Illusion to Reality

So paradoxical, but then again here is another from my dear inner master J:

The followers said to J, “Tell us how our end will be.”
He said, “Have you discovered the beginning, then, so that you are seeking the end?
For where the beginning is, the end will be. Fortunate is the one who stands at the beginning:
That one will know the end and will not taste death.”
– Pursah’s Gospel of Thomas –

It is not a special day, nor is it another usual day. Neither is it religious nor mystical.  It is an ordinarily simple day for commemoration of what a human endeavor can potentially arrive at – the state of awakening from the illusion of life, in short, enlightenment. It is so ordinary that nothing can compete its simplicity. Yet in this ordinary simplicity everything is finally understood and realized, fully.

In understanding one thing, everything is understood.
In understanding everything, nothing is understood.

Enlightenment is not what you can experience in life itself. No. Nor can you try any or every means; including any unthinkable strength and grit; to secure its price. None of that sort. It is simply getting out of the dream – sounds simple yet it is never as simple as we think it can be. It is like an invisible prison that is found in each of us, yet we are not able to put a finger on it.

It is a day to remember that somewhere in the past there was a pathway laid, albeit a pathless one, which points to the doorway of liberation, of getting out of the dream. The word Buddha, is not about someone or something, or even with any religious connotation attached to it, but rather enlightenment itself – which  potentially is the “birthplace” of one, an end of the journey of sort. The state of the unconditioned. It is a very personalized journey – ironically, a journey that undoes the personality itself – the undoing of the ego, the disentanglement of falseness.

I am not playing down the man who finally made the exit; not at all.  As Jed McKenna aptly said it, there is no such a thing as an enlightened being. In enlightenment there is no being. In Being, there is no enlightenment. Both are exclusive – they don’t come together – either you are awake, or in a dream. Period.

Gotama (Sanskrit: Gautama), the man who showed the possibility of enlightenment is historical; an important figure to cherish; but the work did not stop and end there. Idolization greatly missed the point he was trying to convey throughout his 45 years of ministry. It is again, like the finger pointing to the moon. You can’t fix yourself to the finger and yet find the moon. It is either or. Both are, again, exclusive. He showed the way and our choice is either to adore him or to follow the direction of his pointing finger, dropping the image of the finger entirely. It is the direction that needs to be accomplished.

Between the finger and the moon, anything is possible, yet vague. The path itself is pathless, not something you can see or feel. And in that pathless path, is found the prison of our own making that we have to relinquish – all by ourselves. That there is a certain skill needed to unlock the prison to make an escape to freedom – very much like the key-maker in the movie sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. But there is a hitch here – it is not just one prison door, nor is there even a space of a breath between each door.

Where is the prison except in the mind? It is a prison-less prison, not something that can be seen or felt tangibly. Not of stones of high walls or steel bars of tiny cells but views that seemed harmless in the beginning of time that ultimately built-up the massive complexity of entanglement which overwhelmingly by now seems an impossible task to see any end to it.

The clue is found in the now, the never-ending now – that each now offers the hope of opening the door to another door, and yet another door to another, and another… until one finds the end of it – the gift of enlightenment which awaits us there. What then is in the now that we need to comprehend? The views that bind us to be back again and again – the cyclic process of birth and death. The dream that is so real that fooled us to exist further.

And when we finally arrived at the end of the doors, we meet the Buddha there. Not someone, somebody or any religious figure we had in our mind. None of that sort. Not even the one we are now imagining in our perception or the image on the altar – they are all merely views which we are invited to give up, to surrender.

*Wesak or Vesak

He who sees the Truth, sees me. – The Buddha

Do you realize how we imitate one another a lot, all the time? It is not a conscious choice – it is part of the way the mind works. I’m sure you do observe very frequently that whenever someone around you yawns, you could not help but yawn too, unless you are conscious of the act before it arises. We are unconsciously picking up behaviors. It was said that our behavior is being observed and mimicked by our children all the time. I also observe that when one is in a group for a long period of time, he or she will pick up significant characters – either for the sake of blending into the group, as a kind of tribal instinct to feel belong or, as a conscious act of improving one’s life. Rarely, the latter applies.

Is this mimicking occurring all the time? You bet so. The mind learns through what comes into its senses. It picks and chooses what it thinks is appropriate – either from wisdom or ignorance. In truth, our personality is a summation of ideas – ideas that comes through our experiences. We are all great copycats, so to speak.

I do also observe similar patterns arising between spousal, teacher and student, and also amongst friends. Spousal co-dependencies are a common pattern of this mimicking, as a process to blend into a relationship. It takes deep commitment to move out from such conditioning, more so when either one wish to outgrow the other in term of spiritual growth.

Does our personality evolve around people whom we mix with? Could it be because of this unconscious act that many Masters encourage disciples not to associate with the fools but with the wise? This can be explained by the law of causal relationship occurring in every one of us. We could also refer this to the law of attraction. By default we grow by learning what is within our parameter of experiences. Like it or not, the Ying will always attract the opposite, the Yang. Like process of osmosis, both of these forces intermingle with each other to blend into balance. If we have wisdom as our root, we will only pick up what is essential for our growth. If ignorance is the command of our being, we can be sure of picking up stuff that is unnecessary and burdensome!

Mimicking is not the pathway to realization or wisdom but it can be a prerequisite to the journey. Gross characters are detrimental to the peace of mind. When someone mimics the positive qualities of another, a great part of the work is done. But the work does not end there. It is just a means but not the end. Mimicking not just occurs on the body level but also the mind, sometimes refer to as synchronicity.

Minds are attracted to each other, like tuning fork reverberating to one another. We synchronize according to our needs. Even the level of thoughts or wisdom can arrive at the similar level within a group if there is a concerted connection with each other. Modern researches call it morphic field. On many occasions I have observed that what I am blogging here is also being shared by other entries and vice versa around the same period. Similarly when certain new experiences are being achieved by a meditator during a retreat, a deeply-connected friend from home also experience similar realizations in his or her daily living; a far distance from where the retreat is. Could it be for this reason that in certain tradition, a living master is a necessity to the student for the spiritual journey to be accelerated?

The rule of thumb is this – if we really wish to align with nature, we have to work with nature. If we wish to align with wisdom, we have to “rub shoulders” with people who are wise. It is simply a natural law working within this existence and to make full use of it, we learn to listen deeply to the needs of our heart and let it flow towards the direction it chooses to grow by surrendering – surrendering to where our heart is directing us.

Thus it is natural that when we wish to grow spiritually, we are already unconsciously telling the “universe” that we are ready to be molded for growth to take place. And usually, growth can only arise where there are lessons to be learned. So be forewarned that the spiritual journey will take us on a roller coaster ride! To cushion ourselves in the journey, we seek for protection and guidance from higher sources. Remember, ask and you shall be given!

And I do invite you to consider this – when you grow in wisdom, your personality becomes an example to the world. You teach the world through your actions.