Persephone Arbour

I found this piece in my so-far ‘Unpublished’ file. To my shame, I thought I had lost the author’s name and said so on first publishing. Today, I received a letter from dear James Bonser telling me that he was the author! So, apologies to James and much happiness that he wrote and put me right. That said, I found this article very interesting and maybe even provocative to those new to this kind of spiritual thinking. . . .

There are so few times in one’s life, when there comes that crystal clear experience which changes everything. To me it is a single moment in time, when all logical thinking is suspended, and for a very short period one relies only on feelings, nothing else exists. I must make it very clear at this point, that this is not something that can be done at will. This is not some new level of understanding that one acquires after performing rituals or meditations. One could almost call it a malfunction of the brain, or at least a malfunction of the left-brain. But what ever name you like to give it, most certainly it is an altered state of consciousness. Our every thinking moment concerning the order of our daily life, is overseen by our logical mind, our conscious mind. This doesn’t mean that our subconscious is in anyway asleep or just not working. On the contrary, it is very active, just not on a level we can truly say we understand.

For many years now, more years than I care to remember, I have heard it said that the human race would begin to become more aware of their spiritual function, as their collective consciousness grew in strength. This is the point at which I have to disagree with the majority of people. Not because I like to disagree, it is simply that the conscious mind, collective or not, is too analytical to make such a decision. It is bound by its own understanding of time, past and present, beginnings and endings, and it’s continual ifs and buts. To comprehend what spirituality is, or even whether or not it exists, is not in it’s agenda. It simply becomes a problem for our conscious mind to examine, failing as always to come to any form of solution.

This is the same stepping off point for religion, and I do mean recognized religion. We enter into a chosen faith using our conscious mind and, given its analytical history, it questions everything. Does God exist? Does he hear me when I pray? If I’m good will I get to go to heaven? It never stops with the questions. What you never hear are the answers. And you never will, while you still continue to search for them with the logical aspect of the mind. The great thing about religion being logical is that you don’t have to get involved. As long as you go to church, sing the right song, put your hands together and say a few repetative phrases, then everything is as it should be. The rest is in Gods hands, you’ve done your bit. Wonderfully logical!

Fredrich Nietzsche, once said “God is dead”. I don’t believe this to be true, I think God is alive and is being held prisoner in the conscious mind. You have your God exactly where you require him to be, and logically you can do one of two things. Praise him or blame him, one is as meaningless as the other. But it does release you from taking responsibility for your own life.

Spirituality on the other hand belongs with the subconscious. Or maybe an even bolder statement would be to say spirituality is the subconscious. For it is there, where language no longer plays the major roll, time ceases to exist. There is no yesterday, today or tomorrow, we are and will remain in the present. It is where everything and nothing become one, it is where water and fire will mix. The boundaries of what could be and what is and what should be, dissolve into a flow of energy, revealing our true being. That which is not, becomes that which is. The very practise of using language to describe our existence and that in which we exist, becomes impossible.

For true knowing or true being, it is the collective subconscious that needs to grow. Unfortunately the subconscious doesn’t understand the difference between collective or individual, it would not exist with separation. Dualism is an unknown quality. And since the communication concerning spirituality must be passed from one individual to another, it is the conscious mind that receives the information first. And sure enough it will do what it always does, analyse it, organise and categorise it. Finally, it will pigeon-hole it, under the title of illogical. It has been said that, “man learns his lessons slowly”. Understandably so, when the only tool man uses is his logical thinking to unravel the mysteries of paradise.

Even in meditation the logical mind can deceive you. Even under hypnosis the logical mind can deceive you. Even in therapy the logical mind can deceive you. It can convince you that you have found the answer. It will bolster your ego and it will even admire your intellect. But all it has done is gently steer you, once again into a cul-de-sac. And as pleasant as this cul-de-sac may seem, reaching your destination has once again been thwarted. The question then remains. How do we reach our destination? This of course is a very LOGICAL question, which requires an ILLOGICAL answer: “Nothing” The search ends at the border of the subconscious mind.