Joining the circle

Seekers of Enlightenment have turned towards light, the universal symbol of truth andenlightenment. Yet darkness may be equally important in our search for ultimate wisdom.The importance of light in spiritual practices cannot be underestimated. Hindus know Krishna as the`Lord of Light' and Jesus Christ is known as the `Light of the World'. Ain Soph of the Cabbala istranslated as `Limitless Light'. Saul, later to become Paul, was struck by a blinding light of spiritualillumination on the road to Damascus. Buddha was said to shed dazzling light duringtransfiguration.As a recognition of the importance of light, most religions use candles, lamps and beacons asmetaphors for truth and the divine. St Lucia, the Christian festival of light, is named after `Lux' -Latin for light. Candlemas - the Christian festival of light, became a torchlight procession duringearly February.Materialist scientists also use light as a metaphor for truth. They say that ignorant people createdgods, demons and superstitions just as frightened children fill their dark bedrooms with imaginarymonsters. It is science's task to shine the light of science into the children's bedroom and exposesGod, religion and the supernatural as fantasies of man.Materialists claim to be adults because they have come to terms with the `harsh cold reality' that thismaterial world is all there is; those who can not accept this fact are children in darkness. This viewis remarkably similar to religious exclusivists (fundamentalists) who also bask in the `true light'while unbelievers are in darkness.Curiously, religious fundamentalists and materialists are united in their condemnation of occultismand mysticism. They agree that those who study astrology, mysticism, divination or the paranormalare in `darkness'. If only they would believe the bible was total truth or accept that this materialworld is all there is then they would be enlightened.Mystics and occultists do not claim to be enlightened but merely seek the hidden path toenlightenment which is within humankind, not written in books or laid out in a set of man-madeprinciples. Perhaps religious fundamentalists and materialists are basing their philosophy on the`Tai Chi' symbol. This is a circle split into two `fishes'; one black, representing darkness (Yin); theother white, representing light (Yang). Some have the simplistic idea that ignorance (darkness)

irreversibly transforms into knowledge (light).Interestingly, although religious fundamentalists and materialists obviously disagree on whatconstitutes ignorance and knowledge, they agree that once someone has moved from darkness intolight, that is the end of the quest; there are no further mysteries (scripture is all we need or what thescientific method cannot prove has no validity). For them there is just the blinding light of absolutetruth against the darkness of lies. This is a `binary' and `linear' belief system where black is black,white is white. There is nothing beyond.This simplistic binary hypothesis (light-darkness, yin-yang, good-bad etc.) suits the philosophy ofpeople who want to convert those `in the dark'. But this model of darkness changing to light may betoo limited. Is there a way of joining the circle?

Zen to the Rescue

There is a Zen Buddhist saying; "Before studying Zen, mountains and trees are mountains and trees.While studying Zen, there are no longer mountains and trees. But after studying Zen mountains andtrees become mountains and trees again." In other words, ignorance (darkness) corresponds to thestate before studying Zen. Knowledge (light) corresponds to studying Zen. So we need a third stageto correspond to the period

after

studying Zen; a resolving third. What can this be? After night,comes day so logically night must come again. We must enter the darkness to join the circle.

The Three Stages of Human Development

Taking the materialists' analogy of the child's dark bedroom, we can say that the gullible childknows only mountains and trees (monsters, spirits, God, Father Christmas, ghosts, etc.) Yetmaterialists, rather than being the mature adults they claim to be, may correspond to adolescentsbecause they overreact to childhood gullibility by becoming intensely sceptic and cynical abouteverything beyond their everyday experience. They debunk all that they believed in aschildren. They take mountains and trees apart with the light of logical knowledge but they do notput them back together again. It needs a mature adult to do this; someone who knows what it is liketo be both a child and an adolescent but who has left both childhood gullibility and adolescentscepticism behind.To put the mountains and trees back again we must go beyond the light of knowledge and return tothe darkness. A more balanced and accurate interpretation of the Tai Chi symbol is one which takesthe dots in the centre of each segment into account. This represents the `resolving third' - the gap

between the worlds.In the correct, balanced Yin-Yang diagram, ignorance is represented by the dark `fish'. Thebeginning of knowledge is shown by the white dot in the centre which leads into the white fish.This is the blinding light of knowledge. But this is not the end - there is the black dot in the centreof the white fish symbolising the return to darkness necessary to join the circle and attainenlightenment.This is what the term `occult' means; hidden, veiled, kept secret, a mystery, beyond the range ofordinary knowledge, beyond the obvious (light). It is the dark portal to enlightenment. So in thisanalogy religious fundamentalists believe blindly as children; materialists value only worldlyknowledge like sceptical adolescents. But the sage, the magi, the `superior man' of Taoism,correspond to mature adults. They have returned to the darkness armed with the knowledge of lightbut also possess experience beyond knowledge. They discriminate by using both the logical andintuitive side of their mind.Mysticism, through various religions, asserts this return to darkness. According to Zen,enlightenment itself cannot be obtained through blind faith (ignorance/darkness) or by intellect(knowledge/light). It must be experienced. The Christian saint and mystic, Bernard Clairvanx saidmuch the same thing; that the mystical union between God and the human soul is an experiencebeyond words which can only be known by one who experiences it.Both childhood gullibility and adolescent scepticism limit the potential of our minds. The gullibleand the sceptic cannot experience for themselves so they fall back on belief-in-all or belief-in-nothing to absolve themselves of responsibility to discriminate. All theories are equally valid to thegullible; sceptics lump together religion and psychical research with the belief in Father Christmasand the Tooth Fairy!The ignorant are blind in the darkness and the knowledgeable are blinded by the light.Enlightenment, which is beyond knowledge, can only be attained through the dark portal. Theoccult. In the Upanishads it is written;

`In dense darkness they move who bow to ignorance; in yet denser darkness they who are satisfiedwith knowledge. He who recognises both knowledge and ignorance, through both of these he willoverpass death her and gain immortality'.