The Case of "the Death of God" and Religion PART II

[Tradução em Português]

It’s a good idea to look into different approaches to the problem of the Ego. For example, Nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch was a manifestation of the will to power, and represented the perfection of the ego (by the ego) and its desires. It was the Ego’s drive to assert it’s own power and control over our lives and world around us. (But the Ego cannot transcend itself)

Jung on the other hand, envisioned his “Individuation” process which was based on the transcendence of the Ego by integrating the unconscious with the conscious mind, achieving a sense of wholeness and bringing a deeper sense of meaning and purpose into one’s life. But for Jung, unlike Freud, the unconscious was not just a reservoir of repressed thoughts, memories and traumas, but he also believed in a collective unconsciousness, which is a shared unconsciousness, with memories and experiences by all humans, and it was made up of archetypes (which are universal symbols or themes that exist in the psyche of all individuals). 

His idea of the Self Archetype is somewhat similar to the concept of “the new man” in the Bible or realising the “Atman” in vedanta. I still don’t know for sure whether Jung believed in a non-dual reality or just a more “integrated” dual reality. I understand that he believed that the true SELF was veiled by the individual’s Ego. But I don’t quite understand if he believed that the individuation process (bringing unconscious into consciousness), equates what the mystics would call union with God. (Since his collective unconscious idea had a spiritual realm into it)

But in Vedanta, which is a collection of philosophies from Hinduism (it’s great to understand original hinduism is non dual, and believes in one reality, one God), this process of transcending our Ego’s, is again very similar to Jung’s and some schools of Christianity and Buddhism. In the Vedas there is the concept of Atman and Brahman. Brahman is pure consciousness, the source of all reality and reality itself, infinite, unchanging. The Atman is the manifestation and expression of Brahman in the individual self and material world. It is the pouring of Brahman into the manifested world. (It is the concept of the Logos which I intend to write at another post.) This figure is also seen in the symbolism of Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is the Pure consciousness and Shakti the energy that permeates all creation and is responsible for the manifested world.

The curious fact is that there is also this realm of bringing the unconscious into consciousness in vedanta. The terms are obviously different. The term samskaras is used to describe mental impressions and tendencies that shapes our thoughts, emotions and behaviour. They are the result of past experiences and actions and we are unconscious of them. They believe the samskaras are the root cause of the ego and it is one of the main causes that separates us from our true identity. So the process of letting go of the ego, involves a purification of these samskaras and its influences on our ego. Not only this, but the life energy can flow freely, only after these samskaras unblock the flow of energy. (very similar to the individuation process by Jung and the conversion of Eros to Logos).

This is a painful (dealing with repressed memories, thoughts, desires...) and slow process (with many levels of attainment), and involves not only the purification of these samskaras but also the letting go of our sense of self. Once that happens, one finally merges his consciousness into the divine consciousness (Samadhi) and realises himself not as a separated individual, but as Atman/Brahman and also does not see others as separated from himself. 

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:21)

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20)

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.” (Acts 17:27-28)

The best explanation is that of waking up from a dream. During the dream, everything seems real, and it acts as our true reality. But when we wake up, we understand that it was all an illusion. The same thing is said to happen to a person who reaches this state of enlightenment.  He understands that everything he lived so far, his identity as his ego (body), the world of duality, everything was but an illusion. It's a new reality. The one and only reality. The unveiled reality. We assume our true identity as divine consciousness (Atman/Christ), and our ego's are dethroned as our identity, in order for Christ to assume once again, what has always been his. 

"Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (revelations 21:1-5)

For those who always interpreted the book of revelation as a prediction of some apocalyptic dystopian future, and the return of a physical Christ, this may come as a surprise. The revelation book is as expressed in the first line of Revelation: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1), and his coming won’t be with a physical appearance, but it’s the revelation of Christ in us:

“the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27)

"When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory" (Colossians 3:4)

Remember: “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke17:21)

Once you understand that this is the whole meaning of life; to reconnect with God who is our true consciousness, who is our life, our breath, our hope, our saviour, our true reality, the one and only desire that can fill the emptiness of our hearts and make us whole. This will change the way you relate to everything else in life. This will establish your priorities and guide your actions. This will inevitably make you question your desires and its motives and not just live aimlessly. That does not mean you should abandon you worldly responsibilities and go meditate or pray in a cave. But it means that you should do everything you do with this knowledge; But you will fail a million times, but the secret is to never give up and always have moments of solitude and silence searching for spiritual food. 

This knowledge also gives you a better understanding of the world. We are all here suffering. We are all on a journey. We are all responsible for our choices and consequences. We are in a dark room, refusing to turn on the lights. We should all forgive, help and love one another. We should put the energy we use in judging others into changing ourselves. We should all strive for conducting a meaningful, moral and loving life, while at the same time understanding that the whole world is going against this knowledge and life. Just like gravity pull us down towards the earth, so the world pull us down towards the lowest of the realms, our earthly nature, bodies and ego’s.

I hope it is easier now to understand why taking God out of our culture and lives is not a good idea. If any possibility of transcendence of our individual self is taken away, then what are we left with, if not only the blind leading the blind into a solution that cannot solve anything? Postmodernism is what comes next. A complete negation of truth, meaning, reason, morals and order. When we see the revelation of the whole powers of our Ego’s, as a becoming a culture in our society, we can only guess where we are headed. 

When we see who our contemporary role models and references of what a human being should be, and we realise that no longer we have a transcendent God of pure love, knowledge, peace, forgiveness, but instead,  a successful and beautiful model, an ideologue, a shallow online influencer, an artist or philosopher that pretends that living a life based on the fulfilment of mundane desires and the subjectivity of their passions, as a form of rebellion, as a way of expressing our “true” selves, we know that we are headed towards a meaningless, corrupt, blind, chaotic and self devouring society. No matter how much we employ beautiful words like freedom, authenticity, love, equality, justice… these are but masks to hide a rotten nature of our own egocentric lives and a self absorbed society as a consequence. Expecting the world to change without changing ourselves.