From the Room Within
A perennial message
The way of mysticism
In 1945, Aldous Huxley, the British writer and philosopher who gave us Brave New World, published his classic, The Perennial Philosophy. He described it as an anthology, a collection of wisdom from the ages. It might be thought of as an essay on the single thread that weaves its way through mysticism.
I would start that thread as a belief in something greater than my body and its physical world. I would extend it by turning within to engage with that greater something. That, to me, is the core of the shared wisdom among mystics. They speak of an intimate, personal experience with their god, whatever that god may be to them.
I take from Huxley that mystics accept a presence in their lives that is beyond their knowledge, that their existence in the world reflects that presence, and that to know this presence intimately they must turn inward. Their inward journey results in a personal experience with the greater something. The greater something is often reflected in the world’s religions as a presence or force (many call it, God, in one form or another). It is the mystic who transcends the rituals and dogmas of religious faith to have an intimate relationship with the presence, and it is mysticism that reveals the perennial nature of the experience.
My experience with mystic teachings has revealed consciousness as a construct of the greater something. I find that consciousness is not a personalized god to know intimately as a mystic might, but that consciousness is an emptiness that is nowhere. It has no distinctions or comparisons. At best, consciousness can be described as intelligent and aware. As such, I see consciousness as the eternal field of infinite possibility. I call my relationship with consciousness: that which I AM, or twia. It is with twia that I have an intimate, personal relationship.
I define I AM as consciousness expressing existence, or consciousness-expressing. I AM the expressing of existence by consciousness. I know existence as the universe. I experience existence as the me of the body. In my mind, I am I AM, for there is no other than I AM. I know this from the room within. To go within is the perennial message of mysticism, including, but is not limited to, the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu, Buddhism, the Kabbalah, Jesus, Adi Shankara, Rumi, Hasid, Plato, and Meister Eckhart. The message I hear from them is that to know my true nature I must sit in the still silence of the room within. It is in the silence that I touch the eternal and know I AM. From the room within, I know that I am the expressing that is existence. I am the dancing that is the dance.
To enter the room within is to remember my true nature. In the room within I withdraw beyond the world altogether. Entering this room is a personal journey. From within I contemplate the words of the mystic teachings. The perennial message that I have heard is given here in short sayings, using terms that I like for explaining what cannot be said. What I say here is for my ears. You may listen, too, if you wish. This is my take on the single thread of mysticism.
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There is a realm of truth beyond the world that is a mystery. It cannot be described. There are no words to say what it is. It is known through revelation from within.
Do not think about it too much. Let words be the signposts, not the destination. To cling to words is to be chained to the post. Cut the chains. Follow your true nature. Your true nature knows the way without words.
Your true nature lies inward. To journey inward, enter the room within. To enter the room within is to touch the eternal presence and power that is the greater something beyond the physical world.
The greater something cannot be named or described, but I call it, consciousness. There is only consciousness, the one presence and power. Consciousness is the emptiness that is nowhere, the eternal field of infinite possibility. There is none other than consciousness.
To know consciousness, I turn within. To turn within is to remember my true nature, which is consciousness-expressing, or I AM.
There is no other than I AM. I AM is consciousness expressing the thought of separation as existence. There is no separation in consciousness. Duality is false perception in existence. Existence is not real. It is illusion of separation.
I know existence as the universe. I experience existence as the me of the body, but I am not my body or its personality. I am that which I AM, or twia. Twia is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. The me of the body is limited and transitory.
Twia is awareness of existence in consciousness. Awareness is both continuous and discrete in consciousness, like water and its molecules. Twia is discrete awareness in the whole of awareness that is I AM.
To know my true nature, I enter the room within. To enter the room within is to remember twia. Twia is my true nature. I see twia in all. In you I see that which I AM.
Consciousness in existence is the whole of the all. The whole of the all is unity in separation. Twia is the whole of the all. There is no other than I AM.
My life is what I think it is. Thoughts kept in mind become beliefs, beliefs become my world. I can change my world by changing the thoughts that I hold in mind. Exchanging my thoughts will alter my beliefs and change my world. I am choosing twia over worldly desires. My world is changing from living in separation to experiencing the whole of the all. I choose to see in all that which I AM.
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That is the gist of my take on the lasting message found in mysticism. It is a message that threads its way through the teachings that have come down to us over the ages. It is the perennial philosophy as found in Huxley’s book. Like Huxley, and others, I absorb it by contemplating the words of mystics who taught others after finding their own way. I accept that there is something greater than what we experience as existence, and that to know this greater something personally and intimately, I must turn within. I believe that beyond my worldly existence there is an eternal reality that is my true nature, which I call twia. That which I AM, or twia, cannot be found in the outside world. I must enter the room within. My fulfillment in life comes from twia, not from the world. To know twia is to awaken to my reality as I AM. There is no other than I AM. That, I believe, is my truth. So be it.