Way of Philosophy Intro

 QUEST AND QUESTIONS

 

Quest is related to questioning.   To question is to be in a state of neither ignorance nor of complete knowledge.  Were we totally ignorant, we would not know that there was a lack.  Were we totally knowing, we would not need to search.   We hope to follow these questions more deeply into mystery, not just figure out the answers.

Once a student put a question in a bowl for Tich Nhat Hanh:  “Thai, why are we here?”  TNH answered: “are you here, really?”  So asking the right question can also be essential.

Originally, the term philosophy is from two Greek words, philo, love, and Sophia, wisdom. It meant love of wisdom, or the union of love and wisdom. A Philosopher is a lover. Not a claim to already know.

It may begin in beauty or love, reverence or worship, wonder or awe, suffering or compassion.  Perhaps  an "intimation of immortality" or a yearning for Truth.    It may begin with a fortunate meeting with a master or book who evokes a pull in your heart telling you "In the depths of your being you really are".  or "In the depths of your being you really aren't!”

Start out where you are: It is more honest, if less comfortable, to admit exactly where you are, not an ideal image of where you should be. It means really taking in all of what you are.  Each path is unique. Take the teachings into the center of your being, into the head and emotions and body.   

 

Homework:

QUESTION: What questions have brought you to this Seminar?  What are your real questions?  What are your heart questions?  Look inside and listen and see.

QUESTION: What does it mean for you, to be on a path, a way, a quest?

QUESTION: Do you have to do something to deserve freedom?  Do you believe that?

QUESTION: We are becoming a human being.  But what is a human being?  do we really know any of these: Conscious, Living, Being:?

(How) can we become what we already ARE?

 

Here are some thoughts from The Notebooks

 

QUOTES FROM THE NOTEBOOKS: QUEST

When a person comes to his real senses, he will recognize that he has only one problem: "How can I come into awareness of, and oneness with, my true being?" …(1:1.130)

 

 “The Quest of the Overself is none other than the final stage of humans’ long pursuit of happiness.  2.1.1”

 

The central point of this quest is the inner opening of the ego's heart to the Overself.  P. 1.3

 

All that really matters is how one lives one's life. But relative-plane activities do not constitute all there is to living. … Living will begin to achieve its own purpose when one's outer life becomes motivated, guided, and balanced by the fruits of one's inner findings.  1.1.19

 

The ego is after all only an idea. It derives its seeming actuality from a higher source. If we make the inner effort to search for its origin we shall eventually find the Mind in which this idea originated. That mind is the Overself. This search is the Quest. The self-separation of the idea from the mind which makes its existence possible, is egoism.    (8:1.9)

 

How can a person fully express himself unless he fully develops himself? The spiritual evolution which requires us to abandon the ego runs parallel to the mental evolution which requires us to perfect it.    (8:1.158)

 

Make it a matter of habit, until it becomes a matter of inclination, to be kind, gentle, forgiving, and compassionate. What can you lose? A few things now and then, a little money here and there, an occasional hour or an argument? But see what you can gain! More release from the personal ego, more right to the Overself's grace, more loveliness in the world inside us, and more friends in the world outside us.   2:5.12

 

“Self-Knowledge is supreme science.” PB

 

PHILOSOPHY  as way of Realization

We may begin by asking what this philosophy offers us.  It offers those who pursue it to the end a deep understanding of the world and a satisfying explanation of the significance of human experience.  It offers them the power to penetrate appearances and to discover the genuinely real from the mere appearance of reality; it offers satisfaction of that desire which everyone, everywhere, holds somewhere in his heart--the desire to be free. 20.0.2.  

 
It may be asked why I insist on using the word ``philosophy'' as a self-sufficient name … I want it used for the highest kind of insight into the Truth of things, which means into the Truth of the unique Reality.  I want the philosopher to be equated with the sage, the one who not only knows this Truth, has this insight, and experiences this Reality in meditation, but also, although in a modified form, in action amid the world's turmoil. 20.1.127


 There is a kind of understanding combined with feeling which is not a common one here in the West, indeed uncommon enough to seem more discoverable and less puzzling in the Asiatic regions. It is puzzling for four reasons. One is that it cannot be attributed to the intellect alone, nor to the emotional nature alone. Another is that it provides an experience so difficult to describe that it is preferable not to discuss it at all. A third is that although the most reverent it is not allied to religion. A fourth point is that it is outside any precise labelling as for instance a metaphysics or cult which could really belong to it. Yet it is neither anything new or old. It is nameless. But because there is only one way to deal with it honestly--the way of utter silence, speechless when in contact with other humans, perfectly still when in the secrecy of a closed room--we may renew the Pythagorean appellation of "philosophy" for it is truly the love of wisdom-knowledge.(P)    (20:1.1

The would-be philosopher should not feel bound by labels, categories, and other fences which people want to put on others simply because they themselves live quite willingly surrounded by such fences and cannot understand someone who refuses to do so. Philosophy is a path which ends in the pathless--a way to the inner freedom which comes with truth.  20.1.153

 
Books and discussions can, at best, serve only as guides for the individual inward search. This search for the True Self should be accompanied by efforts to impartially observe, improve, and develop that personal self which is ordinarily accepted as the be-all and end-all of existence. Constant attempts to cultivate and maintain awareness of the True Self--the Overself--together with making it the object of his deepest love and humble worship, are among the qualifications essential to progress.  23.6.18

PARADOX//DOUBLE STANDPOINT

Paradox is the only proper way to look at things and situations, at life and the cosmos, at man and God. This must be so if as full and complete a truth as mind can reach is desired. To express that truth there are two ways because of its own double nature: there is what the thing seems to be and what it really is. The difference is often as great as that yielded by an electronic microscope with five thousand-fold magnification when it is focused on an ant, compared to the view yielded by the naked eye.    (19:2.32)

Once the double viewpoint is understood and set up as the necessary starting point, the timed measure and the timeless order fall into his scheme of things. Practical experience carries him through the ordinary existence, and divine experience--the eternal Now--is not displaced by it. Success in living the philosophic life and maturing the mentality it requires makes this possible.(P)    (19:2.12)

I call it paradoxical thinking as opposed to logical thinking. "I am infinite being" is a declaration which does not fit into the logic of conventional experience.    (4:6.143)

The same mind which we use to understand that two added to three totals five cannot be used to understand that he who loses himself finds himself.    (22:1.18)

Paradox is the only way to view both the immediate and the ultimate at the same time.    (19:2.30)

Philosophy says that its highest teaching is necessarily paradoxical because the one is in the many and the many, too, are one, because nonduality is allied to duality, because the worldly and limited points to the Absolute and Unbounded: hence the doctrine of two Truths.    (19:2.31)

WHY THE TERM MIND…

We do not intend to deal here with some supernatural "spirit" which does not explain the world but only mystifies us, which is beyond all ordinary experience and whose existence cannot be irrefutably proved. We do not need to go beyond Mind - which explains the world as a form of consciousness, which is everyone's familiar experience at every moment of the day or night, and whose existence is unquestionably self-evident, for it makes us aware of every other kind of existence.  21.4.9

…it must be a still deeper ‘I’ which although usually ignored, must matter most of all. And this, when traced through the con­ventional confusions and unconscious processes which habitually surround it, is nothing else than that intangible principle of aware­ness itself whose own existence makes the existence of all the multiple items of awareness itself possible.

In The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga a tentative definition of the term ‘mind’ as being “that which makes us think of anything and which makes us aware of anything,” was offered. To this definition we may now add: “and which reveals its existence in every thought but is unknown to us apart from such manifestation.”  Wisdom of the Overself “Secret of the I”

The advantages of pursuing the path of Gnana Yoga, of an enquiry into Self, are manifold. It starts from the standpoint to which we are accustomed, by taking self as we find it. It does not start from some divine Brahman whose existence is initially known to but one man in millions (since it is to be apprehended only in Samadhi). The enquiry into Self, moreover, accepts this world as real, and does not ask us to go against every attribute of common sense. It permits our minds to work along their natural lines of thinking. It follows the method most suitable to our Western scientific minds--that is, it works from the known to the unknown.    (20:1.116)

All the processes of creation and dissolution are true only from the scientific or practical standpoint but they disappear when the student inquires deeply into them. It is a matter of getting right understanding and then he sees they are mere thoughts or imaginations. A long training in right--that is, philosophic--thinking is required before the mind becomes habituated to such views. This is gnana yoga. After that he has to practise a still higher kind of yoga which goes on in the midst of activity and has nothing to do with meditation as ordinarily known. That ultimate path gives realization. He gets glimpses first, lightning-flashes, which through continued effort gradually become stabilized and finally merge into continuous knowledge of truth.    (20:4.120)

POINTERS TO DIMENSIONS OF PHILOSOPHY

In the first stage of progress we learn to stand aside from the world and to still our thoughts about it. This is the mystical stage.  Next, we recognize the world as being but a series of ideas within the mind; this is the mentalist-metaphysical stage. Finally, we return to the world's activity without reacting mentally to its suggestions, working disinterestedly, and knowing always that all is One. This is the philosophical stage.  Perspectives: 257

 

Anthony Damiani comments, changing the order somewhat:

So the first thing we have to do is to try to understand, theoretically, something about mentalism.  Then the next thing is... you want to be able to realize a little bit of it... to realize it in meditation...gets a glimpse.  There's only one other thing he has to find out..about his ego.     Looking Into Mind  p.127.

 

 

In Kindness Clarity and Insight, HHDL presents a similar picture through his analysis of the

AUM MANI PADME HUM mantra.

AUM is the starting point: the original body, speech and mind of the individual which is to be transformed.  In Buddhism, the mind which we start with (which is not only the gross mind, but a very subtle mind which continues from life to life)  can be transformed endlessly into enlightenment.  Simply by the fact of being a human being, we have the potentiality of enlightenment within us.   

MANI means jewel and refers to compassion, which like the jewel, has an adamantie quality which can pierce through any egoistic attitudes. 

PADME means lotus and refers to wisdom, which like the lotus grows up in the most seemingly unlooked for places. 

HUM means union, unification or non-duality: the goal of the path.

The whole mantra means that through the combined functioning of Compassion and Wisdom, our ordinary starting mind is transformed into HUM: which is a the exalted state of union and wholeness.   

In this one short mantra is summarized the whole path of philosophy.  We notice the striking parallel of compassion and wisdom to the term philosophy: the love of wisdom or union of love and wisdom.  

PHILOSOPHY ONE TWO THREE FOUR

 UNITY, UNKNOWN, OPEN, PRESENT:  simplicity the other side of complexity. 


•    It is always there, the only reality in a mind-made world.  28.1.17
•    There is only this one Mind.  All else is a seeming show on its surface.  To forget the ego and think of this infinite and unending reality is the highest kind of meditation. 28.2.102


COMPLEMENTARITIES:

•    When duality is blended with, and within, unity it is the true jivanmukta realization.  The One is then experienced as the Two but known to be really the One. (P) 25.2.123






•    An ever-active Mind within an ever-still Mind--that is the real truth, not only about God but also about man.  25.1.9






When the masculine and feminine temperaments within us are united, completed, and balanced, when masculine power and feminine passivity are brought together inside the person and knowledge and reverence encircle them both, then wisdom begins to dawn in the soul.  The ineffable reality and the mentalist universe are then understood to be non-different from one another. 25.2.120










TRIUNE stream
In many traditions, the path is described as three -fold, following the functions of Knowing, willing (Karma) and feeling (Bhakti).  

" Because human’s are a threefold being, a working trinity of thinking, feeling and doing, it is inevitable that the quest should involve an effort corresponding to his own nature. Consequently the three lines which he must pursue in harmony with the threefold division of his own character are: metaphysics as an exercise of reasoned thinking, mysticism as an exercise of intuitive feeling and altruistic activity as an exercise of bodily doing. Knowledge, meditation and self‑abnegating work constitute the holy trinity which can lead him to enlightenment. These three conceptions of right human endeavour; the intellectual, the mystical and the practical are not to be kept in fratricidal and dangerous tension but are to be brought into a conscious harmony; all are to work together at the same time and for the same goal. They must come into loving concord, must put forth their arms and embrace each other and find the integral unity of a philosophic life."  Wisdom of the Overself


The ray of devotion (bhakti) is not different from the ray of knowledge or gnana .  When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom.  When wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action it becomes bhakti.  Knowledge when it becomes fully mature is bhakti.  If it does not get transformed into bhakti, such knowledge is useless tinsel.  To believe that gnana and bhakti, knowledge and devotion, are different from each other is ignorance.  --Rajaji


This famous zen painting represents a profound view of reality and appearance.  In one way, the triple form itself represents the triune reality.  In another way, the triangle represents in itself the intermediary between the Ultimate view of Sunya, the circle, and the four-fold view of the earthly human.  It is the reconciliation of the ultimate incommensurables, represented by the squaring of the circle, which was the highest goal of philosophy.

What are the three-fold?  

Perhaps they are the conscious living being.  Or the triunity of Wisdom, love, power.  Or intelligence, life, being of the Platonists. The True, the Beautiful and the Good of Plato.  The triune absolute of Knowing, feeling, Willing.


Philosophy must critically absorb the categories of metaphysics, mysticism, and practicality. For it understands that in the quest of truth the co-operation of all three will not only be helpful and profitable to each other but is also necessary to itself. For only after such absorption, only after it has travelled through them all can it attain what is beyond them all…
When philosophic insight is born out of the union of intellectual reasoning, mystical feeling, and altruistic doing, we may say neither that it is only the totalization of these three things nor that it is utterly remote from them. It comprehends them all and yet itself extends far beyond them into a higher order of being. 20.4.183

What is the meaning of the words “the Holy Trinity”?  The Father is the absolute and ineffable Godhead, Mind in its ultimate being.  The Son is the soul of the universe, that is, the World-Mind.  The Holy Ghost is the soul of each individual, that is, the Overself.  The Godhead is one and indivisible and not multiform and can never divide itself up into three personalities.(P) 28.1.54

What is the Holy Trinity?  How could it be three Gods?  No--It is the Good, the Beautiful, and the True--three aspects of the One, only God. 28.1.55

However essential this seeking of the spiritual self must obviously be, however splendid the attainment of such a peace-filled, desire-free state must and will always seem, it cannot in itself constitute an adequate goal.  Two important elements are lacking in it.  The first is knowledge and the second is compassion.  The first would show precisely what is the place of such an attainment in the full pattern of human existence; the second would bring it into active relation with the rest of social existence.  Whilst these are lacking, this state can only partially understand itself and only negatively affect others.  It keeps its own peace by ignoring the world's suffering. (p. 203)


FOUR FOLD MANDALA

PLOTINUS ENNEAD 5.1.1

Now just as these three (One, Intelligence, Soul) exist for the System of Nature, so they hold for ourselves: our interior nature. 

MANDUKHYA UPANISAD

AUM:  the word is all this. 

This Atman is Brahman.

This Atman has four dimensions.

A, U, M, : represent the four dimensions of Atman:

A--Wakeful or gross; U--dream or subtle; M--sleep or causal.  : -

 -The fourth, ever present nature.

Dream of the Good: [spiritual philosophy:]    [tools for living well:]

HEART OR “CORE”, and QUADRANTS

 

PHYSICAL Presence and Movement

·  Sacred movement: qi-gong, eurythmy,

·  Being present to breathing and walking.

·  Healing, energy work, healing touch

·  Act without expectations.

 

SOUL-WORK: Imagination, Love, flow

·  Opening imagination: Dream work, alchemy, archetypes, mythology:  astrology,

·  Meeting conflict; Pain body

·   (self-) Responsibility: Compassion and service.  Acceptance.

·  Kindness, open, peace, joy, listening.  Pair listening

·  Reflection: writing and sharing.

 

WISDOM: science and spirituality

·  Human questions // existential questions: how to discuss, question, reflect,

·  Ancient wisdom meets modern science:  science of mind.  local and non-local mind. Thought provoking movies

·  Inquiry: Radical thinking experiments: Aha: the act of creation. world-views,

·  Wisdom of the elders: what they tell us about life

·  Metaphysics and the view of Reality.

 

UNITY: STILLNESS, Presence

·  Stillness: the search within yourself: Listening within. Who Am I?

·  Open Awareness: just being aware, being awareness, being.

·  Let everything go, don’t react.

·  Being present: Mindfulness in action.
 


 FIVE-FOLD INDIVIDUAL:  THE STAR

The esoteric meaning of the star is ``Philosophic Man,'' that is, one who has travelled the complete fivefold path and brought its results into proper balance.  This path consists of religious veneration, mystical meditation, rational reflection, moral re-education, and altruistic service.  The esoteric meaning of the circle, when situated within the very centre of the star, is the Divine Overself-atom within the human heart.(p. 260)
•    Mystical meditation: this is the path of stillness.
•    Rational reflection:  is the path to distinguish truth from appearance,
•    Altruistic service: acting in the world for the sake of others, without thought to results.
•    Moral re-education: this is the path of physical, emotional and mental re-orientation. 
•    Religious veneration: this is the path of love, devotion, and prayer. 

Overself Atom: To live in the moment.  To live in the world but not of it.


Overself is the inner or true self, reflecting the divine being and attributes. The Overself is an emanation from the ultimate reality but is neither a division nor a detached fragment of it. It is a ray shining forth but not the sun itself. (P) 22/3/319


 

Read ch. 16 “Philosophic Life” from The Wisdom of the Overself.

READ MORE ESSENTIAL PARAS ON PHILOSOPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY for PHILOSOPHY

Bhagavad Gita: classic “bible” of India.
Bhattacharryya, KC  Studies in Philosophy.  Vedanta. Samkhya. Yoga. Unbelievable details.
Brahma, N.  Philosophy of Hindu Sadhana
Brunton, Paul.  The Secret Path.  Asking yourself: “who am I?”
Brunton, Paul.  The Quest of the Overself.  Continues and expands The Secret Path.
Brunton, Paul.  The Wisdom of the Overself.  Deepest book on spiritual philosophy.
Dalai Lama: Kindness, Clarity and Insight. A summary of his way of kindness: from 1979 USA visit.
Damiani, Anthony: Looking Into Mind.  An exploration of who you are and how you know.
Damiani, Anthony: Standing in Your Own Way.   Living Wisdom
Eckhart, Meister.  Sermons.  From the 15th century, direct esoteric Christian teachings.
Godman, David (ed.).  Be as you are: the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.  20th century sage of India.
Joad, C.E.M.  Guide to Philosophy.  Best overall guide to western views of philosophy.
Koestler, Arthur.  The Act of Creation.  Intriguing thesis and stories about the AHA!
Lao Tzu.  Tao
Mahadevan, TMP. Philosophy of Advaita
McDonald, Kathleen:  How to Meditate.  A good introduction.
Merton, Thomas: the Way of Chuang Tzu.  Wisdom poems from the ancient Chinese master.
Nhat Hanh.  Present Moment, Wonderful Moment.  Simple profound mindfulness from a modern master.
Namkhai Norbu: Dzog-chen: the self-perfected state
Rumi: One handed basket weaving.  The greatest of medieval sufi poet philosophers.
Plato: The Republic.  Book 6 and 7.  Read the inspiration and root of western philosophy in a nutshell.
Raphael.  Essence and Purpose of Yoga.  Summary of karma, bhakti, raja, jnana, asparsa series of yogas.
Raphael.  Mandhukya Upanisad
Suzuki Roshi.  Zen Mind, Beginners Mind.  Just the first few pages are worth it.
Tarthang Tulku.  Openness Mind
Thrangu Rinpoche.  Pointing out the Dharmakaya.  Some great sections on Mahamudra Meditation
Tolle, Eckhart: The Power of Now.  Excellent modern presentation of ancient teachings.
Trungpa, Chogyam.  Cutting through Spiritual Materialism. Down to earth advice on ego
Trungpa, Chogyam The Myth of Freedom.  perspective on the Buddhist path.
Tulku Thondup.  Quantum Healing.
Tulku Urgyen As It Is  Transcripts of  down to earth talks on Dzog-chen by great 20th century master .
Eliade, Mircia. Yoga Immortality and Freedom.  Chapter on Vasanas
Evola, Julius.  Doctrine of Awakening Excellent Buddhist perspective on becoming, desire, craving.

Movie:     What the bleep do we know?
You-tube:   Powers of Ten
You-tube:  Alan Watts   “Atheist Spirituality”     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE5M8743a1s



CODA
If the One Reality alone is, if even the world-illusion vanishes in deepest contemplation, how are we to deal with the world, since it awaits our attention whatever its status be?  The answer is to act in the world AS IF it were real: this is to be the working rule to enable us to carry on with everyday existence and perform all duties.  This same practical rule was stated by Jesus in his succinct sentence: Be in the world but not of it. 24.3.111

Life is not a matter of meditation methods exclusively. Their study and practice is necessary, but let them be put in their proper place. Both mystical union and metaphysical understanding are necessary steps on this quest, because it is only from them that the student can mount to the still higher grade of universal being represented by the sage. For we not only need psychological exercises to train the inner being, but also psychological exercises to train the point of view. But the student must not stay in mysticism as he must not stay in metaphysics. In both cases he should take all that they have to give him but struggle through and come out on the other side. For the mysticism of emotion is not the shrine where Isis dwells but only the vestibule to the shrine, and the metaphysician who can only see in reason the supreme faculty of man has not reflected enough. Let him go farther and he shall find that its own supreme achievement is to point beyond itself to that principle or Mind whence it takes its rise. Mysticism needs the check of philosophic discipline. Metaphysics needs the vivification of mystical meditation. Both must bear fruit in inspired action or they are but half-born. In no other way than through acts can they rise to the lofty status of facts.
The realization of what man is here for is the realization of a fused and unified life wherein all the elements of action, feeling, and thought are vigorously present. It is not, contrary to the belief of mystics, a condition of profound entrancement alone, nor, contrary to the reasonings of metaphysicians, a condition of intellectual clarity alone, and still less, contrary to the opinions of theologians, a condition of complete faith in God alone. We are here to live, which means to think, feel, and act also. We have not only to curb thought in meditation, but also to whip it in reflection. We have not only to control emotion in self-discipline, but also to release it in laughter, relaxation, affection, and pleasure. We have not only to perceive the transiency and illusion of material existence, but also to work, serve, strive, and move strenuously, and thus justify physical existence. We have to learn that when we look at what we really are we stand alone in the awed solitude of the Overself, but when we look at where we now are we see not isolated individuals but members of a thronging human community. The hallmark of a living man, therefore, ought to be an integral and inseparable activity of heart, head, and hand, itself occurring within the mysterious stillness and silence of its inspirer, the Overself.
The mistake of the lower mystic is when he would set up a final goal in meditation itself, when he would stop at the "letting-go" of the external world which is quite properly an essential process of mysticism, and when he would let his reasoning faculty fall into a permanent stupor merely because it is right to do so during the moments of mental quiet. When, however, he learns to understand that the antinomy of meditation and action belongs only to an intermediate stage of this quest, when he comes later to the comprehension that detachment from the world is only to be sought to enable him to move with perfect freedom amid the things of the world and not to flee them, and when he perceives at long last that the reason itself is God-given to safeguard his journey and later to bring his realization into self-consciousness--then he shall have travelled from the second to the third degree in this freemasonry of ultimate wisdom. For that which had earlier hindered his advance now helps it; such is the paradox which he must unravel if he would elevate himself from the satisfactions of mysticism to the perceptions of philosophy. If his meditations once estranged him from the world, now they bring him closer to it! If formerly he could find God only within himself, now he can find nothing else that is not God! He has advanced from the chrysalis-state of X to the butterfly state of Y.
If there be any worth in this teaching, such lies in its equal appeal to experience and to reason. For that inward beatitude which it finally brings is superior to any other that mundane man has felt and, bereft of all violent emotion itself though it be, paradoxically casts all violent emotions of joy in the shade. When we comprehend that this teaching establishes as fact what the subtlest reasoning points to in theory, reveals in man's own life the presence of that Overself which reflection discovers as from a remote distance, we know that here at long last is something fit for a modern man. The agitations of the heart and the troublings of the head take their dying breaths.(P)    (20:4.148)


People sometimes ask me to what religion I belong or to what school of yoga I adhere. If I answer them, which is not often, I tell them: "To none and to all!" If such a paradox annoys them, I try to soften their wrath by adding that I am a student of philosophy. During my journeys to the heavenly realm of infinite eternal and absolute existence, I did not once discover any labels marked Christian, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, Zen, Shin, Platonist, Hegelian, and so on, any more than I discovered labels marked Englishman, American, or Hottentot. All such ascriptions would contradict the very nature of the ascriptionless existence. All sectarian differences are merely intellectual ones. They have no place in that level which is deeper than intellectual function. They divide men into hostile groups only because they are pseudo-spiritual. He who has tasted of the pure Spirit's own freedom will be unwilling to submit himself to the restrictions of cult and creed. Therefore I could not conscientiously affix a label to my own outlook or to the teaching about this existence which I have embraced. In my secret heart I separate myself from nobody, just as this teaching itself excludes no other in its perfect comprehension. Because I had to call it by some name as soon as I began to write about it, I called it philosophy because this is too wide and too general a name to become the property of any single sect. In doing so I merely returned to its ancient and noble meaning among the Greeks who, in the Eleusinian Mysteries, designated the spiritual truth learnt at initiation into them as "philosophy" and the initiate himself as "philosopher" or lover of wisdom.
Now genuine wisdom, being in its highest phase the fruit of a transcendental insight, is sublimely dateless and unchangeable. Yet its mode of expression is necessarily dated and may therefore change. Perhaps this pioneering attempt to fill the term "philosophy" with a content which combines ancient tradition with modern innovation will help the few who are sick of intellectual intolerances that masquerade as spiritual insight. Perhaps it may free such broader souls from the need of adopting a separative standpoint with all the frictions, prejudices, egotisms, and hatreds which go with it, and afford them an intellectual basis for practising a profound compassion for all alike. It is as natural for those reared on limited conceptions of life to limit their faith and loyalty to a particular group or a particular area of this planet as it is natural for those reared on philosophic truth to widen their vision and service into world-comprehension and world-fellowship. The philosopher's larger and nobler vision refuses to establish a separate group consciousness for himself and for those who think as he does. Hence he refuses to establish a new cult, a new association, or a new label. To him the oneness of mankind is a fact and not a fable. He is always conscious of the fact that he is a citizen of the world-community. While acknowledging the place and need of lesser loyalties for unphilosophical persons, he cannot outrage truth by confining his own self solely to such loyalties.
Why this eagerness to separate ourselves from the rest of mankind and collect into a sect, to wear a new label that proclaims difference and division? The more we believe in the oneness of life, the less we ought to herd ourselves behind barriers. To add a new cult to the existing list is to multiply the causes of human division and thence of human strife. Let those of us who can do so be done with this seeking of ever-new disunity, this fostering of ever-fresh prejudices, and let those who cannot do so keep it at least as an ideal--however remote and however far-off its attainment may seem--for after all it is ultimate direction and not immediate position that matters most. The democratic abolishment of class status and exclusive groups, which will be a distinctive feature of the coming age, should also show itself in the circles of mystical and philosophic students. If they have any superiority over others, let them display it by a superiority of conduct grounded in a diviner consciousness. Nevertheless, with all the best will in the world to refrain from starting a new group, the distinctive character of their conduct and the unique character of their outlook will, of themselves, mark out the followers of such teaching. Therefore whatever metaphysical unity with others may be perceived and whatever inward willingness to identify interests with them may be felt, some kind of practical indication of its goal and outward particularization of its path will necessarily and inescapably arise of their own accord. And I do not know of any better or broader name with which to mark those who pursue this quest than to say that they are students of philosophy.(P)    (20:1.18)