Question:
It seems like accepting paradox is the key to enlightenment and to our own peace of mind. It seems that we are both a loving God/Oneness and individual "souls". And it seems that God is the same: someone we can pray to as well as being our own ultimate identity. When Buddhists speak of "emptiness", is this what they are alluding to? Are we both individual souls and also NOT individual souls because our ultimate identity is God who is being us?
Answer:
Accepting paradox may not be the key to enlightenment, but it is a good place to start. When we can hold seemingly contradictory ideas in our mind at the same time, then we are learning to relinquish a certain ego control that life must fit our limited understanding if we are to accept it. But the truth of life is that it is full of mystery, paradox, and feels no need to conform to the limitations of our linear rationality.
The paradox of existence being both individual and universal is parallel to the idea that God is both immanent and transcendent. That might or might not relate to your question on Buddhist emptiness, depending upon who you talk to. But regardless, I think you are on the right track in recognizing that embrace paradox is a way to move beyond our conditioned controlled worldview. It does open our consciousness into an acceptance of the mystery and uncertainty of life, and that unpredictability is part of what makes life so interesting, fun, and beautiful.
Love,
Deepak
Yes, but there are professions where logical consistency is crucial(software development for instance).
I guess the key is to accept that logical consistency is a possibility in the field
just like logical contradiction, and choosing to live in consistency doesn
To recieve paradox I believe is to learn how to recieve what you are served, form the universe and from god. To know God is not only a mental exceptance, but to recieve what he lets you see, feel, and experience as a lesson of life experiences is to live.
Perhaps the key is not so much to accept paradox as to embrace Nonduality? Emptiness is formlessness (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/??nyat?) and it is our tendency to identify with egoic form, which is neither real nor permanent, that creates suffering.
Interesting to note that Theist and Buddhist concepts do not differ on the question of emptiness. (Actually, they do not differ about anything at the root in my understanding.)
"Essence is emptiness
Everything else, accidental.
Emptiness brings peace to loving.
Everything else, disease.
In this world of trickery
Emptiness is what your soul wants" ~ Rumi
"To be full of things is to be empty of God. To be empty of things is to be full of God." ~ Meister Eckhart
To the question, "Are we both individual souls and also NOT individual souls because our ultimate identity is God…?" I would say, yes. Individually, we carry the divine spark within us and that spark is connected to a veritable wildfire of other sparks (beings). There is no line of demarcation between us and All Being that hasn't been created by and within our own minds.
'I Am That' (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisargadatta_Maharaj). If we could merely remember We Are That — the Way, the Truth and the Life — and not the separate beings we think we are, we might recognize ourselves part and parcel of Cosmic Consciousness and finally usher in a new era of peace, cooperation and coexistence.
Enjoyed your explanation, Deepak.
Love
Rouzanna
I am resonating with Deepak and Infinite Warrior on this topic of "Accepting Paradox". I have been considering the purpose of suffering to my life's journey. I am beginning to see that pain and suffering are two different things and are not linear.
I also see where suffering can birth enlightenment, emancipation and unity. I love the poem presented by Rumi and Meister Eckhart's quotation, because for me they emphasize the point that separation, which I know makes me suffer at times, is allowing God to fill and heal the spaces in our hearts and lives, in place of people, places and things.
I believe it was what Jesus taught, as he walked the Via Delarosa, turning away from family, friends, love and fame to step into eternity. Powerful!!
Yo Denise, Jesus really did knock the skin off a rice pudding!
In 'turning away' from our survival mode conceptions, he involved himself to his uttermost core, surrendered even to those who would believe that death rules, took centre stage in our drama and resolved the 'paradox.'
Love,
ed
Dear deepak,
Beautiful explanation again. i believe we all are immensely grateful to you for clarifying these tricky things in such an acceptable way.
Wish you love, peace and happiness.
Trisha
A good friend posted on his Facebook wall last night that he received a fortune cookie and inside it read, "Courage is going forward even when it seems uncertain." He said that was the best fortune he'd ever received and I marveled at his response because he has always been cautious and worried over me as I seem to be on a neverending courageous uncertain path. And now reading the question and Deepak's response, I am thrilled once more.
Thank you.
Love,
Sheela
Enlightenment? From all I've been taught and read, it requires many years of meditation and mind training in a monastery, cave, or time spent in the desert (Jesus)–away from the world, family concerns, bills, and the never-ending human preoccupation with self-interest and ego. The Buddha claimed it took him several lifetimes to become enlightened. Some contributors to this site claim to be enlightened; if someone tells you he or she is enlightened, run, don't walk, in the other direction. Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know.
I like Infinite Warrior's post immensely. Meister Eckhart, immersed in the cloud of unknowing–enlightened.
Bob
Does a paradox exist? To me it seems that a paradox is a logical outcome of the thinking-process in which there is a in congruency in thoughts, beliefs, experiences and so on. For God or Life there is (off course!) no paradox. Many years ago you, Deepak, explained this to me in the following way; you put your thumb and index-finger together and said: