The alarming fact is that any realization of depth carries a terrible burden: Those who are allowed to see are simultaneously saddled with the obligation to communicate that vision in no uncertain terms: that is the bargain. You were allowed to see the truth under the agreement that you would communicate it to others. [...]
And this is truly a terrible burden, a horrible burden, because in any case there is no room for timidity. The fact that you might be wrong is simply no excuse: You might be right in your communication, and you might be wrong, but that doesn't matter. What does matter, as Kierkegaard so rudely reminded us, is that only by investing and speaking your vision with passion, can the truth, one way or another, finally penetrate the reluctance of the world. [...]
Given the measure of your own authentic realization, you were actually thinking about gently whispering into the ear of that near-deaf world? No, my friend, you must shout. Shout from the heart of what you have seen, shout however you can.
But not indiscriminately. Let us proceed carefully with this transformative shout. Let small pockets of radically transformative spirituality, authentic spirituality, focus their efforts, and transform their students. And let these pockets slowly, carefully, responsibly, humbly, begin to spread their influence, embracing an absolute tolerance for all views, but attempting nonetheless to advocate a true and authentic and integral spirituality—by example, by radiance, by obvious release, by unmistakable liberation. Let those pockets of transformation gently persuade the world and its reluctant selves, and challenge their legitimacy, and challenge their limiting translations, and offer an awakening in the face of the numbness that haunts the world at large.
Let it start right here, right now, with us—with you and with me— and with our commitment to breathe into infinity until infinity alone is the only statement that the world will recognize. Let a radical realization shine from our faces, and roar from our hearts, and thunder from our brains—this simple fact, this obvious fact: that you, in the very immediateness of your present awareness, are in fact the entire world, in all its frost and fever, in all its glories and its grace, in all its triumphs and its tears. You do not see the Sun, you are the Sun; you do not hear the rain, you are the rain; you do not feel the Earth, you are the Earth. And in that simple, clear, unmistakable regard, translation has ceased in all domains, and you have transformed into the very Heart of the Kosmos itself—and there, right there, very simply, very quietly, it is all undone.
Wonder and remorse will then be alien to you, and self and others will be alien to you, and outside and inside will have no meaning at all. And in that obvious shock of recognition—where my Master is my Self, and that Self is the Kosmos at large, and the Kosmos is my Soul—you will walk very gently into the fog of this world, and transform it entirely by doing nothing at all.
Excerpt from his book One Taste
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to the notion that you are in fact the entire world, in all its triumphs and tears? Can you share a personal story of a time a transformative shout roared from your heart? What helps you proceed carefully with your transformative shout?
My amen follows ... "With you, with me and our commitment to breathe ..."! To words that preceed this, I say "amen". Beyond this, the writer blurs the line seperating The Creator with the created! Not pleasing to this believer's ears.
God i am doing it every day all the way! Am so blessed that I'm in the midst of 18- 25 year old every wking moment. I am shouting from my heart and I can see the transformation happening.
YES! For someone who stuggles with vulnerability, this has been a great reminder. We all do have authentic gifts and can share the messages of love and compassion in ways that make sense to us. I feel so strongly about this and with that strength I too commit to making my pocket of ripples. The idea that it can be done by many in small circles soothes my feeling of paralysis. I hope my ripples will one day overlap with yours.
I love this powerful and poetic shout from Ken Wilber. It took me a long time to share my truth, initially timidly and then with less and less timidity, and eventually occasionally shouting. And I have slowly developed a disciplined sharing grounded in compassion, and when I do such I feel full and happy. I remind myself daily that I have the right, responsibility, and privilege to express my truth, and lately it's also become my pleasure. I am part of this world, part of one whole, and how I am affects the whole and vice versa. This is my truth, it has been transformative, and at times it expresses as a transformative shout roared from my heart. What helps me proceed carefully is knowing that there are dangers in this beautiful world, and I want to proceed in a way that contributes to healing and transformation and not be reckless or stupid and cut my own throat or cause hurt to anyone.