Every individual hopes that by conquering a place in the world he will find himself, but at the same time fears that it is precisely this world with its rules that will exclude him, reject him… all according to his will. The desire to be part of the world, of the community, and at the same time fear of being devoured by it, is the subtle self-deception in which the unawaken consciousness is crucified. The psychic contraction dictated by this inner state is experienced as a separation between man and the world, a feeling that generates fear, loneliness, conflict and therefore suffering.
Every consxiousness conditioned by the shadowy light of the world carries an immense promise, which at the same time weighs like a great threat. It is the dilemma of the unenlightened consxiousness, torn between seeking fulfillment in the world and being continually tyrannized and threatened by this world.
For millennia, the wise men have taught that the solution to the sense of separation is to awaken to consxiousness. The enlightened ones tell us that separation is only appearance, for there is no real separation between Being and the manifest world.
Since every phenomenon in this world has such a short and ephemeral lifespan, one could almost say that everything one experiences always resembles a Chinese shadow play. For those who are deeply rooted in the reality of Being, the world can easily be seen as a projection of the self to be known and perfected, and not as an unreal sketch to be feared and fought. For the man confused and lost in the world of conditioning, this unreal sketch is mistaken for reality, and it is all that exists, there is nothing else.
Ultimately, the meaning of the world for the common man is to get lost in it and suffer. At this moment it seems that experiencing suffering is necessary for man to transcend the world of conditioning. However, when Awakening arises, suffering is no longer necessary. One reaches the end of suffering because one has transcended the world, or rather, one has sublimated the personalized idea one has of the world. Then the man open to inner vision says: “I am in the world but not of the world.”
A state free from suffering seems to be the goal and path of everyone, and it is inevitable that everyone works to achieve it. It may not be the path for everyone in this life, but it seems to be universal. Even without a teacher or spiritual teaching, to awaken Essence each one will eventually have to go “through this and that,” so perhaps it is good that the crowd is lost in the world and rejected by the world. After all, what better Master could one wish for than the inexhaustible experience of Life offered to us by the world?
The only difference between a Master and a student is that the Master, with style, like Life, totally embraces Reality to be and freely experience what is. The door is then open, one can be both “through this” and “through that” at the same time.
Awakening is the pivotal path, the most effective mastery, a powerful realization that cannot be considered as a practice, because it is not situated in the world nor in time.
It is good to remember that, beyond appearances, the World of forms in its tireless creation is a temporary manifestation of the Real. What is Real is God.
“Your journey is directed towards your homeland. Remember that you are traveling from the world of appearances to the World of Reality.”
Rumi
