I can’t shake the feeling that this time is not going to be like all the other times. Though it is rare, God sometimes intrudes. God is always present but in a state of dreaming as he interpenetrates the creation. Sometimes he wakes up in people here and there and usually they are the types that confound the scholars and experts. They are sometimes illiterate or considered mad but the power of their presence and contributions is undeniable.
God is a serpent and when he awakens it is by the process of moving up the spine. Then the cobra-hood grants that umbrella effect over the realized one and you’ve got the man himself in some permutation or another for the specific purpose of the time and circumstances in which he finds himself. You might think of the person as a unique flute and the working of God within the instrument produces the singular sounds that are the result of God in concert with the host medium.
Most people cannot see the hood but they can certainly feel its radiance. Not every expression of God, chosen by God, manifests in this manner. There are other formulas, just as there is a difference between a sage and a saint. Each of us is destined for some particular expression of the divine and each of us houses the divine at some stage of enfoldment. This is why you see Hindus bow to one another to say, “I salute the God within you” ...Namaste.
These are dark times and anyone who has been reading here is sharing common apprehensions about the constant evidence that psychopaths and materialists have hi-jacked manifest existence. Not a day goes by when I do not hear from someone about how we are all screwed. My life has not been easy but I am lucky in one respect. I am granted interaction with the divine.
It’s not a continuous interaction, nor is my behavior consistent in respect of the presence. That may be why it is not continuous but I’m working on it. Having been granted the occasional ‘walk in the garden’ in my mind, I know that the presence is actual. God is real. God is a living presence. God permeates everything. Everything is made out of God and there is a part of God that is apart from it which is always of greater power than any time when a part of that power is in manifestation.
Lovers of God often speak of the contact in sensual and romantic terms. Contact with God is very much like sex but infinitely more pervasive and filling. The ecstasy is unlike anything the world can provide and it ruins one for the common attractions. Once it has happened one is forever bereft until it happens again and there is an intense striving required for re-encountering.
People without the passion and will to seek the divine scoff at this mysterious presence and are filled with the bombast of their own accomplishments which are soon forgotten as if they never were. Anything great that any man or woman ever accomplished was accomplished by God through them. God is the only actor and the only enjoyer of the fruits of existence. Free will gives you the opportunity to cooperate with your eventual flowering or to resist it. This is all free will really is; a question of whether to cooperate or not.
The tempter side of the divine exists for the purpose of leading one away into the passions of the temporary realm. It tests your resolve. Once it has tempted you into something it then begins to torment you to return to the path. The road of experience is necessary but at some point one should become aware of the dynamics of the whole matter. The devil is either serving you or ruling you and to compel service, then there must be the power of the divine in presence. The devil is a harsh taskmaster. He serves the process just as does every single component in life.
In times of materialism the first thing one forgets is the natural divinity of their state. They sacrifice the awareness of it for the sweet and sticky end of things. Sweet and sticky guarantees bondage and that is the purpose of death to free you from it. The entertainer who uses that phrase is a willing servant of world bondage and many of her associates in all fields of endeavor are too. The others are unwitting tools driven to act without comprehension. One who is in the presence has no fear of any of them and can come and go at will.
This sweet and sticky thing, as well as the drive for immediate gratification, is nicely expressed in the tale of Jacob and Esau. The many parables in the many traditions all detail some stage or situation in the various stations of the upward road. We ignore them though. They don’t apply to us. The truth is that people opt out for what they opt out for and for every porthole into the shadow realm of false light there is a ‘justification world’ in which everything supports ones departure from the path.
The tale of existence, from ancient worlds beneath the slumbering sands of the ocean, to worlds as yet unformed is always the same. Across the planes of all these colorations and structures move the same attractions and fantasies, the same tests and trials. There you are again, going to the well of dreams for another amusement park ride or seeking that well and oasis among all the Fata Morgana of the deceiving world.
A wise man once said that you can tell the true path by the number of people laughing at it. Here’s the rub. Those who have compromised their path into some porthole of the relative world are not unaware of what they have done. Even when hiding it from themselves there is a prevalent unease. Whether they are accomplished scholars; scientists, renowned artists or whatever... in falling short... in making a deal... the essence of the thing is denied them and whatever they may say or create will lack the integrity of the one who holds it all together.
Therefore it is natural for them to scoff because they know what they have denied themselves by not being equal to the task. They will talk in that vain and elegant language, preening before each other in the high towers of the world and then they will be gone leaving no real impression on anything except the canvas of their Karma.
So many times when the world is shaken by great events or natural cataclysms, it is not too long before the same personality types are once again engaged in spinning the web of ‘business as usual’. Still, I think it’s going to be different this time. I’ve no idea in what way it will be different but I am hopeful in ways for which I have no evidence here. I have been told some things and I’ve mentioned them at other times. I suppose what I am saying is there is no harm in having faith in the one who controls everything and having a ‘wait and see’ attitude. It’s only a test of faith after all and you either have it or you don’t. You can develop it. It’s not like there isn’t evidence of the presence all through history. Surely something grand and masterful has turned a phrase, painted a picture or composed a tune now and again.
As we are meant to house the qualities of God as we let go of our shortcomings and delusions, one can intuit that this means a state of great power and awareness. It is not for the timid, the confused or the weak. Letting appearances overwhelm you means you are actually giving power to the force that holds you in servitude. You wonder where you will find the strength and you waver. Stop relying on yourself. You’re useless. Remember that someone is holding it all together and if they were not is would fall away. It would dissolve like the dream that it is.
This power that holds it all together is what allows the good and the evil among us to possess self awareness. Whatever will we have, for whatever purpose we choose to turn it to, comes from this one will. Consider what would happen if the one will simply withdraws this from the evil ones among us. Accept that everything is under control and working out exactly according to a plan. Put yourself in agreement with the source of all control and see what happens.
'Every Day' is track no. 11 of 11 on Visible's 2001 album 'God in Country'
Lyrics (pops up)
Build Your Own Community.
14 comments:
Hi Les
Thank you for this beautiful piece. Can't say I'm a saint, more a sinner...can't hold on to a promise to be good for long, nevertheless, its always uplifting to reflect on eternal Goodness.
Take care.
mf kl my
Les
Soo true the nature to which people trap their life and will to dreams held only by themself. I have found I dream many different sidetracks. I have with pain and my own will walked away from some of these dreams. I at first was afriad I wont dream anymore? I have come to believe that we live in more than a few dream states at once, so Im not so woried about not dreaming anymore, its happening all the time.
We can watch oneness. We can love the godhead. We can be a mother to his will. We can be a lover or a guardin too! The ways and actions to this are based on free will. I should hope to dream this too.
LeMat
"psychopaths and materialists have hi-jacked manifest existence" and "for every porthole into the shadow realm of false light there is a ‘justification world’ in which everything supports ones departure from the path"
Excellently chosen words. This has also been the majority of my experience of this world. Our manifest existence has become a justification world.
Something grand and masterful, indeed.
Z
As the Buddha said
"Events happen deeds are done, yet there is no doer.
All there is is consciousness".
"Just ask the Axis,
He knows everything..."
http://vedabase.net/bg/en
Hi Les,
"The devil is either serving you or ruling you and to compel service, then there must be the power of the divine in presence. The devil is a harsh taskmaster. He serves the process just as does every single component in life."
Wow, that is so true and beautifully stated! I always enjoy reading your posts. You can so often present ancient truths as though they were freshly picked flowers.
You hear stories of people who would do anything to physically survive, like eat their own leg or something. That's always seemed weird to me. Yet it makes perfect sense if I substitute my connection to God for mere survival. It is the one thing too precious to lose.
Namaste.
Science by System Of A Down
Making two possibilities a reality,
Predicting the future of things we all know,
Fighting off the diseased programming
Of centuries, centuries, centuries, centuries.
Science fails to recognize the single most
Potent element of human existence
letting the reigns go to the unfolding
Is faith, faith, faith, faith.
Science has failed our world
Science has failed our Mother Earth.
Science fails to recognize the single most
Potent element of human existence
letting the reigns go to the unfolding
Is faith, faith, faith, faith.
Science has failed our world
Science has failed our Mother Earth.
Spirit-moves-through-all-things {x5}
letting the reigns go to the unfolding
Is faith, faith, faith, faith
letting the reigns go to the unfolding
Is faith, faith, faith, faith.
Science has failed our world
Science has failed our Mother Earth.
Spirit-moves-through-all-things {x12}
Science has failed our Mother Earth.
"Our problem is civil obedience.
Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. And our problem is that scene in All Quiet on the Western Front where the schoolboys march off dutifully in a line to war.
Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world, in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country.
That's our problem.
We recognize this for Nazi Germany. We know that the problem there was obedience, that the people obeyed Hitler. People obeyed; that was wrong.
They should have challenged, and they should have resisted; and if we were only there, we would have showed them.
Even in Stalin's Russia we can understand that; people are obedient, all these herdlike people.
— Howard Zinn
Deeply profound, Les. Your words brought tears to my eyes...seem written just for me...sold to soul.
All religions, including the revealed religions, and smaller, not-organised, spiritual traditions, are models (belief- systems) which explain at least Existence, and the goal of human life, to their respective societies. They also prescribe to their followers, how to conduct themselves individually and collectively. They are all cultural products, bearing the stamp of their times, geographical locations, and the cultural values of their societies, ie man-made constructs, even if inspired.
I've been seeking to catch at the meaning of it all, and the why and the how, by learning what different cultures and peoples have said. And what is a human being's role, obligation, and proper course of action during his/her life, universally, disregarding the limitations of culture (some cultures have more narrow-minded, and less ethical values and beliefs than others), historical period, and geographic location?
Even individual mystical visions and intuitive understandings have to be, and are, expressed in the language and vocabulary of the individuals who have or had them. And these individuals have been shaped by their cultures, education, reading, travels, and informal learning. Much of what they say is, and has to be, couched in metaphors and similes, because what is unknown can be approached and grasped cognitively only through what is known. These metaphors and comparisons in turn are shaped by cultural and linguistic variables. Some people, like Bertrand Russell, are dismissive of a non-material sphere or level in the cosmos because visionary experiences are all different, not the same or similar, and lack universal common features. But a member of an isolated tribe in New Guinea or the Amazon is not going to have visions of a West Asian woman dressed in blue robes, of a West Asian male in turban and robes, or of a South Asian flute-playing man whose skin is blue.
Then there are accounts by various discarnate entities who've communicated through mediums. Most of the research and accounts in this area in the last 150 years are from the western tradition. It seems there are different areas for groups of like-minded individuals. And continuing spiritual growth. There's a fascinating account by a Canon Packenham-Walsh of the Church of England, A Tudor Story, about his encounter with the soul or consciousness of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. (continued)
-Sonnet
(continued from earlier)
Then add the accounts of Robert Monroe (American) of his out-of-body experiences, meeting other Consciousnesses during his journeys. At first his OBEs were spontaneous, and he was puzzled and anxious. Then he learned about others having them from his psychologist, who referred him to the Hindu tradition describing OBEs. He was able to have OBEs at will later on, and now has established a way of inducing them through sound (at the Monroe Institute in Virginia).
I remind myself that I'm a particle of the One which created or thought or dreamed everything into existence, and that the manifested universe is all god-stuff, or chips off the One, which is more than the sum of all. Also that a duck or cat or another human or plant or a grain of sand are the One taking that form, in fancy-dress as it were. Each form with free will as befits its physical nature - animal, vegetable, mineral. But why? I would like to know. And why all the pain and suffering, especially of non-human forms?
So far, all I've come up with on the behavioural front is that kindness should inform one's behaviour to all and treatment of everything. And not holding on to resentment, rancour, anger, hatred, self-pity, righteousness, etc., but letting go of them as soon as possible, and not acting on them for selfish reasons. To rethink or re-formulate the notion of self.
Which leads to questions like; what actions should be undertaken to right the wrongs committed against the weak, downtrodden, helpless, and abused, etc?
To merely learn to sit back and let happen what may, does not seem right. Is learning to tread the razor's edge between Action and Inaction one of the goals? I don't know.
Some who are dear to me do not believe in anything beyond the material because they cannot accept that a creator or mind which brought everything into being can allow such injustice and suffering as is present on this planet. I want to help them realise that there is a meta-physical dimension, and that there is ultimate justice and fairness in this set-up. Hence a sense of urgency in my seeking.
But thank you, for making it possible to share thoughts and learn from others on such matters. And thank you for this piece. - Sonnet
A new Reflections in a Petri Dish is up.
Kate Gosselin and the SPLC Terror Gang in Disneyland.
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 18.71
śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca
śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ
so 'pi muktaḥ śubhāl lokān
prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām
TRANSLATION
And one who listens with faith and without envy becomes free from sinful reactions and attains to the auspicious planets where the pious dwell.
PURPORT
In the sixty-seventh verse of this chapter, the Lord explicitly forbade the Gītā's being spoken to those who are envious of the Lord. In other words, Bhagavad-gītā is for the devotees only. But it so happens that sometimes a devotee of the Lord will hold open class, and in that class not all the students are expected to be devotees. Why do such persons hold open class? It is explained here that although not everyone is a devotee, still there are many men who are not envious of Kṛṣṇa. They have faith in Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If such persons hear from a bona fide devotee about the Lord, the result is that they become at once free from all sinful reactions and after that attain to the planetary system where all righteous persons are situated. Therefore simply by hearing Bhagavad-gītā, even a person who does not try to be a pure devotee attains the result of righteous activities. Thus a pure devotee of the Lord gives everyone a chance to become free from all sinful reactions and to become a devotee of the Lord.
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