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March 2004
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March 1st 2004
From Consciousness -- Wonder of Wonders
He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
Song of Songs
Oh wonder of wonders: When I think of the union of the soul with God ... The divine love-spring surges over the soul, sweeping her out of herself into the unnamed being of her original source ... In this exalted state she has lost her proper self and is flowing full-flood into the unity of the divine nature ... Henceforth I shall not speak about the soul, for she has lost her name in the oneness of the divine essence. There she is no more called soul: she is called infinite being.
Meister Eckhart
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
The gospel according to John
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March 2nd 2004
From Consciousness -- Transformed in the Beloved
Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn, Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved! All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lillies.
St John of the Cross
And the coming of the Bridegroom is so swift that he is perpetually coming and dwelling within with unfathomable riches, and ever coming anew in His Person, without interception, with such new brightness that it seems as though he had never come before.
For His coming consists beyond time in an eternal Now, which is ever received with new longings and new joy. Behold, the delight and the joy which the Bridegroom brings with Him in the coming are Boundless and without measure, for they are Himself.
Jan van Ruysbroeck
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March 3rd 2004
From Consciousness -- The Silence of the Self
The Self is silent awareness but this silence is beyond concept and complementarity and cannot be defined in terms of a silence as opposed to noise.
Thus trying to rid ourselves of agitation so as to attain a state of silence keeps us in conflict. It keeps us in the realm of opposition, defense, fighting, attaining and rejecting.
But if on the contrary we accept the agitation, accept it as an expression of silence, it dissolves in the acceptance. Then you will reach the silence of the Self, beyond silence and agitation.
You cannot hope to rid yourself of agitation if you remain on its wavelength, you must listen to it as a whole. It then dies into silence, for it is nothing else but silence.
Jean Klein
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March 4th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Real and Unreal World
The world is both real and unreal. It seems real when looked at from the point of view of the world, the ego, but when seen from an enlightened view, this point of view is restricted and therefore unreal.
When consciousness knows itself as the source of the world, the world appears highly real. So just what difference is there between these two realities: that of he who is ignorant of the Self, and that of he who knows himself to be?
He who does not know, who takes the perceptible world to be real, limits it to patterns, systems, ideas and beliefs. These all help reassure an insecure ego. But it is a hypothetical world, both restless and passive, a lifeless world.
For the one who knows himself to be, the world is an expression of ultimate knowledge. It is a prolongation, an emanation of the totality that is our real nature. The world is constantly recreated from moment to moment, ever new.
Jean Klein
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March 5th 2004
From Consciousness -- According to the Point of view
The world always appears to us according to the point of view we adopt; for the senses it is form, for the mind it is idea, for the Self, the uniting consciousness, it is consciousness.
In this lies the meaning of the Zen saying: First there are mountains, then there are no mountains, then there are mountains again.
First the mountains are objects and are called real by the ignorant. Then they are not seen as objects because the subject/object relationship evaporates.
But then from the enlightened view, they are seen again, not as object mountains, but as expressions of oneness. The mountains now appear within totality.
Jean Klein
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March 6th 2004
From Consciousness -- Clarifying the Mind
The ego likes to direct things and circumstances according to its wishes, but its existence is only a shadow dependent on the body-mind that projects it.
In the spiritual teacher's presence, the ego is not rejected, but the clear-sightedness the teacher conveys to us gradually rids us of the characteristics that the ego falsely appropriated. Sooner or later, this clarified ego is reabsorbed into its essence and homeground which is lucid presence. It only appears when called for and never again steals the light for itself.
Enlightenment is instantaneous but the mind becomes gradually clearer. The clarity of the mind brings about a relaxation from old patterns, a freeing of energy which in turn stimulates clear-sightedness. It leads us towards living free from all striving to attain something, free from the tension brought about by waiting for something to happen, expectation.
Jean Klein
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March 7th 2004
From Consciousness -- Fatalism
When you are identified with a person, an idea, a body which you believe you are, then there is object/object relation. In this relation you can never see how the ocean of life solicits you. You cannot be adequate to the coming and going of the waves.
Your action and non-action is inevitable reaction because you live in images, in the mind. You act or don't act according to certain motives, certain morality, certain ideologies or spiritual ideas. You don't really accept life, but rather submit to it.
Then there is fatalism. Fatalism only exists on the level of living as an individual, a personal entity.
Jean Klein
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March 8th 2004
From Consciousness -- A Way of Seeing Yoga
Yoga is an Indian system, a discipline completely founded on duality. This dual system can never bring you to the non-dual non-state. It can, however, bring you to see that you are in a dual system and in seeing it you are out of it.
But I was introduced to another, unorthodox, way of seeing yoga when I met a swami in India in the 1950's and asked him what he understood by "yoga." He gave an answer that astonished me; he said, "It means sitting right." Then he added "walking right and right doing."
For him, yoga was not about asanas and kundalini, it meant sitting according to the chair and acting according to the situation! So we can say that from the ultimate point of view, letting life flow in your alertness and being adequate in all circumstances are exactly the same.
Jean Klein
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March 9th 2004
From Consciousness -- When You Are Not
In the mystical approach the devotee receives from God the movement towards God. In the direct approach the inquiry into what we are not comes from what we are. In both there is a coming back to where we originally belong. In both, on the phenomenal plane, there is gratitude and thanking.
For some mystics who have experienced unicity, however, there is yet a feeling of gratitude to God. In such cases, the mystic has remained in relation, adorer to adored. In a certain way there is still somebody.
In the highest unity this adorer, this somebody, is no longer present. There is only God. As Meister Eckhardt said, "God is when you are not."
The inquirer lives in the openness of the inquiring that comes from the answer itself. This openness can never be an object, a perception, a state. It is free from all assertion.
Jean Klein
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March 10th 2004
From Consciousness -- the Transmission of Being
In the practical (as opposed to the theoretical) approach, there is no disciple and no teacher. If there were there could be no transmission of being, of oneness. There would only be teaching on the mental level.
The disciple hears from her teacher that she is not the body, senses and mind so she temporarily stops emphasizing these and focuses on what she is.
Your real nature is knowing. It cannot be known. All that the mind can know is not you. Your "I" becomes a living reality once the idea that society has given you of being a separate entity has entirely left you -- together with its desires, fears and imagination, its belief that it is this or that.
One reminder, one foretaste of your unrestricted being will immediately make it clear that these are not reality but its expressions. You will be instantaneously convinced of what you are.
Jean Klein
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March 11th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Knower of All
The truth of the nature of existence will be spontaneously revealed to you: that you give birth to all that exists. Without awareness nothing would be.
What is experienced on a phenomenal plane is not you but an extension of you. Experience is in you but you are not experience.
In living freedom you are free from choice, free from striving, free from the need to define or qualify yourself in any way. Everything that exists appears in consciousness, but consciousness is not lost in existence.
I cannot prove this to you in words nor can any second-hand information convince you. Make this a living proof and you will find your still home-ground. Then there is only thankfulness where no one thanks.
You are neither this nor that. You are the knower of all, primal perception, original limitless being.
Jean Klein
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March 12th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Way Out
Within the prison of your world appears a man who tells you that the world of painful contradictions, which you have created, is neither continuous nor permanent and is based on a misapprehension.
He pleads with you to get out ot it, by the same way by which you got into it.
You got into it by forgetting what you are and you will get out of it by knowing yourself as you are.
Nisargadatta Maharaj -- I Am That
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March 13th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Illusary and the Real
When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves.
Similarly, if you examine myriad things with a confused body and mind you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self.
Dogen -- Moon in a Dewdrop
There comes a time when an individual becomes irresistible and his action becomes all-pervasive in its effects. This comes when he reduces himself to zero.
Mohandas K Gandhi
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March 14th 2004
From Consciousness -- A Chance for Freedom
Egocentricity is the process of wanting something other than what is. Egocentricity means there is an "I" who is separate from everything else and doesn't like it; one thing is happening, but I want a different thing to be happening.
Egocentricity is that constant concern with how I feel, what I think, what I'm doing, what I want -- looking at what is and seeing it as inadequate. My identity is maintained by the struggle of wanting something other than what is; that is how I continue to know myself.
Whenever anything causes us to suffer, we can know two things: suffering is the same as egocentricity, and when it arises, that is our best opportunity to end suffering.
As we open to our suffering,as we embrace it, as we accept it, our relationship to it changes. It is no longer something horrible, something to escape from. Suffering becomes just another opportunity, another chance for freedom.
Cheri Huber
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March 15th 2004
From Consciousness -- A Diamond in the Mud
You're a precious hidden diamond sunken in the mud if you wash away all that impurity from your gorgeous face what do you think will happen
if you abandon for a little while your ego and greed tear down your shield rise with a quest to unite with the divine what do you think will happen Ghazal (ode) 844
The ego is like an iceberg. Ninety percent of it is under water. As we observe it, the submerged begins to move into the light of observation, and melts into the light of awareness.
Meher Baba
(Your true) Self is always Present, Bliss is always Present. You are not to work at attaining it, just remove the obstacles by which you can't see it. The hindrance is only one: Attachment to the past.
H W L Poonja
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March 16th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Ending of the Dream
Once you have seen that you are dreaming, you shall wake up. But you do not see, because you want the dream to continue.
A day will come when you will long for the ending of the dream, with all your heart and mind, and be willing to pay any price; the price will be dispassion and detachment, the loss of interest in the dream itself.
Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go everything. The giving up is the first step. But the real giving up is in realising that there is nothing to give up.
To be, you must be nobody. To think yourself to be something, or somebody, is death and hell. When you are no longer attached to anything, you have done your share. The rest will be done for you.
Nisargadatta Maharaj -- I Am That
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March 17th 2004
From Consciousness -- It Is Always Now
We look backward too much and we look forward too much; thus we miss the only eternity of which we can be absolutely sure -- the eternal present, for it is always now.
William Phelps
If we ourselves remain angry and then sing world peace, it has little meaning. So, you see, first our individual self must learn peace. This we can practice. Then we can teach the rest of the world .
The Dalai Lama
When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing, seek nothing, expect nothing then the Supreme State will come to you uninvited and unexpected!
Nisargadatta Maharaj
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March 18th 2004
From Consciousness -- Don't Be Anxious
When you find out that you are faced with danger -- when you're thinking, "What am I gonna do?" -- see what happens if you say, "I'm not worried about it. I don't have to do anything. It'll be done." See what happens if you clear your mind and allow yourself to do exactly what is necessary, exactly what is correct.
If you can do that, then when it's all over with, you'll discover that you're just there; you're an observer. And you'll discover that you've observed more than you've actually participated -- that you have learned to still your mind so that the spirit can act. The spirit does not deliberate, only the mind does, and this is what you'll discover.
Vernon Turner
Once you realise that the person is merely a shadow of the reality, but not the reality itself, you cease to fret and worry. You agree to be guided from within and life becomes a journey into the unknown.
If you just try to keep quiet, all will come -- the work, the strength for work, the right motive. Must you know everything beforehand? Don't be anxious about your future -- be quiet now and all will fall into place.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
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March 19th 2004
From Consciousness -- What Is ... Is.
I have simply stopped arguing with reality. How do I know if the wind should blow? It's blowing. How do I know this is the highest order? It's happening. Arguing with 'what is' is like trying to teach a cat to bark. It's not very fulfilling.
I am my friend and no longer confused. The way I know that reality is good is that when I argue the point I experience tension, fear and frustration. I lose -- not sometimes, but 100% of the time. It just doesn't feel natural inside: no balance, no connection.
I want reality to change? Hopeless. Let me change my thinking. Some of us mentally argue with 'what is.' Others of us attempt to control and change 'what is,' and then tell ourselves and others that we actually had something to do with any apparent change that took place.
This leaves no connection or room for God in my life. In the peaceful experience of no opposition to God, I remain aware of my nature: clear, vibrant, a friend, a listener.
Byron Katie
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March 20th 2004
From Consciousness -- Spiritual Freedom
The unlimited and everlasting spiritual freedom of the self or soul exists eternally and infinitely in one and all, and is equally available to every man and woman irrespective of class, creed or nationality.
Spiritual freedom can and does transcend all the illusory phenomena of duality, because divine Oneness is always divine Oneness, before the beginningless beginning and beyond the endless end.
Contrarily, the illusion of all material binding from first to last is always illusion, and even its illusory existence depends upon the play of the eternal spiritual freedom of the soul.
Meher Baba
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March 21st 2004
From Consciousness -- Only In Spiritual Freedom
It is only in spiritual freedom that one can have enduring happiness and unhampered self-knowledge.
It is only in spiritual freedom that one finds the supreme certainty of truth-realization.
It is only in spiritual freedom that there is a final end to sorrow and limitation.
It is only in spiritual freedom that one can live for all, and yet remain detached in the midst of all activity.
Meher Baba
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March 22nd 2004
From Consciousness -- Neither Bondage Nor Liberation
"Bondage" and "Liberation" are mere linguistic terms. They have no reality of their own. Therefore they cannot function of their own accord. It is necessary to accept the existence of some basic thing of which they are the modifications.
If one enquires, "for whom is there bondage and Liberation?" it will be seen, "they are for me". If one enquires, "who am I?", one will see that there is no such thing as the "I". It will then be as clear as an amalaka fruit in one's hand that what remains is one's real being.
As this truth will be naturally and clearly experienced by those who leave aside mere verbal discussions and enquire into themselves inwardly, there is no doubt that all realized persons uniformly see neither bondage nor Liberation so far as the true Self is concerned.
Ramana Maharshi
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March 23rd 2004
From Consciousness -- Accept Inner Adventure
You need not gather any more (experience), rather you must go beyond experience. To believe that you depend on things and people for happiness is due to ignorance of your true nature; to know that you need nothing to be happy, except self-knowledge, is wisdom.
Keep quiet, undisturbed, and the wisdom and the power will come on their own. Abandon all desires, keep your mind silent and you shall discover. Desirelessness is the highest bliss.
As long as you feel competent and confident, reality is beyond your reach. Unless you accept inner adventure as a way of life, discovery will not come to you.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
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March 24th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Rules of Being Human 1.
1. You will receive a body and a mind. You may like them or hate them, but they will be yours for the entire period this time around. Try to remember, they are not you, they are only yours to use for a while.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called 'Life'. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".
4. A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
Anonymous
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March 25th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Rules of Being Human 2.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of 'Life' that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will, again, look better than "here". The same applies to "now" and some other time past or future. Learn to welcome the eternal "here" and "now" regardless of its form.
7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
Anonymous
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March 26th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Rules of Being Human 3.
8. When it comes to fulfilling your destiny, there is nothing you can do or not do. 'Life' teaches, however, that we do most for ourselves by living for the good of others.
9. You, your real Self, are already perfect, complete and eternal. It is only your human form that needs to learn lessons. When your body and mind are still and quiet, the answers you need will always arise from within.
10. You may forget your true identity for half a life-time, but the real you is alway present waiting to be noticed, and when you have suffered enough and learned the lessons, you will return to the Source of peace, love and undying joy.
Anonymous
March 27th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Secret of Success.
Try to be, only to be. The all-important word is 'try'. Allot enough time daily for sitting quietly and trying, just trying, to go beyond the personality, with its addictions and obsessions.
Don't ask how, it cannot be explained. You just keep on trying until you succeed. If you persevere, there can be no failure.
What matters supremely is sincerity, earnestness. You must really have had surfeit of being the person you are.
Now see the urgent need of being free of this unnecessary self-identification with a bundle of memories and habits. This steady resistance against the unnecessary is the secret of success.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
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March 28th 2004
From Consciousness -- The Way Home
Having never left the house you are asking for the way home. Get rid of wrong ideas, that is all.
Collecting right ideas also will take you nowhere. Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether.
The first steps in self-acceptance are not at all pleasant, for what one sees is not a happy sight. One needs all the courage to go further.
What helps is silence. Look at yourself in total silence, do not describe yourself. Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally, without any interference on your part.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
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March 29th 2004
From Consciousness -- Not In Human Learning
All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading.
In order to quieten the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one"s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one's Self with one's own eye of wisdom.
The Self is within the five sheaths (senses); but books are outside them. Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the (experience of the) five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books.
There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
Ramana Maharshi
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March 30th 2004
From Consciousness -- Spontaneous Activity
Spontaneous activity does not need to be manipulated by intellect, mind, or senses. Spontaneous activity will be conducted by a higher power and it is not your concern!
If you are concerned, there is doership, and then karma and the world reappears. To become a doer -- "I am doing" - you become responsible.
But when you return to discover where this doership arises from, it will leave you.
Then some unforeseen, indescribable activity will take charge of you. Unexplainable knowledge will take charge of you. Supreme activity, unheard of, will take charge of you. That is spontaneous activity within itself, and you are not in charge.
H W L Poonja
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March 31st 2004
From Consciousness -- Killing Me Softly
He sang as if he knew me In all my dark despair And then he looked right through me As if I wasn't there But he just kept on singing Singing clear and strong
Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song
Norman Gimbel, based on a poem by Lori Lieberman, 1971.
Oh flame of love so living, How tenderly you force To my soul's inmost core your fiery probe! Since now you've no misgiving, End it, pursue your course And for our sweet encounter tear the robe!
Oh cautery (surgical instrument) most tender! Oh gash that is my guerdon (due reward)! Oh gentle hand! Oh touch how softly thrilling! Eternal life you render, Raise of all debts the burden And change my death to life, even while killing!
St John of the Cross
