Monthly Archives: July 2012

Paths up a mountain

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Anyone who has read even part of my book knows how much I rely on metaphors to explain the counterintuitive and paradoxical subjects that one encounters in nondual spirituality. This metaphor is about the paths to the summit of a mountain that wind up its slopes. I use it here to illustrate how a common truth, a shared realization of nonduality, can be found at the heart of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism and Sufism, when they exhibit such diverse rituals, beliefs, and practices. In a world of continuing religious conflict, there is a tremendous need for this vision of wholeness.

As is the case with most mountains, there are numerous paths that start from different points around the bottom, and they vary widely in the skill and strength needed to climb them. For those people who remain at the lower elevations, the views are limited. In the foothills at the base of the mountain, one area may be lush with vegetation, while another is arid and rocky. In another location, there may be a pine forest. The few who climb higher get an ever-widening perspective. As they gain altitude, they begin to see some of what climbers on other paths can see. As they grow close to the top, the diverse paths draw closer together, and climbers occasionally glimpse each other. Ultimately, though they begin from very different places at the foot of the mountain, and follow dissimilar paths, when they converge at the summit, the jubilant climbers share the same spectacular view.

In spiritual endeavors, a similar phenomenon is true. People who are born into very different cultures and religions are often like people who live in the foothills of a vast mountain with little understanding of those from the others sides. They may recognize no similarity between their faith and those in other parts of the world, and often declare that they have a monopoly on truth. Their religious understanding is secondhand and conceptual. Those of other faiths may be seen as infidels, pagans, or lost souls, and conflict between such religions is not uncommon. This notwithstanding, there are those from every time and culture who have yearned for something more, an intuitive truth that resonates deeply in the heart. While the teaching styles and practices employed in the great wisdom traditions may be diverse, the mystical truth they espouse offers convincing evidence that wholeness lies at the heart of all. Seekers who dwell on concepts and secondhand understanding can only climb so high—but those who depend on actual experience can reach the summit and share the same realization: the unimaginable freedom inherent in their true nature, nonduality.

Lost in translation

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Thought is not only the defining characteristic of our modern age, it is central to our very human existence. It is the tool with which we make sense of our surroundings, adapt to changing circumstances, and anticipate threats. It is also the basis for our relationships with other human beings, giving us the ability to understand the experiences and feelings of those around us. If we could not think, we would have no way to piece together the events of our lives. The world would be unintelligible. Without this extraordinary and essential tool, our species would never have evolved at all. As a species, we have relied on thought—together with language and the ability to communicate and record our thoughts—to frame the accumulated experience of our past, describe the dimensions of our future, and lay the foundation for our progress in all the innumerable fields of human endeavor. In a world of incessant flux, concepts lend a sense of constancy and predictability. Fixed and unambiguous, they transform chaotic and potentially overwhelming sensory input into a relatively consistent model of our world.

Thought may be indispensable to our existence in the world, but the efficiency with which it symbolically organizes that existence comes at a steep price. We communicate in words that condense experience into concepts, but when we forget that those concepts are arbitrary and begin to substitute our conceptual version of reality for actual experience of it, we lose contact with what is real. Confusing mental partitions with real divisions, we find ourselves in a world of racial stereotypes, religious fundamentalism, and nationalistic fervor, at odds with those who stand on the opposite side of any mental divide. It is like the leaves on one side of a tree attempting to annihilate their counterparts on the other, missing the fundamental oneness they all share. The living, breathing suchness of our world, the very ground of our being, is lost in translation to the language of thought. We take the map for the territory and can no longer see what is.

The function of thought can be compared to the process of collecting butterflies. If an entomologist catches one of these colorful insects and pins its motionless husk on a board, he may admire the beautiful pattern on the wings and label the unique characteristics of its physical form, but he cannot apprehend its being anymore; that essence is lost. There is little in the display box that suggests the magic of its flight and the way it once fluttered from one flower to the next. Thought and its labels cannot communicate the ineffable. Like the butterfly, much of life resists the classifications and definitions we depend on to figure things out; it can be understood only by actual experience, by being and feeling, not through abstract thought. We know what green beans taste like, but to convey in words the experience of eating them is impossible. Likewise, when we think of the music of Bach, words cannot convey our own listening experience to someone who has never heard his music. Can a mother express in words the experience of giving birth to her first child? Life is in the living.