By Ethan Indigo Smith

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

The oldest and perhaps greatest measurement of time is the Hindu understanding of the four Yugas. It is based on a four part cycle akin to the seasonal solstice-and-equinox nature of orbit here on Earth and across the universe. Here on Earth we are in orbit around the Sun, in the depiction of the Yugas the entire universal creation revolves around truth. Here on Earth we experience Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. The four seasons of the Yugas include whole truth, mostly truth, mostly deception and all deception. And of course we are in the Kali Yuga – the fourth age of all deception.

The time period of each of the four ages is based on time periods in the hundreds of thousands of years, each of which is divisible by 108. 108 is a sacred number in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. For metaphysicists, meditators and numerologists alike, it is an austere number representing oneness, nothingness and the infinite as well as the corresponding trinity of time: 1 for the present, 0 for the past and 8 for the future. It represents innumerable insights, revelations and correlations as well, but these two ideas hold valuable keys for gaining insight and enhancing consciousness.

Meditation and Intuition

Whether your meditation involves some movement or simple stillness, one can use the number 108 as a sort of guide. Think of one thing, the breath. This allows the past to be as nothing, or zero, so that you’re open to infinite potential, 108. The breath is perhaps the most important part of meditation, it’s a starting point as well as the focal point. The breath relaxes the body and mind, and the body and mind in turn relax the breath. It is a sort of simple duality; you relax the breath and the breath relaxes you.

Whether one is seeking to solve a math problem or solve the latest global crisis, the best way to seek intuitive understanding (especially in world and time full of lies, deception and over-stimulation) is to meditate – and the best way to begin meditating is to breathe.

Think of 108, let the body relax the breath and the breath relax the body so that the past weighs nothing and infinite potential can become simple insight. In a world gone mad, full of people acting out and reacting to the deceptions of the fourth age of the Kali Yuga, sometimes it’s best just to meditate before reacting. Because today in our time, one is often reacting to lies in a way that liars would like one to react, and reconciling that reaction with deceitful provocation. Seeking intuitive understanding from a higher source is the best way to avoid being deceived.

We are living in the fourth age of the Kali Yuga and I, myself, along with many other cultural and theosophical traditions from the indigenous to the metaphysical, have postulated that there are four types of people in the world. In the most insidious political and social metaphor of them all, Plato’s millennia old Allegory of the Cave, there are four types of people within the cave. There are the prisoners of two types; the chained who are forced to watch shadows on the wall, which they are misled to see as reality, and the unchained who are so transfixed with the shadows they don’t require shackles. The shadows of fake images are cast by the captors or the deceivers, the third type, and the fourth type of person is the freed prisoner, who learns of reality, the truth outside the cave.

Which would you rather be?

Hear No, See No, Speak No…

Another similar allegory, one which illustrates how to be the freed prisoner rather than a captive to deceptive imagery, is also based on four distinctions of reaction and response – the Adage of The Wise Monkeys. This set of four is most often seen as a set of three, but there are indeed four parts. The Wise Monkeys are commonly known as Hear No evil, See No Evil and Speak No Evil. These are reactions, born out of fear. The fourth monkey is Fear No Evil, and he holds his dantien or lower abdominal region. This area of the body is where the Asian cultures that originally used the monkey allegory believe that all actions root.

Fear No Evil does not take action or reaction in fear. In fact he is depicted in a meditative positioning also known as Do No Evil. Symbolizing truth, the antithesis of evil, he exists without fear; fear of outsiders, fear of alternative perspective or lifestyles, fear of the truth, fear of what reality may be seen, heard or spoken.

Fear is most often caused by deliberate False Evidence Appearing Real, and holds us back as a collective as it propels us to take up unloving reactions, caught up in a time of lies and deception. In order to reach the truth in the Kali Yuga, the time of deception, it is a must to see or seek the truth within.

Be like the fourth monkey, in stillness, lacking fear as a motivator, capable of using eyes, ears and mouth to share truth with those with their eyes and ears covered. Be the escaped prisoner, no longer captivated by false images and shadows cast by the deceivers or captors, ready to share truth with those still held captive to the lie. Take a moment to meditate. It is possible you will develop your intuition and be less deceived, less affected by the deliberately shadowy imagery of media and politics. It is also highly likely you will be able to come to better solutions for all dilemmas. Sometimes in a world of lies, all it takes to see the truth is some time reflecting inwardly, instead of reacting outwardly, caught up in the fear.

Want to know more?

For more on the Four Wise Monkeys and the significance of four, take a look at Ethan’s The Matrix of Four, The Philosophy of the Duality of Polarity. CURRENTLY FREE EBOOK (9/22 – 9/24/2016)

For more on the metaphysical significance of 108, see 108 Steps to be in The Zone.

About the author:

Author Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino, California.

• Tibetan Fusion a book of simple meditative practices and movements that can help you access and balance your energy, and
• the controversial The Terraist Letters, a work that humorously contrasts the very serious issues of global nuclear experimentation promotion and global marijuana prohibition

Visit Ethan on Facebook and check out Ethan’s author page on Amazon.com