Yes, it's the dream which is a paradox. Because the dream keeps us from the only reality which always exists, which is always present no matter what circumstance, what dimension, what planet. NOW, the present moment, is all that exits. There is no paradox NOW, is there?
There were some things, not many, which were black or white. Most were grey as I couldn't help seeing the 'other side' and questioning why mine was 'right'? After all, the one on the other side is also right from his perspective. In this way all life has become a middle ground, all opinions meaningless. Should I be content to experience the 'joys' of life because I have compared them to the 'miseries'? Oh but without ugliness we can't know the meaning of beauty they say! Without depression you can't know the meaning of elation! The paradox exists as a belief in the mind. Otherwise, there is no paradox. As one ancient Master once said, "No Self, No problem" :-)
Is it a paradox? Or is it only a paradox because our intellectual mind can't understand that losing things (which includes the physical form) isn't losing life? It's only a paradox because we see in a specific way. Nature doesn't discriminate does it? It doesn't see in black or white, nor up or down, nor beautiful and ugly. Nature simply IS.
The essential paradox is the observer mistaking his observation for something other than himself. I can't possibly fathom Truth as paradoxical, subjective, or divided. How can Truth depend on an opinion, on one side, on an observation that itself is unremoveable from the observer?
There is no black, there is no white, there is no color which can be called the Truth. No 'thing' can encompass the Truth, I suspect. The observer IS the observed. Remove the observer and there is nothing. Removed the observed and there is observation that doesn't separarate itself...it sees nothingn in terms that are subjective, not black nor white, not up nor down. Nothing, it seems, is the ultimate reality.
Very interesting as always Lori, very thought provoking.
Hi Lori. It's been a long time. I have thought about your question more than I can count. I wonder about those who do question whether they would come back as compared with those to whom it has never occurred. Never dear Lori. The mind is ...can be...a terrible place to exist. I wouldn't choose to play a roulette with life unless I knew that the mind had evolved somehow...as it is presently, never. Very interesting question. Hope you're doing well.
Well death of the self (which happens in physical death as well, but here the body remains, only the self one believes in dies...belief itself dies, ALL belief). Death of one's history, one's past associations, one's likes, dislikes, one's prejudices, one's judgments...what is left if one doesn't have the crutches of his predilictions, his personal and collective belief system to fall back upon, to indulge in, to compare himself and others with, to condemn or praise with, to be 'right' with, to complain with, to pity himself with...what would be left if his identity (which assumes the identify of the 'others') is totally stripped from him and he is left bare and naked to witness the world in its most simple form, totally sensitive to every sound, every movement, every color, every touch...totally innocent from within holding not a single assumption about any thing or any one - totally vulnerable to what IS?
I wonder. I remember Tolle saying something so beautiful in this regard once and I paraphrase: "If a man fights he must put a great deal of effort and from that effort create his energy swinging and flailing about. But in not reacting to him there is no effort, no imposition, one simply does nothing, stands aside...and yet in that non reaction there is great POWER, great energy." Again, paraphrashed. The energy of LIFE in the state of non-reaction. We need to undo the self. We have to die in order to LIVE. Sorry Lori, I was compelled to write and got a little carried away haha But truly I thank you so very much for this opportunity as it has brought back some Life into me...brought back my writing self. Thank you!
I "like" your post Ashok not because you say "I agree with Rula" but because I agree with Ashok haha. Love can't have an opposite (I can SEE this so clearly), and if it does how can it be Love? If Love falls on a scale then I can walk backwards and unlove or forwards and love more...which is like simultaneously walking on the scale of hate...less hate or more hate...is the lowest point on the 'hate scale' also the first point on the "love scale"? If so then I don't want this false 'love' in my life, this transient, fickle, impermanent, dualistic 'love'. We have to transcend all scales. Spirituality is not a 'thing' of the measurable world.
Yes, Love is not an idea you are right. So what is a path? What constitutes a path? It's just a word but it implies a mechanical act of laying down a definitive set of bricks which one can follow - a set of rituals or rules or steps that one can repeat to arrive at some point. But as you say Love is the ineffable, un-namable, infinite non-idea. Love isn't a destination, it IS. GOD IS. There is no path to God as such. There is nothing but GOD/TRUTH/IS/LOVE (whatever one wants to call that no thing). So if "Love tells" then one is not Love but separate from it...who is telling whom?The one who IS is silent. Well, that's what I see anyway. Wonderful discussion John, thank you!
What he is pointing to is that one must go beyond logic. Logic is flawed. That is the point. There is no path, no way...because when you forge a way someone else is bound to forge a different way...but Truth isn't a matter of opinion is it? Is GOD (if that's what you want to call Truth) a matter of opinion? People seem to BELIEVE so. In that sense you are right, humans seem doomed to choose one path over another, ever missing the Truth which can never be rooted in any belief system. Therefore, the only way to KNOW for a FACT is to sense directly, rather than assume (which is what thought invariably does). I guess I sense somewhere deep inside that it is not possible for Truth to be a divided thing, for there to exist more than ONE Truth when there is only ONE moment in which ALL existense exists simultaneously destroyed and created. I guess it is man's lot to struggle and be in conflict with his own ego. I hope we evolve. I want to evolve.
"Don’t you witness the series of undoing of the present, of the past for its very survival?" - this is very interesting isn't it? The present cannot exist only as creation, but it must simultaneously exist as destruction. Destruction of past is creation of present which is destruction of past...so destruction and creation are ONE and the SAME MOVEMENT...it's truly fascinating, mind boggling...how can the mind comprehend such a thing using intellect or logic which is so limted? Well anyway, thanks for the reminder Ashok. One must die to one's self, one's identification with the past...this also means not interpreting or recording or registering any kind of experience in the present. One must die from moment to moment in order to LIVE from moment to moment. These words can't begin to make sense of such a reality, yet somewhere deep inside (wordless) I understand and KNOW that this IS what IS.
Yes, the body can't move forward or backwards in time. The body remains ever Present in the NOW. Perhaps this very fact is the reason behind Patanjali's creation of Yoga. If the mind can slow down enough to be totally aware of the body then mind moves in unison with the body which is always NOW...thus the mind has the potential to remain Present when it pays TOTAL attention to the body without drifting.
I find it a very useful exercise to try to sense the body and listen and look at one's surroundings both externally and internally (mind). The practice is to use the senses but without giving any importance or attention to the words that arise trying to describe or interpret what is seen, heard, or sensed.
If observe very keenly my own self I can see the gross extent of my verbalization of senses which are already known to me and need no verbalization or interpretation. For example, when I walk into a dark room my mind automatically thinks, "turn on the light" or it imagines me turning on the light. But my body already KNOWS it's dark and it has turned on the light to remedy the situation one hundred thousand times - it doesn't need this knowledge repeated in words in order to get the body to act does it? Why can't I simply walk in and turn on the light? It's as if my mind and body are fractured in space-time. My body is in space of notime (NOW) while my mind is in the space of time. If the Truth exists only in the Present moment, this fragmentation of mind-body then becomes a great obstacle to SEEING things as they ARE.
Well, I seem to have written an entire book just to say, "Yes Ashok I agree with you that 'Words can speak untruth, body cannot'" - I tell my daughter to watch carefully when she is eating. Feel/Sense her stomach because the body doesn't use words but just senses. Now listen to the mind, it is using words. What is your mind telling you? "Eat me I am yummy" she responds. What does your tummy feel like? "Well...a little full".
Eureeka Baby! ;-)
I'm so glad you stopped by Muneeyra and that something spoke to you in this piece. I appreciate your lovely words and hope to hear from you soon! :-)
"We Undo dark and we shall find light" - beautiful. We can't go back. We are 'cursed' to LIVE, and LIVE we shall, or die trying to untry.
Ahh! Yes I have seen TED before now that you say it that way...and I know who Jill Botle Taylor is...that account of her mind opening stroke is simply unforgettable. Interestingly I was going to mention her here but didn't get around to it! I will definitely check it out further, thanks for the info and especially for the vote of confidence and "huge compliment". I will look up the top 20 which Lori suggests and get ready be 'dazzled' hahaha As for me being funny well you should be careful as this is a talk about shrinking egos not inflating them! haha ;-)
Hi Sabrina! You are so right that 'we can handle whatever it is in THIS moment" - we have to don't we? It's only when we project our fears that things seem unbearable...but when we are in the thick of it, in the NOW, we simply ACT. What choice do we have? So true! Thanks Sabrina :-)
Yes, Wayne Dyer seems to have realized the potential of accepting what IS at a very deep level. It's funny how "understanding that happiness comes from within" doesn't take any doing, any effort, you know what I mean? It takes the undoing of misunderstanding. Just like to know what Love is one must undo all that Love it not. But yes...in practice what this mean is as you say, "a whole 'nother story" that "takes a heck of a lot of discipline and hard work."!
Thank you for reading and for leaving your beautiful response. Yes, positive thoughts, feeling grateful for what one has instead of what one is lacking is always positive. :-)
It is dismal isn't it Ashok? Yes, once one realizes the horror of one's situation it is difficult to go back, to unrealize. One must then move forward or else remain forever stuck in the middle of the road. We have to walk unwalked. We have to UNDO to DO. What did Phil undo in Groundhog Day? He undid his non-acceptance. He undid his resistence to his circumstance...he surrendered and in surrendering he found that love and beauty and joy where here all along. We have to go beyond dismal and bright, beyond positive and negative...beyond moods. WE CAN. Thank you Ashok.
I've got it sitting on my book shelf. I've read only a 1/4 of it but it's one of the top books on my reading list (I've been rather passive about reading for quite a while now...a habit I will have to UNDO to get back to reading). Really very fascinating stuff. And yes, most of what I have read I have read online or through history channel documentaries, news and magazine articles and the like. Quantum mechanics is by far more crazy than anything the imagination (at least my imagination) could ever come up with!