The term 'perennial philosophy' . . . refers to a fourfold realization: (1) there is only one Reality (call it, among other names, God, Mother, Tao, Allah, Brahman, or Great Spirit) that is the source and substance of all creation; (2) that while each of us is a manifestation of this Reality, most of us identify with something much smaller, that is, our culturally conditioned individual ego; (3) that this identification with the smaller self gives rise to needless anxiety, unnecessary suffering, and cross-cultural competition and violence; and (4) that peace, compassion, and justice naturally replace anxiety, needless suffering, competition, and violence when we realize our true nature as a manifestation of this singular Reality. The great sages and mystics of every civilization throughout human history have taught these truths in the language of their time and culture. -- Rami Shapiro, commonly called "Rabbi Rami", is an author, teacher, and speaker on religion and spirituality.
Well, there it is. Everything that I believe in one paragraph. And proof that what I believe and how I live what I believe are two different...ah, but converging...matters.
Amazing as it is to me, to my realization right this very second, "converging" is an apt description of how I live what I believe and is close enough for the honest love and laughter of my spiritual self and my egoic self.
I wonder if the point of convergence isn't what Merton writes about...when the spiritual enwraps the ego and the ego disappears. Waaay over my head and several lifetimes away for me now but close enough to ponder.
Let it be.
Thank you.
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