‘Only The Mystics Will Survive ‘
Theme 5 Responses
to Question Part One -
Developing a Mystical
Consciousness
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| Facing the Questions |
“Have patience with
everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
Try to love the questions
themselves,
like locked rooms and like
books written in a foreign language.
Do not now look for the
answers.
They cannot now be given
to you
because you could not live them.
It is a question of
experiencing everything.
At present you need to
live the question.
Perhaps you will gradually,
without even noticing it,
find yourself experiencing
the answer, some distant day.”
― Rainer Maria
Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Pre-Amble Asking
questions is a natural and important part of being human. Questions are often
fuelled by our desire to explore, to understand and to gain knowledge. When we
were children we learned a lot from asking questions. Any of us who have any
experience of either raising and/or teaching children will know how they incessantly
ask questions. They also ask a lot of WHY
questions. Little do they realise that it is the Why questions that
are so often difficult to answer.
Only as we grow and mature do we begin to realise that definitive
answers to difficult questions are rarely simple, straightforward or constant. Science
and Technology can, and increasingly are, providing answers to the Who, What, Where, When , Which
and How questions. However,
many of the Why questions provide
us with more challenge and mystery. Traditionally, Philosophy, Religion and
Spirituality have attempted, albeit with great hesitancy, to address the Why questions. Very often their
tentative responses reveal the paradox of mystery and the Ultimate Mystery.
All the above reveals the wisdom of the poet Rilke’s quote that opened
this reflection. Also, on the Spiritual Journey, which is a journey into the
heart of awareness, a journey ultimately into our very soul and source, we are
very often like children asking Why ? !
This leads me to the next quote from
CS Lewis, which I hope some readers will find comforting and re-assuring.
“When I lay these
questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of 'No answer.'
It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate,
gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question.
Like, 'Peace, child; you don't understand.”
― C.S. Lewis
So this brings
me to the wisdom, not only of Rilke and Lewis but also of Ishpriya, when,
opening these sessions she reminded listeners that she could not provide answers’
but merely some ‘responses’.
In this conference talk, Ishpriya responded to a
series of questions from the audience. This is the first of 2 sessions with responses to questions. In this the first
session she ‘tackles’ several main
themes. Initially she addresses questions on ‘What it is we mean by survival ,( a question implied in the Title of the Conference ‘
Only the Mystics Will Survive )
‘I can only give a response to questions and not an answer’
Sister
Ishpriya
What Do you mean by Survival? Her response addresses this question on
several levels. The first level is that the physical survival of mankind and the planet.
The 2nd level is about the psychological survival and the third, and ultimately the most important, is the survival of our
awareness of our responsibility for spiritual survival. She reminded us that
Creation has been unfolding for almost 15 billion years. This is vastly longer
than the minute time span which encompasses the arrival of humanity. Addressing
the first two levels , those of the body-psyche; Ishpriya talked about the challenges facing humanity.
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| One World |
As a species, a human family, we are being severely challenged. This is
because of the growth in knowledge
about the perilous state of our planet
and the amazing and remarkable story of our species- homo sapiens-sapiens. This
growing understanding denies us the ‘luxury’ of feeling totally helpless and
unable to do anything.
Certainly, in the vastness
of the Cosmos and the remarkable diversity of our planet – Mother Earth- we are
small but not we are not insignificant
beings. We have the amazing gift and ability of self-reflection. This demands
that we reflect seriously our co-responsibility
for the on-going evolution of creation, our planet and the Cosmos. We now have
the technology and capacity to influence who or what survives. Therefore, every individual has some responsibility and we cannot opt out of
this responsibility with an immature attitude that we can ‘just leave it to God’. We have to face the challenge and opportunity
that our role as Co-Creators in this
continuing evolution of Creation brings to us.
The third level of our
survival involves the spiritual. This is ultimately the ‘real’ or ‘true’ level.
This will be more fully addressed later in this reflection/session and in the
next.
But first it
is important to return to the whole question of our responsibility. Arguably, a
crucial challenge facing us all is that of RESPONSIBILITY. This requires us to
be adult and to resist the temptation to regress into a childish refusal to
accept responsibility. In fact, many stay in Child Mode and merely apportion
Blame and Shame and fail to take responsibility. The great psychologist Viktor
Frankl, the father of Existential Therapy and a survivor of 4 Nazi
Concentration Camps, developed a form of psych-therapy that is primarily rooted
and founded on responsibility. He contended, in a paper written in 1947, that
man’s failure to accept responsibility would inevitably lead to a society that
begins to lose meaning and purpose in life.
He predicted
that in a few generations, and particularly in Western Society, an epidemic (
that he referred to as the ‘ Psychotic Triad’ ) would engulf humanity. This triad would
involve Aggression, Depression and Addiction. This has proved to be very
prophetic , as any psychologist in our Health Services will attest to. We are
currently facing an epidemic of these three ‘conditions’ in all our Mental
Health Services. Arguably, as people either fail to take any responsibility or
buy into the ‘big lie’ that they are totally helpless, then this provides a
‘breeding ground’ for meaningless and despair. But now to address another question.
What about the Quality
of Life ? Ishpriya responded by affirming that we can
influence the quality of life. Our gift of self-reflection is unique. She
reminded us of the many ‘influences’ and ‘tyrannies’ ( consumerism,
globalisation etc) that have a bearing
on the quality of life and to challenge these our world needs ‘prophets’ to help us to make good choices. We all bear
a responsibility for the quality of life we pass on to our children and
grandchildren. . Selfishness was a block but as she reminded us ‘If you have lost your fear of the differences and your security is in the permanent and
not in the impermanent, then you are not going to be selfish’ In
this respect – i.e. the quest for the truly permanent- we need to realise that religion, culture,
possessions etc cannot be relied upon –
we all have a personal responsibility which we cannot abdicate.
Before moving
on , it seems important to outline a few reflections on our quest for the
Mystery. This involves personal reflections and some input from another
Conference Talk given by Ishpriya at Die Quelle the International Satsang
Association’s Sadhana Ashram. The title
of this talk was ‘Wake
Up to the Reality’. In this talk Ishpriya reminded us of
the fact that God, the Mystery or Ultimate Reality was both Immanent and Transcendent.
Many of our
great spiritual traditions and their mystics proclaim the Non- Duality of God
the Ultimate Reality. That is that God can be both Immanent and
Transcendent at all times. Relating to this concept of both transcendent and
immanent has been the struggle and search by the mystics of both East and West
of Hinduism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The Transcendent
tends to identify God as “out there” or normally distant, a ‘Big
Man in the Sky’ This Transcendent God reveals himself to us through big events and moments. ( note how in all our paternalistic religions
this Reality is considered masculine) . This Transcendent God can often end up being considered as being other and not in any way
related to us or creation. In summary, a transcendent God is one who is beyond perception, independent
of the universe, and wholly “other” when compared to us.
The Immanent
tends to identify God as “in here” . This is a God who is intimately
related to us, present in every moment, every emotion , every thought and action. This is the Indwelling Presence
of Celtic Spirituality, the Holy Spirit of Christianity and the Atman of
Hinduism. In summary An immanent God, is
one which exists within — within us, within the universe, etc. — and, a God
that is very much a part of our
existence.
The following
are the author’s notes on Ishpriya’s talk, they give one perception – or
picture- of the essence of the theme – Wake Up to Reality.
For countless generations people have
struggled with this concept as the tried to relate to the spiritual and to God.
The following quote from the Bhagavad Gita ( The Song of the Lord) – a classic if Indian Spirituality ,
demonstrates this perennial search, where Arjuna – the Indian Warrior- asks
Krishna – an incarnation of Vishnu- the Lord- this question ..
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| Lord Krishna |
Those who in oneness worship thee as God Immanent in all;
And those who worship the Transcendent,
The Imperishable
Of these, who are the best yogis ?
Bhagavad Gita Chap 12: 1
Note the
duality or Either: Or nature of
Arjuna’s question
The answer or
response is then given in the remainder of the Bhagavad Gita. But to return to
Ishpriya’s conference talk ‘ Wake Up to Reality ‘ and our way of relating with God.
Ishpriya reminded us of the difficulty
we can have in relating with an abstraction. Our challenge is that as humans in
this body-psyche , we are hard wired to relate to an Intimate Reality. But both
the Immanent and Transcendent , as the
Bhagavad Gita points out, are necessary and essential parts of the imperishable
God who is the Ultimate Reality and
Mystery.
She cautioned us about the way we related. Relating ‘exclusively’ to
either the Mystery or the Personal – the transcendent or immanent- can very
often merely be a product of our emotions and thoughts and not necessarily of
the spirit. In other words, we can be in danger of relating to the
non-permanent, to the perishable. This results in us developing weak
‘spiritual’ roots. Consequently, when a crisis of faith comes, our weak roots cannot stand and our faith
collapses and perishes.
Speaking to a mainly Christian
audience, she advised us ‘to wake up to
Reality’ .Beware of developing an either:
or faith , either a faith based on a
‘totally human Jesus’ or one that focused on an ‘ Ultimate Mystery’ – both can be false securities. Acceptance – or
faith- rooted in hope can guide us through to the Reality which is ultimately Love and Trust.
None of this is ultimately in our
control. We are rooted in hope but this
is a hope that can guide us through the thoughts, emotions, imaginations and fantasies of our human psyche
to a firmer spiritual reality. She advised
us to be guided by the thousands of years of our universal inheritance –
the spiritual writings and scriptures of the Faith Traditions. …. This section on Ishpriya’s other talk – Wake Up to Reality- ends with two quotations which can provide us
with useful guides to developing a non-dual relationship with God.
‘ If your capacity for
love is not increasing, then you are probably creating a perishable ( i.e.
non-permanent) God’ Sister Ishpriya
‘It is You, the Innermost One, who awakens myself with deep
hidden touches which I learn to trust’
Rabindranath Tagore ( Hindu Poet and Mystic)
What about the importance of developing a Mystical
Unconsciousness ?
In response to this question, Ishpriya briefly recapped the evolution of humanity until our present
species – Homo Sapiens-Sapiens. She contended that the change in human
consciousness ( our capacity for awareness or awake-ness) is the important
start in developing a mystical consciousness. She reminded us not to make the
mistake of thinking of the psychological terms of ‘consciousness’ and ‘unconsciousness’.
It is better to think of AWARENESS or Mindfulness. She chose to expand on the
concept of Awareness. She then looked at four simple and basic levels of awareness .
These are simplistically
outlined in an attempt to form a common ground for further reflection. They are
not meant to provide a detailed psychological explanation of human awareness.
1. Pre-
Consciousness: - This is our early (infant)
state of consciousness. This is very often dominated by undifferentiated awareness. Very often we can
‘cling’ to this state in adult life.
2. Magical or
Dreaming World: - As we grow throughout childhood we develop the ability to create a ‘world of imagination’.
This is a world of heroes and heroines
of fairy tales and fantasy .
3. World of Abstractions: - Then our
awareness moves on and grows into ‘the world of abstraction’. This results in
the development of the ability to be
aware of intellectual abstractions.
4.Trans-personal Awareness: - This
begins when we develop a sense of being
‘not just this body’. We begin to have moments when we get a sense of being something other. These
are moments of transcendence.
Mystical Consciousness In this part of the session she focused on
the importance Developing a Mystical
Consciousness and , to assist in this, she
outlined the Indian Yogic
traditions that emphasised the different
levels of consciousness.
Now mystical consciousness goes
beyond the personal, the physical and the psychological to a much deeper and
more truly ‘permanent’ level. This is the level of consciousness that we all need to develop. Because, as we do, eventually we develop an awareness that is beyond
the ‘psyche’. This leads to further
levels of human consciousness – and eventually leading to a collective consciousness.
As people we have lost that sense of ‘connectedness’
towards the environment and each other. This is something we urgently need to
re –discover. This was the next ‘
Quantum Leap’ for humanity , it was a leap within, into the centre of our
being. It was a leap that could take us into a new consciousness.
Ishpriya then reminded us of the 4 Indian Yogic levels of
consciousness and very briefly outlined
these as:
1. Our Awake State – This is mistakenly thought to be the most aware
but it’s the least ‘wakeful’ state! In
fact we can spend most of our life asleep!
2. Dream State - This is a state that enters inner consciousness.
It is a state that can allow ‘hidden’ and ‘unaware’ reality to surface in our
lives.
3. Beyond Dreams & Images - This is a
deeper state where we no longer require images.
4. Beyond all the Above - Beyond
all these is mystical consciousness.
One way of reaching this 4th
state is through Meditation – but there
are other ways.
She then went on to make some initial comments upon the
importance of Meditation Practice
( Silent Prayer ) . ‘We cannot wake up mystically by ourselves. God has to wake us up from
within’ Sister Ishpriya
This topic or
theme of Meditation / Silent Prayer will be covered
more fully in the next post (Theme 6) However, before we look at a summary or
postscript , a longer quote from the Hindu Upanishads on the 4 Levels of
Consciousness is provided.
This is taken
from the Mandukya Upanishad where the Seer or Spiritual Guide is
attempting to explain that Brahman (
God) is all – both Transcendent and Immanent – and also Brahman is nothing
or no-thing. This lengthy quote is taken from the Penguin Classic – The
Upanishads – translated by Juan Mascaro). This quote not
only reveals the richness and depth of Indian Spirituality, it also pre-dates
and reinforces much that Western Mystical sources intuit regarding the nature
of God,.
‘Om
- the eternal Word is all: what was, what is and what shall
be, and what beyond is in eternity. All is Om.
Brahman (
God) is all and Atman ( the Spirit) is
Brahman. Atman , the Self has four conditions.
The first condition
is the waking life of outward moving consciousness ..
The second
condition is the dreaming life on inner moving consciousness, enjoying the
seven subtle inner elements in its own light and solitude.
The third
condition is the sleeping life of silent consciousness, when a person has no
desires and beholds no dreams.
The fourth
condition is Atman in His own pure state: the awakened life of supreme
consciousness. It is neither outer nor inner consciousness, neither
semi-consciousness nor unconsciousness. He is Atman, the Spirit Himself, that
cannot be seen nor touched. That is above all distinctions, beyond thought and
ineffable. In the union with Him is the
supreme proof of His Reality. He is peace and love.’
( extract taken
from Juan Mascaro – The Upanishads ISBN 0-14-044163-8)
Postscript
Our
understanding of who or what ‘God’ ( by ‘whatever
name’ ) is, is extremely important
in our efforts to make sense of ourselves, our environment, creation and the
cosmos. This then prepares us to be open to the signs of mysticism in our life,
both within and without. We need to beware of duality – i.e, an either:or
concept of God. This is not only a false dichotomy but also can lead us into developing a ‘false ‘ or
‘idolatrous’ image of God. Waking up to
Reality is very important and involves an holistic journey. This requires us to develop our awareness of, and access, the 4 levels of consciousness about which Hindu Philosophy teaches us.
Developing a reflective attitude can aid us in our quest to both better
understand and relate to the Mystery we
call God. The more we begin to realise and know about the Mystery , we so
easily call God, the less we either can or want to say. Ultimately, our
mystical journey leads us into silence and solitude.
The next part of this series on Only
the Mystics Will Survive is Theme 6
:- Responses to Questions Part 2 - Developing a Mystical
Consciousness – The Importance of Meditation. This sixth ( 6th) part
will appear shortly. Meanwhile, if you are interested in the
Spirituality of the Satsang then visit the following websites:
