“All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing this they have [knowledge of] what ugliness is; they all know the skill of the skilful, and in doing this they have [knowledge of] what the want of skill is.”

As a right-brainer growing up in a left-brain society I was often stunned by the absolute stupidity of universally-accepted “truisms” that were as silly as they were erroneous. One of them that chafed me the most was the imbecilic statement that if we were never unhappy we would not know happiness–and variations on that. That is like saying that if we were never hungry we would not know what it was to be well-fed. Or that if we did not know everybody else in the world we would not know our own mother!

In religion this foolishness runs amok in the words and writings of those who think that the way to know the truth is to first know untruth, and consequently grind out volume after volume of analysis and denunciation of “heresy” in the delusion that by this way they are expounding “orthodoxy.” Since very intelligent people accept and engage in this, the phenomenon is bewildering until we understand that right-brain/left-brain is a very real factor in human thought and behavior.

In relation to spiritual life we must realize that we do not need to go through all kinds of delusions to eventually come to the truth. Nor do we need to first suffer, wander, rebel, deny, and go down dead-end byways before turning to God and going to God. Those who assert that we do are simply trying to cover up their own vagaries as being necessary and therefore somehow acceptable and even worthy. When Jesus said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” He was speaking the simple facts. If we seek God first then everything we need will come to us automatically.

Long before Jesus’ counsel, the Hindu Upanishad referred to God as “That Which, when known, everything is known.” For it is God that is “the one thing needful.”3 As the Veda says: “He shining, everything shines.” Knowing Him, all is known. And knowing Him we become one with Him.

The dualities

In Indian philosophy we frequently come across the idea that everything is dual in relative existence, manifesting as the dwandwas–the pairs of opposites such as heat/cold, wet/dry, light/darkness, and so forth. “So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one (the idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out of the one the figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another.” The meaning here is that one dwandwa instructs us in the existence of the other. The presence gives rise to the concept of the absence of an object or a quality.

But the fundamental truth being aimed at is the fact that relative existence teaches us all about itself–that we need only observe it to learn the truth about everything. Life is not just the best teacher, it is the only teacher.

Nature acts

“Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.” This is an incredible insight, and is beautifully expounded in the Bhagavad Gita under the subject of the Gunas–the modes of energy behavior inherent in the creation.

“Every action is really performed by the gunas. Man, deluded by his egoism, thinks: “I am the doer.”7

“When the dweller in the body has overcome the gunas that cause this body, then he is made free from birth and death, from pain and decay: he becomes immortal.”

The wise realize that they are watching movies–movies that originate in the mind and are combinations of light and sound. The Cosmic Movie originates in the Divine Mind (the Tao) and moves along of itself. Our task is to realize this and learn to the fullest extent through calm observation. In this state of Perfect Silence he acts without acting and speaks without speaking. This is not gobbledegook, but is comprehensible only to those who become proficient in meditation.

No secrets to the wise

One of the major ploys of manipulative religion and esotericism is to insist that there are great secrets, major arcana, that cannot be known without the “secret teachings” and “secret practices” given only to the few that make themselves worthy through being completed subjugated to the dispenser(s) of the “hidden wisdom.” “Secret initiations” (a long series of these, preferably) are especially favored means of keeping the attention and allegiance of the duped. And indeed there are such secret things–but only because the spiritual merchandisers make them so.

Jesus expressed it this way: “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” It is a matter of evolution. As the consciousness of the individual unfolds, so does the inner and outer universe unfold itself to his inner eye in proportion to his own degree of unfoldment. The cosmos–most particularly the inner world–teaches him as he advances. And ALL things arise before his awareness in time, “and there is not one which declines to show itself.” So there is no need for an external revealer of secrets without whom they would not be known. Everything is self-revealing.

What about teachers, then?
They are very important when they are real teachers of truth–that is, when they clearly and directly impart to the student the knowledge of the way to open his own consciousness. For that opening itself then becomes his teacher. Rather, he just told what he had been told, and those who applied it also attained higher consciousness. His teacher had known that everything would reveal itself to him in time if he persevered–that he needed nothing more than the simple knowledge he gave him. And Swami Rama proved that to be true.

So let me repeat: a true teacher shows how to be taught by God and His creation. The rest is up the seeker.

“There is no claim made for their ownership”

Every religion claims that it alone knows the truth–even when it is evident that many (and sometimes all) religions say the same thing. For example, Christians try to claim a patent on the Trinity, but every true religion knows about the Trinity and teaches accordingly. It is astounding too see how there are religions claiming that they alone teach the existence of God! When challenged they just shrug off reality by saying that the other religions are teaching a misperception, a superstition, and not the real Theism. And of course some even insist that everybody else is teaching about the Devil, not God.

There are many signs of false or foolish teachers, but a fundamental one is the teacher’s claim to enlightenment. They say “I am enlightened…I attained my enlightenment…,” and so forth. A truly illumined person knows that God alone is the source of enlightenment, that it can never be my enlightenment, only His. “He shining, all things shine,” says the Veda, and so says the truly wise. No one can rightly claim enlightenment for himself. It is the Light of God alone that lightens our darkness.

Religions and spiritual institution like to claim that they alone possess special knowledge, and even label their teachings accordingly. Another shameful deception is the pretence that a teaching will be “without power” or effect unless it is imparted in the “authorized” way by the “authorized” teacher. This is especially done in relation to yoga methods. The fact is this: if a yoga method cannot “work” by its inherent nature, then it is artificial and cannot lead to higher consciousness or spiritual liberation. It may produce a lot of chills and thrills and wow the crowd, but it will begin and end in this world. In contrast, a true method of spiritual development will work for anyone who applies it because it is based on the fundamental laws of existence–not on the whim of a teacher or group.

“The work is accomplished, and there is no resting in it”

Once we have finished the course, completed the race, we leave the racetrack and go home. The purpose of the spiritual race is to transcend it, to pass beyond it. It is like tag: once we touch home base we are free and out of the game. So we do not come to rest at the top of the evolutionary current and become a deity for “the lesser,” but we move on out of the stream altogether. Some freed souls do return to lower realms to point the way to freedom for those still moving upwards, but they first step out of the river to “the other shore.”