Tantric Coconuts (27 page)

Ted continued to pace about their campsite testing his theory in his mind. He wanted to rehearse it to himself before he said it to her.

Angel, being a full-blooded Lakota, respected his need for silence. She retrieved an old dog brush from Bertha and sat down and groomed No Barks. The wolf dog enjoyed the attention. Angel hummed quietly to herself while Ted paced and pondered.

As he circumambulated the fire faster and faster, his excitement grew. He knew that he was onto something important, but he still couldn’t quite get it to tumble out of his mind in words. Angel herself might not be aware of the importance of what she was doing. Maybe it was a long shot and he had it all wrong. He needed to articulate this theory. This was not knowing.

Finally Ted sat down next to Angel and No Barks. Angel smiled generously but still said nothing.

“My vacation is coming to an end,” Ted told Angel. “Only a few days left. What you, Mashid, Stephen, and Father Chuck have taught me has been turning around in my head and is finally all coming together. When I add it all up and then break it back down, I keep landing at the same spot. It might sound strange to you, but from an entirely objective standpoint, being the little agnostic fellow that I am, this is my take on the essence of religion and spiritual development and everything you’ve taught me.”

“Well, there are no tests at Spirit Tech, but if it’s helpful for you to have a final exam, I’ll listen.”

Ted started. “Two thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries, three very spiritually advanced sages, all men, walked the earth. They all preached and taught a similar lesson about the possibility and the methodology of human transformation. Their vocabularies were different, but they all believed that a life without awareness was deficient. They came from different cultures and different times and, on the surface at least, they are remembered in different ways. One was a savior. Another was a messenger. The third was an
awakened one. Each of these men was born into a community that recognized his exceptional nature and appreciated his unique message of hope through human spiritual transformation. Naturally, each culture placed around the neck of its hero the highest honor it could bestow—its own unique epitaph of greatness. In those days they didn’t hand out medals or Nobel Prizes; instead they bestowed titles: king, savior, son of god, angel, and enlightened one. All the same thing.”

“Ted, it’s a sound enough theory. But remember, too, that it’s the nature of most religious followers to firmly believe that their brand of religion is the only authentic flavor and the other brands are just watered-down, quaint versions of the truth practiced by a few billion people on the other side of the planet.”

“You mean a Christian would say that what I said is a fair enough analysis of Muhammad and the Buddha but not of Jesus, who is truly the holy one?”

“Yes, and a Jew might say ‘right on’ about Muhammad but not Moses. Or a Lakota, ‘You sure nailed the Buddha. He was just a regular guy, but have I ever told you about Buffalo Woman?’ ”

“That’s my point, Angel. That’s just the third level. When we let go of knowing, we have to let go of thinking that our way is the only way—or necessarily even the best way. You were right. This part was easy for me because I was never sold on any one program to start out with. I don’t for a minute believe that any one religion has the right and only answers. Instead I believe that each religion uses the best metaphors
and signposts that exist for them in their culture to try to explain that which is entirely inexplicable.”

Angel nodded. “Ted, many people might argue with you, but I’m not one of them. I will say this. It may be fair to say that religion is in large part metaphor, but it is also fair to say that some metaphors work better than others, depending on our cultural differences.”

“So much for background. Now let me take my final exam from Spirit Tech.”

Angel held up her hand. “I have my red pencil.”

“It’s quite clear to me, Angel, that the first realization is accurate: to varying degrees we are unawake. It’s also clear that the second realization is equally on target. Our lack of awareness is tightly linked to our Mr. Digit personality. Finally, as the third realization dictates, we are resting at different stops along the way, and by doing the Work we have the capacity to evolve and wake up.”

Angel clapped her hands. “Bravo, Ted. I’m already confident you have the first five levels of awareness down, so skip those and get right to the sixth level. If you get that one right, I am giving you a diploma.”

Ted moved closer to Angel and began. “First, imagine if you can that these great men we’ve talked about so much for the last few days—the Buddha, Muhammad, and Jesus—were all born not thousands of years ago but, let’s say, thirty or forty years ago and in the Western world, maybe Cleveland or Cincinnati. So now Jesus, Muhammad, and the Buddha are out there somewhere wandering around the Midwest with
the exact same abilities and gifts they were wandering around with a few thousand years ago in the Old World. They have essentially the same message of personal transformation to deliver to this now totally different, modern audience. Imagine too that instead of the Buddha, Jesus, or Muhammad, it’s one of their equally talented sisters. What would this feminine savior look like, and what would she say today? In this more modern world, with a millennium or two of human development and understanding behind us, would she be a carpenter, the leader of a caravan, the son of a prince?” Ted waited for Angel to answer, and when she didn’t, he supplied some more likely options. “A minister, a doctor, or a poet?”

“It’s your exam. You tell me.”

Ted continued. “All right, then. Here’s my theory. I don’t think anyone would believe Muhammad’s sister if she said she’d wandered down from some cave with her laptop after capturing this really catchy prose, word for word, that God delivered to her.”

“Maybe not.”

“The Buddha’s twin sister, starving herself half to death beneath the bodhi tree, wouldn’t get much of an audience on the five o’clock news.”

“Just another lost, homeless soul.”

“Jesus’s female alter ego, claiming to be the by-product of an immaculate conception, would likely find herself in a straitjacket.”

Angel wrapped her arms around herself and gave a little fake struggle.

“In fact, in today’s world these men or their sisters would have a hard time getting airtime and would have to find a different way to communicate.”

“It was hard enough then. You’re right; it might even be harder today. Maybe that’s why no spiritual giants have emerged in the last two thousand years or so.”

Ted continued his line of questioning. “Yes, it would have to be very different. So let’s think about it. What would a savior sound like today? How would she think? How would she deliver her message?”

“All good questions. Do you have answers?” Angel asked.

“Yes, I do, and I think you gave them to me. The only way you could recognize a teacher like that today—and this is a crucial point of your Spirit Tech teachings—would be by grasping the levels. No matter the epoch within which these men or women were born, they would have to be at the sixth level of awareness.”

“Makes sense to me,” Angel said. “So you’re saying today we wouldn’t assess their credibility by the magic they performed or by some physical attribute like a halo; we would simply expect them to be the most highly evolved spiritual beings on the planet.”

“It also seems fair to assume that however difficult it is to reach the sixth level today, it would have been harder and therefore far more unusual to have evolved to this level one or two thousand years ago. We can pretty safely assume that it was so unusual that anyone who reached the sixth level would have been enshrined in near godlike status—as
in fact occurred with each of these three men whose lives we have examined at Spirit Tech. Whole religions grew up around them.

“So here’s my hypothesis, Angel. What if making the sixth level, while still rare, is much more doable today? We have more resources and we’ve had a few thousand years to practice. Our entire world culture has been profoundly influenced by the teachings of Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad, and most likely many more sixth-level graduates that came after them. We have more time on our hands to study and ponder. It makes sense to me that in many ways these men successfully transformed the world. Today making the sixth level may not be such a cosmic accomplishment. This could explain why, with the exception of the Mormons, no new religions have come into being in modern times as the result of God choosing to communicate to one man alone. It just seems implausible in the modern world. Today’s sixth graders have to settle for a Nobel Prize, an occasional beatification, or maybe a lucrative publishing contract. That’s about it.”

Angel wanted to make sure she was following Ted’s point. “Are you’re saying that because we create no new gods, it is very difficult to let go of the few old ones we still have hanging around in the public consciousness?”

“I think it’s a reasonable theory. Okay, Angel, I’m going for extra credit now.”

“I’m listening.”

“Let me turn to the sixth level. Father Chuck set it up for me last week. Progressing through the levels is a continual
process of emptying of the false self. As we empty the ego, the higher self moves into the vacated spaces. The fifth level, as you have been explaining to me over the last few days, is about the emergence of the higher self as a now-audible part of the psyche. To some extent, through all of the exercises you’ve been giving me, I’ve experienced something that I suspect is indeed this higher self, or what your mother might have described as a higher power. I understand that it was not something you could describe to me; it was something I had to literally experience myself. Thank you.”

“Yes, the fifth level is of the emergent self, and I too believe you have seen and experienced this part of yourself.”

“The sixth level can only be one thing. The higher self finally eclipses Mr. Digit. The right brain is restored to dominance, or at least balance.” Ted waited for Angel to correct him if she thought he was headed the wrong way. She didn’t, so he continued. “You opened up an unusual space for me in one of our exercises together. My Mr. Digit personality relaxed its grip for a few moments and I lost my separateness. I was able to merge with something vast and mysterious—it was simultaneously everything and nothing. For myself, I can’t define this awakened state any better than that, but I was able to experience it. If I lived in a different time, I might have run into the village with clay tablets in my hand and claimed that God showed himself to me. Today we have to be more circumspect. I simply remain curious and open to the experience, whatever it might have been, and see it not so much as a unitized experience with God as a symptom of my
own unfettered consciousness. I may never achieve this state again. That’s okay.”

“Do you think this state was indicative of your transformation?” Angel asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Like Father Chuck said, and the Buddha too, I’m no longer interested in sitting on the shore debating the characteristics of the boat. I’m just rowing. I know I may not be there myself—Mr. Digit may still have a firm grasp on me—but still I suspect I might recognize a modern-day sixth grader if she was staring me in the face.”

“Try it,” Angel encouraged.

“At the sixth level the false self still hangs around. I suspect none of us can totally rid ourselves of this aspect of our personality. I’m not convinced that it would even be a good idea to be totally unselfish.”

“If you give all your money to feed the starving masses, you might starve yourself. You’re making the logical distinction between self-preservation and the Mr. Digit worldview or personality. That’s an important distinction.”

“Here’s how I see it. By doing the Work we can at least dethrone the ego as the master and commander of our lives. The same is true with the superego. The sixth grader is not going to allow archaic rules, tribal norms, or even plain old logical thinking to run her life. She is grounded in and operates to the highest extent possible from her core, true, or higher self. As a practical matter, her concerns are more global and less provincial. She is not a dualistic thinker. She is more interested
in putting things together than breaking things apart—cohesion and not conquest; cooperation and not competition. Her world is anchored more by ‘ands’ and less by ‘ors.’ This is her calling. Being postconventional and transrational in her thinking, she will probably have a hard time fitting into a conventional lifestyle. She will seek out others to support her in her convictions.”

“You’re heading the right way. What else can you tell me about the sixth level?”

“Being less mired in left-brained thinking, she finds that the world opens up to her in seemingly magical or at least paranormal ways. She is so rich in spirit that others experience her as a healer and a nurturer of souls. She sees and observes things with her right-brain, heart-anchored mind that others might ignore as, for example, in dreams. She is the substantive embodiment of love and compassion. She thinks in images and feelings and is highly artistic and creative. She is kind and accepting and approaches life with love and not fear.”