It’s Sunday, so let’s peel away another layer.
I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but I’m going to disagree with Howard Jones.
😳
Because on his lesser-known (and somewhat under-rated) 1998 album, People there’s a delightful track called You’re the Buddha that goes:
“There were times when I thought
There was nothing in this world
There was nothing in this world for me
Everywhere I looked there was trouble in my life
Trouble far as I could see
Hey there's a man doing alright
What's his philosophy?
He come over here and whispered in my ear:
‘You're the Buddha,
You're the Christ,
You're the Mohammed,
And the Mother Mary’”
Which is brilliant. And true.
On one level.
Indeed, listen to any Syd Banks (or other mystic-type) and at some point you’ll hear him (or them) say that you’re as wise as the wisest person that ever lived; that each of us is.
We’re all the same.
Again, true. At the level of principle. Because ‘wisdom’ isn’t something we own, or that is personal to us, it’s just the intelligent energy of life, living us, breathing us, animating us.
It’s the source of fresh new thinking, of creative ideas, of intuition and insight. Of wisdom!
So, yes. At the level of principle, our TRUE NATURE is:
We’re all the Buddha, the Christ, the Mohammed and the Mother Mary.
AND…
At the same time, this is no more than a lovely concept that’s a slippery slope to spiritual bypass!
😖
Because we live in the world of form, operating within our humanity; within the apparent confines of the outside-in illusion.
We feel, and it will always look like those feelings are being caused by an ‘outside’ world, even though the entire experience is 100% an inner game.
But to dismiss this as ‘not real’ in any way is to be in denial of all the messy business of just being human.
It’s checking out of society. It’s not fully living.
The trick—far as I can tell (as always, don’t take my word for it)—is to see that both are true.
We are the Buddha, and we’re also just us; this flawed human, bimbling through life, simply doing our best.
😇 One moment seeing our divinity.
🤡 The next minute, not so much.
Make peace with that paradox, and I reckon you’re winning at life.
💟
Giles
p.s. I explore this paradox in more detail in a video I created, where I unpick the Zen aphorism of ‘Mountain - No Mountain - Mountain’ in an 18 minute mini-masterclass. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re curious and feel as if you’d like to get some clarity on this one, you can watch it on the link below 👇🏻
Giles P Croft