The Path as the Way

The path is the Way, is the destination, is the goal. Liberation is carried out through the perfection of the method of orientating oneself towards liberation; they are one and the same. Which means that liberation is always here, wherever that happens to be. This is never arguable, is never false. As soon as one looks away, one has digressed. It is the ultimate synthesis, transcending the duration implied in progress, and the distance implied in path.

We talk about seeds, about growth, and about fruition. We measure duration and distance, attitudes shifted and burdens lessened. Measurements, and the objects of their analysis, are contained in a project we might call management. It is seperated from that of liberation, which should rather be likened to that of uprooting. Management itself is the ultimate burden, and liberation is the uprooting of its necessity. Liberation is spontaneous, instantaneous, and most importantly, unconditioned. This is not to say that there is no path. The path is, as said, orientating oneself towards liberation. It hinges on the fact that liberation is inherent; it is necessitated not by the existence of things but by their absence. The difference between existence and absence is that one is acquired, and the other is not. Absence, as in, emptiness, is not the acquirement of the non-existing of things, is not the negation of the thing that used to be there. In my pocket there does not reside the space of what used to be a 20-dollar bill. There is only space.

The progress one might measure in a path marked by management is precisely a collection of spaces of things-that-used-to-be-there. Management is defined by things to be managed, and progress is tied to the effectiveness of the management of the arising of unwholesome states of mind. Yet the arising is out of reach as long as we continue to manage; the necessity of management is what defines the burden of suffering. Things-that-used-to-be-there are defined by their object rather than its lack; anger-that-used-to-be-there is still anger-that-could-arise. Likewise, conditioned happiness is burdened by the necessity of protecting its conditions, lest it crumble. This is Dukkha.

It would however be naive to claim that progress, in its previously defined way, is useless, or even unnecessary. Management is not opposed to liberation, nor is it parallel. Management does create space, which is what defines most wholesome states of mind. The danger of management lies in the confusion of its rightful position. As a method it does not lessen the burden of Dukkha, although it might condition an increase in peace and happiness. It is easy to get caught in the acquisition of things, commonly known as Spiritual Materialism, and the measuring which management conditions almost necessitates the illusion of liberation as a space-time traversal.

Yet the orientation towards liberation is marked by this creation, and subsequent letting go, of spaces. Management thus slowly transcends its own necessity, and leaves space for liberation. Not conditioned, not made-to-happen nor “acted out”, but simply to arise. When the attachment to the fruit of our actions is released, liberation seeps through the cracks of actions themselves; each and every moment anew.