Any pre-modern spirituality that does not come to terms with modernity and post-modernity has no chance of survival in tomorrow's world.
Ken
Wilber – The Future of Religion
I would like at
this point to share some reflections most of all with spiritual seekers and
with those who are involved in teaching and exploring these themes.
Up to now we
have outlined the masks of global (self) deceit as well as cognitive and
practical perspectives on exploring, living and even proposing concrete
directions for achieving greater awareness and perhaps, more mature choices in
life.
If from a
certain angle our reality appears tragic and inevitable, from another point of
view all that has been achieved is in part, just the result of our
individual/collective choices. It is the work of artificial conditioning aimed
at creating and feeding a way of thinking that forces us inside the strict
confines of a circuit of illusions: one that is so convincing that it renders
our suggestion of reality totally real and insistent. And when we talk about it
and we complain, not without an infantile sense of enthusiasm of presuming that
we have understood what others have not, we continue in fact, to feed a
catatonic and defeatist line of reality, shock-absorbed by a series of ‘venting
valves’ and palliative satisfactions. Some are particularly banal (football, sexy
models, summer holidays and perhaps professional gratification), others are more
sophisticated (courses, seminars, New Age and others). All are perfectly
delivered to intercept our higher aspirations thanks to their subtle but
effective alibis which nevertheless make us feel we are on the right track,
pacified and reassured.
The traps of
the ego are increasingly sophisticated and yet we know that the human being will
never be able to really grow if it does not liberate itself from its obsession
with itself, with its own masks, fame and above all its fear of nothingness which,
in order to alleviate, it is ready to sell itself for just any old illusion. The
darkness of consciousness becomes the light of vanity in any context that
offers a framework: health or disease, wealth or poverty, wild ideas or
morality, protest or conformism. We are nevertheless kept at a distance from
ourselves.
This moment in
history seems to be crucial and potentially perfect for planning a redemption of consciousness, for preparing us for ‘something’
that we feel in the air: outside, but above all inside ourselves. Disenchanted by all the illusions that are
administered to us, we are finally finding enchantment in the one true and
authentic reference, the one that in the end we feel and recognize as the real
and definitive reference of consciousness: ourselves.
In 1938, Karl
Jaspers, a psychologist and philosopher of the last century was already
describing a scenario which is similar in many ways to what we are experiencing
now. He spoke of the need for a ‘philosophy of existence’ which would be able to ‘take the origin of reality by surprise and grasp it in the same way as I, through a
process of self reflection, in the intimacy of my actions manage to catch
myself out ’. And then adds: ‘Men who had the possibility of being themselves
woke up in that pitiless atmosphere which had negated the individuality of the
individual personality. They wanted to take themselves seriously; they searched
for the reality that was hidden; they wanted to know what was knowable; and they
thought that by understanding themselves they could arrive at the origins of
their being. But even that movement of thought was often wrapped up in a
deceptive net of levelling, transforming itself into a tumultuous and pathetic
philosophy of feeling and life. The will to recognize one’s own being, perverted
into the satisfaction of pure vitality; indigenous will into a craving for
primitiveness, a sense of rank into the betrayal of a genuine hierarchy of
values’.
National
socialism was preparing to set fire to the dust and Jaspers a victim of
persecution had to keep quiet. But certainly, like Orwell, he was not mistaken
and with history repeating itself, his intuition is still kept alive.
Today the struggle
for an authentic understanding of the self is mortified by the same levelling,
though no longer inflicted by violence, it is established with more subtle and
deadly social and cultural sedatives which, with implacable efficiency, really seem
to be leading us to a ‘New World Order’ without even the pretence of an authentic
human renaissance. Instead we have lukewarm, standardized fantasies, New Age
style which, bring that same ‘old individual confusion’ in through the backdoor
with a moralistic, dualistic and clerical ring.
Rebirth has to
begin with each individual, from the depths of the True Self, and direct itself
towards real change. It is still possible. We have to act so that it does not
become just the latest fashion, the same old whim. We must not confuse the
search for truth with the search for more sophisticated consumer goods and a
more sophisticated ego; or true being
with the need for well-being and ‘understanding’.
Everything we
are surrounded by was created by us, fed by us, WE ARE US. We also know that the solution, ‘the door’, is inside of us. The door to a true and
immediate reality which, is completely different from what we think we perceive
and know. And it also includes science, physics, history and all the kaleidoscopic
scenic systems of Form, colours and shadows that make up our culture and its customs.
But I will stop
there, as we now need to continue the personal and intimate character of this
exploration by asking ourselves the following questions:
What style of life?
What concrete
choices?
What possible
conclusions?
What words and
what silence, what actions and what non-action will really take us ‘beyond’?
What truth lies
behind all the metaphors?
How can we fully
live the meaning of our discoveries?
And then... if we want... what teachings, or
better still what kind of sharing is possible? What do we know? What have we
learnt?…And therefore?
How many times
have we heard it said that, in being involved in spiritual research,
independent information, natural well-being and inner disciplines we are part
of a ‘niche’?
Whether one is a
free spirit or independent researcher, or puts into practice alternative information,
promotes natural health or sustainable development etc, one is easily accused
of being part of a ‘niche’ that is, of belonging to a minority which is not so
much original as totally without influence.
We are at the
point in which, if you believe in the soul, in Nature or intelligence you are
marginalized.
But now it is
time to invert such logic. What about those who pollute, are they right?, Those
who use drugs, who cure themselves with chemicals, who alter their own body, who
corrupt, who brainwash, who waste, who are selfish towards their own kind,
animals and plants, those orthodox thinkers and conformists who have been subjected
to a conditioning that is passed off as ‘values’. If this is the case then roll
on the fall of those values!
We, however, want
to practice other values: we are searching for our eternal and cosmic soul, we
love and respect life in all its forms, we want to regulate our life on the
basis of intelligent and harmonious solutions; we do not put profit and
convenience first, we do not consider ourselves ‘consumers’ and we do not
accept that entertainment and distractions are enough in life or that superficial
information is sufficient.
We are not just
voters and ‘subjects’, guinea pigs or cannon fodder. We give meaning to words
such as love, compassion and friendship. We have to reclaim our universal
consciousness, the multi-dimensionality of the human being, of every man and
woman, our liberty and our profound intelligence: our divine nature. We applaud
the dignity of the human being, we search for truth. Well, if this is what it
means to be part of the ‘niche’, so be it. We are in good company. We are the
silent majority.
A majority that
has to unite its strength, refer to serious and competent information, clarify
not only research themes and recent discoveries but themes with a real social
impact that are often treated with great superficiality. Let’s talk about real
well-being, sustainability and avant-garde research, be it scientific or
deliciously spiritual, even though such distinctions are fictitious. Clarity is
needed on these fundamental themes to avoid profound misunderstandings, sensationalism,
manipulation, suggestion and all those placebos aimed at repressing the real
reawakening of consciousness; one that requires the presence and the
responsibility of everyone.
Taking a look
at these themes from the point of view of opposing fronts, we have the Vatican
insisting on ‘true faith’, CICAP (the Italian Commission for the Control of Affirmations
on the Paranormal) on ‘true science’ and the conformist media on ‘true life’, we
already have a new world religion of superficiality, of spiritual
ambitiousness, of miracle performing, with its accompanying host of new prophets and saviours.
Certain ‘New
Age’ theories also need to be critically assessed, particularly conspiracy
theories when they propose improbable – but fascinating – esoteric-historical
reconstructions (most of which were created a couple of centuries ago by the
efforts of clever Jesuits fraudsters). We need to re-examine the
extra-terrestrial agenda which is not born out by historical, scientific,
anthropological and metaphysical accounts; also the proposals of holistic
well-being that are often exploited by unscrupulous therapists who damage not
only the naive but also serious research, who are then exposed to the mediatic
pillory organized by institutional detractors such as the multi-nationals who
recruit politicians, professors and managers who are addicted to discrediting dissent:
prisoners of the emptiness of their own souls.
We must leave all
this pettiness behind, clarify everything and finally enter or better still,
determine this New Era of Consciousness, wake up to the illusions, definitively
abandon the old dualist paradigms and recover an authentic sense of our
humanity and therefore of life.
Humanity’s
current path invites us to create a future that we can choose for ourselves, founded
upon a new scientific, historical and spiritual synthesis.
It is these
subjects, or better still with this approach of ‘pulling things together’ that
we particularly need to discuss with researchers and certainly with all those
who feel involved in this process of awareness regardless of their experience,
education or beliefs. The signs announce times of enormous and rapid change,
whether we are ready for them or not.
If from the
chaos, a potential for rebirth is also born we can but play in anticipation and
ride the waves with will, love and above all courage. Riding the waves means
bringing a living message through our own way of being, at home, in the family,
the office, factory, school, or university, in the corridors of hospitals and
in the bar rather than in art galleries or scientific laboratories.
There is
turmoil. All this is turmoil. Let’s invite knowledge in with sobriety and
purity, with profound honesty and above all with a sincere heart.
The thoughts
that have been expressed up till now aim to contribute to an approach that is
useful both to a healthy ‘search for consciousness’ (spirituality, inner search
or whatever you want to call it), or ‘science’, which is nevertheless an
indispensible and extremely valid instrument in the exploration of reality.
I certainly
believe that these two exploratory fields of science and consciousness have to undoubtedly
interact, with reciprocal respect for each others logic and aspire to a
definitive (re)integration. We have to allow mysticism and sensitivity to
express their perceptions, leave space for spiritual traditions and the
timeless knowledge of magic, just as – and rightly so – we need to take account
of the enlightened sciences of our time. We need to restore to the sensitivity
and individual intuition that is born from the depths of the heart, that trust
and those values that have been delegated to the pulpit, cathedrals and dogma for
too long and which have taken us away from an authentic taste for things and
life.
Existence is
complex and made up of forever changing nuances. We need intelligence to stop
faith, idealism or sentimentalism degenerating into neuroses and to understand
the alchemy of all facets of existence, while maintaining the requisite maturity and forbearance.
It is time to
develop further a series of considerations that in the public debate seem to
have got caught up in the mesh of rather boring rhetoric.
So far we have
established that:
1. It is necessary to be centred
2. To know how to think of others you need to
know how to think of yourself
3. It is better to think positively
4. it is better to smile and be optimistic.
Fine. Great.
But now we need
to press on and look at the contents. At knowing. At understanding.
Knowledge
cannot ignore the need for study even though it goes way beyond mere studying in
itself: it is about being disposed towards research and expanding one’s
consciousness with regard to all aspects of life.
On our own
personal path - which, rather than
vaguely describing as ‘spiritual’ I would prefer to define in a more concrete
and all encompassing way as ‘existential development’ – it is necessary to be
aware, or informed. It is also worth saying; conscious, lucid, capable of
discernment, critical, and analytical but without ever losing sight of ourselves
among the infinite tides of knowledge and current events. In fact knowledgeably
making it the reason for clarity and balance, thus conserving a centeredness
and forbearance in the definition of ourselves and our intentions.
It is important
to know or at least be sufficiently informed about the models of reality that
the modern, natural, physical and medical sciences put forward; to know the
basics of history, of archaeology and anthropology, just as through a more intelligent
and acute capacity we need to inform ourselves with regard to social and
political current affairs. We need to be conscious of the context in which to
position personal research, the analysis of the self, sentiments, emotions,
creativity and in particular our true nature, which is directed towards our real
personal existential mission and is much higher in respect to the references of
reality and ourselves supplied by our senses and the material world.
With the right
approach knowledge leads to wisdom when it does not limit and confuse but
supports ethical elaboration, knowledge of the self and a meditation that is able
to inspire increasingly authentic values aimed at real well-being. A knowledge
of current reality and an awareness of self create become power, an ethical
container in which it is possible to achieve an elevated perception of things,
events, life and human experience. That is when experience no longer limits
itself to just the reality of the material world and a more or less restricted ego
but opens up multi-dimensional scenarios of comprehension and life.
Open yourself
to knowledge, to becoming aware, to conscious exploration: here are the terms
of that practical and holistic existential development for which we are perhaps
finally ready, the re-integration of learning with feeling to mature a new
human era that is both inevitable and necessary.
This is why the
quality of study is so important (obviously it must not be a sterile
accumulation of ideas but a motive for understanding, that is well planned and
which avails itself of selected and effective references), just as it is necessary
to be aware of current historical and
geo-political events – at least the most
influential ones – to be knowledgeable about the spiritual and religious traditions
that have shaped the human history of philosophical, religious and cultural
movements and to be up-to-date with the latest developments in science,
psychology and medicine. Not forgetting to acquire the information necessary to
guide life choices, take care of the physical body, the quality of
relationships, one’s profession or work and the search for a creative outlet such
as cultivating a form of art. It is a call to go
beyond inaccuracy, superstition and losing sight of the self and, with the best
of intentions, aiming for inner growth and renewal.
We need to
commit ourselves to search for the truth of things in this chaos of information
and counter-information, half truths and manipulation, science and pseudo-science,
existential placebos and fake spirituality.
The evolution
of the individual is part of an integrated process of existential development,
therefore, to all effects, spiritual. The other part is made up of a knowledge
of the self, an emancipation from conditioning, the full realization of our own existence at
all levels and the elaboration of a life ethic that enlightens, and renders us
spontaneous bearers of truth and light.
The spiritual
search is not a vague and transcendental thing but infinitely practical and
pragmatic. Anxiety about performance has to be decisively substituted for
silence, meditation, openness and profound inner and personal reflection. The
spiritual search is not something you can learn in a course or that you prefer to
other hobbies. It is not something you have to ‘do’. It is also not something
simple or within reach. It has something to do with your way of being, feeling
and understanding. It is about Living.
It has to do
with our entire existence and goes much further than the confines of time,
dimensions or biology that seem to define us now. It is much broader – and more
demanding – than studying for a degree, pursuing a career, healing your body
and mind, being happy or perhaps following the stereotypes of the moment....
The spiritual
search has to be your life priority, because it is there that all the other life
values come together: if we do not assign it this role, which is what it is
for, we are not conducting an authentic search at all.
Work on the
spirit is achieved through research that is balanced, not competitive or anxious.
It is
fashionable to discuss enlightenment and ‘self-realization’. But the truly enlightened
person is someone who has achieved it with little, while the unenlightened
always has need of something else to achieve it, to feel satisfied, to exist. If
there is dissatisfaction it means there is still too much ego. Happiness is
achieved through awareness, which is a complete satisfaction of the self.
Awareness is
not found in achievement or conquest: it is found in comprehension. It does not
lie in the possession of something but in the comprehension of everything,
without possessing anything. It is Love.
The soul
aspires to awareness while the ego aspires to achievement. Perhaps
Consciousness is both: if the pointer on the scales moves to far one way or the
other we descend into hypocrisy. The anxiety to achieve according to programmes
that are inculcated, rather than being our own, is the true illusion. It is
hypocrisy. It is non-life. Cultivating false aspirations is an alibi for not
waking up and taking responsibility for ourselves. They are masks and
convenient sufferings.
The alternative
is not to ‘do it for yourself’ or to ‘do it for others’: in both cases, if our
mission is just growth, be it egoistic or altruistic and fails to reawaken
Consciousness, we are still in the circuit of the ego and the mind. It is only when
we come out of the ego and stop constantly posing the problem of our enlightenment
and happiness, because we are and
that is enough, that we go beyond: we
are ‘in the world but not of this world’.
‘Am I
enlightened?’, if it is the mind that is asking, then we are in the ego, with the
risk that our aspirations are fake and induced. However, if inquietude is the
mover of the soul (which does not ask but ‘feels’), then we are in the Absolute
Being: the soul does not even ask, it acts motivated by its own existence.
We are like
divers who have passed out in their diving suits…
More often than
not spiritual growth is triggered when, conscious of the increasingly obvious,
unsupportable and globalized manipulation, we begin to interest ourselves in
political dialogue, UFOs, meditation, hidden archaeology and holistic
well-being. We take courses and seminars, read books and magazines follow up
various indications, methods and perhaps some interesting, liberating and
satisfying ideas, very often loosing sight of the path, our original question
and the intention and needs that sent us in that particular direction in the
first place . We do not realize that the search is first and foremost, a search
for meaning.
Then, when we acknowledge
the chaos we have ended up in, a certain natural refusal is aroused, a sort of
cynicism, or else we go in the opposite direction, into excess becoming prey to
one of the many cults or sects in which gurus or novel preachers, as on the
threshold of the year one thousand, crawl out of the woodwork waving bibles and
gospels for 2012.
Basically we
pass from one illusion to another, from one suggestion to another, from one dream to another, one which more often than not transforms
into a living nightmare. Well-intentioned references, masters, healers,
speakers of all kinds can be valid stimuli: formative points of reference and
fonts of inspiration but we must ineludibly drag ourselves away and leave them
all behind. And, it will be they themselves – If they are authentic – who will
be the first to applaud our decision, our step forward, our liberation from
them and their teachings.
What have you
learnt? Where is your mastery? Do you want to be a student forever? An eternal
course-goer?
Discipline,
rules and devotion are the paths to discovering ourselves, for getting closer
to our centre, our intelligence and learning to take responsibility. We do not
need to believe in eternal schools, unrenounceable references, dogmas and
saviours, or a population of enlightened ones. We need to believe in individuals
who are free and aware. We need to believe in the people of the world.
Schools,
because they are just that, have a limited time span, otherwise they are not
schools but sects and cults. It is fine to share a specific project but only on
the condition that the project is also yours, one that is persevered with and
has time dedicated to it: in fact the realization of your own Personal Project.
But watch out: the
wrong means cannot lead to the right ends. Spiritual victory is not measured by
having reached the goal but by what you used to get there.
If
you do not comprehend that you are Buddha,
What
sense is there in looking for wealth outside of yourself?
If
you cannot spontaneously meditate
What
will you gain by distancing your thoughts?
If
you do not know how to harmonize the practice of meditation with your life,
are
you not, probably, just a confused imbecile?
If
you do not intuitively acquire the vision of enlightenment,
what
use is a systematic search?
If
you live thanks to an energy and a time that you do not belong to,
if
you waste your life, who will pay your debts in the future?
Dressed
just in cotton rags
what
does the ascetic gain by searching for the cold of winter down here?
The
novice who doubles in strength but does not receive a complete education
is
like an ant who tries to climb a mountain of sand:
he
does not achieve anything!
Accumulating
education without managing to grasp the true nature of the mind,
Is
like dying of hunger in front of an overflowing larder.
[…]
Finally,
comprehend, the essence of the teaching in this life,
and
practice it!
Ghesce Ciapu
You
are accustomed to authority or the atmosphere of authority which you think will
lead you to spirituality. You think and hope that another can, by his
extraordinary powers – a miracle – transport you to this realm of eternal
freedom which is Happiness.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
We can only get
to know the criteria that guide us when an overbearing need to create order is
born inside of us.
However before
pursuing a ‘spiritual’ life or exploring alternative themes, cultures and
esoteric techniques, or even experiences that are more or less esoteric, we
need to define our real objective. There is no point in losing ourselves in
labels such as ‘inner path’, ‘spiritual search’, ‘reawakening consciousness’ or
‘enlightenment’ if they lack content. Before we do anything else we have to
clarify:
1. What needs we are responding to
2. The role of the personal ego
3. Our mission.
The result is
certainly a concrete cosmic broadening of knowledge, of the awareness and
consciousness of the Self and of our own role as individuals in the world, as expressions
of the All. But in the end, the goal is to be happy in a reality that we render
happy, to which we give the truest, broadest and most beautiful meaning
possible.
The key to the
most authentic happiness is awareness, which is true
realization, knowledge, wisdom and love. Recovering a sense of faith in ourselves, discovering our
talents, recovering a sense of friendship, of a love for Nature. Recovering the
meaning of life, but also that of pain and death.
And all of this
in everyday life, considering and comprehending all the circumstances in which
we find ourselves and for whatever reason are called upon to live. For such
realization we can work in a thousand ways, even by renouncing the magic and
esoteric because spiritual realization is a real and practical process.
It is enough to
have a sense of ethics: of being and
not of having, of how to live of how to do things, independent of the contingency
of choices. Spirituality is not the automatic fruit of meditation, esotericism
or healing magic. Perhaps we are already spiritual and if we like, also a
little magic, if we work in an intelligent and constructive way, animated by the
will, common sense and sincere love. When we live, work, raise a family,
educate children or create better existential conditions for ourselves and the
reality we are a part of, we are creating
for the development of our consciousness whether we are aware of it or not.
Many of us already
put this into practice despite all the limits and conditioning supplied by our ailing
society. We are spiritual when we are not selfish and egoistical.
From this basis
can a different need be triggered? A thirst for greater consciousness and
awareness? For a higher ‘healing and ‘evolution’? For a more comprehensive ‘realization’?
Certainly.
In general this
drive is born out of profound difficulty (shock, trauma, pain, crisis, illness,
breakdown…), or from a more subtle and general sense of unease about life for
which we search for a cure. It also comes from searching for the answers to the
new questions that our life experience gives birth to. From that disquiet the
need for some kind of reference is born, perhaps a pathway, even though it is
better that everyone always traces their own, original, unique and unrepeatable
existential path.
That personal
path cannot help but be therapeutic: knowledge of the true Self leads to the healing
of our defects and identification. Such defects – according to holistic and
traditional disciplines – lie behind all successive diseases and impede the attainment
of a healthy life ethic. Being in balance means that we can more easily move aside
the limits that restrict us, just as we can also rid ourselves of phantoms from
the past. These are the conditions that have to be confronted first before we attempt
to explore those that lie deeper and require more effort.
From there a
further yearning for discovery can be born, a thirst for knowledge, for a greater
consciousness of all that is and of the reality in which we live. We can begin
with the ethical duty of achieving happiness and well-being, progressively
arriving at a true knowledge consisting of awareness and, perhaps, nostalgia.
We want to ‘understand’,
and in understanding truly ‘be’. But the commitment can prove arduous; we need
to bear in mind that what we discover along the way might not be easy or
pleasant: we could perhaps compare it to taking the ‘red pill’ in the film
Matrix!
We then move
from a cultural, ethical or therapeutic drive, to an existential need, or if we
prefer, therapeutic in the most radical sense. The search for a deeper meaning
is born and therefore an awareness not only of our identity but also a sense of
direction and eventually, a sense of the direction of all human beings, of our essential ‘humanity’.
We enter into a
process linked to spirituality as a search for identity and above all as a deep
search for wisdom, that inspires the daily choices of life with the values of
our own consciousness, one that has been progressively awakened. Nothing could
be more concrete and pragmatic!
Through meditation,
which transcends therapy by containing it, we enter into a state of communion:
into a current that naturally carries us on a path of comprehension, of
evolution and, if we allow it to, of happiness. In virtue of the fact that it
is being progressively realized, our daily life becomes extraordinary in its
simplicity. Through its earthly vicissitudes, though problematic and difficult,
a taste for life is rediscovered in its ordinary and intrinsic worth.
We begin to desire
a certain syntony with nature and all the expressions of life and begin to
understand aspects which at first we had judged hastily or superficially. As a
result of this new found harmony we relate in a more active way with the laws
and forces of existence inside and outside of ourselves. We accesses new
horizons of the Self, or better still of Being and of the possible. We
progressively mature the idea of what can only be called ‘Magic’: or we harmoniously
allow the reality around us to tune in with our renewed inner state. Acting
through non-action on the real and on the nature of things, moving within
ourselves. It is ‘power’ in a shamanic sense.
It is no longer
‘only’ a path that aims at a therapeutic, ethical, meditative or mystical
search but one that transforms itself into a magic or even sacred one: We enter into relationship with the ‘sacred’, that is with the projections
of reality as a manifestation of the Absolute, that we intend to rediscover as
such, beginning with ourselves.
Therefore it is
important to reflect and distinguish between the assertions: ‘I want to go and
do a course to feel better and resolve my neuroses or become rich and socially
successful’ and ‘I intend to follow a path of Knowledge’.
Distinguish
between:
1) Whether you want to remain in a cultural
setting and perhaps equip yourself with ready to use techniques (a bit for
yourself and a bit to ‘help others’ and a bit to soothe the afflictions of an
ego that is never satisfied – or badly satisfied) or instead...
2) Whether you intend to explore the Magic sense of Life.
They are completely
different planes and levels of responsibility: on the first, you search to improve your performance; on the second,
you are the scenery maker, producer and director.
