When we come to realize that who and what we really are is infinite, boundless, and perfect, we might lose our motivation to keep up a spiritual practice. Let's take a look at this view, that says that "I don't need to practice, my true nature is already unbound, so I don't need to do anything at all."
In the Buddha's teachings, known as the doctrine of the two truths, we can find an understanding of this that helps us to put things into perspective on the practical level. On the one hand, yes, we are perfect already, as we are that which is unchanging, unmoved, and one with everything in the universe. On the other hand though, we are selfish, impatient, greedy, deluded, full of anger and hatred, violent, and generally terrible, terrible people. Haha, okay, I'm joking, but we do things to hurt other people, whether intentionally or by accident, and we are far from perfect.
Can we see how these two truths exist simultaneously and are both accurate? When looking from a non-dual perspective, we can see that it's all part of who we are, and it all needs to be addressed. If we live our lives only connected to the absolute sense of reality, well, people say we've "lost touch with reality." That is because we are living in this world, and in this world, the type of reality that is generally agreed upon is the conventional sense, the sense where we have a name, a role, certain skills, and a personality.
Think about it. If you don't honor conventional reality, you wouldn't even bother to go to work or school, much less put any food in your mouth. You would discredit your name, your responsibilities, your interpersonal relationships, and you would stop taking care of yourself. Not like, "He let himself go, started drinking heavily, and got himself into trouble." Not like that, but you would literally stop showering, eating, drinking water, until you just died. Do you see this as desirable? If we don't honor the fact that this world is a part of reality, we will fall short of living a spiritual life.
On the other hand, if we don't honor Ultimate Reality, we also won't be able to have a spiritual life. In this life, called a secular life, we tend think that there is nothing more to life than building up ourselves, becoming wealthy and trying to accumulate as much as possible. We will climb over each other, chasing after the sense pleasures, and we will be lost in the world of empty attachments. We won't see the interconnectedness of all things, and we won't realize there is something within us that is deathless.
The middle way, then, lies between either extreme. It's not in complete renunciation of the world, nor is it in over-indulgence in worldy pleasures. In my own life, this has been the hardest "way" to find. Sometimes, I get lost in the idea that to wake up and be free, I need to leave the world behind. Other times, I get sucked into the temptations of the world, thinking that the true meaning of life is enjoying all that the world has to offer. The Buddha was very clear about the middle way, and I need to keep coming back to this teaching, because too often, I forget this path is even an option.
With the middle way, we honor both realities. I am perfect, but I also have this mind that is full of defilements. If my natural state, called my Buddha-nature, is pure, then I need to keep working to uncover it. It is covered up by the layers of the mind, created by the ego to keep us sucked into its games. Deep down, we all have this inherent beauty, this inherent perfection, but if that was the whole story, then what accounts for all the atrocities of the world?
Yesterday, when I went to Satsang with Mooji, I got the impression that many of his followers were holding on to Mooji as a crutch, depending on his grace for their own freedom. The message is quite seductive, that it's not necessary to spend years meditating, when we are that already.
"What we are looking for is what is looking."
- St. Francis of Assisi
We can actually take the seeking out and what is left, is perfection. And we can go beyond that, to take ourselves out of the equation, and what is left, is already free, already unbound, already eternal.
While this is true, it can be a little misleading. The tendency is for the mind to grab onto that and then think that it has achieved something. "I'm already enlgihtened," says the mind, "I'm done." Well, well, well, wouldn't that be swell? So how do we understand this?
Again, let's go back to the two truths. Can we not see that all of this is only addressing the Ultimate sense of reality? When we are sitting in front of Mooji, collectively feeling that innate inner perfection, it seems so final, it seems like we really do understand it, and that everything will run its course when we walk out of there. But does it? Since most people got there around 9:30am, and didn't leave until 12:30pm, did we not all leave satsang and head straight for lunch? Now, you tell me, was it the innate perfection that was hungry, or was it this body, this mind, this conventional self?
The teachings of Mooji aren't flawed, but they only pertain to the realizing of who and what we are, in the sense of ultimate reality. This, in my opinion, is perhaps the most important step on any spiritual path, the step that tells us there is something more. For many, this is the first step, or one of the first steps, and it can change lives forever.
But if it isn't understood from a deep place, it might prove to just be an inspiring feeling that falls away when it's no longer supported. It's kind of like that new-age book that gets everyone fired up to change their lives, causing them to say things like, "I'm going to do this, and I'm going to change this about myself," but when they put the book down, they just go back to their lives, and the spark burns out.
We have to protect the flame, and for me, and many others, that requires persistence. Unless you want to go to Satsang with Mooji everyday, you need to support your awakening with some sort of constant reminder, or in other words, a practice. Even if that practice is just reminding yourself to take a step back from the play of everyday reality, and to connect to that unmoved place within, that is still a practice.
At one point, yesterday, Mooji said, "Some people have been meditating for 30 years, and still, they have found nothing." I might like to meet this person, and ask him or her, "What exactly have you been practicing?" The type of meditation that I do brings results within 30 minutes, if one has the right attitude.
Yes, if one is striving for results too much, they will always be separate from that which they seek. Not in the ultimate sense, in the ultimate sense, we can never be separate from anything, but in the conventional sense, you will not be connected to your natural state. But in order to connect to that natural state, some sort of effort needs to be applied, even if it's the effort of letting go. As I said in my last post, letting go isn't exactly something we do, but the absence of doing anything else. But, as it turns out, everything else is conditioned to go, go, go, and we are used to being swept away by it.
Okay, so we are getting somewhere here. We know that if we resist the mind, it gets stronger, so we don't want to try to halt its activity. Rather, we want to take a step back, let it run its course, and let go of it. By not identifying with the mind (conventional reality), what we are left with is our natural state.
Once we have stopped identifying, the effort falls away. We no longer, at this point, need to try to connect to ultimate reality, as we fall ass backwards into it. I think this absence of the need to try in this final step is what people really mean when they say, "You are perfect, you don't need to do anything." But, we still see that there is some effort required to get to that point, the effort of not identifying with the mind, because otherwise, we are conditioned to do so. So in the last step, the connecting, we see that yes, we no longer need to do anything, we are already perfect. But, up until that point, many things have to go right.
Sittting in front of Mooji, all those things that have to go right just seem effortless, but when we step out of satsang, we find that it can be quite difficult. We need to constantly remind ourselves to stop identifying, until we have created the causes and conditions for it to just happen on its own.
For me, and most of us, these causes and conditions aren't in place for my spiritual journey to be on auto-pilot yet, so I need to practice staying present, and not getting swept away by conventional reality. In order to do that, we can practice mindfulness, we can keep an eye on things. If we know that thoughts are thoughts, we will know that we are not our thoughts. If we don't know we are thinking, we are surely along for the ride, and blindfolded.
Similarly, we can find our place in this world, and continue to act according to the fact that conventional reality is still valid, and an important part of our awakening. We need to recognize that there is this body, and this body needs to eat. This body and mind conventional-combo has a name, a role, and responsibilities. Everyone is someone's child, and possibly a brother, a sister, a mother or father, an aunt or an uncle. We have to look out for ourselves and each other. We have neighbors, friends, and fellow humans that are also out there, in this with us. We are all on this journey of discovery together.
No, you might not need to have a formal meditation practice, but you still need to practice non-identification with the mind, the body and everything which is impermanent. Then, you are already perfect, you don't need to identify with your innate perfection, you can just feel it, listen to it, and live from that place of love, compassion, and creativity that is the source of all life. But again, we need to be perfectly clear that this does require you to do something. Not doing anything, would be to wither and die, and there is nothing spiritual or noble about that.
What you might find, is that having some sort of formal spiritual practice will give you the strong foundation necessary from which to spread your wings and fly. It will help you to be able to see the tricks of the mind and remember to disidentify. It will help you stay grounded in this reality, which is perhaps, the most important thing that many of Mooji's followers are missing.
By being mindful of your life, you will start to see things clearly, that this is there, and that is there, this is happening, that is happening. Then you will understand, that there are these forms, and there is the formless. The forms are not more or less important than the formless. In the world of forms, or conventional reality, there is an us, and even though it's not the whole picture, we still have to honor that we are here, on this spinning sphere, and we need to come down from the clouds long enough to keep ourselves, and others, alive.
May all beings see that there is more to life than meets the eye.
May all beings see that though the formless, infinite vastness is who and what they really are, they still have these bodies, these names, and these responsibilities to take care of themselves, this planet, and humanity as a whole.
May all beings find the middle way between these two, enabling them to not get lost in their minds, but also to not get lost in the clouds, and empowering them to bring about the changes necessary for peace, harmony, and love to rule to world.
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