Is What We See... All We Get?

By Joseph Evan Metzger

Most people are quietly unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives. In these pages, author Joseph Evan Metzger faces up to the lack in our lives, the reason for it, and what we can do about it.

Prayer and meditation, the ego, and the real purpose of our being here on this planet are discussed in detail. God, worldwide conflict, and even death are treated in concise and original explanations.

For those setting out, as well as those who feel theyve long been on a path, there is abundant fodder here for contemplation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jun 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504331081

Joseph Evan Metzger

Joe Metzger is a retired teacher and lives with his wife Kiki and cat Puddinhead in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. As a young man, he traveled to India to be in the presence of a great teacher, one who instructed him on the metaphysical side of things. As the years have gone by, he has gathered the most inspired writings available, and combined them with his own insights, to expound on the mystery of our lives. Having lectured on spirituality, he decided to write a book to answer many of the practical questions we face every day. His hope is that this book will serve to inspire others to set out on a quest for lasting meaning in their lives.

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Is What We See…

All We Get?

Joseph Evan Metzger

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Copyright © 2015 Joseph Evan Metzger.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-3107-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-3108-1 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 05/06/2015

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 The Emptiness

Chapter 2 The Loneliness

Chapter 3 The Homelessness

Chapter 4 The Sensitive Ones

Chapter 5 The Ego

Chapter 6 Inner Conflict

Chapter 7 Dualism, Outer Conflict, and Forgiveness

Chapter 8 The Problem of Evil

Chapter 9 The Purpose

Chapter 10 The Path

Chapter 11 Closure and Detachment

Chapter 12 Presence

Chapter 13 Positive Thought

Chapter 14 Meditation

Chapter 15 Prayer

Chapter 16 Faith vs. Fear

Chapter 17 Death

Chapter 18 God

Chapter 19 Consciousness

Chapter 20 Your Present Situation

To my wife, Kiki,

for her loving patience

and unwavering inspiration.

Preface

As I re-read this book, I realize that I have written a spiritual primer. Hopefully, it will be helpful to those who are beginning or thinking of beginning the path. I am not a guru in any sense of that word, but I have been guided by some excellent ones.

As a young man, I was blessed to have come under the influence of Meher Baba of India. In his Discourses, he presented the most thorougly pellucid explanation of metaphysical matters I have ever encountered. During a life sworn to silence, he dictated his thoughts via an alphabet board, on which he pointed to one letter at a time. By this tedious method he was able to offer his teachings in erudite English, hardly the language of his birth.

He cobbled together a group of disciples who were both Muslim and Hindu, and he used the religious terminology of both groups to explain concepts. This band of men modeled both brotherhood and devotion, as they traveled about, setting up schools and ashrams. I was fortunate enough to travel to India in 1969, to partake of his darshan, or presence. In the East there is the belief that just being in the vicinity of a master is immensely helpful to one’s spiritual progress.

Since that time, I have found numerous other teachers in the form of their books. Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle, in particular, have been very helpful, in the areas of meditation and presence.

Neale Donald Walsch’s writings have provided some fascinating and original insights about our relationship with God.

Although Jewish by birth, the other influence in my life has been Jesus. I have often reflected on how he has called me through the years. Not only have I found great power in his presence, but his teachings are matchless in their expression. If I were born a Christian, there would be little surprise that I would reference him as a source of inspiration. But, due to historical circumstances, my people, by and large, have rejected their own. So it is even more miraculous that a Son of the Commandment, or Bar Mitzvah, such as I, would hear his voice.

So Eastern wisdom, and two Western religions form my spiritual triad, and I stand on the shoulders of masters and teachers from those traditions. I am an unashamed synchretist, who believes that every culture and religion has a small piece of the puzzle, and we must choose those elements, regardless of origin, that inspire us with their truth. I anticipate the day when we are ONE PEOPLE with ONE FAITH, living on ONE LOVINGLY TENDED PLANET.

Short of that, we are fortunate to be living at a time when wisdom has been made so readily available in both written and electronic form. The metaphor of the miner has always appealed to me, and here I present the nuggets gathered from some very rich veins of ore.

As we gaze at the spiritual ascent before us, we can never know what is above until we arrive. For that reason, it’s impossible for us to know the status of one who may have made it farther up the mountain. We are really in no position to judge the qualifications of our teachers, unless they’re out-and-out frauds.

Yes, it’s absolutely essential to be guided by a master, but, much like elementary school children, we may turn to the kid in the next desk to explain what the teacher meant. He or she will no doubt give us the explanation most suitable to our limited understanding, since they themselves only recently understood.

Similarly, though claiming no special status, I do believe that I have a sense of the truth when I encounter it, and I offer it to you, as one spiritual novice to another. If I can be of service to just one individual who is searching, I shall consider myself well compensated indeed.

I would love to hear from you with your comments or questions, and I can be reached at:

[e-mail]

Chapter 1

The Emptiness

Most of us have become resigned to less than happy lives, as we trudge through the obligations of the job, the care of family, the DIY projects at home, and occasional social gatherings. Yet few of us question the lack of passion or fulfillment we experience. The ideals of youth are forgotten, as we eventually accept lives of quiet desperation (Thoreau). And so we move with the herd, though we have no idea of our purpose or destination.

Some of us have felt the world’s imperfection a bit more keenly than others. There’s the vague suspicion that there should be MORE. We’re not sure what that lack is exactly, but we feel it just the same. We wonder, in the words of the old Peggy Lee song, Is That All There Is?

Even though many are not beset with major problems, they’re far from happy. There are some things they look forward to such as binge watching episodes of a favorite show or going out with the family for ice cream, but these bits of anesthetic relief last but a moment, and then they plunge back into the accustomed malaise.

The word malaise is usually defined as a general feeling that things aren’t quite right, but the corrective is anything but obvious. In fact, most of us only notice it when the mania of our lives, both at home and work, abates for a bit. Before the feeling can be named, we usually plunge into distractions such as food, drink, sex, or TV.

If you are hungry, you’re quite clear about what you need—food; if lonely—companionship; if bored—entertainment. But what if all these needs are reasonably satisfied, and you still think that what you need is out there somewhere?

As we grow up and grow older, many of the world’s offerings that promised fulfillment—education, job, marriage, house, cars, or even retirement—have failed to deliver fully or permanently. Apparently, the promises of happiness after strenuous efforts were a bit overblown, to say the least.

Life starts to resemble a carnival midway, where wonderful prizes are offered but always seem to be just out of reach. Even when you achieve one through your special talents, it almost immediately loses its luster. Being realistic about this state of affairs seems to be the only sane option.

Well, the slaughterhouse of death awaits us all, whether believer or atheist. But the belief that what-you-see-is-what-you-get is a bit of reality that few can handle. Most cling to a childhood belief in a faraway God, something that one can dust off as one ages, but it provides little comfort in our quotidian lives. Many of those early beliefs implied a heaven to come or at least a reward for the righteous. But what about now? Are we forever to put off our remuneration, our fulfillment, our peace?

The Missing Element

From ancient times through the Middle Ages, God or the gods were extremely important in daily affairs. But, at some point, the divine was relegated to the margins of life. Why? The usual answer given is the rise of scientific thought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Actually, it’s probably a lot more basic than that—human lives hung on a much more fragile thread than today.

For much of human existence in those times, the answer to the question of what was missing could be easily answered—more food! And the Lord above, being the one who sent the rain or a drought, would be thought of as a source of supply for our very subsistence. Now, though, due to the blessings of modern agriculture, people in a large part of the earth have more than enough.

And yet, for many of us, the same vestigial answer seems to be elicited from the subconscious realm—more food. The food manufacturers have obliged us with a full panoply of sweet and salty snacks. The result, of course, is the epidemic of obesity. Those who have gone beyond the comestibles stage and moved on to alcohol and drugs are responding to the same cravings we all have, but are satisfying them in less approved ways.

Yes, we can blame them for their weakesses, those who go overboard while trying to satisfy cravings, but it’s good to remember that craving seems to be part of the human condition. If you have ever desired ice cream, cookies, candy, a cold beer on a hot day, or an Irish coffee on a raw, rainy night, you know about scratching that itch.

It abates for awhile, only to re-emerge later, sometimes with renewed vigor. How much fulfillment can be found between the consumption of the first potato chip and the last one in the bag? Bloated and a bit guilty, you might wonder what insane little trip your mind was on, as you were insatiably gobbling up the greasy treats.

Sad to say, you were lost in the same grip of craving as the drug addict, with the exception that you conceal the evidence a bit more easily by tossing the bag in the garbage and hiding it from your spouse by covering it with something. But you DID experience intense craving, as well as your pathetic attempt to satisfy it. We’ve all been there and done that.

What is the longing that cannot seem to be satisfied? I am convinced that physical craving is the expression of a spiritual need—a need to fill the vacuum once occupied by God in an earlier age. We seem to have an unwritten agreement with our society to pretend to fill it. However, try as we might, the void remains. And it doesn’t disappear just because we succeed temporarily in blocking our awareness of it through indulgence.

TV is nonstop, and some keep it on constantly for reassurance. As greed and commericalism increase in our society, it seems that channel surfing has been replaced with ad surfing, and we navigate incessantly with our remotes, searching for a palliative to our ennui. Sports and associated statistics consume much of the male conversational space, while gossip masquerading as infotainment sucks the energy from the minds of the rest of the population.

Eckhart Tolle proposes that the sole purpose of television is to loll us to sleep so that product pitches will encounter less resistance. I agree with that assessment. In any case, there is surely little oxygen left for weighty, metaphysical thoughts.

The Mania of Distractions

Well, that may be so, but we are certainly co-conspirators in this charade. Our smartphones have games, tweets, and texts to eradicate the boredom of the wait in a doctor’s office or a line at the motor vehicle registry. Now those distractions are so mobile and handy that we can fill in all the spaces.

In this frantic way, we attempt to bury all the bothersome feelings that stem from the unmet need of our souls.

On some level we have decided it is better not to gaze into the abyss that resides in the center of our being. So our time is filled, but the ghost of emptiness remains beneath the mania of distractions.

If indeed we are experiencing a lack, by what do we measure it? We seem to dimly remember a greatness that is gone and call it Eden. The ancient pagans also looked back to a Golden Age, from which there was an irreversible descent to the culture that they were experiencing. Perhaps on the subconscious level, we are comparing our lives with those of a lost, pristine world. That could explain the subliminal depression that seems to haunt humanity.

Our reactions to the emptiness that we dimly sense vary but seem to consist largely of whistling in the dark. And, when that doesn’t work, we start making more of a racket. The ungodly roar of motorcycle engines, chainsaws, leafblowers, and boom boxes in the trunk seem to be trying to drown out the primordial ontological questions:

Who am I? and Why am I here?

Most psychologists agree that we will never be entirely happy unless we can find some meaning in our lives beyond mere survival. In addition, positive psychology, which studies the ingredients of happiness, reports that people are happiest when they’re part of something larger than themselves.

Unfortunately, there are said to be some twenty thousand young and usually unemployed men who have headed to Syria to find their cause, and then engage in rampant savagery. Sadly, many of them actually think they’re dedicating their lives to something good. By the time some of these recruits know better, they are either imprisoned or executed.

Yes, the ISIS organization is monstrous, but let’s not forget that many of its actors are responding to the same lack that you and I experience as to a purpose in life. As human beings, we’re just not that different. How else could it attract so many recruits from around the globe? Some of them actually come from comfortable, upper middle class families. And if you think your faith could never inspire such atrocities, there was a small matter of the crusades…

No Time for Troubling Thoughts

In the meantime, It seems that we’ve all become arrant reductionists, who have pared life down to work, family, and a sprinkling of socializing with friends. And, if any troubling little spaces pop up, we can fill them by texting our every