The Order

My classes are about presence, and presence starts simply by paying attention to the moment, this moment right now. Instead of being lost in the many thoughts, in the movie of the mind, we make a little effort and bring the attention to the moment, right here and now.

When we do this, a golden door opens up and when we pass through it, we find a beautiful ‘new world’, the world of presence.

This ‘new world’ has many aspects, but I like to bring your attention to one of these aspects, perhaps one of the most important and wonderful aspects, something that we need to learn to pay attention to.

This aspect of presence that I want to highlight is that there is an ‘order’1 sustaining the whole universe, and everything that happens, or does not happen in the universe, is within that ‘order’.2

The recognition of this ‘order’ will create a huge, amazing, positive difference in our life.

The ‘order’ simply means that for anything to exist, or not to exist, there are millions and billions of causes and effects running all the way to the very beginning of the universe that allow that particular thing to exist or not to exist. It means that there is a reason / ‘intelligence’3 why anything happens, and this reason (or series of reasons) / ‘intelligence’, is what I call the ‘order’.

In a sense, it is an obvious thing: nothing that happens cannot happen unless there is a reason for it, but that reason, which I call the ‘order’, is something that we miss, that we don’t notice, that remains invisible to our eyes, and because of this, we resist, become frustrated, oppose, fight or, in one word, suffer when things that we don’t like appear in front of our eyes.

To understand it better, we can mention several ‘orders’, although of course there are many more:

Physical ‘order’:
The large-scale universe, the planets, stars and galaxies follow an ‘order’, and  . The micro-universe, the atoms, electrons and particles also follow an ‘order’ (even the chaos of the ultra small particles are within an order). This ‘order’ has an intelligence, the intelligence that expresses as objects, as matter, as world. For the chair in which I am seated right now to exist, wood, metal, and plastic have to exist, and each one of these elements follow an ‘order’. These elements had to be put together in an intelligent way by an intelligent mind, but that intelligence is just another element of the ‘total intelligence’ I call the ‘order’.

Biological ‘order’:
There is also a biological ‘order’ because of which there are organisms. Each organism, from an ameba to a human being, depends on an intelligent ’order’ which allows this organism to exist.

Physiological ‘order’:
There is a physiological ‘order’ because of which the organisms can be healthy, ill, or dead. When we see either of these 3 things, we are seeing the ‘order’ expressing itself. If there is health, there cannot be illness nor death, and when we see death, is because, within that ‘order’, there cannot be neither health nor illness. When each of these 3 aspects of life are manifesting, each on its own time, they are doing it exactly within the ‘order’. If an organism is ill, for example, even if we understand why or not, that illness will be within that ‘order’.

Psychological ‘order’
There is a psychological ‘order’ as well. Our anxiety, worry, and fear—all these follow a certain ‘order’. There is an unconscious in everybody, and this unconscious follows a psychological ‘order’. Every person’s behavior – which is nothing but the combination of the unconscious plus the conscious mind – is within that ‘order’. A person cannot behave differently, unless he or she wants to change, but that desire to change will also exist within the ‘order’.
We all dislike selfishness, greed, or violence, but even these psychological traits are within the ‘order’.
If we find a person that manifests any of these, and we study deeply the psychology of that person, we will discover that given the EXACT history of that person, there was no other option for that person but to behave in exactly this way.
This of course does not mean that we need to like or accept with our arms crossed when we find selfishness, greed,or violence. It only means that instead of blaming, condemning, or criticizing, we can accept and understand, which brings freedom, together with peace and compassion. Then, we may act in any way that we see fit (also within the ‘order’) like defending ourselves, hitting back, embracing and/or putting the person in jail, but whatever we do, it will be done without hatred, resentment, or bitterness. Why? Because we understand that whatever the person did, was exactly what I would have done if I had exactly the same ‘shoes’ that other person had. The ‘shoes’ are an aspect of the ‘order’
…what I just said here is not easy to swallow, and it needs time, maturity, and lots of thinking to grasp.

The recognition of this ‘order’ is not about finding justifications for our actions, but about understanding that whatever happens, large or small, at the micro level or at the macro level, is within an ‘order’, and that the ‘order’ is nothing but the intelligence behind the manifestation of the only thing that – at this particular moment and given exactly these particular circumstances – has to happen or can happen.

If we study deeply anything that takes place, or does not take place, we will see the ‘order’, the ‘intelligence’ of the universe at play.

The recognition of the ‘order’ is a fundamental step into discovering freedom from suffering.
It is also a large step towards finding real love.

1This vision of the ‘order’ is not something easy to understand. If after reading this note you find yourself fighting and/or resisting with this idea, please write me back and tell me about it. Your comments will help me enormously in trying to express better this vision that I am trying to express.

2 In religious language, what I call the ‘order’ will be called God. The great difference is that God is something to be believed, but the ‘order’ is not at all about believe, but about understanding and recognition. Yes, in religious language God has many other implications besides what I mean here by the ‘order’, but I am just pointing that one of the many meanings that the word God has, is what I call here the ‘order’.

3 The way I refer to this intelligence is not as a ‘being’ with a particular agenda or purpose, but as a totally impersonal intelligence.


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