Viveka talks, exercise 2.
Remember: this article/chapter is tokenized, and you may buy it as “writer’s NFT!”
Points to consider
The second chapter is not about India, despite its title. The first important point is about objectivity and subjectivity. I want you to read and think about the following sentences: “Subjectivity is a reality; objectivity is a concept never to be achieved. You have to believe in it before you apply it to your life. If the truth is to be found, it must be found in the realm of subjectivity. Identifying the truth with objectivity is as good as saying that truth does not actually exist and that you can only believe in it.
Objectivity is a cuckoo’s egg implanted through ideology. We cannot be sure that it even exists. On the other side, we can be sure that the truth exists. There must be something behind the illusion, something on top of what the illusion is built.”
The last sentence answers those who erroneously conclude that “everything is an illusion”. It isn’t. There must be something true behind that which is not true.
“Everything is an illusion” is an escape from work that inevitably follows when you understand that there is truth and there is an illusion, and you are NOT CAPABLE to tell one from the other.
The second point, even more important, is turning your attention away from ”experience” as the spiritual currency. Any experience, how every noble, exotic, or fascinating, will not remove the question from the first chapter: what if that experience is also an illusion?
How would you know?
The answer is devastating: as long as you are in the realm of experiences, you will never know.
For a spiritual seeker, such an insight is devastating because all spiritual seekers of today really want are – experiences. But the truth can not be found there.
If you stop just now, stop and think about it, it will hit you hard: what are you doing the whole of your spiritual life? Losing time, chasing your tail by chasing new and different experiences.
The rest of the chapter describes some of my histories with the search for the truth, which at the beginning “went through” India (thus the title). Ultimately, India is more like an inspiration than anything essentially important.
There is also a third important point in the chapter, which I’ll illustrate with a quote:
I am dreaming.
I am awake.
I am in a higher state of consciousness.
I am enlightened.The first three sentences are correct and meaningful; they are saying: I have experience.
The last one is wrong.
Questions for thinking
- Do you understand, deeply in your bones, that objectivity is just a proposition, an idea never to be achieved by a conscious being?
- Try to explain to yourself, possibly in writing, why is wrong to say “everything is an illusion”?
- Why is the last sentence (see above) wrong?
It is your turn now. Write your thoughts, comments, or questions.
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