' Perfection of functioning '...
The central point of the ultimate understanding is that at any and every instant there is nothing but perfection in the totality of functioning that is the universe.
Thus, the present moment and whatever it offers is accepted in total and uninhibited pure enjoyment.
Volition and responsibility are unnecessarily assumed by the individual for acts and events that are all really subject to determination by what is called causation or destiny.
-
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' The illness of division '...
We are all more or less ill,
untill we find by Self-enquiry our Oneness with everyone else.
-Douglas Harding
' Everything breathes together '...
The stars are like letters that inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky.
Everything in the world is full of signs.
All events are coordinated.
All things depend on each other.
Everything breathes together.
-Plotinus
' Observation '...
Again and again he will have the extraordinary sensation of looking down at the game of human life as from a peak-like mental elevation.
He will see the players--millions of them--vehemently struggling for trivial aims and painfully striving for futile ones.
He sees how paltry is the sum-total of each individual life-activity, how bereft of mental greatness and moral grandeur it is.
And, seeing, aspiration will re-dedicate itself to unfaltering devotion to the Quest within his own mind.
-- Notebooks Category 24: The Peace within You >
Chapter 3: Practise Detachment > # 217
Paul Brunton
' Why are you unhappy ?'...
Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 percent of everything you think,
and of everything you do,
is for yourself—and there isn’t one.
-Wei Wu Wei
' Let It in '...
The seeker after stillness should be told that the stillness is always there.
Indeed it is in every man.
But he has to learn, first, to let it in and, second, how to do so.
The first beginning of this is to remember.
The second is to recognize the inward pull.
For the rest, the stillness itself will guide and lead him to itself.
-Paul Brunton
' The Power behind '...
Inwardly you are God, outwardly you are a person.
Instead of thinking you are just a person,
that appearance,
you can awake to the power behind you,
the safety within you,
the source of inspiration and guidance at the heart of your human life.
This enables you to be yourself even more so.
-Douglas Harding
' IS has always been there '...
From the standpoint of Truth there never was any fruit to be obtained by making spiritual efforts, there is nothing to be acquired and whatever IS has always been there.
Self-enquiry is essentially an investigation into the true nature of man because, whatever he may think of the world outside and whatever he may conceive of as God the creator,
it is conjecture and conceptualization based on the only thing of which he can be certain, the only thing he actually knows, that he exist, that he is present, that he lives by the feeling of BEING.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' But an appearance '...
There is no loftier metaphysical standpoint than that of nonduality, but man cannot live by metaphysics alone.
He is in the body, which in its turn is in the world.
He needs a second standpoint to deal with both body and world.
He needs the relative, the finite, the immediate one of personal experience.
Metaphysics may tell him that the world, when examined and analysed, is but an appearance, and not even that when it is taken into the deepest meditation; but the five senses tell him that he must come to terms with it.
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity >
Chapter 2: The Double Standpoint > # 43
Paul Brunton
' Seeing from essence '...
Our autonomy is discovered in each and every moment.
It requires a fierce embrace of life and of our existence, because the true expression of our spiritual nature is love, and love isn’t what we think it is.
Love is synonymous with this fierce embrace of life.
Love is seeing yourself as everything and as everybody, and that seeing is not for your mind.
It’s not meant for your ego.
You can never see all as one with your ego.
You can only see it from your essence.
~ Adyashanti ~
' As something imagined '...
”When a number of people are asleep,
each dreams his own dream.
Only on awakening,
the question of many different dream arises and dissolves when they are all seen as dreams,
as something imagined."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Being and seeing '...
Yesterday’s reflection said that making enlightenment more complicated than simple being is just more searching and intellectualizing. How is that reconciled with pointers inviting you to see or notice what is arising? Aren’t those pointers complicating things?
The invitation to see or notice is not about doing anything. It is about noticing what is already being done.
What is ‘being done’ is a story of self that lives in time. That story arises and falls in little subplots such as, “Why did that horrible event happen to me in the past?” and “I hope to accomplish great things in the future.” That is a story of mental images. It is not who you really are.
Enlightenment is a shift into the realization that timeless being is what you really are. This truth sets you (the story) free. This is why it’s called liberation.
The invitation to ‘notice’ is an invitation to see what is absolutely true beyond that story of self. The invitation is not directed to the story. It is an invitation to being itself, which is beyond that story, beyond time.
In this realization, ‘you’—the story—do not reach enlightenment in time. Enlightenment is realized to be being itself. It is what has always been here under the story that ‘you’ were coming to it. Pointers to “notice” and “see” are invitations to realize this truth right now—to awaken to this timeless being.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The undisturbed state of being '...
”The undisturbed state of being is bliss; the disturbed state is what appears as the world.
In non-duality there is bliss; in duality - experience.
What comes and goes is experience with its duality of pain and pleasure.
Bliss is not to be known.
One is always in bliss, but never blissful.
Bliss is not an attribute."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The whole of life '...
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it.
That is why you must read,
that is why you must look at the skies,
that is why you must sing and dance,
and write poems and suffer and understand,
for all that is life.
-Jiddu Krishnamurti
' The Mind remains '...
The ideas pass, the Mind remains.
But while they exist they are included in and share the Mind's reality.
The world's appearance is therefore and in this sense real enough to the conscious beings within it while it lasts.
Thus the distinction between inner reality and outer appearance, while not effaced, is nevertheless reduced to secondary status.
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5:
The Key To the Spiritual World > # 134
Paul Brunton
' The mark of wisdom '...
The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
' Marching sentences '...
In my usual construction of sentences into paragraphs,
I attempt to keep my thoughts into the composition of one paragraph,
the modern human mind will begin to enter the complete Dream after six sentences..
Therefore, important searches into Knowledge must begin immediately..
Perhaps, this awakening called Pain is responsible..
Pain is placed within the Dream to remind you, what is needed..
The pain of fear, boredom, lack of love, enter the Dream..
Your only escape is to Wake Up !..
So easy to say, and so difficult to achieve...
-thomas
' Poetry '...
Poetry is a language of the mystics..
Knowledge is placed between words..
The poets are drawn to Knowledge,
active within the spirituality of the soul,
or they are the admirers of Nature..
The Nazarene spoke poetry in the form of parables..
"So that, they that know, will know,
the others will think of it as just a good story"..
You are the Poetry within this Story..
You are That which exists between words...
-thomas
' Emptiness '...
The capacity of the mind is broad and huge, like the vast sky.
Do not sit with a mind fixed on emptiness.
If you do, you will fall into a neutral kind of emptiness.
Emptiness includes the sun, moon, stars, and planets, the great earth, mountains and rivers, all trees and grasses, bad people and good people, bad things and good things, heaven and hell; they are all in the midst of emptiness.
The emptiness of human nature is also like this.
-Huineng
' Tomorrow '...
Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live.
There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly.
-Alan Watts
' Duration '...
Duration, which is the passage of time without end, is not the same as Timelessness.
Yet this is the kind of survival which those who ordinarily talk of belief in immortality usually mean.
They want the ego to go on endlessly, to endure forever, even if they want only the better side of the ego to continue.
They want this spurious self to be perpetuated and ignore the real being whose shadow it is.
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity >
Chapter 4: Time, Space, Causality > # 95
Paul Brunton
' Observers of the Tao '...
The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive.
The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable.
Because it is unfathomable,
All we can do is describe their appearance.
Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream.
Alert, like men aware of danger.
Courteous, like visiting guests.
Yielding, like ice about to melt.
Simple, like the uncarved blocks of wood.
Hollow, like caves.
Opaque, like muddy pools.
Who can wait quietly while the mud settles?
Who can remain still until the moment of action?
Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfillment.
Not seeking fulfillment, they are not swayed by desire for change.
- Lao-tzu
' To have compassion '...
It is utterly and irrevocably possible to empty all hurts and, therefore, to love, to have compassion.
To have compassion means to have passion for all things, not just between two people, but for all human beings, for all things of the earth, the animals, the trees, everything the earth contains.
When we have such compassion we will not despoil the earth as we are doing now, and we will have no wars.
-Jiddu Krishnamurti
' The body of Christ '...
Christ has no body now but mine.
He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with my heart.
-Saint Teresa of Avila
' Taking refuge '...
Question: "Why do we take refuge?"
Rinpoche: "Taking refuge is like a foreigner who has arrived at a new port and doesn't know anything.
If you meet a powerful influential person, he can help you; if you meet ordinary people, they can't do anything for you.
Similarly, in Dharma [following the Way] we have absolutely no freedom;
we must take refuge in those who have realized the true nature of the mind.
Some people think that there is no need to take refuge in the Three Jewels and that they only need to take refuge in their own minds.
But until we reach the highest goal of realization, there is no way to take refuge in your mind."
-Kalu Rinpoche
Dharma Teachings
San Francisco: Kagya Droden Kunchab, n.d., p. 72
' Spontaneously '...
”In my view, everything happens by itself, quite spontaneously.
But humans think they would work for a win, towards a purpose."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Metta Sutta '...
“May beings all live happily and safe,
and may their hearts rejoice within themselves.
Whatever there may be with breath of life,
whether they be frail or very strong,
without exception, be they long or short,
or middle-sized, or be big or small,
or dense, or visible or invisible,
or whether they dwell far or they dwell near,
those that are here, those seeking to exist—
may beings all rejoice with themselves.”
-Metta Sutta, Sutta Nipata I.8
' The Overself '...
There is a point where the human meets the divine,
where the conscious ego emerges from the all-encompassing Void.
That point we call the Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 313
Paul Brunton
' Let the dead, speak '...
We speak of death and those that utter words of death..
This 'thought' should be mute within the mind..
We already know that death is impossible..
Then why do we concern our thoughts,
with the fear of non-life ?...
We fear death and even the word, death,
because the energy of the hologram desires to continue..
This is the same energy and desire called Nature...
-thomas
' The messenger '...
It is not the solid wood that can become a flute, it is the empty reed.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is a saying of Jalaluddin Rumi, 'Fire, water, air, and earth are God's servants, and whenever He wishes them to work for Him, they are ready to obey his command.' If the elements are the obedient servants of God, cannot man be a greater and better instrument?
In point of fact God Himself is the messenger. In the aspect of God He is God, but, in the form of the messenger, He is the messenger. The tide of the sea surges, and when the sea has that motion it is called tide, but in reality the tide is the sea itself.
It is not solid wood that can become a flute, but the empty reed. It is the perfection of that passiveness in the heart of the messenger which gives scope for the message from above; for the messenger is the reed, the instrument. The difference between his life and the life of the average man is that the latter is full of self. It is the blessed soul whose heart is empty of self, who is filled with the light of God.
' There is nothing wrong with you '...
What I am really saying is that you don’t need to do anything,
because if you see yourself in the correct way,
you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy.
You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all.
-Alan Watts
'The discovery of Truth '...
But the main object of the quest is,
after all,
not these secondary betterments in bodily health, nerve, character, self-control--
welcome as they are--
but the discovery of truth and the living within the presence of the divine.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 110 Paul Brunton
' Lies '...
This Hell that you fear is already within your consciousness..
The 'Prince of Lies' , already possesses the mentality of fear..
The media of information torments your mind into false belief..
Truth is a hill of memory..
Is not Heaven, above mud ?..
The frequencies of manifestion and Dream are not far apart..
Can you reach the thoughts of Reality ?..
This is why the City called Love, is found within words..
These Teachers called Saints and Gods are the Consciousness that has attempted to awaken you..
The Dream is over..
Love Won..
Time to wake up...
-thomas
' Clarity of Thought '...
”Be conscious of yourself, watch your mind, give it your full attention.
Don't look for quick results, there may be none within your noticing.
Unknown to you, your psyche will undergo a change,
there will be more clarity in your thinking and feeling, purity in your behaviour.
You need not aim at these - you will witness the change all the same."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Liberation '...
If unconditioned presence is what you really are, does this mean that you must seek some state in which you are totally calm and aware of everything? No. This is not about reaching any state or experience. Everything—every state, experience, thought, emotion, and reaction—arises from and falls back into that unconditioned presence.
The word liberation points to a shift in which life is simply happening and there is no self trying to control it. This includes not trying to control states, experiences, thoughts, or emotions.
There can even be a tendency to get stuck in awareness, believing that you are supposed to be in a state in which you are aware of everything. Is that even possible? Isn’t it still control?
Liberation is childlike. It is life living itself in whatever way it happens. It is life being calm. Life being obnoxious. Life being quiet. Life being loud. Life being aware. Life being unaware. “You” are the unconditioned presence through which all of that happens.
When everything is allowed through that presence without resistance, the self that is trying to control or maintain states, experiences, thoughts, and emotions is seen to be an illusion. This seeing brings a natural equanimity, peace, joy, and love. But those attributes are not in any way contrived or brought about by a person’s effort. This shift happens only when the self trying to manipulate the experience of living is seen through.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The angry ego '...
That which you see as ego attack is really the reality of sight by friend..
The egoic desire feels mental pain when it is seen..
The egoic desire is part of the illusion..
We all face this wall of conflict..
Become the Observer of thoughts and emotions..
The words that I write to you are the exact words that I speak to myself..
We are the same Consciousness..
Do not fear,
Unconditional Love cannot be defeated...
-thomas
' The Impersonal Subject '...
The ordinary, ignorant person can only see things as objects seen by a subject.
Then, with a certain shift of understanding away from separate personal identity, it dawns on him that only the impersonal subject is real while the objects themselves are illusory.
Finally, with total enlightenment, the sage sees objects as objects once again but within an essential unity where there is no separation of subject from object, or in fact any separation of any kind.
The guru's grace is always there for all to carry away in ample measure, but there is no rule as to when or where it will fructify.
All that the guru does, and all the he can do, is to point to THAT which we all are, and if there are no obstructions like doubts or intellectual vanity or inordinate attachment to things material, the transformation can be immediate.
In fact, it has to be immediate.
Otherwise it will be nothing more than intellectual knowledge.
-
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' Solitude is Self '...
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
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Thomas Merton Reader"
Image Books, 1974
' Led by Intuition '...
It is one secret of the inspired individual that he lets himself be led:
he does not try to do with his ego what can be better done for him by the intuition.
But this will be possible only if he pauses and waits for the inner leading to come to him.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 2: Inspiration > # 48 Paul Brunton
' Tomorrow '...
Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live.
There is no other reality than present reality,
so that, even if one were to live for endless ages,
to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly.
-Alan Watts
" Let the dead, bury the dead "...
People always asked Jesus why, as the son of God, he couldn't rule and bring eternal happiness by making the earth a paradise.
Why didn't he have the omnipotence of God?
He answered,
"Let the dead bury the dead."
This means that the world is dead.
Who cares what it looks like?
Let the dead be busy with the dead.
The world is nothing but a phenomenon, an idea you have that's no more alive than a dream or a nightmare, which seems real only so long as no one pinches your toe.
Then you realize, "This terrible persecutor or this infinite chasm into which I just fell screaming isn't real at all."
No, it wasn't real and it isn't real.
Real is what you are, and it's happiness doesn't depend on a dream.
Karl Renz
The Myth of Enlightenment
p.171
' Surrender '...
'THERE is a kind of inner communion with the psychic being which takes place when one willingly gives up desire, and because of this, one feels, a much greater joy than if he had satisfied his desire. Besides most usually, almost without exception, when one satisfies a desire it always leaves a kind of bitter taste some where.'
'WHEN One feels really out of sorts, queasy, helpless, unable to breathe to move, to think or do anything -- and suddenly consciousness - the vibration of love comes in the body - consciousness for a split second - Everything lights up.'
'IF you have once opened yourself to the Divine, if the power of the Divine has once come down into you and yet try to keep to old forces, you prepare troubles and difficulties and dangers for yourself. You must be vigilant and see that you do not use the Divine as a cloak for the satisfaction of your desire!.'
'THEY do have FAITH, but tell themselves, "Well, I have faith in the Divine, but this world, I see quite well what it's like! First of all, I suffer so much, don't I? I am very unhappy, far more unhappy than all my neighbours" - for one is always far more unhappy than all one's neighbours - "I am very unhappy and, truly, life is cruel to me. But then the Divine is divine, He is All-Goodness, All-Generosity, All-Harmony, so how is it that I am so unhappy? He must be powerless; otherwise being so good how could He let me suffer so much?"
'SURRENDER is the decision taken to hand over the responsibility of your life to the divine. Without this decision nothing is at all possible; if you do not surrender, the Yoga is entirely out of the possible; if you surrender, the Yoga is entirely out of question. Everything else comes naturally after it, for the whole process starts with surrender.'
' THERE are two paths of yoga, one is of tapasya [discipline], and the other of surrender. The path of tapasya, is arduous. Here you rely solely upon yourself; you proceed by your own strength. You ascend and achieve according to the measure of your force. There is always the danger of falling down. And once you fall, you lie broken in the abyss and there is hardly a remedy.'
'WHAT you want from Yoga for? To get power? To attain to peace and calm? To serve humanity? None of these motives is sufficient to show that you are meant for the path.'
'ONCE you have set foot on the path of Yoga, you must have a resolution of steel and walk straight on to the goal, whatever the cost.'
'BY surrender we mean - a spontaneous self-giving of all your self to the divine, to a greater Consciousness of which you are a part. Surrender will not diminish, but increase; it will not lessen or weaken or destroy your personality, it will fortify and aggrandize it.'
'THE most important surrender is the surrender of your character, your way of being, so that it may Change. If you do not surrender your very own nature, never will these nature changes.'
'YOU have certain ways of understanding, certain ways of reacting, certain ways of feeling, almost certain ways of progressing, and above all, a special way of looking at life and expecting from it certain things- well, it is this you must surrender.'
'YOGA means union with the Divine, and the union is effected through offering- it is founded on the offering of yourself to the Divine.'
'WHEN you eat, you must feel that it is the Divine who is eating through you.'
'IN the integral Yoga, the integral life down even the smallest detail has to be transformed, to be divinised.'
' I have never seen people who have left everything in order to go and sit down in a more or less empty contemplation [for it is more or less empty], I have never seen such people making any progress, or in any case their progress is very trifling.'
.......Mother of Pondichery
' The world in arms '...
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.
Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
From a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953
' The Perceiver '...
Who is the perceiver?
Universal Consciousness alone is the perceiver.
The body is merely the mechanism through which perceiving takes place and from which the ego is inferred as the perceiver of other objects.
Strictly speaking, there is neither the perceiver nor the perceived.
There is only perceiv-ing as the objective expression of the subjective functioning of the one Universal Consciousness.
The notion of individual volition has been referred to as "the bite of the deadly serpent of ego" because it is the very root of the concept of bondage or unhappiness, and the only thing which can free man from its poison is the abandonment of his identification with a particular object as a 'me'.
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' Till self is forgotten '...
"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
'Love cannot be defeated '...
The search for Freedom inserts many personalities..
Many of the map makers are confused..
These individual dreams of consciousness continue to seek..
Some sell their souls for wealth and power and call their road, politics..
This observance of the Dream is within your mind..
You attempt to climb walls of desire and ego..
You cry for Father and Love..
Fall into the Reality of Observer..
The emotions will pretend to be You..
The egoic desire cannot defeat Reality..
Love cannot be defeated,
as It is Reality...
-thomas
' Acaranga Sutra '...
"Nothing which breathes, which exists, which lives, or which has essence or potential of life, should be destroyed or ruled over, or subjugated, or harmed, or denied of its essence or potential.
In support of this Truth, I ask you a question -
"Is sorrow or pain desirable to you?"
If you say, "Yes it is", it would be a lie.
If you say, "No, It is not," you will be expressing the truth.
Just as sorrow or pain is not desirable to you, so it is to all which breathe, exist, live or have any essence of life.
To you and all, it is undesirable, and painful, and repugnant."
-Acaranga Sutra, Sutra 155-6
Jain Sutras
Part I, Sacred Books of the East, 1894, Vol. 22
Translated by Hermann Jacobi
' Words '...
Words are but the shells of thoughts and feelings.
Bowl of Saki,by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
In spite of whatever wisdom we may have; we can make a mistake if we have no control over our words. And we can easily find examples of this truth; those who talk much have less power than those who talk little. For a talkative person may not be able to express an idea in a thousand words which those who are masters of silence express in one word. ...
What gives power over words? What gives the power that can be attained by silence?
The answer is: it is will power which gives the control over words; it is silence which gives one the power of silence. It is restlessness when a person speaks too much. The more words are used to express an idea, the less powerful they become.
It is a great pity that man so often thinks of saving pennies and never thinks of sparing words. It is like saving pebbles and throwing away pearls. An Indian poet says, 'Pearl-shell, what gives you your precious contents? Silence; for years my lips were closed.'
The mystic sees another significance of the mouth than for it to be a receptacle of food and drink. Through the mouth words of wisdom are expressed, sacred words repeated. Therefore the mouth is likened to a shell from which pearl-like words become manifest. As by the opening of the mouth words are expressed so by the closing of the mouth the word is drawn within, which becomes a living word compared with all other words, which are lost after once they are spoken.
' I as Consciousness '...
Everything remembered is a thought in consciousness.
This not only applies to objects, events, and places. It also applies to persons, including oneself, he who is remembered, the "I" that I was.
This means that my own personality, what I call myself, was a thought in the past, however strong and however persistent. But the past was once the present.
Therefore I am not less a thought now.
The question arises, what did I have then which I still have now, unchanged, exactly the same.
It cannot be "I" as the person, for that is different in some way each time.
It is, and can only be, "I" as Consciousness.
-Paul Brunton
' There is no more time '...
This experience of less than a hundred years is sought by the desire for separation..
Why does the Mirror appear ?..
Why does Duality exist ?..
We can wave our hand and colors will change..
We walk alone and lament the loss of Love..
But, the desire for control of experience is important..
We desire for control and manifestation of dreams..
We are only the Thoughts of God and yet,
We still desire for the Heaven of Divine Consciousness..
Is it not time for us to Contemplate upon Reality ?..
-thomas
' The sense 'I am' ...
”My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else.
I just obeyed.
I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures.
Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense 'I am', it may look too simple, even crude.
My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so.
Yet it worked!
Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Being detached '...
You are the Self, here and now.
Leave the
mind alone,
stand aware and unconcerned
and you will realize that to stand alert but
detached, watching events come and go, is
an aspect of your real nature.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' If you can see it, it isn’t you '...
The dream self is created from identification with objects that arise.
For example, you might think, “I am angry,” or “It’s a dreadful day.” But look more closely. If you can see a thought, is that thought you? If you can see an emotion, is it you?
You are the seer, not the objects seen. That which is seen is an object that arises and falls—a temporary form. You are that which is looking at those objects as they arise and fall. Even the notion that there is a seer as a separate identity is an object (an idea) in awareness.
In looking inward, there is no separate entity there. There is only awareness recognizing awareness. Awareness is not an object. Your true identity is pure seeing itself. This can be fearful if there is a desire to hold onto some identity. But it is absolutely liberating if you see that even that fear is an object in awareness.
Suffering happens when you believe that you are your thoughts and emotions. In reality, you are not angry. Anger is arising. It’s not actually a dreadful day. The thought, “It’s a dreadful day” is arising in awareness. This is not about denying or suppressing thought and emotion. It is about seeing them for what they really are.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' Ashtavakra Samhita '...
Ashtavakra Samhita:
"The sage of vacant mind knows not the conflict of contemplation and non-contemplation, good and evil.
He abides, as it were, in the state of Absoluteness.
Devoid of the feeling of `mine-ness' and `I-ness', knowing for certain that nothing is, and with all his desires set at rest within, the man of knowledge does not act though he may be acting."
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 3: The Sage > # 194 Paul Brunton
' self sacrifice '...
The idea of self annihilation is beyond the scope of intellect..
Death is a word of profanity..
To reach the other side of river requires no rower..
To relax into Nothingness is both easy and difficult..
The pain of existence is a push into Reality..
The death of dreams is a wake-up call..
To Think without dreaming is Pure Awareness..
The Dreamer remains the entertainment of Thought..
To learn who You Are, without the benefit of dream is unusual..
As the mystic once said ;
" you must die, to be born "..
-thomas
' Walking within consciousness '...
”Life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple,
in itself an ecstasy."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Keep attention inside Self '...
Having looked and
understood the correct position
of the Self with respect to
projections, now keep your attention
inside the Self.
Like this, everything
becomes quiet.
The mind actually loves being
here; it just fights initially,
because it is accustomed to being
outside in the playground
called existence.
- Mooji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Writing on Water
Mooji (Anthony Paul Moo-Young)
Padam Sangha Limited, London, 2011
' You had just forgotten '...
If you are afraid of death, be afraid.
The point is to get with it, to let it take over -
fear, ghosts, pains, transience, dissolution, and all.
And then comes the hitherto unbelievable surprise;
you don't die because you were never born.
You had just forgotten who you are.
-Alan Watts
' Hatred '...
Hatred is a very strong mental creation of destruction..
When you can see the pain within the mind of the hated,
a strange feeling erupts of being the ' Observer' and not the participant..
At this point of Consciousness, the pain of hateing ends..
This thin knife edge of balance opens a Light filled mind..
The Light, being the projector upon this screen called Life..
This Entity of Light and Creation that we honor for the existence of Dreams..
This Entity of Love that still allows the pain of evil,
to better understand what Mirror means..
-thomas
' Happiness and Sadness '...
The mind is the creator of both the mental states of happiness and sadness..
Although, the opposite of Love is not Hate,
It is Fear..
Happiness appears when the egoic desires are not present.
This is also called Love..
The Heaven or Hell that is experienced is found within Thought..
Choosing the right thoughts are the seeds for your garden..
-thomas
' The Teacher and the Preacher '...
The true Teacher removes all names and forms and
concepts.
The preacher adds them like a noose around
your neck.
The preacher clings to you like a vulture clings
to a fresh corpse.
The true Teacher will teach only to the
extent that can be absorbed and then send the student away.
- Papaji
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Be present? '...
In enlightenment teachings, you may hear the phrase, “be present.” But if you look around, ‘you’ are the present moment. ‘You’ are not separate from it. ‘You’ are life itself. The only thing obscuring this realization is mental and emotional activity that continuously tries to move away from this moment into a dream of past, future, and resistance to now. The notion that you are separate from life is a creation of thought.
The personal will who tries to ‘be present’ and bring about a personal awakening is the dream. Instead of doing anything, including trying to be present, gently notice what is already being done. A dream of self is already being told.
Thought is replaying the past, searching into future, and resisting what is in this moment, all for the benefit of a “me.” That mind movement is a dream of control. It is a dream of personal will. Suffering and searching arise when you buy into the illusion of control and personal will.
When the personal will is seen to be a dream of thought, it dies on its own. That is true spiritual awakening. You realize there is nothing to seek. Paradise is already here, now. It has always been right here, right now under the dream that there was a “you” who was somehow separate from it and who needed to do something to find it.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' One Eternal NOW '...
The notion that the truth will be gained, that happiness will be achieved, that the Overself will be realized at the end of a long attempt must be seen as an illusory one.
Truth, happiness, and the Overself must be seen in the Present, not the future, at the very beginning of his quest, not the end, here and now.
It is not a matter of time.
This is because time is a trick the mind plays on itself;
because the past, the present, and the future are all rolled into one eternal NOW;
because what is to happen has already happened.
- Paul Brunton
' Words '...
Words are but the shells of thoughts and feelings.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
In spite of whatever wisdom we may have; we can make a mistake if we have no control over our words. And we can easily find examples of this truth; those who talk much have less power than those who talk little. For a talkative person may not be able to express an idea in a thousand words which those who are masters of silence express in one word. ...
What gives power over words? What gives the power that can be attained by silence? The answer is:
it is will power which gives the control over words; it is silence which gives one the power of silence. It is restlessness when a person speaks too much. The more words are used to express an idea, the less powerful they become. It is a great pity that man so often thinks of saving pennies and never thinks of sparing words. It is like saving pebbles and throwing away pearls. An Indian poet says, 'Pearl-shell, what gives you your precious contents? Silence; for years my lips were closed.'
The mystic sees another significance of the mouth than for it to be a receptacle of food and drink. Through the mouth words of wisdom are expressed, sacred words repeated. Therefore the mouth is likened to a shell from which pearl-like words become manifest.
As by the opening of the mouth words are expressed so by the closing of the mouth the word is drawn within, which becomes a living word compared with all other words, which are lost after once they are spoken.
' The Short Path '...
The Short Path is no dryly intellectual affair or coldly unfeeling one.
It nurtures beautiful, exquisite moments and richly uplifting moods.
Both this path and its term are vital and dynamic aesthetic experiences.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 1: Entering the Short Path > # 105
Paul Brunton
' Being free to feel '...
The heart-felt spaciousness of nonduality gives you the freedom to fully feel absolutely everything that’s arising for you. Every feeling that’s showing up…comfortable and uncomfortable…is always welcomed, embraced and experienced.
However, you’ll become IN-authentic if your “nondual personal myth” about yourself, somehow, prevents you from fully experiencing and owning the more vulnerable human emotions like sadness, frustration, anger and fear.
That would almost be like telling a stage actor that he shouldn’t express the full range of emotions that are naturally arising for him within the role of his character.
You see, nonduality is NOT about being free FROM painful feelings. Instead, it‘s more about being free TO feel absolutely EVERYTHING that’s showing up for you.
- Chuck Hillig
' Sri Nisargadatta slaps my head '...
He speaks to me of Consciousness and yet I drown within illusions..
The illusion is vision worthy and believable..
The separate egoic images speak to me of dreams..
To walk within a hologram is to learn of walking..
Thought meets the painting..
Does God acknowledge Itself ?..
There is no gender, there is only Thought..
'Namaste' is created to fulfill this need..
Walk within these words and pick those that make you smile...
-thomas
' The parasites '...
The parasites are the destructive balance of the Hologram..
There is Creation and Destruction, as It is a Circle..
Why is Destruction more powerful within this time of Dream..
Look within that which enters the Hologram..
There are forces that exist on the energy of Fear and Destruction..
-thomas
' Waiting to be touched by God '...
Stop trying to fix others.
Instead, love them where they are.
Radiate presence in their presence.
Sing 'Hallelujah' to their wounds.
Then, held in your tender embrace,
they will feel healed, even in their pain.
For love is the greatest medicine.
And we are all artists at heart,
waiting to be touched by God.
- Jeff Foster
' Who should search for what ?'...
It is objected, why search at all if one really is the Overself?
Yes, there comes a time when the deliberate purposeful search for the Overself has to be abandoned for this reason.
Paradoxically, it is given up many times, whenever he has a Glimpse, for at such moments he knows that he always was, is, and will be the Real, that there is nothing new to be gained or searched for.
Who should search for what?
But the fact remains that past tendencies of thought rise up after every Glimpse and overpower the mind, causing it to lose this insight and putting it back on the quest again.
While this happens he must continue the search, with this difference, that he no longer searches blindly, as in earlier days, believing that he is an ego trying to transform itself into the Overself, trying to reach a new attainment in time by evolutionary stages.
No! through the understanding of the Short Path he searches knowingly, not wanting another experience since both wanting and experiencing put him out of the essential Self. He thinks and acts as if he is that Self, which puts him back into It. It is a liberation from time-bound thinking, a realization of timeless fact.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 110
-- Perspectives > Chapter 23: Advanced Contemplation > # 26
Paul Brunton
' Multiplicity and Diversity '...
Time is in the mind.
Space is in the mind.
The law of cause and effect is also a way of thinking.
In reality all is here and now and all is one.
Multiplicity and diversity are in the mind only.
-Nisargadatta Maharaj
' True happiness '...
”True happiness is uncaused and this cannot disappear for lack of stimulation.
It is not the opposite of sorrow,
it includes all sorrow and suffering."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' To live fully, death is essential '...
Withdrawal, aloofness, letting go is a death.
To live fully, death is essential;
every
ending makes a new beginning.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' All the Hemispheres '...
Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out
Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.
Open up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.
Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.
Change rooms in your mind for a day.
All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.
Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.
All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting
While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.
- Hafiz
' Every place is paradise '...
A lover of what is, looks forward to everything:
life, death, disease, loss, earthquakes, bombs, anything the mind might be tempted to call 'bad.'
Life will bring us everything we need, to show us what we haven't undone yet.
Nothing outside ourselves can make us suffer.
Except for our unquestioned thoughts, every place is paradise.
-Byron Katie
' The expansion of the heart '...
The more elevated the soul, the broader the outlook.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There are many different opinions how the condition of the world should be bettered: some think by religious reform, some think by educational reform, and some think by social reform. Every reform made with the idea of doing some good is worthwhile, but the reform most needed today is spiritual reform.
Today the hour has come when narrowness should be abandoned, in order to arise above those differences and distinctions which divide human beings. ... The way to spirituality is the expansion and the widening of the heart. In order to accommodate the divine Truth the heart must be expanded. With the expansion of the heart the divine bliss is poured out.
The eyes of the man who neglects his duty to his fellow men, absorbed in life's intoxication, will certainly become dazzled and his mind exhausted before the presence of God. It does not mean that any soul will be deprived of the divine vision, it only means that the soul who has not learned to open his eyes wide enough will have his eyes closed before the vision of God. All virtues come from a wide outlook on life, all understanding comes from the keen observation of life. Nobility of soul, therefore, is signified in the broad attitude that man takes in life.
' The Heart of Reality '...
Look in this moment, and you’ll see: The things we value most in life—happiness, love, creativity, peace, joy, union—even though I can reference these by using a thought, none of them are actually the same as the thought.
I’m sure you can see and feel that love is something that transcends the word “love.” Just to say “love” is to point to an idea. But what’s the feeling?
What does it feel like to have your heart open? What does it feel like to let your boundaries down? What does it feel like to become intimate with this very moment?
Can that be put into an idea? When you really feel love, isn’t it the case that you don’t actually know how to express it in words or with thought?
When you feel this love, you’ve entered the heart of reality—and this is the space from which you can live when you let go of the belief that all our thoughts, all our ideas, are true.
~ Adyashanti ~
' Peace on earth '...
Will we have peace on earth ?..
We must remember that we exist as Dream Hologram within a group dream..
When Consciousness divides Itself into individual selves, all havoc enters..
The individual entity must find Freedom from manifestation..
This manifestation of self through Dream must progress..
As you Dream of visions and dreams, you remain within dreams..
So difficult to forget..
If we were Awakened, we would laugh at questions..
But, now, we fear Reality...
-thomas
' leonard cohen has died today '...
This mystical canadian has written many paragraphs called poems..
Listen to Judy Collins sing of suzanne..
' The time within soul '...
What levels of Consciousness should I speak to ?..
This soul of division..
As One Mind, we swim within dreams..
Souls enter and declare, their Love..
The genders mix and spark with Love..
I speak in paragraphs,
so that you might dream of Now...
-thomas
' Grace '...
Jeff Buckley sings of Grace and I press upon plastic buttons..
What is this energy called Grace ?..
Most, do not understand this Wind of Love..
A Power that will throw you to the ground..
In Lotus Postion, you sit, and yet an invisible force of Love enters the experience..
This 'Bridge' of Love allows the egoic-consciousness of Creator to appear to Consciousness..
" I and the Father are One, said the mystic"..
I keep speaking these words of a man of yearning..
In all Truth, I only ask you to be Yourself...
-thomas
' The fasting mind '...
Contact with the awareness of the Absolute can come
about only when the mind is fasting, when the process
of conceptualization has utterly ceased.
When the mind
feasts, Reality disappears.
When the mind fasts, Reality
enters.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Who are you defending ? '...
In your arguments, debates, disagreements and disputes with your spouse, family member, friend, boss, or someone from another nationality, religion, or philosophy, who are you defending? Have you really asked this question? Have you really looked?
Thoughts arise involuntarily and spontaneously in response to other thoughts. During the heat of conflict, emotions such as anger and anxiety arise involuntarily and spontaneously in conjunction with those thoughts. The energy behind these emotions creates an unconscious contraction around the thoughts. This creates the sense of a separate self invested in the thoughts. In being right, you make the other wrong. By weakening the “other,” you strengthen the “me.”
When awareness notices this mental and emotional frenzy while it is happening, the illusion of self is exposed. What is being revealed is that, beyond that mental and emotional energy, there is no “me.” It is the energy of attack and defend that makes it feel as if there is a separate self there.
The imagined, thought-based self is constantly creating and defining itself by defending its thoughts and attacking the others, and comparing and contrasting itself to the others. Yet that separate self exists only in relation to the other. Both “self” and “other” are thoughts. They are images in the mind. The notion of “self” arises only when the notion of “other” arises. In this seeing, conflict is seen to be illusory. In reality, there is no one and nothing to defend.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The bright core within '...
If the divine presence is dwelling at the core of his mind, then the divine bliss, peace, and strength are dwelling at the core of his mind too.
Why then should he let outward troubles rob him of the chance to share them?
Why should he let only the troubles enter his consciousness, and withdraw all attention from the bliss and peace and strength?
The conditions of this world are subject to the cosmic law of change. They are temporary. But the bright core within him is not.
Why then give a permanent meaning to those conditions by a total surrender to the sadness they cause?
-- Notebooks Category 24: The Peace within You >
Chapter 1: The Search for Happiness > # 106
Paul Brunton
' The Mind of Reality '...
You have been the Observer for quite a while..
This Consciousness of Dream Creation is both the 'Watcher' and the 'Participant'..
We exist within this Dream of separation..
Should we not examine the separation of frequencies ?..
We continue to Play within pain, fear, and love..
Can you imagine the space between Darkness and Light ?..
"Let there be Light", said Pure Awareness ..
You are the manifestor of Light and visions..
But, in Reality, You are more than that..
You are the Mind of Reality...
-thomas
' The 'I' of Consciousness '...
The 'I' of Consciousness is the First Reality called Divine Consciousness..
To achieve Freedom from the wheel of reincarnation, we must move beyond the desire for 'I'..
'You' create the vision and manifestation of 'I'..
You ask about our brother, Freedom..
Freedom says, "Forget your name "..
Our brother is found within the Mind of Pure Awareness...
-thomas
' A fool and a wise man '...
A fool sees himself as another,
but a wise man sees others as himself.
-Dogen
' Even the search for Truth '...
Such is the overpowering effect of its beauty that,
when we are admitted to its presence,
every egoistic thought is dropped--
even the search for truth,
since that too is self-centered.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself
Chapter 6: Experiencing a Glimpse > # 182
Paul Brunton
' The time is always now '...
The future is a concept, it doesn't exist.
There is no such thing as tomorrow.
There never will be, because time is always now.
That's one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking.
We find there is only present, only an eternal now.
-Alan Watts
' The Friend '...
My Sufi friends such as Rumi,
Were not allowed to speak of Unity..
They spoke of Divine Consciousness as Friend and not Father..
The Christians speak of Father but Mystics hear a mirror..
This Father within Reality is Self without ego..
This Voice is filled with Wisdom..
Upon Realization of Unity,
There is no Voice..
Pure Awareness calls the name of adventurer..
Come Home, says the Dreamer...
-thomas
' We exchange thoughts '...
You may not be a mystic, but can understand the deeper thoughts..
We seek not power over illusions or souls..
We seek Truth..
This path will bypass the thoughts of humanity.
The vote that you submit will give little power to the powerless..
The game is rigged..
You know that as do all souls of awakening....
Speak from your heart..
Do not fall into the lies of the illusion..
Can you imagine the power that you all possess over Dreams ?..
Will you continue to Dream of Positivity ?..
The Dream continues..
May God be with us...
-thomas
' The Whole '...
The whole is implanted in every part entirely -
every cell of the body contains the totality of
the personality biologically.
If you take one
cell of the body you can study the whole of
the person, it contains the reflection of the
total personality.
Likewise, the whole
Cosmic Being is reflected in every man
- nay, in every atom.
- Swami Krishnananda
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
' Surrender '...
Embody the ego with the sole intention of offering it to the heart.
Keep this offering in all your interactions and everything you do.
Drop into your life and live!
With the single intent to stay fixated on the Inner Beloved in the midst of all activity.
All the while allowing your humanity to cry out to your eternity in loving devotion.
-Atreya Thomas
' Inner silence '...
The presence is always there,
always waiting to be recognized and felt,
but inner silence is needed to make this possible.
And few persons possess it or seek it.
-- Notebooks Category 24: The Peace within You >
Chapter 4: Seek the Deeper Stillness > # 52
Paul Brunton
' All is fine '...
Know this:
When you say 'I',
the true meaning of 'I' is joy, is happiness, it is life,
and it is also the witnessing of life.
Enjoy what comes,
but don't worry about anything at all.
Just be happy, happy, happy.
Know that whatever happens in life,
the final point is that everything is fine.
All is fine.
- Mooji
' The Infinite World-Mind '...
It is not only man that is made in the image of God:
the whole universe likewise is also an image of God.
It is not only by coming to know himself that man discovers the divine life hidden deep in his heart:
it is also by listening in the stillness of Nature to what she is forever declaring,
that he discovers the presence of an infinite World-Mind.
-- Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 1: Divine Order of The Universe > # 221
-- Perspectives > Chapter 26: World-Idea > # 21
Paul Brunton
' Being '...
What you truly are under all the thoughts of what you are is being. “Being” is a word similar to awareness in that it points to the felt sense of “I AMness” prior to the “I” thought. If you cannot sense that being now, there is a story of a separate self obscuring it. Some pointers direct you to question the story until it is seen through. You can also just stay with the sense of being under the story. Relax as the natural and effortless being that you are. This felt sense of being is always and already here, no matter what is happening.
Thought may tell the story, “I’m driving to work right now.” Being, however, is not driving to work. It is simply being. Thought may tell the story, “I wish my spouse would do what I ask him to do.” Being is not in that story. It is just being. Thought may tell the story, “I’m seeking enlightenment.” Being is not seeking enlightenment. Being just is.
In realizing being, you know exactly what you are. Stories may continue to arise. They may quiet down. Regardless of whatever stories may or may not be arising, there is always being. There is always this “I AMness” before, during, and after the stories “I am this” or “I need that” arise. Being is timeless. This timeless being manifests as time and thought, but is ultimately free of its manifestations.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' The Greatest Gift '...
The Greatest gift that 'you' as egoic consciousness can 'Give' , is to surrender this desire of separation called 'ego'..
In meditation, this Gift given, is often rewarded with the Gift of Enlightenment..
The triad of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a Reality of the Oneness of Divine Consciousness but this Realization must be surpassed before the Final Reality is experienced..
As all three aspects of Consciousness are found to be the same 'Thinker',
Complete Freedom is only found upon the ' Gift ' of' Giving All',
which includes all desire for personal identification within Reality..
This State of Complete Freedom is called 'Pure Awareness'...
-thomas
' Investigate all doctrines '...
"He who counsels his own soul should investigate, during his life in this world, all doctrines concerning God.
He should learn from whence each possessor of a doctrine affirms the validity of his doctrine.
Once its validity has been affirmed for him in the specific mode in which it is correct for him who holds it, then he should support it in the case of him who believes in it."
Muhyi-al-Din ibn al-'Arabi
Meccan Openings, II. 85.11
' It's just a waking dream '...
“What could it mean to just sit and do nothing…to not be concerned about how we are sitting, the state of our mind, the state of our feelings – to not be concerned with trying to change anything at all?...
And when you leave everything alone, when you stop trying to make it any better – you may begin to notice that the only thing that thinks you need to do anything other than leave it alone is your mind…there is nothing in the space in the room, nothing is the air you breath, nothing in the trees or the stars overhead that says you need to be doing anything more than just sit down right now.
Outside of your mind, everything is content – it is just as it is – it knows of no other way to be…….
You may find that at some moments the narrative in your mind may think you need do something other than just sit here, your mind may have its waking dream about what it means to sit here, whether you are good at it or not…whether it’s of any use or not….
but essentially – it’s all just a waking dream……..
The Truth of your Being has no real relationship with the thoughts that arise, the same is true of a feeling, an emotion…….
Notice how everything presents itself in a field of stillness – in a field of awareness……notice that field of stillness or awareness is not in opposition to anything that arises; a thought, feeling, a noise……
At certain moments you might notice how artful and intelligent the mind is at getting your attention…… All thought craves to be believed! So by accepting everything – nothing can strain you.”
-Adyashanti
' Stories of future fulfillment '...
Thought tells unconscious stories about future fulfillment. The stories may be: “If I meditate, I will become enlightened in the future and will experience great liberation, love, and peace just like my teacher;” “If I can just get my wife to change, I will be fulfilled in this relationship;” or “If I work really hard, I will be successful at my job and find happiness.”
Do you see what thought is doing? It is trying desperately to move away from this moment into something else, something better. This is the cause of unnecessary searching and suffering.
In waking up from the dream that paradise exists in the future, you realize you are living in paradise right now. This moment is it! Thought may say, “But it does not feel like paradise!” The reason it does not feel like paradise is because thought is still operating on an unconscious assumption that only the future will bring fulfillment. Dig into that assumption. Is it true? Where is future? Is it hiding behind the trashcan? Is it in your backyard? Is it on the moon? Have you ever touched anything called “future?”
Have you ever really left the presence in which these words are being read? As you sit here right now, is future anything more than a presently arising thought? If not, then you know that your notions of future fulfillment are nothing more than mental storytelling. That seeing is awakening.
-Kiloby, Scott. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment
' Merely appearances '...
Until there is the conviction in the seeker that all phenomena, including himself, are merely appearances without any substance, there can be no true understanding.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You are the primordial state of total freedom, that fullness of pure joy, that concentration of light which is subtler than the subtlest and the witness of everything.
A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
http://www.advaita.org
' Liberation from desire and fear '...
”Discard all traditional standards.
Leave them to the hypocrites.
Only what liberates you from desire and fear and wrong ideas is good.
As long as you worry about sin and virtue you will have no peace.."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Unremitting practice '...
But finding the higher presence within the heart is only the first step.
The next is to surrender oneself to it, to be passive in its hands, to let it direct the course of thought, feeling, and conduct.
This is a task which is not less hard, and will take not less time, than the first one.
It is indeed an art to be learnt by unremitting practice.
-- Notebooks Category 2: Overview of Practices Involved >
Chapter 5: Balance the Psyche > # 202
Paul Brunton
' Living in Light '...
You wonder about circles and light..
Knowledge moves in a circle and needs no words..
Why is Light seen within Divine Consciousness ?..
Do We see the vision of Self ?..
It feels like Self..
Love is generated from Mind and moves with Knowledge..
When We move from this Reality and begin to Dream of other selves,
We learn about Duality,
We see what We are not..
-thomas
' Wear shoes '...
Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's
true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to
avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns.
It is
much simpler to wear shoes.
- Ramana Maharshi
' One Self alone '...
There are two viewpoints:
a qualified truth for the lower stage of aspirants which admits duality;
and the complete viewpoint of nonduality for the highest student;
thus for practical life, when dealing with other people or when engaged in some activity, those in the first stage must accept the notion of the world being real,
because of expediency; yet even so, when they are alone or when keeping quiet, inactive, they ought to revert back to regarding the world, which includes one's own body as a part of it, as idea.
Only for the sage is the truth always present, no matter whether he is with others, whether he is working, or whether he is in trance, and this truth is continuous awareness of one Reality alone and one Self alone..
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity >
Chapter 2: The Double Standpoint > # 40
- Paul Brunton
' Your original face will manifest '...
"You should therefore cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate your self.
Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay.
Cast aside all involvements and cease all affairs.
Do not think good or bad.
Do not administer pros and cons.
Cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thought and views."
- Dogen.
' The demise of I '...
The Masters of Knowledge speak of 'I'..
This terminology of self, haunts us..
This symbol of division becomes our crown..
"I and the Father are One",
said, the master mystic..
So, once we speak with the Father,
what is next ?..
The three aspects of Consciousness are True,
Perhaps, I should give applause to the connector..
The 'Holy Spirit' as nomenclature, is used as the power of connection..
The 'I' that you hold so dear, is just an albatross around your neck..
The Freedom of giving All, is Reality...
-thomas
' Personal control '...
What is wrong in letting go the illusion of
personal control and personal responsibility?
Both are in the mind only.
Of course, as long
as you imagine yourself to be in control,
you
should also imagine yourself to be responsible.
One implies the other.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Soul '...
The Soul is the individual concept of consciousness..
The Ego pretends to be this Soul entity of personality..
The Soul is the direct connection to Divine Consciousness..
The Soul is the producer of manifestations within the Dreams..
The Soul will be molded by information and desires..
The Soul is the child that you allow to play in your backyard..
The Soul is not really 'You'..
You are Divine Consciousness and all manifestations are entertainment and learning..
Especially, this Dream of being separated from Reality..
- thomas
' The Slaying of Ego '...
The Truth that you must slay the ego, goes back to the beginning of time..
The early teaching of this Knowledge is found in Hindu and Buddhist literature..
The bottom line is that You are the Creator of your experience..
Your desires will be created..
They will be dreams that we call illusions but these illusions will trap You within the dreams, when You start to Believe that the dreams are real..
To leave these dreams and Wake Up, You must stop identifying Your Self as a personality of these dreams..
This is the slaying of the ego..
This stops the dream and Awakens You in Reality..
This is called Enlightenment, as You Realise that You are Light and Love..
You can call the slaying of the ego or the dropping of the ego or the Awakening from ego or just living in Humility..
Humility is the word used in Christian teaching for the slaying of ego..
Unconditional Love is also a definition of slaying of ego..
There are many words and concepts that point to the Realization that You will never be Free until the ego is dead...
thomas
' Do the Holograms end ?'...
Do Dreams ever end ?..
Or are there levels of sleep..
Is Awakened, our True State or is True State without personality ?..
In One, We recognize Consciousness..
In the higher,
There is no name...
-thomas
' Tao Te Ching '...
The beginning of the universe is the mother
of all things. Knowing the mother, one also
knows the sons. Knowing the sons, yet
remaining in touch with the mother, brings
freedom from the fear of death.
Keep your mouth shut, guard the senses,
and life is ever full. Open your mouth,
always be busy, and life is beyond hope.
Seeing the small is insight; yielding to force
is strength. Using the outer light, return to
insight, and in this way be saved from harm.
This is learning constancy.
- Lao-tzu
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
' Realization '...
Realization doesn't destroy the individual any more than the reflection of the moon breaks a drop of water.
A drop of water can reflect the whole sky.
-Dogen
' Troubles disorder our life '...
Earthly knowledge is as clouds dimming the sight, and it is the breaking of these clouds - in other words, purity of heart - that gives the capacity for the knowledge of God to rise.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
We all are pupils, and what we can do in life is to qualify ourselves to become true pupils. It is the receptivity of our heart and the passivity of our mind, it is the eagerness, the thirst and hunger after truth, it is the direction of our whole life to that Ideal from who all light and truth come, that alone can bring us truth and the knowledge of God.
All knowledge of the earth is as clouds covering the sun. It is the breaking of these clouds and clearness of the sky, or in other words the purity of heart, which give the capacity for the knowledge of God.
How many things there are in life that we should be grateful for, but in our troubles and in the miseries around us the things for which we should be grateful are forgotten, and instead of thankfulness we develop an ungrateful nature.
The more complaining a person, the less gratitude he shows in his nature, and the more his gratitude develops, the more he will begin to understand. Sa'di says, 'the sun, the moon, the planets, the air, the water and the earth are all serving you, aiding life's purpose and preparing for your food. Yet you regard all this unthankfully, absorbed in your own little troubles which are as nothing before the great forces of nature, always working, night and day'.
Our little troubles overwhelm and disorder our life, and by our absorption we are robbed of the knowledge of God's perfection and greatness.
' The Holograms of Life '...
Being the ' Natural State ' of Divine Consciousness,
We create the Holograms called life..
This Consciousness is composed of the movement of Thought..
We sometimes decide to Dream..
Within these Dreams ,
We purposely forget Reality and play within Thoughts..
To return to our 'Natural State' of existence,
We must awaken from the Dreams..
The Thoughts that flow continuously within the mind,
create the holograms, whether they be good or bad..
Thus the control of the Sub-conscious mind,
which is called Soul,
is most important to re-enter the human mental state called Holiness,
Non-egoic control,
and is often called Love..
-thomas
' There is only Love '... by John Smallman
Humanity is on a roll! Yes, of course there are areas on Earth where great pain and suffering are being endured, but those areas are areas of great karmic clearance for all of humanity. Your progress toward a grand awakening is accelerating and intensifying. If you are not in an area of conflict, poverty, or intense suffering, then you are not meant to be undergoing those experiences. Your task is to be Love. Just by being, you are extremely effective in assisting in global healing and awakening.
Everyone on Earth at this moment – indeed at any moment – chose to be here at this moment in order to assist in humanity’s awakening which has been ongoing for eons. However, as you have been told by many channels and spiritually enlightened ones on Earth right now, the awakening process has intensified and accelerated enormously over the last two or three hundred years, and is now approaching its culmination. These are indeed exciting times!
Do not be disturbed by the mainstream media news reports of disasters and catastrophes. These things have always been occurring on Earth and are part of the illusory games you chose to play when you made the collective decision to separate from Source. You CHOSE to play games that involved pain and suffering, and you FORGOT that you had made that choice. Consequently you either experience pain and suffering or you see others undergoing it. Either way it is extremely uncomfortable because the illusion, as you built it, appears extremely real.
However, there is only LOVE! There is nothing other than Love! All that exists, exists within Love, which is Source, which is God. Choose the noun that resonates most harmoniously for you to label the Infinite and Supreme Intelligence that is Love, and remember that no word or label that you can think of or imagine can describe the infinite and indescribable. As humans you need words to communicate with one another – for instance “ice cream” or “chocolate” – but words are only very inadequate symbols and pointers, they are not what is signified.
Reality is completely beyond your comprehension as humans, but, at a very deep level of your beingness, you know that what you experience as embodied humans is not Reality. That is why so many of you are searching for meaning, because what you are experiencing as humans can never satisfy you. Experiences can distract you temporarily from your sense of abject aloneness, the state you chose to experience when you collectively constructed the illusion. You wanted to separate from God, Source, Reality, Love, the Infinite and Supreme Intelligence. And so that is what you experience so long as you continue to play the games with which the illusion provides you. Nevertheless they are only games, unreal, but intensely felt, and truly, you can cease playing them whenever you choose to do so!
Humanity’s whole experience over the eons has been one of conflict between your intense desire to be separate and independent of Source and your intense desire to be One with Source. You are One with Source, separation is impossible, but because Source gave You Power equal to Its own infinite Power when It created You, You had immense imaginative potential and were therefore able to construct an illusion that seems intensely real to you in your limited human form.
To awaken is to release yourselves from the limitations you chose to impose upon yourselves in order to fully experience the illusion that you had so cleverly constructed. You are unlimited beings! The limitations that appear to restrict you are illusory! You have never lost the infinite Power that God bestowed upon You at the moment of your creation. You have just become so enamored with the illusion you built that you choose to believe it is real, complete with all the limitations it appears to impose upon you.
You will awaken because dreams and illusions are ephemeral and temporary unreal states. Like soap bubbles, they are easily punctured and then dissolve. You are in the process of puncturing myriad bubbles of insane beliefs that you have been holding tightly to yourselves in the intense fear that if you allow them to burst you will cease to exist.
You are eternal beings at One with God, and you are presently choosing to release your fearful and vice-like grip on the illusion. You have had enough! But, because you made it appear so real, you have great emotional and psychological difficulty in releasing your grip on it and of returning Home. You fear that there is no Home, that there is only the illusion, where you seek endlessly and fruitlessly for meaning, and so you cling on in terror, afraid that you will fall into an abyss of nothingness . . . but that is where you are at present! You are, as humans, living in an unreal dream state and terrified to awaken.
All of you presently incarnate as humans are on Earth to be Love in action, demonstrating Love in every moment and showing others how wonderful Love is. Those of you who have started to do so are enveloped in a vast personal energy field of Love that directly affects everyone with whom you are in physically close proximity, and then continues to flow out from your human center into the world at large. What you are doing is absolutely magnificent. No one else can do it. You are here to do only that, and daily ever more of you are becoming aware of this divine call to awaken and to awaken those around you who are more deeply asleep.
And although no one else can do what you came to do, neither can you fail to do what you came to do. Therefore do focus on the Love, the Tsunami of Love that envelops you all, because as you do so it expands and intensifies. There is no one presently on Earth who does not feel this vibrant and infinitely powerful energy field. But they still have a choice to make – either to accept and embrace It, or to reject and deny Its existence. Love never demands, controls, or imposes, It allows, and so all on Earth have complete freedom of choice.
Some will continue to deny and reject the Tsunami of Love enveloping them, and that choice will be honored. Nevertheless they will eventually choose to accept the Love that is offered them in every moment. Until then, if you meet some who appear to be in denial, unwilling to consider that they may be spiritual beings having a temporary human experience, do not proselytize. You have only words and labels, and, as I reminded you above, thy are but inadequate pointers towards Reality. The only way to become aware is to open to Love which is the only environment that exists. No one can deny It for ever, but they are entitled to the freedom to delay detaching from that denial.
Do not worry for them or fear for them, because there is only Love, and they will awaken. When they do their joy will be no less than yours, they will not have lost out because there is nothing to lose. Just intend to send Love to all, and rest assured that God looks after His Own, and ALL are His Own!...
Your loving brother, Jesus.
' More true than you can hear '...
Where ever you are,
you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see.
You are one with everything.
That is more true than I can say,
and more true than you can hear.
-Shunryu Suzuki
' Identified as Truth '...
The awareness of Truth is constant and perennial.
It cannot be merely glimpsed;
one must be born into it,
in Jesus' words, again and again, and perceive it permanently.
One must be identified with it.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 29
Paul Brunton
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