Nibbana and Other Experiences of the Absolute, "Isness"

I’m currently working on a short e-book/tract called Nibbana and Other Experiences of the Absolute – just a short collection of quotations from the various traditions on “the meditative experience of the Absolute”. Yesterday, I came across the following in my readings…

“In this state there is no longer any experience of ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’. There is not even the experience of ‘I am’. It is simply a state of is-ness or pure Being.”

– Peter Russell, The TM Technique

I’m not sure if I’ll include it in the tract or not, but it would fit. “Suchness” is a related term sometimes used in Zen Buddhism, and Meister Eckhart also uses the term (Is-ness) in his writings.

There is no lack or want in the meditative experience of “Isness”. It is “sufficient and complete”. And then that feeling of completeness can slowly integrate its way into a person’s life, over time. And then living becomes natural and easy.

Samsara as a Succession of Opportunities

“The formulation of the theory of samsara or rebirth is no proof that the Upanishads are pessimistic. Life on earth is the means of self-perfection. We have to undergo the discipline of samsara in our efforts towards the higher joy and the complete possession of spiritual truth. That which gives zest to life is the supreme motive of the joy of self-conquest. Samsara is only a succession of spiritual opportunities. Life is a stage in spiritual perfection, a step in the passage to the infinite.”

An aim in life of perfecting the soul gives zest to our actions, even in old age. Most people, even as they are near death, know that they are unfinished works. Hence the idea of samsara, reincarnation, or in the Catholic tradition, purgatory. We need more perfecting.