Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics

Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics

Harmonizing Evolutionary Convergence

Glossary Menus

Where are we heading?

As Shakyamuni Buddha discovered in his three marks of being (trilakshana), there is nothing permanent in the Universe (anitya), and if we are not free of the sense of a separate self, of attachment to the egoic mind (Anatman), we shall suffer (duhkha). In other words, all structures are conceived and born to die, illustrated here, a universal principle that we ignore at our peril. For, as the Buddha said on his deathbed, “Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are perishable. They are not lasting. Strive on with diligence.”

In other words, where we are all heading—as bodies, civilizations, and as a species—is back to the Nonmanifest Ground of Being, recapitulating what Joseph Campbell calls the Cosmogonic Cycle, allegorically depicted in the myths and fairy tales of all cultures and ages. As he says, “Redemption consists in the return to superconsciousness and therewith the dissolution of the world. This is the great theme and formula of the cosmogonic cycle, the mythical image of the world’s coming to manifestation and subsequent return into the nonmanifest condition.”

In the past, because of the deep split between humanity and the Divine, spiritual seekers have needed to leave the societies in which they live in order to be free of the existential fear of death. But now, as we accelerate towards the inevitable death of our species in the next two or three hundred years at most, withdrawing from the world is no longer a viable option. For the world is not outside us; it is within us all. If we are to live and thrive in the eschatological Age of Light, we can only do so by consciously engaging in self-inquiry and other spiritual practices, such as meditation and yoga. For we have the marvellous potential to die consciously in ecstatic bliss, fulfilling evolution’s Ultimate Destiny on our beautiful planet Earth.

But to cocreate the Mystical Society, we need to recognize that we cannot get to where we are going starting from where we are today. The religious, scientific, and economic beliefs and institutions of Western civilization have to die in the next decade or two if our children and grandchildren are to have any chance of growing old enough to have children of their own. And this can only happen if those of us who awakening to the truth of life on Earth work harmoniously together with a common vision, the raison d'être for the Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics, as a network of networking networks.