I have friends who are Quakers, friends who are Unitarian Universalists, friends who Dialogue in the Bohmian tradition, friends who are Mystics, friends who are Poets, and so many other friends who live lives of wisdom and wonder... this is my account of the meeting with these friends...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Housinglessness

Im officially homeless

but I LOVE the phrase Housinglessness! its so much more true- since ones true home is in one's heart

Ill let you all know what happens, but I have an hour to pack up what I can and get out of where Ive been living- the promise of a "place to live" and "I would never kick you out on the street" was rescinded, after over a year of investing (fun word to use here) myself in the upkeep and care of this place...

all is well though
I hear God a'knockin

Ill let you all know what transpires

be well
love to all

Some things are not a matter of Opinion

... and some things are...

how does one meet what is a mere opinion, with that which is not an opinion?
to put the question another way, what happens when Open meets Closed?
how do you see something that is utterly False, and meet that with truth?

this is Peace Pilgrim, answering that question for us, as she does, by her living example (yes, her body has passed away, but her example is still quite a living thing!) (YouTube video, one hour)


And then they said, if you had to choose between killing and being killed which would you choose. Oh I said, I don't think I need to make such a choice as long as my life remains in harmony with divine purpose. But not only that, if it were my calling to be a martyr (now that's a really rare calling and it's a very high calling) I don't believe it's my calling. Although I'm ready if it is (the world learns and grows through its martyrs). I said, if I had to make such a choice, I would choose being killed rather then killing. In any case where it was necessary to choose harming and being harmed I would choose being harmed rather than harming. And they said, could you give a logical explanation for such an attitude? Yes I said in my frame of reference I could. In my frame of reference I am not the body - I am only wearing the body. I am that which activates the body - that's the reality. Now if I am killed it destroys merely the body, which is transient anyway. But if I kill it injures the reality, which can only be injured by my own wrong act. (source)


"reality can only be injured by my own wrong act"

Wow, yes!

the carrying of opinions from one place to another, and the use of them as a means to get something from another... THAT is the "wrong act"...

drop them, and see what reality actually IS. Im saying to you here- this is what Love really is- this is what Compassion actually is...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

True Gifts

someone said to me yesterday, "I find I have a hard time still, owning these things as my "gifts"... the way others perceive what I say- they seem to label me as "out there"- perhaps a bit kooky, because of the way I see things"...

also, on a few occasions yesterday, I discovered my new friend had found reason to deliver some "advice" that she thought would be useful for me... to "overcome" something that she imagined I was struggling with... it could have seemed to me, that it was I who was saying "out there" things, because there was nothing in what I said that was identifiable to me as a struggle- I was speaking of nothing that I needed to "overcome"... this was strange at first sight- but then, very shortly, I saw into what I think may have been unfolding...

_____________________


the more you come to understand the truth of your own gifts, the more you will see the uselessness of advice-from-others... and proportionately, the more you will see the meaninglessness of dispensing advice-to-others (who have not explicitly asked for it)

what is important about this, is the simple ratio that it reveals

the distance between yourself and your true gifts, is going to be precisely equal to the amount of advice (unsolicited) you dispense to others...

now, here is the irony of this

those who dispense advice (unsolicited), often do not even know they are doing so- they are THAT far away from coming to understand their true gifts...

and to further the paradox along a bit more

there may arise a desire to "point this out" to the one who is dispensing advice left and right- this of course, would be oneself abandoning ones true gifts, in order to match (not meet) the advise-giving energy... if this should happen, one may want to question whether one has really understood fully, the truth of ones gifts...

now, let us look just a bit at solicited advise

I think it might be somewhat clear, if one is looking the above paradox squarely in the face, that even solicited advice is at its best, never really "advice", in the way we commonly take to mean it.... but rather, a true gift will understand enough about itself to share the question of the other... to take the question fully into ones own heart, and speak as if whatever circumstance was being examined were an alive circumstance for oneself... (indeed, on the level of true gifts, this is actually the case... there is no real separation of "you" and "me"... "I" and "other")... this true seeing changes the communication entirely, and now, that which was being sought (advice) is no longer what it was, but has transcended to a completely different level of information flow...

it is a funny thing to see a very sincere advice-giver deliver some words upon a situation, and completely miss that these words are entirely meant for themselves! that these words are really speaking of the DISTANCE between their own ideas of how the world should be, and their own true gifts...

a true gift will meet this situation with compassion... maybe it will say nothing... maybe it will say something once, from the depths of seeing the mirror of oneself in the circumstance, and then let it be... but a true gift will not endeavor to correct the circumstance from an image of "how it should be"... it will not advise against advice... it simply cannot do so...

thus, we are left with the purest form of communication

invitation...

this is the sharing of the question that was spoken of earlier... this is the seeing of the mirror, that ones own true gifts are not in any way separate from another's... they may indeed manifest in different ways, thus we have many different ways of loving God, if you will... but different is not separate... not from the level of ones true gifts... these gifts will be loath to label themselves beyond what they already see of themselves in the other... this non-separation has a completely different way of allowing for information to come and go, than this language we are sharing now is capable of fully revealing... the words are not the flow...

a true invitation is delivered from a silent, spacious place... it is an invitation to give space to the words that arrive in the haste and noise of advice... a shared looking, together, as if one were not separate from the other... advice, in the way we mean it here, is itself a separating agent- as it is itself born of that noise and haste, and is devoid of the space in which one can truly see oneself- the gift of oneself- the true gift... space is the mirror of all relationships, between people, between natural things, and man made things- all things are a part of this space, which is bound to mirror our true gifts...

lets look there, in that space
we can look together...


_______________________


Added

its funny to consider, some readers will have come here and not read past the third paragraph above... "well, if youre not interested in my advice, why should I even bother to read your blog?!"...

yes indeed- why?

and so, in perfect fashion, these folks will close this tab, and move on to other pages that resonate better with their intent... dear reader, if you have come this far in the post, then you have already understood oceans more than the advice merchant...

the invitation then, is to understand there are oceans more to see... beyond what is looked at here... the inviation is a galaxy into itself... and more beyond that...

our poor, poor, agree/disagree minds...

Im speaking here about a way to meet this universe, that has not a speck of debate within it... that flies around with stars and planets and moons- comets and asteroids...

there is no "out there" in this space... the space is always and ever "right here" ... the inward, which contains within the fullness of the apparent and all of the hidden outward... this is the space of invitation...

what are the ways we share that invitation together?

we already (and always) are,
are we not?

now, breathe*

*either the very best, or the stupidest advice ever delivered ;-)



Friday, April 24, 2009

A bit about Homelessness- and maybe surrender

You and I are on this road together ... lets say we are going to a retreat for the weekend, some 40 or 50 miles up the road ... we've been there before, so we sort of know the town some ...

we left home late though - weve been on the road for about 100 miles already - we were rather planning to have arrived there by now - its getting late, and now that its winter, its getting a bit dark a bit much earlier - so at this point in our trip, its dark out ...

and, its started to rain too ... badly, in fact ... the rain is coming down very heavily ... there are no stops really, between where we are and the town were the retreat is being held - no gas stations, no motels ...

on the side of the road, there is a homeless man - drenched and cold and rather bedraggled ... he has his shopping cart full of his worldly possessions with him ... his thumb is half heartedly out for a ride - but clearly he expects no one to stop for him, not really ...

we do stop ... we know for a fact that there is some free shelter in the town that we are headed to ...

he says to us that he will not be able to take our offer, if we cant bring his shopping cart full of stuff with us ...

the one of us that is driving, and whose car this is (and I dont know which one of us that is) says that we cant take his stuff ... that person says that the man must leave his stuff behind if he wants the ride, and try to come back for it all later ... the homeless man refuses ... the one of us driving now asks "why not just be grateful for the ride? - we cant take your stuff with us - we have our own luggage in the trunk, and the back seat is not made for carrying such cargo - and we will all three of us get soaked to the skin to try to stop and pack it all in here - its cold and wet and dark - and we just cant do it" ... "do you want a ride or not?" ....

the one of us that is the passenger, is completely unsure of what to do ... that one of us is rather seeing the irony of us going to a retreat to find some clarity around letting go of things, but too, that one of us doesnt want to get into an argument - doesnt want to piss off the driver/friend - doesnt want to get soaked either - but still, asking, "what are we doing here? - why are we in this position at all?" ...

the homeless man refuses our offer still ...

we get into the car then, and get onto our way ... its a very silent 40-50 miles from there to where we are going, except for the few comments that the driver one of us had uttered about "why couldnt he just leave his possessions behind? Im sure no one would have taken them, he could have easily hidden them in the woods, and come back for them later ... it was silly of him to be so afraid to leave behind a cart full of junk and miss the opportunity for shelter - he could have brought just the two or three things with him that he considered essential" ...

the other of us, remained silent for the most part for the rest of the trip ...

so, heres the inquiry:

who was homeless here?
and what exactly is "home"?

If I could let go of this, I could let go of anything!

Think about this with me... what would be that "one thing" that, if I could only get past the rising in my stomach/throat/brain that comes along with this particular circumstance, then I could get over ANYTHING else that were ever to come my way...

its a trick question really... the answer is, "whatever is there in front of you" (that may be rising in any given moment)

if getting past or letting go of even the simplest of risings, does not once and forever cure you of any rising yet to come, then- it wasnt really let go of...

not really...

a true and complete letting go of ANY one thing- will cure one of false expectations forever! because its not ever the "thing" that is let go- but the very act of creating an expectation in the first place... THAT is the one true and complete letting go...

perhaps, the next thing that rises in us- a slow line at the checkout in the store- a rude driver- a forgotten birthday wish- a broken promise- whatever it might be... perhaps we could give that rising within us our fullest and most complete attention, and just see... just see- maybe THIS one will BE THE ONE... the last one to ever rise in me again...

how will I ever know if it is the last one? maybe Ill never know- wouldnt that be something!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Betray

From Etymonline:
betray
c.1275, bitrayen "mislead, deceive, betray," from M.E. be- + O.Fr. traien, from L. tradere "hand over," from trans- "across" + dare "to give" (see date)


From Dictionary.com:
1. to deliver or expose to an enemy by treachery or disloyalty
2. to be unfaithful in guarding, maintaining, or fulfilling: to betray a trust.
3. to disappoint the hopes or expectations of; be disloyal to: to betray one's friends.
4. to reveal or disclose in violation of confidence: to betray a secret.
5. to reveal unconsciously (something one would preferably conceal): Her nervousness betrays her insecurity.
6. to show or exhibit; reveal; disclose: an unfeeling remark that betrays his lack of concern.
7. to deceive, misguide, or corrupt: a young lawyer betrayed by political ambitions into irreparable folly.
8. to seduce and desert.


From Etymonline:
traitor
c.1225, from O.Fr. traitor (11c.), from L. traditorem (nom. traditor) "betrayer," lit. "one who delivers," from stem of tradere "deliver, surrender" (see tradition).


___________________

I HAVE been delivered over...

I can meet that with fear, in which case, THAT is what Ive been delivered over to... or I can meet that with Love, in which case, that is the recipient of this body/mind... in any case, Ive been betrayed, in a business partnership- and as a consequence, Im coming up on a kind of semi-homelessness...

there is a 14' trailer that Ive been provided with to live in- (built in 1968) ... that will be my home... it is believed I still may be able to recieve an internet connection wirelessly, but there is no knowing for sure at this point... if I decide to walk away, I will lose anything that my car will not carry- and, in this economy/job-market...

thats what it looks like from the standpoint of "story"- from a "point of view"...

in any event, the story is not what is really important here- only how the story lives in me... and why should it live in me at all?

this is the current inquiry... and prayer...

more later, perhaps... right now, look with me at how this lives in our world... why this energy of "you are not enough" takes hold, and creates this disorder...

it is SO telling, these are the folks that seem to FEAR chaos more than death- so they go about trying to create a man-(self)-made order out of their lives... completely missing the disorder (see the post below) that is born of that very grasping... completely MISSING the order that is this beautiful life, just as it is! but the "you are not enough" is buried so deep in the unconsciousness of our mind- from childhood, from birth, and earlier- its in our DNA it would seem... but we know, some part of us KNOWS, its not true... why is it so hard to live from this knowing? why does the "not enough" return to haunt us? AND come out defending itself as "normal"... "Its how everybody does it!", says the "not-enough"...

this MUST be met with compassion- anything else, and one has stepped in that same stream of "not enough"...

so, this has been my Easter week...

and the blessings from this have poured forth- in seeing the no-struggle, that HAS to meet this energy... and IS meeting this energy, with simple prayer, and love...

peace to you all...

I love you all- no lie... no betrayal...

Narcissistic personality disorder

DSM IV-TR criteria

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is "special".
4. requires excessive admiration
5. has a sense of entitlement
6. is interpersonally exploitative
7. lacks empathy
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes


this is here as a precursor to some upcoming post that I can feel on the horizon... its been a meditation of mine (just as it is seen here, really) for the past year... thats the time Ive spent living with someone that, Im coming to understand more and more, suffers from this condition... in my next post, will be something similar to this, that might say more- but for now I ask that you meditate on these for a bit...

this really does sound like a whole society, doesnt it?

Ive had my fill of narcissism- and in that, Im finding society at large (business, politics, "going along to get along") just a bit much... do you know what I mean?

and so, you know me... Im looking deeply, to see what of this is there in myself-
nothing has changed this realization one bit- if I recognize it in another, it means it is there in me... the very thing that is doing the recognizing, IS THAT!...

yes- I see it... and its hard to overcome... the outward pointing that arises when we feel ourselves as separate from the other...

you are the only one responsible for your own disappointment

take for instance, all of the words that are appearing these days about "Obama isnt 'all that' after all" - "just more of the same" - etc etc...

and so, the outward pointing begins, about how the "theys" and the "thems" and the "yous" should have done/known/thought this or that ...

no no no no no...

YOU are the one who placed a wrong expectation back then... YOU are the one who did not see what the truth of that moment was... YOU are the one who had insisted, and still are insisting on your measurements, on the image of what "change" would look like... and so now, your expectations looking like they are not going to be met, you are finally catching up to what the real change was... and its YOUR disappointment- not anyone elses...

YOUR measurements have ACTUALLY finally caught up to you- only now are you seeing it- but LOOK at the effect it is having on you! OUTWARD POINTING- rather than inward looking...

and so-

HERE, is what the REAL CHANGE was:

People were Happy- en masse

THATS it! - nothing more, and nothing less than that...

but, that wasnt enough for you- you had to go and make an image of the future out of that... and you know what? so were they!... in fact, THATS WHY they were happy- they all had an image too!

so, was it a "false happy"?

ONLY if you are still in YOUR IMAGE! only if you are still in your insistance about how it "should" be, can happy (and hope and promise in the sense of the Creative) ever be registered as FALSE...

but, if you should to decide NOW, as you could have THEN, and still can LATER- to just be HAPPY for Happy for being... then you will see it completely differently!

(Oh GOD, did I just say dont worry, be happy?- no no... thats not what I mean- no no no ... let me try that again....)

_____________________

for one to BE completely with what IS, in the present moment- a new seeing of what is truth and what is false emerges- and it emerges NOT out of that image making apparatus, the brain, and thought, and expectations and disappointments... but rather- it emerges out of itself...truth comes forth from itself, to inform consciousness... compassion enters, and that is what acts... and it acts only in the moment...

THAT action of compassion, that arises in the absence of time (expectation, agenda, image, the "me" thought), is what will bring real change... NOT the happy that was formed of images "back then" - NOT the happy that might come from images satisfied "later"- NOT the happy that comes from meeting up with others of like image-making apparatus ... no no... not that...

Compassion creates happy in a completely different way- and it is TIMELESS...

happy is timeless... period-
there is no "false happy"... there is only happy, or image making...

see this, please.... this is where the creative lives...

you know this... every poet knows this, every musician knows this, every artist, every writer, every runner when he's in the "zone", every lover, every mother, every mothers son and daughter, knows this... it can only ever be NOW...

there is no "false happy"
there is only happy, or image making...

seeing this, is compassion- and THAT is what is going to make the change you were "hoping" for... you have to learn what is false in yourself, the image making apparatus of the brain that creates time- that INSISTS on it... then, that insistence will drop away- and with it, war will drop away, judgment will fall to pieces, agenda will fly out the window, the "what about me" thought will never have ground to form... compassion comes in, and acts....

this cannot be "taught"- it cannot be "told"- it will not come of convincing... none of the old ways will bring this about...

do you see that? - none of the old ways!

isnt that the very thing we are here "objecting" to? the "old ways"?

the very change we are looking for HAS to begin, and be WILLING to END, HERE... here--- here--- here---

not, "out there"... be the change... this is what it means...

____________________________


ETA-

look here- I know I didnt explain it well...

THIS is what I really mean...

Birdsong from Inside the Egg

Like the ground turning green
in a spring wind.
Like birdsong beginning inside the egg.
Like this universe coming into existence,
the lover wakes and whirls in a dancing joy
then kneels down in praise.

Sometimes a lover of God may faint
In the presence. Then the Beloved bends
And whispers in his ear, “Beggar, spread out
Your robe. I’ll fill it with gold.
I’ve come to protect your consciousness.
Where has it gone? Come back into awareness.”

This fainting is because
Lovers want so much.

A chicken invites a camel into her henhouse,
And the whole structure is demolished.
A rabbit nestles down
With its eyes closed
In the arms of a lion.

There is an excess
In spiritual searching
That is profound ignorance.

Let that ignorance be our teacher!

The Friend breathes into one
who has no breath.

A deep silence revives the listening
And the speaking of those two who meet on the riverbank.

Like the ground turning green
in a spring wind.
Like birdsong beginning inside the egg.
Like this universe coming into existence,
The lover wakes, and whirls
in a dancing joy,
then kneels down in praise.


- Rumi & Coleman Barks


found here (link), mere minutes after I posted the above...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

an Easter message

-Courtroom scene (from the US television series Boston Legal)

Alan Shore gets up and walks over to stand in front of Eleanor: "You think its best that I leave?"

Eleanor doesn’t reply.

Alan notices his jacket isn’t yet buttoned. He does so: "Did you not you say last week, 'Let’s work this out?' Did you not say you couldn’t bear the idea of going to work at a place without me?"

Eleanor Frutt: "I said that."

Alan Shore: "Did you mean it?"

Eleanor Frutt: "I meant it. But Alan, I said that unobjectively, as your friend. As a person who continues to care deeply for you. But… I don’t think you’re entirely well. You are gonna self-destruct one day, and I can’t prevent that. But I can’t let you destroy my partners in the process. I’m sorry."

Alan touches Eleanor's hand lightly and walks away from the stand. He says nothing more.

-end of scene-

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Great stuff about "New Age" and skepticism

Bridging the Chasm between Two Cultures

A former leader in the New Age culture (Karla McLaren) author of nine titles on auras, chakras, "energy," and so on - chronicles her difficult and painful transition to skepticism. She thanks the skeptical community and agonizes over how the messages of scientific and critical thinking could be made more effective in communicating with her former New Age colleagues.

~Karla McLaren in Skeptical Inquirer


See also HERE! (link)

But I didn't find a way to be comfortable in the straight-up skeptical world. I don't feel comfortable with groups anyway. I am very skeptical, and I always have been, but I don't need to be a skeptic. Do you know what I mean? I don't need the T-shirt and the coffee mug and the card with my picture on it. It's an entirely different social world, and they've got rules I don't agree with. For instance, in many cases, arguing is pretty much the focus of skeptical discourse. For the most part, research doesn't happen there, but arguing about research does. And a lot of times, it's surprisingly untutored arguing amongst people who haven't got degrees or work experience in the subject at hand. So it's kind of like a fantasy football league of science fanboys.

...

And real researchers, real scientists, are neither skeptics nor believers, because both positions ask you to make up your mind and become concretized in your thinking. No. Great researchers are adventurers, and visionaries, and astonishingly humble people, because they have to be able to balance their knowledge and expertise with the information that comes from the world they are studying. They have to be able to change their minds when the data disconfirm their cherished opinions. Genius!


~Karla McLaren


Its a MUST READ!

______________

(found HERE: Church of the Churchless

by way of HERE: Rambling Taoist- To Die for a Lie)

Friday, April 10, 2009

the vice of "not enough"

there is another GREAT conversation going on over at BlissChick's (enCouragingBliss: Do Not Get Rid of Your Vice) about turning around what is falsely appearing as "not enough" in this moment, and seeing the very Truth of our nature behind that... below is one of the longish comments that Ive been making over there- but do go over and join in yourself!

yes, attachment is key to "vice"- and when I look inwardly to myself, there really is no confusing this...

for me, consuming alcoholic beverages is not a vice- I simply do not do it... there is no longer an attachment to it- there USED to be, but somewhere along the line, that just went away (from a complete seeing of the falseness of that action in MY life)... so when there was attachment there was "vice"- now there is no attachment... there is no struggle, there is no "should" or "should not" attached to it... I use wine in cooking, and there is a pleasant smell, and the enjoyment ends there, it doesnt go further as it once did... (therapy, and 12 step programs did not "do" this for me- it happened in just this way that Im describing, a DEEP looking at what is ones True nature)

now, procrastination DOES still have an attachment for me... there IS something that rises in me, when I feel Im being "lazy"- this is a problem now, it is a vice...

I see it is a vice, and Im clear about it- because there is an inevitable "should" that rises along with it... "I SHOULD have finished/ started/ not promised/ that task"... "I SHOULD not be so lazy"... "Ive overcome huge obstacles in the past, so I SHOULD not be having a problem with this!"...

the "turn around" is simple: "How do you know that is true?"... "what would it be if that SHOULD was simply not there in that sentence? would the world end? would people come to REAL harm, because you didnt meet their expectations?"

THEN, I really get to see the vice... its expectation itself! "Should" is past and future- and not ever true in this very moment! so I am "projecting" an image onto this moment (no matter how strongly felt, held, believed, or even reasoned logically!) that HAS NO VALIDITY to the truth of this moment... RIGHT NOW, there is not a SINGLE VALID should that can prove itself as true... whatever is TRUE for this moment, is RIGHT NOW, getting done without a SHOULD attached to it...

LOOK, and you will see!

really! there are NO shoulds in this moment- all shoulds are there in the future, and have no validity, no life, no air, no oxegen fuel, to this moment... ONLY in that feeling in the pit of my stomach, that is the ONLY place a should shows up as "real"- but to everything else as it is, there is no validity!

Ive seen this about alcohol, at the heart level- Ive not yet seen this about meeting others expectations at the heart level (the falseness of it I mean)... the "should" can still arise, and that most certainly feeds on itself, to where I "procrastinate" (whatever the hell that is) and end up letting others down... so, I look at it- I see the falseness of it (just like I did the alcohol) and I LET IT fall away on its own- LOVE and COMPASSION must come to this, not another "should" ("you "should" know this by now, after all, YOUR the one who is still doing it") - NO! love and compassion are not a possession that one can use to overcome a should with- love and compassion are the very seeing of the falseness of all of this, and then THEY come to act on this seeing... compassion acts of its own accord- as soon as I think "I must have more compassion so that..." - then Im back in the illusion again... seeing this IS love acting... and THAT is the real turn around!

there is someone on the web that does this sort of thing, I would certainly recommend seeing her speak on video or visiting her site...

Byron Katie, speaks a lot about the "turn around"- and the Inquiry being Love itself...

YouTube vids here

(sorry Christine, I get "carried away" on these responses sometimes- but this is the stuff I "live for"- and the conversation here is alive, I just arrive and this is what comes... bless you for your blog and your insights)


Thursday, April 9, 2009

Strike for the Homeless

You know what should happen?

the employees of some big company should all go on strike, in order to house the homeless... thats right, "we wont go back to work, until you fatcats in the big offices build some basic housing in our town, for those that are currently living on the streets."

dont you think that would be an interesting thing to see?

has anyone ever done anything like that? anyone know? I dont know...

and, Im saddened that it took me until I find myself inches away from homelessness to even think of this... "I should have done more when I had the chance", is now going through my head... so, how can I ever blame anyone for their own "what about me" thought!?

Dear Debator

oh, dear debator-

the foolishness is this:
its not whether or not another believes or does not believe in God
or X, Y, Z-

its not whether or not another is open minded enough to see the very truth of what you are seeing-

its, how do you get across to another, who has closed his mind, the very truth of what you are seeing?

you should have seen by now, that which you resist, persists

END your debate*, and you will get across to the other, the very TRUTH of what you see!

but if you choose not to, then you have made the heart of the debate, "rightness", into that God which you have put above all others...

"So what" you ask?

yes, so what...?

_____________________________

after reading this very good post
and watching this excellently done video:

still, its not enough to see the truth-
its not possible to "have" the truth-
one must be the truth, to have it make a difference

and the truth of an open mind is so much greater
than being right

________________________

not to mention, when you end your debate, you might just see something that the other WAS seeing rightly, and you had been missing...


________________________

ETA (after watching this wonderful video)
*here, by debate I mean at its essence, the insistence on the primacy of the us/them - agree/disagree mind

Monday, April 6, 2009

Wisdom of the Hands


Its about time that I highlight here another of my favorite daily blog visits- Doug Stowe's Wisdom of the Hands

Some of you may know, I was a Jeweler for many years, culminating in my own design practice - it was when and where I learned so much about the things of the Spirit that you see me speak about here- the doorways of perception, we might call it - I left that work many years ago now, to pursue "deeper things" (a story for another day) but I find Doug's blog about teaching youngsters in Arkansas and the world over the Love of handwork to be one of the most spirit filled that anyone might find anywhere...

Here is a particularly deep conversation (how can they be ready for that?) and below, one of my comments that came from reading Doug's and others lookings in that thread...

what we are talking about here is the mistaking of Craft for Art...

Art should never be spoken of- should never be practiced- should never be valued- should never be pursued

Craft, is Love... love of the material, love of the source of that material, love of the tools that work that material and of the toolmaker that makes the tools, love for the person for whom this material will form into usefulness, love for the person who delivered the material to the shop in which it will be worked...

Art is the product of that Love
pursuit of Art is foolishness, because it will be absent of Love, and instead, filled with the "what about me" thought- as Doug called it, "measurement"... "what will I get out of this?" - "what will THEY think of me?" - "how much will this be worth?" - "will I be respected by THEM?"

all of these are thoughts of separation - of me and you - of I and other - there is no Love there in these thoughts, and this is what "Art" has become... I say, let us not speak of Art at all... let us instead put ourselves to the material, and learn of it... learn of earth, and dirt, and sunlight, and tree, and mountain, and brook, and ocean, and all the creatures therein... learn them through the love of the Meeting - through the Wisdom of the Hands - through the Union of Heart and Mind and the materials of the earth... This is what Craft is- Love!

as well, the materials do not have to be of the earth, although it is surely with them that we will come to learn this... but the materials are also YOU- your life- your heart- your thought- your experience- your loves- your losses- your craft... that also, is the material of this Love- and there is where the true meeting will take place! the truest of all learnings, is not that which might produce a craft, but that which meets the other fully, as they are, without measurement and in FULL recognition- of the falseness of our perceived separation - seeing the mirror of the other- seeing me, when I look at you, when I look at a tree, a bird, a field mouse, a pine cone, a pumpkin, a grapevine, a crystal of tourmaline trapped in some rock, the sediment at the bottom of a stream bed... this is what the materials of the earth are there to teach us- LOOK at their sacrifice! that we may learn this lesson!

Trees, Mountains, Creatures, give their LIFE, that we may come to this meeting! That you and I are not the separate things we think we are- that you and I are one thing, and in that oneness, everything... this is the purpose of Craft, of Love!

let us not speak of Art- let us instead learn what Art is, through the meeting with the materials of this earth, these planets, these suns... this existence...


Friday, April 3, 2009

Risk

the site where I first found this is no longer up, so Im not sure then where this should be attributed- but its just too good- I have to post it here today:

Saul is working in his store when he hears a booming voice from above: "Saul, sell your business." He ignores it. It goes on for days. "Saul, sell your business for $3 million." After weeks of this, he relents, sells his store. The voice says `Saul, go to Las Vegas." He asks why. "Saul, take the $3 million to Las Vegas." He obeys, goes to a casino. Voice says, "Saul , go to the blackjack table and put it down all on one hand." He hesitates but knows he must. He's dealt an 18. The dealer has a six showing. "Saul, take a card." What? The dealer has -- "Take a card!" He tells the dealer to hit him. Saul gets an ace. Nineteen. He breathes easy. "Saul, take another card." What? "TAKE ANOTHER CARD!" He asks for another card. It's another ace. He has twenty. "Saul, take another card," the voice commands. I have twenty! Saul shouts. "TAKE ANOTHER CARD!!" booms the voice. Hit me,Saul says. He gets another ace. Twenty one. The booming voice goes: "un-f--king-believable!"


Sometimes if feels like Ive led this incredibly risk-filled life, in search of a singularly perfect truth, that everyone else in the world already knows!

do you ever get that?

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Faith, Time, and Compassion


First, please do read this excellent article by Doug Muder: A Religion for Hard Times

my comment after reading his article (posted here on his blog)

Panic: "whats going to happen to me?!" = Future

Denial: "it wasnt supposed to be like this!" = Past

Radical Uncertainty: This moment, unfolding, perfection, just as it is... Now...

Belief: the mistaken notion that the infinite nature of Nature is the Eternal- "Because its so BIG, Ill never understand it"... Infinity is still a time bound mathematical concept- an invention of man...

Faith: the ending of time, meeting Eternity here and now

Joseph Campbell put it like this:

"Eternity isn’t some later time. Eternity isn’t even a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off. And if you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. The problem with heaven is that you will be having such a good time there, you won’t even think of eternity. You’ll just have this unending delight in the beatific vision of God. But the experience of eternity right here and now, in all things, whether thought of as good or as evil, is the function of life."

Im saying, its in the meeting of the Eternal with the Infinite, where Time comes into being, is where Panic and Denial are born... but to stay in this moment, and not get lost in the mathematics of life, but to just be with the unfolding of this moment, just as it is- then something new can be seen- something that has been spoken of by sages throughout human history...

Im saying that Faith is this meeting place- between Time and the Timeless- between the "what about me" thought, and the truth of no separation- between Form and the Formless- Heaven and Earth- I and Other...

the ending of Debate- of the agree/disagree mind... the ending of Expertise, of ones resume- past/future... the ending of Comparison- "whats in it for me"- "what have you done for me lately?"... the ENDING of these things, will transcend our panic and denial- will lift us out of the wild forest- and into the loving arms of the Universe Unfolding- whatever condition it finds us in!... I would like to say, its not an arc- its not "of time", where Love meets us, its life itself...

this is not "easy", I know...
but there is a truth to this, what Im speaking about, that heals...
life is suffering, yes... we are bound to time, as long as we are bound to time... when we look to see what of this moment is NOT timebound- THAT is what heals... that is what we would call, Compassion... it transcends the "you" and "me" - its not even about "we" per se... its beyond that... and this is what heals...