Objectless Experience

Objectless Experience

This understanding of Experience

is the reversal humanity is awaiting:

The new program upon which

our survival depends..

Despite the good we have derived

from old programs of delineation

these have become effortful

exhausting and limited..

Have built fear and degradation and

 are based on mistaken assumptions:

of separation..

The ant's abrupt stop

The ant's abrupt stop

Scurrying it came

across the concrete..

A seeming headlong rush

which was interrupted

with instantaneous stops..

Inertia seemed denied

no skidding or sliding..

A quantum disturbance

and continuity questioned..

Might we need look elsewhere

to find real continuity...?

One thing at a time

One thing at a time

We perceive seeming multiplicity

which we are finding veils reality..

All of those things in this moment

are only one thing..

We are misled and become anxious

as a parade of multiplicity 

shapes our attention and searches...

Billy Squirrel grabs an apple

Billy Squirrel grabs an apple

a green one mostly

after a struggle with blocking leaves

a tooth finally sunk secure

and down he went to a cache I guess

holding for later days..

Nature's quick disturbance 

equality and continuity reminders

eternal significance just now

in this quick episode

with backyard buddy

Billy Squirrel...

A tribute to Major Richard Cooke (Ret)

A tribute to Major Richard Cooke (Ret)

Marked by military appearance and bearing

he was persistent in serving nation and family..

Stark beginnings introduced the hardships

he was to repeat and endure and survive..

Nurtured in a grandmother's caring love

he stepped forth into a world in flames..

He piloted airplanes of fame with courage

 crafting hard-earned victory and peace..

He observed gallantry and death and 

plunged into a captivity of darkness..

Yet he endured once more earning our

gratitude for his service and his place:

a Great in the Greatest Generation... 

For Greg:

We were most fortunate

to have known your father..

Our sympathy and love..

Charlie and Diane Coon

Our Heroine of Dance

She lived far beyond her time..
A woman who deeply understood
as few appreciated then..perhaps now
the significance and equality 
of All who serve..
Her service placed her Family first
and the fruits of her diligence
have  endured to this day..
Yet this woman in her later years 
bore great suffering with courageous example..
Her physical pain became enveloped by 
joyful satisfaction with her life 
and faith in her Lord..
She was our Heroine of Dance

moving with grace into our hearts...

for Greg's mother...

We await..

We await..

We now await the recognition

of the image of our shadow..

Our anger has been expressed

 as we witnessed a ladder of insult..

In the mirror of our collectivity

the ego unleashed is displayed...

"55"

"55"

just a number 

hiding a story:

a hot day

fort bridger

a windy town

andy

lompoc flowers

breaking the trail

palette of autumn

peak rising

ted

spring cyanosis..

a sketch of beginnings

passing through a

grand finale

bringing us home..

these color the love

"55"

is hiding...

Extrication

Extrication

How do we extricate ourselves

from the complexity

the multiplicity and diversity

that insists as reality..

Extricate we must

if we are to discover

a real Self supplanting

our illusive separation

relieving the searching

for the missing joy..

Searching and suffering

seem  as our paths

until a vital discovery:

we are the joy for which

we search..

We are extricated..! 

Hamlet's dream and ours..

Hamlet's dream and ours..

He speaks of
ending  outrageous fortune
but fears the dream
the undiscovered country
the dream his rub..

To be or not to be..

The dream is our rub 
but with this shift:
our dream is our blindness..
We long to awaken 
to real life awaiting..
Soft you now, fair Ophelia,,,


HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

Sant Teresa

A POEM BY SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

"Christ has no body now but yours

No hands, no feet on earth but yours

Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good

Your are the hands with which he blesses all the world!"

stillness

 The reminiscences provide an insight into the spiritual height of the twentieth century maharshi, who was self-obliteration personified, and who spoke through silence.” (excerpt from the website below)





http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/202-reminiscences-ramana-maharshi/

THERE

THERE

As dawn arrives and sleep departs

THERE  the new day arises

as the Here of sleep seems to dissolve..

The real world we knew yesterday

THERE it is once more..

Thus the default pattern of our days

asserts its unquestioned truth..

What is THERE to prompt a question

on whether the question is settled..?

Perhaps it is that ancient trickster death..

Death in innumerable disguises

in this moment or the next..

Death seen as coming and going

a temporary coloring of something..

Hence the question of that something..

Something we seem to have always known

but apparently forgotten in all those days

of locating ourselves in that insistent

THERE...

Affinity

Affinity

Let us find short stories in verse

with words lifting 

conflict in Wholeness..

Such verses are teachers in print

whose words dissolve in our reading..

Opposing poles of our lives

challenge and exhaust

the mind's desperate 

wish to explain..

Yet in surrender we find affinity 

with Light the story contains…

Tribute to Mary and Martha...

Martha's two answers

Martha's two answers

He asked her:

Who are you..?

She paused for reflection

mid her kitchen chores

only slowly responding:

I am Martha

the Martha you know..

Her eyes spoke of more

of wishing to depart..

Of deeper fears in

a world's seeming dark..

So he asked her again

the question as before

and her answer appeared

in his gaze this time and in

 the question he asked:

Not Martha..not Mary..

Most clearly I know 

in silence and grace

 Who am I...


Luke 10:38-42     (NRSV)

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing.[a] Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Take refuge

Thought for the day....... "When you turn toward this supposed entity called I, you will find only silent awareness. Take refuge in that." Gangaji 

A chirping sound

A chirping sound

as a vibration

in awareness

supplemented with

imagined birdform

snd memories of

colors and feeding..

All of this in one

Experience

at no distance 

here and now...

Independence brings freedom

Independence brings freedom

In this political season

with harsh volleys filling our screens..

Independence allows the screen's perspective..

As the movie characters castigate and exaggerate

the independent screen..our real Identity

experiences itself..and those rapidly

exiting colorations... 

ALL THE TRUE VOWS

ALL THE TRUE VOWS

All the true vows

are secret vows

the ones we speak out loud

are the ones we break.

There is only one life

you can call your own

and a thousand others

you can call by any name you want.

Hold to the truth you make

every day with your own body,

don’t turn your face away.

Hold to your own truth

at the center of the image

you were born with.

Those who do not understand

their destiny will never understand

the friends they have made

nor the work they have chosen

nor the one life that waits

beyond all the others.

By the lake in the wood

in the shadows

you can

whisper that truth

to the quiet reflection

you see in the water.

Whatever you hear from

the water, remember,

it wants to carry

the sound of its truth on your lips.

Remember,

in this place

no one can hear you

and out of the silence

you can make a promise

it will kill you to break,

that way you’ll find

what is real and what is not.

I know what I am saying.

Time almost forsook me

and I looked again.

Seeing my reflection

I broke a promise

and spoke

for the first time

after all these years

in my own voice,

before it was too late

to turn my face again.

~ David Whyte ~

Prayer

Soup, Salad, and Scripture

Monday, July 11th, 2016

The Lord's Prayer

Please reflect on this prayer...it's meaning in your life..experiences involving this prayer, or other prayer..

and the Question:  What is prayer?

Matthew 6:9-13  King James Version (KJV)

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: 

Our Father which art in heaven, 

Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

STRETCH: What is Enlightenment?

PILLAR STRETCH...
July 18th, 2016, 3:00 to 5:00 PM
Myron Stratton Home, Colorado Springs
No cost
Facilitator:  Charlie Coon

Topic:  What is Enlightenment?

In this gathering we will view and discuss a video conversation between Adyashanti and
Francis Bennet, two spiritual teachers whose backgrounds include
both Christian and Eastern traditions...

Francis Bennett quotes...

The only thing covering over the clear, light, peaceful, joyous presence that you have always been, is the constant activity of "your mind". You think that you ARE that "mind" and so you are distracted from who you really are.....radiant presence here and now! But in reality, there is no entity called"mind". What you think of as your mind, is simply a bunch of thoughts. There is no such thing as "a mind" at all! There is a function of thinking that constantly comes and goes, but you are not that function. You don't need to identify with a function. That is where all the trouble begins! If you "liberate" all thoughts as they arise, if you simply let them come and go in the clear, bright sky of awareness and don't make them into an entity of some kind. You will be free of the pesky ego you are trying so hard to get rid of. Your belief in the existence of an ego-entity is exactly the same as your belief in a mind-entity.

Ego = Mind...........They are the same illusion!
---Francis Bennett

Often, we think of awakening and "enlightenment" as a very complicated, very esoteric or exotic experience that only happens to very special people who go off to India and sit in a cave for 13 yrs or so! But one simple way of describing enlightenment would be to simply say it is the realization that "past" and "future" are completely in our heads and NEVER in our own direct, most obvious experience. All we ever directly experience is NOW. We create past and future as a purely conceptual "reality" and then take them to be true reality. They are not. The only real reality you ever have...is NOW! It has always been so. It has ALWAYS been NOW! Obviously, if past and future are illusory, the "self" you have also created in your head is no more real! To exist, this "self" is entirely dependent on past and future. So, it doesn't really exist as anything more than a concept either.

Who you REALLY are always, in your own most simple, direct experience, is simple, open awareness right here and now. You have always been that, you never were NOT that awareness. How could you NOT be that!? On a certain level, this is already as plain to you as the nose on your face! The realization of this simple truth is enlightenment "in a nutshell"!! NOT esoteric, not complicated, not inaccessible but rather, who you always have been!
---Francis Bennett

“Enlightenment is a destructive process. It
has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier.
Enlightenment is the
crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing
through the facade of pretence. It's the
complete eradication of everything we
imagined to be true.”
― Adyashanti


Francis Bennett
3 hrs · Columbus, OH ·
THE PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING
Once we wake up to the vast ocean of peace that we are, EVERYTHING that arises in experience, arises and ceases in that peace!
I NEVER cease to be amazed by this! The peace is vast and big enough to hold absolutely anything!
Losing my brother was one of the biggest and most difficult events of my life...I am sad. I cry, it is a huge loss to me....I am fully feeling everything that goes with such a loss......AND...........All is well and peace still reigns!
Both things are true simultaneously!
This is amazing to me and impossible to logically explain to anyone, even to myself! I was speaking with Adya about this on the day my brother died and he said, "yes, I know......strange, isn't it?"
I think this is what it really means to be fully human and fully divine! We are grounded in the vast and infinite peace AND, we remain vulnerable human beings...We are vulnerable, weak human beings arising and ceasing in the vastness! And no matter what comes and goes, the vastness remains!

---Francis Bennett on Facebook

STRETCH

July 18th, 2016

Myron Stratton Home

What is Enlightenment?

Charlie Coon

(charlesrcoon@hotmail.com

polarityinplay.blogspot.com)

THE PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING

Once we wake up to the vast ocean of peace that we are, EVERYTHING that arises in experience, arises and ceases in that peace!

I NEVER cease to be amazed by this! The peace is vast and big enough to hold absolutely anything!

Losing my brother was one of the biggest and most difficult events of my life...I am sad. I cry, it is a huge loss to me....I am fully feeling everything that goes with such a loss......AND...........All is well and peace still reigns!

Both things are true simultaneously!

This is amazing to me and impossible to logically explain to anyone, even to myself! I was speaking with Adya about this on the day my brother died and he said, "yes, I know......strange, isn't it?"

I think this is what it really means to be fully human and fully divine! We are grounded in the vast and infinite peace AND, we remain vulnerable human beings...We are vulnerable, weak human beings arising and ceasing in the vastness! And no matter what comes and goes, the vastness remains!

---Francis Bennett on Facebook

Discovery

Discovery

We have always

resided in __________

 __________ not noticed

or known to be..

We have lived as appearance

riding ups and downs

life as billiard balls

politics as squabble 

with religion's beliefs..

Schooldays were bereft of

acknowledging  __________

within which learning

must always exist..

With good fortunate

at some time and place

we feel an ache

an ache as message

from _________

our discovery at last

 of where we reside...

Neither a borrower nor a lender be..

Neither a borrower nor a lender be..

Neither

 teacher nor student

awakened or not

born or dead..

Each pole qualifies

and conceals what we are:

that simple "be"

ending this precept

as Polonius imparts

for Laertes'

and for our

memory...

(Hamlet, by William Shakespeare,

Chapter 2)

4th Light

4th Light

We do Know

after all

the object of our eye

displays its beauty

it Shines

only when " I am"

simultaneously

enfolds

object and eye..

So..on this 4th

might we erase

the illusory boundary

between object and eye

and find fireworks

of real Happiness...!

in a similar manner..

in a similar manner..

in a similar manner..he raised the cup..a lamp..and in blessing it..said..this is the

new covenant..which I am bringing to you today..take and drink..the new

covenant..a discovery to pass on..that the separation..the limitations imposed..

from within and without..deludes us..imposing a timeline..on our identity.. 

..our real identity..removed from time.. as we experience..yet seem to mistrust..

as we perceive and proceed.. along many paths of cultural darkness...