"We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are." The way things are is that we can only see light and light is 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum; thus, what we see is very little; though we often think we see more than we do. What we see is a function of the definitions, classifications and stories we've created about what we see. This is who we are....
A new perspective is illuminating when we adapt, not adopt, it. Supplanting one point of view with another, adopting it, is self-limiting. Integrating, adapting, a new perspective with other perspectives, including contrary perspectives, is the essence of wisdom. Each perspective is like a color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) in the visible spectrum. Taken together, the colors transform into white light; revealing the true color of that at which we are looking....
Only when we have nothing can we have everything. We can never have everything we want, unless there is nothing we need....
On the river and going its way, we go a long way. Going against the way, makes for a difficult day....
When we identify someone as of our kind, we treat them with kindness. When we identify as one with the universe we treat all with kindness....
Awakening is when we stop chasing our tale and laugh as we realize it's a illusion. Enlightenment is when, like a dog, we stop chasing our tail and laugh as we realize we and our tail are one. In the quietude that follows not chasing our tales or tails, everything can become clear; and all heretofore looks ridiculously funny....
Those who seek the path to enlightenment by following a guru they think is enlightened will never realise enlightenment as thinking of someone as an independent thing (e.g., an enlightened being) is the antithesis of enlightenment which is that everything is a temporary and interdependent manifestation of one infinite thing. Enlightenment is realised by following the path of being in harmony with the one thing until you and the thing are one....
Your life is such an amazing story. Perhaps you could imagine a better one, but then you would miss out on your life....
When I was 16, living in Brooklyn with my parents, one summer night I drove to Brighton Beach and sat on the rocks along the shore. Reflections from the moon danced on the water, the ocean breathed in the surf and breathed out a roar. The night sky was a black blanket with pinholes to unknowable worlds on its other side. Lights and sounds vibrating the air, every-thing teeming with aliveness; unique, unlike anything experienced before. I wondered why the ocean, expressing itself with motion and sound, was not considered as alive as are plants and animals. What did it mean to be alive? The "alive" classification made little sense. Classifications, descriptions and thoughts generally felt artificial, man-made; helpful for organizing and communicating, but otherwise empty of aliveness. Who am I in all this? The sounds, the lights, the ever-changing shapes unfolding from nothing, the ocean smells; overwhelmingly beautiful, yet eerie. Then, the infinite number of finite things were no longer finite, but manifestations of one infinite thing. I was infinitesimal before the infinite, until I realized I was the infinite. This was a religious experience, but not connected to an organized religion. It was initially animism and then pantheism. This was my awakening and realization of our immortality. At the time, I thought the forgoing experience, in whichever personal form, was a common rite of passage that, at the least, lead to sustained happiness. However, now, as I realize there are many who are unhappy, I guess that heretofore everywhere I looked I only saw myself....
A couple of years back, I was introduced to a "spiritual master." We spoke at length and when it was clear that I was comfortably retired, he suggested: "As I know the workings of God and you've got the money and time to do as you wish, let's spend a year together studying spiritual matters." I then asked him what would we do following year, to which he replied: "Then I'll have the money and time to do as I wish and you'll know the workings of God."...