Experience

With his usual blending of Western and Eastern thought, Don DeGracia considers the ancient question of the nature of our experience. Unlike most accounts, this one begins with the fact of altered states of consciousness. The curtain is pulled back to reveal the infinity of dynamic patterns found under the surface mind: the desires, the unfulfilled urges, longings, and striving. Under these are the mindless urges of life and the cosmos. One and all they are but futile striving to become what they never can be: the infinite. The mask of reality is ripped asunder to show that all existence is but mirage, an endless, futile striving towards a goal that can never be realized. It is always darkest before the sunrise. Similarly, the phantasmagoria of our seeming is ultimately a message of hope. By peering into the infinite depths of the irrationality of appearances, we unlock the door to approach the Ultimate Reality behind all appearances. This is the message of Experience.