Being In the World but Not of the World: A Mystical-Spiritual Journey

----------------- In the complexity of human existence, the ancient adage “to be in the world but not of the world” evokes mystical and transcendental meanings, offering a lens through which to explore the duality that is typical of earthly life. This expression, extrapolated from a speech by Jesus for which we have a written record thanks to the evangelist John, invites the listener to face worldliness with a spiritual awareness, spurring him or her not to get caught up in earthly needs and desires while maintaining a moral and ethical centering. Let us look in detail at Jesus’ words reported by John: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you“. The Messiah Speaks to Consciousness Addressing his disciples, Jesus starts by talking about hatred. How is it that a figure regarded as the bearer of compassion and tolerance uses such a strong word? To understand the meaning of these words, generic in appearance, it is first necessary to enter into an uncommon frame of mind. The Messiah communicated on a spiritual level, addressing the sensitivity of the human soul rather than the mind. The world that Jesus is talking about consists of earthly life as a whole, with all its dichotomies: duality, needs, drives, fears and , then, would Jesus’ followers experience hatred toward them? Because ordinary people, caught up in everyday life and earthly needs, were unable to understand the spiritual significance of the preaching of the Messiah and his apostles, seeing in it only the practical aspect. Jesus asked people to change and be better, as well as to focus on the essentials and avoid being greedy and materialistic. Less spiritually equipped individuals saw this as an insult and a criticism of their lifestyle, believing that such preaching was aimed at changing their way of life for the worse, making them even poorer materially. Duality Generates Oppositions This generated discontent, derision and finally anger and hatred toward the messenger, namely Jesus, and his apostles. The human mind is dual, which means that it splits everything into two opposing parts, for example, good and evil, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, useful and useless. Consequently, the society that we live in, which is nothing but a projection of our mind with its baggage of beliefs and convictions, also ends up categorizing and contrasting everything. The next step after division is that of choice. Which side to choose, then? Almost all human beings, not rarely unaware of it, choose to be on the side of money, success, pursuit of pleasures and so on. Jesus, however, was proclaiming quite different values, and with him were his followers as well. Unfortunately, those who live immersed in duality do not conceive the possibility that other “worlds” may exist, that is, alternatives to the rules and habits passively inherited from society. Jesus Challenges Earthly Certainties Derision toward those who propose a different model soon turns into contempt and finally into outright hatred. If there is one thing the dual mind just cannot accept, it is that its “certainties” are questioned. Money, for example, is one of them. Rare are the people who dare to criticize money and its usefulness. At most, there may be some who criticize its unequal distribution within society, but nothing more. Jesus went well beyond that, he was a true spiritual extremist, in fact, he asked his followers to renounce all material possessions, including money. After all, how could a person still bound by work, money and objects, pursue genuine spiritual evolution? To be in the world, or of the world. Duality imposes a choice, and only by choosing the otherworldly path does it become possible to transcend the dualistic aspect of existence. Being of the world imposes choices; being in the world, on the other hand, makes us similar to a traveler who explores and contemplates without, however, giving himself a definite destination. The destination is contemplation itself, that is, recognizing in the world what is already within us. The goal is us.