19 Feb Way Of Way 248
Those who are present don't agonize over what's lost or get emotional about what's next. Unless we are celebrating the present, we are not present....
18 Feb Way Of Way 241
The universe is a flow that consciousness divides with time, space, and words. A moment in time is a photo of the flow in our mind. Foveal vision creates things from undifferentiable peripheral vision. Words are allusions creating illusions from nothing....
16 Feb Way Of Way 219
Mysticism is the experience of gazing at the dark sky until we merge with it (whatever it is). Mystics use koans, kotodama and poetry as stars; points to bring the dark sky to our attention....
15 Feb Way Of Way 48
In the now, everyone is an Individual Self and the Ultimate Self. True to its acronym ("IS"), the Individual Self is being, as being is the now. The Individual Self has many emotions. Each emotion is a separate self. Emotions make the Individual Self multi-selves. Unlike an Individual Self, the Ultimate Self is invisible and indivisible. The Ultimate Self is the sole-self, the soul. The soul is what every thing is before and after the now. The now is the manifestation of the soul. True to its acronym, the Ultimate Self is "US"; the unity of every thing in the now and the soul. As US, the soul has only one emotion: love. Love connects the Everything as one. In the now, we are often oblivious of the invisible soul, as the emotions of the multi-selves continually captivate our attention. To realize the Ultimate Self, we need to separate from and observe the now. This happens when we are in the space before and after the now, where only the Ultimate Self resides. To escape from the emotional clutches of the multi-selves that imprison us in the now, we need to calm the multi-selves. When calm, the multi-selves disappear as they integrate and all that remains is the Individual Self. The mind is the Individual Self's interface with the universe. In the now, the mind is like a pond muddied by the frantic motion of emotion of the multi-selves. When calm, the multi-selves settle to the bottom of the pond and the mind clears. A clear mind allows us to see the now as reflections on the surface of the pond. We then realize we are the eternal Ultimate Self. Meditation is a practice that allows us to calm the mind. In meditation, breathing is the now and the space between exhaling and inhaling is what's before and after the now: the Ultimate Self....
06 Feb Way Of Way 247
Everyone is going to heaven. When the pure light beckons us to heaven, we alight Earth and join it. As we become one with the pure light, our self disappears. Then we are in heaven. Heaven has an infinite number of gates. Statues of Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, Buddha, Lao Tzu and others greet us at the gates. At each gate are barkers distributing various religious books. The books are free, but freedom is the price of admission. Once we enter one of heaven's gates, we will spend eternity there. While the heaven behind each gate sounds attractive, we need to choose between them. To choose wisely, look for the souls living lightly on Earth as if they are already in heaven....
03 Feb Way Of Way 239
Every thing is beautiful in its own way. Things can only be ugly from our way....
01 Feb Way Of Way 236
Religions are communities living in tall edifices pointing to the sky. Mysticism is the foundation and the space within and without the edifice, the unseen and the indescribable scene framing the seen....
31 Jan Way Of Way 246
The self is who we are in life, not what we are eternally. As all we know is our life, we identity with the self and its various emotions. Yet the self separates us from what we and every thing in the universe is: manifestations of the soul. Enlightenment is self-realization: realizing the self is an illusion. Enlightenment frees us to see the universe as it is, not as our self sees it. Upon enlightenment, every thing is enlightening as all things are expressions of undifferentiated pure light (the initial manifestation of the soul). As what you see is what you are, the enlightened are the pure light. The pure light makes the enlightened lighthearted. They find funny those who are slaves to the self. Their pure light also allows they to enlighten others. They enlighten with words but not sentences; as words emanate light while sentences reflect light and cast shadows.* *For example, the Zen student asks his teacher: "Does a rock have consciousness?" The teacher responds: "Mu", a word meaning "nothing". As a rock is constantly changing (though imperceptibly so) and is nothing before and after whatever it is in the now, it doesn't have an enduring reality that can be described (as conscious or otherwise). It is a manifestation of nothing. Alternatively, the teacher responds: "Who asks?" That is, a rock and consciousness are understandable when you know what you are. Or, famously: "Five pounds of flax." Rocks and pounds of flax, however seemingly unrelated, are temporary manifestations of one thing: the soul. Focusing on philosophical concepts like the consciousness of a rock strays us from coming to know the soul by observing the now. Otherwise, communicating in sentences, many sentences gives agency or reality to a thing (rock) that is everchanging and a concept (consciousness) that is debatable in light of its context....
30 Jan Way Of Way 245
Words are stars illuminating the darkness. Sentences are constellations, reflecting light and casting shadows....
28 Jan Way Of Way 244
No thing in the universe is perfect, but the universe is perfect. No thing is perfect and nothing is perfect....