Enter the New has undergone a change. Reason being, because many found self-inquiry to be too abstract. Many were disturbed by this idea of freedom "from." Though certain people had glimpses, they still remained separate. There was still an attachment to the belief "I am me." It didn't matter that I, apart from being one letter, couldn't be found. It didn't matter that a thinker couldn't be found. It didn't matter that when no thoughts were present nothing remained to say what I am." It didn't matter that there was no tangible self to reference. It didn't matter that this elusive I showed up to claim activities only after the activities had taken place It didn't matter that no objective mind could be found in addition to thinking. It didn't matter that there was never a time when there wasn't awareness. It didn't matter that everything, even sleep, could be noticed. It didn't help to say you are part of the illusion, or that nobody's home or that there is nothing in it for the ego. It didn't help to say that I is just an idea or to speak of this moment free of content, or to speak of objects appearing and disappearing in space. For many, none of these things helped long-term.
Pointing facilitated an experience of no I, or no mind, but as an experience, it was short lived. Things seemed to always return to business as usual, and nothing remained of the former peace. I couldn't understand it. Why were so many having a glimpse and losing it? Why were they not able to see or understand that Awareness was never gained and never lost, that this peace always, always is, that there is always something undisturbed about us. People seemed to be confused, conflicted, desperate, frustrated and hurt.
Seeing this, made me want to investigate deeper. What were people really after? What were they searching for? What did they want? Did they want to be free of a separate self, free of choice, free of I and my, the person and relationship? My guess is no. They didn't want to not be. They weren't thrilled with the idea of being the space that contains each moment. They wanted something else. They were seeking something else. If I had to articulate it, I would say, theirs was a wish for a better "me."
I am not in the business of granting this wish, but I will say that because of needs not being addressed, Enter the New has undergone change. To sum it up as to what's new about the Enter the New Gatherings, It is this - The emphasis is no longer on what isn't here but what is.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Big Deal Complex
Both in my own experience and that of others, I find what I call "the big deal complex." There is a recognition of a broader perspective. We may call it the source of thought. We may call it presence. We may call it the capacity to witness or oversee, the space between thoughts or breaths. We may call it by a thousand different names. It doesn't matter. What matters is that we recognize it and are not impressed. The response is "big deal."
This big deal complex comes about because, at the moment, there isn't a full stop that allows for a deeper look. At best, it is a pragmatic pause. It's as if you are traveling through a desert, and you come upon an oasis. Before you know that the oasis can quench your thirst, you have no interest. You respond, big deal. It's exactly like that. The role of a teacher is to bring you from a pragmatic pause to a full stop, so that you don't overlook or walk past the oasis. "Drink," he says, "lest you die of thirst." "Stop, lest you drive yourself crazy." To continue without water in a desert can cause you to see things that aren't there, to lose perspective. It's exactly like that.
Before you stumble upon this capacity to oversee and discard it with "big deal", see what it is. See if this capacity to oversee has the capacity to give you rest. See if it can quench your thirst. If you can get out of your pragmatic pause, you might just see that there is rest, that while investigating this capacity to oversee and what it really is, there is no chattering. While investigating the source of mind, there is absolute rest.
The Guru or teacher is only ever calling you back to that. That is what is meant by this moment. That is what is meant by the source of thought. That is what is meant by presence, silence, being, the unknown or your own self. To direct your attention to these is to take a deeper look at this capacity to oversee, rather than continually overlooking it, as one might overlook an oasis in the desert, as one might mistake a pearl for a stone and toss it back into the ocean.
In the Gospels, there is mention that the mustard seed, though one of the smallest seeds, it becomes one of the largest trees. Here again, the same invitation is given, Don't skip over the space between breaths, the space between thoughts. Don't skip over the Seer. Don't skip over Presence, Stillness. Don't skip over the gentle breeze that made Elijah stand at attention. God was not in the earthquake, the terrible storm, but the gentle breeze.
The message is not that the earthquake isn't godly, not that the terrible storm isn't an awesome expression of Divinity. The message is that there is something more fundamental. It is the source of all. It is the origin of all. That can be known directly, Truth can be met directly, but we miss this opportunity when we dismiss the reality that is the most subtle, the most quiet. yet without it, nothing would be.
Everything has an origin except that. The origin of the body is the source of the body, the origin of the mind is the source of the mind. The origin of you is the source of "I". At a basic level, the origin of the tree is a seed. Were it not for the seed, it would not be.
That is what wisdom is. It is to lover the giver, without whom the gifts would not be. It is to love the source, without whom, nothing would be. Everything is here because Being is. Without Being, nothing is. That is all awakened teachers are saying. The world is real, but so is the source of the world, and if you like the artwork, why not meet the artist face to face.
Prejudice, sometimes called ignorance consists in believing that what is visible is more important than what is invisible, that what is seen is more important than what is unseen. The belief that if I cannot see it, touch it, taste it, smell it or hear it, it is not worthwhile, is our collective ignorance. In a very real sense, we pass up the oasis in the desert, every moment. We are like fish in the ocean crying, "were thirsty." It is exactly like that.
The teacher's hope is just one, that you meet the artist face to face.
This big deal complex comes about because, at the moment, there isn't a full stop that allows for a deeper look. At best, it is a pragmatic pause. It's as if you are traveling through a desert, and you come upon an oasis. Before you know that the oasis can quench your thirst, you have no interest. You respond, big deal. It's exactly like that. The role of a teacher is to bring you from a pragmatic pause to a full stop, so that you don't overlook or walk past the oasis. "Drink," he says, "lest you die of thirst." "Stop, lest you drive yourself crazy." To continue without water in a desert can cause you to see things that aren't there, to lose perspective. It's exactly like that.
Before you stumble upon this capacity to oversee and discard it with "big deal", see what it is. See if this capacity to oversee has the capacity to give you rest. See if it can quench your thirst. If you can get out of your pragmatic pause, you might just see that there is rest, that while investigating this capacity to oversee and what it really is, there is no chattering. While investigating the source of mind, there is absolute rest.
The Guru or teacher is only ever calling you back to that. That is what is meant by this moment. That is what is meant by the source of thought. That is what is meant by presence, silence, being, the unknown or your own self. To direct your attention to these is to take a deeper look at this capacity to oversee, rather than continually overlooking it, as one might overlook an oasis in the desert, as one might mistake a pearl for a stone and toss it back into the ocean.
In the Gospels, there is mention that the mustard seed, though one of the smallest seeds, it becomes one of the largest trees. Here again, the same invitation is given, Don't skip over the space between breaths, the space between thoughts. Don't skip over the Seer. Don't skip over Presence, Stillness. Don't skip over the gentle breeze that made Elijah stand at attention. God was not in the earthquake, the terrible storm, but the gentle breeze.
The message is not that the earthquake isn't godly, not that the terrible storm isn't an awesome expression of Divinity. The message is that there is something more fundamental. It is the source of all. It is the origin of all. That can be known directly, Truth can be met directly, but we miss this opportunity when we dismiss the reality that is the most subtle, the most quiet. yet without it, nothing would be.
Everything has an origin except that. The origin of the body is the source of the body, the origin of the mind is the source of the mind. The origin of you is the source of "I". At a basic level, the origin of the tree is a seed. Were it not for the seed, it would not be.
That is what wisdom is. It is to lover the giver, without whom the gifts would not be. It is to love the source, without whom, nothing would be. Everything is here because Being is. Without Being, nothing is. That is all awakened teachers are saying. The world is real, but so is the source of the world, and if you like the artwork, why not meet the artist face to face.
Prejudice, sometimes called ignorance consists in believing that what is visible is more important than what is invisible, that what is seen is more important than what is unseen. The belief that if I cannot see it, touch it, taste it, smell it or hear it, it is not worthwhile, is our collective ignorance. In a very real sense, we pass up the oasis in the desert, every moment. We are like fish in the ocean crying, "were thirsty." It is exactly like that.
The teacher's hope is just one, that you meet the artist face to face.
I Call it Self-realization
I have seen many many confusions regarding this invitation who am I? If one inquires and the honest answer is "I don't know," then there is resting in "I don't know". But as it is, I sense that very few experience rest, especially among seekers. I can only guess that it is because a great many have misunderstood Who am I?
Beginning from the belief that all is one is not realizing that all is one. Having a belief that I am not myself is not realizing that "I am not myself." Where is the peace? Where is the absence of turmoil? Where are the undisturbed faces? I don't see them, especially among seekers. There is a facade of rest but it doesn't go very deep.
The reason for this, I believe, is this question of who am I? Many have asked it, but who has allowed it to burn everything away? It seems we are too concerned with safeguarding the oneness to lose anything.
In ancient times, there was the idea of renunciation. Today the popular idea is accumulation. There is a prejudice that everything I have accumulated is me that it's all part of the oneness. Then what is the point of asking who am I? The point is missed entirely.
Who am I is a discriminating question. To ask the question who am I is to light a match and allow the whole forest of concepts, of knowledge, of the known, to burn into ashes. Then out of the ashes, there is a new you, an unknown you, an unknowable you. Then this unknowable you returns to ordinary life. Life is the same, and yet totally different. Because there is no knowable you, everything can be experienced without you dividing it up. You don't interfere. You are out of your own way.
This has the effect of oneness, but oneness is just a word. Life simply is as it is, with one difference. There is a wisdom that knows you are the source of it all. There is an understanding that all that is seen has come from the unseen, and you are That. In my experience, this is why nothing is experienced as separate from you. It is because you are the source of all, you are the unseen from which everything arises, or the screen upon which the objects of life appear. Were it not for that, there would be none of this.
This I find in my own experience. I don't find that I am the body, or that I am the mind, or that I am your body or that I am your mind. My experience of my self is as That from which all of This arises. Call it oneness if you like. I cal it self-realization. I call it finding out who am I.
The body came from you, not you from it. Like bees to a honeycomb, you made it. Cell by cell, you formed it. For what it's worth, that is my understanding and my experience.
Beginning from the belief that all is one is not realizing that all is one. Having a belief that I am not myself is not realizing that "I am not myself." Where is the peace? Where is the absence of turmoil? Where are the undisturbed faces? I don't see them, especially among seekers. There is a facade of rest but it doesn't go very deep.
The reason for this, I believe, is this question of who am I? Many have asked it, but who has allowed it to burn everything away? It seems we are too concerned with safeguarding the oneness to lose anything.
In ancient times, there was the idea of renunciation. Today the popular idea is accumulation. There is a prejudice that everything I have accumulated is me that it's all part of the oneness. Then what is the point of asking who am I? The point is missed entirely.
Who am I is a discriminating question. To ask the question who am I is to light a match and allow the whole forest of concepts, of knowledge, of the known, to burn into ashes. Then out of the ashes, there is a new you, an unknown you, an unknowable you. Then this unknowable you returns to ordinary life. Life is the same, and yet totally different. Because there is no knowable you, everything can be experienced without you dividing it up. You don't interfere. You are out of your own way.
This has the effect of oneness, but oneness is just a word. Life simply is as it is, with one difference. There is a wisdom that knows you are the source of it all. There is an understanding that all that is seen has come from the unseen, and you are That. In my experience, this is why nothing is experienced as separate from you. It is because you are the source of all, you are the unseen from which everything arises, or the screen upon which the objects of life appear. Were it not for that, there would be none of this.
This I find in my own experience. I don't find that I am the body, or that I am the mind, or that I am your body or that I am your mind. My experience of my self is as That from which all of This arises. Call it oneness if you like. I cal it self-realization. I call it finding out who am I.
The body came from you, not you from it. Like bees to a honeycomb, you made it. Cell by cell, you formed it. For what it's worth, that is my understanding and my experience.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Feeling and Recieving
For most, the body and the mind are limited. The body ages and dies and the mind is limited by what it thinks. When most speak of the body, they speak of the physical. When most speak of the mind they speak of the mental, the intellectual. It is important to note that these are classifications of the mind itself. What else could be engaged in this work of classifying?
That being said, there are others who have different understandings and classifications. There are those who perceive differently. In addition to the physical body, they may perceive the subtle body, the energy body, the pain body, the bliss body the no body and so on. To those who have different understandings of the mind, there may be the classification of the working mind, the thinking mind, the free mind, the no mind etc. Prior to these classifying function of mind, no classifications, of course, exist? There is just experiencing. There is just the simplicity of being, of sharing varied, rich and wondrous experiences. But something enters and says, "Hey, your classifications aren't the same as mine. They don't match my experience. That's ego. Ego is the comparative mind.
Classifications belong to the ego. They would not be, were it not for the minds function to label and organize what it perceives into a hierarchy of knowledge. Because it doesn't perceive as a whole but only in parts, it selects its parts as one would select stones to build a house. The sturdy stones comprise the foundation and so on. When the edifice is finished, there is a worldview, a self-concept and a belief system. This self-defining, acquired knowledge is then protected and defended as true.
Arrogance then shows up as the story "my beliefs are better than your beliefs" and so on. The personal self then argues, agrees and disagrees instead of seeing or mutually exploring. The problem arises because human experience is so varied that few will accept life on any ego's terms. Those who do, we classify as believers. Those who don't as infidels. A kind of "majority rule", or collective ego, takes over and the unbelievers are classified as lost souls. They are lost because their experience and perception doesn't match the others.
Worldviews and belief systems are personal. If enough individuals agree, a collective or shared belief system evolves. This is a collective ego. "I see myself in them, they are Ok" is the accompanying story. All of this is after the fact. It is a post-mind affair. It is post-classification, post-organization and post-hierarchy. Prior to these functions, there is just experiencing.
It is the need to share one's inner experience with another that creates this interpersonal play. Relationship and dialogue are born out of this desire to share one's inner experience. The challenge is that no two inner experiences are exactly alike, nor are they expressed the same. When we move from sharing and hearing to "understanding", difficulty arises. To feel you is possible, but in order to understand, in order to make sense of another, we have to translate what is being expressed or emoted into our own language. If the languages are dissimilar, the attempt to translate or interpret may be frustrating for either party. Reassurances such as "I understand you perfectly" are not always possible. What is possible is feeling. What is possible is receiving the person in openness.
That being said, there are others who have different understandings and classifications. There are those who perceive differently. In addition to the physical body, they may perceive the subtle body, the energy body, the pain body, the bliss body the no body and so on. To those who have different understandings of the mind, there may be the classification of the working mind, the thinking mind, the free mind, the no mind etc. Prior to these classifying function of mind, no classifications, of course, exist? There is just experiencing. There is just the simplicity of being, of sharing varied, rich and wondrous experiences. But something enters and says, "Hey, your classifications aren't the same as mine. They don't match my experience. That's ego. Ego is the comparative mind.
Classifications belong to the ego. They would not be, were it not for the minds function to label and organize what it perceives into a hierarchy of knowledge. Because it doesn't perceive as a whole but only in parts, it selects its parts as one would select stones to build a house. The sturdy stones comprise the foundation and so on. When the edifice is finished, there is a worldview, a self-concept and a belief system. This self-defining, acquired knowledge is then protected and defended as true.
Arrogance then shows up as the story "my beliefs are better than your beliefs" and so on. The personal self then argues, agrees and disagrees instead of seeing or mutually exploring. The problem arises because human experience is so varied that few will accept life on any ego's terms. Those who do, we classify as believers. Those who don't as infidels. A kind of "majority rule", or collective ego, takes over and the unbelievers are classified as lost souls. They are lost because their experience and perception doesn't match the others.
Worldviews and belief systems are personal. If enough individuals agree, a collective or shared belief system evolves. This is a collective ego. "I see myself in them, they are Ok" is the accompanying story. All of this is after the fact. It is a post-mind affair. It is post-classification, post-organization and post-hierarchy. Prior to these functions, there is just experiencing.
It is the need to share one's inner experience with another that creates this interpersonal play. Relationship and dialogue are born out of this desire to share one's inner experience. The challenge is that no two inner experiences are exactly alike, nor are they expressed the same. When we move from sharing and hearing to "understanding", difficulty arises. To feel you is possible, but in order to understand, in order to make sense of another, we have to translate what is being expressed or emoted into our own language. If the languages are dissimilar, the attempt to translate or interpret may be frustrating for either party. Reassurances such as "I understand you perfectly" are not always possible. What is possible is feeling. What is possible is receiving the person in openness.
What Sends the Message?
The body doesn't know the difference between dream stress and real stress. It simply responds to information that is input. Upon waking from a nightmare, there is an increase in pulse, heartbeat, even perspiration. This can only be because the system can't tell the difference between a dream and reality. If the system can't tell the difference, what can? What sends the message that it was only a dream? Upon waking, the body receives a clear message that it was only a dream, and it takes a while for the level of stress to decline. It is like a bicycle rolling downhill. So long as the downhill slope remains, it gains momentum. The waking up moment is where the downhill slope changes to an uphill slope, or to level ground. The dream is no longer occurring, that which was the source of the stress is gone.
So the question remains. What sends the message, or how is the message sent that it was all a dream? The system that responds, and is still responding even after the eyes have opened has somehow gotten the message that it was a dream, that dreaming caused the stress. Seeing this, we find that something had the ability to trigger stress and something had the ability to send a message of well being. What is that? What sent the message that returned the system to the harmonious state it enjoyed prior? The system may not be discriminating, but something does discriminate between dreaming and reality. What is that which alone has this power?
If this discriminator can be discovered then it is possible to awaken from daydreams as well, even the most subtle and protected. It is possible to discern between what the seer knows and what the system experiences.
So the question remains. What sends the message, or how is the message sent that it was all a dream? The system that responds, and is still responding even after the eyes have opened has somehow gotten the message that it was a dream, that dreaming caused the stress. Seeing this, we find that something had the ability to trigger stress and something had the ability to send a message of well being. What is that? What sent the message that returned the system to the harmonious state it enjoyed prior? The system may not be discriminating, but something does discriminate between dreaming and reality. What is that which alone has this power?
If this discriminator can be discovered then it is possible to awaken from daydreams as well, even the most subtle and protected. It is possible to discern between what the seer knows and what the system experiences.
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