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Question:
I know all you say about IT is true. More and more often, IT comes, and then the person is no more, there is only a space that is alive, aware and filled to the brim with the "ten thousand things" and so much more. And then I am all of IT, and, at the same time, none of IT nothing at all, just the void, just conscious being and a wonderfully indescribable joy.
But then IT goes, and, again, I am left a prisoner of the tight confines of my skin, with all that maddening, noisy talk inside my head which I can no longer stand. When IT is here, that is not a problem, because nothing is a problem, problems simply don't and couldn't possibly exist. But when IT goes, it's hell. Is IT ever going to come to stay, or am I going to live in this crazy see-saw for ever? Answer: There seems to be the idea that IT is an experience to be had by some one. Further there seems to be a concept that declares part of experience IT and an other part NOT IT. Remember, everything is IT, or IT is every-thing and no-thing. Even the idea that something is IT and something else is the absence of IT, is IT; non-dual, One-Without-A-Second. IT does not come and go, as all coming and going appears in IT. What you describe as the absence and presence of the person -the see-saw- are experiences. By their very nature they have a beginning and an ending, they come and go, but the experiencing does neither come nor go; IT IS. It is THAT in which everything -everything and nothing- appears. It is THAT, which knows the coming and going of the thoughts, and the appearing and disappearing of the person. Above all, it is THAT which is aware of the absence and presence of problems. IT knows without any problem the idea of problems, without confusion it can identify confusion, and without the slightest doubt it recognizes doubt when it arises. Yesterday's experiences and thoughts are gone, but THAT to which they appeared is unmoved and fully present. Take your stand there and see the revolving door of experiences turn without identifying that movement as IT coming and going. Recognize the knowing space as the constant and unchanging background/source which does not come and go as IT IS what always IS.
If or when you have a question you'd like to see answered in this newsletter send it to:
author@awakeningtothedream.com Painting by: Rafal Olbinski. Title: 'Prisoner of Borrowed Desires' Found at: http://www.museummasters.com/pages/olbinski.html |
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The problems, if there are any, are only created by the
mind. They are a product of thought. But you don't have to do
anything with thought, such as get rid of it, modify it or suppress
it. Just see that what you really are, right here and now,
is that presence-awareness that is the basis on which thought
is happening. That which is aware, which is knowing all your
sensations, feelings and emotions, is radiantly aware. It is effortlessly
knowing and being. It is simply the clear, spacious
presence of awareness, or as the Buddhists say, 'cognizing
emptiness'. Get a feel for this. Have the willingness to look
at this. Sense it, feel it, be it, relax into it. Know with assurance
that you are not a limited person bound up in thought.
You are the sky-like presence-awareness in which the whole
universe is appearing.
The next time you think, 'I am this or that,' 'I have a problem' or whatever, just drop the apparent problem and ask 'Who is this "I" that I think I am? Is this what I really am?' You can even investigate and try to find this 'I' in your direct experience. Is there a sensation, a thought or a feeling that you can call 'I'? We say 'I' but precisely what is it? Then it will dawn on you, 'Hey! Am I not aware? Am I not present? Is not the presence of my true nature here, perfectly untouched, unsullied, like the sun shining above the clouds, completely untouched by the appearance (and disappearance) of thought?' This kind of looking will pull the drain plug out of the sink of the mind, and all problems will be sucked into the void of non-existence. I do not exaggerate when I say that a lifetime of problems will evaporate. As they say, a cave may have been dark for thousands of years, but when you bring a torch into the cave, the light instantly obliterates that darkness.
From John Wheeler's new book "Awakening to the Natural State"
Available from: Non-duality Press http://www.non-dualitybooks.com/ Painting by: Chet Phillips. Title: 'Thought Process' Found at: http://www.chetart.com/ |
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Praise Them The birds don't alter space. They reveal it. The sky never fills with any leftover flying. They leave nothing to trace. It is our own astonishment collects in chill air. Be glad. They equal their due moment never begging, and enter ours without parting day. See how three birds in a winter tree make the tree barer. Two fly away, and new rooms open in December. Give up what you guessed about a whirring heart, the little beaks and claws, their constant hunger. We're the nervous ones. If even one of our violent number could be gentle long enough that one of them found it safe inside our finally untroubled and untroubling gaze, who wouldn't hear what singing completes us?
Li-Young Lee
Book of My Nights Found at: http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Praise_Them.html Painting by: JoAnne Sullam. Title: 'Winter Reds' Found at: http://www.daydreamsinnature.com/ |
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SNOW ANGELS Nazeon said, "Life is but melting snow." Why are you spending so much time building a snowman for a lover? He will be gone with the morning sun. Why are you worrying about what the snow lady said about you at the party last night? Her body will melt before you plot your revenge. All these phantom creatures will one day disappear in the light. You too. Why fuss so? Better to open your arms, lie down in the fluff, and make a snow angel. Take her with you throughout your days. And as she melts in joy, let all that worryin' melt right along with her. Spend your days in play, in laughter, in love. Life's ending sky will smother you in frozen rain soon enough. Open. All the way. Let the supposed hurts and betrayals go. They are only holding you back from sledding to freedom. Posted on Daily Dharma at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DailyDharma/ Painting by: Betty Friess Baumer Title: 'Snow Angels' |
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Is Hell Exothermic? The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well. Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you, and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God." THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY A Painting by: Chris Cooper. Title: ' Fire, Snow, and Rock' Found at: http://ccooperart.com/ |
Solstice |  | |
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From the dictionary. Solstice: Either of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator and which is reached by the sun each year about June 22d and December 22d. | ||
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Winter Solstice for the northern hemisphere. Painting by Joanna Powell Colbert. Title: Solstice Moon. Found at: JPC ArtWorks |
Summer Solstice for the southern hemisphere. Painting by Ming Feng. Title: Summer Solstice. Found at: Progressive Art Media |
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The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper So the shortest day came, and the year died, And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long To keep the year alive, And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake They shouted, revelling. Through all the frosty ages you can hear them Echoing behind us - Listen!! All the long echoes sing the same delight, This shortest day, As promise wakens in the sleeping land: They carol, fest, give thanks, And dearly love their friends, And hope for peace. And so do we, here, now, This year and every year. Welcome Yule!! |
Solstice Each year, on this same date, the summer solstice comes. Consummate light: we plan for it, the day we tell ourselves that time is very long indeed, nearly infinite. And in our reading and writing, preferences is given to the celebratory, the ecstatic. There is in these rituals something apart from wonder: there is also a kind of preening, as though human genius had participated in these arrangements and we found the results satisfying. What follows the light is what precedes it: the moment of balance, of dark equivalence. But tonight we sit in the garden in our canvas chairs so late into the evening- why should we look either forward or backward? Why should we be forced to remember: it is in our blood, this knowledge. Shortness of the days; darkness, coldness of winter. It is in our blood and bones; it is in our history. It takes genius to forget these things. [From The Seven Ages] |
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