"People don't change their minds. They die, and are replaced by people with different opinions"
- Arturo Albergati
A few days ago, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) died, or rather it is no longer being supported. Why does something technology related matter to this blog? Earlier this year I read an article explaining the advantages and disadvantages between being mortal and immortal. This was a computer experiment with one species being immortal and the other being mortal. When we think about it, species that are immortal should have the advantage. Imagine a world where people don’t die; where all the intelligence and knowledge that we have lasts forever. Where we don’t die and have to be reborn to relearn everything. It sounds amazing on paper, but the fact is immortal species, in the long run, can’t adapt like mortal ones can.
I remember in the mid 1990’s when IE6 was very popular. That was the best browser around, people adopted it, and it was the basis for all future browsers. I know some people who still use it. However, its popularity is now holding back web invention because websites still have to be designed with IE6 in mind. Today it died and this allows future inventions to evolve.
See, IE6 was such a standard that technology had trouble really moving past it. The benchmark that is IE6 didn't die (immortality), therefore future progress slowed because, instead of looking to the future, we were supporting the past. Sometimes it is good to kill an outdated, but very successful, predecessor to further evolve.
This explains why it is necessary for there to be death. We are sad when our grandparents, parents, and, finally, ourselves perish. However, death must occur for thought to evolve and refine itself. I feel the reason that we forget everything about our previous selves between karmic incarnations is so we can evolve and let go of outdated ideas. Even "the most important thing that has happened to you ever" is a product of this life, but our true quest is constant growth. Sometimes holding onto the past will limit our future because we will try to define our future experiences based on past events and cycles. Forgiving and forgetting these events, whether they are negative or positive experiences, is key. They only serve to remind us who we were, not what we will become.
Ego is a product of this Human existence. Our true nature is one of forgetfulness. Without a brain, it’s always the present. The question is "What form is the best to overcome karma the quickest: Forgetfulness or Remembrance?" Why was it necessary for us to have a brain? I believe that the point of our lives is to overcome karma, so perhaps it’s to help us in that way. If we can remember our past mistakes then we may not repeat them, allowing us to move on instead of dwelling on one lesson forever.
Every meditation session I’ve been to, I’ve been encouraged to go in a direction of oneness and completeness. That's good, we came from a place like that and will return to that place, but what if we had to grow a physical body to further rid ourselves of karma? We needed a brain, aka remembrance, to shed the next phase of our karma. Of course meditation is a great thing, it allows us to become realigned with our higher self and to act wisely, but for now we must come back to this reality that is moving, full of joy and pain, but is temporary, in order to be tested in an effort to refine our character.
Where did we get all our human karma? Is there a future step past our having brains, such as losing ego but still maintaining our physical bodies? I find that hard to achieve because our egos are what, essentially, protect our bodies. However, I am using my current brain to predict the future, so instead of doing that I will enjoy the ride. Maybe when this current IE has outgrown its usefulness I can refresh with updated ideas and have a better shot at it.
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