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In this episode Enlightenment Today I explore how to be more effective and productive in life when it comes to creating work that matters. Learn to say NO and get to work. Learning to say no and just getting to work are both two simple principles for creating meaningful content.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJFsTcirIPo
Recommended Reading
Learn to Say NO and Get to Work blog post
I received an email from a budding writer. She asked, “How can I get so much done in so little time?” My answer was simple: Learn to say NO and get to work. Both are the two simple principles for creating meaningful content. Procrastination kills all artistic endeavors. The only way to slay that dragon is to get to work and guard your time because its the most precious resource we have. I’m anxious when I procrastinate, so I just get to work and see what comes to me naturally. I try not to overthink about what I want to create nor do I have illusions of grandeur. I just have a trust in the process of writing itself.
I’ve learned that if you want to write, just sit down and shut up. Let the pen do the talking. Stop thinking about what you are going to do and just do it. Embrace the grind. Its better than doing nothing and telling people about what you are going to do. I’ve had many friends tell me their intentions and then they don’t back it up with actions.
Nothing annoys me more than that, especially when they complain that their creative life is going nowhere. Your intention and action have to unite. This is why I don’t tell anyone what I’m writing about until I have finished. I’m currently writing my seventh book with my sixth book is in the bag. You’ll find out about both of these books when they are ready to be published.
But all my work and my future projects (which I can’t tell you about yet because there is no actions to back them up) are built on learning to say NO. You can’t fulfill your creative juices if you are constantly meeting friends and family, playing with your phone, watching TV, surfing the Internet, or saying yes to every opportunity that goes your way. You need to say NO! Make it loud and clear so everyone gets the message. As a content creator, or an artist in general, large chunks of undistracted time is what you need. If you don’t cultivate this sort of creative isolation then you’ll create nothing meaningful.
Think of all the great artists you have been inspired by, this is how they did it.
It sounds nice to think that artists sit around coffee shops waxing lyrical about deep topics, but we don’t live in a fantasy world. It doesn’t mean an artist doesn’t love their friends and family, it just means they know what it takes to create meaningful art. Saying NO will give you the time to express your deepest nature, but you can’t sit around dreaming about it, you gotta get to work. We can all inspire the world with our own art by following these two simple principles.
Do you have what it takes? Don’t be afraid to share your art and heart with the world.
In this episode of Enlightenment Today you will learn what it means to be an accomplished Taoist. We often hear people say they follow the Tao, the Way. But what does it mean and are they truly a Taoist or are they just intuiting their experience according to their own biases and confusing it with flow? When we think of Taoism we have to revert back to the two great sages of Taoist philosophy: Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. The core of Taoism is a way of life focused on having healthy and sane people who are then capable of understanding and aligning with the spiritual core and order of the universe, the Tao. This in turn creates a healthy and sane world. By becoming an accomplished Taoist you will be immune to the inevitable perils you encounter in life.
Recommended Reading
Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy http://amzn.to/2EgVpTN
Tao Te Ching (Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English translation) http://amzn.to/2z6w7V3
Tao Te Ching (Philip J. Ivanhoe translation) http://amzn.to/2iCs0tU
Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation) http://amzn.to/2hPV6IX
The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu http://amzn.to/2hFc1Kt
The Way of Chuang Tzu http://amzn.to/2z3VyGJ
I Ching http://amzn.to/2zWMSW7
Trying Not to Try http://amzn.to/2z6l0eU
Tao: The Watercourse Way http://amzn.to/2zZGn2N
Genuine Pretending http://amzn.to/2iDhF04
Awakening to the Tao https://amzn.to/2KdsSBc
Tracing our history back to pre-agrarian culture, humanity was a people living in and with nature. We existed in small tribal and shamanic communities taking only the necessities of life, rather than whatever we wanted. Those archaic cultures did not have to seek equilibrium with the environment because they were already naturally harmonious. They perceived nature in all of its glory, as an extension of themselves, instead of our modern approach to nature as a separate and tyrannical lord. Material acquisitions were of no importance, as the welfare of the individual and the community were the main priorities.
This is not to say that these cultures were above individual and collective folly, but the stark difference to our modern civilization is that their faults were generally addressed with an attempt to heal any problem through a consensus of opinion in a communal setting. An individual’s problem was the community’s problem and vice versa. The welfare of one was the welfare of all. In such a model, there is no individual above the others who decides what is good for the people. Even the rise of the shaman and holy person did not threaten this communal importance within tribal cultures. The shaman and holy person, though, is respected as the one who has done the internal work to possess the innate wisdom that heals others’ physical and psychological ailments. This is not to say that a shaman or a holy person necessarily held a position of authority over the community. On the contrary, in most cases the shaman and holy person was a hunter and gatherer just like anyone else, but differed in having a keen interest in medicine and healing, in much the same way that certain women of the community had a keen interest in arts and crafts.
In this statement we are not suggesting that only men were shamans or holy people and that only women were interested in arts and crafts; that would be a common mistaken assumption. Within many tribal communities in ancient times the shaman and holy person, either female or male, held a place of equal importance to other members of the tribe, which is hard for us to fathom in our current era from a state of consciousness that tends to perceive reality in the mold of layers and levels of hierarchy.
There were tribes in ancient times that did kill and shun shamans or holy people as outsiders. But in many cases tribal communities were based on the natural philosophy of mutuality as opposed to the modern view of individuality because individuality had not blossomed as it has in our current era. Tribal cultures are traditionally a partnership society based on mutuality and anyone in those ancient times who sought individual salvation from the group ran the risk of nature’s wrath. Those who were not mutually in sync with the other people of the tribe were viewed to disturb its harmony. Individuality, then, in those times was about how one benefited the group. Everybody had their place within the community by following what their natural God-given talents were. No one had to be assigned duties, as there was no one in the role of a dictator in the community assigning duties to others.
In the Taoist philosophy of China, each and every individual has his or her own unique psychosomatic pattern that they express either physically or psychologically, which ultimately brings harmony to the world. In Chinese this unique organic pattern is known as li (理), and by following your li you naturally harmonize with the universal essence and order, Tao (道), which brings harmonic resonance into the world of form, known as ying (應) in Chinese. The ancient Taoist sages understood the natural tribal values brought down from living with nature and then into agrarian society. Invariably our li, in other words, our intrinsic human nature, is linked to art, because art in its purest form is the self-expression of one’s organic pattern. Because of this, the artistic path calls to the artist, and is not the result of personal desires and perceived pleasures.
Pursuing your personal desires and pleasures within the apparently secure confines of your own physical and psychological comfort zones is no way to discover your organic pattern or freedom. This vain pursuit actually has more in common with a prison than anything else. That calling which naturally dawns upon our mind is the path of the hero, if we choose not to be distracted by what our egotistical mind is attracted to, because the ego is invariably associated to the hypnosis of laziness and procrastination. Mythologist and philosopher Joseph Campbell beautifully called following this calling “the Hero’s Journey.” He adeptly explained that if you discover your li and follow it—“following your bliss” in Campbell’s terminology—then you not only continually grow along the path of life, but you also change the world through your self-expression as it harmonizes with everything in reality, that is, ying. For example, artists often have the ying ability to bring people together, move them emotionally, and inspire others. Ironically, though, a lot of people strive to become an artist for fame or to appease their own intellectual pursuits and in both cases they usually fall short of the mark. On the other hand, successful artists in a lot of cases never intended to be famous and weren’t originally passionate about their craft, but from following the intuitive calling of li along the hero’s journey they continue to grow and become extremely passionate without any intention to do so at the outset.
Establishing harmony between the individual and the community was common etiquette among many ancient natural tribal cultures. The community was an extension of the individual and so the individual is the community. The inner life of the individual becomes the culture. The microcosm and macrocosm are both one and the same. This view is shared in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) where the small picture and the big picture are the same picture, which means the world is a reflection of what is happening in the inner life of the individual. The knowledge attained from this way of life is that if you want to change the community you have to change yourself, as the community is the result of many individuals. This is still the way life is now, and it can never deviate from this course because any community, no matter how large or small, is always the outcome of the individual. But something in those ancient times compelled those small tribes to grow and merge into larger communities with ultimately larger problems. We deviated from the natural course of following our natural talents, and as a result were thrust into assigned duties. As larger communities continued to grow, the necessities for living became increasingly scarce as a result. Commonplace aspects of tribal life had to be changed or cast aside.
The greatest change of those times was when our way of life went from living harmoniously with nature to the formation of agrarian cultures. This was the beginning of individuals giving their innate power over to a society that molded them into conforming with what it needs to function. Agrarian culture is more mechanical than humanistic, so for such a society to operate sufficiently its components—the people— need to be assigned specific duties to maintain the cultural framework.
Pursuing one’s natural creative calling, which eventually brought harmony to the community, became a distant memory as the people suppressed such desires in favor of money attained for their labor, which supplied them the means to purchase food, clothing, and shelter. These means, which were once our natural right, became a commodity run by the society. Because of that, we as individuals lost our sense of responsibility, because the society and culture took over our responsibility in the role of a parental figure. A lack of responsibility leads to passive conformity—and not the receptiveness of humility, but instead a docile passivity more like that of a zombie than anything else. Instead of a society and culture acting in accord with the individual mind, the individual begins to take on the functions of the society and culture, resulting in the average human being living their everyday life as mere machines. We take on the machinelike operations of the society and culture in all aspects of our life. In the modern era, many people are not conscious of this machinelike behavior because it has become so ingrained into the psyche that they never question its authenticity.
Since the beginning of agrarian cultures these machinelike habits and tendencies of the individual took over our natural self-expression. Instead of communal values based on individual artistic satisfaction, we took on an assigned and a somewhat slavery orientated division of labor and a division of function within the society to keep the social engine running like a well-oiled machine.
In our mechanical model of a linear world, the external order begins to dictate a way of life to the individual, which is in reality artificial. A conformist society begins when we relinquish our power away to a machine that is unnatural and devoid of life. This passive conformity can be traced back to the origins of the Hindu caste system and medieval western Christian society under the feudal system.
When a settled agrarian culture is born, such as the ancient Hindu and Christian societies, they tend to build a township not only to protect people from outside influences, but also to develop a mental framework based on rules and regulations that one should abide by. A division of labor and division of function is the result of the complexity of an agrarian culture. From this division, the ancient Hindus of the Vedic civilization developed a caste system to assign the labor and function of society. The Hindu caste is made up of the Brahmins (priesthood), Kshatriyas (nobility), Vaishya (merchants and farmers), and the Shudras (laborers). A direct reflection of this caste system is that of the medieval Christian society under the feudal system, where we have the priesthood of the church, feudal lords and royalty of nobility, farmers and merchants of the commons, and the serfs who were the slaves. This pattern is still with us today, as when we are born into this world we come out of nature and are taught to submit to a caste and rule of society and culture.
This is the crucifixion of the individual and the sacrifice we all suffer. According to the tyranny of the machine, this crucifixion is for the “common good.” But there is a stark difference between the Hindu and Christian societies of ancient times, and that difference is that once a Hindu has fulfilled their duties for society in this life, they are allowed to break away from caste and become a sage in the forest, which is loathed by Christian society as one is thought of as useless if they do not contribute to the social order. This break away from caste is viewed as a return back to nature and could be thought of as a resurrection. A sage is not moved by the social mind and its motives and so they do not conform to its rule. Jesus was a sage in this mold, and is why he was not thought of as a particularly good member of society and he was actually put to death by such a deluded conformist society. Those who submit lose their natural innocence.
Our submission to rule annihilates the freedom that is innately ours. In such a structure of submission, enlightenment is something one can only ponder in the hope of experiencing it in later life according to the Hindu caste system. But as we see in modern-day India, the life of a vanaprastha (Sanskrit for an individual living in the forest as a hermit after giving up material desires) is seldom taken on because its appeal has been diminished by our society and culture, which suppress individual spiritual liberation. From the inception of agrarian culture until now, the society and culture dictate life toward the individual. We develop a subtle psychosis from trying to tiptoe our whole life within the prisonlike confines of the rules and regulations that keep the machine ticking.
This form of social and cultural suppression, as we see with the ancient Hindu caste system, evolved from groups of people attaining positions of power, such as the Brahmins (priesthood) and Kshatriyas (nobility). It would be hard for us to speculate how this all occurred. But our world now is the outgrowth of that original conception. From the beginnings of this hierarchy the average individual is made to feel subordinate to the higher classes. And so we develop this view that life is governed from above. This view is in stark contrast to how life was within pre-agrarian tribal communities, because they were part of a group consensus who all belonged to nature. The governing-from-above view of life infiltrated all aspects of society, culture, and religion. All the way from the highest ranks to the lowest, people have this idea of a governing system of control from above.
Religions were quick to adopt this system of authority. Our spirituality coming out of the natural world was molded into a tool of indoctrinated belief to rule the population. According to Sigmund Freud, the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, known as Amenhotep IV before the fifth year of his reign, who Freud suggests is the pioneer of a monotheistic religion that Moses was probably a follower of, spawned the concept that the universe is governed from above. As a result of this common belief, the universe took on the role as a governor and lawgiver from above. The ancient Persians had a tradition of “king of kings,” which came from Darius I (550–486 BCE). This tradition is based on a kingly God lording over the world, which is the essence of a political analogy of the universe that many kings throughout history employed to maintain control of the masses. During that time, the idea of a king of kings was a foreign way of looking at the universe, and was diametrically opposed to the thought of China, Greece, India, and the great philosophers of those civilizations of that time, most notably Lao-tzu, Pythagoras, Gautama the Buddha, and Confucius. It does not matter whether we were living in Egypt, Babylon, Chaldea, India, or anywhere else, because the king of kings tradition became a social norm that one should adhere to. As a result of this belief, we began to think of God as a king, along with the idea that “he” punishes us for our sins. The irony here is that what we perceive as sins are only judged as such according to what is not accepted for the beneficial upkeep of the society, culture, and religion.
If God is all-loving, why would she/he/it punish its children or cause them any harm intentionally? We are again giving away our sense of responsibility here, because we expect God to punish us for our sins, rather than admitting that we are punished by our sins. This differs vastly from Eastern wisdom. In the East we discover the law of karma, which is based on the obvious phenomena of actions and their processes of cause and effect. The major difference is that according to the principle of karma there is no good or bad, as these are personal judgments that differ among individuals. But instead karma aligns with the age-old phrase “you reap what you sow.” This also corresponds to the sixth principle in Hermeticism:
VI. THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause;
everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a
name for Law not recognized; there are many planes
of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.1
Law in Hermetic terminology is not to be thought of as a governing apparatus in the sense of a law giver from above. But rather it is a natural flux of the universe and consciousness that keeps reality harmonious, which is actually in alignment with the Chinese Tao and Sanskrit Brahman. Inquiring into this, we discover that the monarchical view of reality has developed far more in Western religions than those of the East. For example, in the West we think of God as a “creator” of the universe in the kingly sense, as how one would govern from above. Yet in the East there is still a relationship to nature, because in most spiritual paths of the East they view the universe as an organism that grows without any aspect of monarchy, as monarchy is a human concept. A child in Europe, for instance, may ask her mother, “How was I made?” but in China a child may ask her mother, “How did I grow?”
The fundamental differences between the Eastern and Western views of the universe can be attributed to the Book of Genesis. According to Genesis the universe is “made” in the same way that a carpenter builds a house. The world is an artifact from the hands of an all-governing creator God. Remember how we are all taught that Jesus was the son of a carpenter, which is actually an allegory, because Jesus was also the son of God (creator or carpenter). This model of the universe is what British philosopher Alan Watts called “the ceramic model of the universe.”
Christianity and its thousands of sects are based heavily on the principle of God as creator of the universe. This is why most Christians think of God or Jesus as a king. In The Book of Common Prayer it states:
O Lord our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King
of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes, who
dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon
earth.2
The effect of kingly worship leads people to relate to the world as if they were subjects under a king. The church is based on this monarchical theory with the Pope on his throne and also in how the leader of the congregation can come across as a tyrant wielding the fear of God rather than as a holy man. A great Catholic cathedral, for instance, is known as a basilica, a Latin word that derives from the Greek basileios stoa, meaning both a “Royal Stoa” (ancient Greek architecture) and a tribunal chamber for a king. So a basilica is a house fit for a king, such as the Pope, for example. On top of this, the ritual of the Catholic Church is based on the court rituals of Byzantium.
In direct relation to this kingly place of worship, the Protestant Church is built on the same principle as a judicial courthouse. Both Catholic and Protestant architectural structures are built on a monarchical and political view of the universe. All of this disassociates the individual from the church and ultimately from God. The monarchical view of the universe suggests that there is a difference between the maker and made, creator and created, and so on. As we have stated, this model originated from cultures whose governments were monarchical.
This assumption of a difference between maker and made is upheld by the established authority of our time, whether that be religion, nation, government, corporate, banking or commerce. To define and promote the apparent difference between creator and created benefits such institutions because people erroneously believe the status quo, which tells them they are only an effect rather than a cause. This perception results from the concept that we are made in the same way that a carpenter builds a house with his hands, meaning anything that is created by work performed from the outside inward, as a sculptor carves wood. Again, this is vastly different from the perception of the original tribal cultures, and also the wisdom of the East, because there the universe is perceived as an organism that grows. So when we watch anything that grows in nature it manifests from the inside out, as a flower blossoms and expands from a simple humble bud.
We do not necessarily need to debate about this natural growth fact, because this is the way things are in nature. All organisms are in accord with this natural growth pattern from the inside out. Yet the human mind has been conditioned into the opposite perspective of the monarchical view of reality since the dawn of agrarian culture. As a result, control and force have been substituted for organic growth. Even within our human body we feel the effects of this monarchical view.
Enlightenment Now by Jason Gregory © 2016 Inner Traditions. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com
Notes
1. Three Initiates, Kybalion, 38.
2. Society of Archbishop Justus, The Book of Common Prayer,
http://justus .anglican.org/resources/bcp/Shorter/preay&thanks.htm.
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A human has two primary states of awareness or modes of being. As we have mentioned there are those who are drawn into the daily dramas of life and those who have an elevated perspective, capable of seeing a fractal harmony within all life. These two states of awareness run parallel with the conscious state of the false ego and the true self, respectively. The ego perceives the fine details of reality. Like a microscope the ego focuses on the very tiny matters of life, then mistakenly builds its psychology around these insignificant situations. On the other hand the true self is the state of consciousness so pure that it constantly sees that life is pattern; in this state the unfolding universe can be visualized. This state of awareness is a mind of no deliberation, a mind that does not attach itself to any circumstance or thought—past, present, or future. The true self dwells within the spiritual plane and knows the soul vibrations, hence the evolution of perception. We associate this state of consciousness with a teacher of eternity or a sage, and the state of consciousness of the ego caught in the details with the masses or the profane. Both primary states of awareness are built into the universal structure. These two viewpoints have been an area of confusion throughout the ages. Yet both are necessary and together form a cosmic law.
The teacher and student relationship is found in all levels of life, whether as parent and child, teacher and student, or— the most mysterious of all—master and disciple. In the immutable relationship between master and disciple, the disciple is still deluded by the mind, whereas the master knows the totality of our being. These two modes are represented in ancient scriptures and mystical stories as “the warrior” and “the sage.” Many examples of a sage teaching a warrior are found in the Vedantic treatises of India, most notably the Bhagavad Gita and Ribhu Gita (Song of Ribhu). The Bhagavad Gita tells the story of Arjuna the warrior and Krishna the sage, while the Ribhu Gita refers to Nidagha the warrior and Ribhu the sage. In both classics the warrior is suffering from his own mind and plight within this world. As he begins to question his mind, the guidance of the sage appears. In both scriptures the whole process is to lift the warrior’s mode of perception out of the details of life into the vision of the Divine. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna attempts to move Arjuna’s awareness out of the daily mundane struggles of life into the vision of Brahman, which is to see the infinite in all things. Verses 31, 32, and 33 of chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita state:
When a sensible man ceases to see different
identities due to different material bodies and
he sees how beings are expanded everywhere,
he attains to the Brahman conception.
Those with the vision of eternity can see
that the imperishable soul is transcendental,
eternal, and beyond the modes of nature.
Despite contact with the material body,
O Arjuna, the soul neither does anything nor
is entangled.
The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix
with anything, although it is all-pervading.
Similarly, the soul situated in Brahman vision
does not mix with the body, though situated in
that body.1
This is only one of many ways to interpret these scriptures, but this way of understanding the relationship between the warrior and sage is imperative to the practice of the science of humility. These two modes of being correspond to the flow of chaos (warrior) and order (sage) within consciousness. One of the biggest problems to plague this planet throughout time has been the fostering of the warrior’s consciousness and the continual suppression of the sage’s consciousness. It comes back to the individual, so there is no one to blame for this other than ourselves. Our obstinate refusal to look within ourselves to find the true problems in our world has allowed us to further justify our own habitual ways that are slowly killing the human species. For us to ward off this fate, we need to understand where our awareness is rooted. To do this we need to explore the characteristics of a warrior and a sage.
The warrior is an ephemeral state of awareness that gets swept up in trying to change the world. To achieve this implied change, warriors attempt to impose their will on others. In the belief they are striving for world peace, they cause more trauma. The warrior does not know that fighting for a solution only increases a problem. Why do we fight? Here “fight,” means to have conflict or oppose some situation either within or without.
One of the major dilemmas of the human psyche is having the notion that something is either good or bad. When an individual judges if something is good or bad, it comes back to the false psychological state known as the ego: humans judge if something is good or bad according to their own conditioning from birth. Not being conscious of this, warriors seek to change the world according to their likes and dislikes. So a warrior does not truly want to bring peace to the world because he is in fact conspiring against it. The majority of beings on Earth have a warrior’s consciousness, which is evident in the chaos of the physical and mental worlds. Those who believe that what is right for them is the way for everybody else are not truly concerned about another being’s authentic way of life.
A warrior harbors an artificial internal conspiracy, that of believing that we are our thoughts and our accumulated conditioning. Buying into the grand delusion of conditioning fragments reality into chaos and separation. The warrior knows the chattering within the mind but is ignorant of the one who hears the thoughts. As warriors are only conscious of the physical and mental planes, they ignorantly perpetuate their beliefs of separation. These beliefs usually fall into the categories of political, religious, social, and so on.
If you are taking upon yourself the responsibility to change the world, on whose authority are you doing this? Is this through your dharma, which inspires others, or a belief system that you want to uphold? Warriors who try to push their personal agenda upon others through any means necessary get caught up in hatred and violence toward those who oppose that agenda. The question we need to ask is whether the world needs to change and according to whose plans?
As the warrior is projecting all of her inner falsified qualities on to the world, surely the salvation that needs to take place is within the individual. Those who are stuck in the awareness of a warrior, and are drawn into worldly affairs with an illusion of changing the status quo to their liking, will only contribute to decay on all levels of life, leading to the annihilation of the race. Real evolution has nothing to do with changing finite matters; it is only found by stepping out of worldly affairs with a determination to change the individual who sees the world.
The great work of eternity is about refining the consciousness to a single point. This refined consciousness allows the individual to bring the eternal virtue of the science of humility into the manifest world. The single-pointed consciousness we are speaking of is not snagged by any thought, emotion, or external circumstance, because the awareness is rooted in the universal perspective. The one who knows the science of humility knows that to try to control any aspect of the universe is futile.
A sage is someone who is sincere in the search for the eternal within. Those with the evolved consciousness of a sage do not put off enlightenment for their next life as they know truth is only here and now. Nothing distracts their focus on how to truly see themselves and the totality of the cosmos. This is a major difference between a warrior and a sage: a warrior remains distracted by external events while a sage sees distractions as mental projections of the ego, and turns inward to see the true source of the problem. By turning within the sage realizes that the result of perceiving the world through the eyes of individual conditioning is that all judgments and desires are not based in the foundation of one’s being. A sage then seeks to eradicate latent tendencies and habitual ways of thinking from his consciousness. For warriors this is a scary undertaking, because the majority of beings on this planet will do anything to distract themselves from facing their own psyche. Sages do not see this as scary but as imperative to evolution and salvation. As they begin to move away from all of the external noise, more space begins to enter their being, which gives them the crystal clear clarity of how to see through the universal eye.
The subjective consciousness of the warrior is caught in the details while the objective consciousness of the sage sees correctly. In all esoteric work the whole purpose of any system is to take us from a subjective worldview to an objective reality. The more we refine our consciousness, the more we begin to access this objective reality.
Upon self-reflection the sage sees that what he wanted for the world and himself was attuned to his egocentric conditioning. So the process of ridding himself of his own inner conspiracy doesn’t end until the very last remnant of illusion is combed out. This process is what moves the sage from being concerned with worldly affairs. A sage knows fundamentally that to truly change the world, we need to change where the world comes from. And where it comes from is the individual’s perception of it. This is a bitter pill to swallow for some, because this means that force actually never truly changes anything. At best it may provide a momentary Band-Aid for a situation.
Force and humility are the two virtues that distinguish a warrior from a sage. Warriors see external events and seek to change them to suit their conditioning, yet this is a process of forcing their own version of reality upon others. In most cases this appears as a revolution. It doesn’t matter whether it is the overthrowing of a particular political party, religious group, or social system; they are all only temporary solutions from the same ground of the ego. Warriors do not see that they have their own agenda to perpetuate. What is most astonishing is that the inner and outer actions of the warrior actually imply that the universal design of creation is faulty and that God made a mistake. A warrior would not question the structure of his own abode, so how could he ignorantly question the structural design of consciousness? The illusion of separation continues to distort the universe through this ignorant mode of awareness until the vanity of the warrior is exposed through a fight that cannot and will not be won.
The sage, on the other hand, knows that no matter how hard we try, we will never defeat the universe and its unfoldment. The sage knows that life is pattern and each fragment of the universe is connected to every other part; nothing can escape this cosmic web. The sage sees no reason to fight because she is attuned to the universal harmony from her elevation of consciousness. Sages know it is absurd to question the design of the universe, so instead seek to find how they are part of the universe. Through their inner exploration, sages discover that the universe is in constant change and that this universal process is unfolding within them as well. So the grand choice becomes apparently clear: we can either fight the universal stream, or we can swim with it. We can force ourselves upon the universe, or become humble students of it.
The gulf of understanding between a warrior and a sage has been with humanity since ancient times. The teacher of eternity known as Chuang-tzu once described an imaginary dialogue between two of the great masters of antiquity, Confucius and Lao-tzu. It is believed that Confucius was a disciple of Lao-tzu. In this dialogue you will see a conversation between a warrior and a sage beautifully depicted.
“Tell me,” said Lao-tzu, “in what consist charity and duty to
one’s neighbour?”
“They consist,” answered Confucius, “in a capacity for rejoicing in all things; in universal love, without the element of self. These are the characteristics of charity and duty to one’s neighbour.”
“What stuff!” cried Lao-tzu. “Does not universal love contradict itself? Is not your elimination of self a positive manifestation of self? Sir, if you would cause the empire not to lose its source of nourishment—there is the universe, its regularity is unceasing; there are the sun and moon, their brightness is unceasing; there are the stars, their groupings never change; there are the birds and beasts, they flock together without varying; there are the trees and shrubs, they grow upward without exception. Be like these: follow Tao, and you will be perfect. Why then these vain struggles after charity and duty to one’s neighbour, as though beating a drum in search of a fugitive. Alas! Sir, you have brought much confusion into the mind of man.”2
The unfoldment of the universe is always teaching us that no matter how hard we try, things are just as they are supposed to be. On another level they are paradoxically viewed as problems to be overcome. These two ways of perception are built into the fabric of the universe, with both a warrior and a sage playing their role in the grand unfoldment of the cosmos. While warriors see separate parts and seek to change them, the sage sees the totality of the universe. The sage does not fight anything either within or without, because distinctions do not exist for a sage. The sage begins to act and move as the universe does, and the evolution of perception brings the realization that the focus of attention that the warrior possesses is only a part of the universal makeup.
The sage’s revelation is the understanding that even if warriors aspire to go beyond the mind and reach enlightenment, they will always fall short. Even though the goal is higher, trying to reach it by fighting will not be successful. Ultimately the sage reveals the wisdom of the universe: that no matter how hard you try, you cannot hold on to yourself. This is what is referred to by terms such as samadhi, satori, and enlightenment. As a reflection of the universe a sage will change with it. The process of the universe is not something that takes gigantic leaps; it moves in very small stages. So the movement of perception from that of a warrior to that of a sage is a constant flow of conscious energy. Like a mountain stream the universal stream moves in a fluid motion without being attached to what is perceived as external reality; in not being caught anywhere, it moves toward the larger body of water.
The Science and Practice of Humility by Jason Gregory © 2014 Inner Traditions. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com
Notes
1. Prabhupada, Bhagavad Gita As It Is, 561–63.
2. Watts, The Way of Zen, 26.
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Taoism is a path often confused with being a conventional religion and primarily a form of spiritual cultivation concerned with martial arts and other Taoist arts. This is not completely untrue but its not the entire picture. All forms of Taoist spiritual cultivation and the religion are all based on its original philosophy going back 2,500 years to Lao-tzu and the Tao Te Ching.
The problem with many modern spiritual movements is they have lost touch with the original philosophy of what they seek to practice and understand, modern watered down yoga is a good example. The Western version of yoga is just not yoga (watch my episode of Enlightenment Today on Yoga and the Eight Limbs of Yoga to understand the tradition). And this temperament is rife within those interested in Taoism. If you are not schooling yourself in the philosophy, or learning it in unison with your practice, then your practice will be handicapped.
A human mind learns anything thoroughly when a framework for understanding has been studied. In regards to the Eastern spiritual traditions, it is best to study the philosophical framework from top to bottom so that your practice means something much deeper, so you can understand the intense process you are going through. Being absorbed in a spiritual process means we are in turn cultivating intelligence along the way.
So it is not enough to go to a Taoist arts course, or your local yoga group, if we are just going to hang out with like minds and get distracted with mindless chit chat, turning the practice into a purely physical exercise or form of spiritual materialism. You have to throw yourself in the fire if you are serious about deep transformation. This means a lifetime of study when it comes to the spiritual traditions of the East. Though this shouldn’t be thought of as drudgery, but instead, it is an ever expanding joy you feel in your heart as those rich Eastern traditions will begin you to crack open your mind so it can blossom like a lotus flower.
And to allow this transformation to bloom we need the right books to study. But I can tell you there are a number of books out there posing to be Taoist literature and then there are those that are authentic and sadly usually they’re the ones less read.
To get a deep grasp of Taoism it is important to understand it in relation to the other great philosophies of the Warring States period of China. To understand the mind of Lao-tzu it is important to understand that period of time and the other sages that shared that time with him (if he did exist). One of the best books to understand the basis of Chinese thought is the Readings of Classical Chinese Philosophy by Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden. Both Ivanhoe and Van Norden are esteemed scholars in the field of Chinese thought and have dedicated their lives to the study of its philosophy. This book includes all the classic texts of Chinese thought, including the works of Lao-tzu, Confucius, Mencius, Chuang-tzu, and more. This book is not just a great start but a great source book going forward.
Even though Ivanhoe and Van Norden cover the classics in their anthology, it is good to get the classics on their own and some different translations to see some different scholarly perspectives. The Tao Te Ching is obviously imperative if you want to understand Taoism. There are a host of translations out there, some are authentic and some try to modernize the text.
The second classic to study is the Chuang-tzu text. Some of the stories within the Chuang-tzu are something we could read in an afternoon but contemplate for a lifetime. He especially articulates the Taoist view of impartiality and mutuality as opposed to a mundane belief in good and bad, right and wrong, a righteous sense of morality, and a rationality that disembodies our mind and body. In my personal collection I own the Burton Watson translation which I love, but there are many great translations out there.
A third classic to consider, though not considered traditionally Taoist, is the Mencius text by Mencius. Mencius is a Confucian but many scholars, and even myself, believe that much of his philosophy is Taoist rather than Confucian. To learn more about Mencius its best to watch my episode of Enlightenment Today on Mencius.
On top of reading all the classics, there are a host of great contemporary scholars and teachers who explore Taoist thought very deeply. Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, who I mentioned earlier, have a host of great books exploring Chinese thought. Both have translated some of the classics, including the Tao Te Ching and the Mencius.
Another scholar you need to know is Hans-Georg Moeller. Moeller has significantly shaped the way I think about Taoism. His recent classic Genuine Pretending,co-authored with Paul J. D’Ambrosio, is a must have in your library, especially if you want to understand the mind of Chuang-tzu. Moeller’s other books, such as The Philosophy of the Daodejing, Daoism Explained, and his translation of the Tao Te Ching are must reads.
Edward Slingerland is another scholar you need to know. Slingerland has done a great job popularizing Chinese thought through his book Trying Not to Try. This book is a great exploration of wu-wei from the differing perspectives of the great sages from the Warring States period. But even though this book was for more of a mainstream audience, it still has great depth and is not just for beginners. Slingerland also has another great book on wu-wei called Effortless Action which is far more academic but that is precisely why it is a deep read.
Personally I was introduced to Taoism through the philosophy and not the practices of Taoist arts, though I began engaged in them as time went on. The Tao Te Ching was my introduction, and it is a text I still contemplate until this day. On top of that were the classics, including the Chuang-tzu which is one of my favorite books ever. Alan Watts also played a big part in my interests in Taoism. When I read Tao: The Watercourse Way I was blown away by the effortlessness of this book and the way it pierced into the heart of what Lao-tzu was trying to explain. Its a book I’ve read many times and I believe it is a book that captures the spiritual dimension of Taoism. Watts is one of those individuals who was a living embodiment of Eastern thought, with his humor, wit, and wisdom guiding the way for many of us.
Once you have a foundation for understanding Taoism you will be cognizant of the spiritual dimension of Taoism. Then you will be able to approach your practice with a mental framework that is solid for effective transformation. Keep in mind, when I say practice, this doesn’t have to be a Taoist practice because the philosophy of Taoism is the art of living, living a life in harmony with nature as it is, with a mind of no deliberation, essentially a state of psychological effortlessness. But if you’re interested in the Taoist arts, traditional Chinese medicine, and its healing methods, there are a host of books written on the subject, too many to list here (I suggest exploring the work of Damo Mitchell, Daniel Reid, Yang Jwing-Ming, and many others).
The philosophy of Taoism is one of the most efficacious spiritual paths in the world. It is my hope that one day the philosophical tenets of Taoism will become more interesting for people to study, not only in the West but also in modern Marxist China. To live in harmony with nature we first need to realize that we are nature and once our life becomes as simple as nature then we become an aperture for the universe to express its beauty. That’s the promise of Taoist philosophy.
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Effortless Living is out now (published March 13, 2018). I’m excited for everyone to read it and hopefully it will inspire people to look deeply and seriously into the ancient teachings of wu-wei as explained by Lao-tzu. This book had a natural gestation period which was much longer than my previous books and ironically (or synchronistically) mimics some of the natural Taoist philosophy and wisdom I share in the book. Some of the key elements of the book are:
• A guide for achieving an enlightened mind through the art of non-doing
• Details meditation practices, focused on stillness of the mind, along with Patanjali’s yoga methods to maintain a consciousness referred to as “being in the zone”
• Builds on Taoist, Confucian, and Hindu principles along with scientific findings to support wu-wei–the art of non-doing, non-forcing–as a way of life
• Explains how wu-wei practitioners cultivate intelligent spontaneity and effortless action to allow the natural harmony of the cosmos to prevail
Effortless Living is available in all book stores and also online. Explore the links below to discover all the publication deals available:
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Trusting life and allowing life to be as it will without our conscious interference is the wisdom Lao-tzu brought forth which is still alive today. This wisdom is more relevant now than ever. Not only is this wisdom practical and sane, but it is also an antidote to a world that has got itself in a big rush, become so opinionated, and misinformed on the nature of life. Effortless Living is the way forward into peace and sanity for all.
The science and practice of martial arts are based to some degree on the science of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This is evident in the fact that TCM focuses on how our body is a miniature inner universe. When we know and understand this inner universe, we begin to know the greater, outer universe and see how both function the same. Martial arts make use of this idea through movement methods that are supposed to open up the meridian channels of the body. This allows qi to flow freely, so that the mind and body are in harmony with the effortlessness of the heavens. This experiential knowledge attained by martial artists is supposed to transfer over into daily life, as it did with Thor Heyerdahl. Trust, then, is at the heart of martial arts, as they are based on the fundamental Taoist philosophy of wu-wei. The problem with martial arts is, as I have mentioned, that they have been infected with the cultural tendency toward doing, which becomes an intellectual game of striving for a so-called goal. Our whole world is invested in the energy of yang at the expense of yin.
Our modern habits of doing, control, and force are deeply entrenched in both spiritually oriented and combat-oriented martial arts. And yet the core of both methods is the same, as martial arts are about transforming your character to reveal your true nature. This is the spiritual heart of martial arts, but it has been misinterpreted by Westerners and also by numerous people in the East. Many people think that the spiritual transformation in martial arts is about attaining powers or experiencing some altered state of consciousness similar to a psychedelic experience. This way of thinking is the “amateur spirituality” to which Chuang-tzu alluded. Amateur spirituality is the attraction to peacock consciousness, meaning that people still have the yang habit of showing off or telling other people about how peaceful and lucid their state of mind is. The irony of peacock consciousness is you find these people always talking about themselves, to the point where the listener feels ill and exhausted. This is especially true for those people trying to attain supernatural powers, called siddhis in Sanskrit.
Such proclamations prove that no real transformation has occurred. All that has occurred is that one has become a well-trained show pony. This show-pony attitude is yang-oriented and has nothing to do with the basis of martial arts. As a result martial arts in the modern world are based on the perpetual activity of yang and failing to embrace the nondoing of yin. We discover this yang-over-yin temperament in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), which is best-known through the organization of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The athletes of MMA are well-trained; many of them function at a rate of peak performance, which can be quite a spectacle to watch. But the problem is that many mixed martial artists and spectators believe martial arts are about talking trash and beating the hell out of the opponent. Though this may be entertaining for the spectator, we should not delude ourselves into thinking this has anything to do with martial arts. Rather it is just martial arts on steroids, polluted with the idea of yang over yin, doing over non-doing.
This attitude inclines one toward competition because of its innate characteristics of force and control. If mixed martial artists, or any combat sport athletes, for that matter, were serious about martial arts, they would need to understand and embrace the essential tenet of cooperation. Cooperation in martial arts is evident in the internal practice of pushing hands, known as tui shou in Chinese. In the practice of pushing hands, each person is feeling and moving according to the energy of the opposing person. Pushing hands works to undo our natural instinct to resist force with force by teaching the body to yield to force and redirect it. Force does not exist in this practice, because in feeling and moving according to the energy of the other person, we are accessing our receptive yin nature. Yin evokes the art of cooperation. Although it may appear that pushing hands is a form of competition, it instead is a dance, as you essentially need two to tango. Even so, pushing hands, like many other aspects of martial arts, has succumbed to the tendency toward the yang characteristics of competition and peacock consciousness.
In both spiritually oriented and combat-oriented martial arts and MMA, the yin art of cooperation is at the core of all forms of cultivation. For example, if a mixed martial artist is trained properly, he or she will know that there is no opponent other than himself or herself. You are essentially testing yourself against your so-called opponent. The only opponent is yourself, and your perceived opponent is a mirror of where you are in your training. The mirror of the opponent reflects back to you your spiritual development as well as aspects of your character that have not been transformed or cleansed out of your psyche. So no matter what form of martial arts we are talking about—including MMA—the essential heart of the art is to blunt your sharpness.
Blunting the sharpness is a phrase used by Lao-tzu in the Tao Te Ching to describe the softening of one’s rigid personality. In martial arts, it is about evoking the yin qualities of humility, compassion, forgiveness, respect, and honor. For thousands of years, martial arts have been mistakenly seen as practices to cultivate the yang, masculine characteristics of power, force, and control. This incorrect perspective has only increased our tendencies toward competition and trying to stand out in the crowd. Martial arts are not based on yang over yin but on yin over yang. They are a practice that mimics life, as the majority of the time we are in the yin of nondoing. When those brief moments of time come for us to act, we are precise and our timing is impeccable.
The nature of our psychosomatic organism is to reside in yin and only activate yang when needed. This is actually the fundamental function of our psyche. Our attempts to reverse this order are causing psychological problems and mental-health issues that contribute to a world gone insane. The natural function of residing in the feminine yin while moderately accessing the masculine yang was explained by Lao-tzu in the Tao Te Ching thousands of years ago:
Know the male,
yet keep to the female:
receive the world in your arms.
If you receive the world,
the Tao will never leave you
and you will be like a little child.1
In the humility of yin we do not seek to be special or to attain superpowers. We go about our life quietly and do not make a noise about the mystery of Tao that we experience within our consciousness, because it is in itself indescribable. This is the elite spirituality of Chuang-tzu. This means we know experientially, but it is not intellectually explainable. The experience of Tao/Brahman/Godhead within is beyond knowing logically or finding a conclusion, because it is nonlinear and eternal. Only in the finite realm of existence can we come to logical conclusions and dissect with our intellect. The principal method of the practice of koans in Zen Buddhism is to overcome the intellect, and this is the prevailing philosophy of the East. In the Tao Te Ching Lao-tzu states:
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.2
This wisdom is also found in India in the ancient text of the Kena Upanishad from the Vedic era of India:
Brahman is unknown to those who know It, and
is known to those who do not know It at all.3
The meaning of this verse is that those who say they know Brahman still have a concept or object of knowledge in their mind. Since Brahman transcends the mind and our thinking, no concept can capture it, and so we cannot say we really know it. The academics and intellectuals who believe they can explain the universe and its mystery by somehow coming to logical conclusions are deluded. They have lost their intrinsic sense of awe and cannot witness beauty without analyzing it.
Many people in the world are in the yang habit of using their intellect as a scalpel to dissect life into pieces so as to analyze the details. Many of us who underwent a formal education had the chance in science class to dissect an animal, usually a frog or toad. When we dissect a frog, it becomes a mess. When our dissection is finished, though we can describe the frog’s internal organs, we have lost sight of its beauty. In dissecting the frog, we pulled it apart into discrete pieces, destroying its inclusive totality. When we dissect life, we destroy it. This is occurring right now, as our world is embracing yang over yin, which is against nature’s way.
Effortless Living by Jason Gregory © 2018 Inner Traditions. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com
Notes
1. Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 28.
2. Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 1.
3.Quoted in Columbus and Rice, Alan Watts, 52–53.
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In a linear world, the external order dictates an artificial way of life to the individual, creating a conformist society and forcing us to relinquish our power to a machine that is unnatural and devoid of life. This passive conformity can be traced back to the origins of the Vedic Hindu caste system and the feudal system under medieval Western Christianity. When a settled agrarian culture such as these is born, it tends to build towns, not only to protect people from outside influences, but also to develop a mental framework based on rules and regulations.
The complexity of agrarian culture leads to a division of labor and a division of function. From this division, the ancient Hindus (the Vedic civilization of Dravidians and Aryans) developed a caste system. The Hindu caste system is made up of the Brahmins (priesthood), Kshatriyas (nobility), Vaishyas (merchants and farmers), and the Shudras (laborers). A direct parallel to the Hindu caste system can be found in medieval Christian society, where we see the priesthood and the church, feudal lords and nobility, farmers and merchants of the commons, and the serfs.
Although we no longer have a caste system, this underlying pattern is still with us today. When we are born into this world, we come out of our mother’s womb (nature) and are taught to submit to the rules of society and culture according to our socioeconomic status. This is the crucifixion of the individual; it is the sacrifice we all make. According to the tyranny of the machine, this crucifixion is for the “common good” or “greater good.” But there is a stark difference between the Hindu and Christian societies of ancient times.
First of all, the function of the Vedic caste system was an act of surrender to Brahman (ultimate reality/godhead). Individuals would crucify their egos and their desires in favor of the lives they had been given by nature. This means they would not seek another path or to try and control their lives according to their interests. Instead they would abide by the order of society, which helped them diminish their egos so that they could feel the presence of Brahman within themselves. This is dharma as social duty.
The second difference is that, once Hindus have fulfilled their social duties in this life, they are allowed to break away from caste and become renunciate sages in the forest, a practice and title known as vanaprastha in Sanskrit. (This possibility is loathed by Christian society, because one is thought of as useless if one does not contribute to the social order.) This breakaway from caste is viewed as a return back to nature and could be thought of as a resurrection. A sage is not part of society and does not conform to its rule. Jesus was a sage in this mold. This is why he was not thought of as a particularly good member of society and he was actually put to death (if we take the story of Jesus to be real). Those who submit invariably lose their natural innocence.
Conformity is the result of force. When individuals are forced by society and culture into life situations that are against their will, they give away their natural sovereignty in exchange for comfort and servitude and are psychologically reduced to sheep. We have developed this sheeplike behavior as a result of the belief that the morals and ethics forced upon us by society are avenues to success and freedom. But this notion is absurd inasmuch as the success and freedom of our world are unnatural. These goals are gauged only by finances. But obviously this is not true success or freedom, as money is empty and void of meaning, and it provides no happiness other than that of acquisition. Happiness cannot be contained in anything that we need to force to happen.
As human life is forced into a sheeplike way of being, happiness is reduced to momentary stimulants of excitement. In such a life we can never express our natural divinity, li, because we are following the model of someone else’s idea of life. Yet conforming to anything other than one’s own innate world destroys us physically, mentally, and spiritually, as te, the virtue of Tao, cannot come through the organic pattern of the individual, li. Anxiety, depression, and stress are so prevalent in this day and age partly because we are forced to live such lives. Wars and social unrest then reflect the individual’s anxiety.
Liberated individuals are in alignment with their own nature and with the Tao. They do not benefit the accepted social order and are regarded as useless in the eyes of institutional and organizational power. Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu were treated this way, because they could see the unnaturalness of an artificial society. The Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth were two other such sages who could see through the hypnotic veil. A liberated sage understands that anyone who continues to act out the unnatural patterns of conditioning is contributing to chaos and destruction, either consciously or unconsciously. One who is liberated, on the other hand, begins the yoking process until a crystal-clear perception of the Tao in reality can be experienced. In Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching, he states:
Not every man has an obligation to mingle in the affairs of the world. There are some who are developed to such a degree that they are justified in letting the world go its own way and in refusing to enter public life with a view of reforming it. But this does not imply a right to remain idle or to sit back and merely criticize. Such withdrawal is justified only when we strive to realize in ourselves the higher aims of mankind. For although the sage remains distant from the turmoil of daily life, he creates incomparable human values for the future.1
Evidence for these “incomparable human values” can be found in the legacy that a sage leaves behind. Lao-tzu is a good example. It has been over 2,500 years since he lived, and yet his wisdom still reverberates within our consciousness today. This is the power of te.
The virtue of te is only available to those who do not seek power, control, or force. Governments, politics, banking, religions, and commerce, on the other hand, are constantly striving for control by forcing the population to their will. This poses a significant hurdle for humanity to overcome. What would it take to bring the individual and the collective back into harmony with the Tao?
Effortless Living by Jason Gregory © 2018 Inner Traditions. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com
Notes
1. Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, 78.
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I’m often asked what someone should do if they want to study Vedanta. My response to this question is like any other question, its not that black and white. People argue all day whether one should have a teacher, read the classics, or stop reading altogether. Again, there is no one method that fits all. But what I will say is if you want to dive deep into Vedanta then its important to study the classics since those classics are the foundation the tradition is built on. If you haven’t studied the classics then your mind will have a tendency to lose its way in your practice which leads people into all sorts of psychological problems such as spiritual bypassing.
Even though, from the Vedic perspective we are not fundamentally the contents of our mind, those skilled adepts from thousands of years ago understood that our mind needs a framework for understanding anything to its nth degree. Our intellect can help us understand deeper concepts which unravels the mind and can have the potential to ultimately unravel the intellect. And when we speak about Vedanta we are speaking about the deepest spiritual concepts known to the human race (only other Eastern traditions compare to Vedanta such as Buddhism and Taoism).
What teachers of Vedanta explain is its ancient wisdom is not learned knowledge but instead realized knowledge from great adepts. Whether you believe in those sorts of statements is up to you, but what we cannot deny is the science of mind and universe they realized (or created) rings true once we understand the philosophical framework. And this philosophical framework has got a bad rap from modern New Age teachers who ignorantly tell people to stop reading as if it is evil (but the truth might be they can’t really grasp the depth of Vedanta so they feel obliged to ridicule the classics). As a result, we have this growing trend of unintelligent spiritual seekers who follow a New Age “guru” with no discernment in a sycophantic manner. This type of “spirituality” is not really spirituality and gives it a bad name in the same way that evangelists give Christianity a terrible reputation.
For this type of hypnosis and airy fairy woo-woo attitude to cease we have to become sincere in studying the classics as if our life depends on it, especially in Vedanta, let alone any Eastern philosophy. This is why in regards to spirituality tradition trumps New Age thought. And I can personally tell you that when you learn the tradition completely there is truly something about it that is hard to explain (this goes for any Eastern philosophy). Maybe its that ancient quality, as the tradition came from an ancient civilization of people dedicated to Sanatana Dharma (eternal tradition or way/Hinduism) and delivered a science that is still at the spiritual summit today.
Reading the classics, then, does matter. They will benefit your practice going forward. Where to start you ask? Well you have to start with what Vedanta is based on, the Prasthanatrayi. This Sanskrit word refers to the three texts that make up Vedanta: the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras. These three texts are what Vedanta is based on, so it would be absurd to not study these texts. Also, keep in mind, that there are three major branches of Vedanta which include Advaita (non-dualism), Vishishtadavaita (qualified non-dualism), and Dvaita (dualism). (Watch my episode of Enlightenment Today on Advaita Vedanta to know more). Which path you’re drawn to will depend on your temperament. But what is universal among all three schools is the study of the Prasthanatrayi. Now I can tell you there are a host of translations, and I’ve read quite a few, but I’d say do your homework before you jump in and purchase one.
In relation to understanding Vedanta there is an extraordinary amount of books, too many for me to mention. But I will mention a few that will benefit your understanding of Vedanta. Vivekachudamani (Crest Jewel of Discrimination) by Shankara are a bunch of poems on Avaita Vedanta philosophy that are important to study. Alongside Shankara’s work, there are two Gita’s worth reading that dive into Vedanta, they are the Song of the Avadhut and the Song of Ribhu. Both texts are popular in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and are more focused on Advaita. They constantly point us back to the nondual source of our existence.
Sticking with Advaita, I recommend reading Be as You Are by Sri Ramana Maharshi and I Am That by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, both of whom are regarded as two great Advaita Vedanta gurus from the 20th century. Another book is Sanatana Dharma by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya. This book is about the eternal way (or dharma and culture) known in Sanskrit as Sanatana Dharma which we call Hinduism today. Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya follows the school of Vishishtadvaita and this book is a thorough study of Sanatana Dharma. Another great book is from modern Advaita Vedanta teacher James Swartz. His book The Essence of Enlightenment is a fantastic exploration of Vedanta from a man who follows the tradition honestly.
Last, but not least, is a book written by Alan Watts called The Book. This special little book is an interesting look at Vedanta from the mind of a philosopher who was touched by the tradition.
There are other books I could mention, like basically any book by Joseph Campbell or books by Huston Smith and Aldous Huxley, but there are just too many. I feel the books I have mentioned are enough for you to clear the mind and build a new framework in your mind from the ground up that has the potential to touch what Vedanta promises: the recognition of the Eternal Brahman as your true nature.