Reality: Perceptible, Ultimate, One ... Part 2

Reality: “… ‘the Self is silence’. The Self is a conscious, perfect rest emanating… Silence …” ~ Hans Meijer

We began this multi-part series with an overview (the Preface) of Hans Meijer’s book Initiation Into Reality: Truth Revealed Again… and continue with this part 2 of the series … which is a meaningful set of excerpts compiled by Hans for the purposes of providing an insight into, or a sampling of, the book contents (in this case Part I and some of Part II) …

In part 2, Hans Meijer makes the case for the value of eastern wisdom … touches on how east and west can meet … then gives a glimpse of the first of four steps that can lead to deeper insights into shifting from the perceptible to ultimate reality – what he calls the “Yes! That’s It” experience … what enlightenment means or oneness with the primal cause … the cause of human ignorance about reality … in summary, this is Hans’ “… reasoning that {reveals} a necessary present conscious primal cause, which always is and cannot not be …”

He then moves on to elaborate on oneness: everything that exists originates from one … and finally, touches on The Absolute …

We are including a downloadable copy of the Table of Contents PDF which allows you to see what other related content is covered by Hans in the book.

Hans has previously guest authored for us … click here for all of his earlier posts.

All italicized text below is from Initiation Into Reality … and is published here with Hans’ generous permission.

Part I: Basics of Ancient Universal Hindu Wisdom

1.01 Introduction

Thousands of years before the beginning of our era, long before writing was invented, the Hindu wisdom was passed on orally from generation to generation. Just imagine: many old cultures, such as those of the Egyptians, Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, Greeks, and Romans no longer exist, nor have they for a very long time.

But the ancient Hindu wisdom, where the inner secret is hidden in its profound philosophy called ‘Yoga’ (to ‘yoke’ together) has its roots in even earlier times, and it still exists. This alone should make it worth trying to deepen our knowledge of this ancient wisdom.

Coming to know the Yoga philosophy may seem to be simple. You can read a few books, take a course in Yoga, or even go to India. In this way, you will discover easily why Yoga has survived all this time, and still has such an appeal for so many people.

But, no—it is not as simple as that. The Yoga we would learn about that way is only the outside shell, the surface of a secret mystic path that belongs to a culture which is not ours. If we want to avoid losing interest because of such a superficial introduction, we must first try to bridge the differences in spiritual thinking between the East and the West.

When we realize that our Western way of thinking is less different from the Oriental way than we thought, it will be easier for us to go deeper into the mystical Oriental secret.

1.02 East and West Can Meet

One of the most significant differences between the East and the West, centers on religion. Just compare Hinduism with our Christian tradition. In Hinduism, there are many gods and goddesses. In Christianity, we have one God. In Hinduism, one believes in reincarnation and rebirth. In Christianity, one believes in resurrection from death. Hinduism has the caste system, while Christianity celebrates the idea of love for our neighbor.

These characteristics may seem contradictory, but we can bridge these differences by understanding that Hinduism considers its gods and goddesses simply as a number of aspects of one spiritual principle, which are {depicted} as (super) human entities to make these aspects clear to the believer.

1.05 By the Perceptible Reality to the Ultimate Reality

{Read} carefully—we are going to take four steps, and if you pay attention as we walk then I expect that after the fourth step you will say, ‘Yes—that’s it!’

The first step

Observe the world around you and you will find that everything that exists is subject to change at all times. Nothing at this moment is exactly the same as it was the moment before, or will be in the next moment. Everything in nature is constantly changing.

In man, in yourself, you may see this change less clearly than in a flower, but it is not difficult to see that everything that exists is subject to change, and always goes through a stage of appearing and disappearing. Don’t think that this applies only for living things. A building which is not maintained, for instance, will collapse one day. And even a mountain (we cannot imagine anything more solid), will weather and erode. That’s why in geology one can speak of old and young mountains. Change is always underway, no matter how slowly or imperceptibly. This change is something man wants to measure— and his tool of measurement is called… time.

Time applies to everything that is temporary. Beyond this, time does not exist. Just as there are no miles and pounds, there are no hours or minutes. These concepts are just tools to measure distance, weight, and change, respectively.

So, there is no such thing as time. We just experience it because we ourselves are temporary. We are subject to change, which we can measure, thanks to the concept of time.

Perhaps one day people will realize that time does not exist at all, just as long ago people accepted that the earth was round and revolved around the sun, after having believed it was flat and the center of the universe. There is only ‘change in the unchangeable’, the eternal Now, Reality.

The rest of step 1 and the other 3 steps are not published here but Hans provides a rationale for the statement: ‘God created Man in His own image’ .. and concludes that “… there is a similarity, a resemblance, between man and his origin—Reality …”

1.06 Enlightenment Means Experiencing Reality

The conclusion that there is a similarity between man and his origin is a very important one. This immediately raises the question of the meaning of this similarity. Is this just a theoretical observation, or does it also have spiritual or practical consequences?

The Yoga philosophy—and, in fact, any true religion—claims that it is possible to discover this similarity within yourself. This similarity is always there. It just needs to be discovered. And this discovering does not mean just giving an explanation, as I am doing here. There is much more to it. This similarity can really be experienced, lived. And this is what it is all about.

When we experience our oneness with that which precedes everything, with the primal cause—or whatever name we use for the ‘great unknown’—then we become seers and we know that what always is: Reality. This insight makes it very clear that this infinite primal cause, this omnipresent Reality, is the source of all that is. Someone who has this insight is called ‘enlightened’. Being enlightened can now be defined as having insight into Reality.

1.13 What Is the Main Cause of Human Ignorance About Reality?

Just what is the cause of this so-called ignorance? In Christianity, one says that it is man’s original sin (Fall) that made him forget God. With this, we usually think of our falling for our sexual desires (the story of Adam and Eve). That’s a pity, because however much misery is caused by our misinterpretation of sexuality, the main cause of our ignorance is another inborn inclination—egoism. In the end, everything that’s bad, all the harm we cause each other and our environment, results from egoism.

This egoism, which after all is our survival instinct, is rooted deeply in everyone, so we might actually say that it cannot be bad. And indeed, in essence, egoism is not bad. It is the ‘I-sense’ that makes us human. But, with the ‘I’—the ego—we can look at two directions. We can look inside and outside. If we only look outside, we become obsessed by the world around us and, lacking information regarding our true nature, we get entangled in it. The more we lose our awareness of what we really are, the more we become a caricature of the qualities which accidentally prevail. This will irrevocably create an egoistic attitude in the negative sense.

When we look inside, meditate regularly (and who will do that when not trained to), our ego will be transformed gradually into purer and purer self-awareness, ending with the realization of our oneness with the Absolute, as a mark that we have become truly human. So the main cause of human ignorance about Reality is that man does not rise above the level of egoism and therefore remains blinded by the material world.

Part II: Everything That Exists Originates from ONE

2.01 Introduction

There is no human being in the world, no animal, no plant— literally nothing in the world—that came into being by itself. Man is ignorant of the fact that he is an expression of a ‘cosmic, conscious, creative principle’. This unknown primal cause has become all that lives—including us, as human beings. The Absolute became man, and man is (from) the Absolute. The achievement of insight into this primal cause (Reality) is called ‘enlightenment’. To live from the timeless eternity, which is being enlightened, means to live above all duality, above all opposites. Searching has come to an end, and ‘spirit’ has become manifest in the material. The human being has reached its destiny.

The cause of all negative ‘man’s work’ in the world is the general ignorance about Reality (the Absolute). This ignorance is a result of a lack of knowledge about the ego, the ‘I’ of man. Because of the absence of correct spiritual education, man’s attention is fragmentized. This happens because of the continuous identification with the inexhaustible stream of thoughts. The mind is turned outward, and because of this, the true human is not manifested as he could be.

In ancient times, people in India knew how to live in order to manifest the original, true spiritual nature of man. Their mystical knowledge resided in their Yoga philosophy. In this treasury, different spiritual ways are ‘stored’, all leading to the same goal: to become one, to unify (yoke) the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness—that is to say, to realize Reality.

2.02 ‘God Created Man in His Own Image’

In the first part, we set up a reasoning that revealed a necessary present conscious primal cause, which always is and cannot not be. The four steps were, in brief:

1. Everything that exists is always subject to change.

2. In all that changes, energy is active. This energy is a non- conscious force, which has to be preceded by an invisible primal cause.

3. Anything that appears out of something (the primal cause) must have been in that something before; in other words, the primal, timeless, permanent cause is a source of endless creativity. This source cannot be non-conscious, blind.

4. Man is also not non-conscious, and in this resembles the timeless primal cause.

So there is a similarity, an equality between man and his origin. Long ago (in the Bible) this was expressed as: ‘God created man in His Own image’. This image is consciousness.

2.04 The Absolute

“… Reality—is that which always is and cannot not be. It is the ‘Omnipresent Being’—the Absolute. An enlightened person might call it ‘awareness, clearness, or presence’ …”

a) The Eternal NOW

Well then, what is the Absolute that has to be distinguished from the relative? As I have said before, it is not possible to understand Reality, the Absolute, with the mind. What I can do is point to it, in the hope that you will see it yourself.

First of all, one has to understand that the awareness of the Absolute has two aspects: ‘It’ (the Absolute) is to be ‘seen’ at the same time outside (transcendent) as well as inside yourself (immanent).

With regard to the transcendent aspect, contemplate your own appearing and disappearing against the background of that which does not come and go, but always is, that in which you appear and disappear. That background—that Reality—is that which always is and cannot not be. It is the ‘Omnipresent Being’—the Absolute. An enlightened person might call it ‘awareness, clearness, or presence’.

With regard to the immanent aspect of the Absolute, the ‘seer’ of the Absolute experiences that his (inner) Self is that transcendent Reality, is happiness or absolute quietness, peace and love. Very close too comes the expression, ‘the Self is silence’. The Self is a conscious, perfect rest emanating… Silence. This silence is not disturbed by restless thoughts. Of this conscious, quiet inner experience, one can say, ‘It is… now.’—it is the ‘perfect moment’. As this Absolute is timeless, we can say, when we recognize this perfect moment, ‘It is the eternal… NOW!’ The ‘eternal now’ seems like a contradiction, but it is not. That perfect moment always IS but we, because of our thoughts, are not always there. Sadly, we are perhaps almost never there.

b) To Fathom the ‘Great Void’ Is Not Possible

Well, what more can we say about that Absolute, that eternal NOW? What can we say about the ‘great void’—which, according to mystics, is the ‘ultimate fullness?’

– It IS and cannot not be (is Absolute)
– All life originates from it, is sustained by it, and will return to it (in Hindu terminology it is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva)

– It is unchanging and therefore timeless (not born and immortal)
– It is everywhere and not somewhere (everywhere and nowhere)
– If it were not, nothing could be there ( first that and then all the rest)
– That is Reality (the Hindu mantra Om Tat Sat)
– That has become you (the mantra Tat Tvam Asi)
– I am that in my deepest being (the mantra Aham Brahmasmi)

We could carry on like this for a while, but this should be enough. Here, we directly touch the mystery of mysticism. What is said is true, but if you have no insight into it yet, it will be difficult to grasp. Therefore, let us try now to say something about the nature of the Absolute.

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Stay tuned for more … the next part will continue sampling of the book-contents through subsequent sections …

Click here for Hans’ BIO and all of his guest posts.

All italicized text above (between the block-quotes) is from Initiation Into Reality … and is published here with Hans’ generous permission.

To get a signed copy with a personal message from Hans, the book can be ordered through his website (http://www.initiationintoreality.com/to-order).