Fiddling With the Dials for Better Reception, Part 1.

Over the course of doing this- I don’t know what to call it really; It’s not a ‘blog’. Whatever this is, in the process of doing it I’ve gotten a number of emails asking how I go about my own personal program and if I had any general ideas. That covers so much ground ‘out here’ that I hardly know where to begin. Of course you ‘begin at the beginning’; taking into consideration that it began you to begin with.

I’ll have to cover some ground first. That ground may not seem germane initially but it all connects. So, essential Buddha is not Buddhism. Essential Christ is not Christianity and so forth and so on. Truth is neither the definition nor the elaboration. Think of a naked body and a clothed body. Consider the ‘idea’ of a body.

Getting where you want to go should not be confused with the territory you pass through and it shouldn’t be understood as a location you are going to arrive at. There is a basic confusion in the mind that has to be overcome and you won’t be the one doing that either. We’ve all heard variations on the theme of, “Be here now.”, “Be still and know.” And I could get lost in the attempt to define what that means. However important the reality behind these thoughts may be, they are meaningless to a mind not properly placed to understand them. Its like, “let it flow baby.” Yeah sure, boom!!! …right into the abyss.

Just as our body is composed of different systems working together (we hope), so also are our mental and emotional bodies. Think of the sun as the center of the solar system and the planets in their courses as well as the interplay of various gravities. You get the idea of a dynamic tension that maintains the arrangement. We’re just like that. The various features of our being all exert forces of gravity; attraction and repulsion that make up the particular person we are and define the quality and intensity of our relationship to ourselves and others. You get the idea.

It stands to reason that the ideal situation is a harmony between the related bodies; everything working in concert with everything else. You can see how difficult this is when you throw in environmental circumstances and all of the permutations of everything acting for or against the defining self we assume ourselves to be.

This ‘defining self’ sees itself as something apart from the other defining selves. The senses report this and we base much of what we think and do on this evidence. Let’s say, for the sake of example that there is a living absolute truth that, as you move away from it becomes further and further veiled in relative degrees of untruth. We have a connection to this living truth and each of us is separated from perfect comprehension of it by veils of varying thickness. Call them ‘samskaras’. These cloud our perception of the light that pervades everything. Many who have experienced moments of enlightenment say that when it happened they saw that everything was filled with light. In fact, everything is made out of light. We are light in extension.

So, we’ve got light and we’ve got darkness. Those whose samskaras (resident karma) are thin have a more or less constant awareness of the presence of light. For those whose samskaras are thick there may be no idea of this light at all. There is another light though, a false light, that gives the impression of sight. Entire worlds go on there and they seem as real as real can be.

In Kabala there are 3 designations of; AIN: Nothingness, AIN SOPH: Limitless and AIN SOPH AUR: Limitless Light. You can find the same things mirrored in the mystical side of every faith. Here I should say that Kabala is not a Judaic tradition in its origin. Ageless wisdom is not part of any faith. Even the Hebrew alphabet was taken from the Chaldean which preceded it. Traditions expropriate; it’s what they do. I say this to point out that what you find, the deeper you go, is that you are dealing with a living thing that has worn various outfits according to the seasons of human experience but it isn’t any of them. Here is where it all goes wrong; confusing the clothes with the body they are worn on. The world is a fashion war. People are arguing about the permutations of fashion. And this is true in religions as well as social systems, political systems etc. To be frank I could say its all bullshit and this is the heartbreak of the matter.

What one must conclude, or what I conclude, is that we are helpless, powerless children. All our vain assumptions to the contrary are what causes us look so ridiculous and behave so badly. Now, either you believe there is a conscious living God who is well disposed to you or you have to continue in the darkness until you learn otherwise. Simply put, that’s how it is.

I realize I’ve been wandering all about here, sketching out a bare idea. I could write a book on most of the paragraphs that have preceded this one. People have done so already, over and over. Maybe you should start hitting yourself up side the head with any of these books until you get it. That might be more helpful than trying to find out what the contents of the book have to do with the perception of reality; the actual, living perception of it.

So, God is real, God knows where and who you are. God is inclined to help you. God is truth. God is Love. You must come to the understanding that God is conscious within you now. Subsequently, your job is to open more and more to this understanding and provide God with more access and less resistance. There are many paths up the mountain and there are all sorts of addendum and variation to what I am saying but let’s not be concerned with that. Because no matter who you think you are or where you find yourself it is the same thing essentially. The relationship and where it needs to go are basically the same. The harmony between the planets and the sun that I spoke of exists forever in the mind of God. God possesses the harmony you seek. God is inclined to experience this harmony in you. There is a perfect law that guides you step by step on your way.

To digress for a moment, it is less about finding something out than it is about remembering. Brother Lawrence was on course when he spoke about, “practicing the presence of God”. Constant remembrance of and constant practice of the presence of God is the key. How you go about this is a matter of choice. Yesterday Ben mentioned Ramana Maharshi in the comments section. Ramana is an enlightened being. He got there by asking “What am I.” I’ve also heard, “Who am I.” He did it without ceasing and he got the answer.

It is critical to understand that the process of God Realization is something that is accomplished in you through the good offices of your Holy Guardian Angel (also God in a particular suit of clothes). You cooperate in this, you do not affect it. It is of cardinal importance to realize that the process occurs independent of your efforts. You can participate in the process through cooperation or you can oppose it. You aren’t going to be doing it. Accept that it is taking place and look at every event in your life as a part of it. Hunger and aspire, reach and surrender. Believe.

This is obviously going to take a Part Two so we will continue tomorrow. In closing I will leave you with a couple of things I work with, that I repeat in my mind every day. They may not be for you. This is just to answer the question of what I do. Tomorrow I will give the rest of them. There aren’t that many of them. And tomorrow I can go more personal about my end of the equation and what I expect from the things I practice as well as; why these particular things?

Please forgive me if I have been less than clear in my efforts here. For one thing, I write this out as it occurs to me. I don’t take the time that I might to analyze it all. I don’t take the time to play with the possibilities of different ways to say it. It just comes out and then I give it a cursory look over for spelling and grammatical errors. Perhaps I should be more careful but I haven’t the inclination; either I’m guided or I’m not. I fully believe that God will correct my errors. I’m a work in progress just like you. Always when dealing with the personal angle it is more problematic than otherwise. Also, I have limitations in respect of what I can say; limitations in my understanding and limitations in my gifts of expression. I am hopeful that I will attain a better capacity but for the present… limitations. See you tomorrow (God Willing).


The PATTERN on the TRESTLEBOARD

This Is Truth About The Self

0.
All the Power that ever was or will be is here now.

1.
I am a center of expression for the Primal Will-to-Good which eternally creates and sustains the Universe.

2.
Through me its unfailing Wisdom takes form in thought and word.

3.
Filled with Understanding of its perfect law, I am guided, moment by moment, along the path of liberation.

4.
From the exhaustless riches of its Limitless Substance, I draw all things needful, both spiritual and material.

5.
I recognize the manifestation of the Undeviating Justice in all the circumstances of my life.

6.
In all things, great and small, I see the Beauty of the Divine Expression.

7.
Living from that Will, supported by its unfailing Wisdom and Understanding, mine is the Victorious Life.

8.
I look forward with confidence to the perfect realization of the Eternal Splendor of the Limitless Light.

9.
In thought and word and deed, I rest my life, from day to day, upon the sure Foundation of Eternal Being.

10.
The Kingdom of Spirit is embodied in my flesh.


THE EMERALD TABLET OF HERMES

True, without falsehood, certain and most true, that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for the performance of the miracles of the One Thing. And as all things are from One, by the mediation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father, the Moon its mother, and the Wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the Earth. This is the father of all perfection, or consummation of the whole world. Its power is integrating, if it be turned into earth. Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely, and with great ingenuity. It ascends from earth to heaven and descends again to earth, and receives the power of the superiors and of the inferiors. So thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let all obscurity flee before thee. This is the strong force of all forces, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing. So the world was created. Hence were all wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner. Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. What I have to tell is completed, concerning the Operation of the Sun.