Saturday, January 3, 2009

A Rose is Doing is Grace is a Rose

“You need to keep moving, to keep asking the questions. ‘Who am I? Where did I come from? What happens to me when I die?’ Keep banging your head against the wall. Make up your mind you're going to find the Truth regardless of what it takes, even if it costs you your life. You must be prepared to die for this, if necessary--then you'll get somewhere."

(snip)

"But so much of this is out of our control," I said. "We’re born with certain..."

"Right, right," he interrupted. "But you still have to work like it all depended on you."

(snip)

"That's one side of the equation--persistence. The one you have control over. The other side is grace. A person on the path has help. Once a person makes a commitment to the Truth--I mean truly demonstrates a sincere desire to find his Real Self at all cost--then this commitment will attract assistance and protection. Opportunities arise. Blocks are removed. Decisions may even be made for you."

My thoughts were incoherent and confused but I couldn’t stop asking questions. "But who...? What makes these decisions? I mean, where does this help...?"

"I won't presume to name it. All I’m saying is that there are levels of intelligence that help other levels of intelligence. There is an interpenetration of dimensions. But you can't count on this help or get too secure in the knowledge that it's there. Just when you think you need it most, it will desert you and leave you to suffer the ‘dark night of the soul,’ as John of the Cross calls it. Because despair is necessary. Despair is part of the final formula for cracking the head. You have to maintain a state of between-ness the whole time. Because no matter how hard you push, in actuality, you can't change your being. You're being is changed for you.

"Then, I mean, what’s a person supposed to be doing while..."

"You can’t do it yourself but you have to act as though you can," Rose said, interrupting me. "Action is everything. Everyone has to plot his own road map out of ignorance, and this requires planning. You have to establish an internal 'Ways and Means Committee.' Call on all your faculties--the senses, logic, intuition, memory, emotions--to come up with a plan of action. Then take the first steps in the plan. Start with little things, like coming to these meetings regularly if your intuition tells you this is where you should be. Then build on it, take more action, plan your next steps. Follow the threads and clues you stumble on.

"It’s difficult, but not complex. The path to Truth only seems complex because we have to navigate the complexities and interferences of the mind. As these interferences are removed, the path becomes simpler. That’s why one of the first things you need to do is get your house in order. Get your life organized to the point where you can at least think. Take an honest look at your life to see what's holding you up. Maybe it's fear, or an appetite, or a habit that no one else would consider destructive--and maybe it isn't destructive, except to the search.

"Once you figure out what the blockages are, you start taking steps to remove them. Then, as each obsession falls away, you get more clarity and confidence. Not only that, you now have the use of the energy you used to burn up on those obsessions.

"Start to cultivate self-discipline. Become a person who can make a decision and carry it out. Set yourself a task and follow through with it. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular. I've advised people to just take a walk around the block every evening after dinner. Literally, just walk once around the block each night. Do that simple thing for one month and you'll have power. Power you can use to take the next step.

(snip snip snip)

"But that's my point," the man continued. "If Enlightenment is indeed an accident, why should we try to work for it?"

"You have no choice," Rose replied, his voice rising. "You become what you do. If you do nothing, you become nothing. And so you work. Work without knowing why you’re working. Without even understanding what you're working for. You just want an answer and you know it won’t come if you surrender to lethargy and despair.

"It’s true--the Absolute Answer comes as an accident. But it's an accident that is the result of work. Work that makes the sum and extent of your entire life your prayer for the answer. And if that prayer is persistent and sincere enough, maybe you'll develop into someone who becomes accident prone.
Richard Rose as transcribed by David Gold in 'After The Absolute: The Inner Teachings of Richard Rose' (ch. 5, The Path)
available online

1 comment:

abraxas23 said...

http://de.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=103649B15518A5AC

Desteni: How to be a portal