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Question: I know you don't deal in ideas of "reincarnation" and "rebirth" and neither do I but I have one question that bears on this indirectly.
Hindu masters often invoke karma/rebirth as the explanation and process of and for our lives being the way they are. But I wonder, as a post-Holocaust Jew, how yourselves and also those sort of conceptual maps (forgive me, but I don't accept finally any explanation of reality!) deal with the living fact of, say, 6 million souls punished, tormented and cruelly killed. Did they all arrange to reincarnate and die conveniently in an act of shared cosmic reckoning? Or is all being "One" the ultimate perspective, and the fact that such awful suffering can happen is incidental to the supposed "truth"? How can such suffering be dismissed as unreal? Answer: Advaita/non-duality is in essence not an explanation of reality, but points to That which knows the explanation as it appears. It deals with 'the Ultimate Subject' which cannot be made into an object (of knowing). It also takes a closer look at the 'I' claiming to accept -or not accept- explanations of reality. As a philosophy Advaita is indeed a 'conceptual map' but the 'Advaita map' includes a clear disclaimer that 'the map is not the territory.' It invites us to throw away the map and to have a direct look at concepts such as 'I' and 'reality'. In this 'reality' all appearances are relative. Presently, the past relates to the future, the awful suffering you mention contrasts with freedom from suffering, and every down has its up. Perhaps you see this as a 'supposed truth', but could we deny the inescapable duality of all concepts; including the concepts of 'you' and 'me', the truth and the lie, the one and the many? Within this manifestation, within this relative and conceptual frame work of time and space, there seem to be historical atrocities such as the Nazi death camps, the massive exterminations under Stalin, plagues, famines, tsunamis and the current violence in the middle east. On the other hand, there appear to be snow capped mountains, countless galaxies, jumping dolphins, falling in love, new born babies, and blooming roses. Within this space-time context, such appearances and events are real; as real as the appearances in a dream while dreaming. THAT, which Advaita points to, goes beyond the relative facade of real and unreal, and beyond the appearance of space and time. Here words fail as 'beyond' may suggest distance where there is none. Advaita does not deal with each individual 'piece on the chessboard' but looks at the whole game of apparent diversity, as well as at the 'Single Source' from which it all emanates. Here a different picture may emerge, in which this 'consensus reality' might appear more like a hologram -or a dream- than a solid and absolute world. The apparent past (in which the holocaust appeared) and the assumed future (in which we may have learned not to repeat such horrors) are more like 'projections' in this dream/hologram rather than absolute truths. As such, all appearances in this 'hologram', can be seen as arising presently; including future projections, and 'proof' of past events in the form of memories, fossils, or archeological and geological evidence. As a single bite will show, the taste of an apple is not something difficult, yet it cannot be explained or proven with concepts. The same holds true for what we discus here. If so inclined 'you' will investigate this and an Ever Present Clarity -as subtle as space- may be noticed. No conceptual clarification will do -or be needed- for 'THIS AS IT IS', since every explanation would be just another appearance in and of this Clarity, which is Self-Shining and its own confirmation beyond belief.
If or when you have a question you'd like to see answered in this newsletter send it to:
author@awakeningtothedream.com Art by: Bill Brauer Title: 'Mirror Dance' Found at: http://www.firstartsource.com/Content/BrauerB.htm Fair Use Notice |
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Q: Any day there may be a riot right in front of you, perhaps people killing each other. Surely you cannot say: nothing is happening and remain aloof.
M: I never talked of remaining aloof. You could as well see me jumping into the fray to save somebody and getting killed. Yet to me nothing happened. Imagine a big building collapsing. Some rooms are in ruins, some are intact. But can you speak of the space as ruined or intact? It is only the structure that suffered and the people who happened to live in it. Nothing happened to space itself. Similarly, nothing happens to life when forms break down and names are wiped out. The goldsmith melts down old ornaments to make new. Sometimes a good piece goes with the bad. He takes it in his stride, for he knows that no gold is lost. Q: It is not death that I rebel against. It is the manner of dying. M: Death is natural, the manner of dying is man-made. Separateness causes fear and aggression, which again cause violence. Do away with man-made separations and all this horror of people killing each other will surely end. But in reality there is no killing and no dying. The real does not die, the unreal never lived. Set your mind right and all will be right. When you know that the world is one, that humanity is one, you will act accordingly. But first of all you must attend to the way you feel, think and live. Unless there is order in yourself, there can be no order in the world. In reality nothing happens. Onto the screen of the mind destiny forever projects its pictures, memories of former projections and thus illusion constantly renews itself. The pictures come and go -- light intercepted by ignorance. See the light and disregard the picture. |
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We Are I was not here nor there. But simply was what is Here. And in this 'Here,' Was I like the fingers of God. I, Who is not 'I', Was the grassy hollows and hills Of rolling emerald. As a tree, my branches curved and sang In twisting movements Surreal and soft I saw! We are that which we Are! All I see in Earth, is singing ~ Love! Extending as it sings ~ Love! Green and growing, Giving, breathing Love! I Am This! You are This! And so We are not 'You' nor 'Me', but We. My lips, smile ~ Love My eyes, see ~ Love! My heart expands To know this Love! It is who you Are, with Me. We are joined, and stilled In the movement, In the Oneness of 'We Are.'
~ Diane L. Perretto ~
Art by: Sir Loren D. Adams Jr; Title: 'First Light' Found at: http://www.lorenadams.com/first_light.html Fair Use Notice |
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...the beginningless Brahman, ... can be called neither being nor nonbeing... It is both near and far, both within and without every creature; it moves and is unmoving. In its subtlety it is beyond comprehension. It is indivisible, yet appears divided in separate creatures. Know it to be the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer. Dwelling in every heart, it is beyond darkness. It is called the light of lights, the object and goal of knowledge, and knowledge itself. ~ The Bhagavad Gita ~ Art by: Wis (Wieslaw Sadurski) Title: 'Here and Beyond' Found at: http://www.wisarts.com/index.html Fair Use Notice |
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God is missing! A couple had two little mischievous boys, ages 8 and 10. They were always getting into trouble, and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons would get the blame. The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed and asked to see them individually. So, the mother sent her 8 year old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon. The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?" The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response. The clergyman repeated the question. "Where is God?" Again, the boy made no attempt to answer, sitting there frozen, with his mouth hanging open. So, the clergyman raised his voice some more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God!?" The boy screamed and bolted from the room. He ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him, he asked, "What happened?" The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied: "We are in real BIG trouble this time! God is missing, and they think we did it!" Thanks to John for sending me this joke and picture. Fair Use Notice |
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