Find your Way - draft - chapter 1

Find Your Way

By
Gary M. Jaron
June 10, 2007
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‘Not all those who wander are lost’
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 230, Unwin Paperback, 1982 edition.

‘Know Thyself.’
Inscribed at the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece.

[A note on the use of the third person pronoun in this book: I will use the words ‘she’ and ‘her’ to refer to a generic human being.  Those who have trouble with this will have to adjust their thinking.]
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My Journey

At age eight, or nine, I had an experience similar to a mystic vision.  It came to me in a sudden insight and I was illuminated.  I felt at that moment that time ceased to move.  That I was at the center of everything and all the veils had dropped.  I felt connected to everything.  I felt at peace.  I felt complete.  I could see into the heart of human reality.  I felt the essences of Truth and it was a gift from the Divine.

It all started with a recognition that I desired more than anything to understand the nature of things – how and why things were the way there were.  But to truly and completely understand the workings of the world was a monumental task.  I realized that I could never read enough and learn enough to fully understand the nature of reality. 

Then it came to me, what I needed to do.  To be able to describe how things in the physical universe worked was beyond the ability of any one single mind to encompass in all its detail and richness.  No single mind can do it – the Territory is so vast that it requires a multitude.  But there was a task that was within the grasp of a singular mind.  The knowledge and wisdom I sought was to understand people: the hows and whys of their thinking.  This was a singular goal and a singular task that one person could accomplish.  And there was a singular key to this task.  I did not need to understand the workings of the universe.  My life’s journey was about understanding how it was that people came to believe the things that they believe.  By understanding how people were shaped I would understand human reality.  This task I could undertake.  I knew in this visionary eternal moment that the key to humanly conceived reality was simple and elegant.

I have spent my life following this grail.  This book is the culmination of that quest.  In this book for the most part you will not find proof.  In this book you will find inspiration and maps to use on your own journey, exploration and quest.  If you wish to find proof then go to the pages of my bibliography and begin your own journey through the maps that have guided me.

My vision will not provide you with answers.  My vision will provide you with a set of tools for you to explore the Territory of life.  I realized that before you go off and explore the unknown you need to orient yourself, you need to know where you are starting from.  If you venture off without knowing where you are to begin with you will get lost.  If you venture off without a compass you will get lost. 

If you venture off without a set of maps you will get lost.  Conscious awareness of your point of origin, compass and maps: these are the things I can give you.  Where you end up I can not say, but those will help you from getting lost.