CAN YOU BE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD?

COMMENT: 

“The present life of man, O King, is like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the Mead Hall  wherein you sit at supper in winter,  with a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad.  So this life of man appears for a short space, but of what went before or what is to follow we are ignorant.”  Edwin of Northumbria’s Counsellor, 12 April 627

We need not be ignorant. We come from beyond the world, live in it for a while, and leave to progress according to our deserts.

If we remember that we are not of the world, that we are passing through, we act profitably, doing only those things which are for our long term good.

If we see only the attractions of the world, we become forgetful and are immersed in the world. We do things which are for our short term gain, but not necessarily for our long term good.

We forget that, no matter how hard we try to preserve our lives, we will lose them in the end. And however hard we try to escape the consequences of our deeds, we can never escape them. They pursue us like our shadows. Inside the Mead Hall or without.

NEW PROJECT: “MEN MAY RISE ON STEPPING-STONES

                                       OF THEIR DEAD SELVES TO HIGHER THINGS”

                                                                         (Tennyson: In Memoriam 1849)

               BUSINESS MEN

Business men boast of their skill and cunning

but in philosophy they are like little children.

Bragging to each other of successful “deals”,

They neglect to consider the ultimate fate of their bodies.

What do they know of the Master of Dark Truth,

Who saw the whole world in a jade cup?

This vision enlightened his mind.

Making of Impermanence a vehicle,

He went beyond Heaven and Earth

And entered The Gate of the Eternally Unchanging.

                     (Ch’en Tzü-ang A.D. 656-698)

ETHICS

COMMENT:

ETHICS is the highest science (knowing, knowledge) because it is concerned with survival. Those whose ethics are not perfect cannot escape a level of being which has death as one of its concomitants. Those whose ethics are perfect do not die. They finish their last birth on earth by leaving the physical body behind to be recycled. They move on to eternal life. Why is this? Because everything is One and all things are part of that One. Everything we do to another, is actually done to us. If it is a negative action, it pulls us down to what appears as a separate material existence. In this, we die with the body. Over and over again. If our actions towards others are positive, we experience the positive result of being drawn closer and closer to the Centre of the One. This is a state of bodiless eternal life.

The fundamental, easily understood ethic is, therefore, Don’t do to others what you would not like done to yourself. 

 NEW PROJECT: CAN YOU BE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD?

There Being Really No Purality, Duality is Untrue

“There being really no plurality, duality is untrue”

There really is only One. Every living and non-living thing is part of this One. There is no “Other”. Every thing arises out of the Centre of this One and subsides back into it.  Just likes waves rise and fall but are never separate from the sea. The Centre of the One has a physical location in the centre of every living being. In the case of a human being, this is the centre of gravity. Just above the navel and in front of the spine. Locating it as an experience makes possible escape from physical existence and entry into our spiritual home and origin. In deep sleep, we subside into it quite naturally. But because we lose consciousness, we are unaware of it. Through meditation we can enter it knowingly. Once inside it we can verify all things for ourselves and gain understanding of ourselves.

NEW PROJECT: ETHICS

The basis of ethical behaviour is not to do to others what we do not want others to do to us. Since all is One, what you do to “another” you do to you.

WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?

COMMENT: Consider Old Grandfather.

Grandfather, What makes you tick?

GF  Tick. Tock

(You cannot shake him by the hand. His hands go round and round cutting eternity into ticks and tocks.)

Grandfather, What makes you tick?

GF  Tick. Tock

(Open his door. No one is to be seen hiding behind the long pendulum or crouching in the hood behind the face with its moving hands. There are two cylindrical lead weights, pulled by gravity. They move the escapement and pendulum. This enables the hands to tell the passing of time and the bell to sound on the hour.)

So does gravity make you tick, Grandfather?

GF  Tick Tock

(The weights move down until the karma which raised them up is exhausted and they stop.)

Is that what makes you tick, Grandfather?

GF  Silence.

(What force will raise them up again, creating the karma that will then unfold? There is nothing in the clock with all its metal parts, wood and ornamentation to provide a clue.)

What will make you tick, Grandfather?

GF  Silence.

Do but watch and wait. And listen. For the footstep in the hall. Wait and watch.  For the hand reaching out from outside the clock. The hand with the key. The key for the keyholes in the face. The karma-forming hand. Which winds up the weights on their chains. Which gently touches the pendulum. Which releases the escapement. Which moves the hands. Which....................

Grandfather, Who makes you tick? 

GF  Tick. Tock.

Whose hand?

NEW PROJECT: CENTRE!

MAKE A LIST OF YOUR VIRTUES!

COMMENT:

Virtues are wings.

Faults weight us down.

Look all around.

See what the darkening Tempest brings.

NEW PROJECT: TURN THE CLOCK BACK!

CONTINUE...

COMMENT: 

Faults are bad friends.  I have watched two seagulls chasing a kestrel away from the safety of the shore. Seeing this, others join the chase to hunt it down into the water and drown it. Faults are like that. They are not worth defending or justifying. They are false friends and will attract more like them, which will drag you down until they drown you.

NEW PROJECT: MAKE A LIST OF YOUR VIRTUES!  Purify them. Consolidate them. Find new ones. They are real friends which will journey with you until the end. The real End. The end of suffering.

WRITE A LIST OF YOUR FAULTS

METHOD: Make a list of your faults. Every time one occurs, put an "X" next to it. At the end of a day (week) you can see by the position and number of the "X"s, which are the most persistent faults. 

If you remove the feeling or emotion from them, they appear just as mistakes. A mistake is something that causes unwanted results: wrong directions taken; accidents, miscommunication, ill health to mind or body etc. Seeing them without emotion is objective seeing. It removes the resistance to overcoming them. 

The mind is like a computer (or more accurately a computer is like the mind). If you make a list and decide (program the mind) to do without them, you discover that every time you repeat a fault (or are about to do so) the mind will immediately remind you. If you respond positively to this reminder, the fault will disappear. If you delay, the reminder will disappear and you should note an extra fault "prevarication". 

Generally with this project, you get the eye for a fault and can continually unearth ones you have overlooked. This is especially true if you can drain the feeling/emotion out of them. It's a lot of fun (and of course profitable). 

CONTINUE...

KNOW THYSELF

COMMENT: 

Know Thyself is not the same as Be Yourself, until the rubbish has been cleared out. Nowadays it is fashionable to say, "Don't try to be perfect. Be comfortable with yourself as you are!"

The lazy and those who have given up welcome this as an excuse for their (mis)behaviour.

One might as well say, "Don't try to make your bedroom spotless. Be comfortable with the mess and rubbish as it is." Who made the mess? Who made you the imperfect being that you are?

Better advice would be, "Spot your faults. Don't ignore them. Don't defend them. Get rid of them."

NEW PROJECT: WRITE A LIST OF YOUR FAULTS. See how many you can cross out in a week. (And how many new ones you discover).