Expect To Be "Surprised," But Don't Prepare For It

"Surprise in infinite play is the triumph of the future over the past. Since infinite players do not regard the past as determining the present/future, they have no way of knowing what has begun in the past. With each surprise, the past reveals a new beginning. Inasmuch as the present/future is always surprising, the past is always changing." ("Finite and Infinite Games," James Carse)

I’m not one for repetitive, compulsive quoting of the "masters" to bolster or reinforce my points (the Buddha said this, the Buddha said that, blah, blah, blah). Yea, sure, I've read what they say the the Buddha said, but what do you say that is free of Buddha?

This is why I’m always on the lookout for original minds (blogs) who don’t merely mouth the ancient “wisdom” quotes in some sort of "repeat after me" hypnotic spiritual trance. I’m very suspect of those who simply quote from the "ancient masters' to sell their brand, which is really nothing more than repackaged cereal. The new glitzy box looks modern enough, but the contents are the same sickeningly sweet Captain Crunch that I ate when I was a kid.

However, I believe the ancient masters advocated their ideas, not for the sake of blind adherence, but to be continually deconstructed, redeveloped and wrung dry of every ounce of meaning possible, only to be reconstructed and deconstructed again and again, on and on ad infinitum. 

James Carse is a retired professor of religion who has distilled years of religious study into a unique philosophical presentation. He sees the forest for the trees, while we continue to perseverate on which tree the Buddha would climb in order to reach the heavens. Of course, you can climb any tree you want, problem is the climb never ends and that’s a good thing. Unless, of course, you demand your ascent result in finally reaching the ‘top.’

But note that my interpretation of Carse may not be particularly agreeable to Carse. This is because the ideas, once in my mind, are mine to do with as I please (however, when I quote I give credit where credit is due).

This is what I’ve done with the concept of “surprise.” Surprise is conceptually equivalent to “awakening” and “enlightenment” (or any of those lofty specialized and sacred terms) except that you cannot ideologically prepare for it.

You cannot be a serious devotee of Buddhism or Christianity and be surprised. However I suppose you can be "enlightened" or "awakened" if that's what you're prepared for. 

Nor can you follow any path of non-duality and be surprised simply because you follow a “path” and all paths seek to take you somewhere (else, why follow a “path”) and some paths are very good at camouflaging the destination. Surprise has no path, yet there is an expectation of its certainty. But once you 'prepare,' the certainty is lost.

Nevertheless, any ideology that says, eat this, don’t eat that, practice this way, dress this way, talk this way and say only this, think only that, etc, etc, etc, is taking you somewhere and you will expect to get to that place by playing the game as the rules prescribe.To be “awakened” or “enlightened” is to prepare to meet the past in the future, because it's the past that guides the way. No doubt it will be a grand experience, but it will be exactly as you have prepared for it to be, since it comes from the past. You already know what you'll find because somebody else already found it.

To be surprised is to recreate the past through an, as of yet, undisclosed future that cannot be prepared for in any way. Expect to be surprised, but not in any way you could prepare.  

It too, will be surprisingly grand, but completely unknown until the moment of encounter. Spiritual 'surprise' can be expected, but not prepared for and this limits what need be done to prepare (and isn't that a relief!). It seems it is merely a momentary, unscripted encounter with a moment that has been stripped of any and all ideological prescriptions owned by the past.

How can you experience a moment free of the past when the 'teachings' are soaked and dripping with it. 

Surprise is an existential ‘nothingness” that tends to take the breathe away if the expectation is free of all preparation. This is the non-ideological “be here now” that doesn’t require you follow some esoteric, austere spiritual path. This is the workingman’s (and woman’s) "enlightenment." Many do experience surprise and only later do they attempt to apply an ideological interpretation to the experience. Of course, it then becomes part of the past.

But isn't the past what you sought to be free of?  

You can't prepare for surprise, because any preparation is limited by the failure to predict when and how it will be experienced. There are no road signs to measure progress, as in spiritual-religious paths. There is only an openness to ‘whatever.’

Can you live for ‘whatever’?   

The individual expecting surprise says, “I don't care what happens," but knows something must and expects that to happen 'whenever.' Now the ideological wall built up from the anxiety of preparing for outcomes crumbles and is obliterated by your, “whatever.” 'Whatever' means you can't be trapped in defining surprise especially after you've been surprised. This allows it to linger on, since it is not constricted by the need to define it by applying some 'spiritual' interpretation from the past.

Does this mean you become an insensitive clod?   

Hardly. When you have no care for outcomes you find it easier to experience that incredible "Lightness of Being" that has eluded you in your heavy practices of serious spiritual austerities, always measuring and doubting progress. Now you can let down your deluded sense of spiritual superiority and join the human race as we all seek for surprise with one another. This is because surprise excludes no one, since membership only demands you be conscious (and that just about covers everybody). You need not follow the rules of any spiritual path. However, you can if you so choose, I just wouldn't take it too serious.

Ha! But who can do that? This is anathema to an ego-self that must forever construct experiences in order to know itself, but by doing so alienates itself from its own experiences.  

So how 'ancient' is the spiritual path you follow? Does its ancient proclamations make it more authentic and austere for you? Will you be surprised by the outcome, or merely happy that you got what you prepared for? What good is that?

However, keep in mind that if the rules we make up become rigid and codified, or if you begin to perceive an outcome, then the rules must be changed.