RELIGION VERSUS SPIRITUAL INSIGHT

Aphorism #1: Every spiritual seeker must seemingly climb three progressive steps on the spiritual ladder:

1. The path of Religion.

2. The path of Yoga.

3. The path of Pure Wisdom.

Commentary: The first step consists of moral and ethical training motivated by feelings of reverence and devotion towards a personal and loving God. On step one of the ladder feeling provides the means while cultivation of the will is the objective or end result. A stronger will is then brought to the second step of the spiritual ladder to engage in concentration of the mind (meditation) in order to cultivate the further refinement of feeling, the purification of negative emotions and the enhancement of positive ones. On step two of the ladder, the force of will is the means while refinement of feelings is the goal. These refined feelings then allow for more objectivity, dispassion and discernment fulfilling the prerequisites for ascending to the third step of the spiritual ladder, the path of Pure Wisdom. On this step a higher form of thinking is the primary means and the goal is to transcend the dualities inherent within the concepts of thinking, feeling and willing. At this stage one Apperceives or has Insight as to the fact that there is no separate thinker, feeler or doer. There are now no paths or steps on the ladder and such concepts are now just a "seeming." There is now knowledge by Identity, the Self is self evident.

Aphorism #2: The three steps on the spiritual ladder can be mastered in one lifetime or progressively in many lifetimes.

Commentary: If it appears that a person has gone through all three steps in one lifetime, we can still safely assume that the person has engaged in the earlier steps during prior lifetimes. We come to understand that this incarnation was just the culmination of the whole process and a repetition of the prior steps in abbreviated form.

Other more advanced souls begin at step three of the ladder in their present incarnation and slowly or quickly move onto to one of the higher stages of enlightenment.

Aphorism #3: Religious ideas and doctrines are distinct from mystical experience, also called Metaphysics, in that they are only analogies of mystical experience in rational or symbolic form.

Commentary: Religious ideas and doctrines are part of conventional knowledge. Metaphysics is the Ultimate knowledge dependent for its Realization on a higher human faculty than ordinary reason. Some call this higher faculty Insight, others call it Identity.

Aphorism #4: Metaphysics should not be confused with speculative or abstract thinking devoid of Insight. I am using the term metaphysics in its original meaning of that which lies beyond the natural, finite, temporal order.

Commentary: The Universal must be distinguished from the Individual. Then again, the Individual has two divisions: 1)the General and 2)the Particular. When modern philosophers fault metaphysics for being speculative, they are failing to properly distinguish the Universal from the General. The Individual, in both its forms, is part of conventional knowledge while the Universal is not.

Aphorism #5: Religious symbolism emphasizes positive attributes and qualities of the Divine. Metaphysical doctrine expresses the truth of Ultimate Existence in essentially negative terms, and finally, it even negates all negations, recognizing that the Ultimate is beyond all description.

Aphorism #6: Religious terminology exists totally within a spatial, temporal and causal order. It is, thus, part of conventional knowledge. God is seen as creating, maintaining and then destroying the universe and all those in it.

Aphorism #7: Even the Vedic terms for the Absolute, namely, Sat (Existence), Chit (Consciousness) and Ananda (Bliss) relate to the basic human capacities of thinking, willing and feeling and are part of conventional knowledge.

Aphorism #8: The sphere of religion is within the realm of thinking, feeling and willing (sensing). It deals with objective knowledge in the broadest sense of the term, whereas Metaphysical knowledge deals with the Subjective knowledge beyond any objective knower, known or process of knowing.

Aphorism #9: The theological debate over the degree of separation that remains between God and the one who finds God is merely a debate within the realm of conventional knowledge and religious ideology.

Aphorism #10: The twin erroneous ideas that there is some action that can be taken some seeker to gain salvation or enlightenment is also an outgrowth of conventional knowledge and religious ideology.

Commentary: Probably the single best book on why Metaphysics is fundamentally different from religious pursuits is Alan Watts’ "The Supreme Identity." He, in turn, seems to rely to some degree on the work of Rene Guenon in developing his own thought. Initially however, it was the great sage, Shankara, who clearly differentiated the Ultimate from the conventional and the Metaphysical from the religious, with his emphasis that enlightenment is the result of Knowledge and not action.