Wednesday, September 4, 2019

The Plight of Mixing Worlds

Seeing beyond the division between the transcendent and the immanent must be done with great care, and even then, it must always be recognized from this side of things that the gap exists. Even Jesus acknowledged, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.”

There has always been a tension in most religions between the heavenly City of God and the earthly City of Man, which is never completely reconciled although there are sacred practices and places where the tension can be inhabited. The issue has become when we reduce one to another. This has sometimes happened with traditional religions, creating all sorts of corruption and distortions. And it shouldn't come to be any surprise that it is still happening in the more progressive circles of secularism and postmodern spirituality.

According to the secular left, it is our common humanity that brings us together in an imminent embrace of solidarity. Part of this belief is more an ideal since tribalism still exists even for those who espouse universalist values. (I'm current reading this great book by Amy Chua that confirms tribalism is our default posture no matter what our worldview.)

And since we are condemned to being religious about something, the transcendent pointers for most on the secular left comes in through identity politics, scientism, recreational pursuits, and celebrity idolatry where there are many pagan "gods" to worship. When identifying with this something, we actually become separate from what we really are. The identification is all mind, when in Truth we are that and more. Otherwise, we just become limited to what we worship.

“The modern world applies truths that relate to the pure spiritual world of oneness to the material world of duality and multiplicity where they do not apply” (William Wildblood).

Brilliant! Yes, according to the secular left: we are all one and the same in the world, but with many pagan gods and goddesses to look up to.

Now, let's see this mixing of worlds from the neo-advaita perspective which espouses since we are all one, then nothing really matters in this world. That sounds crazy to most of us, but only a psychopath like Charles Manson would take it all the way. Then, there are the milder psychopaths who just call it crazy wisdom.

I don't care how Realized you are (or think you are), limits are still limits. Maury Lee says, “Knowing that reality is non dual, forms still exist. There is the Absolute and there is the relative world of plants and animals. There are universal laws that obtain to all creatures, including realized beings. Regardless of the level of realization, the personal body and mind continue to exist. That existence is in the relative world, and the relative world has universal laws which apply.”

Crazy wisdom just becomes crazy if it doesn't see the person, the world, and the Absolute as distinct. We are one from God's eye view, but no-one in this town is God. Therefore, morality exists to create proper boundaries for the relationships between us. 

So we are always minding the gap, even though there is no gap beyond the mind. We can only be reasonably and intuitively discerning to not elevate the idol and immanentize the eschaton.