‘Thou canst not travel on
the Path before thou hast become
that Path itself.’ H P Blavatsky, The Voice of the Silence.
Most religions talk about a ‘path’ or a ‘way’. One religion even quotes its purported founder as allegedly saying, ‘I am the way …’ (Jn 14:6). Whether the
man in question actually uttered those much-quoted words, and what the words actually mean—for they
are certainly capable of more than one interpretation---is a matter of debate
and conjecture.
I am here to tell you, as I’ve often done before, that there
is no ‘path’ or ‘way’. So stop looking for one, or believing that you have found it in this person or that person, no matter how great that person may be.
‘Truth’---that is, reality or life---‘is a pathless land,’
said J.
Krishnamurti [pictured right], ‘and you cannot approach it by
any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.’ Why is that? Well, each
one of us is always in direct and immediate contact with
reality, both internal and external. A ‘path’ presupposes a separation or
distance between point A and point B. In truth, there is no such
separation or distance.
There
is no path, yet there still is one. What path, you may ask? Listen to what Joy Mills, an eminent Theosophist and
friend of mine who died last year, had to say about the matter: 'There is no
way until our feet have trod it.' What wise words!
The
path or way is whatever presents itself as your reality, that is, as your
consciousness and experience. Your path or way to truth (reality, life) will
always be different from mine. Each of us 'makes' our own path through life, dependent upon the steps we take and the choices we make--and it all happens moment by moment.
However, in a very profound sense your path and my path are one
and the same, for each of them is life unfolding itself from one moment to the
next. That, after all, is what life is---livingness, be-ing-ness, unfolding and manifesting itself from one moment to next, ever changing shape and form but forever remaining essentially one and the same in essence and truth.
Bodhidharma [pictured
left] was a Buddhist monk who
lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the
transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its
first Chinese patriarch. In the 13th century, Chan Buddhism spread
to Japan, where it became
known as Zen. He was a very wise man, and I have derived
much benefit from reading about his spiritual teachings and practices.
Listen
to these wonderful words from Bodhidharma:
When mortals are
alive, they worry about death.
When they're full, they worry about hunger.
Theirs is the Great Uncertainty.
But sages don't consider the past,
And they don't worry about the future,
Nor do they cling to the present.
And from moment to moment they follow the Way.
When they're full, they worry about hunger.
Theirs is the Great Uncertainty.
But sages don't consider the past,
And they don't worry about the future,
Nor do they cling to the present.
And from moment to moment they follow the Way.
There you have it. The truly wise person does not fret about or regret the past nor worry about the future. Why? Because they are so immersed in the present—the eternal now—that they simply have no time to engage in such fruitless and harmful activities. And even though they are immersed in the present, they do not cling to the present. They live in the eternal now, from one moment to the next. In other words, they live mindfully. And in so living they come to know a peace that passes all understanding, and they come to experience a power that makes all things new. They are one with all that is, and they come to know and experience that oneness as their true be-ing (‘I am-ness’).
The
only path or way is life renewing itself from one moment to the next. You ‘follow’
that path by living mindfully, that is, with choiceless, non-judgmental
awareness of whatever unfolds as your life experience moment by moment.
When
you come to live that way, you too
can truly say, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.'
RELATED POSTS
