|
Nirvana and
The Highest Spiritual Path
Today, in mass popular culture, the term nirvana is typically associated with a personal feeling of extreme self-pleasure or self-satisfaction, such as when enjoying fine food, great sex, good drugs, or a wonderful vacation in an elegant location. That too reflects the deepest nature of the human being: a word that, by definition, indicates the antithesis of hedonism, is perverted to mean the very height of self-indulgence.
Nirvana is a term that is thousands of years old, with its roots in the ancient Sanskrit language. It literally means extinction, or the extinguishing or disappearance, of the individual to the Universal. It means the extinction of suffering and the source of suffering. Nirvana is considered to be the highest goal that can be realized by a human being. Other words exist that point to the same state of perfect Freedom, and Pure and Infinite Consciousness, Light, and Energy, but the term Nirvana and its meaning and implications, in the context of Buddhism and the true Spiritual Path and Spiritual Life, are the subject of this essay.
What does it mean, when we discuss the "extinction of the individual?" Does it mean that the physical body dies upon Realizing Nirvana? If not, does it mean that the Free Person of the Incarnation, the Buddha, the Christ, becomes a vacuous, mindless, and heartless creature, incapable of functioning and communicating in the world of form and in relationship to other people? The answer to both of those reasonable questions, is "No." Those misconceptions, albeit understandable, are exactly opposite to the truth of the matter.
First, physical death means exactly that: death. The death of the body brings no glory, and is no cause for celebration. There is nothing Spiritual about death. You are the body, you are currently fully identified with the body and as the body, therefore, when the body dies, you die. People inherently feel the truth of that fact, as reflected in their great fear of physical death, and in their preoccupation, especially as they get older, with staying healthy. The Spiritual Path, and the Spiritual Life, and the eventual Realization of Nirvana, require the physical body. You are, of course, free to believe any scheme of an after-life that you choose, but the real Spiritual Life, and Realizing Nirvana, require dealing with the known subtle and gross reality within and without, and not belief or conjecture. "Near-death" experiences are not death-experiences. The "extinction" inherent within Nirvana, has nothing to do with physical death, and the death of the body will not produce Nirvana, only the void of non-existence. Second, the Person, Mind, and Heart of the Incarnation, the Buddha, is quite alive, and is, in fact, far more functional, and far more communicative, and far more relational, than the average person. He or She is the very embodiment and actions of Life, Love, and Freedom. From another perspective: The Person of the Buddha, the Incarnation, has become Fully Human. I hope that this paragraph helps to answer, within the confines of this essay, the two above questions.
Therefore, another good question would be: Since the body continues to live after Nirvana, and if the Person of the Buddha or Incarnation becomes even more alive, functional, communicative, and relational after the Realization of Nirvana, Freedom, or God, then what exactly is extinguished along the Spiritual Path?
You are an individual. At the root, base, or core of your brain-mind, you feel and know yourself to be a separate entity, gazing out upon the world around you. You are "over here," and everything else is "over there." There is me, over here, and there is "that," over there. You are a separate consciousness. The fundamental quality of that state of separation, is suffering, not Freedom, not Happiness, not Nirvana. That is why people are always engaging in some form of stimulation, distraction, or filling-up; some form of pleasure. That is why they use alcohol and other drugs. That is why they want to have "fun." An individual is not inherently Happy, by nature, by the very nature of being a separate and isolated state of consciousness. That is the core-level you, as an individual; and everything else about you, including your psychology and your heart, is layered upon that small, separate state of being.
I use the term "ego" or "ego-self" when referring to the core-level you. The ego is a living mechanism, located at the root or base of the brain-mind, and it compels you to action. It compels you to seek your survival, pleasure, and vanity. Vanity is, briefly stated for this essay, the need to fit-in with others, the need to be liked and loved, so that your other two needs will be met. Your survival and pleasure needs are less likely to be fulfilled, if you are rejected by others. People are inherently social creatures, by Design, mainly because they need one another, mainly because they feed off of one another. Genuine and selfless love and kindness are indeed a part of some human relationships and interactions, but the need-to-feed is the primary reason for being around other people in the first place. Most people are not comfortable being alone for extended periods of time, even if they have food, clothing, shelter, and non-human forms and sources of entertainment.
I do not use the word "ego" or "ego-self" in the same manner as conventional psychology, in which the ego is considered to be a mental construct, and a source of identity, among other characteristics and functions. I use the same English word "ego", but, I ascribe to it, a very different meaning. I use the phrase "psychological-self" or "mental-self" to indicate the mental construct, referenced by standard psychology, as the "ego." Therefore, in the Teaching, I use the terms "ego-self" and "psychological-self" to indicate two very different aspects of the human being. In this essay, and in most of the Teaching, when I use the word ego, I am referencing the ego-self, your core-level state of separation, and which is also the mechanism that compels the seeking of survival, pleasure, and vanity. The psychological-self is located within the mind, in a "location" I call the "I-compartment," while the un-thinking ego-self is located at the base of the mind, prior to the mind.
The ego is pure fear and pure impulse, and does not think. The ego is not a mind, and in no way resembles the mind. It cannot perceive or experience, and contains no memory, no imagery, no thought, no ideation, and no intellect, and provides no specific direction to one's subtle and gross actions. The ego is pure fear and pure unbridled impulse. The ego is pure animal.
The ego provides the impulse to move, and to feed and protect yourself. The ego provides the fear and impulse to seek survival, pleasure, and vanity, which is how it feeds and protects itself, but it can offer no idea, plan, or scheme as to how exactly to go about feeding and protecting. The ego is completely stupid. The ego is pure impulse, pure fear, and pure stupidity. A dog or a cat, our little furry friends and companions who we love so much, are brilliant compared to the human ego.
The mind, which sits on top of the ego, is the mechanism that provides specific direction. The natural mind, operating under egoic-control, does the work of thinking on behalf of its lord and master, the ego. The mind decides and plans how exactly to go about feeding and protecting the ego, how exactly to provide its lord with survival, pleasure, and vanity. The mind then directs the body in specifically how to go about feeding and protecting the ego. The ego provides the what; the mind provides the how. The mind has no energy, fear, or impulse of its own. The mind is similar to computer hardware: completely passive until an outside force gives it energy and a command to act. The human mind is far, far more complex, and has far, far more capability than a mere computer, but I use the analogy to make the point.
However, fortunately, there exists another aspect of the human being that can provide energy and impulse to the mind: the heart. The heart resides in the chest, and is the seat of love and conscience. I am not referring to the physical organ that pumps blood and keeps the body above room temperature, but the heart as the center of love and conscience which exists in the same area.
The heart of conscience prevents some people from knowingly initiating force against the person, property, or wealth belonging to another. It can keep people from harming, trespassing, and stealing. It can keep a person from acting to intimidate, manipulate, or control others. It can keep people from crossing these simple moral boundaries. The heart of love and conscience can serve as guide for humanity, to tell people how to treat one another. But, the ego-animal is often louder than the heart.
The two factors that can prevent a person from behaving as the pure unbridled animal that he essentially is, or even a monster, are the fear and thought of consequences, or the conscience in the heart. Either fear or conscience keeps most people from harming one another. But, a minority percentage of human-looking creatures either have no heart, or the heart they have is asleep, as if in a coma: the psychopath or the narcissist, respectively. My definition of a human being includes, but is not limited to, having an active heart that also has a "voice" in the thoughts, decisions, and actions of the person, in addition to the ego. The feeling-voice of conscience arising from the heart, can "tell" people how to treat one another, how to relate to one another, how not to be like the animals. But, the ego often wins the battle, as evidenced by the state of human culture, human relationships, and human interaction. Observe how people treat one another, the evil they do to one another, either directly and personally, or through the proxy of institutional violence called government. Also look long, deeply, and honestly at yourself, and your own thoughts and actions, for that can be the beginning of Something far better. Without fear for personal consequences, or the intervention of the conscience in the heart, and with powerful desire or desperation becoming active, the ego can turn a person into a pure monster, not just an animal.
The mind is the agent of experience of the world within and without, and the heart of love and conscience is the agent of connection with that which exists beyond yourself. For the average person, life includes a struggle in the mind, the conflict between, on one hand, the egoically-provided impulse to aggress, steal, or manipulate against the person, property, or wealth of his fellow man, and, on the other hand, the feeling-voice of conscience arising from the heart. The cold computer of the mind can listen to either the ego, or the heart, or both. This is the eternal battle between good and evil, the battle between right and wrong. The arena for the war is the mind, and the two warriors, the ego and the heart, are locked in battle, and only occasionally rest to fight another day, or the next minute. The psychopath and the narcissist have no such struggle, since the heart is either dead or asleep respectively, and the ego, with its animal fear, desire, and amorality, is, therefore, completely in charge of the mind.
The ego is not only the core-level place of separation and isolation, and is not only the root-cause of the animal and monster in man, but it is also that which prevents the Realization of Nirvana. The ego is necessary for developing from an infant into an ordinarily-functional adult, but, after that, it is little more than torment and suffering. It is the source of primary suffering because it is the fundamental barrier that prevents the being from Realizing Nirvana, the Eternal Consciousness, or God, That which is Infinity, Eternity, Energy, Light, Bliss, and Supreme Intelligence. But, remember, you do not get, own, and use Nirvana. The separate consciousness, or ego, Dies or is Dissolved in That. You do not consume Nirvana or God; It consumes you. Freedom or God-Realization is not another form of self-feeding, but the very undoing of self-feeding and its source. You do not get God; you cannot cling to God and own and control It; the mind, heart, and entire being can only Realize It, within and infinitely beyond themselves, in the Infinite Oneness of Nirvana.
The ego cannot be dissolved by your own intelligence or self-effort. There is absolutely nothing you can do to yourself, or by yourself, that will uproot and destroy the ego. You also cannot force or manipulate the Transcendental Intelligence, or God, to do it for you. Therefore, what exactly can you do? Just live your life as usual, and hope for the best? No. If that were true, I would not Teach, Guide, and Help. The words on this page would not exist.
This universe, existence, is no accident, including seemingly-empty space itself, which is often overlooked as being part of creation. That which we call God or Nirvana is Supreme Power and Intelligence. Buddhist scripture mentions the terms "Transcendental Intelligence" and the "Sustaining Power of the Buddhas."
That Great Intelligence and Power Creates and Sustains the infinite universe, and all of its intricacies and interactions, from the macrocosm to the microcosm. Part of that Design includes the fact that the human being interacts with the universe, and in ways that are completely unknown to all but relatively very few people. The human being also has the potential to communicate and interact with This which we call God, or the Metaphysical, the Transcendental Intelligence. The human being can, in a metaphorical sense, be "Heard," and then profoundly Helped.
A serious student of the truly Spiritual Life, has passion for the Path and for Freedom, at least above all else. The suffering compels him, especially now that he knows there is a better Way. So, how does he communicate to the Divine, to the Transcendental Intelligence and Power? How does he interact with That? What does he actually do along the Spiritual Path, especially since self-effort does not "work?" A student soon learns that the real Spiritual Path is far deeper and richer than a list of things to do and not do, and does not include rigid schedules and routines. The Way is not superficial, but is based on direct, deep, and intuitive insight and feeling into that, within himself, which is preventing Growth and Freedom; not shallow, meaningless, or physical demeanor or actions.
I refer to the general disposition, and the type of subtle and gross "activities," of the serious student, as inviting and allowing. He invites and allows God to exist and operate in and through his being and life, whereupon the Grace-Given Work of Purification, Change, and, eventually, Ego-Death can occur. Realistically and rightly so, especially in the earlier stages of the Way, the Path is indeed all about him; he cannot see or feel much more beyond himself, at that point. He wants God in his being and life, and he increasingly invites and allows That to unfold. He is still naturally self-absorbed, and he correctly wants his suffering to end, so the mechanics of desire, and the smallness of his being and life, are all he has. Yet, that too is part of the Design, and is a necessary and appropriate part of the less-than-radical stages of the Way. He is doing nothing "wrong" through inviting and allowing God to exist and operate in and through his being and life, but, quite to the contrary, he is indeed, positively and rightly, opening the door for Something much greater to unfold in and through his being and life, rather than the miserable life of selfishness. He is still an ego, and selfishness is his only perspective, and he is indeed compelled by wanting his suffering to lessen and eventually end. I use the phrase "in and through" his being and life, and not merely "in" his being and life, to indicate that God cannot be contained within any finite form, including the human being, and the attempt to do so shuts-out the very Presence he is seeking to invite and allow. He invites and allows, and then continually battles to not cling to the very Thing that he is beginning to see, feel, and intuit.
What specifically does it mean to "invite and allow?" The ego generates a natural energy that infuses the mind and body, and also radiates a very short distance outside the body. This self-energy exists within the mind and body, and is much like a cocoon around the body. There is nothing Spiritual about self-energy, even though many spiritual-types want to believe otherwise. Self-energy merely keeps you alive and functional as an individual, among other roles, and is not the Presence of God. Your aura is not God or evidence of a soul.
The ego generates self-energy, and, in addition to keeping the body alive, the ego uses self-energy for its own self-feeding and self-protection, which come in the form of the individual seeking his own survival, pleasure, and vanity. The primary action of self-energy, as it relates to the Path, is clinging. The ego, using self-energy, desires and clings to all the external people, objects, and circumstances that provide the ego with its survival, pleasure, and vanity. However, the primary clinging-action of the ego, is the clinging to the internal world. The ego, first and most powerfully, clings to itself, and then to the mind, and then to the body. The ego first clings to itself, and then it clings to all the other stuff, within and without, that feeds it with its own survival, pleasure, and vanity. Self-energy originates and radiates from the ego, and is shaped and directed by the mind to do the bidding of the ego, both within and without. The mind, under egoic-control, first shapes and directs the subtle unseen actions and clinging of self-energy, and then the physical actions of the body may or may not follow the lead of the mind, but usually do.
The ego is primarily about survival. Meeting the pleasure need merely helps the ego and the mind cope with the inherent and perpetual suffering of egoity. And, meeting the vanity need, the need to fit-in and to be liked and loved by others, helps to meet the other two needs: survival and pleasure. But, the ego is mainly about maintaining its own survival or cohesion, and at any cost. The ego will forego pleasure and vanity for the sake of survival, if need be, and can compel the mind to do anything immoral just to survive, anything, if the feeling-voice of love and conscience cannot overpower the aggression and growling of the ego-monster in the mind. The ego is pure fear and pure animal impulse, and it cannot think or feel, and it feels and knows nothing of love and conscience.
The ego is fear. The ego is the very unmoving state of fear. You are essentially fear, at the core, and fear is cohesion, the impulse to stay together, in one piece, to not dissolve and disappear. The fear is perpetual, but is usually unconscious to you, until a moment when your life is in danger, and the fear requires action. The Design of the human being allows the perpetual fear that you are, to recede from the conscious mind, and to usually remain in the vast unconscious mind. If the sheer terror of your core-level fear were always conscious to you, then you could not function: you would always be frozen and unable to think or move coherently. You would suffer even more, and then die.
The ego is the state of fear, and does not move, but, to feed and protect itself, the ego compels the actions of fear, and the subtle and gross actions of fear are always essentially clinging. The ego itself does not move and does not cling. The ego generates self-energy, and self-energy does the moving, and does the acquiring and clinging to stuff within and without, on the ego's behalf. The ego is fed, protected, and strengthened by the clinging of self-energy. The ego is the static state of fear, and self-energy is the action of fear (which is clinging), and fear is cohesion.
How does this information about you the ego, and self-energy, relate to inviting and allowing? The truly Spiritual Life unfolds as the seeker increasingly lives contrary to his natural tendency for fear and clinging. The fear of the ego, and the desiring-, acquiring-, and clinging-actions of self-energy, are gradually lessened through increasingly living by Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer, which are inviting and allowing. It is precisely you, and your stuff and ways of fear and clinging, that prevent Freedom and Nirvana; and the Spiritual Path is about the unravelling and dissolution of it all.
Sacrifice: You are full of yourself. You are full of fear, and full of the clinging-actions of self-energy. That is what you are, and that is what you do, all day, every day. You are full of self-attention and self-absorption. You are always seeking the next feed; and, the desiring and seeking for a feed are themselves a feed. You are full and cohesive. There is little room for the Divine, the Transcendental, the Presence of God, Nirvana. The lack of Sacrifice is essentially that of attending and clinging to yourself, and then attending and clinging to all the things and ways of nature within and without that feed and protect you. The lack of Sacrifice means remaining full of yourself, and full of your stuff and your ways. Nothing is "wrong" with the natural life of self-absorption and selfishness, for that too is part of the Design, but you cannot Grow now, and cannot eventually Realize Nirvana or God, while continuing to live naturally. You cannot be full of yourself, and your stuff and ways, and become full of the Divine and the Higher Way. Allow the cup of self to become empty, by profound Sacrifice and Faith, and do not cling to the result.
The choice is between the natural way and the Unnatural Way, even in the midst of living in the world, and being productive and responsible. The Way unfolds where you stand, or not all. There is no better place to begin than where you are, and no better time to start than now. Let-go of the limitation and suffering that you are and that you continually create, right here, and right now. That which prevents the Realization of Freedom or Nirvana is within you. Wherever you go, and whenever you arrive, there you are, the same as when you began your trip: limitation and suffering. Be in the world, but not of the world. The un-Sacrificial life is rooted in fear, and in clinging to yourself, and in Faithlessness.
| |