Discussion: A Living Philosophy Of Love
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
We
know what words look like, but words are far simpler than the things that
they represent. In order to build a more complete and definite image of
the world in our minds, we must consciously use our senses to observe that
world, then recreate our impressions in “the mind’s eye” by
the use of visualization or imagination. Our mental view of the world will
then correspond more closely to our actual sense impressions, rather than
to the illusory images conjured up in our minds by words. Once we “come
to our senses” mentally, we will begin to wake up from the trance
of pain caused by past injuries and traumas. Though injuries and tragedies
may still trouble us, we will not be hypnotized by the thoughts we have
about our negative experiences. Instead, we will continue to respond to
the events of life as they occur in the moment, and our vision will not
be clouded by the preconceptions created by the word structures that limit
and bind verbal thought. Without such limited thinking we become free to
perceive the limitless love that fills the world with light, air, sound,
growing things, and beautiful people who can find it in their hearts to
give us their love in return for ours.
The love that we receive, if we allow ourselves to love and be loved, will
eventually heal us. Though we may have injuries and wounds that will refuse
to heal physically, those bodily ills need not permanently affect our minds,
our hearts, and our spirits. Love can teach us how to think good thoughts.
Love can show us how to keep the fires of courage, passion, and compassion
burning in our own hearts. Finally, love can restore our faith in the ultimate
benevolence of the universe.
This
benevolence can be directly perceived if we contemplate the intelligent
design that permeates earthly existence. No human word structure
could have conceived the world of living things in all of its complexity.
Verbalized thoughts can only approximately represent a small part of
the earthly existence with which we have been gifted in this life.
The world, and not the brain, contains the ultimate source of consciousness.
When the spirit leaves the body, the brain becomes a mere inanimate
object.
Where does
consciousness go when the body dies? Medical science cannot answer
this question. Scientists in the medical profession would like us to
believe that “we” originate
in the flesh contained in our skulls. In fact, our consciousness
originates outside of the physical body and exists apart from the brain.
The world itself contains this pattern of awareness that we call intelligence,
and which we falsely attribute to our gray matter. Word structures,
like the brain, only serve as structures or vehicles through which
the universal intellect can act. This explains why words can contain
the holy force of the Divine, and why we as humans can realize our
own Godhood.
To illustrate this point, let us quote from the strange yet fascinating
book by Douglas R. Hofstadter entitled Godel, Escher, Bach (1999): “As
I see it, the only way of overcoming this magical view of what ‘I’ and
consciousness are is to keep on reminding oneself, unpleasant though it
may seem, that the “teetering bulbs of dread and dream’ that
nestles safely inside one’s own cranium is a purely physical object
made up of completely sterile and inanimate components, all of which obey
exactly the same laws as those that govern all the rest of the universe,
such as pieces of text, or CD-ROM’s, or computers. Only if
one keeps on bashing up against this disturbing fact can one slowly
begin to develop a feel for the way out of the mystery of consciousness:
that the key is not the stuff out of which brains are made, but the patterns that
can come to exist inside the stuff of a brain. This is a liberating shift,
because it allows one to move to a different level of considering what
brains are: as media that support complex patterns that
mirror, albeit far from perfectly, the world, of which, needless
to say, those brains themselves are denizens—and it is in the inevitable self-mirroring
that arises, however impartial or imperfect it may be, that the strange
loops of consciousness start to swirl.” We can thus come to
see our minds as reflections, perfect or imperfect, of the world
we inhabit.
Forget your pain, cast your problems aside, wake up to the way things really
are in the world and you will have found Nirvana, the eternal bliss that
lies inside, between, and behind the illusory Samsara, the sorrowful state
of existence that words impose on the mind. In the perfect silence of higher
states of consciousness induced by prolonged meditation (yoga, prayer,
invocation, etc.), the mind reflects the beauty of the universe like a
calm lake reflects the colors of the sky at dawn. As the wind makes ripples
on the surface of this lake and the ripples distort the reflection of the
sky, so our thoughts distort the reflection that our senses make of the
world. The windiest of all thoughts concern ourselves. We deceive ourselves
as to the nature of our own minds and of the world out of a desire to be
important, to be different from others and separate from our environment.
“We” are figments of our own imagination, illusions cast upon
the screen of our own minds by the hidden projector of unconscious thought.
When this false self collapses in on itself under the weight of your inner
gaze, you will have attained the state of mystical oneness with the universe
of which the sages speak. Such an experience, though it may not last, has
so much significance for the one who experiences it that “ordinary” states
of consciousness, filled as they are with pain and suffering, no longer
seem able to contain the ultimate reality of light and love. Like an old
snakeskin the false consciousness of selfhood must be shed and discarded,
along with the ego games and bad habits that make up the sum total of the
average person’s activities in life.
Meaningful
work driven by inspired artistic expression begins to replace the
meaningless drudgery to which most people find themselves chained.
Loving relationships appear as though by magick and take the place
of unhealthy relations with people who haven’t
yet found their way to the cosmic consciousness of love.
Once
we decide to love others and the world rather than remain obsessed
with our own self-generated problems, we begin to see that who we are
does not matter as much as what we do. Our name, if we earn one, will
be thought of and remembered for our deeds. If our deeds be dishonorable,
our names will live in the house of infamy. If we act virtuously and
honorably, we will be rewarded with love and respect both during and
after our lives. If we never do anything other than what we are told,
our names will simply be forgotten.
We can choose the creed or code of conduct by which we choose to live.
Since what goes around also comes around, our own actions will return to
us along with the energy contained in our acts. If we have been humble
enough to learn to see the world clearly, we will recognize our own karma
when it comes back to haunt or bless us. Karma can be represented by a
simple mandala with three animals in the center. On the significance of
the karma mandala let us read from Thoughts Without A Thinker (1995)
by Mark Epstein: “The Wheel of Life is used in Buddhist countries
to teach about the concept of karma (merit), the notion
that a person’s actions in this life will affect the kind of rebirth he
or she will take in the next. Harming others contributes to rebirth in
Hell Realms; indulging the passions, to rebirth in Animal Realms; giving
to others (and especially to monks or monasteries), to more comfortable
human births or rebirths in God Realms, and so on. The actual psychological
teachings about karma are much more sophisticated than this, of course,
but the mandala is the kind of image that children or beginners can grasp
easily. The essential point is that as long as beings are driven by greed,
hatred, and delusion—forces represented by a pig, a snake, and a
rooster attempting to devour one another—they will remain ignorant
of their own Buddha-nature; ignorant of the transitory, insubstantial,
unsatisfactory nature of the world; and bound to the Wheel of Life.”
Note that
rebirths can occur several times in the same lifetime, and each of
the Realms exist on earth. Thus, acts that harm others can cause one
to be “reborn” into the “Hell” of imprisonment
or injury. Acts of kindness and generosity can earn us a different kind
of “rebirth” into a “Heaven” filled with joy and
love. The nature of our actions determines, to a great extent, where we
will end up in the world and in life. Since the world contains all kinds
of places, we can choose “where” we would like to “go” in
a mystical karmic sense by following the code of conduct that seems
best to us. No one can choose this code of conduct for us. We must
discover the philosophy of life that works for us, or invent one
that we can live with and expand on by gaining wisdom. Either way,
living by such a philosophic code will be difficult and rewarding
at the same time.
Our code
of conduct will give us a solid sense of identity as well, since we
will be the ones in control of our own actions. Neither the corruptions
of the outside world, nor the urges and demands of the personal unconscious,
can overcome the human will that has firmly dedicated itself to a coherent,
guiding philosophy. The code of conduct might be metaphorically called
an “alignment” since the nature of our actions determine our “vector” or
direction in life, and this direction determines where we end up in karmic
terms: “Hell,” “Nirvana,” or elsewhere.
The way of life that develops out of the consciously willed following of a mystical path reveals to us and allows us to fulfill our purpose in life, practice our calling, embrace our Fate, and make our date with Destiny. To conclude let us quote from the mystic Aleister Crowley’s seminal work of epigrams entitled Liber Aleph (1991), a passage on the concept of True Will: “Do what thou wilt! —Be this our Slogan in Battle in every Act; for every Act is Conflict. There Victory leapeth shining before us; for who may thwart True Will, which is the Order of Nature Herself? Thou hast no Right but to do thy Will; do that, and no other shall say nay. For if that Will be true, its Fulfillment is of a Surety as daylight following Sunrise. It is as certain as the Operation of any other Law of Nature; it is Destiny. Then, if that Will be obscured, if thou turn from it to Wills diseased or perverse, how canst thou hope? Fool! even thy Turns and Twists are in the Path to thine appointed End.” The discovery of your personal Path, your alignment or True Will, will bring you to the final recovery. Heal thyself!