20 so JA.

v fries: nightshades

assume that Absolute Reality (Brahman) is formless, undefined, undefinable,

unborn, unexistant, undying, totally void and consciousness itself. Everything
with form is subject to change, to birth-existence-death-rebirth, and hence too
limited to be absolute or absolutely true. The vedantins disapproved of form
and called it Maya, meaning a cunningly crafted illusion. To obtain liberation
from maya, they did a lot of meditation, ritual, austerities and yoga to destroy
illusion, meaning their social position, status, perception, thinking and identity.
It certainly gave them freedom from bondage, but it didn’t make them very
happy.

Whatever you can name, you can say goodbye to it. Maybe your ego gets the
creeps, the shivers and the runs at this point It bloody well knows why.

Let’s take a look at planet earth from outside. A tiny ball of matter and life in an
eternity of darkness. A few small suns here and there, a few planets to give
motion to the picture, plenty of dark matter, particles, stringies, academic
hypotheticles, trans-dimensional phantasticles and in-between an enormous
amount of NOTHING.

Or take atoms. A little energy plus whirlies, charges, flavours, zip-a-zoddles,

gravitation for free and in between loads of NOTHING.

Nothing keeps our world together. Nothing surrounds us. Nothing is shared by
all that exists, that ever was and ever will be. Nothing accompanies us from life
to life, from consciousness to consciousness, from identity to identity. Nothing
is the common denominator, the universal glue that supports, transforms and
maintains all forms.

Nothing is Absolutely Conscious.

Here, the Abyss opens its gates. True enough, we have known about them all
the time. Whenever you felt afraid, uncertain, insecure, doubtful, disappointed,
worthless, depressed, upset or unhappily in love, you had a glimpse of it. Much
of human effort is aimed at ignoring the central voidness that is our shared
essence. People hunger all their lives: they try to stuff the hole within themselves
with anything. Call it desire if you like: no matter whether you crave food, sleep
or physical comfort, a partner, family, a career, property, power, admiration,
 JAN fries: NIGHTSHADES 03 21

self-expression or simply seek a comatose life watching TV: there is always

something ‘out there’ which allures, which promises to fill the gaping void within
our core. The void pulls us, moves us, motivates us. It makes animals seek each
other, it makes plants grow to the light and people live their dream of life
without a trace of hesitation.

The historical Buddha himself realised the absolute reality of Voidness: it made
him an unhappy and grumpy nihilist who much looked forward to his own
demise. Mahayana Buddhism refined the concept: as one version of the Prajna-
pdramita Sutra goes:

‘Forms are Voidness and Voidness is Forms; nor are Forms and
Voidness separable, or Forms other than Voidness. In the same way,
Perception, Feeling, Volition, and Consciousness are Voidness. Thus,
Shari-putra, are all things Voidness, without characteristics, Unborn,
Unimpeded, Unsullied, Unsuitable, Unsubtracted, Unfilled....”
(Translation Evans-lTent^ 1967:356-357).

All of this is eminently true, but it didn’t make most Buddhists very happy. It’s
hard to run a temple or a country when you believe that all is void and nevertheless
insist on hierarchy, status and regular donations.

The Tantrika of Kashmir had a very similar outlook, they recognised the absolute
reality of the void, but in their lore both voidness and forms are worthwhile,
uplifting and divine. Let’s put this simply. They proposed that Eternal Siva is
pure Voidness and One Consciousness Without Form, while Supreme Sakti is
Consciousness in All Form and Energy: the two unite, again and again, and
their blissful coupling maintains the multiverse. Mind you, most Kashmir
Tantrikas did not run religious organisations and were consequently much freer
to enjoy life and to keep Siva and Sakti happy by living happily. It all depends on
identification. ‘Forms are Voidness’ can imply that forms are worthless; but
when voidness is a principle of unconfined joyous awareness, the experience
changes a lot Here we come to the core of magick, the secret heart of all
identity. Things ate not illusions: everything is real Even the most absurd illusion
happens to be real, for a time, a space, and a person who believes in it. All
perceptions are true and relevant: everything you experience is the loveplay of