A common misconception about Eastern spirituality is that it is about escaping something. This misconception happens in Sufi circles as well as Nonduality classes, Buddhist groups and Kirtan gatherings. There are so many things that have give this wrong impression.
Much eastern teaching is about trying to escape suffering. That is what so many Buddhist teachings are about: escaping the cycle of life. Even the Sufi teaching, “die before you die,” can very easily be misunderstood to think that there is something that can die and then you don’t have to ever feel pain or actually die. And that’s not the truth at all.
When we get lost into this misconception that Sufi teachings are about escaping something, we get caught in a loop. One of the things that I see regularly happening is that people think that if we can create enough happiness in our lives, we will escape suffering. And that’s just not the case.
We escape suffering by not participating in the suffering as it is happening. It’s not that things don’t happen; it’s just that we don’t magnify it. It has nothing whatsoever to do with happiness. There is not enough happiness that can happen that can protect you from life because happiness is always temporary.
The same thing can happen with harmony and beauty. There is not enough harmony that you can create that becomes lasting and fixed. Harmony is something that has to happen all the time. It’s the balance between difficulties and not difficulties where the harmony happens.
None of these teachings are actually about escaping life at all. And if we think it’s that way, we get stuck in this loop of trying to create happiness, trying to create harmony, trying to create beauty, and never actually doing it. Then we get stuck in that position where we know we’re pretending.
Spiritual teachings can actually make us more and more false, wearing more of a false face. Sometimes it can be a more beautiful face than the face that you were wearing before, and so you can certainly get away with it easier. But it’s still a false face. There’s something inside us that knows when we’re being false.
Sufi teachings are not about escaping anything at all. It’s about fully living life in the most aware possible way.
So, one big step forward is simply understanding that escape is neither possible nor desirable. It would be better to be looking for and hoping for wisdom. Wisdom comes by actually living life, by trying really hard, and by making all the mistakes that are necessary to be made.
And yes, death will eventually happen to everyone. So, there’s no actual escape, there’s no dissolving into nothingness. The thing that dissolves into nothingness is your sense of separation.
In reality, you come alive as you work through all the difficulties of life in an aware way. So, don’t get caught in that loop of thinking that life can be solved. It can’t be solved; it can only be lived.