Dialogue ~ 19

In my previous dialogue I wrote, “You can certainly try to predict or to build up a probable best guess of reality from that which is being revealed to you, but each glimpse you obtain is comparable to a drop in an ocean – it is ever changing, if only because you are accustomed to experiencing life from the perspective of being an individual”. And, “… There is a feedback loop built into this system, such that an individual … could self-correct, but that would be presupposing that an individual … is paying attention and is not competing with reality to preserve its self-interest.”

I spoke of an intuition that I had had of ‘the last judgment’ as referring to “… a doorway, a portal if you will, which the human mind is capable of traversing; but that when the human mind does so, it does not do so alone”.

Am I inferring that this doorway (or portal) if it exists, would be such that the human mind loses sight of its experience of individuality and by necessity becomes something larger than its knowledge of and experience of itself? I am sure that words of this nature might arouse scepticism or concern in even the most ‘open-minded’ of individuals! Nevertheless, there are shamans or priests and representatives of other cultural groups, not to mention seers, clairvoyants and mediums, who share similar views in that the nature of reality is beyond human understanding; it is that in which the human being is akin to a ‘shape shifter’; existing beyond time and space. 

Accepting this as true, then, where is humanity’s home? Can it be conceivable that humanity has been lodging property rights and custodial claims and fighting about issues that are representative of nothing more (or less) than the shadows of ‘Plato’s Cave’? It is comforting to be incredulous, but only until there is a glimmer of comprehension as to the weight of suffering that is being borne in the narrative that ‘my truth’ is greater than yours - and its corresponding self-interest!

Many religions and wisdom texts speak about the practice and virtue of selflessness (of being more concerned with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own). I am appreciative of how such guidance and practice is capable of instilling a sense of humility and compassion in an individual. Still, I do not believe that navigating between ‘spot A’ or ‘spot B’ is what is being inferred by ‘the last judgment’ – no (and again, my words are not disparaging of those whose religion instructs them as such), it is that I am inclined to consider that ‘eternal life’ is referring to a state of being that is more than an end-game or a threshing ground or distinction between sinners and saints!

How to put this into words? Thinking of course, follows logical pathways and the mind communicates this in its image. Perhaps then, I will simply throw out some sentences and let the words fall where they may… to allow an image or perception that I have to communicate on my behalf? 

Begin then with the concept of paradox – as referring to a statement (state) or proposition that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense but which may prove to be well founded or true. How can paradox relate to ‘the last judgment’ and ‘eternal life’? Why was Jesus instilling an idea in his disciples, that they had not yet discovered their beginning, before looking for an ending? Was Jesus implying that somehow, the two states were ‘one’ in that they co-existed as seemingly separate states? He suggested that if a person was to discover what he was referring to, they were blessed and would not experience death (i.e. would know eternal life).

It seems logical and innocuous enough to suggest that if something is ‘this’, then by implication, it is not ‘that’. Consider the debate that has raged for centuries as to whether Jesus was mortal or divine and yet, as the character Robert Langdon suggested in the movie ‘The Da Vinci Code’, “… Why does it have to be human or divine? Maybe human is divine…”?

In my view this argument is circling the real issue, which is that as humans, we have a tendency not to discern reality as consisting of paradox. For the most part it would appear that we regard reality as something that we are capable of discerning on our own terms - through consideration, analysis and supposition; just as surely as we are certain of what we know, there follows a sense of ‘what is not’.

Consider the famous political phrase “You’re either with us or against us” which has been used to accentuate division and to polarise points of view. An image is coming to mind of a person who is perpetually at war with their shadow. What would happen if that person were able to see that what they are opposing is an aspect of their own nature? It may be that humanity’s concept of perfection is unattainable unless there is integrity and willingness to accept all that we are; clearly that is not the same as ignoring what we don’t like or defining ourselves in its contrast.

I want to go back to another saying of Jesus from the Gospel of Thomas (verse 3): “If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”

And, (verse 51): “His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?” He said to them, “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognise it.”

Jesus spoke further of the dead in the world, when he said, (verse 52): “His disciples said to him, “Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in (of) you.” He said to them, “You have omitted the one living in your presence and have spoken (only) of the dead.”

And (verse 56): “Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world.”

Finally, (verse 59): “Take heed of the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so.”

Let’s imagine for a moment that a human being has partaken of a large quantity of their favourite beverage, has become intoxicated and is now experiencing double vision. A person approaches them and the drunken person asks, “Is that you, Joe?” whilst grappling for what they believe is the hand of their friend, but is merely a duplicate image to the side of where their friend is standing. Even as the drunken person turns around, the world spins with them and appears in duplicate (or sometimes even in triplicate!). No amount of shouting “I’m over here, Fred” will provide clarity to the intoxicated friend until the effects of the alcohol diminish. 

I give this example because in my view that is what the messages of Jesus were trying to convey – that we have become intoxicated by the appearance of the world and have sought to locate or preserve what we define as ‘the good’, whilst doing our best to remove ourselves from and to diminish what we label as ‘the bad’. 

To sum up this dialogue of today - it is not the appearance of the world that we need to concern ourselves with (as that is the ‘dead’ or rather ‘an idea that has already become manifest’) but rather we should pay attention to the way in which we have been and are viewing the world, as that is quite literally the doorway to where the living (or the light of illumination) resides.

As Jesus said, (verse 89): "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?"

No amount of scrubbing away at an ink stain will remove the presence of the ink pot, which has been turned on its side and is pouring forth its content… but do we have to become saints or to eradicate the sinner? No, that is simply changing the colour of the cloth by which we are scrubbing away at the stain.