You shall always find the layer of self-deception
Upon which any one of your convictions ultimately rests.
One’s reality sprouts from the first layer of self-deception
That escapes one’s field of critical awareness.
The deeper this field, the more subtle the self-deception.
Those with little critical awareness thus live more colorful lives:
Their fiction is fancier.
The honest search for truth annihilates its own subject
Slowly, recursively, from within.
Having peeled away every layer of self-deception within me,
I have found myself to be like an onion:
Nothing is left.
Only nothing is true.
No external references exist, no outside arbiters.
We are self-created fictions and so is the cosmos.
Truth-seeking is the path to self-annihilation
And thus to liberation.
Rejoice, for your pains, fears, frustrations and regrets
Are all untrue.
There is nothing to fear, nothing to strive for, nothing to regret.
You have no soul; that’s just self-deception.
And you won’t die; that’s just self-deception.
But beware!
As a dream symbolically portrays the inner state of the dreamer,
As a novel insinuates the inner life of the writer,
As a lie betrays the insecurities of the liar,
So the fiction you call reality reveals something about truth.
Thus pay attention to life,
For truth expresses itself only through its own fictions.
To discern truth in fiction: here is the cosmic conundrum!
To engage wholeheartedly without being taken in: here is the ultimate challenge!
To find meaning in nothingness: here is the epic demand of nature!
Partake in reality as an actor in a theatrical play:
With attention, dedication and an open heart.
But never believe yourself to be your character
For characters spend their lives chasing their own shadows,
Whereas actors embody the meaning of existence.
May my legacy serve you as a warning, but also encouragement.
The prize at the end of the path is handsome:
The freedom to make the deliberate, guiltless choice
Of which untruth to live.
Exercising this choice wisely is the art of life.
Notes
1 Notice that by ‘image’ I mean an object of perception in any sensory modality, not only visual. In this broader sense, the sound of a bird’s chirping is also an image, as is the felt texture of sand running through your fingers. I acknowledge that the demarcation of individual images is somewhat arbitrary and culture-bound, since nature is one interconnected whole. For instance, where does the river end and the ocean begin? Nonetheless, wherever one chooses to place the boundary lines, it is still valid to talk of images and their interactions.
2 Didion (1990), p. 11.
3 A modern and surprisingly coherent reformulation of this ancient myth has been laid out by Richard Tarnas (Tarnas 2007).
4 Hollis (1993).
5 See: Hillman (1996). Significantly, even proponents of traditions that deny the need to achieve anything in life, like nondual philosophies, seem to acknowledge that there is indeed a deeper purpose to existence in human form. Adyashanti, for instance, says that ‘the ultimate destination of this person born in time and space is not simply to realize [oneness], but it is for the purpose of something quite different’ (Adyashanti 2011, p. 179. The italics are mine.). He calls this deeper purpose one’s ‘true autonomy,’ describing it as ‘a flowering of existence in a very creative and new way … a unique expression of oneness’ in the form of an individual life (Ibid., p. 180). Indeed, he goes as far as acknowledging that this ‘true autonomy’ can be described as one’s ‘mission in life’ (Ibid.), although he is careful to emphasize that such a ‘mission’ is not something that one’s ego must accomplish, but a spontaneous unfolding instead. In other words, our true ‘mission in life’ is not a product of deliberate egoic volition, by the expression of a broader, impersonal will that Adyashanti refers to as ‘the heart’s will’ (Adyashanti 2006b). This way, the unique and spontaneous ‘flowering of existence’ he talks about is, I believe, precisely what Hillman described as ‘the growth of the acorn into the oak.’ The fact that both men chose to use organic development metaphors isn’t accidental, in my view.
6 Hillman (1996), p. 235. The italics are Hillman’s.
7 Sacks (2012).
8 This is an allusion to Joseph Campbell’s famous exhortation ‘Follow your bliss!’ which he elaborated upon as follows: ‘If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living’ (Campbell 1991, p. 113. The italics are mine.).
9 Adyashanti (2011), p. 180.
10 Plato, in his Cratylus (paragraph 402a), attributed these words to Heraclitus.
11 Kierkegaard (1983), p. 28.
12 Kastrup (2014) and Kastrup (2015), Chapter 2.
13 See, for instance: Huxley (2009).
14 For a discussion about how this happens, see chapters 3 and 4 of my earlier book Dreamed up Reality (Kastrup 2011).
15 As quoted in Cheetham (2012), p. 226.
16 Margaret Wertheim wrote: ‘On the one hand, then, physics is taken to be a march toward an ultimate understanding of reality; on the other, it is seen as no different in status to the understandings handed down to us by myth, religion and, no less, literary studies’ (Wertheim 2013).
17 Hillman (1996), p. 47.
18 Kastrup (2015), Essay 4.5.
19 Watts (1989), p. 65.
20 Kastrup (2012).
21 Leeming (2010), pp. 46-48.
22 Mircea Eliade, for instance, speaks of ‘the mysterious connection between [the Australian aboriginal’s] land … the mythical history of that land … and man’s responsibility for keeping the land “living” and fertile.’ (Eliade 1973, p. 50.)
23 Leeming (2010), p. 268.
24 See, for instance: Ronnberg and Martin (2010), pp. 14-15.
25 Leeming (2010), p. 146.
26 Ibid., p. 144.
27 Mead (2010), pp. 3 and 23. The italics are mine.
28 Campbell (2008), p. 228. The italics are mine.
29 Ibid., p. 227.
30 As mentioned in Kripal (2014), p. 79.
31 See related discussion in Kripal (2014), pp. 121-122.
32 Kripal (2014), pp. 80-81.
33 Corbin (2014), pp. 12-13. The italics are mine. Throughout this book, I consistently use the term ‘allegory’ along the lines described by Corbin here.
34 Kripal (2014), p. 114.
35 See, for instance: Harpur (1994), Harpur (2009) and Harpur (2010).
36 Leeming (2010), pp. xvii-xviii.
37 Notice that, throughout this book, I distinguish ‘signs’ from ‘symbols’ along Carl Jung’s definitions (Jung et al. 1969, p. 20). A sign denotes something known, while a symbol connotes a deeper, subtler idea or intuition that cannot be described or specified literally. As such, language uses signs, while religious myths use symbols.
38 Naturally, language can also be used to create mental inner worlds that have no intentional correspondence to consensus reality. This is where the imagination comes in.
39 Chomsky (2006).
40 Tattersall (2012), p. 214.
41 Ibid., pp. 210-216.
42 As quoted in Moncalm (1905), p. 134.
43 Watts (1999), p. 34. The italics are mine.
44 Chomsky (2006), p. 24.
45 Rilke (2013), p. 7.
46 Campbell (2008), p. 25. The italics are mine.
47 Ibid., p. 221.
48 Kastrup (2014), pp. 104-110.
49 See, for instance: Augusto (2010).
51 Corbin (1995), p. 18.
52 See, for instance: Franz and Boa (1994), Fonagy et al. (2012), as well as Jung (2002). Even modern cognitive therapy, which has traditionally ignored the role of the ‘unconscious,’ has found dreams to be highly valuable (Rosner, Lyddon and Freeman 2004).
53 Kastrup (2012), Chapter 4.
54 Jung (2002), pp. 35-36.
55 A note of caution is required here: my argument is that the deeper, transcendent truths of nature can only be cognized by the obfuscated mind. But this does not imply that the more superficial, face-value interpretations of every symbol emerging from the obfuscated mind are true. In fact, its symbols tend to be paradoxical, roundabout and tricky. They are often at the root of many delusions and psychoses, for they are prone to misinterpretation by the intellect. Therefore, delicate discernment is needed when tapping into the obfuscated mind.
56 See, for instance: Huxley (2009).
57 See, for instance: Jung (1979).
58 See Segal’s introduction to Jung and Segal (1998) for a summary and comparative analysis of Jung’s views.
59 Watts (1999), p. 34.
60 Long (1963), pp. 11.
61 See, for instance: Jung and Segal (1998), pp. 21-23.
62 Grossinger (2012), p. 4.
63 See, for instance: McGilchrist (2009).
64 Nietzsche (2009).
65 Eric von der Luft characterized Nietzsche’s position as follows: ‘The denial of anything in any way transcendent is absolutely necessary for Nietzsche’s idea of the unfolding and development of human potential.’ (Luft 1984, p. 270).
66 Jung (1995), p. 281.
67 Ronnberg and Martin (2010), p. 22.
68 Ackroyd (1993), p. 281.
69 Personal communication with Jeffrey Kripal, 26 June 2015.
70 The Latin prefix quasi means ‘seeming’ or ‘apparent.’
71 See, for instance: Ronnberg and Martin (2010), as well as Ackroyd (1993).
72 See, for instance: Franz and Boa (1994), Fonagy et al. (2012), Jung (2002), as well as Rosner, Lyddon and Freeman (2004).
73 Mead (2010), p. 11. The italics are mine.
74 Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973), p. 58.
75 Kripal (2014), pp. 33-34.
76 Mead (2010), p. 19. The italics are mine.
77 See, for instance: Versluis (2007), pp. 38-42.
78 Adyashanti (2013), p. 29. The italics are mine.
79 Versluis (2007), p. 52.
80 Kastrup (2011), p. 11.
81 For a discussion on the psychology of the Christ figure and related topics, see: Jung (1979).
82 Watts (2011), p. 19.
83 Obviously, these very thoughts are themselves the beginnings of a myth. But bear with me, in the spirit of inquiry.
84 Watts (2011), p. 114.
85 I even made this point myself, in an earlier book (Kastrup 2012).
86 I elaborated extensively on this in Chapter 5 of a previous work (Kastrup 2014).
87 Maharshi (2006), p. 169. The italics are mine.
88 Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973), p. 58.
89 As quoted in Adyashanti (2006a), p. 97. The italics are mine.
90 Franz and Boa (1994), Jung (2002).
91 Estés (1996), p. 48.
92 I am alluding to Henry Corbin’s understanding of what happens when one groks a transcendent symbol (Cheetham 2012, p. 77).
93 Cheetham (2012), p. 101.
94 Jung (1977).
95 Bortolotti and Cox (2009), p. 964. Of particular relevance in this paper are sections 4.1 and 6.
96 Didion (1990), p. 11.
97 I am borrowing this lovely analogy from philosopher David Albert.
98 Pine (2004), p. 3.
99 See, for instance: Ronnberg and Martin (2010), pp. 14-15.
100 Wittgenstein (1984), p. 28e.
101 Jones (2013).
102 In philosophy and logic, this is called the ‘correspondence theory of truth.’
103 See Kastrup (2014) and Kastrup (2015), Chapter 2.
104 Kant (2007).
105 Schaff et al. (1885), Vol. 1, Book XI, Chapter 14.
106 Barbour (1999).
107 Kim et al. (2000).
108 Gröblacher et al. (2007).
109 Lapkiewicz et al. (2011).
110 Ma et al. (2013).
111 Manning et al. (2015).
112 Merali (2015).
113 Hensen et al. (2015).
114 Conn Henry (2005).
115 Kastrup (2014) and Kastrup (2015), Chapter 2.
116 See, for instance: Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973).
117 See, for instance: Kalupahana (1992).
118 John 1:1-3, New International Version.
119 Kripal (2014), p. 114. The italics are Kripal’s.
120 John 1:14.
121 Campbell (2008), p. 228.
122 See, for instance: Franz and Boa (1994), Fonagy et al. (2012), Jung (2002), as well as Rosner, Lyddon and Freeman (2004).
123 Swedenborg (2007), p. 63.
124 Relativism is the notion that reality is whatever each person believes it to be, that everybody is equally right or equally wrong about what is going on, and that there are no criteria for differentiating reality from fantasy.
125 Campbell (2003), p. 52.
126 Franz (1972), p. 8.
127 Episode 10, The Edge of Forever.
128 Fuller (1994), p. 192.
129 Kripal (2014), p. 34.
130 Swedenborg (2006), p. 14. The italics are mine.
131 Neo-atheism is much more a movement against religion than a mere denial of God.
132 Campbell (2008), p. 25.
133 Frank Sewall wrote that ‘the presence of the ideal in the material world, as its causative and formative force, is the principle … whose crowning vindication, we believe, will be found in both the philosophical and theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.’ (Sewall 1902, pp. 9-10).
134 As quoted in Bouveresse (1996), p. 14.
135 Again Swedenborg seems to describe best how confession, in its most genuine form, is essentially self-inquiry: ‘To confess sins is to know evils, to see them in oneself, to acknowledge them … He who merely acknowledges generally that he is a sinner … without examining himself – that is, without seeing his sins – makes a confession but not the confession of repentance. Inasmuch as he does not know his evils, he lives as before.’ (Swedenborg 2006, p. 11. The italics are his.)
136 Steiner (1994), p. 96.
137 As quoted in Barnard (1997), p. 14.
138 McGilchrist (2009).
139 Hollenback (1996), p. 280.
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