The Seer

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

The recent rescue of the miners in Chile, broadcast live to over 1 billion people worldwide, had built in to it a sense of Presence. Perhaps that presence was transmitted by the Chilean President who looked deeply into the eyes of each miner as he emerged from deep inside the earth.

Or perhaps it was the way family members greeted these men who survived the longest underground entrapment from a mining accident that seemed so certain to take their lives. Or perhaps it was the collective energy of so many people all over the planet wishing and praying for the miners’ safety and then seeing these wishes come true as the best possible of all outcomes – every miner brought back alive and well.

Inside this Presence of Being lives other virtues like Cooperation, Compassion and the Brotherhood of Man. Deep inside this experience lives the teachings of Jesus beamed out to world from a country that is 70% Catholic. During this rescue mission, we truly saw one man being another brother’s keeper.

And the whole world watched, in unison. For 22 hours the world was joined in a shared, emotional moment of good will. Every viewer, onlooker, family member and rescue worker were participating in a New Earth moment. And the whole world watched.

In this New Earth moment, we became a planet and a people where care and consideration are resident dwellers of open and caring hearts; where the highest elected official of a country stands with his wife in parkas in the freezing cold all night to hold the space for safety and survival; and where each rescued miner is greeted like an equal by dignitaries and ordinary people alike.

We are capable of this kind of New Earth moment every day. It is the power of Now, fueled by genuine care and love for one another, infinite and all penetrating in every moment.

~ by Eckhart Tolle www.opraheckhart.com

Enjoy the song: Hallelujah in a new way and see the love we are being released in a city street in Italy … fhrough heartfelt hugs!

To witness this inspiring phenomenon: >>>Click Here.

Watching television is the favorite leisure activity or rather non-activity for millions of people around the world. The average American, by the time he is sixty years old, will have spent fifteen years staring at the TV screen. In many other countries the figures are similar.

Many people find watching TV “relaxing.” Observe yourself closely and you will find that the longer the screen remains the focus of your attention, the more your thought activity becomes suspended, and for long periods you are watching the talk show, game show, sitcom, or even commercials with almost no thought being generated by your mind. Not only do you not remember your problems anymore, but you become temporarily free of yourself – and what could be more relaxing than that?

So does TV watching create inner space? Does it cause you to be present? Unfortunately, it does not. When you are watching television, the tendency is for you to fall below thought, not rise above it. Television has this in common with alcohol and certain other drugs. While it provides some relief from your mind, you again pay a high price: loss of consciousness. Like those drugs, it too has a strong addictive quality.

One solution to this problem is to stop watching TV altogether. But this is not very likely. A more practical and realistic solution is to watch TV as consciously as possible. How do we do this?

Avoid watching programs and commercials that assault you with a rapid succession of images that change every two or three seconds or less. Excessive TV watching and those programs in particular are largely responsible for attention deficit disorder, a mental dysfunction now affecting millions of children worldwide. A short attention span makes all your perceptions and relationships shallow and unsatisfying. Whatever you do, whatever action you perform in that state, lacks quality, because quality requires attention.

Frequent and prolonged TV watching not only makes you unconscious, it also induces passivity and drains you of energy. Therefore, rather than watching at random, choose the programs you want to see. Whenever you remember to do so, feel the aliveness inside your body as you watch.

Alternatively, be aware of your breathing from time to time. Look away from the screen at regular intervals so that it does not completely take possession of your visual sense. Don’t turn up the volume any higher than necessary so that the TV doesn’t overwhelm you on the auditory level. Use the mute button during commercials. Make sure you don’t go to sleep immediately after switching off the set or, even worse, fall asleep with the set still on.

~ Eckhart Tolle

PS. In a recent radio show interview with Krista Tippett, Eckhart shares his youthful experience of depression and despair — suffering that led him to his own spiritual breakthrough, and ultimately, freedom and peace of mind. He also explicates his view of what he calls “the pain body” — the accumulated emotional pain that may influence us and our relationships in negative ways. And Eckhart talks about spirit and God, and what those concepts mean to him. To listen, >>>Click Here