Deepening Perspectives on Spirit

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

– Albert Einstein²

The character shen 神 for “spirit” can be used in two main ways, indicating personal or impersonal dimensions of the self. Shen can refer to the mind and its contents as they constitute the personal sphere of the individual to define the psychological self. In this regard, it denotes to the capacity for cognition and the quality of expression of the life force as it animates an individual. We may refer to this dimension as shen with a lower-case “s,” denoting its relatively personal, microcosmic nature.³ The ego, as resistance to wholesome integrative change, is a habit en-training awareness on this personal dimension of the self, to the exclusion of those dimensions of shen that are pre-personal, transpersonal, and impersonal.

Beyond that, shen can also refer to the “macrocosmic” spirit or the unified consciousness that initiates, sustains, and drives the evolution of the universe. It is the one infinite, unbroken field of consciousness that we may call Shen with an upper-case “S.” In essence, there is only one light, one fire, one consciousness, and it is only ego that creates the illusion that there are two or more. A secret of the spiritual path is that the motive that inspires the seeker is consciousness, lost within a world of form, seeking for itself. Practically speaking, spiritual awakening occurs when shen, the mind or consciousness of the individual, awakens to and recognizes itself as in no way separate from Shen. This is one way of discussing nondual awakening in psychophysiological terms.

Similarly, we can refer to the self with a lower-case “s” to denote the ego’s constraint of perspective to the personal sphere and speak of the Self with an upper-case “S” to include also the universal dimensions of humanity. In this text when referring to shen and to the self, I use the word in lower-case, but always keep in mind the context, in which the word is being used as a clue to my meaning. Also, holding the greater context, make sure to remain aware that Shen and shen, Self and self, are ultimately one.

The effect of the individual self-sense perceiving the macrocosmic shen is akin to staring into the sun. We slowly go blind to the illusion of a separate self as it is revealed in an instant that the universal dimensions of the Self are very much more compelling and real than the purely personal self-sense born in time and conditioned by history. With ongoing exposure exercised through sincere practice, the presence of the conditioned self blanches slowly like a photograph left in the sun, eventually with little of the original image left to distinguish it from the light falling on it. Of course, this is a traditional mythic formulation predicated on the notion of “ego death.” In reality, the ego goes nowhere. However, it does seem to be true that with sincere practice, relationship to ego lessens as identification with deeper and higher dimensions of the Self increases. Over time, with sincere striving toward integrity, the personal and impersonal become one.

Consciousness as Shen does not cognize our personal psychological dilemmas. They literally do not show up on its radar screen. The motive force inherent in consciousness is mission-centric and relentlessly positive, always single-pointedly focused on responding to events in a way that...