Original Sin Is A Lie: How Spirituality Defies Dogma and Reveals Our True Self

by Bob Peck

The Hindus call this component of our godliness, the Atman. The atman is essentially the Sanskrit word for “soul” in Judeo-Christian spirituality, and Brahman is the name for the Formless Infinity, the One Manifesting as the Many.

Adi Shankaracharya was a famous Hindu teacher born in 700 CE, who acts as a bridge between the ancient Hindu philosophers and the modern day. He wrote volumes of both original works and commentaries on the ancient scriptures. His school within Vedanta, is called Advaita.

“You never identify yourself with the shadow cast by your body, or with its reflection, or with the body you see in a dream or in your imagination. Therefore you should not identify yourself with this living body, either.” ―Adi Shankara This view of the world has also been called nonduality, meaning “not two”: that everything we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch is merely another appearance of the One. This world is finite, and since only the Divine is Infinite, it is therefore the Only True Reality.

Satchitananda is both the definition of Brahman (God), and also the highest ideal, the potential for our own attainment! We are not a mistake. We are not evil. We are only momentarily blinded by ignorance of our true nature. We’ve only forgotten who we are, taken a detour, thanks to the endless distractions of all these material stimuli. And the spiritual path, whichever way home that best suits our enjoyment and understanding, is the way we can be reminded.

“Once we become conscious, even dimly, of the Atman, the Reality within us, the world takes on a very different aspect. It is no longer a court of justice but a kind of gymnasium. Good and evil, pain and pleasure, still exist, but they seem more like the ropes and vaulting-horses and parallel bars which can be used to make our bodies strong. Maya is no longer an endlessly revolving wheel of pain and pleasure but a ladder which can be climbed to consciousness of the Reality.” ―Adi Shankara

One of the highest teachers of Advaita, a path infused with jnana yoga, was Sri Nisargadatta, explaining this state of realization: "When the mind is kept away from its preoccupations, it becomes quiet. If you do not disturb this quiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never known; yet you recognize it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this experience, you will never be the same man again; the unruly mind may break its peace and obliterate its vision; but it is bound to return, provided the effort is sustained; until the day when all bonds are broken, delusions and attachments end and life becomes supremely concentrated in the present."

The ego has needs, because it operates from a place of lack. There is never enough for the ego. No sense of validation or appreciation or even love can satisfy it. It’s the deranged tyrant of our mind. The great Sufi poet Hafez was intimately familiar: “There is a madman inside of you, who is always running for office.”

Jung’s concept of “the Shadow”, or “Shadow work” is a highly relevant term for the spiritual path in that it is an excavation of that subconscious aspect of ourselves (Freudian) that we choose to repress. Our attempts at adapting to a societal construct defined by mainstream culture create this quality of both intentional and unintentional ‘mask-wearing’. We hide away certain aspects of ourselves and emphasize others. This is the ego’s specialty.

Jung saw through humanity’s various attempts at inauthenticity for self-gain, writing: “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls…” 67 And that this avoidance only delays the self-reflection vital for understanding and growth: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” 68

One of the best examples of the challenges of our current state is, what cognitive scientist and professor David Chalmers called, the “hard problem of consciousness”.72 Within neuroscience and neuropsychology, we understand how, the brain works. We know which sections light up with electrical charges and ions when certain emotions are felt and when various thought processes are taking place. (“Easy problems”.) But there’s not a single scientist on this planet that can tell you with any more assurance than anyone else, where our consciousness comes from. And why does this awareness exist at all?

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, although it was put more bluntly by Schopenhauer: “Every problem passes through three stages on the way to acceptance: First, it appears laughable; second, it is fought against; third, it is considered self-evident.” 73

In the 20th century we shifted from an absolute model of reality (Newtonian) to a relative model of reality (Einsteinian). This is important in helping us realize the subjective nature of existence. Our own mind, our conscious awareness is not a stabilized control but rather just another variable in the experiment! Einstein himself was practically a pantheist who explicitly declared: “I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”

One of Ramakrishna’s zingers uses the futility of the senses to make a theistic point: “You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.”

The scientific method has its limitations, because not everything is observable and repeatable. Yes, it's an undeniably useful and integral tool for civilization. But it struggles with value judgments, ethics, human connection, and the greater mysteries of existence. I have had conversations with passionately science-minded friends where they are just as rigid and fanatical as the orthodox religious.

Original sin is a lie, because every human being has an automatic, unconscious thought system of self-interest; but when we get still in our mind, our heart opens—like a flower in bloom.

“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.” —Laozi

This world is constantly attempting to provoke a response to its seemingly endless stimuli. React to this! Judge that! Enjoy this! Hate that! And as soon as you finish engaging with one phenomena, a new one comes into view. It’s exhausting, isn’t it?

We may find external peace for a day, or a month or even a few years but some aspect on which that happiness is dependent will inevitably come crashing down. When we put our sense of well-being on the external world, we are Sisyphus, struggling to push that ancient boulder up the hill. Life will come rolling back down as we sigh in exasperation, throwing our hands up defeated again and again.

“He who looks outside dreams, he who looks inside awakens.” —Carl Jung

“You will undertake a journey, because you are not at home in this world. And you will search for your home, whether you know where it is or not. If you believe it is outside yourself, the search will be futile, for you will be seeking where it is not.” —A Course in Miracles, T-12.IV.5:1–3

The word “mystic” derives from the Greek root mu, meaning “silent” or “mute”… indicative of an understanding so profound that only silence can provide its due respect.5

There is a mystical “version” of every world religion, while the orthodox institutions are typically on the opposite end of that spectrum. The Christians had the Gnostics, the Muslims have the Sufis, the Jews have ...

“Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.” ―Meister Eckhart

Like Christ, the Gnostics were reforming the way that the Jewish people came to understand God.

“Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.” —Jesus, Saying 77, Gospel of Thomas

“I have seen my Lord with the eye of my heart, and I said: ‘Who are You?’ He said: ‘You.’” —Mansur al-Hallaj

“In love is found the secret of Divine Unity. It is love that unites the higher and the lower stages of existence, that raises the lower to the level of the higher—where all become fused into one.” —The Zohar

The Tao (translated as “the Way”) is an idea as large as God. It is the source and substance of everything, including us. Yet the tradition of Taoism says that the Tao is too deeply rooted in reality to even describe with words. This means the Tao we talk about is not the real Tao. Taoists understand that language can’t express all of existence. Instead, they believe other forms of expression like music, dance, art and even non-action can better capture the true state of existence, or the true Tao. “Existence is beyond the power of words to define.” —Laozi, Tao Te Ching

“Stop leaving and you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see. Stop running away and you will be found.” —Laozi, Tao Te Ching

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” —Alan Watts

“People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose reason over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons. All phenomena are empty. They contain nothing worth desiring.” —Bodhidharma

But the real beauty of Zen Buddhism is its absolutist focus on presence and awareness. Dogen was a Buddhist priest who branched off from the Tendai School, founding the Soto school of Zen—further illustrating the tendency of religious systems to decay and need rejuvenation—and Dogen greatly emphasized the practice of zazen.

In the Zen view, because enlightenment is already present, non-striving is the key. Everything else is in the way. “The main practice of Zen is zazen, meaning sitting meditation, where the goal is essentially to concentrate on the breath and suspend all thought. If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?” —Dogen

Advaita was mostly developed by Adi Shankara in the 8th century. He is rightfully considered one of the most sophisticated teachers in this system, and within world mysticism.

When the Buddha was asked, "Sir, what do you and your monks practice?" he replied, "We sit, we walk, and we eat." The questioner continued, "But sir, everyone sits, walks, and eats." And the Buddha told him, "When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating." —Thích Nhất Hạnh

Echoing the explanation on zazen: most people think that meditating is stopping your thoughts. That’s a misunderstanding. Even experienced meditators don’t stop the thoughts completely. That’s Dogen’s zazen, or Ramakrishna’s samadhi… where you’re merely an empty vessel for the sunyata or the Divine. That might be the eventual goal, but that’s not my morning meditation.

“Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.” —Zhuangzi

The present actually has everything. All of it. It’s the restlessness and resistance to this fact that brings us anxiety or regret. Anxiety of course is concern for the future, regret is concern for the past. When we’re here, fully, those feelings lessen. Because you’re in the truth! The truth of this unceasing present moment.

“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, and look around you.” —Leo Tolstoy

Krishna and the Hindu masters have preached about meditation for millennia. The Buddha attained enlightenment meditating under that tree. Even Jesus would go off into nature “to pray”.

“The baby looks at things all day without winking; that is because his eyes are not focused on any particular object. He goes without knowing where he is going, and stops without knowing what he is doing. He merges himself within the surroundings and moves along with it. These are the principles of mental hygiene.” ―Zhuangzi

“Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” —Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 18:3-4

“There is no greater mystery than this: being Reality ourselves, we seek to gain Reality.” —Ramana Maharshi

“Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. 'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words 'Be still'. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?” ―Ramana Maharshi

“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.” ―Ramana Maharshi

"I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered. But that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being." —Byron Katie

“When you are content to simply be yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” ―Laozi

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains the ideal psychological motivation behind service: “Your human right is for the activity only, never for the resultant fruit of actions. Do not consider yourself the creator of the fruits of your activities, neither allow yourself attachment to inactivity.” —Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 2.47

Ram Dass helps us understand this ego dissolution in How Can I Help?: “The most familiar models of who we are—father and daughter, doctor and patient, "helper" and "helped"—often turn out to be major obstacles to the expression of our caring instincts; they limit the full measure of what we have to offer one another. But when we break through and meet in spirit behind our separateness, we experience sincere moments of companionship. These, in turn, give us access to deeper and deeper levels of generosity and loving-kindness. True compassion raises out of unity.” 4

The Bodhisattva Vow “May I be a guard for those who need protection A guide for those on the path A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood May I be a lamp in the darkness A resting place for the weary A healing medicine for all who are sick A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles And for the boundless multitudes of living beings May I bring sustenance and awakening Enduring like the earth and sky Until all beings are freed from sorrow And all are awakened.” —Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity