The Presence...
What he has to do in the world as a human being is henceforth to be done not really by his ordinary personal self but by the Presence which, shapeless and silent though it be, is the vital living essence of what connects him with God. If this seems to deprive him of the attributes which make a man, man. I can reply only that we are here back with the Sphinx. Yes, the enigma is great; but the realized understanding and experience is immeasurably greater in its blessedness..........Paul Brunton
No Ego...
"When we are empty of ego we, too, can carry on in calm acceptance of
life's varying events. When we cease making prejudicial distinctions –
gentle or harsh, beautiful or ugly, good or bad – a peaceful stillness
will permeate our mind. If there is no ego, there is no agitation."
~ Han Shan
life's varying events. When we cease making prejudicial distinctions –
gentle or harsh, beautiful or ugly, good or bad – a peaceful stillness
will permeate our mind. If there is no ego, there is no agitation."
~ Han Shan
To Exist...
It is not after we understand the truth that we attain enlightenment. To realize the truth is to live - to exist here and now. ~Shunryu Suzuki...
We are Reality...
There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep
seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We
think that there is something hiding reality and that
this must be destroyed before reality is gained. How
ridiculous!
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We
think that there is something hiding reality and that
this must be destroyed before reality is gained. How
ridiculous!
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
Love, Compassion and Humility...
"Never be discouraged. Always return to Love, Compassion and Humility. In this way you will be protected. Always be involved in alleviating the suffering of others, asking nothing for yourself. Do good deeds anonymously. Daily. This is your True Nature. "
"If you are angry, egotistical, debating all the time, you will attract teachers and environments of this consciousness. If your heart is pure, you will attract pure hearted teachings and people in your life."
"Keep Unswervingly Devoted to Good. Here You Will Find Your True Self."
“The Universe lies waiting in sweet repose for you to remember who you are.”
You want the results of the saints and sages, but they did their homework. If you seek self aggrandizement and acknowledgement by others, you will become very unhappy. For this is not your True Nature. Live correctly, do daily practices, spread sunshine and love to others, and these things will awaken Grace and Forgiveness in your life. This will make it easier to experience your True Self. This will become a beautiful reality for you. Live in Brotherhood with all, and live according to scriptural precepts. You cannot escape this. Live correctly. Live in Brotherhood with all. Without this, you will not alleviate your own suffering"
"Do not participate in spiritual disputes, debates or discussions....this is a waste of time, this is of the ego. Instead, use this time you have left on earth to experience the truth of which you speak."
........Robert Adams
"If you are angry, egotistical, debating all the time, you will attract teachers and environments of this consciousness. If your heart is pure, you will attract pure hearted teachings and people in your life."
"Keep Unswervingly Devoted to Good. Here You Will Find Your True Self."
“The Universe lies waiting in sweet repose for you to remember who you are.”
You want the results of the saints and sages, but they did their homework. If you seek self aggrandizement and acknowledgement by others, you will become very unhappy. For this is not your True Nature. Live correctly, do daily practices, spread sunshine and love to others, and these things will awaken Grace and Forgiveness in your life. This will make it easier to experience your True Self. This will become a beautiful reality for you. Live in Brotherhood with all, and live according to scriptural precepts. You cannot escape this. Live correctly. Live in Brotherhood with all. Without this, you will not alleviate your own suffering"
"Do not participate in spiritual disputes, debates or discussions....this is a waste of time, this is of the ego. Instead, use this time you have left on earth to experience the truth of which you speak."
........Robert Adams
Happiness is Awareness...
All happiness comes from awareness. The more
we are conscious, the deeper the joy. Acceptance
of pain, non-resistance, courage and endurance
- these open deep and perennial sources of real
happiness, true bliss.....
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
we are conscious, the deeper the joy. Acceptance
of pain, non-resistance, courage and endurance
- these open deep and perennial sources of real
happiness, true bliss.....
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Truth...
After many years of reading and studying truth, we are apt to congratulate ourselves on the truth we know. We can answer any problem with a well-rehearsed truth. We can know the truth immediately when drawing from our memory. There is only one thing we cannot do – Heal.
It isn't the truth in our minds or memory that heals. It is the truth received from our Soul that heals. Truth coming from the mind is not truth, but rather a thought about truth. Truth flowing up from the depths of Soul into our conscious awareness is the truth that heals, restores, and resurrects.
The truth we must know that will set us free from the thoughts and things of 'this world' is not the truth we memorize, or remember, because that truth is the dead letter of truth.
The truth we must know that will set us free from the thoughts and things of 'this world' is the truth that we receive from the depths of Soul in that moment when we are receptive, quiet, peaceful, and taking no thought at all.
This is the Truth, which flows into our conscious awareness and is felt there as a Living Presence. Very often there are no words that come with It, just an awareness, a feeling, a stirring, a movement.
Let us leave our nets which are filled to overflowing with words, and thoughts, and memories. Let us launch out into the deep and in that deep Silence, wait quietly, for a visit from the Master – Christ.
After all, it is Christ that heals, and I come as a thief in the night.
Sitting there, in our inner temple, the Christ suddenly overshadows us, and we know, “I have seen the coming of the Lord.”
In His Peace,
-- Bill Skiles
www.mysticalprinciples.com
It isn't the truth in our minds or memory that heals. It is the truth received from our Soul that heals. Truth coming from the mind is not truth, but rather a thought about truth. Truth flowing up from the depths of Soul into our conscious awareness is the truth that heals, restores, and resurrects.
The truth we must know that will set us free from the thoughts and things of 'this world' is not the truth we memorize, or remember, because that truth is the dead letter of truth.
The truth we must know that will set us free from the thoughts and things of 'this world' is the truth that we receive from the depths of Soul in that moment when we are receptive, quiet, peaceful, and taking no thought at all.
This is the Truth, which flows into our conscious awareness and is felt there as a Living Presence. Very often there are no words that come with It, just an awareness, a feeling, a stirring, a movement.
Let us leave our nets which are filled to overflowing with words, and thoughts, and memories. Let us launch out into the deep and in that deep Silence, wait quietly, for a visit from the Master – Christ.
After all, it is Christ that heals, and I come as a thief in the night.
Sitting there, in our inner temple, the Christ suddenly overshadows us, and we know, “I have seen the coming of the Lord.”
In His Peace,
-- Bill Skiles
www.mysticalprinciples.com
The Gospel of Thomas...
His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it."
He said to them, "Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."
He said to them, "Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."
Failure...
He who has failed himself has failed all; he who has conquered
himself has won all.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is no reason for anyone to feel discouraged by his weaknesses
or deficiencies, or by his actions that have dissatisfied him, or by
anything in life that has failed. He should forget the past that has
failed him, and begin to construct and mold his future as he would
wish it to be. Considering that as a branch is not separate from the
bough, and the bough is not separate from the stem, so with all our
limitations we are not separate from the will of the Unlimited One.
I remember a Persian verse made by my murshid which relates to the
self: 'When I feel that now I can make peace with my self, it finds
time to prepare another attack.' That is our condition. We think that
our little faults, since they are small, are of no consequence; or we
do not even think of them at all. But every little fault is a flag
for the little self, for its own dominion. In this way battling makes
man the sovereign of the kingdom of God. Very few can realize the
great power in battling with and conquering the self.
But what does man generally do? He says, 'My poor self, it has to
withstand the conflicts of this world; should I also battle with this
self?' So he surrenders his kingdom to his little self, depriving
himself of the divine power that is in the heart of man. There is in
man a false self and a real self. The real self contains the eternal;
the false self contains the mortal. The real self has wisdom; the
false self ignorance. The real self can rise to perfection; the false
self ends in limitation. The real self has all good, the false self
is productive of all evil. One can see both in oneself: God and the
other one. By conquering the other one, one realizes God. This other
power has been called Satan; but is it a power? In reality it is not.
It is and it is not. It is a shadow. We see shadow and yet it is
nothing. We should realize that this false self has no existence of
its own. As soon as the soul has risen above the false self, it
begins to realize its nobility.
himself has won all.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is no reason for anyone to feel discouraged by his weaknesses
or deficiencies, or by his actions that have dissatisfied him, or by
anything in life that has failed. He should forget the past that has
failed him, and begin to construct and mold his future as he would
wish it to be. Considering that as a branch is not separate from the
bough, and the bough is not separate from the stem, so with all our
limitations we are not separate from the will of the Unlimited One.
I remember a Persian verse made by my murshid which relates to the
self: 'When I feel that now I can make peace with my self, it finds
time to prepare another attack.' That is our condition. We think that
our little faults, since they are small, are of no consequence; or we
do not even think of them at all. But every little fault is a flag
for the little self, for its own dominion. In this way battling makes
man the sovereign of the kingdom of God. Very few can realize the
great power in battling with and conquering the self.
But what does man generally do? He says, 'My poor self, it has to
withstand the conflicts of this world; should I also battle with this
self?' So he surrenders his kingdom to his little self, depriving
himself of the divine power that is in the heart of man. There is in
man a false self and a real self. The real self contains the eternal;
the false self contains the mortal. The real self has wisdom; the
false self ignorance. The real self can rise to perfection; the false
self ends in limitation. The real self has all good, the false self
is productive of all evil. One can see both in oneself: God and the
other one. By conquering the other one, one realizes God. This other
power has been called Satan; but is it a power? In reality it is not.
It is and it is not. It is a shadow. We see shadow and yet it is
nothing. We should realize that this false self has no existence of
its own. As soon as the soul has risen above the false self, it
begins to realize its nobility.
Ascension...
By ascension we simply mean a movement upward in consciousness. You do not "go" anywhere. You do not "leave" anywhere. But your perspective, your perception, is radically altered. You begin to see through the maya, or the illusion of this world, which is created through the dance of subatomic particles and into a configuration of what you call matter. Through the ascension process you realize that you are the creator of your experience of that which you call "the world." It does not mean that you leave this world, but it does mean that you have transcended it--while still being a part of it--for you see through the lens of perception that life is a movie that you are projecting.......tomkenyon.com
The Absolute...
In philosophy, The Absolute is the opposite of relative. The term has acquired numerous widely variant connotations in different philosophical systems. It means unlimited, unconditioned, or free of any relation; perfect, complete, or total; permanent, inherent, or ultimate; independent, or valid without reference to a perceiving subject. In epistemology, absolute means certain or indubitable as opposed to probable or hypothetical. As a substantive, the absolute is the ultimate basis of reality, the principle underlying the universe. Theologically, it is synonymous with, or characteristic of, God. Philosophically, it may be considered as the unknowable, the thing-in-itself; as that ultimate nonrelative that is the basis of all relation; as the ultimate, all-comprehensive principle in which all differences and distinctions are merged. The concept of the absolute was present in Greek philosophy. In modern times, both realists and idealists have used the term, but it is, perhaps, most intimately connected with the idealism of G. W. Hegel…Columbia Encyclopedia
Investigation...
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation"............Herbert Spencer
Presence Awareness...
I AM not speaking to any 'body'.
I AM not speaking to any 'mind'.
I AM speaking to THAT I AM that I AM,
to that PRESENCE AWARENESS,
that expresses through
the mind as the thought I AM.
Just THIS and NOTHING else.....................'Sailor' Bob Adamson and addressed to seekers who have found their way
I AM not speaking to any 'mind'.
I AM speaking to THAT I AM that I AM,
to that PRESENCE AWARENESS,
that expresses through
the mind as the thought I AM.
Just THIS and NOTHING else.....................'Sailor' Bob Adamson and addressed to seekers who have found their way
Separation...
All separation, every kind of estrangement and alienation is false. All is one.....
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Oneness...
Oneness is like the clear blue sky - everything arises, unfolds, and subsides within its all-compassionate love... Everything is an aspect of Oneness. And our quest to know this comes from Oneness....
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Consciousness...
To be conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey....
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
Nobility...
Sagehood has nothing to do with governing others but is a matter of ordering oneself. Nobility has nothing to do with power and rank but is a matter of self realization. Attain self-realization, and the whole world is found in the self. Happiness has nothing to do with wealth and status, but is a matter of harmony.....
Lao-tze
Lao-tze
Believe Nothing...
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense........Gautama the Buddha
To Know Yourself...
The limited only is perfectible.
The unlimited is already perfect. You are perfect, only you don’t
know it. Learn to know yourself and you will discover wonders.
Just as every drop of the ocean carries the taste of the ocean, so does every moment carry the
taste of eternity.
From I Am That......Nisargadatta
The unlimited is already perfect. You are perfect, only you don’t
know it. Learn to know yourself and you will discover wonders.
Just as every drop of the ocean carries the taste of the ocean, so does every moment carry the
taste of eternity.
From I Am That......Nisargadatta
Glimpse of the True Self...
The momentary glimpse of the true self is not the ultimate experience. There is another yet more wonderful lying ahead. In this he will be bound by invisible hoops of wide selfless compassion to all living creatures. The detachment will be sublimated, taken up into a higher level, where the universal Unity will be truly felt...........Paul Brunton
The Gospel of Thomas...
Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away.
The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' To many souls this statement by Jesus will be difficult to understand.. To my understanding, it means that the heavens that many souls seek to go to will eventually not exist.. this is because they are schools of spiritual knowledge meant for your return to Earth..the real goal is to go beyond the different frequencies of Heaven and return to your real self, which is God, Itself...before you entered the material planes, you were One with God, you then became two when you believed that you were separate from God.. the end of this problem of duality is to conquer the false ego and return to the Truth that you and God are One.......namaste, thomas
The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' To many souls this statement by Jesus will be difficult to understand.. To my understanding, it means that the heavens that many souls seek to go to will eventually not exist.. this is because they are schools of spiritual knowledge meant for your return to Earth..the real goal is to go beyond the different frequencies of Heaven and return to your real self, which is God, Itself...before you entered the material planes, you were One with God, you then became two when you believed that you were separate from God.. the end of this problem of duality is to conquer the false ego and return to the Truth that you and God are One.......namaste, thomas
Infinite...
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former........
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
The Power of Love..
There are times in a souls life when someone hates them for any number of reasons that are not aware to the person that is hated.. When this happens to me, I follow the teaching of the Masters of Spiritual Knowledge and show nothing but Love to those that hate me.. I always find that the hater finds it harder and harder to hate you because the energy of Love is flowing to them and coming out of them because of the energy of God that lives within them.. After a short time, they will Love you because Love is the strongest power in the universe...So do not give up hope.. continue with the energy of Love and all will find Happiness.........namaste, thomas
Liberation...
Liberation is the aliveness beyond belief, the aliveness of awareness itself. Liberation is when all the answers, explanations and positions disappear, and you're left with the open mind of not knowing.....
Joan Tollifson
Joan Tollifson
Your Birthright...
On one hand we are made to live out our physical existence in the world of passing time. This is the world we are all familiar with. It is the realm in which we experience the birth and death of everything from the most mundane of our interests -- those passions that come and go -- all the way up to and including our lives themselves. Our physical being is carried along in an invisible stream of time whose never-ending twists and turns bring us headlong into the uncertainty that this level of self must seemingly endure. But we also have another nature -- one that entitles us, if we will claim this celestial birthright, to live in another world through which this stream of time runs. This other world is the invisible realm of the timeless Now.
Awakening to this timeless birthright of ours grants us the precious gift of being able to see that our present worries and fears are nothing more than the negative results of mistaking ourselves to be something far less than what we are in reality.
Our True Self is, in part, a secret field where a never-ending cycle of ebb and flow plays itself out in passing expressions of alternating fullness and emptiness, much as runoff winter waters from great mountains rush down to fill valley lakes parched dry by the passage of summer.
But the greater part of our Original Self is to these mountains and their valley lakes as is the whole of that countryside in which these same landmarks dwell, for even though the round of seasons come and go, causing endless changes within it, nothing really changes about it. Our True Nature lives in the ever-changing, yet never-changing Now; that vast country of higher consciousness wherein we are empowered to welcome all forms of fullness and emptiness as our friends, instead of mistaking ourselves a friend of one and foe of the other.
If we would awaken to a conscious relationship with these ever-flowing forces that are the lifeblood of our True Nature, and if we are to realize that this awareness alone can free us of our fear of being empty, then what is asked of us becomes clear: we must stop trying to create conditions for ourselves through which we hope to escape the fear of our own emptiness. We must willingly slip into these seemingly dark waters of ourselves, where, if we will wait there quietly enough, we will awaken to find ourselves in the higher atmosphere of a new world. For our spiritual daring, we will gain an intimate knowledge of these invisible eternal forces at work within us; one emptying us, even as another moves into its place to fill that open space with its new and unmistakable presence. If these words sound promising, it's because they are. As this priceless self-knowledge born of higher self-awareness grows in us, we will realize that the freedom we seek is found everywhere and all at once. We will no longer fear the end of things because at last we have seen that within ourselves, the truth of who we really are is as endless as the beginning of life.
-- Guy Finley
Awakening to this timeless birthright of ours grants us the precious gift of being able to see that our present worries and fears are nothing more than the negative results of mistaking ourselves to be something far less than what we are in reality.
Our True Self is, in part, a secret field where a never-ending cycle of ebb and flow plays itself out in passing expressions of alternating fullness and emptiness, much as runoff winter waters from great mountains rush down to fill valley lakes parched dry by the passage of summer.
But the greater part of our Original Self is to these mountains and their valley lakes as is the whole of that countryside in which these same landmarks dwell, for even though the round of seasons come and go, causing endless changes within it, nothing really changes about it. Our True Nature lives in the ever-changing, yet never-changing Now; that vast country of higher consciousness wherein we are empowered to welcome all forms of fullness and emptiness as our friends, instead of mistaking ourselves a friend of one and foe of the other.
If we would awaken to a conscious relationship with these ever-flowing forces that are the lifeblood of our True Nature, and if we are to realize that this awareness alone can free us of our fear of being empty, then what is asked of us becomes clear: we must stop trying to create conditions for ourselves through which we hope to escape the fear of our own emptiness. We must willingly slip into these seemingly dark waters of ourselves, where, if we will wait there quietly enough, we will awaken to find ourselves in the higher atmosphere of a new world. For our spiritual daring, we will gain an intimate knowledge of these invisible eternal forces at work within us; one emptying us, even as another moves into its place to fill that open space with its new and unmistakable presence. If these words sound promising, it's because they are. As this priceless self-knowledge born of higher self-awareness grows in us, we will realize that the freedom we seek is found everywhere and all at once. We will no longer fear the end of things because at last we have seen that within ourselves, the truth of who we really are is as endless as the beginning of life.
-- Guy Finley
Peace...
Much is spoken of Peace, especially in Spiritual Circles, but most of
us do not know that Peace is born from Selflessness.. otherwise known
as non-ego.. Peace is thrown to the side of the road when the Ego wants
dominance.. Dominance wants to win arguments.. Dominance wants Power..
Dominance wants the Ego to live forever.. So let Peace walk again on
this road............namaste, thomas
us do not know that Peace is born from Selflessness.. otherwise known
as non-ego.. Peace is thrown to the side of the road when the Ego wants
dominance.. Dominance wants to win arguments.. Dominance wants Power..
Dominance wants the Ego to live forever.. So let Peace walk again on
this road............namaste, thomas
Talking...
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts:
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips,
and sound is a diversion and a pastime......
(Kahlil Gibran)
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips,
and sound is a diversion and a pastime......
(Kahlil Gibran)
Regrets...
There is seldom any rational reason for having regrets about past deeds or events.
Because the past does not exist in any way other than in your memory.....
(Paul Wilson)
Because the past does not exist in any way other than in your memory.....
(Paul Wilson)
Love...
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend....
(Martin Luther King)
(Martin Luther King)
Youth...
However young,
The seeker who sets out upon the way
Shines bright over the world....
Gautama the Buddha
The seeker who sets out upon the way
Shines bright over the world....
Gautama the Buddha
Evil and Good...
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.
And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.
And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)
Teaching and Learning...
The art of teaching is clarity and the art of learning is to listen.....
(Vanda Scaravelli)
(Vanda Scaravelli)
The Tao...
Why is the tao so valuable?
Because it is everywhere,
and everyone can use it.
This is why those who seek
will find,
And those who reform
will be forgiven;
Why the good
will be rewarded,
And the thief who is cunning
will escape.
(Lao Tzu)
Because it is everywhere,
and everyone can use it.
This is why those who seek
will find,
And those who reform
will be forgiven;
Why the good
will be rewarded,
And the thief who is cunning
will escape.
(Lao Tzu)
Pride...
We take refuge in pride because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves.
(Kakuzo Okakura)
(Kakuzo Okakura)
Beloved...
As God's beloved, I live in bliss knowing that my soul is never separated from Him, for I learn to know Her in all that I see. God dissolved my mind~ my separation. I cannot describe now my intimacy with Him.........
~ St. Teresa of Avila
~ St. Teresa of Avila
Life...
Life is an opportunity given to satisfy the hunger and thirst of the
soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
And what is life? Life is an opportunity. To the optimistic person
the opportunity is a promise, and for the pessimistic person this
opportunity is lost. It is not that the Creator makes man lose it,
but it is man who withdraws himself from the possibility of seizing
the opportunity.
If there is something that can be accomplished today, we need not
wait for it to be accomplished tomorrow. For life is an opportunity,
and desire has the greatest power, and perfection is the promise of
the soul. We seek perfection, because perfection is the ultimate aim
and the goal of creation. The source of all things is perfect. Our
source is perfect, our goal is perfect. And therefore every atom of
the universe is working towards perfection, and sooner or later it
must arrive at perfection consciously. If it were not so, you would
not have read in the Bible, 'Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven
is perfect.'
Kabir, the great poet of India says, 'Life is a field and you are
born to cultivate it. And if you know how to cultivate this field you
can produce anything you like. All the need of your life can be
produced in this field. All that your soul yearns after and all you
need is to be got from the field, if you know how to cultivate it and
how to reap the fruit.' But if this opportunity is only studied in
order to make the best of life by taking all that one can take and by
being more comfortable, that is not satisfying. We must enrich
ourselves with thought, with that happiness which is spiritual
happiness, with that peace which belongs to our soul, with that
liberty, that freedom, for which our soul longs; and attain to that
higher knowledge which breaks all the fetters of life and raises our
consciousness to look at life from a different point of view. Once a
person has realized this opportunity he has fulfilled the purpose of
Life.
soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
And what is life? Life is an opportunity. To the optimistic person
the opportunity is a promise, and for the pessimistic person this
opportunity is lost. It is not that the Creator makes man lose it,
but it is man who withdraws himself from the possibility of seizing
the opportunity.
If there is something that can be accomplished today, we need not
wait for it to be accomplished tomorrow. For life is an opportunity,
and desire has the greatest power, and perfection is the promise of
the soul. We seek perfection, because perfection is the ultimate aim
and the goal of creation. The source of all things is perfect. Our
source is perfect, our goal is perfect. And therefore every atom of
the universe is working towards perfection, and sooner or later it
must arrive at perfection consciously. If it were not so, you would
not have read in the Bible, 'Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven
is perfect.'
Kabir, the great poet of India says, 'Life is a field and you are
born to cultivate it. And if you know how to cultivate this field you
can produce anything you like. All the need of your life can be
produced in this field. All that your soul yearns after and all you
need is to be got from the field, if you know how to cultivate it and
how to reap the fruit.' But if this opportunity is only studied in
order to make the best of life by taking all that one can take and by
being more comfortable, that is not satisfying. We must enrich
ourselves with thought, with that happiness which is spiritual
happiness, with that peace which belongs to our soul, with that
liberty, that freedom, for which our soul longs; and attain to that
higher knowledge which breaks all the fetters of life and raises our
consciousness to look at life from a different point of view. Once a
person has realized this opportunity he has fulfilled the purpose of
Life.
The Calling...
With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this
Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one..............TS Eliot
Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one..............TS Eliot
Friendship...
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship............Ralph Waldo Emerson
He's Cool...
I'm a Muslim, but I think Jesus would have a drink with me. He would be cool. He would talk to me......
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Translations...
I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong....
John Lennon
John Lennon
Reflecting...
Any one reflecting upon the thought he has of the delight, which any present or absent thing is apt to produce in him, has the idea we call love......
John Locke
John Locke
reason...
Do not be flattered by reason,
reason is only
the child of the mind.
But true friendship
is born out of love and
is the water of life.
The footprints of the Friend
are all over the world.
Follow them and walk into life.
- Rumi
reason is only
the child of the mind.
But true friendship
is born out of love and
is the water of life.
The footprints of the Friend
are all over the world.
Follow them and walk into life.
- Rumi
At Peace...
Remain at peace regarding whatever is said or done in conversations. If it is good, you have something for which to praise God. If it is bad, you have something in which to serve God by turning your heart away from it. - St. Francis de Sales
Timing...
The reformer comes to plow the ground; the prophet comes to sow the
seed; and the priest comes to reap the harvest.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is the time of plowing, there is the time of sowing and there is
the time of reaping the harvest. It is not all done at the same time.
seed; and the priest comes to reap the harvest.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is the time of plowing, there is the time of sowing and there is
the time of reaping the harvest. It is not all done at the same time.
Self-Love...
The self-love which the ego unvaryingly displays or cunningly disguises, in all circumstances and through its yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows alike, is simply a complete extroversion of the love which the World-Mind bears for itself, and which it reflects towards the whole universe. The ego, as a projection which is ultimately traceable to this divine source, carries with it what is nothing less and nothing other than divine love. But personalized and narrowed as it then becomes, this holy force is no longer recognizable for what it really is. However ugly or vicious, detestable or criminal, human selfishness shows itself to be at times, its essential nature remains unchanged--the love which is at God's heart, and even at the world's heart. It comes to this, that if God did not love himself, man could not do the same nor crave for love from his fellow man or give it to woman. And if God did not love man, no man and no woman would love God, seek God, and deny himself or herself for God. The corollary of all this is that since hate is the very opposite of love, and is so often the cause of murder, its birth in the human heart shuts out the human mind from the Overself's light more decisively than any other negative passion. No one can find redemption in whom it is active, nor will warring mankind be blessed with peace until it is expunged. — Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 3: Psyche > # 142......Paul Brunton
True Wealth...
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer........
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle
Quotes from I Am That, by Nisargadatta Maharaj ...
“All separation, every kind of estrangement and alienation is false. All is one—this is the ultimate solution of every conflict.”
“You are not in the body. The body is in you.”
“The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must question your most inveterate beliefs. Of these the idea that you are the body is the worst. ...Realize that what you are cannot be born nor die and with the fear gone all suffering ends.”
“You are so accustomed to think of yourselves as bodies having consciousness that you just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only, you will be able to withdraw beyond consciousness altogether.”
“You need not reach out for what is already with you. Your very reaching out makes you miss it. Give up the idea that you have not found it and just let it come into the focus of direct perception, here and now, by removing all that is of the mind.”
“See that you are not what you believe yourself to be. Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable. You are not. Refuse to think of this or that. There is no other way out of misery, which you have created for yourself through blind acceptance without investigation. Suffering is a call for inquiry, all pain needs investigation. Don’t be lazy to think.”
“Believe me, there is no goal, nor a way to reach it. You are the way and the goal, there is nothing else to reach except yourself. All you need is to understand and the understanding is the flowering of the mind.”
“The yogi comes to know many wonders, but of the self he remains ignorant. The gnani may look and feel quite ordinary, but the self he knows well.”
“Nobody ever fails in yoga. It is all a matter of the rate of progress. It is slow in the beginning and rapid in the end. When one is fully matured, realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously, or at the slightest hint. The quick is not better than the slow. Slow ripening and rapid flowering alternate. Both are natural and right.”
“You can only know your self by being yourself without any attempt at self-definition and self-description. Once you have understood that you are nothing perceivable or conceivable, that whatever appears in the field of consciousness cannot be your self, you will apply yourself to the eradication of all self identification, as the only way that can take you to a deeper realization of your self. You literally progress by rejection—a veritable rocket. To know that you are neither in the body nor in the mind, though aware of both, is already self-knowledge.”
“We dream that we are awake, we dream that we are asleep. The three states are only varieties of the dream state. Treating everything as a dream liberates. As long as you give reality to dreams, you are their slave. By imaging that you are born as so and so, you become a slave to the so-and-so. The essence of slavery is to imagine yourself to be a process, to have past and future, to have history.”
“There is no need of a way out! Don’t you see that a way out is also part of the dream? All you have to do is see the dream as dream. ...Wherever it leads you, it will be a dream. The very idea of going beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realize that you are dreaming a dream you call the world and stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like one part of your dream and not another. Love all, or none of it, and stop complaining. When you have seen the dream as a dream, you have done all that needs be done.”
“You want something like round-the-clock ecstasies. Ecstasies come and go, necessarily, for the human brain cannot stand the tension for a long time. A prolonged ecstasy will burn out your brain, unless it is extremely pure and subtle.”
“Experience, however sublime, is not the real thing. By its very nature it comes and goes. Self-realization is not an acquisition. It is more of the nature of understanding. Once arrived at, it cannot be lost.”
“If you want to make real progress, you must give up all idea of personal attainment. The ambitions of the so called yogis are preposterous. A man’s desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss..”
“Do not try to know the truth, for knowledge by the mind is not true knowledge. But you can know what is not true—which is enough to liberate you from the false. The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind. It is when you do not know, that you are free to investigate. And there can be no salvation, without investigation, because non investigation is the main cause of bondage.”
“Awareness is ever there. It need not be realized. Open the shutter of the mind, and it will be flooded with light.”
“You merely dream that you roam about. In a few years your stay in India will appear as a dream to you. You will dream some other dream at that time. Do realize that it is not you who moves from dream to dream, but the dreams flow before you and you are the immutable witness. No happening affects your real being—that is the absolute truth.”
“What you need will come to you if you do not ask for what you do not need.”
“Why desire at all? Desiring a state of freedom from desire will not set you free, because you are free. See yourself with desireless clarity, that is all.”
“You are not in the body. The body is in you.”
“The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must question your most inveterate beliefs. Of these the idea that you are the body is the worst. ...Realize that what you are cannot be born nor die and with the fear gone all suffering ends.”
“You are so accustomed to think of yourselves as bodies having consciousness that you just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only, you will be able to withdraw beyond consciousness altogether.”
“You need not reach out for what is already with you. Your very reaching out makes you miss it. Give up the idea that you have not found it and just let it come into the focus of direct perception, here and now, by removing all that is of the mind.”
“See that you are not what you believe yourself to be. Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable. You are not. Refuse to think of this or that. There is no other way out of misery, which you have created for yourself through blind acceptance without investigation. Suffering is a call for inquiry, all pain needs investigation. Don’t be lazy to think.”
“Believe me, there is no goal, nor a way to reach it. You are the way and the goal, there is nothing else to reach except yourself. All you need is to understand and the understanding is the flowering of the mind.”
“The yogi comes to know many wonders, but of the self he remains ignorant. The gnani may look and feel quite ordinary, but the self he knows well.”
“Nobody ever fails in yoga. It is all a matter of the rate of progress. It is slow in the beginning and rapid in the end. When one is fully matured, realization is explosive. It takes place spontaneously, or at the slightest hint. The quick is not better than the slow. Slow ripening and rapid flowering alternate. Both are natural and right.”
“You can only know your self by being yourself without any attempt at self-definition and self-description. Once you have understood that you are nothing perceivable or conceivable, that whatever appears in the field of consciousness cannot be your self, you will apply yourself to the eradication of all self identification, as the only way that can take you to a deeper realization of your self. You literally progress by rejection—a veritable rocket. To know that you are neither in the body nor in the mind, though aware of both, is already self-knowledge.”
“We dream that we are awake, we dream that we are asleep. The three states are only varieties of the dream state. Treating everything as a dream liberates. As long as you give reality to dreams, you are their slave. By imaging that you are born as so and so, you become a slave to the so-and-so. The essence of slavery is to imagine yourself to be a process, to have past and future, to have history.”
“There is no need of a way out! Don’t you see that a way out is also part of the dream? All you have to do is see the dream as dream. ...Wherever it leads you, it will be a dream. The very idea of going beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realize that you are dreaming a dream you call the world and stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like one part of your dream and not another. Love all, or none of it, and stop complaining. When you have seen the dream as a dream, you have done all that needs be done.”
“You want something like round-the-clock ecstasies. Ecstasies come and go, necessarily, for the human brain cannot stand the tension for a long time. A prolonged ecstasy will burn out your brain, unless it is extremely pure and subtle.”
“Experience, however sublime, is not the real thing. By its very nature it comes and goes. Self-realization is not an acquisition. It is more of the nature of understanding. Once arrived at, it cannot be lost.”
“If you want to make real progress, you must give up all idea of personal attainment. The ambitions of the so called yogis are preposterous. A man’s desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss..”
“Do not try to know the truth, for knowledge by the mind is not true knowledge. But you can know what is not true—which is enough to liberate you from the false. The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind. It is when you do not know, that you are free to investigate. And there can be no salvation, without investigation, because non investigation is the main cause of bondage.”
“Awareness is ever there. It need not be realized. Open the shutter of the mind, and it will be flooded with light.”
“You merely dream that you roam about. In a few years your stay in India will appear as a dream to you. You will dream some other dream at that time. Do realize that it is not you who moves from dream to dream, but the dreams flow before you and you are the immutable witness. No happening affects your real being—that is the absolute truth.”
“What you need will come to you if you do not ask for what you do not need.”
“Why desire at all? Desiring a state of freedom from desire will not set you free, because you are free. See yourself with desireless clarity, that is all.”
You alone are responsible for Happiness...
"How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes!" - (Act V, Scene II).As You Like It by William Shakespeare
To Love God...
To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God.
Meher Baba (1894 - 1969)
Meher Baba (1894 - 1969)
Meekness...
He whom the world troubles not, and who troubles not the world, who is free from the emotions of joy, wrath, and fear, is dear to Me. The man who is guileless, pure, upright, unconcerned, free from distress of mind, who renounces every enterprise and worships Me, is dear to Me. He who has neither delight nor aversion, who neither mourns nor desires, who renounces good and evil fortune, and worships Me, is dear to Me. He who is the same to friend and foe, and also in honour and dishonour, who is the same in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, who is wholly free from attatchment; To whom praise and blame are equal, who is silent, content with every fortune, home-renouncing, steadfast in mind, and worships Me, that man is dear to Me.
Bhagavad Gita 12:15-19
Bhagavad Gita 12:15-19
Distrust of Intellect...
"The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve". "That self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own". But he who has not first turned away from his wickedness, who is not tranquil, and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can never obtain the Self (even) by knowledge.
Katha Upanishad 1.2.22-24
Katha Upanishad 1.2.22-24
The One...
Mentalism says we can make sense of our experiences only if we apply to them, and to our understanding of them, the double standpoint: Immediate and Ultimate, or Appearance and Reality, or Relative and Absolute. The ordinary, normal point of view takes the world as the five senses find it--that is, as it appears to be. This is easy for everyone to understand and accept. But the deepest possible examination and analysis by philosophic intelligence, as well as the highest possible insight of mystic experience, presents a totally different result: The One, That which IS, has undergone no change at all.............Paul Brunton
The Laws...
Down through the ages, mystics and scientists regarded the finding of laws to be the equivalent of finding milestones of progress. The application of them, or the observance of them, will help us understand things not previously understood. They may also save us a few sore spots which are normally incurred by banging our heads against walls that do not move.
Law of Proportional Returns: You will get that which you give. Effort is rewarded and helping others inspires help. Helping also develops in us a more acceptable attitude.
Law of the Ladder: The ladder here is used as a symbol to show that there should be a selective giving of goods, energy, or spiritual help. The law says that you should not reach below the rung upon which you stand, except to the first rung below you in order to help people. If you reach down too low your efforts will be wasted, and you will be hurt. Or crucified.............Richard Rose
Law of Proportional Returns: You will get that which you give. Effort is rewarded and helping others inspires help. Helping also develops in us a more acceptable attitude.
Law of the Ladder: The ladder here is used as a symbol to show that there should be a selective giving of goods, energy, or spiritual help. The law says that you should not reach below the rung upon which you stand, except to the first rung below you in order to help people. If you reach down too low your efforts will be wasted, and you will be hurt. Or crucified.............Richard Rose
Notable Individuals and Nondualism...
The following is a list of individual thinkers, philosophers, writers, artists and so on whose works express a notable degree of nondualism. Not all individuals in this list self identify as presenting nonduality. They come from different religious, political and cultural traditions.
Ancient and Medieval Western philosophers
Plotinus
Parmenides
Heraclitus
Hildegard of Bingen
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Meister Eckhart
John of the Cross
Teresa of Avila
Modern Western philosophers
Baruch Spinoza
Friedrich Schelling
Georg Hegel
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mary Baker Eddy
Friedrich Nietzsche
F. H. Bradley
William James
A.N. Whitehead
Buckminster Fuller
Bertrand Russell
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Asian Philosophers and Teachers
Nagarjuna
Shankaracharya
Ramana Maharshi
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Ramesh Balsekar
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Lao Tzu
Gaudapada
Yajnavalkya
Bhartrhari
Meher Baba
Chuang Tzu
Swami Vivekananda
Ramakrishna
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
H. W. L. Poonja
Rajneesh
Wang Yangming
Wang Fuzhi
Yi I
Kaibara Ekken
Authors and musicians
Herman Melville
Richard Bach
Aldous Huxley
Stuart Davis
Kahlil Gibran
Alan Watts
Neale Donald Walsch
Contemporary Teachers
Adi Da
Adyashanti
Eckhart Tolle
Ken Wilber
Richard Rose
Gangaji ............... from Wikipedia
Ancient and Medieval Western philosophers
Plotinus
Parmenides
Heraclitus
Hildegard of Bingen
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Meister Eckhart
John of the Cross
Teresa of Avila
Modern Western philosophers
Baruch Spinoza
Friedrich Schelling
Georg Hegel
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mary Baker Eddy
Friedrich Nietzsche
F. H. Bradley
William James
A.N. Whitehead
Buckminster Fuller
Bertrand Russell
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Asian Philosophers and Teachers
Nagarjuna
Shankaracharya
Ramana Maharshi
Nisargadatta Maharaj
Ramesh Balsekar
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Lao Tzu
Gaudapada
Yajnavalkya
Bhartrhari
Meher Baba
Chuang Tzu
Swami Vivekananda
Ramakrishna
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
H. W. L. Poonja
Rajneesh
Wang Yangming
Wang Fuzhi
Yi I
Kaibara Ekken
Authors and musicians
Herman Melville
Richard Bach
Aldous Huxley
Stuart Davis
Kahlil Gibran
Alan Watts
Neale Donald Walsch
Contemporary Teachers
Adi Da
Adyashanti
Eckhart Tolle
Ken Wilber
Richard Rose
Gangaji ............... from Wikipedia
The gospel of Thomas...
The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us, how will our end come?"
Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."
Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."
Inner and Outer...
Your expectation of something unique and dramatic, of
some wonderful explosion, is merely hindering and
delaying your self-realization. You are not to expect an
explosion, for the explosion has already happened – at the
moment you were born, when you realized yourself as
being-knowing-feeling. There is only one mistake you are
making. You take the inner for the outer and the outer for
the inner. What is in you, you take to be outside you and
what is outside you take to be in you. The mind and
feelings are external, but you take them to be internal.
You believe the world to be objective, while it is entirely
a projection of your psyche. That is the basic confusion
and no new explosion will set it right. You have to think
yourself out of it. There is no other way.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
some wonderful explosion, is merely hindering and
delaying your self-realization. You are not to expect an
explosion, for the explosion has already happened – at the
moment you were born, when you realized yourself as
being-knowing-feeling. There is only one mistake you are
making. You take the inner for the outer and the outer for
the inner. What is in you, you take to be outside you and
what is outside you take to be in you. The mind and
feelings are external, but you take them to be internal.
You believe the world to be objective, while it is entirely
a projection of your psyche. That is the basic confusion
and no new explosion will set it right. You have to think
yourself out of it. There is no other way.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Advaitayana Yoga...
Advaita means, "not-two" and reveals the truth that all objects are expressions of unqualified Consciousness and always point back to Awareness, our true nature, the unfathomable Vast-ness-that-we-are. Consciousness and its objects are One, not two. This can never be conceptualized, only intuitively realized. Yana is the pathless "path" we traverse as our misperceptions of separation are healed. This path is not developmental. Separateness is not a case of something that exists becoming non-existent. Our 'self' never exists in the first place except conceptually. The path reveals the non-existence of the 'self' that always was nonexistent. Yoga is the means we utilize in realizing our non-separateness. We investigate all that we take ourself to be (body, senses and mind), and understand That, which we always are Be-ing-unqualified Presence. The body/mind is an expression of Consciousness, and we are That unqualified Consciousness. There is only Consciousness. Our yearning to understand comes from Consciousness. The path we traverse unfolds in Consciousness. The means that we utilize are the tools provided by Consciousness. And That, which we realize is Consciousness. Therefore, the emphasis of Advaitayana Yoga from the beginning, in the middle, and at the end is not on transformation but upon seeing, listening, understanding and welcoming all that is. From the non-dual perspective nothing needs to be changed in order for freedom to be ex-perienced. It takes effort to live our separateness. It takes no effort to be free. This is the final understanding of Advaitayana Yoga.......... Richard Miller
A Mystic Experience...
A mystic experience is simply something which comes and goes, whereas philosophic insight, once established in a man, cannot possibly leave him. He understands the Truth and cannot lose this understanding any more than an adult can lose his adulthood and become an infant.............Paul Brunton
Fear...
We are deceived whenever we find ourselves feverishly thinking through "all the possibilities" stirred up by a fearful moment, because the only possibility any of these fearful thoughts hold is which one of them is about to make us its prisoner.
~~~
The seemingly scary condition, whatever it may be, is not the problem. It is your reaction that is fearful. This is why if you will become conscious of your condition instead of afraid of it, you will change forever your relationship with fear.
~~~
Each day, as you discover something new about the strange and shaky nature of your own fearful reactions, they begin to lose their power over you. Why? Because you are at last seeing them for what they have always been: unintelligent mechanical forces.
~~~
To be consciously afraid means that you know you are frightened, but at the same time you know that these very fears, as real as they may seem, are not you.
~~~
Dare to proceed even while being afraid. But remember, your new aim isn't to be courageous or to try and act strong in the face of fear. No. We've seen that this won't work. You simply want to be more curious about your frightened thoughts and feelings than you want to believe in them.
-- Guy Finley
~~~
The seemingly scary condition, whatever it may be, is not the problem. It is your reaction that is fearful. This is why if you will become conscious of your condition instead of afraid of it, you will change forever your relationship with fear.
~~~
Each day, as you discover something new about the strange and shaky nature of your own fearful reactions, they begin to lose their power over you. Why? Because you are at last seeing them for what they have always been: unintelligent mechanical forces.
~~~
To be consciously afraid means that you know you are frightened, but at the same time you know that these very fears, as real as they may seem, are not you.
~~~
Dare to proceed even while being afraid. But remember, your new aim isn't to be courageous or to try and act strong in the face of fear. No. We've seen that this won't work. You simply want to be more curious about your frightened thoughts and feelings than you want to believe in them.
-- Guy Finley
Finally...
Can you think of anything more permanently elating than to know that you are on the right road at last?.......
Vernon Howard
Vernon Howard
Mystical Principles...
As we put off 'mortality' in each of our meditations, by
standing still, letting the mind see that we are not joining
with its thoughts just now; by relaxing from taking thought,
by opening that inner door, and simply remaining receptive;
we listen, we wait, we observe, we are quietly aware; this
is the vacuum into which the Living Spirit flows and reveals
Itself as a Presence in the midst of your consciousness.
Suddenly, as thoughts drop away, you discover you are
living in the conscious awareness of Eternity - you have
stepped out of the human belief in time. You feel your own
Omnipresence - you have stepped out of the human belief
in space. You silently commune with the Immortal One
that God manifested in the beginning before the world was.
you realize, that you have slipped out of the "parenthesis,"
and are once more dwelling in "the temple not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens."
Behold, the Kingdom of Heaven has entered your
consciousness, and the tabernacle of God is with men...........Bill Skiles
standing still, letting the mind see that we are not joining
with its thoughts just now; by relaxing from taking thought,
by opening that inner door, and simply remaining receptive;
we listen, we wait, we observe, we are quietly aware; this
is the vacuum into which the Living Spirit flows and reveals
Itself as a Presence in the midst of your consciousness.
Suddenly, as thoughts drop away, you discover you are
living in the conscious awareness of Eternity - you have
stepped out of the human belief in time. You feel your own
Omnipresence - you have stepped out of the human belief
in space. You silently commune with the Immortal One
that God manifested in the beginning before the world was.
you realize, that you have slipped out of the "parenthesis,"
and are once more dwelling in "the temple not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens."
Behold, the Kingdom of Heaven has entered your
consciousness, and the tabernacle of God is with men...........Bill Skiles
Spiritual Trust...
To the seer every person's soul is just like an open letter, but if
he were to divulge its secrets his sight would become dimmer every day,
because it is a trust given to him by God. Spiritual trust is given to
those who can keep that trust and who are able to keep a secret.
from the Teachings of
Hazrat Inayat Khan
he were to divulge its secrets his sight would become dimmer every day,
because it is a trust given to him by God. Spiritual trust is given to
those who can keep that trust and who are able to keep a secret.
from the Teachings of
Hazrat Inayat Khan
The True Self...
The true self of man is hidden in a central core of stillness, a central vacuum of silence. This core, this vacuum occupies only a pinpoint in dimension. All around it there is ring of thoughts and desires constituting the imagined self, the ego. This ring is constantly fermenting with fresh thoughts, constantly changing with fresh desires, and alternately bubbling with joy or heaving with grief. Whereas the centre is forever at rest, the ring around it is never at rest; whereas the centre bestows peace, the ring destroys it.........Paul Brunton
A Fool...
"Whatever a fool learns,
It only makes him duller.
Knowledge cleaves his head."
"For then he wants recognition,
A place before people,
A place over people."
"Let them know my work,
Let everyone look to me for direction."
'Such are his desires,
Such is his swelling pride."
"One way leads to wealth and fame,
The other to the end of the way."
"Look not for recognition
But follow the awakened
And set yourself free."
Gautama the Buddha
It only makes him duller.
Knowledge cleaves his head."
"For then he wants recognition,
A place before people,
A place over people."
"Let them know my work,
Let everyone look to me for direction."
'Such are his desires,
Such is his swelling pride."
"One way leads to wealth and fame,
The other to the end of the way."
"Look not for recognition
But follow the awakened
And set yourself free."
Gautama the Buddha
God is nearer to us than our mind and our body...
We are always searching for God afar off, when all the while He is
nearer to us than our own soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Spirituality has become far removed from material life, and so God is
far removed from humanity. Therefore, one cannot any more conceive of
God speaking through a man, through someone like oneself. Even a
religious man who reads the Bible every day will have great
difficulty in understanding the verse, 'Be ye perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect.' The Sufi message and its mission are to
bring this truth to the consciousness of the world: that man can dive
so deep within himself that he can touch the depths, where he is
united with the whole of life, with all souls, and that he can derive
from that source harmony, beauty, peace and power.
When a person turns for guidance to God, to the inner Being, then all
light and all knowledge are his for his guidance. "But," people
say, "how can we attach ourselves with the inner Being, so as to have
that guidance?" When the mind is fixed upon anything, then the person
becomes linked to that, a current is established between him and it.
It may be called the guidance of God or the guidance of the Self. If
we look within, God is nearer to us than our mind and our body,
because He is that life in which as is said in the Bible, we live and
move and have our being.
'The one whom I have called God, whose personality I have recognized,
and whose pleasure or displeasure I have sought, has been seeing His
life through my eyes, has been hearing through my ears. It was His
breath that came through my breathing, His impulse which I felt, and
therefore I know that this body which I had thought to be my own is
really the true temple of God. I did not realize that this body was
the shrine of God.' Not knowing that God experiences this life
through man, one is seeking for Him somewhere else, in some person
aloof and apart from the world, whereas all the time He is in oneself.
nearer to us than our own soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Spirituality has become far removed from material life, and so God is
far removed from humanity. Therefore, one cannot any more conceive of
God speaking through a man, through someone like oneself. Even a
religious man who reads the Bible every day will have great
difficulty in understanding the verse, 'Be ye perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect.' The Sufi message and its mission are to
bring this truth to the consciousness of the world: that man can dive
so deep within himself that he can touch the depths, where he is
united with the whole of life, with all souls, and that he can derive
from that source harmony, beauty, peace and power.
When a person turns for guidance to God, to the inner Being, then all
light and all knowledge are his for his guidance. "But," people
say, "how can we attach ourselves with the inner Being, so as to have
that guidance?" When the mind is fixed upon anything, then the person
becomes linked to that, a current is established between him and it.
It may be called the guidance of God or the guidance of the Self. If
we look within, God is nearer to us than our mind and our body,
because He is that life in which as is said in the Bible, we live and
move and have our being.
'The one whom I have called God, whose personality I have recognized,
and whose pleasure or displeasure I have sought, has been seeing His
life through my eyes, has been hearing through my ears. It was His
breath that came through my breathing, His impulse which I felt, and
therefore I know that this body which I had thought to be my own is
really the true temple of God. I did not realize that this body was
the shrine of God.' Not knowing that God experiences this life
through man, one is seeking for Him somewhere else, in some person
aloof and apart from the world, whereas all the time He is in oneself.
Ignorance...
Inner darkness, which we call ignorance, is the root of all suffering. The more inner light that comes, the more darkness will diminish. This is the only way to achieve salvation or nirvana. - Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
Two Selves...
There are two selves, the separate ego and the indivisible Atman. When one rises above I, me, and mine, the Atman is revealed as one's real Self. - Katha Upanishad
The Light...
There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart. - Chandogya Upanishad
The Soul is Love...
The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. By its very nature it must seek God, who is love. - Mechthild of Magdeburg
To Love Much...
It is more necessary to love much than to think much; always do that which impels you most to love. - St. Teresa of Avila
Solitude...
Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. -Henri J. M. Nouwen
Richard Rose from After the Absolute ...
"Would you say, then, that you found God in your Experience?"
"You become God, yes," Rose said matter-of-factly. "Although I hesitate to use that word because it comes with a long history of childish connotations. We're not talking about a big guy with white whiskers keeping tabs on how many rules we break."
"I think of God as more of a 'Universal Mind,'" the man continued quietly.
"Well, perhaps," Rose said. "But the Absolute is beyond Universal Mind. Mind is still a dimension. You discover this by losing your own individual mind. Then you realize--because Mind is still there--that what you had all your life was not the individual mind you thought you had, but merely contact with an undifferentiated Mind dimension.
"You become God, yes," Rose said matter-of-factly. "Although I hesitate to use that word because it comes with a long history of childish connotations. We're not talking about a big guy with white whiskers keeping tabs on how many rules we break."
"I think of God as more of a 'Universal Mind,'" the man continued quietly.
"Well, perhaps," Rose said. "But the Absolute is beyond Universal Mind. Mind is still a dimension. You discover this by losing your own individual mind. Then you realize--because Mind is still there--that what you had all your life was not the individual mind you thought you had, but merely contact with an undifferentiated Mind dimension.
The Way...
When mortals are alive, they worry about death. When they're full, they worry about hunger. Theirs is the Great Uncertainty. But sages don't consider the past. And they don't worry about the future. Nor do they cling to the present. And from moment to moment they follow the Way.
Quote / poem n° 3255 : Bodhidharma, ( 482 A.D - 539 A.D), founder of Chan Buddhism, Buddhism, Mahayana, Zen (Chan)
Quote / poem n° 3255 : Bodhidharma, ( 482 A.D - 539 A.D), founder of Chan Buddhism, Buddhism, Mahayana, Zen (Chan)
His Faith...
His faith is no longer of any use to him. In fact his faith is only useful so long as he is veiled and has not obtained direct vision and evidence… When that which was hidden becomes evident, when that of which he was merely informed is directly seen, the soul no longer derives any profit from that which it believes but only from that which it contemplates and sees. The states, the intentions, the goals which he had during the phase of faith are transformed. This transformation should be understood as purely inner. As to the exterior of this being, it is not modified even an iota. He continues to behave in a way which is acceptable to the sacred Law and commendable according to customs and natural law, engaging in the activities which conform to his situation and his rank among his fellow men.
Quote / poem n° 3275 : Abd el-Kader, (près de Mascara, auj. Muaskar, v. 1807 — Damas, 1883), émir algérien, Islam, Sufism
Quote / poem n° 3275 : Abd el-Kader, (près de Mascara, auj. Muaskar, v. 1807 — Damas, 1883), émir algérien, Islam, Sufism
Upanishads...
When awake to the vision of one's own Self, when a man in truth can say: "I am He," what desires could lead him to grieve in fever for the body?
... When a man sees the Atman, his own Self, the one God, the Lord of what was and of what shall be, then he fears no more.
... When a man sees the Atman, his own Self, the one God, the Lord of what was and of what shall be, then he fears no more.
The Ego...
The ego is a collection of thoughts circulating around
a fixed but empty centre. If the habits of many, many
reincarnations had not given them such strength and
persistence, they could be voided. The
reality--MIND--could then reveal Itself.........Paul Brunton
a fixed but empty centre. If the habits of many, many
reincarnations had not given them such strength and
persistence, they could be voided. The
reality--MIND--could then reveal Itself.........Paul Brunton
A Wise Man...
A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering........
Gautama the Buddha
Gautama the Buddha
Bhagavad Gita...
When a man has achieved non-attachment,
self-mastery and freedom from desire through renunciation,
he reaches union with Brahman,
who is beyond all action.
Learn from me now...
How man made perfect
Is one with Brahman,
the goal of wisdom.
When the mind and the heart
are freed from delusion,
United with Brahman,
when steady will
Has subdued the senses,
when sight and taste
And sound are abandoned,
Without regretting,
Without aversion,
When man seeks solitude,
Eats but little,
Curbing his speech,
His mind and his body,
Ever engaged
in his meditation
on Brahman the Truth,
and full of compassion;
When he casts from him
vanity and violence,
Pride, lust, anger,
And all his possessions,
Totally free
from the sense of ego
and tranquil of heart:
That man is ready,
for oneness with Brahman.
And he who dwells
United with Brahman,
calm in mind,
not grieving, not craving,
Regarding all men
with equal acceptance:
He loves me most dearly.
To love is to know me,
My innermost nature,
The Truth that I am:
Through this knowledge he enters
at once to my Being.
All that he does
is offered before me
in utter surrender:
My grace is upon him,
he finds the Eternal,
The place unchanging.
self-mastery and freedom from desire through renunciation,
he reaches union with Brahman,
who is beyond all action.
Learn from me now...
How man made perfect
Is one with Brahman,
the goal of wisdom.
When the mind and the heart
are freed from delusion,
United with Brahman,
when steady will
Has subdued the senses,
when sight and taste
And sound are abandoned,
Without regretting,
Without aversion,
When man seeks solitude,
Eats but little,
Curbing his speech,
His mind and his body,
Ever engaged
in his meditation
on Brahman the Truth,
and full of compassion;
When he casts from him
vanity and violence,
Pride, lust, anger,
And all his possessions,
Totally free
from the sense of ego
and tranquil of heart:
That man is ready,
for oneness with Brahman.
And he who dwells
United with Brahman,
calm in mind,
not grieving, not craving,
Regarding all men
with equal acceptance:
He loves me most dearly.
To love is to know me,
My innermost nature,
The Truth that I am:
Through this knowledge he enters
at once to my Being.
All that he does
is offered before me
in utter surrender:
My grace is upon him,
he finds the Eternal,
The place unchanging.
The Mystic Death ...
The truth of your own nature, the mystics all testify, is that you are nothing, which reveals that you are everything. In your deepest essence, you are identical with God or ultimate reality. Your real Life is the birthless and deathless Life of God, and the Life of God embraces the whole of creation. But as long as your identity is centered in the limited life of the ego, you cannot live in full consciousness of this Life. Thus, you must die to your self-centered life in order to awaken into the Life of God. As Rumi says, “You want Reality unmasked? Choose death! Not the death that drags you to the tomb—the death that is a transmutation, so you at last change into the Light” (Rumi, Odes). Or, as Jesus says, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matt. 16:25-26). Thus, the genuine mystic lives in and as God only insofar as the life in and as the ego is dead. It is the ego’s delusion of grandeur that imagines you can escape suffering and attain immortality, when in fact your life centered in the ego must be completely sacrificed in the mystical death. Any teacher or teaching that is not clear about this just feeds the ego’s propensity for megalomania and self-deception. The genuine mystical path involves the perpetual surrender and sacrifice of all self-centered egoistic activity, up to and including the complete sacrifice of ego-centered life itself. Thus all genuine mysticism teaches the cultivation of selflessness, love, and compassion........from integralscience.org
Know Thyself ...
At the end of his long life of selfless teaching, the Buddha said that you must strive on the path yourself—the Awakened Ones only point the way. Like the Buddha, all genuine mystics will tell you that the ultimate authority and touchstone of truth is not any scriptures or dogmas or teachers, but your own deepest experience. “Don’t take my word for it,” they will say, “find out for yourself!” Just as a scientist tests hypotheses using experiments, so you should test the teachings in the laboratory of your life using spiritual practices. It makes sense that you should be your own ultimate authority, because it is your own true nature that you must discover and know. As the oracle at Delphi commands: “know thyself.” And as Jesus instructs: “examine yourself, and learn who you are, how you exist, and what will become of you” (Jesus, Book of Thomas). The reason the genuine mystic directs your attention inward to seek your own true nature is because, as Jesus says, “He who has not known himself does not know anything, but he who has known himself has also known the depth of all” (Jesus, Book of Thomas). And Rumi tells you: “It’s you yourself that hide your own treasure” (Rumi, Mathnawi). So the genuine mystic will always point you to yourself, to discover the depths of your own true nature.
The mystical injunction to know yourself and look to yourself as your own ultimate authority, however, does not mean that teachers and teachings have no value in the mystical path. The point is that they only show the way, as the Buddha says. If you invest a particular teaching or teacher with ultimate truth, you will be implicitly separating yourself from the truth, and you will fail to realize the truth of your own nature. In the end, however, when you realize that the teachings and teachers—and indeed the entire world—is not separate from you, then you will see that your entire life is the truth of your own deepest being revealing itself to itself. Thus, to see truth in nothing reveals the truth in everything..........from integralscience.org
The mystical injunction to know yourself and look to yourself as your own ultimate authority, however, does not mean that teachers and teachings have no value in the mystical path. The point is that they only show the way, as the Buddha says. If you invest a particular teaching or teacher with ultimate truth, you will be implicitly separating yourself from the truth, and you will fail to realize the truth of your own nature. In the end, however, when you realize that the teachings and teachers—and indeed the entire world—is not separate from you, then you will see that your entire life is the truth of your own deepest being revealing itself to itself. Thus, to see truth in nothing reveals the truth in everything..........from integralscience.org
What kind of people were the Taoist sages?...
In ancient times there were great Taoist Sages.
Their way of living was so deep, so subtle, it cannot be directly explained.
Instead, here is how they looked:
Cautious, as if crossing the ford of a stream in Winter
Alert, as if surrounded by danger
Polite, as if they were always a guest
Yielding, like ice that is on the verge of melting
Sincere, like an uncut block of wood
Receptive, like a valley
Opaque, like muddy water
(Q:)
Who can wait quietly for muddy water to slowly settle and become clear?
Who can continue to calmly live, and so experience nature's constant, slow growth?
(A:)
People who follow the Tao do not desire excess to be full.
People who do not desire excess have unseen energy that constantly invigorates.
..................from "About the Tao"
Their way of living was so deep, so subtle, it cannot be directly explained.
Instead, here is how they looked:
Cautious, as if crossing the ford of a stream in Winter
Alert, as if surrounded by danger
Polite, as if they were always a guest
Yielding, like ice that is on the verge of melting
Sincere, like an uncut block of wood
Receptive, like a valley
Opaque, like muddy water
(Q:)
Who can wait quietly for muddy water to slowly settle and become clear?
Who can continue to calmly live, and so experience nature's constant, slow growth?
(A:)
People who follow the Tao do not desire excess to be full.
People who do not desire excess have unseen energy that constantly invigorates.
..................from "About the Tao"
Accumulation...
"The mind, the body, and the emotions play this game called
accumulation. They evaluate one piece of conceptual knowledge against
another piece of conceptual knowledge. "How does this piece compare
to that one? And how does that compare to this?"
We like to compare our experiences with others. "What have you
experienced? Oh, I haven't experienced that, but I have experienced
this; have you?" "This is what I believe; what do you believe?"
Then the emotional body asks, "Is this it? Is this the right
experience? Am I having the experience? Why don't I have the
experience?" The body-mind collects more things to do, more
techniques, more this, more that.
The mind and body tend to follow old patterns, making horizontal
movements, collecting facts, teachings, teachers, beliefs, and
experiences. That's the predominant way most people live their lives
horizontally, not vertically. Then they bring that movement into
their spiritual lives. But it doesn't matter how much horizontal
accumulation of knowledge and experience you have; more information
does not equal greater depth.
Now, in this moment, you can realize that you are truly not going to
get anything from my words, that whatever your mind absorbs and
accumulates as knowledge is not going to get you any more depth.
None. Zero. Nothing.
It will just get you more horizontal movement. It will just get you
more knowledge.
Maybe that's what you want, maybe not. But as soon as you realize
the limitation of mind, the mind feels very disarmed because it has
so much less to do.
There is an invitation beyond the wall of knowledge, which is not to
some regressive state before the mind can operate, but a transcendent
state that's beyond where the mind can go. That's what spirituality
is. It's going where the mind cannot go."
~ Adyashanti
From the book, 'Emptiness Dancing'
accumulation. They evaluate one piece of conceptual knowledge against
another piece of conceptual knowledge. "How does this piece compare
to that one? And how does that compare to this?"
We like to compare our experiences with others. "What have you
experienced? Oh, I haven't experienced that, but I have experienced
this; have you?" "This is what I believe; what do you believe?"
Then the emotional body asks, "Is this it? Is this the right
experience? Am I having the experience? Why don't I have the
experience?" The body-mind collects more things to do, more
techniques, more this, more that.
The mind and body tend to follow old patterns, making horizontal
movements, collecting facts, teachings, teachers, beliefs, and
experiences. That's the predominant way most people live their lives
horizontally, not vertically. Then they bring that movement into
their spiritual lives. But it doesn't matter how much horizontal
accumulation of knowledge and experience you have; more information
does not equal greater depth.
Now, in this moment, you can realize that you are truly not going to
get anything from my words, that whatever your mind absorbs and
accumulates as knowledge is not going to get you any more depth.
None. Zero. Nothing.
It will just get you more horizontal movement. It will just get you
more knowledge.
Maybe that's what you want, maybe not. But as soon as you realize
the limitation of mind, the mind feels very disarmed because it has
so much less to do.
There is an invitation beyond the wall of knowledge, which is not to
some regressive state before the mind can operate, but a transcendent
state that's beyond where the mind can go. That's what spirituality
is. It's going where the mind cannot go."
~ Adyashanti
From the book, 'Emptiness Dancing'
The Bhagavad Gita...
"'That brilliant sunshine which lights the entire universe,
the brilliance which is in the moon and in fire,
know that to be mine.
And entering the earth I maintain creatures with energy,
and I nourish all plants becoming the flavor-souled nectar.
Becoming digestive fire entering the body of the breathing
uniting with the breath I digest the fourfold food.
And I am seated in the hearts of all;
from me are memory, knowledge, and reasoning;
and I am recognized by all the Vedas;
I am the Vedanta maker and the Veda knower.
"'There are these two spirits in the world,
perishable and imperishable,
and all creatures are perishable;
the imperishable is called unchanging.
"'But the highest spirit is another,
called the supreme soul, who,
entering the three worlds as the undying Lord,
supports them.
Since I transcend the perishable
and am higher than the imperishable,
therefore I am celebrated in the world and in the Veda
as the highest spirit.
Whoever thus unconfused knows me as the highest spirit,
this omniscient one worships me
with the whole being, Bharata.
So this most secret doctrine explained by me, blameless one,
intuiting this, one should be enlightened
and accomplished, Bharata.'
the brilliance which is in the moon and in fire,
know that to be mine.
And entering the earth I maintain creatures with energy,
and I nourish all plants becoming the flavor-souled nectar.
Becoming digestive fire entering the body of the breathing
uniting with the breath I digest the fourfold food.
And I am seated in the hearts of all;
from me are memory, knowledge, and reasoning;
and I am recognized by all the Vedas;
I am the Vedanta maker and the Veda knower.
"'There are these two spirits in the world,
perishable and imperishable,
and all creatures are perishable;
the imperishable is called unchanging.
"'But the highest spirit is another,
called the supreme soul, who,
entering the three worlds as the undying Lord,
supports them.
Since I transcend the perishable
and am higher than the imperishable,
therefore I am celebrated in the world and in the Veda
as the highest spirit.
Whoever thus unconfused knows me as the highest spirit,
this omniscient one worships me
with the whole being, Bharata.
So this most secret doctrine explained by me, blameless one,
intuiting this, one should be enlightened
and accomplished, Bharata.'
Defining Life...
"Do not try to define life. If you call it absurd, you are saying
it should be sensible according to your exclusive viewpoints. If
you insist it is meaningful, you will soon change your mind when
unexpected events upset your comfortable position. Stop philoso-
phizing. Leave life alone. It neither needs nor heeds our wordy
definitions."
The Power of your Supermind, p. 178.......Vernon Howard
it should be sensible according to your exclusive viewpoints. If
you insist it is meaningful, you will soon change your mind when
unexpected events upset your comfortable position. Stop philoso-
phizing. Leave life alone. It neither needs nor heeds our wordy
definitions."
The Power of your Supermind, p. 178.......Vernon Howard
The Gospel of Thomas...
Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.
But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."
But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."
Friendship...
“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.”........
St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas
What is Friendship?...
Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviors. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the trust that someone or something will not harm them.
Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis:
the tendency to desire what is best for the other,
sympathy and empathy,
honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one's counterpart
mutual understanding.
In a comparison of personal relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and zoology. Various theories of friendship have been proposed, among which are social psychology, social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles.........from Wikipedia
Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis:
the tendency to desire what is best for the other,
sympathy and empathy,
honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one's counterpart
mutual understanding.
In a comparison of personal relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and zoology. Various theories of friendship have been proposed, among which are social psychology, social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles.........from Wikipedia
How does Love Manifest...
Love manifests towards those whom we like as love; towards those whom
we do not like as forgiveness.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
In the East, when we speak of saints or sages, it is not because of
their miracles, it is because of their presence and their countenance
which radiate vibrations of love. How does this love express itself?
In tolerance, in forgiveness, in respect, in overlooking the faults
of others. Their sympathy covers the defects of others as if they
were their own; they forget their own interest in the interest of
others. They do not mind what conditions they are in; be they high or
humble, their foreheads are smiling. To their eyes everyone is the
expression of the Beloved, whose name they repeat. They see the
divine in all forms and in all beings.
Think of the life of the great Master Jesus... one sees that from
beginning to end there was nothing but love and forgiveness. The best
expression of love is that love which is expressed in forgiveness.
Those who came with their wrongs, errors, imperfections, before the
love, that was all forgiven; there was always a stream of love which
always purified.
We may make an ideal in our imagination, and, whenever we see that
goodness is lacking, we may add to it from our own heart and so
complete the nobility of human nature. This is done by patience,
tolerance, kindness, forgiveness. The lover of goodness loves every
little sign of goodness. He overlooks the faults and fills up the
gaps by pouring out love and supplying that which is lacking. This is
real nobility of soul. Religion, prayer, and worship, are all
intended to ennoble the soul, not to make it narrow, sectarian or
bigoted. One cannot arrive at true nobility of spirit if one is not
prepared to forgive the imperfections of human nature. For all men,
whether worthy or unworthy, require forgiveness, and only in this way
can one rise above the lack of harmony and beauty.
we do not like as forgiveness.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
In the East, when we speak of saints or sages, it is not because of
their miracles, it is because of their presence and their countenance
which radiate vibrations of love. How does this love express itself?
In tolerance, in forgiveness, in respect, in overlooking the faults
of others. Their sympathy covers the defects of others as if they
were their own; they forget their own interest in the interest of
others. They do not mind what conditions they are in; be they high or
humble, their foreheads are smiling. To their eyes everyone is the
expression of the Beloved, whose name they repeat. They see the
divine in all forms and in all beings.
Think of the life of the great Master Jesus... one sees that from
beginning to end there was nothing but love and forgiveness. The best
expression of love is that love which is expressed in forgiveness.
Those who came with their wrongs, errors, imperfections, before the
love, that was all forgiven; there was always a stream of love which
always purified.
We may make an ideal in our imagination, and, whenever we see that
goodness is lacking, we may add to it from our own heart and so
complete the nobility of human nature. This is done by patience,
tolerance, kindness, forgiveness. The lover of goodness loves every
little sign of goodness. He overlooks the faults and fills up the
gaps by pouring out love and supplying that which is lacking. This is
real nobility of soul. Religion, prayer, and worship, are all
intended to ennoble the soul, not to make it narrow, sectarian or
bigoted. One cannot arrive at true nobility of spirit if one is not
prepared to forgive the imperfections of human nature. For all men,
whether worthy or unworthy, require forgiveness, and only in this way
can one rise above the lack of harmony and beauty.
Morality...
Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something......
Henry David Thoreau
US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862)
Henry David Thoreau
US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862)
Within us...
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.........Ralph Waldo Emerson
Grace and the Mystic...
“The great mystics of all religions agree that in the very depths of the unconscious, in every one of us, there is a living presence that is not touched by time, place or circumstance. Life has only one purpose, they add, and that is to discover this presence. The men and women who have done this - Francis of Assisi, for example, Mahatma Gandhi, Teresa of Avila, the Compassionate Buddha - are living proof of the words of Jesus Christ, ‘The kingdom of heaven is within.’
“But they are quick to tell us — everyone of them - that no one can enter that kingdom, and discover the Ruler who lives there, who has not brought the movement of the mind under control. And they do not pretend that our own efforts to tame the mind will suffice in themselves. Grace, they remind us, is all-important. ‘Increase in my grace,’ Thomas a Kempis prays, ‘that I may be able to fulfill thy words, and to work out mine own salvation.’
“The hallmark of the man or woman of God is gratitude - endless, passionate gratitude for the previous gift of spiritual awareness…. it surrounds us always. Like a wind that is always blowing, said Francis de Sales; like fire, said Catherine of Genoa, that never stops burning..”
Eknath Easwaran
“But they are quick to tell us — everyone of them - that no one can enter that kingdom, and discover the Ruler who lives there, who has not brought the movement of the mind under control. And they do not pretend that our own efforts to tame the mind will suffice in themselves. Grace, they remind us, is all-important. ‘Increase in my grace,’ Thomas a Kempis prays, ‘that I may be able to fulfill thy words, and to work out mine own salvation.’
“The hallmark of the man or woman of God is gratitude - endless, passionate gratitude for the previous gift of spiritual awareness…. it surrounds us always. Like a wind that is always blowing, said Francis de Sales; like fire, said Catherine of Genoa, that never stops burning..”
Eknath Easwaran
Searching...
"Instead of searching for what you do not have, find out what it is
that you have never lost. That which is there before the beginning
and after the ending of everything; that to which there is no birth,
nor death. That immovable state, which is not affected by the birth
and death of a body or a mind, that state you must perceive.".....Nisargadatta
that you have never lost. That which is there before the beginning
and after the ending of everything; that to which there is no birth,
nor death. That immovable state, which is not affected by the birth
and death of a body or a mind, that state you must perceive.".....Nisargadatta
Truth will find You...
Discard every self-seeking motive as soon as it is seen and you need
not search for truth; truth will find you.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
not search for truth; truth will find you.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
SEEK WITHIN~
Essentially there is only one inner Call, but the different religions
have devised different methods to make man aware of it. Once a man
awakes to it there is no more need to cry out again and again. Truly
speaking it is not you who call Him, but He who calls you. Just as in
the hushed silence of night the sound of distant temple bells and
conches can be clearly heard, even so, when through intense and
undivided devotion to Him the hunger of the senses is stilled, His
call will find response from your inmost depths and reverberate
through your whole being. Then and then only will true prayer
spontaneously flow from your heart.
(Sri Anandamayi Ma)
have devised different methods to make man aware of it. Once a man
awakes to it there is no more need to cry out again and again. Truly
speaking it is not you who call Him, but He who calls you. Just as in
the hushed silence of night the sound of distant temple bells and
conches can be clearly heard, even so, when through intense and
undivided devotion to Him the hunger of the senses is stilled, His
call will find response from your inmost depths and reverberate
through your whole being. Then and then only will true prayer
spontaneously flow from your heart.
(Sri Anandamayi Ma)
The End of Spiritual Seeking...
When the end of seeking occurs the need and impulse to acquire further 'answers' dissolves.
When the end of spiritual searching occurs the urge to read more spiritual books, go to more satsangs, go to more retreats, find exciting new teachers or get the latest from a particular teacher, is not there any more.
You will know when the end of seeking occurs. This one is not difficult.
You know that it has ended. You notice that you are not seeking any more.
It is not like trying to work out whether you are enlightened, or self-realized, or if you have become 'awake'.
To know that you have stopped seeking, you do not have to read a book or ask someone if it has happened.
It is simple and it is obvious.
There are no esoteric concepts to deal with. Not something you can take as an achievement.
The end of spiritual seeking occurs when you have realized what you have been looking for has been there all along.
The end of seeking occurs when you have realized that you are not the one you thought you were.
But maybe, the first thing you notice, some time later, is that the seeking has ended.
And the suffering has ended too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What follows on these pages takes as its starting point the following.
NonDuality. Oneness. One without a second, unequivocally.
All is Consciousness/Awareness and all Objects appear in That.
(Objects meaning - the world, thoughts etc)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The age old spiritual quest is to find out who you really are.
Finding out who/what you are and who/what you are not is the single focus of this website.
We as humans have a self image - a mental structure that defines our nature and while we are still quite young we come to believe that the self image is more than just an image - it is our actual nature.
The self image is variable - one day it might be positive and the next day, or even an hour later, or a minute later it might be very very negative. When the image is very negative and it is referring to 'me' it can cause a great deal of suffering.
The self image, the ego, is composed only of thoughts - there is no aliveness there at all and no awareness either. Just thoughts. There is no 'me' there at all.
A collection of thoughts about our nature is not the same as the actuality of our nature just as a description of a car is not the same as an actual car. The description of a wash is not the same as an actual wash. The description of a wonderful holiday is not the same as actually experiencing a wonderful holiday.
There is an aliveness to the actuality - it exists now. The description, by contrast, is made up of components all of which belong to the past.
The description is not the thing - and the self image is a description. Whether the description is accurate or inaccurate is not the issue - the description is not what is being described, the real, the actual. Believing that a self image ('good', 'bad' or 'indifferent') encapsulates your true nature is believing a fiction.
We exist, we are aware and we are alive. Our aliveness, the certainly of our existence and the knowledge that we are aware is directly experienced by everyone. Our true nature is the Aliveness that we are, which is also described as Awareness, Consciousness or Presence-Awareness.
In believing the fiction that the self image, the ego, comprises our true nature and IS our true nature we apparently lose touch with the depth our true nature - after all the 'thing' that we are identifying with does not have any Aliveness at all - it is a false dead image from the past. And we suffer.
Seeing the false as false (we are not who we think we are) enables the re-cognition of our true nature - which has actually been there all along.
This is the spiritual quest - find out who you really are and find out who you are not.
It is all in the SEEing.
Words, descriptions, beliefs or convictions are not enough.
Only SEEing the actual will do.
Written by Mike Graham, 19 Jan 2008, last edited 31 Mar 2008
When the end of spiritual searching occurs the urge to read more spiritual books, go to more satsangs, go to more retreats, find exciting new teachers or get the latest from a particular teacher, is not there any more.
You will know when the end of seeking occurs. This one is not difficult.
You know that it has ended. You notice that you are not seeking any more.
It is not like trying to work out whether you are enlightened, or self-realized, or if you have become 'awake'.
To know that you have stopped seeking, you do not have to read a book or ask someone if it has happened.
It is simple and it is obvious.
There are no esoteric concepts to deal with. Not something you can take as an achievement.
The end of spiritual seeking occurs when you have realized what you have been looking for has been there all along.
The end of seeking occurs when you have realized that you are not the one you thought you were.
But maybe, the first thing you notice, some time later, is that the seeking has ended.
And the suffering has ended too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What follows on these pages takes as its starting point the following.
NonDuality. Oneness. One without a second, unequivocally.
All is Consciousness/Awareness and all Objects appear in That.
(Objects meaning - the world, thoughts etc)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The age old spiritual quest is to find out who you really are.
Finding out who/what you are and who/what you are not is the single focus of this website.
We as humans have a self image - a mental structure that defines our nature and while we are still quite young we come to believe that the self image is more than just an image - it is our actual nature.
The self image is variable - one day it might be positive and the next day, or even an hour later, or a minute later it might be very very negative. When the image is very negative and it is referring to 'me' it can cause a great deal of suffering.
The self image, the ego, is composed only of thoughts - there is no aliveness there at all and no awareness either. Just thoughts. There is no 'me' there at all.
A collection of thoughts about our nature is not the same as the actuality of our nature just as a description of a car is not the same as an actual car. The description of a wash is not the same as an actual wash. The description of a wonderful holiday is not the same as actually experiencing a wonderful holiday.
There is an aliveness to the actuality - it exists now. The description, by contrast, is made up of components all of which belong to the past.
The description is not the thing - and the self image is a description. Whether the description is accurate or inaccurate is not the issue - the description is not what is being described, the real, the actual. Believing that a self image ('good', 'bad' or 'indifferent') encapsulates your true nature is believing a fiction.
We exist, we are aware and we are alive. Our aliveness, the certainly of our existence and the knowledge that we are aware is directly experienced by everyone. Our true nature is the Aliveness that we are, which is also described as Awareness, Consciousness or Presence-Awareness.
In believing the fiction that the self image, the ego, comprises our true nature and IS our true nature we apparently lose touch with the depth our true nature - after all the 'thing' that we are identifying with does not have any Aliveness at all - it is a false dead image from the past. And we suffer.
Seeing the false as false (we are not who we think we are) enables the re-cognition of our true nature - which has actually been there all along.
This is the spiritual quest - find out who you really are and find out who you are not.
It is all in the SEEing.
Words, descriptions, beliefs or convictions are not enough.
Only SEEing the actual will do.
Written by Mike Graham, 19 Jan 2008, last edited 31 Mar 2008
The Self as Consciousness...
from: 'Absolute Consciousness' Ramana Maharshi
As selected by Grace J McMartin
There is no moment when the Self as
consciousness does not exist
nor when the seer remains apart from
consciousness.
This consciousness is the eternal being and
only being.
As selected by Grace J McMartin
There is no moment when the Self as
consciousness does not exist
nor when the seer remains apart from
consciousness.
This consciousness is the eternal being and
only being.
[DzogchenPractice] Light Body in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
From the 10th Century:
St. Symeon the New Theologian
(Excerpts)
".........How is it that you have clothed me
in the brilliant garment,
radiant with the splendor of immortality,
that turns all my members into light?
Your body, immaculate and divine,
is all radiant with the fire of your divinity,
.......with which it is ineffably joined and combined.
This is the gift you have given me, my God:
that this mortal and shabby frame
has become one with your immaculate body
that I have been made one with your divinity
and have become your own most pure body,
a brilliant member, transparently lucid,
luminous and holy.
I see the beauty of it all, I can gaze on the radiance.
I have become a reflection of the light of your grace.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
(Excerpts)
".........How is it that you have clothed me
in the brilliant garment,
radiant with the splendor of immortality,
that turns all my members into light?
Your body, immaculate and divine,
is all radiant with the fire of your divinity,
.......with which it is ineffably joined and combined.
This is the gift you have given me, my God:
that this mortal and shabby frame
has become one with your immaculate body
that I have been made one with your divinity
and have become your own most pure body,
a brilliant member, transparently lucid,
luminous and holy.
I see the beauty of it all, I can gaze on the radiance.
I have become a reflection of the light of your grace.
Seeking...
Why is it that despite all the visible and touchable counter-attractions, despite the innumerable failures and long years of fruitlessness, so many men have sought through so many ages in so many lands for God, for what is utterly intangible, unnameable, shapeless, unseen, and unheard? Because the simple but astonishing fact is that the Overself, which is the presence of God in them, is part of their nature as human beings! Mysticism is nothing more than the methodical attempt to wake up to this fact. The "soul" which metaphysics points to in reasoning, mysticism establishes in experience. We all need to feel the divine presence. Even the man who asserts that he does not is no exception. For he indirectly finds it just the same in spite of himself but under limited forms like aesthetic appreciation or Nature's inspiration. Even if all contemporary mystics were to die out, even if not a single living man were to be interested in mysticism, even if all mystical doctrines were to disappear from human memory and written record, the logic of evolution would bring back both the teaching and the practice. They are two of those historical necessities which are certain to be regained in the course of humanity's cultural progress...............Paul Brunton
At the End...
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time........
T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot
Transcending Experiences...
Throughout the ages, all the mystics have taught the same thing. The kingdom of God is here now. Immortality is here now. We are as immortal and spiritual as we will ever be, and we need to recognize that now. Ernest Holmes taught that we have learned all we need to from pain and suffering. We can put our burdens down. He wrote, "Somewhere the walls of experience must be broken down. We must learn that we can transcend our previous experiences; that beyond the finite is the infinite."
~ Ron Fox
~ Ron Fox
Jainism...
A man who is averse from harming even the wind knows the sorrow of all things living. . . . He who knows what is bad for himself knows what is bad for others, and he who knows what is bad for others knows what is bad for himself. This reciprocity should always be borne in mind. Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live [at the expense of others]. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against wind is called a true sage who understands karma.
In short be who understands the nature of sin in respect of all the six types of living beings is called a true sage who understands karma.........Acaranga Sutra, Jainism
In short be who understands the nature of sin in respect of all the six types of living beings is called a true sage who understands karma.........Acaranga Sutra, Jainism
The Kingdom Within...
“A man may be the greatest philosopher in the world but a child in RELIGION. When a man has developed a high state of spirituality he can understand that the kingdom of heaven is within him.” (Also said by Jesus the Christ)...........
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Salvation...
“TO worship God even for the sake of salvation or any other reward is equally degenerate. Love knows no reward. Give your love unto to God, but do not ask anything in return even from Him through pray.”
Swami Vivekananda quotes (Indian Spiritual leader of the Hindu religion)
Swami Vivekananda quotes (Indian Spiritual leader of the Hindu religion)
Spitituality...
Discovering spirituality is like discovering you are in a boat. Mysticism is like pushing off from the dock. Since many leave safe mooring and perish in the waves, this is not to be done in a cavalier fashion - even though it can be exciting to push off into the deep.
The issue is not of whether we should push off, for Christians must do so as well if they intend to get anywhere (and that is what boats are for), but rather of where you are going...The Christian casts off from this world as well, but with clear intent to where he is headed, with the best of maps, circumspectly, deliberately.
The Christian Mystic arrives, against all dangers and odds. Thus we launch out with fear and trembling, but trust that He who commanded us to do so can calm the waves, and see us through to His real, safe port.
C.S. Lewis
The issue is not of whether we should push off, for Christians must do so as well if they intend to get anywhere (and that is what boats are for), but rather of where you are going...The Christian casts off from this world as well, but with clear intent to where he is headed, with the best of maps, circumspectly, deliberately.
The Christian Mystic arrives, against all dangers and odds. Thus we launch out with fear and trembling, but trust that He who commanded us to do so can calm the waves, and see us through to His real, safe port.
C.S. Lewis
Christian Mysticism...
Undoubtedly, a mystic is someone who has a direct experience of the divine. In addition, many mystics are broad-thinking, intelligent and have a good grasp of the concepts of infinity and transcendence. Many people today see mysticism as a facet of new-age or Eastern religious thought. However, Christian mysticism is as old as Christianity itself. Possibly the first Christian mystic was St John the evangelist. The Gospel of John presents a mystic's view of the life and work of Jesus.
Jenny Smith
Jenny Smith
Reality...
Mysticism is concerned with the nature of reality, the individual's struggle to attain a clear vision of reality, and the transformation of consciousness that accompanies such vision.
D. Platt
D. Platt
Peace...
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace...........Gautama the Buddha......
Surrender...
Real self-conquest is the conquest of ourselves not by ourselves but
by the Holy Spirit. Self-conquest is really self-surrender..........
Thomas Merton
by the Holy Spirit. Self-conquest is really self-surrender..........
Thomas Merton
Thought and Truth...
Thought cannot know the truth; it cannot discover the truth. By definition, it is barred. It can only know it intellectually. Feeling could evaluate properly a situation -- give it its due recognition in terms of being a felt content. Will would have to implement it, or carry out the activity required of it. Now these three things [thinking, feeling, willing] are all still in the domain of relativity. Even if they're perfectly balanced, they're still in the domain of relativity. When they're fused together, and they engender an entirely different faculty, insight, THAT is what discovers the source.
-- Anthony Damiani 2/8/84
-- Anthony Damiani 2/8/84
Insecurity...
"Q. Why do I feel so insecure?
A. Because you have so many securities, like friends and
activities, which you sense are impermanent. These are mere
beliefs about security, not security itself. You are permanently
secure when you have no securities, simply because you have no-
thing to be insecure about."
Live Above this Crazy World, p. 9............Vernon Howard
A. Because you have so many securities, like friends and
activities, which you sense are impermanent. These are mere
beliefs about security, not security itself. You are permanently
secure when you have no securities, simply because you have no-
thing to be insecure about."
Live Above this Crazy World, p. 9............Vernon Howard
Our True Self...
This is right isn't it? Our True SELF, our Monad, was always there,
realized, Real and Awake. This is the basic Principle.
And it is also true that in fact the ego wants to achieve ascension which of
course is impossible.
So, the only thing needed is that the ego must get out of the way in order
to let the True SELF shine through man's microcosm.
It was Budha who preached the great labour of purifying ego it in order to
find Nirvana.
While this is a vital Principle, yet this is not enough. There is more..
Two additional Principles must be added that would make the Truth complete
and coherent and clear.
Let one first begin with asking oneself, when and how does ego understand
what the true situation is? Studying the reality and the ancient Wisdom will
help greatly to answer this question.
The second question is, when and how does ego decide to get out of the way?
Responding this question properly is somewhat complicated. But there is an
answer.
Those are the two fundamental steps that even Buddha did not explain fully.
First we must come to understand that ego never ever wants to learn the
Truth and neither does it want to get out of the way.... when it is not
being motivated - or better said to be inspired - to do so. And there lies
the crux.
When does man, or ego becomes inspired to learn the Truth about himself and
his environment (which is his first most fundamental choice or ability), and
then to finally decide (which is his second and even more fundamental
choice) to get out of the way in order to make space for the True SELF?
1. There is no person or ego who is willing to learn the Truth when his soul
is not matured enough by playing out the many drama's on earth through so
many incarnations. It could be that one's soul need more drama's.
Only when man finally comes to know what compassion is and what Love is and
thus learn to balance its karma even without knowing the deepest insights
about the karmic process and consequences, only then he/she will make the
first step. In other words, only when the soul reaches the point that it has
come to see through all the drama's (through its maturing) and most of the
karma has been balanced, only then the soul decides to seek for the short
route upwards.
Ego can only be motivated to cooperate with this new labour when it feels
attracted by Love, this strange Cosmic attraction, and also by getting
reminded by his soul of the agreement he made prior to incarnation, and
thirdly by being assisted by the Cosmos to help increase his/her awareness a
little bit.
Only so the ego will decide to learn and to get to understand.
2. There is no person or ego who is willing to get out of the way, or to
decide to become a true disciple or Servant of mankind....when it is not
being inspired to do so.
This inspiration comes through two very specific Cosmic actions. One of
which is the socalled "Baptism of Fire" and the next is the Cosmic
"confirmation" (or initiation) to becoming a Servant.
The Baptism of Fire means that the aspirant will at a certain moment be
stricken in the heart by a divine Light activating his Atma.
The Confirmation to become a Servant is when devotion becomes transformed
into consecration. Man and man's soul will be confronted with the final
Purpose which is connected to the divine Plan.
The aspirant is then welcomed to enter the great temple of the true
disciples' souls where he will find them all working actively for the Divine
Plan for the Earth and mankind. Only so, the ego will decide to get out of
the way and to purify his heart.
It is clear that both milestones are Cosmic of nature and has nothing to do
with ego or even his atma or his purifying. It is his Monade and the
Hierarchy who are calling the soul back and are helping him to purify.
It is vital to understand this, for it means the integration and
harmonization of the Buddhic doctrine of Wisdom about our reality with the
doctrine of Jesus who preached Love and the existence of cosmic Light. It
was Jesus who opened new windows in the awakening or purifying process,
needed to make final steps in ones progression.
There is another Principle that is coming to the fore during the cleansing
process itself:
3. There is no person or ego who is in any way able to purify himself
thoroughly with respect to all his impurities and imperfections...when he is
not being assisted by the Cosmos and/or the Hierarchy.
First of all, ego cannot cleanse itself completely for this would mean to
lift itself up by its own shoestrings.
Secondly, the fundamental reversal from a disharmonious ego to a more
harmonious and transparent ego is a great work that needs more than just
training that the Buddhic doctrine teaches us. This work needs help from the
Cosmos and this being given too when the aspirant is sincere.
A lot more can be told. But this will do for the moment.
Therefore: purifying is one thing, but understanding the connection with the
Cosmos or God or the Hierarchy is also necessary in order to see how man may
become a true Disciple, a true Follower of God.
johan
realized, Real and Awake. This is the basic Principle.
And it is also true that in fact the ego wants to achieve ascension which of
course is impossible.
So, the only thing needed is that the ego must get out of the way in order
to let the True SELF shine through man's microcosm.
It was Budha who preached the great labour of purifying ego it in order to
find Nirvana.
While this is a vital Principle, yet this is not enough. There is more..
Two additional Principles must be added that would make the Truth complete
and coherent and clear.
Let one first begin with asking oneself, when and how does ego understand
what the true situation is? Studying the reality and the ancient Wisdom will
help greatly to answer this question.
The second question is, when and how does ego decide to get out of the way?
Responding this question properly is somewhat complicated. But there is an
answer.
Those are the two fundamental steps that even Buddha did not explain fully.
First we must come to understand that ego never ever wants to learn the
Truth and neither does it want to get out of the way.... when it is not
being motivated - or better said to be inspired - to do so. And there lies
the crux.
When does man, or ego becomes inspired to learn the Truth about himself and
his environment (which is his first most fundamental choice or ability), and
then to finally decide (which is his second and even more fundamental
choice) to get out of the way in order to make space for the True SELF?
1. There is no person or ego who is willing to learn the Truth when his soul
is not matured enough by playing out the many drama's on earth through so
many incarnations. It could be that one's soul need more drama's.
Only when man finally comes to know what compassion is and what Love is and
thus learn to balance its karma even without knowing the deepest insights
about the karmic process and consequences, only then he/she will make the
first step. In other words, only when the soul reaches the point that it has
come to see through all the drama's (through its maturing) and most of the
karma has been balanced, only then the soul decides to seek for the short
route upwards.
Ego can only be motivated to cooperate with this new labour when it feels
attracted by Love, this strange Cosmic attraction, and also by getting
reminded by his soul of the agreement he made prior to incarnation, and
thirdly by being assisted by the Cosmos to help increase his/her awareness a
little bit.
Only so the ego will decide to learn and to get to understand.
2. There is no person or ego who is willing to get out of the way, or to
decide to become a true disciple or Servant of mankind....when it is not
being inspired to do so.
This inspiration comes through two very specific Cosmic actions. One of
which is the socalled "Baptism of Fire" and the next is the Cosmic
"confirmation" (or initiation) to becoming a Servant.
The Baptism of Fire means that the aspirant will at a certain moment be
stricken in the heart by a divine Light activating his Atma.
The Confirmation to become a Servant is when devotion becomes transformed
into consecration. Man and man's soul will be confronted with the final
Purpose which is connected to the divine Plan.
The aspirant is then welcomed to enter the great temple of the true
disciples' souls where he will find them all working actively for the Divine
Plan for the Earth and mankind. Only so, the ego will decide to get out of
the way and to purify his heart.
It is clear that both milestones are Cosmic of nature and has nothing to do
with ego or even his atma or his purifying. It is his Monade and the
Hierarchy who are calling the soul back and are helping him to purify.
It is vital to understand this, for it means the integration and
harmonization of the Buddhic doctrine of Wisdom about our reality with the
doctrine of Jesus who preached Love and the existence of cosmic Light. It
was Jesus who opened new windows in the awakening or purifying process,
needed to make final steps in ones progression.
There is another Principle that is coming to the fore during the cleansing
process itself:
3. There is no person or ego who is in any way able to purify himself
thoroughly with respect to all his impurities and imperfections...when he is
not being assisted by the Cosmos and/or the Hierarchy.
First of all, ego cannot cleanse itself completely for this would mean to
lift itself up by its own shoestrings.
Secondly, the fundamental reversal from a disharmonious ego to a more
harmonious and transparent ego is a great work that needs more than just
training that the Buddhic doctrine teaches us. This work needs help from the
Cosmos and this being given too when the aspirant is sincere.
A lot more can be told. But this will do for the moment.
Therefore: purifying is one thing, but understanding the connection with the
Cosmos or God or the Hierarchy is also necessary in order to see how man may
become a true Disciple, a true Follower of God.
johan
Virtues and Sins...
Our virtues are made by love, and our sins caused by the lack of it.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is one moral; the love that springs forth from self-denial and
blooms in deeds of beneficence.
The orthodox say, 'This is good, that is bad. This is right, that is
wrong,' but to a Sufi the source of all good deeds is love. Someone
may say that this is the source of bad deeds also, but that is not
so; it is lack of love.
Our virtues are made of love, and our sins are caused by lack of it.
Love turns sins into virtues, and its lack makes virtues meaningless.
Christ said when a woman was brought before Him accused of sin, 'Her
sins are forgiven, for she loved much.' Heaven is made so beautiful
with love, and life becomes a hell through the lack of it. Love in
reality creates harmony in one's life on earth and peace in heaven.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is one moral; the love that springs forth from self-denial and
blooms in deeds of beneficence.
The orthodox say, 'This is good, that is bad. This is right, that is
wrong,' but to a Sufi the source of all good deeds is love. Someone
may say that this is the source of bad deeds also, but that is not
so; it is lack of love.
Our virtues are made of love, and our sins are caused by lack of it.
Love turns sins into virtues, and its lack makes virtues meaningless.
Christ said when a woman was brought before Him accused of sin, 'Her
sins are forgiven, for she loved much.' Heaven is made so beautiful
with love, and life becomes a hell through the lack of it. Love in
reality creates harmony in one's life on earth and peace in heaven.
Perfection...
"When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky"......... Gautama the Buddha
Finding Out...
"But what's the point of doing anything if all you discover is that there's nothing to be done," I blurted out.
"Because you'll never find out anything unless you do, that's why." The intensity in Rose's reply bordered on irritation. "You've got people who can't wipe their own noses who think their laziness and incompetence is some sort of spiritual detachment. They want to jump over the material world without ever mastering it, and get right into Enlightenment. As a result they end up doing nothing on either the material or the spiritual plane. You have to extend your material being to the limit. Only then will you find out that you don't exist--at least not as you think you do. You've got to fatten up your head before you chop it off."
Rose paused for a moment to take a drink of his soda, then spoke more softly.
"You've got to somehow build up a tremendous ball of energy if you want to find the Answer, and that's not going to happen without a bit of ego. You use the ego, let it go along for the ride. Take on the world, tackle some projects, practice some ascetic disciplines--maybe perform a miracle or two if the opportunity presents itself. Success in these things will give you confidence and momentum--a vector--to use for the bigger task. And when the door opens to the Absolute, your vector is what takes you through it. The ego can't go.
Richard Rose
After the Absolute
"Because you'll never find out anything unless you do, that's why." The intensity in Rose's reply bordered on irritation. "You've got people who can't wipe their own noses who think their laziness and incompetence is some sort of spiritual detachment. They want to jump over the material world without ever mastering it, and get right into Enlightenment. As a result they end up doing nothing on either the material or the spiritual plane. You have to extend your material being to the limit. Only then will you find out that you don't exist--at least not as you think you do. You've got to fatten up your head before you chop it off."
Rose paused for a moment to take a drink of his soda, then spoke more softly.
"You've got to somehow build up a tremendous ball of energy if you want to find the Answer, and that's not going to happen without a bit of ego. You use the ego, let it go along for the ride. Take on the world, tackle some projects, practice some ascetic disciplines--maybe perform a miracle or two if the opportunity presents itself. Success in these things will give you confidence and momentum--a vector--to use for the bigger task. And when the door opens to the Absolute, your vector is what takes you through it. The ego can't go.
Richard Rose
After the Absolute
The Teacher...
"A teacher knows a thousand times more about a student than he
can possibly tell the student at the start. Seeing the pupil's
concealed confusion, the teacher knows a direct attack against
it will only arouse hostility, thus severing communication. So
the teacher explains by suggestions, hints, encouragements,
with one aim - to help the pupil see for himself where he is
going wrong. Seeing this, the pupil permits the lifting of the
cover from his own inner lamp."
Secrets for Higher Success, p. 205.......Vernon Howard
can possibly tell the student at the start. Seeing the pupil's
concealed confusion, the teacher knows a direct attack against
it will only arouse hostility, thus severing communication. So
the teacher explains by suggestions, hints, encouragements,
with one aim - to help the pupil see for himself where he is
going wrong. Seeing this, the pupil permits the lifting of the
cover from his own inner lamp."
Secrets for Higher Success, p. 205.......Vernon Howard
Knowing...
"Well 'knowing' is what I call intelligence.
Not your intellect.
Intelligence.
That is the activity of knowing – intelligence energy.
Knowing is an activity – of something that is going on in the immediacy of the moment.
Any activity is a movement of energy. -
Not the content of knowing, I know this or I know that, than is all acquired, all conceptualized, all words stuff.
The basic activity of knowing.
You are not knowing a moment ago.
You are not knowing a moment in the future either.
It is going on in the immediacy of the moment, so its an activity – something is happening now.
It is this energy or life force or whatever label you want to put on it.
It is functioning there in the immediacy of the moment.
That is what you are."................'Sailor' Bob Adamson
Not your intellect.
Intelligence.
That is the activity of knowing – intelligence energy.
Knowing is an activity – of something that is going on in the immediacy of the moment.
Any activity is a movement of energy. -
Not the content of knowing, I know this or I know that, than is all acquired, all conceptualized, all words stuff.
The basic activity of knowing.
You are not knowing a moment ago.
You are not knowing a moment in the future either.
It is going on in the immediacy of the moment, so its an activity – something is happening now.
It is this energy or life force or whatever label you want to put on it.
It is functioning there in the immediacy of the moment.
That is what you are."................'Sailor' Bob Adamson
One...
"You have always been One with the Buddha.
So do not pretend that you can attain this Oneness by various practices".........Huang Po, Zen Master
So do not pretend that you can attain this Oneness by various practices".........Huang Po, Zen Master
Compassion for all Creatures...
“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”......St. Francis of Assisi
Barriers...
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”.......Jalal ad-Din Rumi
Love...
“Love consists in desiring to give what is our own to another and feeling his delight as our own.”........Emanuel Swedenborg
Creation Story...
The world exists only when we think about it; creation stories are for children. In reality the world is created every moment......
Jean Klein
Jean Klein
Is there Enlightenment, Realization or Awakening?...
from The End of Seeking (recommended website)
Your own true nature is an "expression of the One Life" - the Aliveness - Consciousness - Awareness. It cannot be anything other than that - as this would be Dualistic.
Your own essential nature - Aliveness - Life itself - is not personal. There is not a separate entity there which is 'you'. It is pure Life itself. NonDual.
We have a sense of self when the conceptual self-image builds up - and it is just that - a mental image. It is not who or what we actually are.
That self image becomes a reference point. But it is a 'cherry picked', modified and edited version of your characteristics, your foibles, your personality, your attributes, your history, your good points, your faults, your tragic qualities, etc. Just a mental image - not 'you'.
It is insubstantial and has no existence other than the content of thought. The apparent 'me' actually does not exist and when looked for cannot be found.
The 'me' is an abstraction. The actuality of what you are is what exists in the immediacy of the moment - which is Presence - Awareness / Aliveness.
All the rest is a mental construct - an abstraction. What that means is that 'the one who you think you are' is a mental abstraction and is 'not it'
So then comes the 'desire' to become enlightened, or to awaken, or become self realized.
But your essential nature, which is present and aware right now as you read this, is an expression of the One Life. It is completely NonDual and completely untouched by the travails of life.
Your essential nature does not need to become enlightened, or to wake up, or to become self realized. It does not need to 'learn' how to become 'more Present', become more compassionate, be able to 'surrender' or 'go 'deeper'. It is already 100% Present and the concept of 'surrender' does not arise.
Who then 'wants' to be come 'Enlightened'? Who wants to 'Wake up'? It is the one who feels incomplete, unsatisfied, unhappy. Who is the one who suffers? It is the Self Image, the Reference Point, the Ego, the one who we think we are. The one who we believe is us.
It is entirely a case of mistaken identity. We are not who we think we are and we want to fix that one up.
Our real nature does not need 'fixing up'.
Our true nature does not need to become 'enlightened'.
Our true nature was never asleep and does not need to 'wake up'
Our true nature does not need to become 'realized' as it is already fully Real.
The reference point, the Ego, has no existence beyond the content of thoughts, has no aliveness of its own and has no awareness whatsoever in its own right. No wonder it feels incomplete and miserable! No wonder it suffers.
Who is the one that is the "I" in "When I awoke" or "I am enlightened", or "I am self-realized"? The only 'one' there that regards itself as a separate entity is the Ego itself - the reference point.
In fact there is no one there at all. The reference point, the so-called ego, does not exist beyond the content of thought. It has no substantial nature at all.
Our essential nature is Aliveness / Presence Awareness /Consciousness - but that is entirely non-personal - there is no separate entity at all. No Self, as the Buddha puts it.
So there are three good reasons to discard the old concepts of enlightenment, awakening and self realization.
Firstly there is no separate 'me' there to 'achieve' enlightenment, an awakening or self-realization.
Secondly, our true nature does not need enlightening, waking up, or self-realization.
Thirdly - 'enlightenment', 'waking up' and 'self realization' are actually concepts - more than that - they are abstractions.
Far better to look into the matter of mistaken identity - just that and only that.
There-in lies the end of suffering and the end of seeking.
Your own true nature is an "expression of the One Life" - the Aliveness - Consciousness - Awareness. It cannot be anything other than that - as this would be Dualistic.
Your own essential nature - Aliveness - Life itself - is not personal. There is not a separate entity there which is 'you'. It is pure Life itself. NonDual.
We have a sense of self when the conceptual self-image builds up - and it is just that - a mental image. It is not who or what we actually are.
That self image becomes a reference point. But it is a 'cherry picked', modified and edited version of your characteristics, your foibles, your personality, your attributes, your history, your good points, your faults, your tragic qualities, etc. Just a mental image - not 'you'.
It is insubstantial and has no existence other than the content of thought. The apparent 'me' actually does not exist and when looked for cannot be found.
The 'me' is an abstraction. The actuality of what you are is what exists in the immediacy of the moment - which is Presence - Awareness / Aliveness.
All the rest is a mental construct - an abstraction. What that means is that 'the one who you think you are' is a mental abstraction and is 'not it'
So then comes the 'desire' to become enlightened, or to awaken, or become self realized.
But your essential nature, which is present and aware right now as you read this, is an expression of the One Life. It is completely NonDual and completely untouched by the travails of life.
Your essential nature does not need to become enlightened, or to wake up, or to become self realized. It does not need to 'learn' how to become 'more Present', become more compassionate, be able to 'surrender' or 'go 'deeper'. It is already 100% Present and the concept of 'surrender' does not arise.
Who then 'wants' to be come 'Enlightened'? Who wants to 'Wake up'? It is the one who feels incomplete, unsatisfied, unhappy. Who is the one who suffers? It is the Self Image, the Reference Point, the Ego, the one who we think we are. The one who we believe is us.
It is entirely a case of mistaken identity. We are not who we think we are and we want to fix that one up.
Our real nature does not need 'fixing up'.
Our true nature does not need to become 'enlightened'.
Our true nature was never asleep and does not need to 'wake up'
Our true nature does not need to become 'realized' as it is already fully Real.
The reference point, the Ego, has no existence beyond the content of thoughts, has no aliveness of its own and has no awareness whatsoever in its own right. No wonder it feels incomplete and miserable! No wonder it suffers.
Who is the one that is the "I" in "When I awoke" or "I am enlightened", or "I am self-realized"? The only 'one' there that regards itself as a separate entity is the Ego itself - the reference point.
In fact there is no one there at all. The reference point, the so-called ego, does not exist beyond the content of thought. It has no substantial nature at all.
Our essential nature is Aliveness / Presence Awareness /Consciousness - but that is entirely non-personal - there is no separate entity at all. No Self, as the Buddha puts it.
So there are three good reasons to discard the old concepts of enlightenment, awakening and self realization.
Firstly there is no separate 'me' there to 'achieve' enlightenment, an awakening or self-realization.
Secondly, our true nature does not need enlightening, waking up, or self-realization.
Thirdly - 'enlightenment', 'waking up' and 'self realization' are actually concepts - more than that - they are abstractions.
Far better to look into the matter of mistaken identity - just that and only that.
There-in lies the end of suffering and the end of seeking.
Self-Elimination...
The goal of self-elimination which is held up before
us refers only to the animal and lower human selves.
It certainly does not refer to the annihilation of all
self-consciousness. The higher individuality always
remains. But it is so different from the lower one
that it does not make much sense to discuss it in
human language. Hence, those who have adequately
understood it write or talk little about its higher
mysteries. If the end of all existence were only a
merger at best or annihilation at worst, it would be a
senseless and sorry scheme of things. It would be
unworthy of the divine intelligence and discreditable
to the divine goodness. The consciousness stripped of
thought, which looks less attractive to you than the
hazards of life down here, is really a tremendous
enlargement of what thought itself tries to do.
Spiritual advance is really from a Less to a More.
There is nothing to fear in it and nothing to lose by
it--except by the standards and values of the
ignorant.......Paul Brunton
us refers only to the animal and lower human selves.
It certainly does not refer to the annihilation of all
self-consciousness. The higher individuality always
remains. But it is so different from the lower one
that it does not make much sense to discuss it in
human language. Hence, those who have adequately
understood it write or talk little about its higher
mysteries. If the end of all existence were only a
merger at best or annihilation at worst, it would be a
senseless and sorry scheme of things. It would be
unworthy of the divine intelligence and discreditable
to the divine goodness. The consciousness stripped of
thought, which looks less attractive to you than the
hazards of life down here, is really a tremendous
enlargement of what thought itself tries to do.
Spiritual advance is really from a Less to a More.
There is nothing to fear in it and nothing to lose by
it--except by the standards and values of the
ignorant.......Paul Brunton
Losing is Winning...
"The human mind as it presently operates is unable to receive,
understand, and act upon higher principles. And one of the most
rejected and bewildering principles of Truth is the following,
and let's see how your mind takes it.
In this world to win is right, to gain is right. In this world,
with the human mind, to gain is the only thing, to acquire, to
accumulate, to build up your personal life, your material pos-
sessions. Winning is what counts.
In the authentically spiritual life - the only kind of worthwhile
life that there is that any human being can find - losing is
winning - losing everything that you now value that is keeping
you in the tornado.
Now look already, the utter reversal of the process - see how
difficult it is for you to grasp, because you all your life, and
everyone you've associated with has pressed down upon your mind
the idea that accumulation is the way of life. This is the way
you're happy, this is the way you're secure. And to lose, accord-
ing to the world, is the enemy.
Something higher than the human mind says, to lose everything
that you now call right and valuable is the one way to be a free
and truly decent happy human being.
Who have you been believing up to now?"
Take a Vacation from Yourself DVD # 11, talk 1........Vernon Howard
understand, and act upon higher principles. And one of the most
rejected and bewildering principles of Truth is the following,
and let's see how your mind takes it.
In this world to win is right, to gain is right. In this world,
with the human mind, to gain is the only thing, to acquire, to
accumulate, to build up your personal life, your material pos-
sessions. Winning is what counts.
In the authentically spiritual life - the only kind of worthwhile
life that there is that any human being can find - losing is
winning - losing everything that you now value that is keeping
you in the tornado.
Now look already, the utter reversal of the process - see how
difficult it is for you to grasp, because you all your life, and
everyone you've associated with has pressed down upon your mind
the idea that accumulation is the way of life. This is the way
you're happy, this is the way you're secure. And to lose, accord-
ing to the world, is the enemy.
Something higher than the human mind says, to lose everything
that you now call right and valuable is the one way to be a free
and truly decent happy human being.
Who have you been believing up to now?"
Take a Vacation from Yourself DVD # 11, talk 1........Vernon Howard
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