Everything, Everyone As Is
Often we hear such spiritual advice that a key to our true maturity is how to see everything as it is; and understand everyone as he/she is. Of course when we look at a glass of water in front of us, it is easy to see it as it is. When you meet a friend of yours in a certain occasion, then it is also easy to understand this person as he/she is, otherwise; it may be difficult to recognize the person as your friend in the first place. Strictly speaking, however, in such a simple perceptual recognition we have had distorted such view that these items and/or persons are placed in front of us. But more often, the difficulty for us to see things and/or persons as they are, is to take place when we try to put "meanings" on these things and persons.
Such "meanings" have been quite often consciously or unconsciously derived from our ego-oriented expectations and desires. Actually that is the cause of our arguments, or else the cause of sufferings. As the Buddha has pointed out in such a way that ego is the cause of desires that is the cause of suffering; hence knowing ego is just illusion is the end of suffering that is the path to awakening and enlightenment. Probably it is not easy or even unrealistic for us modern (or postmodern) people to accept the fact that ego is just illusion. Since the Birth of Consciousness we have had our own self-awareness that has differentiated us from the rest of animals which are part of the environments and God. That self-awareness has separated us from the environments and God.
Because of the Birth of Consciousness, we can no longer sense our Oneness with the environments and God, but only can see them in front of us; and can imagine in our consciousness. Suppose the environments and God are the Ultimate Totality and Wholeness, what does it mean that we can see such Totality and Wholeness only in front of us or in our conscious imagination? It is an unfortunate distortion and paradox that we can see the Ultimate Totality and Wholeness only in such way that we cannot feel them as our own reality, but as the separated, signified symbols and concepts; hence we see ourselves as the separated, signified symbols and concepts, which is called ego.
Indeed, since the Birth of Consciousness (metaphorically speaking since we have left the Garden of Eden) not only the environments and God, but even we cannot sense ourselves in such Ultimate Reality; we just see ourselves as the separated compartment; hence we also see others in the same way. As the result, we can no longer see the truth that everything and everyone are interconnected in the Ultimate Reality. Such compartments of ourselves and of others keep on bothering us. It is because we need to keep placing our meanings and interpretations upon these compartmentalized items. And these meanings and interpretations endlessly and kaleidoscopically keep on changing and transforming; sometimes based on our desires and expectations; and sometimes against them.
If these items (reality) can fit our interpretations and expectations, then we are happy. If not, then we are unhappy or frustrated. If our interpretations and expectations can be the same as the others, then we can agree with those others. If these are different from the others, then we have to argue with or sometimes even fight (or worse kill or killed by) those others. All in all, the problem is that such everything and everyone (ourselves, others, environments and God), while these are ultimately being interconnected, have been separated; therefore, such everything and everyone can be seen only through our fragmented, unreliable compartmentalized, kaleidoscopically changing shadows. These are just like "a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." (James 1:6)
If we try to follow such spiritual advice that seeing everything as it is and understanding everyone as he/she is, what could be the modest first step to practice this advice? The first one could probably be having an open-mined attitude and being humble. The Scriptures say that "God resists the proud. But give grace to the humble." (Proverbs 3:34) If you do not stick to your own opinion and interpretation, but maintain an open-minded attitude to accept many other possible opinions and interpretations, you will be no longer bothered by your ego-oriented desires to insist your right position. (But of course this is not to have the value relativistic nihilism). Trying to be right will lead us to the conflicts, but being kind and acceptable can lead us to the peace. Using Gandhi's words, "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way."
We do not have to fight over which can be the best way to peace. If peace is the condition that nobody fights one another, then the ideal, ultimate resolution is that each of us stop fighting; merely stop fighting even for our own interpretation of peace, for "our way to peace." Fighting for your own interpretation of peace is not peace, but just ideology. Ideology is one of our ego-oriented attributes together with the magic-mythic religious faith, fundamentalism, ethnocentrism, and nationalism etc. or even the human / social scientific theories if we are not aware of the paradigmatic, methodological limitations and concerns.
True peace is not rested on a particulate group-centric homeostasis – meaning, not on the triumph of a particular group. True peace is rested on the sense of Oneness where all our separateness has been resolved. It sounds too naïve and ideal. Probably it is particularly when and if we consider ourselves nothing more than the separate self. Still, it is important to be aware of such different dimensional perspectives.
We pray and meditate everyday; it is not because of seeking our practical benefits, but because of our sincerity to keep us aware of the spiritual perspective where our ever-longing and ever-lasting Oneness has been rested and already always embracing us whether or not we notice. Thus, our modest step to become an open-minded and humble is actually the same as praying and meditating as such; these are the important steps for our consciousness evolution.
Such "meanings" have been quite often consciously or unconsciously derived from our ego-oriented expectations and desires. Actually that is the cause of our arguments, or else the cause of sufferings. As the Buddha has pointed out in such a way that ego is the cause of desires that is the cause of suffering; hence knowing ego is just illusion is the end of suffering that is the path to awakening and enlightenment. Probably it is not easy or even unrealistic for us modern (or postmodern) people to accept the fact that ego is just illusion. Since the Birth of Consciousness we have had our own self-awareness that has differentiated us from the rest of animals which are part of the environments and God. That self-awareness has separated us from the environments and God.
Because of the Birth of Consciousness, we can no longer sense our Oneness with the environments and God, but only can see them in front of us; and can imagine in our consciousness. Suppose the environments and God are the Ultimate Totality and Wholeness, what does it mean that we can see such Totality and Wholeness only in front of us or in our conscious imagination? It is an unfortunate distortion and paradox that we can see the Ultimate Totality and Wholeness only in such way that we cannot feel them as our own reality, but as the separated, signified symbols and concepts; hence we see ourselves as the separated, signified symbols and concepts, which is called ego.
Indeed, since the Birth of Consciousness (metaphorically speaking since we have left the Garden of Eden) not only the environments and God, but even we cannot sense ourselves in such Ultimate Reality; we just see ourselves as the separated compartment; hence we also see others in the same way. As the result, we can no longer see the truth that everything and everyone are interconnected in the Ultimate Reality. Such compartments of ourselves and of others keep on bothering us. It is because we need to keep placing our meanings and interpretations upon these compartmentalized items. And these meanings and interpretations endlessly and kaleidoscopically keep on changing and transforming; sometimes based on our desires and expectations; and sometimes against them.
If these items (reality) can fit our interpretations and expectations, then we are happy. If not, then we are unhappy or frustrated. If our interpretations and expectations can be the same as the others, then we can agree with those others. If these are different from the others, then we have to argue with or sometimes even fight (or worse kill or killed by) those others. All in all, the problem is that such everything and everyone (ourselves, others, environments and God), while these are ultimately being interconnected, have been separated; therefore, such everything and everyone can be seen only through our fragmented, unreliable compartmentalized, kaleidoscopically changing shadows. These are just like "a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." (James 1:6)
If we try to follow such spiritual advice that seeing everything as it is and understanding everyone as he/she is, what could be the modest first step to practice this advice? The first one could probably be having an open-mined attitude and being humble. The Scriptures say that "God resists the proud. But give grace to the humble." (Proverbs 3:34) If you do not stick to your own opinion and interpretation, but maintain an open-minded attitude to accept many other possible opinions and interpretations, you will be no longer bothered by your ego-oriented desires to insist your right position. (But of course this is not to have the value relativistic nihilism). Trying to be right will lead us to the conflicts, but being kind and acceptable can lead us to the peace. Using Gandhi's words, "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way."
We do not have to fight over which can be the best way to peace. If peace is the condition that nobody fights one another, then the ideal, ultimate resolution is that each of us stop fighting; merely stop fighting even for our own interpretation of peace, for "our way to peace." Fighting for your own interpretation of peace is not peace, but just ideology. Ideology is one of our ego-oriented attributes together with the magic-mythic religious faith, fundamentalism, ethnocentrism, and nationalism etc. or even the human / social scientific theories if we are not aware of the paradigmatic, methodological limitations and concerns.
True peace is not rested on a particulate group-centric homeostasis – meaning, not on the triumph of a particular group. True peace is rested on the sense of Oneness where all our separateness has been resolved. It sounds too naïve and ideal. Probably it is particularly when and if we consider ourselves nothing more than the separate self. Still, it is important to be aware of such different dimensional perspectives.
We pray and meditate everyday; it is not because of seeking our practical benefits, but because of our sincerity to keep us aware of the spiritual perspective where our ever-longing and ever-lasting Oneness has been rested and already always embracing us whether or not we notice. Thus, our modest step to become an open-minded and humble is actually the same as praying and meditating as such; these are the important steps for our consciousness evolution.
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