Dependent Origination

 Philosophically speaking, there is a great deal of wisdom in the concept of dependent origination.  Simply stated, all things flow into one another.  This moment has its roots in the moments before it.  It is also an antecedent to the moments to come.  That is the idea in a few nutshells.

Common sense, right?  Before the present, there was the past.  In the past, each moment was the present with a preceding moment being the past to the first moment.  As you read this, the words you have read are the past.  The words that I have already written (which I haven’t really written because I am writing this as I write this) are ahead.  You can see the page filled with them.  I assume this because, again, as I write this, the words are not there.  They will be there when you read this, though.

And this is the whole point.  You cannot have a now without a then.  You cannot have a tomorrow without a today.  There is always a moment preceding this one.  We all know this to be true.  It is the very fabric of our reality, our perception of time.

Yet, we have no evidence that time truly passes as we have been taught.  It is quite possible that the present moment is the only moment, held eternally in place.  All that varies is our perception of the changes in nature.  We explain it as time, but it is possible that all we observe is the constant natural degradation and alteration of every thing in the Universe.  There is no time.

Even if we take time out of the equation, there is action.  Action is always based on previous action.  All anticipated action can be predicted based on current action and preceding action.  Nothing we do right now is wholly independent of other things that we have already done.  Thus, the current moment, the current action, is dependent on previous action.  This is an example of dependent origination.

Grasping dependent origination is important because of one simple reason: we ignore it.  We ignore the fact that nothing existence independently of everything.  Somewhere, there is a point of origin for every phenomena we observe, every activity we undertake, every decision we make.  We have this tendency to believe that the actions of others are random, unpredictable.  In reality, they are not random, and they are very predictable.  If we can accept this, then anything we observe can be traced back to an origin, to some moment that was the genesis of the series of events leading to that which we observed.  Thus, we can find the root of all action.  This is an important point and should stand alone as a sentence:

     We can find the root of all action.

Every event, every action can be linked to a causal antecedent.  We need not fear seemingly random acts of violence.  We need not despair at misfortune.  We need not rage at the countless injustices heaped upon us by a jilted lover or a vengeful spouse.  We need not ask, “Why me?”

Why me?  Well, why not?  Who better than you?

If you want to know why, look for the cause.  Note the preceding moments.  Understand the circumstances.  Above all else, learn.  Learn and do not let these things repeat themselves.

Nothing happens spontaneously.  Everything happens for a reason.  Seek to gain knowledge of the reason.  Understand dependent origination as a mechanism that moves the Universe.