The Wrong Way Is The Right Way

Why is it so difficult to attain enlightenment? It is because there is no right way, but there are many wrong ways.

To find the right way we must study the many wrong ways. The true way of living unfolds itself in our everyday lives through negation where mistakes and errors are the only sign posts directing our steps on the path toward enlightenment.

Eventually we discover that the way is the goal and that the wrong way is the right way.

A Conspiracy Theory

There are four facts of the human condition that conspire against us and that threaten to enslave our minds and our hearts.

1. Ignorance of the true meaning of our existence
2. The delusion of psychological time
3. The belief that we are separate from the experience
4. A form of amnesia that leaves us vulnerable to repeating past mistakes 

I will explain each in turn.

Ignorance of the true meaning of our existence

Such ignorance obscures the ultimate meaning of our existence. However, to ask what is the meaning of your life is to put your foot into a nihilistic trap as the ultimate meaning cannot be understood by the intellect. In this context, Viktor Frankl speaks of the ultimate meaning of life as so comprehensive that it is incomprehensible.

The correct question to ask oneself is how do I free my mind from confusion so that the question of an ultimate meaning becomes moot?


The delusion of psychological time

Chronological time moves moment to moment. It is directly related to nature. Psychological time, on the other hand, is created by thought. It creates a past and a future that has no direct relationship with reality. It distorts chronological time as though one were looking at reality through a prism.


The belief that we are separate from the experience

It is an unfortunate fact that we are born under the delusion that we exist apart from reality. In our minds, the experiencer and the experience appear to be separate--that is, we imagine that the ego is actually having the experience when it is merely a witness to that experience and an unreliable one at that. In truth, you are the experience.

A form of amnesia that leaves us vulnerable to repeating past mistakes

This particular form of amnesia arises from the fact that memory cannot recreate a past experience in our minds. Consequently, relying on memory as a prescient guide is problematic. See Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness for a fuller description of memory's peccadilloes.