The Source

I want to write soon about an independent realization stemming from the writings of schizophrenics -- one of those “knowings” that we occasionally experience which was not handed down to us by other people – but first I need to tell you more about “where I’m coming from”.

I’ve already mentioned that when I was young I moved from fundamentalist Protestant Christian teachings to an independent realization that there was a single spiritual underpinning of all that exists. Just about everything I’ve since learned about that general subject has come from reading, including such things as the “Upanishads”, the “Bhagavad Gita”, Aldous Huxley’s “The Perennial Philosophy”, and writings on Taoism, mysticism, Spiritualism, and New England
Transcendentalism, among many others. There are interesting contemporary views in Tolle’s “The Power of Now” (my personal favorite), “Conversations with God”, “Seth Speaks”, and books by Deepak Chopra.

The Tao is the power or essence which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the Supreme (the Source) expresses these concepts: “All states of being are manifested by my energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am above and inexhaustible. I am the origin and dissolution of all things material and physical. All manifestations of being are within Supreme Consciousness. The quality of the existence of living entities is one and the same with the Supreme, but they are never equal to the Supreme in quantity of power.”

The Transcendentalists spoke of the Oversoul, the divine "spark" within, which connected all facets of nature, including humans. They believed that one's "spark" and connection can be discovered through intuition and not through logical reasoning.

I believe that there is a single Source, an ultimate universal Beingness, which creates and sustains all things. The Source is as incomprehensible to us as It is to a goldfish, and must remain largely a mystery to humans in this life, but we can intuitively be aware of Its ultimate reality as well as perceiving Its physical creations. It is what some would call God, but my upbringing has crushed that word under so many unacceptable meanings and emotional connotations that I need to find alternatives. I wish I could also find better words for the vague and overused terms “spirit” and “spiritual”. Words are the greatest enemy of awareness of reality.

In this context, I plan to post some thoughts about schizophrenia.