losing all and getting everything in return

the spiritual quest is not one of striving to bring about or attain truth, but of allowing truth to reveal itself as it already is.

one fundamental misperception we suffer under in the quest for spiritual realization is that enlightenment must be gotten, as if it were some kind of accessory that can be added on to pre-existing identity structures. in this fantasy we'd become supercharged versions of our same basic selves; new and improved in certain respects, but maintaining the same old foundational belief in our intrinsic being as existing separately from everything else.

in other words, we'd like to have our cake (holding on to our belief in separate selfhood) and eat it too (experiencing the clarity and peace of enlightenment). these conflicting drives can keep us in a potentially endless loop where seemingly sincere spiritual striving is sabotaged by the underlying fear of letting go of erroneous yet intensely familiar interpretations of reality.

often as spiritual seekers, rather than being willing to give something up, what we really want is to get more. this is simply an extension of the same impulse that tells us we need a newer car, bigger house, better hairstyle. the impulse to get more, to have new things - material or spiritual - is based upon a fundamental resistance to things as they are. this resistance is exactly what keeps us separated from the actual experience of enlightenment, which is nothing more than the realization of what we really are and the accompanying understanding that what we previously thought ourselves to be was a misperception - an illusion.

in a certain sense, realization comes at a price. we must sacrifice our illusory beliefs before the blinding veil can be dispensed with and things revealed as they truly are. in feeding our fantasies we remain blinded to the truth, but they have become so familiar to us that giving them up can be extremely difficult. the problem is that we have become so identified with the illusion that we believe it is what we are, and letting it go seems tantamount to losing ourselves - in a sense, dying.

gaining real spiritual insight involves a radical process of letting go, not necessarily of material possessions (that would make it easy) but of our very foundational beliefs about who and what we are. our mind-made identity is what's nearest and dearest to us. it's the hardest thing to give up, but it must be surrendered in order to break free from the trap of egoic consciousness. the very thing we'd most like to hold on to (or to be more accurate, what we most fear letting go of) is the very thing that's holding us back from enlightened awareness.

paradoxically, when we become motivated by enough faith and courage to let even our most foundational beliefs about self evaporate (in other words, to release absolutely everything by dying to our moment-to-moment conception of self as we know it), at the very moment when it seems we will indeed evaporate, die, and forever disappear into oblivion, our limited egoic consciousness dissolves into a larger awareness that acknowledges itself as inseparable from everything - as one with all that is.

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.

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.

what's spiritual about the spiritual path?

if you think about it, what could possibly be spiritual about the spiritual path? the spiritual path consists of a “you” doing things to become an “enlightened you.”

in reality, there is no “you” doing anything, and what you really are will never become something else, or something more.

truth dawns when what you really are recognizes itself. the effort of a nonexistent personality to become an impossible, future better personality comes to an end when the perfectness of being is recognized and allowed to be without resistance.