The Seer

Some few persons we find move into Stage Six, which we call universalizing faith. In a sense I think we can describe this stage as one in which persons begin radically to live as though what Christians and Jews call the “kingdom of God” were already a fact.

I don’t want to confine it to Christian and Jewish images of the kingdom. It’s more than that. I’m saying these people experience a shift from the self as the center of experience. Now their center becomes a participation in God or ultimate reality. There’s a reversal of figure and ground. They’re at home with what I call a commonwealth of being.

We experience these people on the one hand as being more lucid and simple than we are, and on the other hand as intensely liberating people, sometimes even subversive in their liberating qualities. I think of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the last years of his life. I think of Thomas Merton. I think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I think of Dag Hammerskjold and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the last years of his imprisonment.

These are persons who in a sense have negated the self for the sake of affirming God. And yet in affirming God they became vibrant and powerful selves in our experience. They have a quality of what I call relevant irrelevance. Their ‘subversiveness’ makes our compromises show up as what they are.

~ From Stages of Faith, by James Fowler

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The ego is behind multitasking. What is it that is trying to get so much done? What is it that feels there is so much to get done? What is it that pushes you to do more and more and do it more quickly, more efficiently, and to get it done as soon as possible? What is it that feels there isn’t enough time (the mind’s own construct) in a day for everything you “have” to do?

What this is, is the ego, which is reflected in the voice in your head. It is, at its root, a voice of fear: “Terrible things will happen if you don’t get it all done and do it right!” Or the voice may promise a reward: “When you get it all done, then you’ll be happy and feel good (not before then).” Whether the mind prods you with fear or with the hope of happiness or success, this voice is the generator of stress.

The truth is, you can only do one thing at a time. So how stressful can that be? It’s easy to do one thing at a time, no matter what it is. Even if it’s brain surgery, you’re only making one movement at a time. What’s stressful and therefore what makes something difficult is thinking about everything you have to do while you’re doing something, worrying about what needs to be done, trying to conform to the ego’s arbitrary deadlines, and trying to do too many things at once (multitasking).

Since the mind can only give attention to one thing at a time, moving back and forth quickly between a number of tasks, or even just two, isn’t necessarily more efficient, and it often results in mistakes or a job less well done. Even when multitasking is more efficient, and there are times when it is, is the stress involved in trying to keep track of a number of things at once and trying to get them done quickly worth it?

What’s more important — getting things done as fast as you can or experiencing what you are doing, being connected to it, and enjoying it while you are getting it done, because that’s what happens when you take time to be present to what you are doing?

The trouble with doing a number of things at once is that we usually aren’t fully present to any one of those things, we’re hurrying, and we aren’t enjoying ourselves. When you slow down and are fully present to whatever you are doing, a natural enjoyment arises. More importantly, perhaps, a wisdom about how to do whatever you’re doing and even whether it’s worth doing has a chance to register within you.

When we allow the egoic mind to run our activities, we end up feeling like a machine: soul-less and joyless. You can be a machine if you want, but is that how you want to live your life? There is another choice, and that is to slow down, be present, notice what’s arising to be done, do it, and move on to the next thing that arises to be done.

This isn’t in keeping with the business model, but the way the corporate world runs isn’t a healthy model for how to run our lives. We’ve seen what this mentality has done to our environment. When profit is your god, then Life is not honored. When you allow your mind to be your master, you lose your soul, your juice, your joie de vivre. Multitasking is the result of an egoic mind that is not reined in, a mind that has been allowed to run amok, a mind that is driven by fear, lack, and desire.

The antidote to such an egoic mind is noticing the result of multitasking in your body and in your spirit. If you are feeling contracted, stressed, or unhappy, then change how you do things until you’re enjoying life once again. You don’t have to be a slave to your egoic mind or to other people’s egoic minds. On the other hand, if you can multitask with joy, then have at it! You are responsible for the quality of your life. Only you can choose whether you will enjoy life or not.

~ by Gina Lake, from her Blog

The spiritual path is the search for truth. In truth there is Relative Truth and Ultimate Truth. Relative Truth is a moving target of increasing honesty with ourselves. Ultimate Truth is our deepest perception of the Present Moment.

The global controversy over Wiki-Leaks stems from the question of whether there are some things that everyone should know and other things that only a few should know.

Certainly we could all agree that to stop nuclear proliferation, the knowledge of how to manufacture nuclear weapons should be restricted.

Some world leaders feel that revealing state secrets on the Internet is tantamount to the Rosenbergs revealing US atomic secrets to the Russians after World War II.

What about the secrets of self-realization?

A lot of questions were asked about A New Earth. Who do we share it with? The answer pertaining to all spiritual transmissions is always that those who relate to the information will be informed and those who are not yet at a level to understand or appreciate the information will fear, disagree or ignore it.

Certainly evangelical religions may state that any religious conversion, even under the might of God’s “terrible swift sword”, is better than no conversion. After all, Osama Bin Laden told the U.S. there would be no attacks if America converted to Islam.

Will Wiki-Leaks change the international landscape or be forgotten like Y2K? This is the difference between Relative Truth and Ultimate Truth. The Wiki-Leaks story is important now in 2011, but ultimately the long term effect may have no impact on history.

In the meantime, each of us needs to return to the Present Moment. The gossip of the 24-hour news cycle is a meaningless Relative Truth, while the Ultimate Truth is always a breath away.

~ Eckhart Tole www.tolleteachings.com

Legend has it that St. Agatha started off as a noble young woman living in 3rd century Sicily. Apparently she had dedicated her ‘virginity’ to Jesus and this annoyed a powerful pagan official who wanted it for himself. When Agatha repeatedly refused the official’s advances, because of her religious convictions, he had her arrested, tortured and finally killed. The legend claims that the fiendish torture included the mutilation of her youthful breasts.

Since then, St. Agatha has often been depicted iconographically carrying her sliced-off breasts on a platter, as by Bernardino Luini’s Saint Agatha (1510-15) in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The shape of her amputated breasts, especially as depicted in artistic renderings, gave rise to her attribution as the patron saint of bell-founders and bun-makers. More recently, she has been venerated as patron saint of breast cancer patients.

A huge annual festival to commemorate the all-too-short life of St. Agatha that takes place in Catania, Sicily, from February 3 to 5. The festival culminates in a great all-night procession through the city for which hundreds of thousands of the city’s residents turn out. The saint’s statue and relics are placed in a monstrously heavy silver carriage which is then hauled through the streets by several thousand men (penitents?). This feat is preceded by plenty of eating, drinking and merry-making in young Agatha’s honour.

It’s reported that during feast, that Sicilian young girls buy a scented rose, kiss it, and conceal it between their budding breasts, at the wonder of whose coming they gaze in eager fondness. They then ask a blessing of St. Agatha who is reputed to have perfect empathy with their aspirations.

Here in Australia, the feast-day of St. Agatha is celebrated much more modestly again on February 5th, when, it is rumoured, the Catholic faithful in some traditional parishes gather, after a special mass, and are served two ‘chocolate breasts’ on a plate with tea or coffee.

For discretion’s sake, the chocolate symbols of Agatha’s suffering (sold year-round in our stores and supermarkets) are not marketed as ‘breasts’ but euphemistically as ‘Eskimo Snowballs.’ Any observant person, however, will see that they are not ball-shaped, but breast-shaped, complete with slightly protruding nipple.

These small domes of white marshmallow — obviously representing breast-milk — are covered by light chocolate, which could have reference to Agatha being Sicilian and therefore of a swarthy or olive complexion. Then, for some reason, this symbolic delicacy is covered with desiccated coconut – suggesting a lacy bra cup or perhaps a heavy case of dandruff, depending on your turn of mind.

So, on St Agatha’s Day, as we enjoy the comforting taste of these breast-like confections, the Catholic Church would have us remember this poor martyr and the importance of female breasts to us all — that they are a source of nourishment, comfort, happiness and delight regardless of our gender, and therefore, to be valued and cared for from the time they sweetly appear.

(The world, as it appears) is only an insubstantial show after all; a dance of light beams spread out in pointillistic waves of God’s imagination. We analyze this light-show, and divide it into fermions and bosons, quanta and waves of probability; and yet it’s all His miraculous handiwork, His mind-woven fantasy.

How easily we convince ourselves with our familiar ‘scientific’ terms that it is only earth and wind and water — all just familiar and ordinary stuff. And, O how easily we forget our own Divinity, and lose sight of the Divinity of all that makes up our shining universe.

It is, of course, our minds that must be reformed in order to regain that clarity of vision. We are born to achieve that clarity; it is the destination of the Divinely implanted evolutionary force within us.

It requires of us a reduction, a simplification, of our scattered vision, so that we can keenly know God’s being in ourselves and others, and see God’s spreading light in all that plays before our eyes.

~ S. Abhayananda

Q: I’ve experienced Presence through music, and it’s a very profound sense of Grace that I feel … I am being ‘played’, in a sense I am an instrument. In a way, what we call instruments are voices. My question is about this connection to the Creative, and the artifacts that come. Does art and music inform the ego of Presence? How does one be part of that manifestation but not get too involved, to keep the distance, so one doesn’t become to obsessed with that process?

Eckhart: On the one hand, you have the creative process — music, or art. And then you have the finished product — the piece of music that is played, or the work of art that somebody contemplates. When you ask, “Can art or music inform the ego of Presence?” — the ego doesn’t know anything about Presence, so it can’t do that.

There needs to be some opening in the ego in order [for you] to be receptive to the power that is latent in music or art, that was created from that deep place. There’s a lot of music and art that’s not necessarily created from that deep place, but the ego is trying to be clever.

Let’s talk about some piece of music or work of art that comes out of connectedness with Stillness, or Presence. To some extent, the work of art or the piece of music still carries that energy field. It can put [a person] in touch with the deeper dimension within. But there’s a little bit of an opening is required. If there’s only the density of the ego, then the transformational possibilities of art or music are not realized.

A little opening is required in the viewer, or the listener, and then it can be quite a wonderful thing to listen to music or to contemplate a work of art. You can be transported, if only for a moment, into that alert stillness out of which it originally came. That’s a beautiful thing.

Another aspect is ‘losing oneself’ — going too deep, almost losing oneself in the ground out of which creativity comes. In the creative process, there’s always a balance that’s needed, so that you don’t lose yourself in Being. It could happen to an artist, it can happen to some people who awaken spiritually — they suddenly plunge so deeply into Being that they lose all interest in doing.

In a minor way, this happened to me, when I lost interest completely in ‘doing’ and drifted around for two years. It wasn’t a ‘problem’ to me, it was only a problem to people who were watching me, or who knew me. So there was a loss of balance for a while, but gradually the balance re-established itself.

I didn’t have a teacher, as such, so it turned out to be a natural process. As long as you go within, and give form to that which is resting in the formless, be used by it — so that through you it can come into this world of form. Don’t stay down there and lose yourself in it — that’s not necessary.

Music is a wonderful way of getting in touch with the stillness within. For the listener, it is important not to become dependent, however, on anything external to enter the state of Presence. Whereas music can be a help, there too needs to be a balance. If the only time you can become still is when you listen to a certain kind of music, then that’s not quite it, because you are depending on something external to get in touch with that.

Use it as a help, and this is the same as a spiritual teacher or spiritual teaching — it can be a great help to listen to a tape or see a video, but don’t become totally dependent on that. Every good spiritual teacher will tell you, when the time comes ‘enough is enough’. The true teacher is within you. What you see in me, that which you find so precious in me, must be in you — otherwise you wouldn’t see it.

A good teacher will always direct you back to yourself, and not foster any kind of dependency. Knowing what is a help, using it, but not becoming dependent. Eventually it is necessary for you to go there without any help. You can still appreciate teachers, and teachings. I love listening to other spiritual teachers if they come from a deep place, I have great joy, and I think “Wow, this is so wonderful”.

Or reading a spiritual book that comes from the deepest place — there’s still great joy in that. It has nothing to do with needing, it’s enjoying a slightly different expression of the same deep truth. It’s wonderful. Also, you can see it wherever it is — no matter in what form it is hiding. You can see the truth shining through wherever it is hiding.

~ Eckhart Tolle www.eckharttolle.com

There can be no doubt that sincere unquestioning belief is one of the greatest hindrance to a true spiritual awakening.

Centuries ago, the English philosopher, statesman and scientist, Francis Bacon astutely observed: “The human understanding, once it has adopted an opinion, collects any instances that confirm it, and though the contrary instances may be more numerous and more weighty, it either does not notice them or else rejects them, in order that this opinion will remain unshaken.”

More recently, psychologist, Leon Festinger, developed his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance to explain our ability to deflect information or reasoning that might challenge our dearly held beliefs.

Festinger’s studies now throw light on the response of sincere religionists, for instance, when confronted by the reported findings of the great spiritual seers and quantum physicists alike. His observations are worth quoting …

“A man with a conviction,” he says, “is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or observations basedon direct experience and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.

But man’s resourcefulness goes beyond simply protecting a belief. Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen?

The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor about convincing and converting other people to his view.”

~ From: When Prophecy Fails, by Leon Festinger, 1956.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” writes the biblical prophet. The foundation for a new earth is a new heaven — the awakened consciousness. The earth — external reality — is only its outer reflection.

The arising of a new heaven and by implication a new earth are not future events that are going to make us free. Nothing is ‘going’ to make us free because only the present moment can make us free. That realization is the awakening.

Awakening as a future event has no meaning because awakening is the realization of Presence. So the new heaven, the awakened consciousness, is not a future state to be achieved.

A new heaven and a new earth are arising within you at this moment, and if they are not arising at this moment, they are no more than a thought in your head and therefore not arising at all.

As the new earth, spoken of in the scriptures, dawns among us, those led by Inner Light will endow the seemingly insignificant with profound meaning. Their task is to bring spacious stillness into this world by being absolutely present in whatever they do. There’s a certain ‘Christ-consciousness’ and therefore quality in what they do, even in the simplest task. Their purpose is to do everything in a sacred manner.

~ From: A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle www.eckharttolle.com

“I see and find beauty in Truth or through Truth. All Truth, not merely true ideas, but truthful faces, truthful pictures or songs that are highly beautiful. People generally fail to see beauty in Truth, the ordinary person runs away from and becomes blind to the beauty in it. Whenever we begin to see beauty in truth, then true art will arise.”

~ Mohandas K Gandhi

Our apparently objective experience consists of thoughts, sensations and perceptions — that is, the mind, body and world.

When Awareness ‘takes the shape’ of thinking, it seems to become a thought. When it ‘takes the shape’ of sensing, it seems to become a body and when it ‘takes the shape’ of perceiving, it seems to become an object, other or world.

When thinking comes to an end, the apparently objective part of it (the thought part) disappears but its substance, Awareness, remains. In that timeless moment (timeless because the mind is not present) Awareness tastes itself as it is, unmediated through the apparent objectivity of thought. This experience is known as Understanding.

When sensing comes to an end, the apparently objective part of it (the sensation or body part) disappears but its substance, Awareness, remains, knowing itself as Love or Happiness. And when perceiving comes to an end, the object, other or world disappears but their substance, Awareness, remains, knowing itself as it is, unveiled by the appearance of objects. That is the experience known as Beauty.

In other words, Understanding, Love, Happiness and Beauty are all different names for one and the same experience, the presence of Awareness, the knowing of our own Being.

The paths through Understanding and Love (the paths of Jnana and Bhakti) are well documented but the path through perceiving is less often mentioned. The path of perceiving or the Way of Beauty is the way of the artist. It’s a path through which it becomes clear, and the means through which it is expressed, that the substance of all perceptions is made out of Awareness.

Although all seeming objects are made out of Awareness, it is not, at a relative level, the function of all objects to reveal this. For instance, the purpose of a kettle is to boil water, not to reveal the true nature of experience.

However, there is one category of objects, which are made specifically with the intention of revealing the true nature of experience and such an object is what we call a work of art. The function of a work of art is not simply to point towards, but actually to reveal the true nature of experience. As Cezanne said, to ‘give us a taste of Eternity.’

Like the words of the teaching, such objects come pregnant with their origin, the silence and love from which they originate and, as such, are tremendously powerful. So, Beauty is the experience through which we come to know and feel that all seeming things are made out of That which knows them.

Keats was right. ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty.’ The experience of Truth and Beauty are one and the same experience. ‘That is all ye know on earth.’ The mind (which is the expression of Truth) and the world (which is the expression of Beauty) are one. That is, the apparent ‘knower’ and the apparently ‘known’ are one.

Whether we recognize it or not, this is always our experience. It is, as Keats says, ‘all ye know on earth’ — the knowing of our own Being in and as all seeming things. ‘…and all ye need to know.’ Yes, this knowledge alone, if deeply considered and made one’s own and subsequently applied to all circumstances, is all that is required to lead a sane, happy and loving life. Keats was rather more economical with his words than I am!

The great artists of the past, of whom Keats was one, were perhaps the vehicles through which this knowledge was communicated most powerfully in our culture but it is not their provenance alone.

This experiential knowledge of the true nature of experience is, in fact, known by all but sometimes seemingly forgotten. However, it is never far from the surface and even in popular culture — music, fashion etc. — we see this same longing for Love, Beauty and Happiness, all of which are simply variations of our longing to return to the true nature of our most intimate being.

When this Love, Beauty and Happiness is seemingly veiled by the appearance of the ‘I’ entity, it cries out all the more loudly. All around us in our culture we hear these ‘love cries’ all desperately searching in the wrong place for what lies at their heart.

~ To read the complete interview: >>>Click Here

~ by Rupert Spira