Half of the globe under stars

Real or Not?

We see and we believe, isn’t that right? Look, there’s a chair. No doubt about it. It’s solid, stable, and we can sit in it for hours, fully supported.

But is that enough to say that it’s real? What’s going on beneath the surface of what we see. How is it held together? Is there more to this than meets the eye?

Real or not, it would be extremely unwise to assume that chairs and other perceived objects are not as we perceive. Nothing may be as it seems, but particles appearing as particles need to be respected as such. An oncoming train will quickly dispatch both you and your quantum wave theory if you choose to stand in its way. Better to believe that a train is a real train.

But there is a greater reality than what our senses can experience, and failing to adhere to it causes problems too. Our limited senses behold but a fraction of the dimensions that surround and exist within us.

The material world cannot be denied. As we are to live on earth, the material world is where that living must be. But here’s the rub: To abide in material consciousness, as society has trained us to do, is to fear the end of it all, and end it will.

Moreover, this state of mind kindles material desires, which flare into attachments, which spur the creation of possessive habits, which encourage more of the same. Hence, the snare of suffering’s web that we stumble into. What a choice to make! But who of us, more or less, has not made it?

One of the lessons of the Bhagavad Gita is that none of us shrinks, but rather expands, in ousting these inclinations. Ingrained as they may seem to be in our egoic perceptions, they are merely expressions of energy which, when directed inward instead of outward, diminish our suffering and add to our joy. The self is not lost, it is lifted.

Likewise, it should motivate us that life on earth is but a series of lessons that lead us higher to the promise of infinitely more. We cannot die except to the millions of wishes that stand in our way. It is hardly sane to hold fast to their fleeting amusements, to endure with disappointment their limitations. And yet that is what we incline to do, ready to excuse with reason the reason why.

Wrestling with our restless thoughts goes on. But as every saint and avatar has assured us, a willingness to engage more deeply, to seek and follow the guidance of God’s inner call, guarantees a life of no regrets.

For each of us, regardless of where we are stuck, the direction is one, the destination is one. We are in this world, and we must navigate its sensory demands. Yet, true success in life comes of being in the world without being of it. Like the chair, we are more than we appear to be, more than our senses report. It is the immaterial world within us that ultimately matters, that opens to clarity and wisdom beyond the restraints of outward manifestation.

Even as we seek to make our way through the needs of daily life, let us go forward with a faithful foot in the wilds of the soul’s domain. Turning our inner awareness to our divine purpose will increasingly grace us with its blessings, leading us every more swiftly from deserts of delusion to the one reality above all else, to our true home in God.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *