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Question: I read the newsletter when it comes and very much enjoy it. It and other books similar to yours have relaxed my seeking. I understand that there is no I to even write this e-mail and no you to respond to it. My question is, is there any spontaneity and or chance to life or is the entire process written in stone?
Answer: 'That What Is' can be seen as the unavoidable outcome of previous causes. When that perspective is believed we can say it is all written in stone. On the other hand 'That What Is' can be seen as Uncaused Presence; including and transcending the idea of cause and effect. As such we can say that it is all unadulterated spontaneity, arising out of no-thing-ness, like bubbles in a glass of Champaign. Stories of cause and effect, or theories of a spontaneous unfolding versus determinism, are itself part of 'That What Is'. They are simply temporal points of view, which could be endlessly argued for or against. Such stories are the mind's attempt to get a handle on existence and file it away, once and for all, under labels like 'spontaneously happening' or 'written in stone.' Outside any perspective or labeling is the Untouched Mystery of Being. IT is expressing as all possible qualifications, and yet forever free of them. Undisturbed by ideas of 'ether/or' is this 'Isness that Is' IT is you and You Are That.
If or when you have a question you'd like to see answered in this newsletter send it to:
author@awakeningtothedream.com Painting by: Arthur Douet Title: Ecstasy in Being. Visit him at: http://www.arthurdouet.com/index.shtml |
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This immediate awareness, this directness, is the ever-present actuality and this does not change
at all — ever. It is very subtle compared to our usual habitual ways of looking at the world, which
is nothing much more than ‘objects’ in mind. Words, names, descriptions and the like are all
objects in mind and none of these actually obscure awareness at all, even though we believe that
they do.
It is usually very difficult to communicate that our belief in the concept of ‘time’ is actually erroneous. All concepts about objects slipping into a realm called the ‘past’ are just concepts and nothing more than that. There is no evidence that supports that there are any objects in the past. Even to say there ‘were’ objects in the past is erroneous. Just because the majority believe in this common vague concept along with its apparent subsequent mindscape (a series of concepts) does not make it a fact. The direct evidence, which is ever-present, is prior to the translating processes of mind and it remains untouched by anything that arises as thought. It is so obvious and yet seemingly so challenging to our belief system, including the concept that one is a separate individual. This primary belief is the main culprit and the last to be let go of, for those that open to the ever-fresh newness of effortless living. Many years can appear to be wasted on ‘practices’ and ‘methods’ and these ‘delay tactics’ can never bring you back to the fullness of this first instant of being-ness — because you have never left it — ever. The ever-present fact of being is the ever-present fact of knowing and this is your true nature. When have you not been? Is there a ‘time’ when you were not? This pure functioning of direct cognition is the case with ‘everyone’ no matter what the apparent condition of body or mind may appear to be. It IS and always has been ‘One without a second’ — IT is the ever-present nature of all and everything.
From: 'The First Instant'. By Gilbert Schultz
Available at: http://www.shiningthroughthemind.net/pages/TheFirstInstant.aspx |
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The Mysterious One Reality only - How deep and far-reaching! The ten thousand things - How confusingly multifarious! The true and the conventional are indeed intermingling, But essentially of the same substance they are. The wise and the unenlightened are indeed distinguishable, But in the Way they are united as one. Desirest thou to find its limits? How broadly expanding! It is limitless! How vaguely it vanishes away! Its ends are never reached! It originates in beginningless time, it terminates in endless time. Seng Ts'an - The 3rd Patriarch. Translated by: D.T. Suzuki (Manual of Zen Buddhism) Found at: http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/index.htm |
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"How does one seek union with God?" "The harder you seek, the more distance you create between Him and you." "So what does one do about the distance?" "Understand that it isn't there." "Does that mean that God and I are one?" "Not one. Not two." "How is that possible?" "The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song not one. Not two." Anthony deMello Painting by: Hokusai Title: The Great Wave Of Kanagawa. From: "Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji" |
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The strength of women Three men were hiking and became very lost. They tramped through the jungle and were exhausted. Finally they came to a raging stream which terrified them. Not knowing how they could cross they decided to pray for help. One man prayed "Lord give me strength", and he set out to swim the raging torrent. He struggled, went under a few times but managed to eventually drag his exhausted self out on the other side. Encouraged by this the second man prayed, "Lord send me a boat",and lo, down beside the river was a canoe. With great difficulty and a few mishaps he finally reached the other side. The third man prayed "Lord let me be a woman", and so it happened. Then he/she looked around walked upstream and crossed the bridge! Painting by: Ceasar Vasallo Title: A raging torrent of emotion. Visit him at: http://theartofceasarvasallo.com/ |
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