The Minutiae of Spiritual Maps

Today is the first day of the conditional MCO, where most businesses are allowed to reopen. I see that the traffic on the road has increased significantly. The peace and quiet of the MCO days are over now. It is good that at least some businesses can resume or many would go under. Things have been very tough for a lot of people. As long as everyone takes the necessary social distancing precautions, I think we can manage the situation.

The weakest and the poorest are the most exposed during these difficult times. Those who are more fortunate must extend out a helping hand. The best kind of help are those that you give instinctively and quietly without having to publicize them. That is the best way to work out your karma. To seek recognition for helping others is to extend the chain of action and reaction. Doing good is just practicing good energy management. You focus all your resources towards the point of need and you move on without having to waste any more time dealing with either praise or blame.

We all need help at one time or another. If we are too proud to seek assistance when we are truly in need, that is also due to the ego. Look inside and see what is that facade that you are trying to project to the world. It costs a lot to maintain it. If you let it go, a lot of healing can occur. Free up the energy and let it find its best mode of expression.

Every religion emphasizes a different aspect of the path. Some focuses on love and forgiveness, which is an 'architecture' that facilitates and outward flow of positive energy. To love is to give without expecting anything in return. This is something that all lovers caught in the intoxication of first love must learn. Romantic love is often selfish, with a lot of expectations on the other party. Only through many iterations of pain, do we learn how to love. In the immortal words of Kahlil Gibran:

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

Love dissolves the ego. The dissolution of the ego requires an act of surrender--which is another aspect of the spiritual path, emphasized by some religions. To surrender to the will of the divine means, one does one's best and leaves the outcome to the universe. To give and to love without expecting anything in return. If one is rewarded, let it be called a blessing. For a blessing does not result from one's own act of will. The monotheistic religions emphasizes a "virtual external point"--God, which is the source of all blessings. By using the architecture of the virtual external point, the ego is diminished--it is no longer the source of anything. Hence there is no desire for revenge or recognition. Once's actions are simply one's energetic contribution to the circulation of energy within a larger system. Only then, does one feel to be close to God.

We live within a sliver of the universe, seeing the world within a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum, and listening within a very limited range of audio frequencies, occupying an infinitesimally small chunk of space and time. Yet in our ignorance, we think that our small flicker of consciousness is all there is. Hence we grab whatever material possession we can, thinking that it is what makes life meaningful.

Yet every time we succeed in doing so, its allure fades away, and you see yet another horizon further on, where that mythical pot of gold is. And we foolishly think that the ultimate goal of life is just to gain enough loyalty points so that one gets to claim the reward of a place in heaven, which is supposed to look like an idealized version of our small world, where everything is perfect, the way we envision it to be. How limited is our mortal imagination!

Every day, we try to chip away a bit of our ego, by prostrating before a Higher Power, by surrendering our will, by loving unconditionally, by giving and helping others. We try to circulate the energy so that nothing accumulates and festers within the constricting confines of our souls. Even the concept of a 'soul' is another manifestation of the ego's desire to actualize itself. We always need to have static objects to help us think. Hence we invent mental stepping stones for us to move forward: an internal virtual object called the 'soul' and an external one called 'God'. Point A and Point B.

Religion is simply a guide for moving from point A to point B. The more enlighten ones would prefer to call it 'merging' point A with point B. Others would tell you that points A and B are actually not real, only convenient markers, like how cities are represented by dots on the map.

We are all physical creatures, familiar with physical metaphors. We can only begin from our own humble physical vantage points. On the spiritual path, having a map is better than none. But one must never confuse dots on the map with the place they represent. The religious dogmatists argue incessantly about the minutiae of the maps: some would tell you that there are actually an infinite number of dots between A and B. No, there are a trinity of points: A, B and C. A is above B and C; No, A, B and C are all equal; no, ABC, BCA, CAB... and they write books, arguing about it.

The real spiritual seeker takes a look at all the maps, and proceeds onward. For he knows where his true destination is: it is always outside the map.