Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
Every being has an individual ego produced from his own illusion. This limits his view which is led in the direction of his own interest, and he judges of good and bad, high or low, right or wrong in relation to himself and others, through his limited view, which is generally partial and imaginary rather than true. This darkness is caused by the overshadowing of the soul by the external self. Thus a person becomes blind to his own infirmities as well as to the merits of another, and the right action of another becomes wrong in his eyes and the fault of the self seems right. This is the case with mankind in general, until the veil of darkness is lifted from his eyes.
It is the bodily desires, passion, anger, appetite, all the different desires and needs, that make the mind helpless and make man hold on to them. All the worries, anxieties, depressions, and despairs arise from them. There is not a single moment in which the mind is able to stand aloof so as to reflect the light within, the light of the soul, so limited has it been made by the limited existence on earth. In reality this is the whole tragedy of human life.
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.
The difference between a scientist and a mystic is that the former analyzes the things he is interested in, studying them by different methods in order to ascertain as much information about them as he can, the ways in which they can be of any benefit, their uses, and their nature, whereas the mystic, though in a way doing the same, first aims at lighting that light within himself by which he can see in this world of darkness and illusion, instead of using some technical instrument or special scientific process. As it is said, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven', so his first task is to light the candle within.
There is a light within every soul. It only needs the clouds, which hide it, to dissolve for it to beam forth. This is the light of revelation. It is like a lantern to us, it lights up every dark corner we wish to examine, and gives an answer to every question we would ask. ... There is a beautiful Indian tale that illustrates the meaning of this light. It is said that there is a certain kind of cobra, which has a diamond in its head. When it goes into the jungle, it takes out the diamond and places it on a tree. By means of its light, it searches all it wants, and when it is finished, it puts the diamond back in its head. The cobra represents the soul, and the diamond the light of inspiration guiding it. The same truth is portrayed in the story of Aladdin and his lamp. The lady he loved represented the ideal of his soul. The lamp he had to find was the light of inner guidance, which when found, would lead him to the attainment of his ideal.
from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/V/V_30.htm
All humans seek happiness..
All humans seek happiness.. this is truly the only goal
that is Universal..But no matter how selfish and evil they are, they
still seek the incredible feeling of Love through their
family,friends, and even animals..They therefore realize, even
faintly, that Love is Happiness even if they try to find Happiness
through power and money.. This knowledge of Happiness is found within
the sub-conscious mind, which is your direct link to Universal
Consciousness, which many call God.. the sub-conscious mind is also
called "The Soul", as it forgets nothing and never sleeps.. When, you
have had a "Mystical Experience" of reuniting with God (yourself),
you then realize that Love is God, and you are Love.. Since God is
everything, you realize that you are part of everything and
therefore part of God, with the same creative abilities.. At this
time, you have created the "false ego", and it is time to end this
illusion and return to your Real Self...........namaste, thomas
that is Universal..But no matter how selfish and evil they are, they
still seek the incredible feeling of Love through their
family,friends, and even animals..They therefore realize, even
faintly, that Love is Happiness even if they try to find Happiness
through power and money.. This knowledge of Happiness is found within
the sub-conscious mind, which is your direct link to Universal
Consciousness, which many call God.. the sub-conscious mind is also
called "The Soul", as it forgets nothing and never sleeps.. When, you
have had a "Mystical Experience" of reuniting with God (yourself),
you then realize that Love is God, and you are Love.. Since God is
everything, you realize that you are part of everything and
therefore part of God, with the same creative abilities.. At this
time, you have created the "false ego", and it is time to end this
illusion and return to your Real Self...........namaste, thomas
EACH IS HIS OWN CREATION...
Understanding your position with others is that your only assistance
is to lead them in personalizing whatever you may say. Only that
which they can personalize will be of value to them. Thoughts moving
into their existence that they can have effect that will make them
realize themselves, must be of their creation. So you as a
facilitator must assist them in becoming their own creator. Assist
them in finding that they become what they create. That is their
only source of becoming that which they desire. They in themselves
fulfill their needs and desires. They are but their own source.
They must find that nothing outside themselves, no thing, no person,
and no situation has the power to make them be what they are. All
outside influences do not make the person. He is only what he is
because he is formed and created by his own inner sources. Develop
Love of yourself there. Through this Love of yourself you'll find
your creative ability. Your creative ability will then fulfill all
needs and desires from within and form you into the happy and joyous
individual you were intended to be in fulfilling your purpose for
existing.
EACH MOMENT YOU CREATE
From where you are all creation begins. For nothing is within each
day except for the fact that you create it. Your thought brings
about your day. The elements, the events, the things, the people,
and situations; are because of you and your ability to create.
Because you ARE, thought emanates from you and this thought is the
transference that light makes into energy. And energy moves out to
manifest whatever you want to create in your existence. It is
difficult to create nothing so what confronts you is to knowledgeably
create with your thought system all that is positive that can come to
you. If you come from the position of existing in a world that
provides you an experience established by chance beyond your control
or by sheer accident or happenstance; this you create to and for the
most part negativism will be caught up in what to manifest in your
unaware exercise of existence. Abandon this. Take charge. Be the
creator you are. Manifest the positive that can be in your day.
Know that you are the one responsible for it, who will do it and the
results brought about will be of your creation, will be what you live
with. No longer will you be the victim. From here on you will be
the creator. Plan out and establish with a total awareness what you
want. Fulfill all you need and desire through your creative
processes and with the knowledge that you bring to you; all that you
send out for.
EACH SPIRIT GROWS INDIVIDUALLY
We all find our direction individually. No two spirits are the
same. Each spirit has his own individual growth wherein working with
his Holy Spirit can gradually gain the knowledge necessary for him to
establish the Peace that will eventually be his. On a day-to-day
basis his guidance leads him to this achievement. Bit by bit the
pieces of knowledge are delivered to him to fit into his particular
growth pattern to bring all the pieces of knowledge into a whole that
will gradually elevate him through growth. This will bring together
his Holographic completeness that enables him to find through the use
of his energy establishment and flow, becoming daily more familiar
with the energy uses to his highest benefit. Through this continuing
use he will find himself at a point of his achievement along with all
other spirits in his involvement.
From the book "Holy Spirit Speaks" by Robert Severs
WEBSITES: holyspiritspeaksdaily.com
Outskirtspress.com/HolySpiritSpeaks
Availiable on Amazon/books or Barnes & Noble
is to lead them in personalizing whatever you may say. Only that
which they can personalize will be of value to them. Thoughts moving
into their existence that they can have effect that will make them
realize themselves, must be of their creation. So you as a
facilitator must assist them in becoming their own creator. Assist
them in finding that they become what they create. That is their
only source of becoming that which they desire. They in themselves
fulfill their needs and desires. They are but their own source.
They must find that nothing outside themselves, no thing, no person,
and no situation has the power to make them be what they are. All
outside influences do not make the person. He is only what he is
because he is formed and created by his own inner sources. Develop
Love of yourself there. Through this Love of yourself you'll find
your creative ability. Your creative ability will then fulfill all
needs and desires from within and form you into the happy and joyous
individual you were intended to be in fulfilling your purpose for
existing.
EACH MOMENT YOU CREATE
From where you are all creation begins. For nothing is within each
day except for the fact that you create it. Your thought brings
about your day. The elements, the events, the things, the people,
and situations; are because of you and your ability to create.
Because you ARE, thought emanates from you and this thought is the
transference that light makes into energy. And energy moves out to
manifest whatever you want to create in your existence. It is
difficult to create nothing so what confronts you is to knowledgeably
create with your thought system all that is positive that can come to
you. If you come from the position of existing in a world that
provides you an experience established by chance beyond your control
or by sheer accident or happenstance; this you create to and for the
most part negativism will be caught up in what to manifest in your
unaware exercise of existence. Abandon this. Take charge. Be the
creator you are. Manifest the positive that can be in your day.
Know that you are the one responsible for it, who will do it and the
results brought about will be of your creation, will be what you live
with. No longer will you be the victim. From here on you will be
the creator. Plan out and establish with a total awareness what you
want. Fulfill all you need and desire through your creative
processes and with the knowledge that you bring to you; all that you
send out for.
EACH SPIRIT GROWS INDIVIDUALLY
We all find our direction individually. No two spirits are the
same. Each spirit has his own individual growth wherein working with
his Holy Spirit can gradually gain the knowledge necessary for him to
establish the Peace that will eventually be his. On a day-to-day
basis his guidance leads him to this achievement. Bit by bit the
pieces of knowledge are delivered to him to fit into his particular
growth pattern to bring all the pieces of knowledge into a whole that
will gradually elevate him through growth. This will bring together
his Holographic completeness that enables him to find through the use
of his energy establishment and flow, becoming daily more familiar
with the energy uses to his highest benefit. Through this continuing
use he will find himself at a point of his achievement along with all
other spirits in his involvement.
From the book "Holy Spirit Speaks" by Robert Severs
WEBSITES: holyspiritspeaksdaily.com
Outskirtspress.com/HolySpiritSpeaks
Availiable on Amazon/books or Barnes & Noble
Why, all the talk about Ego ?
The reason why there is so much talk about the Ego is
because, the illusion of ego is the very reason why we are in these
bodies.. You might believe that the ego starts in early childhood
or
at your first bad experience, but, the ego was created long before
we
entered the material plane.. We are speaking of the "false ego",
when we speak of the ego, as our real ego(self) is the energy of
Light and Love......All religions and philosophies are centered
around the ego, when Jesus spoke of Love, He was speaking of the
lack
of ego.. When He was speaking of humility, He was speaking of the
path of Love that leads to the end of the false ego....So you see,
ego and its' demise is the very core of Mysticism and most
Religions
and Philosophies..............namaste, thomas
because, the illusion of ego is the very reason why we are in these
bodies.. You might believe that the ego starts in early childhood
or
at your first bad experience, but, the ego was created long before
we
entered the material plane.. We are speaking of the "false ego",
when we speak of the ego, as our real ego(self) is the energy of
Light and Love......All religions and philosophies are centered
around the ego, when Jesus spoke of Love, He was speaking of the
lack
of ego.. When He was speaking of humility, He was speaking of the
path of Love that leads to the end of the false ego....So you see,
ego and its' demise is the very core of Mysticism and most
Religions
and Philosophies..............namaste, thomas
Adam and Eve...
They ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Go beyond good and bad by refraining from mentally labeling anything as
good or bad. When you go beyond the habitual naming, the power of the
universe moves through you. When you are in a nonreactive relationship
to experiences, what you would have called "bad" before often turns
around quickly, if not immediately, through the power of life itself.
Watch what happens when you don't name an experience as "bad" and
instead bring an inner acceptance, an inner "yes" to it, and so let it
be as it is.
This is the miracle: behind every condition, person, or situation that
appears "bad" or "evil" lies concealed a deeper good. That deeper good
reveals itself to you~ both within and without~ through inner
acceptance of what is.
"Resist not evil" is one of the highest truths of humanity.
~ Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks
Go beyond good and bad by refraining from mentally labeling anything as
good or bad. When you go beyond the habitual naming, the power of the
universe moves through you. When you are in a nonreactive relationship
to experiences, what you would have called "bad" before often turns
around quickly, if not immediately, through the power of life itself.
Watch what happens when you don't name an experience as "bad" and
instead bring an inner acceptance, an inner "yes" to it, and so let it
be as it is.
This is the miracle: behind every condition, person, or situation that
appears "bad" or "evil" lies concealed a deeper good. That deeper good
reveals itself to you~ both within and without~ through inner
acceptance of what is.
"Resist not evil" is one of the highest truths of humanity.
~ Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks
A Quote from Jesus...
...Jesus said: "My brother, God is love; therefore he must be good, and his goodness is so great and real that it cannot contain the small and unreal things of evil. God is so positively good that there is absolutely no place in him for negative evil.... P.1429
Truth, Beauty & Goodness
from The Urantia Book
Truth, Beauty & Goodness
from The Urantia Book
The Mystic Path...
"The Mystic Path never requires that you grasp more than you
can at the present moment. If you can only listen to wisdom,
then listen. If you can only understand that personal effort
is necessary, then realize that much. If you can grasp just
one truth out of a hundred, that is just fine. Do only what
you can do for now. Progress is certain."
The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power, p. 40....vernon howard
can at the present moment. If you can only listen to wisdom,
then listen. If you can only understand that personal effort
is necessary, then realize that much. If you can grasp just
one truth out of a hundred, that is just fine. Do only what
you can do for now. Progress is certain."
The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power, p. 40....vernon howard
The Annihilation of Suffering...
And the Buddha said:
"What my friends, is evil? [1]
"Killing is evil;
stealing is evil;
yielding to sexual passion is evil;
lying is evil;
slandering is evil;
abuse is evil;
gossip is evil;
envy is evil;
hatred is evil;
to cling to false doctrine is evil;
all these things, my friends are evil. [2]
"And what, my friends, is the root of evil? [3]
"Desire is the root of evil;
hatred is the root of evil;
illusion is the root of evil;
these things are the root of evil. [4]
"What, however, is good? [5]
"Abstaining from killing is good;
abstaining from theft is good;
abstaining from sensuality is good;
abstaining from falsehood is good;
abstaining from slander is good;
suppression of unkindness is good;
abandoning gossip is good;
letting go all envy is good;
dismissing hatred is good;
obedience to the truth is good;
all these things are good. [6]
"And what, my friends,
is the root of the good? [7]
"Freedom from desire is the root of the good;
freedom from hatred and freedom from illusion;
these things, my friends, are the root of the good. [8]
"What, however, O brethren, is suffering?
What is the origin of suffering?
What is the annihilation of suffering? [9]
"Birth is suffering;
old age is suffering;
disease is suffering;
death is suffering;
sorrow and misery are suffering;
affliction and despair are suffering;
to be united with loathsome things is suffering;
the loss of that which we love
and the failure in attaining that which is longed for are suffering;
all these things, O brethren, are suffering. [10]
"And what, O brethren,
is the origin of suffering? [11]
"It is lust, passion,
and the thirst for existence
that yearns for pleasure everywhere,
leading to a continual rebirth!
It is sensuality, desire, selfishness;
all these things, O brethren,
are the origin of suffering. [12]
"And what is the annihilation of suffering? [13]
"The radical and total annihilation of this thirst
and the abandonment, the liberation, the deliverance from passion,
that, O brethren, is the annihilation of suffering. [14]
"And what, O brethren,
is the path that leads
to the annihilation of suffering? [15]
"It is the holy eightfold path
that leads to the annihilation of suffering,
which consists of,
right views,
right decision,
right speech,
right action,
right living,
right struggling,
right thoughts,
and right meditation. [16]
"In so far, O friends,
as a noble youth thus recognizes suffering
and the origin of suffering,
as he recognizes the annihilation of suffering,
and walks on the path
that leads to the annihilation of suffering,
radically forsaking passion,
subduing wrath,
annihilating the vain conceit of the "I-am,"
leaving ignorance,
and attaining to enlightenment,
he will make an end of all suffering
even in this life."...................by Gautama the Buddha
"What my friends, is evil? [1]
"Killing is evil;
stealing is evil;
yielding to sexual passion is evil;
lying is evil;
slandering is evil;
abuse is evil;
gossip is evil;
envy is evil;
hatred is evil;
to cling to false doctrine is evil;
all these things, my friends are evil. [2]
"And what, my friends, is the root of evil? [3]
"Desire is the root of evil;
hatred is the root of evil;
illusion is the root of evil;
these things are the root of evil. [4]
"What, however, is good? [5]
"Abstaining from killing is good;
abstaining from theft is good;
abstaining from sensuality is good;
abstaining from falsehood is good;
abstaining from slander is good;
suppression of unkindness is good;
abandoning gossip is good;
letting go all envy is good;
dismissing hatred is good;
obedience to the truth is good;
all these things are good. [6]
"And what, my friends,
is the root of the good? [7]
"Freedom from desire is the root of the good;
freedom from hatred and freedom from illusion;
these things, my friends, are the root of the good. [8]
"What, however, O brethren, is suffering?
What is the origin of suffering?
What is the annihilation of suffering? [9]
"Birth is suffering;
old age is suffering;
disease is suffering;
death is suffering;
sorrow and misery are suffering;
affliction and despair are suffering;
to be united with loathsome things is suffering;
the loss of that which we love
and the failure in attaining that which is longed for are suffering;
all these things, O brethren, are suffering. [10]
"And what, O brethren,
is the origin of suffering? [11]
"It is lust, passion,
and the thirst for existence
that yearns for pleasure everywhere,
leading to a continual rebirth!
It is sensuality, desire, selfishness;
all these things, O brethren,
are the origin of suffering. [12]
"And what is the annihilation of suffering? [13]
"The radical and total annihilation of this thirst
and the abandonment, the liberation, the deliverance from passion,
that, O brethren, is the annihilation of suffering. [14]
"And what, O brethren,
is the path that leads
to the annihilation of suffering? [15]
"It is the holy eightfold path
that leads to the annihilation of suffering,
which consists of,
right views,
right decision,
right speech,
right action,
right living,
right struggling,
right thoughts,
and right meditation. [16]
"In so far, O friends,
as a noble youth thus recognizes suffering
and the origin of suffering,
as he recognizes the annihilation of suffering,
and walks on the path
that leads to the annihilation of suffering,
radically forsaking passion,
subduing wrath,
annihilating the vain conceit of the "I-am,"
leaving ignorance,
and attaining to enlightenment,
he will make an end of all suffering
even in this life."...................by Gautama the Buddha
Manifestation and Divine Mind...
We know that the cosmos manifests itself out of the divine Mind, and
within it, too. But why there should be such a manifestation at all, we
do not know. Many students raise this query and are dissatisfied at the
failure to obtain a good answer. But the fact is that such questions
cannot be adequately answered on the same plane as that on which they
arise. If we could shift our consciousness to a higher one, we would
find that they simply do not exist there. However, although complete
adequacy may be unattainable, some sort of working answer can be
formulated and used for and by those who are unable to effect such a
shift. If the human entity has no other purpose to fulfil on this earth
than to return to the sphere of its origin, then it had no business to
leave that sphere. There must be something to be gained by its earthly
journey, if the universe has any sense in it at all.
— Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 4: True Idea of Man > #
248,,,,,,,paul brunton
within it, too. But why there should be such a manifestation at all, we
do not know. Many students raise this query and are dissatisfied at the
failure to obtain a good answer. But the fact is that such questions
cannot be adequately answered on the same plane as that on which they
arise. If we could shift our consciousness to a higher one, we would
find that they simply do not exist there. However, although complete
adequacy may be unattainable, some sort of working answer can be
formulated and used for and by those who are unable to effect such a
shift. If the human entity has no other purpose to fulfil on this earth
than to return to the sphere of its origin, then it had no business to
leave that sphere. There must be something to be gained by its earthly
journey, if the universe has any sense in it at all.
— Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 4: True Idea of Man > #
248,,,,,,,paul brunton
Enlightenment...
When the wall between his little ego and the infinite Being collapses,
he is said by some Orientals to have entered Nirvana, the Void, and by
others to have joined his soul to God.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2:
Enlightenment Which Stays > # 245......paul brunton
he is said by some Orientals to have entered Nirvana, the Void, and by
others to have joined his soul to God.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2:
Enlightenment Which Stays > # 245......paul brunton
The Indispensable Qualities of Awakening...
In essence the entire spiritual endeavor is a very simple thing:
Spirituality is essentially about awakening as the intuitive
awareness of unity and dissolving our attachment to egoic
consciousness. By saying that spirituality is a very simple thing, I
do not mean to imply that it is either an easy or difficult endeavor.
For some it may be very easy, while for others it may be more
difficult. There are many factors and influences that play a role in
one's awakening to the greater reality, but the greatest factors by
far are one's sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage.
Sincerity is a word that I often use in teaching to convey the
importance of being rooted in the qualities of honesty, authenticity,
and genuineness. There can be nothing phony or contrived in our
motivations if we are to fully awaken to our natural and integral
state of unified awareness. While teachings and teachers can point us
inward to "the peace beyond all understanding," it is always along
the thread of our inner sincerity, or lack thereof, that we will
travel. For the ego is clever and artful in the ways of deception,
and only the honesty and genuineness of our ineffable being are
beyond its influence. At each step and with each breath we are given
the option of acting and responding, both inwardly and outwardly,
from the conditioning of egoic consciousness which values control and
separation above all else, or from the intuitive awareness of unity
which resides in the inner silence of our being.
Without sincerity it is so very easy for even the greatest spiritual
teachings to become little more than playthings of the mind. In our
fast-moving world of quick fixes, big promises, and short attention
spans, it is easy to remain on a very surface level of consciousness
without even knowing it. While the awakened state is ever present and
closer than your feet, hands, or eyes, it cannot be approached in a
casual or insincere fashion. There is a reason that seekers the world
over are instructed to remove their shoes and quiet their voices
before entering into sacred spaces. The message being conveyed is
that one's ego must be "taken off and quieted" before access to the
divine is granted. All of our ego's attempts to control, demand, and
plead with reality have no influence on it other than to make life
more conflicted and difficult. But an open mind and sincere heart
have the power to grant us access to realizing what has always been
present all along.
When people asked the great Indian sage Nisargadatta what he thought
was the most important quality to have in order to awaken, he would
say "earnestness." When you are earnest, you are both sincere and one-
pointed; to be one-pointed means to keep your attention on one thing.
I have found that the most challenging thing for most spiritual
seekers to do is to stay focused on one thing for very long. The mind
jumps around with its concerns and questions from moment to moment.
Rarely does it stay with one question long enough to penetrate it
deeply. In spirituality it is very important not to let the egoic
mind keep jumping from one concern to the next like an untrained dog.
Remember, awakening is about realizing your true nature and
dissolving all attachment to egoic consciousness.
My grandmother who passed away a few years ago used to say to me
jokingly, "Getting old is not for wimps." She was well aware of the
challenges of an aging body, and while she never complained or felt
any pity for herself, she knew firsthand that aging had its
challenges as well as its benefits. There was a courage within my
grandmother that served her well as she approached the end of her
life, and I am happy to say that when she passed, it was willingly
and without fear. In a similar way the process of coming into a full
and mature awakening requires courage, as not only our view of life
but life itself transforms to align itself with the inner mystic
vision. A sincere heart is a robust and courageous heart willing to
let go in the face of the great unknown expanse of Being—an expanse
which the egoic mind has no way of knowing or understanding.
When one's awareness opens beyond the dream state of egoic
consciousness to the infinite no-thing-ness of intuitive awareness,
it is common for the ego to feel much fear and terror as this
transition begins. While there is nothing to fear about our natural
state of infinite Being, such a state is beyond the ego's ability to
understand, and as always, egos fear whatever they do not understand
and cannot control. As soon as our identity leaves the ego realm and
assumes its rightful place as the infinite no-thing-ness/every-thing-
ness of awareness, all fear vanishes in the same manner as when we
awaken from a bad dream. In the same manner in which my grandmother
said, "Getting old is not for wimps," it can also be said that making
the transition from the dream state to the mature, awakened state
requires courage.
Sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage are indispensable qualities
in awakening from the dream state of ego to the peace and ease of
awakened Being. All there is left to do is to live it.
© Adyashanti 2008
Spirituality is essentially about awakening as the intuitive
awareness of unity and dissolving our attachment to egoic
consciousness. By saying that spirituality is a very simple thing, I
do not mean to imply that it is either an easy or difficult endeavor.
For some it may be very easy, while for others it may be more
difficult. There are many factors and influences that play a role in
one's awakening to the greater reality, but the greatest factors by
far are one's sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage.
Sincerity is a word that I often use in teaching to convey the
importance of being rooted in the qualities of honesty, authenticity,
and genuineness. There can be nothing phony or contrived in our
motivations if we are to fully awaken to our natural and integral
state of unified awareness. While teachings and teachers can point us
inward to "the peace beyond all understanding," it is always along
the thread of our inner sincerity, or lack thereof, that we will
travel. For the ego is clever and artful in the ways of deception,
and only the honesty and genuineness of our ineffable being are
beyond its influence. At each step and with each breath we are given
the option of acting and responding, both inwardly and outwardly,
from the conditioning of egoic consciousness which values control and
separation above all else, or from the intuitive awareness of unity
which resides in the inner silence of our being.
Without sincerity it is so very easy for even the greatest spiritual
teachings to become little more than playthings of the mind. In our
fast-moving world of quick fixes, big promises, and short attention
spans, it is easy to remain on a very surface level of consciousness
without even knowing it. While the awakened state is ever present and
closer than your feet, hands, or eyes, it cannot be approached in a
casual or insincere fashion. There is a reason that seekers the world
over are instructed to remove their shoes and quiet their voices
before entering into sacred spaces. The message being conveyed is
that one's ego must be "taken off and quieted" before access to the
divine is granted. All of our ego's attempts to control, demand, and
plead with reality have no influence on it other than to make life
more conflicted and difficult. But an open mind and sincere heart
have the power to grant us access to realizing what has always been
present all along.
When people asked the great Indian sage Nisargadatta what he thought
was the most important quality to have in order to awaken, he would
say "earnestness." When you are earnest, you are both sincere and one-
pointed; to be one-pointed means to keep your attention on one thing.
I have found that the most challenging thing for most spiritual
seekers to do is to stay focused on one thing for very long. The mind
jumps around with its concerns and questions from moment to moment.
Rarely does it stay with one question long enough to penetrate it
deeply. In spirituality it is very important not to let the egoic
mind keep jumping from one concern to the next like an untrained dog.
Remember, awakening is about realizing your true nature and
dissolving all attachment to egoic consciousness.
My grandmother who passed away a few years ago used to say to me
jokingly, "Getting old is not for wimps." She was well aware of the
challenges of an aging body, and while she never complained or felt
any pity for herself, she knew firsthand that aging had its
challenges as well as its benefits. There was a courage within my
grandmother that served her well as she approached the end of her
life, and I am happy to say that when she passed, it was willingly
and without fear. In a similar way the process of coming into a full
and mature awakening requires courage, as not only our view of life
but life itself transforms to align itself with the inner mystic
vision. A sincere heart is a robust and courageous heart willing to
let go in the face of the great unknown expanse of Being—an expanse
which the egoic mind has no way of knowing or understanding.
When one's awareness opens beyond the dream state of egoic
consciousness to the infinite no-thing-ness of intuitive awareness,
it is common for the ego to feel much fear and terror as this
transition begins. While there is nothing to fear about our natural
state of infinite Being, such a state is beyond the ego's ability to
understand, and as always, egos fear whatever they do not understand
and cannot control. As soon as our identity leaves the ego realm and
assumes its rightful place as the infinite no-thing-ness/every-thing-
ness of awareness, all fear vanishes in the same manner as when we
awaken from a bad dream. In the same manner in which my grandmother
said, "Getting old is not for wimps," it can also be said that making
the transition from the dream state to the mature, awakened state
requires courage.
Sincerity, one-pointedness, and courage are indispensable qualities
in awakening from the dream state of ego to the peace and ease of
awakened Being. All there is left to do is to live it.
© Adyashanti 2008
Speaking in Tongues...
Saint Paul speaks of the gift of tongues. This phrase has puzzled many
of his readers. The Church, not knowing its meaning, usually considers
it to mean speaking in languages unknown on earth. The Spiritualists,
possessed by their own theories of spirit-possession, usually consider
it to mean speaking in languages unknown to the speaker but used in
other countries. Mystics who develop this gift find that it means
either the ability to speak in symbolic metaphoric enigmatic or
allegoric language or the ability to interpret such language when heard
or to translate it when read. On this definition, Saint John's Book of
Revelation is a striking example of the working of the gift of tongues.
Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 14: The Sensitive Mind
paul brunton
of his readers. The Church, not knowing its meaning, usually considers
it to mean speaking in languages unknown on earth. The Spiritualists,
possessed by their own theories of spirit-possession, usually consider
it to mean speaking in languages unknown to the speaker but used in
other countries. Mystics who develop this gift find that it means
either the ability to speak in symbolic metaphoric enigmatic or
allegoric language or the ability to interpret such language when heard
or to translate it when read. On this definition, Saint John's Book of
Revelation is a striking example of the working of the gift of tongues.
Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 14: The Sensitive Mind
paul brunton
Trying to Grasp Ultimate Reality...
Tortured and stultified by the utter failure of his intellect to grasp
the ultimate reality, man has conceptualized God in the image of
himself attributing to it the noblest sentiments and qualities he
himself wants but lacks. To reach that which is beyond this God, the
transcendent and immanent ground of all manifestation, the intellect
is powerless. There is no path to that which is timeless and present
everywhere and which is itself the source of all thought.
~Balsekar
the ultimate reality, man has conceptualized God in the image of
himself attributing to it the noblest sentiments and qualities he
himself wants but lacks. To reach that which is beyond this God, the
transcendent and immanent ground of all manifestation, the intellect
is powerless. There is no path to that which is timeless and present
everywhere and which is itself the source of all thought.
~Balsekar
Inner Liberation...
Whoever attains this inner liberation rarely finds it reflected in the
outer world of human societies. Only by going to the lonely places of
nature, to forests and fields, deserted shores and unbuilt-on hills can
he match the freedom felt. If he ventures into an ashram--however
reputed--the sense of entering a cage is produced. It could be that
this is partly caused by the mental pressure of its authorities or
inmates, by the smug if unexpressed exclusiveness. If he enters a
church, he is at ease only if he is the only worshipper; otherwise
sectarian pressure comes to awareness.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2:
Enlightenment Which Stays > # 252....paul brunton
outer world of human societies. Only by going to the lonely places of
nature, to forests and fields, deserted shores and unbuilt-on hills can
he match the freedom felt. If he ventures into an ashram--however
reputed--the sense of entering a cage is produced. It could be that
this is partly caused by the mental pressure of its authorities or
inmates, by the smug if unexpressed exclusiveness. If he enters a
church, he is at ease only if he is the only worshipper; otherwise
sectarian pressure comes to awareness.
— Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2:
Enlightenment Which Stays > # 252....paul brunton
The Successful Mystic...
The successful mystic certainly comes into contact with his real "I."
But if this contact is dependent upon meditational trance, it is
necessarily an intermittent one. He cannot obtain a permanent contact
unless he proceeds further and widens his aspiration to achieve contact
with the universal "I." There is therefore a difference between the
interior "I" and the universal "I," but it is a difference only of
degree, not of kind, for the latter includes the former.
— Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 2: Phases of
Mystical Development > # 257.......Paul Brunton
But if this contact is dependent upon meditational trance, it is
necessarily an intermittent one. He cannot obtain a permanent contact
unless he proceeds further and widens his aspiration to achieve contact
with the universal "I." There is therefore a difference between the
interior "I" and the universal "I," but it is a difference only of
degree, not of kind, for the latter includes the former.
— Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 2: Phases of
Mystical Development > # 257.......Paul Brunton
Teachers...
The antique method, whereby a master's teachings are made compulsory
upon the student, is unsuited to the modern man who is now beginning to
come of intellectual age. Today the student is advised to keep mentally
free and open, weighing and judging the worth of all teachings--
including his master's--by every means of appraisal known to him.
— Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 5: Pseudo and
Imperfect Teachers >... Paul Brunton
upon the student, is unsuited to the modern man who is now beginning to
come of intellectual age. Today the student is advised to keep mentally
free and open, weighing and judging the worth of all teachings--
including his master's--by every means of appraisal known to him.
— Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 5: Pseudo and
Imperfect Teachers >... Paul Brunton
The Narrow Gate...
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the
way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter
by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard
that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
World Scripture, Responsibility and Self-Destination, Christianity,
Matthew 7.13-14
Our biggest misunderstanding about God is that He thinks
like we think. We cannot comprehend how God thinks, but
we must seek to understand it as well as we can. In the
Qur'an, the Lord says "Be mindful of me, and I will be
mindful of you." 2.152 And "God changes not what is in a
people, until they change what is in themselves." 13.11
We must stop expecting God to respond to our own
personal whims about how He should react to our desire
to know Him. Rather, we should seek Him on His own
terms. Those terms are laid out in the Ancient Sacred Texts
and the writings of the Prophets, Saints, Mystics and
Sages from throughout the world and time. Go there and
follow the pathway that He left behind for us through
some of His greatest souls. It is in their words that we find
what it is that WE must do for God to reach towards us,
rather than what HE must do to fulfill our desire for Him.
Finally, the question of suffering and why it happens in
the world is probably the most commonly wondered about
plight of the human being. Christ made the answer clear
when He said to His disciples that the Servant is not
greater than the Master, and what they do to the Master
they shall also do to you. It is also said in Biblical
Scripture that "it rains on the just and the unjust alike.'
Suffering is part of the human condition.
...........by Marilynn Hughes
way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter
by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard
that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
World Scripture, Responsibility and Self-Destination, Christianity,
Matthew 7.13-14
Our biggest misunderstanding about God is that He thinks
like we think. We cannot comprehend how God thinks, but
we must seek to understand it as well as we can. In the
Qur'an, the Lord says "Be mindful of me, and I will be
mindful of you." 2.152 And "God changes not what is in a
people, until they change what is in themselves." 13.11
We must stop expecting God to respond to our own
personal whims about how He should react to our desire
to know Him. Rather, we should seek Him on His own
terms. Those terms are laid out in the Ancient Sacred Texts
and the writings of the Prophets, Saints, Mystics and
Sages from throughout the world and time. Go there and
follow the pathway that He left behind for us through
some of His greatest souls. It is in their words that we find
what it is that WE must do for God to reach towards us,
rather than what HE must do to fulfill our desire for Him.
Finally, the question of suffering and why it happens in
the world is probably the most commonly wondered about
plight of the human being. Christ made the answer clear
when He said to His disciples that the Servant is not
greater than the Master, and what they do to the Master
they shall also do to you. It is also said in Biblical
Scripture that "it rains on the just and the unjust alike.'
Suffering is part of the human condition.
...........by Marilynn Hughes
Enlarging the Mind...
By enlarging ones mind, one can enter into all the things in the
world. As long as anything is not yet entered into, there is still
something outside the mind. The mind of ordinary people is limited to
the narrowness of what is seen and what is heard. The sage, however,
fully develops his nature and does not allow what is seen or heard to
fetter his mind. He regards everything in the world as his own self.
This is why Mencius said that if one exerts his mind to the utmost he
can know nature and Heaven. Heaven is so vast that there is nothing
outside of it. Therefore the mind that leaves something outside is not
capable of uniting itself with the mind of Heaven.
Reflections on Things at Hand â€" Chu Hsi trans. Wing-tsit Chan
world. As long as anything is not yet entered into, there is still
something outside the mind. The mind of ordinary people is limited to
the narrowness of what is seen and what is heard. The sage, however,
fully develops his nature and does not allow what is seen or heard to
fetter his mind. He regards everything in the world as his own self.
This is why Mencius said that if one exerts his mind to the utmost he
can know nature and Heaven. Heaven is so vast that there is nothing
outside of it. Therefore the mind that leaves something outside is not
capable of uniting itself with the mind of Heaven.
Reflections on Things at Hand â€" Chu Hsi trans. Wing-tsit Chan
The Long and Short Path...
The Long Path is needed to make a man or woman ripe for receiving
truth, but only the Short Path can lead to it. This is the answer to
the dilemma created by the claims of the Wu Wei school. Its practical
application is: act as the Long Path requires by working on and
improving the self, but think as the Short Path enjoins by holding the
attitude "There is nothing to be attained. Realization is already here
and now!"
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 5: Balancing
the Paths > # 154....Paul Brunton
truth, but only the Short Path can lead to it. This is the answer to
the dilemma created by the claims of the Wu Wei school. Its practical
application is: act as the Long Path requires by working on and
improving the self, but think as the Short Path enjoins by holding the
attitude "There is nothing to be attained. Realization is already here
and now!"
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 5: Balancing
the Paths > # 154....Paul Brunton
The Mental State of Heaven...
"So, how do you get back to heaven?
To begin with, just notice the thoughts
that take you away from it.
You don't have to believe everything your thoughts tell you.
Just become familiar with the particular thoughts you use
to deprive yourself of happiness.
It may seem strange at first
to get to know yourself in this way,
but becoming familiar with your stressful thoughts
will show you the way home to everything you need."
~ Byron Katie ~
To begin with, just notice the thoughts
that take you away from it.
You don't have to believe everything your thoughts tell you.
Just become familiar with the particular thoughts you use
to deprive yourself of happiness.
It may seem strange at first
to get to know yourself in this way,
but becoming familiar with your stressful thoughts
will show you the way home to everything you need."
~ Byron Katie ~
Creating a Human Web of Light ...
... the underlying principle of esoteric beliefs is that all life is
made of light. As human beings with egos we often forget our true
nature and we over identify with our personalities and bodies. We are
light in bodies.
Alchemists did not literally change lead into gold. Rather they
transmuted heavy leaded consciousness into gold light consciousness.
Jesus in Matthew 5:30-20 challenges us not to hide our light under
baskets. When mystics all over the world perform their miracles of
healing they are seen to shine and become luminescent. Throughout
Medicine for the Earth I write about the importance of the concept of
light in all spiritual traditions.
We are light and we came here to shine. But most of us have forgotten
our true nature as well as why we came here. We were created from
love and light and we are love and light. It is our birthright to
shine as fully in the world as we can.
Many of us have been taught at an early age not to shine too bright.
If we shine too bright no one will love us. There can only be a
few "stars" and it is not you. Does this sound familiar?
Why can there only be a few stars here on earth? I have never heard
anyone say when looking up at the stars in the sky, "I wish that star
wouldn't shine so brightly it is outshining other stars". Why do we
have that belief here?
It is time for all us to shine our light, which will reflect back the
beauty of the night sky above us. We need to find our shine again so
that we can light up the dark places of the world...... Sandra
Ingerman
made of light. As human beings with egos we often forget our true
nature and we over identify with our personalities and bodies. We are
light in bodies.
Alchemists did not literally change lead into gold. Rather they
transmuted heavy leaded consciousness into gold light consciousness.
Jesus in Matthew 5:30-20 challenges us not to hide our light under
baskets. When mystics all over the world perform their miracles of
healing they are seen to shine and become luminescent. Throughout
Medicine for the Earth I write about the importance of the concept of
light in all spiritual traditions.
We are light and we came here to shine. But most of us have forgotten
our true nature as well as why we came here. We were created from
love and light and we are love and light. It is our birthright to
shine as fully in the world as we can.
Many of us have been taught at an early age not to shine too bright.
If we shine too bright no one will love us. There can only be a
few "stars" and it is not you. Does this sound familiar?
Why can there only be a few stars here on earth? I have never heard
anyone say when looking up at the stars in the sky, "I wish that star
wouldn't shine so brightly it is outshining other stars". Why do we
have that belief here?
It is time for all us to shine our light, which will reflect back the
beauty of the night sky above us. We need to find our shine again so
that we can light up the dark places of the world...... Sandra
Ingerman
A Drop of Water...
A drop of water has the tastes of the water of the seven seas: there
is no need to experience all the ways of worldly life. The reflections
of the moon on one thousand rivers are from the same moon: the mind
must be full of light.
Hung Tzu-ch'eng (1593-1665), posted to AlphaWorld
is no need to experience all the ways of worldly life. The reflections
of the moon on one thousand rivers are from the same moon: the mind
must be full of light.
Hung Tzu-ch'eng (1593-1665), posted to AlphaWorld
Spiritual Love...
Spiritual. I love the word. Some don't, I know. I love the word
because, for me, it describes a vibrant reality of
living. 'Spiritus,' the Latin. 'Ruah,' the Hebrew. It means breath.
The breath of life. The animating force. Aristotle called the soul,
the life principle. Spirituality is that (activity, attitude,
awareness, behavior, developed character) that allows a person to
enter into the life principle as vibrantly, as honestly, as
courageously, as peacefully as we can. Spiritual.
Spiritual love (Preetee), means love without expectations.
Ordinarily when one loves anyone there is some form of expectation
attached and it is conditional. However spiritual love is
unconditional, no matter what the circumstances are. This form of
love is divine and only develops after a considerable amount of
spiritual practice when one perceives God in everyone. So also, we
become happier individuals when our love is not adulterated or
diluted by expectations.
The above diagram shows how worldly love i.e. love with expectation
is based on the similarities with another person's nature. But there
is no guarantee that all aspects of our nature will be similar or
compliment the other person's nature. When we begin to discover the
difference, that's when the strife and trouble begins.
On the other hand, spiritual love or love without expectation is
based on the unchanging Soul. This is akin to how a string links the
beads on a necklace whatever the shape, colour or size – the external
nature is not important. The hole in each bead represents our soul
which is the same for all of us i.e. the God in one is not in any way
different from the God within another.
Christian Baldwin wrote that, "Spiritual Love is a position of
standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand
extended into the world, letting ourselves be a conduit for passing
energy."
"So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world
in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have,
and then when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we
have left," said Jack Riemer of the Houston Chronicle.
In the end, the lucky ones see the world with great love, and play
whatever music they can with whatever strings they have left!
This is not really high-fallutin' stuff here. It is practice in the
every day. It is some basic patterns of awareness and the effort to
live within those patterns that can make a life more meaningful, more
peaceful, more alive, more gratifying, more in tune with the basic
truths and the best we can be living out these truths.
So we use breath as a metaphor, and begin to talk about love that is
spiritual, love that bequeaths a life that allows a person to enter
into the life principle as vibrantly, as honestly, as courageously,
as peacefully, as joyfully as we can.
Many of you have read or heard of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber
and his book, "I and Thou." In a shortened version perhaps one could
say that his whole philosophy is that, "all real living is meeting."
He is saying that the 'I' of a person is only truly itself when it is
lived is lived in the 'I/Thou' context as opposed to the 'I/It'
context. The idea that a spiritual life is one which connects
one's 'I' with all else in reverent 'Thouness.'
In an 'I/It' stance, the I is not in true relationship with another.
It is an objectifying stance that keeps the 'I' from seeing another
or life in whole, keeping the 'I' lonely in separation. This
objectifying stance not only makes the individual lonely and removed,
and it is the core of why many, many horrible things to happen in the
world. As long as someone can be an 'It' all sorts of violence can
ensue. The 'I/It' paradigm creates enemies. It allows us to
cavalierly abuse the environment and each other. Buber has a
wonderful passage about a tree and the difference between an 'I/It'
and 'I/Thou' relationship with a tree.
In the 'I/It' paradigm, we can say that sin is the lack of connection
to the awareness of the interdependence of life. Living from
the 'I/Thou' paradigm puts everything in a connected mode and is
really what love is.
Buber wrote that the primary word is 'I/Thou.' Whenever we can speak
that primary word, love is present.
Buber writes about our lives in the womb being the ultimate
experience of 'Thou' when we are totally connected to the life force.
Upon birth we begin to differentiate and to become an 'I' separate
from The Great Mother. We become an 'I' capable of living an 'I/Thou'
life through the initial 'Mother Thou.' The spiritual journey is
about staying differentiated as a unique 'I' at the same time staying
connected to all life in an 'I/Thou' relationship.
I've just watched the movie "Billie Elliot." What an exquisite film!
All about the process of learning to love from the place of 'I/Thou.'
Billy is an 11 year-old boy whose mother has recently died. He lives
with his grandmother for whom he cares, his father, and his teenage
brother in a coal-mining town in England. They are poor. The miners
are on strike. The family is full of hardship, anxiety, and grief.
Beautiful Billy is taking boxing lessons. A case can be made for
boxing being the ultimate 'I/It' sport. The task of literally beating
up the other in order to win. Billy is not good at it. But Billy
watches the girls' ballet class in the next room and feels himself
pulled there. He loves to dance. The extraordinary thing about this
character is that he goes to the girls and he accepts an invitation
to join them despite cultural norms. Despite what anyone would say
about him, he goes for the strengthening of the 'I,' the soul, the
person who is calling him from the inside out to be a dancer in this
life. He doesn't want his macho father to know, so he hides his
ballet slippers under the mattress and practices in the bathroom.
But dance he will! For Billy is already living out of the original
word of 'I/Thou' which calls for the 'I' to love itself beyond
convention. The original word of 'I/Thou' transcends gender-role
expectations and many other cultural norms. To see this young boy so
self-differentiated; it is a sight to behold! Scene after lovely
scene of this boy answering his being's call to greatness. In this
regard, he is living a spiritual life as his being is connected to
the life force in a courageous and vibrant way against many odds. His
teacher, as brusque and cold as she can be sometimes, sees Billy
whole; she sees where his spirit wants to go. They enter into a
relationship from the context of 'I/Thou.' There is a scene of them
dancing together that is the primary word of 'I/Thou' set in motion.
It is to die for. (Interesting phrase isn't it, "To die for?" Dying
to the old self into new being.)
As you can imagine, eventually Billy's father catches him dancing in
the community center. He rages in and stops toe to toe with his son.
Billy meets his gaze straight on and begins to dance for his father.
It is a respectfully defiant dance that says, "I will be my
greatness. Here I show you. See me whole. Love me in my greatness."
Billy gives his father the opportunity to live from the 'I/Thou'
stance. He invites him to open his heart and to go another way. He is
saying, "don't you stay stuck in your anger and one dimensional way
of looking at the world. Come along with me to transformative love."
When the spirit dances true and unashamed, when the heart is opened,
and the mind free, nothing will stay the same.
Thou. My spell check says it is not in the dictionary. How sad. It is
a word, in my opinion, that in its saying making sacred that which
one is pointing to in its saying. When one is living from
Buber's 'I/Thou' paradigm, there can be no hate. "Hate is by nature
blind. Only a part of a being can be hated." So then, by seeing
others whole and with a heart of compassion, there is no hate.
Hey, now. This does not mean no action against that which harms you.
This does not mean living with abuse in the name of no hate. The 'I'
sometimes needs to boundary itself from the presence of another in
order to respect itself. Yet, it seems to me that one must ultimately
do the work to make the other (who may feel like the enemy 'It') into
a 'Thou', if one wants to be free within. This can be a long and
arduous journey, but a very fruitful one if one wants the inner and
outer life to be more vibrant, courageous and peaceful.
"The original word is 'I/Thou'," said Buber. All true living is in
meeting. It is relational. It beckons forth the best in self and the
best in the other. We breathe into our beings the vitality that comes
when we listen deeply to another without judgment. We breathe in that
true meeting, and we change ourselves. We sit with another who rubs
us the wrong way, and we breathe deeply and ask our heart to be open
in compassion. We realize that with compassion we begin to see how
cut off the other is from their own greatness of being. We do not
have to get anxious about what they are saying. We reflect in how cut
off from joy their being is in its current state. By our listening or
gently boundary setting or offering our own story or holding a hand,
we invite that person to realize how 'Thou' they are. We know right
away when someone puts us in the light of 'Thou,' even if we say
nothing, that they are being treated in a sacred manner.
Billy Elliot has a childhood friend named Michael who is gay and a
cross-dresser. (By the way, these two ways of being do not always go
together, but in this film they do.) Billy is straight and a ballet
dancer. He does not just tolerate his friend, he meets him in honesty
and openness. Many tender scenes of two very different boys loyal to
one another in their becoming. No finer example of an 'I/Thou'
relationship.
Oh dear, I guess I can't tell you the end of the movie which would
make a great end of the sermon! I want so to tell it. Suffice is to
say that Billy continues to encourage those around him to be with him
in a sacred manner of love. The ending is powerful, redeeming, and
big. Yet it is in the small nuances and interactions that the story
lives. In our spiritual interactions it is this meeting; a brief
meeting and that meeting, and then this one lived from the heart of
compassion and the knowing which we are all connected in this life.
There is great suffering and what we all want most deeply is to be
seen, met, and loved. We want to move from 'I/It' relating
to 'I/Thou' relating. This is the angst of our cry the day we are
born. This is the joy of existence when we remember what we were born
knowing.
This is the meaning of the word spirituality that I cherish. The
practice is to live congruent with your best sense of who you were
meant to be, and then to serve the world by acting in relation to the
world from an 'I/Thou' mindset more and more and more often.
Poem
The thing is to love life.
To love it even when you have no stomach for it, when everything
you've held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands and your
throat is filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you so heavily it's like heat, tropical, moist,
thickening the air so it's heavy like water, more fit for gills than
lungs.
When grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, an
obesity of grief.
How long can a body withstand this? you think, and yet you hold life,
like a face between your palms.
A plain face, with no charming smile or twinkle in her eye, and you
say: yes, I will take you.
I will love you, again.
Ellen Bass, Author — California
In the end, the lucky ones begin to see the whole world with great
love, all of it - the pain, the greed, the fact of our own death,
seeing those we love die or suffer, abuse. In the end, the lucky ones
begin to see the whole world with great love no matter what; all of
it - the joy, the giving, the fact that we live at all, the privilege
of being with those we love no matter what the duration, great
gentleness. If we are lucky, we will do what we can to be in
relationship with life from an 'I/Thou' frame of reference and make
the most of this dear gift of life in whatever circumstance we find
ourselves. A story now from the book, "Living An Extraodinary Life,"
by Robert White.
Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give concert at Avery
Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. If you have ever been
to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small
achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he
has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches.
To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and
slowly, is an unforgettable sight. He walks painfully, yet
majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he slowly sits down,
puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks
one foot back, and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down
and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the
conductor, and proceeds to play.
By now the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he
makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently
silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is
ready to play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first
few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it
snap. It went off like gunfire across the room. There was no
mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had
to do.
People who were there that night thought to themselves: "We figured
that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the
crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin
or else find another string for this one."
But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then
signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he
played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion
and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Of
course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work
with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that
night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his
head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to
get new sounds from them that they had never made before.
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then
people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of
applause from every comer of the auditorium. We were all on our feet,
screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we
appreciated what he had done.
He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet
us, and then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive,
reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find
out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I
heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the [way] of life - not just
for artists but for all of us.
"So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world
in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have,
and then when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we
have left," said Jack Riemer of the Houston Chronicle.
In the end, the lucky ones see the world with great love, and play
whatever music they can with whatever strings they have
left!....................from Enlightenment Chapel
because, for me, it describes a vibrant reality of
living. 'Spiritus,' the Latin. 'Ruah,' the Hebrew. It means breath.
The breath of life. The animating force. Aristotle called the soul,
the life principle. Spirituality is that (activity, attitude,
awareness, behavior, developed character) that allows a person to
enter into the life principle as vibrantly, as honestly, as
courageously, as peacefully as we can. Spiritual.
Spiritual love (Preetee), means love without expectations.
Ordinarily when one loves anyone there is some form of expectation
attached and it is conditional. However spiritual love is
unconditional, no matter what the circumstances are. This form of
love is divine and only develops after a considerable amount of
spiritual practice when one perceives God in everyone. So also, we
become happier individuals when our love is not adulterated or
diluted by expectations.
The above diagram shows how worldly love i.e. love with expectation
is based on the similarities with another person's nature. But there
is no guarantee that all aspects of our nature will be similar or
compliment the other person's nature. When we begin to discover the
difference, that's when the strife and trouble begins.
On the other hand, spiritual love or love without expectation is
based on the unchanging Soul. This is akin to how a string links the
beads on a necklace whatever the shape, colour or size – the external
nature is not important. The hole in each bead represents our soul
which is the same for all of us i.e. the God in one is not in any way
different from the God within another.
Christian Baldwin wrote that, "Spiritual Love is a position of
standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand
extended into the world, letting ourselves be a conduit for passing
energy."
"So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world
in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have,
and then when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we
have left," said Jack Riemer of the Houston Chronicle.
In the end, the lucky ones see the world with great love, and play
whatever music they can with whatever strings they have left!
This is not really high-fallutin' stuff here. It is practice in the
every day. It is some basic patterns of awareness and the effort to
live within those patterns that can make a life more meaningful, more
peaceful, more alive, more gratifying, more in tune with the basic
truths and the best we can be living out these truths.
So we use breath as a metaphor, and begin to talk about love that is
spiritual, love that bequeaths a life that allows a person to enter
into the life principle as vibrantly, as honestly, as courageously,
as peacefully, as joyfully as we can.
Many of you have read or heard of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber
and his book, "I and Thou." In a shortened version perhaps one could
say that his whole philosophy is that, "all real living is meeting."
He is saying that the 'I' of a person is only truly itself when it is
lived is lived in the 'I/Thou' context as opposed to the 'I/It'
context. The idea that a spiritual life is one which connects
one's 'I' with all else in reverent 'Thouness.'
In an 'I/It' stance, the I is not in true relationship with another.
It is an objectifying stance that keeps the 'I' from seeing another
or life in whole, keeping the 'I' lonely in separation. This
objectifying stance not only makes the individual lonely and removed,
and it is the core of why many, many horrible things to happen in the
world. As long as someone can be an 'It' all sorts of violence can
ensue. The 'I/It' paradigm creates enemies. It allows us to
cavalierly abuse the environment and each other. Buber has a
wonderful passage about a tree and the difference between an 'I/It'
and 'I/Thou' relationship with a tree.
In the 'I/It' paradigm, we can say that sin is the lack of connection
to the awareness of the interdependence of life. Living from
the 'I/Thou' paradigm puts everything in a connected mode and is
really what love is.
Buber wrote that the primary word is 'I/Thou.' Whenever we can speak
that primary word, love is present.
Buber writes about our lives in the womb being the ultimate
experience of 'Thou' when we are totally connected to the life force.
Upon birth we begin to differentiate and to become an 'I' separate
from The Great Mother. We become an 'I' capable of living an 'I/Thou'
life through the initial 'Mother Thou.' The spiritual journey is
about staying differentiated as a unique 'I' at the same time staying
connected to all life in an 'I/Thou' relationship.
I've just watched the movie "Billie Elliot." What an exquisite film!
All about the process of learning to love from the place of 'I/Thou.'
Billy is an 11 year-old boy whose mother has recently died. He lives
with his grandmother for whom he cares, his father, and his teenage
brother in a coal-mining town in England. They are poor. The miners
are on strike. The family is full of hardship, anxiety, and grief.
Beautiful Billy is taking boxing lessons. A case can be made for
boxing being the ultimate 'I/It' sport. The task of literally beating
up the other in order to win. Billy is not good at it. But Billy
watches the girls' ballet class in the next room and feels himself
pulled there. He loves to dance. The extraordinary thing about this
character is that he goes to the girls and he accepts an invitation
to join them despite cultural norms. Despite what anyone would say
about him, he goes for the strengthening of the 'I,' the soul, the
person who is calling him from the inside out to be a dancer in this
life. He doesn't want his macho father to know, so he hides his
ballet slippers under the mattress and practices in the bathroom.
But dance he will! For Billy is already living out of the original
word of 'I/Thou' which calls for the 'I' to love itself beyond
convention. The original word of 'I/Thou' transcends gender-role
expectations and many other cultural norms. To see this young boy so
self-differentiated; it is a sight to behold! Scene after lovely
scene of this boy answering his being's call to greatness. In this
regard, he is living a spiritual life as his being is connected to
the life force in a courageous and vibrant way against many odds. His
teacher, as brusque and cold as she can be sometimes, sees Billy
whole; she sees where his spirit wants to go. They enter into a
relationship from the context of 'I/Thou.' There is a scene of them
dancing together that is the primary word of 'I/Thou' set in motion.
It is to die for. (Interesting phrase isn't it, "To die for?" Dying
to the old self into new being.)
As you can imagine, eventually Billy's father catches him dancing in
the community center. He rages in and stops toe to toe with his son.
Billy meets his gaze straight on and begins to dance for his father.
It is a respectfully defiant dance that says, "I will be my
greatness. Here I show you. See me whole. Love me in my greatness."
Billy gives his father the opportunity to live from the 'I/Thou'
stance. He invites him to open his heart and to go another way. He is
saying, "don't you stay stuck in your anger and one dimensional way
of looking at the world. Come along with me to transformative love."
When the spirit dances true and unashamed, when the heart is opened,
and the mind free, nothing will stay the same.
Thou. My spell check says it is not in the dictionary. How sad. It is
a word, in my opinion, that in its saying making sacred that which
one is pointing to in its saying. When one is living from
Buber's 'I/Thou' paradigm, there can be no hate. "Hate is by nature
blind. Only a part of a being can be hated." So then, by seeing
others whole and with a heart of compassion, there is no hate.
Hey, now. This does not mean no action against that which harms you.
This does not mean living with abuse in the name of no hate. The 'I'
sometimes needs to boundary itself from the presence of another in
order to respect itself. Yet, it seems to me that one must ultimately
do the work to make the other (who may feel like the enemy 'It') into
a 'Thou', if one wants to be free within. This can be a long and
arduous journey, but a very fruitful one if one wants the inner and
outer life to be more vibrant, courageous and peaceful.
"The original word is 'I/Thou'," said Buber. All true living is in
meeting. It is relational. It beckons forth the best in self and the
best in the other. We breathe into our beings the vitality that comes
when we listen deeply to another without judgment. We breathe in that
true meeting, and we change ourselves. We sit with another who rubs
us the wrong way, and we breathe deeply and ask our heart to be open
in compassion. We realize that with compassion we begin to see how
cut off the other is from their own greatness of being. We do not
have to get anxious about what they are saying. We reflect in how cut
off from joy their being is in its current state. By our listening or
gently boundary setting or offering our own story or holding a hand,
we invite that person to realize how 'Thou' they are. We know right
away when someone puts us in the light of 'Thou,' even if we say
nothing, that they are being treated in a sacred manner.
Billy Elliot has a childhood friend named Michael who is gay and a
cross-dresser. (By the way, these two ways of being do not always go
together, but in this film they do.) Billy is straight and a ballet
dancer. He does not just tolerate his friend, he meets him in honesty
and openness. Many tender scenes of two very different boys loyal to
one another in their becoming. No finer example of an 'I/Thou'
relationship.
Oh dear, I guess I can't tell you the end of the movie which would
make a great end of the sermon! I want so to tell it. Suffice is to
say that Billy continues to encourage those around him to be with him
in a sacred manner of love. The ending is powerful, redeeming, and
big. Yet it is in the small nuances and interactions that the story
lives. In our spiritual interactions it is this meeting; a brief
meeting and that meeting, and then this one lived from the heart of
compassion and the knowing which we are all connected in this life.
There is great suffering and what we all want most deeply is to be
seen, met, and loved. We want to move from 'I/It' relating
to 'I/Thou' relating. This is the angst of our cry the day we are
born. This is the joy of existence when we remember what we were born
knowing.
This is the meaning of the word spirituality that I cherish. The
practice is to live congruent with your best sense of who you were
meant to be, and then to serve the world by acting in relation to the
world from an 'I/Thou' mindset more and more and more often.
Poem
The thing is to love life.
To love it even when you have no stomach for it, when everything
you've held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands and your
throat is filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you so heavily it's like heat, tropical, moist,
thickening the air so it's heavy like water, more fit for gills than
lungs.
When grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, an
obesity of grief.
How long can a body withstand this? you think, and yet you hold life,
like a face between your palms.
A plain face, with no charming smile or twinkle in her eye, and you
say: yes, I will take you.
I will love you, again.
Ellen Bass, Author — California
In the end, the lucky ones begin to see the whole world with great
love, all of it - the pain, the greed, the fact of our own death,
seeing those we love die or suffer, abuse. In the end, the lucky ones
begin to see the whole world with great love no matter what; all of
it - the joy, the giving, the fact that we live at all, the privilege
of being with those we love no matter what the duration, great
gentleness. If we are lucky, we will do what we can to be in
relationship with life from an 'I/Thou' frame of reference and make
the most of this dear gift of life in whatever circumstance we find
ourselves. A story now from the book, "Living An Extraodinary Life,"
by Robert White.
Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give concert at Avery
Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. If you have ever been
to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small
achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he
has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches.
To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and
slowly, is an unforgettable sight. He walks painfully, yet
majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he slowly sits down,
puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks
one foot back, and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down
and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the
conductor, and proceeds to play.
By now the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he
makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently
silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is
ready to play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first
few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it
snap. It went off like gunfire across the room. There was no
mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had
to do.
People who were there that night thought to themselves: "We figured
that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the
crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin
or else find another string for this one."
But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then
signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he
played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion
and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Of
course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work
with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that
night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his
head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to
get new sounds from them that they had never made before.
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then
people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of
applause from every comer of the auditorium. We were all on our feet,
screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we
appreciated what he had done.
He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet
us, and then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive,
reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find
out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I
heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the [way] of life - not just
for artists but for all of us.
"So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world
in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have,
and then when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we
have left," said Jack Riemer of the Houston Chronicle.
In the end, the lucky ones see the world with great love, and play
whatever music they can with whatever strings they have
left!....................from Enlightenment Chapel
Surrender...
Without any conditions,
Irreversibly,
Absolutely,
Offer our poor petty mind,
And arrogant ego,
To that Great Power that knows the way
Our own Divine Source!
And happily merge in Her bliss.
To attain flourishing immortal life
In which Death is no more,
The non-dual Truth,
The state of Great Silence,
There is no other means
Than making the ultimate sacrifice
Of total, complete, self surrender!
Thus, to be absorbed
Through surrender of the self to the Self,
Is to attain the Supreme Truth.
Whatever happens let it happen,
Whatever does not happen,
Let it not happen,
A sadakh with this attitude
Will be well established in the Self.
*A free versification of the opening verses in Muruganar's
Padamalai from the Chapter on Surrender, Love and Devotion.
Irreversibly,
Absolutely,
Offer our poor petty mind,
And arrogant ego,
To that Great Power that knows the way
Our own Divine Source!
And happily merge in Her bliss.
To attain flourishing immortal life
In which Death is no more,
The non-dual Truth,
The state of Great Silence,
There is no other means
Than making the ultimate sacrifice
Of total, complete, self surrender!
Thus, to be absorbed
Through surrender of the self to the Self,
Is to attain the Supreme Truth.
Whatever happens let it happen,
Whatever does not happen,
Let it not happen,
A sadakh with this attitude
Will be well established in the Self.
*A free versification of the opening verses in Muruganar's
Padamalai from the Chapter on Surrender, Love and Devotion.
The Overself...
The Overself is the point where the One Mind is
received into consciousness. It is the "I" freed from
narrowness, thoughts, flesh, passion, and
emotion--that is, from the personal ego..............Paul Brunton
received into consciousness. It is the "I" freed from
narrowness, thoughts, flesh, passion, and
emotion--that is, from the personal ego..............Paul Brunton
Present Awareness...
It is not about getting or not getting anything. What is, is undeniable present awareness. Everything appears within that. It is all an expression within that. You are what you are. All ideas about what we are, are only more ideas. To attempt to pin anything down in the mind is futile. Your natural being is not contained or even known by the mind. Seeing this, you stop looking for the answer where it will not be found. You are present and aware. Pause thought and simply be. Notice there is nothing wrong. There are no problems or suffering unless you are thinking about them. So the mind is creating all problems. They are all imaginary.
John Wheeler
John Wheeler
Mysticism...
Mysticism requires the unreserved surrender of the ego to the soul.
From this quite correct requirement, unphilosophic mystics draw the
quite incorrect conclusions that the ego's faculty of reasoning and
use of will are to be banished from the domain of practical affairs.
It should not, for instance, provide for its worldly future, because
God is to provide for it. Belief in mysticism is no excuse for such
illogical and inaccurate thinking, much less for the paralysis of
willing. The mystic may give himself unto the soul and yet render unto
thought and action that which is rightly theirs.
— Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 4: Its
Realization Beyond Ecstasy > # 57... Paul Brunton
From this quite correct requirement, unphilosophic mystics draw the
quite incorrect conclusions that the ego's faculty of reasoning and
use of will are to be banished from the domain of practical affairs.
It should not, for instance, provide for its worldly future, because
God is to provide for it. Belief in mysticism is no excuse for such
illogical and inaccurate thinking, much less for the paralysis of
willing. The mystic may give himself unto the soul and yet render unto
thought and action that which is rightly theirs.
— Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 4: Its
Realization Beyond Ecstasy > # 57... Paul Brunton
The Prediction from Jesus...
(Matthew 15:8): "People honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me."
The Infinite Way...
I wish to express my gratitude for The Infinite Way and those principles revealed which have driven me back within the Self ever revealing the Hidden Kingdom here and now in our midst.
The only world belief to overcome is the belief in a separate existence. The only knowledge to overcome is that false sense of self. Jesus overcame that personal sense of self and afterwards we do not hear him saying anymore “of myself I am nothing.” Now we hear something new; we hear Christ saying: “He that seeth me seeth Him that sent me.”
He was accused by those around him of making himself “Equal with God.” And that is what we are required to do on this path. You must make yourself equal with God -- one with God, consciously aware that only God is present. There is no one else on earth. There is only one -- and that one is God.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect...........Bill Skiles
The only world belief to overcome is the belief in a separate existence. The only knowledge to overcome is that false sense of self. Jesus overcame that personal sense of self and afterwards we do not hear him saying anymore “of myself I am nothing.” Now we hear something new; we hear Christ saying: “He that seeth me seeth Him that sent me.”
He was accused by those around him of making himself “Equal with God.” And that is what we are required to do on this path. You must make yourself equal with God -- one with God, consciously aware that only God is present. There is no one else on earth. There is only one -- and that one is God.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect...........Bill Skiles
A Cloud of Unknowing...
Let us be still now as we let the Spirit come forth and reveal Itself within us. Many of us feel that we need to have a deep understanding of truth. We feel that we need to have much knowledge, but this is not the truth. God does not need your knowledge or your understanding in order to function. In fact, God functions “in a moment ye think not.” God functions more clearly when there is less understanding. God functions through you when you are unknowing and un-understanding. The Spirit of God flows through all those who are willing to remain an open channel. The Spirit of God works through you, in you and as you when you rest back in a cloud of unknowing; when you have the attitude of a trusting child -- then the Father can work Its wonders.
We have read over and over and heard that “Where the Spirit of God is there is liberty.” And it is the truth. But to demonstrate this truth it becomes necessary to have the simple awareness of a beholder. I do not need a deep understanding. I do not need a tremendous amount of knowledge. I only need the simple attitude of being still and beholding that Spirit of the Lord. And in that stillness, the Spirit flows through and does Its work in a way we know not of.
We are learning to be receptive. We are learning to stand a little to the side. Sometimes it is necessary to stop our studies, that is, stop trying to gain more knowledge. Let us do that. Let us stop trying to gain more knowledge and let us, if we are to gain something, let us acquire this ability to trust; to step aside, and be a beholder. To witness the spirit working its works; to not have to know anything, not to have to understand anything -- this is the way.
The spiritual way of living is resting back in that cloud of unknowing. The greater works are done in this unknowing; this state of unknowing.
With Love,
Bill Skiles
We have read over and over and heard that “Where the Spirit of God is there is liberty.” And it is the truth. But to demonstrate this truth it becomes necessary to have the simple awareness of a beholder. I do not need a deep understanding. I do not need a tremendous amount of knowledge. I only need the simple attitude of being still and beholding that Spirit of the Lord. And in that stillness, the Spirit flows through and does Its work in a way we know not of.
We are learning to be receptive. We are learning to stand a little to the side. Sometimes it is necessary to stop our studies, that is, stop trying to gain more knowledge. Let us do that. Let us stop trying to gain more knowledge and let us, if we are to gain something, let us acquire this ability to trust; to step aside, and be a beholder. To witness the spirit working its works; to not have to know anything, not to have to understand anything -- this is the way.
The spiritual way of living is resting back in that cloud of unknowing. The greater works are done in this unknowing; this state of unknowing.
With Love,
Bill Skiles
The Human Mind...
The human mind is always offended at truth because truth is a
reversal of everything that the human mind knows. Imagine
saying to the human mind that when it is still and doing nothing,
great and wondrous works of healing can be accomplished! That
is an insult to the human mind. Think of saying to the man who
prides himself on his intellect that all of his mental gyrations will
not do as much for him as one moment of silence will do!"
-- Joel Goldsmith - Consciousness Unfolding
reversal of everything that the human mind knows. Imagine
saying to the human mind that when it is still and doing nothing,
great and wondrous works of healing can be accomplished! That
is an insult to the human mind. Think of saying to the man who
prides himself on his intellect that all of his mental gyrations will
not do as much for him as one moment of silence will do!"
-- Joel Goldsmith - Consciousness Unfolding
Principles of The Infinite Way ...
"As human beings, there is not one of us without sin, whether in the act of commission or in the act of desiring. We are transformed in only one way: by coming into the awareness of our true identity, and then learning to be still and knowing that `I am God,' and that because I is God, that I governs Its own universe; It maintains it and It sustains it. In fact, that I is the bread and the meat, and the wine, and the water unto Its creation; and therefore, each one of us has I, each one of us has in the midst of him, closer than breathing, that which the Master says is the mission of the Father within, that which heals, saves, redeems, resurrects, and feeds. That I, each one of us has, and It is the Christ. In the awareness of that I, we become beholders of the Christ in action, and as beholders of the Christ in action, we are able to pierce the veil of illusion, and then instead of seeing the ugly picture that the human mind has drawn, we begin to see reality."
From: The Contemplative Life, Chapter 8, "Contemplation Develops The Beholder," Page 138.
From: The Contemplative Life, Chapter 8, "Contemplation Develops The Beholder," Page 138.
Free Choice..
We have been given "Free Choice" to decide which side of Reality that
we wish to exist within.. The Great Masters, such as Jesus and Gautama
have shown us that this choice exists and the difference is whether we
will choose the state of Love or the state of Self-ishness.. The state
of Love is the state of non-ego, as Love can only exist when we
surrender the ego to nothingness,even it is only for a few seconds or
minutes.. This is why we have brought this state to the height of God,
as it is the highest state of existence.. Vernon Howard teaches you
that this is the real Self and the false Self is the belief that we are
not Love but the ego.. This Duality, though false, is the reason that
humanity is in a constant state of fear and pain.. We can only free
ourselves from this pain by constant work in understanding and
conquering the belief in this false ego.............namaste, thomas
we wish to exist within.. The Great Masters, such as Jesus and Gautama
have shown us that this choice exists and the difference is whether we
will choose the state of Love or the state of Self-ishness.. The state
of Love is the state of non-ego, as Love can only exist when we
surrender the ego to nothingness,even it is only for a few seconds or
minutes.. This is why we have brought this state to the height of God,
as it is the highest state of existence.. Vernon Howard teaches you
that this is the real Self and the false Self is the belief that we are
not Love but the ego.. This Duality, though false, is the reason that
humanity is in a constant state of fear and pain.. We can only free
ourselves from this pain by constant work in understanding and
conquering the belief in this false ego.............namaste, thomas
Everywhere You Look...
There is nowhere that the Divine is not. Stop a moment and really take this truth in, because the mind has a very different perception. If really grasped, this truth will change your life. Everything you see, everything and everyone that exists, and everything that happens is a manifestation of the Divine. The Divine is not only behind every good act but every evil one, which is what happens when the Divine is lost in fear and the illusion of being separate. The Divine is both the perpetrator and the victim, the lover and the hater. It plays every role that has ever been played because there is no other. There is only the illusion of other.
Imagine that - there is no other! The mind is so good at imagining, but it has difficulty imagining this because it goes against its programming. So when Oneness is experienced, as it is momentarily many times even in one day, it is not acknowledged. It goes unnoticed, unappreciated by the mind. Worse than that! Oneness is rejected by the egoic mind because acknowledging it would threaten its existence. The ego doesn't exist in Oneness; it can only exist in separateness. It is created by and perpetuates separation. That is the very definition of the ego. The ego and Oneness are at odds, or so it seems. However, Oneness designed it that way, so Oneness has no problem with the ego, although the ego has a problem with Oneness.
Everywhere it looks, the ego sees separation. It translates all the differences it sees as separation: The ego sees a tree, and because the tree is different from the ego's image of itself, it sees itself as separate from the tree. But is that true? Where did this definition of self come from, which sees anything that is different as separate from itself?
It is the ego's own definition that creates the idea of separation: Different equals separation. The ego sees boundaries between things and people. It even creates boundaries conceptually in terms of time and by holding particular beliefs. This is just how the egoic mind digests life. All of these differences are seen by the ego as potentially dangerous and problematic. It is constantly on the defense, trying to protect itself from everything out there that is different from itself. Its world is full of fear, anxiety, jealousy, hatred, anger, and pain. Hence, this viewpoint and the sense of being separate is at the base of all suffering.
But reality is not as the ego supposes. There are no boundaries. There is no separate self in opposition to the world. There is only the Self - the Divine - creating each moment fresh from itself. Everything is the Divine expressing itself as tree, as dog, as person, as thought, as emotion, as light, as sound. No boundaries. No one. Only One. Only the Divine creating and expressing itself through life.
- Gina Lake, from Radiance: Experiencing Divine Presence
Imagine that - there is no other! The mind is so good at imagining, but it has difficulty imagining this because it goes against its programming. So when Oneness is experienced, as it is momentarily many times even in one day, it is not acknowledged. It goes unnoticed, unappreciated by the mind. Worse than that! Oneness is rejected by the egoic mind because acknowledging it would threaten its existence. The ego doesn't exist in Oneness; it can only exist in separateness. It is created by and perpetuates separation. That is the very definition of the ego. The ego and Oneness are at odds, or so it seems. However, Oneness designed it that way, so Oneness has no problem with the ego, although the ego has a problem with Oneness.
Everywhere it looks, the ego sees separation. It translates all the differences it sees as separation: The ego sees a tree, and because the tree is different from the ego's image of itself, it sees itself as separate from the tree. But is that true? Where did this definition of self come from, which sees anything that is different as separate from itself?
It is the ego's own definition that creates the idea of separation: Different equals separation. The ego sees boundaries between things and people. It even creates boundaries conceptually in terms of time and by holding particular beliefs. This is just how the egoic mind digests life. All of these differences are seen by the ego as potentially dangerous and problematic. It is constantly on the defense, trying to protect itself from everything out there that is different from itself. Its world is full of fear, anxiety, jealousy, hatred, anger, and pain. Hence, this viewpoint and the sense of being separate is at the base of all suffering.
But reality is not as the ego supposes. There are no boundaries. There is no separate self in opposition to the world. There is only the Self - the Divine - creating each moment fresh from itself. Everything is the Divine expressing itself as tree, as dog, as person, as thought, as emotion, as light, as sound. No boundaries. No one. Only One. Only the Divine creating and expressing itself through life.
- Gina Lake, from Radiance: Experiencing Divine Presence
Stillness...
That's all you have to do - just abide in that
stillness.
If you know how to be with that stillness without
looking for
anything else then that stillness is no longer just a
stillness and
that stillness is the Buddha Mind, it is the luminous
awareness.
In that stillness you are going to discover your true
nature.
The discovery of your true nature is the true
liberation, is the
bodhi, is the great awakening.
- Tulku Thubten Rinpoche, posted to DailyDharma
from Nonduality Highlights
stillness.
If you know how to be with that stillness without
looking for
anything else then that stillness is no longer just a
stillness and
that stillness is the Buddha Mind, it is the luminous
awareness.
In that stillness you are going to discover your true
nature.
The discovery of your true nature is the true
liberation, is the
bodhi, is the great awakening.
- Tulku Thubten Rinpoche, posted to DailyDharma
from Nonduality Highlights
Is Sadness Real ?...
"Sadness is a fake. I'm telling you, this place you are in now is
the place of gladness, not based on anything you can induce, create,
discover on this world level, but the gladness that you can find
through the teachings that you're hearing just this morning. That
kind of gladness is easy. It's effortless."
How to Escape Your Noisy Mind
from Powerful Techniques for Self-Rescue ... Vernon Howard
the place of gladness, not based on anything you can induce, create,
discover on this world level, but the gladness that you can find
through the teachings that you're hearing just this morning. That
kind of gladness is easy. It's effortless."
How to Escape Your Noisy Mind
from Powerful Techniques for Self-Rescue ... Vernon Howard
Psychic Sleep...
Psychic sleep is the cause of every human problem and disaster. It is
sleeping people who suffer from heartache and loneliness, from fear
and violence. Only self-awakening can end these sorrows. However —
and please emphasize this point in your mind — man does not know he
is asleep. So deep is his immersion in psychic hypnosis, that he
instantly denies his actual condition. In other words, he does not
know that he does not know. He spends his entire life under the
gigantic illusion of being happy and productive, never once facing
the terror in which he lives. Man huddles fearfully in a haunted
house which he calls a castle.
Have you ever been in a room full of people when someone behaved
foolishly or childishly? You sensed that he did not know how he
appeared to others. In fact, he may have believed he was behaving
cleverly or courageously. Everyone in the room saw him as he really
was, except the man himself. That is a perfect example of human
hypnosis, of psychic unawareness.
The ancient philosopher, Socrates, provided a classic illustration
of man's mental sleep. He told about a group of men who were huddled
together in a deep cave. Their only light was a fire that blazed in
the center of the cavern. The fire cast strange shadows against the
wall of the cave, frightening the prisoners. So the men sat there in
terror and confusion.
One of the prisoners made up his mind to explore the cave. When
doing so, he found a secret tunnel. Following it all the way, he
finally found himself in the outer world of sunshine and beauty.
We will now look at a chief characteristic of spiritual sleep. When
this is understood, all the pieces of life fall into place, revealing
the whole picture. Man has a false idea of who he is. He has an
illusory sense of identity. This false self is manufactured out of
self-flattering imaginations and out of self-pleasing labels. He
labels himself as a successful man, or as an intelligent thinker, or
as a human being with lofty motives. But these are mere ideas he has
about himself and he is not these ideas. We can easily prove this.
Whenever a man feels depressed or irritated, it is simply because
his false identity seems not to be confirmed. Both these reactions
are false, so man is their slave.
Have you ever noticed how nervous people get when their pet ideas
are challenged? Let this be a clue for you. By patient self-
investigation we discover who we are not, and that ends the anxiety
of not knowing who we are.
To summarize this vital point, man wrongly believes that he
possesses a separate self, an individual ego. This false idea causes
fear, loneliness, neurosis. It throws him into conflict with other
people who are also under the illusion of having separate selves. No
man is apart from the whole, from the all. Man is one with the
universe. Human beings are like dozens of ponds, each reflecting the
light from the same moon. This is not philosophy, this is fact.
— The Esoteric Path to a New Life... Vernon Howard
sleeping people who suffer from heartache and loneliness, from fear
and violence. Only self-awakening can end these sorrows. However —
and please emphasize this point in your mind — man does not know he
is asleep. So deep is his immersion in psychic hypnosis, that he
instantly denies his actual condition. In other words, he does not
know that he does not know. He spends his entire life under the
gigantic illusion of being happy and productive, never once facing
the terror in which he lives. Man huddles fearfully in a haunted
house which he calls a castle.
Have you ever been in a room full of people when someone behaved
foolishly or childishly? You sensed that he did not know how he
appeared to others. In fact, he may have believed he was behaving
cleverly or courageously. Everyone in the room saw him as he really
was, except the man himself. That is a perfect example of human
hypnosis, of psychic unawareness.
The ancient philosopher, Socrates, provided a classic illustration
of man's mental sleep. He told about a group of men who were huddled
together in a deep cave. Their only light was a fire that blazed in
the center of the cavern. The fire cast strange shadows against the
wall of the cave, frightening the prisoners. So the men sat there in
terror and confusion.
One of the prisoners made up his mind to explore the cave. When
doing so, he found a secret tunnel. Following it all the way, he
finally found himself in the outer world of sunshine and beauty.
We will now look at a chief characteristic of spiritual sleep. When
this is understood, all the pieces of life fall into place, revealing
the whole picture. Man has a false idea of who he is. He has an
illusory sense of identity. This false self is manufactured out of
self-flattering imaginations and out of self-pleasing labels. He
labels himself as a successful man, or as an intelligent thinker, or
as a human being with lofty motives. But these are mere ideas he has
about himself and he is not these ideas. We can easily prove this.
Whenever a man feels depressed or irritated, it is simply because
his false identity seems not to be confirmed. Both these reactions
are false, so man is their slave.
Have you ever noticed how nervous people get when their pet ideas
are challenged? Let this be a clue for you. By patient self-
investigation we discover who we are not, and that ends the anxiety
of not knowing who we are.
To summarize this vital point, man wrongly believes that he
possesses a separate self, an individual ego. This false idea causes
fear, loneliness, neurosis. It throws him into conflict with other
people who are also under the illusion of having separate selves. No
man is apart from the whole, from the all. Man is one with the
universe. Human beings are like dozens of ponds, each reflecting the
light from the same moon. This is not philosophy, this is fact.
— The Esoteric Path to a New Life... Vernon Howard
Contemplation Develops The Beholder...
From the August 1961 Letter, Contemplation Develops The Beholder
By Joel Goldsmith
Living as a Witness to the Activity of God In every one of the
miracles performed by the Master, there was the denial of self and the
glorification of the Father. Always it was, "I of my own self am doing
nothing, for I of my own self am nothing. If I speak of myself, I bear
witness to a lie. Therefore, it is not I who do the healing: I am but
bearing witness to the presence and power of God."
How can we bear witness to this Power except by being still? If we do
otherwise, we can no longer say that we are doing nothing or that we
are nothing. We have become something the moment we do something.
Therefore, when we are confronted with appearances – whether the
appearance is called good or evil – we are being confronted with a
human appearance, and if we would bear witness to the presence of God,
we must do nothing, we must think nothing, and we must have no
judgment. I am sure that you will not confuse this with an ignoring of
our life's work, nor as a lazy do nothing attitude, but you will
understand this to be a disciplined withholding of judging as to good
or evil and an attitude of expectancy – as of listening within. Be
sure that you understand the significance of this attitude.
In order to make ourselves nothing, we must immediately realize
within ourselves, "There is neither good nor evil: There is only God."
Then, as we look out at the erroneous appearance with no judgment,
there truly is neither good nor evil: There is only the presence of
God, and now the Father within can perform Its function, and Its
function is to dissolve the appearance and reveal God's glory – His
own being.
By Joel Goldsmith
Living as a Witness to the Activity of God In every one of the
miracles performed by the Master, there was the denial of self and the
glorification of the Father. Always it was, "I of my own self am doing
nothing, for I of my own self am nothing. If I speak of myself, I bear
witness to a lie. Therefore, it is not I who do the healing: I am but
bearing witness to the presence and power of God."
How can we bear witness to this Power except by being still? If we do
otherwise, we can no longer say that we are doing nothing or that we
are nothing. We have become something the moment we do something.
Therefore, when we are confronted with appearances – whether the
appearance is called good or evil – we are being confronted with a
human appearance, and if we would bear witness to the presence of God,
we must do nothing, we must think nothing, and we must have no
judgment. I am sure that you will not confuse this with an ignoring of
our life's work, nor as a lazy do nothing attitude, but you will
understand this to be a disciplined withholding of judging as to good
or evil and an attitude of expectancy – as of listening within. Be
sure that you understand the significance of this attitude.
In order to make ourselves nothing, we must immediately realize
within ourselves, "There is neither good nor evil: There is only God."
Then, as we look out at the erroneous appearance with no judgment,
there truly is neither good nor evil: There is only the presence of
God, and now the Father within can perform Its function, and Its
function is to dissolve the appearance and reveal God's glory – His
own being.
The Fall By Thomas Merton...
There is no where in you a paradise that is no place and there
You do not enter except without a story.
To enter there is to become unnameable.
Whoever is nowhere is nobody, and therefore cannot exist except as unborn:
No disguise will avail him anything
Such a one is neither lost nor found.
But he who has an address is lost.
They fall, they fall into apartments and are securely established!
They find themselves in streets. They are licensed
To proceed from place to place
They now know their own names
They can name several friends and know
Their own telephones must some time ring.
If all telephones ring at once, if all names are shouted at once and all cars crash at one crossing:
If all cities explode and fly away in dust
Yet identities refuse to be lost. There is a name and a number for everyone.
There is a definite place for bodies, there are pigeon holes for ashes:
Such security can business buy!
Who would dare to go nameless in so secure a universe?
Yet, to tell the truth, only the nameless are at home in it.
They bear with them in the center of nowhere the unborn flower of nothing:
This is the paradise tree. It must remain unseen until words end and arguments are silent.
-- from Selected Poems of Thomas Merton,
You do not enter except without a story.
To enter there is to become unnameable.
Whoever is nowhere is nobody, and therefore cannot exist except as unborn:
No disguise will avail him anything
Such a one is neither lost nor found.
But he who has an address is lost.
They fall, they fall into apartments and are securely established!
They find themselves in streets. They are licensed
To proceed from place to place
They now know their own names
They can name several friends and know
Their own telephones must some time ring.
If all telephones ring at once, if all names are shouted at once and all cars crash at one crossing:
If all cities explode and fly away in dust
Yet identities refuse to be lost. There is a name and a number for everyone.
There is a definite place for bodies, there are pigeon holes for ashes:
Such security can business buy!
Who would dare to go nameless in so secure a universe?
Yet, to tell the truth, only the nameless are at home in it.
They bear with them in the center of nowhere the unborn flower of nothing:
This is the paradise tree. It must remain unseen until words end and arguments are silent.
-- from Selected Poems of Thomas Merton,
Love and Compassion...
The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves "inside the skin" of the other. We "go inside" their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the subject of our observation. When we are in contact with another's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, "to suffer with."... Thich-Nhat-Hanh
Love...
Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truely a practice. [Shambhala Sun March 2006 ]
The Crushing of the Ego...
When a person is crushed by events and falls to his knees in prayer, his ego is temporarily crushed at the same time. After the prayer has been formulated, whether aloud or mentally, there are a few moments of complete exhaustion, of complete rest, which follow it. There is then temporary stillness and it is in this stillness that the Grace which is always emanating from the inner Being is able to do its healing and helping work. At the same time there may also be a corresponding external activity of a beneficial character.
Ascending to a higher level and studying the case of the aspirant on the Quest who by the practice of meditation deliberately brings about such moments of stillness, we see that he too opens a door to Grace. At this point it is necessary to clear away some confusion which often makes its appearance in spiritual literature and most especially in Indian literature. There we find an insistent and reiterated declaration of the absolute necessity of finding a guru so that by his Grace the aspirant may be helped towards enlightenment. When I say Indian literature I mean of course Indian Hindu literature, because in the Buddhist literature this insistence is generally absent and the aspirant is told to do the necessary work and he will get the natural result. The aspirant who has silently called for help may find that his call is answered by the appearance of a book or a person or a circumstance from whom he receives the help needed at the time. In the case of the appearance of a person, this may or may not be his destined guru, but it will be someone sufficient for the moment. The point is that what is called the guru helps prepare the right conditions which allow the inner Presence to make itself felt or which let it do its gracious work. The real help comes from this Grace--from the aspirant's own spiritual being, from himself. Saswitha, the Dutch healer, once said that he used his patients' own healing energy in order to treat them. Where did this healing energy come from? It came from their own subtler bodies, that is, from themselves; but Saswitha created the necessary conditions which enabled it to be released--when he was successful.
— Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life > Chapter 5: Grace > # 40... Paul Brunton
Ascending to a higher level and studying the case of the aspirant on the Quest who by the practice of meditation deliberately brings about such moments of stillness, we see that he too opens a door to Grace. At this point it is necessary to clear away some confusion which often makes its appearance in spiritual literature and most especially in Indian literature. There we find an insistent and reiterated declaration of the absolute necessity of finding a guru so that by his Grace the aspirant may be helped towards enlightenment. When I say Indian literature I mean of course Indian Hindu literature, because in the Buddhist literature this insistence is generally absent and the aspirant is told to do the necessary work and he will get the natural result. The aspirant who has silently called for help may find that his call is answered by the appearance of a book or a person or a circumstance from whom he receives the help needed at the time. In the case of the appearance of a person, this may or may not be his destined guru, but it will be someone sufficient for the moment. The point is that what is called the guru helps prepare the right conditions which allow the inner Presence to make itself felt or which let it do its gracious work. The real help comes from this Grace--from the aspirant's own spiritual being, from himself. Saswitha, the Dutch healer, once said that he used his patients' own healing energy in order to treat them. Where did this healing energy come from? It came from their own subtler bodies, that is, from themselves; but Saswitha created the necessary conditions which enabled it to be released--when he was successful.
— Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life > Chapter 5: Grace > # 40... Paul Brunton
Penetrating the Mind...
If he could penetrate into the so-called unconscious levels of his mind, he might find, to his utter amazement, that his enemies, critics, or domestic thorns-in-the-flesh are the very answer to his prayer for Grace. They fully become so, however, only when he recognizes them as such, when he perceives what duty or what self-discipline they give him the chance to practise.
— Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life > Chapter 5: Grace > # 245... Paul Brunton
— Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life > Chapter 5: Grace > # 245... Paul Brunton
Suzanne Segal quotes...
"It's the same with all the thoughts and feelings and other experiences that arise in the ocean of ourselves. The ocean never resists them, it never creates a negative reference point saying "Damn , that seaweed is still there. There must be something terribly wrong with me". When they arise, the ocean just sees them for what they are and they pass away naturally."
"These eyes see the incredible benevolence of the universe, which is completely trustworthy in all respects. There is nothing to fear. Everything in each moment is so well taken care of - and always has been."
"Behind most spiritual practices is the belief that you have to get someplace you're not- a destination called realization or enlightenment. But realization isn't someplace else; it's the naturally occurring human state. It doesn't belong to anybody. It's who we all are. Spiritual practices also set up many pictures of what this state looks like. For example, when I described how much fear was present, people told me the fear meant that something must be wrong, because fear was an indication that I wasn't in the proper state. But fear is just what it is, and it's there too in the vastness of who we are."
"Suffering occurs when something is taken for what it's not , rather than for what it is."
~ Suzanne Segal
from: Collision with the Infinite
"These eyes see the incredible benevolence of the universe, which is completely trustworthy in all respects. There is nothing to fear. Everything in each moment is so well taken care of - and always has been."
"Behind most spiritual practices is the belief that you have to get someplace you're not- a destination called realization or enlightenment. But realization isn't someplace else; it's the naturally occurring human state. It doesn't belong to anybody. It's who we all are. Spiritual practices also set up many pictures of what this state looks like. For example, when I described how much fear was present, people told me the fear meant that something must be wrong, because fear was an indication that I wasn't in the proper state. But fear is just what it is, and it's there too in the vastness of who we are."
"Suffering occurs when something is taken for what it's not , rather than for what it is."
~ Suzanne Segal
from: Collision with the Infinite
Worship by Vernon Howard...
'False worship exists where there is division, that is, where there
is a worshipper and whoever is worshipped. This worship enables the
worshipper to cling to his illusion of having an ego apart from the
Whole. He wrongly believes there is a self and the object of his
worship. This is both vanity and idolatry, for the worshipper is
simply praising his own personal ideas about the object of his
worship. In true worship, there is only Oneness, so even the word
worship has no significance.'"
There is a Way Out, p. 167
Vernon is speaking of the problem that most humans have with their
conception of Self, It is the notion of Duality, the belief that we are
separate from God and from each other.. this is the belief in the false
ego...............namaste, thomas
is a worshipper and whoever is worshipped. This worship enables the
worshipper to cling to his illusion of having an ego apart from the
Whole. He wrongly believes there is a self and the object of his
worship. This is both vanity and idolatry, for the worshipper is
simply praising his own personal ideas about the object of his
worship. In true worship, there is only Oneness, so even the word
worship has no significance.'"
There is a Way Out, p. 167
Vernon is speaking of the problem that most humans have with their
conception of Self, It is the notion of Duality, the belief that we are
separate from God and from each other.. this is the belief in the false
ego...............namaste, thomas
Samadhi...
"One day I saw that, through samadhi, my mind was going up by a
luminous path. Going beyond the gross world studded with the sun,
the moon and the stars, it entered first of all into the subtle
world of ideas. The more it began to ascend to subtler and subtler
strata of that realm, the more did I see beautiful ideal forms of
deities existing on both sides of the path. It came gradually to the
last extremity of that region. I saw a barrier of light there
separating the realm of the divisible from that of the indivisible.
Leaping over it, the mind entered by degrees the realm of the
indivisible. I saw that there was no more any person or thing there
having a form. As if afraid to enter there, even the gods and
goddesses possessing heavenly bodies exercised their authority only
over realms far below. But the very next moment I saw seven wise
rishis having bodies consisting of divine light only, seated there
in samadhi. I felt that in virtue and knowledge, love and
renunciation, they had excelled even the gods and goddesses, not to
speak of human beings. Astonished, I was pondering over their
greatness when I saw before me that a part of the homogeneous mass
of light of the 'Abode of the Indivisible', devoid of the slightest
tinge of difference, became solidified and converted into the form
of a divine child." - Sri Ramakrishna
luminous path. Going beyond the gross world studded with the sun,
the moon and the stars, it entered first of all into the subtle
world of ideas. The more it began to ascend to subtler and subtler
strata of that realm, the more did I see beautiful ideal forms of
deities existing on both sides of the path. It came gradually to the
last extremity of that region. I saw a barrier of light there
separating the realm of the divisible from that of the indivisible.
Leaping over it, the mind entered by degrees the realm of the
indivisible. I saw that there was no more any person or thing there
having a form. As if afraid to enter there, even the gods and
goddesses possessing heavenly bodies exercised their authority only
over realms far below. But the very next moment I saw seven wise
rishis having bodies consisting of divine light only, seated there
in samadhi. I felt that in virtue and knowledge, love and
renunciation, they had excelled even the gods and goddesses, not to
speak of human beings. Astonished, I was pondering over their
greatness when I saw before me that a part of the homogeneous mass
of light of the 'Abode of the Indivisible', devoid of the slightest
tinge of difference, became solidified and converted into the form
of a divine child." - Sri Ramakrishna
Three Croaks...
"One day as I was passing the Panchavati on my way to the pine-
grove, I heard a bullfrog croaking. I thought it must have been
seized by a snake. After some time, as I was coming back, I could
still hear its terrified croaking. I looked to see what was the
matter, and found that a water-snake had seized it. The snake could
neither swallow it nor give it up. So there was no end to the frog's
suffering. I thought that had it been seized by a cobra it would
have been silenced after three croaks at the most. As it was only a
water-snake, both of them had to go through this agony. A man's ego
is destroyed after three croaks, as it were, if he gets into the
clutches of a real teacher. But if the teacher is an 'unripe' one,
then both the teacher and the disciple undergo endless suffering.
The disciple cannot get rid either of his ego or of the shackles of
the world. If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent
teacher, he doesn't attain liberation." - Sri Ramakrishna
grove, I heard a bullfrog croaking. I thought it must have been
seized by a snake. After some time, as I was coming back, I could
still hear its terrified croaking. I looked to see what was the
matter, and found that a water-snake had seized it. The snake could
neither swallow it nor give it up. So there was no end to the frog's
suffering. I thought that had it been seized by a cobra it would
have been silenced after three croaks at the most. As it was only a
water-snake, both of them had to go through this agony. A man's ego
is destroyed after three croaks, as it were, if he gets into the
clutches of a real teacher. But if the teacher is an 'unripe' one,
then both the teacher and the disciple undergo endless suffering.
The disciple cannot get rid either of his ego or of the shackles of
the world. If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent
teacher, he doesn't attain liberation." - Sri Ramakrishna
ONE...
"There is only one Life, one World; and this one Life, this one World,
appears to us to be manifold. This manifoldness is like a dream. When
you dream, one dream passes away and another comes. None of your
dreams are real. The dreams come one after another; scene after scene
unfolds before you. So it is in this world of ninety per cent misery
and ten per cent happiness. Perhaps after a while it will appear as
ninety per cent happiness, and we shall call it heaven. But a time
comes to the sage when the whole thing vanishes and this world appears
as God Himself, and his own soul as that God. It is not true that
there are many worlds; it is not true that there are many lives. All
this manifoldness is the manifestation of that One. That One is
manifesting Himself as many - as matter, spirit, mind, thought, and
everything else. Therefore the first step for us to take is to teach
the truth to ourselves and to others. Let the world resound with this
ideal and let superstitions vanish. Tell it to men who are weak, and
persist in telling it."
"Everything that makes for oneness is truth. Love is truth and hatred
is falsehood, because hatred makes for multiplicity.".........Vivekananda
appears to us to be manifold. This manifoldness is like a dream. When
you dream, one dream passes away and another comes. None of your
dreams are real. The dreams come one after another; scene after scene
unfolds before you. So it is in this world of ninety per cent misery
and ten per cent happiness. Perhaps after a while it will appear as
ninety per cent happiness, and we shall call it heaven. But a time
comes to the sage when the whole thing vanishes and this world appears
as God Himself, and his own soul as that God. It is not true that
there are many worlds; it is not true that there are many lives. All
this manifoldness is the manifestation of that One. That One is
manifesting Himself as many - as matter, spirit, mind, thought, and
everything else. Therefore the first step for us to take is to teach
the truth to ourselves and to others. Let the world resound with this
ideal and let superstitions vanish. Tell it to men who are weak, and
persist in telling it."
"Everything that makes for oneness is truth. Love is truth and hatred
is falsehood, because hatred makes for multiplicity.".........Vivekananda
Exploration...
To explore means to examine and learn, therefore, we must learn that
matter is really an illusion that was created by thought. we as
explorers created this illusion of solid masses including the bodies
that we use in this illusion as a vehicle to explore the feelings and
creations that we have caused.. We are a part of the Mind called God,
therefore, we have the same creative abilities of this
Consciousness.............namaste, thomas
matter is really an illusion that was created by thought. we as
explorers created this illusion of solid masses including the bodies
that we use in this illusion as a vehicle to explore the feelings and
creations that we have caused.. We are a part of the Mind called God,
therefore, we have the same creative abilities of this
Consciousness.............namaste, thomas
The World...
The World exists because we believe that it does..It is a soup of
atoms that we form into objects that we call matter, which is just
something that our limited senses can see and feel...This power of
belief is how Jesus changed water into wine..........namaste, thomas
atoms that we form into objects that we call matter, which is just
something that our limited senses can see and feel...This power of
belief is how Jesus changed water into wine..........namaste, thomas
Truth is Salvation...
Truth is our only salvation, the final truth that in essence as Mind
nobody is really disconnected from God, that the delusion of being
alone and separate from the infinite life creates all our weaknesses,
which in turn lead to most of our troubles, and that we are here to
learn by experience what sort of stuff we are made really of.
.............Paul Brunton
nobody is really disconnected from God, that the delusion of being
alone and separate from the infinite life creates all our weaknesses,
which in turn lead to most of our troubles, and that we are here to
learn by experience what sort of stuff we are made really of.
.............Paul Brunton
Quantum Physics...
The scientist Werner Heisenberg was one of the founders of quantum
> Physics, that is, of the study of dynamical laws that govern the
> microcosmos. This great discovery represented a strong shock for
> Heisenberg with respect to the 'reality' of the physical world.
> Heisenberg had to accept that things are up to us measuring them,
in
> other words, it is necessary that an observer interacts with a
system
> in order for the system to acquire reality.
>
> What is stated above is totally compatible with the teachings of
> Emptyness (in Buddhism) and Maya (in Hinduism), in which the world
of
> phenomena lacks its own integrity because it is just a mental
> construction; so, if there is no mind then there is no world.
Albert
> Einstein disagreed with this interpretation. He always insisted on
> the idea that Nature has its own reality, independent of any
> observer. In 1939 Rabindranath Tagore talked to Einstein in New
York
> and tried to explain to him that the world depends on the human
> factor, that the beauty and the truth are not independent of the
> human being; but Einstein never changed his concept about the
reality
> of the Universe.
>
> We would like to mention Heisenberg's second shock:
>
> In the Yoga International magazine (Vol. 3, No. 6, 1994) it was
> published that Prof. Heisenberg had a spontaneous experience of
> kevala samadhi, which was also confimed by Paul Brunton and Paul
> Cash. It is not surprising that Prof. C.F. von Weizsäcker (we may
> remember that this important german scientist had, in the 1950's,
a
> deep inner experience during his visit to Ramanasramam at
> Tiruvannamalai) and Heisenberg had invited several yogis to
Germany,
> for example, Gopi Krishna, who explained them how to awake the
> kundalini shakti. In chapter 14, entitled "An experience in the
> Cosmic Consciousness" from the book "Autobiography of a Yogi", by
> Yogananda Paramahansa, you can find a beautiful poem in which is
> described the mystical experience of Samadhi.
>
> The essential point is that in kevala samadhi the mind is turned
off
> and the physical world disappears with its conceptions of space
and
> time, the universe is perceived as an illusion without intrinsic
> reality, the ego is dissolved revealing the Oneness of Creation
and
> the existence of the Cosmic Mind. When somebody experiences
samadhi
> even only once, a deep internal transformation results that
> annihilates all patterns of "reality" of the world. Thus, it is
not
> difficult to imagine the impact that the great experience of
kevala
> samadhi had on Heisenberg. Surely this experience reinforced his
> concept of 'reality' that he introduced in the 1920's as the
> fundament of quantum Physics.
>
> Samadhi is a state which anyone describes in very personal terms,
so
> we are now trying to find some writings in which Heisenberg
himself
> narrated his own mystical experience. This would be very basic for
> the establishing a close connection between science and
> spirituality............from
>
http://blog.hasslberger.com/2007/04/science_and_spirituality_heise
> Physics, that is, of the study of dynamical laws that govern the
> microcosmos. This great discovery represented a strong shock for
> Heisenberg with respect to the 'reality' of the physical world.
> Heisenberg had to accept that things are up to us measuring them,
in
> other words, it is necessary that an observer interacts with a
system
> in order for the system to acquire reality.
>
> What is stated above is totally compatible with the teachings of
> Emptyness (in Buddhism) and Maya (in Hinduism), in which the world
of
> phenomena lacks its own integrity because it is just a mental
> construction; so, if there is no mind then there is no world.
Albert
> Einstein disagreed with this interpretation. He always insisted on
> the idea that Nature has its own reality, independent of any
> observer. In 1939 Rabindranath Tagore talked to Einstein in New
York
> and tried to explain to him that the world depends on the human
> factor, that the beauty and the truth are not independent of the
> human being; but Einstein never changed his concept about the
reality
> of the Universe.
>
> We would like to mention Heisenberg's second shock:
>
> In the Yoga International magazine (Vol. 3, No. 6, 1994) it was
> published that Prof. Heisenberg had a spontaneous experience of
> kevala samadhi, which was also confimed by Paul Brunton and Paul
> Cash. It is not surprising that Prof. C.F. von Weizsäcker (we may
> remember that this important german scientist had, in the 1950's,
a
> deep inner experience during his visit to Ramanasramam at
> Tiruvannamalai) and Heisenberg had invited several yogis to
Germany,
> for example, Gopi Krishna, who explained them how to awake the
> kundalini shakti. In chapter 14, entitled "An experience in the
> Cosmic Consciousness" from the book "Autobiography of a Yogi", by
> Yogananda Paramahansa, you can find a beautiful poem in which is
> described the mystical experience of Samadhi.
>
> The essential point is that in kevala samadhi the mind is turned
off
> and the physical world disappears with its conceptions of space
and
> time, the universe is perceived as an illusion without intrinsic
> reality, the ego is dissolved revealing the Oneness of Creation
and
> the existence of the Cosmic Mind. When somebody experiences
samadhi
> even only once, a deep internal transformation results that
> annihilates all patterns of "reality" of the world. Thus, it is
not
> difficult to imagine the impact that the great experience of
kevala
> samadhi had on Heisenberg. Surely this experience reinforced his
> concept of 'reality' that he introduced in the 1920's as the
> fundament of quantum Physics.
>
> Samadhi is a state which anyone describes in very personal terms,
so
> we are now trying to find some writings in which Heisenberg
himself
> narrated his own mystical experience. This would be very basic for
> the establishing a close connection between science and
> spirituality............from
>
http://blog.hasslberger.com/2007/04/science_and_spirituality_heise
Contemplation...
There, in the deepest state of contemplation, the awareness of a second
thing--whether this be the world of objects outside or the world of
thoughts inside--vanishes. But unconsciousness does not follow. What is
left over is a continuous static impersonal and unchanging
consciousness. This is the inmost being of man. This is the supreme
Self, dwelling within itself alone. Its stillness transcends the
activity of thinking, of the knowing which distinguishes one thing from
another. It is incommunicable then, inexplicable later. But after a
while from this high level the meditator must descend, returning to his
human condition. He has come as close in the contact with the Great
Being, the most refined ultimate Godhead, as is posssible. Let him be
grateful. Let him not ask for more for he cannot know or experience
more. This is as far as any man can go, for "Thou shalt not see God and
live."
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 293.........Paul Brunton
thing--whether this be the world of objects outside or the world of
thoughts inside--vanishes. But unconsciousness does not follow. What is
left over is a continuous static impersonal and unchanging
consciousness. This is the inmost being of man. This is the supreme
Self, dwelling within itself alone. Its stillness transcends the
activity of thinking, of the knowing which distinguishes one thing from
another. It is incommunicable then, inexplicable later. But after a
while from this high level the meditator must descend, returning to his
human condition. He has come as close in the contact with the Great
Being, the most refined ultimate Godhead, as is posssible. Let him be
grateful. Let him not ask for more for he cannot know or experience
more. This is as far as any man can go, for "Thou shalt not see God and
live."
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 293.........Paul Brunton
Being Present..
Being Present is to be free of thoughts about the past or future. You
are focused on what's happening now. Your feelings are calm. Your
reflexes are fast. Your wit is quick. You are decisive. You know what
you want. You know what's right for you. You perform your best -
public speaking, sports, music. Your confidence is deep. You know
you're not perfect so you are forgiving of your weaknesses.
Your memory is strong when you are in the present. You can recall
times you were fully present because they are very clear in your
memory. All of you was in the "here and now" - in a first love, on a
great vacation, with a trusted friend. Most people rely on external
situations in which they feel safe, in order to be present. You are
truly capable of living in the present when you feel safe even in
difficult, stressful, anxious situations - when people criticize you,
when you make dumb mistakes, when you are in financial or lovelife
crises.
Answers "pop" into your mind. Most of us are quite present when we
first wake up. We "sleep" on our challenges. Then we wake up and we
simply "know" what's right for us. This is our spirituality speaking
to us. Then we move forward in confidence.
A racing mind is evidence of a poor ability to be present. This
condition disconnects us from our inner knowing. We experience inner
conflict and second-guessing - struggling to be true to ourselves,
yet afraid others will hurt us if we do. Accidents happen more often,
and people we love feel unloved by us, because we're 'absent'.
Being present is the time frame of your mind. There are only three
time frames possible - past, present and future. Once you become
aware of the thoughts you are having and the content of those
thoughts, you will notice which timeframe you are in at any given
time. You will begin to notice how often your thoughts and feelings
are focused on the past or the future. Many people spend less than 1%
of their time living in the present.
Being present is a holistic experience. Your mind, body, heart and
soul are all unified in that one moment. Time slows down. You are
connecting with the eternal force of the universe. In fact, the
definition of eternity is the present moment. It has never NOT been
the present moment, just as God has never not existed.
Being present happens when you stop comparing ('judging') the present
moment to past experiences or future expectations. The result of this
is a feeling of love and inner peace. Regardless of what other people
are doing or what situation you are facing, you are centered and
calm. No one can do this all the time. The goal of being present is
to be able to move towards being at peace inside even when your life
is full of unwelcome conflicts and crises............from The Enlightenment Chapel
are focused on what's happening now. Your feelings are calm. Your
reflexes are fast. Your wit is quick. You are decisive. You know what
you want. You know what's right for you. You perform your best -
public speaking, sports, music. Your confidence is deep. You know
you're not perfect so you are forgiving of your weaknesses.
Your memory is strong when you are in the present. You can recall
times you were fully present because they are very clear in your
memory. All of you was in the "here and now" - in a first love, on a
great vacation, with a trusted friend. Most people rely on external
situations in which they feel safe, in order to be present. You are
truly capable of living in the present when you feel safe even in
difficult, stressful, anxious situations - when people criticize you,
when you make dumb mistakes, when you are in financial or lovelife
crises.
Answers "pop" into your mind. Most of us are quite present when we
first wake up. We "sleep" on our challenges. Then we wake up and we
simply "know" what's right for us. This is our spirituality speaking
to us. Then we move forward in confidence.
A racing mind is evidence of a poor ability to be present. This
condition disconnects us from our inner knowing. We experience inner
conflict and second-guessing - struggling to be true to ourselves,
yet afraid others will hurt us if we do. Accidents happen more often,
and people we love feel unloved by us, because we're 'absent'.
Being present is the time frame of your mind. There are only three
time frames possible - past, present and future. Once you become
aware of the thoughts you are having and the content of those
thoughts, you will notice which timeframe you are in at any given
time. You will begin to notice how often your thoughts and feelings
are focused on the past or the future. Many people spend less than 1%
of their time living in the present.
Being present is a holistic experience. Your mind, body, heart and
soul are all unified in that one moment. Time slows down. You are
connecting with the eternal force of the universe. In fact, the
definition of eternity is the present moment. It has never NOT been
the present moment, just as God has never not existed.
Being present happens when you stop comparing ('judging') the present
moment to past experiences or future expectations. The result of this
is a feeling of love and inner peace. Regardless of what other people
are doing or what situation you are facing, you are centered and
calm. No one can do this all the time. The goal of being present is
to be able to move towards being at peace inside even when your life
is full of unwelcome conflicts and crises............from The Enlightenment Chapel
Fourth-Dimensional Consciousness...
When the fourth-dimensional consciousness is attained, even in a measure, life begins to flow more by Grace than by effort. Things come more easily and more abundantly than ever before, because with illumination comes the realization that the "I" of us, individualized as our consciousness, embraces infinity, and good flows forth from our consciousness into visible expression. The more we abide in the truth, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of," the more we bring infinity into expression.
The only way we can arrive at a state of complete Self-reliance is to attain such a measure of the fourth-dimensional consciousness that we are content to know, "I and the Father are one, and all that the Father has is mine," and then close our eyes to the outside world. There has to be this inner conviction: "If there were not a soul in the world, I and my Father are still one. If I were a million miles from civilization, I and my Father are still one, and my unfoldment must come to me from within." As we abide in that, we are free of dependence on "man, whose breath is in his nostrils."
We will never be free of needing money, companionship, or a home until we reach the stage of illumination in which we have no desire for any of those things because they are all in-built, all included in the consciousness which we are.
"I live by the Spirit of God, not by external things, thoughts, or persons, but by the Spirit of God."
~ Joel S. Goldsmith, A Parenthesis In Eternity
The only way we can arrive at a state of complete Self-reliance is to attain such a measure of the fourth-dimensional consciousness that we are content to know, "I and the Father are one, and all that the Father has is mine," and then close our eyes to the outside world. There has to be this inner conviction: "If there were not a soul in the world, I and my Father are still one. If I were a million miles from civilization, I and my Father are still one, and my unfoldment must come to me from within." As we abide in that, we are free of dependence on "man, whose breath is in his nostrils."
We will never be free of needing money, companionship, or a home until we reach the stage of illumination in which we have no desire for any of those things because they are all in-built, all included in the consciousness which we are.
"I live by the Spirit of God, not by external things, thoughts, or persons, but by the Spirit of God."
~ Joel S. Goldsmith, A Parenthesis In Eternity
Meditation..
He will understand the real spirit of meditation when he
understands that he has to do nothing at all, just to sit still
physically, mentally, and emotionally. For the moment he attempts to
do anything, he intrudes his ego. By sitting inwardly and outwardly
still, he surrenders egoistic action and thereby implies that he is
willing to surrender his little self to his Overself. He shows that he
is willing to step aside and let himself be worked upon, acted
through, and guided by a higher power.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 238.... Paul Brunton
understands that he has to do nothing at all, just to sit still
physically, mentally, and emotionally. For the moment he attempts to
do anything, he intrudes his ego. By sitting inwardly and outwardly
still, he surrenders egoistic action and thereby implies that he is
willing to surrender his little self to his Overself. He shows that he
is willing to step aside and let himself be worked upon, acted
through, and guided by a higher power.
— Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7:
Contemplative Stillness > # 238.... Paul Brunton
Divine Self...
Wang Yang-ming's disciples often remarked, "The streets are full of enlightened men!" By this they reiterated their Master's teaching that all men have the possibility of attaining enlightenment because all have the divine self hidden under their egoism..............Paul Brunton
Marriage...
For a marriage to succeed and prosper,
each person must love the other more than they love themselves..
Therefore, Love is really a state of Non-Ego.. this is why Love is the
tenet of the teaching of Jesus, because it was the easiest way that He
could teach the Path of disolving of the Ego............namaste, thomas
each person must love the other more than they love themselves..
Therefore, Love is really a state of Non-Ego.. this is why Love is the
tenet of the teaching of Jesus, because it was the easiest way that He
could teach the Path of disolving of the Ego............namaste, thomas
Inner Vision...
When the Master asked, "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?" he was referring to an inner vision, an inner hearing, which we call spiritual discernment or Christ-consciousness. Only the Christ can recognize the Christ, and when we understand this, we will never look at a human form and declare, You are well! You are healthy! You are young! You are spiritual!" We would never do that, but if we could look through the appearance to the Christ of God, the Christ ever-present, although not apparent to our human eyesight, we would be able to break the mesmerism that looks at the body with the mind and believes the evidence of what it sees, hears, tastes, touches, and smells; and in breaking the mesmerism, we would be able, through our inner discernment, to behold the spiritual nature of a dying or a sinful person.
We are looking through the appearance with inner discernment and there beholding the invisible, spiritual child of God who was never born and will never die, eternal right here on earth.
Miracles can be performed by the person who does not try to heal disease and who understands that he is but the instrument of God, that God constitutes individual being, and that any appearance to the contrary is illusory, a picture in the mind, without spiritual substance, spiritual cause, spiritual law, and without spiritual entity or identity~ maya, illusion.
On the spiritual path, we do not try to change the external world; we do not try to change our friends and relatives~ their temperaments, their dispositions, or their health~ but we recognize that the very omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience of God within our own being make it impossible for sin, disease, death, lack, and limitation to exist as externalized reality. These can exist only in the mortal dream which consists of the belief in two powers. As that belief in two powers is surrendered, so is the dream punctured.
~ Joel S. Goldsmith, A Parenthesis In Eternity
We are looking through the appearance with inner discernment and there beholding the invisible, spiritual child of God who was never born and will never die, eternal right here on earth.
Miracles can be performed by the person who does not try to heal disease and who understands that he is but the instrument of God, that God constitutes individual being, and that any appearance to the contrary is illusory, a picture in the mind, without spiritual substance, spiritual cause, spiritual law, and without spiritual entity or identity~ maya, illusion.
On the spiritual path, we do not try to change the external world; we do not try to change our friends and relatives~ their temperaments, their dispositions, or their health~ but we recognize that the very omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience of God within our own being make it impossible for sin, disease, death, lack, and limitation to exist as externalized reality. These can exist only in the mortal dream which consists of the belief in two powers. As that belief in two powers is surrendered, so is the dream punctured.
~ Joel S. Goldsmith, A Parenthesis In Eternity
Bhagavad Gita..
Persons, whose mind and intellect are totally merged in the Supreme Being, who are firmly devoted to the Supreme, who have God as their supreme goal and sole refuge, and whose impurities are destroyed by the knowledge of the self, do not take birth again. (5.17)
Bhagavad Gita..
A Karma-yogi attains Supreme Bliss by abandoning attachment to the fruits of work; while others, who are attached to the fruits of work, become bound by selfish work. (5.12)
Jesus and the twelve at prayer in Olivet. Jesus reveals to his disciples the deeper meanings of secret doctrines.
THE morning of the Wednesday of the week was come, and Jesus with the twelve went out to Olivet to pray; and they were lost in prayer for seven hours. 2 Then Jeus called the twelve close to his side and said, This day the curtain parts and we will step beyond the veil into the secret courts of God. 3 And Jesus opened up to them the meaning of the hidden way, and of the Holy Breath, and of the light that cannot fail. 4 He told them all about the Book of Life, the Rolls of Graphael, the Book of God's Remembrance where all the thoughts and words of men are written down. 5 He did not speak aloud to them; he told the secrets of the masters in an undertone, and when he spoke the name of God there was a silence inthe courts of heaven for half an hour, for angels spoke with bated breath. 6 And Jesus said, These things may not be spoken out aloud; they never may be written down; they are the messages of Silenceland; they are the Breathings of the inner heart of God. 7 And then the master taught the twelve the lessons they should teach to other men. He sometimes taught in parables; he said, 8 You call to mind the words of yesterday about the coming of the son of man. Now, you shall teach to other men what I have spoken and am speaking unto you; 9 Teach them to pray and not to faint; to be prepared at every moment of the day, for when they least expect him, then the Lord will come. 10 A man went to a distant land and left his house and all his wealth in care of servants; five to guard his house and five to guard his barns and herds. 11 The servants waited long for his return, but he came not, and they grew careless in their work; some spent their time in revellings and drunkenness, and some slept at their posts. 12 And night by night the robbers came and carried off the wealth from house and barn, and drove away the choicest of the herds. 13 And when they knew that much of all the wealth that they were left to guard had been purloined, they said, 14 We cannot be to blame; if we had known the day and hour when our lord would come again we would have guarded well his wealth, and suffered not the thieves to carry it away; he surely is at fault because he told us not. 15 But after many days the lord returned, and when he knew that thieves had robbed him of his wealth, he called his servants and he said to them, 16 Because you have neglected what was given you to do, have spent your time in revellings and sleep, behold you all are debtors unto me. 17 What I have lost by your neglect, you owe to me. And then he gave them heavy tasks to do, and bound them to their posts with chains, where they remained till they had paid for all the goods their lord had lost through their neglect. 18 Another man locked up his wealth and went to sleep, and in the night time robbers came, unlocked his doors, and when they saw no guard, they entered in and carried off his wealth. 19 And when the man awoke and found his doors ajar and all his treasures gone, he said, If I had known the hour when the thieves would come I would have been on guard. 20 Beware, my friends, beware! and be prepared at every hour, and if your Lord shall come at midnight or at dawn, it matters not, for he will find you ready to receive. 21 And then, behold, a marraige was announced, and virgins, ten of them, were set apart to meet the bridegroom when he came. 22 The virgins clothed themselves in proper garbs, and took their lamps and sat in waiting for the watch to say, Behold, the bridegroom comes! 23 Now, five were wise; they filled their lamps with oil; and five were foolish, for they carried empty lamps. 24 The groom came not at the expected time; the virgins were a-weary with their watch and slept. 25 At midnight came the cry, Behold, the bridegroom comes! 26 The virgins rose; the wise ones quickly trimmed their lamps and went forth ready to receive the groom. 27 The foolish virgins said, We have no oil, our lamps burn not. 28 They sought to borrow from the wise, who said, We have no oil to spare; Go to the merchant men and buy and fill your lamps and then come forth to meet the groom. 29 But while they went to purchase oil, the bridegroom came; the virgins who were ready with their lamps all trimmed went with him to the marraige feast. 30 And when the foolish virgins came the door was shut, and though they knocked and called aloud, the door was opened not. 31 The master of the feast exclaimed, I know you not! and in disgrace the virgins went their way. 32 Again I say to you, and you shall say to them who follow you, 33 Be ready every moment of the day and night, because when you expect him not, the Lord will come. 34 Behold, when he will come with all his messengers of light, the Book of Life, and that of Records, shall be opened up-- the books in which the thought and words and deeds are written down. 35 And every one can read the records he has written for himself, and he will know his doom before the judge shall speak, and this will be the sifting time. 36 According to their records men will find their own. 37 The judge is Righteousness, the king of all the earth, and he will separate the multitudes as shepherds separate the sheep and goats. 38 The sheep will find their places on the right, the goats upon the left, and every man will know his place. 39 And then the judge will say, to those upon the right, You blessed of the Father- God, come unto your inheritance, which was prepared for you from times of old. 40 You have been servants of the race; and I was hungry and you gave me bread; was thirsty and you gave me drink; was naked and you gave me clothes; 41 Was sick, you ministered to me; and was in prison and you came to me with words of cheer; I was a stranger and in your homes I found a home. 42 Then will the righteous say, When did we see you hungry, thirsty, sick, imprisoned or a stranger at our gates and ministered to you? 43 And then the judge will say, You served the sons of men, and whatsoever you have done for these, that you have done for me. 44 The judge will say to those upon the left, Depart from me; you have not served the sons of men. 45 I was hungry and you gave me naught to eat; was thirsty and you gave me naught to drink; I was a stranger and you drove me from your door; I was imprisoned and was sick, you did not minister to me. 46 Then these will say, When did we thus neglect to care for you? When did we see you hungry, thirsty, sick, a stranger or in prison and did not minister to you? 47 And then the judge will say, Your life is full of self; you served the self and not your fellow man, and when you slighted one of these, you slighted and neglected me. 48 Then will the righteous have the kingdom and theb power, and they who are unrighteous shall go forth to pay their debts, to suffer all that men have suffered at their hands. 49 They who have ears to hear and hearts to understand will comprehend these parables. 50 When he had finished all these parables he said, You know that in two days the great passover feast will come, and lo, the son of man will be betrayed into the hands of wicked men. 51 And he will give his life upon the cross, and men will know that he, the son of man, is son of God. 52 Then Jesus and the twelve returned to Bethany.........from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi
Seeking Enlightenment..
What or who is seeking enlightenment? It cannot be the higher Self, for that is itself of the nature of Light. There then only remains the ego! This ego, the object of so many denunciations and denigrations, is the being that, transformed, will win truth and find Reality even though it must surrender itself utterly in the end as the price to be paid..... Paul Brunton
ISLAMIC SCHOLARS' VIEWS OF THE "TRUTH Of Matter
What is really explained by saying, "Matter is an illusion" is that
the only absolute being is God. Grasping this fact is very important
in terms of having true faith in God. For this reason, many Islamic
scholars in history have also drawn attention to this fact and
stressed that all the material world was created on the level of
senses and perceptions.
The most important of those Islamic scholars who explained the
true nature of matter was Imam Rabbani, who has been widely respected
in the Islamic world for hundreds of years and is seen as "the
greatest reformer of the 10th century according to the Muslim
calendar." In his book Letters, Imam Rabbani provides a detailed
commentary on this very subject. In one of his letters, Imam Rabbani
says that God created the entire universe at the level of perception:
… The Glorious God assigned an appearance from all appearances
for names from all names in the sphere of non-existence with his
Perfect Might. And He created it at the sphere of sensations and
perceptions. At the time He willed and in the way He willed … The
constancy of the world is not at the exterior level but at the level
of sensations and perceptions … Even in the exterior level, there is
nothing permanent and existing other than the being and attributes of
Almighty God...1
In another letter, Imam Rabbani once again stresses that all
that exists is created only at the level of senses and perceptions:
I have used the following sentence above, "God's creation is at the
level of senses and perceptions." This means "God's creation is at
such a level that at that level, there is no permanency or existence
of objects apart from senses and perceptions.2
On close examination, Imam Rabbani is careful to emphasize that
the world we see, in other words all that exists, has been created on
the level of perception. All that exists outside this level of
perception is the Existence of God. Actually, this concept
of "outside" is a hypothetical one, because a perception has no body,
and no volume. Imam Rabbani explains that things (in other words,
matter) have no existence on the outside:
Nothing but God exists on the outside… Perhaps all of Almighty
God's creation finds constancy on the level of perception… In the
same way that matter has no existence in the outside world, it
appears on the outside in a colorless form… If it does have a fixed
appearance, that is again only on the perceptual level. It only has
permanency thanks to God's artistry on that one level. In short, it
only has permanency and appearance on one level. It does not have
existence on one plane and appearance on another… It contains no sign
on the outside that might allow it to be seen there…
the only absolute being is God. Grasping this fact is very important
in terms of having true faith in God. For this reason, many Islamic
scholars in history have also drawn attention to this fact and
stressed that all the material world was created on the level of
senses and perceptions.
The most important of those Islamic scholars who explained the
true nature of matter was Imam Rabbani, who has been widely respected
in the Islamic world for hundreds of years and is seen as "the
greatest reformer of the 10th century according to the Muslim
calendar." In his book Letters, Imam Rabbani provides a detailed
commentary on this very subject. In one of his letters, Imam Rabbani
says that God created the entire universe at the level of perception:
… The Glorious God assigned an appearance from all appearances
for names from all names in the sphere of non-existence with his
Perfect Might. And He created it at the sphere of sensations and
perceptions. At the time He willed and in the way He willed … The
constancy of the world is not at the exterior level but at the level
of sensations and perceptions … Even in the exterior level, there is
nothing permanent and existing other than the being and attributes of
Almighty God...1
In another letter, Imam Rabbani once again stresses that all
that exists is created only at the level of senses and perceptions:
I have used the following sentence above, "God's creation is at the
level of senses and perceptions." This means "God's creation is at
such a level that at that level, there is no permanency or existence
of objects apart from senses and perceptions.2
On close examination, Imam Rabbani is careful to emphasize that
the world we see, in other words all that exists, has been created on
the level of perception. All that exists outside this level of
perception is the Existence of God. Actually, this concept
of "outside" is a hypothetical one, because a perception has no body,
and no volume. Imam Rabbani explains that things (in other words,
matter) have no existence on the outside:
Nothing but God exists on the outside… Perhaps all of Almighty
God's creation finds constancy on the level of perception… In the
same way that matter has no existence in the outside world, it
appears on the outside in a colorless form… If it does have a fixed
appearance, that is again only on the perceptual level. It only has
permanency thanks to God's artistry on that one level. In short, it
only has permanency and appearance on one level. It does not have
existence on one plane and appearance on another… It contains no sign
on the outside that might allow it to be seen there…
Realization...
When he was dying, Heisenberg said to von Weizsäcker, "It is very easy:
I did not know this before." At another moment he said, "I see now that
physics is of no importance, that the world is illusion." He passed
away in peace.
I did not know this before." At another moment he said, "I see now that
physics is of no importance, that the world is illusion." He passed
away in peace.
Exploration...
To explore means to examine and learn, therefore, we must learn that
matter is really an illusion that was created by thought. we as
explorers created this illusion of solid masses including the bodies
that we use in this illusion as a vehicle to explore the feelings and
creations that we have caused.. We are a part of the Mind called God,
therefore, we have the same creative abilities of this
Consciousness.............namaste, thomas
matter is really an illusion that was created by thought. we as
explorers created this illusion of solid masses including the bodies
that we use in this illusion as a vehicle to explore the feelings and
creations that we have caused.. We are a part of the Mind called God,
therefore, we have the same creative abilities of this
Consciousness.............namaste, thomas
Freedom...
The beginning of freedom is the realization
that you are not the possessing entity - the
thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe
the entity. The moment you start watching the
thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes
activated.
You then being to realize that there is a vast realm
of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only
a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize
that all the things that truly matter - beauty, love,
creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the
mind.
You begin to awaken.
- Eckhart Tolle
from NonDuality Highlights
that you are not the possessing entity - the
thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe
the entity. The moment you start watching the
thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes
activated.
You then being to realize that there is a vast realm
of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only
a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize
that all the things that truly matter - beauty, love,
creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the
mind.
You begin to awaken.
- Eckhart Tolle
from NonDuality Highlights
Truth is Salvation...
Truth is our only salvation, the final truth that in essence as Mind
nobody is really disconnected from God, that the delusion of being
alone and separate from the infinite life creates all our weaknesses,
which in turn lead to most of our troubles, and that we are here to
learn by experience what sort of stuff we are made really of.
.............Paul Brunton
nobody is really disconnected from God, that the delusion of being
alone and separate from the infinite life creates all our weaknesses,
which in turn lead to most of our troubles, and that we are here to
learn by experience what sort of stuff we are made really of.
.............Paul Brunton
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