Does God exist? The only answer to this question would be:
God is all that exists. It is you and me (as separate entities)
who do not really exist. "I Am that I Am."
There can only be a mystical awareness of God that can never be
proved scientifically for the simple reason that any external or
indirect proof can only be something separate from That (Source)
which is proved. Any external proof could only be circular logic --
a dog chasing its own tail!
In a word, you cannot truly 'think' about God, because it is He who
is the thinker and the thinking. The fact of the matter is that there
is indeed a Reality that exists, but it cannot be reached. That
Reality can reach you.
Therefore, there is an extraordinary consistency in the assertions
of the mystics through all time and space. Their assertions were
totally in agreement with one another, however far apart they may be
in time, distance and culture. Reality can only be experienced.
~ Ramesh Balsekar
Nuggets of Wisdom
I Am God...
If you develop within yourself the sacred and lofty idea, "I am
God", you will not be bothered by anything; nothing can come in your
way. Of course, it is of no use to merely utter these words. You
must first overcome your body consciousness and maintain a firm
control over your senses. At the same time, you must develop an
intense love for God and live it by continuously identifying
yourself with the divine. This will lead you to the supreme wisdom.
Or, you can express your love for God by following the path of the
servant. This will quickly remove the egoism from your heart and
fill you with bliss.
There are three successive stages on the way to God-realization. In
the very beginning you will declare, "I am a devotee of God." Here
there are two entities, one is God and the other is you, the
devotee. God is believed to be away somewhere, and your approach
will be to try to find God, to get closer to him, and become very
near to him. Gradually you progress along this path and, in time,
you will come face to face with God. Then you say to him, "Dear
Lord, I belong to you." In this second stage, you stand erect before
God and declare yourself as his own, very close to him. Then in the
third stage you know yourself to be one with God and you state, "You
and I are one."
The first stage, which is characterized by the declaration, "I am
the servant of God," and where God is cognized as a faraway form, is
dualism. The second stage, where you say directly to God, "O Lord, I
am your devotee", and feel him inside your heart, is the stage of
qualified non-dualism. The third stage, in which the ultimate truth
dawns within you and you say to God, "I am you and you are me", is
non-dualism. At that point there is no distinction between you and
God.
mukundan
(saibaba gita)
God", you will not be bothered by anything; nothing can come in your
way. Of course, it is of no use to merely utter these words. You
must first overcome your body consciousness and maintain a firm
control over your senses. At the same time, you must develop an
intense love for God and live it by continuously identifying
yourself with the divine. This will lead you to the supreme wisdom.
Or, you can express your love for God by following the path of the
servant. This will quickly remove the egoism from your heart and
fill you with bliss.
There are three successive stages on the way to God-realization. In
the very beginning you will declare, "I am a devotee of God." Here
there are two entities, one is God and the other is you, the
devotee. God is believed to be away somewhere, and your approach
will be to try to find God, to get closer to him, and become very
near to him. Gradually you progress along this path and, in time,
you will come face to face with God. Then you say to him, "Dear
Lord, I belong to you." In this second stage, you stand erect before
God and declare yourself as his own, very close to him. Then in the
third stage you know yourself to be one with God and you state, "You
and I are one."
The first stage, which is characterized by the declaration, "I am
the servant of God," and where God is cognized as a faraway form, is
dualism. The second stage, where you say directly to God, "O Lord, I
am your devotee", and feel him inside your heart, is the stage of
qualified non-dualism. The third stage, in which the ultimate truth
dawns within you and you say to God, "I am you and you are me", is
non-dualism. At that point there is no distinction between you and
God.
mukundan
(saibaba gita)
Sin...
Sin is an ancient hebrew archery term that means "Missing the
Mark"......It has been misused for so long that we no longer know what
it means... It is the Ego remaining and springing up to perform selfish
activities.. It is missing the mark in becoming One with God... It is
the wall that keeps us from happiness and freedom... It is false and a
lie, It is ego.......................namaste, thomas
Mark"......It has been misused for so long that we no longer know what
it means... It is the Ego remaining and springing up to perform selfish
activities.. It is missing the mark in becoming One with God... It is
the wall that keeps us from happiness and freedom... It is false and a
lie, It is ego.......................namaste, thomas
The Voice...
Many years ago while I was in a state of deep meditation, I found
myself in a place of pure white light.. I was surrounded and filled
with the energy of Love.. while in this state, I asked a question to
whom ever controlled this sphere of existence... I asked:" What is the
most important knowledge that I should learn,while in the physical
body?", Suddenly, a Voice answered me saying "You must treat others, as
you wish to be treated".. the fact that a voice without any physical
appearance spoke to me did not surprise me, what surprised me, was that
I was told to follow what I had heard as a boy, and forgotten....How
simple the message, and yet how powerful....... I then found myself
back in the body, fully alert..............namaste, thomas
myself in a place of pure white light.. I was surrounded and filled
with the energy of Love.. while in this state, I asked a question to
whom ever controlled this sphere of existence... I asked:" What is the
most important knowledge that I should learn,while in the physical
body?", Suddenly, a Voice answered me saying "You must treat others, as
you wish to be treated".. the fact that a voice without any physical
appearance spoke to me did not surprise me, what surprised me, was that
I was told to follow what I had heard as a boy, and forgotten....How
simple the message, and yet how powerful....... I then found myself
back in the body, fully alert..............namaste, thomas
I Am - transcribed Adyashanti talk
To me one of the greatest teachings of the whole Christian message in Christ's life himself centers around a very very simple idea. It's the idea called I am. If you get I am, you get the whole message. If you don't get I am, you've missed the entire message. So to the human consciousness, I am always refers to a historical figure. Something in time and space. Something you can point to. Most human beings in their human state of consciousness, even when they think of I am about themselves, they think about the body, the mind, what they think, what they feel, what they imagine, what they believe. Human consciousness always takes the I am and makes it into something concrete. And of course, this is what is really meant by the I am becoming historical. It becomes about something you can grasp and think about and talk about. To me, when I started my sort of love affair, in a certain sense, with Christ, it was sort of this historical way too. It was very much tied to a particular person at a particular place in time because that would fit my consciousness as a very young child. It was reflective of where my consciousness was and we are all only capable of seeing things from our state of consciousness. Very important to remember that. You're only capable of seeing things based on and from your current state of consciousness. That's why we tend to interpret everything down to our level. We interpret everything down to our own consciousness because really we don't have any choice until our consciousness changes and then everything looks different. An yet, the whole Christian message, in a sense, is this message that's based around "I am." Understanding. Not just understanding with the mind, that's of very little value. Understanding in the sense of a direct realization. Literally an awakening out of human consciousness to spiritual consciousness, one could say.
Jesus himself mentions this many many times. One of the great wonderful sayings from the Gospel of Thomas is Jesus saying this: "One who knows everything else but does not know himself, knows nothing." That's a pretty good summation of modern times. We know so much, at least we think we know so much. The modern human mind now has so many facts stuffed in it than it did 2,000 years ago. I mean it had a lot then, you realize nothing much changes, you know, just the scenery. But there is so much knowledge and of course, even many in the world of spirituality have this thought "if I could just understand more, if I could cram more spiritual knowledge into my brain then that will help me find God, or awaken to my true nature, awaken to the One and here it is, you know, 2000 years ago Jesus saying "One who knows everything but who does not know himself, knows nothing." It's quite a statement. It's another thing that happens when we do not see this gift of teaching of Christ in its true light. Christ has been made, by and large, to fit what is comfortable for human beings. Which makes Christ into a nice comfy God illuminated guy being. But if you really look at the message of Christ, this is not true at all. This was a full blooded sage, an absolute spiritual and cultural revolutionary of the highest order. It does not fit in well and it never did fit in well as his life proved never did fit in well and never does fit in well with the conventional ideas of the limited human consciousness. We keep dummying down Christ to our level. To a human level. When we miss, this was somebody that was out to awaken humanity. Make no mistake about it, this was a being who was out to awaken humanity and it got him killed. So when we see the power that is actually inherent there, in the teaching, in who he was, this was someone of great great spiritual vitality. This is someone as true spiritual awakening often is didn't fit in, as I say, it ended up getting him crucified. Because it didn't fit into the conventional human understanding of who we are and what God is. This is someone who was actually pushing outside that boundary, pushing outside the conventional boundary. Someone who actually work up from the conventional boundary who had realized the truth of their being and was speaking about it.
Jesus himself mentions this many many times. One of the great wonderful sayings from the Gospel of Thomas is Jesus saying this: "One who knows everything else but does not know himself, knows nothing." That's a pretty good summation of modern times. We know so much, at least we think we know so much. The modern human mind now has so many facts stuffed in it than it did 2,000 years ago. I mean it had a lot then, you realize nothing much changes, you know, just the scenery. But there is so much knowledge and of course, even many in the world of spirituality have this thought "if I could just understand more, if I could cram more spiritual knowledge into my brain then that will help me find God, or awaken to my true nature, awaken to the One and here it is, you know, 2000 years ago Jesus saying "One who knows everything but who does not know himself, knows nothing." It's quite a statement. It's another thing that happens when we do not see this gift of teaching of Christ in its true light. Christ has been made, by and large, to fit what is comfortable for human beings. Which makes Christ into a nice comfy God illuminated guy being. But if you really look at the message of Christ, this is not true at all. This was a full blooded sage, an absolute spiritual and cultural revolutionary of the highest order. It does not fit in well and it never did fit in well as his life proved never did fit in well and never does fit in well with the conventional ideas of the limited human consciousness. We keep dummying down Christ to our level. To a human level. When we miss, this was somebody that was out to awaken humanity. Make no mistake about it, this was a being who was out to awaken humanity and it got him killed. So when we see the power that is actually inherent there, in the teaching, in who he was, this was someone of great great spiritual vitality. This is someone as true spiritual awakening often is didn't fit in, as I say, it ended up getting him crucified. Because it didn't fit into the conventional human understanding of who we are and what God is. This is someone who was actually pushing outside that boundary, pushing outside the conventional boundary. Someone who actually work up from the conventional boundary who had realized the truth of their being and was speaking about it.
Duality...
Everything comes in pairs as death with life and darkness with light. Whatever seems to be necessary to existence is so only because its opposite is equally necessary. Duality is a governing factor of the world and everything within it including ourselves. That alone is outside the world, is nondual, which is the untouchable Reality. This is the Chinese idea of yin and yang, and the Bhagavad Gita's expression "the pairs of opposites" conveys the same idea. Duality is a fact. It is here. But it is also an illusion and the opposite truth which completes it is the nondual. We may deplore the illusory nature of our existence, but we need not get lost in it for it is fulfilled, completed, and finalized in its complement the Real.(P)
— Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 3: Polarities, Complementaries, Dualities of The Universe > # 10............Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 3: Polarities, Complementaries, Dualities of The Universe > # 10............Paul Brunton
A Thought...
Not only is the world an appearance-in-Consciousness, but so is the ego. It is in the end a thought, perhaps the strongest of all; and only the Consciousness-in-Itself is the Reality from which it draws sustenance, existence, life.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5: The Key To the Spiritual World > # 138
Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5: The Key To the Spiritual World > # 138
Paul Brunton
The Holy Man...
There was once a holy man who died and went to heaven. He approached the Pearly Gates and knocked. God came out and asked, "What do you want?" The holy man replied, "I am your servant. I have come." God said, "I'm sorry there is no room for you here. You can't come in. Goodbye."
The holy man sat down and started to gaze in silence to ponder this. "Why won't God let me in? I've been good. I've practiced the scriptures." He pondered this for six months. Finally, he said to himself, "I've got the answer." He knocked again and God came to the gate. He said, "Let me in. I'm your humble servant. The one who has chanted Your name for centuries, who has bowed to You, who has prayed to You."
God said, "I'm sorry there is no room for you here." Again, he closed the door. This time the holy man became completely upset. He didn't' know what the problem was. He'd been a good person, a holy person. Why won't that guy let me in? He said to himself, "I'm going to sit here forever if I have to, until I come up with the right answer."
Centuries passed and he pondered. Remember, he was dead anyway, so it didn't matter. After this long period of pondering why he hadn't been let in, paused and asked himself? "Wait a minute, who is this I who wants to get into heaven? Who is the I that chanted God's name? Who practiced the scriptures? Who am I?"
All of a sudden, he started laughing. The answer came. He got up and knocked on the door or heave. God came to the door and said, "Who is this?" The holy man said, "It is Thou." God opened the gate and said, "Come in, my son. There never was enough room in here for both Me and you."
So it is with us. We claim we want to be Self-realized. We don't realize we are already Self-realized. We just have to let go of the belief that I am the doer.
~ Robert Adams
The holy man sat down and started to gaze in silence to ponder this. "Why won't God let me in? I've been good. I've practiced the scriptures." He pondered this for six months. Finally, he said to himself, "I've got the answer." He knocked again and God came to the gate. He said, "Let me in. I'm your humble servant. The one who has chanted Your name for centuries, who has bowed to You, who has prayed to You."
God said, "I'm sorry there is no room for you here." Again, he closed the door. This time the holy man became completely upset. He didn't' know what the problem was. He'd been a good person, a holy person. Why won't that guy let me in? He said to himself, "I'm going to sit here forever if I have to, until I come up with the right answer."
Centuries passed and he pondered. Remember, he was dead anyway, so it didn't matter. After this long period of pondering why he hadn't been let in, paused and asked himself? "Wait a minute, who is this I who wants to get into heaven? Who is the I that chanted God's name? Who practiced the scriptures? Who am I?"
All of a sudden, he started laughing. The answer came. He got up and knocked on the door or heave. God came to the door and said, "Who is this?" The holy man said, "It is Thou." God opened the gate and said, "Come in, my son. There never was enough room in here for both Me and you."
So it is with us. We claim we want to be Self-realized. We don't realize we are already Self-realized. We just have to let go of the belief that I am the doer.
~ Robert Adams
What is Love ?....
Much has been written about Love ,but what exactly is Love ?.....
The best thoughts that I can come up with are, that Love is complete
unselfishness... It is the complete vacation of Ego... Therefore, the
source of Love, which we call God is actually an energy that is
completely without Ego... Is this why we find God so attractive ?...
How can you not love a person that is without an ego, that is
completely selfless, that is completely in a state of Love... To
witness someone who suffers because they wish others not to suffer is
acting from the state of Love.. this will actually cause us to weep in
empathy, perhaps, because for a few seconds we witness the presence of
God...................namaste, thomas
The best thoughts that I can come up with are, that Love is complete
unselfishness... It is the complete vacation of Ego... Therefore, the
source of Love, which we call God is actually an energy that is
completely without Ego... Is this why we find God so attractive ?...
How can you not love a person that is without an ego, that is
completely selfless, that is completely in a state of Love... To
witness someone who suffers because they wish others not to suffer is
acting from the state of Love.. this will actually cause us to weep in
empathy, perhaps, because for a few seconds we witness the presence of
God...................namaste, thomas
Seeing People As They Are -- Not As I Wish Them To Be
Come home to yourself. Observe yourself. That's why I said earlier that self-observation is such a delightful and extraordinary thing. After a while you don't have to make any effort, because, as illusions begin to crumble, you begin to know things that cannot be described. It's called happiness. Everything changes and you become addicted to awareness.
There's the story of the disciple who went to the master and said, "Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me something that would guide me through my days?" It was the master's day of silence, so he picked up a pad. It said, "Awareness." When the disciple saw it, he said, "This is too brief. Can you expand on it a bit?" So the master took back the pad and wrote, "Awareness, awareness, awareness." The disciple said, "Yes, but what does it mean?" The master took back the pad and wrote, "Awareness, awareness, awareness means -- awareness."
That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be programming you. But watch yourself. When you talk to someone, are you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you simply identifying with your anger? Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it on? I don't know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes.
I am sometimes asked, "Is this growing in awareness a gradual thing, or is it a 'whammo' kind of thing?" There are some lucky people who see this in a flash. They just become aware. There are others who keep growing into it, slowly, gradually, increasingly. They begin to see things. Illusions drop away, fantasies are peeled away, and they start to get in touch with facts. There's no general rule. There's a famous story about the lion who came upon a flock of sheep and to his amazement found a lion among the sheep. It was a lion who had been brought up by the sheep ever since he was a cub. It would bleat like a sheep and run around like a sheep. The lion went straight for him, and when the sheep lion stood in front of the real one, he trembled in every limb. And the lion said to him, "What are you doing among the sheep?" And the sheep-lion said, "I am a sheep." And the lion said, "Oh no you're not. You're coming with me." So he took the sheep-lion to a pool and said, "Look!" And when the sheep-lion looked at his reflection in the water, he let out a mighty roar, and in that moment he was transformed. He was never the same again.
If you're lucky and the gods are gracious or if you are gifted with divine grace (use any theological expression you want), you might suddenly understand who "I" is, and you will never be the same again, never. Nothing will ever be able to touch you again and no one will ever be able to hurt you again.
You will fear no one and you will fear nothing. Isn't that extraordinary? You'll live like a king, like a queen. This is what it means to live like royalty. Not rubbish like getting your picture in the newspapers or having a lot of money. That's a lot of rot. You fear no one because you're perfectly content to be nobody. You don't give a damn about success or failure. They mean nothing. Honor, disgrace, they mean nothing! If you make a fool of yourself, that means nothing either. Isn't that a wonderful state to be in! Some people arrive at this goal painstakingly, step by step, through months and weeks of self-awareness. But I'll promise you this: I have not known a single person who gave time to being aware who didn't see a difference in a matter of weeks. The quality of their life changes, so they don't have to take it on faith anymore. They see it; they're different. They react differently. In fact, they react less and act more. You see things you've never seen before.
You're much more energetic, much more alive. People think that if they had no cravings, they'd be like deadwood. But in fact they'd lose their tension. Get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be yourself. Relaxed. You wouldn't be driving with your brakes on. That's what would happen.
There's a lovely saying of Tranxu, a great Chinese sage, that I took the trouble to learn by heart. It goes: "When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills; when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous; when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets, and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him. He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power." Isn't that an image of what most people are? When you're living for nothing, you've got all your skills, you've got all your energy, you're relaxed, you don't care, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose.
Now there's HUMAN living for you. That's what life is all about. That can only come from awareness. And in awareness you will understand that honor doesn't mean a thing. It's a social convention, that's all. That's why the mystics and the prophets didn't bother one bit about it. Honor or disgrace meant nothing to them. They were living in another world, in the world of the awakened. Success or failure meant nothing to them. They had the attitude: "I'm an ass, you're an ass, so where's the problem?"
Someone once said, "The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong." But these are the easiest things in the world if you haven't identified with the "me." You can say things like "I'm wrong! If you knew me better, you'd see how often I'm wrong. What would you expect from an ass?" But if I haven't identified with these aspects of "me," you can't hurt me. Initially, the old conditioning will kick in and you'll be depressed and anxious. You'll grieve, cry, and so on. "Before enlightenment, I used to be depressed: after enlightenment, 1 continue to be depressed." But there's a difference: I don't identify with it anymore. Do you know what a big difference that is?
You step outside of yourself and look at that depression, and don't identify with it. You don't do a thing to make it go away; you are perfectly willing to go on with your life while it passes through you and disappears. If you don't know what that means, you really have something to look forward to. And anxiety? There it comes and you're not troubled. How strange! You're anxious but you're not troubled.
Isn't that a paradox? And you're willing to let this cloud come in, because the more you fight it, the more power you give it. You're willing to observe it as it passes by. You can be happy in your anxiety. Isn't that crazy? You can be happy in your depression. But you can't have the wrong notion of happiness. Did you think happiness was excitement or thrills? That's what causes the depression. Didn't anyone tell you that? You're thrilled, all right, but you're just preparing the way for your next depression. You're thrilled but you pick up the anxiety behind that: How can I make it last? That's not happiness, that's addiction.
I wonder how many non-addicts there are reading this book? If you're anything like the average group, there are few, very few. Don't look down your nose at the alcoholics and the drug addicts: maybe you're just as addicted as they are. The first time I got a glimpse of this new world, it was terrifying. I understood what it meant to be alone, with nowhere to rest your head, to leave everyone free and be free yourself, to be special to no one and love everyone- because love does that. It shines on good and bad alike; it makes rain fall on saints and sinners alike.
Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.
It's been there all along, staring us in the face in the scriptures, though we never cared to see it because we were so drowned in what our culture calls love with its love songs and poems -- that isn't love at all, that's the opposite of love. That's desire and control and possessiveness. That's manipulation, and fear, and anxiety -- that's not love. We were told that happiness is a smooth complexion, a holiday resort. It isn't these things, but we have subtle ways of making our happiness depend on other things, both within us and outside us. We say, "I refuse to be happy until my neurosis goes." I have good news for you: You can be happy right now, WITH the neurosis, You want even better news? There's only one reason why you're not experiencing what in India we call ANAND -- bliss, bliss. There's only one reason why you're not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it's because you're thinking or focusing on what you don't have. Otherwise you would be experiencing bliss. You're focusing on what you don't have. But, right now you have everything you need to be in bliss.
Jesus was talking horse sense to lay people, to starving people, to poor people. He was telling them good news: It's yours for the taking. But who listens? No one's interested, they'd rather be asleep................ Anthony de Mello, SJ
(C) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spiritually_Speaking .........from Lisa Day
Permission to share freely as long as credit is given.
There's the story of the disciple who went to the master and said, "Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me something that would guide me through my days?" It was the master's day of silence, so he picked up a pad. It said, "Awareness." When the disciple saw it, he said, "This is too brief. Can you expand on it a bit?" So the master took back the pad and wrote, "Awareness, awareness, awareness." The disciple said, "Yes, but what does it mean?" The master took back the pad and wrote, "Awareness, awareness, awareness means -- awareness."
That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be programming you. But watch yourself. When you talk to someone, are you aware of it or are you simply identifying with it? When you got angry with somebody, were you aware that you were angry or were you simply identifying with your anger? Later, when you had the time, did you study your experience and attempt to understand it? Where did it come from? What brought it on? I don't know of any other way to awareness. You only change what you understand. What you do not understand and are not aware of, you repress. You don't change. But when you understand it, it changes.
I am sometimes asked, "Is this growing in awareness a gradual thing, or is it a 'whammo' kind of thing?" There are some lucky people who see this in a flash. They just become aware. There are others who keep growing into it, slowly, gradually, increasingly. They begin to see things. Illusions drop away, fantasies are peeled away, and they start to get in touch with facts. There's no general rule. There's a famous story about the lion who came upon a flock of sheep and to his amazement found a lion among the sheep. It was a lion who had been brought up by the sheep ever since he was a cub. It would bleat like a sheep and run around like a sheep. The lion went straight for him, and when the sheep lion stood in front of the real one, he trembled in every limb. And the lion said to him, "What are you doing among the sheep?" And the sheep-lion said, "I am a sheep." And the lion said, "Oh no you're not. You're coming with me." So he took the sheep-lion to a pool and said, "Look!" And when the sheep-lion looked at his reflection in the water, he let out a mighty roar, and in that moment he was transformed. He was never the same again.
If you're lucky and the gods are gracious or if you are gifted with divine grace (use any theological expression you want), you might suddenly understand who "I" is, and you will never be the same again, never. Nothing will ever be able to touch you again and no one will ever be able to hurt you again.
You will fear no one and you will fear nothing. Isn't that extraordinary? You'll live like a king, like a queen. This is what it means to live like royalty. Not rubbish like getting your picture in the newspapers or having a lot of money. That's a lot of rot. You fear no one because you're perfectly content to be nobody. You don't give a damn about success or failure. They mean nothing. Honor, disgrace, they mean nothing! If you make a fool of yourself, that means nothing either. Isn't that a wonderful state to be in! Some people arrive at this goal painstakingly, step by step, through months and weeks of self-awareness. But I'll promise you this: I have not known a single person who gave time to being aware who didn't see a difference in a matter of weeks. The quality of their life changes, so they don't have to take it on faith anymore. They see it; they're different. They react differently. In fact, they react less and act more. You see things you've never seen before.
You're much more energetic, much more alive. People think that if they had no cravings, they'd be like deadwood. But in fact they'd lose their tension. Get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be yourself. Relaxed. You wouldn't be driving with your brakes on. That's what would happen.
There's a lovely saying of Tranxu, a great Chinese sage, that I took the trouble to learn by heart. It goes: "When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills; when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous; when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets, and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him. He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power." Isn't that an image of what most people are? When you're living for nothing, you've got all your skills, you've got all your energy, you're relaxed, you don't care, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose.
Now there's HUMAN living for you. That's what life is all about. That can only come from awareness. And in awareness you will understand that honor doesn't mean a thing. It's a social convention, that's all. That's why the mystics and the prophets didn't bother one bit about it. Honor or disgrace meant nothing to them. They were living in another world, in the world of the awakened. Success or failure meant nothing to them. They had the attitude: "I'm an ass, you're an ass, so where's the problem?"
Someone once said, "The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong." But these are the easiest things in the world if you haven't identified with the "me." You can say things like "I'm wrong! If you knew me better, you'd see how often I'm wrong. What would you expect from an ass?" But if I haven't identified with these aspects of "me," you can't hurt me. Initially, the old conditioning will kick in and you'll be depressed and anxious. You'll grieve, cry, and so on. "Before enlightenment, I used to be depressed: after enlightenment, 1 continue to be depressed." But there's a difference: I don't identify with it anymore. Do you know what a big difference that is?
You step outside of yourself and look at that depression, and don't identify with it. You don't do a thing to make it go away; you are perfectly willing to go on with your life while it passes through you and disappears. If you don't know what that means, you really have something to look forward to. And anxiety? There it comes and you're not troubled. How strange! You're anxious but you're not troubled.
Isn't that a paradox? And you're willing to let this cloud come in, because the more you fight it, the more power you give it. You're willing to observe it as it passes by. You can be happy in your anxiety. Isn't that crazy? You can be happy in your depression. But you can't have the wrong notion of happiness. Did you think happiness was excitement or thrills? That's what causes the depression. Didn't anyone tell you that? You're thrilled, all right, but you're just preparing the way for your next depression. You're thrilled but you pick up the anxiety behind that: How can I make it last? That's not happiness, that's addiction.
I wonder how many non-addicts there are reading this book? If you're anything like the average group, there are few, very few. Don't look down your nose at the alcoholics and the drug addicts: maybe you're just as addicted as they are. The first time I got a glimpse of this new world, it was terrifying. I understood what it meant to be alone, with nowhere to rest your head, to leave everyone free and be free yourself, to be special to no one and love everyone- because love does that. It shines on good and bad alike; it makes rain fall on saints and sinners alike.
Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.
It's been there all along, staring us in the face in the scriptures, though we never cared to see it because we were so drowned in what our culture calls love with its love songs and poems -- that isn't love at all, that's the opposite of love. That's desire and control and possessiveness. That's manipulation, and fear, and anxiety -- that's not love. We were told that happiness is a smooth complexion, a holiday resort. It isn't these things, but we have subtle ways of making our happiness depend on other things, both within us and outside us. We say, "I refuse to be happy until my neurosis goes." I have good news for you: You can be happy right now, WITH the neurosis, You want even better news? There's only one reason why you're not experiencing what in India we call ANAND -- bliss, bliss. There's only one reason why you're not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it's because you're thinking or focusing on what you don't have. Otherwise you would be experiencing bliss. You're focusing on what you don't have. But, right now you have everything you need to be in bliss.
Jesus was talking horse sense to lay people, to starving people, to poor people. He was telling them good news: It's yours for the taking. But who listens? No one's interested, they'd rather be asleep................ Anthony de Mello, SJ
(C) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spiritually_Speaking .........from Lisa Day
Permission to share freely as long as credit is given.
" I and the Father are One "....
It does not feel good to say that I am God,, It is possibly the
most difficult to say and to believe... This is the pain of Duality
that most humans are stuck in.. They truly do not know God and they
truly do not know themselves... this revelation of non-duality is
only achieved through meditation and the achieving of enlightenment,
which is the dissolution of the belief in the false ego... This is
why Jesus said that "You must be born again", as the enlightenment
experience is merging with God and feeling as though you have just
been born at the moment of this experience... I cannot convince you
of these Truths,, they can only be known by your own personal
experience................namaste, thomas
most difficult to say and to believe... This is the pain of Duality
that most humans are stuck in.. They truly do not know God and they
truly do not know themselves... this revelation of non-duality is
only achieved through meditation and the achieving of enlightenment,
which is the dissolution of the belief in the false ego... This is
why Jesus said that "You must be born again", as the enlightenment
experience is merging with God and feeling as though you have just
been born at the moment of this experience... I cannot convince you
of these Truths,, they can only be known by your own personal
experience................namaste, thomas
You must lose your life to find It....
Those who try to grasp Tao, lose it, declared Lao Tzu. Why? Because they are using willpower, personal willpower, instead of becoming passive and letting the Tao use them, their minds and bodies, as if they were its instruments. This elimination of the self-will is what Jesus meant when he counselled his followers to lose their life in order to find life................paul brunton
Can We Really be Attacked ?
A verbal attack meant or unmeant means absolutely nothing to a soul
that has conquered their Ego.... the main purpose of spirituality is to
identify and destroy the false perception of separation from Universal
Consciousness... this perception is called the false ego... once you
have conquered this false idea of separation from each other and from
Universal Mind (God), you never feel the pain of personal attack again
because there is no one to attack... when we feel pain at any verbal
attack, we must recognize that the problem lies within us.. stop
blaming others for deficiencies within
outselves.................namaste, thomas
that has conquered their Ego.... the main purpose of spirituality is to
identify and destroy the false perception of separation from Universal
Consciousness... this perception is called the false ego... once you
have conquered this false idea of separation from each other and from
Universal Mind (God), you never feel the pain of personal attack again
because there is no one to attack... when we feel pain at any verbal
attack, we must recognize that the problem lies within us.. stop
blaming others for deficiencies within
outselves.................namaste, thomas
Where is God ?
God is in your very being. To know him as something apart or far-away
in time and distance or as an object outside yourself, separate from
you--that is not the Way--impossible. Jesus gave away the secret: He is
within you...........Paul Brunton
in time and distance or as an object outside yourself, separate from
you--that is not the Way--impossible. Jesus gave away the secret: He is
within you...........Paul Brunton
Does God have a sense of humor ?
Love has no ego, therefore, there is no pain felt when humor is
directed at Love.... this also applies to humans, a human only feels
embarassment or anger when they are still slaves of the false ego...
Humor is the sudden realization of Truth.. this sudden realization
causes the body and especially the lungs to act in a spasmatic manner
that we call laughing... a human cannot laugh with someone that they
dislike or hate, this means that humor shared with another is
actually a sharing of Love.... I assure you that the Universal Spirit
that we call God is filled with laughter and
Love......................namaste,
thomas
directed at Love.... this also applies to humans, a human only feels
embarassment or anger when they are still slaves of the false ego...
Humor is the sudden realization of Truth.. this sudden realization
causes the body and especially the lungs to act in a spasmatic manner
that we call laughing... a human cannot laugh with someone that they
dislike or hate, this means that humor shared with another is
actually a sharing of Love.... I assure you that the Universal Spirit
that we call God is filled with laughter and
Love......................namaste,
thomas
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