Notions

I love car shows .. but not to view the cars that are being made, but for the concept cars - futuristic, fantastic   and inspirational.  most, of course, will never be made.  the car makers are simply showcasing their skill for their potential; what they could do if they wanted, but as economics are invariably factored in, these concepts are simply not viable.

we see this, too, in our daily living. all the scriptures of every philosophy, religion, sect and cult have their concepts - what they deem as the bedrock of their prescribed way of life. and if one was to objectively compare them, many of the notions overlap - honesty, love, charity, faith, prayer, etc. 

and again, many a times, these concepts are put back on the shelf and the appropriate vehicle to navigate us through life's twists and turns is unavailable... they remain as notions, buried in the back our minds, known yet unapplied. 

why do we do this ?  

why say life is complicated, but take no steps to simplify it ?

why say i want to know what god is, yet not walk towards god ?

why say i want to understand life, yet not study or practice the path prescribed by your faith ?

is it fear of the unknown ? 

would it not be acceptable by your peers ?

are you just lazy ?

many may say they are happy the way they are, that is wonderful - let them continue to be happy and we should, indeed, be happy for them.

the rest of us all have our personal set of notions, and are ready to debate them over dinner - but  of what use are they if they bring you no peace, have no practical application in your existence and simply burden you with guilt?

i love concept cars, but life - i'd rather have a real one... let's put all the parts together and take our being from the notional to the ultimate Experience.

live well.

Show and Tell.

( Picture courtesy of The Chimaya Mission ) 

Kids will be kids.  they will come and plop themselves on your bed and suddenly blurt out "show me god!"  so loving parents will spin a wonderful tale and indicate to the child all the miraculous acts of nature and say "that is how we know there is a god..."

actually, we are all pretty much still in the same boat.  we can take up any religious text, and we are lead by  inference to a point where, if one wants to pursue the search, a need to move forward into a subtler realm is required.

one can have direct experience of heat, not by reading about it, but by suspending your hand over an open flame.  this sort of gross experience is easy.  however, for a sincere seeker, the path forward does not end in reading and debating a text.  if the experience of an elevated plane of existence is not exhibited in daily living and one is still overcome repeatedly by distress or pleasure, then there is hardly any difference between the "educated" man and the fool.

a subtle truth that supersedes mental cognition requires a different path.

words cannot signify that which is beyond the concept of words.  

hence, terms like God, Truth, Consciousness, etc. are simply for the child in us.

from knowledge, enlightenment must ensue.  one must, of course, apply that knowledge - sorry, but there are simply no shortcuts.

there is no "Show and Tell" when it comes to Self Realization - you study, you practise, you withdraw your senses, you discriminate, you detach, you sit in silence, you disengage your mind, you meditate, you dissolve and you know you are... a complete experience - true, immediate and continuous; an existence beyond time and space, omnipresent and omnipotent.

then, well - then it's up to you :)

live well.

Pictures on the Wall.

i like taking pictures.  then i will come home and edit them; crop, straighten and enhance them - sometimes to the point where they look nothing like the subject matter !  this is my vision of the way it should have been - all the while in complete forgetfulness of the fact that the image is not the reality - it is simply a snapshot - a pale reflection of the subject; it no longer possesses the capacity to evoke the same sense of joy, wonder or pathos that i felt while in its presence.  the memory of those emotions slowing fading over time to a point where eventually all i can say is "i remember that day..."

here is a clear delineation of the essence and the image - and it is in our nature to do this.  we are obsessed with the image while oblivious ( most of the time ) of the underlying essence.

existence vs form is where most lose their perspective; for while the form may indicate a truth, it is NOT the truth. at best, it is a shadowy reflection of the same.

we have a basket a concepts that we balance precariously on our heads and we trudge through our lives trying to pander our wares to all who cross our path, yet finding no joy in the very concepts we are so desperately trying to market; still needy, scared and ultimately alone - trying to fill a void that we cannot even define.  we have walked into our own picture - the Essence now photoshopped to our distorted view of the Original Subject.  

enjoy the pictures, they are lovely - BUT, always be aware of the underlying Truth... and this takes practise.

awareness of Him, will take you to Him.

getting lost in the images will merely leave you standing alone in the gallery and no matter how lovely the pictures, you will eventually tire of them - for they are not real.

live well.

Sum of the parts..

i have often heard it say that "the sum of the parts is greater than the whole".

does that apply to a given philosophy or belief system ?

if all stems from One Source, then if we add up all the manifestations of that One, does it exceed the One ?

probably not.

so we have a bit of a mathematical conundrum - for millennium, sages and seers, prophets and sufis have declared, He is within, search and you will find, etc., etc., etc.   so everything outside put together is not equal to Him, yet a hitherto unknown force within me ( which is incidentally also a part of the everything outside ), can lead me to all of Him ?

how delightfully curious :)

this driving force is an integral self knowledge, an intuitive truth - a sort of base code in our programming; we evolve to a certain point and the software is auto-activated. we are almost compelled to know... who am i !  

hence, for those in whom this urge has not been activated, they cannot be forced to search for, nor to believe in any concept of a god - let them be, their time will come when it comes.

for those in whom this urge is blossoming - assist and encourage them if you can. it is not the path but the destination that is of importance so let not over-zealousness dampen their curiosity, let them choose their own path.

for those in whom the urge is overwhelming, who have made their life a journey inward and have found the Source - they are Masters and now exist in Awareness of the One at all times. sit by their feet and learn from them.

ultimately it is never about the logic of existence for that will always be limited by the constraints of the mind - this Wisdom stands at the threshold beyond the boundaries of conceptualization : the finite cannot ever equate to the Infinite whereas the Infinite can "contain" within itself and exude from itself all of finitude and yet ever remain complete and Infinite - again, how delightful :)

live well.

Who Knows ?

here is a fascinating quote from Sri Aurobindo's commentary on the Isa Upanishad:

One transcends confusion of Ignorance, but not limitation of Knowledge.

a man who knows he knows not can pursue a line of study, he can overcome his ignorance of his chosen subject, but someone who feels he already knows all that there is to know, in what direction would he be motivated ?  his conviction of his genius, his assumed mastery of all that is there to be learnt, form the knots of the noose from which he will hang in limbo - unable to move forward, he simply dangles ... informed yet unenlightened.

the process of spirituality springs from the mire of misery, one walks down a lonely road, evolves and then reads - guided properly in his study, his knowledge is to be his springboard, not his destination - here is where most falter, established in a supreme ego sense of " i know ".

knowledge "of" is not the same as being established "in" ..

ignorance and knowledge : one leads you to the sense that something more exists and the other assists in its ultimate accomplishment - both are His, from Him and leading to Him alone...

live well.

The Dream...

if one is to start from death and division ( as in where we are now ), the goal must ultimately end in an absorption and dissolution into Unity and Immortality whereby what was "brought forth" from the source must end in The Source... full circle.

that is a truly expansive concept to wrap one's head around so let's use a well know example : the dream.

from whence does it draw it's truth ? obviously from the power of your mind.  and where do all the characters, scenery and activities in that dream eventually find their salvation, in your waking up from that dream.  

do the characters in that dream know they are in a dream ? do they feel they are real and what is happening to "them", while you dream in bed, important and of consequence ? are they lost in the void of an inexplicable death when you wake ?

so within your mind lies the truth ( that it is only a dream ), that all the becomings ( the ongoings of life of those within the dream ) and all the possibilities and eventualities of every aspect of that creation is simply your dream - your expression - borne of you and eventually to be absorbed back into you.

your Being within the dream is comprehensive,  all is you at all times while you dream, and not piecemeal; you do not give life or extend of yourself to different parts of your dream at different times.

this is an example indicative of the thought at hand and is not a comprehensive explanation of it...

Now:

if we are to accept that there is a God, then we must naturally stem from such a Being for there is no other Source.

there is nothing to be gained by Him since all is Him already.

so this is a journey ever homeward bound - an apparent free will of thought which finds its expression in a fate that is to eventuate in Him alone, as there can be no other destination.

therefore, despite the appearance of events either clashing or balancing within an infinite realm of possibilities, none are truly effective - as in, nothing we do can happen outside of Him; in as much that no character in your dream can walk out of your projection and choose to be something else in some other reality or function with it's own set of "laws of being".

this does not give you license to do whatever you want cos "God made me to do it" - rather, this is to inspire you to see His Expression in every sight, sound, being and action - Live as a witness to His Glory and most importantly, live in Peace... everything is as it should be.

Pleasant dreams :)

Mirror, Mirror...

they say the eyes are windows to the soul ... not sure about that since the eyes will close one day and the window will shatter but not so the soul... but that's a discussion for another day.

what about the eyes that are vibrant, your eyes ... what do they see ?  well obviously the world, but perhaps i should re-phrase - HOW do they view the world ?  the images are static, totally irrelevant, in fact.
how they are interpreted by the bundle of what makes up your personality is what's pertinent.

i see a porche, i get excited !  you may see the very same porche and get extremely agitated !  it reminds you of the argument you had with your wife about whether the dashboard should be yellow or not, or a million other disagreements ... the porche is as it was, parked on the curb, uninvolved and without blame for either my excitement nor for your agitation ...

this illustrates one very simple truth - what one experiences within, that alone he experiences outside.

observe how you react to situations as you would watch a movie ( this requires a certain amount of courage ).  if you want to truly progress in life, you must first make progress within - an angry person deals with a world full of conflict and discord; a moderate person has his fair share of ups and downs while the one who has found true inner tranquility finds peace everywhere in the world - he need not run to the caves of the himalayas to hunt for that elusive experience of nirvana for he lives it daily in his core being.

his expression of peace is natural - not merely for public show.
his lives not through fear of loss nor anxiety for gain - he lives established in the truth that there is no Other, so what is there to gain or lose - this is equanimity of mind - an enlightened soul.

enhance this peace within, and watch your world - for that is truly the mirror of yourself.

just as the scent of  a flower extends in all directions, your world is simply an expression of your scent... whether it is uplifting and magical or whether it is putrid and nauseating is completely up to you.

live well.