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Message |
| Posted By: |
Reality Dreamer |
| Response to: |
The "sin against the Holy Ghost",
Posted by: UT |
| Date: |
26-Feb-2004-11:13:09 |
| Subject: |
my dear Watson |
I'm not up on Joseph Campbell or his mythological language,
so the reference to a sin against the Holy Ghost is somewhat
lost on me, despite my upbringing. (I was dipped, but I
guess it didn't take.) Nonetheless, what he said seems
obvious to me. It did inspire a couple of thoughts.
The first was recalling something from Tom Wolfe's "Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test" -- a particular monologue about Neal
Cassidy. The gist of the bit is that there is at least a
1/30 of a second between perception and action, or the
physiological delay known as "reaction time." Neal, being
very wired and "amped up," is as close to that 1/30 of a
second limit as a human can get -- in other words, as close
to living in the now as anyone can. (Jumping that gap so as
to be truly in the moment is another topic.)
Now for the rest of us, that delay is longer, and it gives
the mind a chance to get involved. And indeed, that is
what happens to most people most of the time. I would
venture that most of human existance is not experienced
directly, but rather through conceptualization.
My own crystallizing moment of this notion occurred on a
backpacking trip as a young man. I had artificially induced
a state of heightened awareness, so the prior Kesey reference
is quite apt. It was near the end of our day, and the trail
sloped upward steeply in front of my companion and I.
Between my mental state and the physical exertion, my mind
was quite empty. Suddenly, ahead on the trail, a bird
hopped out from behind a rock. We stopped. And for a
perceptably long while, perhaps even a few seconds, I truly
experienced that bird -- I was just... *there* with it.
Then (and this is the important part), I actually witnessed
a flood of thoughts, as if from behind a burst dam, filling
my mind and blocking the direct experience. The bird
wandered off, and I was left with thoughts, explanations,
stories -- in short, concepts.
So I would say, of course -- any experience, spiritual or
otherwise, is going to devolve into concept (i.e., dogma,
ritual, organizations, etc.) That's just a given. It's
how the human animal works. If you can keep the experience
of [spiritual teacher] fresh and alive, it could be said
that you have realized the teachings of [spiritual teacher],
and most likely you are yourself now qualified as a teacher
in the same lineage.
The second thought was one I think I have mentioned before
on this board. It has to do with a certain infinity that
all experiences have, be they profound or mundane. Those of
us who have tried to describe studying with Rama to someone
have bumped into that problem. Without some shared basis,
how do you communicate such a rich experience within the
limits of written words? It's like trying to bottle the
ocean. Or imagine you're communicating to an alien species
in a distant star system via radio waves. How do you
describe eating a piece of pecan pie with whipped cream?
Again, if one can successfully create the experience of
[spiritual teacher], then one has realized said teachings.
Otherwise one will be left with a finite cross-section of
an infinite experience. I would say that dogma, ritual, et.
al. are some of the finite, "everyday mind" attempts to
capture the infinite experience of sitting with [spiritual
teacher].
There is a Zen admonition that summarizes my long-winded
post: When I point out the moon to you, be sure not to
mistake my finger for the moon.
I don't see any organized dogma or ritual arising from
Rama's students. But there's still plenty of time. (grin)
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