English mystic and poet William Blake, as he wrote: “I am the Lord of all I survey.” Do you agree by now that somehow, deep inside of you, it also applies to you? I assume you do.

Now let us see if we can find an explanation for this worldwide phenomenon. Can it really be that we all are the best? Is not logic telling us that only one of us can be the best? And by what criteria are we supposed to select the best one of us? You will agree with me that such an endeavor is bound to fail. Why? Because we will never collectively agree that a certain person is the best of us, since in a way we ourselves feel better than the person that would be selected on some kind of criterion! Isn’t this remarkable? Where does this silent but unrelenting feeling of superiority come from? Certainly it will not be realistic to say that it comes from one or the other quality or personality trait that we posses. It will namely be easy to find someone who scores higher on this certain criterion. It will always be possible to find someone which is more beautiful, more intelligent, more creative, richer, stronger, wiser, holier, etc. than we are! This establishes the fact that the feeling of superiority, if it is something realistic at all, cannot be found on the level of our personality. It cannot not be based on any relative consideration at all.

We will have to search it on some absolute level, since obviously it is something beyond all relative considerations. If this feeling is realistic, and not a silly form of arrogance, it has to be something absolute. And that seems to make sense, considering it holds valid for all persons, at all times and at all places! It even holds true for insects, as I noticed in the behavior of mosquitoes, flies and wasps! Do you still think that you personally are an exception to this rule? If you think so, then it only goes to prove that you feel superior, since at least you are convinced that know better than all those persons who adhere to this philosophy… And I can assure you that over the years I met very many individuals who agree with this ‘Italian’ principle.

I’m afraid that within the regular materialistic worldview, this phenomenon can not be explained satisfactorily. This explains why it has never become a topic for scientific investigation. It is something very subtle, and like I said before, it is actually something absolute. It goes beyond any relative aspect of the personality. But that leads us to a field of knowledge that used to be well known in the past, but somehow has gone into oblivion: metaphysics: the science of that which exists beyond physical things. Metaphysics deals with a level of existence that lies at the basis of all relative phenomena. We can also say that it deals with a level of existence that permeates all relative phenomena. Metaphysics deals with that level of existence that can be said to be the origin or the essence of the material creation.

Modern quantum mechanics is in fact a modern version of this ancient science. Quantum mechanics has become so subtle and deep, that it is no longer dealing with physical stuff. It deals with that, which lies at the basis of all vibrational, ever changing phenomena. In the quantum mechanical jargon, this level of reality is often called the Zero point field. In this modern worldview, all elementary particles (often called wavicles) are seen as vibrations of an underlying field. This basic idea is also axiomatic to all varieties of the string theory. Every changing phenomenon is understood to be an excitation, a vibration or an expression of an underlying, unchanging field. This field in itself is absolutely abstract. It exists beyond the curvature of space-time. It is nothing material. It is described as a field of potential energy, and potential intelligence. It creates the entire creation from within itself. As such it has been shown to be self-interacting, and it has been calculated to contain an infinite amount of potential energy! Since it does not consist of anything relative, it is absolute in its nature. It is the scientific equivalent of what philosophers call the Absolute. All relative phenomena are an expression or manifestation of this abstract, unchanging field of potential energy and intelligence. This quantum mechanical level of creation can easily be seen to be the modern equivalent of what ancient metaphysicians have called the absolute, or the field of pure existence, the field of being, the field of intelligence or the field of consciousness.

The western tradition of wisdom is rich in metaphysical thinkers. Most familiar we are with the names of Plato and Socrates. But there are many more great philosophers who shared the same axioms with these great men. Pythagoras, Aristotle, Plotinus are just three of the ancient thinkers for whom the existence of the absolute was as evident as the existence of the sun, the moon and the earth. In more recent times we have Hegel, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Fichte, Schelling, Theillard de Chardin, Emile Bergson, Emerson, to mention only a few, who all assert that material creation is the manifestation of an underlying field of creativity and intelligence. The common element in all metaphysical thinking (to which of course all religions automatically belong), can be easily summarized as follows: consciousness is primary, matter is secondary.

Although the western tradition of metaphysical thinking is very rich and complete, when we are really objective in our view, we will see that the champions of metaphysical thought can be found in India, the land of the vedic tradition of knowledge. The entire vedic culture used to be based on metaphysical principles. The four Vedas, which are the oldest records of human experience, are replete with the notion that creation is a manifestation of pure intelligence, pure consciousness.

The more than hundred Upanishads are specifically composed to bring home to mankind the notion that the relative, visible creation is an expression of the invisible, but ever so real Absolute. Every concrete object is explained to be an expression of the absolutely abstract! Buddha called this abstract level of creation the all encompassing field of Nothingness, the complete emptiness, or Shunya. The Upanishads call it Atyanta Bhava, or Absolute nothingness. They compare the whole relative creation to waves on the ocean. Just like every wave is a temporary expression of the ete
al ocean, so every material object – including humans – is a temporal expression of the absolute level of pure existence, pure intelligence, pure consciousness.

The main difference between humans and all other creatures is the fact that a human being has the potential ability to become aware of his own essence, which is this abstract field of pure intelligence. When we learn to appreciate the silence that is always present at the background of our thoughts and actions, we begin to understand that this silent level of existence is beyond our personality, and is common to each and everybody. Whether we have formally meditated or not, or have been educated in a metaphysical thought system or not, is of no consequence. Since this silence is nothing other than the source of our thoughts, we are always connected to this level of reality. Even if we have not trained our minds to be still at will, we all have a natural intuitive connection to this silent background of our personality. Just as every wave has a deep inner connection to the ocean! When we sleep, we naturally become absorbed in this field of silence. Meditation, for that matter, is nothing other than a process of gradually silencing our mind, without falling asleep.

Then, as human beings, we can have a conscious experience of the abstract level of existence that is the source and ultimate substance of the entire creation. It goes without saying that this cosmic experience is oftentimes interpreted in a religious way. The individual comes in contact with his or her omnipresent source! This experience can be very empowering. But if it comes sudden and unexpected, this experience can be pretty much overpowering and rather confusing. If one has not been trained in a metaphysical tradition, one tends to interpret it as a religious experience. This natural contact of human beings with their cosmic source and essence has been the source of all religions.

But now, in this quantum mechanical age, we can interpret this cosmic experience in a more universal and scientific way. As a matter of fact, this contact with our source has always been the inspiration of all true scientists. Intuitively they felt the urge and possibility to explain the entire creation and its mechanics of manifestation. Albert Einstein for instance, had a clear intuitive insight in this ultimate field of creation, which he called the Unified field. He spent the last 40 years of his life to catch the reality of this field in mathematical equations. Nowadays this endeavor has to a large extent been accomplished in terms of the string theory.

But in this letter, which naturally is directed to all human beings, we actually started out with the intention to explain the fact that all creatures somehow feel superior to all others. By now you may have figured out how this can be done! Since we all have an intuitive connection to our source and essence, we naturally identify with this abstract absolute level of intelligence. Not only you and I have such a connection, but all creatures have it, whether they are consciously aware of it or not! Every creature is naturally rooted in his or her ete
al and absolute essence! This means that although we project our awareness to the outside world of phenomena, we internally remain connected to our absolute and perfect source and substance. It is of paramount importance to realize, that this absolute field of creative intelligence is our very essence: it is our ultimate Identity!!!

When we direct our attention outwards however, through our mind, intellect, ego and senses, we observe relative phenomena, including all other persons in the world. Thus inwardly we are absolute, while outwardly we experience all kinds of relative phenomena! Deep inside itself, the wave knows that in essence it is one with the ocean! But looking outside, it sees only waves! Therefore, it is natural for the wave to feel deep inside: ‘I am the lord of all I survey’. ‘Somehow I am greater than all the waves that I perceive!’ In other words, instinctually we know that we are the ocean, but looking around we only see temporally expressions of the ocean, waves! That can somehow be disappointing! Everything we see outside of ourselves is not so glorious and not as perfect as our very essence is!!! Because sure enough, no wave on the ocean, however mighty, powerful or beautiful, can beat the might, power and beauty of the ocean! And that ocean happens to be us, in our very essence! Get the picture? This is the ultimate explanation for our subtle but enduring internal sense of superiority!

Does this natural state of affairs make arrogant pricks of all of us? Let us consider. In a sense let me tell you at the start, that when a person is found to be arrogant, this natural connection with our perfect source has something to do with it! It only has become twisted and corrupted, and has been misinterpreted by the person as a superiority on the manifest level; something in the psyche of the person. This misinterpretation of the natural state of internal perfection lies at the basis of all superiority complexes. But fortunately, as you know, most people are free of this aberration and feel rather modest and normal in this regard. In most persons, it remains a very transcendental and abstract feeling. And since we are all in the same situation, we all feel this inner security, this inner connectedness, this inner contentment within ourselves. So, whenever you feel superior in a subtle and silent way, don’t worry about it! You now have the ultimate explanation for it, AND you now know that all creatures feel this way now and then!

The example of the ocean is very illuminating. Every wave is a manifestation of the ocean and as such is connected with the infinite power and glory of the ocean. Likewise, every individual is a manifestation of the field of cosmic creative intelligence, and as such is connected with the infinite power and glory of the Unified Field. When this internal connection becomes really clear in us, we automatically realize that not only we are a manifestation of the Absolute, but that all human beings (and all animals, etc) are a manifestation of the Absolute! Then we become aware of one important truth: on the essential level, we are all One! Why is this an important point? Because it is the ultimate basis for love between all creatures!

As no wave on the ocean is ever identical to any other wave, so all human personalities are unique and different from one another! But these outer, manifest differences do not take one iota away from the identical and common nature of our internal, unmanifest essence! In spite of our infinite differences, we know that basically we are one! Thus on the level of our innermost consciousness, at the source of thoughts and feelings, we are all one! This experience and this intellectual insight is the ultimate remedy for all kinds of superiority complexes and, for that matter, for all inferiority complexes as well!

In this metaphysical insight and experience lies hope of mankind for a better future! When this metaphysical viewpoint, which now is confirmed by quantum physics, becomes common knowledge in this third millennium, every individual born on this planet will become aware of the essential unity of all people. When I know that you and I are essentially one, I will stop manipulating you; I will no longer repress you, I will no longer exploit or discriminate you. And when you also are familiar with this absolute and scientific world view, you will also respect me and refrain from doing me harm. So this philosophy of life is not only the explanation for the deep and subtle sense of superiority which every creature in the universe is naturally endowed with (religious persons would interpret this as a great blessing of the creator), it is also the ultimate and scientific basis of hope for a better future, in which mutual respect will be the universal norm.

It is my firm conviction, that only when this paradigm-shift has come about, mankind will be able to significantly improve the situation that we are collectively creating on this beautiful planet. This universal consciousness-based paradigm will provide each and every human being with a universal consciousness based self-image, a universal consciousness based world-image and a universal consciousness based god-image! If peace is ever to reign on this planet, then each and every single human being will have to be educated in the universal, science-based philosophy of life, by which we are able to see the Unity that underlies and permeates the infinite Variety of creation. Then mankind will realize the beauty of the word universe: unity in diversity. When this interpretation of the (word) universe becomes popular in the world, mankind will finally realize the meaning of its own name: mankind… Do I need to say more? Let me greet you with the ancient Mayan greeting: In l’akesh – I am another you!

May peace be with us.

Yours sincerely,
Frans Langenkamp

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