The Tao of Dark Sages - Chapter 6, Part 4

The Tao of Dark Sages
by Scott Bradley

It goes back to that question, “Who am I?” The point of the exercise is to realize — not intellectually, but in experience — that I am the asker. Who I am is the asker. To realize this in experience is to awaken. It is to be awareness. And there is a sense of finality to this realization because awareness as such allows no objective knowing. It is pure subjectivity and cannot be known, only experienced.

I can’t begin to describe the joy I feel in hearing you speak. What a wonderful journey this is that we have all been taking together. And so much more lies before us. Should it happen that we gather together again, it might very well be Grasshopper or any one of you before which I sit — and joyfully so.

And on that note, I would just like to thank you all for letting me play your guru. Yes, I say ‘play’, because to tell you the truth, I am like an English teacher drafted to teach math — I have only just managed to stay one step ahead of my students! And because you have allowed me to play guru, I have grown so much — for that I am filled with appreciation. Thank you so much!

You are welcome, Sue-tzu! But I must confess that I feel a little used! All this time we thought you were something you’re not!

My dear, dear grasshoppers! Didn’t I tell you more than once not to be too sure that I was who you thought me to be? Did you believe me or in me even when we all agreed that we could believe nothing? And how can you be used when you don’t exist?!

What about not existing have you failed to understand? Do you not realize that you are a figment of my imagination? You exist only in my thoughts, dear friends. But why should that alarm you? What else other than this could it mean that you do not exist? Did you think that when we say we do not exist it is only provisionally, so that we can go on to discover that we really do exist? This is not some kind of sneaky Cartesian doubt whereby we pretend we don’t know so we can prove that we do. No, I am sorry. When we say we do not exist it can mean only that.

And how am I any different than you? I don’t exist either!! No matter that you only exist in my mind and mine is the mind that thinks you; to not exist is to not exist. There are no degrees of not-existing!

So now let us once again embrace completely this wonderful reality and ride the incredible wave of freedom it brings! Let’s roam aimlessly through the sweet land of Nowhere, careless and free! Nothing has changed. Haven’t you grown? Hasn’t it been good for you? What fun we have yet to have together being nothing and becoming nothing more! See you next summer!!

If you're interested in reading more from this series by Scott Bradley, go here.