I have been thinking about the phrase "Of The world but not in it." Where did this thought come from and what does it mean to you and I? First, let me start by saying that the thought has been around for a long, long, time and is found in many ancient wisdom traditions, including Sufism, Christianity, and others. There is a biblical reference to it in Jesus words in Romans. To me this may be a key to life, if not "the key." Right away, the I-ching hexagrams "The Traveler or Wanderer, and The Caldron" come to mind, but more on this later.
How do we journey through this life, living and functioning "in" this world, but not be "of" it? I think the meaning of it goes a lot deeper then people might realize. I don't pretend to know what the exact answers are, but maybe I can give some insight from my perspective. I mentioned the hexagram (56) of the I-ching called "The Traveler or Wanderer" and (50) "The Caldron." However the whole I-ching, and a lot of other holy books might be trying to point us to the way of achieving or returning to this state of not being "Of the world."
What is your world from a subjective point of view? I would put fourth the notion that the world as we see it is a reflection of everything that is inside us, as well as that of the collective consciousness surrounding us. When we are children or newborns, we are closer to, or are the pure essence. like a sparkling glass of clear water. As we become socially conditioned our pure essence becomes integrated with thoughts and projections of other entities. These range from our parents, to schools and religious institutions. As we progress through life everything is colored by these, lets call them introduced impurities. To put it simply, we forget who we are and become involved with the drama of life.
Our original essence, and connection to the ultimate essence is corrupted and made impure. We form what is called an ego, or false perception of who we are and what might really be important. Once this ego is formed, it seeks to propagate itself with things that please it, or make it feel comfortable. But do we really feel comfortable? Aren't we always searching to improve, keep our lot in life, or the status quo. As we approach the later years of life, questions can really start cropping up. Like for Instance; What's this all for? Where am I headed? When the quote: "world" gets chaotic, and the people around us seem like strangers, we start asking the hard questions.
It's at this time that we realize that our involvement with "The world" may be an illusion. And that! my brothers, is exactly what it is. For the essence of your true self, is a light that has been covered a long time ago. How do we "return" to our true pure selves and uncover the light. Maybe this could be called re-enlightenment instead of enlightenment.
The I-ching says we are wanderers or travelers, as in a foreign country. This hexagram called "Lu" in Chinese reminds us that we should be traveling through life like we are traveling through a foreign country. Strangers in a foreign land, are careful not to get sidetracked into difficult situations, or fall in with unsavory characters. The I ching hexagram "The Caldron" talks about sacrificing our ego and accepting guidance from a higher power.
Lets put this into a real time scenario. When we perceive anything in this so-called world do we become emotionally involved, and let our senses instead of our "essence" rule us? Maybe the key is, living life from a detached or non-attached point of view. Everything we see before our eyes, and feel with our senses are in fact programed illusions or perceptions. These are based on that belief system being formed since childhood.
So as we walk down the street, and see say for instance, a homeless person. We might have several feelings come up, such as feelings of hurt, or feelings of fear. This would depend on our personal preconditioning. But what if we began to go through life as a wise traveler, looking at things like they are a motion picture? A projector projecting images on a screen. Are you doing the projecting, or maybe writing a script for phenomenon, and what is really just energy and a play of vibratory light? Because that's all "matter", or that homeless person is really. "The observer affects the observed." Not that you shouldn't have compassion, and be a non feeling person. But turn down the volume and live life "viewing" the world, and realize it for what it is every second your living it. The more you have awareness of the moment, and not just living in the moment, the quicker you will begin to perceive or rediscover your own essence.
Its like a smelting process. We slowly remove the impurities of our preconditioning, by looking at each moment with a peaceful feeling of wonderment, and seeing the power of our own thoughts and what we can, or cannot do with them. Maybe another way to put it would be. What kind of sensory feelings are we projecting onto ourselves, and maybe others in each moment of whatever comes up in life. Be a simultaneous watcher of the world and your ego self, which essentially have become one in the same through preconditioning. Remember our essence is pure...some might call it our spirit. And our essence doesn't have anything to do with the world, which includes even our own body. Change the way you look at (view) things and the things you look at will change. And maybe you will discover your essence in the process.
-Thunderhands
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