Stalking the Strange Serpent

Death-throes of a seeker

Philip Davies January 2009“Love is the sea of not-being, and there intellect drowns.” Rumi

CONTENTS1. Introduction2. Reality – The True Home3. The Void4. The Plenum5. Bad Move?6. To Be or Not to Be?7. The One and the Paradox of Manifestation8. The Self and the Paradox of Consciousness9. Holograms and Fractals10. Concepts of Identity11. The Illusion of Continuity12. The Paradox of Identification – ‘Asmita’ 13. I Think, Therefore I Am (I think) –aren’t I?14. Creation and ‘Maya’ 15. Quantum physics16. The Bad News - Limitation17. Whose illusion? The Purusha Paradox18. The Divine Actor and the Paradox of Omnipotence19. The Good News – The Bluffing Serpent20. Mind the Big Bang!21. The Problem of Solipsism22. The Multi-player ‘Omega’ Game23. The Story so Far…24. The Divine Nescience25. Free Will – The Paradox of Choice26. Spiritual methods – The Paradox of Practice27. Who awakens? – The Paradox of Enlightenment28. The Divine Omniscience29. New Age confusion 1 – ‘Create Your Life!’ 30. New Age confusion 2 – ‘Parallel Universes’ 31. Ancient confusion 1 – ‘The Hierarchy in Creation’ 32. Ancient confusion 2 – ‘The Hierarchy in Consciousness’ 33. Uncoiling the Serpent - Liberation

1.Introduction

1.1 This essay is an exploration of our true nature, Reality,Consciousness and manifestation/creation. It is a personal overviewthat necessarily must leave out a mass of interesting detail in order tofocus on the main structural elements. I dare say there is not a singleoriginal idea in it. If there is anything original it is in the synthesis of these ideas into my own overview (though many may have come to asimilar view). I set it down on paper for two reasons: I have not comeacross a similar summary elsewhere, though there may be one; andbecause of the fun of making explicit ideas that have been floatingaround within me for years. I hope to make these ideas as clear aspossible, not least for my own benefit. I hope I have avoided anyabstruse or over-technical philosophical ideas or arguments, and hopethat anyone with an interest in these matters could follow the accountfairly easily. The ideas are presented concisely so their full impactmay need some time for reflection, and perhaps some re-reading. They also form, I hope, one more or less integrated picture, soskipping over sections is not recommended!1.2I draw freely from the many metaphysical/philosophical traditionsthat I have trawled through over the years. Of these there are three orfour which seem to me to be the most adequate, and to which we canrefer to illustrate our points. Yet none are without their problems andparadoxes, and this is perhaps inevitable when dealing with ultimatematters. The net of understanding gets all tangled when it tries tocapture its own threads.