24 Jul Way Of Way 208
The etymology of the word "universe" is literally "turned into one." The universe is the Everything turned into one thing. The Everything is the now and what is before and after the now. Sometimes, the Everything is called “God.” People pray to God for many specific things, but ultimately happiness generally. The workings of the universe reveals the way to eternal happiness, peace. God is like a shiny coin rapidly flipping and reflecting light. One side is called “heads” and the other called “tails.” The plural is used to describe each side because each time we see the same side it is different in time and space than it was before and we are not the same person from one minute to the next. The side we see is the now. The side we don’t see is what is before and after the now. As the Everything (God) is rapidly turning, the visible side is just reflections of light. However, the mind slows down the turning and creates detailed images from the light. The images and the stories we tell about them are illusions. The heads and tails seem a duality. However, the duality is also an illusion. All there is are two sides “turning into one," the universe in the form of a coin. Rarely noticed is the edge of the coin, the “third side.” The third side interconnects the two seemingly independent sides that are actually interdependent as one cannot exist without the other. Horizontally from edge to edge is an invisible central axis, or path, around which the coin dances in perfect harmony. The path is the “Tao." The Tao is ultimate reality,* the underlying principle or source from which all things arise and to which they return. The Tao is the natural flow and harmony of the universe. When we simply appreciate the coin fluttering like a butterfly, we are in tune with the Tao. We are not distracted by images and related stories we've created. We are in a state of peaceful harmony. Most of us are oblivious of the Tao, as our attention is on what was now, what is now and what will be now, the visible side of the coin. We see what is now in the context of what was and we hope to get lucky; that the next visible side, the next now, will bring us happiness. “Hap” means luck. It is the root of happiness. We pray to God to bring us luck. Yet, when we experience the simple beauty of the Tao, we realize eternal peace rather than temporary happiness. *While a coin flipping in the air seems a simple process, it's actually extremely complicated to explain in terms of physics. It involves classical mechanics, rotational dynamics, angular momentum and precession, fluid dynamics, chaos theory and quantum mechanics. In perspective, the theory of relativity is considered easier to come to know than coin flip dynamics....
21 Jul Koan 23
“Enlightenment is like everyday consciousness, but two inches above the ground.” -- D.T. Suzuki Enlightenment is proverbially described as "being one with everything." It is a state associated with the dissolution of the illusory self, transcending duality and realizing our oneness with the Everything. Consciousness is consciousness. The consciousness of enlightenment is not different from the self's consciousness in the now. Describing enlightenment as being two inches above the ground seems the antithesis of enlightenment, as it implies separation/duality. No! Two inches above the ground implies enlightenment is transcendental, beyond our conventional understanding of the material world with forces like gravity. The "ground" represents the now. When we are on the ground, we are in the now. Through the consciousness of the self, we experience the now as a duality: the self and all that is not the self. The consciousness of enlightenment is observing the now which can be doing through meditation. The now is breathing. We can observe the now when we are in the space between exhale and inhale. In this silent space we realize we create the now and, once created, we are the now....
21 Jul Koan 7
What do we see everywhere but rarely notice? Light. Things we see are not things, just light reflecting off things. What we don't see, the essence of all things, is also light. All things are energy slowed by the speed of light squared (E = MC²). Reformulated, mass is energy divided by the spend of light squared (M = E/C²).) All things, outside and inside, are light. Perceiving things otherwise, as solid or distinct from other things, is an illusion. As all things are light, all things are enlightening. When you see things as things are, what are you?...