Abandon Hope and the Joy of Being

PULL QUOTE if space => it is only through Truth that we can manifest the Joy of Being

INTRODUCTION

The mystery of Being is the matter that concerns us all. Next to the activity of Being, politics is child’s play, business is a superficial game and war is the squawking of alley cats. Perhaps the scientist and the artist, each in his own way, is attempting to plumb the
mystery. When a person is in tune with their own Being, they are content and joyous. When out of tune in the whole physio-mental organism, they are consumed by insatiable desires.

And so, we have religions, priestcraft, Gurus, Saints and Aints (as Paul Reps would say), and others about whom I am writing in this book. Since the book is one-third reminiscence and two-thirds spiritual commentary (and sometimes criticism), perhaps it will not be everybody’s cup of tea. I enjoyed writing it, and felt many of the things should be said, but that doesn’t mean everybody will enjoy reading it.

Two different sides of Japan are presented in the book, and the author has lived in both parts. Obviously, he prefers the traditional as opposed to the helter-skelter modern. In
writing about the Gurus and the two missionary religions from Japan, the author is dealing with some people he respects and who mean a great deal to him; yet truth, as he sees it, must be spoken.

The chapters The Growth of Certainty and Poems of Inner Meaning (poems of spiritual experience) obviously are personal in nature. It is hoped that they are not too intense or personal, and that those with different tastes will realize there are many flavors.

I have included Srimata Gayatri Devi’s inspiring Christmas talk in a foreword as I believe it touches on some of the subject matter here and because I want to make it more widely
available. Those who have seen Mataji’s serene and beautiful face do not have to ask if she knows an inner contentment.

The greatest moments of my life have been spent with religious or spiritual figures. A Saint is by definition joyous. A gloomy Saint or spiritual teacher would be a contradiction. If one is out of tune with Being, they have nothing to pass along to others. Where there is the Religious Heart is where I want to be. To me there is no separate religion; there is only Religion with a capital R. Whether we speak of “Seeing your own True Nature” or of “Realizing God,” the meaning is the same.

Metaphysical questions and doubts expressed as to whether God exists or not are just amusements, ways to titillate the mind. They have nothing to do with Truth, and it is only through Truth — being it, not talking about it — that we can manifest the Joy of Being. It is true that many churches and some teachers attempt only to pacify and offer spiritual tranquilizers. In the long run this is damaging and does nothing to heighten Spirituality, which I define as “Identification with the Real.” So-called “Spiritual Life” can become abject bondage; it is all up to the aspirant. Seeking the True, living the True, takes courage.

I have enjoyed my contact with Maharishi, George Ohsawa, and Rammurti Mishra; the fine people of Sekai Kyusei Kyo; Roshi Sasaki and Ogata-Fujin of the Zen world; and with Reverend Hayashi and family, and my “brother,” Reverend Takahashi, of the Tenrikyo Joyous Life Church. There are so many others, not named, in whom I have discerned the seed of Spirituality, and in whose presence I have been happy.

One day I would like to write a book about the great present-day Karma Yogi, Swami Krishnanand, of Baroda, India. Perhaps at a different time I could speak of the Island Hermitage in Ceylon, one of several communities in which the Buddha’s original practice is being perpetuated. And, certainly, T’ai Chi Ch’uan Master and great Scholar Professor Wen-Shan Huang is a friend from whom I have learned many spiritual lessons.

I have enjoyed writing this book but have no idea whether the reader will enjoy it. I ask that they see it through eyes attempting to focus on the True. Beyond that, I can only ask for Peace to All Beings.

ABANDON HOPE

“Abandon Hope, all ye who enter here.”

This would appear to be the opposite of everything we believe in, the deathblow to our expectation of living a full and fulfilled life. But it isn’t. Quite the contrary, it is the way to wake up and come to life, to live the beauty of the present and to know, with gratitude, the Joy of Being. Only by abandoning hope for the future can we know life in the present.

This is a desire world. We are here in our present form because of our desires and the habit energies they have created. These habit energies are the cause, and we are the result, and our reactions every minute of our lives are building new causes, which must (sometime) have effect. We are here vainly trying to fulfill our desires, gasping, and struggling as we pursue the impossible task — trying desperately to avoid pain, to experience pleasure and to hang on to and repeat what has been pleasurable.

Most of us are caught up in this pleasure-pain syndrome, and so we make plans, always hoping
tomorrow will bring fulfillment and release from endless pressures. We hope against hope that tomorrow or next year things will be better. Yet, “not-seeking” is the Way.

This is our world, and to most people the very possibility that there might be other worlds, other levels of consciousness, does not exist. Yet, Sages tell us the number of worlds and
planes of Being are infinite. Still, in all our anxiety, we insist on remaining here, on clinging to our misery, creating attachments that go on life after life.

Does this mean “reincarnation” (a much-misused term)? What is it that comes back, an entity named John Jones or Minora Watanabe? Hardly. But it is inevitable that causes have effects, so there will be a future life. Zen calls this “handing your seat to another,” and it is a grave responsibility. Some personality will feel the consequences of what we have sown, and in truth that stranger will be us. The seed of an apple can only produce an apple tree.

We pile desire upon desire and plan upon plan. Not content to let the inevitable happen, we try to manipulate what cannot be manipulated. We build on hope and daydream, and in the wise words of Alice in Wonderland always have “jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today.” This today never comes as we plan for a better tomorrow for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.

Our stock will rise, our ability will suddenly be recognized, we will find the part we’ve always dreamed of, somebody who appreciates us will finally appear, our boss will begin to sympathize with us, ad infinitum. Does it ever happen? And if we do receive what we had hoped for, does it satisfy us for long and does it change our lives?

We are not unhappy because of our circumstances; we have these circumstances because we are unhappy and are determined to prolong that unhappiness. How we cling to the very things that cause our suffering. They are what is closest to us, and we are afraid that if we let go, we will have nothing. Does the compulsive gambler let go of the habit that causes endless torment? Not for anything — not for family, friends, or reputation. Rather, they feel things will be better tomorrow. They live in the hope of the future, alive in their suffering and afraid of the void, the emptiness, if it were turned off and they had to face themself. The suffering is a narcotic keeping them from ever looking within. In Zen terms, they face their problem by “whipping the cart and not the horse.” Without changing themselves, they cannot change their circumstances.

We each live in a private world created by our own desires and seen through a veil of self-interest. It is pure illusion, but who will believe it? Who will look within to see that world, knowing the outer is merely a reflection? This requires courage and the abandonment of hope. Only by seeing things as they are, without a shred of hope that they will be different, can we get a glimpse of Reality. Otherwise, we are always blowing the smoke-dream of illusion, hoping for one result while we experience another.