Chapter 6  -  The Cause Behind Every Cause

Learning to see, in every moment, the wondrous signs which point toward the One Cause which is behind every cause.

The Foundation of Spiritual Progress

To begin to make progress on the spiritual path, there is no specific sacred name nor any specific cosmology or mythology which is crucial, but rather what is truly crucial is one's trust in, and dedicated involvement with, a moral code of high ideals such as loving-kindness, compassion and generosity, ideals which are deeply recognized as being greater and more important than one's own self. It is this change of viewpoint and act of ego-submission to a greater good which is the very foundation of spiritual progress.

That is not to say that one should not believe in, and have loving devotion to, a Supreme Deity. But rather, this means that the most pressing need of those who are beginning a journey on this spiritual path is to directly experience the pure calm depths of one's own heart and thereby discover one's own capacity to bring beautiful traits such as loving-kindness, compassion and generosity into every moment of life. Without loving-kindness, compassion and generosity in one's life, and without a sense of full submission to something greater than one's own self, one has still not yet progressed beyond mere animal consciousness.

It is not enough to chant a sacred name, or recite prayers, or perform sacred rituals if one then turns around and becomes involved in unwholesome acts or unwholesome thoughts such as anger, hatred or unkindness. Millions and millions of people say prayers and recite sacred verses every day, yet all too many of them still go out and selfishly cause harm to other people. That's not the way. They've missed the point. If one's life is not filled with loving-kindness, compassion and generosity in every moment, consistently working for a greater good, one is merely an animal, and is not yet truly human.

Whenever one's life is not filled with loving-kindness, compassion and generosity, that unfortunate condition indicates that something is obscuring or blocking the flow of Divine Presence.... and that something is the ego. Whenever something obscures the sunlight we see darkness. And similarly, whenever something obscures or blocks the flow of a divine attribute such as loving-kindness, then one sees another kind of darkness, which might for example be recognized as anger. The darkness is not some fundamental quality, but rather it is merely what happens when the light is obscured. The very foundation of spiritual progress is to get the ego out of the way so that we can experience life from a new viewpoint, a viewpoint which is not obscured by the ego, and thereby allow Divine Presence to flow freely through us without obstruction.

The Cause Behind the Cause

From somewhere beyond the beyond, a place which is unknowable to us, the gentle breeze of Divine Presence is sent to comfort, guide and nourish us all. Where does it come from? Mankind has offered many names for the Source, but no matter what the name, the wise ones of all ages and all religions have told us that there is an ultimate Cause of all the worlds, a Cause upon which our very existence depends, a primordial Cause which remains beyond our senses and far beyond our complete understanding.

There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything, I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses.

Young India, Oct 1928, "Mahatma" M. K. Gandhi

If you do not yet see, or do not yet believe, that there is primordial Cause behind all causes, please do not be discouraged or frustrated by all this talk about a Cause, but just keep your eyes open for those times when science and logic and reasoning take their investigation as far as they can possibly go, yet clearly there is something further, something which remains shrouded in a cloud of unknowing. At the end of all mankind's searching, at the end of "something further", veiled by a cloud of unknowing, is the Cause behind all causes.

Everywhere around us are the signs which point toward the Cause, and it is by means of these signs that we find our most positive proof that there is indeed an ultimate Cause which has brought all of creation into being, and upon Whom all of the worlds depend.

You, You only, exist.
We pass away, till at last,
our passing is so immense
that You arise: beautiful moment,
in all Your suddenness,
arising in love, or enchanted
in the contraction of work.

To You I belong, however time may
wear me away. From You to You
I go commanded. In between
the garland is hanging in chance; but if You
take it up and up and up: look:
all becomes a festival!

Rainer Maria Rilke, Ahead of All Parting, tr Stephen Mitchell

And in the joyful depths of this grand festival of life, the wise ones have found that there is nothing enduring, nothing lasting, nothing truly real other than the original Cause.

Your attainment of the goal you wish for is not like a material thing's arriving at a material place. Neither is it like knowledge leading one to a thing that becomes known, nor like reason obtaining from that which is rational, nor like the imagination joining with that which it fancies. The goal that you wish to attain is the realization of your emptiness of all else except the Essence of God.

Secret of Secrets, 'abd al-qadir al-jilani, tr by Tosun Bayrak

When one begins to love, honor and serve a greater good, something which is beyond the boundaries of one's own ego, all of one's life begins to change. Sharing is good. Serving is good. Teaching is good. Charity is good. Inspiring one another is good. Loving one another is good. And in fact it is necessary to love and serve something which has form before one is able to truly love and serve the Wondrous Source from whom all  blessings flow, the Formless One. But, until one truly loves and honors the essence of The Cause from whom all Divine Presence flows, one's greatest joy has not yet been experienced.

Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

Gospel of Matthew 22:36-38

Embracing the Unknowable One

The human mind, the brain, is largely controlled by the ego, and as such, it's job is to make distinctions, create boundaries, and divide things into pieces. The ego is that part of the human mind which divides and separates.

When the separating power of the ego is used to help maintain the well-being and safety of the human body, then the ego is performing a useful role. But unfortunately that same ego, if left uncontrolled, tries to divide and separate everything, even those things which are not inherently separate. All that you can see, all that you can touch, and even the person who is viewing them, are all contained within the same Great Mystery!

The One Lord is the tree of ambrosial nectar, which bears the ambrosial fruit.
Those who taste the ambrosial fruit remain satisfied with Truth,
they have no doubt or sense of separation - their tongues taste the divine taste.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib (page 421, line 17)

Those who imagine separation from their Lord have thereby created their own thought of separation, yet in fact there is no separation. All that exists, and all that does not exist, is nothing more than a mere thought of the nameless, formless One. No matter where you look, no matter what you discover, it is all the same One, and that One is not divided, yet that One permeates all that exists and all that does not exist.

He is not separated from us; He is pervading and permeating amongst all.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib

For in him we live and move and have our being.

Acts of the Apostles 17:28

The Supreme Lord of All is far more subtle, far more unknowable than anything which can ever be comprehended by the human brain. There is no amount of thinking, debating or arguing which will ever prove the unprovable or know the unknowable. The human mind loves to pretend that it is capable of knowing about everything, but alas that is not true. How can we ever know The Unknowable? Of what use is it to try to imagine the form of The Formless? Such pursuits are nothing but the foolishness of the ego!

No matter where you look, no matter what you see, it all exists because of the same All-Mighty One. All that exists serves to show us the presence of that One, just as leaves blowing through the air show us the presence of the winds. We can never fully comprehend the unknowable One. In our obsessive preoccupation with striving for knowledge, we tend to forget the only thing that really matters, which is being instruments of Divine Presence. The best that we can do is to simply accept that there is a Great Mystery, One in whom we live and breathe and have our being, welcoming into our minds a great cloud of unknowing.

Man loves complexity and calls it knowledge. A great many societies and institutions in the world which call themselves occult, esoteric and psychic, and by various other names, knowing that everyone is interested in complexity, cover the truth. Instead of covering the truth with one cover, they cover it with a thousand covers to make it more interesting. It is just like the customs that were followed in ancient times, when people came to worship and asked the priest how they should do it, and he would say, 'How far do you live from the shrine?' And when they said, 'Two miles,' he answered, 'You must come on foot to the shrine and walk around it a hundred times before you may enter it.' He gave them a good exercise before they were allowed to come in. Even today, they do the same thing. When a person says, 'I want to see truth,' but he wishes to look for truth in complexity, they cover truth under a thousand covers, and then they give him the problem to solve.

Are there not many people interested in the mahatmas of the Himalayas, are there not many interested in the holy souls in remote places of Persia, many who look for a master in the center of Australia? Perhaps next year an article will appear declaring that a great soul has been born in Siberia. What is it all about? It is all the love of complexity, queer notions, strange ideas which do not lead souls any further.

Sufi Mysticism, Hazrat Inayat Khan

Human debate of the unknowable is nothing more than an amusement of the ego, and amounts to nothing more that a waste of one's precious moments on this earth. Analysis of that which cannot be divided or separated is merely human vanity. Our true purpose in life will never be found in matters which divide or separate or analyze. Such activities are merely the restless chattering of the human ego. Our true purpose, and the only thing truly worthwhile in life, is to be an instrument of the Divine Presence, thereby allowing the wondrous Divine Presence to flow freely into this world.

It is not very important to distinguish between two opposites. What is most important is to recognize that One which is hiding behind it all... seeing One in all things, in all beings.

The Smiling Forehead, Hazrat Inayat Khan

We must simply accept that there is a Great Mystery, One in whom we live and breathe and have our being, One whom we acknowledge and gratefully welcome into our understanding enshrouded within a great cloud of unknowing, a cloud of acceptance, a cloud of certitude. We must stop wasting precious moments of life following the endless chattering of the divisive ego, analyzing or pretending to know the Unknowable Mystery, and refocus our daily energies toward being more suitable instruments of the Divine Presence, bringing love, harmony and beauty into the world in every moment. Nothing else really matters.

 

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with love,
    wahiduddin

Oct 27, 2008