Pointers on the Way ~ when signs lose their power

Jun 15, 2019

Saying For Today: So, the theistic mystics know God undresses God, even as the Buddhist sages know Buddha will dissolve within oneself the Buddha. What is left? That cannot be told, only known through Its own revelation of Itself.

Each aspect of Nature is a revelation, a mystery. Earth as community is a tapestry of revelations, of mysteries, a living Message of Life. Nature is a sacred Scripture. The Unseen births all we see; through the seen we discover the Unseen, through communion with what appears, we enjoy what is not an appearance.

Once, the monks were shocked to hear their abbot praying ardently, "Oh God! help me let go of God!"

Every sign pointing to the Absolute, the Truth, as well veils us from that Absolute, that Truth. Grace dresses itself in signs, so to become undressed of those same signs. Signs are Divine playfulness, offering hints, seducing us to Truth.

* * *

Disciple:
When will I know I am enlightened?

Sage:
When you realize there is no such thing as enlightenment.

*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."

We easily attach to concepts, we invest them with meaning. We assign them meaning, for they mean nothing. Then, after reifying them, or making them solid, we pursue what we have decided they mean. This is good, when the concept points to something that inspires us rightly. Yet, one of the signs of spiritual maturation is loss of interest in these concepts; concepts we once paraded with pride, they lose the meaning we invested in them. Initially, in realizing this loss of power in the signs, we grasp to find that again. We do this, until we become exhausted with trying to turn back the clock, so to speak. Then, we surrender the effort, we relax, and we can receive more directly and purely what our array of concepts and images point to.

* * *

The above tale could read for a theist as follows.

Disciple:
When will I know God?

Sage:
You will know God when you know there is no God to know.

*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."

So, some Zen Buddhists have said, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

* * *

Saying there is no enlightenment, no God to know, and to kill the Buddha if you see him, all this would sound irreverent, even blasphemous to some. The opposite is true. What is true, is that we can be irreverent, even blasphemous, in attaching absolute meaning to relative signs, in worshiping them with an irrational adoration, and in judging others who do not use the same signs as we do.

This does not mean all signs are equal in pointing to Truth. In relativity relative differences in the effectiveness of signs pertains, simply for that is the nature of the relative.

* * *

So, wise guides provide two paths. First, the affirmative, or saying what something is. Like, "God is God," "God is good," "Buddha Mind is your true nature," "Enlightenment is now," ... The negative path ~ meaning, negation ~ is the more subtle, abstract way. Here, we know by not knowing; so, here, we move away from the signs into the naked Silence. Both are true, then, in different ways, one relative and one absolute. Still, with time with Silence, we see that the undressing of the signs comes to the fore increasingly, until we can rest in the desert of a knowing by Not-Knowing. This is a desert, for it is denuded of the signs.

Again, concepts are important to guide and inspire us. Yet, in realizing the signification of the sign, the sign loses its power in the mind, for a sign exists only in the mind. "Buddha" is a pointer, "God" is a pointer, "enlightenment" is a pointer. "Buddha" and "enlightenment" and "God" truly only each exists in the mind as an inherited, mental construct. So, the theistic mystics know God undresses God, even as the Buddhist sages know Buddha will dissolve within oneself the Buddha. What is left? That cannot be told, only known through Its own revelation of Itself.

* * *

We can still use signs, however, to communicate, to inspire others, and to celebrate the Truth we point to but in the presence of Which signs are seen to be only that, signs to signify. And, as to using signs, after one knows signs as signs, we can recall that Grace enjoys being playful. This is certainly true in my work as a writer. I realize that I am playing with words, and I trust some will be captured by the Truth the words dance around.

*Brian Wilcox. 'a hint of Beauty'. Flickr

Signs point beyond themselves, to a more subtle dimension. When seeing a rainbow, and here a rare double rainbow, I see a sign of Beauty that even a rainbow can only point to. Through the beautiful in Nature, we receive hints of Beauty. The mind cannot receive this Beauty, only the Heart.

(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2019