Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Self of Love

Me

You must accept the fact
there are no facts except
that fact, before the truth

begins to dawn on you
that you are not the true
authentic you, but one

who suffers through a life
conducted from a view
untrue. It’s love that’s you.

~Son Rivers 05-Aug-06

Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Lion of Now

A woman is about to be married. As was normal for someone in this condition, her head was filled with thoughts and plans and ideas for the future. She was walking from her village through the forest to the next village when a lion jumped into the middle of the road.

In that moment where is her mind? Where is her past? Where are her thoughts and plans for the future?

The future is dependent on the past. The mind is a grave-yard digger! Digging up old bones from the past to chew on! So welcome the lion in your path.

~H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji) in 'Wake Up and Roar'

Friday, November 28, 2008

Speaking in Tongues

Speaking in Tongues

Imagine tongues
that learn to think that
they are separate
entities.

I am not
an entity
but yes I am
the tongue of God.

There are no words...
No words will ever
delineate
the taste of love.

Sat-Chit-Ananda:
Being - Pure
Awareness – Bliss.
The taste! The taste!

~Son Rivers 27-Nov-2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Ramana First Paul Brunton Finale Thanks

“Will the Maharshi express an opinion about the future of the world, for we are living in critical times?”

“Why should you trouble yourself about the future?” demands the Sage. “You do not even properly know about the present! Take care of the present; the future will then take care of itself.”

Another rebuff! But I do not yield so easily on this occasion, for I come from a world where the tragedies of life press far more heavily on people than they do in this peaceful jungle retreat.

“Will the world soon enter a new era of friendliness and mutual help, or will it go down into chaos and war?” I persist.

The Maharshi does not seem at all pleased, but nevertheless he makes a reply.

“There is One who governs the world, and it is His lookout to look after the world. He who has given life to the world knows how to look after it also. He bears the burden of this world, not you.”

“Yet if one looks around with unprejudiced eyes, it is difficult to see where this benevolent regard comes in,” I object.

The Sage appears to be still less pleased. Yet his answer comes:

“As you are, so is the world. Without understanding yourself, what is the use of trying to understand the world? This is a question that seekers after truth need not consider. People waste their energies over all such questions. First, find out the truth behind yourself; then you will be in a better position to understand the truth behind the world, of which yourself is a part.”

~Paul Brunton, 'A Search in Secret India' 1934

Robert Adams on the Last Words of Ramana Maharshi

I was awakened about 5 o’clock. It was Ramana again. He came by himself and he brought me food. Can you imagine that? We spoke briefly; I ate and I slept. The next morning I went into the hall. After the morning chanting there was breakfast, and everybody sat around just watching Ramana as he went through his routine. He would go through the mail and read it out loud, talk to some of his devotees. I just observed everything. His composure never changed. Never did I see such compassion, such love.

Then people started to come over to him, asking him questions. His replies were very succinct. They weren’t like you read in a book. Apparently, what you read in a book is his reply to three or four people. They condense it all into one question and answer. But people usually asked a question or made a statement. If he agreed, he would nod or say, ‘Yes. That’s it’. If he didn’t, he would offer an explanation in maybe one or two sentences.

******************

Six months prior to his leaving his body, I went to Bangalore to see Papa Ramdas. While I was there, I was informed that he [Bhagavan] had left his body. I went back to Tiruvannamalai. The crowds had already started to come, thousands and thousands of people. So, I climbed the hill and went into one of the caves. I stayed there for five days. When I came down, the crowds had dispersed. Ramana had already been interred.


I enquired of the devotee who saw him last, ‘What were the last words he spoke?’


The devotee said, ‘While he was leaving his body a peacock flew on top of the hall and started screeching. Ramana remarked to his devotee, ‘Has anyone fed the peacock yet?’ Those were the last words he spoke.

******************

What Ramana taught was not new. Ramana simply taught the Upanishads. ‘Who am I?’ has been around since time immemorial. If a teacher always tells you he has something new to teach you, be careful, because there’s nothing new under the sun. Ramana simply revised the ‘Who am I’ philosophy and made it simple for people in the twentieth century. But what did he teach? He simply taught that you are not the body-mind principle. He simply taught that if you have a problem, do not feel sorry for yourself, do not go to psychiatrists, do not condemn yourself. Simply ask yourself, ‘To whom does this problem come?’ And of course the answer will be, ‘The problem comes to me’. Hold onto the ‘me’. Follow the ‘me’ to the source, the substratum of all existence.

******************

A devotee went to Ramana and said, ‘I’ve been with you for twenty-five years, doing “Who am I?” and nothing has happened yet,’ so Ramana said, ‘Try it another twenty-five and see what happens’.

******************

Self-enquiry is the ego trying to find itself as the Self, so the effort is brought on through your karma so that you may become Self-realised. It is a privilege to have been able to find in this life the method of self-enquiry. Therefore, it’s been predestined that you should make the effort to find yourself.

******************

(Thank Me this Thanksgiving [ed. note])


~Robert Adams, from a beautiful blog posting by David Godman on his blog, Arunachala and Sri Ramana Maharshi

A Ramana Thanksgiving Continues

“You say I. ‘I want to know.’ Tell me, who is that I?”

What does he mean? He has now cut across the services of the interpreter and speaks direct to me in English. Bewilderment creeps across my brain.

“I am afraid I do not understand your question,” I reply blankly.

“Is it not clear? Think again!”

I puzzle over his words once more. An idea suddenly flashes into my head. I point a finger towards myself and mention my name.

“And do you know him?”

“All my life!” I smile back at him.

“But that is only your body! Again I ask, ‘Who are you’?”

I cannot find a ready answer to this extraordinary query. The Maharshi continues:

“Know first that I and then you shall know the truth.”

My mind hazes again. I am deeply puzzled. This bewilderment finds verbal expression. But the Maharshi has evidently reached the limit of his English, for he turns to the interpreter and the answer is slowly translated to me:

“There is only one thing to be done. Look into your own self. Do this in the right way and you shall find the answer to all your problems.”

It is a strange rejoinder. But I ask him:

“What must one do? What method can I pursue?”

“Through deep reflection on the nature of one’s self and through constant meditation, the light can be found.”

~Paul Brunton, 'A Search in Secret India' 1934

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Adyashanti on Ramana the Flame

Ramana Maharshi's gift to the world was not that he realized the Self. Many people have had a deep realization of the Self. Ramana's real gift was that he embodied that realization so thoroughly. It is one thing to realize the Self; it is something else altogether to embody that realization to the extent that there is no gap between inner revelation and its outer expression. Many have glimpsed the realization of Oneness; few consistently express that realization through their humanness. It is one thing to touch a flame and know it is hot, but quite another to jump into that flame and be consumed by it.

Adyashanti from 'Selling Water By the River' in Inner Directions Journal, Fall/Winter 1999

Ramana's First Words to the West

I add that I regard the question of diet as being far less important than the quest which has brought me to his hermitage.

The Sage listens intently, his face calm, imperturbable and non-committal.

“It is a good object,” he comments at length.

This encourages me to enlarge upon the same theme.

“Master, I have studied our Western philosophies and sciences, lived and worked among the people of our crowded cities, tasted their pleasures and allowed myself to be caught up into their ambitions. Yet I have also gone into solitary places and wandered there amid the loneliness of deep thought. I have questioned the sages of the West; now I have turned my face towards the East. I seek more light.”

The Maharshi nods his head, as if to say, “Yes, I quite understand.”

“I have heard many opinions, listened to many theories. Intellectual proofs of one belief or another lie piled up all around me. I am tired of them, sceptical of anything which cannot be proved by personal experience. Forgive me for saying so, but I am not religious. Is there anything beyond man’s material existence? If so, how can I realize it for myself?”

The three or four devotees who are gathered around us stare in surprise. Have I offended the subtle etiquette of the hermitage by speaking so brusquely and boldly to their Master? I do not know; perhaps I do not care. The accumulated weight of many years’ desire has unexpectedly escaped my control and passed beyond my lips. If the Maharshi is the right kind of man, surely he will understand and brush aside mere lapses from convention.

He makes no verbal reply but appears to have dropped into some train of thought. Because there is nothing else to do and because my tongue has now been loosened, I address him for the third time:

“The wise men of the West, our scientists, are greatly honoured for their cleverness. Yet they have confessed that they can throw but little light upon the hidden truth behind life. It is said that there are some in your land who can give what our Western sages fail to reveal. Is this so? Can you assist me to experience enlightenment? Or is the search itself a mere delusion?”

I have now reached my conversational objective and decide to await the Maharshi’s response. He continues to stare thoughtfully at me. Perhaps he is pondering over my questions. Ten minutes pass in silence.

At last his lips open and he says gently:

“You say I. ‘I want to know.’ Tell me, who is that I?”

~Paul Brunton, 'A Search in Secret India' 1934

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Eckhart Tolle via Ramana and Krishnamurti

And there were other teachers who were just as meaningful whom I never met in person that I feel a very strong connection to. One is [J.] Krishnamurti, and another is Ramana Maharshi. I feel a deep link. And I feel actually that the work I do is a coming together of the teaching "stream," if you want to call it that, of Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi. They seem very, very dissimilar, but I feel that in my teaching the two merge into one. It is the heart of Ramana Maharshi, and Krishnamurti's ability to see the false, as such and point out how it works. So Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi, I love them deeply. I feel completely at One with them. And it is a continuation of the teaching.

~Eckhart Tolle in an Interview from a book called 'Dialogues With Emerging Spiritual Teachers' by John W. Parker

In Ramana's Presence, No Words

There is something in this man which holds my attention as steel filings are held by a magnet. I cannot turn my gaze away from him. My initial bewilderment, my perplexity at being totally ignored, slowly fade away as this strange fascination begins to grip me more firmly. But it is not till the second hour of the uncommon scene that I become aware of a silent, resistless change which is taking place within my mind. One by one, the questions which I prepared in the train with such meticulous accuracy drop away. For it does not now seem to matter whether they are asked or not, and it does not matter whether I solve the problems which have hitherto troubled me. I know only that a steady river of quietness seems to be flowing near me; that a great peace is penetrating the inner reaches of my being, and that my thought-tortured brain is beginning to arrive at some rest.

How small seem those questions which I have asked myself with such frequency? How petty grows the panorama of the last years! I perceive with sudden clarity that intellect creates its own problems and then makes itself miserable trying to solve them. This is indeed a novel concept to enter the mind of one who has hitherto placed such high value upon intellect.

I surrender myself to the steadily deepening sense of restfulness until two hours have passed. The passage of time now provokes no irritation, because I feel that the chains of mind-made problems are being broken and thrown away. And then, little by little, a new question takes the field of consciousness.

“Does this man, the Maharshi, emanate the perfume of spiritual peace as the flower emanates fragrance from its petals?”

I do not consider myself a competent person to apprehend spirituality, but I have personal reactions to other people. The dawning suspicion that the mysterious peace which has arisen within me must be attributed to the geographical situation in which I am now placed, is my reaction to the personality of the Maharshi. I begin to wonder whether, by some radioactivity of the soul, some unknown telepathic process, the stillness which invades the troubled waters of my own soul really comes from him. Yet he remains completely impassive completely unaware of my very existence, it seems.

Comes the first ripple. Someone approaches me and whispers in my ear. “Did you not wish to question the Maharshi?”

He may have lost patience, this quondam guide of mine. More likely, he imagines that I, a restless European, have reached the limit of my own patience. Alas, my inquisitive friend! Truly I came here to question your Master, but now ... I, who am at peace with all the world and with myself, why should I trouble my head with questions? I feel that the ship of my soul is beginning to slip its moorings; a wonderful sea waits to be crossed; yet you would draw me back to the noisy port of this world, just when I am about to start the great adventure!

But the spell is broken. As if this infelicitous intrusion is a signal, figures rise from the floor and begin to move about the hall, voices float up to my hearing, and wonder of wonders! — the dark brown eyes of the Maharshi flicker once or twice. Then the head turns, the face moves slowly, very slowly, and bends downward at an angle. A few more moments and it has brought me into the ambit of its vision. For the first time the Sage’s mysterious gaze is directed upon me. It is plain that he has now awakened from his long trance.

The intruder, thinking perhaps that my lack of response is a sign that I have not heard him, repeats his question aloud. But in those lustrous eyes which are gently staring at me, I read another question, albeit unspoken:

“Can it be — is it possible — that you are still tormented with distracting doubts when you have now glimpsed the deep mental peace which you — and all men — may attain?”

The peace overwhelms me. I turn to the guide and answer: “No. There is nothing I care to ask now. Another time ”

~Paul Brunton, 'A Search in Secret India' 1934

Monday, November 24, 2008

Ramana Calls the West

“Well, Mr. Subramanya, I am waiting for an explanation of your whispered remark in the house of the Silent Sage.”

“And I have been waiting all this time to give it to you! Take your questions to my Master, for he is the wisest man in India, wiser even than the yogis.”

“So? And have you travelled throughout all India? Have you met all the great yogis, that you can make such a statement?”

“I have met several of them, for I know the country from Cape Comorin to Himalayas.”

“Well?”

“Sir, I have never met anyone like him, he is a great soul And I want you to meet him.”

“Why?”

“Because he has led me to you! It is his power which has drawn you to India!”

This bombastic statement strikes me as being too exaggerated and I begin to recoil from the man. I am always afraid of the rhetorical exaggerations of emotional persons, and it is obvious that the yellow robed yogi is highly emotional. His voice, gesture, appearance and atmosphere plainly reveal it.

“I do not understand,” is my cold reply. He falls into further explanations.

“Eight months ago I came into touch with him. For five months I was permitted to stay with him and then I was sent forth on my travels once more. I do not think you are likely to meet with another such man as he. His spiritual gifts are so great that he will answer your unspoken thoughts. You need only be with him a short time to realise his high spiritual degree.”

“Are you sure he would welcome my visit?”

“Oh, Sir! Absolutely. It is his guidance which sent me to you.”

“Where does he live?”

“On Arunachala — the Hill of the Holy Beacon.”

~Paul Brunton "A Search In Secret India' 1934

Sunday, November 23, 2008

World of Waves

Waver

The winds are waves
and the dunes are waves and the sea
is waves. The clouds
are waves in a sky of waves,

and seagulls are wings
of waves in a world of waves.
My blood is a wave

flowing from the wavelength
of my heart; my breath is a wave
passing through
the waveform of my lungs.

And I know my soul
is just a waver
in the mystery of the whole.

~Son Rivers 2005

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Ramana Work

Q: Is it possible to enjoy samadhi [awareness of reality] while busy in worldly work?

A: The feeling 'I work' is the hindrance. Ask yourself 'Who works?' Remember who you are. Then the work will not bind you, it will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce; it is your effort which is the bondage. What is destined to happen will happen. If you are destined not to work, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it. If you are destined to work, you will not be able to avoid it and you will be forced to engage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power; you cannot renounce or retain as you choose.

~Ramana Maharshi in 'Be As You Are', ed. David Godman

Friday, November 21, 2008

Some Notes from Radio Adyashanti

decision-making

from being to doing

from being rather than thought
more intuitive
and not awakened to the intuitive yet
from silence, the divine

stop trying to figure it out
let go of figuring it out, to solve, to know on the level of mind
and awaken deep intuitive intelligence

get out of the driver’s seat

willingness to be still and know

be still first
then know

be still

let go of solving in mind to allow consciousness to go deeper
consciousness will move out of the mind into being
into an intuitive wisdom
heart wisdom
the wholeness of wisdom

bubbling from the unknown, the silence

relinquish control
you really don’t have control anyways
still you struggle for control
and blind yourself of the intuitive wisdom

enlightened action
action coming from the unknown
only can happen when you let go

to be still and know

mind relaxes into something it doesn’t understand
because mind isn’t the only intelligence

but sometimes you have to allow yourself to not know

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Belief

When you go to see a movie, it’s advisable to suspend all disbelief.

So you can believe the absurdities that may arise within the film. And in so doing, you may become enmeshed in the reality that the film presents. And enjoy.

Spirituality is a little bit like that.

Things in this world, this dream, involve belief: the thought of you investing itself in the thought of something other.

But in the world of Spirit, there are no thoughts. There is no other.

So, as a practice, suspend all belief itself.

And discover there never was any belief to begin with.

And no thought. And no other. And no you.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Getting Ready for Here and Now


Wash thoughts (Love)

Rinse ego (Compassion)

Repeat (Forgiveness)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Chop Truth, Carry Compassion

I am.

Even that is not the whole truth, of course. No word, no thought, can be the truth. They can only represent the truth, point to the truth.

The more words used, the easier the truth is misrepresented, although the more times you point at something, the possibility exists that what’s pointed at will be finally seen.

But there’s nothing to represent. There’s nothing to be seen.

So why bother pointing?

Because, contrary to what some might say, that’s what is done in the dream.

It’s not just chop wood and carry water. It’s also seek truth, teach truth. Although there’s nothing to seek, nothing to teach, and no one to do either.

But before awakening, compassion; after awakening, compassion.

( )

Monday, November 17, 2008

The Primitive Square Roots of Unity

Despite traditions to the contrary, there simply cannot be true jnana without true bhakti, there cannot be the ultimate understanding without the ultimate surrender. Certain personalities will try to avoid one or the other under the guise of some higher wisdom, but always at the cost of wholeness.

There is a tradition that jnana is the higher path because the bhakta relies on a belief in someone or something to be devoted to, whereas the jnani knows there are neither. But true bhakti knows no object; and the true jnani knows nothing.

Jnana and bhakti, knowledge and devotion, understanding and surrender, inseeing and outpouring, mind and heart, cannot be divided or opposed; because they are the same.

~David Carse from 'Perfect Brilliant Stillness'

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Tao of Word

(SSP-4)

The Tao of Duality

Tonight, which is the opposite of day,
I wish to think about duality,
while typing letters which create these words
in Word, a Microsoft word processor.

This personal computer is a perfect
metaphor for that, now come to think
about it. Everything within its world
becomes a binary determination.

Mind is that as well. Except its speed
exceeds ten thousand Buddhas times a Mega
Hertz that’s measured in a God knows what.
In other words, it’s really wicked fast.

But still, despite the engine underneath
the hood, the neighborhood is black and white.
There’s not a thought that’s not a mathematical
equation from a string of ones and zeroes.

But reality is not that way.

29-Dec-2007

Saturday, November 15, 2008

The Midnight Train to Dharma


What do you have to do?

Pack your bags,

Go to the station without them,

Catch the train,

And leave your self behind.

Quite so: the only practice—and once.


~Wei Wu Wei

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Damndest Thing

Enlightenment isn't when you go there, it's when there comes here.

It's not a place you visit and then remember wistfully and try to return to. It's not a visit to the truth, it's the awakening of truth within you. It's not a fleeting state of consciousness, it's permanent truth-realization - abiding non-dual awareness. It's not a place you visit from here, this is a place you visit from there.

You will never achieve spiritual enlightenment.

The you that you think of as you is not you. The you that thinks of you as you is not you. There is no you, so who wishes to become enlightened? Who is not enlightened? Who will become enlightened? Who will be enlightened?

You cannot fail to achieve enlightenment.

Enlightenment is your destiny-more certain than sunrise. Were you told otherwise? Irresistible forces compel you. The universe insists. It is not within your power to fail.

There is no path to enlightenment: It lies in all directions at all times.

On the journey to enlightenment, you create and destroy your own path with every step. No one can follow another's path. No one can step off the path. No one can lead another. No one can turn back. No one can stop.

Enlightenment is closer than your skin, more immediate than your next breath, and forever beyond your reach.

It need not be sought because it cannot be found. It cannot be found because it cannot be lost. It cannot be lost because it is not other than that which seeks. The paradox is that there is no paradox.

Is that not the damndest thing?


selections (some I've re-formatted) from Jed McKenna 'Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damndest Thing'

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Five Ways In, Not of, the World


Don't pull on the past.

Don't invite the future.

Don't alter your innate waitfulness.

Don't fear appearances.

Nothing more than that.

~a Tibetan woman via Ram Dass

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Reality Dancing

The other day I was thinking of the potentiality of Pure Awareness, and the spiritual practices that allow one to tap into it, when I suddenly realized that particular thought was completely backwards.

I cannot emphasize enough the word, realized.

It was as if the thought of ‘me thinking’ was turned around, seen through, disappeared, terminated with extreme prejudice, and the realization of the Self was here and now.

Now this wasn’t the first time such realization has happened, but when it happens as it did suddenly and unexpectedly from the perspective of the Dream, it brings a rush of understanding.

And I understood in truth, there is nothing I, in the Dream, can really do.

Adyashanti describes the Dream’s experience of Emptiness in two ways. The first is the emptiness of emptiness, a cool emptiness. But the second is a deeper experience of Emptiness as if your being is dancing.

I felt as if my being was being danced, and everything was vividly alive.

But this happened while driving, so thought reappeared relatively quickly, so as to avoid any appearance of an accident.

But that realization was no accident; it was intent itself. And it really didn’t happen the other day; it’s happening now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Just Wait and See

The invitation to stop is a radical invitation. It is the invitation to stop only in this moment. It is not the invitation to stop for the rest of your life, to never leave your house, to never tell a story, or to never think again. It is the invitation to stop everything and, just for this moment, be.

One of Papaji's most profound teachings is to "wait and see." To "wait" is active and open, and the seeing is the waiting. It is to see the impulses of mind, to see the ancient programming embedded in the cellular structure to know what to do, what action to take. Just wait and see. Rest nakedly in not knowing. True lasting discovery is not something you have heard or read about. It is your own direct experience.

Until now, we have opted for trusting our minds, language, images, and ideas, rather than trusting the spaciousness from which all arises. What an opportunity is available now to trust the unknown spaciousness of the heart. What a time.

from 'The Diamond in Your Pocket' by Gangaji

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Crossroads of Uncertainty

There may be a period of insecurity and uncertainty. What should I do?

As the ego is no longer running your life, the psychological need for external security, which is illusory anyway, lessens. You are able to live with uncertainty, even enjoy it.

When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life. It means fear is no longer a dominant factor in what you do and no longer prevents you from taking action to initiate change. The Roman philosopher Tacitus rightly observed that “the desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”

If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity.

~from ‘A New Earth’ by Eckhart Tolle (new para and bold formatting not in original)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Loony Sutra

(SSP-3)

Eh, What Am I Doc?

Perfection is a diamond
in our carbon-based
reality. Perfection

hurts and there’s no crying
in perfection, Joe.
Perfection is a carrot

Bugs Bunny never wanted.
Elmer Fudd desires
that silly rabbit though.

13-Jul-2006

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Rendering the Dream in Sweet Surrender

~surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life

~to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation

~surrender is perfectly compatible with taking action, initiating change or achieving goals

~surrender reconnects you with the source-energy of Being, and if your doing is infused with Being, it becomes a joyful celebration of life energy

~call this "surrendered action"

~it is not work as we have known it for thousands of years

For example, if you were stuck in the mud somewhere, you wouldn't say: "Okay, I resign myself to being stuck in the mud." Resignation is not surrender. You don't need to accept an undesirable or unpleasant life situation. Nor do you need to deceive yourself and say that there is nothing wrong with being stuck in the mud. No. You recognize fully that you want to get out of it. You then narrow your attention down to the present moment without mentally labeling it in any way. This means that there is no judgment of the Now. Therefore, there is no resistance, no emotional negativity. You accept the "isness" of this moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the mud.

~from ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle

Friday, November 7, 2008

Rhythmic Patterns

Energetic patterns rising from the silent stillness

And evolving towards a greater realization

Where the energetic patterns recognize another

Energetic pattern as a little something other

Than an energetic pattern, something in translation

Solid, colorful reflection, sounding energetic,

Then creating something inner in a dreamlike

World of things called thought affecting

Energetic patterns in a way it calls emotions

Lost forever in illusions of that energetic pattern

Lost that is until it knows it’s not some dreamlike

Character but really energetic patterns rising

From the silent stillness one is knowing one

Fear and Suffering in Lost Wages

Granted that the Dream rests on Fear and Suffering, and therefore most social interaction revolves around that illusionary body, why should an awakening one want to interact with all that?

I know one has to chop wood and carry water, but in this environment that means marketing and sales. Before enlightenment, lie, cheat, steal. After enlightenment, lie, cheat, steal?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Third Thought, Scary Thought

Fear is then the third thought, following those of differentiation and identity.

On this third thought rests the Dream as we know it. It is the last leg of that proverbial three-legged chair.

Once that leg is locked into place, Suffering sits on its throne.

But see it for what it is, an illusionary thought, and the whole structure will come crashing down.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Thought World

The core of the Dream, aka Thought World, is duality, and the prime elements of that duality are fear and love.

In the beginning of the Dream, there was thought, and that thought, in order to remain in existence, identified with a second thought. And so on.

Fear is the first thought thinking it may lose its connection, i.e. identification, with the second thought, and as a result, cease to exist.

Love is the first thought sacrificing its connection with the second thought, and in so doing, actually touch reality, its forgotten essence, its Self.

Fear is the way further into the suffering dimensions of Thought World; love is the way out.

Monday, November 3, 2008

First Obama, Then Nobama, Then There Is

Actually it's: First there is Obama, then there is Nobama, then there is (you can sing it to Donovan if you prefer).

Before understanding the true nature of my thoughts, I believed in the life and death nature of politics. When John Kerry lost in 2004, I was devastated. I had always followed politics like a sports fan his home team. But I realized then that I had to detach myself from such passionate involvement. And I don’t think it’s just coincidence that my spiritual journey started to move into overdrive the very next year.

The Heart Sutra says that all form is emptiness. I say politics is the heart of American emptiness. It involves raw belief, almost belief for belief’s sake. In this country, the divisions between the parties run deep. There is very little understanding of the other. One is completely right; the other is completely wrong. Both sides think this way of course. Talk about duality!

During the primaries, my friend and I were discussing our preference for Hilary Clinton. She went on to criticize Obama in very harsh terms, and I warned her to be careful. If he ends up winning the nomination, you’ll be voting for him, I said. And you’ll be vigorous in doing so. She said she doubted it. But she’s been pretty vigorous in her support for him the past few weeks. I’m not saying I told you so; I’m just saying. The dream is like that.

Beliefs are just thoughts we invest with our identity, which, of course, are just more thoughts (illusions which result from our once and continuing conditioning). In politics, these beliefs become more than just individual identity. They become a collective identity in support of that even greater collective identity: nationalism (and often religion as well).

It’s an exponential growth of belief. That’s why things can get so ugly in a political campaign. It’s a life and death battle of identity (and its cousins, power and empowerment). Bring whatever thoughts you need to win the war. Just make them up out of thin air if need be. After all, that’s the nature of thought anyways.

But significantly the Heart Sutra also says that all emptiness is form as well. And that’s why I’m voting for Obama tomorrow.

Here on Gilligan's Isle

To a New Meta-Paradigm 2

Thought results in a separate virtual reality of knowledge, a world of duality created from the process of thought, and the Human Being's evolution of consciousness is detoured by and into that false reality of knowledge, wrongly believing it to be the true reality.

Because of this detour onto its separate and false way of thought, the Human Being dwells in its world of knowledge, its virtual reality, living in a dream of its own creation.

Therefore the Human Being has developed a false self called the ego (and the super-ego), and because of the essence of that ego's own falsehood and its ultimate void, it is required to acquire its identity in the world of matter, in both external forms and internals forms such as thought and belief.

But acquisition of identity through external and internal form is ultimately futile, becoming an unremitting cycle of wanting, leading to the madness of violence and suffering that is the human being's life on earth.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Never Mind (SSP-2)

The Summer Breeze Will

Each leave is like a thought
and every single branch
is action like an arm
that moves a cursive hand
drawing the pen across
an empty space of paper.

Some mistake it all
as something they have willed,
an animate display
of mind. But never mind.
We know there is a wind
that blows across the wood—

and makes the world just happen.

11-Jun-08

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Microcosmic Meaning of Life

In earlier posts (the first of a series), I discussed the song of the cosmos, that universal movement towards higher levels of consciousness, i.e. awareness, that in fact the universe is intelligent, sentient, aware, that the evolution of matter is always moving towards the amplification of its awareness, and that the Human Being (on Earth) has evolved to a relatively high level of awareness, amplified by its highly refined nervous system and brain.

While reading one of Sailor Bob Adamson dialogues in Braha’s ‘Living Reality,’ I came across a description of the perfect microcosm of this movement: from deep sleep to awakening.

In deep sleep, that sleep without dreaming, we are completely unaware of our awareness. We still exist. Awareness is still there. But we are unaware of it. Upon awakening we become aware of our awareness. In one night, maybe one moment, we migrate through the eons of evolution.

But why has this happened, inquiring dreams want to know?

Now this next part, the simple answer to that ultimate question, deserves direct quotes: “Awareness can’t know itself if awareness is all there is. (snip) Awareness vibrates into different forms and patterns and cognizes itself.”

And there it is. In order to know itself, awareness energized itself into the forms and patterns we call matter. And after what our limited dream sees as eons of evolution, we are here and now, awareness self-aware.

Awesome. Awestruck.