Identity and Compassion
Copyright 1999, =Gene Poole=. All rights reserved.
Summary-
The world-dream is everything that happens. Thus, nothing
happens.
The 'actual' is the Unchanging One. I Am That. (Thou art That).
In the world-dream, change is inevitable, and attachment is the
cause of
suffering. The primary attachment is _identity_, which is made of
pieces of
the world-dream. Because everything in the world-dream changes,
identity is
either ever-changing (to 'go with the flow' of change in the
world-dream)
or it is static.
Static identity exists like a rock in the surf of the ocean;
given time, it
will simply disappear. In the meantime, every wave is a threat.
Over time,
as the rock shrinks in size, there is always the chance to let go
of
identity, but too often, the rock (identity) blames and resents
the ongoing
erosion. Man, being worn down by change, curses the fates.
Every rock is made of many particles; these particles are pieces
of the
world-dream, aggregated through sense-impression. Thus, man seeks
to add to
his aggregation by using his senses, in an attempt to forstall
his
disappearance. In this way, a person is constantly resourcing the
world-dream, in order to re-inforce identity. This dependency
upon the
world-dream is the primary attachment, the attachment to the
world-dream as
the source of the reality of "self" (as opposed to
Self, the Unchanging
One).
The form and function of self is called 'ego', which is always
under
threat, like the rock in the surf. Conseqently, the 'work' of ego
is
self-protection, or immunity. Ego serves to stabilize self in a
universe of
instability. Identity is thus 'ego', and thus subject to
extinction,
because it dwells in and of the world-dream, which is
every-changing, like
the weather.
Identity is given, and later reinforced. Because it is given,
there is
something for it to be given to; and this something is thus,
through
introduction of identity, misdefined. The nature of the
misidentification
is that identity is dependent upon the world-dream; thus,
everyone who is
given an identity is inducted into the world-dream. This implies
several
things; we are a tribe of identified identifiers, bound to ego
for
identity, perpetually fighting the essence of change
(impermanence),
perpetually 'mining' the world-dream for attractive particles
(gold) to add
to self (wealth), or sheer size of the ego or 'dreamer'.
"If" no identity is given, or if Being-nature is so
strong that no given
identity 'sticks', the Unchanging One is in charge. If identity
is released
gracefully, the Unchanging One takes charge. It is permitted to
play, and
to awaken so-called 'others' to the nature of Me. That is how
Divinity
walks in the world-dream, never taking it seriously. If Divinity
were to
take the dream seriously, Divinity would become mortal. The
compassion of
the Sacred Heart takes mortality seriously, and thus always
proves that
mortality is a mistaken assumption. Arising from death, the
Sacred Heart
liberates us all from dependency upon the world-dream.
Everyone has been gifted with misdefinition (illusion) of self;
thus all
existing Beings struggle under a veil of ignorance which obscures
That
Which Is, which is God, the Unchanging One. All of this vast play
or drama
of life happens within That Which Does Not Change; in this way,
the
world-dream happens within Me. If I take it seriously, I become
mortal, and
will thus die. But death and mortality are aspects of the
world-dream, from
which I awaken, or, in which I dream. Having known the dream and
the
awaking, and realizing the nonseriousness of the dream, I choose
to
playfully awaken those who walk beside me, dreaming. I am thus a
character
in the world-dream, and also I Am The Unchanging One, as are You.
Nonattachment is the chief characteristic of the freedom from
compulsary
dependency upon the world-dream for the stabilizing effect of
world-dream
'nourishment'. Unstable, attached self/ego is voracious of
appetite,
rebuilding itself against the incessant poundings of the surf of
change.
Thus, appetite signifies addiction to the world-dream, and the
taking of
the world-dream as primary reality. Self is Primary Reality;
there is only
Self.
Self and self may walk hand-in-hand, until self disappears. This
is coming
to maturity in the context of growth or 'personal evolution', and
is
accomplished by compassion. Thus, compassion is the enabler of
growth;
those who lack compassion (either giving of compassion or
receiving
compassion) do not grow. Growth is enabled by compassion.
The Sacred Heart is Compassion. The identified self is not the
'real self',
but will release attachment to the world-dream only upon knowing
compassion. The self dies gracefully when in contact with the the
compassion of the Sacred Heart; the self dies gracefully when it
is
absorbed into the Sacred Heart as it dies. True love is
compassion, and
true love/compassion thus subsumes all concepts; compassion
tolerates/abides all delusion (the world-dream) and identity
thereof. All
are absorbed by the Sacred Heart.
As the world-dream and its dreamers confer and carry identity, so
the
Sacred Heart absorbs or subsumes identity.
Identity is the primary attachment to the world-dream or
mortality. Self is
compassion and the end of dream-identity. Divine Playful Presence
awakens
dreamer to Self.
Attachment to world-dream feeds ego; voracious ego is devoid of
compassion,
and is essentially appetite. Divine cannibalism is the play of
immortals
among mortals; the mortal who is taken into the 'stewpot' of the
Master is
thus food for himself; once he gets a taste of himself, he spits
himself
out, saying "I am not that". So is identity lost.
Thus, the Spiritual Master in Divine Play feeds the identified
dreamer the
taste of himself, which leads to awakening from the world-dream.
Suffering is the bitterness of the taste of the dream; to release
suffering
is to awaken.
There is no remedy for the suffering incurred in the world-dream;
the world
dream is essentially toxic by nature, and is designed to be a
short-term
womb from which self is born to Self. Compassion is the Sacred
Heart of the
Divine Midwife, or the Mother of God.
God is already-always, and is thus the ground upon which the
world-dream is
enacted; burial of the dead in the ground, symbolizes the Ground
of Being,
or God, subsuming self at the end of mortality.
Loss of dream-identity is enabled by the compassion of the
Divine, which is
called Grace.
Grace is a gift, as is Being. Thus, all Beings exist by Grace,
live in
Grace, and suffer in Grace. There is nothing but Grace; the
world-dream is
Grace, and the awakening from the dream is Grace. To live in
gratitude is
to accept the gift of Grace. Death of ego is the acceptance of
the true
nourishment of Grace, as opposed to the toxic false-nourishment
of the
world-dream. Suffering connotes the toxic nature of the
world-dream, and is
the impetus for growth.
Evil is the momentum which seeks to make the world-dream 'come
true', but
in the world-dream, evil is always defeated; thus, in the
world-dream, the
world-dream always dies, and Good triumphs over evil.
The nature of the perishability of the world-dream is that of an
actual
dream; the dream dies when we awaken. Our reality, which is
consciousness
or conscious awareness, is reborn upon awakening, as the sun
rises, and as
the dream dies. To make the dream premanent, is to never awaken;
but no
person can forstall the cosmic movements of the stars and the
planets. As
the sun arises, we awaken, and so dies the dream-world.