Question: What’s shaking?
Answer: Everything. Because, to the chagrin of most scientists and all materialists, quantum physics has proven that when anything and everything is reduced to its most basic molecular level (electrons and neurons) there is no solid matter, only vibration. Even the chair you’re sitting in is made of vibrating molecules.
Short of mystical experience, human senses are simply too limiting for the brain to comprehend that the tiniest particle is not a thing but a point of energy; that each particle has a field around it that merges with other fields, all of which are part of a unified field.
Albert Einstein on his theory of relativity: “The greatest tragedy of human existence is the illusion of separateness.”
Or, as Timothy Leary put it, everything is a dance of particles.
Question: What’s the matter?
Answer: Nothing. (See above.)
Question: Do you love me?
Answer: The ultimate if hidden law of attraction: The subliminal smell of your pheromones suggests you have genes different from my own and therefore our offspring would be strengthened by two contrasting sets of immune systems providing them a likelier chance of producing even more DNA.
Or put more simply: We vibrate well together.
Question: Is that so?
Answer: It cannot be otherwise.
Question: Are you happy?
Answer: Ineffably so, the higher end within the context of my natural range.
The secret to happiness is gratitude and low expectations. (Better yet, no expectations.)
Question: Where can I find happiness?
Answer: Only deep within yourself. If you link happiness to an external event it will be fleeting.
Question: What should I do?
Answer: Let it be. Let it go. Be still. And silent.
And contemplate the words of C.S. Lewis: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
Question: Can you ever forgive me?
Answer: Of course. I forgive you and everyone else who has wronged me. But most especially I forgive myself.
Mark Twain wrote, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
Said Jesus of Nazareth while being tortured on a wooden cross: Forgive them for they know not what they do (out of ignorance and an inability to transcend their own egos, knowing only to obey orders that derive from a deeply entrenched, badly flawed and terribly corrupt power structure).
If you do not forgive problem people, you carry the negative energy they try to place upon you. They win, you lose. Better to forgive—and go one step further: Give problem people your silent blessing.
Speaking of problem people…
Question: Do you know who I am?
Answer: Yes, someone who needs a year in a monastery. To learn a) nobody cares who you think you are and b) six feet of earth render all men equal.
Question: What are you going to do about it?
Answer: Forgive you for knowing no better.
Question: Tangentially, how do I deal with problem people?
Answer: Imagine a shield around you that cannot be penetrated by negative words or thoughts.
Almost 2,000 years ago a Greek philosopher named Epictetus pointed out that we all have FREE WILL over how to respond to external circumstances (rather than caving to culturally-conditioned reactions and impulses).
Which means this: Just because a ball is thrown at you doesn’t mean you have to catch it. Instead, watch, smiling, as the ball bounces away. And then, before a second ball is thrown, take a deep breath and slowly exhale (three times) before deciding if the second ball is worth catching.
Taoists call this wu wei, which translates to sit quietly, do nothing, let it pass through you. Your partner is hollering at you again about how you never take out the garbage? Do not answer back, let her words pass through you... but keep one eye open (and don’t forget to duck).
Question: Tangentially, if I’m told somebody has been speaking badly about me?
Answer: Quote Epictetus: “I guess they don’t know about my other faults or they would have mentioned those too.”