Philosophy is Useless for Self-Actualization

Thinking too much is not important for spiritual life and advancement. As our thoughts matter in directing self-awareness this is especially true when we want to eliminate thoughts and foster observation and bring about a meditative state. This is more to do with directing our thoughts or the lack of and focusing, awareness.

When you dabble in philosophy you automatically think that you can achieve something, but, like peeling the layers of an onion it is utter futility. Philosophizing leads you to a new layer; eventually the layers disappear but in the core you will find nothing of use and your eyes will tear up.

You should try to know, not to think. True knowledge comes from within and not from thinking or reading books.

There are going to be defenders of philosophy and I am not saying philosophy has no use or redeeming values. Philosophy is good and nice but in terms of actual self-realization and transformation it’s as useful as a tit on a board…
Consider from the time of Plato and Socrates what meaningful human transformation have we achieved? Society changed, technology and science have changed, but we have wars now more devastating and potentially earth changing. Someone asked Gurdjieff if mankind would ever evolve beyond wars and do you know what had said? “No”, he said, “Men as is now incapable of not fighting wars in the name of something. It is because men’s level of consciousness individually and in groups had not reached its potential”.
Of course there are exceptions but far and few in between. So while philosophy and Plato’s cave allegory is nice it has not gotten us any further in human consciousness and awareness.

We are capable of killing fighters and innocents in the name of, you have guessed it, Democracy(!), what  philosophers bestowed on us…Now what is the difference of killing in the name of Allah, or Jesus or democracy?
What tangible gain have we gotten from all the philosophers and great thinkers, in terms of getting us to the point of no more killing of each other? Greed and human suffering are all the consequence of this lack of development and ignoring or denying it is as good as putting a lipstick on a pig….

This Universal Knowledge, the ultimate Truth, is already within you, you just have to discover it by dismantling the scaffolds to see the structure. You need to adjust your being to be able to see the Truth and awaken from the dream.

Paradoxically, certain actions, activism and art can often bring about self-transformation. When you discard your self and ego, and embark on expression that elevates and illuminates, you are acting in the public good. You do not act for money or fame; you act for the common good of men. Many artists who were worth anything were starving as commercially their craft and art was not accepted, they were ahead of their time.

These types of acts will not only illuminate the public but foster self-actualization in the artist. Selfless acts in defending the weak and feeble is also acting in the public good and can help in the spiritual transformation. Escaping into the ivory tower and thinking about lofty goals will not gain the same. We must each do what we are put here for. Our dharma is what we are incarnated for and finding, this amounts to finding your happiness and bliss.

The Meaning of Life

Many people are wondering why they are here. What is the purpose of their life? To fully understand this question we must also understand karma and reincarnation better. If you do not believe in karma and reincarnation stop reading this as it will be a waste of your time. To the millions of people who are somewhat familiar with the Law of Karma, that knowledge can be a basis of further understanding life’s mysteries and even get a glimpse of the meaning of life.

Life as a whole is a lesson. What the lesson on hand is not apparent because most of us are unaware of past lives and deeds. Our lives are only important in the way we interact and affect the lives of others. A good honorable life is filled with self-sacrifice and giving. Lacking these attributes gives a glimpse of certain shortcomings of the beholder. Most of us have lived thousands of lives, we have been black, white, Asian, men, woman.

We have been murderers and spectators of murder. Our evolutionary progress in the spiritual reams takes us through time and space, incarnating from body to body with some short interludes on the subtle plane. The ultimate purpose is to stop the cycle of the robotic repetition of the same mistakes and fall of the wheel of karma. This is the Buddhist terminology of Enlightenment.

Karma is life’s “cosmic bank account”. We accumulate good and bad karma with every deed and thought. Our karmic balance predetermines the condition we incarnate into. Be it our economic status, parents, race or environment, what we are born into is all set even before we were conceived, and… is choreographed to perfection.

Dharma is the all encompassing path of achievement that suits us for this incarnation. This is what we are to do in this life. However, get this, we are free to turn away and choose other purposes and vocations.

The storehouse of heaven is filled with unfulfilled prophecies because we always have the freedom to choose! The catch is fulfilling your Dharma will make you happy. Joseph Campbell knew this and advised all to “follow your bliss”. If you, for some reason are not following your bliss, you will eventually have to as you are prolonging the inevitable. In the next life you will face the same set of conditions as in the one where you went astray. In a sense, you can push the pause button on your own progress, however the next time; life’s lesson will be harder than the first.

Following our Dharma will lead us to life lessons and situations that we are to work out; hence we are fulfilling our purpose. Whether we pass the tests given to us is a whole different story.

This cyclical nature of succession of lives is very much in line with the cyclical nature of time, seasons and lower forms of biological life.  We see flowers bloom, whither away and bloom again. There is no reason to think that our path is any different.

As one wise old lady (HPB) once wrote;

“The LAW for the birth, growth and decay of everything in cosmos, from the sun to the glow-worm in the grass is ONE. It is an everlasting work of perfection with every new appearance, but the Substance-Matter and Forces are all one and the same.