I saw a post on social media about how psychologizing everything removes the magic and mystery of life.
That’s not how it is for me.
WHEN UNDERSTANDING REMOVES THE MYSTERY
Yes, if you assume that your psychological explanations are correct and true and all there is, then it does remove a sense of mystery and magic. But that’s out of alignment with reality. That is pretending that our maps are more than they are. It goes against common sense and the essence of science.
WHEN UNDERSTANDING GOES HAND-IN-HAND WITH THE MYSTERY
For me, exploring through the lens of psychology – as I do in most of my writings – goes hand-in-hand with mystery.
It’s an exploration.
What comes out of it are maps with all of the benefits and limitations inherent in maps. They are different in kind from what they are about. They highlight some things and leave in infinite amount out. They are guesses about the world. They have a practical function only, to help us navigate and function in he world. They are provisional and have temporary value only. They cannot hold any full, final, or absolute truth. Reality is always more than and different from any map.
This context is more aligned with reality.
And it keeps the mystery and magic in life.
APPLIED TO AWAKENING
I write about awakening in some of these articles. And when I do, I often create a map of some aspects of awakening.
For instance, both in direct noticing and through logic, we find we are consciousness. If we “have” consciousness, then to ourselves we have to BE consciousness. The world, to us, happens within and as consciousness. It happens within and as the consciousness we are. The world, to us, appears as consciousness. The consciousness we are is one. So we are the oneness the world, to us, happens within and as.
This fits what mystics across times and cultures describe.
It’s a psychological way to understand awakening, and it fits perfectly with a wide range of worldviews – from materialism to a spirituality that sees all of existence as the divine.
Does this remove the mystery or magic from awakening? Or from life?
It could… if I pretend I know that this is how it is and that this is all there is. But I would have to do a lot of pretending for that to be the case.
In reality, it’s a guess. It’s a map for practical and temporary use only. It opens for and fits a wide range of worldviews. And it’s compatible with a more spiritual understanding of the world.
It’s open to the mystery and magic of awakening and existence.