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Nondual Highlights Issue #2447, Saturday, April 15, 2006, Editor: Mark
Thought is violence because it is trying to protect itself. There
is a basic contradiction in what the body demands and the
movement of the thought which is interested in self-perpetuation.
There is no such thing as you and me. The totality has created
you and me. You have no isolated existence. The demand of being
an individual is the real cause of suffering. The "how"
is absent for me. The "hows" dished out in the
market-place are not for me. The one who is living doesn't ask
how to live.
- U.G. Krishnamurti
Time, the fear of the unknown, and thought
which projects what it wants for tomorrow are
all bound together in one package that spells
conflict, separation and misery.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar, from A Net of Jewels, posted to
AlongTheWay
Is not suffering due to the fact that it is forced upon us?
Suppose we
would do consciously what nature does unconsciously? Suppose we
could offer ourselves willingly to be molded and buffeted by
life?
We are the offering placed on the altar of the world. If we would
sacrifice what we wish most, we would gain a tremendous freedom.
This is what is asked of us, the greatest gift of all, always
what we
want most, for ourselves, for the inner most of ourselves, our
own heart.
It is the acceptance of the unacceptable that is asked of us.
So we are tested. To make evident whether our
heart's treasure is earthly or heavenly.
There is no Good Friday without an Easter. No dark night without
a dawn,
and no oppression without a release, and the sacrifice is
followed by an outburst of such momentum that it shakes the very
heavens. The veil of the temple is split; there is a tremor on
earth.
You are resurrecting every time you overcome yourself.
- Pir Vilayat Kahn, posted to DailyDharma
Desire and the Importance of Failing
A window opens.
A curtain pulls back.
The lamps of lovers connect,
not at their ceramic bases,
but in their lightedness.
No lover wants union with the Beloved
without the Beloved also wanting the lover.
Love makes the lover weak,
while the Beloved gets strong.
Lightning from here strikes there.
When you begin to love God, God
is loving you. A clapping sound
does not come from one hand.
The thirsty man calls out, "Delicious water,
where are you?" while the water moans,
"Where is the water-drinker?"
The thirst in our souls is the attraction
put out by the Water itself.
We belong to It,
and It to us.
God's wisdom made us lovers of one another.
In fact, all the particles of the world
are in love and looking for lovers.
Pieces of straw tremble
in the presence of amber.
We tremble like iron filings
welcoming the magnet.
Whatever that Presence gives us
we take in. Earth signs feed.
Water signs wash and freshen.
Air signs clear the atmosphere.
Fire signs jiggle the skillet,
so we cook without getting burnt.
And the Holy Spirit helps with everything,
like a young man trying to support a family.
We, like the man's young wife, stay home,
taking care of the house, nursing the children.
Spirit and matter work together like this,
in a division of labor.
Sweethearts kiss and taste the delight
before they slip into bed and mate.
The desire of each lover is
that the work of the other be perfected.
By this man-and-woman cooperation,
the world gets preserved.
Generation occurs.
Roses and blue arghawan flowers flower.
Night and day meet in a mutual hug.
So different, but they do love each other,
the day and the night, like family.
And without their mutual alternation
we would have no energy.
Every part of the cosmos draws toward its mate.
The ground keeps talking to the body,
saying, "Come back! Itıs better for you
down here where you came from."
The streamwater calls to the moisture in the body.
The fiery ether whispers to the bodyıs heat,
"I am your origin. Come with me."
Seventy-two diseases are caused
by the various elements pulling inside the body.
Disease comes, and the organs
fall out of harmony.
We're like the four different birds,
that each had one leg tied in
with the other birds.
A flopping bouquet of birds!
Death releases the binding, and they fly off,
but before that, their pulling is our pain.
Consider how the soul must be,
in the midst of these tensions,
feeling its own exalted pull.
My longing is more profound.
These birds want the sweet green herbs
and the water running by.
I want the infinite! I want wisdom.
These birds want orchards and meadows
and vines with fruit on them.
I want a vast expansion.
They want profit and the security
of having enough food.
Remember what the soul wants,
because in that, eternity
is wanting our souls!
Which is the meaning of the text,
They love That, and That loves them.
If I keep on explaining this,
the Mathnawi will run to eighty volumes!
The gist is: whatever anyone seeks,
that is seeking the seeker.
No matter if it's animal,
or vegetable, or mineral.
Every bit of the universe is filled with wanting,
and whatever any bits wants,
wants the wanter!
This subject must dissolve again.
Back to Sadri Jahan and the uneducated peasant
who loved him, so that gradually Sadri Jahan
loved the lowly man. But who really
attracted who, whom, Huuuu?
Don't be presumptuous and say one or the other.
Close your lips. The mystery of loving
is God's sweetest secret.
Keep it. Bury it. Leave it here
where I leave it, drawn as I am
by the pull of the Puller
to something else.
You know how it is. Sometimes
we plan a trip to one place,
but something takes us to another.
When a horse is being broken, the trainer
pulls it in many different directions,
so the horse will come to know
what it is to be ridden.
The most beautiful and alert horse is one
completely attuned to the rider.
God fixes a passionate desire in you,
and then disappoints you.
God does that a hundred times!
God breaks with wings of one intention
and then gives you another,
cuts the rope of contriving,
so you'll remember your dependence.
But sometimes, your plans work out!
You feel fulfilled and in control.
That's because, if you were always failing,
you might give up. But remember,
it is by failures that lovers
stay aware of how they're loved.
Failure is the key
to the kingdom within.
Your prayer should be, "Break the legs
of what I want to happen. Humiliate
my desire. Eat me like candy.
It's spring, and finally,
I have no will."
- Rumi, Mathnawi III: 4391-4472, version by Coleman Barks, from Feeling
the Shoulder of the Lion, posted to AlphaWorld