Transpersonal Philosophy

  All those who begin to walk along the so-called spiritual paths hear to talk about the concept of “enlightenment” from very early on. It is identified both with a particular psychological state of a person and with a process that that person carries out with greater or lesser efforts. Psychological states are states of our Tripartite Soul, not states of “I Am.” The “I Am” is always what it is, it does not become anything in particular although nothing is without the “I Am”. What does enlightenment consist of?” Allow me to clarify another more fundamental question: “Who is enlightened?” The answer is simple: the ego is illuminated. Let's clarify this. If enlightenment is a process or a state of our Soul, when we create an intellectual image of that state, we are creating a narrative of that particular state, and we will give one description or another, but using conceptual representations, which are always the result of an egoic action of centroversion of the organis...

  Todos los que comienzan a caminar por las llamadas sendas espirituales escuchan desde muy pronto el concepto de “iluminación”. Se identifica tanto con un estado psicológico de una persona como con un proceso que esa persona lleva a cabo con mayores o menores esfuerzos. Los estados psicológicos son estados de nuestra Alma Tripartita, no estados del “Yo Soy”. El “Yo Soy” es siempre lo que es, no llega a ser nada en particular aunque nada es sin “Yo Soy”. ¿En qué consiste la iluminación?”, permitidme que aclare otra pregunta más fundamental: “¿quién se ilumina?”. La respuesta es sencilla: se ilumina el ego. Aclaremos esto. Si la iluminación es un proceso o un estado de nuestra Alma, cuando creamos una imagen intelectiva de ese estado, estamos creando una narrativa de ese estado, y daremos una descripción u otra, pero usando representaciones conceptuales, que son siempre el resultado de una acción de centroversión egoica del organismo. Tu Alma se ilumina, pero el “...

  The transpersonality of the Soul makes the understanding of what we call "personal identity", the egoic mask narrative, impossible without the understanding of the group identity to which we belong. That is why it is important to know mythopoetics, the symbolic construction of identity of our culture. Myths are transpersonal in social terms (we could say: transocial) , and that is what the concept of "Mythologem", coined by Karl Kerenyi, illustrates. The term designates the common elements in myths belonging to different traditions, like the tales of the Sacred Child, the descent of the hero to the underworld, the marriage of the King-God to the Earth Goddess, and so on. [for more on this see my little essay on mythologems: https://construccionsimbolicaidentidadhumana.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-is-mythologem.html]  The transpersonality of the masks of gods and their actions has produced all kinds of confusion. The superimposition of one myth on anoth...

 

  The bard is blind for having seen the Goddess of Beauty bathe naked. Many are the names of Tiresias. The Argentine bard Jorge Luis Borges had a vision in light of his intimate blindness. Legend has it that when the battle of Contarf ended, that feast of crows in which the Norwegians were defeated, the Great King of Ireland quickly called his court poet, repeating what the kings of Mycenae once did. He asked him to compose a song of victory and greatness, as if both things went together, as if war could make someone great. He gave him a year to compose it and some gold, some say a rare ring on which was inscribed the name of an old dragon. When the year completed its journey, the poet presented an extensive panegyric full of great literary figures, a dazzling manifesto in which the sword was called “oar of battle” and “helm of justice.” He recited it with the confidence of someone who masters his craft, without looking at the manuscript and with a hypnot...

  I do not teach only the doctrine of no birth (ajâta), I approve of all schools. The same truth must be expressed in different ways adapted to the different capacity of the listener. The path of ajâta says: "There is only one reality. There is no birth or death, there is no beginning or end, there is no sâdhaka (one who practices a spiritual path) nor mumuksha (one who seeks truth), nor mukta (liberated one), neither slavery nor liberation. The only thing that exists is the One." Some find it very difficult to understand this truth and ask: how can we ignore this solid and consistent world that we see around us? They are instructed to focus on the state of dreaming and are told: "Everything you see depends on the one who sees it. Regardless of the one who sees it, nothing is seen." This is the path called drishti-srishtri, or path of perception and creation. In this path it is said that one first mentally creates the world and then sees what his own ...

  Yo no enseño solamente la doctrina del no nacimiento (ajâta), apruebo todas las escuelas. La misma verdad debe ser expresada de modos diferentes adaptados a la distinta capacidad del oyente. La vía del ajâta dice: "sólo existe una realidad. No hay nacimiento ni muerte, no hay comienzo ni fin, no hay sâdhaka (el que practica una vía espiritual) ni mumuksha (el que busca la verdad), ni mukta (liberado), ni esclavitud ni liberación. Lo único que existe es el Uno." Algunos ven muy difícil comprender esta verdad y preguntan: ¿cómo podemos ignorar este mundo sólido y consistente que vemos a nuestro alrededor? A estos se les indica que se fijen en el estado del sueño y se les dice: "todo lo que ves depende del que lo ve. Con independencia del que lo ve no hay nada visto." Esta es la vía llamada drishti-srishtri, o vía de la percepción y la creación.. En ella se dice que uno primero crea mentalmente el mundo y luego ve lo que su propia mente ha creado. Al que...

  There is a spontaneous way for understanding the flow of our life experience, a pathless path that comes natural and need no effort. The Taoist call it Wu Wei, doing without doing, or a non-forcing action in relation to our interactive experience with the Universe. Wu Wei starts from an ontological stand but it turns quickly into practical action. (…) The sage manages affairs without action And spreads doctrines without words ( The Natural Way of Lao Tzu. #2. ) Wu Wei is not easily grasped. In fact, it is a source of continuous confusion and misinterpretation. Its difficulty resides in its simplicity. We usually think that something is difficult to grasp due to the intricacy of its conceptual frame, but we believe that applying effort and time we will eventually understand it. However, it is much more difficult to grasp simple processes or basic simple concepts, and extraordinary difficult to grasp something that would never be understood applying t...

    Four Principles of Zen A special transmission outside the scriptures. No dependence on words or letters. Direct pointing to the soul of man. Seeing into one's nature and the attainment of Buddhahood.

Koans are not resolved with dual thinking. In fact, koans are neither resolved nor unresolved. Just like a flower is not a matter of resolving or unresolving. Simplicity of mind cannot be achieved by trying. When we follow a spiritual path, any conceptual explanation bothers us, we want to escape from it. This desire to escape from concepts is still a conceptual trap.  We can read Kant as a gigantic German koan. Here I include a Zen koan full of fresh air. Zen Master Unmon said: “The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your robes at the sound of a bell?”

I am pleased to include here the opening excerpt from Ramana Maharshi's Nan Yar (Who Am I?) . Ramana, along with Nisargadatta and Aurobindo, are the greatest representatives of Advaita Vedanta in the 20th century.     Who Am I? (Nan Yar?) As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone there is observed supreme love for one’s self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order to gain that happiness which is one’s nature and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep where there is no mind, one should know one’s self. For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiry of the form “Who am I?”, is the principal means. 1. Who am I ? The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not; the five cognitive sense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend their respective objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive sen...

  Vivekachundamani La Joya Suprema del Discernimiento. Sri Shankara. Introducción de Sri Ramana Maharshi Todo ser en el mundo ansía ser feliz siempre y estar libre del tinte del sufrimiento, y desea liberarse de los males corporales, que no son su verdadera naturaleza. Es más, cada uno alberga el mayor amor por sí mismo, y este amor no es posible en ausencia de felicidad. En el sueño profundo aunque privado de todo, uno tiene la experiencia de ser feliz. Incluso, debido a la ignorancia de la naturaleza real del propio Atman de uno, que es la felicidad misma, la gente se queda empantanada en el vasto océano de la existencia material, abandonando el camino adecuado que conduce a la felicidad, y actúa bajo la creencia errónea que el camino a la felicidad consiste en la obtención de los placeres de este y del otro mundo. Desgraciadamente, sin embargo, no hay una felicidad así que no tenga el tinte del sufrimiento. Es precisamente con el propósito de señala...