I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself.

G. I. GURDJIEFF

26

TRUTH SEEKERS, LOVERS, AND WARRIORS

One of my favorite quotes from Ram Dass is, “When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru speaking to you. It’s right here . . . always.”1 These words have helped me awaken not only to the wisdom teachings found in sacred texts and those from illumined teachers, but also those found in the grittiness of psych wards and rehabs, or in the inspiration of watching Tony Hawk skate, or Mike Patton take the stage—all thanks to Everything Mind. Yet it never ceases to amaze me how uncompromising some people are in their beliefs, especially when it comes to Spirit, God, and religion. Wars over these beliefs are fought not only on battlefields but also in many of our churches, meditation centers, synagogues, temples, and more, where the “our way is the right way” rhetoric is preached by those who believe they have the definitive answers to life and its mysteries.

I’m not here to add any more fuel to that already-insane fire by claiming that I have the answers myself. Instead, I’d like to relate some of the commonalities we all share not only on our spiritual and/or religious paths, but also in life in general. Because there also are those people who have no interest in formal spirituality or religion, and are still amazing people. They serve humanity in their own way, which some would argue is still “spiritual.” But it’s all just relative—labels and semantics—so really, who cares what we call it?

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m totally knocking religion, because religion can actually be a valuable container for spiritual experience and community. However, it probably won’t come as a shock to many of you reading this that religion—or maybe religious fanaticism would be more applicable—often does more harm than good. It’s not only much of the outdated dogmas, or the manmade laws, that stand in the way of progress, but also the way in which many of the worshippers of various religions twist the teachings to fit the mold of whatever works best for their own personal interests, agendas, and gain. Speaking about the unnecessary division many religious practitioners create, the nineteenth-century Indian mystic Sri Ramakrishna said:

I see people who talk about religion constantly quarreling with one another. Hindus, Mussulmans, Brahmos, Saktas, Vaishnavas, Saivas all quarrel with one another. They haven’t the intelligence to understand that He who is called Krishna is also Siva and the Primal Shakti, and that it is He, again, who is called Jesus and Allah. “There is only one Rama and He has a thousand names.”

Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it jal. From another ghat the Mussulmans take water in a leather bag and call it pani. From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it “water.” Suppose someone says that the thing is not jal but pani, or that it is not pani but water, or that it is not water but jal. It would indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.2

As usual, Ramakrishna shares nothing short of tremendous wisdom. Once you have even the slightest taste of the one Rama with a thousand names he speaks about, it becomes undeniable that material and semantic differences are absurd. Again, who really gives a shit what we call our experience of that which is indescribable anyway? If we truly taste it—this completely natural and innocent unity consciousness, this Everything Mind of which we are all a part (regardless of outer appearances, beliefs, opinions, and affiliations)—if even just for a moment, we know that there are no words that can be spoken or written that could even come close to describing It.

Go ahead and call yourself a Christian or atheist, a Hindu, Muslim, Jew, agnostic, Buddhist, or whatever else—there’s nothing wrong with any of that. But please don’t forget while you’re doing so that we’re all the result of fourteen billion years of evolution, of life’s continuing unfolding journey—from atoms to molecules to cells to organisms and so much more. We all share that. Diversity in life is a beautiful thing, there’s no doubt about it, but when we take our differences so seriously, to the point where they cause division and separation, that’s where things begin to turn to shit.

In the quote, Ramakrishna also emphasized the point I made earlier about the insanity of people killing one another in the name of religion, which is obviously a direct result of this separation and division. And the only thing crazier than the fact that this is still happening—that people still harm and kill one another in the name of God and religion—is that most of us don’t even think twice about it when it’s covered on the news. How insane is it that as a species we’ve become completely complacent in accepting this sort of behavior. Seriously, what the fuck?

The world, of course, is not all doom and gloom, and there are plenty of shining examples from religious and nonreligious people alike, from those who embody (or have embodied) what the core essence of their particular faith taught, to those who are just kind, compassionate, and service-oriented beings in general with no particular underlying faith as the cause.

There’s the amazing heart-centered example set tirelessly by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who meets joyously with religious and political leaders across the globe, honoring and celebrating their way of life and lineages. There was Saint Teresa of Ávila, a tireless reformer who mentored Saint John of the Cross. Gandhi is also an obvious example of embodied love, as was Christ Jesus. And in a most unexpected turn of events, even the current “punk” (as I like to think of him) Pope Francis, seems to have had enough of the bullshit associated with much of Catholic dogma, citing its excessive focus on gays, abortion, and contraception as “obsessive.” In an interview, he was asked what he thought about gay priests, and he replied, “Who am I to judge?”3 Has hell actually frozen over? Possibly, because on top of that, Pope Francis even invited punk icon Patti Smith to play a Christmas concert at the Vatican. In all fairness, the cynical part of me is waiting for something to give, and for the “too good to be true” pope to reveal his true colors (like Senator Palpatine, who, underneath his nice-guy, clean-cut act, is actually the diabolical Darth Sidious, a.k.a. the Emperor in Star Wars), but we’ll see.

On the atheist/agnostic/humanist/unitarian side of things, there are people like Noam Chomsky, often called the father of modern linguistics, and one of the most important political activists in recent history. There’s David Bohm, one of the most important theoretical physicists of the twentieth century, who spoke out on the dangers of excessive reason and technology, and advocated for authentic and supportive dialogue that he believed could unify conflicting divisions in our social world. Iceland’s Björk is celebrated throughout the world, by music fans and critics alike, for her innovative approach to singing and song compositions, as she constantly pushes musical boundaries and provides countless fans with a soundtrack to their own creative lives. R. Buckminster Fuller is celebrated as one of the key innovators of the twentieth century who, among many important contributions to the world, encouraged people to view themselves as passengers on a single-system planet with a common interest in its survival.

Obviously, this list could go on and on, but my hope is that it’s becoming clearer (at least for those to whom it wasn’t already clear) that there is an inherent goodness in humans regardless of how we identify ourselves on the material level. There is a driving force toward the collective betterment of humanity no matter what we care to call it. Many of us, including myself, use the word spirituality, but as we know by now, that is just a word, a concept.

Some people may find spirituality and awakening in a church. Others may experience it through service work, in meditation groups and sanghas, by playing sports, in nature, through martial arts, riding a skateboard, making love, or any combination thereof. (Wait—did I just suggest trying to get it on while skateboarding? Hmm . . .)

Spirituality and the varying paths (again, regardless of whether one chooses to call themselves spiritual or not) are unique to each individual, and at the same time, there’s still plenty of similarity. For example, most paths from contemplative Christianity to humanism, and many in between, share an underlying theme of love, compassion, and offering goodwill and kindness toward others. And of course there’s the encouragement of practice (and in some traditions devotion) to cultivate deeper wisdom and experience, which, if we’re lucky, will lead to transcending any and all differences on the material level as a natural byproduct of Self-realization (or Christ Consciousness, Buddha Mind, Spirit, Stillness, God, ISness, or Being).

Another viewpoint that is very much worth taking into consideration is that of Perennial Philosophy, a philosophical perspective from the fifteenth century. It was championed by the transcendentalists and written about eloquently by Aldous Huxley in his book The Perennial Philosophy. The gist of it is that the world’s religious traditions share a single and universal truth at their foundation. Huxley offers the following four fundamental doctrines as the core of the philosophy:

First: The phenomenal world of matter and of individualized consciousness—the world of things and animals and men and even gods—is the manifestation of a Divine Ground within which all partial realities have their being, and apart from which they would be nonexistent.

Second: human beings are capable not merely of knowing about the Divine Ground by inference; they can also realize its existence by a direct intuition, superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which is known.

Third: man possesses a double nature, a phenomenal ego and an eternal Self, which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul. It is possible for a man, if he so desires, to identify himself with the spirit and therefore with the Divine Ground, which is of the same or like nature with the spirit.

Fourth: man’s life on earth has only one end and purpose: to identify himself with his eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.4

Again, the Divine Ground Huxley speaks about goes by many names. I happen to call it Everything Mind because that’s how it’s come to make the most sense to me. But whatever word resonates as true for you is great, or if you feel you don’t even need a word in the first place, all the better. As we learn to both honor and embrace the similarities on our paths, I believe—no, I know—that people can come together in the spirit of unity and greater good for all beings. Isn’t that nicer than fighting like schoolchildren over whose path, God, or lack thereof is better? To again quote the wonderful Ramakrishna, “God has made different religions to suit different aspirations, times, and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with whole-hearted devotion.”⁵

There is a path that is right for all of us, whether it’s traditionally religious, spiritual, or neither. Maybe your path is living in a loft in New York City and staying up each night until three in the morning, painting your heart out while taking periodic breaks for meditation or mindful breathing. Maybe it’s moving to India and becoming a renunciant, giving up all worldly possessions in pursuit of truth. Or maybe it’s continuing to live as you have been, but with a slightly new outlook on life and a few new techniques and practices that will help you cultivate greater acceptance and compassion for all beings (including yourself).

Whatever you decide, just be real in the process and don’t try to over-spiritualize everything. If you’re feeling like shit, don’t pretend you’re not (but don’t get wrapped up in a “shit feeling” identity either). If you want to go to a Slayer concert but your “spiritual” friends, or any other friends for that matter, say you shouldn’t, honor your own truth and go to a goddamn Slayer concert. Everything in life is part of the spiritual path—part of Everything Mind—and when we live in this awareness, we’re bringing spirituality into everything we do.

Life is incredibly strange, and spirituality is incredibly strange, and it all seems to be getting stranger by the minute. So embrace the unknown and explore the shit out of it while you have the chance. In the words of brilliant iconoclast Hunter S. Thompson, “Walk tall. Kick ass. Learn to speak Arabic, love music and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers and warriors.”6

Now get the fuck out there, do amazing things, and make that long line of truth-seekers, lovers, and warriors proud, damn it.