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Nondual Highlights
Issue #2079 Friday, March 11, 2004 editor: michael
Dear Friends,
All is one though it appears as the many.
peace and prosperity,
michael
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- found on the meditationsocietyofamerica yahoo group -
Lunch with God
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long
trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase
with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer
and started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman.
She was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons.
The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase.
He was about to take a sip from his root beer when he
noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered
her some chips. She gratefully accepted then and smiled at him.
Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again,
so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him.
The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and
smiling, but they never said a word. As twilight approached,
the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave.
But before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around,
ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her
biggest smile ever.
When the boy opened the door to his own house a short
time later, his mother was surprised by the look of
joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today
that made you so happy?"
He replied, "I had lunch with God."
But before his mother could respond, he added,
"You know what? She's got the
most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"
Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy,
returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the
look of peace on her face and he asked,
"Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?"
She replied, "I ate potato chips in the park with God."
However, before her son responded, she added,
"You know, he's much younger than I expected."
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- found on the advaitatozen yahoo group -
On Enlightenment
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of
light,
but by making the darkness conscious."
When I was sixteen, I read the above quote by Carl Jung for the
first time. How does one go about making the "darkness
conscious?"-
I wondered. Even thinking about it gave me the creeps. And then I
read the words, "darkness receives and conceives."
Albrecht
Durer's "Melancholia" immediately came to mind, and I
thought,
living in a light-filled world is just fine with me.
Confronting one's "darkness" was not only foreign to
me, at the
time, but frightening, and completely counterproductive in my
view,
so caught up was I in the "light addicted" world where
darkness had
always been associated with the occult, the sinister, and that
which
is to be avoided; where heaven and hell, good and evil, light and
darkness are viewed as direct opposites rather than being birthed
from each other, as I now believe.
The word, birthed, in my view, has much to do with
"enlightenment"
and "realization." Birthing is a process that goes far
beyond nine
months in a womb. It is a life time process. And so too
is "enlightenment," self-individuation/realization, or
as the
Sixteenth Century Kabbalists preferred to call it, "Tikkun
ha olam,"
repair of one's personal world.
"Enlightement" is not a sudden occurrence, imo. It does
not happen
over night, or within a matter of weeks. Rather, it is a seed
process that exists "in potencia;" in us all, like a
flower within a
seed or an Oak within the acorn, for example, that needs to be
cultivated and nurtured over time. It can flow and ebb
unexpectedly
either "in the best of times, or in the worst of
times."
Just as the interplay between Light/Darkness/water/nutrients
give "birth" to the rose, or the new born child, for
example, so
too, the alchemical process can lead to the emergence of a third
and
better thing. And these "better things," are often
preceded by very
difficult and dark times indeed, those trials and tribulations,
depressions, and Dark Nights of the Soul, for example, when it
appears that all the lights have gone out, and all the
"Inter-being"
in the world wouldn't help a bit.
How did the great masters, and those not so great, deal with
their
personal fallow times? And what was it that enabled "many of
them,"
despite great difficulties, to replant and nurture their
"fields?;-
harvest the golden crops that led to their awakening and to the
teachings that impress us so today?
Again, I'm reminded of the lost sparks of God's Light that
Sixteenth
Century Lurianic Kabbalists associated with "Tikkun ha
Olam." ie.
repair of the Self, the integration of the opposites-those shadow
aspects that exist in the "other side," as the
Lurianists referred
to it, thus presaging Jung's idea of Self-individuation.
So, there are many ways to achieve "enlightmenment,"
which is just a
fancy word, in my view, for awareness of Self. And of course
there
are those whose Light/awareness burns with a greater intensity
and
who become the guides and the mentors. Sharing the tools, crafted
in the crucible of their own experience, and the knowledge as to
How
to use them so others may become more conscious and aware of the
barriers/those shadow aspects that often prevent one from
maximizing
their personal duende and discovering their own Light.
Guides such as these who help to chart the paths toward Self-
Knowledge, who provide the tools, and teach their application,
are
sorely needed in our modern day society that values more the
charting of the heavens than the microcosm of Self.
In the mystical tradition, "you are not religious in order
to be a
better person, you must be a better person in order to
be "Religious." And this has much to do with
"Tikkun ha olam;" with
finding the Light inside, illuminating the Self/self, and shining
that light into the hearts and souls of others. Rumi said that
there
were thousands of ways to kneel and kiss the earth. Freeing up
one's
inner Light through "Tikkun ha Olam," is just One of
the many ways
to achieve "enlightenment," thereby honoring the Self
and others.
Whether it be mining for the Light, honoring "God" in
one self and
others, reaassessing one's beliefs that may no longer be
working, "chopping wood, carrying water," volunteering,
spending time with young children, or older adults, or just
sitting
on the Head, one can be "enlightened."
No one has a monopoly on the "enlightenment" market,
but each of us
do have a corner of the world within us which, with guidance and
the
willingness to do so, Can be polished and made to shine more
brilliantly than one has ever imagined. And the inner/outer
ripple
effect of such an endeavor Does contain astounding possibilities.
Peace,
Doug
******************************
- found on the sufimystic yahoo group -
Just So
What is the purpose
Of the sun's setting among clouds
In breathtaking beauty?
Or of the dolphin's breaking the surface
In a delightful sommersault?
What is the purpose
Of the wind caressing my sweaty face
On a hot summer day?
What is the purpose
Of child's causeless rippling laughter?
Or a scent of a rose?
Who cares?
I am grateful for every moment
Of being
Here!
++++++++++++++++++++
more from sufimystic
++++++++++++++++++++
independence 365 Tao
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
an excerpt from a longer post
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In harmony with the Tao,
the sky is clear and spacious,
the earth is solid and full,
all creature flourish together,
content with the way they are,
endlessly repeating themselves,
endlessly renewed.
When man interferes with the Tao,
the sky becomes filthy,
the earth becomes depleted,
the equilibrium crumbles,
creatures become extinct.
The Master views the parts with compassion,
because he understands the whole.
His constant practice is humility.
He doesn't glitter like a jewel
but lets himself be shaped by the Tao,
as rugged and common as stone.