“The Path”

Excerpt from “Remembering Eternity”: “After forty years of working hard at the problem, I have finally begun to understand at least the basics of what many wise souls have been trying to tell their fellow human beings over the ages. All these masters of the highest science, spirituality, though they spoke in different metaphors and employed different terms, described the identical, the highest goal: human Enlightenment. They called it the kingdom of heaven, self-knowledge, nirvana, satori, oneness, self-realization, but, no matter the label, it was Enlightenment all the same. But, because these saints sought to describe some-non-thing that transcended language and logic, their words were often misunderstood and misapplied. Everyone is on the path to Enlightenment and everyone must make their best sense of the guidance given by those who have already arrived. Now, late in life, I have settled for myself the question of the real meaning of the sacred words I have read and heard. For instance, I believe that faith does not mean blind trust in something outside myself, about which I have been told, but trust in the irremeable forward progress of spiritual evolution, which I constantly experience. Once one knows that the river of one’s life is flowing irreversibly to the great ocean, one gains new patience with the eddies, rapids, and doldrums encountered along the way. I also understand the concept of charity in a way I never did before. I see it not as a collection of discrete pious acts intended to help those less fortunate than me but as an overall attitude of forgiveness for the shortcomings of everyone around me. And I am able to forgive others as a result of seeing in their weaknesses the very failures which I myself have long struggled to overcome. Once one forgives oneself, one is able to extend that generosity to others, who, in truth, are only reflections of oneself.”