Monotheistic religions and science were created to answer man’s most fundamental questions: “What is our place in the world, in the universe?” What is the purpose of our existence?” In other words, “Why were we born?”
Western philosophy generated sciences that researched our material world, that which we perceive with our five senses. But today, more than ever before, many people feel that what has worked for 2,000 years no longer meets their needs. The answers provided by religion and science no longer satisfy them. These people are looking elsewhere for answers to the most basic questions about the purpose of life. They turn to Eastern teachings, fortune-telling, magic and mysticism. That is a dead end as well.
Is there a real science that studies what happens beyond what our senses perceive?
At least we have some hope.
Unlike a business that demands skills, memory, technical abilities, agility, rhythmic sense, and strength, the spiritual advance demands no talent, because all the talents are attributes of the body that is in this world. In other words, these attributes pertain to the nature of this world, which are not involved in attaining the Upper One.
There must be an initial desire for the Creator. If it’s there, you need nothing more! If you have been endowed with such a desire, the whole process is in your hands from that moment on, because all the forces you need are already in your soul. All it takes is to develop them, and that’s your work.
As long as people are happy with their beliefs, they feel no need for change. People want to know that their lives would be safe, and what they need to do to make them enjoyable. They are not asking about the origin of life, or most important, who or what had created the rules of life.
At first, this may seem like a slight difference. But actually, the difference between asking about life, and asking about the rules that shape life, is like the difference between learning how to drive a bike and learning how to make one. It’s a totally different level of knowledge.
The level of egoism in humanity keeps growing, with each level driving us farther away from Nature (the Creator) .
Spiritual distance is not measured in inches or yards; it’s measured in qualities. The Creator’s quality is wholeness, connectedness, and giving, but it is only possible to feel Him when we share His qualities. If I am self-centered, there is no way I can connect to anything as whole and altruistic as the Creator. It would be like trying to see another person when we are standing back to back. Because we are standing back to back with the Creator and because we still want to control Him, clearly, the more we try, the more frustrated we become. Certainly, we cannot control something we can’t see or even feel. This desire can never be filled unless we make a U-turn, look in the opposite direction, and find Him.
This point in the heart persistently demands its fulfillment, and as soon as it fills itself slightly, it demands its development. And by alternately becoming filled and becoming empty in this manner, it advances further and further ahead.But a person cannot aspire to this on his own because, first of all, he won’t know what he is aspiring to and will imagine some materialized images, like in religions, or some far-fetched forms, like in meditation.
In actuality, we don’t know what a spiritual image is. Therefore, we cannot aspire to it on our own because we will always pursue some particular and purely corporeal goals. Ask any person to draw something inconceivable and he will not be able. He will, without a doubt, draw something that is familiar to him from our world. He will never be able to portray or imagine the next step, a future step, one that is torn away from our world.
Everything that exists is made of a desire for self-fulfillment. However, these desires cannot be fulfilled in their natural form, when they are self-centered. This is because when we satisfy a desire, we cancel it, and if we cancel a desire for something, we can no longer enjoy it. For example, think of your favorite food. Now, imagine yourself in a fancy restaurant, comfortably seated at a table as the smiling waiter brings you a covered plate, places it in front of you, and removes the lid. Hmmm… that deliciously familiar scent! Enjoying yourself yet? Your body does; that’s why it releases digestive juices at the mere thought of this dish. But the minute you start eating, the pleasure diminishes. The fuller you become, the less pleasure you derive from eating. Finally, when you’ve had your fill, you can no longer enjoy the food, and you stop eating. You don’t stop because you’re full, but because eating is no fun on a full stomach. This is the rule of egoism—if you have what you want, you no longer want it. Therefore, because we cannot live without pleasure, we must go on searching for new and greater pleasures.
We do that by developing new desires, which will also remain unfulfilled. It’s a vicious circle. Clearly, the more we want, the emptier we feel. And the emptier we feel, the more frustrated we become. And because we are now at the most intense level of desire in our history, we cannot avoid the conclusion that today we are more dissatisfied than ever before, even though we clearly have more than our fathers and our forefathers had. The contrast between what we have, on the one hand, and our growing dissatisfaction, on the other hand, is the essence of the crisis we are experiencing today. The more egoistic we become, the emptier we feel, and the worse is the crisis.
