Our intellectual paradigm and the death debate

I can’t believe I have to say this. Our intellectual paradigm is downstream from financial and geopolitical concerns. All universities have mottos like “Veritas,” but the truth is that those guys all have to be paid, and he who pays the piper calls the tune.

I think you can get on to a better intellectual paradigm, that acknowledges God. You would have universal knowledge of God, not complete or perfect knowledge, but enough to know that you are immortal. That would reduce greed, ambition, insecurities, fear of death, etc.

The prophecy is that knowledge of God will become universal, which will bring about world peace. That is perfectly reasonable. God is already present in every atom of your being, it’s your ego, your identity, that separates you from God.

The Westerners want Enlightenment without the rags. The Western Enlightenment was a bunch of guys in powdered wigs and elaborate clothes with syphillus. You guys want to keep your fortunes and be enlightened. Yoga means union with God. And if that happens, you could end up in rags. You lose control. That’s the threat.

So you need to find a middle way. That was what Gurdjieff was doing, a lot of people have tried it. But all those texts, the Sufis, the Yoga Sutras, those represent real experiential knowledge. Westerners prefer faith, if they can keep it, but they don’t want to do any work.