The Box

so god is everywhere. got it.

and i am here .. but where ?  there seems to be no place for me if god is taking up all the space.

so let's say, god makes a box ( out of himself since he is the All ) and he puts me ( again, created out of Himself ) into the box.  i can see other people and other things ... so i have to assume, they are in the same box and they too, are made out of the All.

so i am now a content of creation ( creation being this box i am in )  interacting with "the others", who have  as their core, the same Source as myself.

now it gets really complicated - i feel i am independent - a universe unto myself - and everything else is, hence, not me.  this induces me to pull certain things towards me and repel others - we spiral downwards into the pit of likes and dislikes and suffer the resulting pleasures and pain completely oblivious to the fact that there can be no "other" for the building blocks for all creation is one and the same.

so why all the stress ? why the isolation and fear ? why the anguish and pain ?

what we need is an active form of deconstruction ... the way forward is to progressively move back.

there are no others
i am part of That
there is no place other than Him
i am already at the Source
i am nothing but the Source

the box is now not only empty, but in truth, there is no box.

simple directions, but where do we start ?  we expand our vision, open our hearts and completely encompass all around us ... feel, in your heart of hearts, FEEL, there is only ONE... once that first step is taken, the rest follows, like the river to the ocean..

live well.

The Looking Glass

doing something religiously forms a pattern of repetition .. the tenants of all Religions.

this would, hopefully, prepare one's mind to step into the philosophy which may extend even past the boundaries of the Religion itself.

the churning of these concepts in a given philosophy, if seriously undertaken, will weed out most of the grime and will distill your essence to a point where your mind will feel as if it has to choose; are there 2 or is there only 1...

a path of duality will aways keep you one step away from god while a non-dual "belief" will leave you wondering, "so if there is only 1, then 'who am i ?' "

these two paths are not to be debated for such a mental duel is the last snake on the board upon which, if you slip, you end up at the beginning of the game and the entire journey must be undertaken again.

if you are truly prepared and earnest in your quest for the truth, having dropped off all other vestiges of life as you know it, seek out one who knows ... not "about" what you seek for that would require him to utilize his mind to express a concept and hence you are once again operating from a platform of duality  but who "Is" an expression of what you seek. in such a presence; surrender - that lingering sense of self will vaporize and that final question no longer needs an answer for there is none left to ask it .. what was perceived to have emanated from silence, is now Silence itself.

a journey that never was, can have no destination.

Life

life is a curious expression of our Mr. God

take me, for example.  i am a bundle of existence, desires, hopes and fears and of course, as is the nature all that is, this particular bundle will eventually cease to be part of life though life will go on without even mourning the loss of me !

so i float like a twig, bobbing and swirling, upon the unceasing river of life... life, which moves on, in utter disinterest of my achievements or plights and which will eventually wash away all traces of my personality as it crashes against its 2 banks of time and space ! 

yes, there are those who have left their mark ( some good, some evil ) for such is how the force of life expresses and unfolds itself - the contributions of such may be remembered but what about the sadness felt or all the thousand other ups and downs they went through ?  what of those intimate emotions left unexpressed, of the myriad dreams not lived and hopes not fulfilled ? 

wild stallions may be tamed, saddles fastened and the creature mounted but that does not seem to work with life...

so... life... given it's infinite span and our limited one, how best to live it regardless of the conditions one may find oneself in ?

perhaps grasping its very nature is the all important first step - an accurate perspective is essential in all endeavors; shouldn't the same apply to your existence ?

perspective of what is real and what is not, of what is time well spent or simply squandered and of the value of today for there may not be a tomorrow.  just doing is not living, and simply being alive is not a life.  planning guarantees nothing while ambivalence leaves one in limbo allowing life to simply ebb away.  

ask the right questions and if you have the courage and believe in the answers, the bobbing twig may transform into a solid bridge and perhaps instead of being swept down the river of life, one may cross it with the peace borne of wisdom and experience what lies on the other side.

live well.

The Absolute Truth

truth, as with all things that exist within a temporal framework, is incapable of being "absolute".

at best, those aspiring towards the Absolute, try to tune their concept of truth into greater resonance with those of the Masters who have walked through the portal of their own conceptualizations and emerged resplendent - bathed, as it were, in God-Hood itself.

every other truth is an interpretation of a given mental framework - seen from any particular standpoint, every truth may be argued and that in itself, is a glaring declaration that it is not such. 

how does that help us?  well, it doesn't - you will see what you see, continue to do what you do and Life will simply go on.

that is not a condescension - all life is an expression of one singular Spirit, undivided and comprehensive - you are already what you most yearn to experience.

there is no wrong way, long way or lost along the way scenario - there is only Spirit reveling within It's own expression of Itself, seeking only Itself and ultimately merging within Itself.

the rest is simply academic 

the rest is mental noise; co-incidental and fleeting - for that which never was, can never be.

the rest - well, in Truth, there is no such thing.

live well.

Performers.

we all love to watch a good show and there are no better performers than those whose entire lives are dedicated to being watched - everything they do is geared to evoke a response; whether it be they way the wish to appear, the names they drop or the social calendar they mold their existence around.

of course, what would be the point if they were no spectators and here is where most of us fit, we are the vast crowd - we clap, we cheer -  we watch life pass us by like a parade while standing on the side lines.

still, there is a third - the observer; the one on a totally different path.  

a spectator looks outwards whereas the observer looks inwards trying to fathom who is watching what ?

the eyes can see only if life is present, a corpse may have eyes yet there is no power of sight. 

so who is truly seeing ?

if you get lost in what you are seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting or touching, then you are mere spectator.  if you can raise your awareness towards the consciousness that allows your senses to do so, hold on that essence, then you are approximating towards the One.

reflect : "One" presupposes that there is no "other" 

so here is an interesting formula ; there is no doing of anything but rather a shift in awareness of everything that is being done - the observer, thus, slowly dissolves into the One and the others cease to be.

it is not that you now stand alone in a world of empty structures - quite the opposite; you now exist in a plane where all that is observed is seen as a reflection of Him, like the full moon reflected in every ocean, sea and puddle.

hence, one no longer needs to feed the ego by performing, one no longer needs to fill the void by hanging on others - one is simply at peace by tuning into the Universal Consciousness by which and in which all appears to be happening.

here, finally, the ancient declaration  "That thou Art" unfolds its truth.

live well.

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.