being too spiritual

we must honor the world if we are to awaken to the truth of reality.
this is an important spiritual lesson, for if we assume that the
material is an obstacle to spirituality and position ourselves in
resistance to it, we'll come to an impasse in our practice.

the buddha realized this, and summarized this teaching as the "middle
way." history tells us that he wasted plenty of time avoiding material
realities and repressing physical needs before seeing the imbalanced
nature of his efforts and changing his course for a more moderate,
inclusive approach.

but many lessons must be experienced personally before they can be
fully integrated. it's perhaps unavoidable that spiritual seekers will
fall into the trap of forming a preference for the spiritual over the
material; of mistakenly believing that the word "material" stands for
the game they've already been playing their entire lives and that the
key to salvation or liberation, then, lies in the denial of this
aspect of life in favor of its opposite.

but the material and the spiritual are not opposites; they are
manifestations of the same reality - they are the same reality. this
truth is pointed to in the buddhist heart sutra, which tells us that
form includes emptiness and emptiness includes form. these are
inseparable and only appear to be opposing realities from a limited
point of view. if we resist the material, we also limit our experience
with the spiritual.

the common western approach to life shows us the other end of the
spectrum: an overemphasis on the material to the exclusion of genuine
spirituality. this creates its own set of problems, for ignoring
spiritual reality has dire consequences in the material world. ironically, the
materialistic mentality is often criticized by spiritual
practitioners, who in essence commit the same mistake by failing to
open their hearts to materiality and becoming overly "spiritualistic."

a more balanced way of being includes an integration of spiritual
truth and an acceptance of material reality. from the human
standpoint, both go hand in hand and one cannot be whole without the
other. both should be honored and celebrated equally, as well as taken
in measure with respect to one another.

the supermystical power of loving the ordinary

spirituality is often sold as a journey of epic proportions full of incredible experiences and - if you're really lucky and extra special - even the promise of mystical powers. and who wouldn't love becoming some kind of superhuman? there's probably not a single person on the planet who at some point hasn't fantasized about it.

but what a disappointment when those who have been seduced into spiritual practice by the lure of escaping their boring daily lives and becoming something more than what they are now find that legitimate spiritual discipline involves exactly the opposite: being content with what is and realizing what we already are (basically, not demanding any changes from life).

after all, what's innovative about striving for something outside of ourselves to achieve happiness? whether we're looking beyond our immediate experience in hopes of getting a new possession, altering our present circumstance to better fit our desires, securing a higher social status, or attaining enlightenment is of relatively little significance. in each case, we're telling ourselves that what we have now isn't good or complete enough and withdrawing our own permission to feel truly satisfied with life until we reach our goal - which is always "out there," whether it be in space or time.

despite the fact that it's very often distorted as such, real spirituality is not an incentive program. it is perhaps the only mode of living available that's not based on the philosophy of devaluing what we have now in order to arrive at a more satisfactory future.

spiritual awakening will never, ever result from overlooking what is. because what is?

reality!

and how can you know reality without coming face to face with it? how can you ever even come close to knowing something if all you're doing is not only ignoring it, but actively running away from it?

working towards incentives is great, but not when it comes to your intrinsic sense of happiness and contentment towards life. if your basic sense of completeness and satisfaction depends on getting something other than what you have now, knowing something other than what you know now, or becoming something other than what you are now, you're screwed. you'll never get there. you'll keep on grasping and grasping and never be one inch closer to happiness.

the good news is, you'll never be one inch further away from it either. happiness is simply realizing what you are and being at peace with that (and you will always be what you are no matter what behavior you engage in, or fail to engage in for that matter). not superficially of course, as in "i'm a sensitive guy who works at a bank and likes gardening on sundays." realizing what you truly are implies discarding every last layer of artificial and misplaced identification and stumbling finally upon that to which nothing can be added or subtracted - that which remains unaffected regardless of what does or doesn't happen in your life - that which cannot win or lose but always, simply, is.

it's not beautiful, it's not amazing, it's not tear-jerking. (it's not ugly or boring either.) it doesn't solve all the problems in your life, and it may even create a few new complications. it doesn't give you special powers and raise you above all the messy flotsam and jetsam of everyday life (you're still gonna have to pay your taxes and wipe your ass). people won't look at you differently after you realize it and stand in awe of your power.

it's just the simple truth, and that's all.

but it will help you fold your laundry better, and it may even make scratching your nose a more joyful experience.

can't think your way out of it

real peace isn't felt until direct, unequivocal contact is made with the reality of one's essence. when that happens, the racetrack experience of life - where there's always somewhere to get to, where everything is just a means to an end and has no value of itself and a constant, dominating tension keeps one raggedly plunging ahead - gives way to a much more settled existence.

in the natural state of being, each moment is the culmination of experience and need not be compared to the past nor assessed with regard to the future. each thing is complete in itself. everything is the reason for everything, is self-fulfilling. no excuse is needed for happiness; nothing need be brought back from the past nor attained in the future.

past and future have no inherent reality and exist solely as waking dreams conjured up by the mind. the present isn't a brief flicker of experience sliding toward us from the vast expanse of the future and getting chopped up and departmentalized into the enormous filing cabinet of the past - the present is the entirety of experience.

one of the most pervasive and damaging illusions that hold sway over the human race is that the present moment is all but insignificant compared to the vast, opposing reaches of the past and future. at best, current paradigms see the present as a means to an end. there's always some destination to be arrived at, and the present should be sacrificed for the promise of the future. even the past - which at the time was not good enough, not honored - often becomes romanticized in hindsight and given more value than what we have now.

what a ridiculous and clearly insane way of dealing with experience. this timeline theory, with a long line stretching back to represent the past and a long line stretching forward to represent the future - and only a tiny dot to designate the present - is a devastatingly unempowering illusion to subscribe to because it reduces the source of all power to insignificance. to the mind, the linear theory of time seems - and thus, is - real. but the mind deals only in apparent realities and has no way of directly apprehending truth. the timeline experience is an illusion that arises when the mind erroneously becomes the locus of identity.

the belief in reality as linear time is analogous to the belief in the world as flat. judge only by what your senses tell you and it's natural to think the world just goes on in a straight line and suddenly drops off. look only to the content of the mind for an explanation of reality and, naturally, the succession of past-present-future seems real. gain a broader context (that is, step off the planet or step outside the mind) and both "realities" are seen to be perspective-dependent viewpoints with only relative validity.

humanity has always invented stories as a way of coming to terms with how and why things happen, but we have never had the humility to admit that at the time. instead, we elevate our stories to the status of realities - and quite vehemently. only when looking back at past generations have we been willing to say things like, "well, during that period humans were ignorant. they didn't have the knowledge or technology we have now so they invented a god for the rain, a god for the sea, and a god for the sun to help them understand why natural phenomena took place."

we can't see (or are not willing to) that the method of using anthropomorphic gods to explain things has simply given way to the so-called "scientific method," and both are just stories we tell ourselves - presented in a fashion digestible for the times - to escape from the fact that the mind has no way of knowing what's going on. understood correctly and put to its rightful use, the mind is not the be-all end-all of identity and experience, but a subsidiary instrument with limited purpose and application: a bridge between our unmanifest reality and the temporary play of forms it projects much like a dream.

so far, there has been a failure on the part of humanity as a whole to acknowledge this. we're hellbent on proving that reality can be encompassed by the mind. there has been a failure to embrace the "no mind" element of our selves; the truest part, the root, of what we are. because it cannot be grasped or seen or fixed in ink on a page, it seems a terrifying possibility to consider. so we keep sustaining the belief that someday we'll bring reality to the mind: "we haven't quite gotten it yet, but we're getting closer. we know we were wrong then, but now we're really on to something."

too timid to look outside the boundaries of mind, too timid even to admit these boundaries exist and stepping outside them is a possibility, humanity remains locked within the limited confines of mind-apprehended reality. the paradox is that our inability to step outside the mind is rooted in fear and keeps us living in fear. similarly, past generations were afraid to go sailing off into the horizon for fear of falling off the planet. for a long time this kept them from discovering the earth is round and no falling off is possible. once this was discovered, however, the fear of falling off simply evaporated because it was seen to be based on illusion, and further exploration became possible. (this may be an oversimplification of history but serves for analogy's sake.)

our basic fear as humans is that of nonexistence. it's what makes us afraid to step outside the mind; we believe we'll fall off into oblivion. we want to know reality, but we want it to fit within the familiar confines of the mind - to have our cake and eat it too. we want to transcend our suffering while holding on to the source of it. this hesitancy to give up our familiar positionalities keeps us locked in place. the mind can't touch what we are because it is contained within what we are. ultimate truth cannot be rendered into a format intelligible to the mind. it is experienced directly at all times because it is reality, but in order to sense this, focus has to be taken off the mind.

you can't think your way into truth; using thought as a way of apprehending reality is what keeps you mired in illusion. you can't think yourself out of illusion; more of what got you there in the first place isn't going to get you out of it. thinking is just not part of the solution. you have to break the hold thought has over you and feel your way into your basic truth. to do this you need no method, no technique, no collection of thoughts. these are the things keeping you separated from what you already are.

finally, thought is not even the problem. it's investing our thoughts with the sense that they're something more than just thoughts. it's thinking that somewhere within these thoughts we're going to find something that somehow will pop out of the realm of thought and give us something permanent. a thought will just lead to another thought, which will just lead to another thought. in a similar way, objects acquired in dreams cannot cross the threshold into waking experience and attain the status of material reality.

but the truth of what you are, which is indefinably good and once realized brings an end to mind-made suffering, is always here regardless of what goes on within the mind. as such, the possibility of realizing it is ever present. just take the focus off the mind and feel what else is here.

to not do

the maladies of a life lived in ignorance of one's true nature are multifarious and pervasive, but no matter how many forms they take or how deeply they penetrate, the source is always the same: misplaced self-identification. there exists, therefore, only one solution (truth-realization) and one way to bring it about: to stop identifying with what one is not.

how does one do that? one doesn't. one DOESN'T identify. since identity is already self-complete, identifying is simply not necessary (not to mention severely problematic). the notion of "identifying with" points to the common misperception that identity is something that must be constructed and maintained, shaped and perfected over time. as if the reality of what we are were a matter of preference!

isn't it terribly obvious that our very existence is proof positive of a root identity that was always there, long before any of our coveted opinions and beliefs came along and took center stage in our life? when we were carefree infants rocking back in our crib and plopping our big toe in our mouth, were we in fact not real because we hadn't yet crafted a personality?

in reality, the truth of what we were then is just as true now (how could it be any other way?). one thing that has changed is the development between then and now of a particularly nasty little psychological parasite known as ego.

many analogies have already been used throughout history to illustrate the withdrawal of energy from identification in order to reveal identity. a good one is that of the twisted towel: imagine turning a towel in opposing directions from either end. we can picture it building up tension, getting increasingly constricted and tangled. we can now ask ourselves what it would take to let the towel unwind and return to its natural, smooth state. more tension? obviouisly not. not even additional twisting in the opposite direction is necessary. all that's called for is a simple release, and the situation resolves itself.

what's needed here is a letting go of the activity that got us all tangled up in the first place, and the situation will resolve itself. as complicated and hectic as our present situation may be, we can't expect some big, flashy miracle or act from god to get us out of this mess. the solution is utterly simple and unpretentious: we have to stop obsessing over what we want and don't want to be and start paying attention to what we are. the former is characterized by incessant thought streams and mind plotting; the latter involves the willingness to be silent and observant along with the humility to accept that reality may be completely unrelated to what we've always believed it to be. the transition is possible if we're ready to accept that identity must be discovered, not created.

no opposition, no battle, no victory

truth is all-inclusive. reality has no opposite. illusion can only be illusion.

no battle is possible between truth and falsity. the real needs no defending, no wining; it's already real.

the ebb and flow between "good" and "bad," "war" and "peace," "freedom" and "slavery" in human society only denotes the collective level of truth-awareness regarding the fundamental sameness of our true identity. acknowledging this reality gives rise to the natural and spontaneous expression of love, peace and happiness; ignoring it brings fear, conflict and suffering.

even in a world in the grip of ignorance, truth hasn't "lost" because it is utterly impossible for that which is real to be displaced by that which is not real. it hasn't "won" either - it simply remains true.

the "battle" between truth and falsity can only take place in the imagination of the human psyche. one can become more or less aware of truth, but reality remains intact in either case. if everyone knows it, it's true. if nobody does, it's still just as true.

on a societal level, a tremendous amount of energy is required to maintain the structures of ignorance in place. by contrast, truth will always remain true and emerges of its own once the mechanisms of resistance break down or are no longer seen as credible. as long as the machine is running smoothly and continuously, however, illusion can hold sway over the masses.

why not? as long as the reel is spinning, we can immerse ourselves in the movie and practically forget we're sitting in a dark room surrounded by a bunch of other people, silently staring up at a screen. but the mechanisms better work; if the sound fails, the projector breaks down or someone in the audience causes a commotion - the spell's broken.

similarly, a continuous process of distraction is required for that which is self-evident and true to remain out of human awareness. we can blame the abundance of distractions in society on "THEM" or we can blame it on human nature, but who cares where responsibility lies? to dwell on that is simply a waste of time.

the object here is not to hunt down whoever's responsible and make them pay. righteous indignation and the desire for vengeance are some of the ego's juiciest positionalities and only serve to further entrench us in unconscious reactivity and misery. playing the "victim" role is just another excuse to avoid responsibility and justify squandering our actual potential.

it's sufficient to realize that while one is presented with ample opportunities for distraction and idleness, the choice to bypass these convenient, familiar diversions and reach for what's eternally true is always available. the transition from a life of cyclical discontent to one grounded in fulfillment, peace and the simple joy of being is not only a real option but represents the natural state of existence.

when we're no longer enthralled by the pictures on the screen, a return to the awareness of truth is inevitable. one need not enter into battle with unreal projections because doing so merely keeps one entangled in them, endowing them with apparent validity. once they're recognized as illusory, there's obviously no need to oppose them.

indeed, fighting against illusion implies adherence to it, just as a man screaming "you're not real! i refuse to believe you're real!!" at a character on a movie screen suffers from a hallucination despite his resistance to it.

in this sense, what's conducive to the growth of spiritual awareness is not wining battles over the particulars of one's life - which at the time may seem real enough - by engaging in direct confrontation, but to rise above limitations, bringing about recontextualization and transcension through a simple yet powerful shift in perspective - a shift that takes place in and of itself when we cease to resist illusion and choose to be inspired by truth.

can't get what you can’t not have

if you’re seeking final truth it’s critical to accept that what you have now – or more accurately, what you are – is exactly what you’re searching for.

the you you think you are is a fabrication, and what you truly are is what the you you think you are thinks it’s seeking. no matter what the invented you does, it remains a fabrication; and what you truly are remains immutably true. as you can see, ego seeking truth is as unresolvable a situation as a dog chasing its own tail.

illusion, no matter what its configuration, doesn’t yield reality. could anything you do in a dream make it become real? or change the fact that you’re actually snoring away in bed? illusion can neither add up to nor subtract from the truth; it can only act as a distraction.

adding to and modifying your dream character will only result in… additions and modifications to your dream character. a legitimate activity in and of itself, but it won’t produce enlightenment.

so how do you realize truth? by ceasing to chase its conceptual mirage through the dreamscape and allowing it to sink in of its own accord through non-identification with everything you aren’t – which, until the spark of unmistakable recognition sets flame to the bonds of illusion, includes everything you think you are.

love already understands

it's common knowledge that spiritual aspirants often confuse the quest for enlightenment as a drive to obtain and assimilate new information. spiritual awakening is actually a process of simplification. it involves the removal of obstacles, which take the form of beliefs about reality. information and beliefs are not inherently the enemy, but in the context of awakening they keep us separated from truth because they distract us from direct experience.

once the process of simplification reaches a point where there are no longer enough obstacles to eclipse the light of truth, realization occurs and understanding dawns in a natural way. information that was previously studied and incomprehensible is seen in a new light. from the previous standpoint, it was simply beyond reach, just as one can't see the contours of a forest when immersed within it no matter how hard one tries. the attempt to comprehend enlightenment intellectually is merely a diversionary tactic of the ego.

if one wants to emerge from the forest, one has to start walking up the mountain. it doesn't help to sit there under the trees and wonder about what the view's like from the mountaintop, or to merely read about and discuss others' accounts of that perspective. one simply starts taking steps, and while the view at the top is breathtaking, the steps themselves are just steps; nothing spectacular.

no split

there is no division between those who consider themselves "spiritual" and those who prefer a more "worldly" approach to living. these terms are just labels; convenient perhaps for communication's sake, but not pointing to an absolute reality.

in truth, we're all playing by the same rules. there is but one standard against which our destinies are measured, and that's the degree of our spiritual development.

but why call it spiritual? it's not spiritual; it's just life. calling it spiritual seems to relegate it to a separate compartment of life, as if a person could choose to be spiritual or not in the same way they can choose to be a sports enthusiast, a butterfly collector or a professional cook.

the difference is, if we're not into collecting insects we remain relatively unaffected by the world of entomology, while if we don't consider ourselves to be a "spiritual person" our subjective experience of life continues to be entirely determined by our level of truth-awareness.

claiming to be "non-spiritual" doesn't get us categorized differently and make us answerable to a different set of rules, exempt from the "spiritual" consequences of our actions. in the same way, merely claiming to be "spiritual" doesn't win us any favors. the realization of truth and happinness is arrived at through each step we take on the path, not by making statements about what kind of person we are.

spirituality in its most basic, real and powerful form is a mode of living that dissolves the obstacles to enlightenment, transporting us from confusion and ignorance to realization and on to growing levels of awareness of the true nature of reality (to say "the true nature of reality" is equivalent to saying "the truth about ourselves").

existential ignorance and all the forms of suffering and negativity it spawns are present to one degree or another until the realization of one's true nature dawns. once this recognition occurs, sincere love and its tremendously powerful healing potential is manifested in ever-expanding ways. in this sense, spiritual development is the most relevant aspect of life, and should logically be the prime object of focus for those who wish to bring an end to their suffering. it's the most important factor regarding one's own welfare and that of humanity.

this doesn't mean that everyone should drop what they're doing and take up a particular spiritual practice. since spirituality points directly to the subjective experience of life itself, "spiritual" lessons can be learned through any endeavor as long as there is a willingness to progress in one's understanding of "self" and life. information traditionally denoted as spiritual, however - if genuine - can be enormously catalytic for those who are consciously striving for truth in the same way an umbrella is more effective at keeping you dry in a storm than throwing a shopping bag over your head; it's specifically designed for the particular purpose of facilitating awakening.

spinning stories

we have an instinctive, or perhaps a very deep culturally embedded need to tell ourselves stories.

stories can be problematic inasmuch as they’re used to supplant our direct perception of reality. they can be helpful when used to point to the truth. they can be entertaining and seen as a beautiful form of expression when recognized simply as fictions.

but most of the time, we use the technique of storytelling to support our personal and collective spins on reality. we have to continually reinforce these subjective interpretations because they have no inherent reality of their own.

a larger percentage than we might imagine of the interaction that takes place between individuals on a day to day basis consists of collectively adding energy to everything from individual life-stories to more encompassing stories about the human condition.

mental tapestry

the mental tapestry is the series of thoughts and emotions we superimpose over reality.

we apply it most strongly to the places and people that we come into contact with frequently.

we usually come to the conclusion that the same places, people and situations are no longer satisfying to us, are in fact acting as a hindrance to our happiness.

unable to perceive the freshness that lies beneath, we assume this tapestry is life itself and come to negative conclusions about it.

if we knew this to be true, we would waste no time in shredding apart all of the tapestries we've woven over life to reveal the underlying pristine nature of reality.