The Seer

Within Wisdom is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp, irresistible, beneficent, loving to man, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating all intelligent, pure, and subtle spirits; for Wisdom is more mobile than any motion; she is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things.

She is a breath of the power of God, pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; hence nothing impure can find a way into her.

She is a reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God’s active power, image of his goodness.

Although alone, she can do all; herself unchanging, she makes all things new.

In each generation she passes into holy souls, she makes them friends of God and prophets; for God loves the man who lives with Wisdom.

She is indeed more splendid than the sun, she outshines all the constellations; compared with light, she takes first place, for light must yield to night, but over Wisdom, darkness can never triumph.

She deploys her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things for good.

Her I loved and sought after from my youth; I sought to take her for my bride and was enamoured of her beauty.

She glorifies her noble birth by living with God; and the Lord of all loves her.

For she is instructress in the understanding of God; and an associate in his works.

And if riches be a desirable possession in life, what is more rich than Wisdom, who produces all things?

Therefore I determined to take her to live with me.

~ From: The Book of Wisdom (7:22 – 8:5). Thought to be written in the 1st or 2nd cent. BCE, by an author unknown.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that almost 65% of Americans are either overweight (an extra 10-30 lbs.) or obese (over 30 lbs.). This extra weight causes 300,000 deaths annually, and it costs Americans approximately $100 billion a year in medical expenses.

It’s easy to blame overeating and junk food for this problem, but many are constantly watching their diet and are still unable to lose weight. We recently discovered why, and in the process, realized a significant correlation between material and spiritual food.

Because we’ve both had major health issues and severe allergies, we’ve been quite careful about what we eat for several years. We’d been exercising regularly, controlling portions and staying clear of what we thought of as junk food, but we both still carried around some extra pounds. Then we accidentally came into contact with a book called Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

Instead of calling Dr. Fuhrman’s plan a diet, we prefer to think of it as a ‘Live It’ because to be successful, you must make drastic changes in your eating habits and stick with it. Most of Dr. Fuhrman’s patients had become extremely ill or grossly overweight before they were willing to make such radical changes, but they’ve had spectacular results, and so have we.

Dr. Fuhrman contends that Americans are overweight and unhealthy for one reason: we’re not getting the nutrients we need from the food we’re eating. He explains that when you eat nutrient poor food, your body will just keep demanding more food until it gets what it needs. Of course if you just keep eating the same things your body will never be satisfied and this vicious cycle will inevitably lead to excess weight and illness.

Dr. Fuhrman claims that it’s the ‘nutrient density’ of food that matters, not the amount you eat. If you eat only the foods with the highest possible ratio of nutrients to calories and stop eating foods with a low ratio of nutrients to calories, your body will be satisfied, you’ll lose weight and your health will improve. Dr. Fuhrman’s plan is extremely simple: give the body its optimal fuel and you’ll get optimal performance. (By the way, our endorsement of Dr. Fuhrman’s plan is freely given; we’re not receiving anything in return.)

But what has this got to do with spiritual food? Peace Pilgrim, a very spicy spiritual master, once said, “I don’t eat junk food and I don’t think junk thoughts.” Like many other masters before her, she believed what we feed our minds is even more important than what we put into the body. Although most Americans have access to an abundance of nutritious food, a huge percentage of food in grocery stores and restaurants is very low on nutrition and high in calories, which leaves us simultaneously overfed and malnourished.

The same is true of spiritual food. The world is overflowing with an infinite and plentiful variety of spiritual food to choose from, but people are both overfed and malnourished. In both cases the problem exists because we reject real nutrition in favor of the tastiness of empty calories. And sadly, a diet of tasty but non-nutritious material or spiritual food often makes us think the nutritious food seem boring and unappealing.

Much of what passes for spirituality today is little more than sensationalism, but the excitement over specific dates, sacred places, secret information, etc., etc. makes the teachings of the sages that have stood the test of time seem dull in comparison.

Unless we recognize the problem and re-educate our physical and spiritual taste buds, we’ll never feel satisfied.

We might be convinced we have a ‘sweet tooth,’ but in reality, we’re starving for nutrition and addicted to a ‘high’ that we get from the combination of fat and sugar. The same is often true on a spiritual level. We may be addicted to new and exciting ‘spiritual highs’ if we find ourselves eager to keep moving from one new spiritual idea, book, teacher or practice to another.

We tell ourselves that we’re on a spiritual path, but we’re actually just ‘snacking’ to satisfy our curiosity. Curiosity can be a beginning, but it can also be a trap that keeps us from maturing. At some point we need to settle down and begin our inner work. That doesn’t mean that teachers, books, ideas or practices have no merit, but instead of using them as a springboard for deep inner work, we’re like the child who hides their vegetables and goes right to the cupcake.

Rumi was alluding to people who toy with spirituality when he said, “These spiritual window-shoppers who idly ask, ‘How much is that?’…they handle a hundred items and put them all down.”

In that case, spirituality becomes a bag of potato chips. We just keep popping in one ‘chip’ after another, hardly cognizant of what we’re doing. We feel full because we’ve collected lots of information, but we’re malnourished because we haven’t let it reach the heart and bring about real change. We may feel that we’re very busy and involved spiritually, but Buddha addressed this problem when he said, “Few are those who reach the other shore; most people just keep running up and down this shore.”

In our society, we want things to be quick and easy, so we’ve learned to eat on the run. We go to the drive-thru, pick up some food while the car is still running, and head right back to the road. Occasionally people do what we’ve come to think of as ‘drive-thru emails.’ They write and ask us to distill the information contained in the 600+ pages of our books in a few words so they can swallow it quickly and keep on moving.

Like diet pills, liposuction and weight loss surgery, they believe there must also be some form of ‘instant enlightenment gratification.’ As Hafiz pointed out, “God is trying to sell you something, but you don’t want to buy. This is what your suffering is: your fantastic haggling … over the price.”

Spiritual awakening, like Dr. Fuhrman’s plan, is very, very simple. However, that doesn’t mean either of them are easy. Both require that we make major changes, and those changes will be difficult or easy depending on how attached we are to the status quo. Most of the people who finally came to Dr. Fuhrman were in a desperate situation. They stuck to his plan because they faced death or a miserable existence if they didn’t.

Our thoughts and intentions have pushed the earth to the brink of disaster and left humanity in tenuous circumstances. Now is the time to act; the cure for our problems has always been right before us. Yes, big changes can be both frightening and disruptive, but the big question is: Do we want to keep playing around with our spiritual food, or dig in? Do we want to keep looking at the menu, or eat the meal?

~ by Lee & Steven Hager in Spiritual Awakening, Nov. 13, 2011.

In our world, nothing stays the same for very long.

We’re taught to rely on the advice of experts, but their opinions seem to change with the breeze. If you knew that something had remained unchanged for the last twenty-five centuries, and had continued to help people find the peace and joy they were

seeking for that entire time, would you be curious?

The perennial philosophy is a golden thread of spiritual thought. It’s a group of harmonious spiritual concepts that are free of dogma and ritual. It can be found in virtually all cultures, time periods and areas of the globe. It’s been a part of so-called

“primitive” and pagan belief systems as well as the mystical branches of almost every organized religion.

The perennial philosophy is not a formula for enlightenment; its simple concepts have helped countless seekers reach spiritual mastery. In a world that’s severely lacking in harmony, we can ill afford to disregard a message that’s united many of the world’s

greatest minds. Although the perennial philosophy has much more to offer, we’ll look at four of its most basic and helpful concepts:

• There is a Divine Ground that permeates the universe. The world we think we see is a temporary projection that originates from that Divine Ground.
• A change of consciousness is required to become aware of, and experience, the Divine Ground.
• Everyone has the ability to experience the Divine.
• Experiencing the Divine is life’s highest purpose.

Life-giving intelligence permeates everything in existence. This intelligence wants to be known and can be known.

Most of us have been taught that spiritual mastery is a nearly impossible goal. The perennial philosophy does not agree. No secrets, methods, formulas or spiritual practices are necessary to experience the Divine. Knowing the Divine does require a shift in

our awareness, but everyone is capable of making that shift. Thousands of spiritual seekers have made that shift, and you can too.

How do we shift our awareness? Successful spiritual seekers share a certain mindset. They are:

• “Pure in heart.” This does not mean we need to “clean up our act.” It refers to our motives. A pure heart is looking for a connection with the Divine for the sheer joy of that connection. A pure heart isn’t asking for material blessings.
• “Poor in spirit.” This has nothing to do with poverty. It means that we understand that the world can make us rich, but it can never enrich us. We’re poor in spirit when we understand that our life will be empty unless we have a direct connection with the

  Divine.

• “Empty hands.” Seekers with empty hands are willing to let go of all mental conditioning, preconceived notions and the desire for a particular outcome. They are willing to be instructed by the Divine instead of trying to fit the Divine into their own belief

  system.

These qualities are free and available to everyone, no matter what our circumstances might be. Most of us have been taught that we learn about God by studying a holy book or attending church or Bible classes. Spiritual masters have never been interested

in learning “about” Divine Presence; they expect to “know” the Divine through personal experience.

The perennial philosophy tells us this is not only possible, it’s our highest purpose. Best of all, experiencing the Divine is the beginning of a life of fearlessness that you can enjoy.

~ Lee and Steven Hager www.thebeginningoffearlessness.com/

~ To learn more about the perennial philosophy, read The Beginning of Fearlessness: Quantum Prodigal Son >>>Click Here

It’s like a game of hide-and-seek, because it’s always fun to find new ways of hiding, and to seek for someone who doesn’t always hide in the same place.

God also likes to play hide-and-seek, but because there is nothing outside God, he has no one but himself to play with. But he gets over this difficulty by pretending that he is not himself. This is his way of hiding from himself. He pretends that he is you and

I and all the people in the world, all the animals, all the plants, all the rocks, and all the stars.

In this way he has strange and wonderful adventures, some of which are terrible and frightening. But these are just like bad dreams, for when he wakes up they will disappear.

Now when God plays hide and pretends that he is you and I, he does it so well that it takes him a long time to remember where and how he hid himself. But that’s the whole fun of it — just what he wanted to do. He doesn’t want to find himself too quickly, for that would spoil the game. That is why it is so difficult for you arid me to find out that we are God in disguise, pretending not to be himself.

But when the game has gone on long enough, all of us will wake up, stop pretending, and remember that we are all one single Self — the God who is all that there is and who lives for ever and ever.

God is the Self of the world, but you can’t see God for I he same reason that, without a mirror, you can’t see your own eyes, and you certainly can’t bite your own teeth or look inside your head. Your self is that cleverly hidden because it is God hiding.

~ From: The Book: on the taboo against knowing who you are, by Alan Watts

Christian gnosis, or experiential knowing, is a loving knowledge …. it differs from the objective and purely rational knowing of science, which has become the epistemological standard in recent centuries.

In this sapiential (wisdom) knowing which is not purely objective but participatory, one shares in that which one knows, and knows it in the sharing. Ultimately — at the most interior level of this knowledge — it is a knowing by union, by identity. Here, in the language of antiquity, the knower, the knowing, and the known are one.

This knowing is affirmative; the knowing itself is an affirmation. In Christian tradition, it is faith that is the fundamental way of knowing, and faith with hope and love — the three are phases or modalities of a single act — is an affirmation. The whole person is opened and extended forward in affirmation.

The affirmation and the knowing are themselves inseparable from the identity of the person. It is as if the person awakens to his/her true identity in this affirmation and this knowing, as can be seen in the “recognition” scenes in the Gospels; someone awakens to his or her true being in the moment in which, through the gift of faith, they are suddenly able to affirm the divine reality that is in the man Jesus.

Faith, the fundamental mode of sapiential knowing, is a knowing in darkness, an affirmative cognition of mystery. What is known is “the mystery,” and the knowing is consequently obscure even as it is certain. Sapiential knowing ranges from a dark awareness in faith through various forms of symbolic understanding to the pure nondual experience of contemplation, a simple awakening to the unitive light.

“Wisdom” can easily sound like an elitist specialization. The orientation of the wisdom we shall be concerned with — as consciousness and as theology — is the opposite of specialization; it moves toward an opening of the full spectrum of consciousness, as we find it in the New Testament and the ancient literature, before the imposition of the dogmas of rationalism.

To attempt to understand a sapiential text of the New Testament — let us say the prologue of John’s Gospel — purely by the scientific methods of modern historical criticism (despite the great usefulness of these methods) — is much like trying to render a Beethoven piano sonata on a typewriter.

With the machine you may succeed in bringing forth something about the music, but not the music itself — and between the two lies an immense gap. For the classical sapiential writers, in the light of spiritual understanding, the Scriptures opened to bring forth something like the polyphony of a string quartet, and they proceeded to bring forth the music of the biblical word in its vibrant fullness, from the cello’s sonorous depths to the nimble interplay of twin violins.

The metaphor is not unjust; this wisdom at its best is a theological music resounding through the whole of the human person.

~ From: The Future of Wisdom, by Bruno Barnhart. pp 6-7

One question we get asked quite a lot is “What actually happens in your gatherings and workshops? What is the point of attending a gathering or particiapating in a workshop?”

UK spiritual teacher and author, Jeff Foster, says that awareness meetings and retreats are like musical concerts — if you’re drawn to the music, if you are moved by it, you may find yourself coming along and listening!

On the simplest level, he says, they’re a chance to sit together, as friends, sharing this message of total freedom. They are an opportunity to deeply explore present experience together, not with the aim of fixing it, but of seeing the wholeness inherent within it.

The gatherings and workshops aren’t about getting something or somewhere in the future, they aren’t about seeking or indulging our personal stories — they’re about seeing what’s here right now, and finding the deeper sense of ‘okayness’ inherent in what’s actually happening.

Here are just a few of the topics and questions that are frequently addressed our gatherings and workshops:

• What goes to the root of all our suffering and seeking? Why do we continue to search for love, happiness, freedom and enlightenment in the future? Is there an end to seeking?
• Who are you, beyond the image of yourself?
• What is spiritual awakening? Is it possible to ‘become awakened’? Who awakens?
• How do spiritual awakening and enlightenment relate to addiction, to conflict in relationships, to physical pain, to therapy, to the search for love?
• What is meditation? Who meditates?
• What role does therapy have? What is depression? What is true healing?
• From a nondual ‘perspective’, what meaning have concepts such as evil, sin, guilt, and forgiveness?
• What is creativity? Who creates?
• What is the role of spiritual practice? Is a spiritual teacher necessary? What is a guru? Who is an authority on life?
• What are words such as consciousness, awareness, presence, Being, aliveness, really pointing to?

~ There’s an article on Jeff Foster’s website with a full description of his meetings and retreats, and if you’re interested you can view it >>>Here.

I came across this poem from a 19th century English poet, William Dunkerley (1852 – 1941), writing under the pseudonym, John Oxenham. Eloquently written, the poem’s message transcends the ages. It seems to be part of the play of Consciousness to give ‘us’ choices thoughout our life-experience. We can make choices that enable ‘us’ to fulfill the deepest capacities of ‘our’ real selves … or not. If ‘we’ don’t choose the High Way, it will make in the end no difference what was chosen instead.

To everyone there openeth
A Way, and Ways, and a Way,
And the High Soul climbs the High Way,
And the Low Soul gropes the Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
To rest drift to and fro.
But to everyone there openeth
A High Way, and a Low.
And everyone decideth
The way their soul shall go.

~ John Oxenham — The Way (1916)

What is the aim of all the beings? It is the attainment of infinite happiness. A life free from suffering, and the attainment of eternal happiness is what we want. Now, we should discriminate and analyze if there is anything in the world which can give us permanent, eternal happiness.

From the ant up to the giant of the Creator, all are in the field of change, that is, relative values. Infinite happiness can only come from something which could be immortal, non-changing, eternal. This which is the goal of everything, this infinite, is our own Self. And in order to experience that Self which is the basis of all, we don’t have to seek, we don’t have to search, we don’t have to make efforts. It’s there, present everywhere.

Wherever you are, in whatever reign of time or place, that Self is there — wherever we are in whatever time. Only, we have to take our awareness to that level and that is it. Having forgotten that level of life, we are seeking for that eternal happiness. That Self is. It is being and it is blissful. Having forgotten that, we now are seeking for it. We have forgotten what we ourselves are and we’re trying to find that in the world.

As long as we don’t enter into that area which is infinite happiness, free from suffering, so long we will not be free from suffering and we will not get into that eternal happiness. There is no happiness of significant nature in the world; the child is gone, and the youth is gone, and the man is old, and even then he is not fulfilled in the world. When he gets established in the Self, then automatically freedom from suffering and attainment of bliss will be there.

That which is omnipresent doesn’t have to be sought. It’s there already. Start to be. That which is omnipresent is not to be sought; only our awareness has to be brought to that level and that bliss is there. You don’t have to seek it. Understand? Unless we get into that omnipresent bliss, satisfaction is not going to come. If it were to come, it would have come by now through so many avenues in the world. But, it has not.

Therefore, that which is the Self is your own being. You don’t have to look in the outside. And, it is irrespective of any religious faiths or beliefs; Christians or Muslims or Hindus. That being is the knowledge itself. Only, you have to know. All these various manifestations of happiness that we experience in the world, they also are the manifestations of the same eternal being which is our own Self.

If we are aware of the Self, if we know it, fine. Otherwise, we have to be. And, therefore, it is necessary to bring our awareness deep within ourselves. As deeply as we can bring our awareness to the Self, so intensely we can inherit that which is omnipresent in our day to day life. Having known that Self we will be eternally contented; remaining in the world we will live contentment.

And, it’s not a matter of detaching ourselves from the world. Only, we have to know It, and having known It, then, all different manifestations in the world will be experienced as manifestations of That. We don’t have to detach ourselves. It is just a matter of bringing the awareness to that area, and be, and live It.

Having gained this beautiful, perfect human nervous system, if we have known that element of the Self, then we have really used this wonderful diamond-like gift, this diamond-like nervous system which is capable of giving that eternal bliss.

If it is not experienced, then we have wasted that gift of diamond. We have taken upon ourselves this human nervous system, not for the sake of petty enjoyment of changing nature in this relative field of change, but to live and be that infinite bliss.

And, we will have to attain that thing whether we attain it in this life, or in the next, or in the next. We just can’t forego that. Therefore, with the assistance of the guru and the scriptures, better to attain it quickly. Why postpone?”

~ Tat Wale Baba, Trans. from Hindi by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Everything you want
must be searched for –
except the Friend.
If you don’t find Him
you’ll never be able to start to even look.
Yes, you can be sure:
You are not Him — unless
you can remove yourself
from between yourself and Him –
in which case you are Him.

~ Hakim Sanai (1044? – 1150?), from: The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Trans. Peter Wilson & Nasrollah Pourjavady

I became exquisitely aware of the Stillness — around, within, underneath everything. It was a Stillness so profound that all that is seemed to be originating from and contained in it. I felt it most intensely at a locus in the center of my chest, and it radiated outward, filling my entire being and moving beyond. But it also undergirded and surrounded me and everything else.

The Stillness was not a Negative or an Absence, but neither do the opposite terms seem at all apt. It simply Was (Is). It seemed the basis, the grounding, the totality of all that is. To describe it as a person is to limit and trivialise it. And to call it “it” is not at all accurate either, for what I experienced was no-thing. What I do know is that I experienced an absolute wholeness, integrity, serenity, and union with everything, a union that cannot be expressed in language.

My intuitive reaction was “This is It!”, “This is What Is!” without in any way being able or feeling it necessary to articulate conceptually what I was experiencing, what “It” was. I sensed that all that is being continually birthed from the Stillness, sustained and supported by and in the Stillness, and returned to the Stillness itself. The Stillness is fundamentally All.

What analogies can I use to help clarify this, what metaphors? It is as if the velvet darkness of the night were producing the stars, steady but ultimately transient expressions of being out of itself, the fundamental reality being the living darkness, and yet the stars being intrinsically the night also. But is the Stillness then alive? That too is an inadequate description of what I knew. I fear that metaphors fail me.

The Stillness is what is between and under and in the words we speak, the print we read, the notes of music we hear; all these are expressions of the Stillness and are nevertheless not other than the Stillness. The Stillness is what surrounds, contains, and delimits and even is the objects we see.

The Stillness precedes, contains, and follows the feelings we feel. The Stillness is that out of which our thoughts and ideas arise, and yet those thoughts and ideas are not really apart from and other than the Stillness. And much, much more.

I anticipated the experience fading rapidly. It has not. The Stillness remains much in my awareness. I sense it most of the time — a groundedness, a centredness, a peace and wholeness impossible to describe. My awareness turns to it repeatedly and frequently, and I become aware that I was never really away.

And yet I do not sense that it is I turning to the Stillness but rather that the Stillness is continually drawing my awareness. I find myself looking at life, people, things, circumstances — how shall I say? — gently, tenderly. The fragility, the poignancy of all that is touches and overwhelms me.

Aware of the Stillness, sitting in the Stillness, I am left almost breathless, stunned, yet curiously cherished, shielded beyond all danger or possibility of separation. I experience the validity of Julian’s affirmation that all is indeed well.

And yet these latter feelings seem unimportant, almost beside the point, personal well-being seeming somehow irrelevant, for as a part of the Stillness I am (we are) not other than It. I am trying to describe another dimension of experience altogether, and I fear that I am failing.

Poems sometimes speak truth the most clearly, and one of my favourites by Rumi seems appropriate here:

Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make sense.

~ From: Stillness, by Bruce K. Nagle