How To Fathom The Unfathomable
How do you fathom the unfathomable? You don't! You contemplate the unfathomable. The whole point in seeking the unfathomable is to shock the rational mind into stunned silence. You don't want a metaphysical explanation for the unfathomable because that is just more thought. The intellect can be tiresome, relentless, a real nag. Training the mind to nag you about thoughts that show ego or thoughts that may be delusional just causes the intellect to become more tediously self-reflective.
For a certain type of mind, philosophy can be like speed. The challenge puts the ego in desperate straights as thoughts race to meet the imperative to understand. In the attempt to figure out the secret of existence, the intellect is forced into a manic state of hyper-rational thinking. Thoughts are immediately challenged and contradicted as they arise until the mind is in a state of tense confusion. It can be a real problem to get the mind to stop when it is on a tear. How do you stop the thinking when there is no inscrutable Zen master around to stop it in its tracks with a cryptic remark? And how do you stop the thinking when there is the thought that the Zen master is deliberately trying to mystify you with nonsense? The best way to stop it, or at least the most fun way, is to shock the rational mind into a stunned silence. You do this by unexpectedly presenting it with the unfathomable. The rational mind can't do anything with the unfathomable.
Art museums are good places for me to contemplate the unfathomable. I allow myself to be mystified by art. The extent of my intellectual understanding of art is to understand that it is meant to be mystifying. When I stand before a painting the only comment my inner dialogue may venture is, "I'm seeing a lot of red here." That is good because that is a mere observation and not a thought at all. If my intellect was inclined to analyze art and see the red as a symbol of hell then art would quickly lose its mystique or essential spirit.
It is the brilliant mind, the clever intellectual, who has the furthest to go in the quest for the marvelous.
Zen, Spiritual Realities, The Joyous Cosmology
I read Alan Watts' book The Joyous Cosmology:
Adventures In The Chemistry Of Consciousness last night and later I entered my deepest meditative state. I realized that my spiritual reality is always characterized by desolation; mental imagery of desolate streets, empty rooms, deserted ruins, isolated landscapes, etc. My soul inhabits a desolate universe which lacks the desire to communicate itself because there can be no other. My spiritual reality is also unreal in that it encourages a complete acceptance of its mystifying, otherworldly character. It is a supernatural reverie that never becomes a dissociative state. I have always found it to be thus and I have consistently described it thusly.
However, this is not the spiritual reality described in The Joyous Cosmology. What Alan Watts describes is a spiritual reality that is not unreal. Rather it is a spiritual reality that is a very intense awareness of physical reality fully present to consciousness. He also describes a wonderful sense of communion with his fellow psychonauts and this is definitely contrary to my sense of spiritual isolation.
Therefore I have come to the conclusion that I do not experience the definitive spiritual reality but rather my particular spiritual reality. In order to know the joyous cosmology I would need the assistance of an entheogen but even that might merely provide a confirmation of my spiritual reality because entheogens allow one's essential nature to be expressed. They do not provide a consistent experience to all users. They do not bring about the same realization for all users. For the same reason Zen may prove to be useless in the face of my spiritual reality. Zen may seem to point the finger elsewhere but its practices, concepts, precepts, koans, and community will merely lead me to my usual destination which I will assume is where the path was meant to lead me. Zen is not a dogmatic religion. It merely asks you to go beyond thought and experience for yourself the essential aspect of your true nature. Zen is slippery and does not even presume to know where its finger is pointing.
Please note that I am only making some observations. I am noncommittal on absolute truth. I do not judge my desolate unreality. I do not accuse it of being delusional. I do not judge the use of entheogens or Watts' joyous cosmology, although it clearly contradicts my inner experience. I do not judge Zen and its practices.
