Sunday, June 17, 2012

Even 'Beyondness' is a point of view.

"That everyone has different experiences and perspectives is not a problem; rather, the problem is that when we interpret an experience outside its own paradigm, context, and stated definitions, that experience becomes lost altogether. It becomes lost because we have redefined the terms according to a totally different paradigm or perspective and thereby made it over into an experience it never was in the first place. When we force an experience into an alien paradigm, that experience becomes subsumed, interpreted away, unrecognizable, confused, or made totally indistinguishable. Thus when we impose alien definitions on the original terms of an experience, that experience becomes lost to the journey, and eventually it becomes lost to the literature as well. To keep this from happening it is necessary to draw clear lines and to make sharp, exacting distinctions. The purpose of doing so is not to criticize other paradigms, but to allow a different paradigm or perspective to stand in its own right, to have its own space in order to contribute what it can to our knowledge of man and his journey to the divine.

 Distinguishing what is true or false, essential or superficial in our experience is not a matter to be taken lightly. We cannot simply define our terms and then sit back and expect perfect agreement across the board. Our spiritual-psychological journey does not work this way. We are not uniform robots with the same experiences, same definitions, same perspectives, or same anything."
Bernadette Roberts.

That seems pretty useful to me in the wake of all the endless discussions and endless terminology of levels and personally percieved definitions of that terminology which have spewed out recently (especially with reference to or in reaction against Benthino's latest thing) ...
Ultimately, on a pragamatic level it means that whatever our own experience is and whatever our own interpretation of that experience is, is real for us personally. One almost might say that whatever works for each individual is cool for them.
 After that it is interesting to listen to the other guy and see where he's at and if it looks interesting or better see if we can find something similar in and through ourselves ..
However to constantly be looking at the other guy and criticising him if it doesn't 'measure up' to our own concepts or experience is to deny the possibility of further openings .. and the beauty of the reality that nobody can ever have the full Truth or the Absolute picture .. that is for The Truth or The Absolute itself .. always always beyond .. always always greater than .. and never never communicable in words ..
No human can deny their humanity and the 'point of view' that this implies while alive in a human body ..

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