The Seer

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There is a Light that shines beyond all things on earth,
beyond us all,
beyond the heavens,
beyond the highest heavens.
This is the Light that shines in our hearts.

~ Chandogya Upanishad (See also, The LIght of Life)

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Greg, from Every Path Is has put four MP3 CDs with 85 recordings of Bryon Katie doing the Work on this Web site. Just click on the title and listen. Or download by pointing at the title and right click on ‘Save Link As’.

Greg writes: “Byron Katie and her Work have been a big influence on me. The Work helps you see where you are at war with reality by asking yourself four questions and using a turnaround, to achieve a better understanding of yourself. She commonly refers to this process as Inquiry which leads to Self-realization and the end of suffering.”

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There is the fable, Chinese I think, literary I am sure: of a period on earth when the dominant creatures were cats: who after ages of trying to cope with the anguishes of mortality — famine, plague, war, injustice, folly, greed, in a word, civilised government — convened a cat congress of the wisest cat philosophers to see if anything could be done: who after long deliberation agreed that the dilemma, the problems themselves were insoluble and the only practical solution was to give it up, relinquish, abdicate, by selecting from among the lesser creatures a species, race optimistic enough to believe that the mortal predicament could be solved and ignorant enough never to learn better.

Which is why the cat lives with you, is completely dependent on you for food and shelter but lifts no paw for you and loves you not; in a word, why your cat looks at you the way it does.

From; The Reivers, by William Faulkner

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We are accustomed by unenlightened scholars and partisan religionists to think of Vedanta, Taoism, Buddhism, and the other “isms,” as separate and distinct religious philosophies; but they are, in fact, but different names for the one perennial philosophy of the mystics.

Having originated independently in different lands and different times by different seers, each of these “isms” possesses its own ideosyncratic language, its own literary heritage; yet the message of the mystics remains undeviatingly the same.

All true mystics have accentuated the need for that personal enlightenment or realization by which the true nature of Reality becomes self-evident. And all have stressed that this enlightenment is attainable, not through much learning, alms-giving, or through following the precepts of ritualized religion, but only through devotion to, and contemplation of, one’s own essential Being.

From, History of Mysticism, by S Abhayananda. You can download this free eBook Here

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1) I walk down the street. There’s a deep hole in the footpath. I fall in. I’m lost … I’m hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes ages to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street. There’s a hole in the footpath. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the footpath. I see it there. I still fall in … its a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the footpath. I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

From: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche

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It became so clear to me that it must be either obedience to the Divine challenge or failure to grow in the spiritual life, that all desire for smoking suddenly left me, and from that day to this I have never even wanted to take it up again; some greater desire had mastered the old habit, it was a desire to know God.

From: Spiritual Experiences of Friends, by J Rowntree Gillett.

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Keiji, a long-time Zen student, approached his master and said: “I don’t see how there can be any enlightenment that sets you free once and for all. I think we just get ever greater glimpses of Buddha-nature, the vastness that is our true Reality. It’s an ever-expanding process.”

The master, looking penetratingly at Keiji, replied. “That may be what you think. But what is your experience, your experience right now?”

Keiji looked momentarily confused. “My experience right now, Master?”

“Yes. Do you know yourself as Keiji, having ever-expanding experiences of Buddha-nature? Or do you know yourself as Buddha-nature, having the experience of Keiji?”

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A once-large and bustling rural Quaker meeting began to decline as the area’s young people moved to the cities. The membership grew older and fewer, until one Sunday morning, when a visitor came and found the meeting-house open but empty.

The visitor walked up the long aisle, sat down in the front row, and settled into silence. Soon she heard the door open behind her, and footsteps echoed their way up the aisle. Then there was a tap on her shoulder. “Excuse me, Friend,” said a quavering voice, “but thee is sitting in my seat.”

From: Quakers Are Funny, by Chuck Fager.