HOW DOES A UNIVERSAL PHILOSOPHY AND
RELIGION
APPROACH THE UNIVERSE?
Reason asks: " What social conditions are needed to speed up our evolution?"
Swami Vivekananda
“The universe is moving in cycles of wave forms.
It rises, reaches its zenith, then falls and remains
in the hollow, as it were, for some time, once more
to rise, and so on, in wave after wave and fall after
fall. What's true of the universe is true of every
part of it. The march of human affairs is like that.
The history of nations is like that: they rise and
they fall; after the rise comes a fall, again out
of the fall comes a rise, with greater power. This
motion is always going on. In the religious world
the same movement exists. In every nation's spiritual
life, there is a fall as well as a rise."
Yet, we can see endless aims and ambitions amidst
all these cycles."
Is there a deeper purpose to it all?
As we get older it becomes ever more apparent. "Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity." says Ecclesiastes.
And T. S. Eliot is equally harsh in his Hollow Men:
"This is the way the world ends This is the way
the world ends This is the ways the world ends, not
with a bang, but a whimper."
Is everything merely a mindless march through birth,
youth, active life, old age and eventual death?
Do only we have meaning?
Religions
have always come to our aid, promising us an ultimate redemption. If we live a good life and acquiesce to the demands of the clergy or some religion, we'll get to go to another place after death and live forever. But the lesser aims and cycles as minerals, plants and animals are ignored as meaningless. It's all just scenery and fill for the larger destiny mapped out for humanity.
Vedic spirituality
The Vedic view is that there is an spiritual aim underlying all
smaller goals.
The universe is a vast psychological model of evolution and development.
The whole of creation, which includes the rats and cats, the trees and the squirrels is gaining knowledge. In the process, every being is manifesting ever greater awareness and more expansive understandings,
until a liberating, unifying and immortal state of consciousness is achieved.
This approach is thus open-ended,
developmental, and inclusive. No
one is lost. Nothing is destroyed. Transcendent knowing
is the destiny of creation.
A PROGRESSIVE LETTING GO
Thus, we needn't give up this world or physically
die in order to achieve this transcendent aim.
Spiritual discovery isn't confined to "a religion."
It's an inevitable process, operating within every society,
in the life of every individual and in the lives of every species.
Belonging to a particular religion is not the issue; consciousness unfolds through
four stages and four seemingly different aims. And
all of this is intrinsically part of an even larger
cycle, the opening of consciousness, revealing an underlying, spiritual
peace, love and freedom.
THE FOUR STAGES AND THEIR AIMS
The first stage is youth.
Its aim is the need to access power and self confidence.
As children we have to become empowered, because childhood and
youth are a preparation for our next three aims.
The second stage is adulthood.
Here, our aim is to discover our singular destiny
as we actualize and enjoy all the knowledge we've
amassed during our primary stage as children.
The third and fourth stages are poorly understood
in the West. But herein lies the clear-sightedness
of the Vedantic model.
The third stage is middle age. Its aim is a maturation and reflection,
and perhaps a withdrawal as a consequence of
wisdom.
The fourth stage is a
need for realization.This is the result of a lifetime of growing meditations
and reflections.
In
the complete cycle of these four stages, some kind
of "realization" emerges in everyone's
life, even if it isn't the highest realization. Nevertheless, we all become philosophical as we age. Understanding develops to some degree or other.
Ordinarily the need for all four stages is ignored
by most societies, which gives rise to confusion.
When the first two, self empowerment and self actualization
become dominant, the scale becomes un-balanced.
As a result, a kind of degradation sets in. We're
not completing all four stages This is typical of
the West today, which is stuck at the first two stages.
We see an abuse of lust and greed and are faced with
a constant need to compete and achieve.
When the last two stages become dominant, another
kind of deficiency arises. People's self esteem is
diminished and a kind of inertia and hopelessness
pervades society because an impossible ideal of self
realization is put before everyone, to which many
are unable to immediately attain.
But when each is held in perspective, a society flourishes.
The process complete itself only with the balance
of all four stages, with each exercised fully, along
with the recognition of an ultimate aim running through
it all. Society prospers. The individual prospers.
The divine impulse is seen as working through all
these cycles.
Each stage must be empowered by recognizing the
real force underlying the process, an ultimate peace,
love and freedom.
A level of spiritual direction
and discipline should existy throughout our lives, growing and maturing
because we know there's an underlying purpose, a higher
basis behind it all.
We learn the art of centering, always placing ourselves
in a context that allows this ultimate aim to shine
through, whatever stage we presently find ourselves
in.
Throughout, we have to value the highest ideal. Say
to ourselves,
"I may see myself as imperfect right
now. But it's merely a delusion. Let me wade through all of this inner confusion,
this sense of incompleteness and failure. With time,
experience and persistence, along with positive affirmations and positive disciplines, I'll begin to access this underlying Awareness which is the source of
all my strength, happiness and real security."
