Kitchen Table Philosopher Joseph Raffa asks what is left of the knowing mind when the dream is ended…

Every concept shattered beyond recall. You, me, God, Void, Ultimate Reality. All projected by the mind as stepping stones to feed its urge for knowledge, its need to relate to something.

What is left now the dream has ended? The creative flow of experience, crystalising through the senses as forms, colours, shapes. Feeling to the touch.  Sight for the eyes. Sound for the ears.  Smells for the nose. A world for the mind.  This is our life.

When all this ceases, what is left for the mind to know? What is left of the knowing mind?

We say “God is left, or the Ultimate, or a Strangeness”. We speak with such certitude of the unmentionable, the unseeable, the unknowable, the unthinkable.

How did we get into this?  What lure is cast our way? We drift along life’s highway, singing or sorrowing as we go.

Then suddenly, a voice speaks out: “Man – you have a spiritual nature.”

We pack our bags and go.  Where? Away from space and time.  Away from mind.

To land where?  Into uncertainty.  Into a vast unknown.

How can we say this?  Because it happens.  Because it is so.

Don’t ask for explanations.  Just go and see what follows.

And if perchance you find the words to express the wonder of that strange unknown, well, good luck to you.  For those before you who dwelt there for a moment, were silenced by its nature, all they would say was “It is”. That’s all.  “It is” or “That I am”.  And perhaps, even this is far too much to say.

If you would like to read more of Joseph’s spiritual writing, it is now available from Amazon.com and other online retailers.