Ignorance or innocence? Becoming One with All

For growing up, just watch a tree. As the tree grows up its roots are growing down, deeper. There is a balance—the higher the tree goes the deeper the roots will go. You cannot have a tree one hundred and fifty feet high with small roots; they could not support such a huge tree. Maturity means the same as innocence, only with one difference: it is innocence reclaimed, it is innocence recaptured.

In life, growing up means growing deep within yourself—that’s where your roots are.

To me, the first principle of life is meditation. Everything else comes second. And childhood is the best time. As you grow older it means you are coming closer to death, and it becomes more and more difficult to go into meditation.

Meditation means going into your immortality, going into your eternity, going into your godliness. And the child is the most qualified person because he is still unburdened by knowledge, unburdened by religion, unburdened by education, unburdened by all kinds of rubbish. He is innocent.

But unfortunately his innocence is condemned as ignorance. Ignorance and innocence have a similarity, but they are not the same. Ignorance is also a state of not knowing, just as innocence is—but there is a great difference too, which has been overlooked by the whole of humanity up to now. Innocence is not knowledgeable, but it is not desirous of being knowledgeable either. It is utterly content, fulfilled.

A small child has no ambitions, he has no desires. He is so absorbed in the moment—a bird on the wing catches his eye so totally; a butterfly, its beautiful colors, and he is enchanted; the rainbow in the sky … and he cannot conceive that there can be anything more significant, richer than this rainbow. And the night full of stars, stars beyond stars …

Innocence is rich, it is full, it is pure. Ignorance is poor, it is a beggar—it wants this, it wants that, it wants to be knowledgeable, it wants to be respectable, it wants to be wealthy, it wants to be powerful. Ignorance moves on the path of desire. Innocence is a state of desirelessness. But because both are without knowledge, we have remained confused about their natures. We have taken it for granted that they are the same.

Osho. Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living) . St. Martin's Press. Kindle Edition.

Osho makes the distinction between ignorance and innocence. Osho says that ignorance is not knowing but wanting to acquire knowledge. Ignorance is grasping, seeking, wanting to acquire the external. Innocence is being content with what is within and resting in wonderment, peace, curiosity, and awe.

Osho says that “Maturity means the same as innocence, only with one difference: it is innocence reclaimed, it is innocence recaptured.”

We recapture our innocence when we turn within, shed the ego world, and commune with the non dual Oneness which is our Transcendent Source from which we have separated ourselves with our birth into this worldly existence. This communing with the non dual Oneness requires a surrender of one’s will to the will of the Tao, their Higher Power however we understand It. The return to the non dual Oneness from which we have come requires a letting go of all the things we have become attached to and allowing All to be All.

Saging in our contemporary society

As an alternative to inevitable senescence, this book proposes a new model of late-life development called sage-ing, a process that enables older people to become spiritually radiant, physically vital, and socially responsible “elders of the tribe.”

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman; Miller, Ronald S.. From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older (p. 19). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

What is this role of sage-ing that Schacter-Shalomi and Miller are proposing? What does the role of a sage look like? It is the flowering of what the Stoic philosophers call a life of virtue. 

In Stoic philosophy the four cardinal virtues are: wisdom, self regulation, courage, and justice. If a person has spent their life cultivating these virtues what does this blossoming look like? How is it to be recognized, acknowledged, and benefit the society of which such a person is a part?

Some thoughtful people say that wise elders are needed more than ever in this period of rapid social and technological change when the moral compasses of past decades and centuries no longer seem to provide guidance for our social functioning and development.

Where to do you seek wisdom and to what extent have you obtained it?

Psychospiritual model of development that culminates in old age.

As the baby boomers approach their elder years—indeed, as all older adults make the transition into what sociologists call the third age—they need a psychospiritual model of development that enables them to complete their life journey, harvest the wisdom of their years, and transmit a legacy to future generations. Without envisioning old age as the culminating stage of spiritual development, we short-circuit this process and put brakes on the evolutionary imperative for growth that can be unleashed by our increased longevity.

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman; Miller, Ronald S.. From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older (pp. 18-19). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

In our contemporary society increasing numbers of people say they are “spiritual” but not “religious”. What do they mean? Is there a psychospiritual model of development that describes old age as the culminating stage of spiritual development? If so, what is the model? If not, do we need to create one? What would be some of the components and factors that comprise such a model?

Does mortality awareness bring peace or terror?

I realized that I was sloughing off an old phase of life that I had outgrown. At the same time, to my great surprise and wonderment, I was being initiated as an elder, a sage who offers his experience, balanced judgment, and wisdom for the welfare of society. As I followed the intuitive promptings that came from within, I instinctively began harvesting my life, a process that involves bringing one’s earthly journey to a successful completion, enjoying the contributions one has made, and passing on a legacy to the future. To initiate the process, I asked myself, “If I had to die now, what would I most regret not having done? What remains incomplete in my life?”

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman; Miller, Ronald S.. From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older (pp. 15-16). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

What is involved in the initiation into the role of the wise elder? Often it is a crisis or a turning point in one’s adult life when one becomes acutely aware of one’s mortality and one’s coming death. We might call this mortality awareness. 

Mortality awareness can come at many points in a person’s life cycle but doesn’t stay long. However, in the later stage of life mortality awareness comes and stays and is always sitting on one’s shoulder whispering in one’s ear, “Remember you will die soon. Make every day count in a meaningful way.”

Mortality awareness has come to stay and colors one’s daily consciousness in two ways. First, by recognizing, acknowledging, and expressing appreciation for the things that have happened in one’s life that are blessings. Two, what are the things left to do to complete one’s life, to wrap things up so one can die peacefully?

People around the wise elder perceive that the person is no longer driven, competitive, possessive, anxious, and stressed,  but rather open, accepting, and peaceful. The person gives off a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that they have come to a point where they feel that they have lived a life that they were meant to live and things are coming out alright in the end.

The wise elder communicates to others whom they meet, “Peace be with you” and a feeling of peace is experienced in this blessing from the wise elder to the other.

The wise elder is perfecting their inner world.

However, we find little emphasis on the inner, contemplative approach to aging in which we transcend doing in favor of being, learning to plumb our psyche for the spiritual gems of wisdom that come from mining our depths. In other words, aging people need to cultivate the inwardness from which wisdom grows, but our culture celebrates staying in the saddle and being productive in later life without a corresponding emphasis on being contemplative.

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman; Miller, Ronald S.. From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older . Balance. Kindle Edition. 

The wise elder turns from focusing on the outer world to the inner world. The wise elder is not as concerned with promoting health in the body as it ages although those concerns are important, but rather looks inward to spiritual consciousness. The focus is no longer on doing but on being.

The wise elder is interested in maximizing their own potential and that of others and expanding the consciousness of all sentient beings. The goal is to create a world where everybody loves everybody all the time, what some people call heaven.

So the wise elder is centered, has their shit together, and has a well integrated personality. This is achieved by cultivating and enhancing the four cardinal stoic virtues of wisdom, self regulation, courage, and justice. The wise elder has achieved so much happiness, peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment in their life that it simply spills over onto everything that comes into their path.

Where are the wise elders who can help us ameliorate our self destructive tendencies?"

 

They harvest their life experiences, pass on their wisdom to younger people, and safeguard the health of our ailing planet. Out of their late-life explorations in consciousness, elders bestow upon the world the life-giving wisdom it desperately needs and crown their lives with respect and honor.

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman; Miller, Ronald S.. From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older (p. 10). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

The wise elder reaps the fruit of their lived experience. They reflect on the story of their life and cull it for nuggets of wisdom. These nuggets they want to pass on to others they are leaving behind in subsequent generations when they die.

Sometimes a life review at a very superficial level is described in an obituary. In past decades epitaphs on a gravestone were popular, summing up the essence of a person’s life in a few words.

In a death-avoiding society young people don’t want to consider the parting words of wisdom from the people who have lived and will die before them. It is assumed or feared that the elder will have nothing relevant, significant, and worthwhile in such technologically fast changing times to impart.

The wisdom of the elder comes not from technological knowledge and competence but from values. How can the technological marvels of contemporary times be beneficially utilized? Are the applications of modern knowledge and technology good or bad, beneficial or harmful, to be embraced or avoided?

While knowledge and information is expanding at an ever accelerating rate, and the application of this knowledge and information is applied in ever new and innovative ways, spiritual intelligence and consciousness seems to lag behind putting powerful tools in the hands of adult children who are not growing up fast enough to use the knowledge and technology wisely. This deficit in spiritual intelligence leaves homo sapiens in the position of creating the circumstances for their extinction from nuclear winter, climate warming, economic meltdown, genocide, etc.

As one dispairs at the state of the world in contemporary times, one might plaintively cry “Where are the wise elders who can help us ameliorate our self destructive tendencies?"

The function of the wise elder in society.

In Stoic philosophy the wise elder is called a "sage." The sage lives a life of virtue based on the four stoic cardinal virtues: wisdom, self discipline, courage,, and justice. The sage has practiced these virtues and aspires to develop them to perfection. The life of a sage becomes vibrant and resonant with those who come into contact with it. Wisdom rubs off. Do you know anyone like this who you feel better about yourself when you are simply around them?

With the development of the four cardinal virtues the wise elder embodies resilience, integrity, and holiness. As such the wise elder is reliable, dependable, and a beacon of guidance for decision making and action. 

The wise elder’s wisdom is not based solely on intellectual knowledge or technological skill but on values; what matters in how knowledge and technology is utilized. The wise elder provides a moral compass that comes from a lifetime of experience and reflection and increase in consciousness at a personal and a social level. The wise elder knows what to do based on a deep understanding of right and wrong given the circumstances and factors that challenge decision making. The wise elder is a light house for the ships at sea who are trying to find their way and avoid collision with the hidden obstacles and barriers that exist beneath the surface.

The wise elder has expanded their consciousness and is aware of the interdependent web of existence of which human beings are a part. The wise elder is not only aware of the interdependent web but affirms and promotes it and utilizes this awareness in their interactions with others.

The function of the wise elder in society is to facilitate the enhancement of the level of consciousness of human beings. A wise elder asks themselves what would Love have me do, and then acts accordingly.

Rejuvenating the role of the wise elder.

…, we presented the model of the sage or “elder of the tribe” who benefits from extended longevity by developing extended consciousness. Elders practice contemplative disciplines from our spiritual traditions and come to terms with their mortality.

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman; Miller, Ronald S.. From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Revolutionary Approach to Growing Older (p. 10). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

This is the first of several articles on the role of the wise elder in our contemporary society. In some cultures, the wise elder is called a “sage.” This role has passed out of recognition and acknowledgment although it still exists buried underneath the materialism and youth idolization of our contemporary culture.

Some wise people think that it is time for this role to be rejuvenated, nurtured, and made more visible. Ken Wilber has taught the difference between growing old and growing up. All things animate and inanimate grow old but not all things grow up in the sense that they actualize their full potential.

If we all are to actualize our innate potential what would this flowering look like? What would it look like in your life? What do we still have left to do to die with peace and satisfaction of a completed life? Wise elders not only know how to do this, but they set an example for others. The wisdom rubs off.

In silence we can remember our Transcendent Source

Some people might read this book and say, “Oh yeah? Well what about starving children in Africa? Are they poor because their consciousness is unaligned with love?” I’d like to take this opportunity to respond to that. Starving children in Africa are not poor because their consciousness is misaligned with love; they’re poor because ours is.The Law Of Divine Compensation by Marianne Williamson, p.xiv

The alignment of consciousness with Love is not only an individual phenomenon; it is social, communal, nondualistic. No person is an island; homo sapiens is a social animal. In spite of our illusional, egotistic idea that we are individuals, we are radically dependent on others constantly for our existence. We are drops of the ocean and think we have a separate existence but we are nothing without the ocean from which we have become separated.

When we become aware of social injustice, poverty, what we consider evil in the world something has gone wrong. The system is out of whack, off kilter, needs an adjustment. We need to recognize, acknowledge, appreciate, and care for the Transcendent Source from which our separate ego selves have emanated. 

We can take a few minutes of silence today and remember that which sustains our consciousness which is a part of the All and do what we can to help our brothers and sisters around the planet..

Love the Internal Teacher

God has introduced into our minds an Internal Teacher, authorized to help us cross the bridge from fear to love when we find it difficult to do so by ourselves. The Internal Teacher is allied by different names, from the Comforter, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit. Whatever name we use, it cannot be called on in vain. The Law Of Divine Compensation by Marianne Williamson, p.xiii

In Twelve Step groups the Internal Teacher is called “Higher Power” and in secular, humanist groups the “muse”.

I sometimes talk with my clients about their head and their heart. Sometimes there is a struggle because our head is full of “shoulds”, “ought too”, and “musts” and yet our heart is just not in it. When our heart is not into something usually we experience anxiety and may get the thought that we are on the wrong track. We say to ourselves, “There must be a better way!” It’s at these times we can call on the Holy Spirit for guidance, to give us a hint, to help us choose a more loving path to get on. We can always ask ourselves “What would Love have me do?”

Wisdom in difficult political times.

One of the consistent themes in psychotherapy is the development of agency in place of victimhood.

One of the stoic virtues is wisdom which comes from knowing what we can change and control and what we can't. This comes from Epictetus originally, who taught this virtue to Marcus Aurelius and in modern times has been captured in the Serenity Prayer.

Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.

Epictetus; Lebell, Sharon. The Art of Living: Epictetus's Timeless Wisdom on Virtue, Happiness, and Tranquility for a Fulfilling and Ethical Life (p. 3). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

Probably one of the most important virtues of a psychotherapist is wisdom. Hopefully, we share our wisdom with our clients. 

There are  plenty of things we can be done to change the current state of affairs, the most important of which is to offer constructive beliefs that influence voting behavior and consumer choices. Do you believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person or that some people are better and more worthy than others? Do you believe in equity, justice, and compassion or a society of increased inequality and retribution?

Simple choices really if they are framed right giving people the opportunity to make good decisions. Perhaps the more relevant frame of reference in answering the question "What is to be done in these difficult times?"  is spiritual not political. If we try to answer the question from the same perspective that gave rise to the question we often arrive at the wrong answer.

Truth is life giving

Part of the idea of evolution is that an organism should actualize its potential or it will mutate into something different. People who don't adapt to reality will die because their beliefs and actions don't sustain life. One of the definitions of truth is that which sustains life in its optimal blossoming.

The idea of reincarnation is that  if an individual soul doesn't actualize its full potential in one's lifetime, they will have to come back and try again.

So many people don't optimize their potential in their lifetime and it is a loss for them and humanity.

Many of the social policies created and implemented are not life-giving for all people and so they must be changed or life on the planet suffers for all living things.

Clinging to dysfunctional thought systems runs deep because people cling to their egos thinking their navel is the center of the universe and they would rather die than change their mind. Clinging to dysfunctional thought systems people do not actualize their potential. Some people, like followers of Diogenes, seek for the truth and in their search they change the world.

Public service is a spiritual path if people want to see it and pursue it as such. It is as much a spiritual journal as it is a secular vocation. Some people get this, but I suspect most of the population has not attained this level of awareness yet, but someday they will. The question is not whether they attain this level of awareness but when and how. It may take many lifetimes.

One of the definitions of God that I like is "the good, the true, and the beautiful."