Who am I? and What is this?

     "Who am I?" "What is this?" & "Who is suffering?" - are self-inquiry questions -perhaps the most basic and most meaningful koans or open questions to contemplate. Some thoughtful peoples' reflections about this:

     “I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing – a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process – an integral function of the universe.”  R. Buckminster Fuller

     "My own working assumption is that we are here as local Universe information gatherers. We are given access to the divine design principles so that from them we can invent the tools that qualify us as problem solvers in support of the integrity of an eternally regenerative Universe." R. Buckminster Fuller

      “Hara means nothing other than the physical embodiment of the original Life center in man.
     Man is originally endowed and invested with Hara. But when, as a rational being, he loses what is embodied in Hara it becomes his task to regain it. To rediscover the unity concealed in the contradictions through which he perceives life intellectually is the nerve of his existence. As a rational being he feels himself suspended between the opposite poles of heaven & earth, spirit & nature. This means first the dichotomy of unconscious nature, and of the mind which urges him to ever-increasing consciousness; and second, the dichotomy of his time-space reality on this earth, and the Divine beyond time and space. Man’s whole existence is influenced by the tormenting tension of these opposites and so he is forever in search of a life-form in which this tension will be resolved. 
     What is man to do when he feels himself suspended between two opposing poles? He can surrender himself to the one or to the other and so, for a time disavow the contradiction; or he can seek a third way in which it will be resolved. The only right choice is the one which will not endanger the wholeness of his being. Since man in his wholeness must include both poles his salvation lies only in choosing the way which unifies them. For man is destined to manifest anew the unity of life within all the contradictions of his existence. The way to this unity is long. The integration of these two poles – the unconscious, & the conscious life of the mind, as well as between life in space time reality & the Reality beyond space time – constitutes the way to human maturity. Maturity is that condition in which man reaps the fruit of the union he has regained. The realization of this union means that he has found his true vital center. Basis, symbol, and proof of this is the presence of Hara.” 
        Karlfried Graf Durckheim. “Hara – The Vital Center of Man.” Inner Traditions, 1975. (originally published 1956 - hence the male-centric terminology)

      “We are consciousness itself, knowing itself, being itself, expressing itself out of the void into form.” Jack Kornfield

     “A spiritual journey is a calling. It is something initiated from somewhere beyond the ego, from a depth within the psyche that the ego has no access to on its own.” Adyashanti

      “The enlightenment instinct is the instinct for the ground of being to become fully conscious of itself.” Adyashanti

     “By means of thousands of hours of observation, Buddhist contemplatives claim to have penetrated into ordinarily hidden dimensions of the mind that are more chaotic, where the order and structure of the human psyche are just beginning to emerge. Examination of the deep strata of mental processes reveals layers previously concealed within the subconscious. Finally, the mind comes to rest in its natural state: the ground from which both conscious and ordinary subconscious events arise. This is true depth psychology, in which we observe deep ‘core samples’ of the subconscious mind, cutting across many layers of accumulated conceptual structuring. The culmination of this meditative process is the experience of the substrate consciousness (Skt. Alaya-vijnana), which is characterized by three essential traits: bliss, luminosity, and nonconceptuality. The quality of bliss does not arise in response to any sensory stimulus, for the physical senses are withdrawn, as if one were deeply asleep. Nor does it arise in dependence upon pleasant thoughts or mental images, for such mental activities have become dormant. Rather, it appears to be an innate quality of the mind when it has settled in its natural state, beyond the disturbing influences of conscious and unconscious mental activity. 
     … The substrate consciousness is not inherently human but is also the ground state of consciousness of all other sentient beings. It is from this dimension of awareness that the human mind emerges, so the substrate consciousness is prior to & more fundamental than the human conceptual duality of mind & matter. Both the mind & all experiences of matter are said to emerge from this luminous space, which is undifferentiated in terms of any distinct sense of subject & object. This hypothesis rejects Cartesian dualism, as well as the belief that the universe is exclusively physical. Moreover, this hypothesis may be put to the test of experience, regardless of one’s ideological commitments & theoretical assumptions.”
       B. Alan Wallace. “Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic. A Manifesto for the Mind Sciences and Contemplative Practice.” Columbia University Press, 2012. 

     “The perennial philosophy states that the omega experience (not the description, but the actual experience of union with the Divine) is identical in all the mystical branches of all the world’s religions. This has implications for how we should live our lives, which Aldous Huxley succinctly laid out in his Minimum Working Hypothesis: 
     · That there is a Divine Ground of Being, Godhead, or Brahman that our reality depends upon for its existence.
     · That this Ground both transcends the world and is imminent as the world.
     · That it is possible for human beings to love, know and, virtually, to become actually identical with the Divine Ground.
     · That to achieve this unitive knowledge is the ultimate end & purpose of human existence.
     · That there is a Way or Dharma that must be obeyed if people are to achieve their final end, and this Way is a way of peace, love, humility & compassion.”
        Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, 2014.

Seeking Truth over the Illusion of Security

     “Let nothing come between you and the light.        Henry David Thoreau

     ... each person must free himself from prison – the prison of being a limited, corporeal, dying self.

     ... mystics don’t want to read religious wisdom; they want to be it."

       Huston Smith, Jeffery Paine. “Tales of Wonder. Adventures Chasing the Divine. An Autobiography.” HarperOne, NY, 2009.

Tuscan Rain

Wonder

"Sometimes I go about with pity for myself
and all the while Great Winds
are carrying me across the sky."

Ojibeway Quote

WisdomAtWork.com

"Wonderful the Presence

One sees in the present.

Oh wonder-struck am I to see

Wonder on wonder."

the Adi Granth (the sacred book of Sikhism)


“Let nothing come between you and the light.”

Henry David Thoreau 

Huston Smith, Jeffery Paine. “Tales of Wonder. Adventures Chasing the Divine. 

An Autobiography.” HarperOne, NY, 2009.

Huston Smith - Connoisseur

     A connoisseur is a person of informed and discriminating taste. Perhaps the ultimate connoisseur is one knows how to, and does actually live, a deeply meaningful, joyful life.

     “I am not a religious scholar. What I do is try to show people how they can get something of value personally from religion, which is why I concentrate on its positive side. How you might label me is ‘religious communicator.’ ”
       Huston Smith, Jeffery Paine. “Tales of Wonder. Adventures Chasing the Divine. An Autobiography.” HarperOne, NY, 2009.

     "What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Is there a God? Can there be authentic mystical experience? Are Hindus and Buddhists correct that we can attain a state of enlightenment? Can psychedelic drugs give us a glimpse of it? Does religion have a viable place in the modern world? Is there a common core of values and insights among the world's religions?
     Huston Smith spent his career in a search for answers to these and other questions.

     'Huston Smith is an outstanding authority on the world's religions, not only because of his far reaching knowledge of their teachings and scriptures, but also because he has put so many of them into practice, and, as we say in Tibetan Buddhism, discovered their real taste.' Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

     'Few intellectuals had more of an impact on the comparative study of religion in the twentieth century than Huston Smith. Here, at last, we have a sympathetic but open-eyed biography of the historical figure by a first-rate writer. The result is a page-turning plunge into matters of ultimate significance.' Jeffrey J. Kripal, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Rice University"

       Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014. - an exceptionally worthwhile read - "a page-turning plunge into matters of ultimate significance."

 

Today's Universities & Humbolt's 19th Century Ideas

     “Metaphysical views, ... had not been retired from the curricula of universities because they had somehow been proven false but because Humbolt’s scientific model had been over-applied to all human concerns, including those of philosophy and the humanities. Looking through the lens of science, Humbolt could see no legitimacy or necessity for metaphysical theories; however, Huston believed this was confusing ‘an absence of evidence for an evidence of absence.’ … like looking at the world through blue sunglasses and denying the existence of the color yellow on the grounds that it couldn’t be seen through them.

     [Humbolt’s continuing hold on universities] appears to serve logical sensibilities admirably, but onto transcendence, the sacred, the meaning of life and humanity’s potentials it opens no vistas.
     Who [today is] working with students whose sensibilities and concerns lie in these directions? Are we to say that these concerns are unimportant? Spawned by neuroses? Intangible to the life of the mind?” 

       Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014.

Poppies of France

Mystical Experiences

     Mystical experiences “need not and should not contradict scientific facts, but when mystics experience the Ground, the One, the Universal Self, Godhead, they have transcended the Cartesian duality of subject and object that takes place in the physical world. Their experiences are therefore neither subjective nor objective in the traditional sense – since the ‘Cartesian Split’ has no relevance to that which lies beyond time and space, and so no relevance to the experience of That.

Universal core of common characteristics of mystical experience:          
          1. A sense of everything in the cosmos as interconnected.
          2. An apprehension of the One – described variously as life, or consciousness or a living Presence.
          3. A sense of objectivity or profound reality.
          4. A feeling of blessedness, joy, happiness, satisfaction.
          5. A feeling that what is apprehended is holy, or sacred, or divine.
          6. Paradoxicality of experience.
          7. Ineffability, or the sense that what is happening cannot be described with words.
          8. Transiency of the experience.
          9. Persistent positive changes in attitude and behavior."
 
        Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014

North Street, Halifax, NS

Wisdom Beyond Apparent Opposites & Paradoxes

     “Vedanta allowed Huston to see each religion as a particular ‘color of the spectrum’ emanating from the same white light of mystical insight. Even when speaking about God specifically, Satprakashananda had taught Huston that there is no conflict between the traditions. Each god and goddess is only an emanation of the Diving Ground, the Godhead behind all the gods, and each religion’s god is only a specific culture’s interpretation of the personal-God principle. In Vedanta’s universalism, where the world’s gods are ultimately masks on the face of the one pre-cultural Sacred, Huston found a theology flexible enough for him to support the world’s religions collectively while also moving easily back and forth between them as different paths up the same mountain.”

     Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014.

 

Nature or Nurture?

     “… mysticism [is] the critical means of gaining insight into life’s essential mysteries. … science’s particular tools cannot access the full spectrum of what we are, or of what the world is. … we have a noetic, experiential capacity for accessing knowledge, a mystical function of our being that directly accesses a truth unattainable by scientific or analytical means. There are methods whereby we can expand our minds, expand our consciousness, to the point where we can apprehend metaphysical dimensions of what we are (and of what the world is) that escape an exclusively rational or quantitative approach. … awakening to these noetic dimensions, as had been achieved in earlier generations by mystics in all cultures, is not only our innate human capacity but also a necessary step in our evolution as a species. 
     … Maybe people were assuming that their consciousness was fixed by its very nature when in reality it was only fixed by nurture, based on social conditioning and the momentum of everyday habits; maybe there is a wide band of possible experiences that we shut out daily because of that conditioning and the weight of our personal assumptions.”

       Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014.
 

Rhone Valley, France