' Serapion '...
"One of the monks, called Serapion, sold his book of the Gospels and gave the money to those who were hungry,
saying:
I have sold the book that told me to sell all that I had and give it to the poor."
-Thomas Merton
The Wisdom of the Desert, XXXIV
New York: New Directions, 1970, p. 37
copyright Abbey of Gethsemane 1960
' The Glorious Real '...
Aim high, aim at the highest, and all lower aims are
thereby achieved.
It is looking below on the stormy
sea of differences that makes you sink.
Look up,
beyond these and see the One Glorious Real, and
you are saved.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
' The Way Things Are '...
If you look for the truth outside yourself,
it gets farther and farther away.
Today, walking alone,
I meet him everywhere I step.
He is the same as me,
yet I am not him.
Only if you understand it in this way
will you merge with the way things are.
- Tung-shan
' In Harmony '...
Even the poorest thing shines...
My daily affairs are quite ordinary;
but I'm in total harmony with them.
I don't hold on to anything, don't reject anything;
- Layman P'ang
' Health And Joy '...
With repeated meditation practice
the expanse of the visible universe
with all its qualities dissolves
to nothing, to where there is
only health and great joy.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
' HE IS IT '...
For enlightenment to happen the perceiver must turn right around and wake up to the fact that he is face to face with his own nature - that HE IS IT.
The spiritual seeker ultimately finds that he was already at the destination,
that he himself IS what he had been seeking and he was in fact already home.
-Ramesh Balsekar
' Self Deception '...
Self deception..
The ego declares that it is Reality..
But, you have been walking a long time and know better..
The media will tell you what you are..
But, you have been awake a long time..
The soul is an object of awareness..
Being a slave within the material has become normal..
To desire the material is a trap of reincarnation..
The circle of slavery..
To leave all desires is Freedom..
What are you waiting for ?...
-thomas
' The Religion of Love '...
"O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith."
-Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi
'Tarjuman al-Ashwaq'
Theosophical Publishing House, 1911. Poem XI
' Who Is Brahman ?'...
Om.
Manas (mind) is said to be of two kinds, the pure and the impure. That which is associated with the thought of desire is the impure, while that which is without desire is the pure.
To men, their mind alone is the cause of bondage or emancipation. That mind which is attracted by objects of sense tends to bondage, while that which is not so attracted tends to emancipation.
Now inasmuch as to a mind without a desire for sensual objects there is stated to be salvation, therefore an aspirant after emancipation should render his mind ever free from all longing after material objects.
When a mind freed from the desires for objects and controlled in the heart attains the reality of Âṭmâ, then is it in the Supreme Seat. Till that which arises in the heart perishes, till then it (Manas) should be controlled.
This only is (true) wisdom. This only is true Ḍhyâna (meditation). Other ways are but long or tedious. It (Brahman) is not at all one that can be contemplated upon.
It is not one that cannot be contemplated upon. It is not capable of contemplation, (and yet) it should be contemplated upon.
Then one attains Brahman that is devoid of partiality.
Yoga should be associated with Swara (sound, accent). (Brahman) should be meditated upon without Swara.
By meditating without Swara upon Brahman, that which is cannot become non-existent.
Such a Brahman is partless, devoid of fancy and quiescent (or free from the action of mind).
Whoever cognizes "I" to be that Brahman
p. 35.....Thirty Minor Upanishads,
by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar, [1914],
' There Are None Liberated '...
The scriptures even proclaim aloud:
"There is in
truth no creation and no destruction; no one is bound,
no one is seeking Liberation, no one is on the way to
Deliverance.
There are none liberated.
This is the
absolute truth.
" My dear disciple, this, the sum and
substance of all the Upanishads, the secret of secrets,
is my instruction to you."
- Shankaracharya
"Teachings of the Hindu Mystics"
Edited by Andrew Harvey
' The Battle of Life '...
The final victory in the battle of life for every soul is when he has risen above the things which once he most valued.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The final victory in the battle of life for every soul is when he has abandoned, which means when he has risen above, what once he valued most. For the value of everything exists for man only so long as he does not understand it. When he has fully understood, the value is lost, be it the lowest thing or the highest thing. It is like looking at the scenery on the stage and taking it for a palace. Such is the case with all things of the world; they seem important or precious when we need them or when we do not understand them; as soon as the veil which keeps man from understanding is lifted, then they are nothing.
Do not, therefore, be surprised at the renunciation of sages. Perhaps every person in the spiritual path must go through renunciation. It is not really throwing things away or disconnecting ourselves from friends; it is not taking things to heart as seriously as one naturally does by lack of understanding. No praise, no blame is valuable; no pain or pleasure is of any importance. Rise and fall are natural consequences, so are love and hatred; what does it matter if it be this or that? It matters so long as we do not understand. Renunciation is a bowl of poison no doubt, and only the brave will drink it; but in the end it alone proves to be nectar, and this bravery brings one the final victory.
The real spirit of renunciation is willingness; and willing renunciation comes when one has risen above the thing one renounces. The value of each thing in life -- wealth, power, position, possession -- is according to the evolution of man. There is a time in his life when toys are his treasures, and there is a time when he puts them aside; there is a time in his life when copper coins are everything to him, and there is another time when he can give away gold coins; there is a time in his life when he values a cottage, and there is a time when he gives up a palace. Things have no value; their value is as man makes it; and at every step in his evolution he changes their value.
' The Separation of Me '...
"When you identify with a thought, that creates a fixed position in time and space—like a star in the night sky.
As you identify with more thoughts, you create more fixed positions, until you have an entire constellation of ideas and beliefs.
The lines of that constellation continue to grow and overlap, creating something that begins to look solid, like an object.
Those fixed points create an illusion of an individual 'me,' with its own boundaries separating it from the whole.”
-Mukti, Fly Free
' Patience and Perseverance '...
Deep down within the heart there is a stillness which is healing,
a trust in the universal laws which is unwavering,
and a strength which is rock-like.
But because it is so deep we need both patience and perseverance when digging for it.
-- Notebooks Category 10: Healing of the Self > Chapter 5: The Healing Power of The Overself > # 97
-- Perspectives > Chapter 10: Healing of the Self > # 34 Paul Brunton
' Christmas by Rumi '...
There is a morning where presence
comes over you, and you sing
like a rooster in your earth-colored shape.
Your heart hears and, no longer frantic,
begins to dance. At that moment
soul reaches total emptiness.
Your heart becomes Mary, miraculously pregnant,
and body, like a two-day-old Jesus,
says wisdom words.
Now the heart turns to light,
and the body picks up the tempo.
Where Shams Tabriz walks, the footprints
are musical notes, and holes
you fall through into space.
-Rumi
' In This Form '...
"Not through study of the Vedas, not through austerity,
Not through gifts, and not through sacrifice
Can I be seen in this form
As you have beheld Me.
By undistracted [one-pointed] devotion [bhakti] alone
Can I be known,
And be truly seen in this form,
And be entered into, Arjuna."
-Krishna
Bhagavad Gita, 11:53:54
Twenty-Fifth-Anniversary Edition
Translated by Winthrop Sargeant
Albany: SUNY Press, 2009, p. 505-506
' Thought Power '...
Every soul has its domain in life, consisting of all it possesses and of all who belong to it.
This
domain is as wide as the width of the soul's influence;
it is so to speak a mechanism that works by the thought power of each individual soul.
From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
' You are not a person '...
Being the source of both, the self is beyond both
knowledge and power. The observable is in the mind.
The nature of the self is pure awareness, pure
witnessing, unaffected by the presence or absence
of knowledge or liking.
Have your being outside this body of birth and death
and all your problems will be solved.
They exist because
you believe yourself born to die.
Undeceive yourself and
be free.
You are not a person.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Lover of this World '...
The lover of this world is like someone in love
with a wall illuminated by sunrays;
he doesn't
realise that the radiance and the splendor do
not come from the wall but from the sun;
he gives
his heart to the wall and when at sunset the rays
of sun disappear, he is in despair.
- Rumi
Muriel Maufroy
"Breathing Truth - Quotations from Jalaluddin Rumi"
Sanyar Press - London, 1997
' Wisdom is Learned, Gradually '...
Wisdom can only be learned gradually, and every soul is not ready to receive or to understand the complexity of the purpose of life.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Man likes complexity. He does not want to take only one step; it is more interesting to look forward to millions of steps. The man who is seeking the truth gets into a maze, and that maze interests him. He wants to go through it a thousand times more. It is just like children.
Their whole interest is in running about; they do not want to see the door and go in until they are very tired. So it is with adults. They all say that they are seeking truth, but they like the maze. That is why the mystics made the greatest truths a mystery, to be given only to the few who were ready for them, letting the others play because it was the time for them to play.
Truth is simple. But for the very reason that it is simple, people will not take it; because our life on earth is such that for everything we value, we have to pay a great price and one wonders, if truth is the most precious of all things, then how can truth be attained simply? It is this illusion that makes everyone deny simple truth and seek for complexity. Tell people about something that makes their heads whirl round and round and round. Even if they do not understand it, they are most pleased to think, 'It is something substantial.
It is something solid. For, it is an idea we cannot understand, it must be something lofty.' But something which every soul knows, proving what is divine in every soul, and which it cannot help but know, that appears to be too cheap, for the soul already knows it. There are two things: knowing and being. It is easy to know truth, but most difficult to be truth. It is not in knowing truth that life's purpose is accomplished; life's purpose is accomplished in being truth.
' Brother Winter '...
The wind of future passes around the body and the mind cringes at the future..
Winter denies Autumn of it's glory..
The leaves remain green with a few turning yellow with fear..
The house remains standing with pride and declares that it will protect all those within..
But, Winter is proud with power and declares that it will return when time becomes older..
Autumn speaks and says that the power of life called Sun will walk with it for a while..
But, Sun warns that it must move south for the winter..
Darkness visits our knowledge of the day and says that it will become our friend of contemplation..
The Dream changes into another reality..
Last years thick cloth of protection is calling us into the storage bins of future use..
Snow enters the room and speaks,
"I am the cover of darkness and soil and will show the beauty of One Light"..
Winter ends the conversation with no longer a threat of power but a gift of future knowledge of his sister called Spring...
-thomas
' Kept in Servitude '...
As you read the thoughts of Shakespeare,
He speaks of the works of the egoic atachment..
The belief that 'You' are the thoughts of ego keep 'You' in servitude..
This separation between Dreamer and Dreamed are the subject of this paragraph..
This Duality of thought creates the negative vibrations of this Hologram..
The egoic-desire to be separate from Reality brings about the pain of separation from the binding energy of Reality called Love..
And yet, most of us seek this somewhat fleeting joy of human existence called Love..
What else is left to seek ?..
Let money, wealth, and fame, remain the desire of fools..
You seek Freedom..
Release the ego and You will be Free...
-thomas
' I Am Grace '...
Sophia (feminine aspect of God) calling to the soul:
Dearly beloved I have called you so often and you have not heard me.
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not seen me.
I have made myself fragrant so often and you have not smelled me.
Savorous food and you have not tasted me.
Why can you not reach me through the object you touch?
Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see me?
Why do you not hear me?
Why why why?
For you my delights surpass all other delights
and the pleasure I procure you surpasses all other pleasures.
For you I am preferable to all other good things
I am beauty. I am grace.
Love me. Love me alone. Love yourself in me, in me alone.
Attach yourself to me.
No one is more inward than I.
Others love you for their own sakes.
I love you for yourself.
And you, you flee from me.
Dearly beloved, you cannot treat me fairly,
for if you approach me it is because I have approached you.
I am nearer to you than yourself, than your soul, than your breath.
Who among creatures would treat you as I do?
I am jealous of you over you. I want you to belong to no other,
not even to yourself. Be mine. Be for me as you are in me, though you are not even aware of it.
Dearly beloved let us go toward union.
And if we find the road that leads to separation we will destroy separation.
Let us go hand in hand. Let us enter the presence of truth,
Let it be our judge and imprint its seal upon our union forever.
-- Ib'n al-Arabi
' 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
' Knowing is the Essence of Tao '...
Look, it cannot be seen -- it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard -- it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held -- it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.
From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark;
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.
Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.
Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao.
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
' No Longer Striving '...
When he feels the gentle coming of the presence of the higher self, at this point he must train himself in the art of keeping completely passive.
He will discover that it is endeavouring actually to ensoulhim, to take possession of him as a disembodied spirit is supposed to take possession of a living medium.
His task now is purely negative; it is to offer no resistance to the endeavour but to let it have the fullest possible sway over him.
The preliminary phases of his progress are over.
Hitherto it was mostly his own efforts upon which he had to rely.
Now, however, it is the Overself which will be the active agent in his development.
All that is henceforth asked of him is that he remain passive, otherwise he may disturb the holy work by the interference of his blind ignorant self-will.
His advance at this point no longer depends on his own striving.
-- Notebooks Category 2: Overview of Practicies Involved >
Chapter 9: Conclusion > # 30 Paul Brunton
' What is Necessary ? '...
I know the Truth..
But, Jesus and Gautama are way beyond my pay-scale..
I follow them..
I cannot walk on water or turn water into wine,
or else, I would be drunk with the desire of sleep..
The question that should be explored is,
" What is Sleep "..
' Why is it necessary ?'..
What is Awakening ?..
Why is it necessary ?..
-thomas
' If you are happy '...
If you are happy
Run away from Ram Tzu.
Ram Tzu's venom is only safe
If you're already snake-bit.
- Ram Tzu
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
' Long for the Sea '...
If you want to build a ship,
don't drum up people together to collect
wood and don't assign them tasks and work,
but rather teach them to
long for the sea.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
' Liberation '...
"Liberation is already dancing on the stage, or the platform, of our consciousness.
How can we experience that right now? Is there a method?
Actually there are many methods.
One method is expressed in this very old saying: “Rest in the natural state of mind.” This method is powerful, dynamic, and transformative.
“Rest,” of course, has many meanings, but here “rest” does not mean simply ordinary rest.
It does not mean just sitting on the sofa with our feet on the coffee table.
Not that kind of resting, but a deep resting.
Here resting means stopping all of mind’s effort, including the effort of seeking, meditating, analyzing, and trying to hold on to something.
It isn’t trying to get rid of or achieve something.
We just let go of all of mind’s effort and be in the natural state of mind and we don’t have to figure out what that is.
That’s the good news.
We are no longer the responsible agent who is going to make sure that enlightenment is going to arise on time.
That’s a big relief, isn’t it?"
-Dzogchen teacher Anam Thubten
' The Essential Rumi '...
Do you think I know what I'm doing?
That for one breath or half-breath
I belong to myself?
As much as a pen knows what it's writing
or the ball can guess where it's going next.
- Rumi
"The Essential Rumi"
Version by Coleman Barks
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995
' What is Grace ?'...
I read Paul Brunton's words about Grace and remember when Grace was given to me..
I did not know about the experience of Grace and still much of it remains a mystery to me..
What is Grace ?..
What I found upon my first experience into Enlightenment was that Grace was a 'Wave of Love' that opened a door for Nothingness to enter..
After the surrender of all desires and especially the suicide of the ego consciousness, Grace appeared..
Grace knocked the body to the ground and took Consciousness to meet Itself..
I became Light, Love, and Consciousness and knew instantly that life was a Dream..
I and the Father were One..
The Father is Light and I was Light and We conversed..
This duality within Divine Consciousness concerned Me..
I asked the Father if this was the 'Final Reality'..
For the first time, He would not answer..
I came back into the Dream and body to find the answer..
I found the answer..
The answer is found within these nine thousand writings..
Search within...
(Mysticson.blogspot.com)
- namaste, thomas
' A Lover of Wisdom '...
People sometimes ask me to what religion I belong or to what school of yoga I adhere.
If I answer them, which is not often, I tell them: "To none and to all!"
If such a paradox annoys them, I try to soften their wrath by adding that I am a student of philosophy.
During my journeys to the heavenly realm of infinite eternal and absolute existence, I did not once discover any labels marked Christian, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, Zen, Shin, Platonist, Hegelian, and so on, any more than I discovered labels marked Englishman, American, or Hottentot.
All such ascriptions would contradict the very nature of the ascriptionless existence.
All sectarian differences are merely intellectual ones.
They have no place in that level which is deeper than intellectual function.
They divide men into hostile groups only because they are pseudo-spiritual.
He who has tasted of the pure Spirit's own freedom will be unwilling to submit himself to the restrictions of cult and creed.
Therefore I could not conscientiously affix a label to my own outlook or to the teaching about this existence which I have embraced.
In my secret heart I separate myself from nobody, just as this teaching itself excludes no other in its perfect comprehension.
Because I had to call it by some name as soon as I began to write about it, I called it philosophy because this is too wide and too general a name to become the property of any single sect.
In doing so I merely returned to its ancient and noble meaning among the Greeks who, in the Eleusinian Mysteries, designated the spiritual truth learnt at initiation into them as "philosophy" and the initiate himself as "philosopher" or lover of wisdom.
— Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 1:
Toward Defining Philosophy > # 18 Paul Brunton
' Only a Hologram '...
Aziz Kristof quote...
"The Soul abides in the Other Dimension, she is eternally one with the Beloved.
The Soul has never incarnated!
The Soul never enters the body.
What you experience as your psyche and your body is the hologram projected by the Soul.
The Soul projects herself into this dimension to experience her relative separation from herself.
The Soul never incarnates.
It is the psyche which incarnates.
As you evolve in the form of human consciousness, you are actually looking for the way back.
As you trace the path back to your origin, you recognise the amazing fact that you have never been born!
Yes, it is all just a hologram, a projection in the dimension of time. "
-Human Buddha
' The Entrance into Independence '...
Independence means, not to be dependent on anyone else..
The small self enters into the Dream in an attempt to continue the illusion of ego..
It believes that it is not dependent on a separate Source of Creation of the Dream..
It lives in space and time as an illusion of personality..
It is independent..
It finds only pain in this independence..
It searches for an exit from this pain..
It finds a Door called Love and finds Peace for the first time..
It can only find this Door when the independence called ego is tired and asleep..
It finally enters this Door and finds that It has found Freedom and Love..
"Knock, and the Door shall be opened", said the Nazarene..
This is the True entrance into Independence...
- Thomas
' What is Freedom ? '...
We speak of opposites in this world of Duality..
Ego is the prisoner pretending to be You..
Love is the Self not hiding..
The Mind tells You that it is master..
Love answers; "there is no master, there is only Truth"..
A master requires ego,
Truth only requires Consciousness..
In the end of seeking,
The seeker dissolves into Love..
Love is without ego and is called Freedom...
- thomas
' Mere Ideation '...
Mentalism, the teaching that this is a mental universe, is too hard to believe for the ordinary man yet too hard to disbelieve for the illumined man.
This is because to the first it is only a theory, but to the second it is a personal experience.
The ordinary man's consciousness is kept captive by his senses, each of which reports a world of matter outside him.
The illumined man's consciousness is free to be itself, to report its own reality and to reveal the senses and their world to be mere ideation.
- Paul Brunton
' The Great Unknown '...
Exactly as a shadow appears when light is intercepted by the body, so does the person arise when pure self-awareness is obstructed by the "I-am-the-body" idea.
And as the shadow changes shape and position according to the lay of the land, so does the person appear to rejoice and suffer, rest and toil, find and lose according to the pattern of destiny.
When the body is no more, the person disappears completely without return, only the witness remains and the Great Unknown.
It is like washing printed cloth.
First the design fades, then the background, and in the end the cloth is plain white.
The personality gives place to the witness, then the witness goes and pure awareness remains.
The cloth was white in the beginning and is white in the end; the patterns and colours just happened - for a time.
-Nisargadatta Maharaj from I Am That
' The Truth is beyond mind '...
“All the philosophical theories that exist have been created by the mistaken dualistic minds of human beings.
In the realm of philosophy, that which today is considered true, may tomorrow be proved to be false. No one can guarantee a philosophy's validity.
Because of this, any intellectual way of seeing whatever is always partial and relative. The fact is that there is no truth to seek or to confirm logically; rather what one needs to do is to discover just how much the mind continually limits itself in a condition of dualism.
Dualism is the real root of our suffering and of all our conflicts.
All our concepts and beliefs, no matter how profound they may seem, are like nets which trap us in dualism.
When we discover our limits we have to try to overcome them, untying ourselves from whatever type of religious, political or social conviction may condition us. We have to abandon such concepts as 'enlightenment', 'the nature of the mind', and so on, until we are no longer satisfied by a merely intellectual knowledge, and until we no longer neglect to integrate our knowledge with our actual existence.”
― Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State
' Yield '...
Yield and overcome;
Bend and be straight;
Empty and be full;
Wear out and be new;
Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.
Therefore wise men embrace the one
and set an example to all.
Not putting on a display,
They shine forth.
Not justifying themselves,
They are distinguished.
Not bosting,
They receive recogntion.
Not bragging,
They never falter.
They do not quarrel,
So no one quarrels with them.
Therefore the ancients say, "Yield and overcome."
Is that an empty saying?
Be really whole,
And all things will come to you.
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
' Of All Form '...
Become conscious of being conscious.
Say or think
“I am”, and add nothing to it.
Be aware of the stillness
that follows the “I am”.
Sense your presence, the naked
unveiled, unclothed beingness.
It is untouched by
young or old, rich or poor, good or bad, or any other
attributes.
It is the spacious womb of all creation, all form.
- Ramana Maharshi
' A Transient Character '...
The gain or loss which is momentary is not
real.
So, too, joy or sorrow is a momentary
state; the joy over a gain today may tomorrow
prove to be a sorrow.
If we knew the realities,
we should never grieve over the loss of
things which experience shows to be only of
a transient character.
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
' We Are Thought '...
You are Consciousness and yet You allow You to suffer..
The material plane is filled with the suffering of starvation of body and mind..
Why have We entered into this dense light film..
This is a Hologram..
We feel our skin and say, "this man is a liar"..
The atoms dance as you speak of delusion..
After all, It is only a dream..
Why do you grieve?..
We are 'Thought'..
We will continue to 'Dream', when this one is over...
- thomas
' The Principle of Life '...
We may honestly nourish the conviction that, amid all the constant alternations of ethical stagnation and awakening during
mankind's long and painful journey from ignorance to truth, good will must prevail in the end—not merely because we want to
console ourselves, but because the fundamental principle of life is unity.
--The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga,
Epilogue: The Philosophic Life
Paul Brunton
' Beyond Books '...
I can tell you information beyond definitions..
The Answer you have always sought is beyond books..
The Mystic understands my words..
Look not to definitions from humans,
they are controlled by ego attachment and cannot be Trusted..
Surrender all that is not needed..
Especially this Belief that You are something that You are Not..
You are on Vacation within Hell..
Learn and Leave...
-thomas
' One Spark '...
In one spark of fire
there is the whole fire.
It can ignite
whole cities and nations
one spark!
That's how the Truth
of one Person
from age to age
can shake the whole earth.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' Bodily Appetites '...
Man's bodily appetites take him away from his heart's desires; his heart's desires keep him away from the abode of his soul.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There are two parts in man. One part is his external self, which the soul has borrowed from the earth; and the other part is his real self, which belongs to his Source. In other words an individual is a combination of spirit and matter, a current which runs from above and attracts to it the earth from below, shaping it in order to make it a vehicle. The human body is nothing but a vehicle of the soul which has come from above and has taken the human body as its abode. Thus an individual has two aspects of being: one is the soul, the other is the body. ... Whether he is in the forest or amidst the world's strife, the soul of man is always capable of rising to the greatest heights, if only he wishes to attain to them. ... Man does not need to trouble about what is lacking outside, for in reality all is within himself.
The soul cannot see itself; it sees what is round it, it sees that in which it functions; and so it enjoys the comforts of the shell which is around it, and experiences the pains and discomforts which belong to the shell. And in this way it becomes an exile from the land of its birth, which is the Being of God, which is divine Spirit; and it seeks consciously or unconsciously once again the peace and happiness of home. God therefore is not the goal but the abode of the soul, its real self, its true being.
Plato wrote that we live in a shadow world, where we confuse the shadow of ourselves with reality. This is the Nafs, the false ego, which stands in the light before God, causing, so to speak, a spiritual eclipse. ... The Nafs turns us from the One to the many, enticing us with the things of this world. Then man attaches himself to one thing after another, which brings, at best, momentary satisfaction. Through his spiritual practices the Sufi learns to chain the Nafs, to perceive that it is only a shadow of reality; and finding the sun of truth within his being, looking upon it, one is no longer aware of the shadow. Then the Nafs is not destroyed, but harnessed. The whole of man's being is attuned to God and everything within him serves God.
The one and only thing that hinders man from advancing spiritually, or at least from advancing towards the goal for which he is destined and which he is longing to attain, is this: that the mind is so absorbed by the demands and wants of the physical body that it has hardly a moment to give itself entirely to the reflection of the light of the soul.
' Belonging Only to God '...
Therefore God lies in wait for us with nothing
so much as with love.
For love resembles the fisherman's hook.
The fisherman cannot get the fish till it is caught on the hook.
Once
it takes the hook, he is sure of the fish; twist and turn as it may, this
way or that, he is assured of his catch.
And so I say of love: he who
is caught by it has the strongest of bonds, and yet a pleasant burden.
He who has taken up this sweet burden fares further and makes more
progress than by all the harsh practices any men use.
And, too, he
can cheerfully bear and endure all that befalls him, whatever God
inflicts on him, and can also cheerfully forgive whatever evil is done
to him.
Nothing brings you closer to God or makes God so much
your own as the sweet bond of love.
A man who has found this way
need seek no other.
He who hangs on this hook is caught so fast that
foot and hand, mouth, eyes, and heart, and all that is man's, belongs
only to God.
-Meister Eckhart Sermon 4
' Find a Wise Person '...
A stupid or simple person is always ready to see
the wrong in another and ready to form an opinion
and to judge.
But you will find a wise person
expressing his opinion of others quite differently,
always trying to tolerate and always trying to forgive
still more.
The present is the reflection of the past,
and the future will be the echo of the present; this
saying will always prove true.
- Hazrat Inayat Khan
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
' TIME '...
While within the First Reality of Light,
the word 'time' appears within Consciousness.
I look at this word and do not understand why it stands before Me..
This creature called Time does not exist within My World..
And yet, within this Dream, Time is a Tyrant..
How still and easy is the Spirit..
I look around and see only Light..
A Generator of Love Energy emits from My Being and enters the Circuit of Love Flow..
I am connected to Reality..
Wisdom flows along this circuit of Consciousness..
An old Friend appears and speaks to You..
You converse of Love and Forgiveness..
The 'Golden Rule' enters the conversation..
How strange, that the primitve Knowledge is the most important...
-thomas
' Abondoning your self '...
When you have completely stripped yourself of your own self,
and all things and every kind of attachment,
and have transferred, made over, and abandoned yourself to God in utter faith and perfect love,
then whatever is born in you or touches you, within or without,
joyful or sorrowful, sour or sweet, that is no longer yours,
A'
it is altogether your God's to whom you have abandoned yourself.
-Meister Eckhart from Sermon 3
' The Duality of Thought '...
As you read the thoughts of Shakespeare,
He speaks of the works of the egoic atachment..
The belief that 'You' are the thoughts of ego keep 'You' in servitude..
This separation between Dreamer and Dreamed are the subject of this paragraph..
This Duality of thought creates the negative vibrations of this Hologram..
The egoic-desire to be separate from Reality brings about the pain of separation from the binding energy of Reality called Love..
And yet, most of us seek this somewhat fleeting joy of human existence called Love..
What else is left to seek ?..
Let money, power, and fame, remain the desires of fools..
You seek Freedom..
Release the ego and You will be Free...
-thomas
' The Gift of Freedom '...
Does God command or does Love have no demands?..
A young nazarite once said; " I and the Father are One"..
There is no above and below..
We walk through pages and thees' and 'thou' appear and our minds return to a young man in the desert that surrenders his life and egoic desires..
Therefore, returning to Source..
Forty days of pain and then Reality appears..
But, we continue to walk through pages and hope that this magic book will give us the gift of Freedom...
-thomas
' 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 (Kindle Locations 3599-3611).
The Kiloby Group. Kindle Edition.
' In the Spiritual Realms '...
Love never discriminates, it is unconditionally accepting of All that God has created.
by John Smallman
Here in the spiritual realms – which of course is not ‘a place’ but is the One infinite energy field of Love, Mother/Father/God, where All That Is has Its eternal Presence, and therefore, where all sentient life has its eternal existence, even when unaware of this – we are joyfully observing humanity’s long anticipated awakening process approaching fruition. All is proceeding beautifully. The chaos, conflict, and confusion in so many areas is drawing to a close because the collective intent to awaken has intensified enormously over the course of this current Earth year.
The human collective intent has limitless power when finely focused, and it is now being focused very intently on being loving whatever arises. Obviously each one you holding that intent – because you are each the One that is the human collective – is extremely effective. You are doing the task that you incarnated to do, and you are doing it magnificently. And this is, of course, what was expected, because you are all divine beings starting to remember who you truly are, and consequently you are also remembering why you chose to incarnate at this moment in humanity’s awakening process.
Stay calm, peaceful, and loving, regardless of what may be happening, because that is the most effective and powerful way that you can each move the awakening process forward towards its completion. This is what you incarnated to do, so do not let your own egos, or anyone else’s for that matter, persuade you that what you are doing is meaningless or ineffectual, because it most definitely is NOT! You are awakening humanity.
Love is infinitely powerful, there is nothing It cannot achieve or create, however, It never imposes, forces, or compels anyone to accept It. It is always available, waiting to be invited to enter the heart of any – and there are many – who have, until now, chosen to close their hearts off to It. And It waits with infinite patience because there is only now, and that is when everyone will open their hearts! It is ALL that exists, but It will not attempt to terminate the dream state, the unreal state of form with which humanity is able to engage only by inserting a veil or curtain between itself and Love. That state was established, as you well know, to experience separation from Source, from Love, which in truth is impossible. The separation appears real to those in form because that was the intent of those who established it, but it is and always has been a very insecure or flimsy state because it is unreal, because it does not exist. It is an unreal state of mind that can evaporate or be dissolved the moment you choose to have it do so, by releasing any attachment you have to fear, anger, bitterness, resentment, victim-hood, and the accompanying felt need to blame, judge, and condemn anyone – yourselves included – all of which are major aspects of the illusion in which so many of you are very heavily invested.
Love is your true nature, and therefore you are all capable of loving. To Love is to be fulfilled, to be complete, to be in joy, to be at peace. If you are choosing to love only those with whom you agree and with whom you choose to associate, namely those who are of the same culture, ethnicity, faith, political persuasion, or social standing, then that is not Love. Love never discriminates, it is unconditionally accepting of All that God has created, because that is what Love is, and there is nothing that God has not created, because there is only God (Love/Source/Supreme Intelligence/Divine Wisdom/All That Is) within Which all of creation has its eternal existence.
In form, playing the harsh game of separation, judgment of others is one of the main objectives of the game. And of course judgment leads to blame and condemnation – and whenever possible – punishment of those so judged. That totally prevents you from loving. To awaken is to remember your true nature and embrace It fully and completely without any conditions whatsoever, because that is what Love is and what Love does. That means that you must each fully accept yourselves, and all others, as the humans in form that you appear to be, without any judgment at all – either negative or positive – about your appearance, skills, abilities, beliefs, levels of intelligence, social standing, etc. Why? Because there is only One of you, and therefore all judgment is effectively self-judgment. What you see, like, and admire in another is merely a reflection of those aspects of yourself, and what you see, hate, despise, and condemn in another are also reflections of aspects of yourself. In the latter case they are probably aspects that you have denied in horror and buried very deeply indeed in the subconscious parts of your minds.
As humans, playing the game of separation, you are all endowed with every possible aspect of being human from the best to the worst, from the highest to the lowest, and you each did choose the role that you would play in each human lifetime for the lessons that you, and the others with whom you would interact, wished to learn. So condemning another is to condemn your self. But, it’s all unreal! When you believe that it is real it seems that the world is filled with people inflicting intense pain and suffering on one another, and you either see some of it as totally justified, and some of it as totally unjustified, or you see it all as something that must be stopped.
However, if you set the intent to be only loving and allow Love to enter your hearts, you will see that each person “out there” is doing their best in the circumstances in which they find themselves, and that all that they want is to be loved, and to escape from the terrifying and intense sense of separation that they are experiencing as they continue to engage with the dream or game of unreality. However, within the game or dream there is no solution, because Love has been blocked out of the unreal state of mind in which the game is played, in which the dream is experienced. Nevertheless, you can each invite It in by setting daily, and renewing frequently during the day, the intention to be only loving whatever arises. Everything that arises is, in truth, a call for Love, a call that each of you has to answer by setting that intent and inviting Love into your lives Full time! Only then can you truly answer that call.
Supporting appropriate charities or doing good works is indeed very helpful, but it often involves judgment, and to truly answer the call for Love you must release all judgment, and you often find that hard to do, because it does seem, as you look at the world around you, that much that is occurring is unconscionable and completely unacceptable. But when you set that intent firmly, and without conditions – such as “when those in power make a serious attempt to achieve peace,” or “when those in power make a serious attempt to stop violent crime,” or “when those in power stop taking advantage of the impoverished,” “etc., etc.” – then the power of your intent is enormous, and it is precisely what is needed right Now in your awakening process.
As we in the spiritual realms continue to watch over you and support you in every moment, we absolutely know that you will achieve your awakening, because you set the intent to do so before you incarnated, and because that intent is perfectly aligned with the divine Will. So, keep on celebrating, because celebrating is an expression of joy, and your awakening is a most joyful event which your joy is bringing on.
Your loving brother, Jesus.
' Disappear '...
The disappearing is the exit of egoic desire..
To not exist is the meaning of Consciousness,
It is so difficult to contemplate, non-existence..
" I think, therefore, I am "..
To understand the knowledge beyond poetry is beautiful..
Your goal is to surrender life..
The ego warns you of the pain of death..
Keep walking, beyond warnings..
Spit into the face of death..
Thought never dies...
thomas
' To Tolerate '...
A stupid or simple person is always ready to see
the wrong in another and ready to form an opinion
and to judge.
But you will find a wise person
expressing his opinion of others quite differently,
always trying to tolerate and always trying to forgive
still more.
The present is the reflection of the past,
and the future will be the echo of the present; this
saying will always prove true.
- Hazrat Inayat Khan
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978
' A Reverse Mirror '...
Not the Creator of the Dream, but the controllers of the Dream need 'Fear' as a power source..
This is why 'Fear' is presented to your consciousness by the Media, twenty-four hours a day..
The controllers of the Dream control all systems of power within this Dream..
You are experiencing the 'Duality' of this Dream..
You that are Awake, are understanding these words..
Although, this Dream is an illusion, the ego feels the pain of materiality..
But, You that are Awake, remain the Observer of this Duality..
The Energy of non-egoic desire is called Love..
The Energy of Fear is called egoic-desire..
Is it now becoming more clear?..
You are Consciousness looking into a reverse mirror..
-thomas
' The Constant Pursuit '...
"Dionysius exhorted his pupil Timothy in this sense saying, 'Dear
son Timothy, do you with untroubled mind soar above yourself and
all your powers, above ratiocination and reasoning, above works,
above all modes and existence, into the secret still darkness, that you
may come to the knowledge of the unknown super-divine God.'
There
must be a withdrawal from all things.
God scorns to work through
mages.
Now you might say, 'What does God do without images in the
ground and essence ?'
That I cannot know, because my soul-powers receive only in images;
they have to know and lay hold of each thing in its appropriate image.
They cannot recognize a horse when presented with the image of a
man; and since all things enter from without, that knowledge is hidden
from my soul - which is to her great advantage.
This not-knowing
makes her wonder and leads her to eager pursuit, for she perceives
clearly that it is, but does not know how or what it is.
Whenever a
man knows the causes of things, then he at once tires of them and
seeks to know something different.
Always clamoring to know things,
is forever inconstant.
And so this unknown-knowing keeps the soul
constant and yet spurs her on to pursuit."
-Meister Eckhart Sermon 1
' Mithraic Religion '...
In the Mithraic cult of the Middle East, the sun was united with the Earth, fertilizing it.
We call Mithraism a religion of sun worship, but the hidden God behind it was the real object of worship.
Yet the final end of all the solar activity--fertilization--was not forgotten.
Spirt and Matter became one, daily life of the human being became his spiritual life.
Then only did the results of this fertilization--the living crops--appear.
Zen sahaja, natural samadhi--this is what they mean.
-- Notebooks Category 17: The Religious Urge > Chapter 5:
Comments On Specific Religions > # 1 Paul Brunton
' The Doorway Into Being '...
Make it a habit to ask yourself: What's going on inside me at this moment?
That question will point you in the right direction.
But don't analyze, just watch.
Focus your attention within.
Feel the energy of the emotion.
If there is no emotion present, take your attention more deeply into the inner energy field of your body.
It is the doorway into Being.
- Eckhart Tolle, from The Power of Now
' All Is The Self '...
[My guru] told me: "You alone are, deny existence to everything except your self" and I did not doubt him. I was merely puzzling over it, until I realized that it is absolutely true. I found that I am conscious and happy absolutely, and only by mistake I thought I owed being-consciousness to the body and the world of bodies. (83-84)
Nothing exists by itself. All is the Self, all is myself. (91)
All is you and yours. There is nobody else. This is a fact. (161)
You, the self, being the root of all being, consciousness and joy, impart your reality to whatever you perceive. This imparting of reality takes place invariably in the now, at no other time, because past and future are only in the mind. "Being" applies to the now only. (528)
Outside the Self there is nothing. All is one and all is contained in "I am". In the waking and dream states it is the person. In deep sleep and turiya [samadhi] it is the Self. Beyond the alert intentness of turiya lies the great, silent peace of the Supreme. But in fact all is one in essence and related in appearance. In ignorance the seer becomes the seen, and in wisdom he is the seeing. (68)
-Nisargadatta Maharaj from I Am That
' To Know the Beginning '...
Look, it cannot be seen -- it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard -- it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held -- it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.
From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark;
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.
Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.
Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao.
- Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching
Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English
Vintage Books Edition, September 1972
' The Overself as Teacher '...
Ultimately, there is only one real Master for every spiritual seeker, and that is his own divine Overself.
The human teacher may assist him to the extent of giving him a temporary emotional uplift or a temporary intellectual perception, but he cannot bestow permanent divine consciousness on another individual.
All that the teacher can do is to point out the way through the labyrinth; the journey must be made by the seeker himself.
For example, an individual living alone on a desert island could travel through all the stages of the Quest and attain the highest realization even though he had no visible teacher.
The Overself will give him all the guidance and help he needs.
However, he is likely to mistakenly believe that his own ego is making the progress.
- Paul Brunton
' The Realm of Real Dharma '...
"Ordinary people look to their surroundings, while followers of the Way look to Mind, but the true Dharma is to forget them both.
The former is easy enough, the latter very difficult.
Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void [Chaos] with nothing to stay their fall.
They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma."
- Huang Po
' It has no particular name '...
What are you wanting, finally?
On that you have
to fix your attention.
Whether you call it hatha yoga
or kriya yoga or anything else is not important.
Fix your consciousness on your concept of final
reality, and it shall bless you.
You have to decide
yourself what is ultimately real,
in yourself or in the
world;
then fix your attention and attune your
consciousness with it.
This is meditation.
It has
no particular name.
- Swami Krishnananda
' Becoming the Sun '...
"Think of the rays of the sun shining into houses.
They are rays of the sun, and they are light, but they are attached to the sun and not the houses.
When the sun sets, their light no more remains.
"What we have to do, then, is become the Sun itself,
so all fear of separation can forever be ended."
-Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Letters
in Andrew Harvey
Teachings of Rumi
Boston: Shambahala, 1999, p. 22
' The Living Light '...
"The light that I see is not spatial, yet it is far brighter than a cloud surrounding the sun. I cannot discern height or breadth in it, and I call it "the shadow of the Living Light.... At one and the same time I see and I hear and I know, and in an instant I learn what I know....
"In the same light I sometimes, not often, see another light, which I call "the Living Light." I can say much less about how I see it that in the case of the other light, and while I am gazing at it all sadness and all pain are taken from me, so that I am like an innocent girl and not an old woman.... My soul drinks in as from a fountain what I see and hear at that time in the vision, and that fountain remains always full and inexhaustible.
"My soul never lacks the first kind of light, what I call the shadow of the Living Light. I see it like the dome of heaven in a bright cloud and I behold it without stars. In this light I see what I often speak about, and from the flash of the Living LIght, I give answer to those who ask questions of me...."
-Hildegarde of Bingen
in Bernard McGinn, Ed.
The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism
NY: Modern Library, 2006, p. 333-334
' The Earnestness '...
Be aware of being conscious and seek the source of
consciousness.
That is all.
Very little can be conveyed
in words.
It is the doing as I tell you that will bring light,
not my telling you.
The means do not matter much;
it is the desire, the urge, the earnestness that counts.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
"I Am That"
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The Acorn Press, 1973
' The Prisoner '...
We speak of opposites in this world of Duality..
Ego is the prisoner pretending to be You..
Love is the Self not hiding..
The Mind tells You that it is master..
Love answers; "there is no master, there is only Truth"..
A master requires ego,
Truth only requires Consciousness..
In the end of seeking,
The seeker dissolves into Love..
Love is without ego and is called Freedom...
- thomas
' Thoughts are Beings '...
Some thoughts are like things, like objects; other thoughts are like beings.
Some thoughts are like angels by our side, and some are like devils.
They are all around us, either helping us towards the accomplishment of the objects before us or drawing us back from those things we wish to accomplish.
-From The Teachings Of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN
Selected & Arranged By
HAZRAT PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN
' The Personal Ego '...
The personal ego is not a metaphysically permanent thing. But it is a practical working tool which serves the convenient purpose of personal identification. It need not be denied. Why call it non-existent, a fictitious entity, while making full use of it?
When he is conscious of himself he is conscious only of his idea of himself, the fantasy which the ego has made for him.
The ego is a structure which has been built up in former lives from tendencies, habits, and experiences in a particular pattern. But in the end the whole thing is nothing but a thought, albeit a strong and continuing thought.
If we have written of the ego as if it were a separate and special entity, a fixed thing, a reality in its own right, this is only because of the inescapable necessities of logical human thinking and the inexorable limitations of traditional human language. For in FACT the "I" cannot be separated from its thoughts since it is composed of them, and them alone. The ego is, in short, only an idea, or a trick that the thought process plays on itself.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 2: I-thought > # 46
-- Perspectives > Chapter 8: The Ego > # 36 Paul Brunton
' Inquiry '...
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
' Without Devotion '...
Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food; it can never be assimilated.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Knowledge and heart are just like the positive and negative forces; it is these two things which make life balanced. If the heart quality is very strong and intellect is lacking, then life lacks balance. Knowledge and heart quality must be developed together. There are fine lights and shades in one's life that cannot be perceived and fully understood without having touched the deeper side of life, which is the devotional side.
Mystics of all ages have not been known for their miraculous powers or for the doctrines they have taught, but for the devotion they have shown throughout their lives. The Sufi in the East says to himself Ishq Allah Mabud Allah which means 'God is Love, God is Beloved', in other words it is God who is Love, Lover, and Beloved. When we hear the stories of the miraculous powers of mystics, of their great insight into the hidden laws of nature, of the qualities which they manifested through their beautiful personalities, we realize that these have all come from one and the same source, whether one calls it devotion or whether one calls it love.
Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food and can never be assimilated. 'I am the heart of my devotees,' says Krishna in the Baghavat Gita. And Hafiz says, 'O joyous day when I depart from this abode of desolation, seeking the repose of my soul and setting out in search of my Beloved.' ... The life of the mystics, both the inner and the outer, is shown as a wondrous phenomenon within itself. He becomes independent of all earthly sources of life and lives in the Being of God, realizing His presence by the denial of his individual self; and he thus merges into that highest bliss wherein he finds his salvation
' The Degree of Disappearance '...
The danger of most pseudo-spiritual paths is that they stimulate the ego,
whereas the authentic path will suffocate it.
The best measuring-stick for progress is, in earlier stages,
the degree of disappearance of the ego's rule and, in later ones,
the degree of disappearance of the ego itself.
Introductory quotes to Chapter 8:
The Ego -Paul Brunton
' Thoughts on a Monday Night '...
I feel Overself pushing the egoic voice to speak..
Of course the egoic voice does not desire to speak of Reality..
Because of the Power of Reality,
The egoic voice finally surrenders to Truth..
The egoic consciousness seeks Freedom but is trapped..
The 'world' and it's 'rulers' tells the ego that it, only is.
The 'Hypnosis' and 'Dream' are one and the same..
You are the 'Watcher'..
Consciousness watches the 'Dream'..
Why ?..
Because time does not exist and mental games are all that IS...
- thomas
' To speak when all are silent'...
"Mere suffering exists,
no sufferer is found;
The deed is,
but no doer of the deed is there;
Nirvana is,
but not the man that enters it;
The Path is,
but no traveler on it is seen."
- Gautama the Buddha
Visuddhi-Magga, XVI
in Paul Carus
Buddha, The Word
' The Mystic Death'...
The truth of your own nature, the mystics all testify, is that you are nothing, which reveals that you are everything.
In your deepest essence, you are identical with God or ultimate reality.
Your real Life is the birthless and deathless Life of God, and the Life of God embraces the whole of creation.
But as long as your identity is centered in the limited life of the ego, you cannot live in full consciousness of this Life.
Thus, you must die to your self-centered life in order to awaken into the Life of God.
As Rumi says, “You want Reality unmasked? Choose death!
Not the death that drags you to the tomb—the death that is a transmutation, so you at last change into the Light” (Rumi, Odes).
Or, as Jesus says, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matt. 16:25-26).
Thus, the genuine mystic lives in and as God only insofar as the life in and as the ego is dead.
It is the ego’s delusion of grandeur that imagines you can escape suffering and attain immortality, when in fact your life centered in the ego must be completely sacrificed in the mystical death.
Any teacher or teaching that is not clear about this just feeds the ego’s propensity for megalomania and self-deception.
The genuine mystical path involves the perpetual surrender and sacrifice of all self-centered egoistic activity, up to and including the complete sacrifice of ego-centered life itself.
Thus all genuine mysticism teaches the cultivation of selflessness, love, and compassion...
-from integralscience.org
' Ego exists, as series of thoughts '...
When we think we see a single smoothly moving cinema picture of a running man we are really seeing thousands of separate stationary pictures of the man. The experience of smoothly convincing personality is an illusion which arises in the same manner out of our mental fusion of a series of separate ideas into a single human being. The term "illusion" here used must not be read as meaning that the human being does not exist. On the contrary, this sentence would not be written or read if it were not so. It means that he exists, yes, but that he does not exist as other than a transient appearance. He is not fundamentally real.
There is no real ego but only a quick succession of thoughts which constitutes the "I" process. There is no separate entity forming the personal consciousness but only a series of impressions, ideas, images revolving round a common centre. The latter is completely empty; the feeling of something being there derives from a totally different plane--that of the Overself.
When it is declared that the ego is a fictitious entity, what is meant is that it does not exist as a real entity. Nevertheless, it does exist as a thought.
- Paul Brunton
' You without you '...
As it is written; "Not my will but Your Will be Done"...
this 'Will' that is spoken of is your belief that you are an ego, separate from God..
This 'will or ego' is the wall preventing You from Freedom..
This is the secret of the surrender of our will..
This is the secret of the surrender of the 'ego'..
This is the secret of God Realization..
This is the secret of Reality..
This is Unconditional Love and Light..
This is 'You' without 'you'..
- thomas
' Love is Pain '....
The pain of love is the dynamite that breaks up the heart, even if it be as hard as a rock.
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
The effect of love is pain. The love that has no pain is no love. The lover who has not gone through the agonies of love is not a lover, he claims love falsely. ... Rumi describes six signs of the lover: deep sigh, mild expression, moist eyes, eating little, speaking little, sleeping little, which all show the sign of pain in love. Hafiz says, 'All bliss in my life has been the outcome of unceasing tears and continual sighs through the heart of night.'
The sorrow of the lover is continual, in the presence and in the absence of the beloved: in the presence for fear of the absence, and in absence in longing for the presence. According to the mystical view the pain of love is the dynamite that breaks up the heart, even if it be as hard as a rock. When this hardness that covers the light within is broken through, the streams of all bliss come forth as springs from the mountains.
' Here '...
When one is present,
one is finally not going somewhere because one is somewhere: Here.
-Robert Earl Burton
' Character Defects '...
It is not You that has defects..
It is the illusion of you that has defects..
You are the Consciousness beyond defects..
Keep your mind on light and Love..
Defects cannot exist within Light and Love...
- thomas
' The Infinite and the Finite '...
"Where one sees nothing else,
hears nothing else,
understands nothing else,
that is the Infinite.
Where one sees something else,
hears something else,
understands something else,
that is the finite.
The Infinite is immortal,
the finite is mortal."
-Chandogya Upanishad, VII, 24
Translated by Max Müller
The Upanishads, Part 1
Sacred Books of the East, v. 1, p. 123
' God Is Light '...
“We do not speak of things of which we are ignorant, but we bear witness to that which we know.
For the light already shines in the darkness in the night and in the day, in our hearts and minds.
This light is without change, without decline and never extinguished, enlightens us; it speaks, it acts, it lives and gives life, it transforms into light those whom it illumines.
God is Light and those who receive Him, receive Him as Light.”
-St. Simeon the New Theologian
in Vladimir Lossky
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Press, 1997, p. 218
' Thoughts on a Thursday Night '...
Welcome to the darkness of the Winter of New York..
An Observer within the mentally controlled..
Perhaps, the Oceans bring Dimension..
To reach Mind to Spirit is difficult..
Who are You ?...
I can write paragraphs,
but, who does it honor ?...
I laugh at the attempts to control my nature and soul..
I laugh, because, they do not know, that I do not exist..
I have always existed as the Dreams of Source..
Nothing else...
-thomas
' you Vanish '...
God comes when the ego goes.
When you are
nowhere, He alone is everywhere.
He takes the
position of your personality.
You vanish, and He
comes in, not before that.
- Swami Krishnananda
Facets of Spirituality
Complied by S. Bhagyalakshmi
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1986
' Individuality and Mind '...
"The gods and the sages experience the Infinite
continuously and eternally, without their vision being
obscured at any moment.
Their minds are surmised by
the spectators to function, but in fact they do not.
Such surmise is due to the sense of individuality in
those who draw inferences.
There is no mental function
in the absence of individuality.
Individuality and
mind-functions are co-existent.
The one cannot remain
without the other."
-Sri Ramana Maharshi
in Whitall N. Perry
_A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom_
Varanasi: Indica, 1998 (1971), p. 918
' A False Idea '...
If we analyse the ego, we find it to be a collection of past memories retained from experience and future hopes or fears which anticipate experience.
If we try to seize it, to separate it out by itself, we do not find it to exist in the present moment, only in what has gone and what is to come.
In fact, it never really exists in the NOW but only seems to.
This means that it is a phantom without substance, a false idea.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 2: I-thought > # 14
-- Perspectives > Chapter 8: The Ego > # 34 Paul Brunton
' There are none Liberated '...
The scriptures even proclaim aloud:
"There is in
truth no creation and no destruction; no one is bound,
no one is seeking Liberation, no one is on the way to
Deliverance.
There are none liberated.
This is the
absolute truth."
My dear disciple, this, the sum and
substance of all the Upanishads, the secret of secrets,
is my instruction to you."
- Shankaracharya
> "Teachings of the Hindu Mystics"
> Edited by Andrew Harvey
' Speaking of Fear '...
You speak of fear..
Where is the source of your fear?..
It is the source of ego death..
It is the pain of the non existence of Consciousness..
It is both..
It is the imaginary you that desires happiness forever..
You believe that happiness only exists within existence..
Whether this existence is life or God..
Who is the one that seeks happiness?
If there is happiness, then, there must be unhappiness..
Who experiences each?
In Pure Intelligence, neither is needed..
As there is no ego or identity to feel either..
- thomas
' The Consciousness of Self '...
This feeling of I-ness may be associated with the body, emotions, and thoughts--whose totality is the personal ego--or shifted in deep meditation to the rootless root of being, which is the Overself; or, it may be associated with both, when one will be the reality and the other a shadow of reality.
The idea of a self first enters consciousness when a child identifies itself with bodily feelings, and later when it adds emotional feelings. The idea extends itself still later, with logical thoughts and, lastly, completes itself with the discovery of individuality.
Descartes' reference in his statement, "I think therefore I am," is simply to himself as a person, a self limited to body emotion and thought, that is, to ordinary experience and nothing higher or deeper than that, a being whose consciousness is unexamined and unexplored.
Ego means the consciousness of self.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego >
Chapter 2: I-thought > # 12
Paul Brunton
' Living in Truth '...
There is nothing but water in the holy pools.
I know, I have been swimming in them.
All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can’t say a word
I know, I have been crying out to them.
The sacred Books of the east are nothing but words.
I looked through their covers one day sideways.
What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through.
If you have not lived through something it is not true.
- Kabir
' This is a Paradox '...
The illuminate is conscious both of the ultimate unity and immediate multiplicity of the world.
This is a paradox.
But his permanent resting place while he is dealing with others is at the junction-point of duality and unity so that he is ready at any moment to absorb his attention in either phase.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind >
Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 115 Paul Brunton
' Life Unfolding '...
"The following strange question formed itself in my mind:
Are you going to wait until you are about to die to surrender, or will you do it now?
I didn't answer the question with words, but there was a kind of emotional and spiritual release that happened there on the side of the road that seemed to be a kind of watershed moment for me.
The fruit of this experience was that, from that day to this, I have had a deep sense that what I used to think of as `my life' was really no longer mine and that all was unfolding somehow as it was meant to, simply as it had to."
~ Francis Bennett, "I Am That I Am" ~
"All is well, very very well, unfolding as it should, - trust that Great Power which knows the way!"
~ Robert Adams ~
' Trust the Tao '...
"With all this talking, what has been said?
The subtle truth can he pointed at with words,
but it can't be contained by them.
Take time to listen to what is said without words,
to obey the law too subtle to be written,
to worship the unnameable
and to embrace the unformed.
Love your life.
Trust the Tao.
"Make love with the invisible subtle origin of the universe,
and you will give yourself everything you need.
You won't have to hide away forever in spiritual retreats.
You can be a gentle, contemplative hermit
right here in the middle of everything,
utterly unaffected, thoroughly sustained
and rewarded by your integral practices.
Encouraging others, giving freely to all,
awakening and purifying the world with each movement and action,
you'll ascend to the divine realm in broad daylight.
The breath of the Tao speaks,
and those who are in harmony with it hear quite clearly."
- Lao Tzu
in Brain Browne Walker
Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu, 81
Livingston, MT: Clark City Press, 1992
' We can Tolerate '...
We often suffer because we do not understand.
Understanding is a great thing;
once we under-
stand, we can tolerate.
- Hazrat Inayat Khan
' Dismissing the Ego '...
If the ego continues to perform its functions, as it needs must even after Fulfilment, it no longer does so as his master, no longer as his very self. For henceforth it obeys the Overself.
For the man in that high consciousness and identified with it, the ego is simply an open channel through which his being may flow into the world of time and space. It is not himself, as it is for the unenlightened man, but an adjunct to himself, obeying and expressing his will.
At such a stage the ego becomes a mere instrument, put down or picked up at any and every moment by the Overself. No longer are its own thoughts, emotions, desires, or lusts in control; instead, they are fully controlled by the higher power.
He will possess the power to dismiss his ego at will.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 212 Paul Brunton
' Bhakti-marga '...
"There are only two ways to conquer destiny or to be independent of it.
One is to enquire whose this destiny is and to discover that only the ego is bound by it and not the Self, and that the ego is non-existent.
The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, realising one's helplessness and saying all the time: `Not I, but Thou, oh Lord!', giving up all sense of `I' and `mine' and leaving it to the Lord to do what he likes with you.
Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord.
True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation.
In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-enquiry or through bhakti-marga."
-Sri Ramana Maharshi
_Day by Day with Bhagavan_
From the Diary of A. Devaraja Mudaliar
Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, p 266
' Catch the Scent '...
Whether one moves slowly or with speed,
the one who is a seeker will be a finder.
Always seek with your whole self,
for the search is an excellent guide on the way.
Though you are lame and limping,
though your figure is bent and clumsy,
always creep toward the One.
Make that One your quest.
By speech and by silence and by fragrance,
catch the scent of the King everywhere.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gar gerân o gar shetâbandeh bovad
ânke juyandeh-st yâbandeh bovad
Dar talab zan dâyeman to har do dast
kay talab dar râh niku rahbarast
Lang o luk o khofteh-shakl o bi adab
su-ye U mi ghizh va U-râ mi talab
Gah be-goft va gah be-khâmushi va gah
bui kardan gir har su bu-ye Shah
--Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Mathnawi III: 978-981
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
' Divine Overself '...
Is the ego totally lost, utterly obliterated in this attainment?
I can only say that none of our usual concepts fit the actual result, that it is hard to describe, and that suggestion must here replace description.
For the ego and the Overself fuse and unite, yet the union does not destroy the ego's capacity to express itself or to be active in the world.
Its own annihilation is a transient experience during the contemplative state.
Its resumption of worldly life while permanently established in perfect harmony with, and obedience to, the divine Overself is the further and final goal.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1:
What Am I? > # 207 Paul Brunton
' First '...
First…
You use your mind as
The ultimate jigsaw.
You take Totality
And cut it up
Into a million tiny pieces.
Then…
Having tired of that game,
You sit down and try to
Reassemble this jumble of pieces
Into something comprehensible.
Ram Tzu knows…
God invented time
Just so you could do this.
- Ram Tzu
No Way for the Spiritually "Advanced"
Ram Tzu
Advaita Press, 1990
' The Sense of Direction '...
The word 'sense' meaning a higher intelligence forming a direction of thought..
the word ' di-rection" meaning the choosing of a path of travel that has more than one path..
My direction is the end of existence..
My path is the end of the illusion of egoic consciousness..
To Love is to give all,, this all is the attachment to anything , especially a belief in a cartoon called ego..
The Nazarene said; " you must die, to be born"..
Eventually, the son becomes the father..
The Circle is complete...
- thomas
' The Function of Egoism '...
It is both true and untrue that we cannot take up the ego with us into the life of mystical illumination.
The ego is after all only a reflection, extremely limited and often distorted, of the Higher Self . . .
but still it is a reflection.
If we could bring it into correct alignment with, and submission to, the Higher Self, it would then be no hindrance to the illumined life.
The ego cannot, indeed, be destroyed so long as we need its services while in the flesh; but it can be subjugated and turned into a servant instead of permitting it to remain a master.
When this is understood, the philosophical ideal of a fully developed, mastered, and richly rounded ego acting as a channel for the inspiration and guidance of the Higher Self will be better appreciated.
A poverty-stricken ego will naturally form a more limited channel for the expression of the Higher Self than would a more evolved one.
The real enemy to be overcome is not the entity ego, but the function of egoism.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 206
-- Perspectives > Chapter 8: The Ego > # 27 Paul Brunton
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