The One

The path of liberation

ABSTRACT

Two questions plagued me from a very young age:

What am I? Why am I?

The more I searched, the more I suffered. And the more I resisted, the more I hungered. In the end, it took me over fifteen years to recognize the path.

Dao. God. Brahman. The One has many names.

Understanding this is the source of endless joy.

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METHODOLOGY

I wish to explain the One simply. Not to impress my thoughts upon you, but to order them. This is my path, and I hope you’ll consider me a friend on yours:

• Core Reading

• Synthesis

  • Infinite Radii

  • The Big Hill

• Discussion

  • The Five-Fold Doubt

• Acknowledgements

• Revision History

I will experience. Then visit the letters of others and synthesize what resonates. Then face lingering doubts, contradictions, and reservations.

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CORE READING

Tibetan monks begin their studies by learning how not to learn.

1. You should not be an upside-down pot and repel all wisdom.

2. You should not be a leaky pot and forget all wisdom.

3. You should not be a dirty pot and taint all wisdom.

I used to think I read many books, but I merely saw them. I’ll attach my notes along the way.

• Ancients (BCE)

  • The Upanishads

  • Homer’s Iliad

  • Plato’s Dialogues

  • Laozi’s Poetry

  • Zhuangzi’s Parables

  • The Tanakh (in progress)

• Classics (CE)

  • Seneca’s Essays

  • Aurelius’ Meditations (in progress)

  • Shankara’s Teachings (in progress)

  • Maimonides’ Guide

  • Ibn Arabi’s Bezels

  • Wu’s Journey (in progress)

• Luminaries (1600CE)

  • Spinoza’s Ethics

  • Leibniz’s Monadology

  • Hume’s Enquiry

  • Kierkegaard’s Leap

  • Kant’s Critique

  • Nietzsche’s Overman

• Scientific Development

  • The Nature of Physical Reality

  • The Nature of Life

  • The Nature of Machine

• Early Moderns (1850CE)

  • Roosevelt’s Riders

  • Einstein’s Notebook (in progress)

  • Schrödinger’s Essays (in progress)

  • Heidegger’s Being

  • Huxley’s Perennial

• Late Moderns (1900CE)

  • Sartre’s Freedom

  • Camus’ Absurd

  • Crick’s Material

  • Pirsig’s Motorcycle.

  • Faggin’s Irreducible (in progress)

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SYNTHESIS

I owe a lot to park benches.

My letters began with an irresistible urge to go to the park, sit on a bench, and stay there for a very long time. My first clear framework formed on another.

But long before I sat down, I was walking the path. We all are.

I looked for truth in reason. And the G-d of Moses. It took me many years to realize they are two of infinite radii leading to the same beautiful center. In the word of Sri Ramakrishna:

A lake has several ghats. At one, the Hindus take water in pitchers and call it “jal”; at another Muslims take water in leather bags and call it “pani.” At a third the Christians call it “water.” Can we imagine that it is not “jal,” but only “pani” or “water”? How ridiculous!

The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences. Let each man follow his own path. If he sincerely and ardently wishes to know God, peace be unto him! He will surely realize Him."

And so I continue my journey to the center. And begin a slow climb up a big hill:

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At the bottom of the hill is opinion.

We are born perfect but taught judgment: This is good and that is evil. This is happy and that is sad. This is not that.

Many people spend their entire lives here. And who can say they are wrong? There’s no obligation to make the climb. One can find happiness in other things.

I tried to find peace here. But I failed.

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And so begins the slow crawl of understanding.

We begin to realize the errors of ignorance: Who determines good? Why should happiness depend on that? Why is this separate from that?

Recognizing Oneness and the limitations of human knowledge allows us to separate joy from things beyond our control. We find solace within. We revert to infancy. We feel unprecedented happiness.

This is the path of liberation.

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We are enlightened when we feel One.

We love God. And this love is infinite and eternal. No disaster, sickness, or death can wrest this joy away from us.

This is the path of blessedness.

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But I can only speculate. I do not how it tastes. Nor where to look:

The Lakota search alone on a mountain.
Ramakrishna found crying under Kali.

Buddha tasted it under a bodhi tree.
Moses heard it by the burning bush.

Faggin saw it by his fridge in Tahoe.
Perhaps I will touch it as a Wisp.

I sincerely and ardently wish to feel God. I have faith I will.

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DISCUSSION

Since my recognition of One, a nagging doubt has grown warmer and warmer until finally boiling over: Desire is the root of suffering, but is it something to be cleansed off?

In many circumstances, desire seems to be both beneficial and inexorable—this is not only a question of should, but also how and when. I wish to address this five-fold doubt:

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1. Should we cleanse off desire? Won’t we wallow in mediocrity?

Rodya clings to ambition and oscillates. He believes desire, joy, and fear drive all humans—they are the masters of the weak and the tools of the strong. Discipline is doing things you hate like you love it.

He was a top performer, or at least seemed to be, up until he, too, boiled over—pinned between great expectations and cruel reality.

He does not know the weakness of greatness.

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2. Should we cleanse off desire? Won’t we atrophy and stagnate?

Rodya clings to production and oscillates. He kept a journal of his lowest moments in gruesome detail. He read it whenever he thought of resting.

Desire gave him a yardstick by which to measure himself. He took comfort in that. Other times he asked himself what he was struggling for.

He does not know the languor of exertion. [Unfinished - “Theory of Value(s)”]

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3. Should we cleanse off desire? Won’t we abandon our responsibilities?

Rodya clings to loyalty and oscillates. He believes in repaying debts, and he has many.

He owes his family success. He owes his partner stability. He owes his children virtue. And society production. He is an investment that must yield.

He does not know the usefulness of uselessness.

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4. Should we cleanse off desire? Won’t we waste away as hermits?

Rodya clings to love and oscillates. He believes that Levin’s love is the chief joy of life, and is split down the middle like Aristophanes’s flatfish.

Sometimes he finds another half. Other times, he is torn apart by her—and her by him. His love freezes like Midas or, like Lysias, is doled out like a miser counting gold.

He does not know the eros of fullness. [Unfinished - “Eros”]

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5. Should we cleanse off desire? Am I truly ready?

Rodya clings to youth and oscillates. He questions if, like Kierkegaard or the Hindus, there are stages to life. One must go through them dutifully and approach sannyasa with age.

He has not tasted enough to be satisfied. Other times he has had more than enough.

He does not know.

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We shall see.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I attempt to climb the shoulders of great men:

• Moses

• Plato

• Laozi

• Zhuangzi

• Adi Shankara

• Baruch Spinoza

• Ramakrishna

• Theodore Roosevelt

• Albert Einstein

• Erwin Schrödinger

• Aldous Huxley

• Frederico Faggin

I cannot express the depth of my gratitude.

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Visit the Revision History for One.