Is it possible to experience something mentally without first experiencing it physically?
I was reading this
http://druidjournal.net/2009/02/05/mapping-the-inner-landscape/
and really enjoying his descriptions of various places and beings. He speaks specifically of meeting the Horned God Cernunnos. It occurred to me: if the writer had never heard of Cernunnos, would the being he meets with still be Cernunnos?
If he is still Cernunnos, is this not proof of his existence?
Of course, there is no way to prove that the being that I might call, say, Fred, is actually the same being as the one the writer calls Cernunnos, so like Schroedinger’s cat this entity continues to exist (or not exist) in all his guises, proof be damned.
This is an affront to my scientific side, and is one of the reasons why I have never been successfully spiritual.
I feel like a dose of Buddhism is necessary to remove this need to rationalize and explain everything… but Buddhism would circumvent any access to these spiritual planes to which I desire access.
Yes, I noticed the word “desire” there too.
Is it wrong to want to travel these spiritual landscapes, exploring and discovering?
Well, to be brutally honest, I think these landscapes and beings are crutches, pale imitations of true spiritual concepts. They definitely have their uses, just as an actual crutch has a unique and wonderful purpose, but they are not destinations.
Knowing this, I guess my problem is that I don’t want to use the crutch to get where I need to be, but I don’t think I can get there without the crutch.
And I can’t find the damn crutch!
Perhaps, though, it’s my concept of the crutch that is really holding me back. What is a crutch anyway, but a tool to accomplish a task? In my mind, a crutch implies weakness, but that’s not really right. Or perhaps it is, but there’s nothing wrong with a little weakness now and then.
This is really where I am spiritually… I go around and around, looking in the shop window, trying to make sense of what’s in there, and the whole time trying to look like I’m really not interested.
Man oh man, how screwed up is that…
Gordo, I'm really glad you enjoyed my post! I was raised Zen Buddhist, so I actually am very familiar with the merry-go-round you're on. I recently had a conversation with my mother (who is also Zen) that you might find illuminating.
ReplyDeleteI had just finished describing part of my meditation experiences to her, complete with gods and spirits and everything, and she said to me, "How real do you think these spirits are?"
I said, "They're just as real as I am."
We both laughed, and she said, "You got it!"
In Buddhism, there is no true self. So if you really want to go whole-hog Buddhist without any crutches at all, you have to deny the true existence of yourself and everyone you know in the physical world, not to mention spirits and gods.
Personally I don't think of it as crutches; for me it's more a matter of the steepness of the path up the mountain. You can go off and do intense meditation and everything, and eschew all illusion, and get to the top of the mountain quickly; and that path is very steep. Or you can take a more leisurely route that switchbacks up the mountain, and has lots of nice views. Personally I am enjoying the journey.