PRESENT IN THE PRESENCE
And so we could continue with such intellectual cogitations. Understanding that the scientific worldview is not the answer to “life, the universe and everything” but does fit comfortably within a mystical perspective is valuable because it strengthens an awareness of the sacredness of nature. And it can help, thereby, to stem the tide of destruction we have unleashed upon the planet. Science may be at odds with the myths and dogmas of religion, but not with the understanding of a more universal spirituality.
Science is only a way of looking at the material universe, a way of understanding and manipulating nature. And if some of its basic concepts are beyond your grasp, you are not alone. They are beyond the grasp of the scientists too. They are forever discussing among themselves what some of their fundamental theories actually mean! Nobody is really sure. Much of it is just hot air in the brain, spun out in a mind whose real nature is unknown. When it comes to quantum physics, for example, they say that if you think you understand it, it’s a sure sign that you don’t. The same is true of mysticism, of course.
It’s not science itself that is to blame for all the environmental havoc. It is we human beings, utilizing the fruits of science, looking to our own personal gain, unaware of the bigger picture, who have messed things up. And while we are a social species, and need to address planetary issues in a unified global manner, the essential solution to our problems will always lie within our individual selves.
Life is a learning process. Human existence is a schoolroom. Our field of study is our own personal spiritual evolution – how to become better human beings, how to raise our spiritual consciousness. And there is, one must presume, a divine purpose hidden in this process. There must be a reason why the One Being – a being of pure love – has created a seemingly imperfect world.
Though we cannot expect it to be a reason couched in human terms, yet there must be some intention behind all the suffering and the struggle. Something to do with being sent out into the creation, of becoming forgetful of our Source, of experiencing the pain, and of turning once again to our divine home. The total experience with all its dark and light must have some intrinsic value.
So, from a higher perspective, nobody is to blame for what goes on here. “All the world’s a stage,” an illusion. It has no lasting reality. The One Being has written – is continuously writing – the entire script and has created all the actors. His purpose is not a human purpose, but something way beyond our ken. He has made one man a genius, another a fool; one a tyrant and a murderer, another the fierce upholder of justice and human rights. A balance is played out between dark and light, and the game goes on.
The One Being is a dramatist who has even made some of the actors abuse Himself. He is a general who has command of both the armies, whose soldiers are living beings, parts of Himself that can realize the Whole. That’s an essential aspect – perhaps the primary purpose – of His game.
In the total scheme of things, even physical death has no significance. The soul travels on. Good and evil, death and rebirth are two sides of the single coin of separation from the Divine. Death is essential for there to be new life. No physical body lives forever. Sooner or later it will fall apart. And so we all go round and round in the cycle of death and rebirth until the suffering becomes too much and we heed the homeward call, the beacon beckoning us to the Light.
This does not mean that there is no place for compassion, understanding, goodness, service to others. On the contrary, the game requires the utmost effort to play it well, to play it in such a way that the game may be ended. To play it with love, and rise way beyond it, back to the Source, the One Being at the heart of all. “Live in such a way that when you die, you laugh and others cry.”
It is through aspiring to the heights of true humanity, to perfection while living in the midst of material temptation and distraction, that we gain the strength and purity to make the journey home. Then we can pass safely, and without getting sidetracked, through all the heavenly realms, worlds of being of indescribable beauty and fascination. Human weaknesses or imperfections are such simply because they blind us to the Divine, and bind us to the mind and body. They are mental and physical habits that attach us to this world, a misdirection of a divine gift.
All human faculties have a positive purpose and a negative potential. Human perfection means perfect control of all our faculties and potentialities; to use them to their full extent while we live as human beings, but without getting distracted from our spiritual path.
We think we are simply human beings, but actually we are spiritual beings caught up in a human experience. A drop of the Ocean of Being temporarily trapped in a human body in which our perception of what is happening is severely restricted. Yet, as human beings, our deepest instinct is to seek the Truth. Our quest, therefore, must surely be to rediscover our inherent spirituality; to escape the prison of materiality; to find once more the One Being within ourselves; to remember who and what we really are.
If, in the grand scheme of things, the life of a human being has a purpose, it is only to experience the presence of the Divine, of the Sacred. To come to know the Being who permeates both our inner being and the seemingly outer universe.
But how can we realize this inner presence? By letting go. “Let go, and let God.” By realizing that He has been there all along. By stilling the otherwise interminable flow of thoughts, and focusing our awareness on the being that we are, not on the ceaseless activity of our minds. Our preconceptions, our discursive thinking, our worries about the past, our concerns for the future, our emotions and desires, our continuous preoccupation with our individual selves and with the things of time – all these have absorbed the attention of our inner being to such an extent that we have become forgetful of the One Being within, of the divine Life or Consciousness that gives us our existence. We have become forgetful of who we truly are.
But to let go of all of this, to reconnect with our innermost being, to remember the One Being, to find the One within, requires great effort. Paradoxically, for life to become effortless, striving is essential. The old adages are true: everything worthwhile demands effort. Practice makes perfect. In this case, spiritual practice, meditation or interior prayer.
It’s a rare soul who finds themselves in the divine presence spontaneously and without effort. Mindfulness or remembrance of the Divine requires constant vigilance to keep the attention focused on the innermost essence of being, to retain awareness of our own essential being. Not to be continuously carried away on the current of thought and emotion, but to remain conscious and aware. This is the soul’s response to the divine call, and He is forever waiting for us to turn to Him. Indeed, He is the one who prompts us from within, and makes us turn.
We already have everything we need, here and now, in the sacred present, the eternal now, within our own being. The One Being is always with us, never far. “Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.” “Welcome the divine eternity in the passing shadows of time. Shadows that change, though the eternity they hide is changeless.”
The divine Beloved is our guide, drawing us ever on. Our effort is simply a response to His call. “If we take one step towards Him, He takes a hundred steps towards us.” And He is the one who makes us take that one step. His grace is inestimable, His love incalculable. We live in it, could not exist without it. If our attention is distracted and we turn our back on it, we may think He has gone away. But He is always present. There is nowhere else for Him to go. He is helpless in His love for us, united by the bond of shared and indistinguishable being.
So, to find Him is the eternal quest, the only journey worth travelling with all our heart and soul. To remain seekers until the journey’s end. Never to give up, to remain positive, to let go of despondency and negativity, and become aware of the One.
It is in the simplest things that we discover that He is always there. We can find Him in nature, in the garden, in the kitchen, in the office, in our family and social life. He is present in a war zone, too, and in the extremities of disharmony and distress. He is in the smiling face and twinkling eyes of an old friend, in the antics of a child at play. He is in the poor man and the wealthy, the sinner and the saint. He takes on myriad disguises in the people and events that come our way. A king hidden in the rags of humanity, even with all its imperfections; in the beauties of nature, despite the constant competition for survival.
He is never apart from His creation. He is always there, within every little being, every soul. It can never be said enough, never recalled enough, never lived enough. He is in the present moment, right now. He is within. He is without. Whenever the mind is quiet, we will find Him in our being. He is the “wind beneath our wings”. He is not what we think; He is what we are.