The Role of Ideas in Spiritual Life
Descartes summed up his philosophy
in the famous dictum: “I think, therefore I am.” The more a person grows in the spiritual domain, however, the
less that person relies on thought. While we may conceive of distant realms,
of heaven, of other universes, of higher dimensions, even of God, our
thinking itself remains inexorably bound to the world of space and time.
As thought junkies, though, we nurture our addiction to listening to,
floating in, adding to, and arguing with the ever-flowing stream of thoughts
and images in our minds. One cannot think one’s way into heaven. The concept
trap ensnares many spiritual seekers as we unwittingly substitute thoughts
and ideas about the path for the path itself. For actually traveling the
spiritual path, thoughts, no matter how elaborate, abstract or holy, are
the wrong vehicle. Though words of prayer or a Divine name can orient
us in the right direction, only by seeing beyond thoughts and beyond mental
imagery can we begin to touch the higher worlds. Thoughts and concepts
play no role when we stand before the ineffable.
So why publish thousands of books
on spiritual subjects? Right thinking and true ideas offer two invaluable
ingredients for the inner life: motivation and guidance. Great spiritual
poetry and myths, stories in the holy scriptures, and other written sources
contain ideas and images which can serve to raise the level of our spiritual
aspirations, moving us to renew our commitment to the path, helping us
through our dry spells, periods of doubt, and the inevitable and numerous
obstacles we encounter along the way. Eventually, the wonders of the path
itself provide ample motivation. But until that door opens, books and
ideas can help propel us toward the non-conceptual. The key to avoiding the
pitfall of concepts lies in not confusing the moon with the finger pointing
toward it.
The inner landscape hides a territory unknown to us. The deeper realms
lie shrouded within what psychologists call the unconscious. A trail or set of
signposts through this land would prove most useful. Unfortunately, such
definitive guidance eludes possibility because the inner landscape is not
material in the way that streets, sidewalks, and hills are. Books and ideas can,
however, provide building blocks for a mental map of the inner realms. Through a
difficult and continual effort of map-making, we calibrate, revise and align our
conceptual map to conform to the actual landscape, to the experience of walking
the path. Understanding deepens.
In certain circumstances, for example on a spiritual retreat, reading can
only interfere with our inner work, arousing thoughts and fixing our attention
on concepts, rather than moving beyond them. But in most circumstances, in
everyday life, our thoughts perpetually cascade through the foreground of our
minds. Reading texts of the spirit, pondering their contents, and drawing
inspiration from them channel our thoughts and hearts toward actual steps along
the path, toward moment-to-moment presence and practice.
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