Born on the outskirts of New York city (on the border of Queens and Long Island) in 1976, I grew up close enough to one of the largest and most diverse world cities to reap the benefits of cosmopolitan culture, yet far enough to avoid the blunt of negative conditions which plague all inner cities. Due to inherited circumstances, however, I had a tumultuous childhood and adolescence. Looking back now, it has become clear that growing up in the environment that I did was somewhat of a blessing. It exposed me to many important things at an early age which eventually promoted the seeing of a clearer reality of the world and my place in it. If I had not had such negative experience early in life I would have not embarked on the path of knowledge that I tread today - and that would have been the REAL tragedy. One thing that seems certain to me at this time is that the mainstream of modern human culture is plagued by a corruption of consciousness. It seems that to be able to exist somewhat outside of that system is more of a blessing than a curse at this point.
As I have come to realize through time, all of our experiences (good and bad), have the potential to contribute to our growth. Like data processed by a computer, our experiences build the complexity of our lives. Yet the processing of this information and the integration of the different pieces into a more complex whole is the real key to growth. The more data we intake, the more potential we have for our minds to develop to higher levels. The problem is that our ability and capacity to consume and assimilate information is at times constricted by factors which affect the powers of the mind (which includes the emotions and intelligence) and the body. The current condition of technology-dominated human civilization is one of high frequency ; one in which the individual consciousness can easily be drowned in a sea of chaos.
Since the mind and the body are intimately connected (and ultimately ONE) and they exist in the physical realm, they are subject to the external forces outside of the individual system. A clear example of this exists in the simple fact that as we breath the air around us the atoms and molecules (primarily Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and a few others) which constitute the air enter into our system, are assimilated by that system, are used in the performance of functions which are vital to our existence, and are then eliminated back into other life forms in the surrounding external world to repeat this process within them and maintain the endless cycle which is the universe. The word "universe" in essence means "a whole integrated system which no part is external to". This is the fundamental truth of nature - the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things. To realize this is to realize that all actions which occur in that universe have an effect on every other part of the system. The logic built inherently into that system is the universal intelligence which exists within all things (from the microcosmic through the macrocosmic). It is this universal intelligence which is the embodiment of the ultimate truth, and the harnessing of this universal intelligence (which operates within us and through us) which is our goal. With this harnessing of the universal intelligence comes the attainment of the powers inherent in it and the state of ultimate purity of mind, body and spirit (pure health which is free from affliction of any kind).
...Why does someone write a biography? Is it for their own benefit, in the hope that they will understand themselves and their life experience better by putting it on paper. Is it for other people, who we want to help or to understand us? Do we merely want sympathy? Or does it go deeper than this? Maybe there is a natural quality wired into the human soul which motivates us to share our experience simply because the experience is sacred in and of itself. During daily life it is so easy to get caught up in the monotany and chaos that is the material world. We lose our sense that the world around us is special and that we and our experience is special. Maybe that is the reason why we write - to assert that we (as people) are special, that there is meaning and value in our lives. What a terrible world it is when we lose faith that there is a purpose to it all. I have lost that faith at times. Many of us have. To me, writing is a way of maintaining this faith. This is why I write this biography.
