Whadda ya know?

Seriously. With absolute certainty, what do you know?

Put aside all opinions, beliefs and theories for a moment and address this one straight question: What do you
know for sure? Or, as Thoreau put it:

"Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and
prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe... through church and
state, through poetry and philosophy tamlinhviet.org and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in
place, which we can call reality, and say, This is, and no mistake; and then begin..."

In other words, let's cut the crap and figure out what's real. The cogito does exactly that, and it's very simple. The
question is: What do you know?

The answer is: I Am.

All other so-called facts are really non-facts and belong in the category of consensual reality and relative truth, i.e.,
unreal reality and untrue truth.

::: Cogito Ergo Sum

Cogito ergo sum is the equation that proves the fact. But first, before we go on, let's ask what else we know. What
else can be said for certain?

Nothing. We don't know anything else. And that's the real point of the cogito. The importance of I Am isn't that
it's a fact, but that it's the only fact.

I Am is the only thing anyone has ever known or will ever know. Everything else, all religion and philosophy, is
nothing more than dream interpretation. There is no other fact than I Am. The cogito is the seed of the thought
that destroys the universe. Beyond the cogito, nothing is known. Beyond the cogito, nothing can be known. Except
I Am, no one knows anything. No man or god can claim to know more. No God or array of gods can exist or be
imagined that know more than this one thing: I Am.
We can't avoid letting this topic drift briefly into the Christian realm. When Moses asked God His name, God
answered, "I am that I am." The name God gives for Himself is I Am.

Note that I Am is unconjugatable. It allows of no variation. God doesn't say, "My name is I Am, but you can call me
You Are, or He Is." The cogito, the I Am equation, does not extend beyond one's own subjective knowing. I can say
I Am and know it as truth, but I can't say you are, he is, she is, we are, they are, it is, etc. I know I exist and nothing
else. Understood thusly, I Am, aka God, truly is the Alpha and the Omega; the entirety of being, of knowledge, of
you.

::: The Line Is Drawn

The cogito is the line between fantasy and reality. On one side of the cogito is a universe of beliefs and ideas and
theories. To cross the line is to leave all that behind. No theory, concept, belief, opinion or debate can have any
possible basis in reality once the ramifications of the cogito have fully saturated the mind. No dialogue can take
place across that line because nothing that makes sense on either side makes sense on the other.

We all think we know what the cogito means; this is an invitation to challenge that assumption. If professors of
philosophy truly understood it, they wouldn't be professors of philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead said that all
philosophy is a footnote to Plato, but all philosophy, Plato included, is rendered obsolete and irrelevant by
Descartes. Nothing but the subjective I Am is true, so what's the point of prattling on?

The cogito isn't a mere thought or an idea, it is an ego-eating virus that, properly incubated and nurtured, will
eventually devour all illusion. Once we know the cogito, we can begin systematically unknowing everything we
thought we knew, and unraveling the self we aren't.

::: Life is but a Dream

There is no such thing as objective reality. Two cannot be proven. Nothing can be shown to exist. Time and space,
love and hate, good and evil, cause and effect, are all just ideas. Anyone who says they know anything is really
saying they don't know the only thing. The greatest religious and philosophical thoughts and ideas in the history
of man contain no more truth than the bleating of sheep. The greatest books are no more authoritative than the
greatest luncheon meats.

No one knows anything.

::: Disprove it for Yourself

Anyone wishing to deny these statements about the meaning of the cogito need merely prove that something,
anything, is true. By all means, give it a try, dash your head upon it, but it can't be done. Cogito ergo sum,
however, isn't the endpoint of inquiry, it's the starting point; it's a tool that helps us see, without intermediaries,
exactly what is true and what isn't.

How great is that?

There is a long tradition in the various spiritual approaches found throughout the world, such as Christianity,
Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on, of certain individuals spending years of spiritual discipline and meditation in
order to attain a higher state of consciousness. Particularly during the last 2,000 years, there has been a marked
trend for those of a spiritual inclination to seek escape from the struggles and strife of ordinary life and to find
solace in a higher reality.

The unfortunate consequence of such an approach has been that spiritually inclined individuals have often
neglected the physical plane, while materialistic individuals have tried to dominate and control it, often without
the guidance of ethical values.

But there is an approach to spirituality, which we could call dynamic spirituality, which resolves this only apparent
conflict between spiritual and physical life.

In the approach of dynamic spirituality, the main purpose of concentrating on higher values, or the higher spiritual
planes, is so that those higher values and visions can be brought to the physical plane and used. This use involves
the simultaneous coordination of the spiritual and physical levels in right action and right living.

There are many powerful spiritual beings who are willing to help those on the earth plane realize higher values,
and are willing to work in cooperation to bring about a better world. But they have to be asked, they have to be
invited.

The approach of dynamic spirituality differs from the attitude of prayer. In prayer, we ask for help, in dynamic
spirituality, we ask how we can help. We may use prayer as an aid to dynamic spirituality if we find we need
additional help from the Great Friends, but only after we have done our best to cooperate with them in helping
humanity.

So in dynamic spirituality, the Spiritual Friends are invited to cooperate right from the start in a plan or project for
the helping of humanity. The project then becomes a mutual undertaking, with the Spiritual Friends and Guides
providing some of the energy, inspiration, and ideas to get the job done.

This approach of dynamic spirituality builds on character development but goes beyond it into a state of dynamic
activity in which a greater vision is actualized. Through dynamic spirituality, we can break out of some of the
narrow restrictions of our own thinking and avail ourselves of the assistance of the Great Friends whose vast vision
can help illumine our plans and actions. In this way, we can go far beyond what we would be capable of on our
own.

It is at this point of dynamic commitment that many seekers choose the slower path. They become "good people."
They try to do the right things and they make some progress. But their lives lack that dynamic creativity and
adaptability which is characteristic of rapid spiritual progress. On the other hand, rapid spiritual progress is not for
everyone and there is nothing "wrong" with choosing the slower path. It is up to the individual. But for those who
want to move forward rapidly, dynamic activity in alignment with the Spiritual Friends can be a fruitful path.

One of the dangers of this more intense approach is that we can be overstimulated and become unbalanced.
Therefore, sane and balanced living is necessary to maintain psychological equilibrium under the impress of the
higher energy of the more spiritually advanced Great Friends.

In addition, there is always the chance that once some real accomplishments are brought about, the ego can creep
in and we can forget that a substantial part of our success is due to the help of the Great Friends on the spiritual
planes. An example would be a religious leader who begins as a servant of higher values and ends up exploiting
the people in the name of God. A good antidote for this condition is simple humility and a legitimate valuation of
our abilities.
If we maintain an attitude of alignment and harmony with the higher spiritual planes and the Great Friends, we
can vibrate in harmony with them. This harmonic resonance will create a bridge over which energy, inspiration,
and ideas can flow. For example, if we want to promote peace, we can begin by developing peace within
ourselves. By so doing, we will align ourselves with the forces for peace on the spiritual planes. Then, if we hold
this attitude of peace and invoke the aid of the Great Friends, they can easily help us.

There are great forces for good on the spiritual planes willing to cooperate with all those on the physical plane
who are duly prepared, worthy, and well qualfied to serve humanity with good will, intelligence, and love. Even
thought the Great Friends may be behind such activities as publishing certain books and magazines, conducting
seminars on spiritual topics, governing society justly, and so on, they can only accomplish these goals through the
cooperation of those on the physical plane with whom they can work effectively. That is why the School of the
Masters is a definite physical organization.

So we could say that dynamic spirituality is acting in alignment with the constructive principle as it manifests on
both the physical and spiritual planes, in cooperation with the Great Friends on the spiritual planes and our co-
workers on the physical plane.