How do we cross the bridge, how do we arrive at a place of understanding. Well as stated before we cannot, there is no way, no method, no practice to get us to consciousness. There is no direction in which you can walk to get you to where you are right now. The realization that where you are right now, in space, time, and thought, is consciousness and right where you are supposed to be cannot be attained only realized. The reality is that “Enlightenment” is the same as everyday life. Nirvana IS Samsara. Jannah IS Dunya. Heaven IS Earth.  In the words of Suzuki “Enlightenment is the same as everyday life just two steps off the ground.” Those two steps represent our space, our space and time to be in this scenario, our distance from our current predicament. 

Imagine you just bought a painting of a grey cloud. You hang it up, but the frame is a little small so you have to put the edges of the work behind the frame. Now the company comes over and they say “Oh my what a terrible shade of grey, how depressing!” and you pull the edges of the painting out and say “No of course not, it’s only a passing cloud, you are not seeing the whole picture!”. That is consciousness, seeing the whole picture. When we have a degree of consciousness we can see any situation we are in, whether it is unbridled rage, all encompassing sadness, or incredible happiness, as the passing cloud in the painting, This is part of the story for sure, but we begin to see that the subject of the painting is not the cloud, it is the sky behind it. When we work on our conscious minds we begin to work on identifying more with the background more than the foreground. We see ourselves more with the sky than with the cloud. The cloud may be unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral, either way we take it as it is and we do not let ourselves become miopic in our view of the cloud, we keep our eyes on the sky. As it is the only thing that was there before and will be there after all the clouds.

So if we cannot in any way shape or form attain where we want to be how do we get there? If we can’t walk to where we are standing, how do we get there? The answer is simple: we need to realize we are already there. Now how do we do that, again there is no addition we can add to our practice to get where we want to go. There are no items we can add to our backpack to get to an empty backpack. We need to start removing items. We need to remove our absorption in the past and future. We need to remove our dualistic mindset. We need to remove our negative mental conceptualizations and patterns. We need to remove our ego, we need to remove ourselves.

This is where the work of mystical discipline comes in. Sometimes you need to add items to the backpack before you can remove them. You need to add the vacuum to remove the dust. So what is the vacuum? Well everyones is different, there is no standard model, some people even prefer a paper towel or dustpan for cleaning their backpacks.

There are some genuinely regarded guidelines for which tools are easiest to use to clean your backpack however. It is easier to use a vacuum to clean out the dust than it is to pour a bottle of honey in hopes of getting the dust to stick.

The vacuums most discussed in mystical literature all center on mindfulness and compassion. There are two main types of approach (which both should be undertaken). The path of focus (no thought) and the path of awareness (all thought). The closed path and the open path. Zazen vs. Vipassana. Salah vs. Quran reading. Rosary vs. Contemplation. We want to build our focus so that we can lose ourselves by getting enveloped in the background. And we want to open ourselves so that we understand and empathize with the foreground. This is how we build both consciousness (a loss of ego and a focus on non duality) and compassion (a preoccupation with the welfare of and an empathy for all sentient beings).

There is no right or wrong method as long as you’re getting the dust out of the backpack. It is worthwhile to mention though that at times you might want to hang on to the dust pan for fear you may need it later, this is when we would need awareness (the awareness that if we do gain more dust that’s ok it will still weigh less than the dustpan). Or at times we may think I should just give up because this is too hard, this is where we would need focus (the realization that our journey lies in the background and the frustration is simply an aspect of the foreground).

Whichever method you choose is fine, you do not need to use a predefined method like prayer, yoga, or meditation (but it should be said there are more resources for these methods as they have been practiced by people for millennia and are well documented).

It is also worthwhile to mention that certain substances, experiences, and mystical practices can dump a good portion of the backpack out in mere minutes. There are two main reasons not to go this route. One it is brief and if you never learned how to properly clean your backpack you will always go straight back to accumulating dust no matter how much you empty out in minutes. Two, the experience of a very light backpack can be very overwhelming if you are not prepared for it and do not empty it slowly and take the time to acclimate to the lighter load. This can be scary for some and afterwards due to a fear response they stuff their backpacks up even further in hopes to prevent this from ever happening again as they were unfamiliar and scared by the feeling.

There are many methods. All that matters is that you are continually removing items. It is important to emphasize the path of focus and the path of awareness at the same time as you have both sets of tools. If you do the work continuously one day your backpack will be empty. And then you will think how do I get where I want to go? And you will realize, I’ve been standing here all along.