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Saturday, November 10


NET SUFI

QUOTING JACK KORNFIELD

There's something in us, in our nature, which
compels us to discover. I remember a very powerful
moment with the old guru who I studied with,
Nisargadatta Maharaj, who taught the way of Nisarga
Yoga. "Nisarga" means natural. The basic
translation of his name was "Mr. Natural". He was
this 80-year old cigarette-smoking man. He had a
little cigarette stand. He was kind of a
combination like Krishnamurti and Fritz Perls. He
would put you on the hot seat when you came in and
ask you about your spiritual life. One day we were
in a room about this big. People were coming in and
asking questions. Somebody came in and asked a
question and was a little bit dissatisfied and
left. And another person raised their hand and
said, "Maharaj, what will happen to that person who
came and asked that question and left? Is it all
over for them in this life? They didn't stay here.
You are a great guru, and they weren't interested,
and they went home." And he twinkled at that
moment, he really lit up, and he said, "It's too
late. Even the fact that they put their foot in
this room, even if they hadn't asked the question,
means that somewhere in there there's a seed of
really knowing who we are and what this life is
about. Not what you were taught in elementary
school or what's on TV or the newspapers, but a
deep seed of knowing our true nature, that wants to
discover; it's like coming home. The fact that he
just walked in the room means that that seed has
started to sprout. And no matter if he tries to
forget it and goes back and gets lost, sooner or
later that will manifest in awakening."

MATTHEW

of course old "mr. natural" failed to mention that
it would most likely be much later (ie:not this
lifetime), cause thats just too depressing for
hopeful seekers to hear. Can you even consider not
"getting it" this lifetime? I don't mean giving up.
I don't mean not practicing. Just giving up any
hope of it ever happening. Ever. But continueing on
as if it could happen in the next moment (cause it
could). What else is there to do anyway?

JERRY

actually, I wonder if he said it. Nisargadatta
speaks in a more holographic, direct way. Let's
face it. By the time Nisargadatta's words were
interpreted, and Kornfield interpreted the
interpretation himself, wrote about it, passed it
through his editors who probably made it suitable
for an audience of linear mind, and re-wrote the
whole thing, it's milk toast for a mass audience.
It's at least five times removed from what
Nisargadatta said.

i'll go out on a limb and say there is no
Nisargadatta book that quotes N. saying that stuff.
I don't hear Nisargadatta talking gently about
seeds sprouting.

Here's what I found in 'I Am That', that sounds
more like him: "The very meeting a Guru is the
assurance of liberation. Perfection is life-giving
and creative." (p. 101 in the orange book.)

____________________________________________________________________

GENE POOLE

PERSPECTIVES OF NOTHING

Time to stop time:

Time moves when we gather information; if we do
nothing, there is no movement.

Doing nothing stops time.

No conclusions can be drawn without making time
move; moving time is recorded as memory of 'what
has happened'.

Thinking spins the wheel; observing and comparing
and concluding index the wheel to information of
meaning. If we have known, we can know again, but
the search for what was known, spins the wheel to
the indexed point.

Constant application of the talents of observing,
indexing, and recalling, keep the wheel in motion.
Another way to conceptualize the wheel is as
sphere.

If there is not the compulsion to observe, index,
and recall, and if we discipline to allow the
sphere to come to rest, time stops.

When time stops, the apparent universe recedes.
This is like watching, as you ride on the back of a
moving vehicle, looking at where you were.
Everything seems to move away and to get smaller.

This can be scary. It often happens when a drug is
ingested; in those circumstances, the sudden
recession of the universe may trigger a strong
impulse to 'bring it back', and this is easily done
by observing, indexing, and recalling.

Sometimes in meditation, such an event will occur,
and the same method of 'bringing it back' may be
used, or not.

The apparent universe in recession:

Time stops and the universe recedes; soon it is at
arm's length and I can reach out and hold it like a
crystal ball. I see myself in it; I am in it,
holding it in my hand, like a crystal ball.

I see the apparent universe around me and I know
that I am holding it in my hand.

The distinction created by this perception:

As you may voluntarily look and allow your eyes to
unfocus right now, so also may you focus. These are
two different ways of seeing, always available.

As you observe the apparent universe, you may do
nothing; time will stop, and the universe will
recede. If you continue to do nothing, the apparent
universe will become an object whose nature is
knowable.

If you know, you go back into it; if you do
nothing, nothing will change.

These are two different ways of perceiving, always
available.

Gene Poole

No nothing without a thing.

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