World Behind The World (with Buddha's Eightfold Path & The Holy Grail)

ENLIGHTENMENT PROMPT #4

Sun strikes a dull sphere,
gong ripples through our waters-
world behind the world.

Winter sunrise over the Cöte dÁzur. Photo by Morgan Buchanan.

Life is crazy busy. We are constantly surrounded by noise and distraction but every once in a while, quite at random, we might experience a moment of numinescence*. Our thoughts are swept away and there is a moment of union, a oneness with creation that makes us feel as if we were fully present in our bodies and at the same time looking down upon our own lives as if from a great height. Everything suddenly makes sense, all worries and wants fall away, we can see the pattern of our own existence. I can count the number of times I have experienced this over the course of my life on one hand but I’m certain that you’ve had a similar experience, moment’s like this are woven into the fabric of life. 

Think carefully, it might be a childhood memory, something that happened a long time ago, or just yesterday. These kinds of encounters with reality don't have to happen on an expensive, thrill-seeking vacation; beholding the Grand Canyon or achieving the summit of Mount Everest. It can happen be in your garden, meditating, standing under a tree, beholding light moving over water, walking through a crowd, there's no criteria. Something just clicks, the mind stops, everything connects, and suddenly you're no longer separate from the world. 

Precious moments like this give us a brief glimpse of the world behind the world.

A questions arises: Whether we seek enlightenment through physical action or through inner practice, how do we not lose our way? Or find ourselves on an endless, fruitless quest? Like a spiritual knight who, despite keeping faith, never finds the transformative Holy Grail that he or she seeks? 

Read on for today’s Practical Enlightenment Method…

The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Perceval (also known as The Achievement of the Grail or The Achievement of Sir Galahad, accompanied by Sir Bors, and Sir Perceval). Sir Edward Burne-Jones, overall design and figures; William Morris, overall design and execution; John Henry Dearle, flowers and decorative details.