Description: This article explores insights on why we crave spiritual experiences and how our reliance on the "experiencer" often prevents us from seeing the "actual" reality.
At various points in our lives, many of us claim to have had "mystical" or "spiritual" experiences. These moments often feel profound, yet they raise a fundamental question: How can we know if these experiences are mere illusions unless we already know what reality is?.
The Trap of Recognition
To understand this, we must first ask what an "experience" actually is. Krishnamurti points out that most experiences involve recognition. If you have a "spiritual" experience and recognize it as such, it implies that you have already known it or something like it before. Therefore, what you call a new experience is often just a renewal of a past memory or identification.
As long as there is an experiencer separate from the experience, the process remains self-centered. The "I" gathers these experiences to feel superior, illumined, or "more" than others. This "silly game" often leads to a subliminal boost of the ego rather than a discovery of truth.
Why We Seek the Mystical
Why are we so obsessed with experiences that are "out of the ordinary"?. Krishnamurti suggests it is because we are bored and desperate in our daily lives. We face loneliness, attachment, and despair, and we want to escape these "actual" facts by inviting a "spiritual" heaven.
We have an incredible capacity for self-deception. We often use beliefs and faith—whether in organized religion or personal mysticism—to avoid the fear of the unknown.
Reality vs. Illusion
So, what is the difference between reality and illusion?
- Reality is the "Actual": It is the tree, the dog, the blue sky, the person sitting across from you, and even your current feelings of sadness or loneliness.
- Illusion is "Playing": Derived from the word ludere, illusion is something we invent to play with. We create illusions—like the idea that someone will fulfill us—to avoid the actual fact that we are desperately lonely.
The Real Question: The End of the "Experiencer"
Ultimately, the search for "reality" or the labels of "spiritual" and "mundane" are secondary. The most vital question is: Is there a state where the "experiencer" is not?.
True reality isn't a thing to be "experienced" by a person; it is found in nothingness. In this context, "nothing" literally means "not a thing" of thought. When the "experiencer"—the observer created by time and thought—is absent, the craving for experience ends, and only then is there the "real thing".