looking into the eyes of the abyss

Western spirituality is based upon experiencing oneself as a concrete "I" which, since separate and in rebellion, must be saved or transcended. Eastern spirituality focuses on dissolving into the Infinite, the Abyss. Western spirituality seeks to resolve the dilemma of 1; Eastern spirituality resolves such by becoming 0.

Nikos Kazantzakis, in his writings and his ground-breaking life, looks to experience both positions and both resolutions simultaneously, to become a different sort of human, to live in and as a consciousness state incorporating both 1 and 0. When one embodies the two, one becomes more than either of them. A third is born and walks the planet.

This consciousness state is that of one who can and does stare into the Abyss without fear or hope. Not a Christian, which depends on the continuous surrender of ego (continuous because the ego is always reclaiming its separateness). Not a Buddhist, which requires annihilation (nirvana is the blowing out of the flame). Something new. Something more like, but more than, a Zen Baptist. (The Celtic Cross is perhaps a useful symbol of this merge, with its O at the intersection of the erect cross.)

I'm describing a consciousness state which moves into and goes through the Christian experience and into and through the Buddhist experience, and emerges with a consciousness that is seeking neither salvation nor bliss, which embodies all duality and goes beyond. (Note: I use Christian and Buddhist as examples because I am most familiar with those two paths. Other spiritual paths are faced with the same 1 - 0 dilemma.)

The Christianity nearest this 1 - 0 resolution is Advaitic or Kenotic Christianity. The Buddhist path nearest this is Zen. Both lead to following a Path of No Path, then leaving that behind. My writings of the Noirior and of the consciousness state of Stagger Li are further attempts to describe this state of consciousness beyond fear and hope, this intimate acquaintance with the Force which moves us in Its perpetual desire to be born. Kazantzakis called this state of being the Cretan Glance.