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"Words of the Wise" |
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The Real Illusion What, then, is the relation of man and the universe to this absolute Being? Man is an image of God; the universe is a finite reflection of this infinite Being, a reflection of the One in the many, of the eternal in time, of the infinite in space. Here again this relationship may be differently conceived, but fundamentally it will be found that this is its nature. The universe is not an 'illusion' as it is sometimes said; it has a certain reality, but it is the reality of a reflection in a mirror. Apart from its source it has no reality at all. The real illusion is to mistake the material universe for an independent reality. This is the great illusion of the West, which constitutes materialism. It is against this illuion that the whole of eastern doctrine stands, by affirming the absolute reality of God alone and the wholly dependent and relative reality of the physical universe. How does man enter into relationship with this infinite and eternal Being? Here again there is a deep cleavage between East and West. We in the West have grown up under the influence of Aristotle and the Greeks. We think reason acting upon the evidence of the senses as the normal mode of human knowledge. But in the East it has always been understood that there is a higher mode of knowledge than sense or reason - the knowledge of spiritual intuition, a knowledge not dependent on the senses or on any logical process, but on the soul's direct, intuitive awareness of itself. It is this which has been sought in the East from time immemorial and which gives the true knowledge of God. It is a knowledge derived from contemplation, a wisdom which descends from above and directly enlightens the soul. To this knowledge all images and concepts can only act as 'supports'; it transcends the finite order and unites man directly with God. Bede Griffiths in Christ in India: Essays toward a Hindu-Christian Dialgoue, Templegate, 1966, 1984, p.79-80 |
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