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Once you realize that existence is a conscious state, the field of infinite potential is no longer abstract. It exists, in plenitude, here and now. I side with thinkers who say that life can only be lived here and now. Everything else is a dream or spell or illusion concocted by the mind. It testifies to the enormous trauma inflicted by past suffering that the human race would rather exist in a mind-made, dream-spell of illusion than wake up, live in the present moment, and take advantage of our infinite potential.
These shortcuts came about out of necessity. “I am That” refers to something indescribable, formless, without substance or qualities, unborn, undying, and beyond language. People wanted something they could see and feel and hold on to. In the Old Testament, Jacob wrestled with an angel. He was lucky; wrestling with duality, entangled in the dream-spell of illusion, is far harder. But if we remain true to “I am,” there is no need to wrestle with anything, including oneself. The flaw in every story, even the most spiritually inspiring ones, is that they always involve a choice. As soon as the mind is faced with either/or, duality has won. It wins by setting the terms of the path that lies ahead, and such a path only leads deeper into duality.
The emergence of monism, nonduality, and panpsychism in our time indicates an advanced stage of getting unstuck from duality. The next step, I believe, is to arrive at a process for awakening that is based on choiceless awareness. When you are enmeshed in duality, life is nothing but choices, the countless decisions, big and small, that life demands of us. But each step on the path to waking up reveals how many choices can be done away with. Rid your life of whatever is an illusion, and nothing will remain but what is real.
Choiceless awareness can only exist by living in the now. What you do or say or think should have no history or baggage. That’s what the now is about. You are not repeating the known, but opening up to the unknown. In a word, you are testing if being here is enough.
If existence is the same as consciousness, and if consciousness is a field of infinite potential, then being here must open a door to that very field.
The rishis who said, “I am That,” were also saying, “This is what awaits everyone, once they wake up.” I started by asking what is the best, simplest, and most useful thing we could say about our existence. Here’s my answer: “Being here is enough.”
The essence of modern spirituality is that we humans are full of paradoxes, yet penetrated by mystery. Transcendence and immanence are two sides of the same coin. Enlightenment is intimacy with any experience that arises in this human being. In a nutshell, we are perfectly divine in our imperfect human form.
There is no ultimate truth. No teacher, no scientist will give us all the answers. Let us simply bow to the intelligence of our hearts, drop into not knowing, keep our minds open, cherish the questions, and let the answers arise and evolve, all the while celebrating this mystery called life. Thank you for being here, for reading this book. Welcome home!
Part One: Voices of Contemporary Spirituality
Today’s spiritual teachers point to the intelligence of our hearts and spark a love affair with truth and wonder. They meet us where we are, in our very struggle, and invite us to tend to our human experience while remembering our divine nature. They direct us to discover each and every moment as the ultimate teacher and remind us that we are never apart from the mystery, from the truth of existence, from consciousness, from God.
AI Summary
On the Mystery of Being by Unknown presents key insights from the Taoism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.