It’s a strange feeling for the human being who has been trained otherwise by culture for 40+ years to find that life offers no answers. None. Zero. Zip. And yet, today, I find myself in this place, wondering “what now?” And also, “how did I get here?” No answers to be found to these questions, either.
We humans have become accustomed to having answers for everything. Turn on the television and what do you see? Answers. Madison Avenue has everything you need - and now the pills even come in different colors. I work with fellow scientists all day long, and they (we) are among the most extreme - essentially, professional answer-finders. But this pathological need for answers is by no means limited to advertising and science. Just listen to conversations in everyday life. If you really want to have some fun at this, go to a dinner party and begin to present “problems” that require “solutions” and watch the feeding frenzy begin. It’s especially intense when you share your own personal problems or questions. The desire to “help” and “solve” is one of our most basic cultural addictions.
Where does this desire/addiction come from? Sorry, I don’t have an answer for you. Are you disappointed? *Smile* Well, perhaps the question is more important.
If you are one of the fortunate, you may have begun to exhaust your desire for answers and started seeing the world through a different lens. And a funny thing happens when you accept the reality that life has no answers. The questions begin to take on a whole new character.
I’m not certain that I can demonstrate exactly what I mean by questions taking on a new character here, but as an example consider the question, “Who am I?” If you ask yourself this question, you may find that you immediately have an inexhaustible collection of answers, such as, “I am a medical school professor. I used to be a professional mathematician. I’m 44 years old, divorced, with no children. I like to eat strawberries. I meditate two hours each day.” But are any of these answers actually true?
Take another look. “Who am I … really?” Yes, there is a body, and the world of thinking agrees that we should call it “Mike”. But is that body actually separate from everything else? Is it even the same body from moment to moment? Well, according to the “answer” provided by the laws of chemistry and physics: No. But go beyond that. Can you even be certain of your perception? Or the conclusions you draw from that input? Does thinking have anything to do with reality? Even if I do acknowledge that there is a body, where is “Mike” located, in time and space? When we do have “answers”, where do they come from? And what does it mean for an answer to be “correct”? As you may have realized, the questions are as inexhaustible as the answers.
What is the value, then, of questions with no answers? Well, I don’t have an answer for that, either; however, there is something curious that happens to the questioner. A “disappearance” of sorts. Somewhat like the candle that has burned all its wax in an attempt to shed light, the questioner who holds a question long enough will burn away, and leave only consciousness in its wake to “become” the answer. This is a rare occurrence, because with our abundance of pre-packaged answers, we usually just move on before the questioner is exhausted. We are like candles with infinitely long wicks, always burning, together creating a blinding light. We are the architects of Maya.
Not so long ago I stopped reading spiritual books. Perhaps like you, I’ve seen, heard, and/or read all the answers one could imagine. If books weren’t enough, I could also look at a thousand blogs with wonderful answers for every situation in life. Many with great value, too. I loved and valued those spiritual books, as well. But at some point, that questioning candle begins to burn out. And what lies beyond in the darkness is far more wonderful to behold. A Mystery. Simplicity, so stark and empty one can hardly fathom.
The ultimate Truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. That is all that need be said.
Still, it is a wonder that to teach this simple Truth there should come into being so many religions, creeds, methods, and disputes among them and so on! Oh, the pity! Oh, the pity!
Because they want something elaborate and attractive and puzzling, so many religions have come into existence and each of them is so complex, and each creed in each religion has its own adherents and antagonists.
For example, an ordinary Christian will not be satisfied unless he is told that God is somewhere in the far-off Heavens not to be reached by us unaided. Christ alone knew Him and Christ alone can guide us. Therefore: Worship Christ and be saved. If told the simple truth - “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” - he is not satisfied and will read complex and far-fetched meanings into such statements. Mature minds alone can grasp the simple Truth in all its nakedness.
-Ramana Maharshi
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