Essay 4

July 2, 2022

The fourth essay in the series begins the exploration of how we might find truly fulfilling answers to the question about how best to live.

“One conclusion was forced upon my mind, and my impression of its truth has ever since remained unshaken. It is, that our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence, but apply the right stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness.
“In the main these [extraordinary] experiences and those of the ordinary world keep discrete: yet the two become continuous at certain points, and higher energies filter in.” — William James

Extraordinary experiences are often called mystical, and the word mysticismencompasses every moment any one of us experiences a deeper way of knowing, or feeling, or being. Mystical moments actually happen with great frequency, whenever a person opens into a dimension beyond normal, everyday consciousness. One of the greatest philosophers of the seventeenth century, Baruch Spinoza, talked about what it was like to touch this broader knowledge, saying that in the upper reaches of intuition we can gain “the highest stage of human knowledge, in which the whole of the universe is comprehended as a unified interconnected system.”

Although many people have mystical moments, most of us do not pay much attention to their meaning or know how to integrate what they have to say into our everyday lives. Mystics, however, are those who pay attention when “higher energies filter in,” and begin to organize their lives around the wisdom that comes from these experiences. Continue reading “Mysticism to the Rescue” →

The second essay in the series, Our Highest Possibilities, involves a crucial step we must take if we are to get in touch with that which is truly important: to step outside our everyday selves.

A poem by Jalaluddin Rumi:

For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself.
From within, I couldn’t decide what to do.
Unable to see, I heard my name being called.
Then, I walked outside.

One question this raises: What did he walk outside of?

When I am looking out at the world from within my individual point of view, it is usually the “me” that I was enculturated to identify with, an individual separate from other individuals and from the world. This is my normal identity, the person I seem to be to myself during most of my waking hours. The traditional way to describe this person I think I am is “ego self,” and the best short definition I can give of ego is “everything I think of when I think of myself.”

Most of us identify with this image of who we are a great deal of the time. When we do, the ego is the center of awareness as well as our identity. There are, however, times when we are outside this identity. Ralph Waldo Emerson explored this “outside” throughout his life:

“We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity. When we discern justice, when we discern truth, we do nothing of ourselves, but allow a passage to its beams.” Continue reading “Stepping Outside” →

Essay 1

May 19, 2022

Today begins a new series of essays considering the highest possibilities toward which a human life can aim. It will focus on the ways each of us can explore and perhaps find the fulfillment we seek. This is the ultimate journey, and through the ages the wisest among us have offered ways to find the wholeness, fulfillment, and meaning that is our birthright. They tell us it is possible to experience the love, peace, wisdom, and joy this journey can bring.

They do not say it is easy, but the wise ones of many traditions tell us we are called to ascend the mountain of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful — and that each of us has the possibility of reaching the summit.

Few reach the top of the mountain, and even fewer are able to remain there permanently. The vast majority of us do not live our lives in the rarefied air of that high place. Some of us have breathed it for brief moments, then found ourselves back in the thicker atmosphere of our daily lives. Yet the saints and sages keep reminding us that the summit is always there, waiting for us, though hidden by clouds of ambition, anger, illusion, greed, desire, and despair.

Their guidance consistently says that life is about finding our way up the mountain as far as we can go. Right now, at this moment, it does not matter whether you are well on your way or just beginning. Wherever you are, the meaning of your life is about taking the journey seriously and climbing as best you can. Do you see? What matters is not how far you have traveled, nor even reaching the end of the trail. The crucial thing is simply to begin, to start from where you are now. Then, as the Sufi poet Rumi said: “If your leg is gimpy and you have to hop, what’s the difference? Going there, even by limping, the leg grows whole.” In his statement, it is the “going” that is the crucial factor.

Many have begun this journey, have felt the call to find “something more.” A significant number have had glimpses of the destination, have experienced an instant in which the veil was lifted and, in the words of poet William Blake, “the doors of perception were cleansed.” When this happens, everything appears as it truly is, “Infinite.” During such glimpses, you feel what Blake proclaimed, that you have the capacity to, “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand; And Eternity in an hour.”

Continue reading “Our Highest Possibilities – Introduction” →