Why All the Mysticism?

Many people who are really ready to end their search have certain pre-conceived ideas and conceptions that keep them blocked and confused indefinitely. What are these unfortunate pre-conceptions? The main culprit is mysticism.

Let’s look at what we’re dealing with. The only reason we suffer is that we take certain false assumptions about our existence to be true. We mistakenly believe ourselves to be separate entities, in control of our thoughts, actions and destinies, and it is this belief alone that is the cause of all the suffering. The truth – that we are not separate beings – can be discovered quite easily for oneself, by just looking at the assumptions we have taken for granted up to now, and questioning them.

So, why all the mysticism surrounding this simple questioning? Why is this made into something “spiritual”? It’s simply fact, as factual as the information that the earth revolves around the sun. For a long time, that data was also misperceived. It seemed so logical, in one’s perception, that the earth was at the center of the universe. It appeared to be that way, and many observations supported that appearance, such as the sun moving across the sky, apparently going around the earth. So casual observation supported the belief that the earth was central. Education and culture supported that appearance as well. And when it was proposed, by Copernicus, that the sun was actually the central body that the earth revolved around, people thought it was nonsensical, and found it impossible to believe.

And now, there is information, which has been available to determined seekers for thousands of years but is now becoming very easy to come by, that refutes commonly held ideas about the nature of personal existence. And, because education, culture, and casual observation seem to support the status quo – the separate person – it is difficult to embrace this “new” information all at once.

But that does not imply that this is a spiritual endeavor. It is the finding of truth, that’s all. The “spiritual” label applied to this inquiry muddies the water so thoroughly that some people are unable to see through the mire for decades upon end. If one discards the idea that they are looking for something that has a spiritual connotation, then many roadblocks to seeing the truth are removed.

“Spirit” has a few meanings, and none of them serve you in looking for the truth of existence. There is “spirit,” meaning the part of a person that is not embodied, sometimes equated with the “soul,” and sometimes just said to mean the person’s non-physical energy. This is the first problem, since in truth, there is no person individuated from the one unifying principle, and therefore no soul, no spirit, and
no individual energy.

“Spirit” is also used to label something – a power, a force – “greater than oneself.” This would include God, or any other concept of an omnipotent presence. But again, this has been defined in our society as something relative to a “self” – greater than self, outside of self, invisible to self – and there is no self. So we are finding that all the terms already in use in our culture are inadequate, because they have all been conceived of within the framework of false assumptions.

So we have to get beyond all these assumptions, if we are to see the simple truth of what is. The words and ideas that we already have won’t work, because they are all products of a culture which believes that each individual person is responsible for his or her own self, and must turn to something higher or invisible in order to be free of pain and suffering. So we have to throw out all the assumptions we have picked up so far, because they are all based on this same underlying foundation of untruth. This is what the sages mean when they say, “Be like a little child.” Discard every idea that you have.

But still, when someone tries to explain, “Where you imagine a 'self' to be, there is only reality, with no division into I and not-I," it sounds anything but scientific! It sounds like he is talking about something invisible to you, incomprehensible to you, and like something that has to arrive into your consciousness with biblical effects – a lightning bolt, perhaps, or a burning bush. But this is all a misunderstanding of what is being communicated. It is not mystical, hidden information, imbued with special powers of trance or rapture. It’s just the truth – basic laws of reality – as mundane as the fact that the earth revolves around the sun.

So when one manages to discard some of the assumptions of his/her individual existence, and allow for the possibility of some completely contradictory information, there is the possibility that the truth – that one is not a separate being – will be grasped and understood. And once understood, the life from then on is free of suffering, because it is seen that there is no one to suffer and no one who can possibly ever come to harm. All things in the life are then seen to happen spontaneously, as is the reality.

So there is no “state” a person is in after these facts are understood. There is no permanent bliss or embodied awakening. It is simply a re-orienting the reality of the seeming individual around the fact that there is no one there whom harm can ever befall. It is a total freedom from worry about how the life will unfold, since it is seen to be all one life, the life of the universal presence.

But the essence of intelligence that runs the universe is also running you, and this intelligence is certainly capable of clearly manifesting within the expression of you, without having the burden of beliefs in assumptions that have been passed on to you by a culture that didn’t know any better. So the best thing the mind can hope for is to discard the false. The rest will take care of itself.

No mysticism. No spiritualism. Just a simple questioning of the assumptions that make up your reality, and a willingness to discard those that are false. Therein lies the heart of total liberation.