From the author: Psychology and spirituality. Knowledge of the world and the practice of personal development. “The feeling of joy from realizing the highest meaning of existence is an indispensable condition for any other joy and happiness” Gottfried Leibniz Does the Spirit play hide and seek? If so, why? If not, why look for it? Is there a higher principle and meaning in the universe, or do we ourselves give life a basis and purpose? The ancient creators of the Vedas spoke of the world as a lila - a divine game performed in eternity by inexpressible forces and giving birth to people and gods. Modern science eliminates the division between space and time, consciousness and reality, describing the universe as something different from the usual concepts of matter and spirit. The Cosmic Game reproduces itself, becoming either word or flesh. Why do we participate in it if its rules do not bear our signature? Escaping reality “It is impossible to live pleasantly without living wisely. The opposite is also true” Epicurus They say that spiritual search is a matter similar to conquering the North Pole alone. It is believed that a person turns to the Spirit only after experiencing life and becoming disillusioned with it. It is believed that the desire for higher worlds leads to a rejection of the joys of this world. They scare us on purpose in order to turn our minds away from premature knowledge. There is no activity more fun than searching for the meaning of life. The process is similar to searching for lost glasses on your own nose. If you meet a “spiritual teacher” full of grandeur, seriousness and pathos, then most likely this is an impostor. He who knows the Truth is joyful, approachable and full of humor. This is how ancient traditions describe their Masters. Why does the wise man smile? The fact is that the universe, which seems solid, real and full of problems to us, for him is a game of a naughty spirit, the rules of which include taking what is happening seriously! The game captured the player so much that he merged with his character. Forgetting himself, he undergoes collisions, playing out a series of lives one after another, unable to tear himself away from the exciting plot. The funny thing is that the idea of ​​a player, a game and a way out of it is also part of the Game itself... How can one remain serious here! This is how the texts of the ancient Upanishads and Christian apocrypha describe the world. Plato and Augustine likened it to the play of shadows from a fire. It is opposed to the Other World, perfect and eternal. The center of the cosmos of philosophers became the incomprehensible God - the primary thinker, giving birth to the world with its inhabitants through thought. Everything exists solely thanks to him in his imagination, without possessing true existence. Here the question arises: who creates God himself? The thinker who gave birth to the world risks becoming just another of the ideas born of the human mind. The circle closes and everything becomes uncertain and unsteady. The meaning of life in the shadow theater is to contemplate the harmony of heaven and prepare oneself for eternity. Or, upon awakening, realize the absence of your own reality and dissolve into emptiness. At the same time, cause less disturbance to others, without doing to them what you would not want to do to yourself. Psychoanalysis interprets the idea of ​​the illusory nature of existence as a psychological defense against suffering. Believing that “everything is not real,” a person avoids pain. Why be sad about what is essentially just a dream! No one gets sick or dies, there is no injustice or evil, someday we will wake up and everything will be fine... Has wisdom really turned out to be a neurosis? However, here spiritual traditions are in solidarity with Freud. Their founders denounced the ideas of the unreality of the world, beloved by philosophers. At the same time, rejecting its real existence! Buddha called both opposing views deadly poisons. Lao Tzu and Dionysius the Areopagite considered the division of things into “true” and “false” to be the lot of the ignorant. Who told us that only two alternatives are possible?! The logic of the inexpressible “Since there are many intelligent opinions and they all exclude each other, wouldn’t it be foolhardy to hope that in one of them the essence of the world is guessed?” Gregory Palamas Antiquity entered history with the kingdom of beauty of body and spirit . Philosophy became a bold attempt to comprehend the secrets of the world. Thinking about the nature of existence, called meditation, wasa frequent pastime of a citizen of the ancient polis. It gave beauty and meaning to a life full of dangers. The imagination of a dreamer walking among gardens and groves painted pictures of heavenly worlds. In the evenings, worthy men gathered to have a pleasant time in public debate. Since then, truth has been born in dispute, although victory in it more often belongs to the eloquent than to the wise. The incomprehensible beckoned. Heraclitus of Ephesus likened the spirit to fire, luminous and scorching. Thales of Miletus discovered through speculation that the only reality is water. Everything else, including people, gods and Thales himself, is unreal. He became famous for the fact that while contemplating the sky, he did not notice a ditch under his feet, into which he fell under the laughter of his fellow citizens. Fortunately, neither his sublime mind nor his ideas about reality were damaged by the fall. But Archimedes of Syracuse was so caught up in his thoughts that he ignored the Roman soldiers who burst into the city. The legionnaires' attempts to attract attention with warlike cries were in vain. It all ended tragically. The great Plato, in joy, overpowered the ruler of Sicily who received him with moral teachings. In order to avoid them, the tyrant, without further ado, sold the sage into slavery. There the philosopher told the slaves about the harmony of heaven until the Athenians ransomed him. For Plato, the higher world is perfect. The lowest, within the orbit of the Moon, is material and distorted. Spirit is mind. Matter is spirit that has not known itself. The soul is a “microcosm” - a reflection of the cosmos. The luminaries and planets, they are also gods, are present in it as feelings. The movement of stars and planets - the visible bodies of the gods - across the sky determines changes in desires, thoughts and deeds. By observing the sky you can predict your fate. The adventures of the gods described in myths reflect the dynamics of feelings, and not the tricks of real beings. After all, the gods themselves are only ideas. Plato’s world is permeated with spirit. His opponent Aristotle filled the cosmos with logic. The philosopher discovered its laws, creating a system of the universe that lasted for thousands of years. Everything about her is harmonious from top to bottom. Troubles are the consequences of violating the laws of reason. Intelligence became the key to the kingdom of the spirit. It seemed that the goal of the search had been achieved. However, nothing lasts forever in the sublunary world. The model of the solar system with a stationary Earth in the center was the first to fall away. Then an idea of ​​the four primary elements. The turn of logic has come. The ancients noticed the problem. Philosophers competed in inventing aporias - judgments that refuted themselves. By reasoning in accordance with strict rules, it was possible to prove that a fleet-footed runner will never catch up with a turtle, that a part is greater than the whole, and many other absurd things. The final blow was dealt by mathematics. Kurt Gödel proved the theorem about the incompleteness of logic. According to it, for any complex system it is impossible to create a complete and consistent logical description. It will always contain statements that are true and false at the same time, and those we cannot determine either the truth or falsity of. Not only man, but also the world turned out to be illogical. Does this mean that truth is indistinguishable from lies? Or do judgments about them go beyond logic? With a resourceful mind, you can prove and disprove anything. Debates between pundits regularly turned into battles and trials of opponents. To the credit of the beautiful ladies, it is worth noting that they wisely avoided such pastimes. Which allowed them to inspire poets and artists for centuries. It is characteristic that not a single sonnet is known that glorified the philosopher. The female side of God “The beginnings of all being are love and hate” Empedocles The image of the Beautiful Lady inspired not only minstrels. If logic was powerless to comprehend the spirit, why not use love and faith? Properties traditionally considered feminine. Ancient philosophers identified three types of knowledge. Nomos is a conclusion based on logic. A matter for the mature and wise. Mysterious gnosis is knowledge gained through illumination. The destiny of the few chosen by the gods. And the third thing, shameful for a husband, is pistis, faith. She was a consolation for women, slaves and children, whose minds were considered incapable of sound judgment. They made fun in vainproud men. More and more people turned to the unknown God, who can be comprehended only by faith and love. Part of the reason for this was the increased influence of women during the heyday of Rome. The Spirit of God of the Old Testament, Ruach, is the essence of the feminine gender. In Christian and Gnostic mysticism, a key role is given to the female hypostasis of God, Sophia the Wisdom. Among the peoples of the East, wisdom is also represented by goddesses. But the gods of trade and war are men. It seems that this is the nature of the spirit, not subject to the logic of matter. If one person gives another thing, the amount will not change. In order for it to increase in one place, it must decrease in another. This is the law of matter. Otherwise in the realm of spirit. The volume of knowledge increases from its return. Giving love does not mean losing it yourself. The Spirit is multiplied freely. Although it requires careful handling of its fruits. If you leave a jug on a shelf, years later you will find it in the same place. If you leave love, you risk losing it forever. The kingdom of the spirit is like fire. Truth and love, consciousness and life, are not things. It is impossible to possess them, but you can only be. There are no things in the world at all. Everything that seems to them is changeable and interconnected processes. Our bodies, the planet and everything around us are streams of energy that exist only in motion. Due to the limitations of the senses, the world appears to the observer as consisting of solid objects. Matter is a play of spirit, separated from it by perception. This is how modern quantum physics looks at the world. The prophets of ancient times spoke about this. Frightened by the opening abyss, the mind seeks a solid foundation. Psychology calls attempts to describe the inexpressible a way to protect against fear. The unknown is like the darkness of the night. In its depths, the imagination depicts a creeping horror. In order to avoid it, the mind constructs one explanation after another. Any explanation is better than no explanation because it gives the illusion of reliability. Then the arguments are adjusted to fit the already thought-up answer. This is how philosophical systems and our own beliefs are born. Some of them are capable of supporting for a while. Others poison life immediately. Materialism became a protest reaction of the mind to the shackles of dogma. And he made man a slave of the body. Took away eternity and deprived me of other goals other than accumulation and victories. There are frequent attempts by the arrogant mind to imitate spirituality. Gurus of new teachings are attracted by the promise of secret knowledge. The consequences of gullibility are severe. Spiritual materialism is also known. Likening the spirit to things. The inexpressible becomes an object of ownership and accumulation. Proudly displayed and protected. However, sometimes there are good ideas. Three from the fire “The One is the Many” Heraclitus As the experience of world cultures has shown, there are three ways to describe the relationship between the world and the spirit. In the first, the spirit is alien to the world and resides beyond its borders. This is the creator God of monotheistic religions. It is essentially different from being. The only one is real, and there is nothing besides it. The world is created by him from emptiness and his own imagination. The creator and the creation are like the artist and the painting. Or a programmer and computer game characters. For the latter there is no hope of comprehending the creator or getting closer to him. Prayers are in vain, although they can be part of the game. Everything is already predetermined. In the second, the spirit is the world. Living space and time. This is the god of the east diffused in nature. The absolute spirit of the followers of Plato and Hegel. The creatures in it are not puppets, but the thoughts of God. The Divine is present in everyone as Atman - the immeasurable spirit hidden by its own play. No one is rejected, but remains in an illusion into which he has plunged himself. The path to the spirit goes through self-knowledge. Unlocking your own potential is liberating. In the third, spirit is present in the world, animating it. Without it, space is a mechanical toy without meaning. The soul is doomed to be ground by the millstones of matter and disappear. The Spirit gives her a chance for eternity. It's worth living for. After all, not all consciousness is valuable. Only those who have cultivated themselves will enter eternal life. The tares will be swept away into the fire. In order to reveal itself to the world, the spirit puts on its clothes. Becomes our breath and thoughts. Incarnated as if alive»