The following words are best read (And watched: – Visions of Wisdom) shortly after a period of meditation, however brief.
The restful mind is then at its most open and better placed to observe, watch, read and hear. A mind that is free to reflect on whatever arises, uncluttered… free of thought and condition.
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From that I find my birth… There is something formless and perfect from which the universe and all things find their birth. It is serene, empty, solitary, unchanging; infinite, timeless, eternally present. It is the womb of the universe; not dead for it is aware, not alive for it does not change – in that, I know my Self.
You say you want to know yourself… You ARE your self – you cannot be anything but what you are. Is knowing separate from being? You can always say: ‘I know that I am’, and you will refuse as untrue the statement: ‘I am not’. But whatever can be described, as if by observation, cannot be your-self. That ‘I AM’ is the only thing I can truly know – all else is just a projection.
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“Your inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to stop thinking about yourself. You’re ready to grow when you finally realize that the “Me” that you call “I” who is always talking inside will never be content. It always has a problem with something.”
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Message from Rumi – Sufi Sage and Poet – 1207 – 1273
IN THE TAVERN
In the tavern are many wines
– the wine of delight in colour, form and taste,
– the wine of the intellect’s agility,
– the fine port of stories,
– and the cabernet of soul singing.
Being human means entering this place where entrancing varieties of desire are served. The grape-skin of ego breaks… and a pouring begins.
Fermentation is one of the oldest symbols for human transformation. When grapes combine their juice and are closed-up together for a time in a dark place, the results are spectacular. This is what lets two drunks meet so that they don’t know who-is-who?
Pronouns no longer apply in the tavern’s mud-world of excited confusion and half-articulated wantings.
But after some time in the tavern, a point comes… a memory of elsewhere, a longing for the source, and the drunks must set off from the tavern and begin the return.
The Qur’an says, “We are all returning.”
“The tavern is a kind of glorious hell that human beings enjoy, and suffer and then push off from… in their search for truth.
The tavern is a dangerous region where sometimes disguises are necessary, but “never bide your heart,” urges Rumi.
Keep open there. A breaking apart, a crying out into the street, begins in the tavern, and the human soul turns to find its way home.
It’s 4 a.m. Nasruddin leaves the tavern and walks the town aimlessly.
A policeman stops him. “Why are you out wandering the streets in the middle of the night?”
“Sir,” replies Nasruddin, “if I knew the answer to that, I would have been home… long-ago!”
-Rumi
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EXPECTATION: ‘Expectation is the root of all heartache. Expectation is only a fixed idea of what you believe should come next. It is only through the experience, and letting go of expectation (allowing ourselves to be, and feel lost), do we begin to understand ourselves; how we have limited ourselves by our fixed ideas, what they are and what it is to be.
We must learn to face a world of unpredictability which can be frightening. Without unpredictability, there can be no creativity. Creativity depends on having no pre-conceptions – empty of conceptions.
It is your mind only that makes you insecure and unhappy. Anticipation makes you insecure, memory – unhappy. Stop misusing your mind and all will be well.
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Creative freedom is not about overcoming what you think stands in your way. It’s understanding that what you perceive is in your way is part of the way. It’s how we grow.
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It is the perceived threat to your cherished conceptions; this identity you hold so dear, held in protection and fear of loss that is the cause of your pain; your suffering. It is from a position of selflessness, free of all self-conceived identity and possession are we truly free to grow. A growth so free; free beyond belief! Possess not lest you be so possessed!
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FREEDOM: You are free from all description and identification. For description and identification is but an image held in memory, a dreamlike recollection and poor reprint of past conceptions. Your attachment is holding you back. Let go, it has no reality in the present.
Spiritual maturity lies in the willingness to let free. It is the first step, the essence of love and happiness. True love is unbound, free of any condition.
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Whatever is, is right… All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good: And, spite of pride, in erring reasons spite, One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. ~ Alexander Pope – Essay on Man
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ILLUSIONS – Everything perceived in this world, including our own body, is no more real than a projection on a pure white screen. Even the screen has no substance. It is beyond measure; none other than ones-self. ~ Richard Bach, Illusions
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“Man is all Imagination and God is Man and exists in us and we in him. The eternal body of Man is the Imagination and that is God Himself.” ~ William Blake (1757–1827) English poet, painter, and printmaker.
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PRESENCE:
“where shall I look for Enlightenment?”
“Here”
“When will it happen?”
“It is happening right now.”
“Then why don’t I experience it?”
“Because you do not look.”
“What should I look for?”
“Nothing, Just look.”
“At what?”
“Anything your eyes alight upon.”
“Must I look in a particular way?”
“No. The ordinary way will do.”
“But don’t I always look the ordinary way?”
“NO.”
“Why ever not?”
“Because to look you must be here. You’re mostly somewhere else.”
‘Anthony de Mello, S.J.
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Telling the truth… The truth is seldom told straight, rarely listened to unless wrapped in a story… such as the great Indian classic ‘Ramayana’, or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, full of paradoxes and battles. We all love a good battle story – particularly battles between good and evil, love, loss and hope. The great masters of wisdom were invariably great story tellers.
“The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in” ~ Harold Goddard
Here are some pointers to the truth told in very modern stories:
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PRESENCE:
“where shall I look for Enlightenment?”
“Here”
“When will it happen?”
“It is happening right now.”
“Then why don’t I experience it?”
“Because you do not look.”
“What should I look for?”
“Nothing, Just look.”
“At what?”
“Anything your eyes alight upon.”
“Must I look in a particular way?”
“No. The ordinary way will do.”
“But don’t I always look the ordinary way?”
“NO.”
“Why ever not?”
“Because to look you must be here. You’re mostly somewhere else.”
‘Anthony de Mello, S.J.
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NaturesDestiny 