Another great paradoxical statement in spirituality is “in the world but not of the world“. It’s so strange and unusual a notion, it can be easily dismissed or ignored from a certain worldly position of logic or reason. But if a great spiritual teacher declared this truth, was that person ignorant, insane, or deluded? What did he mean when he said “we are in the world but not of the world”.
The reason the statement is so easily dismissed on its surface is the evidence that we are in the world. There is no doubt about that, that we are in the world, that we are material, temporal organisms subject to the conditions of time and space, then we are gone. This cannot be disputed.
If someone were simply to say “we are in the world“, you could find almost universal agreement for that statement. But the spiritual master would say it is incomplete. The spiritual genius said “we are in the world but not of the world. The distinction and differential is astonishingly significant.
We are undeniably in the world, or as the German philosopher Martin Heidegger declared, we are “thrown” into the world, a set of circumstances, certain parents, certain culture, certain era, certain religion (or a certain lack of religion), certain educational standards, etc. Since we are thrown into a world, the nature of the world we’re thrown into obviously shapes deep and profound perceptual patterns that may be with us for a lifetime.
These perceptual patterns and habits make the world a very attractive, seductive, even addictive place. This world that we are in exerts a tug on our preferences, our tastes and dislikes, our instincts and our proclivities. It is possible to become so attached to these objects of observation, suffering is inevitable.
Why is suffering inevitable? Because the objects of our attention and our attraction at least, and our obsessions and addictions at worst, are always shifting and always fading in and out of our awareness. Perhaps this is why the Buddha made his first noble truth: “life is suffering”.
The human being, locked in a mortal, temporal coil, addicted to the passing mirages of the world, is subject to suffering. The things they love are always fading in and then fading out of their awareness. If we are only in the world and what is in the world is continuously fading out and disappearing, it’s easy to describe life as simply one episode of potential suffering after the next.
However, a great spiritual genius said we are in the world but not of the world. This means that while part of us is encased in a mortal package, living in a temporal reality of time and space conditions, there’s an aspect of ourselves that is always above and beyond this worldly frame of reference.
If this is true, it would mean we could always maintain a certain perspective in proportion to the nature of the material world and the effect it exerts upon us. We could be attached and detached at the same time. A great premise of eastern spiritual tradition is detachment, meaning an appropriate separation or emotional distance from the sticky and addictive nature of worldly people, places, and things.
However, detachment can be taken too far. If we are too detached, we are separated from the savor and flavor of life. If we are too detached, we are in the world, but not involved in the world. There is something better and the spiritual master who declared we are in the world but not of the world identified the essential truth perfectly. We undeniably have a mortal existence, we live in a mortal coil, in a temporary, physical vehicle, subject to the wrinkles in the fabric of space-time that we call our circumstances and conditions.
Too much attraction to or dependence upon these things and suffering is inevitable, conceivably great suffering if we pin all of our hopes on one of these passing mirages. On the other hand, if we practice too much detachment, we are liable to become aloof, separate, uninvolved and disengaged from the miracle of our own existence.
However, we can enjoy the best of both worlds if we cultivate an experience of the essence within us, the conscious observer itself. This would mean we are in the world but not of it. We can participate fully in the time/space experiences of this world, the people, places, and things that delight, engage, fascinate, interest, and engage us while maintaining an appropriate sense that this too shall pass.
When we experience being in the world, but not of it, we know to the core of our being that whatever worldly situation is presenting itself, there is a world above and beyond that is immutably perfect, that is inextinguishably consistent, pure, and unadulterated. The great yogis called this great reality “Sat-Chit-Ananda”, ever-conscious, ever-aware, ever-new bliss.
The Bhagavad-Gita says this realm of our being is indestructible and unchanging. It says “wind can’t blow it, fire can’t burn it, knives can’t cut it, water can’t wet it“. This is the experience of what it means to be “in the world but not of the world”.
It is a carefully cultivated sense of being. This sense of being is available to all humans, but dormant in most. While it is a certainty we are in the world and subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, it is not a certainty that we will find the realm where we are in the world but not of the world.
Simply put, it must be sought. It must be sought through introspection, contemplation, and meditation. It is the carefully cultivated and developed sense of presence that underlies every passing image that moves before our eyes. What is the value of finding this place? Nothing less than the end of suffering.
Suffering is absolutely the nature of existence of any material being who hasn’t realized yet they are a spiritual being having a material experience. Enough pain will usually shake a materially-minded person out of that paradigm, sooner or later; but maybe not. A materially-minded person has the choice to live in their paradigm of understanding for as long as they wish, there is no shortage of space-time to do that.
But sooner or later, every soul wakes up to the truth because, as Shakespeare said “the truth will always out”. Since it is the undeniable truth that we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience, this realization will dawn for all of us. We can accelerate and enhance this dawning by contemplating and engaging the thought that we are in the world but not of the world, as the great spiritual teacher taught us.
You are in the world, no doubt. Would you like to realize the full implications, the liberation and release that results from knowing the complete statement, that you are “in the world but not of it?”. You can begin to know it today by cultivating this most precious sense of being. “In and of” is to be in love with all existence, wherever you may find yourself, in any given moment.