How best are we to use philosophical concepts and teachings? What is their purpose and what motivated the sages to teach them to us?
I’ll start with my own experience. I have been reading philosophical and spiritual books for many years now. And I read them – for many years – purely for entertainment; because I enjoyed them.
There are reasons for and against such an approach. Here is an earlier blog of mine giving the reasons for:
And here are the reasons against:
My present view is as under:
- The Universe is an organic whole and our position is similar to that of cells within the human body. As such our job is to serve the Universe and it does not matter what happens to us as long as the Universe is in a state of well being and survival.
- The way to serve the Universe is by seeking the divine within and without us. God is playing a game of hide and seek with Himself and is manifesting Himself as humans and sentient being who are players in the game.
- So philosophical and spiritual teachings are nothing more than means or pointers to the Divine. They are meant to be used for that purpose – for experiencing God in the Here and Now.
I have the support of the Sufi sage Rumi. I have written about his views in my blog below:
So basically I need to seek to experience the Divine in each moment as I go through the day. That is the purpose of my life – finding and experiencing the Divine.
There is one other related concept.
You may have seen the Bruce Lee movie Enter the Dragon. There is a dialogue from the movie: It is a finger pointing at the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory.
So have a lightness of touch as you go about your spiritual practice and aim to enjoy the heavenly glory. Don’t take spiritual concepts and teachings too seriously. They are only pointers – a means to an end.
Some basic mental hygiene:
1) Let it come, let it be and let it go as far as the arisings of the mind are concerned.
2) Judge not that you be not judged.
3) Atma satyam, jagat mithya
4) See the false as false; that which remains is true
Don’t be confused by the above paragraph. These are just notes to myself on practicing some mental hygiene when I find myself brooding. I have a lot of time on my hands so it is a major challenge.
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