Do you seek ‘enlightenment’? Are you on a ‘spiritual path’? In that case this may be for you.
There are simple approaches to this whole aspect of life, and utter simplicity is indeed where it all ends up, whoever you are; but for some, to perceive the simplicity it may be necessary to quieten the complexity first. That’s dealt with here.
Why bother?
The vast majority of people would appear to live out their lives with no particular interest in the great mystery and meaning that lies behind their life — indeed, in front of the nose, for those who see it.1
If that’s you — there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Bye!
If you are still here and reading, you may be one of those who seeks to know more, and further. You may be a seeker!
Sounds good, huh?
A man leaves his great house because he's bored
With life at home, and suddenly returns,
Finding himself no happier abroad.
He rushes off to his villa driving like mad,
You'd think he's going to a house on fire,
And yawns before he's put his foot inside,
Or falls asleep and seeks oblivion,
Or even rushes back to town again.
So each man flies from himself (vain hope, because
It clings to him the more closely against his will)
And hates himself because he is sick in mind
And does not know the cause of his disease.
Lucretius d. ca. 55BC
Il faut que tout change pour que rien ne change.
“The Leopard” Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
The main sop offered by society to ‘seekers’ is the framework offered by various religions. There is nothing wrong with that, if it suits you and you are ready to settle for a sop.
For many, it no longer fits2.
Discounting a religious framework as having valid answers to life’s unanswered questions is commonplace. However, there’s a risk of ‘throwing out the baby with the bathwater’ – the mere fact that some information has been provided in a particular framework does not necessarily invalidate the entirety of it.
If we exclude conventional expressions of religion, we may note that the areas referred to as ‘mystical’ approaches may contain some clues. An example:
…Because the senses turn outwards, man therefore looks outwards, not into himself. But occasionally a daring soul, desiring immortality, has looked back and found himself…
paraphrased from The Upanishids ca. 800-500 BCE
There are many more hints, although that ‘mysticism’ itself is usually bogged down in so much luggage3 that any simple indication of anything is frequently obscured.
Our aim here is to work from first principles, and I will only quote such things as above from time to time to illustrate that the central issues are timeless and have always been the same.
- ‘Behind you’ and ‘in front of your nose’ are in fact the same direction – but that will come later…
- For some throughout history it never did fit. Just look at the long lists of those who were, in (perhaps!) somewhat more emotional times, ex-communicated, burnt at the stake, chopped to pieces, poisoned or stoned to death. (Are you sure you wish to persist in this inquiry?)
- often in the form of third-party confusion from external knowledgeable commentators who did not — and do not — live it