Many of us enjoy a good philosophical debate. We all have free and open access to what we call the Mind, and specifically an aspect of the Mind we call the Intellect. As individuals, some of us may seem to have greater or lesser access to this aspect. Our unique interests will reflect this. Our interests flow in whatever way, based on conditions. I have a friend who tells me (and herself) that she is not very smart. She has a hard time following intellectual discussions and arguments that require a certain facility - or access, as I've called it, to Intellect. That's a story she tells herself, yes? But she loves to try. She is very interested in the Intellect, and in philosophical, and specifically theological, discussions. She and I have talked long into the night, losing all track of time, enjoying our shared exploration in this domain.
Although my friend might say she is not very smart - meaning perhaps that her I.Q. isn't high - she is Open. Jordan Peterson has introduced many of us to psychometrics, or personality psychology. This field of inquiry looks directly into our interests and inclinations, and classifies these into personality traits. Openness to Experience is one of these. Many of us, myself included, have taken one (or more) of the many "tests" which are devised along these lines on the Internet. My friend seems to demonstrate that trait called Openness to Experience. One doesn't need to be a psychologist to observe this trait in her.
Don't we just love taking on-line personality tests? Our curiosity about ourselves often knows no boundaries. Know Thyself, yes? It's a good thing.
Many streams of what we call Spirituality seem to be downright opposed to accessing the Intellect, but in these cases this is because they are focused on inspiring within us an experience of ourselves which the Intellect for all its wonders cannot touch. It can, in fact, be a great hindrance to our self-realization. One very well known spiritual teacher in the Guru tradition often tells us to "leave our shoes, and our minds, outside the door." Those of us who are quite attached to being smart in the relative sense might find this a bit rankling, but I'd suggest it is an indicator of intelligence to understand that there is more to Life, and more to ourselves, than how smart we are compared to the next one, and the next. When we're ready to apply ourselves to spiritual teaching, such objections fall away. When we are ready to apply ourselves to Spirituality, Heaven itself comes to our aid. In other words, we can always put our shoes on again. It isn't difficult to take our shoes off for a while, and then to put them back on again. This is not at all challenging.
The problem, assuming a problem exists - (no problem exists, by the way) - is not the Intellect but the attachment to it, the personal identification with it, as if we are saying, "This free and open access to the thought space defines me. Without this, I'm just not myself." Who is it for? On whose behalf does it arise? I had to ask myself these questions because I was attached in this way. I'm smart. I gave myself a hard time because it was important to me that "others" knew I was smart. It took a time to realize it didn't matter how fancy my shoes are compared to other shoes.
Here's a great teaching from my old AA sponsor. It's just two words: So what?
I have a flat tire, and I'll be late for work. So what?
This day isn't going the way I had planned or the way I would prefer. So what?
The current experience is not pleasurable. So what?
The woman I am attracted to is not attracted to me. So what?
I can hear Richard saying this in his gruff NY cop voice - emphasizing the "what" - "So what?"
It's quite easy to grasp Nondual philosophy intellectually, or conceptually. This is, however, insufficient and ultimately unhelpful. "The world is false; Brahma is real." Brahma may be understood as God, but not in the sense of a God who exists apart from ourselves. The esoteric understanding is that God means Reality; there is nothing that is not God. We are "through Him, with Him, in Him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever," in the language of the catholic Mass. This is a spiritual pointer.
I have heard this said on uncountable occasions from the time I was young. It has rung in my ears like a song my whole life - a mysterious song that seemed to contraindicate not only everything I was taught in school but also (almost) everything I was taught in the Church. The Church itself, as an institution, does not believe its own words. The Church itself, as an institution, has lost the understanding of them. So what?
An institution is deliberately ignorant because institutionalizing is a process of false identification, of preserving its interpretations and canonizing its current beliefs and building an impenetrable wall of protection around them whether they are true or false. It's more important to be "right" than it is to be Open. Whenever my own mind snapped shut against any perceived challenge - for instance, the fact that there is a realm beyond my conceptual grasp - it might be said that I was doing the same thing. At the moment we insist that we are "right," learning ceases. Which closes the door on Wisdom, closes the door on God.
God is right in front of our eyes at every moment of life - always right here, never apart from us. God is at zero distance from us. There is no "search." There is no "practice." There is no "attainment." Ultimately, there is no enlightenment. We are already in the Kingdom though we may search in every other place for it and say "It's not there. I don't see it. It doesn't look like what I expect to find." The Beatles sing "All you need is Love." OK. All there IS is Grace.
It is not my "doing." There is no "doing" in Reality. There is Being. You are already that.
The attainment of Wisdom is not an attainment. The realization of God is not a future event we strive to achieve with prayer and meditation and right behavior and good works. All these things are fine and right on their own. But in God, there is no future. There is Now. There has never been, and there will never be, anything other than Now. A Buddhist might say, "One day, perhaps after ten thousand lifetimes, I will be enlightened." But, God or no God, many lifetimes or just the One - however we have learned to conceptualize it from our particular culture - the future is imaginary. The Intellect cannot help us here. It is irrelevant. Understanding cannot help us here. It is irrelevant. Grasping is irrelevant. Seeking is irrelevant. We are already here. We are already here whether we are smart or not smart, good or not good, barefooted or shod, happy or unhappy, ready or unready.
In Christianity, we learn that Jesus died for our sins. Our suffering is redeemed by His. He has done the "work" for us because we cannot do it for ourselves. Truth: we cannot. Truth: through our efforts we are nothing; we cannot attain. We can only receive. What do we receive? Communion.
Don't seek, don't strive. Just Be. "The father doeth the work." The heart will open. The Kingdom is at hand.
Peace, friends.
Filter By:
