Most spiritual teachings have to do with looking the wrong way
by Vic Shayne
author
13 Pillars of Enlightenment: How to realize your true nature and end suffering
Things seem simple when you have finally figured them out, right? It’s like those stereograms where you stare into a colorful pattern trying to find an image that you have been told exists. Someone says that if you stare and stare, at some point you feel like your vision is crossed, and then a cutout of a figure will appear. So you take it on faith and you find out that your friend was right, because now you can see a rhinoceros emerge in 3-D as plain as day. And you can see it with little effort the next time you want to stare at the picture. How did you not see the rhino before? What enables you to see it now?
No amount of knowledge or belief had anything at all to do with your seeing the rhinoceros. Praying, doing rituals, bowing and saying Namaste, and meditating did not allow you to see the image of a rhino emerge from the pattern. The only thing that worked was observation by setting aside any suppositions, ideas, thoughts, or preconceptions.
If we take the above analogy of a stereogram, here is what most teachers and writers in the field of spirituality are doing: They are talking all about the colorful pattern in all of its glory, but never leading people to find what is hidden in plain sight inside that stereogram. This is it in a nutshell. You can probably stop reading this article if it’s enough for you. Otherwise, we can go into this a little further…
Where are teachers leading you?
I spent years trying to figure out what so-called enlightened sages were talking about, because I was interested only in realizing my true Self. I was not interested in psychic phenomena, who I was in a past life, or sitting in the company of ascended masters. So I read, studied, practiced, sat in meditation, and suffered while trying to become enlightened. I was studying everything I could from Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Douglas Harding, Robert Adams, Papaji, Ellie Roozdar, Janice Shayne, and perhaps one or two others in this rare group of fully awake individuals.
For years I was trying to figure out what such sages were saying — that we are not the bodies we think we occupy, I am not who I take myself to be, and that all suffering comes from the egoic sense of self. I noticed that everything they talked about came back to one point: Find out for yourself who you are by being quiet enough to listen and observe. Ask the question “Who am I?” and seek the source of this “I.” Don’t look at what is being observed, but instead find out where this observing is coming from.
Note that the above teachers are always, always pointing people back to themselves. Their teachings have nothing to do with phenomena, dreams, out of body experiences, psychic occurrences, reincarnation, karma, morality, ethics, or being a better person. This is because all of these things are what’s happening “out there” in the made-up reality of the egoic self fully engaged in the play of consciousness.
If you find the source of the egoic self then all suffering is obvious in its origination. And it is also obvious that you are not this egoic self, but rather something that is aware of it. But if you do not find this source, then you continue to play around in the complex and confusing world of the egoic self.
What is the egoic self?
I have mentioned in other writings what this egoic self is, but I’ll repeat it again for better clarity. The mind is an instrument that thinks, figures out problems, remembers how to use a pair of scissors, operates an automobile, recalls where you live, and is involved with obtaining information, to name a few random characteristics. But from a very early age, this mind is conditioned by various influences such as parents, grandparents and other relatives, teachers, religious leaders, authority figures, culture, and more. As a result of this conditioning, the mind holds firm to a great many thoughts, with the chief of these being that we are separate from the totality of consciousness. This creates “the other,” desire, fear, greed, possessiveness, attachment, addictions, and more. The egoic mind (egoic self), which is the phrase used for this conditioned mind, is a belief and not a reality. And this truth about the egoic self is hardly the monopoly of spiritual teachers; it is also well understood in the fields of psychology, philosophy, and quantum physics as well.
The egoic self is preoccupied with two conditions: pain and pleasure — how to get pleasure and how to avoid pain. And, the egoic self is often called the self (lower case “s”), while consciousness is referred to as the Self (upper case “S”). The self must be abandoned to realize the Self.
The egoic self is a mirage
If you search hard enough in earnest, it eventually becomes obvious that the egoic self does not exist in the same way that a mirage does not exist. Once you figure out that the mirage is just a reflection due to bending light on the surface of the hot pavement or sand, then you no longer believe it is a body of water far off in the distance. The mirage still can be seen even after you have discovered it is not water, but you have had a realization of the truth that dissolves the belief. From this point forward, you have woken up to the fact that the water is just an illusion.
Leading you back to yourself
The purest of all spiritual teachings lead you back to you. They guide you back to your egoic self and its source. That’s all there is to it, because those who have had this realization know absolutely that all else is phenomenal and has nothing to do with the source of the self — as much as they know that the mirage is not water, but rather a play of light.
If you are looking at the phenomena in the world created by the egoic self then you are nowhere close to knowing what you are at the deepest level, even though the answer is so very obvious to those who have had the realization. Rumi said something to the effect that God, or the true Self, which is the source, is closer to you than your own heartbeat. If you are in search of your true Self, then what you are seeking is you. This sounds too simple to be true. But it is true. The conditioned mind, though, overcomplicates things and gets lost in the illusion as well as the search. This is a puzzle only to those who have not had the realization, yet a great many teachers suppose they understand it. But how can you understand unless you truly see the mirage as a mirage?? You cannot.
Looking in the wrong direction
Teachings about angels, higher consciousness, how to manifest money and love, becoming a happier person, the meaning of life, how we are all connected, synchronicity, remote viewing, how to control your thoughts, how to meditate, guided meditation and imagery, and even nonduality and enlightenment all have one thing in common: They are all going in the wrong direction! They are having followers and seminar attendees engage with, and become preoccupied with, the illusion rather than guiding these people to find the source of the illusion.
There is no good or bad
Now, here is my disclaimer: I am not saying that any of the above is bad or wrong. The egoic self, for many people, wants to align itself with special powers, better thinking, acts of kindness, out of body experiences, increasing awareness, new understanding, greater insight, discoveries about science and thought, and ways to be calmer and at peace. What can be wrong with any of this? If a majority of the world’s population were to engage in such things with interest then we’d have far fewer problems and less suffering. However, enlightenment doesn’t really have to do with the practice of eliminating suffering, but rather finding that which suffers and that which is beyond suffering — never changed, never affected.
Who, or what, is aware?
There is only one teaching that is not in the wrong direction, and that is a teaching that turns you around to find out who, or what, is aware of phenomena, thought, action, memories, feelings, experiences, and ideas. Such a teaching is not about telling you anything; it is about guiding you to find out for yourself. And it is not about showing you that you are awareness, but rather asking you to find out who, or what, is aware. If you want to know the answer, what a teacher might tell you is still not going to be your realization. I can explain what it is like to live in Miami where I was born and reared, and maybe you can become an expert on this topic with enough information. But unless you go to Miami and live there, then despite your knowledge you will really have no firsthand realization. No one, including the best guru, can have an “Aha!” moment on your behalf.
If you are fixated on action, beings, or phenomena, then you are an example of the egoic self being dazzled and hypnotized by its the movement of consciousness. Consciousness is a play created out of the five elements, with consciousness playing all the roles, as well as being the set, scenery, inanimate objects, nature, and the environment. But who is watching the play unfold? Who is so enamored and captivated by the play that it never bothers to look in the other direction, back at itself? Only a realized teacher understands this, which is why everyone else is involved with phenomena instead of the source of this phenomena.
