Divine Presence
As the time of Christmas draws near, I would like to share my favourite passages from this marvelous book "The Power of Now" which I am led to recently by these funny twists and turns in life. It is an international bestseller but I would not have chanced upon it myself in the bookstore since I don't have a habit of hanging out at the spirituality section (manga section, more likely) nor the bestseller stand. It is affiliated to no religion, although it quotes from various religious teachings. Here we go:
"..A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike a signpost, it points beyond itself. The word honey isn't honey. You can study and talk about honey for as long as you like, but you won't really know it until you taste it. After you have tasted it, the word becomes less important to you. You won't be attached to it anymore. Similarly, you can talk or think about God continuously for the rest of your life, but does that mean you know or have even glimpsed the reality to which the word points? It is no more than an obsessive attachment to a signpost, a mental idol.
The reverse also applies: If, for whatever reason, you disliked the word honey, that might prevent you from ever tasting it. If you have a strong aversion to the word God, which is a negative form of attachment, you may be denying not just the word but also the reality to which it points. You would be cutting yourself off from the possibility of experiencing that reality...So, if a word doesn't work for you anymore, then drop it and replace it with one that does work.
...Never personalise Christ. Don't make Christ into a form identity...If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is already enough presence in you to recognise the presence in another. There are many people who did not recognise Jesus or the Buddha, as there are and always have been many people who are drawn to false teachers. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognise light. Only light can recognise light. So do not believe that the light is outside you or that it can only come through one particular form. If only your master is an incarnation of God, then who are you? Any kind of exclusitivity is identification with form, and identification with form means ego, no matter how well disguised...Use the master's presence to reflect your own identity beyond name and form back to you and to become more intensely present yourself. You will realise that there is no "mine" or "yours" in presence. Presence is one.
...Don't get attached to any one word. You can substitute "Christ" for presence, if it is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence...Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if you realise that there is no past or future in Christ...God said:"I AM THAT I AM." No time here, just presence...It is a Zen-like statement of great profundity...beyond the consciousness dimension governed by time, into the realm of timeless. The dimension of eternity had come into this world. Eternity, of course, does not mean endless time, but no time.
The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, and egoic delusions such as "My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false," or Nietzsche's famous statement "God is dead."
The word God has become a closed concept. The moment the word is uttered, a mental image is created, no longer, perhaps, of an old man with a white beard, but still a mental representation of someone or something outside of you, and yes, almost inevitably a male someone or something.
Neither God nor Being nor any other word can define or explain the ineffable reality behind the word, so the only important question is whether the word is a help or a hindrance in enabling you to experience That towards which it points. Does it point beyond itself to that transcendental reality, or does it lend itself too easily to becoming no more than an idea in your head that you believe in, a mental idol?
The word Being explains nothing, but nor does God. Being however has the advantage of being an open concept. It does not reduce the infinite invisibility to a finite entity. It is impossible to form a mental image of it. Nobody can claim exclusive possession of Being. It is your very own essence, and it is immediately accessible to you as the feeling of your own presence, the realisation I am that is prior to I am this or I am that. So it is only a small step from the word Being to the experience of Being."
Merry Christmas, my friends.
"..A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike a signpost, it points beyond itself. The word honey isn't honey. You can study and talk about honey for as long as you like, but you won't really know it until you taste it. After you have tasted it, the word becomes less important to you. You won't be attached to it anymore. Similarly, you can talk or think about God continuously for the rest of your life, but does that mean you know or have even glimpsed the reality to which the word points? It is no more than an obsessive attachment to a signpost, a mental idol.
The reverse also applies: If, for whatever reason, you disliked the word honey, that might prevent you from ever tasting it. If you have a strong aversion to the word God, which is a negative form of attachment, you may be denying not just the word but also the reality to which it points. You would be cutting yourself off from the possibility of experiencing that reality...So, if a word doesn't work for you anymore, then drop it and replace it with one that does work.
...Never personalise Christ. Don't make Christ into a form identity...If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is already enough presence in you to recognise the presence in another. There are many people who did not recognise Jesus or the Buddha, as there are and always have been many people who are drawn to false teachers. Egos are drawn to bigger egos. Darkness cannot recognise light. Only light can recognise light. So do not believe that the light is outside you or that it can only come through one particular form. If only your master is an incarnation of God, then who are you? Any kind of exclusitivity is identification with form, and identification with form means ego, no matter how well disguised...Use the master's presence to reflect your own identity beyond name and form back to you and to become more intensely present yourself. You will realise that there is no "mine" or "yours" in presence. Presence is one.
...Don't get attached to any one word. You can substitute "Christ" for presence, if it is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence...Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if you realise that there is no past or future in Christ...God said:"I AM THAT I AM." No time here, just presence...It is a Zen-like statement of great profundity...beyond the consciousness dimension governed by time, into the realm of timeless. The dimension of eternity had come into this world. Eternity, of course, does not mean endless time, but no time.
The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, and egoic delusions such as "My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false," or Nietzsche's famous statement "God is dead."
The word God has become a closed concept. The moment the word is uttered, a mental image is created, no longer, perhaps, of an old man with a white beard, but still a mental representation of someone or something outside of you, and yes, almost inevitably a male someone or something.
Neither God nor Being nor any other word can define or explain the ineffable reality behind the word, so the only important question is whether the word is a help or a hindrance in enabling you to experience That towards which it points. Does it point beyond itself to that transcendental reality, or does it lend itself too easily to becoming no more than an idea in your head that you believe in, a mental idol?
The word Being explains nothing, but nor does God. Being however has the advantage of being an open concept. It does not reduce the infinite invisibility to a finite entity. It is impossible to form a mental image of it. Nobody can claim exclusive possession of Being. It is your very own essence, and it is immediately accessible to you as the feeling of your own presence, the realisation I am that is prior to I am this or I am that. So it is only a small step from the word Being to the experience of Being."
Merry Christmas, my friends.
posted by Fiery at Saturday, December 24, 2005
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