Looking Up

You know, I often find it very interesting how each blog post takes form. There have been many occasions in which I've set off to make a specific point or highlight a specific observation, but the post itself goes off in a completely different direction. This is one of the reasons I habitually state that the words themselves are in charge. While I would like to think that I am the sole creator of the thoughts found here, I'm beginning to think I'm merely a conduit for something larger than myself. (Note: I'm not making this claim for me alone. I think it may well be true for each of us.)

In my last post, I intended to discuss authority figures juxtaposed against this notion of shared human ignorance, but Tao took me elsewhere. Therefore, I'm going to try again. I guess we'll all know by the end of this entry if this is the direction the words want to go this time. ;-)

We live in a world beset with hierarchy. Regardless of which rung on the ladder any of us occupies, we're always told that there are others on higher rungs. We are each conditioned to the idea that the individuals above us have more knowledge in their field or discipline than we do, so in important matters, we must look to them for guidance.

Not only must we heed their advice, but, in many cases, we are encouraged to cede all power and decision-making authority to them willingly. Consequently, in matters of spirituality, we're trained to think we can't find "God" on our own terms and that the only way we can find the path to eternity or salvation is through the institution of religion.

Inherent in this social conditioning is the idea that humans KNOW better than other sentient beings and some humans know better than others.

But how is this premise changed if we entertain the notion that all human-based knowledge is a mere contrivance and we each are as competent in our level of ignorance as the next person?

Well, it changes the whole dynamic dramatically! What this could mean is that no other individual's insight is any more or any less worthy than our own. It could well mean that we each have the comparable ability to touch the universal oneness or essence of existence. It could mean that no clergyman, deacon, guru, rabbi or sage genuinely can intercede on our behalf as we seek to understand the great beyond.

This is the basis of Taoism and, to some extent, Buddhism. While the Abrahamic religions posit that we each are so flawed that we must be led by the hand every step of the way along a central path, Taoists refute this notion of original sin and believe that no other person has the power nor knowledge to lead us toward our own individual paths. It would be tantamount to the blind leading blind.

As Marx wrote over 150 years ago, cast off your fetters. If you want to find God, Allah, Jehovah or Tao (or any other supreme power), quit looking up. There's nothing there.

Look all around you and inside. If true knowledge exists, that's where you're most likely to find it.