The Cosmic Compass

As always, before I begin writing my blog article of the week, I reread the previous week's one, checking for typos, missing words, the inevitable grammar mistakes and occasionally weeding out clumsy sentences. Most of the time, I end up with the feeling that what I wrote wasn't that bad after all.

I think most writers are the harshest critics of their own work. That critic is hard at work even now, while I'm typing these sentences ("you are rambling again". "Get to the point". "Make your sentences shorter". "That's another cliche!").  Often you end up feeling that you've produced something of questionable quality. But I've learned not to care. Having written something is better than not haven't done so. A blog article published is another hour of life well-lived.

To truly judge your own work, you have to let these critical voices fade away and then reread it again, as if you are reading it for the first time. Often, upon I rereading my previous week's work, I end up with a more sympathetic opinion.

One must learn to forgive oneself, to be able to forgive others. I see forgiveness as a way of clearing our own mental and emotional blockages. So much energy is trapped and wasted when we hold unhealthy grudges, disappointments or hatreds. Self-love is the beginning of agape.

Because I am another year older today, I also would like to review the past year of my life with understanding and compassion. All the ups and downs of life are but stress tests that expose our weaknesses. One should look at them with equanimity--like a scientist looking at data from his experiments. There are no failures in scientific experiments. Data that disproves your hypothesis are as welcome as those that support it. That's how I approach life.

When you experience the highs of success--critical acclaim, fame, a promotion, an award or any form of recognition, enjoy it. Allow yourself to bathe in the warmth of success. But never be attached to it. Any worldly acclaim should just roll off the surface of the soul, like water on a lotus leaf.

When one understands the limits of science and the human intellect, one grasps the immateriality of the world and sees that the world is but an illusory manifestation. All our physics only seeks to find better and better models of the universe and the models we create are but constructions of our limited minds. We rely on our intuitions to come up with new theories, which can then be verified by experiments. We think we live in space and time but that is just the best model of reality we have now. It may not be the most fundamental aspect of nature. 

Our spiritual impulses are constantly pulling us back towards the direction of Truth. But truth can only be approximated by human understanding. All the truths of the universe are already inside us, because we are a part of it. We just have to unveil the covering of our imperfects minds to reveal them. Learning is a process of adjusting the impedance of the mind, so that Truth radiates out in its full glory.

The mind is a manifestation of consciousness. That's a very Advaita Vedantic thing to say. But it is how I feel within. Wisdom, and if I'm allowed to use the over-abused word, Enlightenment, arises when we've made our minds clear and translucent, like the undisturbed surface of a pond, that is, when Patanjali's citta vrittis are quelled.

The worldly man thinks heaven as material pleasure-dome par excellence. The spiritual man knows that perfection is beyond any conceptual grasp and therefore seeks not to enmesh himself in materiality. Whether one is a monist, dualist or pluralists, we must understand that Nature is beyond words and concepts. All our word-play only serves as an imperfect compass, hinting towards the direction of true north.

With this cosmic compass we have within, we shall trudge ahead courageously, confident that we shall never venture too far off-course. And that's good enough.