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..:: Liberation VI /
Ascension ::..
By
Alan Schneider
We have noted many aspects of
possible liberation from the interment in what Yoga refers to as The
Mind Trap in this latest series of essays, highlighting
several of the more effective approaches to the question of
consciousness from psychology, spirituality, and metaphysics. The
matter remains to be considered of what is to be done in the Western
world, particularly in the United States the undisputed citadel of
materialism to cope with the fundamental obstruction to higher
consciousness the problem of glamour and ego aggrandizement
that effectively blocks the full perception of our true nature as
attainable through spiritual Ascension.
Here in the West, the body is
viewed as absolutely real, and the senses that display that body
as the absolutely final standards of the proof of everything.
Our culture is infatuated with material objects and concepts, great and
small an obvious addiction to those few of us who have seen beyond
this condition and we firmly worship the principal of aggression that
we believe without question has provided us with the elements of that
addiction. We generally do not recognize our addictive behavior for
the fallen condition that it is, preferring to glorify and glamorize it
instead, and the pernicious combative behavior that necessarily
accompanies and supports our fall as well. Seldom is much personal
thought given to the ultimate fate of the organism death that
awaits us all eventually, nor to the implications of this fate for the
living that the material condition is a phantom that is quite
fleeting, and our actions physical, mental, and spiritual are
the defining elements of our consciousness during the time of
incarnation, not our property. We pretend to shelter the
meek while honoring the mighty and the assumption that might makes
right as long as we are in possession of the most powerful and
destructive military machine in the history of the world, of course,
while we define as evil anything that dares to defy our supremacy and
the accompanying material imperative. This essential state of things
remains in place even as our economic system is disintegrating under the
load of greed that drives it forward, and is threatening to take the
rest of the world and human race with it in the process.
In such a blindly ignorant
and misguided society, those who do not participate run a perilous route
indeed the inherent paranoia of the macro-culture never rests
day and night in the surveillance of every detail of human social
interaction locally and internationally, searching minutely for even the
hint of a potential threat to the hegemony of materialism that is
so fervently worshiped within its prevue. This is the reality with
which we are faced when we step out of line and off the path today or
if we even dare to question the path or its validity as a human
undertaking. But, the truth is that this system is doomed and dying as
this is being written, and we must find another way of being that
will be more valid than which has preceded it.
This begins with a coldly
honest assessment of who and what we are as a species. Although the
wave of life continues to move on through history, the individual
constituents of that wave we human beings, and the myriad of other
living creatures on Earth do not. All is mortal,
mutable, and temporary in the universe before us and around us.
Rather than teach each other to ignore this essential fact and become
addicted to the pursuit of material objects and glamour, we must make
the impermanence of life a fundamental tenet of our consciousness and
education. Because this runs contrary to the distractibility of our
nature only makes it all the more necessary our nature is what
we must overcome if we are to survive the coming world socioeconomic
implosion.
While it cannot be argued
that we are at least in part material ourselves, that part must
be deemphasized in favor of the spiritual aspects of our identity and
consciousness, along with our fixation with acquisition, profit, and
creature comforts. All of these latter have at least one fatal flaw
they distract our consciousness from the pursuit of the higher mental
conditions that ultimately culminate in spiritual Ascension, a goal that
requires our full time application and devotion to attain to even
progress toward at all. All of the time spent in desire and glamour is
time wasted in this life from the spiritual perspective. No matter
what we gain, it is lost at death, and the mere hope of the continuity
of any form of consciousness thereafter is justification enough to turn
away from the material illusion during life. Thus, Ascension, even if
it appears to be a phantom and a daydream at first glance, is more
real than the unenlightened materialistic life that is the alternative.
As the world material
resource base wanes, we all find ourselves confronted with the need to
pursue what amounts to minimalist lifestyles that are
ecologically focused, and this supports the goal of spiritual
development as well. Along with this minimalism comes the need for
renewed self-sufficiency in all areas of life we must reduce our
dependence on all externalities, and generate as much of the reduced
physical resources we consume as we can by ourselves. Rather
than go out and buy it, we must make or convert it from native
raw materials found at hand, and strictly discipline ourselves regarding
the distinction between what we want and what we genuinely
need to exist. As one who grew up in the lap of American material
affluence, no one knows better than me how truly difficult and
challenging this transition is, but I am firmly convinced that it
represents the wave of the future, if there is to be a future at all.
Continuing in the vein of
self-imposed constraint, there is perhaps no area of life where the need
for restriction is more pronounced than that of human reproduction.
Our planet is woefully overpopulated, generating a burgeoning squalor
that is rapidly overtaking every urban center. Yet, we continue to
breed capriciously and irresponsibly in most parts of the undeveloped
and underdeveloped planet. This, to my mind, is the single biggest
threat to ongoing life on Earth life itself! Hence, the need for
sexual discipline is more pronounced than any other kind. If we cannot
halt and then reverse our birth rate, then the alternative will be to
increase the death rate to compensate for this something that
nobody but military organizations is interested in, and even most of
these will pale before the needed level of extermination to achieve the
required balance. Again, it is our own nature that has become our
enemy, and must be brought under control for our own good. The
shift in emphasis from material consciousness to spiritual consciousness
is one of best ways to accomplish this lifestyle transition.
The shift away from
materially defined reality and toward spiritually defined reality
represents the best trend of which we are capable as a biological
species. This is true even if the elements of ego-based linear logic
argue against the premise. This is a matter of survival, not
literal evidence or substantial fact. It is a matter of the Heart
and compassion, not accuracy and exactitude. If we confine ourselves
to the rationale of logic alone, then we are lost and isolated from each
other and all the other elements of the universe, enslaved to material
acquisition, and doomed to perish as consciousness at the moment of
death. Paradoxically, no sane person would choose this alternative,
which is the logical outcome of literal material sanity! Clearly,
there must be a better way... a way out of the material maze.
But, what is that way? To
begin with, we must find another method of conducting observations that
exceeds the ego, the senses, and the body. In addition to this, we
must go further still we must locate and develop a collective
realm of conscious perception that completely supersedes our limited
personal perception. If this cannot be done through sensory
experience, then we must turn away from that experience and journey
inward into the unconscious mind in search of the answers we seek.
This is what is afforded by Yoga and meditation, the twin vessels of
liberation. By following these principles, these systems, of
Self development, the truth of collective perception is eventually
revealed to our consciousness. This revelation is the initial step
along the path of freedom and release form the Mind Trap in which we all
too often spend our days and never suspect how lost our condition there
really is.
Thus is the Truth of
Consciousness progressively revealed to the blind human being, enabling
us all to see with new eyes, hear with new ears, and
feel through the Heart first, and the senses thereafter,
establishing the order of priorities that has the most survival value
for our species, and creating at least the possibility of a world of
experience that transcends our apparent physical limitations. Indeed,
these barriers are really only of the most superficial order of
magnitude, belied by the deep and abiding experience of our rich inner
state of being, if we will but trouble ourselves to look there.
As simple and prosaic as this may seem to be, that is all that is
required to attain liberation. We are challenged to break down the
walls perceptual ignorance, blind greed, mindless lust, and vain glamour
in this quest the elements of an illusion to which there are such
magnificent alternatives if we can only rise to the occasion.
I have myself personally made
this passage, and can attest to its worth for humanity, as I have done
so in these essays, and I would unhesitatingly recommend this path to
anyone as the best (if admittedly difficult) way out of our present
predicament. We must evolve into a new order of consciousness beyond
self-absorption with our little toys on our little transitory plane of
the senses, desires, and ego, and embrace a new world of extended
possibilities that includes us all as each others brothers, sisters,
lovers, and true friends. Let us take this journey together, even if
we begin it in separation!
- With Love, Alan -
(Copyright 2009, by Alan Schneider)
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