Clarity and stillness

You know what I hate?

Wombats with handguns. They have this attitude and they like try to push you around and
stuff.
If you're going to hate something, hate something that's pretty rare. But that wasn't my point.
In fact it has nothing to do with my point at all, but there it is.
I was reading about enlightenment again the other day. I spend a lot of time thinking about it.
My basic premise is that there are an infinite number of ways to achieve enlightenment, and that
they are fun, and lead to Fun. My problem with what I was reading is that the author of this
book, which shall remain nameless, seems to be saying that there is only one form of
enlightenment, and only by following his recipe can it be achieved. He believes that if we stop
thinking and leave our minds behind, the state that results is enlightenment.
I hate that. OK, I don't, but it sounds intense when I say that. I find it silly, actually. The idea
that we achieve enlightenment by forgetting about our problems and the world's problems is
counter-productive and illogical. Problems are not solved by turning away from them, or
ignoring their existence. Disengagement from the world in favour of some mythical paradise is
not the answer, even if it's one that has been touted by many perfectly respectable philosophers
for millennia.
For me, enlightenment means engagement. It means understanding the needs of the world, not
just your own. Keeping enlightenment all to yourself seems to me to be a lower form of
enlightenment, more like masturbation than sex. I have nothing against masturbation, of course,
but it isn't multidimensional like sex is. The idea that everything in the world falls into place
naturally if you just turn off is ridiculous. The world needs you, and ignoring it in its moment of
peril is shallow.
A lot of what I've read speaks about attaining a place of clarity and stillness. I agree with that.
I do it as often as I can. I just do it creatively. Becoming deeply entwined with my work focuses
me and clarifies my thoughts. I achieve a plane of being when I'm working that for me is joyous
and elevated. I listen to music while I'm doing it - this fills the part of my mind that would
otherwise be listening to the stray thoughts that float through me. I achieve what many hours of
meditation would bring me, and I actually have something to show for it at the end. I have
created something new, adding value to the world. I have translated my clarity and stillness into
something that I hope will help bring clarity and stillness to others.
I recognize, however, that many people aren't artistically inclined. That doesn't matter. There
are many creative paths that lead to a clear union with the world in which we live. It should be
kept in mind, however, that clarity and stillness are not the same as enlightenment. To claim that
they are is the tool of the messianically deluded, or the con-artist.
A thousand years ago, transcendence was as good as it got. Leaving behind a benighted world
was probably a good idea. It isn't a good idea now. Sure, achieving a transcendent state is
enlightened, compared to lots of people. It just isn't a higher form of enlightenment. The spiritual
technology of enlightenment has come a long way since Lao Tzu and Siddhartha Gautama. The
great works of the past are good starting points, not ends in themselves.
The Tao Te Ching is my favourite book. I've never read it all the way through, though. I get
partway through it, and I already have so much to think about that I never finish it. One of the
essential messages is perhaps that to achieve transcendance, you cannot do so with the verbal
mind. The act of describing things and attempting to resolve contradictions in the world cannot
be used as a tool of enlightenment. Lao Tzu makes this point with so much more poetry and
subtlety than modern writers in the subject that reading his words, you get the feeling that he
really KNOWS something deep and special.
By the use of poetry, he teaches us with more than the immediate meaning of the words (I
don't read Chinese, so I'm forced to judge based on translations, and the poeticker they are the
better). He doesn't batter us about the head and shoulders with enlightenment, which is one of the
signs of enlightenment: the spiritual soft sell. All the great teachers use this methodology in
varying degrees and approaches. The spiritual hard sell is one of the signs of the false prophet.
Lao Tzu, however, was writing centuries ago. He is the great master of what he learned, and
he was the undisputed heavyweight champ of his form of enlightenment, but like everything else,
as history unfolds, things change and often improve. Science and art have advanced
immeasurably. Philosophers have had millions of hours of discussions. Democracy has taken
root. Equality of race, sex and religion has bloomed in it's slow way. West has met east, and
north has met south. Lao Tzu and the Buddha didn't have benefit of these things.
The need for transcendence is as alive today as it ever was. We still live in a world of
economic disparity, lust for power over others, fanatical religions and psychopathic violence.
Our world is undergoing an environmental disaster of proportions rivaling those of the nuclear
wars our world so narrowly avoided. The people who seem to run our world often seem
completely unenlightened, even though this is sometimes an illusion we cherish. In order not to
be completely overcome with the misery of the world, we need to rise above it. If everyone could
take a step back from the edge, take a deep breath and get calm, we'd be far more effective at
combating the world's ills.
So why am I arguing against that form of enlightenment? I have two main reasons: first, it
takes too long, and is far more often unsuccessful that successful. Second, the people who
advocate such a form of enlightenment rarely take it beyond that level. They don't tell you that
there are many levels of enlightenment. Clarity and stillness are a step up the ladder from
confusion and panic, but they are not the top rung. Contrary to public opinion, taking a single
step up the ladder doesn't solve the world's problems. There is no messianic age coming, no
magical transition. There is only hard work, with often minimal rewards.
Maybe I'm wrong, and a thousand more years from now there will be a new top rung on the
ladder of enlightenment. Maybe each generation adds to the ladder, and what seems exalted now
will seem pedestrian then. I certainly hope that this is the case.
For now, I suggest that we have a top rung. The top rung, the transcendence of transcendence,
is engagement: complete, unreserved, loving engagement. Fun is as much an intellectual process
as an emotional one. It is as much spiritual as mundane. Fun is the highest run on the ladder.
You don't need to turn off your mind to get there. You don't need do dwell outside it. There's
no such thing, anyway. You can never turn off your mind without being dead, and being dead
won't help you or anyone else. If you practice for the rest of your life, you just might achieve
perfect transcendence. More probably, you won't. On the other hand, you can learn to live
consciously and mindfully, to control your thought processes, and stay directed. It's not that hard.
Enlightenment is within your grasp. Anyone who tells you that turning off your mind is the only
route, or even the best one, is living in the past, or is simply selfish.
I suppose that means, sadly enough, that there are no mystical realms beyond the physical and
real. Our minds cannot dwell on other planes. Too bad. Get used to it. Our lives are here, our
jobs are here, our descendants are here. You are the confluence of your mind and your body, and
your mind is firmly rooted in your brain, which is part of your body. Your mind is the sum total
of the electro-chemical physicality of your grey matter.
 Does this leave no room for a soul? Of course it does. Your soul is the part of you that says, "I
am." Your soul is the part of you that directly engages with the world around you. It is the name
we give to the undefinable essence of consciousness. The fact that our minds are in our brains
has nothing to do with it; somehow we are greater than the sum of our parts. This is the greatest
poetic truth that there is, and it lies in an area that the literal truths of science and psychology
have yet to penetrate. There is still a mystery in your being. That mystery is part of you. Perhaps
eventually our children will live in a world in which the mystery of the soul has been solved, and
they will have to come to terms with this fact. I don't envy them - I like being a mystery to
myself. I just don't need to posit an impossibility to explain it. Mystery is good enough.
I dwell on earth, for heaven has no need of me. I don't do what I do for eventual reward. I do
it because I love the here and now, and I want the here and now to be better for the coming
generations than it is for us. "Living in the now" shouldn't mean ignoring the greater needs of our
planet and our species; your children inherit the world you make.
Philosophy, like all the other arts and sciences, is woven into the fabric of our lives. What the
great thinkers think trickles down through the decades to the people of the day-to-day world. A
thousand years ago, the idea that we are all created equal was spoken, but not believed. Now it is
believed, just not always acted upon. We have made progress; equality is part of who we are
now, even if it imperfectly applied.
Likewise for the aspects of enlightenment. We all know the basics: don't live for greed, show
other people the respect due your equals, don't judge people based on colour or origins, etc.,
safeguard the environment that supports us. A thousand years ago, these things were not
believed, let alone practiced. Power over others was seen as a god-given right. Survival of the
fittest (and most violent) was seen as only natural. Discrimination was seen as divinely
sanctioned. Subduing the earth meant taking whatever you wanted from it.
Enlightenment, therefore, does not consist of simply knowing these things, the way it did back
then. Enlightenment means practicing these things. Enlightenment means supporting the general
practice of these things. To do this, you must be conscious, meaning aware and mindful. You
must carry out all the actions of your life in the light.
You must speak in a language that others understand. You must assume that enlightenment is
within everyone's grasp; that's part of enlightenment. There will be no messianic age, but there
may come a time when the enlightened rule the world.
You must speak the language of Fun. You must communicate with every breath of life, with
every fibre of being, that Fun is fun.
Need to stop caring about everything all the time? Don't try to shut those things out - you can't
do it and still live in the world that needs you. Try instead to tell yourself that you don't care.
You will never eliminate your thoughts, but you can much more easily learn not to take them so
seriously.
You don't need magic to do it. You need to listen to yourself, to listen to the world, to care
about what matters and remind yourself not to care about what doesn't. Can't afford that car you
want? Listen to yourself: you will hear your inner voice telling you that status and luxury are not
necessities of life. Listen to the world: you will hear the world telling you that there are billions
who would envy you the cheaper car you'll settle for. Tell yourself that you do care about those
envious people. Tell yourself that you don't care for luxury or status unduly. If you tell yourself
this poetic truth often enough, it will become a literal truth.
Better yet, speak to yourself in poetry. Tell yourself that not only do you not care about new
cars, but that love, wisdom and beauty are the cornerstones of the lives of the truly fortunate, that
you are smiled upon by creation, and that the universe is a being whose essence is focused and
projected through the lens of your soul. Life is goodness, life is Fun. You cannot tell yourself
these poetic truths without them becoming literal ones.
Modern writers in the genre don't seem to do much poetry. Their words amount to an
instruction manual. I refuse to go down this path. I believe that enlightenment is fun, so I attempt
to make this book and the institution it supports fun. I believe that enlightenment is poetic,
engaged and intellectual, so my words (I hope) are poetic, engaged and intellectual. Fun is the
common denominator of the world. I simply wish to convince you to convince everyone else that
there is more fun to be had for the enlightened than for the benighted.
Clarity and stillness are not a method. They are not a reward. They are tools that should aid
you in doing the right thing. You cannot choose what is right without using your mind, your soul,
your being and your purpose. God gave you a brain. Use it fully, and don't hide from it. The
human mind is the pinnacle of creation, and blanking out is not half as fulfilling as using all your
capabilities.
The other guys want you to take it on faith that their methods, if followed, will lead to all
forms of goodness. Me too. Take it on faith that striving for excellence leads to excellence at
best, and improvement at worst. By all means, still the uselessly raging voices in your head.
Clarify your thoughts. Just do it so that you can hear your inner voice better, not stifle it. You
already know what to do. Now do it.