What Really Matters

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Here is a message I posted earlier today to my Clear Void discussion

list, which I think is relevant to this list as well.

 

 

Greetings

 

Well, yesterday was a bit quieter on the Clear Void list, after a

period of one or two weeks which saw a storm of messages, some of

them quite lengthy. A number of messages were posted yesterday, but

they were mostly rather brief. Whew!!!

 

I am afraid that we may have turned off many of our members, who may

have hoped for something more inspiring and less verbose. So let me

make a few general remarks.

 

The most important remark is that all spiritual paths based on

realization of a 'higher state of consciousness' do not care about

intellectual inquiry for its own sake. The ultimate goal is nothing

more complex than to destroy the strong sense of 'small self' which

binds our consciousness to its ordinary unrealized state. We cannot

manifest our divinity if we do not believe at a deep level that we

are divine. And this deep level entails the dissolution of the

firmly rooted ego sense.

 

Some may accomplish this through living their lives in a

compassionate and sympathetic way. Nothing is a more powerful

antidote to the small self than interacting with others as though we

truly feel that they are our equals and that we are in essence the

same. Actually living this way has powerful psychological

repercussions that wash away our negative tendencies, just as living

the wrong life reinforces those tendencies.

 

But the right kind of intellectual inquiry can also be a powerful

antidote to the ego, and that is what we pursue here. This inquiry

is never for winning debates or scoring points, nor is it for idle

curiosity. Rather it is for using the mind to clear away the cobwebs

of the mind, as a thorn may be used to remove a thorn. It is the

mind that makes us think we are the small self, and it is the mind

that can undo these mental knots.

 

Now the proper inquiry really transcends the mind and uses a higher

faculty called 'intuition'. This means realizing our inner nature in

an immediate and holistic way, which we can do precisely because it

IS our inner nature. It is because we are Spirit or Consciousness

that we can realize this, if only we are truly *aware* in the most

pure and expansive way, like the vast akasa (space). (I think I

could make a mantra out of 'akasa'! It is so evocative for me.)

This immediate realization is what I can 'intuition'. And this

intuition is not just a vague feeling; it has genuine, precious

knowledge: it reveals to us our intrinsically divine nature as

Consciousness. It is because we are conscious that we can realize

that we are Consciousness, if only we are 'in touch' with our Self in

an immediate way in the depths of our awareness, at the very core.

 

Unfortunately, the chattering mind keeps interfering by weaving webs

of illusory concepts and suppositions that obscure the pure intuition

just mentioned. It invents 'subject' and 'object', and from this

fundamental illusory conceptual projection upon the face of Pure

Consciousness spring all of our delusions and problems. For the

subject, when identified with the body and mind, must necessarily be

small and limited. And from this arises a feeling of limitation and

inadequacy. And then we start thirsting for and grasping at the

'objects', in the hope that they will alleviate our mental distress

and dissatisfaction.

 

Both Advaita and Buddhism, as well as all other paths based on

wisdom, enlightenment and realization, affirm that our own

Consciousness is all we need for complete happiness, provided we do

not limit it or distort it with the conceptual mind. Many people

think that so-called 'mysticism' is for foolish and immature people

who wish to fantasize about something that simply does not exist.

But the real fantasy is the illusory limitation that the mind

projects upon the 'substratum' of Pure Consciousness which is our

true nature.

 

And so, since it is the mind which is the culprit, it follows that

mental inquiry can also unravel the knots of the mind which are

responsible for all of these conceptual imaginations. For example,

all of our discussion about the reality (or lack thereof) of

'material objects' is not because we care about the supposed objects.

It is because objects only arise in the first place when we draw a

small boundary in our consciousness and call it 'my self'. At this

point the 'other' becomes the 'objects', and the illusion becomes so

powerful that deep impressions are left in our subconscious that are

carried from life to life.

 

Note that the idea of 'material objects' may only be the

manifestation that the subject/object duality takes *for me*. Others

in a dualistic frame of mind may not necessarily wish to use the

concept of 'matter', or may have a different definition of it. For

them, the nonduality discussion should perhaps continue in others

terms. However, my understanding of 'matter' is consistent with

Western academic thinking since at least Descartes, and it is also

apparently the same as the Samkhya distinction between Purusha and

Prakriti. Therefore a discussion in terms of 'matter' is well worth

pursuing for those from a Western academic background or for those

indirectly influenced by such a background (and that is perhaps all

of you).

 

The origin of all this is the mind. Therefore inquiry to use the

mind to understand the mind and to 'neutralize' the mind is a

perfectly valid sadhana, or spiritual practice. If we always

undertake our inquiry in this spirit, we will not get lost in the

thickets of sterile pedantry, even if the details sometimes get a bit

involved!

 

Benjamin