You Will Become Real When You Are Complete.

We frequently assume that religion or spirituality and science are mutually exclusive. Hard facts and emotional impulses don’t seem to be related in any way. Nothing about God can be learned in a lab. If you take a step back, though, science and spirituality are endeavours with the same aim: to fully comprehend reality. If achieving this is truly their shared objective, they both suffer from the same failure, the failure of incompleteness. When “everything” is interpreted as the physical cosmos, the pursuit of the Theory of Everything the Holy Grail of science was destined to fall short. There isn’t enough room “in here,” the world of the mind and emotions, for everything. Another futile attempt, science purposefully excludes that reality in order to stay objective.

Even if you don’t refer to God, those who follow the spiritual path eventually come face to face with the source of creation as something unfathomable. Take any significant quality that defines who we are as humans, and its origins, development, and ultimate significance are all completely enigmatic. It is a wonderful feeling to experience love, yet spiritual concepts like pure, limitless, and divine love are incomprehensible.There are further ways in which spirituality and science lead to the same dead ends. Neither can explain the origins of space, time, matter, or energy. Science and religion both claim to create “something from nothing,” yet these claims are merely rhetorical ploys.

Science and spirituality are both insufficient, which results in two terrifying conclusions. The initial finding is that pursuing either paradigm will always result in failure. The vast majority of people won’t be concerned about this issue; rather, theoretical physicists and philosophical theologians will be the principal stakeholders. The second, much more intimate conclusion informs us that we will never be real because reality can only be partially explained. Nowadays, every person’s life involves either paying attention to spirituality or science, depending on whether they are thinking about mortality, asking themselves whether God exists, or tackling a new technical advancement. We have answers for practically everything when we bounce back and forth like this, but no response is 100 percent reliable. Since the problem is so intimidating, renowned astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington said, “I am afraid of the word reality.”

Let’s broaden the definition of spirituality to encompass higher ideals like empathy, compassion, wisdom, development of the self, beauty, and ultimate truth. Even though these topics are essential to becoming a complete human, very few people consult science in these situations. No matter how appealing it may be to spend your day playing video games, sending texts, viewing films online, or watching television, when you eventually acknowledge your humanity and mortality, incompleteness sets in. However, what is a better option than switching back and forth between two imperfect models? The solution is to pick absolutely no model. You begin to realise that being whole is the only way to be true once you acknowledge your incompleteness. Never will half a loaf suffice. But when you’ve been trained to switch between one paradigm and the other depending on the circumstance, being fully realised seems incredibly improbable.

Because opposites predominate everywhere, light and dark, good and evil, joyful and sad, male and female, young and old, brilliant and stupid, sane and insane, science and spirituality are perceived as being in opposition to one another. The Buddhist principle that pain and pleasure are inextricably linked to one another holds true for all opposites. Try spending a day refraining from saying things like “I’m happy” or “I’m sad,” or “I like this” or “I don’t like that.” It is almost not conceivable. For a variety of reasons, the most of which are conditioned, no one seeks to transcend polarities. In this never-ending game of opposites, we act in the same manner as our parents and everyone else. The simple answer is to stop attempting to gain more of one and less of the other based on the Buddhist principle that suffering and pleasure are intertwined. You will only experience a seesaw between inaccessible bliss and unavoidable misery.

Nearly no one follows the dictum to cease chasing after pleasure and avoiding sorrow because we are unable to break free of our tendencies. There is a worry that life will eventually turn into a featureless landscape devoid of pleasure. But this anxiety is unfounded. The truth is that since you are already whole, there is no need to strive to be whole. Not running from pain and away from pleasure is the goal, not self-denial. The key is to “stop running” that is, to let the busy mind relax and observe what transpires. Since no model of completion is required, there is none. By definition, existence is entire, and since being a human requires consciousness in order to exist, awareness is likewise complete. This is a fact that you cannot change, but you can choose to ignore.

One has not abandoned spirituality when they consider in terms of science; rather, they have abandoned wholeness. The same is true for those who are spiritually minded. The New Testament proverb, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?,” has a corresponding opposite proverb: “What does it profit you to gain your soul if you lose the whole world?” Wholeness is the fundamental reality that underlies all experiences. Any experience you are having right now can be a reflection of your totality. However, for this to be true for you specifically, you must have the experience. You’ve already experienced glimmers of wholeness in those times when the weight is lifted and you can unwind into blissful moments of love or beauty, or when you feel valued and a part of something bigger than yourself, or when life suddenly makes sense, or when you’re fearless, or when you realise that you’re a part of a plan that embraces nature itself.

If you feel like you belong and are valued, if life suddenly makes sense, if you lose all fear, or if you feel like you are a part of a design that embraces nature itself, then you have already experienced glimpses of wholeness in those moments. Because they are missing one crucial component a vision of wholeness these glimpses fail to transform our lives. We should always respond to privileged situations by saying, “Ah, now I see.” At that point, you have also become real since reality has emerged. Your identity dissolves into existence. Everyone’s goal should be to quit accepting a life based on the delusion of incompleteness, and this should be their natural state.

Listen, I know it’s terrifying, unpleasant, and extremely distressing right now, but you’ll be OK. This is something you must do for yourself. You must go beyond what is known and strive to believe that you will be fine no matter what. Even if things don’t work out. Even if you don’t find what you’re looking for, it’s still a good thing to show that you tried. It is with this thought I introduce my new book “Acceptance”. Hope we find the courage to accept what is. https://a.co/d/jli7oHN