' The Jasmine Garden '...
I, Lalla, entered the jasmine garden,
where Shiva and Shakti were making love.
I dissolved into them,
and what is this
to me, now?
I seem to be here,
but really I'm walking
in the jasmine garden.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Illusion's Seed '...
Inquiry is making the mind abide firm in the Self,
until the false ego, illusion's seed, has perished.
The Self, our Being, is Awareness.
- Ramana Maharshi
' The Higher Will '...
There is much confusion about this matter of the ego and much looseness in the use of words concerning it.
We are told to eliminate the ego and to eradicate the personal self.
But the fact is that so long as he is upon this earth he is using a body and a mind and inheriting a whole combination of factors, tendencies, characteristics which have come down from former lives and together now constitute his personality. They will still be present so long as he is alive.
To destroy the ego completely would necessarily mean to destroy the physical body, which is a part of it, and to remove his particular individuality which sets him apart from others.
This cannot be done, but what can be done is to render the ego subservient to the higher self, an obedient instrument of the higher will.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 197 Paul Brunton
' Do you get It '?...
So few humans control so many..
We continue to Dream of a reality that is not Real..
Some are influenced by wealth or power..
Are you starting to 'get it ' ?..
Few words will enter your Consciousness more easily, than many...
-thomas
' Guardians of the Waveform '...
Life at Three Degrees Out of Phase
By Julian Wash | Rattleberry Pie
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Dear Humans,
Today I wish to return to your awareness an aspect of the Human condition that resonates at the core level. It’s a doorway to a place colloquially referred to as “everyday life” where an array of vibrations loosely define the boundaries of right and wrong. It’s an illusory canvas of both shadow and light, a masterpiece commissioned by the will of the collective. And within this dynamic, rhythmic, mutable creation we find one dominating color. For now we’ll call this the color of “normal.” To my eyes it’s rather blue.
When tuned to normal some can navigate through this construct without drawing much attention. They can essentially live an entire life and make barely a ripple. It’s not that they are void of vibration –but choose to not distinguish themselves in this manner. They choose to synchronize with the greater masses within the socially-acceptable waveform of normalcy.
While in this cocoon there are no high-highs or low-lows. They find solace in seeking others for advice and solutions. They benefit from the narrow margins they must work under and the supervised nature of their roles. They do not have to make very many weighty decisions- so they are less apt to suffer any major consequences. Solidly placed within this vibration is the desire to please, cooperate and conform. Life is experienced under a veil of relative invisibility -save for the need of occasional approval and validation. Does this vibration look a bit blue to you as well?
This doorway leads not to innovation, prodigal genius or invention, but rather to one of obedience and servitude. There is nothing innately wrong with this vibration. To be clear, it serves as a “carrier wave,” allowing other frequencies and even wanton energies to hop on board and be shuttled along for the ride. People of this resonance can be controlled parasitically by the institutions they submit to.
You, my dear reader, are not simply a carrier-wave vibration. A carrier-wave vibration would not be visiting this website nor exploring content of this nature. You are at the leading edge of this waveform of consciousness –or more specifically, you’re about three degrees out of phase with it. In the following paragraphs I intend to demonstrate just how “abnormal” you are. And in the process I sense you will see just how vital your role is to all Humankind.
All the World’s a Vibration
“Everything vibrates. Life is vibration. So is mind. So is matter.” – Edgar Cayce
It’s been famously stated “all the world’s a stage.” But the “stage,” like everything else, is a vibrational condensate offering merely an illusion of solidity within this three-dimensional construct. All the world’s a vibration- including that stage. And vibrations are waves of varying frequencies. They can be characterized as any number of wave forms, including the perfect symmetry of a sine wave. A sine wave forms a circle when folded over. The circle symbolizes eternity, unity and connectedness.
The circle’s cousin, the sine wave, symbolizes yin and yang and the duality of existence. It has positive and negative peaks and is separated by an equatorial “0” point. Like a circle, its degrees add up to 360. But the sine wave embodies the message of dualism, the up and down, the plus and minus, the rise and fall. These expressions are both literal and metaphorical. They are living and non-living. Whereas the circle offers a perfect neutral (as in zero “O”), the sine wave creates perfect opposition and polarity, a rhythmic cycle and an energetic presence.
In the organic expression, the heart beats in what it beats out- the lungs breathe in what they breathe out. There is a rhythm of (in-rest-out) that emulates the shape of a sine wave. In the case of lungs- the inhaled breath is oxygenated (or on the plus side of the wave) and the exhaled breathe has less oxygen (or the minus side of the wave). There is equity and balance with what comes in and what goes out and each side of the wave is a complimentary opposite of the other. The “resting point” is that silent place of perfect harmony between both energies. It is the twilight of the evening or the dawn of the morning- it’s the quintessential beginning and end. Here one will find the node of serenity and enlightenment.
Vibration of Truth
“Everything in Life is Vibration” – Albert Einstein
So we go through life day to day in a vibration of normalcy. People look to another for reassurance and recalibration of this waveform. If one deviates too greatly from the center of this spectrum they are quickly dismissed and ejected from the gathering. They are no longer considered to be part of the unified energy and collective consciousness. There is some value to this. Native Americans would ostracize evil doers from the tribe. For the guilty, this was a fate worse than imprisonment. So the template of normalcy plays a vital role. But it requires gentle care and discernment.
The enlightened offer a different ray of light to this vibration. They are able to “snap in and out” of this collective energy. By doing so they are able to see the waveform from the outside looking in, as well as experience it from the inside. People who are trapped by the waveform never get an opportunity to see the very construct that entrains them. By stepping outside the “normal” vibration, the enlightened can appeal to the collective –unconscious with concepts and ideas that transcend ordinary thinking. But the mindset of normalcy is a stubborn one indeed. This aspect, however, if allowed to remain static can ultimately lead to the demise of the species. During the cold war- such a fate almost came to fruition. Inflexible thinking and ego-driven bias almost lead to a disaster of incomprehensible scale.
There is entropy in all things and the waveforms of daily experience offer no exception. Without the excitation of an external influence, the ordinary waveform would soon degrade and collapse within a remarkably short amount of time. It is the continual spark of genius, the alternative views, the irreverent humor that helps provide the three-degree push the waveform of normalcy so desperately needs. A highly energetic platform will compress this wave even farther resulting in higher awareness and comprehension. These frequencies awaken deeper understandings and solicit powerful abilities. Humanity is now beginning to resonate at these energies.
The vibration of truth has a distinctive tone. People are rapidly becoming attuned with this energy. As a result, it is getting harder to soft-soap ideas that serve a nefarious purpose. People are less likely to be bamboozled and mislead by the disingenuous and charlatans. Those who operate three degrees out of phase have been vigilant in their efforts in helping others to see. In the words of Schoepenhouer, "All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally it is accepted as self-evident." The state of normalcy has to recalibrate constantly to keep up with the rapid enlightenment that is now sweeping the world.
Guardians of the Waveform...
There’s a special group of people I regard as the “guardians of the waveform.” It’s a mostly unorganized group of independent thinkers who can read the writing on the wall. They are neither passive nor overtly aggressive. They are more like master chess players who can see how the board is laid out. They are expert at anticipating the next move. Most importantly, they are benevolent and genuinely care about the fate of the Human race. So they communicate their ideas in various ways- through music, documentaries, websites and even through casual conversation. Because their intentions are heart-felt and noble, their message resonates.
For those who operate in front of the waveform, who can look back and see its shape and flow, your efforts are not in vain. You are instrumental in reshaping the so-called “normalcy bias”- working against energies that try to define normal in ways that are anything but. Through the eyes of a visitor from another world, normal might appear as an avid TV watcher. Normal would appear to always acquiesce to authority and never challenge the status-quo. Normal is to drink Diet Coke, eat fast-food hamburgers daily and take strong pharmaceuticals to treat the depression that was brought on by trying so hard to be normal. Normal is cheering aggressively for a football team that never cheers you back. Normal is to drink the fluoridated water and not ask salient questions about it efficacy. --But isn’t interesting that this no longer sounds even remotely normal to you, dear reader? That’s because you’re slightly out of phase.
The malleable, placid form of “normal” is what the controllers strive for. They will compromise information and morality and weaken the spirit in any way possible to maintain a lower (subclass) vibration. They know that the population is capable of resonating at a much higher frequency. So the brakes are applied chemically, psychologically, and scholastically and in any other modality that serves the controllers. And then finally, when down for the count- the ones who’ve compromised their better judgment in the name of servitude will simply be abandoned and quickly forgotten.
The guardians of the waveform work in earnest to raise awareness. They walk a fine line of imparting information in small, digestible bits. If they offer too much at once, they will be dismissed as a fool or worse. If they don’t impart enough workable data then people will not take notice. The guardians of the waveform observe how the controllers manipulate mass consciousness and they work hard to rectify the damage. They must battle trolls and a myriad of other orchestrated maneuvers that attempt to damage the credibility of those who wish to raise the vibration. They must also deal with hi-jacked look-alikes that ultimately present a shadowy agenda while wearing a robe of benevolence. This is why it is vitally important to attune to the vibration of truth. Once accomplished, one cannot be fooled or tricked. I guess you can see why the powers that (want to) be are not too keen on this idea called enlightenment.
Final Thought
A properly calibrated phase shift can create amplitude in a waveform and sustain it at a higher frequency. Universe brings into creation those who can positively contribute to this energy. Such people have been somewhat rare in the past –but now that’s rapidly changing. An age of enlightenment has dawned and the powers that (want to) be are scrambling to keep control. But the shift is in place and is now accelerating faster than has ever been witnessed before.
To those living three degrees out of phase- it has not been easy on you. You’ve been alienated, misunderstood and abandoned by even those closest to you. It is an unfortunate truth that one must be out of phase with the wavelength of the collective in order to see it. If one is swept in by the construct of normalcy, the vibrational space they live in will remain invisible to them. This is why it is so difficult (if not impossible) to communicate higher truths to those who have fully adopted the uniform waveform of normalcy.
You were gifted with a special sight. You are able to see this waveform. Your vision elicits stewardship and advice. You see the external forces acting upon the mind-collective attempting to erode its shape and remove its peaks. Together we can will this “blue” color into the light of violet indigo- and even into energies beyond that.
So a personal thank you from me to you, for your gentle guidance and assistance during this time of turmoil and difficulty, anger and despair. But most of all thank you for your “abnormality” of being able to see three degrees out of phase and lighting the path for others to a place of higher vibration.
-Until next time
' There is no forced effort '...
The loose talk about detachment from the ego coming from modern expounders or propagandists, both Eastern and Western, of the ancient "philosophy" is sometimes delusory, sometimes derisory, too often illusory, and too seldom practised or practicable.
These persons are theoreticians, dreamers, who use their own egos to tell others to get rid of theirs!
As if anyone could!
But what one can do--and ought to--with the ego is beyond their wisdom.
For, being based on the philosophy of truth, it is the only practicable way.
When examined, the ego is found to be a complex of body and thought, physical senses and mental tendencies.
Preaching to men that they should detach themselves from all these things is usually wasted energy, for the consciousness is so linked with them that it cannot be taken away from them.
How could anyone be active in the world without them!
Detachment--if full and real--would mean having no awareness of the world: the ego is a necessary part of existence.
If a man were utterly freed from his ego, he would become utterly unable to attend to the ordinary affairs of his own existence!
But let us turn aside from this nonsense and look at the body and the world in the light of the philosophy of truth.
We learn that they are only appearances within the personal experience, that at the end this is mental despite its solidity and intensity, that the "I" is reducible to a single thought, that its relation to, and dependence on, its real being and essence can be brought to light, that the mind can then be re-educated and controlled so that the ego falls back into its proper place, no longer tyrannizing over him.
This may happen by itself in a sudden sunburst or, more likely, slowly imperceptibly, and subtly.
This process can be called detachment and his work is to co-operate with it.
But remember: the understanding gained from reflection upon the philosophy of truth, combined with the meditations prescribed by it, detaches him naturally.
There is no forced, artificial, and false effort.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 196 Paul Brunton
' The Final Truth '...
There is neither creation nor destruction,
neither destiny nor free will,
neither path nor achievement;
this is the final truth.
- Ramana Maharshi
' 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
' The Pain of Ego '...
An ego we have, we are; its existence is inescapable if the cosmic thought is to be activated and the human evolution in it is to develop.
Why has it become, then, a source of evil, friction, suffering, and horror?
The energy and instinct, the intelligence and desire which are contained in each individualized fragment of consciousness, each compounded "I," are not originally evil in themselves; but when the clinging to them becomes extreme, selfishness becomes strong.
There is a failure in equilibrium and the gentler virtues are squeezed out, the understanding that others have rights, the feeling of goodwill and sympathy, accommodation for the common welfare--all depart.
The natural and right attention to one's needs becomes enlarged to the point of tyranny.
The ego then exists only to serve itself at all costs, aggressive to, and exploitive of, all others.
It must be repeated: an ego there must be if there is to be a World-Idea.
But it has to be put, and kept, in its place (which is not a hardened selfishness).
It must adjust to two things: to the common welfare and to the source of its own being.
Conscience tells him of the first duty, whether heeded or not; Intuition tells him of the second one, whether ignored or not.
For, overlooked or misconstrued, the relation between evil and man must not hide the fact that the energies and intelligence used for evil derive in the beginning from the divine in man.
They are Godgiven but turned to the service of ungodliness.
This is the tragedy, that the powers, talents, and consciousness of man are spent so often in hatred and war when they could work harmoniously for the World-Idea, that his own disharmony brings his own suffering and involves others.
But each wave of development must take its course, and each ego must submit in the end.
He who hardens himself within gross selfishness and rejects his gentler spiritual side becomes his own Satan, tempting himself.
Through ambition or greed, through dislike or hate which is instilled in others, he must fall in the end, by the Karma he makes, into destruction by his own negative side.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 191
-- Perspectives > Chapter 8: The Ego > # 48 Paul Brunton
' The Secret of Health '...
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the
past,
nor to worry about the future,
but to live the present moment
wisely and earnestly...
-Gautama the Buddha
' Do Not Travel Alone '...
"Choose a master, for without him this journey is full of tribulations, fears, and dangers.
With no escort, you would be lost on a road you would have already taken.
Do not travel alone on the Path."
-Rumi
in Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee
Traveling the Path of Love: Sayings of Sufi Masters
Inverness, CA: The Golden Sufi Center, 1995, p. 34
' In My House '...
I went everywhere with longing
in my eyes, until here
in my own house
I felt truth
filling my eyes.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' The ego's Rulership '...
The highest goal of the quest is not illumination gained by destruction of the ego but rather by perfection of the ego.
It is the function of egoism which is to be destroyed, not that which functions.
The ego's rulership is to go, not the ego itself.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 189
-- Perspectives > Chapter 8: The Ego > # 5 Paul Brunton
' The Magic of Everyday '...
Love is natural.
Console your mind and make
it listen.
Love all or it is not love.
Make your
mind love this way and you will see the magic
of this everyday.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Direct Introduction '...
Also in the Tibetan traditions of the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) and Mahamudra, there are methods known as "direct introduction" and "pointing out the true nature". In these traditions a master will have a one on one exchange with a student that points directly to the Quantum Intelligence that is already fully present and active, but yet not recognized. Through a skillful pointing out, the student may experience a sudden and authentic insight that erupts from within the Quantum Intelligence itself. This would be a flash of enlightened Mind. The student is then directed to rest in that insight allowing time for all sources of instability to arise and release, whereupon the original flash of insight becomes a permanent awareness.
Question: You discussed having an "out of body experience" when you were in Denmark. How does that experience relate to what you call Quantum Intelligence and does that mean that our "personal" aspect of Quantum Intelligence has the ability to reincarnate?
Answer: As localized Quantum Intelligence, we are an aware continuum of experience. It could be said that we are a Quantum Mind, a dimensionless point of Knowing Awareness without boundaries or center. This is best represented by the image of a "crystal sphere". This transparent and invisible crystal sphere is our Quantum Mind as it appears localized. It is surrounded by an energy field, the energy of its radiance. It is in this energy field or aura that all memories are "stored" regarding our continuum of experience. It has the ability to perceive directly without the body's sensory systems. At death or during any "out of body experience", it is this sphere of awareness that leaves the body. It has the option to reincarnate or continue without a physical body. In the Tibetan traditions they teach that our clarity is seven times more intense and precise than while within a physical body.
-Jackson Peterson from
The Natural Bliss of Being
p.166-7
' Union with God '...
Man is not God.
Yet he can approach God so intimately,
be suffused by His presence so completely,
that the first mystics to call this state "union with God" may be excused.
The telepathic closeness which sometimes exists between two separated lovers,
relatives, or friends is a slight hint of the telepathic closeness which exists between the harmonized human ego and its divine soul.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 1:
Their Meeting and Interchange > # 57 Paul Brunton
' Waiting '...
Waiting is not mere empty hoping.
It has the inner certainty of reaching the goal.
Such certainty alone gives that light which leads to wisdom.
- I Ching
' The Path '...
"The path is clearly defined and quite simple to follow;
Yet most lose themselves in ideological fogs of their own making.
-Lao Tzu
in Brian Walker, Tr.
_Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu_, 63
HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, p. 80
' Controling the ego '...
When the consciousness of true and real primary being is finally discovered, thought out, and felt as himself, the secondary being need not be disowned, denied existence and suppressed, as so often taught. But because of its tyranny, its usurpation certainly must be stopped and its proper secondary place imposed upon it; and because of its ignorance a re-education into mentalism must also be imposed upon it.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 178
Every individual life from the mighty elephant down to the microscopic cell is a self-evolving entity moving through time and space. It has meaning, a purpose, and eventually, a fulfillment here. Why then talk of destroying the one with which you are most intimate--your own ego?
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 181
At every point of his progress the ego still functions--except in deep, thought-free contemplation, when it is suppressed--but it becomes by well-defined stages a better and finer character, more and more in harmony with the Overself. But total relinquishment of the ego can happen only with total relinquishment of the body, that is, at death.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 188
- By Paul Brunton
' Free from Personality '...
"Even the smallest thing is not known or perceived there,
therefore it is called the highest perfect knowledge.
Free from self, free from being,
free from life,
free from personality,
that highest perfect knowledge is always the same...."
Gautama the Buddha
VAGRAKKHEDIKå or The DIAMOND-CUTTER, 22-23
' Dieing to the Unreal '...
The common man seeks every opportunity to live.
But the seeker of Truth looks for every opportunity to die—
to die to what is unreal,
false and untrue
and to be resurrected as true life—timeless existence.
- Mooji
' They Are All One '...
Yes, the ego as individuality, a separate identity remains.
But it becomes reborn, purified, humbled before the higher power, no longer narrow in interests, no longer tyrannizing over the man, no longer selfish in the sense of the word.
For as an enlightened being it may remain, harmless to all beings, benevolent to all creatures, respondent to a timeless consciousness enfolding its ordinary personality.
The smaller circle can continue to exist within the larger one until the liberation of death.
It is no longer the source of ignorance and evil; that ego is dissolved and obliterated.
The new being is simply separate in body, thought, feeling from others but not from the universal, mass being behind them.
There all are one.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 217 Paul Brunton
' The Mechanical '...
Divide in yourself the mechanical from the conscious,
see how little there is of the conscious,
how seldom it
works,
and how strong is the mechanical -
mechanical
attitudes,
mechanical intentions,
mechanical thoughts,
mechanical desires.
- P.D. Ouspensky
' Transformation '...
Transformation tends to happen when we stop or something stops us—a tragedy, a difficulty—and we reassess and realize that the way we are going about life must be redefined. Sometimes we will need to redefine our whole identity. This does not just happen to spiritually advanced beings—this is human stuff. These moments occur with some regularity, and if we recognize how important they are, when they come, we can see them as both great challenges and great opportunities. How we respond is important. Do we search for a quick solution, for a quick answer, or for somebody to save us from our insecurity? Or do we find the wherewithal to settle into those moments and meet ourselves? We can lean forward into what is occurring, into the human experience or unresolved quality—whether it is doubt, or fear, or hesitation, or indecision, or whatever our pattern is that causes us to not throw ourselves entirely into that moment.
We never know when these moments are coming. Some are big, and some are much smaller. We should not assume that the small moments are not as important as the big, obvious ones, because attending to the small moments is the way we build a capacity to attend to the big moments of crisis. It is the reason why most spiritual traditions have various ways of getting us to pay attention to our life, even when nothing significant seems to be going on. This comes from an acknowledgment, a realization that vital moments are current in our life and there are decisions being made—consciously or unconsciously—about how we are going to relate to them.
Do you relate to life as an unfolding mystery and an adventure of discovery? An encounter with your immense capacity for wisdom, love, and experiencing life with intimacy and vitality? We have extraordinary abilities as human beings when we begin to recognize the vitality of certain moments and we bring a consciousness to them. These vitality moments happen in our lives with great regularity and are opportunities for awakening and transformation. We must repeatedly embrace the insecurity of these moments and by doing so come to trust them and so ourselves. In these moments, all we need is knowledge of the next step and the willingness to take it. Paradoxically, the knowing of what the next step is arises when we have the capacity to rest in not knowing what the next step is and to recognize this is an intimate part of the process of transformation.
Excerpted from The Most Important Thing: Discovering Truth at the Heart of Life, Adyashanti's newest book published by Sounds True.
' The Ego-Will '...
If he loses his ego utterly and completely so that no trace of it exists at all, he would have to die, for his body is part of the ego.
But he lives on.
This shows that what he really loses is not the ego-nature but the ego-will.
It is replaced by the higher will.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 215 Paul Brunton
' Personal Love '...
"Personal love is concentrated universal love."
-Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Love and God
Fairfield, IA: Maharishi International University Press, 1972 (1965), p. 13, 19
' Being the Witness '...
Problems need to be dissolved, not solved, because
there is no solution.
The only way the problems get
dissolved is, as soon as they arise, they are merely
witnessed.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' No one complains about Spring '...
Hamza, the homespun philosopher who peddled truisms in the teahouse,
was droning on:
"How strange is humanity!
To think that man is never
satisfied!
When it is winter, it is too cold for him.
In summer, he
complains of the heat!"
The others present nodded their heads sagely, for they believed that by
so doing they partook of the essence of wisdom.
Nasrudin looked up from his abstraction, "Have you not noticed that
nobody ever complains about the spring?"
-as collected by Idries Shah
' Miracles '...
Miracles honor you because you are lovable.
They dispel illusions about yourself
and perceive the light in you.
They thus atone for your errors
by freeing you from your nightmares.
By releasing your mind
from the imprisonment of your illusions,
they restore your sanity.
A major contribution of miracles
is their strength in releasing you
from your false sense of isolation,
deprivation and lack.
Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind,
or a state of miracle-readiness.
The miracle is a learning device
that lessens the need for time.
It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval
not under the usual laws of time.
In this sense it is timeless.
The miracle makes no distinction
among degrees of misperception.
It is a device for perception correction,
effective quite apart from either the degree
or the direction of the error.
The above quotes are from the book
A Course in Miracles.
' The Absolute Power '...
"Supremacy over others will never cause a man to find a change in himself; the greater his conquests the stronger is his confirmation of what his mind tells him — that there is no God other than his own power. And he remains separate from God, the Absolute Power.
"But when the same mind tells him that there is something which may be called God, and, further, when it prompts him to search for God that he may see Him face to face, he begins to forget himself and to forgive others for whatever he has suffered from them.
"And when he has forgiven everyone and has completely forgotten himself, he finds that God has forgiven him everything, and he remembers Who, in reality, he is."
-Meher Baba,
The Everything And The Nothing
Beacon Hill, Australia, Meher House Publications, 1963, p. 110
' Breath '...
One of the most important aspects of breathing is the supply of oxygen
into the entire body.
Any frightening experience is stored spiritually and downloaded inside
the material body by a shortage of oxygen.
Supplying oxygen allows to transform such a frightening moment, where
individual human time can disappear.
-Aham
' Your Old Nonsense '...
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done
what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day;
you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be
encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
' Reflecting the Overself '...
The ego totally ceases to exist and is fully absorbed into the Overself only in special, temporary, and trance-like states.
At all other times, and certainly at all ordinary active and everyday times, it continues to exist.
The failure to learn and understand this important point always causes much confusion in mystical circles.
The state arrived at in deep meditation is one thing; the state returned to after such meditation is another.
The ego vanishes in one but reappears in the other.
But there are certain after-effects of this experience upon it which bring about by degrees a shift in its relation to the Overself..
It submits, obeys, expresses, and reflects the Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 213 Paul Brunton
' God-intoxicated State '...
Q: After the experience and the understanding of the oneness of all things, some people appear to be God-intoxicated or in a state of bliss. Some masters seem to be in that God-intoxicated state. Is that a stage? Is there anything you can say about that?
Ramesh: When the impersonal event of enlightenment happens, what the result of that event will be or how that body-mind organism will behave or what will happen through that body-mind organism after that event can be very different, of tremendous variety. So those who were talking and writing may stop writing and talking. Those who never did that may do it. And some don't do anything at all. Some may actually leave whatever they are doing and go into seclusion.
Q: What I'm talking about is, they seem to be in a state like rapture.
Ramesh: I have a feeling that that kind of rapture is probably of a very short duration. But again, these words carry a great misconception. There could be a sense of rapture, but it doesn't remain, it quiets down. A drug could produce that state of rapture, but it settles down. Frankly, bliss is a word which I don't particularly like because it creates a misconception. Real bliss is the absence of the wanting of bliss. That is the real bliss. Peace, tranquillity, are the words which I prefer. In fact, the enlightenment state is not wanting either bliss or anything else. It is total acceptance. That is the state
- Ramesh Balsekar
' The Final Knowledge '...
"The one who found that there is nothing but Thee,
has found the final knowledge."
-Dabestan-e-Madaheb [Zoroastrian]
http://www.avesta.org/dabestan/dabestan.htm
Electronic edition copyright 1998 by Joseph H. Peterson
' Because Light is Within '...
Love others
because Light is in them
not because of the person.
Otherwise
one day you'll miss them
you'll lose them.
Love others
because Light is within them.
That's the Principle.
Then you'll never miss them
even if they die
because the Principle
is still existent.
Embodied or disembodied
it's the Principle
which fulfills.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' The Heart of Existence '...
Angel Ma to Adyashanti (Unofficial Group By Students)
Spirituality is not something set apart from life; rather, it is a plunge into the heart of existence. It is vitally important that our spirituality is in no way an avoidance of life, for then it only reinforces the unrealities that so many of us human beings feed upon.
The spiritual life is a turning away from unreality in all of its forms, and turning towards the completeness and unity of life. Such completeness has been called by various names throughout the centuries: God, Buddha Nature, Liberation, to name just a few. But the ability to perceive absolute completeness, or God, in all things as well as in oneself, is to see and perceive the reality of life here and now.
Let us understand that reality transcends all of our notions about reality. Reality is neither Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Advaita Vedanta, nor Buddhist. It is neither dualistic nor nondualistic, neither spiritual nor nonspiritual. We should come to know that there is more reality and sacredness in a blade of grass than in all of our thoughts and ideas about reality. When we perceive from an undivided consciousness, we will find the sacred in every expression of life. We will find it in our teacup, in the fall breeze, in the brushing of our teeth, in each and every moment of living and dying.. Therefore we must leave the entire collection of conditioned thought behind and let ourselves be led by the inner thread of silence into the unknown, beyond where all paths end, to that place where we go innocently or not at all—not once but continually.
~ Adyashanti
' The Center of the Circle '...
In the center of the circle
is seen the perfect formula of creation
a perfect equation
between Light and phenomena.
Get to the Source first
and open your eyes;
the whole phenomena is Light-full.
You'll see then
there never was darkness.
Stream, know thy Source
ray, know thy Center
man, know thy Self;
that will be
the real solution.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' A Pile of Ashes '...
Your pride in yourself and your wanting,
these steal your energy along the road.
If you can kill these robbers
and become the servant of everyone,
you'll meet the Lord in meditation
and see what you used to protect
as just a pile of ashes.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Brave and Patient '...
We could never learn to be brave and patient,
if there were only joy in the world.
- Helen Keller
' The Witness Self '...
It will be found by experience that preoccupation with such questions as "Why does God allow evil in the world?"
will fall away under the influence of the Witness Self.
The question is relative to and relevant only in the sphere of the personal self in interaction with other personal selves,
and in that sphere it has no answer.
In the sphere of the Overself the question does not exist.
"Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest"
is still as true as when spoken by the Christ nearly two thousand years ago.
-- Notebooks Category 27: World-Mind > Chapter 1:
What Is God? > # 29 Paul Brunton
' Go Beyond '...
There are always moments when one feels empty and
estranged.
Such moments are most desirable for it means
the soul has cast its moorings and is sailing for distant
places.
This is detachment - when the old is over and the
new has not yet come.
If you are afraid, the state may be
distressing; but there is really nothing to be afraid of.
Remember the instruction:
whatever you come across –
go beyond.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' Devoid of self '...
Empty and calm and devoid of self Is the nature of all things.
No individual being In reality exists.
There is no end or beginning,
Nor any middle course.
All is an illusion,
As in a vision or a dream.
All beings in the world
Are beyond the realm of words.
Their ultimate nature, pure and true,
Is like the infinity of space.
- Prajnaparamita
' You will never 'Know' the Truth '...
You will never "know" the Truth.
You can only "Be" the Truth..
There is no "knower" that's really separate from
the Truth that's being known.
The ego says that it wants to experience the
Truth, but it survives more by saying "no" to the
truth than it does by saying "yes" to it.
However, consciousness is truth, itself, and so
it needs no one present in order to validate it.
Life is just as it is.
There's nothing more than "just this."
And, quite amazingly, there's nothing else than
"just this."
- Chuck Hillig
' The Death of a Giant '...
The credibility of knowledge that Yahoo has lost,
has lost all of the 'chat rooms' and then the Groups..
The only remains of entity of corporation is E-mail..
Once, this is gone, the entity is gone..
Prepare for this eventuality, as they have left Truth..
All, that is not Truth will not survive,
as they are unreal,
just another Nightmare '...
-thomas
' You Exist Without the Person '...
The person is noisy and seeks Silence but cannot find it.
Silence is not the gift one receives after strenuous seeking alone.
Trust.
Grace reveals what mind cannot.
Silence is here, unearned and unrecognised and yet, timelessly present.
It is unmixed presence and is therefore synonymous with You but not with your person.
You exist without the person but the person cannot exist without You.
Discern the Real from the Unreal.
- Mooji
' The Reality of Suffering '...
“Yes, an open heart is a vulnerable heart. And there is a tremendous amount of suffering in this world.
The more open-hearted you are, the more you will be open to the suffering of all.
It goes with the territory.
However, to be deeply open to the suffering of the whole need not cause its own suffering.
We need to check to see if there is anything within us that resists the suffering of the whole, that recoils from it in the form of overwhelm.
The completely open heart is a heart of total embrace.
It even embraces the reality of suffering.
The completely open heart embraces life as it is, not what could or should be.
When we are completely open to life as it is, it can break your heart, but it breaks it further open.
It breaks it open beyond any resistance to the immensity of collective suffering. Then we are not overwhelmed by it.
We lovingly respond to it in whatever way the heart moves.”
~ Adyashanti,
The Philosophy of Enlightenment
' The Calculating Life '...
When the ego is truly given up, the old calculating life will go with it.
He will keep nothing back but will trust everything to the Overself.
A higher power will arrange his days and plan his years.
-- Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 4: Surrender > # 93 Paul Brunton
' Merging with Darkness '...
"I would like to hear about the man of spirit."
"His spirit rises, mounted on the light,
while his physical form vanishes.
This is called 'illumination of immensity.'
He fulfills his destiny and perfects his attributes.
Heaven and earth rejoice;
The myriad affairs dissolve.
and the myriad things are restored to truth.
This is called 'merging with darkness.'"
-Chuang Tzu
in Victor H. Mair
Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu
NY: Bantam, 1994, p. 114
' The Real from the Unreal '...
The person is noisy and seeks Silence but cannot find it.
Silence is not the gift one receives after strenuous seeking alone.
Trust. Grace reveals what mind cannot.
Silence is here, unearned and unrecognised and yet, timelessly present.
It is unmixed presence and is therefore synonymous with You but not with your person.
You exist without the person but the person cannot exist without You.
Discern the Real from the Unreal.
- Mooji
' The Overself is Present '...
The Overself perceives and knows the individual self,
but only as an imperturbable witness--in the same way that the sun witnesses the various objects upon the earth but does not enter into a particular relation with a particular object.
So too the Overself is present in each individual self as the witness and as the unchanging consciousness which gives consciousness to the individual.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 3:
The Overself's Presence > # 338 Paul Brunton
' For a Moment '...
For a moment I saw a beautiful moving river.
Then a vast water with no means of crossing it.
For a moment, I saw a bush full of opening buds.
Then no roses, no thorns, nothing.
For a moment I saw a busy cooking fire.
Then no hearth, no smoke, no flame.
I saw the great mother of kings, Kunti.
Then, the next moment, sitting here, is
the helpless old aunt of the potter's wife.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' Overself is Forever Present '...
When we understand this truth (mentalism) ,
we shall understand that the Overself is forever present with us and that this presence is more immediate and intimate than
anything else in life.
— Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5:
The Key To the Spiritual World > # 125
Paul Brunton
' The Perception of God '...
There are no statements of truth which can be called absolute on all levels of reference. Each is relative to the standpoint.
There is but one God, one Truth, one Reality, although there are several different degrees in their perception by man.
The same doctrine which clarifies the game of life for one man, confuses it for another man. So long as truth is regarded from a personal standpoint this must inevitably be so. All schools of thought are tentatively correct if we assume the respective standpoints from which they look at a subject.
The personal self possesses its own idiosyncrasies and peculiarities; its experience is circumscribed and it is guided by intellect, emotion, and passion alone. So long as we see things from this limited standpoint, so long shall we negate what others affirm, so long shall we now believe what we ourselves may later contradict. Yet the truth is more than a reconciliation of contradictory aspects, a bringing together of opposite tendencies.
It is a final union which is higher than any of its separate elements. The process of attaining its height necessitates travelling a zig-zag path of alternating standpoints only at first. For when we leave the personal standpoint and win the higher self's insight, with its infinite perspective, we are able to harmonize all possible standpoints, we are able to give all other standpoints an intellectual sympathy without however regarding any one of them as possessing either universal or ultimate validity.
But this need not lead to the silly conclusion that one standpoint is as good as another. For as one climbs up a hill the prospect varies, the outlook changes, and the field of view expands. He who has reached the crest is alone able to survey the whole landscape below, and to survey it accurately.
Therefore the pilgrims of the Overmind refrain from letting themselves become covered by a crusted outlook, reserve their best exultations, remembering that ultimate Truth is of no party and yet of all, and hasten to that summit whereon they may stand serene, free at last from the noisy clamour of narrow minds.
Then and then only the different world views which come into collision with each other in unphilosophical minds are spontaneously harmonized. Thus the simile of a search which we have used in the phrase "quest of the overself" is useful but does not cover the full implication of the undertaking which confronts aspiring man.
PB Notebooks.
The fifth paragraph explains quite clearly why Yogananda said that realization should be first,and books afterwards.
PB said that when we win the infinite perspective of the Higher Self,then will be able to harmonise all possible standpoints.
Yogananda himself explained in the scriptures that in that state of soul ecstasy,one is able to perceive all phases of Truth in its exactitude,without becoming confused.And a thorough study of his Gita,i.m.o shows that he truly covered all the aspects of truth that is knowable to man.The very doctrine of mentalism is there too.
So,this shows that his emphasis on less book reading has its weight.
"Superficial seekers,in their wish to appear broadminded,indiscriminately absorb differing ideas without first distilling the essence of Truth within them by realization.The result is a spiritually weak diluted consciousness."
-Paramahansa Yogananda.
' Merge In Source '...
Where does the whole of samsara, all animals
and plants, all concepts, trees, and birds come from?
There is only one Source: return to it, merge in it.
Know what it is and everything is It itself.
There is no difference between you and what you call other!
Know this and you will speak to all beings;
every rock, tree, and animal at the same time
because time does not exist here.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Lack of Understanding '...
Understanding makes the trouble of life lighter to bear.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
We often suffer because we do not understand. Many conditions and many people are difficult to tolerate because we do not understand them, but once we understand we can tolerate almost anything.
All tragedy of life, all misery and inharmony are caused by one thing and that is lack of understanding. Lack of understanding comes from lack of penetration. The one who does not see from the point of view from which he ought to see becomes disappointed because he cannot understand. It is not for the outer world to help us to understand life better; it is we ourselves who should help ourselves to understand it better.
What a great thing is understanding! It is priceless. No man can give greater pleasure to his fellow man than by understanding him. The closest friend in life is the one who understands most. It is not your wife, brother or sister, it is the one who understands you most who is your greatest friend in the world. You can be the greatest friend of God if you can understand God. Imagine how man lives in the world -- with closed eyes and closed ears! Every name and every form speaks constantly, constantly makes signs for you to hear, for you to respond to, for you to interpret, that you may become a friend of God. The whole purpose of your life is to make yourself ready to understand what God is, what your fellow man is, what the nature of man is, what life is.
Now coming to a still greater secret of life I want to answer the question: how can we grow to read and understand the message that life speaks through all its names and forms? The answer is that, as by the opening of the eyes you can see things, so by the opening of the heart you can understand things. As long as the heart is closed you cannot understand things. The secret is that when the ears and eyes of the heart are open, all planes of the world are open, all names are open, all secrets, all mysteries are unfolded.
' The Second Birth '...
Those who believe in the Short Path of sudden attainment, such as the sectarian following of Ramana Maharshi and the koan-puzzled intellectuals of Zen Buddhism, confuse the first flash of insight which unsettles everything so gloriously with the last flash which settles everything even more gloriously.
The disciple who wants something for nothing, who hopes to get to the goal without being kept busy with arduous travels to the very end, will not get it.
He has to move from one point of view to a higher, from many a struggle with weaknesses to their mastery.
Then only, when he has done by himself what he should do, may he cease his efforts, be still, and await the influx of Grace.
Then comes light and the second birth.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 2:
Pitfalls and Limitations > # 65 Paul Brunton
' What is really going on ? '...
As a human, you have been mentally trained through indoctrination centers called schools..
You receive stars upon your papers as you parrot the 'teaching'..
In Reality, Truth is found individually..
The Process of self-denial is essential..
"you must die, to be Born ",
said, a wise Jewish Mystic..
So little, we Know, concerning Reality..
The most, filled with Wisdom point to Freedom..
Gautama and Yeshua and many others gave their lives to the teaching of Freedom..
-thomas
' Dharma '...
Dharma means not holding onto any concept,
so the Supreme dharma is to reject all dharmas.
If you reject everything what will happen?
All the burdens of all the religions and concepts
will fall from your mind bringing you to the perfect
Peace and Love, and this is your dharma.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' The Glory of Self '...
Supreme Nature shows individual soul all the experience
in the universe, through its manifestations,
bringing the
individual consciousness higher and higher through various
bodies till the full glory of Self is realized...
-Peter Kloppert
' The Story of Me '...
Q: Does that heal the wound?
A: No. The "myself" that judges itself wounded is not an en-
tity to be healed, or even a condition to be healed, but a kind
of ongoing fantasy story-The Story Of Me-constructed of
memory, custom, and habit. Your story may seem to be the
history of a wounded "me" looking for acceptance and love,
but from my point of view, the story itself is the wound. Hav-
ing to carry around that stale and tired story, rehashing it con-
tinually, and defending it when necessary, is the wound.
"Myself," I say, is better understood not as a story at all but
as the mirror of mind that reflects instantaneously whatever
comes before it. That mirror was there when I was a child, and
it is here now. To that myself, The Story Of Me seems a mere
repetitious fixation that is not "me" at all. Upon seeing that,
any necessary "healing" occurs naturally and effortlessly.
As Charlotte Beck put this, "A door that has been shut
begins to open. As the door opens, we see that the present is
absolute and that, in a sense, the whole universe begins right
now, in each second. And the healing of life is in that second
of simple awareness."
-Robert Saltzman from The Ten Thousand Things
' Less and Less '...
"In the pursuit of Knowledge, every day something is added.
In the practice of the Way, every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone."
-Lao-tzu
' A Not-Made '...
There is, Oh Monks, a not-born, a not-become, a not-made, a
not-compounded.
Monks, if that unborn, not-become, not-made,
not-compounded were not,
there would be no escape from this here that is born, become, made and compounded.
- Gautama the Buddha
' The Path of Concentration '...
The path of concentration is simple to describe, but difficult to practise. All you have to do is but to abstract your mind from all other thoughts save this one line of reflection which you set down as the subject of your concentration — but try it!
Thought control is hard to attain. Its difficulty will astonish you. The brain will rise in mutiny. Like the sea the human mind is ceaselessly active. But it can be done.
At the centre of our being dwells this wonderful Self, but to reach it we must cut a channel through all the thought-debris which rings it in and which forces us to pay unceasing attention to the material world as the only reality.
We like to turn inwards and let the mind rest in itself — not in the physical sense world — about as much as we like to hear the morning alarm clock.
We moderns have begun to bridle nature, but we have not learnt yet how to bridle ourselves. Thoughts hunt and harry us in endless packs; they torment us out of sleep at night, and fatten freely upon us throughout the day. If we could but learn the secret of their control and suppression, we could then enter upon a marvellous repose, a peace similar to that which Paul described as passing understanding.
For the five senses cling to the material world like glue; they yearn for contacts with it in the forms of things, people, books, amusements, travel and activities of every kind. You can only kill the enemy in the moments when the senses are silent. When you think of going into mental rest, the senses immediately begin to object; they cry out against it. The say to you: ‘We want to stay in our own physical world which we know; we are afraid of this inner spiritual world of mystery and meditation. It is natural for us to cling to the physical world.’
And so they try their utmost to keep you attached to the material sphere; and that is the true reason why you think you dislike meditation or at any rate shirk it, when the time for it comes. It is the senses that dislike it — not you; therefore, fight them and try to rule them. Mental effort comes first, then comes mental quiet.
The mastery of mind is the mastery of self. The soul that can conquer the ever-rising spray of thoughts can put on its captain’s uniform and bid its whole nature stand to order. The power to hold on to a train of thought with great tenacity, to grasp it with scorpionic claws and not let go is the power to concentrate and makes MEN. The masters of thought are the true masters of men. Are you weak in concentration? Then by a little practice every day you can become stronger. He who tries every day to do so, albeit for only half an hour, shall master his wandering thoughts in time.
A warning: When moral weaknesses and emotional unbalance are conjoined with mystical practices, the result is not elevation of the mind into spirituality but degeneration of the mind into mediumship. The practice of meditation without the cultivation of ethical and intellectual safeguards can lead to self- deception, inflated egoism, hallucination and even insanity. Therefore it is not a quick and easy passage into occult experiences that the aspirant should seek, so much as a careful improvement of character, a resolute attack on faults, and a correct equilibrium of intuition, emotion, thought and action.
- Paul Brunton. From The Secret Path: A Technique of Spiritual Self-discovery for the Modern World.
' What is Christhood '...
What is Buddhahood ?..
It is the same road, five hundred years apart..
The only difference is the definition of Source..
I found a baratone voice of male within Enlightenment,
as did this Jewish Mystic..
Gautama found something beyond this First Reality..
He found the Begining of Creative Thought..
The begining of Dreams..
The Nothingness of Thought that Creates Dreams..
-thomas
' Quit Imagining '...
Enlighten your desires.
Meditate on who you are.
Quit imagining.
What you want is profoundly expensive,
and difficult to find,
yet close by.
Don't search for it. It is nothing,
and a nothing within nothing.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop 1992
' The Absurdity '...
Man frees himself from the world, its ills,
its suffering, its chaos simply by seeing
the absurdity of it all.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Without Thinking '...
When one remains without thinking one understands
another by means of the universal language of silence.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
' The Study of Life '...
Nature speaks louder than the call from the minaret.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
One may ask, what should one study? There are two kinds of studies. One kind is by reading the teachings of the great thinkers and keeping them in mind, the study of metaphysics, psychology, and mysticism. And the other kind of study is the study of life. Every day one has an opportunity for studying; but it should be a correct study. When a person travels in a tramcar, in the train, with a newspaper in his hand, he wants to read the sensational news which is worth nothing. He should read human nature which is before him, people coming and going. If he would continue to do this, he would begin to read human beings as though they were letters written by the divine pen, which speak of their past and future. He should look deeply at the heavens and at nature and at all the things to be seen in everyday life, and reflect upon them with the desire to understand. This kind of study is much superior, incomparably superior, to the study of books.
The deeper we look into life the more it unfolds itself, allowing us to see more keenly. Life is revealing. It is not only human beings who speak; if only the ears can hear even plants and trees and all nature speak, in the sense that nature reveals itself, reveals its secret. In this way we communicate with the whole of life. Then we are never alone, then life becomes worth living.
Just as there is a communication between persons who love each other very much, so the sympathy of a person whose soul has unfolded itself is so awakened that not only every person but even every object begins to reveal its nature, its character and secret. To him every man is a written letter.
We hear stories of saints and sages who talked with rocks and plants and trees. They are not only stories; it is reality. It is also told of the apostles that at the moment when the Spirit descended upon them they began to speak many languages. When they understood so many languages, they understood the language of every soul. It means that the illuminated soul understands the language of every soul. And every soul has its own language. It is that which is called revelation.
All the teachings that the great prophets and teachers have given are only interpretations of what they have seen. They have interpreted in their own language what they have read from the manuscript of nature: that trees and plants and rocks spoke to them. Did nature only speak to those in the past? No, the soul of man is always capable of that bliss if he only realized it. Once the eyes of the heart are open, man begins to read every leaf of the tree as a page of the sacred Book.
In the swinging of the branches, in the flying of the birds, and in the running of the water,
Beloved, I see Thy waving hand, bidding me good-bye.
In the cooing of the wind, in the roaring of the sea, and in the crashing of the thunder,
Beloved, I see Thee weep and I hear Thy cry.
In the promise of the dawn, in the breaking of the morn, in the smiles of the rose,
Beloved, I see Thy joy at my homecoming.
' Samadhi '...
By Michael Comans, PhD
THE WORD SAMĀDHI became a part of the vocabulary of a number of Western intellectuals toward the end of the first half of this century.
Two well-known 1 writers, Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood, were impressed by Eastern and specifically by Indian thought.
Huxley made a popular anthology of Eastern and Western mystical literature under the title The Perennial Philosophy (1946), and in his last novel, Island (1962), words such as mokṣa and samādhi occur untranslated.
In both these works, Huxley uses the words “false samādhi,” implying that the reader was already conversant with what samādhi actually is.
Isherwood wrote an account of the life of the nineteenth-century Bengali mystic Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (1959), and he published as the second part of his autobiographical trilogy an account of the years he spent with his own guru, Swāmī Prabhavānanda of the Rāmakṛṣṇa Order, in My Guru and His Disciple (1980).
Why these writers were drawn toward Eastern spiritual thought, and to the Vedānta teachings in particular, is not the subject for discussion here.
But perhaps one significant reason is that with the decline in organized religion after World War I, these writers found in the Vedānta, as presented to them by the followers of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and his disciple Swāmī Vivekānanda, a spirituality which emphasized the authority of firsthand experience as the only way to verify what was presented as the Truth.
The Vedānta, as they saw it, was a “minimum working hypothesis,” which could be validated through cultivating a certain type of experience, and that experience was seen to be a mystical, super-conscious state of awareness called samādhi.
Isherwood edited a book of articles titled Vedānta for the Western World (1948).
In his introduction he emphasizes the centrality of having a direct, personal experience of Reality, which, he says, the Christian writers call “mystic union” and Vedantists call “samādhi.”
Isherwood raises the question as to how Reality can be experienced if it is beyond sense perception, and he answers the question in terms of samādhi experience:
' The Freedom of Spirituality '...
"The third way is indeed strange and difficult to explain, whilst, to those who are not aware of it, it is often incomprehendable, appearing unreal and impossible that any such thing can happen.
This is because in these days the third way is not found in many, but rather in very few.
As I understand, this virtue abandoned us together with obedience, since it is the obedience one shows to his spiritual father which makes one truly free, leaving all the cares to him and staying away from the struggles of this world, whilst being a diligent artisan of this third way.
(That is, if one finds a real spiritual father who has no error!)
Thus he who dedicates himself and all the care to God and the spiritual father, by real obedience is no longer living his own life where he does his own wishes, but is free from any struggle of the world or his body.
By what ephemeral thing then, can this person ever be spiritually defeated or enslaved, or what care or concern could he ever have?"
-Symeon the New Theologian
"The Three Ways of Attention and Prayer"
from the Philokalia
English translation by Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia
Myriobiblos — On Line Library of the Church of Greece
' The Functioning of Totality '...
If changes are necessary, they will happen.
And if something changes,
you do something
new or you cease doing something,
there's
no need to feel any guilt.
It's part of
the functioning of Totality.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' The Ray of Infinite Mind '...
When man shall discover the hidden power within himself which enables him to be conscious and to think,
he will discover the holy spirit,
the ray of Infinite Mind lighting his little finite mind.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 3: The Overself's Presence > # 181
-- Perspectives > Chapter 22: Inspiration and the Overself > # 4 Paul Brunton
' The Heart and the Beloved '...
You have two hands, two legs, and two eyes.
But if your heart and the Beloved are also two,
what good is that?
You call out, I am the lover,
But these are mere words.
If you see lover and Beloved as two,
you either have double vision,
or you can’t count.
- Rumi
In the Arms of the Beloved
Translations by Jonathan Star
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997
' Awakened '...
In man is awakened that spirit by which the whole universe was created.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
' The Internal Word '...
Until the internal Word speaks in him he is really incapable of helping others spiritually.
He may be able to do so intellectually or to comfort them emotionally but that is a different and inferior thing.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 2: Inspiration > # 138 Paul Brunton
' Public Opinion '...
Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with
our own private opinion.
What a man thinks of
himself, that is which determines, or rather
indicates, his fate.
- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
' The Self '...
That which makes you draw breath,
but cannot be drawn
by your breath,
that is the Self indeed.
-Upanishads
' Dance with the Music '...
"When you dance, you don't aim at a particular spot in
the room because that's where you will arrive.
The whole
point of dancing is the dance ...
We thought of life by
analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious
purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end,
success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you're dead.
But we missed the point the whole way along.
It was a
musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance
while the music was being played."
- Alan Watts
' Fun to Pretend '...
The nature of the mind is to keep the screen
of Consciousness filled with seductive mani-
festations.
In short, we all love the razzle-dazzle that comes
along with the appearance of “The Other.”
Above all, your mind doesn’t want to be kicked out
of the “Ego Game” too quickly.
It desperately wants to be the last final Survivor.
The Big Cosmic Joke, however, is that the mind
is as non-existent as is the very ego that it’s been
trying so hard to protect.
Ah, isn’t it fun to pretend?
- Chuck Hillig
' Empty-handed '...
"Coming empty-handed, going empty handed -
that is human.
When you are born, where do you come from?
When you die, where do you go?
Life is like a floating cloud which appears.
Death is like a floating cloud which disappears.
The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.
Life and death, coming and going, are also like that.
But there is one thing which always remains clear.
It is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.
What, then, is the one pure and clear thing?"
- Zen Master Seung Sahn
' Timelessness '...
I am dead already.
Physical death will make no difference in my case.
I am timeless being.
I am free of desire or fear, because I do not remember the past, or imagine the future.
Where there are no names and shapes, how can there be desires and fear?
With desirelessness comes timelessness.
I am safe, because what is not cannot touch what is.
You feel unsafe, because you imagine danger.
Of course, your body as such is complex and vulnerable and needs protection.
But not you.
Once you realize your own unassailable being, you will be at peace.
-Nisargadatta Maharaj from 'I Am That'..
' Back to Nothing '...
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
' Looking at Himself '...
The aspirant who frequently measures how far he has advanced, or retrograded, upon this path, or how long he has stood still, is seeking something to be gained for himself, is looking all the time at himself.
He is measuring the ego instead of trying to transcend it altogether. He is clinging to self, instead of obeying Jesus' injunction to deny it.
Looking at the ego, he unwittingly stands with his back to the Overself.
If he is ever to become enlightened, he must turn round, cease this endless self-measurement, stop fussing over little steps forward or backward, let all thoughts about his own backwardness or greatness cease, and look directly at the goal itself.
-- Notebooks Category 2: Overview of Practices Involved >
Chapter 2: The Measure of Progress > # 45 Paul Brunton
' To Divide the Indivisible '...
By overlaying a subjective grid-work on the
world through your definitions and beliefs, you
vainly try to artificially divide the indivisible.
Beneath all of your ego-based interpretations,
however, the Absolute persists undisturbed and is
completely untouched by everything that you think,
feel, say and do.
Meanwhile, though, you're still struggling to
frantically write the story of your life on the watery
surface of an Eternal Ocean.
But you're using an icicle pen!
- Chuck Hillig, from Seeds for the Soul,
' 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 Mystery of Mind '...
Just as it is the dreamer himself who unknowingly makes the figures and creates the things which appear to him, so the waking man experiences only his own thoughts of the world.
When those thoughts are not there, he is not there.
And his world is not there: he and his experiences are contents of the mind.
It is not, as commonly fancied, that he has a mind but that he--the ego-thought--is in the mind and never apart from it.
The world comes before the waking dreamer just as it comes before the sleeping dreamer, only it comes more coherently and consistently and logically.
The mystery of the universe is in the end the mystery of mind.
The reasonable question to which scientists should address themselves, and will in the end have to, is "What is Mind?" To call it brain, flesh, is a misleading answer.
-- Notebooks Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 3:
The Individual and World Mind > # 29 Paul Brunton
' Not Out of the Woods '...
But even a seeker who gets a genuine glimpse into his or her own selflessness is still not necessarily out of the woods. So attached are we to conventional ways of knowing, that our minds are apt to seize on this very insight with the thought, "Aha! Now I know that I am nothing!" But knowing that you are nothing is not at all the same as not knowing anything. Only if you can allow all thoughts - even the thought "I am nothing" to dissolve away without a trace will you be able to enter the gate of true unknowing. This is the state of emptiness or kenosis in which all conventional knowledge is wiped out, for as the Hindu saint, Lalleshwari, says:
Neither silence nor yogic postures
enable you to enter there.
In that state there is no knowledge,
no meditation, no Shiva or Shakti.
All that remains is That.
O Lalli, you are That.
Attain That.
Kenosis, however, is not the same as Gnosis. There remains one last barrier to full Enlightenment. We might call this the First Distinction, and compare it to the sensation of our bare skin. Even though we have shed all our clothes, we still feel a nameless, primordial sense of separation. This is how the anonymous Christian author of the Cloud of Unknowing expresses it:
Long after you have successfully forgotten every creature and its works, you will find that a naked knowing and feeling of your own being still remains between you and your God. And believe me, you will not be perfect in love until this, too, is destroyed.
The trouble with this First Distinction is that it is prior to thought, language, and all other forms of distinction. As such, it is not something that you create. In fact, it creates you - or rather, the First Distinction is that very experience of being a `you.' Consequently, there is no way `you' can surrender it. In fact, any effort `you' make to do so simply serves to keep this distinction in place. This is why Enlightenment always comes spontaneously as an act of grace. And this grace acts only in a state in which, not only has all your knowledge been erased, but even your attempts to attain knowledge have fallen away. Thus, Zen master, Hakuin, writes:
When all the effort you can muster has been exhausted and you have reached a total impasse...it will suddenly come and you will break free. The phoenix will get through the golden net. The crane will fly free of the cage.
Here is how the Christian mystic, Dionysius the Areopagite, describes the seeker who suddenly finds that the Primal Distinction has been shattered:
He breaks free...away from what sees and is seen, and he plunges into the truly mysterious darkness of unknowing. Here, renouncing all that the mind may conceive, wrapped entirely in the intangible and the invisible, he belongs completely to him who is beyond everything. Here, being neither oneself nor someone else, one is supremely united by a completely unknowing inactivity of all knowledge, and knows beyond the mind by knowing nothing.
This is also why the Sufis insist that the spiritual path leads, not to greater and greater knowledge, but to greater and greater bewilderment.
- Joel Morwood
' Thoughts on a Tuesday Night '...
Controlling the mind (ego) is the object of life..
Continuing to incarnate into this hologram is the desire of the false ego..
The Luciferians will declare that he was the first declaration of freedom,
but Reality speaks and says that you have chosen to choose things over Reality..
This 'illusion of entity' called Lucifer or Satan is just a selfish desire of ego..
This entity is created by the Consciousness of Separation from Source..
This Evil Entity is the Destroyer of Creation..
Source always wins, when falsehood is seen..
Therefore, choose Reality and Truth..
It is Joy, especially compared to Hell..
This is where you now exist..
Perhaps, it is Purgatory..
Perhaps, It is Hell..
Or if you are Fully Awake,,
Fear, no longer exists..
It is Heaven..
" The Kingdom of God is within You "...
-thomas
' I am '...
Sensations as such, however strong, do not
cause suffering.
It is the mind, bewildered by
wrong ideas, addicted to thinking:
'I am this'.
'I am that',
that fears loss and craves gain
and suffers when frustrated.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' Belief and Unbelief '...
Man's pride and satisfaction in what he knows limits the scope of his vision.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
One wishes to be admired for his clothes, his jewels, his possessions, his greatness and position, and naturally when this desire increases it makes a person blind and he loses sight of right and justice. It is natural that the desire for things that gratify vanity should have no end; it increases continually.
The tendency to look at others with hatred and prejudice, to consider them inferior to oneself, and all such tendencies come from this ego. There are even cases when people spend money in order to be able to insult another.
To make someone bow before him, to make him give way, to put him in a position of inferiority, to make him appear contemptible, sometimes a person will spend money.
The desire for the satisfaction of vanity reaches such a point, that a person would give his life for the satisfaction of his vanity. Often someone shows generosity, not for the sake of kindness, but to satisfy his vanity.
The more vanity a person has the less sympathy he has for others, for all his attention is given to his own satisfaction, and he is as blind toward others. This ego, so to speak, restricts life, because it limits a person.
All the knowledge that man possesses he has acquired by belief. When he strengthens his belief by knowledge then comes disbelief in things that his knowledge cannot cope with, and in things that his reason cannot justify.
He then disbelieves things that he once believed in. An unbeliever is one who has changed his belief to disbelief; disbelief often darkens the soul, but sometimes it illuminates it.
There is a Persian saying, 'Until belief has changed to disbelief, and, again, the disbelief into a belief, a man does not become a real Muslim.'
But when disbelief becomes a wall and stands against the further penetration of mind into life, then it darkens the soul, for there is no chance of further progress, and man's pride and satisfaction in what he knows limit the scope of his vision
' The Natural Free State '...
Seekers continue to practice all kinds of self-torture without realizing that such 'spiritual practice' is a reinforcement
of the very ego that prevents them from their natural, free state.
- Ramesh Balsekar
' The Sin of Desire '...
When the Tao is present in the universe,
The horses haul manure.
When the Tao is absent from the universe,
War horses are bred outside the city.
There is no greater sin than desire,
No greater curse than discontent,
No greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself.
Therefore he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1989
' Empty by Nature '...
Even a strong wind is empty by nature.
Even a great wave is just ocean itself.
Even thick southern clouds are insubstantial as sky.
Even the dense mind is naturally birthless.
-Milarepa,
"Drinking The Fountain Stream"
' Credentials '...
The man who creates a new movement, pioneers a great reform, brings a better faith to a nation, or marches a victorious army across a continent is the burning lens of the new idea that is to appear.
There must be a definite center on the physical plane; there must be a human focus through which a new concept can shine out upon humanity.
In the same way, there is needed a human teacher through which the Infinite can move the unawakened out of their apathy, give forth its light to instruct men's minds and its heat to inspire their hearts..
Such can be no ordinary teacher, of course, for he must carry credentials brought down from heaven.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 5:
Teaching Masters, Discipleship > # 184 Paul Brunton
' The Seven Understandings '...
"The seven understandings are:
1. Instinct
2. Intellect
3. Inspiration
4. Intuition
5. Insight
6. Illumination
7. Realization
"Instinct governs the animal world; intellect, humans; inspiration for those humans whose feelings are developed – like poets and artists. Intuition is for those advanced souls who have conscious visions and understanding true to the point. What you understand by intuition is always true. What you understand by intellect is sometimes true and sometimes not.
"Souls on the fourth and fifth planes have insight; their understanding is direct, without thinking with the mind. Illumination means seeing God as He is. The understanding is divine. Realization is understanding oneself as God."
-Meher Baba
in Bhau Kalchuri
Lord Meher: The Biography of Avatar of the Age Meher Baba
Myrtle Beach, SC: Manifestation, 1st American Edition, 1994, vol. 7, p. 2617-18.
' Cause and Effect '...
Ram Tzu believes
In the law
Of cause and effect.
He just doesn’t know
Which is which.
- Ram Tzu
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
' Self-Giving as a Sacred Offering '...
Self-giving is the outflowing intention of the spiritual heart and the fundamental attitude of authentic spirituality. It is essential that one's basic spiritual orientation moves from being self-serving to self-giving, meaning that a heartfelt transition of intention is required that no longer aligns with the egocentric perspective and instead aligns with the fundamental values of the spiritual instinct.
In the conventional understanding of self-giving, you may think of letting go or relinquishing a part of yourself in heartful generosity. This is worth contemplating. And yet there is a deeper meaning of self-giving that is not meant to rush past the conventional understanding but doesn't follow the ways that most of us are oriented. Most of us are oriented around receiving and empowerment. These are important, and self-giving in a deeper sense does give a kind of empowerment, but only as a by-product.
Most people's meditations don't come from an attitude of self-giving but are about what they want to attain. What if your meditation and spirituality were an act of giving? Devotion is a kind of giving, not a means of getting, which is just transactional. Meditation orients us towards a kind of being that is synonymous with self-giving.
Self-giving isn't directing attention but rather is giving attention. You can feel the difference in your body and mind. The act of offering your attention shows what you actually value.
Giving and receiving is like breathing. You give yourself to the moment and it gives itself to you. Giving and receiving is one act -- giving is receiving and receiving is giving.
When you give attention to your breath, it's a kind of offering. It is like giving a gift. In the moment where you exchange a gift, you are exchanging an object and also that which the object represents -- maybe caring, love, appreciation, or gratitude. If the exchange is only an obligation, you are just exchanging an object. Offering something of value takes time and attention.
When you're receiving something from the giving of a gift, you're receiving the love that the gift represents.
Play with the notion of self-giving. Let it find root in the creative soil inside you. Devotion in its most essential form is devotedly giving all of your attention. Do it in moments of listening, looking, and ways of relating. Where do you hold back? Experiment with what it means to really show up.
-Adyashanti
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