' The sacredness of everything '...

ANTHONY: Now, what he's saying here is very important.

The sage finds that the world without—the externally manifested idea of the world—is one's own inner self That's quite advanced.

There are mystics who have an experience, a glimpse, of their own higher self, and they become recluses and hermits; they run away.

But there's another kind of experience that some mystics have where they feel the sacredness of every-thing around them.

They become acquainted with the fact that the World-Idea being manifested in them is also of the nature of the "I" It can actually occur that you come out of a trance state like that and bump into a chair and say, "Excuse me"; you actually feel the sacredness of the whole world.

This is not common for most mystics. At any rate, PB is pointing out here that these are shortcomings that mystics have.

First of all, it's not a continuous light; it flickers; even worse, it goes off and goes on again.

So the insight that the philosopher operates with is continuous, uninterrupted, without any break.

The philosopher continuously sees that consciousness underlies the reality of objects.

It's always there for the philosopher-sage.


-Anthony Damiani from Living Wisdom