The Pathless Path of the Noble - Introduction

When carefully observing the psyche of Man, one can see there are two main dispositions. Those who are alive: They who derive meaning from within, and those who are not alive, though they may outwardly appear that way: They who crave and accept meaning from external, usually "official" or authoritative, sources.

In psychological terms, this is known as the Locus of Control - internal versus external.

I will be writing Pathless Path of the Noble as a series to widely examine the nature of both psyches. They go by various names and concepts, some of which may be familiar, but the underlying epistemology for all is virtually the same. Hopefully there will be some semblance of order to the entries, but I make no promises, and apologize in advance if it comes off as disjointed. In the end, all the ideas and posts will be related, so the astute reader (which is all of you, of course!) should be able to synthesize the entries in a meaningful fashion. I will be making updates and additions as time goes on.

And with that, let's begin.

The externally focused person is only concerned with obtaining the "right" answer to further their own material existence. They care not for the truth of things, since that requires an extraordinary effort, and pay attention only to the goal or the destination of the journey. The end. They live only on the surface of life and are motivated primarily by fear. Solitude, analysis of their own psyche, of the existential questions of life, create immense anxiety, feelings of dread and of loneliness. The anxiety persists because they are unable to create meaning from within themselves, which causes the need for constant escapes and addictions of all sorts. Everything done in life is a frantic escape from facing themselves and facing reality.

"People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls."
~ Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist

"Pain in this life is not avoidable, but the pain we create avoiding pain is avoidable."
~ R.D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist

 

Get me out of here!

The internally focused individual, in contrast, is concerned with the journey itself. The whole process. The quest itself is the end. The goal or answer itself is not a priority. In fact, it is akin to death - and being alive, the internally powered individual is in a constant state of evolution by perpetually doubting his own answers with each breath he takes, digging for deeper, subtler states of knowing and understanding, hammering away from every conceivable angle until only the incontrovertible truth remains.

Truth without contextual meaning, meaning which can only be wrought by labor, by the journey, is useless and empty. It is only through the effort, the struggle, this foreplay of searching, that when the moment of illumination occurs, will we then be propelled to stand rapt in awe of its realization and significance - regardless of how grand or ordinary the matter. All else is empty intellectualization and auto-hypnosis.

"Never lose a holy curiosity." Albert Einstein once said.

It is "the way" with which the introspective individual travels that is important. It is the questions asked along the journey, because it is the quest itself that truly teaches us and provides understanding, so as long as we have the right attitude. They are confident in what they do know, but also confident and quite comfortable in their state of not-knowingness; appreciating that the mysteries of life will reveal themselves when the time is right, and only if they are worthy...and so they travel lightly, authentically, blissfully, ever curious, with great depth of being and always with love.

This is the pathless path of the noble ones.

 

Human Automation

Those who depend mostly on external authorities to understand and interpret reality for them (religious, spiritual, political, scientific, philosophical etc.) lack the agency for self-determination, and have essentially requested they be controlled by someone other than themselves. This keeps people in a perpetual state of infancy, subordination and automation – as in, automaton, a thing to be programmed, and perhaps rightfully so.

Evolution is a slow process.

People who relinquish their inherent abilities to think, feel and reason are little more than animals who find thinking to be the most terrible of pains.

Originally published on my Facebook page April 8, 2016.

The Dragon

There are beasts and then there are Beasts.

The imagery of the Dragon can be seen as a metaphor for the human that has reconciled his opposites. Lower and higher human nature embodied in one being.

The lower nature (ie: the serpent) is that which is concerned with the material or physical pleasures and desires of worldly life and its associated attachments, from which emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, infatuation, depression, envy, hatred and so on emerge from, out of ignorance. Seeing the illusory nature of the world as real.

The higher nature (ie: the bird) is that which is in accordance with higher knowledge, wisdom, truth, God, consciousness, detachment, objectivity, reason; qualities of the metaphysical or spiritual realm. This is where the attitudes of love, curiosity, sharing, honesty, giving and understanding emerge from. Seeing the illusory nature of the world as it is, an illusion, and remaining wholly detached from it.

The Dragon, the wise reptile with wings that breathes fire, is the being who has embraced, overcome and integrated his opposite natures, his "darker" and "lighter" aspects, to become something greater than his former unipolar fractured self; repressing, negating and regretting nothing. The authentic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Dragon understands the illusory nature of the world, but chooses to engage and play with it anyways, as he understands it to be a game of his own creation. The projection of his own mind made manifest.

It is the metaphor of the human overcoming himself; The final self-transformation, through self-knowledge, attained through perpetual initiatory self-sacrifice. It is the sleeper awakened. The dream turned wholly lucid.

The human thrice born.

Originally published on my Facebook page May 3, 2016.

Evolution is a slow process.

The once evolutionarily advantageous intense desire to fit in - at the cost of truth, at the cost of personal freedom, at the cost of true morality, at the cost of history's greatest souls - has long been obsolete, and yet it remains as a destructive vestige of the human psyche.

But as someone once said, "Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos."

This time, the cost is ignorance.

Originally published on my Facebook page June 15, 2016.