An intense emotional experience such as fear, joy or sadness can shatter the ego into pieces and bring enlightenment. In this article we’ll explore the Tantric perspective on the 9 basic human emotions, the rasas, and how by experiencing them in a particular way we can transform them into spiritual tools.
What is spiritual enlightenment? Is it a product of the imagination of people who cannot cope with the difficulties of reality? Or is it rather the most essential reality? Even those who believe that enlightenment does exist, tend to think of it as something that can only be achieved by giving up ordinary life, secluding themselves in a cave. The Tantric tradition (which is not limited to sacred sex) argues that sacrifice is not the only path to enlightenment. In fact, there are “better” and more direct ways to effectively utilize one’s inner powers.
Unlike spiritual schools that preceded it, Tantra does not negate feelings and passions. The psychological principle on which Tantra is based is that every intense emotional experience (fear, joy, sadness) gives us the possibility of transcending the ego. The power of emotion overwhelms the ego, which can no longer contain it. Like a dam collapsing due to a strong stream of pure water, the ego shatters with the intensity of the emotion and suddenly our personal experience takes on a much wider dimension.
Tantra describes nine emotions, or nine initial feelings or moods: joy, sadness, fear, heroism, disgust (rejection), pleasure, wonder, anger and peace. Each serves as a key to the same door. On one side of the door is the ego, overloaded with annoying thoughts, troubles and restlessness, on the other side is the free spirit.
Anyone who experiences intense fear, great passion or immense love knows that in this one moment the whole world changes. Under these extreme conditions we no longer seem to know ourselves, our reactions or our perceptions. These are, in fact, the symptoms of leaving the ego. Take for example, a mother’s immense love at the moment of giving birth – it removes all her daily worries and desires. In the same way, every intense emotion can release us in a profound way.
Tantra instructs us not to get lost and confused in these moments of intense emotions, but to keep a clear awareness in the midst of the experience. At this point, we must harness the emotion in a particular way (we will describe this later) and use its power to leap beyond the usual limits of our perception, into the world of spiritual abundance.
Tantrics call the spiritual source of these nine emotions rasa, meaning “taste”. Rasa refers to the initial, archetypal essence of each emotion, before it becomes personalized and becomes “my” or “your” emotion. At this stage, the emotion is still in its universal form and is the same for anyone who experiences it.
Wonder
Let’s take as an example the state of astonishment. Called vismaya in Sanskrit, astonishment appears during an encounter with a phenomenon that cannot be explained through the usual means. The urge to understand an experience motivates the mind to seek new ways of thinking. When this curiosity is fueled with great intensity and the mystery is very deep, then the sense of astonishment transforms into wonder called adhuta in Sanskrit. This is an experience of pure effervescence, which throws consciousness beyond the known ego structure, into a direct understanding of reality that is completely independent of thought.
Zen scholars have also discovered this psychological principle. They’re using it to crush ordinary thinking and make room for experiencing reality directly. In order to increase the sense of wonder, Zen masters use paradoxical questions or riddles without solution, called koan. These questions emphasize the inability of ordinary thinking to understand and describe reality. An example of a koan is: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Searching for easy answers to such questions leads us to the realization that ordinary thinking that cannot grasp reality correctly. However, if one searches deeper, there will be a moment when the mind goes silent and consciousness meets reality without any mediators. This is where and when the great mystery begins.
Many important scientific discoveries happen in this way. The scientist who thinks day and night about a mysterious problem that no one has yet solved, pushes consciousness beyond the familiar mind until it releases itself in a moment of ingenious creativity. Then, all of a sudden, a new perspective rises and the phenomenon is understood from a completely different angle. For this specific reason Albert Einstein declared:
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
In conclusion, it can be said that the way of wonder is a way in which attention captures thought and knowledge, leading to a direct experience of reality through inner silence and mystery.
Uriel