November 20, 2023
All our experiences and expressions contain an element of truth and an element of falsity. The false is our own opinion, our ideology and our concepts. The truth is 'what is'. This is eternal and infinite and therefore beyond the reach of the intellect, which is limited and restricted by time and thought patterns.
When there is ignorance of the truth, a concept arises: 'I do not know and yet I think it is such and such'. This thought creates a division in ourselves, in our society and in whatever involves thought - including the question of human survival - thus threatening it.
Where does thought arise? It is no use looking to thought to provide an answer to this question. Do we have anything else? Surely, yes: it is that which is awake when 'I' am asleep. It is continuous, unbroken, eternal and infinite. It is there even in our waking state. However, the play of thought and the incessant clamor of our ideas, opinions, fears, loves and hates claim all our attention and obscure the Infinite.
There is nothing wrong with thinking itself, nor even with the ideas, opinions and concepts. They are like the waves of the ocean. The waves do not in any way minimize the reality and the importance of the ocean. It is when the waves are taken to be the ocean that a confusion arises. That is not true. It is false. 'Wave' is a word or a description, and a 'wave' does not exist independent of the ocean. However, the ocean is real, and in that context the wave is real. When, similarly, one realizes that all our experiences and expressions are false in themselves and that the consciousness on which they are based is real, a new vision arises in which there is no division.
This vision without division does not put an end to any aspect of life, even as it is not necessary to stop the waves in order to see the ocean. The totality is the truth. Falsehood is the assumption of totality by the fragment. It is the self ('I') that creates 'the other'. When in the inner light (the vision without division) the shadow of self ceases to exist, there is no 'other' either. That is love.
The essence of enlightened living is love. That is yoga.