Self-Reliance and God-Consciousness

Today, I propose a solution to an issue confronting my thoughts for many years—the existential problem between self-reliance and god-reliance.

First, let me explain what I mean by these terms.

Self-reliance says that we are human beings experiencing reality in a subjective form. From an objective point, we all see the color blue similarly, but every individual experiences the color blue in an individual brain. Our brain processes tell us through the experience within the world that blue is an image we interpret, unless, of course, we are color blind.

Self-reliance is a human condition bound by science and the subjective experiences we come to know as belief. By experiencing the subjective, we can arrive at a common understanding with other individuals and experience reality similarly. So, I am not stating here that Self-Reliance means that we are on our own. We are not. We have family, friends, and community. However, reliance ultimately exists within the boundaries of human experience.

The question remains. Is Self-Reliance enough?

The Buddhists take a non-theistic approach and focus on overcoming suffering and, ultimately, self-reliance by recognizing that no matter how difficult the human condition is, we must recognize it fully, find the root cause of suffering, and then map out a practical solution.

The Buddhists attempt to un-bind us from this view that we are even trapped in this dualistic reality of self-recognizing. In many respects, Buddhism is the middle way out of relying too heavily on ego, craving, traps, false desires, and human guilt. We cannot do it on our own. Try to be the hero. You will fail or you may succeed. Nevertheless, in a Western Viewpoint, we search for self-reliance through our heroes. Yet, Buddhism takes a different approach: why not dissolve the hero concept altogether and become equal among all equals—a human being that is common to all of us whether we strive in one direction or another. In the end, we die. In the end, we fail according to standards. So, instead of failing, let's relax a bit and strive toward some common goal—the four noble truths as the Buddha describes and the 8-fold path, which is common among all religions.

I agree with the foundational components of Buddhism. There are only human beings with no hierarchy. There is social disconnection we must attempt to identify. After identifying the problem with social disconnection, we must reconcile it with social harmony, similar to a Confucian model of social reliance. We, by denying a little bit of our ego, work to help others and provide compassion and joy to all living beings. It is a beautiful Utopian model to some degree and a workable, practical model on other levels if we practice it daily.

But. Yes. A but always exists. I can only move so far toward a model of self-reliance, which Jung calls individuation. I can move beyond the ego, but as I practice, I even move closer to the emptiness of self-reliance and see my ego dissolving toward emptiness and arriving toward balance and harmony in my life. But the more I practice and hear about the Buddha mind and nirvana and ego-less perfection, I still am alone existentially, even though the colors I see are still the same rainbow colors you see.

Is being human enough?

That is the existential question.

And, from the Buddhist perspective, is the idea of the Bodhisattva—the enlightened Buddha who remains on this earth to help others achieve an enlightened state—part of being human or tapping into some higher dimension that we sometimes yearn for?

The Buddhists take a non-theological approach to enlightenment, so it is centered in the gravity of human awareness and circumstance. They do not want to enter the conversation of theism or the concept of god-consciousness, because there is so much controversy about god. Which god? Which practice? Which religion? Ultimately, discussing god-consciousness creates dissonance within the human being. Gods destroy in some traditions. Gods love in other traditions. Gods are defined by rules and creeds, and though the Noble Truths and Eightfold Path seem like creeds, I would suggest they are simply ideas the Buddha designed to say, “Go and practice to see if it works for you. If it works, then continue. If it does not, then at least you tried.” There is a certain relaxation in that answer.

However, while meditating and feeling happy, I find myself automatically crying out to a voice beyond the human condition, even though I am not even interested in this other-ness comforting me whatsoever or reducing my suffering. I call this other-ness the god-consciousness, which either exists inside of me or beyond me in a metaphysical—beyond the written universe—condition I have tapped.

In other words, while being self-reliant and freeing myself from the limitations and boundaries of this earth happily, I still cried out to the same nothingness and emptiness some traditions have called God, Allah, Yahweh, Jesus, Dao, Vishnu, Shiva, or Ahura Mazda. I do not intend to leave out any ideas of religious traditions here, but I simply give these examples of this yearning that sometimes arrives after the self-consciousness emerges into its own form and arises into the emptiness of what I might call a transcendental voyage to nothingness beyond the physical universal self-reliant form.

I wrote a handful, but that is where I stand as I write today.

ONE: I am a human being who suffers in this conditioned state.

TWO: Buddhism and even Daoism are two non-dualistic religions or traditions that have given me a large sense of who I am and who I am not. They have brought me to a state of compassionate joy without judgment.

THREE: Within this joy, love is expressed to others and to myself. Love is also expressed to the universe itself through my joy.

FOUR: The universe speaks in return and then dissolves itself into emptiness.

FIVE: This emptiness leads me to the god-consciousness either within me or beyond physical conditions.

SIX: I find this God-consciousness, though transcendental, very much a component of my being.

SEVEN: If this is so, then I am participating in a conversation or experience with a spirit either within or beyond my conditions, since I have dissolved the emptiness within me.

EIGHT: What is left is the dissolving of all reality and an arrival at the metaphysical being touching the void in me and loving me in return. Again, within this mystical experience, I cannot tell the difference between my own conditional self-reliant experience and this god-consciousness. Does it come within or without, I know not. If anything, it becomes between, yet between is a judgment I cannot define with language because I can only physically articulate the color blue and not the color god-consciousness. (See the book, I and Thou, by Martin Buber)

NINE: There is at some point a return to the conditional reality of self-reliance, and I am left with the human condition of suffering, ego, craving, hunger, and desire. But, I touched the void!

TEN: I bring that void back to the earth, self-reliant me and the mystical experience completes itself. It opens a door to a wider degree of love than simply the self-reliant consciousness. The god-consciousness brings itself into human nature, and I feel even a larger urge to love other people beyond theological disagreements. This tenth step takes me away from the existential issue, and I am free.

Self-reliance and God-acceptance have merged!