“infinite peace is its nature”
In this essay we look at the role played by our Paradigm-B worldview versus the choice we have of creating a Paradigm-A worldview. Or put another way, the all-important concept of the Absolute and relative.
First we address the relative (P-B) because it is familiar and mainly what people believe is “real” and true. Relative means we view the world as it “appears” to be. In other words, the physical or “material” world—what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch—seems legitimate. We describe it and discuss it ad nauseum. We take pictures of every minute detail on our cell phones to post on social media.
Also, our emotions are relative (P-B). They “appear” to be genuine and we claim that our sadness, anger, joy, jealousy, etc., are valid and justified. But our emotional state depends on outside influence—if people treat us unfairly we are offended, if we have a decent bank account we are safe, if the stock market crashes we are devastated, if our child gets a scholarship we are elated. Our emotions are based on the loudest voice, an event or happening, advertisements and of course our fear of success or failure or humiliation.
In contrast, the Absolute (P-A) is definite and unchanging. The Absolute is One Truth for all humanity, whether an individual is aware of it or not. It is eternal and not based on conditions or circumstances or emotions. It lies beyond explanation and is therefore sometimes called “emptiness.” Not to be confused with loneliness or despondency, but rather inexpressible, ineffable, beyond words.
Transcendence is in the realm of the Absolute where we might find comfort in a process or a path but there is no real need for one. The Absolute is a realization, an awareness, a consciousness of the perfection of the Creator and Creation, of which we are an integral part. “It is possible to experience life this way, and when you do, words are utterly useless. This way of experiencing is indivisibly immediate, unfathomably profound, unthinkably simple, and unimaginably ennobling.”[i]
We take comfort when barriers within the human community dissolve, bringing us closer to an experience of Oneness and the Absolute. “People in the LGBTQ community have had many gains to celebrate over the last decade. Marriage became legal. Caitlyn Jenner and others pushed open the doors for transgender people. Oregon elected an openly bisexual governor—the nation’s first. Even the Boy Scouts dropped its ban on gay leaders.”[ii]
As the illusions of P-B dissolve, we are gradually shifting from the relative to the Absolute—the paradigm shift from P-B to P-A. Some say the shift can be made in an instant, but for most individuals it seems to be a process. As Andrew Cohen says, “In spite of the depth of my awakening, my ego is still alive and well.”[iii]
Insight # 11 comes to us from Andrew Cohen (b. 1955) who teaches Evolutionary Enlightenment.
“Now, what is called the Self Absolute … does not care at all about what’s happening here in the realm of manifestation … infinite peace is its nature. So whatever does happen in our world, in the manifest realm, has no effect on that deepest part of our self.”[iv]
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Additional Reading:
- Absolute and Relative, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
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[i] McLeod, Ken. “Two Truths.” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Tricycle Foundation, Fall 2012.
[ii] Severson, Kim. “Protest or Party?” The New York Times Sunday. June 25, 2017, p. 3.
[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_(spiritual_teacher)
[iv] Cohen, Andrew and Ken Wilber. “The Guru and the Pandit, Conflict, Creativity and the Nature of God: Dialog VI.” What is Enlightenment? Lennox, Massachusetts, August-October 2004, p. 46.
