When I visited Cuba recently, it was brought home to me why Communism cannot work. Not for philosophical reasons, but because it gets in the way of people's natural creative impulses. A friend of mine had asked me to bring her some examples of Cuban graphic art, and I searched everywhere for postcards, posters, books - nothing. Eventually I met a man who worked for the Ministry of Tourism and asked him about it. He said, "Unfortunately, the Ministry is too busy running 280 hotels and so it cannot take care of details like this".
In a capitalist economy, some little guy would long ago have translated his enthusiasm for graphic art into a thriving business - supplying us all with its benefits, without any need for government to interfere. And indeed, as a 30-second search on the internet revealed, you can easily get the art of Cuba in a capitalist state. But not in Cuba. You can see why their favourite phrase is No es facile ... "it's not easy". They blame the blockade of the US for their problems, but I regret to say that the real blockade is Comrade Fidel.
Like the Cuban People's Revolution, the School cannot quite bring itself to trust people. Nobody actually says, "Whatever is not expressly permitted is forbidden", but the tradition of "Ask your tutor about any important decision" is a subtle version of the same thing - command and control. The assumption is that without tutorial supervision, people automatically descend to the lowest level. This may seem antiquated, but if anyone wishes I can cite many recent examples to show that tutorial control is alive and well in the School.
The problem with it from a spiritual point of view - and I do appreciate the value of a watchful tutor - is that there are many good things that one can't really explain or justify in words. That's the nature of creativity - you follow a quiet hunch, playfully almost. You don't really want to ask someone about it, or explain why you do it, because you don't know yet what it is. Oddly enough, this is the way the will of the Absolute happens: the will of the Absolute is in the avyakta, the unmanifested. By the time it's obvious, it's manifested. If you want to know the will of the Absolute, you need to take a step in the dark. You need to trust the self - your own self - and not someone else.
If you trust someone else instead of yourself, then you cannot realise the self. You cannot be creative. You cannot be artistic.
I have a question for the readers of this blog who are members of the School. I think it might bring up some very interesting avenues of enquiry:
Is there anything that you do or have done or would like to do that is 'spiritual', but for which you would not ask permission?
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Control and The Will Of The Absolute
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6 comments:
Leaving aside your question - for the moment - it's worth noting that, in English law, there's a presumption that the individual is free to do anything provided it's not expressly forbidden in law.
And a very good thing too!
Returning to your question, this site would never have got underway if you had asked your tutor for permission. Not necessarily because of disapproval, but because a required positive approval would have been a step too far.
Life - and its manifold activities - are not always black and white. There are large neutral areas of 'becoming' which go under the radar, rather like the samizdat press of the communist era.
So, yes, it's very possible to engage in a spiritual activity - to have that as the heart of the quest - without seeking permission.
Later on, it may be known more clearly for what it is, and then it may be time to speak. But unless there is exploration, sometimes unformulated, how will one ever know?
There's one grubby matter that can be raised in this context and which dishonours the School - in my view - and that is the practice of grassing on fellow students.
I do understand that this may bring accountability and clarity but am I alone in finding it profoundly distasteful?
I still feel shame at a fellow student informing the head of level that her tutor (who was mine also)was following another teacher - thus forcing the man to leave the School before he was ready.
It was none of her business I felt then - and still feel.
Q: Is there anything that you do or have done or would like to do that is 'spiritual', but for which you would not ask permission?
A: Yes, but there's another issue here. Those of us who joined the school in later life have already tried quite a few things, read widely and committed most sins and other forbidden activities. I'm not condoning the latter, I would like to think things have improved but it's rather strange to be 'protected' from something you've already been through. The whole notion of asking permission still seems extemely strange and awkward. And the threat of disapproval is the death-knell for any kind of creative exploration. This isn't straightforward. Curiosity killed the cat. But then probably so does fear of creative exploration. (being stuffed alive by the taxidermist?)
Actually I came across a quote from the Gita yesterday that really hit a nerve. Sometimes this happens and a direction for study/practice is given. I read the Gita this morning with a sense of exploration again, not through sense of duty or anything else. This is nice. Something arises of the nature of an impulse. Often when it is followed up it bears fruit. It's not directed from any external agency. I agree with Laura in that you don't know in advance where these things lead. Only in retrospect can you see how something arises that explains or helps the situation in which you find yourself. Or confirms what you already knew intuitively.
Perhaps on reflection the original post is a little strong. It could be rephrased like this: although we might wish to be wisely commanded towards the best, taking responsibility out of our hands as it were, it turns out that this desire conflicts with the will of the absolute.
How then do we know what is the will of the Absolute?
The will of the Absolute is described by Shantananda as the avyakta - the unmanifest.
So to take the analogy of the guy who loves graphic art ... he has a sense of something that might come about - sharing his enthusiasm with others. He can ask practical advice, but no-one else has his unique vision. By the time everyone gets to see it it's no longer the will of the Absolute, because it has been made manifest.
That's just a mundane example, of course.
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