We are an integral part of everything.
22 AprAs we have seen in other chapters, the ultimate, even the very idea of the ultimate, cannot be known by discursive thinking. In the now we live our life as it is. Also, through the practice of silent meditation, we focus on life awareness. With this awareness, we experience the interconnectedness of all things and compassion for all sentient beings. Knowing shatters illusions Knowing, then, begins with the release of illusions, with disillusionment. Knowing means to penetrate through the fog, to arrive at the reality; knowing means to “see” the reality without illusion. Knowing is that the ownership of truth is not possible. The I-Thou relationship cannot be explained; it simply is. Through the I-Thou relation, we interact with the world in this whole Being. It is not a means to some object or goal, but an authentic relationship involving respect for the whole being of each subject. Buber considers “I-Thou” communication the fundamental expression of the uniqueness of relation within inter-being. These relation patterns of rapport and affinity are usually found when beings relate with brotherly love, friendship, openness, and care. In the I-Thou encounter, we relate to each other as authentic beings, without inquisition, prejudice, enmity, or predisposition. I meet you as you are, and you meet me as who I am. In the I-Thou relationship, I am with you openly in my heart and mind. However, there are many people who never live through this deeper level of relation. This is unfortunate because living through relationships that enable “I-Thou” brings deep satisfaction and richness in life and opens a greater sense of the original relation with the Absolute. When an I-Thou encounter occurs I am meeting the other as a thou with openness, directness, and presence by means of real mutual action, meaning and confirmation. As Buber wrote, “This person is other, essentially other than myself… I confirm it; I wish his otherness to exist, because I wish his particular being to exist”. We are interconnected, “not just with people, but animals too, and stones, clouds, trees” (Aitken 1984, p. 10). We are an integral part of everything. Nothing exists by itself; nothing has a separate existence, a separate self. As human beings we are Being, one with All. The truth is pure interbeing, beyond the dualistic thinking of the alienated mind. Thus, we are aware of the impermanence, and the ignorance of the “IT” world. Serenity comes with the acceptance of impermanence and interrelatedness. The insights of such Sages as the Buddha, the Hebrew prophets, Jesus, and Master Eckhart show that knowing begins with the awareness of the deceptiveness of our common-sense perceptions; our picture of physical reality does not correspond to what is “really real”. Therefore, most people are half-awake, half-dreaming, and are unaware that most of what they hold to be true and self-evident is an illusion produced by the influence of the dualistic alienated world in which they live. Knowing, then, begins with the transformation of illusions, disillusionment and alienation. Knowing means to penetrate through the fog, to arrive at reality, and “see” the reality without illusion. Knowing is not to have the truth, as possession is not possible, but to be the truth. The being mode of knowing allows us, as psychologist Erich Fromm (1992, pp.117-120) also observed, to go beyond ourselves, outside the ego. The goals are to be kind to oneself and another, to transcend the barriers that separate us from one another, and to live life with recognition of interdependence and impermanence. When communicating at this level, we move beyond social roles, identifications and objectifications. In I-Thou dialogues, we trust and can disclose deep, private, aspects of ourselves that enable us to engage in “I-Thou” relationships. The Buddha, one of the greatest Apophatic teachers, said in his last words to the monks, “It may be that after I am gone that some of you will think, ‘now we have no teacher.’ But that is not how you should see it. Let the Dharma and the discipline that I have taught you be your teacher. All individual things pass away. Strive on, untiringly.” Now, as we have explored in this book the similar meditation instructions and doctrinal perspectives taught by the many Apophatic spiritual teachers, we know we can attain Awakening and know Emptiness and end our suffering, and harmful consequences of dualistic alienation. Let us all follow the Path and accomplish knowing the ‘unknowable’ – No-thing
The Universality of the Mystical Experience
18 AprThe Universality of the Mystical Experience
Over the centuries and throughout many cultures, ordinary people as well as monks and mystics, have reported personal experiences that transformed their lives and perspective on life and existence. While interpretations of this experience have differed, researcher Walter Stace outlined important common characteristics which distinguish them from any other kind of experience. These include: * The Unitary Consciousness; the One; pure consciousness. * All life is interconnected and the One is in all things. * Non-spatiality, non-temporality. *Sense of objectivity or reality. * Peace, bliss, serenity, rapture. *Feeling of the sacred or mysterious. * To be transcendent, immanent, indescribable, ineffable. *No judgmental quality. *”Insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect.” *Transiency.
Most transcendent experiences have a short occurrence, but their effect persists. While the discernment of this Reality is subjective, it is not exclusively personal as the experience has been shared often throughout different epochs and localities. Although a supramundane experience can occur spontaneously, it is usually discerned profoundly after living virtuously and immersion in deep states of meditation. In that consummate state of awareness, the illusory boundaries of the separate self dissolve and there is no longer any cognitive distinction between subject and object, and time and space disappear.
To paraphrase psychologist William James: ‘This overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute … we become aware of our oneness, however, (labeling it as) “union with God” is only one possible interpretation of it, which should not, therefore, be given as its definition. The same experience can be interpreted non theistically as in Buddhism…. All this can be experienced and felt without any creed at all. … The mystic in any culture usually interprets his experience in terms of the religion in which he has been reared. But if he is sufficiently sophisticated, he can throw off that religious creed and still retain his mystical experience.’ All this can be experienced and felt without any creed at all. … The mystic in any culture usually interprets his experience in terms of the religion in which he has been reared. But if he is sufficiently sophisticated, he can throw off that religious creed and still retain his mystical experience.’ This discernment can be experienced without any ideology at all and it is still understood as sacred and spiritual.
The Apophatic theology proposes that instead of aiming for worldly glory, wealth, or power, it is far more worthwhile that we become fulfilled with our own existence and strive for virtue, goodness, and a quiet mind to eventually gain access to the essence of Being or ‘God’. In fact, as Angelus Silesius wrote, ‘God’ is a pure No-thing; concealed in now and here; the less you reach for ‘Him’, the more ‘He’ will appear.’ The All is the divine immanence that embraces all.
Robert Burns’ Touching Ecocentric Empathic poem- To a Mouse
28 MarRobert Burns’ Touching Ecocentric Empathic poem- To a Mouse
Robert Burns was born in 1759, in Alloway, Scotland, and throughout his life he was a practicing poet. He is considered by many the national poet of Scotland.
‘To a Mouse’ describes the unfortunate situation of a mouse whose home was destroyed by the winter winds.
The poem begins with the speaker stating that he knows about the nature of the mouse. It is small and scared of the presence of humans. The speaker understands why this is the case and sympathizes. The speaker is clearly upset over the mouse’s fear and wishes that it did not have to feel the way it does. In the third line, he tells the mouse that it does not have to fear him. It should not “start awa sae hasty,” or run away so quickly because the speaker would never “rin an’ chase” the little “beastie.” He has no desire to chase after, and murder the mouse with a “pattle.” He is not like those the mouse has come to fear.
In the second stanza, the poet begins apologizing to the mouse for the nature of humankind. They have had “dominon” over the world and been unwilling to accept creatures that are not like them. Unfortunately, the mouse is a very high on this list. In “Man’s” desire to control all parts of the world “he” has “broken Nature’s social union.” Humans are a disruption in the chains of nature, forcing creatures to act as they normally would not.
The speaker tells the mouse that it is fully “justi[fied]” in how it feels. Rightfully so, he states, the mouse should have an “ill opinion” of man. Humans “make thee startle.”
In the last lines, the speaker mourns the state of the world and the lack of community between humans and non-human animals. He calls the mouse an “earth-born companion” and a “fellow-mortal.” They are one and the same, living at the same time on the same planet.
In the third stanza, the speaker addresses the way the mouse lives. In the first lines, he tells the mouse he understands that “thou may thieve.” The fact that the mouse must steal food from humans does not bother the speaker. It is not the mouse’s fault that it has been degraded to this level. The mouse is only a “poor beastie” which “maun” or “must” live.
One of the food items which is stolen by the mouse is a “daimen-icker” or ear of corn. When one steals one from a “thrave” or a bundle of twenty-four, it is only a “sma’” or “small” thing. He will give the mouse his “blessin” through the food it steals. The speaker will “never miss” that which goes missing.
At the halfway point of this piece, the speaker turns to address the “housie” in which the mouse lives. It is no grand structure, it is “in ruin!” The walls are weak and are often “strewin” by the wind. Although the wind has blown down the walls of the mouse’s nest, or “housie,” it does not have the materials to make a new one. It is not the right time of year to find the “green” it needs. Unfortunately, it is going to be December soon, the “winds [are] ensuin” or “ensuing.”
The speaker finally turns to the mouse’s current situation. He understands that the mouse tried to shelter in a “field” where it could “cozie…beneath the blast.” It was here it “thought to dwell but then, “crash!” The wind and its “cruel” nature came through and destroyed the home it has built.
It was made from minimal materials but cost the mouse a lot. All of the work has gone to waste as the wind has “turn’d” the mouse out of its home. It now has to face the “Winter’s sweetly dribble” and “cranreuch” or frost.
In the second to last stanza the speaker wants the mouse to understand that it is not alone. Often one’s plans go awry, and “foresight” may often be in “vain” or pointless when one never knows what’s going to happen.
The speaker states that “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley.” There is no real way to predict what the world will throw at you. The “you” to whom the speaker refers is humankind, non-human animals, and all living things on the planet. It is universal that plans will fall apart.
On the other hand, the speaker is able to “backward cast” his “e’e.” His prospects appear “dear,” when basing them on what has happened to him previously. Then when he looks forward in time he “canna see” or cannot see, the “fears” which may come for him. A very dark and foreboding prospect is always possible.
Translation and analysis by Emma Baldwin
We are all Interconnected even with the Universe 