Chapter 10- The Ineffability of Transcendence and Nothingness The God is No-Thing An Apophatic Assertion: An Introduction for Humankind’s Transpersonal Actualization– revised -. Copyright Rodger Ricketts Psy.D.,2023. All rights reserved. Protected by international copyright conventions. No part of this chapter may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, without express permission of the Authorpublisher, except in the case of brief quotations with due acknowledgement.
Chapter 10
We have heard the phrase “I just don’t know how to describe it” when we attempt to put into words what we have directly experienced. Apophatic theology wonders about the same thing, but on a different level, of how to speak about the transcendent reality as different from cataphatic theology, which describes “God” or the divine by using affirmations or positive statements. Mystics have often insisted that their experiences of transcendence or divinity are beyond the realm of language and concepts.“God is greater than anything that we can conceive,” as said by Saint Anselm.
Many thinkers throughout history have recognized this impossibility of positively describing the All, commonly called “God,” and instead affirm its ultimate mystery, incomprehensibility, and ineffability. For example, in the magazine Fiddlehead, author Tim Lilburn states, “The deepest truth in all things is numinous or mysterious, these Apophatic masters taught, beyond reason, beyond language.” In The Unknown God: Negative Theology in the Platonic Tradition: Plato to Eriugena (2015), the academic Deirdre Carabine wrote,
The Apophatic or negative way stresses God’s absolute transcendence and unknowability in such a way that we cannot say anything about the Divine essence because God is so totally beyond being. The dual concept of the immanence and transcendence of God can help us to understand the simultaneous truth of both ‘ways’ to God: at the same time, as God is immanent, God is also transcendent. At the same time, as God is knowable, God is also unknowable. God cannot be thought of as one or the other only.
In his book Language & Silence (1998), essayist, literary critic and teacher George Steiner writes,
In Buddhism […] the highest, purest reach of the contemplative act is that which has learned to leave language behind it. The ineffable lies beyond the frontiers of the word. It is only by breaking through the walls of language that visionary observance can enter the world of total and immediate understanding. Where such understanding is attained, the truth needs no longer suffer the impurities and fragmentation that speech necessarily entails.
The Dhamma or Truth (the teachings of the Buddha) is “profound, hard/difficult to see and to fathom, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning/not within the sphere of reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise” (M.I.167). In the Buddha’s apophatic discourse, there are two levels of truth: conventional and transcendent. Language and theories are only valid at the conventional dualistic level, where they can make logically coherent assertions. However, at the ultimate non-dualistic level, language can only point to the truth that must be directly experienced and realized. The teacher, monk and philosopher Nāgārjuna suggests a total relinquishing of all views: “I prostrate to Gautama Buddha, Who through compassion, Taught the true doctrine, Which leads to the relinquishing of all views” (see Examinations of Views, MMK XXVII). In fact, the apophatic tradition warns of the relativity of concepts and against the reification of ideas and experiences.
Christianity has long struggled with the problem of creating a linguistic description of “God.” There is the easily recognized problem that, since language is based on worldly/human experiences and categories, it is, therefore, impossible to reflect a transcendent existence. In other words, since language is a finite and relativistic tool, it cannot describe an infinite and transcendent “existence.” As theologian Emmett Fox wrote, using Christian terms, “Material language is made to fit material needs, and it simply will not satisfactorily express true spiritual ideas.” For these, we need the new Tongue of which Jesus spoke. We seldom realize how much we really are in the grips of the dictionary. Fox emphasized that we have certain experiences, and then we have language, with its hard-and-fast boundaries, that says, “You shall not say that wonderful thing—you shall say only this—and we find on paper the pale, lifeless shadow of the thing that came to life in our soul.” While an experience is direct and knowable, our description of it is abstracted and conceptualized.
There is a wealth of apophatic examples in the Buddhist canon, for instance, in Saṃyutta 43. Nibbāna or Nirvāṇa (the highest spiritual state and the ultimate goal of Buddhism) is negatively qualified as unconditioned, uninclined, taintless, non-manifested, deathless, unelaborated. This shows the avoidance of categorically defining or describing a reality that is ultimately beyond linguistic description, as it is unconditioned, whereas language is always conditioned.
These apophatic traditions open easily to non-duality. The non-duality experience is the realization of unity after the cognitively constructed veil of duality is lifted. Besides the Christian examples, in Buddhism, sunyata—the experience of the void or nothingness—is taught as being beyond conceptions or categorical thought, and, like the Taoist Dao, it remains inexhaustible and ever-present.
When questioned about the nature of awakening, and since the experience is ineffable, the Buddha did not theorize or use conceptualization. The Buddha saw no truth in anything beyond contact or direct experience for, as is commonly taught in Buddhism, no theories, no conceptions, and no experience can go beyond contact and remaining meaningful. The Buddha teaches how to see “things as they are,” or better, “things as they have come to be thus” without substantial, ontological essences.
Saññā or Language as a Necessarily Biased Cognitive Tool
By understanding the nature of language and conceptualization, awakened individuals are trained through Bhavana or cultivation to a detachment from the intellect, allowing them to experience reality beyond the limitations of their thoughts and mental constructs. Especially by analyzing the thorough teachings of the Buddha, we can develop a fruitful discourse about the apophatic traditions’ insights into the limitations of language trying to describe the ineffable.
Knowing the relation of the Buddhist word saññā to language is crucial for the proper understanding of linguistics. Saññā is described as a label, perception, allusion, act of memory or recognition, interpretation, and language is meant to be a tool for our relative and efficient functioning in the world. Concepts belong to the field of language and to saññā. They have their own natural context in which they function well. Therefore, we can perceive and recognize the world in a way that reflects our past experiences.
Saññā works by grasping the main feature of an object while ignoring other less obvious features. It works by categorizing, labelling and finding similarities and differences. This allows the classification of objects in the same groups and for comparisons among them. This simplifies our experience in a necessary way. Otherwise, we would become overburdened with an excess of information and survive poorly if at all in the world. What one perceives, one expresses, but in a feedback loop, our expressions also influence our perception of the world.
When someone tries to describe the “ultimate reality” through perceptions and language, they are committing an error of metaphysics: trying to go beyond the realm of language while using language. As the religious teacher Anthony de Mello expressed it, “Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description.”Instead, the best that one can do is to recognize that at some point of understanding, the utility of explanation, perception and conceptualization ends, and then one remains silent.
Here lies an important understanding of the apophatic rejection of metaphysics and the rejection of developing theories about what exists and how we know that it exists. Language does not truly represent the world. When one understands the workings of language, one no longer attaches significance to metaphysical theories. For example, according to early Buddhism, the realm of metaphysics is created by seeking “ultimate” correlates for language, which should only be properly understood functionally. Since the teachings of the Buddha are expressed through language and language is based on saññā, neither is meant to represent “ultimate reality.” Instead, the Buddhist view is that liberating insight takes place when thoughts and perceptions cease (even though one’s senses and vedanā, or felt experience, are still functioning normally).
Knowing experience, or the transcendent, has nothing to do with discrimination, analysis, or being separated from it. When saññā and language fall away, one can no longer speak of discernment. Even if one says, “This state is beyond words and cannot be expressed by language; it is timeless, spaceless, God, love, Ultimate, never-ending, etc.,” one is still construing, describing, and misappropriating language. More succinctly, all one can do is remain silent, leaving language, with all its limitations, to merely indicate a way to transcending it, using it as a “raft.”
A useful analogy the Buddha used to describe his teachings was that they are like a raft that carries you to the opposite shore of awakening. The raft is needed to cross the river, but a wise person would not carry the raft around after making it across to the other shore. Use the raft to cross to the other shore but do not become attached to it. You must be able to let it go. Also, all words about transcendent realities are just a raft, hints, or guideposts. Similarly, do not hold onto words as if they are the realities. The Buddha many times stated that his Dhamma or teachings are solely a “raft” that performs the function of reaching the goal of awakening, and apart from that, one remains silent about all else. His teachings describe the practical path leading to the eradication of suffering. In almost all situations, the Buddha limited himself to presenting the path to liberation and to correcting others when they overextended and misused language.
We should remember the helpful analogy from Thich Nath Hahn and the Zen tradition: “A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. The finger is needed to know where to look for the moon, but if you mistake the finger for the moon itself, you will never know the real moon.” In other words, the moon represents the true transcendent emptiness experience, and the Dhamma, or teachings, are represented by the finger. The Zen master speaks about the Dhamma or teachings as the finger which points to the true transcendent “mind,” and it was his disciple’s mistake to suppose that the true “mind” could be known only by the rational abstraction of the teachings. Instead, words create confusion and there are no words for the deepest experience. While not everything is unsayable in words, the transcendent truth is.
In this chapter, Enlightenment is understanding your true nature. It’s the realization that you are not a separate ego, you are part of the eternal, unbounded energy of the universe. While the Buddha’s teachings describe the clear and practical path leading to the eradication of Dukkha, or dissatisfaction and alienation, in fact, language and conceptual thought are insufficient for achieving awakening and ultimate reality which is beyond the reach of language.As theologian Rudolf Otto said:The holy is ineffable and cannot be fully comprehended or articulated through language. In many early Buddhist texts, there is an acknowledgment of the difficulty of articulating the insights that led to the Buddha’s awakening or characterizing the state of awakening itself because they are beyond the limits of language and conceptuality. In the next chapter, I will demonstrate how awakening is an experience that can be understood through an apophatic interpretation of spirituality.
He who wants to follow the Path of the Buddha must give up all thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. But this giving up does not make us poorer; it actually makes us richer, because what we renounce and destroy are the walls that keep us imprisoned; and what we gain is that supreme freedom, which is not to be understood simply as a merging into the whole or a feeling of identity with others, but as the experience of an infinite relationship, according to which every individual is essentially connected with all that exists, thus embracing all living beings in his own mind, taking part in their deepest experience, and sharing their sorrow and joy.
The Honorable Harvest is a covenant of reciprocity between humans and the living world.
The protocols offer inspiration for how we might walk gently on the Earth while at the same time satisfying human needs. It is a practice with great relevance for our time; it is both ancient and urgent. The guidelines for the Honorable Harvest were taught to me by generous teachers, while respectfully picking medicines or berries but it applies to every exchange between people and the earth, to everything we consume. · In taking from the Earth we are taught to never take the first… Never taking the first, means you’ll never take the last. · And then, we ask permission. If you’re going to take a life, you have to be personally accountable. I know, in some places if you talked to a plant they’d call you crazy. But in a worldview that regards them as people, we just call it respect. 7 · If you’re going to ask permission, you have to listen for the answer. · If you are granted permission, then take only what you need and no more. · The Honorable Harvest counsels also that we take in such a way that does the least harm as possible. · Use everything that you take…it is disrespectful of the life that is given to waste it. We have forgotten this-the easiest way to have what you need is to not waste what you have. · Be grateful. Gratitude is powerful, much more than a simple thank you. Gratitude reminds us that our very existence relies on the gifts of others. And gratitude is humbling. It reminds us that we are just one member of the democracy of species. It reminds us that the earth does not belong to us. · The next tenet of the Honorable Harvest is to share with others-human and non. The Earth has shared generously with us, so we model that behavior in return. · Reciprocate the gift …. In return for the gifts of the Earth, we are called to give our own in return. · And finally, to take only that which is given to us.
Eutierria can be an antidote to alienation, from nature and society both. Eutierria refers to secular experiences but echoes the “oceanic” feeling identified in various world religious traditions. When it occurs, your perception of the boundaries between yourself and all else—the thoughts and feelings setting you off from the rest of the cosmos—seem to evaporate. The distinction between you and nature (or in the religious versions nature and God) breaks down. You become one with the universe. A reassuring sense of harmony and connection with the world infuses your consciousness. It’s an experience that matches up with the knowledge of your own dependence on and connection to the world. Consider for a moment what this all means for identity and personhood. Each person is always living in a precise and unique position and moment. Nobody else receives all the same perceptual stimuli as you because you’re always at different positions on the planet, in the universe. That is, you exist at a unique juncture in the world and thus absorb a unique trajectory of sensory experiences that exactly match nobody else’s. et me conclude by noting that experiences of eutierria can be a powerful antidote to the over-separateness of our modern world. The rise of individualism over communitarianism and conceptions of the unity of nature in the West from early modern times, as I write in my book Invisible Nature, has left us with feelings and experiences of alienation from nature and lots of social alienation as well.[3] By placing the individual at the center of concern rather than the whole community of life, modernity can create loneliness. Seeking out eutierria can help heal the divide. Kenneth Worthy Ph.D.
I recently rediscovered the concept of “flow” that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced as a psychological concept in 1990 with his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. I was struck by its application within positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on behaviors that foster a flourishing, meaningful, and worthwhile life, aiming to discover methods for personal enhancement. The flow state, also termed “optimal experience,” is characterized by a harmony between mind and body, resulting in complete engagement and enjoyment in the activity. Csikszentmihalyi described this experience as one where,
…the ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.
He identified key characteristics of flow, such as the merging of action and awareness, a loss of self-consciousness, and a distorted sense of time.
Interestingly, there are notable parallels between Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow and the Buddhist principle of mindfulness. I have been studying and teaching mindfulness for twenty years due to my interest in Buddhist teachings and their applications to mental health issues. Mindfulness, as defined by Kabat-Zinn (2012), involves wakefulness – a state of awareness in every waking moment – that enhances well-being, contentment, and absorption in the present moment, leading to a similar “losing track of time” as described in Csikszentmihalyi’s flow. It is intriguing to realize that my explorations and teaching of mindfulness included the concept of flow without my fully recognizing their interconnectedness.
There are important similarities between the practices of flow and mindfulness, and this paper will focus on several of these parallels. With mindfulness, we are consciously at one with the action. In the context of mindfulness, wakefulness can best be described as a state of focused awareness in every waking moment (Kabat-Zinn, 2012). Wakefulness enhances our subjective well-being and heightens our contentment with our inner self and the world. Finally, we “lose track of time” as we remain absorbed in the ever-present moment.
An illustration of the application of flow in mindfulness is when we remain in the nonjudgmental “now” and discover the sense of wholeness. Concepts like “in the moment,” “in the present,” and “centered” are all attempts to describe the mindfulness experience. By applying mindfulness to our everyday work, interpersonal interactions, leisure, hobbies, dance, yoga, walking, eating, and other pursuits, we transform our lives into constantly innovative and creative experiences. When completing a task, the mindfulness/flow experience fosters an impromptu, connected, creative, cheerful, and pleasant sensation. We experience an open state, where the interior and exterior are completely interconnected. We lose “ourselves” to discover who we really are.
We can experience oneness in any circumstance throughout our lives. By cultivating the mental culture of mindfulness, we refine the discipline to transcend the experience of duality. We enter a state of openness – of absolute connectedness between the inside and the outside. We surrender our carping, judging thoughts to flow. Our way of thinking typically categorizes everything into strict, binary categories of good and bad, right and wrong, either/or. In my book The Buddha’s Teachings: Seeing Without Illusion, A Contemporary Cognitive Science Perspective (available on Amazon), I describe, in contemporary language, how the Buddha taught this nondualism. Even though the process of thinking is not only acceptable but vital, we tend to make the mistake of assuming that our ideas, classifications, and beliefs are the only true reality or benchmark. An old saying comes to mind: “The mind is a great servant but a terrible master.”
Through the practice of mindfulness and the experience of living in a state of flow, we come to understand that wisdom, compassion, and happiness are attained when we relinquish our subject/object illusion. Life transforms into a less stressful, more creative, and enjoyable experience, allowing us to live a positive existence characterized by respect and care for both ourselves and others. The interconnectedness of life – the intrinsic connection between all living and non-living entities – becomes increasingly apparent, as does the preciousness of life itself. Integrating the flow and mindfulness experiences into our lives can have many positive effects that are just waiting to make a difference for us.
Would it not be prudent for our educational institutions, businesses, and governments to incorporate teachings on flow and mindfulness into their curricula? Such an initiative could positively alter our worldview, culture, and our relationships with both ourselves and one another. I believe that the incorporation of flow and mindfulness into our daily lives could yield countless positive effects that are poised to create meaningful change.
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Contemporary society increasingly has a fragmented view of the world, it sees its diversity but not the unity that underlies it. This fragmentation is at the root of tribal mentality, environmental degradation, polarization, and other problems. Apophatic philosophy provides a much-needed alternative to traditional cultural and religious materialistic viewpoints. Contrary to religions that assign known anthropomorphic characteristics to a power often referred to as “God”, apophaticism teaches that we cannot positively know or assert anything about the nature of “God”. At the heart of the discussion are the key characteristics and enormous benefits of ancient spiritual wisdom; an apophatic, non-dualist approach to life, as well as its links with Buddhist philosophy and economics. It is a wisdom that converges the findings of modern science, with the observations of eminent mystics and religious personages from across time and different backgrounds, as well as my own extensive experience in modern psychology and Buddhist practice. In this book, I establish how a non-dualist approach to life can preciously revolutionize our personal well-being as well as that of society and the relationship with the Earth.
Embracing Apophatic Philosophy: A Path Towards Beneficial Personal and Societal Transformation
Prevailing materialist assumptions have taught us that we, as individuals, are fundamentally a skin-encapsulated ego or “I” relating to a world with a sense of isolation and disconnection. Societal constructs influenced by such assumptions foster alienation and detachment, perpetuating egocentrism and neglecting the congruity and interdependence of human beings with each other and their environment. To modify resulting harmful economic systems, it is necessary to understand that economic reality is not an autonomous sub-system but a highly interdependent system of value creation. Drawing on the teachings of the Buddha, Martin Buber and others, as well as scientific research, we propose a paradigm shift towards a non-dualistic, biocentric perspective. Martin Buber formulated a model where the depersonalized, autonomous, isolated, and psychologically separated “I-It” stands in contrast to the “I-Thou” relationship. The “I-Thou” perspective promotes a non-dualistic transcendental idealism and teaches that we are interdependent, interbeing, and continually transacting with the environment and other sentient beings. Biocentric ethics, like the “I-Thou” concept, calls for a radical readjustment of the relationship between humans, nature, and all existence. Also, the entrenched individualism of prevailing societal and economic paradigms neglects the intrinsic interconnectedness of all natural entities, hindering sustainable development. Through the framework of non-dualism, biocentrism, and Buddhist economics, we discover why and how we must shift from the present predominant dogma to an alternative social and economic strategy with a view to promoting subjective well-being and societal happiness, creating comprehensive pathways to achieve harmony, eliminate economic deprivation, enable human dignity, and respect Earth’s ecosystems.
In a contemporary society increasingly dominated by radicalized viewpoints, self-interest, tribal mentality and alienation, apophatic philosophy provides a much-needed alternative to traditional cultural and religious viewpoints. Contrary to religions that assign known and defined characteristics to a power often referred to as “God”, thus presupposing that they can comprehend this entity, apophaticism teaches that we cannot positively know or assert anything about the nature of “God”. At the heart of the discussion are the key characteristics and enormous benefits of an apophatic approach to life, as well as its links with Buddhist philosophy and economics. Backed by scientific research, the observations of eminent mystics and religious personages from across time and different backgrounds, as well as my own extensive experience in traditional psychology and Buddhist practice, I demonstrate how an apophatic approach to life can revolutionize our personal well-being as well as that of society and Earth as a whole.
Also Throughout the Buddha’s teachings, transformation leading to transcendental enlightenment is an intentional psychological attainment. Enlightenment or awakening is created through the process of planned psychological/emotional change, consistently practiced by motivated learners, moving on from an uninformed way of living (acting, thinking, feeling) to one according to universal principles. This book highlights those insights and the beneficial results. In the following chapters, the reader will notice that I have emphasized not only the Buddha’s teachings but a wide range of cross-cultural non-dualistic descriptions. I have found that these universal, ancient, as well as modern teachings provide an in-depth analysis of transpersonal training and perspective. While not encyclopedic, the chapters about the non-dualistic writings are not only for intellectual curiosity. They are also a living testament of truths with vital positive consequences for the wellness and well-being of the individual, for society, and for the whole of Gaia. When understood and incorporated into one’s life, this is transformed in a transpersonal way. One frequent consideration necessary when writing this book was what noun should be used when referring to the transcendent and immanent quality that is often referred to as God, Deity, the Divine, Being, etc. In the end, I used the word Transcendent as often as possible as the most neutral yet appropriate noun for this topic. To conclude, my intent in this book is the analysis and integration of numerous non-dualistic teachings such as the Buddha’s teaching and modern scientific insights. I will explore these perspectives about the mysterious nature of the Transcendent or No-Thing and its relationship with our existence through ancient schools of thought. Also included in this book are varied meditation/prayer practices or structured activities that can lead to personal experiences that provide humanity with what is necessary for living embodied, integrated, and spiritual lives. Even in this age of dualistic and hyper-rational science and technology, non-dualism, which has stood the test of time, is an illuminating explanation of the totality of human experience.
REVIEW
“Non-Duality: What the World Needs Now” by Rodger R Ricketts is essential reading for anyone concerned about the welfare of humanity and Earth as a whole. It is also an important text for anyone interested in religion, spirituality and Buddhism. In this well-researched book, Ricketts makes a powerful case for an apophatic approach to “God” – in other words, the knowledge that we cannot know anything definite about God as this is beyond human language and comprehension. Ricketts argues convincingly that Buddhism is an apophatic path. He also provides evidence from modern psychology and neuroscience supporting apophatic views of the universe. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Ricketts points out that it is only through a return to apophaticism and Buddhist economics that we can create a sustainable life for all. This impactful and convincing book should be required reading for all!
We are all Interconnected even with the Universe 