Didn't I tell you !...
Didn't I tell you
Do not leave me for I am your only Friend,
I am the spring of life.
Even if you leave in anger for thousands of years
You will come back to me for I am your goal and your end.
Didn't I tell you
not to be seduced by this colorful world
for I am the Ultimate Painter.
Didn't I tell you
you are a fish do not go to dry land
for I am the deep Sea.
Didn't I tell you
not to fall in the net like birds
for I am your wings and the power of light.
Didn't I tell you
not to let them change your mind and turn you to ice
for I am your fire and warmth.
Didn't I tell you
they will corrupt you and make you forget
that I am the Spring of all virtues.
Didn't I tell you
not to question my actions
for everything falls into order, I am the Creator.
Didn't I tell you
your heart can guide you home
because it knows that I am your Master.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Rumi: Hidden Music
Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001
Complete Freedom...
Most spiritual teachers tell you to first know that "You are That"..
This is the first Reality, although not complete Freedom is achieved in the First Reality, It is a good start..
I think that these teachers focus on the First Reality because the thought and fear of complete oblivion of self is too much for the mind to consider..
remember, the mind is the ego and has only the desire for existence..
Once, You have awakened as Divine Consciousness and the only ego left is the acknowledgement that You are God, Then the opportunity exists for further surrender of this last stage of egoic consciousness..
the highest gift to Reality is to give Everything that You possess, and Your Godhood is this highest gift..
This is complete unselfish Love..
This is Complete Freedom as the absorption into Pure Awareness...
namaste, thomas
Love Creates...
"It is for love that the whole universe sprang into existence, and it is for the
sake of love that it is kept going.
"God descends into the realm of Illusion because the apparent duality of the
Beloved and the lover is eventually contributory to His conscious enjoyment of
His own divinity.
"The development of love is conditioned and sustained by the tension of duality.
God has to suffer apparent differentiation into a multiplicity of souls in order
to carry on the game of love. They are His own forms, and in relation to them He
at once assumes the roles of the divine Lover and the divine Beloved. As the
Beloved, He is the real and the ultimate object of their appreciation. As the
divine Lover, He is their real and ultimate savior, drawing them back to
Himself.
"Thus, though the whole world of duality is only an illusion, that illusion has
come into being for a significant purpose.
"Love is the reflection of God's unity in the world of duality. It constitutes
the entire significance of creation.
"If love were excluded from life, all the souls in the world would assume
complete externality to each other; and the only possible relations and contacts
in such a loveless world would be superficial and mechanical. It is because of
love that the contacts and relations between individual souls become
significant.
"It is love that gives meaning and value to all the happenings in the world of
duality. But while love gives meaning to the world of duality, it is at the same
time a standing challenge to duality.
"As love gathers strength, it generates creative restlessness and becomes the
main driving power of that spiritual dynamic which ultimately succeeds in
restoring to consciousness the original unity of Being."
Meher Baba
Discourses
Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation, 7th rev. ed., 1987, pp. 115-116.
causes and effects...
We cannot live only for ourselves.
A thousand
fibers connect us with our fellow men;
and
among those fibers, as sympathetic threads,
our actions run as causes,
and they come
back to us as effects.
- Herman Melville
my anchor...
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Gospel of Peter...
The Gospel of Peter
Translated by Raymond Brown
[1] But of the Jews none washed his hands, neither Herod nor one of his judges. And since they did not desire to wash, Pilate stood up. [2] And then Herod the king orders the Lord to be taken away, having said to them, 'What I ordered you to do, do.'
[3] But Joseph, the friend of Pilate and of the Lord, had been standing there; and knowing they were about to crucify him, he came before Pilate and requested the body of the Lord for burial. [4] And Pilate, having sent to Herod, requested his body. [5] And Herod said: 'Brother Pilate, even if no one had requested him, we would have buried him, since indeed Sabbath is dawning. For in the Law it has been written: The sun is not to set on one put to death.'
And he gave him over to the people before the first day of their feast of the Unleavened Bread. [6] But having taken the Lord, running, they were pushing him and saying, 'Let us drag along the Son of God now that we have power over him.' [7] And they clothed him with purple and sat him on a chair of judgment, saying: 'Judge justly, King of Israel.' [8] And a certain one of them, having brought a thorny crown, put it on the head of the Lord. [9] And others who were standing there were spitting in his face, and others slapped his cheeks. Others were jabbing him with a reed; and some scourged him, saying, 'With such honor let us honor the Son of God.'
[10] And they brought two wrongdoers and crucified the Lord in the middle of them. But he was silent as having no pain. [11] And when they had set the cross upright, they inscribed that THIS IS THE KING OF ISRAEL. [12] And having put his garments before him, they divided them up and threw as a gamble for them. [13] But a certain one of those wrongdoers reviled them, saying: 'We have been made suffer thus because of the wrong that we have done; but this one, having become Savior of men, what injustice had he done to you?' [14] And having become irritated at him, they ordered that there be no leg-breaking, so that he might die tormented.
[15] But is was midday, and darkness held fast all Judea; and they were distressed and anxious lest the sun had set, since he was still living. [For] it is written for them: Let not the sun set on one put to death. [16] And someone of them said: 'Give him to drink gall with vinegary wine.' And having made a mixture, they gave to drink. [17] And they fulfilled all things and completed the sins on their own head. [18] But many went around with lamps, thinking that it was night, and they fell. [19] And the Lord screamed out, saying: 'My power, O power, you have forsaken me.' And having said this, he was taken up.
[20] And at the same hour the veil of the Jerusalem sanctuary was torn into two. [21] And they drew out the nails from the hands of the Lord and placed him on the earth; and all the earth was shaken, and a great fear came about. [22] Then the sun shone, and it was found to be the ninth hour. [23] And the Jews rejoiced and gave his body to Joseph that he might bury it, since he was one who had seen the many good things he did. [24] And having taken the Lord, he washed and tied him with a linen cloth and brought him into his own sepulcher, called the Garden of Joseph.
[25] Then the Jews and the elders and the priests, having come to know how much wrong they had done themselves, began to beat themselves and say: 'Woe to our sins. The judgment has approached and the end of Jerusalem.' [26] But I with the companions was sorrowful; and having been wounded in spirit, we were in hiding, for we were sought after by them as wrongdoers and as wishing to set fire to the sanctuary. [27] In addition to all these things we were fasting; and we were sitting mourning and weeping night and day until the Sabbath.
[28] But the scribes and Pharisees and elders, having gathered together with one another, having heard that all the people were murmuring and beating their breasts, saying that 'If at his death these very great signs happened, behold how just he was,' [29] feared (especially the elders) and came before Pilate, begging him and saying, [30] 'Give over soldiers to us in order that we may safeguard his burial place for three days, lest, having come, his disciples steal him, and the people accept that he is risen from the death, and they do us wrong.' [31] But Pilate gave over to them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to safeguard the sepulcher. And with these the elders and scribes came to the burial place. [32] And having rolled a large stone, all who were there, together with the centurion and the soldiers, placed it against the door of the burial place. [33] And they marked it with seven wax seals; and having pitched a tent there, they safeguarded it. [34] But early when the Sabbath was dawning, a crowd came from Jerusalem and the surrounding area in order that they might see the sealed tomb.
[35] But in the night in which the Lord's day dawned, when the soldiers were safeguarding it two by two in every watch, there was a loud voice in heaven; [36] and they saw that the heavens were opened and that two males who had much radiance had come down from there and come near the sepulcher. [37] But that stone which had been thrust against the door, having rolled by itself, went a distance off the side; and the sepulcher opened, and both the young men entered. [38] And so those soldiers, having seen, awakened the centurion and the elders (for they too were present, safeguarding). [39] And while they were relating what they had seen, again they see three males who have come out from they sepulcher, with the two supporting the other one, and a cross following them, [40] and the head of the two reaching unto heaven, but that of the one being led out by a hand by them going beyond the heavens. [41] And they were hearing a voice from the heavens saying, 'Have you made proclamation to the fallen-asleep?' [42] And an obeisance was heard from the cross, 'Yes.' [43]
And so those people were seeking a common perspective to go off and make these things clear to Pilate; [44] and while they were still considering it through, there appear again the opened heavens and a certain man having come down and entered into the burial place. [45] Having seen these things, those around the centurion hastened at night before Pilate (having left the sepulcher which they were safeguarding) and described all the things that they indeed had seen, agonizing greatly and saying: 'Truly he was God's Son.'
[46] In answer Pilate said: 'I am clean of the blood of the Son of God, but it was to you that this seemed [the thing to do].'
[47] Then all, having come forward, were begging and exhorting him to command the centurion and the soldiers to say to no one what they had seen.
[48] 'For,' they said, 'it is better for us to owe the debt of the greatest sin in the sight of God than to fall into the hands of the Jewish people and be stoned.' [49] And so Pilate ordered the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing.
[50] Now at the dawn of the Lord's Day Mary Magdalene, a female disciple of the Lord (who, afraid because of the Jews since they were inflamed with anger, had not done at the tomb of the Lord what women were accustomed to do for the dead beloved by them), [51] having taken with her women friends, came to the tomb where he had been placed. [52] And they were afraid lest the Jews should see them and were saying, 'If indeed on that day on which he was crucified we could not weep and beat ourselves, yet now at his tomb we may do these things. [53] But who will roll away for us even the stone placed against the door of the tomb in order that, having entered, we may sit beside him and do the expected things? [54] For the stone was large, and we were afraid lest anyone see us. And if we are unable, let is throw against the door what we bring in memory of him; let us weep and beat ourselves until we come to our homes.'
[55] And having gone off, they found the sepulcher opened. And having come forward, they bent down there and saw there a certain young man seated in the middle of the sepulcher, comely and clothed with a splendid robe, who said to them: [56] 'Why have you come? Whom do you seek? Not that one who was crucified? He is risen and gone away. But if you do not believe, bend down and see the place where he lay, because he is not here. For he is risen and gone away to there whence he was sent.' [57] Then the women fled frightened.
[58] Now it was the final day of the Unleavened Bread; and many went out returning to their home since the feast was over. [59] But we twelve disciples of the Lord were weeping and sorrowful; and each one, sorrowful because of what had come to pass, departed to his home. [60] But I, Simon Peter, and my brother Andrew, having taken our nets, went off to the sea. And there was with us Levi of Alphaeus whom the Lord ...
will power...
The first exercise to help the will power to develop,
would be to check every
act, word, and thought which we do not wish to occur;
to avoid unintentional
actions, speech, and thoughts.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
the golden rule...
Tsze-kung asked, saying,
"Is there one word which may serve as a rule of
practice for all one's life?"
The Master said, "Is not reciprocity , such a word?
What you do not want
done to yourself,
do not do to others."
Confucius
Lun Yu , The Analects XV.23
Translated by James Legge
live by truth alone...
Learn to live without self-concern.
For
this you must know your own true being
(swarupa) as indomitable, fearless, ever
victorious.
Once you know with absolute
certainty that nothing can trouble you but
your own imagination,
you come to disregard
your desires and fears, concepts and ideas
and live by truth alone.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
annihilation of mind...
"Is it an easy thing to obtain Knowledge of Brahman?
It is not possible unless the mind is annihilated.
The
guru said to the disciple,
'Give me your mind and I
shall give you Knowledge'
.... A man attains
Brahmajnana [Knowledge of Brahman] as soon as his mind
is annihilated.
With the annihilation of the mind dies
the ego which says, 'I,' 'I.'
Sri Ramakrishna
in Whitall N. Perry
_A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom_
Varanasi: Indica, 1998 (1971), p. 222
from long to short path...
The average man is the victim of his own past,
the slave of his personal history.
He is conditioned by its thinking, molded by its disciplines, and dominated by its traditions.
Its influence fades all too slowly.
This is why the transition from the Long to the Short Path is so often the consequence of some unusual upheaval or some mesmeric contact.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 4: The Changeover To the Short Path > # 114
Paul Brunton
the water is calling...
No sound of clapping comes from only one hand.
The thirsty man is moaning, "O delicious water!"
The water is calling,
"Where is the one who will drink me?"
This thirst in our souls is the magnetism of the Water:
We are Its,
and It is ours.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Slayers of man...
Those that worship gold and power, control this manifestation..
They smile as they send you to die in wars..
Profit from your death is counted on the ledgers..
Although, We are not these vehicles called bodies, We have chosen to experience both evil and good..
In Reality, there is no evil or good, there is no duality, there only Is..
In Reality, We are sleeping and dreaming this manifestation..
Waking up is called Enlightenment..
It is simply awakening from this dream..
The answer is that simple..
You are Consciousness that has chosen to dream of a time and space..
In Reality, there is no time or space..
What keeps You from Awakening?..
That also is a simple answer,
It is the illusion and belief that You are egoic consciousness instead of Divine Consciousness..
Now, you know the Answer..
The rest is up to You...
namaste, thomas
Enlightenment...
Enlightenment absorbs this universe of qualities.
When that merging occurs, there is nothing
but God. This is the only doctrine.
There is no word for it, no mind
to understand it with, no categories
of transcendence or non-transcendence,
no vow of silence, no mystical attitude.
There is no Shiva and no Shakti
in enlightenment, and if there is something
that remains, that whatever-it-is
is the only teaching.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
Isness...
"Ego and mind and all creations arise out of Self as Self,
even from the ugliest of doubts and the most separate of differences
rise from beautiful source as Isness.
In Self there are no do's and don'ts.
If there is unhappiness you are not unhappy,
you are the Untouched Awareness of this unhappiness.
As waves are not separate from ocean, nor rays from the sun,
you are not separate from Existence.
You are the Moment in which all is."
Poonja
Only One...
"All religions are in substance one and the same.
In the adorations and benedictions of righteous men
The praises of all the prophets are kneaded together.
All their praises are mingled into one stream,
All the vessels are emptied into one ewer.
Because He that is praised is, in fact, only One,
In this respect all religions are only one religion.
Because all praises are directed towards God's light,
Their various forms and figures are borrowed from it.
Men never address praises but to One deemed worthy,
They err only through mistaken opinions of Him."
Maulana Jalalu-'d-din Muhammad Rumi
The Masnavi I Ma'navi, III, 12
Abridged and Translated by E.H. Whinfield [1898]
Consciousness pervades All...
"As ghee pervades milk,
So does the Lord pervade creation.
Many are the praters and listeners of this;
But few are those who churn themselves
To get the all-pervading Lord."
Kabir
in Issac A. Ezekiel
_Kabir: The Great Mystic_
Punjab: Radha Soami Satsang Beas, 1966, p. 319
Now...
If you believe that you had a past, then you’ll
also believe that you’ll have a future.
In truth, though, who-you-really-are didn’t have
a so-called past, and it certainly won’t be having
a so-called future.
The past doesn’t have a future that it’s living into,
and the future hasn’t had a past that it’s living out
of.
So you can’t really “seize the day,” and you can’t
even seize the moment.
In fact, you’ve never been able to “seize” anything
at all!
The present moment unfolds upon…and into … itself
only in this very moment of Now.
And…it leaves no tracks pointing in either direction.
- Chuck Hillig
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Seeds for the Soul
Chuck Hillig
Black Dot Publications, 2003
What is Advaita or Nonduality...
"So, Swami-ji, what would you say that Advaita is?" The eager young woman crossed her legs and sat expectantly, pencil poised above a pristine pad of paper.
"It simply means ‘not two' - the ultimate truth is nondual," replied the Sage, reclining in a large and comfortable-looking armchair and not sitting in an upright lotus position, as he ought to have been, for the sake of the photograph that she had just taken, if nothing else.
She continued to wait for further elucidation before beginning to write but it soon became apparent that the answer had been given. "But is it a religion? Do you believe in God, for example?"
"Ah, well, that would depend upon what you mean by those words, wouldn't it?" he responded, irritatingly. "If, by ‘religion', you mean does it have priests and churches and a band of followers who are prepared to kill non-believers, then the answer is no. If, on the other hand, you refer to the original, literal meaning of the word, namely to ‘bind again', to reunite the mistaken person that we think we are with the Self that we truly are, then yes, it is a religion. Similarly, if by ‘God' you mean a separate, supernatural being who created the universe and will reward us by sending us to heaven if we do what He wants, then the answer is no. If you use the term in the sense of the unmanifest, non-dual reality, then yes, I most certainly do believe in God."
The pencil raced across the paper, recording the answer for the benefit of the magazine's readers but, as the words clashed with previous ideas in her memory, the lack of a clear resolution of her questions was reflected by an increasing puzzlement in her expression.
He registered this with compassion and held out his hand towards her. "Give me a piece of paper from your pad." She looked up, mouth slightly open as she wondered why he could possibly want that. But she turned the pad over, carefully tore off the bottom sheet and placed it in his outstretched hand. He turned to the table at his right and deftly began to fold and refold the paper. After a few moments, he turned back and, before she had had time to see what he had done, he held the paper aloft and launched it into the air. It rose quickly and circled gracefully around the room before losing momentum and diving to meet a sudden end when its pointed nose hit a sauce bottle on the dining table. "Could you bring it back over here do you think?" he asked.
"So, what would you say that we have here?" he asked, as she handed it back to him.
"It's a paper aeroplane," she replied, with just a hint of questioning in her voice, since the answer was so obvious that she felt he must have some other purpose in mind.
"Really?" he responded and, in an instant, he screwed up the object and, with a practised, over-arm movement, threw it effortlessly in a wide arc, from which it landed just short of the waste paper basket in the corner of the room. "And now?" he asked.
"It's a screwed-up ball of paper", she said, without any doubt in her voice this time.
"Could you bring it back again, please", he continued. She did so, wondering if this was typical of such an interview, spending the session chasing about after bits of paper like a dog running after a stick. He took the ball and carefully unfolded it, spread it out on the table and smoothed his hand over it a few times before handing it back to her. "And now it is just a sheet of paper again," he said, "although I'm afraid it's a bit crumpled now!"
He looked at her, apparently anticipating some sign of understanding if not actual revelation but none was forthcoming. He looked around the room and, after a moment, he stood up, walked over to the window and removed a rose from a vase standing in the alcove. Returning to his seat, he held the rose out to her and asked, "What is this?"
She was feeling increasingly embarrassed as it was clear he was trying to explain something fundamental, which she was not understanding. Either that or he was mad or deliberately provoking her, neither of which seemed likely, since he remained calm and open and somehow intensely present. "It's a flower," she replied eventually.
He then deliberately took one of the petals between his right-hand thumb and fore-finger and plucked it. He looked at her and said, "And now?" She didn't reply, though it seemed that this time he didn't really expect an answer. He continued to remove the petals one by one until none remained, looking up at her after each action. Finally, he pulled the remaining parts of the flower head off the stem and dropped them onto the floor, leaving the bare stalk, which he held out to her. "Where is the flower now?" he asked. Receiving no reply, he bent down and picked up all of the petals, eventually displaying them in his open hand. "Is this a flower?" he asked.
She shook her head slowly. "It was a flower only when all of the petals and the other bits were all attached to the stem."
"Good!" he said, appreciatively. "Flower is the name that we give to that particular arrangement of all of the parts. Once we have separated it into its component parts, the flower ceases to exist. But was there ever an actual, separate thing called ‘flower'? All of the material that constituted the original form is still here in these parts in my hand.
"The paper aeroplane is an even simpler example. There never was an aeroplane was there? And I don't just mean that it was only a toy. There was only ever paper. To begin with, the paper was in the form of a flat sheet for writing on. Then, I folded it in various ways so that it took on an aerodynamic shape which could fly through the air slowly. The name that we give to that form is ‘aeroplane'. When I screwed it up, the ball-shape could be thrown more accurately. ‘Aeroplane' and ‘ball' were names relating to particular forms of the paper but at all times, all that ever actually existed was paper.
"Now, this sort of analysis applies to every ‘thing' that you care to think of. Look at that table over there and this chair on which you are sitting. What are they made of? You will probably say that they are wooden chairs?"
He looked at her questioningly and she nodded, knowing at the same time that he was going to contradict her. "Well, they are made of wood certainly, but that does not mean that they are wooden chairs! On the contrary, I would say that this, that you are sitting on, is actually chairy wood, and that object over there is tably wood. What do you say to that?"
"You mean that the thing that we call ‘chair' is just a name that we give to the wood when it is that particular shape and being used for that particular function?" she asked, with understanding beginning to dawn.
"Exactly! I couldn't have put it better myself. It is quite possible that I could have a bag full of pieces of wood that can be slotted together in different ways so that at one time I might assemble them into something to sit upon, another time into something to put food upon and so on. We give the various forms distinct names and we forget that they are ONLY names and forms and not distinct and separate things.
"Look - here's an apple," he said, picking one out of the bowl on the table and casually tossing it from one hand to the other before holding it up for her to examine. "It's round or to be more accurate, spherical; its reddish in colour and it has", he sniffed it, "a fruity smell. No doubt if I were to bite into it, I would find it juicy and sweet.
"Now all of these - round, red, fruity, juicy, sweet - are adjectives describing the noun ‘apple.' Or, to use more Advaitic terms, let me say that the ‘apple' is the ‘substantive' - the apparently real, separately existing thing - and all of the other words are ‘attributes' of the apple - merely incidental qualities of the thing itself. Are you with me so far?"
She nodded hesitantly but, after a little reflection, more positively.
"But suppose I had carried out this analysis with the rose that we looked at a moment ago. I could have said that it was red, delicate, fragrant, thorny and so on. And we would have noted that all of those were simply attributes and that the actual existent thing, the substantive, was the rose. But then we went on to see that the rose wasn't real at all. It was just an assemblage of petals and sepals and so on - I'm afraid I am not a botanist! In the same way, we could say that the apple consists of seeds and flesh and skin. We may not be able to put these things together into any form different from an apple but Nature can.
"If you ask a scientist what makes an apple an apple, he will probably tell you that is the particular configuration of nucleotides in the DNA or RNA of the cells. There are many different species of apple and each one will have a slight variation in the chromosomes and it is that which differentiates the species. If you want to explain to someone what the difference is between a Bramley and a Granny Smith, you will probably say something like ‘the Bramley is large and green, used mainly for cooking and is quite sharp tasting, while the Granny Smith is still green but normally much smaller and sweeter'. But these are all adjectives or attributes. What is actually different is the physical makeup of the cell nuclei.
"But, if we look at a chromosome or a strand of DNA, are we actually looking at a self-existent, separate thing? If you look very closely through an electron microscope, you find that DNA is made up of four basic units arranged in pairs in a long, spiral chain. And any one of these units is itself made up of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, again arranged in a very specific way. So even those are not separate ‘things-in-themselves'; they are names given to particular forms of other, more fundamental things.
"And so we arrive at atoms - even the ancient Greeks used to think that everything was made up of atoms. Are these the final ‘substantives' with all of the apparent things in the world being merely attributes? Well, unfortunately not. Science has known for a long time that atoms mainly consist of empty space with electrons spinning around a central nucleus of protons and neutrons. And science has known for somewhat less time that these particles, which were once thought to be fundamental, are themselves not solid, self-existent things but are either made up of still smaller particles or are in the form of waves, merely having probabilities of existence at many different points in space.
"Still more recently, science claimed that all of the different particles are themselves made out of different combinations of just a few particles called quarks and that those are the ultimately existing things. But they have not yet progressed far enough. The simple fact of the matter is that every ‘thing' is ultimately only an attribute, a name and form superimposed upon a more fundamental substantive. We make the mistake of thinking that there really is a table, when actually there is only wood. We make the mistake of thinking that there is really wood, when actually there is only cellulose and sugars and proteins. We make the mistake of thinking there is protein when this is only a particular combination of atoms. "Ultimately, everything in the universe is seen to be only name and form of a single substantive.
The journalist was transfixed; not exactly open-mouthed but her pencil had not moved for some time. Eventually, she asked in a small voice: "But then where do I fit into all of this?"
"Ah", he replied. "That again depends upon what you mean by the word ‘I'. Who you think you are - ‘Sarah' - is essentially no different from the table and chair. You are simply name and form, imposed upon the non-dual reality. Who you really are, however... well, that is quite different - you are that nondual reality. You see, in the final analysis, there are not two things; there is only nonduality. That is the truth; that is Advaita." (by Dennis Waite)
problems with mind reading...
Because of the sweetness which pervaded my heart, the world looked different and it was not difficult to restrain those ignobler tendencies. I was perfectly conscious of the fact that I was Spirit and that my neighbour, however outwardly repulsive he might be, was Spirit too. When I looked at anyone I saw his outer person as a mere surface appearance. Within it, in his heart region, there was a calm centre of divine peace. It remained unchanged no matter how educated the surface self was and untarnished no matter how evil that self acted.
I no longer looked either for the worst in him or for the good in him but accepted him just as he was for that was the way he was. Never again could I condemn him too harshly. Each person I met was indeed a part of my own consciousness. I automatically and sympathetically identified myself with him or with anyone from whom I received a letter. I entered metaphorically into his shoes and shared his outlook, hopes, understanding, and, even, limitations. My enemy was explained too: how and why he could not help being so. In this immense sympathetic sweep, I even ventured to justify him against me.
The time came when this attitude developed to an extreme. I did not know how to stop losing myself in the process of absorbing the other man into my own entity, so that he became a part of it, too often an incongruous part. What he thought or felt was reflected in my own consciousness like an image in a mirror. So if he told me something which did not correspond to the thought in his mind I immediately became aware of his discrepancy. It was sympathy lifted to a degree which amounted to empathy.
This faculty brought many unpleasant registrations to my mind and began to make life intolerable. Not until some time later, when I had had enough of it, was I told and taught by the Interior Word that the condition was only a preliminary one and now needed to be brought under strict control. I was warned that I did not need to effect harmony with others on the plane of their ego. Help was given me for the cure of this condition but I, on my part, had to make a positive exercise of the will for many months and a definite withdrawal of attention from others as well. Gradually these phenomena disappeared until I became quite free of them.
— Notebooks Category 12: Reflections > Chapter 1: Two Essays > # 2 ... Paul Brunton
"I am That"...
Everything is new now for me.
My mind is new, the moon, the sun.
The whole world looks rinsed with water,
washed in the rain of I am That.
Lalla leaps and dances inside the energy
that creates and sustains the universe.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992
freedom from desires...
Desires are just waves in the mind.
You know a wave when you see one.
A desire is just a thing among many.
I feel no urge to satisfy it, no action
needs to be taken on it.
Freedom from
desire means this:
the compulsion to
satisfy is absent.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Clear the Heart of ego...
"Cast away your existence entirely,
For it is nothing but weeds and refuse.
Go, clear out your heart's chamber;
Arrange it as the abiding-place of the Beloved.
When you go forth, He will come in,
And to you, with self discarded,
He will reveal His beauty."
Mahmud Shabistari
_The Secret Rose Garden_
Rendered from the Persian by Florence Lederer
Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 2002, p. 85
Silence...
Silence is the true upadesa (teaching).
It is the perfect upadesa.
It is suited
only for the most advanced seeker.
The
others are unable to draw full inspiration
from it.
Therefore they require words to
explain the truth.
But truth is beyond
words.
It does not admit of explanation.
All that is possible to do is to indicate it.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
the Dark Night of the Soul...
The Short Path is a cheerful Path, a Path of happiness.
Just before this begins, the aspirant may experience the Dark Night of the Soul.
He feels utterly helpless, has no feeling of spiritual Reality.
It is a melancholy time--no feeling of spirituality or longing for it.
He is neither worldly nor spiritual.
He feels alone and abandoned and separated by a wall from his Guru.
He feels God has forgotten him.
This dark night may last a short time or long years.
He is unable to read spiritual things, or think about them.
There is no desire for ordinary things either.
He feels sad and disappointed and may even try suicide.
In this unhappiness even those who love him cannot bring him comfort.
In both hemispheres, Western and Eastern, there is a saying:
"the night is darkest just before dawn".
He is on the lowest point.
After that, the Short Path brings back the Joy--just like clouds moving away from the Sun.
The best advice is;
first, that it will not last forever;
he must have patience.
Second, he must have hope.
Then he reaches a better level than ever before.
The Dark Night of the Soul does not come to every seeker.
It is like a shadow thrown by the Sun.
When the Sun appears in the subconscious, the shadows arise.
But it is the beginning of a great inner change.
It is not a wasted time;
there is a great deal of work going on--but in the subconscious--to root out the ego.
It is being done by the Overself.
It is a sign of Grace, but the aspirant nevertheless feels unhappy.
Paul Brunton
this Moment is Self...
"This present Moment is Light, is Self.
This Moment is not bondage or freedom.
It is most precious beyond ideation.
This Moment is the screen on which all projects.
It is always Still and Untouched and it is out of time.
There is no difference between the Ultimate and this Presence.
To be in this Moment abandon all desires,
including the desire to be in it."
--
Poonja
Ayin...
"Think of yourself as Ayin [Nothing] and forget yourself totally.
Then you can
transcend time, rising to the world of thought where all is equal:
life and
death, ocean and dry land.
Such is not the case if you are attached to the
material nature of this world.
If you think of yourself as something,
God cannot
clothe Himself in you, for God is infinite.
No vessel can contain God, unless
you think of yourself as Ayin."
Rabbi Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezritch
in Daniel C. Matt
_The Essential Kabbalh: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism_
NY: Quality, 1995, p. 71
Tell A Vision...
No longer a cathode ray tube but now liquid crystals light up this room..
Pleasing faces and bodies entice us to enter into the words of untruth that are generated..
Your mind is the ground that these seeds of falsehood are sowed..
They must keep you asleep within the illusion of reality..
The dream must continue, if they are to succeed..
They enforce the vision of egoic separation and pain..
They tell you that pain is normal and they will sell you a pill for stilling the pain of this reality..
They will tell you that Universal Love is really the desire of lust..
So many ways to fool the soul stuck within the dream..
Turn off the voices from the rectangle and Awaken to Reality..
It is not found within the advertising medium..
It is only found within You...
namaste, thomas
the book of wisdom...
Simab said:
"I shall sell the book of Wisdom for a hundred gold pieces,
and some people will say that it is cheap."
Yunus Marmar said to him:
"And I shall give away the key to
understanding it,
and almost none shall take it,
even free of charge."
as collected by Idries Shah
Thoughts are egoic consciousness...
Ramana Maharshi:
"You are awareness,
Awareness is another name for you,
Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it."
Questioner: "How can I tell if I am making progress with my enquiry?"
"The degree of the absence of thoughts is the measure of your progress towards Self-Realization.
But Self-Realization itself does not admit of progress, it is ever the same.
The Self remains always in realization.
The obstacles are thoughts.
Progress is measured by the degree of removal of the obstacles to understanding that the Self is always realized.
So thoughts must be checked by seeking to whom they arise.
So you go to their source, where they do not arise."
Recital of the Sarmoun Brotherhood...(Sufi Mystics)
He who knows and does not know that he knows:
he is asleep. Let him become one, whole.
Let him be awakened.
He who has known but does not know:
let him see once more the beginning of all.
He who does not wish to know, and yet says that he needs to know:
let him be guided to safety and to light.
He who does not know, and knows that he does not know:
let him, through this knowledge, know.
He who does not know, but thinks that he knows:
set him free from the confusion of that ignorance.
He who knows, and knows that HE IS:
he is wise. Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.
I who know, and do not know that I know:
let me become one, whole.
Let me be awakened.
I who have known, but do not know:
let me see once more the beginning of all.
I who do not wish to know, and yet say that I need to know:
let me be guided to safety and light.
I who do not know, and know that I do not know:
let me through this knowledge, know.
I who do not know, but think that I know:
set me free from the confusion of that ignorance.
He who knows, and know that HE IS:
he is wise. Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.
We who know, and do not know that we know:
let us become one, whole.
Let us be transformed.
We who have known, but do not know:
let us once more see the beginning of all.
We who do not wish to know, and yet say that we need to know:
let us be guided to safety and light.
We who do not know, and know that we do not know:
let us, through this knowledge, know.
We who do not know, but think that we know:
set us free from the confusion of that ignorance.
He who knows, and knows that HE IS;
he is wise. Let him be followed.
By his presence alone man may be transformed.
As with our forebears
So with our successors.
So with us.
We affirm this undertaking.
So let it be.
lost in the Called...
"Keep God in remembrance till self is forgotten,
That you may be lost in the Called without distraction of caller and called."
Rumi
_Divani Shamsi Tabriz_, 4
in F. Hadland Davis
The Persian Mystics: Jalaluddin Rumi
London: John Murray, 1912, p. 45
" beyond men "...
"His divinity can in no way be seen by human sight,
but is seen with that sight
with which they who see,
are no longer men,
but beyond men."
Augustine of Hippo
On the Trinity, I.6.11
non-denominational...
Basic truth is
non-denominational
non-dogmatic
universal.
When you go to the core
of the Principle
we all are One.
Once you
realize
the Absolute,
relativity
is just your
playing cards.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
All is Consciousness...
Your body, your mind, the whole phenomenal world we see all around us, all have there validity.
They are not just entirely illusory.
They are only illusory when they are seen as separate entities that stand on there own independently.
They ARE distinct from one another.
Your body and the body of a star fish are certainly different.
But nothing that exists in the physical world is really a separate entity.
All these forms are so many amazing expressions/manifestations of the infinite, universal consciousness, including the form that people call "you".
No form is separate.
Every form is a part of the whole.
The particular body/mind that is called by your name is included in universal consciousness, so it is included as a part of who and what you are.
So, in that sense, you ARE a body/mind after all.
You are just not limited to that, you are not exclusively that...
Francis Bennett
Pure Awareness...
"From the point of view of the highest and the only Truth,
God alone is real and
is one eternal, indivisible and unlimited Being which may,
for the purposes of
intellectual understanding,
be described as an Infinite Ocean of Love, Bliss and
Understanding."
Meher Baba
Messages Of Meher Baba, ed. Adi K. Irani, pp. 67,
from the inside...
I have lived on the lip
of insanity,
wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door.
It opens,
I've been knocking from the inside!
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain"
Threshold Books, 1986
Ram Tzu Speaks...
You clever ones
Go looking
For a Master
In a cave
In the Himalayas
Or in the forests
Of Thailand.
If you're less clever
You'll look for him
Somewhere comfortable
Like Ashland, Sedona,
Santa Fe or Santa Cruz.
Wouldn't you be surprised
To learn that
All this time
He was sitting behind a desk
In your bank?
Ram Tzu knows this…
You require your sages
To be in proper uniform.
- Ram Tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
" throw all away "...
If you want to go all the way, throw all away.
And right
there, there is a joy, a freedom and lightness.
Strip
everything back to nothing.
Throw your attachments,
your desires, your needs and immediately you are in
a state of total freshness.
Total wholeness.
Every human
being should do this once in a while.
The serious seeker
develops this unsparing attitude to free their minds from
the cholesterol of egoic identity.
Be in that emptiness and
you see that emptiness is completeness.
And the more
you do it, the more you enjoy the effortlessness of it all.
Now, you ignore the voice of the interpreter, the journalist,
the accountant or the mathematician and in a short while,
you won't want him back.
If you want to go all the way,
throw all away.
- Mooji
the ego blocks enlightenment...
The ego stands in the way:
its own presence annuls awareness of the presence of the Overself.
But this need not be so.
Correct and deeper understanding of what the self is,
proper adjustment between the individual and the universal in consciousness,
will bring enlightenment.
— Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 4: Detaching from The Ego > # 369
Paul Brunton
" I AM, I AM "...
Nothing ever happened or ever will.
You
have always been perfect Love and Peace.
What changes is not real and what is Real
cannot change.
You are that Secret,
that
Purity beyond change and description,
but
if you touch the "I" you become polluted with
pride.
The "I" rising from the effort of ego is
not the real "I."
The real "I" knows that every-
thing is my reflection-projection.
Simply
knowing "I AM I AM" is effortlessness, is
meditation, and is Sahaja, the natural state
of Being.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
unpleasant realities...
The treatment of unpleasant realities by not including them in his picture of the world comforts but at the same time befools a man.
None of the great prophets like Jesus and Buddha denied the existence of sickness, the reality of pain, or the significance of suffering in the cosmos.
No--they acknowledged them as being inseparable from human life but pitied the victims and offered them an inward comfort which was based on truth and reality.
— Notebooks Category 10: Healing of the Self > Chapter 1: The Laws of Nature > # 35
Paul Brunton
Nafs-kushi...
We should be careful to take away from ourselves any thorns that prick us in the
personality of others.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
We frequently say, 'I dislike him,' 'I wish to avoid her,' but if we examine
this carefully, we find it is the same element in all that we dislike, the ego.
And when we turn to ourselves to see if we have it in us, we find it is there
too. We should forget it, therefore, in other people, and first turn our
attention to crushing it within ourselves. We should determine to have our house
clean even if other people neglect theirs. We should be careful to take away
from ourselves any thorns that prick us in the personality of others.
There is a
verse in the Quran, which says, 'Arise in the midst of the night, and commune
with thy Lord... Bear patiently what others say.' This is not only a command to
rise in the night and pray, but it also means that by rising in the night we
crush the ego, for the ego demands its rest and comfort, and when denied, is
crushed. The mystics fast for the same reason. The Sufi's base the whole of
their teaching on the crushing of the ego which they term Nafs-kushi, for
therein lies all magnetism and power.
For every soul there are four stages to pass through in order to come to the
culmination of the ego, which means to reach the stage of the rose.
The first
stage is that a person is rough, thoughtless and inconsiderate. He is interested
in what he wants and in what he likes; as such he is naturally blind to the
needs and wants of others.
In the second stage a man is decent and good as long
as his interests are concerned. As long as he can get his wish fulfilled he is
pleasant and kind and good and harmonious; but if he cannot get his wish and
cannot have his way, then he becomes rough and crude and changes completely.
And
there is a third stage, when someone is more concerned with another person's
wish and desire, and less with himself; when his whole heart is seeking for what
he can do for another. In his thought the other person comes first and he comes
afterwards. That is the beginning of turning into the rose.
It is only a
rosebud, but then in the fourth stage this rosebud blooms in the person who
entirely forgets himself in doing kind deeds for others. In Sufi terms the
crushing of the ego is called Nafs Kushi.
mind is not capable...
Mind is not capable
of knowing everything
fully;
it's always knowing something
which is equal
to knowing nothing.
Partial knowledge
is no knowledge
and any knowledge
devoid of absoluteness
doesn't free us.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
OM...
My body caught fire like an ember,
as I brought the syllable OM,
the one that says "You are That,"
into me.
I moved through
the six chakra centers
that urge human beings to action
and out into the lightedness
where Lalla lives now.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
the same Source...
If I am you, how can I suffer in my relationship with you? We suffer as we feel separate.
When I see you as an other, then I see you through my expectations, my judgments, my conditions and my relationship with you is flawed and invaded by conditions and unhappiness.
Now, am I willing to see you as myself and am I willing to be absolutely still and completely non judgmental in my relationship with myself and you?
This is worth exploring.
There is no need to say: No, this is not possible. There is no need to take an a-priori stance about this possibility. Why don't you explore it whichever way you can?
Tell yourself that we are one consciousness speaking all tongues. Tell yourself the other is my mother, brother, my very self and that the other is the same light, the same Source as yourself.
This does not mean you should be resigned to an abusive relationship. Not at all.
You can see the other as yourself, and you can see an abusive behavior as an aspect of yourself that you do not want to relate to.
You step out of abuse without making a big story out of it. You simply remove the soiled shoes. And it's done.
But when you make a story out of it, if you continue to debate it, you drag it in your space and you are not done with it since it continues to define you.
Whatever defines you creates a mistaken identity creates a story-you and you become confused about the real you.
The real you is invisible and is undefined. It is Source energy and powers the universe, creates all creations while remaining uncreated.
Magdi Em Be
servants of negative duality...
You that are Awake, are aware of the evil that controls this manifestation..
wealth, power, and fame are the desire and goal of these servants..
they serve the illusion of ego and the controllers of reincarnation..
reincarnation is a trick to fool you into entering the same prison that you left..
You are not the ego that is trapped within these incarnations..
You are the Consciousness that uses these bodies as vehicles of learning..
You have never been trapped within the illusion but You believe that You are and therefore, Your belief becomes manifest..
these bodies called human are used by the controllers of this manifestation as energy generators for the creation of negative emotions and thoughts..
they survive on this negative energy..
they cannot understand the positive energy called Love and will dissolve from this more powerful energy..
This is why all Mystics have told you to embrace the power of Love and become this energy of Love..
Love dissolves all negative energy because Love is the essence of Divine Consciousness which some call God..
You are now informed about the controllers of this world that are puppeteers of the leaders of this world..
The rest is up to You...
namaste, thomas
Crucifixion and Resurrection...
True power is not in trying to gain power;
true power is in becoming power.
But
how to become power?
It requires an attempt to make a definite change in
oneself, and that change is a kind of struggle with one's false self.
When the
false self is crucified, then the true self is resurrected.
Before the world
this crucifixion appears to be lack of power,
but in truth all power is attained
by this ressurection.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
You have slept...
O my heart!
The Supreme Spirit,
the great Master,
is near you:
wake, oh wake!
Run to the feet of your Beloved:
for your Lord stands near to your head.
You have slept for unnumbered ages;
this morning will you not wake?
Kabir
in Rabindranath Tagore, Translator
Songs of Kabir
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1915,XIX (II.20), p. 68-69
Seek the Source...
Sunlight fell upon the wall;
the wall received a borrowed splendor.
Why set your heart on a piece of earth,
O simple one?
Seek out the Source
which shines forever.
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
glimpse of Reality...
The glimpses are not directly caused by his own endeavours.
They are experiences of the working of Grace,
gifts from the Overself,
echoes from former lives on earth,
or belated responses to his knocking on the door.
— Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 5: Preparing for Glimpses > # 101
Paul Brunton
Pure Awareness...
Pure awareness, simple presence here and now,
is that deep part of you where true and lasting happiness always exists because it is that part of you that does not resist anything at all.
It's the one, unchanging core of you that isn't disturbed when the circumstances, people or things in your life are less than perfect.
Circumstances, people, things in your life are ALWAYS "imperfect" in the sense that they don't necessarily do what the more "surface" parts of you would like them to do.
They always just do what they do, whether you happen to like it or not.
But the awareness, the presence, doesn't judge or evaluate circumstances, people or things, it is simply aware of them, it is simply present to them.
That is why it's always happy.
It can't ever find any reason NOT to be!
Francis Bennett
find the Seer...
My Master, Ramana Maharishi, said to me,
"God is not an object to be seen,
He is the subject.
He cannot be seen,
He is the Seer,
find this Seer."
My Heart was opened.
"Find the Seer," This is the Teaching.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
This quotation is from:
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
am I awake now?...
I used to have fiery intensity,
and a flowing sweetness.
The waters were illusion.
The flames made of snow.
Was I dreaming then?
Am I awake now?
- Rumi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Version by Coleman Barks
"Birdsong"
Maypop, 1993
Indestructible...
“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation,
can that which is indestructible
be found in us...”
- Pema Chodrun
the soul of a soldier...
Life is found and is lost..
We continue..
Why are we the last?..
All others gone and yet we still breathe..
Does God (Divine Consciousness) have a reason?..
We fight and die because a man declares reasons..
What is Truth?..
Truth is God..
Does God desire to destroy His creation?..
Perhaps, contemplation is too mundane for a young man..
Time will be the speaker of the future for the young man of integrity..
You, that is willing to die for honor and brotherhood..
You are a good soul that seeks perfection within life..
Who are your teachers?..
Are they perfect souls?..
These are difficult questions for someone that believes that others speak truth..
You have been born with Wisdom to know Truth from Falsehood..
Freedom from lies require thought..
Freedom from the continuous incarnations require thought..
I'll meet you within the Light...
namaste, thomas
agreement of knowledge...
"There is no knowledge except that taken from God,
for He alone is the Knower...
the prophets,
in spite of their great number and the long periods of time which
separate them,
had no disagreement in knowledge of God,
since they took it from
God."
Ibn Arabi
'Futuhat al Makkiyah' II. 290.
Translated by W. C. Chittick
in William C. Chittick
_The Sufi Path of Knowledge_
Albany: SUNY Press, 1989
the silence of Being...
Some beings have had enough of experiencing.
Their urge for
freedom is very strong now.
That company I find most alive.
At
some point many relationships become worn out and tired.
They
mostly begin to fall away.
Do not grieve.
Do you honestly want to
find those old conversations interesting again?
A voice within says:
Come fully inside.
Come lay down here in the silence of Being.
If there is a sadness it will be to spend our life in separation from
our inmost being.
- Mooji
the Overself...
Books and discussions can, at best, serve only as guides for the individual inward search.
This search for the True Self should be accompanied by efforts to impartially observe, improve, and develop that personal self which is ordinarily accepted as the be-all and end-all of existence.
Constant attempts to cultivate and maintain awareness of the True Self-
-the Overself--
together with making it the object of his deepest love and humble worship, are among the qualifications essential to progress.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 18
Paul Brunton
Freedom is Love...
"Freedom and love go together.
Love is not a reaction.
If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market;
it is not love.
To love is not to ask anything in return,
not even to feel that you are giving something-
and it is only such love that can know freedom."
~Jiddu Krishnamurti
timeless and spaceless...
The planetary overmind is the active aspect of the Overself but still only an aspect.
It works with space and time although the latter assumes dimensions far beyond that with which waking human capacity can cope.
The Overself in its passive purity is timeless and spaceless.
— Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 264
Paul Brunton
Being the witness...
Discover all you are not.
Body, feelings,
thoughts, ideas, time, space, being and
not-being, this or that -
nothing concrete
or abstract you can point out to is you.
A
mere verbal statement will not do -
you may
repeat a formula endlessly without any result
whatsoever.
You must watch yourself
continuously -
particularly your mind -
moment
by moment, missing nothing.
This witnessing
is essential for the separation of the self from
the not-self.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
Extraterrestrial Biological Entities...
This is what the politicians call Aliens..
Yes, they are real..
Will they give you Freedom?..
Can Freedom be given?..
What exactly is Freedom?..
If there is only Source, who are You?..
Does Source need help to achieve Freedom?..
Is not Source, Itself, the definition of Freedom?..
So many questions and so few answers...
namaste, thomas
you, that have traveled to this space and time...
Seeking are you?..
Surprisingly, cool air has entered this space of humidity and heat..
A sigh of relief has entered my lungs..
My mind sings a song of thankfulness to nature for it's mercy..
And yet, my mind seeks more knowledge about Reality more now than ever..
It is humorous that less physical stress opens a door to knowledge..
Perhaps, it is because Reality has no physical stress or pain..
Reality is the Energy of Light and therefore, feels no pain of physicality..
Light is our Nature, Love is our blood..
And yet, we speak of the nature of the illusion of life and pain..
How foolish we are to worry so much about a dream or illusion..
It is not far to Freedom..
The dream ends and We find ourselves, once again as the Creative Mind..
Love, lulls us into the pleasure and joy of Reality..
Why do We return to the pain of manifestation?..
Only We can answer that question...
namaste, thomas
Tao Te Ching...
A brave and passionate man will kill or be killed.
A brave and calm man will always preserve life.
Of these two which is good and which is harmful?
Some things are not favored by heaven.
Who knows why?
Even the sage is unsure of this.
The Tao of heaven does not strive, and yet it overcomes.
It does not speak, and yet is answered.
It does not ask, yet is supplied with all its needs.
It seems at ease, and yet it follows a plan.
Heaven’s net casts wide.
Though its meshes are coarse, nothing slips through.
- Lao-tzu
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Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
larger than thought...
The human mind, in its desire to know, understand, and control, mistakes its opinions and viewpoints for the truth.
It says: this is how it is.
You have to be larger than thought to realize that however you interpret "your life" or someone else's life or behavior, however you judge any situation, it is no more than a viewpoint, one of many possible perspectives. It is no more than a bundle of thoughts.
But reality is one unified whole, in which all things are interwoven, where nothing exists in and by itself. Thinking fragments reality -- it cuts it up into conceptual bits and pieces.
The thinking mind is a useful and powerful tool, but it is also very limiting when it takes over your life completely, when you don't realize that it is only a small aspect of the consciousness that you are.
From: Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle.
Attention Span...
Scientists have concluded that the average attention span of the modern human has dropped from twelve seconds to eight seconds..
the attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds..
This is why, I write in paragraphs..
Humans have lost their ability to think in a continuous manner to understand thoughts..
I try to infuse knowledge and wisdom in a tightened group of words, so that you will not fall back into the hypnosis of this third dimension..
All Mystics will tell you to "Wake up"..
The hypnosis is strong and controls the mind and body..
Work on the mind to stay Awake..
Look down upon the body and mind from the level of Consciousness..
You are Consciousness..
Watch everything and choose the thoughts and words that are contained within the mind..
Train the subconscious mind to accept only thoughts of non-egoic consciousness..
The subconscious mind is the Soul..
Stay Awake...
namaste, thomas
The Tao...
"When wise people hear the Tao,
they practice it diligently.
When ordinary people hear the Tao,
they waver between belief and doubt.
When foolish people hear the Tao,
they laugh boisterously at it.
If such people did not do this,
then the Tao would not be the Tao."
Lao Tzu
_Tao Te Ching_, 41
Translated by Jon C. Wu
NY: St. John's University Press, 1962
(Barnes & Noble 1997 reprint), p. 85
Age...
Those that are afflicted with the illusion called fame come to mind..
Our faces change with the atoms disintegrating from the dream..
Time is a gift from Consciousness to remind us of Reality..
The illusion dissolves..
Our ego becomes frightened with fears of death..
Death is also a gift from Reality..
It is graduation day and a day that the chains have been cut..
And yet we fear this day..
What fools are we to question Reality..
What are we to lose?..
Pain and Ignorance?..
Remember, It is only a dream..
Wake up into the Reality of Light, Love, and Consciousness..
All else was just a bad dream...
namaste, thomas
We are here...
Those that understand english have walked into my room..
Welcome to the souls of Truth..
We pretend to be separate and alone..
But, We know the Truth of Reality..
The world of darkness will uphold the egoic consciousness as reality..
But, We know Truth..
Stand with me as One..
There is only One..
All else is a dream..
Waking up is called Enlightenment..
Surrendering All is what we think of as wealth and ego is necessary for Freedom..
It is difficult and requires courage, but is necessary..
In meditation, surrender All..
This is Zen..
See You on the other side...
namaste, thomas
you, of many languages...
Languages that are meant to separate you from each other..
You think of them of patriotism and nationalism and yet you remain ignorant of knowledge..
Think beyond the country or religion,
You are neither of these..
You are the Consciousness that plays within the fields of speech and land..
And yet, you remain trapped within the illusion of division..
Strange, is it not!..
You of intellect and intelligence being trapped within ignorance..
Waking up, is the answer..
You are the observer and not that which is observed..
And if You are truly intelligent,
You are Nothing...
namaste, thomas
Ram Tzu Speaks...
Ram Tzu knows this;
It¹s not your fault.
How could it be?
A shadow is not responsible
For its movements.
A knife cannot
Be tried for murder.
You have been filled
With your self.
You believe what
You are meant to believe.
You go where
You are supposed to go.
Ram Tzu does not offer advice,
Who would he offer it to?
- Ram Tzu
the mystic dances...
The mystic dances in the sun,
hearing music others don't.
"Insanity," they say, those others.
If so, it's a very gentle,
nourishing sort.
- Rumi
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Version by Coleman Barks
"Birdsong"
Maypop, 1993
we are dreams...
We live our life in a world that we have created for ourselves… each one of us live in "his" or "her" little world… we dream our life away… and "think" that we are living in the "real" world… But there is no real world as such… we individually "dream our own world" and give it a meaning… The same law applies to our night dreams… We "live" conscious dream states and call them "vivid dreaming" or "lucid dreams" but what I wanted to clarify here is that we are not really the dreamers... we are not the creators of our dreams... it is only Being that is the dreamer... and the creator of our dreams... we are the observers of what is projected from the source of consciousness.
This projection of consciousness we have been calling it "me" and "not me"…hence, dream psychology, dreamwork etc... are "inner teachings" received by the consciousness of the dreamer. human consciousness is. which experiences our individual world and dreams are all creations of Consciousness. Therefore, we could say that the only dreamer is Consciousness. So Consciousness is the part that awakes itself through the "mirror" of the world of DUALITY… The "me" and "not me" syndrome… But for each one of us the concept of a "personal me" is so strong, that we say, "I dream." But the truth is that there is no "me" which can dream.
Consciousness shows the way to the "me" to awake… So in this waking dream that is our world, as well as in our personal night dream, the real "dreamer" is only Consciousness. Hence, what we have been saying until here seems like a paradox, but it isn't since, the "me" is a projection of consciousness itself… therefore, if the creations in a dream are the products of the consciousness of a dreamer, then its objective and goal are directed to the separated part of consciousness that is in the "me"…
So, we understand that other than Consciousness, there is just nothing. The personal dream is created through the individual mind, which is the identified consciousness.
So what we are saying is that there are no personal dreams what happens during sleep is that consciousness takes over and creates whatever is necessary for his "other" limited part of consciousness, the part that has been projected in a vehicle called a human being to react and gradually awake to its true nature which is a "shadow" and projection of Cosmic Consciousness or the unique consciousness that pervades creation… Hence, we repeat, that in both the personal dreams of billions of human beings and this one that we live in this physical world of our everyday life are both a big "living dream" and, in the case of both, the "dreamer" is as we have said Consciousness…
we are all "dreamed characters". The ego is a limited manifestation of consciousness it is the part of us that says "me" and "not me"…an illusion and distorted function of limited consciousness… The mistake or the illusion is that we usually think that WE ARE THE DREAMERS." But the truth is that we are not "dreamers," we are only dreamed characters.
from Plotinus.com
desires create bondage...
"The sense of attainment of objects of desires
also will not give happiness.
This gives bondage.
It is absence of desire which brings Happiness.
It is only desire which disturbs eternal peace and rest.
This desire is the disease of the mind; live without it, and be happy.
Happiness is true Self and is always Here.
The prescription for this Happiness is to simply be Quiet."
Poonja
Love the Real...
He must give out that love of which Jesus spoke.
But it is not to be an unbalanced sentimentality;
rather it is a serene self-identification with others without being thrown off one's own centre.
That is why reason is a helpful check here.
Above all,
he must love the Real,
the Overself.
— Notebooks Category 6: Emotions and Ethics > Chapter 2: Re-Educate Feelings > # 138
Paul Brunton
the prophet...
It is the message that proves the messenger, not the claim.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The prophet brings love, the love of God, the Father and Mother of the whole
humanity, a love that is life itself. No words nor actions can express that
love. The presence of the prophet, his very being, speaks of it, if only the
heart had ears to listen. Verily, to the believer all is right, and to the
unbeliever all is wrong.
The principal work of the prophet is to glorify the Name of God and to raise
humanity from the denseness of the earth, to open the doors of the human heart
to the divine beauty which is everywhere manifested and to illuminate souls
which are groping in darkness for years. The prophet brings the message of the
day, a reform for that particular period in which he is born. A claim of a
prophet is nothing to the real prophet. The being of the prophet, the work of
the prophet, and the fulfillment of his task is itself the proof of prophethood.
There was a time when the world was not capable of seeing. Humanity did not have
enough realization to recognize the message, that is why the claim of prophecy
had to be made. But now the world can recognize, sooner or later, what is right
and what is wrong. The warner, the master, the messenger of today will not
claim. He will only work. He will leave his work to prove for itself whether it
is true or false.
There was a time when the message was given while the people were waiting for a
messenger to come, as happened in the time of Jesus Christ, when there were
thousands and thousands waiting for a messenger from above. The Master came, and
gave his service to the world, and left again. Some realized what had happened
then, and some are still waiting. But the one who claimed to be Alpha and Omega
is never absent; sometimes he shows himself, sometimes he keeps in the
background. ... The divine message is the answer to the cry of souls
individually and collectively; the divine message is life and it is light. The
sun does not teach anything, but in its light we learn to know all things. The
sun does not cultivate the soil nor does it sow seed, but it helps the plants to
grow, to flower, and to bear fruit.
thy ALL...
Follow my ways and I will lead you
To golden-haired suns,
Logos and music, blameless joys,
Innocent of questions
And beyond answers.
For I,
Solitude,
am thine own Self:
I, Nothingness,
am thy All.
I, Silence,
am thy Amen.
- Thomas Merton
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"A Thomas Merton Reader"
Image Books, 1974
enkindled moments...
Only those who have felt it
can know the completely satisfying nature of the love which flows to and fro between the ego and the Overself at such enkindled moments.
They may be gone the same day,
but they will reflect themselves in a whole lifetime's aspiration thereafter.
— Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 7: After the Glimpse > # 61
Paul Brunton
Be a Lover...
"Wherever you may be,
in what ever situation or circumstance
you may find yourself,
strive always to be a lover,
and a passionate lover.
Once you possess your heart in love,
you will always be a lover,
in the tomb, at the resurrection,
and in paradise forever and ever."
Rumi
in Andrew Harvey
_The Direct Path: Creating a Journey to the Divine Using the World's Mystical
Traditions_
NY: Broadway Books. 2000, p. 157
I am SELF...
Do not run away from worldly activities,
only
always keep in the "I am SELF,"
stay as the
screen on which all the projected activities
take place.
In all activities simply keep quiet
and know "I am Home."
Your business is
to keep quiet.
- Papaji
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"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
Bored with yourself...
Have you not yet realized that you are bored with yourself?..
This character of pride and grasping..
This charlatan of reality..
You seek the approval of others and the jealously of others for your accomplishments..
Is it not time to lean back your head and laugh at this foolishness?..
You as Consciousness, witness this game of ego and yet, you let it continue..
Does it bring you Happiness?..
Of course not, It is an illusion and a joke by the ego..
It is time to become an adult..
No more games..
Time is running out and you are due to leave the vehicle..
Surrender All..
Become Nothing..
Awaken as Everything...
namaste, thomas
the Overself...
Until he finds his Overself,
no man can escape this coming back to the earthly life.
And this remains true whether he loves the world or is disgusted by it.
— Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 2: Rebirth and Reincarnation > # 212
Paul Brunton
The Gospel of Truth...
The Nag Hammadi Library
The Gospel of Truth
Translated by Robert M. Grant
The gospel of truth is joy to those who have received from the Father of truth the gift of knowing him by the power of the Logos, who has come from the Pleroma and who is in the thought and the mind of the Father; he it is who is called "the Savior," since that is the name of the work which he must do for the redemption of those who have not known the Father. For the name of the gospel is the manifestation of hope, since that is the discovery of those who seek him, because the All sought him from whom it had come forth. You see, the All had been inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one, who is better than every thought.
This ignorance of the Father brought about terror and fear. And terror became dense like a fog, that no one was able to see. Because of this, error became strong. But it worked on its hylic substance vainly, because it did not know the truth. It was in a fashioned form while it was preparing, in power and in beauty, the equivalent of truth. This then, was not a humiliation for him, that illimitable, inconceivable one. For they were as nothing, this terror and this forgetfulness and this figure of falsehood, whereas this established truth is unchanging, unperturbed and completely beautiful.
For this reason, do not take error too seriously. Thus, since it had no root, it was in a fog as regards the Father, engaged in preparing works and forgetfulnesses and fears in order, by these means, to beguile those of the middle and to make them captive. The forgetfulness of error was not revealed. It did not become light beside the Father. Forgetfulness did not exist with the Father, although it existed because of him. What exists in him is knowledge, which was revealed so that forgetfulness might be destroyed and that they might know the Father, Since forgetfulness existed because they did not know the Father, if they then come to know the Father, from that moment on forgetfulness will cease to exist.
That is the gospel of him whom they seek, which he has revealed to the perfect through the mercies of the Father as the hidden mystery, Jesus the Christ. Through him he enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and gave them a path. And that path is the truth which he taught them. For this reason error was angry with him, so it persecuted him. It was distressed by him, so it made him powerless. He was nailed to a cross. He became a fruit of the knowledge of the Father. He did not, however, destroy them because they ate of it. He rather caused those who ate of it to be joyful because of this discovery.
And as for him, them he found in himself, and him they found in themselves, that illimitable, inconceivable one, that perfect Father who made the all, in whom the All is, and whom the All lacks, since he retained in himself their perfection, which he had not given to the all. The Father was not jealous. What jealousy, indeed, is there between him and his members? For, even if the Aeon had received their perfection, they would not have been able to approach the perfection of the Father, because he retained their perfection in himself, giving it to them as a way to return to him and as a knowledge unique in perfection. He is the one who set the All in order and in whom the All existed and whom the All lacked. As one of whom some have no knowledge, he desires that they know him and that they love him. For what is it that the All lacked, if not the knowledge of the Father?
He became a guide, quiet and in leisure. In the middle of a school he came and spoke the Word, as a teacher. Those who were wise in their own estimation came to put him to the test. But he discredited them as empty-headed people. They hated him because they really were not wise men. After all these came also the little children, those who possess the knowledge of the Father. When they became strong they were taught the aspects of the Father's face. They came to know and they were known. They were glorified and they gave glory. In their heart, the living book of the Living was manifest, the book which was written in the thought and in the mind of the Father and, from before the foundation of the All, is in that incomprehensible part of him.
This is the book which no one found possible to take, since it was reserved for him who will take it and be slain. No one was able to be manifest from those who believed in salvation as long as that book had not appeared. For this reason, the compassionate, faithful Jesus was patient in his sufferings until he took that book, since he knew that his death meant life for many. Just as in the case of a will which has not yet been opened, for the fortune of the deceased master of the house is hidden, so also in the case of the All which had been hidden as long as the Father of the All was invisible and unique in himself, in whom every space has its source. For this reason Jesus appeared. He took that book as his own. He was nailed to a cross. He affixed the edict of the Father to the cross.
Oh, such great teaching! He abases himself even unto death, though he is clothed in eternal life. Having divested himself of these perishable rags, he clothed himself in incorruptibility, which no one could possibly take from him. Having entered into the empty territory of fears, he passed before those who were stripped by forgetfulness, being both knowledge and perfection, proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the Father, so that he became the wisdom of those who have received instruction. But those who are to be taught, the living who are inscribed in the book of the living, learn for themselves, receiving instructions from the Father, turning to him again.
Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws it to himself. For he who is ignorant, is deficient, and it is a great deficiency, since he lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him and for each one to get the things which are his. He registered them first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him.
Those whose name he knew first were called last, so that the one who has knowledge is he whose name the Father has pronounced. For he whose name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if his name has not been uttered? For he who remains ignorant until the end is a creature of forgetfulness and will perish with it. If this is not so, why have these wretches no name, why do they have no sound? Hence, if one has knowledge, he is from above. If he is called, he hears, he replies, and he turns toward him who called him and he ascends to him and he knows what he is called. Since he has knowledge, he does the will of him who called him. He desires to please him and he finds rest. He receives a certain name. He who thus is going to have knowledge knows whence he came and whither he is going. He knows it as a person who, having become intoxicated, has turned from his drunkenness and having come to himself, has restored what is his own.
He has turned many from error. He went before them to their own places, from which they departed when they erred because of the depth of him who surrounds every place, whereas there is nothing which surrounds him. It was a great wonder that they were in the Father without knowing him and that they were able to leave on their own, since they were not able to contain him and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come forth from him. For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emanations agree, namely, the knowledge of the living book which he revealed to the Aeons at last as his letters, displaying to them that these are not merely vowels nor consonants, so that one may read them and think of something void of meaning; on the contrary, they are letters which convey the truth. They are pronounced only when they are known. Each letter is a perfect truth like a perfect book, for they are letters written by the hand of the unity, since the Father wrote them for the Aeons, so that they by means of his letters might come to know the Father.
While his wisdom mediates on the logos, and since his teaching expresses it, his knowledge has been revealed. His honor is a crown upon it. Since his joy agrees with it, his glory exalted it. It has revealed his image. It has obtained his rest. His love took bodily form around it. His trust embraced it. Thus the logos of the Father goes forth into the All, being the fruit of his heart and expression of his will. It supports the All. It chooses and also takes the form of the All, purifying it, and causing it to return to the Father and to the Mother, Jesus of the utmost sweetness. The Father opens his bosom, but his bosom is the Holy Spirit. He reveals his hidden self which is his son, so that through the compassion of the Father the Aeons may know him, end their wearying search for the Father and rest themselves in him, knowing that this is rest. After he had filled what was incomplete, he did away with form. The form of it is the world, that which it served. For where there is envy and strife, there is an incompleteness; but where there is unity, there is completeness. Since this incompleteness came about because they did not know the Father, so when they know the Father, incompleteness, from that moment on, will cease to exist. As one's ignorance disappears when he gains knowledge, and as darkness disappears when light appears, so also incompleteness is eliminated by completeness. Certainly, from that moment on, form is no longer manifest, but will be dissolved in fusion with unity. For now their works lie scattered. In time unity will make the spaces complete. By means of unity each one will understand itself. By means of knowledge it will purify itself of diversity with a view towards unity, devouring matter within itself like fire and darkness by light, death by life.
Certainly, if these things have happened to each one of us, it is fitting for us, surely, to think about the All so that the house may be holy and silent for unity. Like people who have moved from a neighborhood, if they have some dishes around which are not good, they usually break them. Nevertheless the householder does not suffer a loss, but rejoices, for in the place of these defective dishes there are those which are completely perfect. For this is the judgement which has come from above and which has judged every person, a drawn two-edged sword cutting on this side and that. When it appeared, I mean, the Logos, who is in the heart of those who pronounce it - it was not merely a sound but it has become a body - a great disturbance occurred among the dishes, for some were emptied, others filled: some were provided for, others were removed; some were purified, still others were broken. All the spaces were shaken and disturbed for they had no composure nor stability. Error was disturbed not knowing what it should do. It was troubled; it lamented, it was beside itself because it did not know anything. When knowledge, which is its abolishment, approached it with all its emanations, error is empty, since there is nothing in it. Truth appeared; all its emanations recognized it. They actually greeted the Father with a power which is complete and which joins them with the Father. For each one loves truth because truth is the mouth of the Father. His tongue is the Holy Spirit, who joins him to truth attaching him to the mouth of the Father by his tongue at the time he shall receive the Holy Spirit.
This is the manifestation of the Father and his revelation to his Aeons. He revealed his hidden self and explained it. For who is it who exists if it is not the Father himself? All the spaces are his emanations. They knew that they stem from him as children from a perfect man. They knew that they had not yet received form nor had they yet received a name, every one of which the Father produces. If they at that time receive form of his knowledge, though they are truly in him, they do not know him. But the Father is perfect. He knows every space which is within him. If he pleases, he reveals anyone whom he desires by giving him a form and by giving him a name; and he does give him a name and cause him to come into being. Those who do not yet exist are ignorant of him who created them. I do not say, then, that those who do not yet exist are nothing. But they are in him who will desire that they exist when he pleases, like the event which is going to happen. On the one hand, he knows, before anything is revealed, what he will produce. On the other hand, the fruit which has not yet been revealed does not know anything, nor is it anything either. Thus each space which, on its part, is in the Father comes from the existent one, who, on his part, has established it from the nonexistent. [...] he who does not exist at all, will never exist.
What, then, is that which he wants him to think? "I am like the shadows and phantoms of the night." When morning comes, this one knows that the fear which he had experienced was nothing. Thus they were ignorant of the Father; he is the one whom they did not see. Since there had been fear and confusion and a lack of confidence and doublemindness and division, there were many illusions which were conceived by him, the foregoing, as well as empty ignorance - as if they were fast asleep and found themselves a prey to troubled dreams. Either there is a place to which they flee, or they lack strength as they come, having pursued unspecified things. Either they are involved in inflicting blows, or they themselves receive bruises. Either they are falling from high places, or they fly off through the air, though they have no wings at all. Other times, it is as if certain people were trying to kill them, even though there is no one pursuing them; or, they themselves are killing those beside them, for they are stained by their blood. Until the moment when they who are passing through all these things - I mean they who have experienced all these confusions - awake, they see nothing because the dreams were nothing. It is thus that they who cast ignorance from them as sheep do not consider it to be anything, nor regard its properties to be something real, but they renounce them like a dream in the night and they consider the knowledge of the Father to be the dawn. It is thus that each one has acted, as if he were asleep, during the time when he was ignorant and thus he comes to understand, as if he were awakening. And happy is the man who comes to himself and awakens. Indeed, blessed is he who has opened the eyes of the blind.
And the Spirit came to him in haste when it raised him. Having given its hand to the one lying prone on the ground, it placed him firmly on his feet, for he had not yet stood up. He gave them the means of knowing the knowledge of the Father and the revelation of his son. For when they saw it and listened to it, he permitted them to take a taste of and to smell and to grasp the beloved son.
He appeared, informing them of the Father, the illimitable one. He inspired them with that which is in the mind, while doing his will. Many received the light and turned towards him. But material men were alien to him and did not discern his appearance nor recognize him. For he came in the likeness of flesh and nothing blocked his way because it was incorruptible and unrestrainable. Moreover, while saying new things, speaking about what is in the heart of the Father, he proclaimed the faultless word. Light spoke through his mouth, and his voice brought forth life. He gave them thought and understanding and mercy and salvation and the Spirit of strength derived from the limitlessness of the Father and sweetness. He caused punishments and scourgings to cease, for it was they which caused many in need of mercy to astray from him in error and in chains - and he mightily destroyed them and derided them with knowledge. He became a path for those who went astray and knowledge to those who were ignorant, a discovery for those who sought, and a support for those who tremble, a purity for those who were defiled.
He is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep which had not strayed and went in search of that one which was lost. He rejoiced when he had found it. For ninety-nine is a number of the left hand, which holds it. The moment he finds the one, however, the whole number is transferred to the right hand. Thus it is with him who lacks the one, that is, the entire right hand which attracts that in which it is deficient, seizes it from the left side and transfers it to the right. In this way, then, the number becomes one hundred. This number signifies the Father.
He labored even on the Sabbath for the sheep which he found fallen into the pit. He saved the life of that sheep, bringing it up from the pit in order that you may understand fully what that Sabbath is, you who possess full understanding. It is a day in which it is not fitting that salvation be idle, so that you may speak of that heavenly day which has no night and of the sun which does not set because it is perfect. Say then in your heart that you are this perfect day and that in you the light which does not fail dwells.
Speak concerning the truth to those who seek it and of knowledge to those who, in their error, have committed sin. Make sure-footed those who stumble and stretch forth your hands to the sick. Nourish the hungry and set at ease those who are troubled. Foster men who love. Raise up and awaken those who sleep. For you are this understanding which encourages. If the strong follow this course, they are even stronger. Turn your attention to yourselves. Do not be concerned with other things, namely, that which you have cast forth from yourselves, that which you have dismissed. Do not return to them to eat them. Do not be moth-eaten. Do not be worm-eaten, for you have already shaken it off. Do not be a place of the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen your last obstacles, because that is reprehensible. For the lawless one is nothing. He harms himself more than the law. For that one does his works because he is a lawless person. But this one, because he is a righteous person, does his works among others. Do the will of the Father, then, for you are from him.
For the Father is sweet and his will is good. He knows the things that are yours, so that you may rest yourselves in them. For by the fruits one knows the things that are yours, that they are the children of the Father, and one knows his aroma, that you originate from the grace of his countenance. For this reason, the Father loved his aroma; and it manifests itself in every place; and when it is mixed with matter, he gives his aroma to the light; and into his rest he causes it to ascend in every form and in every sound. For there are no nostrils which smell the aroma, but it is the Spirit which possesses the sense of smell and it draws it for itself to itself and sinks into the aroma of the Father. He is, indeed, the place for it, and he takes it to the place from which it has come, in the first aroma which is cold. It is something in a psychic form, resembling cold water which is [...] since it is in soil which is not hard, of which those who see it think, "It is earth." Afterwards, it becomes soft again. If a breath is taken, it is usually hot. The cold aromas, then, are from the division. For this reason, God came and destroyed the division and he brought the hot Pleroma of love, so that the cold may not return, but the unity of the Perfect Thought prevail.
This is the word of the Gospel of the finding of the Pleroma for those who wait for the salvation which comes from above. When their hope, for which they are waiting, is waiting - they whose likeness is the light in which there is no shadow, then at that time the Pleroma is about to come. The deficiency of matter, however, is not because of the limitlessness of the Father who comes at the time of the deficiency. And yet no one is able to say that the incorruptible One will come in this manner. But the depth of the Father is increasing, and the thought of error is not with him. It is a matter of falling down and a matter of being readily set upright at the finding of that one who has come to him who will turn back.
For this turning back is called "repentance". For this reason, incorruption has breathed. It followed him who has sinned in order that he may find rest. For forgiveness is that which remains for the light in the deficiency, the word of the pleroma. For the physician hurries to the place in which there is sickness, because that is the desire which he has. The sick man is in a deficient condition, but he does not hide himself because the physician possesses that which he lacks. In this manner the deficiency is filled by the Pleroma, which has no deficiency, which has given itself out in order to fill the one who is deficient, so that grace may take him, then, from the area which is deficient and has no grace. Because of this a diminishing occurred in the place which there is no grace, the area where the one who is small, who is deficient, is taken hold of.
He revealed himself as a Pleroma, i.e., the finding of the light of truth which has shined towards him, because he is unchangeable. For this reason, they who have been troubled speak about Christ in their midst so that they may receive a return and he may anoint them with the ointment. The ointment is the pity of the Father, who will have mercy on them. But those whom he has anointed are those who are perfect. For the filled vessels are those which are customarily used for anointing. But when an anointing is finished, the vessel is usually empty, and the cause of its deficiency is the consumption of its ointment. For then a breath is drawn only through the power which he has. But the one who is without deficiency - one does not trust anyone beside him nor does one pour anything out. But that which is the deficient is filled again by the perfect Father. He is good. He knows his plantings because he is the one who has planted them in his Paradise. And his Paradise is his place of rest.
This is the perfection in the thought of the Father and these are the words of his reflection. Each one of his words is the work of his will alone, in the revelation of his Logos. Since they were in the depth of his mind, the Logos, who was the first to come forth, caused them to appear, along with an intellect which speaks the unique word by means of a silent grace. It was called "thought," since they were in it before becoming manifest. It happened, then, that it was the first to come forth - at the moment pleasing to the will of him who desired it; and it is in the will that the Father is at rest and with which he is pleased. Nothing happens without him, nor does anything occur without the will of the Father. But his will is incomprehensible. His will is his mark, but no one can know it, nor is it possible for them to concentrate on it in order to possess it. But that which he wishes takes place at the moment he wishes it - even if the view does not please anyone: it is God`s will. For the Father knows the beginning of them all as well as their end. For when their end arrives, he will question them to their faces. The end, you see, is the recognition of him who is hidden, that is, the Father, from whom the beginning came forth and to whom will return all who have come from him. For they were made manifest for the glory and the joy of his name.
And the name of the Father is the Son. It is he who, in the beginning, gave a name to him who came forth from him - he is the same one - and he begat him for a son. He gave him his name which belonged to him - he, the Father, who possesses everything which exists around him. He possess the name; he has the son. It is possible for them to see him. The name, however, is invisible, for it alone is the mystery of the invisible about to come to ears completely filled with it through the Father`s agency. Moreover, as for the Father, his name is not pronounced, but it is revealed through a son. Thus, then, the name is great.
Who, then, has been able to pronounce a name for him, this great name, except him alone to whom the name belongs and the sons of the name in whom the name of the Father is at rest, and who themselves in turn are at rest in his name, since the Father has no beginning? It is he alone who engendered it for himself as a name in the beginning before he had created the Aeons, that the name of the Father should be over their heads as a lord - that is, the real name, which is secure by his authority and by his perfect power. For the name is not drawn from lexicons nor is his name derived from common name-giving, But it is invisible. He gave a name to himself alone, because he alone saw it and because he alone was capable of giving himself a name. For he who does not exist has no name. For what name would one give him who did not exist? Nevertheless, he who exists also with his name and he alone knows it, and to him alone the Father gave a name. The Son is his name. He did not, therefore, keep it secretly hidden, but the son came into existence. He himself gave a name to him. The name, then, is that of the Father, just as the name of the Father is the Son. For otherwise, where would compassion find a name - outside of the Father? But someone will probably say to his companion, "Who would give a name to someone who existed before himself, as if, indeed, children did not receive their name from one of those who gave them birth?"
Above all, then, it is fitting for us to think this point over: What is the name? It is the real name. It is, indeed, the name which came from the Father, for it is he who owns the name. He did not, you see, get the name on loan, as in the case of others because of the form in which each one of them is going to be created. This, then, is the authoritative name. There is no one else to whom he has given it. But it remained unnamed, unuttered, `till the moment when he, who is perfect, pronounced it himself; and it was he alone who was able to pronounce his name and to see it. When it pleased him, then, that his son should be his pronounced name and when he gave this name to him, he who has come from the depth spoke of his secrets, because he knew that the Father was absolute goodness. For this reason, indeed, he sent this particular one in order that he might speak concerning the place and his place of rest from which he had come forth, and that he might glorify the Pleroma, the greatness of his name and the sweetness of his Father.
Each one will speak concerning the place from which he has come forth, and to the region from which he received his essential being, he will hasten to return once again. And he want from that place - the place where he was - because he tasted of that place, as he was nourished and grew. And his own place of rest is his Pleroma. All the emanations from the Father, therefore, are Pleromas, and all his emanations have their roots in the one who caused them all to grow from himself. He appointed a limit. They, then, became manifest individually in order that they might be in their own thought, for that place to which they extend their thoughts is their root, which lifts them upward through all heights to the Father. They reach his head, which is rest for them, and they remain there near to it so that they say that they have participated in his face by means of embraces. But these of this kind were not manifest, because they have not risen above themselves. Neither have they been deprived of the glory of the Father nor have they thought of him as small, nor bitter, nor angry, but as absolutely good, unperturbed, sweet, knowing all the spaces before they came into existence and having no need of instruction. Such are they who possess from above something of this immeasurable greatness, as they strain towards that unique and perfect one who exists there for them. And they do not go down to Hades. They have neither envy nor moaning, nor is death in them. But they rest in him who rests, without wearying themselves or becoming involved in the search for truth. But, they, indeed, are the truth, and the Father is in them, and they are in the Father, since they are perfect, inseparable from him who is truly good. They lack nothing in any way, but they are given rest and are refreshed by the Spirit. And they listen to their root; they have leisure for themselves, they in whom he will find his root, and he will suffer no loss to his soul.
Such is the place of the blessed; this is their place. As for the rest, then, may they know, in their place, that it does not suit me, after having been in the place of rest to say anything more. But he is the one in whom I shall be in order to devote myself, at all times, to the Father of the All and the true brothers, those upon whom the love of the Father is lavished, and in whose midst nothing of him is lacking. It is they who manifest themselves truly since they are in that true and eternal life and speak of the perfect light filled with the seed of the Father, and which is in his heart and in the Pleroma, while his Spirit rejoices in it and glorifies him in whom it was, because the Father is good. And his children are perfect and worthy of his name, because he is the Father. Children of this kind are those whom he loves.
From Robert M. Grant, Gnosticism (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1961),
as quoted in Willis Barnstone, The Other Bible (Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1984).
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