Omg, "eating bread" is just participating in something. It's the same as "inviting someone into your house." Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness. Boom! Christ sets a righteous example and a multitude participated. There's also the "bread of wickedness" and the "bread of anxious toil." Wine goes with bread, like Eucharist and "bread of wickedness and wine of violence" -- I think it has to do with water into wine. The meditations of the heart, the thoughts of the mind, are a deep wellspring of water. Christ is all about focusing on the interior: clean inner-cup, private prayer, heart is with treasure, adultery in heart, of course, kingdom. Christ knew that from the heart flows everything we do. He says clean the inside, and the outside will follow. Therefore, to drink the wine that was water is to engage with your own thoughts and the inner self to clean the inside of the cup. The bread, of course, is something that can be imitated (as, of course, we are instructed to do). Thus, bread is body (outside), as he demonstrated righteous behavior, and wine is blood (inside), as he preached introspective cleaning. Therefore, Eucharist is Christlike behavior, and inner maintainable to keep the heart pure. If the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, how important it is to look within! Otherwise, the inside of the cup is unclean, however praiseworthy our conduct. The heart is the inside of the cup which holds the Spirit. The outside of the cup is the body and behavior. But the subtlest transition from inside the cup to outside the cup is from thought to word. All we are and do flows from the inside, out. If my thoughts are unclean, I am made likely to slip and say (or do) something unclean. But clean thoughts will always lead to clean words and clean actions, etc. First and foremost is looking within. Seek the kingdom first, the kingdom is within. More important than food and clothing! But the eye is the lamp, and if it causes you to stray, pluck it out, or your heart will be on worldliness, filled with darkness, hell-bound. If anything is distracting you from seeking the Kingdom of Heaven within, cut it out of your life completely. The kingdom is more important than food, and no distraction is more important than an eye. But serve one master, God, who is in Heaven. If anything hinders you from seeking the kingdom within, get rid of it. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Like birds, we can eat what is given and leftover. Like lilies, we can wear only one set of peddles. Like the Son of Man, we can be nomads. The right hand is the inside. The left hand is the outside. That alone, aside from all the other teachings, illuminates how much more favorably Christ felt about the inside than the outside: the right hand is a position of honor. Though a left and right hand function together, they are two separate independent things. We can hold something in one and not the other. It is not right, for instance, to blurt out every little thing that comes to your mind. The reward of salvation by purification that comes from praying for those who persecute you, will not come if your motive is to be praised. I can attest to that one personally. We are either motivated by vanity (wanting to be seen) or sincerity (wanting to forgive). Vanity requires publicity. Sincerity is prone to privacy. We are condemned by our hearts. Thus we are forgiven as we forgive. By praying for our persecutors, we purify our hearts. By praying for our persecutors, we purify our hearts. We also purify our heart by loving enemies, hating family, and being without material concerns. But none of that will purify the heart if it isn't done in sincerity, if it isn't (also) done privately. If I pray for my persecutors in public, there's a good chance I only want to be thought of as Christlike. But if I do it only in private, there is no motive to do it at all if it isn't sincere. In sincerity is where the magic happens. It is by walking in the light that the blood washes away sin (eternal life), and anyone has hatred walks in darkness, and abides in death. Thus, those who persecute us must be forgiven for our own sake.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Not My Will, But Thine
The Nobleman who acts out of his own noble will, not for his own sake, but for the sake of others (especially if they are innocent), though it be in the name of Justice, still acts out of his own will, and this has not yet said in his heart: Thy Will Be Done.
title
If life is neither easy nor hard all I need is to start reaching farther deep in the dark till I'm feeling the stars.
breezing cross the top of my fingers keep on reaching and knock, even just tiny one off the wall, see it fall, even as jesus had already foreseen it all, breathe it all in, keep on till I sneeze and I cough,
leaveing a mark
all the teasing has got, me and all the thoughts that I keep locked deep in a vault
Seize them all up greedily squeezing
breezing cross the top of my fingers keep on reaching and knock, even just tiny one off the wall, see it fall, even as jesus had already foreseen it all, breathe it all in, keep on till I sneeze and I cough,
leaveing a mark
all the teasing has got, me and all the thoughts that I keep locked deep in a vault
Seize them all up greedily squeezing
title
Conduct (law/rule) only cleans the outside. But if the inside is still dirty, it will spill over anyway. It is natural for the inner dirtiness to come outward, because that is the direction the heart flows. So if by conduct, it cannot find it's natural expression, it will find another, unnattural expression, and will taint it's mode of expression in the process. Once only punching for justice and defense, if I punch in anger, the activity of punching becomes tainted, and now both fresh and salt water flow from the same spring. It also becomes more likely that anger will be expressed in through this new channel. It may end up that the only way to defend myself is to get angry. But anger is a poison. And now to save myself, I must harm myself.
But if the inside is clean the outside will be clean, if only unformed. Inner good flows into outer good, and only needs to be taught the proper form of expression. A grateful heart leads to expressions of gratitude and needs only to be instructed into the proper form of saying "Thank you." Moulding the form is easy. It is going with the grain.
The issue is how to cleans the inside.
But if the inside is clean the outside will be clean, if only unformed. Inner good flows into outer good, and only needs to be taught the proper form of expression. A grateful heart leads to expressions of gratitude and needs only to be instructed into the proper form of saying "Thank you." Moulding the form is easy. It is going with the grain.
The issue is how to cleans the inside.
Siddhartha 2
Let me warn you, you who are thirsty for knowledge, against the thicket of opinions and the conflict of words. Opinions mean nothing; they may be beautiful or ugly, clever or foolish, anyone can embrace or reject them.
From the moment I made that resolution I also knew that I would execute it. Listen, Kamala, when you throw a stone into the water, it finds the quickest way to the bottom of the water. It is the same when Siddhartha has an aim, a goal. Siddhartha does nothing; he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he goes through the affairs of the world like the stone though the water, without doing anything, without bestirring himself; he is drawn and lets himself fall. He is drawn by his goal, for he dos not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. This is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast.
Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better.
Once he said to her: "You are like me; you are different from other people. You are Kamala and no one else, and within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself, just as I can. Few people have that capacity and yet everyone could have it."
"Not all people are clever," said Kamala.
"It has nothing to do with that, Kamala," said Siddhartha. "Kamaswami is just as clever as I am and yet he has no sanctuary. Others have it who are only children in understanding. Most people, Kamala, are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path.
He was taught by her that one cannot have pleasure without giving it, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every single part of the body has its secret which can give pleasure to one who can understand. She taught him that lovers should not separate from each other after making love without admiring each other, without being conquered as well as conquering, so that no feeling of satiation or desolation arises nor the horrid feeling of misusing or have been misused.
He had learned this from the river: to wait, to have patience, to listen.
Above all he learned from it how to listen, to listen with a still heart, with a waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgement, without opinions.
Do you really think you have committed your follies in order to spare your son them?
Can you then protect your son from Samsara? How? Though instruction, though prayers, through exhortation?
My dear friend, have you forgotten that instructive story about Siddhartha, the Brahmin's son, which you once told me here? Who protected Siddhartha the Samana from Samsara, from sin, greed and folly?
Could his father's piety, his teacher's exhortations, his own knowledge, his own seeking, protect him? Which father, which teacher, could prevent him from living his own life, from soiling himself with life, from loading himself with sin, from swallowing the bitter drink himself, from finding his own path?
Do you think, my dear friend, that anybody is spared this path? Perhaps your little son, because you would like to see him spared sorrow and pain and disillusionment? But if you were to die ten times for him, you would not alter his destiny in the slightest.
There was a smile in Siddhartha's old eyes as he said:
"Do you call yourself a seeker, O venerable one, you who are already advanced in years and wear the robe of Gotama's monks?"
"I am indeed old," said Govinda, "but I have never ceased seeking. I will never cease seeking. That seems to be my destiny. It seems to me that you also have sought. Will you talk to me a little about it, my friend?"
Siddhartha said: "What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find."
"How is that?" asked Govinda.
"When someone is seeking," said Siddhartha, "it happens quite easily that he only seeks the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose."
No, a true seeker could not accept any teachings, not if he sincerely wished to find something. But he who had found, could give his approval to every path, every goal; nothing separated him from all the other thousands who lived in eternity, who breathed the Divine.
"I can think, I can wait, I can fast."
Sweet Darkness
When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
~ David Whyte ~
Khalil Gibran
Defeat, my defeat my shinning sword and shield.
In your eyes I have read,
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be leveled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness.
Defeat, my defeat my deathless courage,
You and I shall laugh together with the storm.
And together we shall dig graves,
For all that dies in us.
We shall stand in the Sun with a will,
And we shall be dangerous.
Invictus
"OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
- William Ernet Henley
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."
- William Ernet Henley
"love"
You either love all of humanity, or nobody at all (not even yourself). "Love" is not something that picks and chooses, to love this or that, this person or that person. You either "love" everything, or nothing at all. What we call love is not love; it is emotional attachment, addiction. We say "I love you, and I cannot live without you", just as a addict does not know life without his drug.
Divine Post Card
I am what you are looking for. You keep looking for something, but you don't know what - a source of comfort/peace/rest / solace/shelter/refuge / joy/inspiration/elation. You think you will find what you need/want/love in possessions, money, power, prestige, sex, intoxicants, pleasures, accomplishments, this and that, but anything from the world will pass away, it is only temporary. They are all distractions (nothing is wrong with them, they just distract you) from finding what you're really looking for (something that will last a life-time). I am the happiness you are looking for.
If you are already looking, you may look 'here' or 'there', check 'this' authority, or 'that' authority, 'this' religion/philosophy, 'that' religion/philosophy, science, art, school, books... these things tell you about Me, you can learn about Me, but they will not lead you to Me. I am nothing on earth. Again, it is not a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is', but when you find it, it is everywhere, yet until then it is nowhere at all. You will look high and low but you won't find it.
Then, something changes. You realize: wherever you go, it is there. Something changes in YOU. It is within you. I am within you, as I am within everything. We are intimately connected; truly, I am even closer to you than your own breath. But you are disconnected, suffocating, and no one can make you change but you. You have to want it, need it, dream of it – as a drowning man craves oxygen. When you are willing to give up everything for it--the one thing you've always wanted--you "drop the world/die to the world", and that's when you find Me: the source of Life and Existence itself. Few people ever actually have to give up much; it’s the willingness to do so that does the trick. But the funny thing is, once you give up chasing the world, it comes right back. You can still enjoy it just as much as ever, and often times, even more... but once you have dropped it, you will have found something even better. That's what the story of D tempting J is about. D says to J "I will give you the entire world, you can rule/command/own all of it," but J says, "No thanks, I've found something better."
Those who have found Me leave behind clues, hints, bread crumbs to follow; not because they want to hide it away and lord it over others. No, they want to share it, but I am beyond words. I am unnamable. Their tiny nudges can help, but only you can lead yourself to Me.
I call to you all the time. I am guiding you to Me always, but you don't know how to listen, you don't recognize my voice. I am very quiet; I speak in silence. I whisper the way, but I am subtle. Even more so than a gentle wind lightly caressing against your cheek. When you were young, We spoke clearly. But you have shut Me out, and you've forgotten how to listen (even to each other). You may notice some professors use a trick when teaching: they speak very softly, and lure you into straining to hear each word they say. They learned that from Me. Strain to hear Me by listening to everything at once. To pay attention to everything, pay attention to nothing in particular. Become quiet, and listen: “Be still, and know that I am God.” I will make something stand out - a sound, a thought. Something will make itself known to you, and catch your attention.
Act accordingly. It might inspire you to write a poem, provide you with a much-needed laugh, fill you with a sudden urge to go somewhere that I might show you something I want you to see, or it might just remind you to pick up your dry-cleaning. Each one is equally important, and plays an integral part in your life’s unfolding. Rest assure, the universe tends to unfold as it should. This is how it’s supposed to be.
Ps. Hope this postcard wasn’t too big to fit in the mailbox :P
Sincerely,
If you are already looking, you may look 'here' or 'there', check 'this' authority, or 'that' authority, 'this' religion/philosophy, 'that' religion/philosophy, science, art, school, books... these things tell you about Me, you can learn about Me, but they will not lead you to Me. I am nothing on earth. Again, it is not a matter of saying 'here it is' or 'there it is', but when you find it, it is everywhere, yet until then it is nowhere at all. You will look high and low but you won't find it.
Then, something changes. You realize: wherever you go, it is there. Something changes in YOU. It is within you. I am within you, as I am within everything. We are intimately connected; truly, I am even closer to you than your own breath. But you are disconnected, suffocating, and no one can make you change but you. You have to want it, need it, dream of it – as a drowning man craves oxygen. When you are willing to give up everything for it--the one thing you've always wanted--you "drop the world/die to the world", and that's when you find Me: the source of Life and Existence itself. Few people ever actually have to give up much; it’s the willingness to do so that does the trick. But the funny thing is, once you give up chasing the world, it comes right back. You can still enjoy it just as much as ever, and often times, even more... but once you have dropped it, you will have found something even better. That's what the story of D tempting J is about. D says to J "I will give you the entire world, you can rule/command/own all of it," but J says, "No thanks, I've found something better."
Those who have found Me leave behind clues, hints, bread crumbs to follow; not because they want to hide it away and lord it over others. No, they want to share it, but I am beyond words. I am unnamable. Their tiny nudges can help, but only you can lead yourself to Me.
I call to you all the time. I am guiding you to Me always, but you don't know how to listen, you don't recognize my voice. I am very quiet; I speak in silence. I whisper the way, but I am subtle. Even more so than a gentle wind lightly caressing against your cheek. When you were young, We spoke clearly. But you have shut Me out, and you've forgotten how to listen (even to each other). You may notice some professors use a trick when teaching: they speak very softly, and lure you into straining to hear each word they say. They learned that from Me. Strain to hear Me by listening to everything at once. To pay attention to everything, pay attention to nothing in particular. Become quiet, and listen: “Be still, and know that I am God.” I will make something stand out - a sound, a thought. Something will make itself known to you, and catch your attention.
Act accordingly. It might inspire you to write a poem, provide you with a much-needed laugh, fill you with a sudden urge to go somewhere that I might show you something I want you to see, or it might just remind you to pick up your dry-cleaning. Each one is equally important, and plays an integral part in your life’s unfolding. Rest assure, the universe tends to unfold as it should. This is how it’s supposed to be.
Ps. Hope this postcard wasn’t too big to fit in the mailbox :P
Sincerely,
serve
- Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.- J. St. Mathew"Those who will be great among you will be your servants."- the bodhisattva Issa
title
every second of the day tells you what the truth is - ascetic monk
if you eat, you destroy a living creature; if you don't eat, you destroy a living creature - camp counselor
---
New Additional Sidenote: when you title something "title" or name your cat "cat" it is first of all hilarious, but it is also zen. Like the hashtag: #hashtag. Or a status update that says, "Kasumi is updating her status."
This will come back at the end (I think). Most Important...
if you eat, you destroy a living creature; if you don't eat, you destroy a living creature - camp counselor
---
New Additional Sidenote: when you title something "title" or name your cat "cat" it is first of all hilarious, but it is also zen. Like the hashtag: #hashtag. Or a status update that says, "Kasumi is updating her status."
This will come back at the end (I think). Most Important...
title
Violence always leads to more violence. To the slayer, comes a slayer. To the conquerer, comes a conquerer. He who plunders, is plundered in turn. - B
Those who live by the sword, will die by the sword. - J
Those who live by the sword, will die by the sword. - J
Nisargadatta Maharaj
"To expound and propogate concepts is simple,
to drop all concepts is difficult and rare"
Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two,
my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the
subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am
both, and neither, and beyond both.
Unless you make tremendous efforts, you will not be convinced that
effort will take you nowhere. The self is so self-confident that
unless it is totally discouraged it will not give up. Mere verbal
conviction is not enough. Hard facts alone can show the absolute
nothingness of the self-image.
A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your
mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does
self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and
steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles
without any effort on your part.
When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing,
seek nothing, expect nothing, then the Supreme State will come to you
uninvited and unexpected.
"All that a guru can tell you is:
'My dear Sir, you are quite mistaken aboutyourself.
You are not the person you take yourself to be.'"
"There is no such thing as a person.
There are only restrictions and limitations.
The sum total of these defines the person. (...)
The person merely appears to be, like
the space within the pot appears to have the shape and volume
and smell of the pot."
By all means attend to your duties. Action, in which you are not
emotionally involved and which is beneficial and does not cause
suffering will not bind you. You may be engaged in several directions
and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with
a mirror like mind, which reflects all, without being affected.
"There is nothing to practise. To know yourself, be yourself. To be
yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. Let
your true nature emerge. Don't disturb your mind with seeking"
"Life ceases to be a task
and becomes natural and simple,
in itself an ecstasy
to drop all concepts is difficult and rare"
Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two,
my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the
subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am
both, and neither, and beyond both.
Unless you make tremendous efforts, you will not be convinced that
effort will take you nowhere. The self is so self-confident that
unless it is totally discouraged it will not give up. Mere verbal
conviction is not enough. Hard facts alone can show the absolute
nothingness of the self-image.
A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your
mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does
self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and
steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles
without any effort on your part.
When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing,
seek nothing, expect nothing, then the Supreme State will come to you
uninvited and unexpected.
"All that a guru can tell you is:
'My dear Sir, you are quite mistaken aboutyourself.
You are not the person you take yourself to be.'"
"There is no such thing as a person.
There are only restrictions and limitations.
The sum total of these defines the person. (...)
The person merely appears to be, like
the space within the pot appears to have the shape and volume
and smell of the pot."
By all means attend to your duties. Action, in which you are not
emotionally involved and which is beneficial and does not cause
suffering will not bind you. You may be engaged in several directions
and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with
a mirror like mind, which reflects all, without being affected.
"There is nothing to practise. To know yourself, be yourself. To be
yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. Let
your true nature emerge. Don't disturb your mind with seeking"
"Life ceases to be a task
and becomes natural and simple,
in itself an ecstasy
Learning To Be Silent
The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: "Fix those lamps."
The second pupil was surprised to hear the first one talk. "We are not supposed to say a word," he remarked.
"You two are stupid. Why did you talk?" asked the third.
"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth pupil.
On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: "Fix those lamps."
The second pupil was surprised to hear the first one talk. "We are not supposed to say a word," he remarked.
"You two are stupid. Why did you talk?" asked the third.
"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth pupil.
Magus (wonder-worker)
Mary, his mother, saved figs over the winter in a jar to hand out in springtime at Passover. The village children loved her for it, but one year when Mary open the jar, green mold had gotten inside. The figs were ruined, except for two on the top.
"They say you found your mother crying, and you told her to invite the village children anyway," said Judas. He eyed Jesus sharply. "Is any of this true?" he asked.
Jesus smiled faintly. "So far."
"When the children came you were seated by the door. In your lap was a basket covered with a napkin. You reached under the napkin and pulled out a fig for each child. They were delighted, and you never ran out of fruit. But anyone allowed to peek under the napkin would have always seen only two figs, no matter how many had already been taken."
"That's true." Jesus admitted.
"So the tale of a miracle began to spread," Judas said. He narrowed his eyes. "You've never heard this?"
"I was twelve," Jesus said mildly. "Twelve-year-olds have imaginations."
"What does that mean?"
Jesus hesitated. He knew he was about to fuel a streak of deception in Judas. Then he explained. "At that age I sat and dreamed all the time, and one thing I dreamed about was the wonders performed in the time of Moses. I asked myself why I, and everyone else I knew, had never seen any miracles. My mother had pulled out her jar of figs for Passover week, as usual."
"And they weren't rotten," said Judas, knowing full well where the story was going.
"I spread the rumor that they were," Jesus said. "When my mother invited everyone, people were confused, but they came anyway. It's not hard to fit a basket with a false bottom. I kept two figs on top and reached under for the rest."
Judas burst out laughing. "You cheated! I knew you were a magus. I just didn't know that you discoved it so young."
"They say you found your mother crying, and you told her to invite the village children anyway," said Judas. He eyed Jesus sharply. "Is any of this true?" he asked.
Jesus smiled faintly. "So far."
"When the children came you were seated by the door. In your lap was a basket covered with a napkin. You reached under the napkin and pulled out a fig for each child. They were delighted, and you never ran out of fruit. But anyone allowed to peek under the napkin would have always seen only two figs, no matter how many had already been taken."
"That's true." Jesus admitted.
"So the tale of a miracle began to spread," Judas said. He narrowed his eyes. "You've never heard this?"
"I was twelve," Jesus said mildly. "Twelve-year-olds have imaginations."
"What does that mean?"
Jesus hesitated. He knew he was about to fuel a streak of deception in Judas. Then he explained. "At that age I sat and dreamed all the time, and one thing I dreamed about was the wonders performed in the time of Moses. I asked myself why I, and everyone else I knew, had never seen any miracles. My mother had pulled out her jar of figs for Passover week, as usual."
"And they weren't rotten," said Judas, knowing full well where the story was going.
"I spread the rumor that they were," Jesus said. "When my mother invited everyone, people were confused, but they came anyway. It's not hard to fit a basket with a false bottom. I kept two figs on top and reached under for the rest."
Judas burst out laughing. "You cheated! I knew you were a magus. I just didn't know that you discoved it so young."
Thought and Character
The aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," not only embraces the whole of man's being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those which are deliberately executed. Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
"Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are
By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind...
...If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow—sure."
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.
Man is man or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
"Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are
By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind...
...If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow—sure."
Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.
Man is man or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
Consciousness
Let us start off with the basic state of non-consciousness that we experience in a very deep sleep, and call this Level 0.
In that case Level 1 is the level we experience as we dream, and which persists in hypnagogic experiences.
Level 2 is the most basic level of waking consciousness: that is *mere awareness*. A child experiences this when he is too tired to take any interest in anything. He may be on his way home from a party but he gazes blankly at the passing world. If you were to ask, 'What have you just seen?' he would reply, 'I don't know.' His consciousness is merely a mirror reflecting the outside world. Nietzsche once said that we envy the cows their placidity, but it would be no use asking them the secret of their happiness for they would have forgotten the question before they could give the answer. This is Level 2.
At Level 3 consciousness has become self-aware but it is still dull and heavy - so heavy that we are only aware of one thing at a time: everything seems to be 'merely itself', utterly without meaning, and your own reflection in a mirror seems to be a stranger. This is the level that Sartre calls nausea.
Level 4 is the normal consciousness we experience every day. It is no longer too heavy to move: it has learned how to cope with existence yet it tends to think of life as a grim battle - possibly a losing battle. Consequently it tends to sink back easily towards Level 3 and to find experience meaningless and boring.
So far the one thing the levels all have in common is a basically *passive* attitude towards life and experience. At Level 5 this ceases to be so. This is a level that I have labelled provisionally 'spring morning consciousness' or 'holiday consciousness'. It is characterized by that bubbling feeling of happiness we experience when life suddenly becomes more interesting and exciting and all kinds of prospects seem to be opening up in front of us. Quite suddenly caution and doubt disappear; life becomes *self-evidently* fascinating and delightful. This is the feeling that Hesse's Steppenwolf experiences as he tastes a glass of wine and is reminded of 'Mozart and the stars'.
Level 6 could be labelled the 'magical level'. It is what happens to a child on Christmas Day, when everything combines to make life seem wonderful. Or imagine the consciousness of two honeymooners on their wedding night looking down from a balcony on to a moonlit lake, when the dark shapes of mountains in the distance. In such states we feel a total reconciliation with our lives. 'For moments together my heart stood still between delight and sorrow to find how rich was the gallery of my life,' says Steppenwolf. Problems seem trivial; we see that the one real virtue is courage. Consciousness has become a continuous mild peak experience, what J.B.Priestly calls 'delight'.
Level 7 is Faculty X - Toynbee's experience on Pharsalus, Proust's experience as he tastes the madeleine dipped in tea. There is an almost godlike sensation: 'I had ceased to feel mediocre, accidental, mortal....' This is more than a peak experience: it is an odd sense of *mastery over time*, as if every moment of your life could be recalled as clearly as the last ten minutes. We suddenly realize that time is a manifestation of the heaviness of the body and the feebleness of the spirit. We can also see that if we could learn to achieve this condition of control permanently, time would become, in a basic sense, non-existent.
Gandhi
when asked if he was Hindu, Gandhi replied...
"Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew."
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."
"Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew."
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."
Mr. Mobley
"We must not only love, but we must love in every possible way, must love every possible thing which can be loved, and from every possible perspective from which one can love."
Turn The Other Cheek
I would like to explain my statement: "maybe they should burn their own books..."
I reread the Book, and it seems clear that "turn the other cheek" does not mean:
"Walk away"
"Roll with the punches."
"Ignore idiots who try to wind you up."
"If someone harms you in any way, accept it and don't take revenge or hit back."
None say "ignore it". All say "engage it". But the way is counterintuitive.
The actual quote:
1) "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."
2) "If someone wants to sue you for your tunic, give him your cloak as well."
3) "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles."
1) Upon being hit, it says to turn, as if to open yourself to further abuse.
2) Upon being sued, it says to give more, as in more than was ever asked.
3) Upon being forced to walk, it says to walk, as if to talk it upon yourself.
You can't harm a man willing to take all punishment.
You can't steal from a man willing to give anything.
You can't enslave a man willing to do everything.
Shadows On The Wall
If I love my reflection, does my reflection love me. It certainly appears to. Every move I make, it does the same; every expression, a perfect representation of my own. How do I know it does not attempt its own love. Perhaps this kind of imitation must be a less than perfect representation. But even so, this would still be an attempt, an attempt to reflect something beyond its own limitation---an attempt to show the unshowable. Would my reflection consider this attempt a succesful one. could it tell the difference. should it even try. Does my reflection identify with me in the same way that I identify with it. Does my reflection believe itself to be me---that I am the reflection, and it is the original. Would it even ever consider that it might be the reflection, or would it simply take itself to be the original without question. What happens when my reflection, thinking itself to be the original, realizes that it is not. Now, the reflection sees the original, as the original. It knows itself now in a way that previously was hopelessly inconceivable. It has gone beyond its own limitations---it has seen the unseeable. It has done the impossible---my reflection has loved me. I and my reflection are one.
The Flowing Sutra
A thought leads to an action
An action leads to a habit
Habits become the character
Character leads to Destiny
- Buddha
Go with the flow -whether you fight it or ride it--that’s up to you- but riding it is a lot more fun. and fighting really just ends up being a waste of time.
Old saying: “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” It’s all about feeling it out, and taking the ride. the key is feeling it.
Of course you first have to learn how to act and what to do: like learning your manners, or what is socially acceptable, or how to get a good or bad response out of someone, etc. But after you figure it all out, the trick, is to completely forget about it. You have to “learn to forget”, as Jim Morrison would say.
Now, when you learn to forget, its not as if you never learned it at all; far from it. Take the realm of the social atmosphere, for example. Compare the idea of the “social butterfly” to the idea of (and I really don't like this term) the “social retard”. As much better as it is to be the former than the later, that’s how much it helps to “learn to forget”.
In fact all truly social butterflies will have completely forgotten social rules.
The social realm is only one aspect of life. The idea can be expanded to more. Take the contrast for instance: the realm of solitude
-- being left to your own devices, really learning how to live with yourself (literally and figuratively), and more or less really just learning to have fun--
Eventually you may get to the point where just thinking itself can become very fun. --(Its even more fun to share ideas, and exchange experiences, with those who make good contributions to the conversation)-- At a certain point you start to abandon what you learned in school, what your teachers tell you, and start to think for yourself. Of course you’re not necessarily rejecting what you have been taught, in fact you may refer to it quite a bit.
Really what’s going on is you are learning how to sink or swim; you’re learning how to float on your own. Like literally when you are learning to swim... first you learn the technique, and then you start to understand it, and then how to apply it. once you get good you just feel it. You don’t think about how to do the breast stroke, you just do it.
Its like Nike I guess, so you have to imagine competitive swimming. In a race, if you are thinking about anything at all, its “Faster! Go faster! I have to go faster!” not “Hm, am I kicking my legs in the right way? Are my arms moving just right?” You forget about the technique, and you just do it. You feel it, and so you go with it.
So now here is the good part. Once you learn how to go with the flow in certain aspects of life, while the going is easy, you can learn to flow, when the going gets tough. Its easy to be a social butterfly, when you make the guest list. But think about your very first week at college, or better yet, changing schools halfway through middle school, or even high school. You are new, and everybody else already has friends. So you have to stand up and make yourself known; in a good way. They are two very different situations.
In the swimming analogy: once you become a true swimmer (or the true social butterfly) the game is stepped up when you move from high school swim meets, to a college level; and then from college, to the Olympics.
So the idea is that in good times, its easy to go with the flow, sometimes is even effortless; but in the bad times, its not always exactly a walk in the park. But (!), once you graduate to the social a butterfly, or make it to the Olympics, you can go for the gold so to speak.
You can truly, and freely, just go with the flow. You can surf a massive 100 foot monster wave, and do it with style. Its really all about style.
In a figurative and literal sense, you have become an artist of life. You go to art school to learn the technique (although the saying is the worst thing an artist can do is go to art school) and afterwards, after you can stand on your own two feet, you come into your style. You put the technique behind you, because style is greater than technique! (although style is born from learning technique).
So once again, you don’t sit there and think about how to do the breast stroke, you don’t think about how to field a ground ball at second base, you don’t think about how to catch the Hail Mary to score the game winning touch down. You just do it! – Just do it – because in fact, thinking about it can really mess you up (I speak from experience).
An action leads to a habit
Habits become the character
Character leads to Destiny
- Buddha
Go with the flow -whether you fight it or ride it--that’s up to you- but riding it is a lot more fun. and fighting really just ends up being a waste of time.
Old saying: “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” It’s all about feeling it out, and taking the ride. the key is feeling it.
Of course you first have to learn how to act and what to do: like learning your manners, or what is socially acceptable, or how to get a good or bad response out of someone, etc. But after you figure it all out, the trick, is to completely forget about it. You have to “learn to forget”, as Jim Morrison would say.
Now, when you learn to forget, its not as if you never learned it at all; far from it. Take the realm of the social atmosphere, for example. Compare the idea of the “social butterfly” to the idea of (and I really don't like this term) the “social retard”. As much better as it is to be the former than the later, that’s how much it helps to “learn to forget”.
In fact all truly social butterflies will have completely forgotten social rules.
The social realm is only one aspect of life. The idea can be expanded to more. Take the contrast for instance: the realm of solitude
-- being left to your own devices, really learning how to live with yourself (literally and figuratively), and more or less really just learning to have fun--
Eventually you may get to the point where just thinking itself can become very fun. --(Its even more fun to share ideas, and exchange experiences, with those who make good contributions to the conversation)-- At a certain point you start to abandon what you learned in school, what your teachers tell you, and start to think for yourself. Of course you’re not necessarily rejecting what you have been taught, in fact you may refer to it quite a bit.
Really what’s going on is you are learning how to sink or swim; you’re learning how to float on your own. Like literally when you are learning to swim... first you learn the technique, and then you start to understand it, and then how to apply it. once you get good you just feel it. You don’t think about how to do the breast stroke, you just do it.
Its like Nike I guess, so you have to imagine competitive swimming. In a race, if you are thinking about anything at all, its “Faster! Go faster! I have to go faster!” not “Hm, am I kicking my legs in the right way? Are my arms moving just right?” You forget about the technique, and you just do it. You feel it, and so you go with it.
So now here is the good part. Once you learn how to go with the flow in certain aspects of life, while the going is easy, you can learn to flow, when the going gets tough. Its easy to be a social butterfly, when you make the guest list. But think about your very first week at college, or better yet, changing schools halfway through middle school, or even high school. You are new, and everybody else already has friends. So you have to stand up and make yourself known; in a good way. They are two very different situations.
In the swimming analogy: once you become a true swimmer (or the true social butterfly) the game is stepped up when you move from high school swim meets, to a college level; and then from college, to the Olympics.
So the idea is that in good times, its easy to go with the flow, sometimes is even effortless; but in the bad times, its not always exactly a walk in the park. But (!), once you graduate to the social a butterfly, or make it to the Olympics, you can go for the gold so to speak.
You can truly, and freely, just go with the flow. You can surf a massive 100 foot monster wave, and do it with style. Its really all about style.
In a figurative and literal sense, you have become an artist of life. You go to art school to learn the technique (although the saying is the worst thing an artist can do is go to art school) and afterwards, after you can stand on your own two feet, you come into your style. You put the technique behind you, because style is greater than technique! (although style is born from learning technique).
So once again, you don’t sit there and think about how to do the breast stroke, you don’t think about how to field a ground ball at second base, you don’t think about how to catch the Hail Mary to score the game winning touch down. You just do it! – Just do it – because in fact, thinking about it can really mess you up (I speak from experience).
Transcendental Thoughts
-Discovery lies in seeing things with a brand new set of eyes-
I’ve heard another line like this before, but this is not plagiarism, because the one who wrote it was me. Plus it rhymes now.
Generosity lies not in what is given, but in the disposition to give.
"what" (you give) is irrelevant. "that" (you give) is everything.
Some of the most generous things given are things which cannot be taken
(which cannot be held).
The amount you give is worthless if the amount of yourself within is none.
I have received a smile worth more than gold.
I have received approval worth more than diamonds.
I have received love worth more than my own heart.
Give of yourself, from the heart, not the coins in your pocket; money makes us poor: it is in the presence of absence that we are bestowed the greatest of treasures.
Generosity requires nothing; sometimes that is enough.
Truth comes from comedians, children’s cartoons, and the bits of unscripted dialog that fall perfectly inline with the movie’s plot.
It is true what they say, “it’s all within yourself”. So much of what you wanted to know, hides just between each of your thoughts.
I’ve heard another line like this before, but this is not plagiarism, because the one who wrote it was me. Plus it rhymes now.
Generosity lies not in what is given, but in the disposition to give.
"what" (you give) is irrelevant. "that" (you give) is everything.
Some of the most generous things given are things which cannot be taken
(which cannot be held).
The amount you give is worthless if the amount of yourself within is none.
I have received a smile worth more than gold.
I have received approval worth more than diamonds.
I have received love worth more than my own heart.
Give of yourself, from the heart, not the coins in your pocket; money makes us poor: it is in the presence of absence that we are bestowed the greatest of treasures.
Generosity requires nothing; sometimes that is enough.
Truth comes from comedians, children’s cartoons, and the bits of unscripted dialog that fall perfectly inline with the movie’s plot.
It is true what they say, “it’s all within yourself”. So much of what you wanted to know, hides just between each of your thoughts.
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