Spiritual
MaterialismorIs Enlightenment an
Object?or Is it really not
some superhuman accomplishment at all?
Enlightenment, awakening,
realization, and understanding are words used to describe the
goal of the seeker and the attainment of the so called
enlightened, awakened, or realized. You'll please excuse me
if I don't use the term understood. It just sounds odd to
refer to oneself as understood...doesn't it? To
find enlightenment it has been said, is to find the ultimate
in bliss, peace and happiness. It is to attain the highest
forms of samadhi, where-in all attachments are broken and the
ego is finally put to rest or at least put into perspective.
Awakening from the dream, or to the dream or within the dream
have all been used as aphorisms for enlightenment. At any
rate the great goal of all seekers is to obtain the exalted
state of pure being called enlightenment. Some
say that there are degrees and levels to the attainment of
enlightenment. While some claim that enlightenment is sudden
and when found dispels all notions, even that of levels and
degrees. Others say that once found enlightenment can be
lost. And yet others state without a doubt that there is no
such thing as enlightenment or enlightened beings. There
are also criteria for enlightenment that can be used to check and see if
you or someone you know might be enlightened. The
questions for this edition are - Is enlightenment an
object? Or, is it really anything like the expectations that
so many seekers have of it? Will awakening confer a special
status? Are the so-called realized any better as people or
are they simply living in a form of spiritual or mental
delusion? The web site http://peterspearls.com.au/glossary.html offers this definition of
enlightenment:
ENLIGHTENMENT
(not some superhuman
accomplishment) A natural state of 'felt' oneness with Being.
It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable
and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is
essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is
finding your true nature beyond name and form. The revelatory
experience of the Absolute or God or Christ being your true
Self. The spontaneous impersonal event at the end of the
process of seeking in which there is the spontaneous,
intuited, total understanding in the heart that there is no
doer and never was a doer or seeker -- the ego, the
"me," is completely annihilated; see
doer, ego, seeker, seeking
Perhaps enlightenment is
nothing more than the ordinary mind at rest. Then again
perhaps seeking and the ending of seeking, are simply
nothing more that natural events that happen. And perhaps
enlightenment, the much sought after state of knowing one's
own self as the eternal self, just happens. And perhaps the
mascot of MAD Magazine, Alfred E. Newman, is right to ask,
"What, me worry?"
as ever - be well,
michael
"Ah,
enligjtenment. What a surprise! It was here all the time." -
Anon. That which is the finest essence--this whole
world has that as its soul. That is Reality. That is the Self
(Atman). That art thou.
Selling Water By the River Selections from the Talks
of Adyashanti
Many seekers do not
take full responsibility for their own Liberation,
but wait for one big, final spiritual experience
which will catapult them fully into it. It is this
search for the final liberating experience which
gives rise to a rampant form of spiritual consumerism
in which seekers go from one teacher to another,
shopping for enlightenment as if shopping for sweets
in a candy store. This spiritual promiscuity is
rapidly turning the search for enlightenment into a
cult of experience seekers. And, while many people
indeed have powerful experiences, in most cases these
do not lead to the profound transformation of the
individual, which is the expression of enlightenment.
In speaking regularly
with spiritual seekers, it dawned on me one day how
addicted so many of them are to the power of
charisma. They swap stories about how powerful this
or that teacher is and compare experiences. They get
a charge from it, many mistaking charisma for
enlightenment. Charisma attracts at all levels:
political, sexual, spiritual, etc., and it feeds the
ego's desire to feel special. The ego loves getting
hits of power - it's like a form of spiritual candy.
The candy may be sweet but can you live on it? Does
it make you free? Freedom is not necessarily
exciting; it's just free. Very peaceful and quiet, so
very quiet. Of course, it is also filled with joy and
wonder, but it is not what you imagine. It is much,
much less. Many mistake the intoxicating power of
otherworldly charisma for enlightenment. More often
than not it is simply otherworldly, and not
necessarily free or enlightened.
In order to be truly free, you
must desire to know the truth more than you want to
feel good. Because, if feeling good is your goal,
then as soon as you feel better you will lose
interest in what is true. This does not mean that
feeling good or experiencing love and bliss is a bad
thing. Given the choice, anyone would choose to feel
bliss rather than sorrow. It simply means that if
this desire to feel good is stronger than the
yearning to see, know, and experience Truth, then
this desire will always be distorting the perception
of what is Real, while corrupting one's deepest
integrity. In my experience, everyone will say they
want to discover the Truth, right up until they
realize that the Truth will rob them of their deepest
held ideas, beliefs, hopes, and dreams. The freedom
of enlightenment means much more than the experience
of love and peace. It means discovering a Truth that
will turn your view of self and life upside-down. For
one who is truly ready, this will be unimaginably
liberating. But for one who is still clinging in any
way, this will be extremely challenging indeed. How
does one know if they are ready? One is ready
when they are willing to be absolutely consumed, when
they are willing to be fuel for a fire without end.
If you start playing
the game of being an "enlightened
somebody," the true teacher is going to call you
on it. He or she is going to expose you, and that
exposure is going to hurt. Because the ego will be
there, standing in the light of Truth, exposed and
humiliated. Of course, the ego will cry
"foul!" It will claim that the teacher made
a mistake and begin to justify itself in an effort to
put its protective clothing back on. It will begin to
spin justifications with incredible subtlety and
deceptiveness. This is where real spiritual sadhana
(practice) begins. This is where it allbecomes very
"real" and the student discovers whether he
or she truly wants to be free, or merely wants to
remain as a false, separate, and self-justifying ego.
This crossroad inevitably comes and is always
challenging. It separates the true seeker from the
false one. The true seeker will be willing to bare
the Grace of humility, whereas the false seeker will
run from it. Thus begins the true path to
enlightenment, granted only to those willing to be
nobody. Discovering your "nobodyness" opens
the door to awakening as beingness, and beyond that
to the Source of all beingness.
Do not think that
enlightenment is going to make you special, it's not.
If you feel special in any way, then enlightenment
has not occurred. I meet a lot of people who think
they are enlightened and awake simply because they
have had a very moving spiritual experience. They
wear their enlightenment on their sleeve like a badge
of honor. They sit among friends and talk about how
awake they are while sipping coffee at a cafe. The
funny thing about enlightenment is that when it is
authentic, there is no one to claim it. Enlightenment
is very ordinary; it is nothing special. Rather than
making you more special, it is going to make you less
special. It plants you right in the center of a
wonderful humility and innocence. Everyone else may
or may not call you enlightened, but when you are
enlightened the whole notion of enlightenment and
someone who is enlightened is a big joke. I use the
word enlightenment all the time; not to point you
toward it but to point you beyond it. Do not get
stuck in enlightenment.
Ego is the movement of
the mind toward objects of perception, in the form of
grasping; and, away from objects, in the form of
aversion. This fundamentally is all the ego is. This
movement of grasping and aversion gives rise to a
sense of a separate "me," and in turn the
sense of "me" strengthens itself this way.
It is this continuous loop of causation that tricks
consciousness into a trance of identification.
Identification with what? Identification with the
continuous loop of suffering. After all, who is
suffering? The "me" is suffering. And
"who" is this me? It is nothing more than a
sense of self caused by identification with grasping
and aversion. You see, it's all a creation of the
mind, an endless movie, a terrible dream. Don't try
to change the dream, because trying to change it is
just another movement in the dream. Look at the
dream. Be aware of the dream. That awareness is It.
Become more interested in the awareness of the dream
than in the dream itself. What is that awareness? Who
is that awareness? Don't go spouting out an answer,
just be the answer. Be It.
Enlightenment means
the end of all division. It is not simply having an
occasional experience of unity beyond all division,
it is actually being undivided. This is what
nonduality truly means. It means there is just One
Self, without a difference or gap between the
profound revelation of Oneness and the way it is
perceived and lived every moment of life. Nonduality
means that the inner revelation and the outer
expression of the personality are one and the same.
So few seem to be interested in the greater
implication contained within profound spiritual
experiences, because it is the contemplation of these
implications which quickly brings to awareness the
inner divisions existing within most seekers.
Spiritual people can
be some of the most violent people you will ever
meet. Mostly, they are violent to themselves. They
violently try to control their minds, their emotions,
and their bodies. They become upset with themselves
and beat themselves up for not rising up to the
conditioned mind's idea of what it believes
enlightenment to be. No one ever became free through
such violence. Why is it that so few people are truly
free? Because they try to conform to ideas, concepts,
and beliefs in their heads. They try to concentrate
their way to heaven. But Freedom is about the natural
state, the spontaneous and un-self-conscious
expression of beingness. If you want to find it, see
that the very idea of "a someone who is in
control" is a concept created by the mind. Take
one step backward into the unknown.
There is nothing more
insidiously destructive to the attainment of
liberation than self-doubt and cynicism. Doubt is a
movement of the conditioned mind that always claims
that "it's not possible ... that freedom is not
possible for me." Doubt always knows; it
"knows" that nothing is possible. And in
this knowing, doubt robs you of the possibility of
anything truly new or transformative from happening.
Furthermore, doubt is always accompanied by a
pervasive cynicism that unconsciously puts a negative
spin on whatever it touches. Cynicism is a world view
which protects the ego from scrutiny by maintaining a
negative stance in relationship to what it does not
know, does not want to know, or cannot know. Many
spiritual seekers have no idea how cynical and
doubt-laden they actually are. It is this blindness
and denial of the presence of doubt and cynicism that
makes the birth of a profound trust impossible. A
trust without which final liberation will always
remain simply a dream.
All fear comes from
thought in the form of memory (past) or projection
(future). Thought creates time: past, present, and
future. So fear exists and comes from the perceived
existence of time. To be free of fear is to be free
of time. Since time is a creation of thought, to be
free of fear you must be free of thought.
Consequently, it is important to awaken and
experience your Self outside of thought, existing as
eternity. So question all notions of yourself that
are creations of thought and of time -- of past,
present, and future. Experience your eternalness,
your holiness, your awakeness until you are convinced
that you are never subject to the movement of
thought, of fear, or of time. To be free of fear is
to be full of Love.
Many spiritual seekers
get "stuck" in emptiness, in the absolute,
in transcendence. They cling to bliss, or peace, or
indifference. When the self-centered motivation for
living disappears, many seekers become indifferent.
They see the perfection of all existence and find no
reason for doing anything, including caring for
themselves or others. I call this "taking a
false refuge." It is a very subtle egoic trap;
it's a fixation in the absolute and all unconscious
form of attachment that masquerades as liberation. It
can be very difficult to wake someone up from this
deceptive fixation because they literally have no
motivation to let go of it. Stuck in a form of divine
indifference, such people believe they have reached
the top of the mountain when actually they are hiding
out halfway up its slope.
Enlightenment does not mean
one should disappear into the realm of transcendence.
To be fixated in the absolute is simply the polar
opposite of being fixated in the relative. With the
dawning of true enlightenment, there is a tremendous
birthing of impersonal Love and wisdom that never
fixates in any realm of experience. To awaken to the
absolute view is profound and transformative, but to
awaken from all fixed points of view is the birth of
true nonduality. If emptiness cannot dance, it is not
true Emptiness. If moonlight does not flood the empty
night sky and reflect in every drop of water, on
every blade of grass, then you are only looking at
your own empty dream. I say, Wake up! Then, your
heart will be flooded with a Love that you cannot
contain.
Maybe I can point you
to the great Reality within you. Maybe you will
awaken to the direct experience of Self-realization.
Maybe you will catch the fire of transmission. But
there is one thing that no one can give you: the
honesty and integrity that alone will bring you
completely to the other shore. No one can give you
the strength of character necessary for profound
spiritual experience to become the catalyst for the
evolutionary transformation called
"enlightenment." Only you can find that
passion within that burns with an integrity that will
not settle for anything less than the Truth.
Enlightenment has
nothing to do with states of consciousness. Whether
you are in ego consciousness or unity consciousness
is not really the point. I have met many people who
have easy access to advanced states of consciousness.
Though for some people this may come very easily, I
also noticed that many of these people are no freer
than anyone else. If you don't believe that the ego
can exist in very advanced states of consciousness,
think again. The point isn't the state of
consciousness, even very advanced ones, but an awake
mystery that is the Source of all states of
consciousness. It is even the Source of presence and
beingness. It is beyond all perception and all
experience. I call it "awakeness." To find
out that you are empty of emptiness is to die into an
aware mystery, which is the Source of all existence.
It just so happens that that mystery is in love with
all of its manifestation and non-manifestation. You
find your Self by stepping back out of yourself.
Ramana Maharshi's gift
to the world was not that he realized the Self. Many
people have had a deep realization of the Self.
Ramana's real gift was that he embodied that
realization so thoroughly. It is one thing to realize
the Self; it is something else altogether to embody
that realization to the extent that there is no gap
between inner revelation and its outer expression.
Many have glimpsed the realization of Oneness; few
consistently express that realization through their
humanness. It is one thing to touch a flame and know
it is hot, but quite another to jump into that flame
and be consumed by it.
Chogyam Trungpa - Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted,
ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive
ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when
instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through
spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be
referred to asspiritual materialism.
The basic problems of spiritual materialism are common to
all spiritual disciplines. ... The heart of the confusion is
that man has a sense of self which seems to him to be
continuous and solid. When a thought or emotion or event
occurs, there is a sense of someone being conscious of what
is happening. You sense that you are reading these words.
This sense of self is actually a transitory, discontinuous
event, which in our confusion seems to be quite solid and
continuous. Since we take our confused view as being real, we
struggle to maintain and enhance the solid self. We try to
feed it pleasures and shield it from pain. Experience
continually threatens to reveal our transitoriness to us so
we continually struggle to cover up any possibility of
discovering our real condition. "But," we might
ask, "if our real condition is an awakened state, why
are we so busy trying to avoid becoming aware of it" It
is because we have become so absorbed in our confused view of
the world, that we consider it real, the only possible world.
This struggle to maintain the sense of a solid, continuous
self is the action of the ego.
Ego is able to convert everything to its own use, even
spirituality. For example, if you have learned of a
particularly beneficial meditation technique of spiritual
practice, then ego's attitude is, first to regard it as an
object of fascination and, second to examine it. Finally,
since ego is seeming solid and cannot really absorb anything,
it can only mimic. The ego tries to examine and imitate the
practice of meditation and the meditative way of life. When
we have learned all the tricks and answers of the spiritual
game, we automatically try to imitate the practice of
meditation and meditative way of life. When we have learned
all the tricks and answers of the spiritual game, we
automatically try to imitate spirituality, since real
involvement would require the complete elimination of ego,
and actually the last thing we want to do is to give up the
ego completely. however, we cannot experience that which we
are trying to imitate; we can only find some area within the
bounds of ego that seems to be the same thing. Ego translates
everything in terms of its own state of health, its own
inherent qualities. It feels a sense of great accomplishment
and excitement at having been able to create such a pattern.
At last it has created a tangible accomplishment, a
confirmation of its own individuality. If we become
successful at maintaining our self-consciousness through
spiritual techniques, then genuine spiritual development is
highly unlikely. ... In following a spiritual path we may
substitute a new religious ideology for our former beliefs,
but continue to use it in the old neurotic way. ... He
discovered that struggling to find answers did not work. It
was only when there were gaps in his struggle that insights
came to him. He began to realize that there was a sane, awake
quality within him which manifested itself only in the
absence of struggle. So the practice of meditation involves
"letting be". ... In true meditation there is no
ambition to stir up thoughts, nor is there an ambition to
suppress them. They are just allowed to occur spontaneously
and become an expression of basic sanity.
LUCKNOW DISEASE - linguistic malady befalling seekers
at Papaji's. Characterized by never using the
word "I" - to encourage one's self and also
show others that there is no one at home here.
Instead, they would say stuff like "This form is
going to the rest room."
ADVAITA SHUFFLE - Conversational gambit. What
Andrew Cohen accused Gangaji of doing when she didn't
want to talk about ethics and enlightenment.
Jumping to the absolute level at odd times.
Like when the receptionist asks why you were late for
your doctor's appointment. "There's no one
here to go anywhere or be late for anything."
LANDING - Losing one's enlightenment. What
Gangaji accused Andrew Cohen of having
done. Term used by those who think of
enlightenment as a kind of thing that can be
lost. Something like claiming enlightenment and
then getting peevish and petty over who pays the tip
at the diner.
NONDUAL POLICE - Those who badger others to use
nondual terminology. Whenever they hear someone
saying something like "I'm going out for
coffee," they barge in: "WHO is going
out for coffee??" Nondual police want
everyone to always be in constant
Ramana-self-inquiry-mode.
THE EYE THING - Keeping eye contact with the other
person as long as possible. Whoever drops their
gaze first is not as established in the
Beloved. Some blinking is OK, but not too
much. The deeper into the Self you are, the
longer you can hold it. Used by many satsang
teachers. One of my friends can out-stare
anyone. He kinds of drops into a
Candida-mind-fog, and hours can go by.
- - - - - -
- - - - - - - - -
The "beyond"
shtick is a standard dodge in the biz, another way of
saying "I am the greatest, Buddha and his ilk
are barely worthy to kiss my feet," whereby mere
oneness with the cosmos is a second-rate phenomenon
and the true prophet of God is the real deal.
Variations on this theme include Maitreya Ishwara's
"Beyond Advaita," Vijay Shankar's
"Turiyatita," the Hare Krishna's idea that
Krishna is above all this and so on. It is as
divisive and self-aggrandizing as any sectarian
endeavour. (See "only begotten son," and
"last prophet of God").
– Sarlo
"Satsang
hijinks" terminology from Greg:
LUCKNOW DISEASE - linguistic malady befalling seekers
at Papaji's. Characterized by never using the
word "I" - to encourage one's self and also
show others that there is no one at home here.
Instead, they would say stuff like "This form is
going to the rest room."
ADVAITA SHUFFLE - Conversational gambit. What
Andrew Cohen accused Gangaji of doing when she didn't
want to talk about ethics and enlightenment.
Jumping to the absolute level at odd times.
Like when the receptionist asks why you were late for
your doctor's appointment. "There's no one
here to go anywhere or be late for anything."
LANDING - Losing one's enlightenment. What
Gangaji accused Andrew Cohen of having
done. Term used by those who think of
enlightenment as a kind of thing that can be
lost. Something like claiming enlightenment and
then getting peevish and petty over who pays the tip
at the diner.
NONDUAL POLICE - Those who badger others to use
nondual terminology. Whenever they hear someone
saying something like "I'm going out for
coffee," they barge in: "WHO is going
out for coffee??" Nondual police want
everyone to always be in constant
Ramana-self-inquiry-mode.
THE EYE THING - Keeping eye contact with the other
person as long as possible. Whoever drops their
gaze first is not as established in the
Beloved. Some blinking is OK, but not too
much. The deeper into the Self you are, the
longer you can hold it. Used by many satsang
teachers. One of my friends can out-stare
anyone. He kinds of drops into a
Candida-mind-fog, and hours can go by.
- - - - - -
- - - - - - - - -
The "beyond" shtick is a standard dodge
in the biz, another way of saying "I am the
greatest, Buddha and his ilk are barely worthy to
kiss my feet," whereby mere oneness with the
cosmos is a second-rate phenomenon and the true
prophet of God is the real deal.
Variations on this theme include Maitreya Ishwara's
"Beyond Advaita," Vijay Shankar's
"Turiyatita," the Hare Krishna's idea that
Krishna is above all this and so on. It is as
divisive and self-aggrandizing as any sectarian
endeavour. (See "only begotten son," and
"last prophet of God").
– Sarlo
I
had two psychics from the Berkeley Psychic Institute read me
on Friday (Thanks LJ!). Like dueling fiddles, except it was
psychics. My dad wants to start the Berkeley Sidekick
Institute - with classes like “Be the best #2 you can
be!” and “Capes: colors and fabrics” and
“Superhero Co-dependence - the pitfalls of sidekick life”.
Having a psychic reading is like looking at the back of your
head after you get a hair cut. It's interesting to see - but
doesn't really matter since you can't see it every day.
One of the psychics called the Dalai Lama “The
Daddy Mama” - an appropriate nickname for the most
integrated and evolved public figure on the planet. The
psychic said that I should ask my Tibetan Lama past life to
recede into the mists of time - having him hang out with me
in this life is like letting a bus driver have the wheel in a
new neighborhood. No Steven Segal jokes please. But I let my
inner Tibetan Lama come out to play at the Dalai Lama “concert”
at Shoreline Ampitheater yesterday.
I got there around 8am and found a spot on the
lawn facing center stage - and more importantly, behind a
cute punk rock girl named Gina who had come down from Oregon.
She had been to the last 3 days of the Dalai Lama's teachings
and was pretty blissed out. After finding the optimal seat, I
went shopping. I probably dropped $300 at the Dalai Lama's
gig - $50 ticket, $10 to park and $100 for videos of the 3
days I had missed (a ridiculous purchase as I have no TV),
plus a wide array of religious tapes, accessories and crap
that I have no room for. In every line I stood in, I made the
same dumb joke about going home and rereading “Cutting
Through Spiritual Materialism” - I was laughing, but the
people next to me just nodded sagely and looked guilty. The
author, Tibetan crazy guy Chogyam Trungpa, would have laughed
and asked me to buy him a beer.
The program was The Medicine Buddha Empowerment,
which is, well, um….an empowerment. Kinda like an
initiation/purification/healing, but the best part is that
you can pass it on. It's the most religious thing I've ever
seen the Dalai Lama do. His usual show for westerners is
“Cultivate good thoughts and be kind and you will create
happiness. Minimize negative thoughts and you will minimize
suffering.” This seems incredibly simplistic. But the
Tibetan dogma is very complex and intellectual - quite
scientific in its thorough exploration of the self, the
universe and ultimate truth. And it's also quite esoteric and
mystical. Yum. The psychics told me that my soul is plenty
developed, I need to start enjoying my body. My spiritual
self is on the right track - I need to work on being on the
earth. Phooey. They actually told me to eat chocolate ice
cream.
The Dalai Lama made everyone repeat the
Bodhisattva vow 3 times between each visualization. He was
quite firm that the power given was not to be used for
personal gain - only in service to others. Here's the vow:
With a wish to free all beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
Until I reach full enlightenment.
Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
Today in Buddha's presence
I generate the mind of full awakening
For the benefit of all beings.
As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world.
Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha was
explained to me as “Home, the road home, and your fellow
travelers on the way home.” Some of my “sangha”
take refuge in movies and beer. Or new cd's and pizza. I take
refuge in books and housecleaning. After the empowerment, I
went to a picnic and took refuge in barbeque and cigarettes.
Something about doing spiritual stuff just makes me want to
be a bad girl. Naughty, rebellious angel, I am.
But I did go home and put on my angel costume for
the AIDS candlelight march last night. As I was putting on my
wings, a bird tried to fly into my bedroom window - but it
was shut. The march was beautiful and sad, and more focused
on the plight of Africa and the lack of compassion from the
UN, the pharmaceutical companies, and the Bush
Administration. The tax cut is $1.6 trillion. Africa needs $7
billion for healthcare and prevention. Can you say “greedy
bastard”? At the end of the march they had us call out
the names of those who had died, and someone yelled “They
called him patient Zero!” Very spooky. I got on the
“party cable car” to ride back to the Castro, and
the song “You're my Angel” came on the PA. I
stepped off on Market and 15th and sitting on top of a trash
can on the corner was the sheet music to Handel's Messiah.
Hallelujah.
ORIGINAL MIND, NO MIND
The passages in this section discuss the original
mind or true self of the human being, which is the proper
ground of enlightenment. The Original Mind is the intrinsic
essence of mind, the true self. It is inherently pure and
good, and in Christian terms it can be said to participate in
the Kingdom of God. In Eastern traditions it is prior to
thought, prior to desire, prior to any conceptualization at
all. It is discovered by stripping away all sensation,
desire, concepts, intellection, volition, and awareness of
"I." It partakes of the Oneness of all. Buddhism
calls this mind the Buddha Nature, and much of Buddhist
practice is aimed at its realization. They also call it
"no-mind" because it is without any grasping at a
(selfish) self. Taoists agree, and seek to strip away all
intellection and formalism in order to arrive at the
spontaneous activity of the natural man who lives at one with
the Tao of the universe. Some of the passages here criticize
pious attempts to delineate a true nature of man based on
doctrinal or formal criteria like Goodness or Benevolence,
saying they only increase delusion by imposing artificial
obstructions in the way of the functioning of the true self.
Instead, all attachments must be stripped away until there is
nothing but emptiness. Then the heart can be heard. Cf.
Immanent, pp. 113-18.
The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be
observed, nor will they say, "Lo, here it is!" or
"There!" for behold, the kingdom of God is within
you.