“Even Buddha said kill the Buddha. Even Thomas Aquinas said all he wrote seems like straw.”
“Spirituality”
What a confounding word.
I say this as a student and admirer.
If you disagree, well then you’re already initiated. Of course you’ve painstakingly learned certain nomenclature and nuance. This and related words – enlightenment, nonduality, waking up, nirvana – may carry special meaning – perhaps the best representation you have. You may even carefully define them in your own way, and in doing so, provoke all kinds of people to quibble about differences.
As for the person who knows nothing, it smells like jargon.
It it completely rational to lump these with religion or magic, and write them off as such. There is absolutely no incentive to dig in and patiently learn nuances… Why bother? The best move is ignore them entirely. Life’s too short.
But, [smack palm on forehead], this is a shame. For everyone.
Because ACTUALLY “waking up”, in rational secular terms, is, by many accounts, one of the most radical items on the menu of human experience – both for individual and our collective wellbeing.
But even that statement is doomed. Again: what the F@#$ does “waking up” mean?
Using Cognitive Science to Characterize “Waking Up”
It baffles me, how we are all entangled with a black box hallucination machine, and barely anyone, broadly speaking, is curious about how this works. How can this not humble everyone into perpetual bewilderment and contemplation about their own behavior? Perhaps the hallucination is simply that convincing, that its underlying mechanisms, flaws, and mysteries are entirely out of view. Let’s substantiate this:
- Since at least 1975, not only has brain science established that we are all living in some kind of personal hallucination, both in the sense of reality and our identity, it has ALSO buttressed this with a myriad of subconscious illusions and impulses that we have ZERO awareness or control over. This alone should dumbfound any person into long contemplation about the human condition.
_ - There are demonstrable ways to understand this, not JUST intellectually, such as reading this article, but to FEEL and grasp the same, phenomenologically.
_ - Evidence suggests that actually doing so will be among the most important and meaningful experiences a person can have. Consider exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C, exhibit D.
_ - All of this is loosely affiliated with the jargon in this article’s headline – that which shall not be named again – like Voldemort.
So if not those words and their associated doctrines, what can we use? How can we describe the essence of this “most important and meaningful experience” – while also being utterly clear about what it entails?
We can attempt definition below.
Whether or not this hits the exact bullseye is besides a larger point: it is both possible and worthwhile, to use established science to define both the circumstances and experience of this phenomenon – in a way that is concise and clear.
This enables us to more easily relate and talk about this with each other.
Key Definitions
See here.
Did I Do It, Mom and Dad? Am I Awake Now??
An immediate consequence of any definition, is validating oneself in relation to it.
This problem already plagues the Voldemort landscape – with an implied belief that there is, perhaps, some singular “finish line” that makes a person “awake”. A firework in the mind that detonates, and henceforth, everything seems so clear.
Belief in a binary “finish line” has many terrible consequences.
First, not everyone has such stark experiences – they are typically subtle, compounding over months and years. To expect something drastic or specific can cause chronic frustration.
Second, who is anyone to say, they have “done it”? Or further, to say that others have not? Given what science established about our bespoke realities – no person will ever be able to perfectly reconcile their conscious experience other human being or authority.
Thus – let’s unburden each other of this lofty and nebulous trap, and substitute with something more pragmatic.
What “Waking Up” Means
Simply put, Waking Up is a commitment to study one’s awareness, identity, motivations, and behavior. This is a lifelong process, never a conclusion. It cannot be right or wrong. It cannot be complete. It simply is a commitment to abide by this ongoing investigation.
In this view, the only thing we might evaluate about ourselves, and each other, is whether or not we are investigating. We inoculate against judgement, dogma, and authority this way. We can cooperate by sharing tools, insights, and experiences, in relationship with this broad definition.
Individual experiences are what they are. If a person is making a sincere and humble attempt to investigate, that is all.
More specificity or codification only risks the trouble we set out to avoid.
Is “Waking Up” the Best Term?
Each day, we all sleep, and we all wake up. This seems like an incredibly apt metaphor then, to describe transitioning from one state of awareness into another. Except, this awakening to Meta Reality occurs over the course of a lifetime.
Practically, the term is trademarked by Sam Harris, from his book, and app, called “Waking Up”. Yet, this term is also established more broadly in culture, for example, “Wake Up Now”, a book by Stephan Bodian. Further, this definition, in principle, is complementary-to, not competitive-with, Sam’s work.
Worst case, we can find-and-replace without altering this article’s premise and accompanying definitions.
OK, but How? Re-friending Voldemort
If we start from this very simple, science-based, rational, secular, empirical position, we can more safely peruse the landscape of jargon, and not fall prey to experts, dogma, magical claims, and lofty goals.
The reason to do this, is they contain centuries-old grains of truth. Some of these concepts, practices, and tools are legitimately helpful for personal investigation. We can employ them without holding any particular one to be supreme or taking it too literally.
As an aside: This is the exact motivation of this guide.
…To offer pointers, without insisting any of them are right. In fact it does the opposite: insisting that none of them are right, including the guide itself. Even so, these pointers seem to allude toward the same approximate place – self investigation. In this sense they are helpful.
Looking For Convo: Varieties of Waking Up
In 1902, philosopher and psychologist William James published “Varieties of Religious Experience”. James was not religious, but meticulously chronicled types of “transformative experiences” people had, to understand them in a non-religious way.
In 2022, psychologist David Yaden decided “Spiritual” was a better word than “Religious”, and continued James’s effort in “Varieties of Spiritual Experience”. Again, chronicling various types of “transformative experiences”.
In 2024, I wish to (continue) speaking with people who have in committed to “Waking Up” – as defined simply here. Transformative experience neither in terms of religion or spirituality, but in terms of empirical self-investigation and consideration of science.
First, this is inherently enjoyable and informative. Personal investigation is hard and highly individualized – sharing stories and insight is interesting. How does this journey relate to real world everyday affairs of people alive right now?
Second, the more we share and discuss, the more others might celebrate this same commitment, the journey to understand ourselves, and as consequence, understand each other. Secular life, by default, is missing community.
These conversations can be spoken or written, published or private, and named or anonymous.
Please read more here.
An example of such a conversation is here. I spoke with a friend and PhD in Catholic theology, about life and values, in an agnostic way. I hope to share more like this soon.
Adjacencies: Mindfulness & Psychedelics
Mindfulness in service of ____?
Meditation in service of ____?
Contemplation in service of ____?
Psychedelics in service of ____?
A person can practice mindfulness to be a better person. A person can meditate to relax. A person can contemplate to gain wisdom. A person can use psychedelics to forcefully alter their conscious experience.
These are all different aims, and completely fine.
But I find it most interesting to study the intersection of these things, in relation to Waking Up. They are highly implicated in anecdotes, but none specifically are “essential”. Each of them offers something to consider – from both a first and third person standpoint.
Due Respect to Voldemort
Even Buddha said kill the Buddha.
Even Thomas Aquinas said all he wrote seems like straw.
Prior to science, religion and doctrine were the best humanity had, to build communities and values, and intimate the value of exploring oneself. Unfortunately doctrine also leads to factions, atrocities, confusion, and ironically, can short-circuit true inner investigation, by overemphasizing external stories. In other words, Albert Camus’s philosophical suicide.
Further, the wisest of these legacy doctrines essentially wants us to abandon them. They point out they are concepts, or “empty”, and therefore they too, should drop away. In other words, “attachment” to anything is unwise, according to their principles. Let’s heed this.
Today we have an opportunity to aggregate these systems from a distance, distill their essence, and renew a basis for investigation according to consensus science.
There is no need to eliminate this legacy landscape. In fact we might carefully embrace them. But we can do so with clear eyes.
Due Respect to Nonduality
Nonduality is a funny beast. Not a belief, but a particular set of claims about reality. Sometimes defended “radically”.
Surely those steeped in nonduality may accuse this of missing the point of nonduality. Or that nonduality doesn’t belong here. Or that nonduality in fact refutes that there is anything to be investigated in the first place.
The claim is simply this: Google nonduality, and one will find many conflicting and contradictory definitions of what it means. They will find experts pontificating, and confused students wondering why they have not gotten it yet, or which expert is right.
Surely, there is something valuable in grasping polarities of the mind, and collapsing them down into a unified whole. The full yin yang, as opposed to either side.
However – fervent pursuit and intellectual understanding of nonduality seems like a tarpit. So this is more a caution than dismissal. It might be easiest to let this insight come from within, on its own time, if ever.
Again, Convos and Community…
95% of this article is about generating conversation and community.
We, together, are not taking a position in this apparent arena, we are instead sitting high in the bleachers and considering what we see.
For example, one may admire the essence of Buddhist arguments, but not want to become a Buddhist. Buddhism is seemingly an instantiation of something more fundamental, and so it should be possible to explore in an agnostic way.
Same goes for tools and experiences, like mindfulness or psychedelics. While there are enthusiasts and experts within these domains, who sometimes verge on saying these tools are “the answer”, there are examples of people with robust waking up journeys, who never meditated or touched a psychedelic. Therefore, we cannot define Waking Up as dependent upon these things. We can however, talk about what they illuminate.
What is YOUR journey of self-discovery, how did it start, what have you learned, and how do you integrate that in your daily life?
Please leave a comment below or read more here.
Huh?
5% of this article is an intro for those who’ve never heard of Waking Up. There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to explore this, many of which are confusing. Here is a sincere attempt to point anyone toward resources that are most established and well reviewed. It also contains authoritative references on brain constraint, predictive processing, and other subconscious illusions of the brain.