“I know nothing, I want nothing.”
Simple Reality warns of an over-reliance on the intellect in the all-important task of creating consciousness. We humans have perhaps become at bit arrogant with our accomplishments in the realm of science and the production of material wealth enjoyed by a minority of our most competitive fellow homo sapiens. Unfortunately, these accomplishments do not create higher levels of consciousness.
German philosopher Karl Jaspers calls the period from the 8th to the 3rd century BCE a pivotal age when our species may have had its most collective insightful period of awareness. He named it the “Axial Age” during which most of the main religions and spiritual traditions emerged in Eurasian societies. The Simple Reality Project and many of the insights in this book had their origins during this era.
“It has often been remarked that this period [8th to the 3rd century BCE] was distinguished by a shower of stars in the history of genius: Mahavira and Buddha in India, Lao-tze and Confucius in China, Jeremiah and the Second Isaiah in Judea, the pre-Socratic philosophers in Greece and perhaps Zarathustra in Persia.”[i] We would add one modern-day Hindu to this list, Nisargadatta, who brings us the insight for this essay.
Insight # 20 comes to us from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981). He was a Hindu teacher of non-dualism (Oneness).
“Once the guru told me ‘You are the Supreme Reality,’ I ceased having visions and trances and became very quiet and simple. I found myself desiring and knowing less and less, until I could say in utter astonishment: ‘I know nothing, I want nothing.’”[ii]
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Additional Reading:
- Axial Age, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
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[i] Durant, Will. Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954, p. 422.
[ii] Maharaj, Sri Nisargadatta. I Am That. Durham, NC: The Acorn Press, 1973, p. 391.
