Ten or so years ago I read a book whose content I absolutely loved. But the way the writer wrote about himself annoyed me. He claimed to be completely enlightened and far, far above us simple humans. But for the benefit of humanity he ascended from his throne of bliss, and stepped back into the mud for as long as it took to write the book.
I haven’t seen many other spiritual teachers who point at Oneness position themselves so blatantly above humanity as this one did, but …
With a few exceptions, they don’t talk about their humanness either.
Reading their books or watching snippets from their retreats, the image they (carefully?) portray is always this:
Of someone eternally at peace. Never bothered, never angry, never annoyed.
Loving everyone and everything.
I don’t buy it.
The human experience is still the human experience.
Zen buddhists say:
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
I’m not a Zen buddhist (nor do I claim to be ‘enlightened’), so I’d keep it simpler and less polished:
Before seeing Oneness, yelling ‘fuck’ when stabbing your toe.
After seeing Oneness, yelling ‘fuck’ when stabbing your toe.
But most people who point at Oneness don’t show that side.
They make it seem like stabbing their toe is welcomed in loving, open arms.
They make it seem like they’re not annoyed when someone hackles their silent retreat.
They make it seem like they’re never irritated, never angry, and never crave buckets of ice-cream.
For a while, my own writing didn’t reflect that, either.
Of course, I don’t have to share every fart with you.
But I don’t have to leave them all out, either.
(Don’t worry.
This is a metaphor.)
It didn’t reflect it because for a while, it seemed like within that Oneness there were two realities: that of Oneness and that of Duality/Humanness … and Oneness was the “truest” reality … so my writing had to reflect that.
Of course, that was a mindfuck if ever there was one. Not a problem, just a phase in seeing with new eyes.
The Chinese Zen teacher Qingyuan Weixin described the unfolding of realization in three phases something like this:
“Before I studied Zen, mountains were mountains and waters were waters.
After I gained some insight, mountains were no longer mountains and waters were no longer waters.
But after full realization, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”
Life is still life.
The human experience is still the human experience.
You still fart.
You still stab your toe.
And you still yell ‘fuck’.
Leaving it out of your writing, your work, your words, is leaving out part of the richness of the human experience.
I never left it out completely but also didn’t incorporate it completely.
That’s done now.
(At least for now.)
Love,
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