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Laws Of Memory : Part 22 : Law Of 99%
Tarun Pradhaan
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# Laws of Memory Part 22 Welcome to Pure Experiences. This is a series on laws of memory. Today we are going to discuss a slightly unusual and less known law of memory. I'm going to call it the Law of 99%. It is generally known, but very few people apply it to something as fundamental as memory, or it is rare to find this law applied universally to everything. But we are going to try, based on our direct experience and logic. ## 18 - The Law of 99% The Law of 99% says that 99% of anything that appears in the universal memory will be a degenerate. Now, I know this needs a lot of explaining. The word "degenerate" is often seen as negative. It is used for something which is very low quality, fallen, rotten. It is opposite of generate. But in statistics or mathematics, the word "degenerates" means almost the same, too many of something, not rare. That is the technical meaning of the word degenerate. So, the non-physical, non-mental memory is mostly composed of degenerate forms. This law is also known as law of 90%, depending on the kindness of the person. And there are more names, like ordinariness. Most of the things that are perceived or we have opinions about are ordinary. It is also called normal, the norms. What happens most of the time is called a normal thing. It can be events, it can be objects, it can be people, behavior of the people. And that means 99% of everything is mostly normal. It may not sound like a law, but if this is seen every time, whenever you go and check, then we want to call it a law. And this is also called, in an informal way, average. When we say that place is average, that means it is not special. It's fine actually, not bad. When we say this person is average, probably we are talking about their beauty or their behavior, nature. And here also it means that person is just like everybody else. It does not mean that that person is bad, gone case. Some people can hide their profanity behind this kindness of calling somebody average or normal. I've seen in my life, when I ask, "How is that company you're working in?" they say, "It is normal." They don't want to tell that wherever they are working has problems or something. So, instead of straightforward criticism, they hide behind this word normal, average. "How is your child?" "Just average." Which means no hope, no future! But people use these words sometimes. When we use words like degenerates or 99%, it is somewhat bitter. Anyway, it will simply mean that whatever we see is nothing special, lacking speciality. ## Understanding Speciality and the 1% Now, we need to clarify some things. First thing, I already told you, it does not mean inferior, and it does not mean that these things are not unique. They can be unique, but they are all unique. It is like this. So, the word speciality here actually means in the remaining 1%, which do not fit in any metric, which do not group into anything else. And sometimes you call it outstanding, which means that which is standing outside of the normal. So, in statistics we'll call it outstanding, or not normal, not average. It is 1% of something. So, what about a field of flowers? There are probably a million flowers, all beautiful, all fragrant. They are all also unique. But when you point to one specific flower and ask this question: "What is so special about this flower?" Actually, it is special because it is unique, but we are not talking about that kind of speciality where everybody is special and everybody is unique. No, we are not trying to hide behind politeness. There is nothing special in that flower because there are millions and millions like that. They keep growing them, they harvest, they dry out, they are thrown out. They are like 99% of flowers. But a very beautiful girl is gifting you a flower, rose, red rose. What is so special about that? Now everybody will agree it is not 99% of the cases; it is 1% or even less than that, 0.0001% chance that this will happen to me. "I'm an average person," they will say. "I'm ordinary." So, something really special has happened which nowhere has happened, there was no chance. But if you look at that rose, inherently there is nothing special. It is not a rose made up of gold or something else. So, if you put that rose in a pile of roses, in a factory of flowers, nothing special now. So, what brings it out of the 99% is some kind of event which is highly subjective. It is very subjective what am I going to call as 1%. But there will be a general consensus somewhere, just like I gave an example of flowers. Generally people will say 99% of everything comes out to be same-same, nothing special. And so, it depends on what are you trying to measure. Are you trying to measure the flower, in our example? Or are you trying to measure the importance of that event in my life? Then any flower will be okay, no problem. So, it depends on what are we trying to focus on that excludes the 1% out of the whole distribution of events, things, people, and anything else. So, these things need to be clarified. ## Universality Across Domains Now, it can be applied everywhere, universally. You will see like this: A beach is made up of sand, and each particle of the sand contributes to the beach. They are not insignificant, but there are too many. One particle has no importance in its own because they are all degenerates. It's normal, it's ordinary, just an average particle. It will be beautiful, it will be unique. Sometimes if you take a look at this sand particles under a microscope, you will see their uniqueness and beauty, but as a whole, nothing. And you cannot even talk about atoms and all, they are probably 100% degenerates. There is no special atom in the universe. They're all fundamental particles. The test of a degenerate is: if you can substitute it with another degenerate, it makes no difference. That is the test how to find something which is normal, ordinary, average. So, it can be substituted many times without worrying about any loss. So, probably that's why they are called degenerates, because they generate no excitement or amusement in us. So, sand is one thing. Same way, mountains, rivers, trees, plants, leaves in a forest. It is necessary for the forest to have the leaves. There is no forest without leaves. But there are too many. They're all normal, ordinary. 99% of them are just there. They contribute to the whole. 1%, we don't know, probably some kind of medicinal plant, some kind of psychedelic leaves, they fall in out-of-band categorization of 1%. They have value, they are rare. But again, if you put too many of them together, they lose that kind of speciality. This must be kept in mind while we discuss the examples. Like we always do, we go from the mineral, dead matter, to living matter and to humans and finally non-physical or spiritual matters. We check the law across all the layers, or you can call it all the dimensions. ## The Shifting Curve: Relativity and Impermanence It must be noted that when the average value changes, this 1% also changes. It shifts. That which is special becomes not so special, average, if the average value shifts towards it. The graph shifts. We have already seen this graph; it is the famous normal distribution or Gaussian distribution. So, that which is special is variable, actually. It's surprising, and that we cannot assume that this 1% of things will always remain 1%. They will always remain special, outstanding. No, cannot assume like this. So, we again take example of a flower, because it is very innocent, politically correct. If there is dry grass everywhere in a field and just one flower is growing somewhere in the middle, a beautiful flower of a rare color, let's say blue colorit's very rare to find a blue flowernow that is 1%. That falls in the 1% category, and the grass is degenerate. It is too many of the same thing. But if the same flower is growing in a valley of flowers, where there are various flowers, unique, beautiful, rare, everythingthere are such valleys in mountainsthen this our poor little blue flower loses value. Now it is also average. So, because the average has increased to a higher value, now that 1% will be something else. Now, in that valley, you will find a transparent flower or a medicinal flower or something, now that will become special. So, many people must have already guessed: where is this discussion leading to? So, mineral and plant kingdom examples we have seen. Animals: same way. Which fish in the ocean is special? So, very difficult. They are all 99% kind. Which human being is 1%? Everybody can guess now. We all know them. We all know their names and all. What about the rest? They are 99%. Can we call them degenerate? We should not. Nobody likes it. Can we call them ordinary? Not many people will like it. But we can call them normal, average, unique, etc. They are just normal. 1% are special. Why this is a law? Because the law will not deviate from this. You won't find a law where 50% are special, or you won't find a law where 90% of the samples are special. Because it is automatic. By default, if it is too many, a major part of the percentage pie, then by definition it is degenerate, ordinary, normal. So, there is no way to break this law. It is by necessity. It will be like this. So, let us take beauty. In an ordinary place, just 99% of places, among ordinary people, if there is a beautiful person, that person becomes special. But in a fashion parade or, let us say, beauty contest, Miss Universe or something, no value of that person. There are many, even better than that person. That's why people are so afraid of this law. Because finally, somewhere, somehow, everything ends up in the 99% category. The 1% always shifts. Why is that? That is because of the law of relativity. Everything is relative. So, this law ensures that nobody will be absolutely in 1% category. Nobody! What if that woman is Miss Universe? Although they don't look so beautiful to me, I don't know why they choose them. But that Miss Universe will remain Miss Universe only for one year or whenever they do this kind of competition. What about that person in a village? Ordinary village, ordinary people. Yes, that woman or person will remain in 1% till the age of 40, 50, or 60. So, the law of impermanence says that it is not fixed. Only 1% are unique and special, it says, but not for always. "Don't worry," it says. "Don't be so proud of your speciality. It won't remain." That is the law of impermanence. Law of relativity says that you will always find some more 1% in a group of isolated samples which were in 1%. Same with intelligence and so on. You are intelligent among stupid people. But if you find smart people, suddenly it feels like I'm the most stupid among these. It happens all the time. So, you can already see a combination of many laws here that are applicable, they are producing this amazing Law of 99%. ## The Psychological and Spiritual Realm So, we have seen bodies. Now, the mind, thoughts. A feeling or an emotion is special only if it is rare. If it happens every day, becomes like 99%, normal, average. That is why there is no true happiness. Because if it happens every day, it is no more happiness. It just fades into background noise of 99%. Now you need something more to feel that kind of rush of happiness. You can call it some kind of hormone rush, adrenaline or whatever the happiness hormones chemicals are. Same about suffering, pain, poverty. It becomes normal if it extends. If everybody's poor in the village, nobody worries about poverty. You can see the power of 99% here. So, before we discuss it even more and apply it to everyday situations and specifically to the seekers, let us check why it is like this. So, it is a direct consequence of law of repetition and the law of self-similarity. So, hopefully everybody knows these two laws. That is why I placed the Law of 99% after these two laws. And after these, the other laws of relativity and impermanence, because it will be easier for you to understand now why everything is in the category of 99%, why everything is ordinary, normal, average, most of the things, why the specialities are so rare and so short-lived. So, the law of repetition says copies will be produced, and by necessity, the copies are mostly the same. 99% will not mutate, will not deviate too much from the original. Occasionally, the law of probability comes in and says occasionally there is a probability something unique, special happens. And law of self-similarity also contributes here, that you can combine things and make something unique, but the law of self-similarity says that the combination of these things will be similar to the units, individual things. So, yes, you can have a beautiful pile of flowers which is in a shape of a rare flower. So, you take a local flower which is abundant, and you arrange many flowers in the shape of a big flower, which looks like that flower. Now it is special because there is no 20 ft tall flower in your town. But the law of self-similarity says that it is just copies. It is arranged in complex ways. So, complexity does not always guarantee uniqueness. Same way, you can take a country of ordinary people, peasants with ordinary intelligence. Even if that is a big country, it will not become a world power. It will not become the strongest and most advanced country in the world. But you will see some tiny island somewhere, some small country on North Pole somewhere, where everybody's rich, everybody has the highest medical facilities, and everybody is beautiful, they live long, happy. Why is that? They are in 1%. It does not matter if somewhere there is a collection of billions of people, average people. They will still remain in 99%, although the complexity has increased a lot there. That society will be unique, yes, and that society will be very complex, probably more complex than whatever we are calling 1%, but it will be degenerate. It will never achieve that status, because too many, too many copies, even though they have formed a complex system. Sometimes it can happen that some unique qualities emerge out of a large group of objects, for example, cells. Although they are not same, cells in the body, they're similar, but they do produce something unique, which is a body, human body or animal body. Somehow, it is special. It falls in the category of 1%. Assuming there is only one body in the universe, only one human in the universe, it will be very special. You can easily replace one cell with any other cell, and they are replaced every day, continuously. All these cells, even if they are so complex and unique, product of evolution, they are still degenerates. They are in Law of 99%. So, in the memory, nothing is really important because it can be generated anytime. It is non-temporal. It can be generated at any place. It is non-local. And it can be generated infinite number of times. So, all these qualities of the memory are reflected in the Law of 99%. It is almost certain that this will happen, but it is almost certain that there will be some deviations. There will be some outstanding events. That is also probable. That's not 0%. So, the nature of memory causes this kind of very odd behavior. ## Application to the Individual Now, as usual, we are interested in myself. We are interested in how this applies to me. And yes, you can already see: whatever you thought was important, gone. It's not special. Anybody you thought is important, gone, not special, can be replaced by another degenerate form, human. "Oh, no, I'm special." No, that is also fully replaceable. Replacement is waiting for you. So, this law brings some humility, makes us humble. But it leaves a possibility of 1% that you can be 1% if you want. And that 1% can be the left end of the curve or the right end of the curve, depending on how we are plotting. So, most of the people, they want to be on the high end, 1% of the higher kind. Because there will be totally worthless things in the lower end, they will be also 1%. The rest are nothing special, they are not even bad. Some event, some person is really bad, worst of worst, then that also falls in 1%, because there is nobody as bad as that, very special, very unique. Law of 99% is not dividing things into very good and the rest. No. It is simply saying 99% will be not very good and not very bad, just average. This is what it's saying. So, most of the time, everybody falls in 99% categories. Those who are not, they come under 99% when they meet something of their kind which is already in 1%. So, a rich person is rich among poor people in a poor country. That person will be worshipped. But if that person joins a meeting of top 500 companies of the world, nobody will even recognize that person. It happens all the time. That person also can be replaced, probably by somebody who is more rich, better, more powerful. And yes, this will not last. That 1% will be gone, back to 99%. Whatever you achieve in your life of material value falls in the 99%. This is very depressing, because we work so hard to achieve and fulfill our desires and materialize our dreams, only to find it getting converted into 99%, just average. It was a status symbol to have a phone in your house just 50 years ago. Now it means nothing. It was very rare. Less than 1% people had cars, and now there are so many that there is no space to drive on the road. This law points to the worthlessness of events which are superficial. Actually, they are 99%. For time being, they fall in the category of 1%. So, in the end, nothing is achieved, or it is short-lived. But that does not mean that we don't do it, because there is nothing to do now then. Then it will fall in the lower end of 99% anyway. So, just average is okay. You must accept it. This is the law. What about other qualities like loving kindness and intelligence? Yes, they all fall in 99%. Once in a thousand years, somebody is seen with higher qualities like this. The rest are just average. They think that I have these qualities and therefore I'm special, but because they are blind to this law, they cannot see it. Very quickly, they meet something, they get experiences which tells them nothing special, just copies. But that does not reduce the value of whatever qualities they have. It just makes it very common. But yes, that pushes the person into the higher end of the curve, normal curve. We don't want to be normal. As soon as the normal shifts, everybody then again runs towards whatever is perceived as higher, or 1%. So, the race continues. There is no end of it. There is no end of 1%. You will never be in 1%. This is the message. So, what about spiritual qualities? And you will see this is true, just like rich people, beautiful people, intelligent people, sensitive people, knowledgeable people, and spiritual people are also 1% in this whole sea of humanity. The rest are ordinary. You must have heard me saying this word: ordinary people are like that, spiritual people are like this. And people must be thinking, listeners, why do I call them ordinary? They are perfectly okay, they are special also. So, that is a technical word. Ordinary here means just like the rest. It does not mean inferior, just like I said before. They are ordinary. Nothing wrong in that. But they are not spiritual. That's what it means. Are spiritual people special? If you invoke this Law of 99%, yes, they are. But as soon as they evolve a little bit spiritually, they find that they are in the lower end, actually. They are the most devolved spiritual person. That is the problem of law of relativity, that there is really nothing to achieve. So, in spiritual term, they have ordinary spirituality, whatever that means now, meaningless. Is anybody so evolved that they are beyond humans? Yes, there are. They will be 0.0001%, historic figures. And you shift to their dimension or their world, it can be called heavenly or anything you like, no problem, and there are trillions and trillions of that kind of being now there. That is probably more than 99%. Among humans, they were 1%. It is always like this. It does not matter where you evolve to, which world you go to, which heaven you are dropped in, more likely you'll find yourself among 99%. There's simply too many. Too many structures in the memory. Why? It is infinite. The potential is infinite, which will cause this law to operate no matter what. No escape. We cannot break this law. The average can be shifted. It is always comparative. It is always relative, and it is always 99%. This is amazing. ## Rising Above 99% Who is in the 1%? This is a meaningless question. You should see the illusion of 1% now. What about 99%? It is also an illusion. It was our choice to divide everything like this. Many people will say, "No, no, no, no. Whatever it is, I want to be in 1%, whatever metric or whatever criteria you use for that division." And the answer is: why not? Yes! Everybody should strive for that 1% slot. It does not matter it will remain or not. This causes excellence, otherwise nobody will excel. Nobody will progress. So, although everything is ordinary, most of them, 99%, still it is logical to progress towards 1%, and you get the choice to decide what is that 1%. Lower 1% or higher 1%? You need to decide somehow, depending on your own like and dislike. There is no such law which will force you to choose only something which is positive, which is considered positive subjectively by somebody. No, you can choose anything. You can choose your speciality. A good example is: most of the people are ordinary, they are not beautiful, although they are beautiful in their own way. But when there are too many, nobody cares. So, anybody will want to be more beautiful than the rest. They want to be in the 1% of that: tall, beautiful, healthy, and so on. That's what they want. So, they join the gym and do the cosmetic surgery and take the supplements and so on, treatments. It is not wrong. What if somebody else is not able to do that? Will the world end for that person? And the answer is: no. You have other corner of 1%, other domains of 1% open for you. If not in beauty, you can get into that slot of 1% intelligent people, knowledgeable people. "No, I cannot even think properly." Okay, we have another choice: get into the 1% rich, rich and powerful. "No, that's not." Okay, become something which you like. "I like to travel." Okay, travel all the countries, all the places, all the planets of the solar system. Nobody's stopping you. You will be in 1% if you do that. The problem is: laziness. People want that 1% position, but they don't want to work for that. And such laws, they are demotivating. "You said everything is 99%. What is the use?" Yes, that is the problem, actually. Not the law. Law is okay. Laziness is the problem, lack of motivation is the problem. "No, no, I wanted to do this, but everybody's already doing that." Yes, that means you missed the opportunity! The 1% is that which nobody's doing. So, now you can guess: we have hacked into the Law of 99%. We are trying to now rise above the Law of 99% by utilizing it. Yes! Take that slot of 1% which nobody wants, assuming there's some positivity and goodness, value in it. So, in this whole discussion, we are totally ignoring the negative talk. Become something else. "My parents are forcing me to become a doctor." There is a crowd of doctors! Nobody gets admission in medical college, and so on. So, the rush to become doctors is so great that there are even fake doctors, with fake degrees. Although they are giving the real medicines, still it's a problem. Nowadays, it is easy to find a cure than to become somebody who cures. Just search on internet, you will get the medicine. So, anyway, if there is so much crowd there, 99% want to go there, it is your duty to find something else. Find your speciality. Don't be 99% simply because somebody told you that is good. There is no shortage of goodness in this existence, and you can cook up your own good. You can create whatever you want. Create your 1%. Become that which nobody can even become, nobody can even imagine of. That is the game. The game is not to break this Law of 99% and always stay at 1%. No, it's impossible. The game is to define what you call 1%. The game is to dynamically keep moving to this 1% peak, which we will never reach, but the game is to move, the game is to progress. Find a speciality, and everybody's finding the speciality, so nothing unique in that. You see, you cannot break the law. Everybody is finding their speciality; you also find it, and achieve it. Achieve that 1% designation. So, we try to rise above the law, but we cannot break the law anyway. So, for a spiritual seeker, it means you are unique, yes, you are not an ordinary person, but you must progress. It is not the end of your journey. Keep progressing. You are among 1% in the whole population of the Earth, but you are in 99% among the population of seekers. If you are a guru, you are 1% among the spiritual people, probably less than that, but you are just like 99% of the gurus, made no difference in the world. So, a master must strive for becoming a great master. A master must continue their journey towards becoming a great master, and then great-great-master, and whatever comes after that. There is no end. So, a very sensitive seeker will quickly sense that I'm in 99%. Well, no problem. A very intelligent seeker will find that which is 1%. Okay, what remains to be done? And there is a problem here that if everybody keeps doing it, that field will get saturated. This is called saturation. And now nobody wants that 1%. So, the solution is to simply rise above that. It has become average, so you find something else. Find something better, according to your own subjective criteria. Nobody else can tell you what is 1%. You need to search for it. So, because we cannot break the law, we must respect this law by setting up a balance. Okay, I'm in 1% in this field, in these qualities, in these achievements, I'm 1%, but I must remain like 99% in rest of the matters. Then this law will not punish you. For example, "I'm spiritual, I'm this, I'm that," that places you in 1%, but yes, your standard of living, your behavior, your language, your looks, body, whatever, is still 99%. And we don't have any problem with that. Sometimes there will be this 1% slot. Few fortunate people will get two or three such slots, but then rest of it will be 99% types. And it will be impermanent. So, we keep chasing the 1%. It is not that we avoid the 99%, this must be noted. There is no avoiding, but there is balancing. You will always find one or two aspects that you wanted to improve, they remain in the 99% category, but some of it will be in 1%. It will be always like this, which means this follows the Law of 99%. No matter what you do, you end up obeying the Law of 99%. If it happens always like this, 99% of the time, yes, that means we are bound by this law. So, rising above will simply mean finding our own speciality, achieving it, remaining in a balanced state, not discarding 99%, not insulting it. We respect the law, and keep moving towards 1%, keep redefining that 1% dynamically. It is all impermanent. So, that causes some kind of progress. A spiritual seeker is mostly interested in spiritual progress. So, find your direction, don't remain among 99%it's not goodand you keep going. There is no end of it. So, we'll continue the discussion on the laws. Thank you for listening to Pure Experiences. --- This article is a formatted transcript of a video in the series of videos on my YouTube channel **Pure Experiences**. Laws of Memory Video Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWKBCXU2oaNU