Jonathan Eli Herrick

www.realmofradiance.com

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The Freedom of No Awakening

As a young boy I loved to collect and read Superman  comics. More than anything in the Universe, I would have loved to be Superman. I often dreamed I had the gift of flying. Then, in the late 1960s, in College, the coolest thing I could imagine enjoying was a ménage et trois with two pretty girls. On mushrooms. Finally, in my senior year, I heard about Enlightenment. I was reading Phillip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen where he described multiple accounts of Awakening. Though I came from a devoutly atheistic-rationalistic family, and though the stories were as magical as Sheherazade’s, they also seemed too true to deny. The one that most impressed me, because it was the closest to my own world, while the others were all about exotic Japanese practitioners, was the account of a Jewish-American businessman (a man who, it later turned out, my father knew) who studied Zen in Japan and came to Awakening. I was so excited about Awakening that I told everyone I knew to read the book, so that they too could enjoy this miraculous opportunity to outdo Superman and become Enlightened. With one semester to go, almost dropping out of college, I began meditating six to seven hours a day, so that I could experience It for myself as quickly as possible. Though over time the meditation schedule subsided significantly, being Awakened remained for almost fifty years the most precious state imaginable. But recently I’ve come to appreciate that Awakening is itself an illusion. It is just an idea—in the sense that everyone is born and blessed with the same pure awareness. Everyone, even babies and dogs, are always Awake. It is just that most people remain lost in the dream-world of thoughts, principally in the thought that we are a “person” or thing. Even people who “experience” Awakening, tend to make of it a wondrous “thing,” something to attain and hold on to. Yet it is only by dropping all notions, even the notion of Awakening, and simply being our natural state of loving awareness, whether that is being the scent of morning coffee or being the sadness of loss, that we enjoy true freedom. If you don’t know what I am talking about, just enjoy your coffee.

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Far beyond magic, meditation and ordinary human experience is a world—the Realm of Radiance—that is far closer and greater than you could ever imagine. Take an unforgettable and hugely entertaining journey with 17-year old Jonah through sorcery, incandescent romance and thrilling adventure—to spiritual transcendence.

Inspired by the author’s personal experiences and by Buddhist and Sufi wisdom tales, this playful modern story reveals mystical teachings that can transform your life into new heights of freedom, pure joy and love.

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What is Freedom?

Political and social freedom have rightly been championed as the most significant movements of history, especially since the American Revolution. White men pushed for it. Black men. Women. Most recently gays and others with socio-sexual differences have clamored for it. It is natural, innately human, to strive for socio-political freedom—to want not to be controlled and limited by others. From our very infancy we, as children, strive for autonomy—social freedom—from our own parents. The “terrible twos” are a child’s efforts to assert differences and freedom from guardians. As a child we want what we want. Anyone who tries stopping us, risks a tantrum. And yet….and yet…there is one overlord we willingly, often unknowingly, submit to that is as onerous as any political or social system on earth. One might say it is even far more enslaving. It is a condition that we continuously attempt  to escape through momentary, ultimately ineffective, and often destructive means. Through such escapes as excessive shopping or drinking. Put another way, there is a freedom that surpasses any political and social liberation. The slave-owner is the mind. Our ultimate master, the monkey mind, imprisons us in a web of thought, dictating how and where we place our attention. Despite decades of meditation, I still find myself endlessly lost in ruminations. Locked in the shell of our head, which is tiny compared to a prison cell, we live a life sentence missing the delights of the present moment. Like ghosts, we live outside of Reality. To paraphrase Shakespeare, we are “bounded by a nutshell.” Even as we bite into a delicious cake, we anticipate the next bite, or chew on a regret about the past, or savor some hope or fear about the future. Much is made about Proust’s glorious madeleine—how it triggered so many memories it became a celebrated seven-volume novel. But where is the divine present moment of simply enjoying the slice of cake?

Ultimate freedom is attained only by courageously free-falling out of the labyrinthine thinking that enslaves us. By letting go of the mind and opening to untethered awareness: to simple, spacious, boundless, joyous, succulent free awareness.     

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Meditation

Many people believe that meditation is about clearing the mind. Another common myth is that it is great for relaxing: that by sitting in silence we can make our mind as clear as a blue sky and our hearts as serene as a forest lake. These beliefs cause countless meditators considerable self-punishment. A therapy client of mine – a young veterinarian – attended a day-long meditation at a major spiritual center and left midday thoroughly frustrated with herself. She was a “complete failure” at meditation she told me. She “couldn’t get the hang of it.”  Her mind constantly filled with thoughts and her heart was roiled with stress. Everyone else sitting around her, she believed, was enjoying a serene time of it. The reality is, our minds are a high-production manufacturer of thoughts. And anxiety is core to the human experience. Even highly experienced meditators have thoughts and anxiety. While ongoing meditation does, generally, reduce the amount and frequency of thoughts and anxiety, it is wise to expect a regular stream of both. As our thoughts settle a bit, we actually become more aware of our fear, pain, anger and other uncomfortable feelings. Eliminating thoughts and becoming serene are not the goals of advanced meditation. My perspective is that there are two highest intentions. One is to cultivate awareness. To take a step back and observe the flow of thoughts, emotions, sensations and the world around you.  Paying attention – stepping, even for occasional moments, out of the stream of thoughts—is a giant step in one’s evolution. The second great intention is to Wake up. To question the nature of one’s own mind until the answer reveals itself and we discover who or what we really are. The final great myth of meditation is that it is necessary for Realization. When asked how he Awoke, the great Maharaj Nisargaddatta said all he did was believe his Guru. His Guru told him he is the Supreme, he totally trusted his mentor and his Realization unfolded effortlessly.

Meditation is a helpful skill. It has been invaluable for me. But you can spend your whole life meditating and never Wake up. Absolute faith—completely letting go—is actually far more important. So is profound curiosity.

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Learn more about “The Realm of Radiance: A Modern Fable” here:

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For more quotes like these read The Realm of Radiance: A Modern Fable

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“Perhaps somewhere, someplace deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad.

 Rainer Maria Rilke (via girlinlondon)

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Focusing one's whole-being on a profound question can open the small trap of the thinking mind to awareness of the Infinite Self.

Jonathan Eli Herrick, Author of The Realm of Radiance

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How do you come to awakening?

How do you come to awakening? To paraphrase the Carnegie Hall joke, “Practice, practice, practice.” At least that’s what my Zen teachers would say. However, that is only sometimes true. There are remarkable anecdotes, even in Zen literature, of people coming to Awakening without ever having “practiced” anything. How does that occur? Apparently from the combustion of laser focus, profound curiosity about one’s self or one’s place in the universe, and the desire to break free of suffering. Two remarkable examples from contemporary times come to mind: the spontaneous, high Richter Scale Awakenings of Byron Katie and Eckhart Tolle. As I understand it, at the time both struggled with suicidal despair. Their entire beings were penetrated on the most profound questions about themselves and their existence. I imagine both also were seeking to escape their profound suffering. Suicide is one way out. Another is the spiritual letting go of mind, body, and heart. There is also the extraordinary example of the 16-year old later known as Ramana Maharshi, in early 20th Century India. Seeing a dead man, he had a deep and curious appreciation for the man’s “freedom” from fear and desire and aspired with his whole being to experience the same. Imagining himself “dead,” he “burst” open into a profound Realization. In all three of these cases, the Awakening both persisted and deepened with time. I am also reminded of the wonderful Kafka story, “Report to an Academy.” Tormented in a cramped cage aboard a small ship, an ape realizes that his only escape is to “open” to human intelligence and language. When he transforms, becoming more articulate and clever than his oafish captors, he is liberated on multiple levels. In my own case, many years of meditation brought subtle glimmerings, like occasional filaments unthreaded from the dualistic veil. But a year of suicidal depression led to a true spiritual opening. It seems that whole-being focus combined with a profound question– without any corollary of sitting cross-legged in a meditation hall—can open the small trap of the thinking mind to an awareness of the Infinite Self. 

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Art Imitates Life

Fiction writers draw their stories and settings from their own lives as well as from other’s lives and tales. Shakespeare took Othello from a play that predated his by some fifty years, titled Othello. The Alchemist is based on a popular ancient story found in many cultures. SPOILER ALERT: what follows are the inspirations for key parts of The Realm of Radiance. If you feel it will reduce your enjoyment of the fable, AVOID READING FURTHER. The island setting for the novel is closely based on both my childhood summer home on the once isolated, wild end of Martha’s Vineyard, known at the time as Gayhead, and on a home I purchased many years later on a remarkably remote part of Fire Island. The lovely Vineyard house, which my father designed, was close to a charming old brick lighthouse which regularly stroked the night sky. I often hiked the long stretches of beach there without meeting another soul. The Fire Island property., surrounded by National Sea Shore had the Great North Bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Like Jonah, I could only access it with my own small Boston Whaler. The isolation was quite extraordinary in that, just as Jonah’s island was surprisingly close to a city, mine was just 40 miles as the seagull flies to New York City. These are the two most wonderful places I’ve ever had the good fortune to live in. As for the stories, Jonah’s little brother’s death is derived from my own young son’s death. The Driver’s awakening while guarding a post in Afghanistan is closely based on a true story a colleague told me about a client. And Omu’s account of his teacher’s awakening very closely follows Zen master Bankei’s own story. Finally, much of the latter part of the book was inspired by my favorite Buddhist account, the life of Jetsun Milarepa. The remarkable 11th Century Tibetan saint was purported to have learned to fly -- and to have the capacity to split into multiple bodies. Historically, we know he trained with the great teacher Marpa, who had him build and tear down multiple towers to break his out-sized ego. There are several other anecdotes in the book taken from my life and other sources, but those are the key ones. It helped me to hear, many years ago, that Picasso said, “I don’t borrow from other painters, I steal.” That helped support my “theft” of other’s stories to weave into my own original one.

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What is "surrender?" To me it is trusting the larger universe and letting go of trying to make the stream of life conform to our idea of how and where it should proceed.

Jonathan Eli Herrick

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The Spectrum of Spiritual Teachings

Many people on the spiritual path focus on particular teachings: Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Vedanta, Sufi and so on. I mentioned earlier that I once interviewed a spectrum of spiritual teachers. Over the course of my own journey I’ve found that, as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote, “It’s the singer, not the song.” Meaning, it’s not the particular spiritual teaching or path that matters, but who’s singing the dharma. Among living teachers, three that have most powerfully impacted me teach outside of any tradition at all: Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie and Michael Singer. The first two had spontaneous awakenings all on their own during a time of extreme depression.  Michael Singer read a Zen book, meditated on his own, had a major opening, and now teaches outside of any path. In terms of the great teachers from the past, my major influences from books have spanned the spectrum of teachings.  Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tsu and Socrates are all from different lands and traditions—and in large measure created their own traditions. Each has a different flavor or emphasis and each is towering guide into Awakening. Another wonderful teacher I discovered in college, Tolle’s namesake, Meister Eckart, was a medieval Christian theologian who had such a profound awakening that his church sermons were considered heresy by the Vatican. Though a minister, his teachings sound similar to great Buddhist teachers.  As has been said, there are many paths up the mountain, but the view from the peak is very similar. I mentioned Bankei Yotaku earlier. He was officially a Buddhist, but came to awakening all on his own and taught so far outside orthodox Buddhism that he was accused of being Christian. People loved him and he developed a massive following, with up to 50,000 lay and monastic followers showing up at some of his talks. In the 20th Century, Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta are the most powerful teachers I’ve encountered via the written word. Both radically different kinds of teachers from each other, both were Indian. And although officially of the Hindu Vedanta tradition, neither one of them made much of Hinduism—but rather emphasized simple faith in one’s Ultimate Nature. At 16, prior to following any religion, Ramana Maharshi had a spontaneous awakening—when he encountered a dead man. And Sri Nisargatta spoke very little about his training. I also had the good fortune to study with each of their principal followers: H.W.L. Poonjaji, an adept of Ramana Maharshi, and Ramesh Balsekar, an adept of Nisargadatta. Both of them taught with little of any reference to Hinduism. And Poonjaji aka Papaji sounds very like Zen teachers I've met. I’ve also been greatly inspired by reading about the Bal Shem Tov, the 18th Century creator of modern Jewish mysticism.  And, other than Jesus, the most impactful teacher for me of all time is the great Sufi, Rumi.  The teachers mentioned span every major world religion. What’s mattered to me is how clearly they speak of our divine nature and how profoundly they inspire me to remember it. 

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A thriller of incandescent romance, magic, and spiritual transcendence.