Letter to friends
from Anil Mitra, 1997 – Contact

Journey in Being – Home

Document status: May 31, 2003

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Comments: maintain as statement, apology. The main observation to be absorbed into Journey in Being is the one regarding loss… and has been absorbed

Dear Friends - I do not currently have resources of time that I would like to have to do justice to the feeling that I have for you. This is of course a reflection upon no one other than myself, my choices, my work and my ambitions. The factors are:

One way - there are others ways - to characterize my goal in addition to working out the “relation between conscious and blind evolution” that I have mentioned is to answer “What is the ultimate in [human] be-ing and experience and what is the relationship between the ultimate and everyday experience?” I want to answer this not only theoretically but also in my being and experience. I know that the ultimate in being is accessible to humans; and that this is simple but not given - “work/process” is necessary; these are the reasons that “human” is bracketed above. I have a clear and simple but incomplete theoretical and being and experiential answer - all answers are incomplete and in process - but I also want to integrate this answer with the details and the [putative] necessities of the world; and the world is the world is the world but also includes modern and past answers. I do not expect ready acceptance. I am afraid and excited

I have a theory that all essential knowledge can be written in a small book; all essential Being is accessible to all being. But what if one wanted to capture the essence of that book in one simple sentence? This is rather Krishnamurti-like. I imagined a scene this morning where I had become totally realized – obviously a distant scene; a pupil sat at my feet. I said “Live fully in the world, your life will be the basis for your vision, your integration or otherwise of all aspects of being into the one that you are but do not yet recognize.”

That I have an answer to the question of the potential of being but want to continue to work through details and integration involves sacrifice. There are also “sacrifices” relative to love, recognition, material desires; but at the same time I walk in the world and tread no narrow and righteous path

Part of the sacrifice is the tension between the simplicity of the goal and the complexity - apparent - of the path. But it is a wonderful, at times luxuriant sacrifice. And, at other times painful, especially when I miss and when I hurt or feel I hurt others especially those who I love. Especially, shining eyes that were full of hope

The needs of process have resulted in a focusing of my attention: to the voice and image of my in-tuition, of my re-flection and to the sound and light of being - of the universe. I sound spiritual but do not think of myself as especially or selectively cultivating spirituality or religiosity

But choices [seem to] involve eliminating or not choosing some possibilities. So I should not complain about sacrifice. But I’m not complaining - I’m observing. And I have a certain degree of neutrality toward the whole thing, to being and nonbeing - which some acquaintances refuse to accept or believe - or do not or can not understand

But perhaps this involves loss for some who are close to me and although this does not change my choices it is something I, too, face - and accept

Anil Mitra

Philosophy of Mind