abilities (have “knowledge” but no power)? How might I move beyond the sham of empty
knowledge and take the next step in my spiritual unfolding? Testing for knowledge rejects the
“anything goes” approach to spirituality that is prevalent in today’s world, undercutting the
tendency toward pride and self-deception, especially in spheres that purport to increase our
knowledge of God, such as organized religion, traditional mysticism, and pranayama, the theory
of self’s chosen technique.
At the core of organized religion is each faith’s particular idea of God as a being approachable
through rituals prescribed by religious authorities. Such rituals might include praying, wearing
phylacteries, chanting, listening to sermons, donating money, confessing, receiving the
Eucharist, kissing the Bible, attending healing ceremonies, dancing, or marking passage from
one station in life to another. Though participants in these activities often build social bonds and
a more clearly defined sense of self, their awareness remains chained to the sensory world,
where indoctrination into the corresponding belief system supersedes the acquisition of any
form of knowledge. Most would therefore fail the test for possessing not only infinite knowledge
but also finite knowledge of the expansive self.
Religious authorities also advise congregants seeking knowledge of God to faithfully attend
worship services. In these settings, their awareness is drawn outward toward the congregation,
ceremonial events, and the art and architecture of the house of worship. But when the self’s
single avenue to intuitive self-knowledge is directed outward, dividing into currents that feed the
five senses, the individual ends up worshipping the narrow, individuated self as defined by
sensory information. By contrast, when the avenue to knowledge is directed inward the person
is able to worship indivisible being. The first instance leads to all manner of idolatry, or worship
of atom-based realities circumscribed by space and time, while the second leads to what the
ancients called isolation, union with the infinite substance of self as one’s own self beyond all
causal ideas of division. Worship services, by virtue of their emphasis on cognitive faculties, fall
short of expectations because in directing attention to finite sensory objects one cannot acquire
knowledge of an infinite God as one’s self.
The most a person can do during “outer worship” is engage in a disguised form of self-worship.
People often worship themselves, meaning their narrow selves, by worshipping individuals with
whom they identify. Revering Muhammad, for example, amounts to revering oneself identified
with a Muhammad that reflects the narrow self’s parameters. Identifying with a book and calling
it holy is another means of canonizing oneself and one’s opinions.
To move beyond worship of the narrow self, it is important to realize that human awareness is
constantly being divided and scattered by the sensory apparatus. Maya, the Sanskrit word the
ancients used to describe the illusion of the world, or ignorance of the infinite self, literally
means “divider.” It is through “inner worship” that we overcome this state, uniting the streams of
our fragmented awareness and directing them within to the eternal ocean of substance, where
the individuated self flows back into the infinite self. Stated differently, just as our two eyes
register duality, the “single eye” of intuition variously referred to by mystics knows the
indivisibility of God. The implication is that through intuition we progress from worship of the
narrow self to identification with the infinite self, which alone can know and worship itself as
God.
It is no wonder that in the realm of testable knowledge, outer worship remains unsubstantiated
as a means for accruing knowledge of God, and the same can be said of faith. Confidence in
religious messengers, for instance, cannot deliver knowledge of infinite substance because
such knowledge comes not through others but through the only self one can know, which is
one’s own. The faith a worshipper claims to have in Abraham, Jesus, or Muhammad is actually
blind faith, or wishful thinking, or at best, a form of positive affirmation. Intuition, on the other
hand, is an avenue to direct self-knowledge that bypasses conditioning protecting the narrow
self from expansion via the roadblocks of faith and belief. From the perspective that intuition is
our only avenue to self-knowledge, knowing God is entirely up to each individual, and everyone
and everything in the sensory world either inspires that inward investigation by offering support
or, like religion, discourages it by further dividing human awareness.
Compared with organized religion, traditional mysticism promises a more intimate knowledge of
God. Most modern-day mystical movements in the West, while in the spirit of monotheism still
describe God as a separate being, advocate worshipping God in “God’s presence” rather than
in a house of worship where a go-between such as a cleric conducts services. To facilitate this
more direct experience of God, neophytes enrolled in mystical movements are presented with
supposedly secret, powerful, and even deadly texts. In addition to studying their contents, the
students are expected to participate in ascetic programs and in occult rituals ranging from
chanting, dancing, and specified sexual regulations to herb or alcohol intake, incantations, acts
symbolic of self-sacrifice, prayer, and meditation.
Traditional mysticism, like other mystical movements throughout history, derives from scientific
practices of the ancients that in numerous instances degenerated during the Dark Ages.
Originally mysticism, which spawned the theory of self, revolved around sense introversion and
ascetic practices intended to free energy for intuitive purposes. In its corrupted version,
mysticism became more extroverted, ecstatic, and often revelatory, unleashing catharses and
psychotic episodes. Instead of limiting its scope to self-knowledge, Dark Age mysticism
presumed to supply the initiated with material knowledge as well. Today’s pseudomystical
approach to God glorifies a divine mystery that some religious scholars, such as
twentieth-century German theologian Rudolph Otto, claim is infused with numinous knowledge.
Traditional mystical literature guides students along an inner journey to the divine presence,
often complete with way stations and signposts to help mark their progress. In some instances
the mystic sees God sitting on an inner throne, exuding unfathomable power, while in others the
spirit of God visits and imparts a sense of awe or terror. Signs of “contact” with God range from
crying and laughing to trembling, visions of one’s deity, moaning and other vocalizations, and
comatose states.
Traditional mysticism’s penchant for reveling in these practices gives the impression not of
helping to realize nonfinite knowledge but almost the opposite—of obscuring it. Objective
experiences that provoke awe or terror do not invite identification with the infinite self, the
conduit for intuitive awareness. Nor do experiences of ecstatic catharsis on their own impart any
control or power, let alone infinite power.
As for the numinous knowledge that Otto and other academics claim is revealed to the mystic, it
appears to be “empty knowledge.” Modern spiritual writers and transpersonal psychologists,
referencing yoga and other Eastern philosophies, attempt to validate Otto’s views by arguing
that the euphoria constitutes a genuine avenue to knowledge;25 but ancient yogis, like Francis
Bacon, Bertrand Russell, and other Western philosophers who criticized claims to knowledge
devoid of power, denounced these experiences for their incapacity to transmit testable
knowledge. While the ecstatic experience of unity with the universe is considered intuitive,
during these episodes the senses are still limiting the awareness, contributing to a feeling of
unity but not unity itself. This feeling can be more easily explained by studies of the brain, not
the science of intuition. It therefore appears that the cosmic unity of ecstatic mysticism is
figurative; the idea of an expansive self is transient and shaped by historical conditioning; and
the manifestations of nonfinite power adulterated by sensory activity are limited to apparent
episodes of clairvoyance, precognition, out-of-body perceptions, and other commonplace
abilities that arise when awareness is externalized from the physical body. Otto and other
scholars, in representing numinous knowledge as a mysterious experience inundated with
examples of contact with God,26 fail to distinguish between mysticism and mystification
reflecting cultural conditioning, religious expectation, and uncritical tests for knowledge.
Ecstatic catharsis often has potent physical and psychological healing attributes yet does not
fulfill the requirements of an avenue to infinite self-knowledge, or knowledge of God. Many Dark
Age mystics, such as Omar Khayyám, Adi Sankara, Milarepa, and Saint Francis, are said to
have practiced sense-introverting and ascetic techniques with both cathartic and
knowledge-based outcomes. More contemporary variations on these techniques, however, bear
little physiological resemblance to the process of retiring sensory nervous energy inward.
Throughout the world, dancing and singing, which naturally induce cathartic states, promote
physical and psychological healing by disrupting the habitual physiological patterns established
by social conventions. Chanting also has been found to have great therapeutic value. But the
chanting, dancing, and singing of contemporary mystics do not activate superconscious intuition
for they fail to withdraw sensory nervous energy into the spine. And the Sufi’s whirling dance is
no more an intuitive practice than the ecstatic motions common to rave parties.
In addition to mistaking ecstatic catharsis for infinite self-knowledge, pseudomystical traditions
confuse esoterica with nonfinite knowledge. Information derived from glorified occult texts
detailing theological systems merely imitates nonfinite knowledge. Traditions like Qabalah, for
example, are cloaked in mystery, yet very little of Qabalah practice involves the control of
sensory nervous energy. Its focal points—devising cosmological models for existence, defining
keys to life, retelling rabbinical anecdotes, and crafting unconventional interpretations of the
Hebrew Bible—appear unrelated to intuition and are more reminiscent of fringe theological and
hagiographic activities. Information transmitted in a coded or otherwise secretive language is
often mistaken for mystical knowledge because it is not immediately accessible to the intellect.
But this is also true of foreign languages.
If the only infinite knowledge that traditional mysticism conveys is of an ineffable God ideal
devoid of any commensurate power, then this pathway to God fails the test for self-knowledge
established by the theory of self. In fact, unless it is approached for its healing properties,
traditional mysticism can degenerate into escapism, and its knowledge into a patent euphoria
attainable through a host of psychophysical and psychotropic methods.
Unlike mystical and religious traditions, pranayama—also known as energy liberation in the
service of introverting and freeing our nervous energy from the sense, or the science of
intuition—substitutes theories for beliefs. In doing so, it rechannels the complacent surety forged
by beliefs into an active urge toward discipline and effort. Similarly, pranayama rejects methods
that tangentially direct human awareness and nervous energy inward, devoting itself solely to
techniques that accomplish this task to the exclusion of all others.
Because of pranayama’s dedication to scientific rigor, the theory of self calls it the sine qua non
for knowing God as an infinite self. Like any science, which first determines its unit of
investigation, pranayama, in lieu of venturing into the world of causal ideas, reduces everything
in the cosmos to the subatomic, intelligently guided energy called prana. Defined as a product of
the causal idea of division, prana is responsible for all manifestations of nature and the
mathematically precise laws governing them, including everything that bears witness to what
Einstein called “the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence.”27 Able to transmit awareness, it
worlds finer than the atom. In the body, superfine prana grossly manifests as nervous energy,
breath, mind, and sensory awareness. And it is through mastering the bodily fluctuations of
prana, by directing its various currents to the brain, that intuitive scientists realize knowledge of
God.
For optimal effectiveness, advanced techniques of pranayama call for an ascetic lifestyle, as
well as several hours a day of concentrated practice. Since they are energetically demanding,
maintaining vibrant physical, mental, and emotional health through ecstatic catharsis and
balanced living is of great benefit. And since injury is possible, along with glorification of the
narrow sense of self, personal guidance is indispensable. Because of these requisites, sincere
instructors do not teach advanced techniques publicly.
But perhaps pranayama’s greatest shortcoming is this: where God is defined as the infinite self,
as in the theory of self, intuition is advanced as the only avenue to knowledge of God, causing
pranayama as a universal technique for knowing God to sound extremely fundamentalist. This
perception is largely dependent on use of the word God. If the word God is eliminated from the
description and pranayama is instead plainly defined as a universal procedure for consciously
retiring sensory nervous energy to the brain and thereby expanding one’s identity beyond the
confines of sensory impressions, all traces of fundamentalism vanish. In fact, one could
legitimately argue that pranayama has nothing to do with God, provided that God is defined as
something other than the infinite substance of self. Certainly, pranayama stakes no claim to
being a way to know God Jehovah or God Allah or God personified as any other being, but only
God as infinite awareness, for which one goes within to intuit the expanding sense of self.
Defining God as a potentially knowable infinite self, however, challenges the intellect, for it
seems unlikely that human beings can access such self-knowledge. Even the theory of self
asserts that the finite cannot know the infinite any more than a spaceship can reach the speed
of light. Acquiring infinite self-knowledge must therefore remain speculative, a theory proposed
most likely to free human beings from delusions of grandeur or an easy knowledge of infinitude.
Always, the quest for knowledge of the infinite self is a matter left to individuals and their desire
for spiritual adventure. Those prepared to step forth will find pranayama capable of bringing
about results because it operates on the premise that the narrow self is already of the infinite
self and that removing constrictions on self-awareness leads to knowledge of its inherent
nature. To satisfy the intellect, then, trapped as it is within testable limits of the theory of self,
pranayama might be considered a finite method utilizing electromagnetic principles to lift finite
constrictions so that the self can intuit itself as infinite and thus acquire knowledge of God.
Another shortcoming of pranayama is the manner in which a sense of self is generated in the
body. During practice, measurable changes take place in the body, such as increased alpha
brain-wave patterns signifying withdrawal of the sensory nerve currents and slowing of the
breath and heart, which raises the possibility that the experience of self-expansion is merely the
effect of biochemical and neurological alterations. Though medical instruments record data
about states into which a practitioner enters, the information fails to elicit an understanding of
these states. Still, based on findings that do exist the possibility remains that the expansive self
is physiologically grounded.
In answer to the question “Can we know God?” material science and the theory of self alike are
at a stalemate, and for good reason. The ancient Upanisadic dictum “Isvara asiddhe” asserts
that God can never be proven. Isvara, God as ruler of the cosmos, refers to the infinite self,
implying the self (God) can never be proven, nor can knowledge of the self (God). A better
question might therefore be “What is the difference between biochemical and neurological
reactions registered in the body and an intuitive awareness of God realized through the body?”
In response, some people might conclude that there is no difference and therefore they have no
need for a knowledge of God that is physiologically induced; however, they would also have to
admit that knowledge of the sense-bound self too is physiologically induced, implying their
conclusion may be an incongruous excuse for sensory overwhelm. Others, more receptive to a
sense of self dependent on patterns of energy in the body, may determine that these patterns
assist them, but only to a degree, in striving to know a God defined as something other than the
awareness behind human self-awareness. Spiritual adventurers seeking to know God as the
expansive self beyond sensory perceptions would acknowledge the importance of a
switched-on intuitive faculty, an outgrowth of working with Technique 14.
TECHNIQUE 14
The Single Eye of Intuition
The intuitive eye is an organ not of sight but of self-knowledge surpassing anything furnished by
the two sensory eyes—a knowledge that intuitive scientists rely on to realize an expansive
existence. If a man were to suffer amnesia and forget his name, family and friends, and
personal history, he would still have intuitive capacities and thus know a sense of being. The
seat of intuition in the human body is the spine and brain, in particular the cerebrum and the
medulla oblongata. It is in these crowning portions of the cerebrospinal axis that the “I am” of an
individuated sense of self converts into the “I Am” of the indivisible self of God. Once you know
you are infinite, you will know the “isolation” of God, a self that knows nothing apart from itself.
This technique assists the practitioner in “opening” the single eye of intuition, an activity that
automatically shuts down the sensory apparatus by retiring nervous energy from it. In switching
off the senses and switching on intuition, it relies on pranayama’s emblematic slow and even
breathing, which the ancients called the breathing ritual of the gods. While days went by for the
gods, they observed, entire ages went by for human beings. Indeed, through slow and even
breathing yogis were said to approach godly time frames, eventually stopping the breath, stilling
the heart, and halting time. And it is with the collapse of narrow time-frames that the sense of
self expands— in much the same way that time, the heartbeat, and breathing gradually stop as
one travels at a speed approaching the velocity of light.
To begin opening the single eye of intuition and thereby awakening your full intuitive capacity,
sit in an armless chair with your eyes and mouth closed, spine straight, chin parallel to the floor,
and hands resting on thighs. Lifting your gaze behind your closed eyelids, concentrate on the
point between your eyebrows. Place the tip of your tongue on your palate and, keeping your
mouth closed, press upward toward the point between your eyebrows.
Next, perform 3 sequences of multiple exhalations, then slowly inhale through your nostrils for
approximately 12 seconds. Hold your breath for about 6 seconds while continuing to maintain
your focal point and press upward with your tongue. Exhale through your nostrils for about 12
seconds. Repeat the inhalation, retention, and exhalation 11 more times in immediate
succession.
Now, inhale again through your nostrils, with the tip of your tongue pressed against your palate.
While retaining your breath, knit your brow and tighten your eyelids, still pressing upward with
the tip of your tongue—forming a localized tension the ancients called Seal of Light. Practice the
entire routine of 12 rounds of breathing and 1 Seal of Light 3 times at night before retiring. As
prana, in the form of optical nervous energy, is being “squeezed” out of your eyes with each
seal, you may see light behind your closed eyelids. This light can illuminate your intuitive eye,
an orifice shaped like a five-pointed star in the medulla oblongata through which prana is
pouring into your body.
In gaining a vision of the single medullar eye, you have an opportunity to reverse your flow of
awareness from the dualistic temporal world viewed frontally through two eyes to the gate of the
medulla oblongata, the single eye of intuition at the top of the spinal column, essentially making
your eye “single” to know the body is “full of light.” While exiting this gate by projecting your
awareness through it, you open your intuitive eye and unite your awareness with the light of the
cosmos, much as seawater in a bottle floating on the ocean mixes with the ocean water when
the cork is removed. You will then know you are of an existence apart from your senses, body,
name, personal biography, race, religion, nationality, and ethnicity, and that you extend all the
way to the cosmic self of God.
As God, you will know that the individuated sense of self is but a shadow play choreographed
within the contours of the finite idea of division. And you will realize that frontal eyes are called
windows to the soul because the prana of the infinite self that enters the medulla oblongata
splits into the currents directly feeding the eyes. When looking into someone’s eyes, you
glimpse the light of the infinite self, albeit divided and diffused by intervening patterns of energy
and awareness. Interpreting these patterns, we instinctually “read” individuals in terms of their
current capacity to intuit the substance of the infinite self.
Dostları ilə paylaş: |