The you that you think of as you (and that thinks of you as you, and so on) is not you, it’s just the character that the underlying truth of you is dreaming into brief existence. Enlightenment isn’t in the character, it’s in the underlying truth. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a dream character, of course, unless it’s your goal to wake up, in which case the dream character must be ruthlessly annihilated. If your desire is to experience transcendental bliss or supreme love or altered states of consciousness or awakened kundalini, or to quality for heaven, or to liberate all sentient beings, or simply to become the best dang person you can be, then rejoice!, you’re in the right place: the dream state, the dualistic universe. However, if your interest is to cut the crap and figure out what’s true, then you’re in the wrong place and you’ve got a very messy fight ahead and there’s no point in pretending otherwise.
But beauty, real beauty, ends where intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of a face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.
Intelligent practice always deals with just one thing: the fear at the base of human existence, the fear that I am not. And of course I am not, but the last thing I want to know is that.
Q: Since all is pre-ordained, is our self-realization also pre-ordained? Or are we free there at least?
A: Destiny refers only to name and shape. Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free. The cup is conditioned by its shape, material, use and so on. But the space within the cup is free. It happens to be in the cup only when viewed in connection with the cup. Otherwise, it is just space. As long as there is a body, you appear to be embodied. Without the body you are not disembodied — you just are.
So the most important thing to realize is this: Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns Being and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and is secondary…. Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.
Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of a Soul, Self or Atman. According to the teachings of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.
on June 24th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hi Tom,
I’ve read the retreat updates. It seems this energy we all share may have traveled halfway across the country, me being no stranger to anger, as I process my own currently. Unlike you wondering where the energy came from ‘out of the blue’, I often have a gratitude for the bright blue sky that I can see without first the screen of anger to peer through.
Your reason for what you do today and every day reminded me of a quote I read once. Not sure who to credit. If I figure that out, I’ll let you know. It was:
Spiritual work is facng your monumental task of figuring out what’s going on.
on June 25th, 2008 at 10:29 am
@Barbara I know what you mean. Funny how the connections work. I happy to say that the anger lifted easily.
on June 25th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
You’ve inspired me, Tom. Or should I say, life has conspired to follow your path. I’m making arrangements to go on 2 retreats next month. One a longer than usual one with Lorne, the other a weeks silence locally.
Davidya’s last blog post..Now
on June 26th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I’ve not been a subscriber to your blog posts for all that long but must confess that I really enjoy reading your articles. The insight posted here in particular has so much truth in it. It’s beautiful the way you expressed it!
Evelyn Lim | Attraction Mind Map’s last blog post..Five Hindrances To A Successful Meditation
on June 26th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
@Evelyn Thank you for your generous comments! It is nice to have you here. I’m glad this insight had something good for you. I seem to get my best insights when I’m talking with people or answering questions. It is interesting what will come out quite spontaneously. Glad to have you here.