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Nonduality Highlights: Issue #3880, Sunday, May 2, 2010, Editor: Mark
Friend, whatever you are, you must not stand still:
One must from one light into the other spill
- Angelus Silesius (1624 - 1677), English version by Gabriel
Rosenstock, posted to SufiMystic
I wish I could tell
which were my darkest hours
and how even then through the broken glass
were shining rays of light
"Those were happy times," you might sigh
and wanting to remember
the colorful feathers
when the burden seem as un-lift-able as broken wings
Hold close to the center, my dear
folding around the edges
like tender meat leaning into the knife
and disappear
I wish I could let you know
that you are never lost
and when you stumble,
you simply fall, fall into God
There is no other ground
- Annette Knopp
A short fairy tale about Being:
Once upon no time, there was an
infinite and eternal Being. Needless to say this was one big
Being. Being infinite and eternal meant that no matter where or
when it went, there it was. And of course, anything that big was
made of empty space, as space is the only thing big enough to be
that infinite.
While space is a wonderfully low maintenance thing to be, since
it can't be harmed, this Being still had a problem: There was no
one else. Since it was already every-where and every-when, there
was no place or time for anyone else. It was not a horrible
problem, but still there was no one else to talk to, dance with,
or play with.
What's an infinite Being to do? It can't really just create
lesser beings inside of itself as that would not be very
interesting to an infinite Being. For a truly infinite and
eternal being to create little lesser beings to play with would
be like you or me making dolls to play with as an adult. There's
nothing wrong with that, but that's not very interesting after a
while.
Then it had a great idea! Being infinite meant it also had
infinite potential, so rather than create lesser beings, it
decided to create more infinite beings. At first this would seem
impossible since there is the question of where would you put
another infinite Being? There already is no space left over once
you have one infinite Being. But the great thing about space is
that it is completely empty as long as it is pure space or pure
potential, so two spaces can actually occupy the same space!
That was the solution! So, Being created an infinite number of
infinite space Beings just like itself. In a sense, Being cloned
itself. Now rather than having just a wind-up doll version of a
Being to relate to, it had real, fully amazing infinite Beings
like itself to relate to.
Even better, it quickly discovered that as long as one of the
infinite space Beings stayed "home" as infinite space
to hold the endless universes in place, then all of the rest were
free to contract into all kinds of shapes and sizes. In fact, all
a Being of infinite potential has to do to contract into a
different shape or size is think about it, and voila it happens!
That is the power of infinite potential!
Now not only could all of these infinite Beings hang out as one
very big space (which of course really meant hanging out as one
Being, since two spaces in the same space are really still just
one space), they could also play at contracting into all kinds of
lesser expressions of their infinite potential.
Now why would they want to do that? Why would something infinite
want to experience being less than its infinite self? Well
remember these Beings are not only infinite but also eternal, and
eternity is a very long time! That means they all had a lot of
time to kill. What does it matter if you spend a little time
experiencing yourself as less than your complete potential,
especially if you can do an entire eon standing on your head and
still have all the time in the world?
And so Being, as many Beings, was now free to talk, dance,
create, and play in all kinds of crazy wonderful ways because now
there was someone "else" to talk, dance, create, and
play with. Party time!!!
Ever since, it has been discovering all of the different things
it can identify with and thereby temporarily become, and all of
the truly strange and amazing things it can do once it has become
less than itself. Infinite space can't really play soccer or be a
super nova or fall in love or have its heart broken or create a
new universe or fly a kite when it is expanded into its original
nature as infinite space, but if it contracts into a form or
expression of itself, then it can do all of that and more!
So that is what it has been up to ever since, and it is really
just getting started since it still has so much time on its
hands; the rest of eternity is still a very long time. That is
also why it is so amazing to relate to others: because it is
never some lesser incomplete being across the table from you. It
is always an infinite Being with infinite potential that you are
talking to or playing with. No wonder they are so convincing in
their role as an apparent separate individual. It is really God
playing that role. There are only Gods upon Gods upon Gods being
everybody and everything and doing everything that is done! That
is what we all are.
Pretty clever solution if you want to have some fun, don't you
think?
- Nirmala
Life is a direct and immediate experience
of the Infinite
manifesting through the finite
in the present moment.
We simply do not recognize it as such
because of our narrow focus
on the finite.
Relax into your own immediate experience
of Perceiving - of Clear Seeing -
here and now, in this moment.
Shift your attention
to the infinitely vast and
edgeless nature of the present moment,
and suddenly -
you will immediately recognize,
and directly experience,
Reality dynamically emerging as This,
here and now.
There is nothing more or other.
- Metta Zetty
When you recognize
that every experience
is contained within
the innate Completeness
of Reality...
...and that this Wholeness
extends far beyond
the particulars
of any individual experience...
...then you can savour
this Completeness
within each and
every experience.
- Metta Zetty