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Curious Coincidence, which sits better in this thread than in the 'Coincidences' thread.
Last night, a friend of mine, who is travelling to the Amazon for a year or so, loaned me a whole load of his books beofre he leaves. The last book he gave me, which he hadn't yet read, he handed over and said, "Read this. It's supposed to be excellent"
On the way home, I flicked it open, and it opened to this chapter, on this page:
(If I may liberally reproduce from it here)
From "The Riddle of This World"
"Western Metaphysics and Yoga"
European metaphysical thought - even in those thinkers who try to prove or explain the the existence and nature of God or the Absolute - does not in its method or result go beyond the intellect. But the intellect is incapable of knowing the supreme Truth. it can only range about seeking for Truth, and catching fragmentary representations of it, not the thing itself, and trying to piece them together. Mind cannot arrive at Truth; it can only make some constructed figure that tries to represent it or a combination of figures.
At the end of European thoughbt, therefore, there must always be Agnosticism, declared or implicit. Intellect, if it goes sincerely to its own end, has to return and give this report: "I cannot know; there is, or at least seems to me that there may be or even must be Something beyond, some ultimate Reality, but about its truth I can only specualte; it is either unknowable or cannot be known by me". Or, if it has received some light on on the way from what is beyond it, it can say too: "There is perhaps a consciousness beyond Mind, for I seemt o catch glimpses of it and even to get intimations from it. If that is in touch with the Beyond, or if it is itself the consciousness of the Beyond and you can find some way to reach it, then this Something can be known, but not otherwise."
Any seeking of the Supreme Truth through intellect alone must end either in Agnosticism of this kind, or else in some intellectual system or mind constructed formula. There have been hundreds of these systems and formulas and there can be hundreds more, but none can be definitive. Each may have its value for mind, and different systems with their own contrary conclusions can have an equal appeal to intelligences of equal power and competence. All this labour of speculation has its utility in training the human mind and helping to keep before it the idea of Something beyond and Ultimate towards which it must turn. But the intellectual reason can only point vaguely or feel gropingly towards it or try to indicate partial or even conflicting aspects of its manifestation here; it cannot enter into and know it. As long as we remain in the domain of the intellect only, an impartial pondering over all that has been thought and sought after,...of all the possible ideas, and the formation of this or that philosphical belief, opinion, or conclusion is all that can be done....
...But any conclusion so reached would only be speculative; it would have no spiritual value; it would not give the decisive spiritual experience or the spiritual certitude for which the soul is seeking. If the intellect is our highest possible instrument, and there is no other means of arriving at supraphysical Truth, then a wise and large Agnosticism must be our ultimate attitude. Things in manifestation may be known to some degree, but the Supreme and all that lies beyond Mind must remain forever unknowable.
It is only if there is a greater consciousness beyond Mind and that Consciousness is accessible to us that we can know and enter into the ultimate Reality. Intellectual specualtion, logical reasoning as to whether there is or is not such a greater consciousness cannot carry us very far. What we need is a a way to get the experienceof it, to reach it, to enter it, to live in it.. (italics mine) If we can get that, intellectual specualtion and reasoning must fall into a very secondary place....Philosophy, intellectual expression of the Truth may remain, but mainly as a means of expressing this greater discovery and as much of its contents as can at all be expressend in mental terms to those who still live in the mental intelligence.
...In the East, especially in India, the metaphysical thinkers have tried, as in the West, to determine the nature of highest Truth by the intellect. But, in the first place, they have not given mental thinking the supremem rank as an instrument of discovery of the Truth, but only a seecondary status. The first rank has always been given to spiritual intuition and illumination in the Spiritual Experience. an intellectual conclusion that contradicts this Supreme authority is held invalid. Secondly, each philosp[hy has armed itself with a practical way of reaching the Supreme state of consciousness, so that when one begins with Thought, the aim is to arrive at a cos=nsciousness beyond mental thinking...
...Western thought has ceased to be dynamic...it has sought after a theory of things, not after Realisation...it bacame intellecftual specualtion only without any practical ways and means for the attainment of the Truth by sprirtual experiment, spiritual discovery, a spiritual transformation...It is the spiritual way, the road that leads beyond intellectual levels, the passage from the outer being to the inmost Self, which has been lost by the over-intellectuality of European mind...
...It is not by "thinking out" the entire reality, but by a change of consciousness that one can pass from the ignorance to the Knowledge - the Knowledge by which we become what we know. To pass from the external to a direct and intimate inner consciousness; to widen consciousness out of the limits of the ego and the body; to heighten it by an inner will and aspiration and opening to the Light till it passes in its ascent beyond Mind; to bring down a descent of the supramental Divine through self-giving and surrender with a consequent transformation of mind, life and body - this is the integral way to Truth. It is this that we call the Truth here, and aim at in our Yoga.
*****
There is more, a fantastic following chapter called "The Agnostic and the Vedantic Unknowable" for those who mightl ike to read it I'll post it up later.
For Ev-G, I can only extend my sympathies that such a dedicated life of study and discipline has not lead to any kind of transformation as described. I stumbled across a shamanic discipline not 3 years ago, which, combined with Yoga and Fasting, has completely exploded my previous self and lead me to a profound and life-changing encounter with the Divine, which has and continues to inform every aspect of how I now live in this world.
So, when you point out, upthread, that what I'm saying is "If you'd had the experiences I've had...", well, I don't see me denying that anywhere in this thread. That's exactly what I'm saying... |
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