The Great Mystery

In the American Indian Lakota view, from Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things — the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, the buffalo, and all animals... Thus, all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery. It filled their being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave them reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all. — Chief Luther Standing Bear

There are many traditions that convey the same essential message to us: That the purpose of life is to discover this Great Mystery. Nondual Tantric tradition explicitly tells us that there is a unifying living force that creates all of life, perpetually vibrating and expressing Its very nature — and that Supreme Consciousness (Śiva), through Its inherent power (Kuṇḍalinī Śakti), manifests all form for the singular purpose of expanding Its own joy and freedom.

The gift of our life is that we can connect to this highest Consciousness in ourselves. However, if we are not living with the intention to discover that awareness, it is we who have turned toward the darkness instead of looking for the light. How amazing that we often do choose to ignore what is inherent within us! Instead of seeking to know the Great Mystery, we fight, struggle, react, and attack — doing everything except seek to discover the highest truth of our nature. We perpetually get caught in what is apparent instead of looking for the source of the apparent.

The Trap of the Apparent

We live in a time that is fraught with the difficulties of Covid and politics, and we let ourselves get caught in the turmoil. But whatever challenge we are facing, whether in the world or in our mind, it is we who allow our attention to remain on that level, instead of penetrating through it to discover the underlying Mystery. When we get trapped in the apparent, we immediately start repeating the great mantra of stupidity, “What’s gonna happen to me?” There is an extraordinary willingness to make everything all about us instead of recognizing that life is a perpetual unfolding of joy and freedom.

There’s a beautiful Muslim saying, “Everywhere I look I see the face of God.” But how are you going to see the face of God if you’re focused on something different? The fundamental teaching of nondual practices is that the apparent is not an obfuscation of its source, but an expression of its source. We want to avoid getting trapped in a limited level of awareness that cannot see beyond the obvious.

We must look for God beyond surface appearances. He is present in everyone and everything — even in the people we see as evil. In truth, no one is inherently evil; they are only cut off from the joy of knowing their own Source, and act from the pain of living in a closed heart. From God’s perspective, everything is an expression of His perfection and joy. When someone does not experience that fullness, it’s because they are caught in the ego, the level of consciousness that only knows separation from God.

Seeing with God’s Eyes

From God’s viewpoint it cannot be said that one thing is good and another bad. Evil happens because of ego, and ego exists in every one of us. But God is also within every one of us and we must choose where to function from. If we only relate to the limited aspect of a person, how are we going to see the unlimited in them? Even if that person is not aware of their own inherent Divinity, we can see beyond their words or behavior and connect with them on a deeper level.

People get caught in their ego, which has a tremendous capacity to usurp that great spirit. They act only to serve themselves. As my teacher Rudi said, “The reason the world is so screwed up is that nobody opens their heart.” This is not to excuse the expression of evil, but to understand where it comes from — and to recognize that if we get caught in someone’s evilness, we won’t move past that to see the goodness in that person, or even in ourself.

Whether we get trapped by our own difficult circumstances or by the evil acts of others, the result is the same: we look at the surface appearances and stop looking for something deeper. We must discover nonduality in the diversity of all circumstances. To do that, we use our self-reflective capacity to ask where we’re putting our attention and where we’re functioning from.

I deeply encourage you to look past manifest form to discover the mystery and wonder of life. See what God sees, which is His own expression of unconditional fullness. Don’t wait for an “ideal time” to look past what your eyes see. God’s grace, the freedom-bestowing power of the Divine, is perpetually raining down on you at every moment. Although grace doesn’t always look like fairy dust, it is always there. Look for the light and discover the Great Mystery.