The Enigmatic Perception of Transcendental Reality

The Enigmatic Perception of Transcendental Reality

To debate the existence of a numinous reality versus a strictly empirical reality would be to try and count the sands of a great beach- an act of futility. Equal arguments can be made for either side, as well either side being equally correct in their assumptions. The validation in both opposing views is found in the fact that our assumptions of reality are merely results of our perceptions; perceptions that are often distorted into carefully selected templates that better secure our psychological wellbeing. If one searches for something hard enough, they will find it in anything. A tenet of many theosophical belief systems is that things are only coincidences if you allow them to be. If you chose to dig deeper, one may discover an intricate network of syncopation. This decision to allow the supernatural, or numinous, into our daily lives through our daily perceptions is in itself what validates numinous reality. If a radio broadcast is turned off on the receiver, the broadcast is not invalid or nonexistent; it is merely in a state of “non-perception”. The fact that we can choose whether or not to acknowledge it validates its existence. The viscous and permeable nature of reality being wholly dependent upon one’s perceptions proves the possibility of transcendental reality.
The difficulty arises when one tries to detail that which is, by definition, beyond comprehension into the concise and comprehendible. Much like trying to project a hologram through a reel-to-reel film, the technology of the apparatus is insufficient to present the material in its true nature. In attempt to even this disparity, the spiritual, or “other-worldly”, is often interpreted through humanistic lenses, which is met with immediate and invariable failure. The root of all fear is that of the unknown, what is more unknown than that which resides in the numinous? Therefore we bring the heavens down to earth and try to fit all of the mystical, all that is unknown, into classifiable boxes with detailed files, thereby demystifying and removing what once made the subject matter numinous in the first place.
The Western version of God is known as the “Big Guy Upstairs”. When it thunders, he’s bowling; and when it rains, he’s crying. All of these whimsical associations humanize the unknown and assimilate it into our level of comfortable comprehension. The problem of this, aside from marginalizing possible revelations, is that deities are often cast in the image of the observer, the traits, behaviors, and preferences of a deity, are often very similar to that of its congregation. It can be said that God did not create man in his image, man created God in his own image. This associates God into the known, into the majority. Conversely, any nation or people unknown or dissimilar to those that perceive God in their own image, are not only different from the aforementioned perceivers, they are subsequently partitioned away from God- this being the impetus that has spawned so many bloody wars through the perceived will of God.
I am reminded of a quote from Valis, by Philip K. Dick, in which the protagonist believes to have direct communication with God through theophany. It postulates that if theophany is kept away from the normal perception of reality, normal and sane people thereby can never hope to attain a glimpse of the numinous. It takes someone completely detached from society and thereby from sanity to perceive true reality. “If there is an in-breaking by god (through theophany)… then there is no true reality except that of theophanies; the rest is illusion; in which case only (the insane) alone among us comprehends the truth.”