Wisdom of the Infinite - Introduction

The biggest obstacle for the serious student seeking to become enlightened is his natural habit of trying to grasp at Reality as though it were a "thing" of some kind, as though it were a limited phenomenon separated from himself. He might be aware that he is unenlightened, it might deeply dissatisfy him and strongly motivate him to want to rectify the situation. But because he does not yet comprehend the nature of Reality, he is hampered by his flawed understanding and wrongly interprets Reality to be a realm which needs to be mentally reached in some way.

He might think of it as a state of mind, for example, which needs to be brought into his consciousness; or as a hidden essence which has to be uncovered; or as a kind of spiritual realm which he can open himself up to by breaking out of his web of delusions, much like a young bird breaking out of its egg. All of these conceptions are fundamentally deluded because they are rooted in the illusion of duality. They are based in a division of Nature into two arbitrary realms - that of enlightenment and ignorance, or Reality and non-Reality - which is itself a creation of ignorance. Such a division automatically traps one in a dualistic prison and prevents one from realizing the Infinite Reality in which one is already immersed.

Thus, the first and most crucial step towards becoming enlightened is the perfecting of one s intellectual understanding of Reality. I really can't stress this enough. It is absolutely paramount. Nothing of any real significance can be achieved without it. It is the basis for all wisdom in the Universe. Without it, there is nothing but blindness and stupidity.

To the degree that one s understanding of Reality remains flawed, one will only continue to chase spiritual phantoms. There is a story in Zen which describes how a madman in the mountains used to desperately search for the source of piercing sounds that he regularly heard, not realizing they were echoes caused by his own shrieks. This is exactly how the deluded spiritual seeker behaves. He creates mirages of enlightenment with his dualistic thinking and then chases after them, not realizing they are merely illusions of his own making. It is only by removing the flaws in one s intellectual thinking that one can finally lay these illusions and phantoms to rest. Only then can one discern the true nature of Reality and the fundamental dynamic of the spiritual path.

Although this is primarily an issue for the inner life of each individual involved, it also has wider consequences for society as a whole. For not only do errors in a person s philosophical understanding preserve his own intellect in ignorance, but they flow through to the rest of his existence, influencing his speech, behaviour, morality and values. They are passed on to other people through the deluded example he sets. He becomes a beacon of darkness, unwittingly guiding people away from the truth and leaving them to crash painfully into the rocks and cliffs of unconscious existence. Such is the way of the world, alas.

Let no one ever hoodwink you with the idea that philosophy is a useless enterprise. In the end, almost all human misery and violence finds its roots in philosophic ignorance, and to the degree that we are not wholeheartedly seeking to become enlightened, we are all contributing to the madness. It is vital that we go to the source and make changes there. Everything hinges on this. If we do not attempt to fix the source, then we have no chance of creating a saner world. Instead, we will simply continue on as we have always done, desperately reacting to the ever-growing madness with ineffectual band-aid solutions. As an intelligent species, we can surely do better than this.

It is prevalent nowadays for people to believe that enlightenment is a non-rational experience which has little to do with the intellect. "Give up intellectualizing" is a common refrain in spiritual circles. But this is a very deluded view. For, in reality, enlightenment is both experiential and intellectual in nature. These two aspects always go together. It is impossible for anyone to experience the true nature of Reality without intellectually comprehending it, and equally, it is impossible to attain a perfect understanding without having tasted the wonders of direct experience. The two fuse together in the very same moment. It is only when the last remaining flaws in one s intellectual understanding have been eliminated that enlightenment arises. It is only then, in the very moment that the last fading delusion disappears, that Reality in all its glory is experienced and one is to finally free to skip and dance like a buddha. It cannot be experienced in any other way.

You may take it as an axiom, then, that if you are not currently enlightened and experiencing the nature of Reality directly and consciously, it is because of errors in your understanding.

For this reason, this book will focus almost exclusively on the intellectual side of things. I will take the reader through the various logical steps that are needed for the mind to become aware of the nature of Reality. We will begin with an examination of cause and effect, which is the universal principle of creation, and then proceed to delve deeper and deeper until we reach the ultimate foundation of Reality, which is emptiness.

It is important that the reader approach this material in the right frame of mind. The truths that I will be presenting in the following chapters should not be viewed as final resting places or fixed positions to grasp tightly with one s mind or ego. Think of them, rather, as stepping stones to even greater realizations. Although these truths are important to know in their own right, one should never lose sight of the main prize, which is the full and complete understanding of Ultimate Reality. Don't ever settle for meagre crumbs.

The best readers will be those who pore over the material slowly, taking care to absorb each step of the analysis before moving on. There are no shortcuts to enlightenment. It is a major process of growth and development, both intellectually and ethically. You cannot fake it. You cannot hope to fool Nature with some sort of trickery. Just as a tree has to go through various stages of growth before it can stand proudly above its surroundings in all its glory, so too the spiritual student needs to develop slowly and surely before he is ready for the highest wisdom.

The path to enlightenment is essentially one of freeing the mind from its entrenched deluded perspective and reorientating it so that it aligns itself with the nature of Reality, thus allowing it to slide effortlessly into enlightenment. The following chapters are designed to facilitate this reorientation process as much as possible. Each stage of the analysis is built upon the truths of the previous stage. Each stage is designed to create an altering of consciousness which then lays the platform for the next one. Thus, through incremental steps, the diligent reader will undergo a major revolution in his own mind. By the end of it, he will have abandoned everything that he has ever believed in and gained a perception of Reality which is fundamental, magnificent and beyond all doubt.

Naturally, a psychological transformation of this scale takes time, as well as a strong commitment from the reader. Those of you who only want to quickly skim through the material, or approach it as though it were just another academic thesis, or are simply looking for some amusement, will get little out of it. A person will never become enlightened if he confines his philosophizing to a small compartment in his mind and seals it off from the rest of his life. It is not like science or academia where you think a few lofty thoughts in your office or laboratory, and then go home to your wife and kids and revert to being an ordinary person again. The proper practice of philosophy is a full-time affair which affects every aspect of your existence. If you are not prepared to allow truth to change you, to alter your perspective, to affect your behaviour in the world, to challenge your relationships and worldly commitments, then your philosophizing will always remain ineffectual. Your vision will remain limited by the stagnant state of your ordinary mediocre consciousness, just as the vision of the ancient astronomers was limited by the lack of telescopes and Hubble spacecrafts.

This has always been the problem with the traditional Western approach to philosophy and why it has constantly produced so much garbage. It has always made the mistake of trying to grasp Ultimate Truth from the perspective of ordinary consciousness, which simply cannot be done. While you can certainly produce good science from the perspective of ordinary consciousness, you cannot produce good philosophy. So there are no two ways about it. The ultimate sacrifice is needed. Ordinary consciousness has to go. Nature demands the whole of your life before she is willing to reveal her innermost secrets.

Of course, this does not mean that the reader should approach this material in an unquestioning frame of mind. The last thing I want are uncritical readers who are just going to accept everything I write as gospel truth. That is certainly no good to me and it does not help your own cause either. It is important to challenge everything that you read and hear, whether it be from me or anyone else, with as much energy as you can muster. If something appears to be true, then challenge it even more! Your own reasoning should be the final judge in all matters. Only then can you be sure that you are following the right path.

The practice of philosophy is a very serious business. The very future of your soul is at stake! It would be foolish to fritter it away through the blind acceptance of another person s ideas. Life is too short to waste going down blind alleys. So keep your eyes wide open, your reason finely poised, your passion for truth alive, and your desire for perfection undimmed - and you won t go far wrong.