Who are we (am I) - Part 2

"For all that has been,

Thank you.
For all that is to come,
Yes!"

- Hammarskjöld, D

We ended last week…

“…Just as we knew nothing whatsoever about the world into which

we were thrust as a newborn child, we know little to nothing about

the world into which we are being drawn…

More to come…”

This idea emerges from the minds and pens of many writers, because it is such a common observation of the human condition.   We identify with it because it is our experience.  One of my favorite thoughts is expressed in this way:

"It is not we who seek the Way, but the Way which seeks us. That is why

you are faithful to it, even while you stand waiting, so long as you are

prepared, and act the moment you are confronted by its demands."

- Hammarskjöld, D Markings

It is common to hear musicians, writers, artists, artisans and athletes, tell stories of how they were driven – or drawn as a moth to the flame – to their particular gift.  Hours upon hours of time spent exploring the instrument, storyline, canvas, clay or field of play with nothing in mind, other than the compelling sense of focus and need to keep at it.  Some of these gifts emerge to a broader world, when preparation meets circumstance.  They provide a ‘voice’ that both inspires and enlightens others who are privileged to experience it.  Others never emerge in this way, but bring the greatest of satisfaction to themselves for the focus and time spent exercising their gift – discipline of the act brings a freedom to the result!

What about the ‘who?’

The biblical scripture says, “No man has seen God at any time.”  Okay.  How about this – no one has seen ‘us,’ at any time – including us! Hence the question of the ‘who.’  Like magnetism, electricity and gravity, all we see is the result of change in the state of energy…an action!

The only insights we get are the things that impress us and manifest out of us – our personality, words we speak, or activities we perform.  Whatever we are is an invisible intelligence that lives inside our bodies.  This is because we are not physical creatures.  We are spiritual creatures housed inside a container that carries us about accumulating information and experiences like a vacuum cleaner.  It is the insatiable curiosity of the human condition that drives all of us.  We are curious about everything, some of which is profitable; some not so much – this has to do with the internals (e.g. opinions, goal seeking, things we choose to think about) over which we have some control, and the external things over which we have little control…just about everything else.

Speculation abounds as to where ‘we’ reside, but the ‘street address’ has never been found.  The ‘we’ is an essence, a soul, an entity or intellect capable of accumulating and acting upon vast amounts of experiences both temporal and mental – the capacity for which is completely unknown.  Whatever boundaries we conceive…our capacities are greater – the facility for learning as vast as the nation in which we live – the “imagination” of which we are citizens.  Our only limitation in this dimension of life is our time-based ability to absorb the things around us.  All of this, if we continue to follow the leading, is part of the process of calling us to what ‘we’ are truly intended to be.

We are spiritual creatures – I get it – So What?

Many writers both from Western and Eastern sources say that to understand spiritual matters, attention should be paid to the way the physical world operates – for it is a template…a parable, if you will, that allows one to step off the physical stage that is known, to the spiritual stage where things seem absolutely unknown.

“The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,

being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power

and godhead.” - Romans 1:20 Bible – KJV

Once the conscious journey for the ‘who’ begins, there is a sense of destination – you know, an end game.  Life experience teaches this.  A challenge or opportunity presents itself; the work performed until the task is completed…in preparation for the next task – the next question looking for an answer.  This structure works well within the confines of the physical world, because time-based activities have time-based end points.

The journey for the ‘who,’ however, turns out to be a little more open-ended than this.  The frustrating and difficult part of understanding the ‘who’ is our past life experience.  If we see this journey with an end-game mind set, it will not satisfy – like the carrot hanging in front of the donkey.  It is an “…ever learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth…” kind of dissatisfaction…a wall that appears to have no door.  At this point, perception must change in order to step through the looking glass and expand our awareness from the worldly to the eternal.

Religious leaders, spiritual gurus and mystics don’t help much other than offering mystery.  Their language is often filled with proprietary words such as, “Heaven,” “immortality,” “eternal life,” “Nirvana,” “cosmic consciousness,” – vague terms…vague meanings.  These ideas can also be misleading because they suggest some end-point – a place or condition where everything is friction free, without challenge…no more pain, no more sorrow, no more work, no longer the burden and suffering of the flesh – a future world or condition where all of our needs are met…a reward for some unclear idea or teaching we have embraced, but not understood in our earthly lives – a reward for having accepted the “…riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma...”

This is the critical juncture where one must be open to a different approach; a different point of view; a shift in the paradigm…for the ‘who’ is not a discovery with an end.  The ‘who’ is the revelation of a ‘never end.’ 

We actually have experience with part of the ‘never end.’ It lies in our curiosity.  The curiosity to want to know more – the inherent belief in all of us that there is more to know…much more.  Curiosity by definition has no end.  Each question of the unknown, is the basis for and leading to the next question, and the one after that in an insatiable and never ending series of non-thematic questions.  We want to know about everything!  Finding the theme in the forest of questions is where the greatest of hungers lies.  The process of paying attention to answers that satisfy, rather than answers for the sake of information, is the compass that leads us to the specific and unique ‘who’ that we are.

Preparation developed in our physical and mental life experience is a key element for the persistence necessary to keep going when it seems there is precious little progress – the essential element to keep going when there is no end, when the asking and doing is enough... when an ever expanding consciousness is gratifying in and of itself.  Accomplishment in the temporal world provides the template, a conscious work ethic for the endlessness of eternity’s growth.

Who am I?

This brings us back to the question that began this very brief discussion.  “Who am I?” (“Who are we?”) Of course, there is no definite answer to this question, because there is no end point.  We are hard wired to be askers of questions, seekers – ones who believe in the infinite magnetism of truth – whatever that might mean – that there are no endpoints to knowing, only doorways to greater understanding.

It is my sense, this life is truly a place of preparation for the next step – the practice arena where the preparation is done so we can “…act the moment you [we] are confronted by its demands…" Once free of this temporal world, the next stage of the dance begins in earnest – a freedom, released from the constraints time and circumstance, to draw us even further into the limitlessness of a never-ending curiosity.  For we are not just creatures full of questions, WE ARE QUESTIONS in search of our part in a fuller truth and eternal-limitless life experience.

- ted