12/28/2025
A Tribute to MasterPath by: David Armbrecht
I must admit, that I owe a great deal to MasterPath. From adolescence to my early 70s I had been a pragmatist and an empiricist. For me, if an issue couldn't be backed up with reliable evidence, it was dismissed. Only knowledge from peer reviewed sources was worthy of consideration. But I wasn't entirely satisfied with some rather important things. Was one's purpose in life solely what one chose it to be? I firmly rejected that it should be imposed from others. Was the end of life, the true conclusion to my existence? Seemed likely, but unsatisfying. Are base emotions such as anger, vanity, attachment, and lust merely an inevitable part of being human? When trying to discern who I am, and my deeper levels, was I only scratching surface and seeing what appealed to me?
I found MasterPath through someone whom I admired. It's westernization of ancient eastern philosophy immediately appealed to me in many ways. Contemplating emotions that lift you and your state of consciousness; love, gratitude, joy. Further recognizing that love can be pure without possessiveness or even seeking reciprocation. Finding that the loss of a loved one needn't be the loss of that love. One may continue to celebrate the incredible gifts of love and joy that the relationship had imbued, diminishing suffering.
Another important area we pursued in MasterPath was delving into the layers below mind's consciousness, uncovering so much of what truly drives our conscious thought. In doing so I found what seems to me to be a worthwhile purpose; that is, determining what personal ideal I would like to emulate and to continually try to be aware of how my thoughts and actions might be moving me toward or away from that ideal.
While I've long felt that there is no certainty in life to be had other than "cogito ergo sum", I've come to realize that believing in something doesn't necessarily rely on the rational probability of its truth. One could never know with certainty that someone's belief wasn't valid no matter how far out or ridiculous it may seem. Therefore, why wouldn't I adopt beliefs that suit me, lift me, satisfy my feelings of "that would be so great". I prefer believing that there is something in me that is eternal, call it soul, that combined with all other souls, whether human, animal, or otherwise, are the powerful force of creation. That suits me a lot more than sticking with what my mind and rational thoughts seem to think as likely. That is, all of our perceived existence is just a nested computer simulation (apologies to Elon Musk, Ray Kurzweil, and Nick Bostrom).
I found in MasterPath and beautifully developed eastern philosophies, learnings that are far more useful and productive for me in living this miraculous life in this marvelous world. If that means taking on beliefs, that may seem a bit shaky, well, who can say with certainty how shaky they really are.
Many spiritual seekers are not happy in this outer world of excessive materialism, for no matter how much or how little they acquire, an ever-present emptiness remains. Likewise, the same seekers uneasily sense that they are not in harmony with their own subjective reality, those prevailing thoughts...
