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#3783 - Thursday, January 21,
2010 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
"There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself they run toward the screaming." --Rumi posted to Facebook by Nathan Spoon
Nonduality and Haiti
From Dede
Dear Scott,
On CNN the events in Haiti unfold, while in my garden a rose
unfolds in it's
fragrant beauty... and all is well. On the same planet at the
same moment these
two things arise. From a non dual perspective how is this seen?
How can resting
as awareness help the woman wailing for her only son buried
beneath the fallen
building?
From Scott
It won't. That is why I donated money to the relief
efforts. :) I'll answer this another way.
Resolving the separation issue provides a peace that passes all
understanding, and resolves issues surrounding personal suffering
and fear of death. That does not change the fact that
someone who is pinned under a house after this earthquake is
experiencing intense pain, difficulty in catching the next breath
and whatever else, and may be terrorized by the thoughts of
future suffering and death.
The world as it appears, with its earthquakes, suffering, etc, is
the only world we know. Life goes on in every way.
Everything is as it is--birth, death, suffering, taxes.
Although there can be a seeing that separation and suffering is
illusory, it doesn't take away the pain felt as a house lands on
the body. It doesn't take away the fact that when I see
someone hurting, I want to reach out and help. For that,
it's good, in my view, to donate money to relief efforts.
------- From Michael
When you made your donation to the Haiti relief efforts, did you
think you
were helping someone? I'm not trying to be cute, but truly trying
to
understand. If nonduality teaches that there are no separate
individuals,
then from that perspective there is no wailing woman, no injured
and dying
people, no people suffering from lack of food and water. Instead,
there are
only appearances without substance, right? Isn't Awareness
perfectly being
those appearances? So from that perspective, what is the
motivation to
change the appearance of suffering, if in fact there are no
separate
entities to be suffering?
From Scott
Hi Michael. Instead of a long-winded answer, let me
quote a famous spiritual teacher whose name I will not include
because some like him and some don't (and it's this message that
is important, not the messenger).
"In the realization of enlightenment you realize there are
no others to save, and then you vow to save them all.
That's the paradox."
Let me just add that this is not about a belief that there is no
self. It is a seeing. And so with no separation, it's
like an arm moving to help a leg when it's bleeding. It's
automatic. The arm does not say, "But there is no
separate leg, it's all one body." It just reaches down
to help the leg stop bleeding. No questions asked.
What else is love supposed to do?
------- From Michael
Then if -- as you say below -- pain is being felt, people are
hurting,
people are being terrorized, in what sense do you mean
"suffering is
illusory"?
It seems quite empty to say "suffering is illusory" at
the same time that
you point out instances of what appear to be great suffering.
From Scott
"Suffering"-the way I use that term-has a specific
meaning. Perhaps I should have clarified. The root of
the word suffer is "to carry," as if to carry over in
time. Pain appears. Sensations are
uncomfortable. Terror arises. To suffer is to carry
that over in time, as if there is a person suffering in time, in
a story. This is what makes people feel as though they have
"had a hard life." They are carrying things over
in time. Even saying, "I've had a bad or a good
week," is carrying over.
To say suffering is illusory is to say that our real identity is
not found in thought. Time is thought. To make an
identity out of the notion of a person carrying things over in
time is to suffer.
To see that everything is a temporary appearance of awareness,
and not happening to a time-bound story is to be free of
suffering in time.
Obviously if there is a belief in a separate self, there is a
great fear of death, a sense that the world consists of separate
things, and a carrying over of the past. When someone is
suffering as a person living in time, their suffering seems very
real. I don't want to downplay that.
To see that there is no self does not mean that one is free of
pain, sensation, discomfort, pleasure. It means there is no
more storytelling around those things. No carrying
over. It's not personal.
------- Even seeing that stories are not real is sometimes
not enough. This is why, in my view, it matters very much how you
relate in the world and in relationships. It is not enough
to say there is no self and no other. How one moves in the
world when it is really seen that there is no separation is where
the rubber meets the road, in my view. How one relates to
others and reacts to situations is the tell tale sign of whether
there is a recognition. Really clear words pointing to
non-duality are a dime a dozen and don't necessarily reveal that
stories have been seen through.
Scott Kiloby posted to OAStudyGroup
"For I
was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed
me,
I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came
to me.
Then the righteous will
answer him, saying,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and
give you drink?
And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and
clothe you?
And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'
And the King will answer
them,
'Truly, I say to you,
as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did
it to me.'"
(Matthew 25.35-40 ESV)
Each of Us Has A Name
Each of us has a
name
given by God
and given by our parents
Each of us has a
name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear
Each of us has a
name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls
Each of us has a
name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors
Each of us has a
name
given by our sins
and given by our longing
Each of us has a
name
given by our enemies
and given by our love
Each of us has a
name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work
Each of us has a
name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness
Each of us has a
name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.
~ Zelda ~
(Trans. by Marcia Lee Falk in
Beloved on the Earth, ed. by
J. Perman, D. Cooper, M. Hart, and P. Mittlefehldt)
Please consider:
International Red Cross and
Red Crescent
Doctors Without Borders
Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/Each_of_Us_Has_A_Name.html