MINDFULNESS AND THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

What do you really want out of life? Fun? Happiness? Sex? Love? Financial security? Peace of mind? All of those things? Or something else altogether?

There is something that, consciously or unconsciously, we all yearn for. It is this—the truth. Even dishonest people want the truth. I am not talking about truth as in ‘telling the truth,’ although that is certainly part of that to which I refer. After all, truth is what is. Truth is a factually correct description of reality, that is, things-as-they-really-are. However, truth is much, much more than that. Truth is enlightenment. Truth is waking up and staying awake and remembering to keep staying awake to the fullness of all that there is at this every moment.

Deep down, we all want purpose and meaning in our lives. Some seek purpose and meaning in religion and often in some particular religion, many of which claim to be the only true religion. Some seek purpose and meaning in philosophy, and there are many such philosophies which, like religions, offer very different accounts of what is. Some people seek purpose and meaning in sex, love, relationships, partying, shopping, and many other things. Now, I happen to hold the view that life has no intrinsic purpose or meaning but that does not mean that we cannot find or rather create purpose and meaning in our lives. Indeed, I think that we must in order to live fully and be happy.

Here’s a Zen story that I think is a real gem. (By the way, Zen is not so much a religion or a philosophy but a means of ... waking up. Ditto mindfulness.) A monk was saying farewell to Zen master Joshu, who asked him, ‘Where are you going?’ The monk replied, ‘All over the place, to learn Buddhism.’ Joshu said, ‘Do not stay where the Buddha is, and pass quickly through any place where there is no Buddha. Do not bring up Buddhism to anyone for three thousand leagues.’ The monk replied, ‘In that case I won’t go.’ Joshu said, ‘Farewell! Farewell!’

That anecdote is so typically Zen. It reminds me of some lines from the famous ‘contract scene’ [pictured below] from the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera. Groucho says to Chico, ‘Now just put your name right down there and then the deal is legal.’ Chico says, ‘I forgot to tell you. I can't write.’ Groucho says, ‘Well, that's all right, there's no ink in the pen anyhow.’ Those lines, like so many of the Brothers---especially those uttered by Groucho---are so Zenlike.

Back to the Zen story. Joshu commands the monk, who seeks truth, not to stay where the Buddha---a symbol of truth, meaning and purpose---is. Not only that, but Joshu commands the monk to pass quickly through any place where the Buddha is not. The monk is even commanded not to bring up (that is, mention or discuss) Buddhism to anyone. How seemingly very odd! Here we have two Buddhists who, one would have thought, have either found or (in the case of the monk) are seeking truth, meaning and purpose in life through Buddhism---which by the way is only a religion in some but by no means all of its manifestations---and along comes this learned Zen master who appears to be saying that we must look elsewhere for the truth.

Now, there are quite a few interpretations of this Zen story, but here’s my take on it. Truth is everywhere. We are in direct and immediate contact with truth. The only thing that can separate us from truth is any barrier that we place between ourselves and truth---for example, a barrier in the form of beliefs of any kind. Now, we must be careful here. Joshu is not saying that truth cannot be found in the experience--note that word 'experience'---of religion or philosophy, be it Buddhism or some other religion or philosophy. No, he is not saying that.

What I think Joshu is saying is that truth is to be experienced---again, please note that word 'experienced'---in the here-and-now, that is, in the unfolding moment-to-moment experience of life. Truth is not locked away in some person or belief-system. Truth is not something to be found. It is not something that must be asked for or sought. It is definitely not something to be argued about. Indeed, truth will die on you if you argue about it. (My father's advice to me was, 'Never argue about religion.' Sadly, I haven't always followed that good advice.) And once you attempt to write truth down in the form of creeds, articles of faith and statements of belief the truth has already died on you. Truth is not any particular religion or philosophy. At best they, along with this post of mine, are mere attempts to express the inexpressible. And truth is definitely not some particular person, despite the words of one who purportedly said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but by me’ (Jn 14:6). (I strongly doubt that Jesus ever said those words---rather they represent the belief of the person who wrote those words as some sort of creedal statement, and the faith of at least some of the early believing Church---but that’s for another day.) And we do not need to go to some place where religion is to be found, nor do we need to go to a place where there is no religion. Truth can, indeed must, be experienced right where we are now! At this place. At this moment. Truth is reality. Truth is life. We are life. All is life in one form or another.

Meaning and purpose in life is to be found in the living of your days---in the living of these days. Do not seek truth anywhere else. Indeed, do not seek it at all. Just experience it in all its fullness. And in order to do that you need only live mindfully---that is, with choiceless awareness of whatever is---from one moment to the next.

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THE LITTLE PRINCE LIVES MINDFULLY

My favourite book is Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry [pictured left]. The book, written ostensibly for children, but also for adults (who, in the view, of the author, understand very little), is a classic of 20th century literature.

Have you ever watched a child play with a toy or a game? A child ordinarily lives attentively and mindfully ... instinctively, naturally, and spontaneously. Only after conditioning sets in does this mindfulness dissipate. Before then a child lives mindfully. At times their attention span is very brief, but whatever be the focus of their attention at any given moment, the child attends to that moment ... attentively.

In order to be free of a ‘mind of attachment’, we must observe but don’t stay, look but don’t stop, be aware but don’t analyse, judge or condemn. The mind must never be detained in one place. The mind must remain unfettered, free to move from moment-to-moment. Why? Because life is constant movement. Unless we move freely with the unceasing movement of life we stagnate. Truth dies on us.

Truth---that is, life---is never static. The little prince visits a number of planets on his way to earth. Each of those planets is a miniature ‘theatre of the absurd,’ inhabited by some solitary, self-obsessed figure who is condemned to endlessly repeat some meaningless act. The little prince moves from plant to planet in order to learn, know, understand, and grow. He knows when to move on. What about us? So often we get stuck in some place, in some relationship, and do not know how to move on. More often than not we simply refuse to move on. We think it’s safer to stay where we are. The result? Unnecessary pain and suffering. Read Le Petit Prince and you will learn how to move on.

I've said it so many times before. We simply need to see things-as-they-realy-are, in their totality, in their actuality, without opinion, judgment, interpretation, or analysis. This requires complete but bare attention and choiceless awarenes.

We always have a choice---at any given moment. We can live mindfully---or mindlessly. The choice is ours. However, know this---as truth is dynamic and never static, we are denied the comfort of fixed and absolute truth. Truth can only be known from one moment to the next.

So, if someone tells you that this person or that person is or embodies truth, or that this path or religion is the way, and perhaps the only way, to truth, shun them, ignore them, dismiss them.

Truth is something that only we can 'discover' for ourselves. Actually, truth is 'no-thing,' for it does not consist of things, but paradoxically truth can only be known and understood in the moment-to-moment experience of the content of the passing things, whether internal or external, of each moment.

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THERE IS NO PATH---EXCEPT THAT THERE STILL IS ONE

There is no ‘path.’ There is nowhere to ‘go.’ There is nothing to ‘believe.’ There is no one to ‘follow.’ And there is nothing to 'transcend'---except, perhaps, your own limited thinking, and the misbelief that you need some teacher, mediator, messiah, savior or guru in order to 'find' truth, salvation or enlightenment.

‘Truth’---that is, reality or life---‘is a pathless land,’ said J. Krishnamurti [pictured left], ‘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. 

For example, if you are in New York and you want to go to Chicago, whether by automobile, train or airplane, you must follow a certain path or route, the reason being that there is a separation between the two cities, and thus a distance to be travelled. However, when it comes to life itself, there is no separation or distance to be made the subject of a path or otherwise 'bridged' by some supposed mediator or savior.

The problem with most if not all organized religions is that they assume that there is such a separation or distance; hence, the need for some supposed mediator or savior. Each religion espouses a different path. For example, there is the ‘golden path’ of the Buddha. Then there’s Jesus who, so it is claimed, uttered those much misunderstood words, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jn 14:6). I could go on. Are these paths one and the same? Yes and no.

In a very profound sense, the paths taught by so-called experts---the priests, teachers, saviors and gurus---are not the true path. Did you hear that? They are not the true path. They represent other persons’ versions or ‘understanding’ of reality (that is, beliefs), and they are of little or no use to us. We don't need paths---at least not those sorts of path---and despite what some would have you believe, the various ‘paths’ of the world’s religions are not one and the same. There are great differences between them, and reason should tell us that they can’t all be right. Of course, it is quite possible that none of them, at least as conventionally understood, are right. Indeed, more and more people are coming to that understanding, which is one of the reasons why they are leaving the multifarious---or should I say nefarious---churches and temples in droves. A good thing, too, in my view. Once they're gone---the churches and temples, that is---a more enlightened and non-exploitative era of world spirituality will ensue---an era in which every person will be their own teacher and their own 'disciple' or pupil. After all, that's the way it ought to be, given the existence of that lack of separation and distance of which I've already spoken. Bring it on!

There is, however, a truth to be known---and lived---and it is this: you are forever one with all that is, all that happens, and all that presents itself as your consciousness and experience. You are life itself---well, at least a unique individualization or expression of life. Yes, you are part of life’s Self-expression, and life cannot other than be.

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, has to say about the matter: 'There is no way until our feet have trod it.' 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, but in a very profound sense our paths are one and the same, for each of them is ... life unfolding itself from one moment to the next. 

Let me quote Jiddu Krishnamurti once more: ‘Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.’ Now, by ‘meditation’ Krishnamurti means, not concentration, but choiceless awareness of life as it unfolds from one moment to the next. That, my friends, is both the means and the end, for the means and the end are one. It is the so-called ‘path,’ and it is also a non-path---for, at the risk of repeating myself, there is nowhere to go. Got that? There is nowhere to go. You are already 'there.' You are already on the 'other side.' It's a pathless way to a pathless land. Life, truth, reality, call it what you wish---it's all around us, under us, above us, beyond us (in more ways than one!), and in us as us.

Yes, there is only one way of being, and one order or level of reality. That is the plain and simple truth. Know that---and you will be free.

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DON’T LET YOUR LIGHT GO OUT

Tendai is a Japanese philosophical school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.

A student of Tendai came to the Zen abode of Gasan Jōseki (1275-1365) [pictured left], a Japanese Sōtō Zen  master, as a pupil. When the pupil was departing a few years later, Gasan warned him: ‘Studying the truth speculatively is useful as a way of collecting preaching material. But remember that unless you meditate constantly your light of truth may go out.’

‘“What is truth?” [Pontius] Pilate asked’ (Jn 18:38). Well, as I see it, truth is reality---that is, what is. We can read and study all we like, but we will never find truth in a book, not even in a so-called holy book. Truth is all around us, and inside us. It is nothing less than the reality of life unfolding from one moment to the next. Strange, isn’t it? Organized religion of all sorts will try to get you to believe that truth can only be found in one place, and not another, or in one person, and not others, or only on some supposed ‘higher’ plane of being---as if there were such a thing---but that is not the case. Even The Bible makes it clear that the life of God is 'the light of all people' (Jn 1:4). That includes you and me---as well as all others. The 'life of God'---that is a metaphor---is your life, and my life ... right now!

Imagine a sponge in a bathtub filled with water. The sponge is in the water, and the water is in, and all throughout, the sponge as well. Now hear this---you are that sponge. (I mean that in the nicest possible way.) We are immersed in truth at all times---and don't let anyone tell you that is not the case, or that it is more complicated than what I've described.

Yes, every one of us has direct and immediate access to truth at all times, for we are part and parcel of truth. Call it truth, reality, Light, or God, if you will. The word we use to describe it is not that important. What is important is that we maintain our conscious awareness of life as it progressively unfolds.

Gasan referred to meditation, saying that unless we meditate constantly our light of truth may go out. The best sort of meditation is mindfulness, for it is a direct engagement with life itself as it unfolds from moment to moment. Other forms of meditation, usually involving intense concentration of some sort, are more of an escape or retreat from life. No, living mindfully is the way to go.

In a very real and profound sense, the light of truth can never go out. Life, which consists of living things living out their livingness from one moment to the next, waxes and wanes, and constantly changes form. Individuations---call them emanations or manifestations, if you like---of life come and go, even vanish from view, but life itself goes on.

How terribly sad it is that so many people---including a great number of so-called religious people---are not consciously aware of truth (life/reality/light) as it unfolds from moment to moment. Organized religion, in so many ways, is a barrier and an impediment to our conscious recognition and awareness of life/truth/reality, for it puts all sorts of obstacles in the way---especially beliefs.

Don’t let the light of truth ‘die’ on you. Don’t let your light go out---for you are the light of truth, so let that light shine in and as you!

STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOURSELF

It was the very illustrious Japanese Rinzai Zen master Bankei Yōtaku (1622-93) [pictured left and below right], who was posthumously honoured with the Imperial title Kokushi (‘National Master’), who said, ‘The farther you enter into the truth, the deeper it is.’

Bankei cut to the chase, rejecting the formalism that infested the Zen of his time. His catchphrase cry was, ‘Get Unborn!’ That means, get rid of all the crap that holds you back from being one with the birthless, spaceless, timeless, boundless and imageless ‘face’ of the Unborn Buddha Mind (Fu-shō), which is said to be our true, authentic and original nature [see calligraphy below].

Some spiritual systems refer to the Unborn as the ‘Self.’ I will not try to define or describe the ‘Unborn’ or the ‘Self.’ What I will say is this---think of all those hundreds and thousands of ‘little selves’ (that is, the multitudes of ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that wax and wane from moment to moment in us). Well, the Unborn (or Self) is ‘something’---actually, in a very deep sense, ‘no-thing’---other than those false selves which we mistakenly take for the true person each one of us is.

Now, a student came to Master Bankei and complained, ‘Master, I have an ungovernable temper. How can I cure it?’

‘You have something very strange,’ replied Bankei. ‘Let me see what you have.’

‘Just now I cannot show it to you,’ replied the student.

‘When can you show it to me?’ asked Bankei.

‘It arises unexpectedly,’ replied the student.

‘Then,’ concluded Bankei, ‘it must not be your own true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you. Think that over.’

We do make a helluva lot of excuses for ourselves, don’t we? We behave badly, and say, ‘Sorry, that’s just me. I can’t help it. I’ve always been that way.’ Well, that may or may not have been the way we’ve always been, but it is not the way we have to be, and in truth---I say, in truth---it is never (yes, never) the way we really are. Got that? In truth, we are not that way at all. Each of us is a person among persons, and like all persons we have choices. Yes, sometimes our range of choices is very restricted, or constricted, but we always---I repeat, always---have at least one power of choice left to us, namely, the ability to say, ‘I don’t want to be this way any longer, I want to be different, I want to be better.’ The words don’t matter. The desire for positive change does.

You and I were not born angry, sarcastic, judgmental, jealous, anxious, or whatever. We have become that way---as a result of lots and lots of decisions and choices we’ve made in response to activating events and experiences. No, it doesn’t matter---and it’s certainly no excuse---if you or I have come from a long line (say, several generations) of likeminded, similarly behaved---or misbehaved---people. We still can choose to be different. We can change---if we want change badly enough.

Yes, there is a power that makes all things---yes, all things---new. It lives and moves in those who know the Unborn Self as one.

So, no more excuses for any of us. It’s time to---Get Unborn! Now.

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THE PROBLEM WITH ORGANIZED RELIGION

'Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism.'
- Professor William James.

The following comes from the great spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti (pictured left):

‘You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?" "He picked up a piece of Truth," said the devil. "That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend. "Oh, not at all," the devil replied, "I am going to let him organize it."’

There are many problems with organized religion---indeed, with anything that is ‘organized.’ As Krishnamurti often pointed out, Truth cannot be organized. Krishnamurti famously said:

‘I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do.’

So, the main problem with religion---all religions---is just that. They all try to organize Truth in one way or another. Some even go so far as to assert that their particular 'version' of Truth---they never actually say 'version', but that's what it is---is the one and only 'true' one. That is why most religions insist upon uniformity, conformity, fidelity---and obedience. Fortunately, more and more people are coming to realize that no one can have  a monopoly on Truth---for Truth just is.

The adherents of organized religion think that they are free, but they are not. They are in bondage. They are in prison. And most of them are oblivious to the fact of their bondage and imprisonment.

First, the adherents of organized religion are in bondage to beliefs. The Pāli word ditthi is wide enough to embrace beliefs, views, thoughts, ideas, theories, opinions, and doctrines. All of these things are thought coverings or veils (āvarnas). That is how Shakyamuni Buddha referred to them. These thought coverings or veils do not reveal reality, indeed they block and distort reality. How? Well, they prevent us from knowing and experiencing things as they really are in all their directness and immediacy. Everything gets 'filtered' down to us through our beliefs and opinions---and through the distorting prism of dogma. As I've said so many times, beliefs and dogmas are a menace to society---and a total, impenetrable barrier to true knowledge and wisdom. Beliefs and dogmas are always someone else's 'version' of reality---the result of someone else's conditioned mind, mental habits and fragmentary thinking, that is, the past. There is nothing of any value to believe, and there is nothing to be gained by believing anything or anyone. Just observe. Then you will know---and understand.  that regard, Buddha got it right. He said, 'Do not believe, for if you believe, you will never know. If you really want to know, don't believe.' (To me, the Buddhist approach to Truth or reality is so much better than Christianity's 'believe and be baptized' [Mk 16:16].)

Secondly, the adherents of organized religion are in bondage to superstition. The amount of superstition in religion varies greatly from one religion to another. Despite what I have just written about Buddhism, I have found, at least in some Buddhist sects or denominations, a lot more superstition than in most traditional forms of Christianity. That is quite disconcerting.

Why is superstition a problem? The answer is obvious. Superstition is a distorted, falsified view of reality. Superstition asserts the existence of a mechanical luck-ridden world which is said to be responsive to our own individual or collective thoughts, ideas and prayers. This is not the case in reality. For the most part, the world is indifferent---and sometimes downright hostile---to our very being. Superstition is nothing more than ‘magical thinking.’ According to anthropologist Dr Phillips Stevens, Jr (pictured right), magical thinking involves several elements, including a belief in the interconnectedness of all things through 'forces' and 'powers' that supposedly transcend both physical and spiritual connections. Magical thinking invests special powers and forces in many things that are seen as symbols. According to Stevens, ‘the vast majority of the world's peoples ... believe that there are real connections between the symbol and its referent, and that some real and potentially measurable power flows between them.’

Thirdly, the adherents of organized religion are in bondage to ‘holy books’ and ‘sacred scripture.’ Now, don’t get me wrong. I have enormous respect for the sacred texts of the world’s religions, provided those texts and their teachings are read, interpreted and applied rationally and humanely, and the underlying ‘myths’ are properly and sensibly understood. For example, much of the books comprising the Bible are written in figurative, metaphorical, allegorical, symbolical and spiritual language, and must be interpreted and applied in that manner in the light of reason and contemporary knowledge.  However, I make no claims of infallibility or inerrancy for any of those sacred texts, nor will I slavishly follow them where reason or common sense---or simply the results of my life experience---suggest they are wrong. A statement is not true merely because it is in the Bible---or in the Qur'an, or whatever. How silly to think or believe otherwise!

Fourthly, the adherents of organized religion are in bondage to ‘teachers,’ ‘saviours,’ and ‘gurus’ of various kinds. Some are guided by their Pope, their parish priest, or their pastor expounding the Word of God. Others are guided by the ‘Holy Spirit.’ Still others are guided by teachers and leaders of other kinds. To the extent that these persons accept, at face value, the views or teachings of others in authority---whether temporal or spiritual---they do not think for themselves, but simply accept another person’s version or understanding of reality. The latter can never be reality itself but only a false substitute for it---a counterfeit reality, if you like.

Fifthly, the adherents of organized religion are in bondage to rites and ceremonies of various kinds. Truth cannot be concretized in any way. If you try to do that, Truth ‘dies’ on you. Yes, rituals of various kinds can be hugely transformative---I have seen the power of that in my own life and in the lives of many others. The important thing is not to lose sight of the bigger picture. Rites and ceremonies are simply a means to an end. Ritualists and ceremonialists tend to lose the plot. (When I was in holy orders in the Liberal Catholic Church---a highly ritualistic church which is very much open to the ideas of mysticism and extra-sensory experience---we had some old members say, ‘Every word of our Liturgy has been clairvoyantly inspired, so we must not change a word or syllable of it.’ That’s one of the reasons why I am no longer a part of that church, although there is much that is wonderful in and about it.)

As a Unitarian as well as a practising Buddhist, I cherish religious naturalism and the use of reason and free thought. For me, the sacred or holy is ordinarily to be found in the ‘ordinary’ as opposed to the ‘extraordinary,’ in the ‘natural’ as opposed to the supposedly ‘supernatural.’ Truth is all around us, and is us. We can never be out of contact with Truth or reality. We are always in direct and immediate contact with Truth as it unfolds as our life’s experience from one moment to the next. Do not seek Truth afar. It is right here---now!

Note. Here is a wonderful address from Buddhadasa Bikkhu (pictured left) entitled The Prison of Life. I have derived great benefit from reading and studying it. I hope you do, too.

Acknowledgment is made, and gratitude is expressed,
to the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, Ojai, California, USA.

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YOU SHALL CEASE TO BE NEVER!

There is really only one ‘message,’ one ‘truth’ to be known and lived, and this is it:

Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never;

Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!

Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever.

I am a minister to people of all faiths---and none. Each year I conduct a number of funerals, and I almost always include in my oration or invocations the above lines taken from Sir Edwin Arnold’s [pictured above] beautiful ‘translation’---or rather poetic version---of the Bhagavad-Gita (dubbed ‘The Song Celestial’).

Now, you may have read much from the world of philosophy and religion, and you may be quite confused as to what is, and is not, 'true.' You may have been told that this person, or that person, is the only way to ‘God’ or ‘Truth.’ You may have been told that only your church was the 'one, true church,' and that all other churches---and religions---were man-made. You may have been told that you must believe in this or that particular person, or this or that set of dogmas, or that you must follow a certain path, or lead a certain kind of 'moral' life, in order to be ‘saved,’ to be ‘enlightened,’ or to know ‘truth.’ Forget it. The people and institutions that expound that sort of 'message' are a menace to society and world peace---and they are seriously deluded, and sometimes very dangerous indeed. I kid you not.

There is no need to believe anything. If you want to know truth---which is what is---my advice is forget all about beliefs, for they put a barrier---a wall---between you and truth. You see, you are always in direct contact with truth, wherever you are, and whatever you are doing from one moment to the next---even if you are not consciously aware of that fact. You are a manifestation of truth, for truth is life, and that is what you are. You are life---an inpost and outpost of life---and you can never be less than life. So, there is nothing to ‘find.’ There is no ‘self’ that you need to know or get in contact with. Some people spend 20 or 30 (or even more) years trying to get to know their ‘self.’ They keep trying to ‘expand’ their consciousness. Ha! There is nothing to ‘expand.’ All you get is 'mathematics,' in the form of multiplication and division---that is, more and more little ‘selves,’ more and more mental images of ‘self.’ I have news for all of these people. They are wasting their time, because what they are hoping to find and know is and always has been---an illusion.

And forget about 'following' some other person. As the Indian spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti would say, ‘when you follow somebody, you have destroyed your own thoughts, you have lost your own independence, you have lost your freedom.’ Yes, and that is one of the very worst things you can do with your life---following others, even someone you have been told is 'God.' If you persist in doing that, what do you ‘discover,’ assuming you discover anything meaningful at all? Someone else’s version of ‘truth'---that's what---which is not truth at all, because it is 'filtered' down to you through someone else's words and thoughts. In any event, as Krishnamurti would also say, 'The teachers, the gurus, the mahatmas, the philosophers, have all led us astray.' Ditto the so-called saviours and messiahs. And just because I quote Krishnamurti does not mean I am 'following' him. There is no such need. What he says is demonstrably true---it is a self-evident fact. Look around you, and you will see it for yourself.

You may ask, 'Ellis-Jones, how can you say all these things?' I say to you, how could it be otherwise? When it comes to what is truth anything else is ‘unspeakable.’ Truth is---what is. Truth is---life. You are life---an individualized part of life’s self-expression, life’s ‘aliveness.’ You cannot be less---nor more or other---than that, and you can never be separated from life. Never! Not even for a moment! This is not a truth which can be known by the use of so-called conceptual or analytical thought. No, this truth---Truth itself---can only be known in the livingness of life, and as life, itself … in the moment … and from one moment to the next. That is, in the Eternal Now, which is (to use, yes, a figure of speech, a metaphor) ‘God,’ ‘Life,’ or ‘Truth.’

I have said all of this before, but I will continue to say it for so long as there is life in me because not all people have heard it or got the ‘message.’ The truth is, there really is no ‘message.’ There is no ‘path.’ There is nowhere to ‘go.’ There is nothing to ‘believe.’ There is no one to ‘follow.’ And there is nothing to 'transcend'---except, perhaps, your own limited thinking. There is, however, a truth to be known---and lived---and it is this: you shall cease to be never. Yes, you will die, and you will vanish from view---at least, the ‘form’ of the person that you are---but the real ‘part’ of you, the essence of you, which is life itself, will never cease to be because it was never ‘born,’ and it was never ‘created.’ The spirit of life will never cease to be. It changes not, even though all forms and things are in a constant state of change and degradation. The spirit of life forever takes form, is forever being incarnated, is forever being crucified, and is forever being resurrected into newness of life. That is the true meaning of those Christian teachings---but please don't believe that. Know it, for there is nothing to believe.

‘Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit [of life] for ever.’ That is the one way of being. That is the way things really are.

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