In his classic work of Christian apologetics, Mere Christianity,
C. S. Lewis poses, in relation to the question of the divinity of Jesus,
a famous “trilemma” (like a dilemma, only with three opposing poles instead
of two) – was Jesus Christ a liar, a lunatic, or was he, in fact, Lord
and God, as the Christian religion claims? He contends that anyone
seriously aspiring to label themselves a Christian is obliged to tackle
this question head-on, and to take a stand on one of the three propositions.
Lewis's own stand is that the evidence of Scripture, and the historical
impact of the life and teachings of Jesus on human society, argue powerfully
in favor of Jesus being Lord and God, and not dishonest or deranged – but
we don't have to agree or disagree with his personal assess-ment in order
to benefit from the power of this challenging question. If we broaden
Lewis’s “trilemma” beyond the obvious memetic confines of any specific
religion or dogma to include all the founders of world religions, as well
as the many historically-documented saints, saviors, avatars, Buddhas,
bodhisattvas, enlight-ened ones, etc. who claim to have broken through
to Stage Three consciousness following the founders' teachings, the question
may be very usefully rephrased thus:
Are all the great spiritual teachers of history liars,
lunatics, or liaisons to an objectively real and attainable awakened state
of human consciousness?
In addition to the well-known founders of the major Eastern
and Western religions – Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, Loa-Tzu,
the unnamed authors of the Hindu Vedas, etc. – there are, using a very
conservative estimate, literally hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions,
of individuals throughout history, right up to the present moment, who
are considered to have achieved, through the disciplined application of
the founders' teachings, a first-hand experience of awakened consciousness.
The Catholic Church has canonized more than 10,000 saints since the practice
of publicly acknowledging exceptional spiritual achievement was established
in that Tradition. Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which are more
ancient than Christianity, recognize many times that number of enlightened
arhats, avatars, yogis, swamis, Brahmin, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, roshis,
Zen masters, etc. Immeasurably numerous indigenous shamans, sorcerers,
witches and native healers on every continent are known to have applied
similar states of awakening toward the maintenance, protection and betterment
of their communities since Neolithic times. What sense are we to
make of this historical hoard of claimants to the achievement of extraordinary
states of human functioning?
Could they, one and all, be liars, con-men, hucksters,
carpetbaggers? Is all religion/spirituality a fantastic shell-game,
continued generation after generation by the least scrupulous of the once-duped,
in pursuit of personal or institutional worldly wealth and power?
If you answer "Yes!" to this proposition – they're all liars! – what larger
worldview is supported by this pillar of belief? Is there a "grand
conspiracy" out there, global-in-scope and millennia in the making, of
shady individuals willfully inventing false stories about gods, mystic
visions, experiences of awakening, etc. in order to gain social advantage
over the naïve shills and rubes around them?
Or maybe they're just nuts. Maybe all professed
glimpses into a reality larger than the common daily grind are more akin
to psychotic episodes – breakdowns rather than breakthroughs. Could
the visions of Christian mystics, the satori of Buddhist monks, the kundalini
experiences of Hindu Yogis, etc. be manifestations of mental illness, rather
than any kind of heightened awareness? Answering "Yes!" to this proposition
– they're all lunatics! – supports a worldview in which "sanity" is defined
by adherence to the mental norm and the social status quo, and the containment
of individuals within the familiar boundaries of standard consensus reality.
Enlightenment experiences may seem 100% subjectively real to those undergoing
them, and so individuals sharing the stories and the insights arising from
them may in no way be seeking to intentionally deceive, but can we really
be expected to abandon common sense and join them in their delusions?
What if enlightenment is real? What if the vision
of a greater reality, and of Humanity's expanded role and potential within
it, as described by Jesus, Buddha, Mohamed, et. al., is more than a parlor
trick, a delusion, or even a clever psychological metaphor. What
if there really are objectively-verifiable states of consciousness and
modes of brain functioning that are significantly more refined and free
of psychic limitation than the ones we access in our day to day lives?
What happens if we accept the testimony of History's enlightened ones as
proof that such states really exist?
We must then ask how such enlightened individuals differ
from the rest of us, and whether that difference is a matter of substance
or struggle. Were historical spiritual giants like Jesus, Buddha,
Mohamed or Lao-Tzu "outside agitators," i.e., gods, demons, spirits, celestial
or extraterrestrial beings whose teachings may inspire us, but whose genius
we are not biologically equipped to emulate because, since they come from
"above," we will always be lesser beings who can never realistically hope
to match or surpass their accomplishments? Or were they ordinary
human beings like ourselves who attained heights of functioning at least
theoretically available to everyone, and who left instructions by which
future generations might personally follow in their footsteps to the achievement
of similar results? Is real enlightenment, stripped of the specific
memetic embellishments of any one doctrine or dogma, a top-down hierarchically-granted
gift, like the Christian theological notion of "undeserved grace," or is
it an evolutionary bottoms-up affair, potent-ially available to anyone
willing to work their way up the consciousness ladder, wrung by wrung to
reach it?
If we say "Yes!" to this proposition – they're liaisons
to awakening! – we have already rejected hierarchy in favor of evolution,
since in the top-down scenario, the difference between top and bottom are
too great for either to ever really "become" the other. Any potential
hierarchical awakening, in the sense so far discussed, would be comparable
to an ant awakening to become a cat or a cow. It won’t work! They’re
just too different! In the evolutionary worldview, our awakened ant
friend is destined, instead, to blossom into a "super-ant," spiraling upward
and outward into ever-expanding and previously unimagined levels of "antness."
"Yes!" also implies an underlying worldview reminiscent
of the one described in Part I of this book, a vision of a planet filled
with sleeping people capable of accessing incredible untapped potential,
if only they can find the energy and direction to actualize it. It
implies that we are all, at any moment, capable of reaching the highest
states of consciousness ever attained by any human being, anywhere on Earth,
at any time in history, including those exemplified by our historical spiritual
heroes.
If our answer to the "trilemma" of Key Question #1 is
a resounding liaisons to awakening!, then we must not dodge the obvious
follow-up question raised – if we accept that enlightenment is objectively
real, that we are currently functioning in a lesser psychic state and therefore
"sleeping our lives away," and that the path from slumber to awakening
is both known and presently available to us by way of The Simplest Path,
Zen Buddhism, Toltec Shamanism or other accessible anti-meme systems, then
why are we doing ANYTHING with our lives other than following the path
to awakening? Aware of the illness and in possession of the cure,
why do we remain invested in goals and activities we know to be unreal,
and even injurious?
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KEY QUESTION EXERCISE #1
Changing Glasses
Rather than settling for any one perspective above, try
intentionally believing each of the three propositions, briefly, in turn.
Hold them one at a time between your mind and the world as you might alternate
pairs of glass-es before your eyes. See the world through them.
Stay with each proposition until it makes perfect sense, how-ever long
it takes, or how difficult the viewpoint is, at first, to adopt.
When the “fact” that all claimants to enlightenment, in every religious/spiritual
tradition, in all times and places are nothing but a pack of liars becomes
obvious and undeniable, move on to lunatics. Work up some real compassion
for those poor, crazy saps, spewing nonsense and finding themselves worshipped
or crucified by crowds only slightly less mentally-disturbed than themselves.
Let that go to invest real hope in the teachings of History’s liaisons
to awakening. See the grace and beauty of the path ahead. Let
you heart flood with gratitude for the precious opportunity to attain awakening
and freedom the enlightened ones have made available. Then return
to liars, and go around again. Witness how easy it becomes, with
even minimal practice, to shift between equally-convincing, contradictory
interpretations of reality. Is there a perspective from which all
of the propositions might be simultaneously true, or in which none of the
three have any relevance? Try on those spectacles as well, then set
them aside. Return to liars. Keep practicing.
In Key Question Community groups, consider the founders
and their legacies – the universal sangha of the enlightened, the communion
of saints, the heralded awakened ones in every tradition and time.
Brainstorm as many positions one might take toward the fact of their existence
and the veracity of their claims as the group can muster. Write them
all down. Have each member choose a position to defend, then debate
the larger question vigorously as a group. Once an hour, everyone
should change propositions, arguing each new perspective with equal vehemence.
To really enliven the debate, hold the brainstorming and debating sessions
in separate group meetings held several days to a week apart, granting
everyone time to research all brainstormed perspectives, and think up new
ones with which to surprise the group.