The empty desert
Clearing the way of self
The sparseness of Zen artwork. The asceticism of monks and nuns. The renunciation of Hindu sages. Jesus and John the Baptist meditating in the desert. The desert contemplatives of the early Christians.
They all speak to the emptiness of the inner life.
It is easy to mistake such austerity as the goal of the spiritual life - it has a kind of heroic appeal. Dropping everything, going off to renounce the world, leaving behind life.
But in my view, that isn’t what it is about. The desert imagery - empty, dry, sparse - mirrors the preparation of the inner world to be filled with paradise.
Before paradise can arrive, the dross, the brambles of “me”, the false self, need to be cleared away.
Asceticism is one path to do this. Treating the body ruthlessly can train oneself away from a fundamental selfishness we all develop in our childhood. It can detach us from seeking only after what makes us comfortable.
But that can be misleading too - it is not an end in itself. The true asceticism is the seeing through of the self-program.
The inner life is crowded because of self-grasping, and self-resisting. And this grasping and resisting causes suffering and a stunted life-flow.
We don’t see ourselves as we really are - but rather we see ourselves according to a concept. We are this body, who looks a certain way, has a certain history, is in various relationships with other people. But that’s all mind imagery, imaginative working, so-to-speak.
That self-image is “me” - and “me” likes certain things and dislikes others - hence the grasping and the resisting.
For the interior life to become a desert this “me” concept must be seen through as another appearance in you, the real You, like clouds in the sky appear in You, or the chirping of the birds.
The real You, the “space” in which all this appears, can only be properly experienced, lived from, when that “me” illusion is seen through.
The space of You is then progressively cleared of “me”, and becomes sparse and desert like.
This can be a dry point in the spiritual life - it can feel like there is nothing much to live for. It is too empty, too dull.
But this empty desert starts to spring flowers, beautiful trees, fresh flowing streams of life - now that the choking brambles and dead undergrowth of self, of “me” has been cleared away.
Not necessarily by asceticism, but rather by self-enquiry, slowing down, and clear seeing.
Once the inner life is cleared (it is no longer “inner” vs “outer” at this point, but that is another topic) then one’s life is no longer created by “me” - it is breathed forth in each moment, a spontaneous story spoken by God, Awareness, Source, whatever - the Unknown.
One no longer considers or experiences themself as a space in which God acts. Rather, to quote the great master:
“I have often taught that a person should be free from all inner and outer works, so that they may become an abode where God can work. But now we must go beyond that. If God still finds a place in a person, then that person is not yet poor with the strictest poverty. True poverty means being so free of God and all God’s works that there is no “place” left in the soul for God. If God is to work there, God himself must be the place of that working, and God gladly does this.”
Meister Eckhart
At this point there is simple living. The desert has life breathed into it but “you” are no longer aware of it.
There is little self-reflection any longer.
“My supernatural power and marvelous activity: drawing water and carrying firewood.”
Layman Pang, Zen master
There is not much more to be said beyond that.
I try to cover this path, from top to bottom, from the basics of non-duality to Zen emptiness and the flow of the Tao, in my course Finding Freedom, if that is of interest. I’m adding a week-long 50%-off voucher - just add it at checkout: ahlaplt
PS I have to be honest, it feels a bit crass to mention my course after this post - but I, too, have to “draw water and carry firewood” (e.g. support my family) so please forgive me and ignore if it offends.