Beyond Theories: The Great Way

You seek to grasp the 'why' of the expanding heavens with new words and theories.

But I say to you, do not waste time in arguments and discussion, attempting to grasp the ungraspable. 

The cosmos may expand or it may contract—these are distinctions. 

To hold opinions for or against them is the disease of the mind.

The Truth is beyond time and space; one instant is eternity.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures of theory, where moth and rust destroy. 

The Kingdom is not found in the outer heavens. 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. 

Let go of your longing for an answer. 

Hold no opinions for or against the 'why' of the world, and it reveals itself.

Reflection - The Great Way: Beyond Theories

Friends, beloveds, you who are weary of the world—come and sit for a moment.

Be still.

Just... be still. Listen. Not to my words, but to the silence underneath them. Listen to the hum of your own heart.

You come to me with so many questions. Your minds are so bright, so busy. You’ve been studying, haven’t you? (A small, knowing smile.) You’ve been reading. You’ve been watching your screens. You’ve learned a new and marvellous thing.

You come to me and say, "Master! The heavens are expanding! The cosmos is racing away from itself! We have theories. We have such clever, beautiful theories! What does it mean? What is the 'why'?"

You are so proud of this new treasure. You hold it up to me, this shimmering, complex theory. You want me to tell you that this... this is the Truth.

And I say to you, do not waste your time in arguments and discussion, attempting to grasp the ungraspable.

The cosmos may expand. The cosmos may contract. It may do a little dance and turn purple with polka dots. These are distinctions. These are appearances. And to hold opinions for or against them... ah, that is the disease of the mind.

You look so disappointed. (A gentle laugh.) But you’ve heard this from me before.

You have heard it said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy." And what do you think these new theories are? They are the most delicate, most perishable treasures of all. They are treasures of concept. Moth and rust? A new discovery, a new equation, a new thought tomorrow, and your treasure turns to dust.

You are straining your necks, looking for the Kingdom in the outer heavens, among the exploding stars and the expanding void. But I have told you, the Kingdom is not found 'out there.' The Kingdom of heaven is within you.

And where is this 'within'?

It is where your heart is. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

So I ask you: where is your treasure? Is it in the knowing? Is it in the arguing? Is it in being right? Is it in having the newest, most correct opinion?

If so, then your heart is there, too—trapped in the world of words, lost in the land of distinctions. And your mind is sick.

"Like and dislike," the Sage says, "are the diseases of the mind."

This is the plank in your own eye. You see so clearly the speck in your brother's theory, but you do not see the plank of your own preference. You like your theory. You dislike him. You have made a distinction. You have drawn a line in the sand.

And in that very instant, you are as far from the Great Way, as far from the Kingdom, as heaven is from earth.

This is not a new teaching. This is the oldest teaching. It is the heart of the Way, and it beats in every chest that has ever truly sought the divine.

Look at the great traditions. In the high mountains of the Himalayas, the Hindu sages, the rishis, sought the same Truth. They called it Brahman, the One, the ultimate reality. And how did they teach their students to find it? They taught them Neti, Neti.

"Not this, not this."

They would point to the expanding heavens and say, "Neti." Not this. They would point to the beautiful earth and say, "Neti." Not this. They would point to your own body, to your own brilliant thoughts, to your most cherished theories... and they would whisper, "Neti, Neti." Not this. Not this.

It is a path of subtraction. It is a way of letting go of every treasure, every concept, every idea, until all that is left is the ungraspable. The Truth, they realized, is not something you can find; it is what remains when you have let go of everything you thought you could find. They saw that the world of distinctions, what they call Maya or illusion, is the mind's disease of "like and dislike," of "this" and "that." Their unique message was one of radical negation to find the one, absolute Atman, the Self, which is the Great Way.

Now, travel west, to the deserts and the rose-filled gardens of the Sufi mystics. They, too, sought the Beloved, their name for God. And what did they say was the greatest barrier? What was the veil that hid the face of the Beloved?

It was the intellect. It was the clever mind.

The great poet Rumi, my brother in the heart, said, "Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment." He wasn't telling you to be stupid. He was telling you to lay down your "treasures of theory." He knew that our arguments and opinions are just veils we weave, thinking they make us beautiful, when in fact they hide the very thing we long to see.

The Sufi's unique path is one of passionate annihilation, fana. It is to let the self, with all its precious opinions "for and against," dissolve in the fire of Divine Love. It is to let go of your longing for an answer and simply burn with the longing for the Beloved.

Both of these paths see the same truth, do they not? The Hindu sage says "Not this," and the Sufi mystic says "Let it burn." Both are pointing to the same moon. Both are telling you that your mind and its preferences are the problem.

The Hindu path, Neti Neti, is like carefully unwrapping a gift, piece by piece, to find the treasure inside. The Sufi path, Fana, is like throwing the entire box into the fire, knowing the treasure is the fire itself.

And my way? The Zennist way?

It is perhaps a little... simpler. (A slight chuckle.)

I just say: "Put the box down."

You don't need to unwrap it. You don't need to burn it. Just stop clinging to it. Stop calling it "mine." Stop insisting it's the only box.

The Great Way is not difficult. You are making it difficult by having preferences.

"Let go of your longing for an answer. Hold no opinions for or against the 'why' of the world, and it reveals itself."

How does this land in your heart? Does it feel too abstract? Let me make it plain.

Look at your lives. Look at the world you have built with your preferences.

You turn on your little glowing screens, and what do you find? Arguments. Discussion. An entire world addicted to the disease of the mind. An entire world screaming, "I am right, you are wrong! I like this, I hate that!"

You are drowning in "treasures of theory." You call them ideologies. Politics. News. You are terrified. You are angry. Your heart, tethered to these perishable treasures, is anxious and exhausted.

And just this past week, I saw it again. Another war. Another crisis. Another fire. Another flood. And your minds are lost in confusion.

You immediately divide. "This side is right." "That side is wrong." You have made the smallest distinction. And peace is now impossible.

You have heard that it was said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." But how can you be a peacemaker when your own mind is at war? You cannot bring peace to the world if you are clinging to your opinion against one side and for another. You are just a warrior for a different theory.

The Zennist way, my way, is to first be peace.

This does not mean you do nothing. This does not mean you are passive. No! I have told you to "love your enemies" and "do good to those who hate you." This is Wisdom in Action.

But you cannot love your enemy while you are diseased with your opinion about them. You cannot see them. You see only your theory of them.

First, remove the plank. First, heal the disease. Let go of your preference. Let go of your 'like' and 'dislike.' See the suffering, in yourself and in the other.

Then, from that place of stillness, from that place of the Inner Kingdom, you will know what to do. Your action will be clean. It will be built on the rock of the Way, not on the shifting sands of your opinion.

So I say to you again, let go of your grasping.

You are grasping at theories of the cosmos, theories of God, theories of politics, theories of your neighbor. You even grasp at my words.

You've built entire churches, entire philosophies, entire wars around what you think I meant. You argue over the 'why' of my parables. (He laughs softly.) You have laid up "treasures of theory" in my name, and moth and rust are destroying them all.

The Truth is beyond time and space. The Way is beyond language. My words are not the Way. They are a finger pointing at the moon.

Stop staring at my finger.

Look at the moon.

The Truth is now. "One instant is eternity."

It is not in your theory about tomorrow. It is not in your argument about yesterday. It is here, in this breath. Before "like." Before "dislike." Before "expanding." Before "contracting."

Before "you" and "me."

The Great Way is not difficult. Let go. Let go of your longing for an answer. Let go of your opinions. Let go of all your beautiful, rusting treasures.

What is left?

See for yourself.

The Kingdom is not "out there." It is right here. It is always, always, right before your eyes.

Be still. And see.