Essay 8
August 28, 2022
A Personal Reflection
In the eight essay of Our Highest Possibilities, we explore where people for thousands of years have looked for guidance in seeking meaning, fulfillment, and happiness.Countless travelers have left hints and clues.
They speak of Love, Peace, Wisdom, Joy
— with Consciousness as the mysterious glue.
Their methods?
Practice, Service, Attention, Gratefulness, Courage, Devotion, Study,
Humility, Intention, Honesty, Kindness.
They teach that all share in this thing called life
and communion with others will help our journeys
will help in discovering our own way, too.
Follow the thread of the path of the wise,
and perhaps one day you will know what is true.
The Issue
The issue at hand is the meaning and fulfillment of your life. That is, actually, always and ever the issue.
But it leads to a question: What brings meaning and fulfillment? Is it pleasurable experiences, good sex, wealth, power, fame, success, children, strong family ties, authenticity, having a well-paying job, long-term security, doing your duty to family or tribe or country, avoiding pain and difficulties, being of service to those in need, trying to save the world from climate disaster or some other problem, good health, comfort, adventure, using your creativity, some combination of the above, or an alternative not yet named?
In ancient Greece, these questions were considered and debated at great length. One school of thought, hedonism, spent much time exploring whether the goal was simply to have pleasurable experiences, one after another, and whether that would bring fulfillment. Perhaps the best-known hedonist was Epicurus, and it is fascinating to discover that, as he investigated pleasure as the ultimate goal, he came to the conclusion that the highest pleasure came from tranquility and freedom from fear. Further, the only way to attain those things was by gaining knowledge, strong friendships, and living a virtuous and temperate life.
This conclusion will likely surprise modern hedonists — many of whom spend little time trying to understand the path they are on. Instead, they ignore the questions and indulge their immediate desires. Their example suggests we should simply follow the drives and urges that rise up in us spontaneously, one after another — have a good time and do what we feel like doing. But Epicurus explored this path in depth and came to the conclusion that to truly enjoy life requires abstaining from bodily desires such as sex and strong appetites and cultivating simple pleasures. Was he right? If so, a lot of modern hedonists are going to end up very disappointed.
Biological determinists go a step further than modern hedonists, saying we have no choice, that we always follow basic urges and desires whether we know we are doing so or not.
But you do not have to believe the determinists, or give your life over to their opinions. Especially since wise people through the centuries have taught that the greatest fulfillment does not come from this path. Not one of the great wisdom figures through history accepted determinism, instead teaching that following one urge after another leads only to boredom, frustration, and despair.
Even hedonism does not support determinism, for it says we can make choices. In fact, I cannot find a thoughtful figure throughout history who lived as if determinism is true, even the few who professed to be determinists. Every advocate of this philosophy I can find lived as if they themselves had choices over what they would say, how they would make and spend money, what they would do with their time, who their friends would be, and the hobbies and entertainments they would follow.
Skeptico: So has determinism been proven wrong?
Wisdom Seeker: I cannot prove that determinism is false. Not one can. But I can tell you that every wise person I know does not accept it as true.
Skeptico: Then why are you spending so much time discussing it?
Wisdom Seeker: Because a lot of people today have fallen into its clutches without knowing it. Many today get up in the morning and rush from one thing to the next, driven by advertising, what friends think, glamorous images of the lives of famous people, past decisions that they don’t revisit — and then try to squeeze in as many pleasurable moments as they can to relieve the boredom or anxiety that such a life brings. In a sense, our modern culture carries us along this path, and we have to make a conscious decision to reject determinism or we will be swept along and live it by default.
Those who do pause to consider how they are living usually move into Freud’s framework, with the ego taking charge. This is a valuable step, but it is far below the full possibility of a human life.
To move beyond determinism, and then beyond the framework Freud brilliantly described, requires confronting the hard question: Is there something more, something beyond my ego self to which I should pay attention?
Skeptico: A lot of people say that what we all want is happiness.
Wisdom Seeker: Perhaps that is true, but that statement does not help.
Skeptico: Why not?
Wisdom Seeker: Because it is just another way of stating the same question. If you say your goal is happiness, you must decide what will bring happiness. Is it good sex, wealth, power, fame, success, strong family ties — actually, the same list as above. You must decide from that list the mix of things you believe will bring you happiness. I prefer to think in terms of meaning and fulfillment, for those words seem to provide some direction as to how to find true happiness. But the two ways of stating the issue are the same.
And both lead to the very same question: What will bring meaning or fulfillment or happiness to my life? And this question involves hard practical decisions: What will I do with my time today — besides following the same old patterns? Is it better to feel good now or do unpleasant and difficult things to gain a future reward? Will I work hard or have fun? Should I commit to something I believe is worthwhile, even if it means I must take risks or sacrifice other things I want?
Where To Look for Guidance
Skeptico: Where do I look for guidance if I want to wrestle with these questions?
Wisdom Seeker: The same place all humans have looked with some success for thousands of years — to the wisdom figures of history. The cumulative wisdom of the ages is that a few exemplars came to understand life more fully than most of us, and their answers have resonated with countless people who have undertaken the journey over the centuries. Just as science provides a best guess for understanding the material world, the enduring wisdom figures provide a best guess about how to live.
They do not all agree on the details, but they agree that fulfillment is possible and that it can be reached by anyone willing to make the necessary effort. Skillful effort, that is. One of the most difficult issues in life is deciding what constitutes skillful effort on the journey.
Besides agreeing that fulfillment is possible, the major wisdom figures also agree that what can be found is available to all; each one of us can experience the highest possibilities. They all say there is an order to the universe, an underlying harmony, and that if we align ourselves with that harmony we can experience and live in relation to it. Furthermore, they say that doing so is the only way to a fulfilling life.
One problem that a lot of those who begin the journey encounter, however, is that they feel alone, for they find themselves leaving behind many of the things they once thought important. They begin moving away from the crowd and “following a different drummer,” as Thoreau put it. But for those who listen to that inner guidance, the still, small voice within, Thoreau gives powerful encouragement:
“If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, and endeavor to live the life you can imagine, you will meet a success unexpected in common hours. You will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, laws will begin to establish themselves around and within you; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in your favor, and you will live with the license of a higher order of being. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
For those who follow this deep inner knowing far enough, the path eventually opens into a field that is shared with all those who have advanced on the journey. To put it metaphorically, they find themselves in a flowering meadow amongst all the other flowers that have bloomed. Some who have journeyed to this place report feeling like they have become part of the one universal ocean.
Arriving at this place has many names and descriptions: Taoists say it is living in harmony with the Tao. Many traditions teach that loving or serving or coming into harmony with the Source is the ultimate aim of life. Some Christians say, in addition, it is knowing you are saved or feeling embraced by a loving God. Buddhists say you must awaken to who you really are. Although not usually considered a spiritual figure, Aristotle called the goal of life reaching eudaimonia. (The best translation for eudaimonia I know is ultimate flourishing — when a life of virtue opens into to a sense of completion and fulfillment.)
Whatever name you use, however, fulfillment is not a thought, but a felt sense. It is something experienced through and through, a “knowing” with your whole being that you are in harmony with that which is greater than your small self. And although this is a subjective feeling, it eventually becomes objective as well — because it is shared by all those who have reached this stage of the journey. The subjective personal opens into an objective state that can be recognized and shared with all who have experienced it.
Skeptico: If I have a powerful experience, how do I know it is real? There are people in asylums who have had powerful experiences and are convinced they know “the truth.” Some think they are God or Krishna or Napoleon.
Wisdom Seeker: You make a good point. There is, in a way, a fine line between those caught in delusion compared to those who have found their way into true wisdom. A fine line, but a radically distinctive one. Those in delusion, even if they think they have found “the truth,” can be recognized in one of these ways: sometimes by their tortured faces or destructive behaviors; even if they are somewhat functional, it might be by their inability to relate to others emotionally; those who are hardest to recognize have developed the ability to manipulate others, but their continuous self-centered behavior separates them radically from true wisdom figures.
The wisdom figures of history are those who lived in harmony with something greater than their small ego selves and can be recognized by the effect they had on the people around them: “By their fruits ye shall know them,” as Jesus put it. Those who were in harmony with something greater radiated good will, compassion, peace, wisdom, or love. Deluded narcissists have gained power and fame, but they did so by spreading anger, hatred, greed, suspicion, and division.
Most of the major wisdom figures of history did not seek personal power, and those who did used it to spread peace and promote good lives for others. Few wisdom figures have held positions of power in governmental structures, but they were nonetheless able to act with force and effectiveness in the world — their connection to “something greater” bestowed on them an efficacy beyond anything their worldly positions would imply. This was certainly the case with Jesus, Confucius, the Buddha, Socrates, Gandhi, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, the current Dalai Lama, and many more.
The Importance of the Great Saints and Sages
People crowded around the great saints and sages of history; scores dropped everything else in their lives just to be with them. It is reported that when Jesus first approached several of his disciples, the power of his presence was such that they immediately left their old lives to join him. They did not do this because they believed he was the “Messiah” or the “Son of God,” for the stories about these encounters in the Bible do not suggest he mentioned anything of the kind when he called them to follow him. On the contrary, after several of the disciples had been with him for a long time, he asked them who they thought he was, and most did not mention “Messiah” or “Son of God.” They had joined him in his travels because something in Jesus powerfully stirred their deeper selves from slumber and they felt called to change their lives, sometimes radically, to remain in his presence.
Spiritual literature is filled with similar examples: Thousands of young men left lives of privilege to follow St. Francis of Assisi — choosing material deprivation because he inspired them to live as he did. In India, tens of thousands of people gathered and sat for hours just to be in the presence of Anandamayi Ma as she meditated quietly or softly sang spiritual songs. The poet and teacher Rumi gathered scores of followers who would stay up all night to hear his words and participate in his ecstatic services.
As novelists often do, Herman Hesse captures the experience of being inspired by a spiritual figure in his book, Siddhartha. The protagonist of the story says after being with the Buddha:
“I have never seen anyone with such a gaze, I have never seen anyone smile, sit, and walk in such a way. In truth that is just the way I would like to be able to gaze, smile, sit, and walk — so free, so worthy, so hidden, so open, so childlike, and so mysterious. Truly, only a person who has penetrated to the inmost part of his self gazes and walks like that. I, too, shall surely try to penetrate to the inmost part of myself.”
As Hesse suggests, if a spiritual figure has reached a high state, we are inspired to hope that such a state is available to us. And the wisdom traditions suggest this is possible, that each of us has the capacity to enter the field of wisdom, peace, love, and joy. That each of us can ultimately experience for ourselves what the great teachers experienced. If this is true, the most important reason for following the guidance of the wisdom figures is to reach a point of “knowing” or “being” ourselves.
In confirmation of this possibility, we have many reports of those who gathered around great spiritual teachers and experienced powerful guidance for their lives. Their accounts make vivid what it is like to be in the presence of spiritual exemplars, and these reports are totally different from anything we hear about being in the presence of people in asylums who think they are wise or great. And all accounts of being in the presence of wisdom figures are totally different from reports of being in the presence of powerful worldly figures not grounded in spiritual understanding.
The Importance of a Guide
Few of the traditions suggest that this journey is easy. At some point we all need examples of those who have traveled to where we are trying to go, examples of lives that provide inspiration to suggest it is possible to get to that place ourselves. And at times we all need living persons to help us. They do not have to be perfect, or fully enlightened, but it is almost impossible to climb the mountain without the aid of those who have traveled parts of the path themselves.
A major reason that a guide is valuable is to adapt the journey to the individual, for each of us is different and each of us is at a different point on the path. How one proceeds in valleys is quite different from what is required on the sharp, rocky ascents of high altitudes. Further, the strengths and weaknesses each person brings to the climb vary, sometimes dramatically, as does the amount of practice each has had.
The result is that, at any given point on the journey, the lessons we each need to learn and the tasks we need to undertake are different. There is no “one size fits all” path to a fulfilling life. This means that if you have not been up the mountain before, you will make a lot of false turns and waste much time and energy without a knowledgeable guide.
One of the guide’s tasks is to modify the journey for each student, as captured in a dialogue in which Confucius tells one student to pause before acting, to seek the advice of his father and elder brother before taking action. A short time later, Confucius tells another student, “He who hesitates is lost.” A third student hears both conversations and is puzzled, asking, “Why did you give contradictory advice to these two men?” Confucius replies, “One drags his feet, so I tried to speed him up a little. The other is hyperactive, so I tried to slow him down.”
A wise guide can do much to help us avoid mistakes and mitigate the harm we might otherwise visit upon ourselves, as well as others, as we climb the mountain.
Who Decides?
As soon as you step on the path toward meaning and fulfillment, another question immediately arises: Who decides? Or perhaps more accurately, which part of you will make the decisions? If you do not accept the dogma that you are compelled to follow your basic urges and desires, you can adopt the views of Freud, who taught that there is a battle within you between your basic urges and desires (the id), and the societal rules you were taught while growing up (the superego). Into the breach between these two forces steps the ego, which is more conscious than either and can mediate between the id and superego, making decisions about how you will act in such a way as to satisfy each as much as possible.
Freud captured a profound truth about human nature, which is the reason his views have had such a powerful effect on the modern world. But the fact that his views carry much truth does not mean they include the whole truth.
The wisdom traditions do not contradict Freud’s insights. They simply go further. The great saints and sages all took into account that there are parts of us corresponding to Freud’s model. Many did so long before Freud. But they also understood there is another part of us that goes beyond Freud’s image of who we are. Quakers call this additional part the “still small voice” within. Carl Jung called it the Self. Hindus call it the Atman. The Christian word for the part of us that lies beyond the ego is Soul. Buddhists speak of the Buddha within or the Buddha Nature we all share. Various other designations include the Authentic Self, True Self, and Deeper Self.
Skeptico: Are all those the same thing?
Wisdom Seeker: They might or might not be the same — that is an intellectual or philosophical question and not my concern. The crucial point is that all the wisdom traditions assert there is some part of me beyond my basic drives, also beyond the indoctrination I received while growing up, and beyond my ego. Whatever you wish to call that aspect, all the wise men and women I have read say there is a part of me — one that I sometimes hear whispering — that is in touch with a higher calling for my life, and that if I can learn to listen, this deeper “me” or still small voice will provide guidance for how to live.
So Many Alternatives
“If you aim at nothing, you hit nothing.” This comes from the recent movie, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. And the sage Yogi Berra famously said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”
Just because you formulate aims for your life does not mean you will reach them. But if you have nothing toward which you aim you will almost certainly drift along in confusion and ultimately reach a dead end.
Thought Experiment – Toward what will you aim?
It is quite possible the aims you formulated early in life are not the best ones for you now and need to be reconsidered. So, from time to time review your aims as you learn more about who you really are and what you really want. As you become wiser, you will be able to formulate wiser and more fulfilling aims.
Great minds have wrestled with the question about where to aim for thousands of years. One of my favorite statements giving the reason is by 20th century humorist James Thurber: “All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.” Two hundred years earlier, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher Blasé Pascal made vivid why we should ask the deepest questions: “It is an extraordinary blindness to live without investigating what we are.”
Of course, great minds have offered numerous formulations of an answer:
Aristotle said good friendships bring happiness and fulfillment, but his life example also suggests that gaining wisdom about the world we live in is of utmost importance.
The great philosopher Immanuel Kant said the most important things were doing one’s duty and being moral, but his life example was, like Aristotle’s, of making an intense effort to understand the world and our lives in it. And both Kant and Aristotle spent a lot of time writing or teaching what they had understood.
Jean Paul Sartre, the existentialist, said life should be about authenticity.
Socrates said the place to start was to “Know Thyself,” otherwise we wouldn’t have any idea what we are about, or why.
Plato taught that the goal was to align ourselves with the world of Pure Forms or Pure Ideas, and to live in harmony with that dimension.
Lao Tzu, the somewhat mythical creator of the Tao Te Ching (one of the most widely read books in history), said the crucially importance thing is to learn to live in harmony with the Tao.
Confucius taught that it was of utmost importance to cultivate good relationships with family, neighbors, and the community, to observe the rituals of old, and learn to live in harmony with the “Way of Heaven.”
Mencius, Confucius’ great successor, said “Who knows his own nature, knows heaven.” This corresponds remarkably with the thought of Socrates — although it is not likely that Mencius had direct knowledge of the Greek’s teaching, or vice versa. This core idea actually appears over and over in the world’s wisdom traditions. The Chandogya Upanishad of ancient India says: “He who has found his soul has found all the world.” And the modern Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan (who was instrumental in bringing Sufism to America), spoke these words: “I looked for Thee on earth; I searched for Thee in the heaven, but at last I have found Thee hidden as a pearl in the shell of my heart.” (Echoes of the Quaker’s “still, small voice.”)
Jesus said, in one of his first public talks for which we have a record, that his aims would be to heal the sick and brokenhearted, preach to the poor and the captives, and free those who were oppressed. At another time he said the supreme aims of life were to “Love God, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus clearly taught that we should seek the “Kingdom of Heaven,” or sometimes the “Kingdom of God.” What he meant by those phrases, however, has been hotly debated for two thousand years, for Jesus also said, “the Kingdom of God is within you.” When he said this, he spoke in the present tense, which would seem to mean that Heaven was present then and there — is ever-present within — although most of us do not perceive it.
The Buddha said life is about becoming free, to cease pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain and accepting life with equanimity. In one sermon he says the goal is to wake up, to become aware that you are (that everyone is) one with the Buddha within. In still another he speaks of cultivating the “four immeasurables” — loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. It is important to emphasize again that the Buddha did not teach that we should be free of goals and desires. That might be the result of complete awakening, but to reach that condition, the Buddha clearly said that you must give all your intention and effort to the one “Great Desire” he emphasized.
Jewish teachers through the centuries have taught maintaining the traditions, keeping the Law, and practicing justice.
Muhammad emphasized the importance of surrendering your own will to that of God, of finding peace through surrendering the will of your ego, and of mercy toward others. The Sufis mystics of Islam have always focused on the importance of Love.
A Simpler Answer
Skeptico: OK, now I am overwhelmed. How can I possibly sort through all those different ideas?
One step toward simplification is a question all the wisdom traditions grapple with: Is this one life the end of you, or is there something more, some way in which your essence moves on to another dimension, another life, another realm?
Some frequent answers are: 1) the crucial goal is to reside in heaven after this life is over, 2) the most important thing is to use this life wisely in order to find enlightenment, be fully awakened to the broader reality of who you really are, which never dies, 3) to have a better rebirth, 4) to bring your life into harmony with the Tao or the greater pattern.
If any one of these possibilities exists, it leads to a core organizing point for your life: It would be a good idea to create an intention and apply at least some of the time and energy remaining to you in this life in the direction of attaining one of these possibilities.
Skeptico: That helps a little, but I am still confused and frustrated.
Wisdom Seeker: If you begin to read and think about the core questions and all the suggested answers, it is common to become frustrated. William James, trying to cut through the complexity, said that all the wisdom traditions have two main ideas:
1) There is an “Unseen Order,” an underlying pattern in the universe that arose prior to or simultaneously with existence itself. If there were no such continuous and stable order, there could be no coherent universe, no laws of nature, no patterns we could recognize in the world. The traditions all say this order has a Source.
Various names for this Source are: Yahweh, Jehovah, God, Christ, Allah, Brahmin, Vishnu, the Great Spirit, the Absolute, the Buddha within, Avalokitesvara, Bahá, Waheguru, Shang Ti, and many more.
Skeptico: Do all these words refer to the same thing?
Wisdom Seeker: How can we possibly know? Each person is free to use whatever name they prefer. There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of names used through the centuries for the Source. Christians all over the world have different names for God, each in their own language. Christians who speak Arabic call God Allah. The earliest versions of the Bible were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. (Koine was the version used by everyday people). The early New Testament mostly used the words Theos, Kyrios, and Patēr for God. The name Jesus often used for the Source was Abba, a very personal and familiar word in Aramaic that roughly means Father.
So, do all these words mean the same thing? Since each language arises from sometimes radically different cultural traditions, and all have several different names for God, do the resulting thousands of words used for the Source all refer to the same thing? I don’t know.
Skeptico: What do you say if someone asks you if you believe in God, then?
Wisdom Seeker: I sometimes answer: Which one do you mean?
Skeptico: What if they press you on it?
Wisdom Seeker: If I think they are trying to press me into agreeing with their definition, I often respond: I probably do not believe in the same God you do. (And I am confident this is true, because I have never found two people who believe in exactly the same God.)
In his fine book, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, Christian theologian David Bentley Hart uses the Hindu phrase satchitananda (which is often translated as Being, Consciousness, Bliss) as a good way to capture what all the religious traditions mean when they refer to the Divine Source. He presents a great deal of scholarship to show that the common aim of all the traditions has little to do with names. Instead, all are focused on encouraging each individual to move toward the experience of Being, Consciousness, and Bliss. This aligns with James’ view that the common thread in all the traditions is that life’s highest possibility is coming into harmony with the Unseen Order. James might have liked, even used, satchitananda if he had known that word.
Skeptico: I thought you said this was going to be a simple answer. You are confusing me again.
Wisdom Seeker: You are right. But the point I am trying to make is that whether all these names refer to the same thing is a philosophical or intellectual question, and what I am trying to do here is to encourage you to focus on finding a path to a fulfilling and meaningful life for yourself. The point is that the name you use for the Source of the pattern is not important to that undertaking.
Plato used “the Good, the True, and the Beautiful” to refer to the overall pattern, and seemed to think of it more as a force-field, something like the Tao of Confucianism or Taoism. Several non-theistic branches of Buddhism think of the pattern as the Buddha in each of us, which is ultimately one. Many branches of Mahayana Buddhism say there is an underlying Buddha Nature that we all share, and the purpose of life is to live from that.
But, ultimately, all of the great wisdom traditions agree that there is an overall pattern within which we exist, and living in harmony with that pattern is the only way to meaning, fulfillment, and happiness.
2) The second idea all the wisdom traditions have in common, according to James, is that the path to a fulfilled life is by “finding the right relationship” to that Unseen Order.
The practical application of this imperative is that there are some values and moral guidelines that exist beyond our personal whims and desires that are grounded in the deeper pattern. They lie beyond our personal ego preferences, and the pattern is not organized to fulfill our personal ego desires or unconscious drives. This means that to be truly happy and fulfilled, we must live and act in harmony with the underlying values and guidelines, not our ego wishes and wants, and fulfillment comes from aligning ourselves with the deep pattern.
Skeptico: How do I do this?
Wisdom Seeker: That is the whole point in finding guidance. All the wisdom traditions offer specific guidance for how we can achieve these two common aims. The path forward is to determine the values and guidelines you believe are central, set your intentions to follow them, and begin. This is, in fact, the only way to escape the nihilism that haunts modern life, and every single teacher or thinker mentioned in this essay, except Jean Paul Sartre, believed the two points made by William James to be true and central to a fulfilling life. (Because he did not accept the first of James’ points, Sartre had a very hard time making sense of what authenticity actually is.)
Skeptico: For someone who says we should avoid philosophy and focus on living our lives, all that sounds pretty philosophical.
Wisdom Seeker: Good point. Sometimes examining the philosophical ground is valuable, but another way of getting at how to live comes from the poets, which is the reason I quote them often. So let’s switch to the poets. The 15th century Indian mystic Kabir said the goal of life is for the lover and the Beloved to merge into One.
The beauty of Love is the merger
Of the lover with the Beloved.
Come on now! Mix each other
Like butter and flour,
Just like thick soup
Which can’t be separated.
There is a barrier to this merging, though, and that barrier is that we spend most of our time identified with our ego self. As the poet Rumi put it:
In that moment you are drunk on yourself,
You lock yourself away in cloud after cloud of grief,
And in that moment you leap free of yourself,
The moon catches you and hugs you in its arms.
That moment you are drunk on yourself,
You are withered, withered like autumn leaves.
That moment you leap free of yourself,
Winter to you appears in the dazzling robes of spring.
Skeptico: But if I “leap free of myself,” who will I be?
Wisdom Seeker: That is the fear that holds so many back. Here is Rumi’s answer:
You say you see my mouth, ears, eyes, nose
— they are not mine.
I am the life of life.
I am that cat, this stone,
no one.
I have thrown duality away like an old dishrag,
I see and know all times and worlds,
As one, one, always one.
Skeptico: But that is a great mystic speaking. How do his words relate to me?
Wisdom Seeker: Actually, he was speaking about you. He was speaking “as” you, the highest possibility of you. In an ecstatic state, he is experiencing that there is ultimately no separation between us. Rumi is no longer speaking in this poem as an individual person but has stepped into a dimension where separation is an illusion, where each and every person, the essence of each of us, occupies the same ground. The poem continues, speaking directly as you, and me, and everyone:
So what do I have to do to get you to admit who is speaking?
Admit it
— and change everything!
This is your own voice, echoing off the walls of God.
Thought Experiment – What will I seek?
Give yourself the gift of setting aside some time in the next few days and just be with the questions, perhaps with paper and pen or computer at hand, and ask: What are the important goals and intentions of my life now? How much time and energy will I give to each.