Gifts of War

Gifts of War

As we consider
or disparage this

wrenching title..

We are told stories
some long hidden

of camaraderie

transcending fear

real freedom..

Might we today 
look beneath all

of life's struggles

and dislocations

and find there

this same Gift..
Visiting the Gift
we might find what  
has been forgotten:
we are that Gift...

Question and Answer

Question and Answer

A question is 

a narrowing by the mind

looking for satisfaction

in an objective way..

Looking in the way

the mind has always looked..

The sage advice we are given

is to cease looking

and recognize the 

deep core of the question:

dissolving all answers

in a most satisfying

Truth...

to Daniel on his 30th Birthday..!

to Daniel on his 30th Birthday..!

It is with pride and love

that I send you this greeting..

You have found your own way

as each of us must..

Your path has led

via those twists and turns

to this moment of reflection

on what is past and ahead..

You were blessed on that day

you met another on her path

and you both found

you have always been

walking together..

Together as Each

you will find your ways

through many new days

but let's pause on this one:

Have a Most Happy Birthday..!

Poppa

Perspectives

Perspectives

The world seems to be awaiting
the discovery that it..and each of us..
are not who we have thought ourselves
to Be..
Perspective teaches much..!
When we believe we are some-thing only
we suffer the pains of separation..
Peace comes with the recognition of ourselves
as no-thing..a blissful recognition..
Happiness arrives with a third recognition:
that we are every-thing..
However..these three stages are artificial and
analytical..
Experience reveals that all three are bundled
and we might simply enter our bundle
and note the various colorations of a whole:  
Some-No-Every-Thing..
The bundle is our fulfilled identity:
Freedom results in the knowing that
each perspective is available
at all times and in all places...

Our Colors

Our Colors

We live forgetting

who we are

and become enthralled

with roles and purposes..

Reality seems as

the coloring we apply

to the identity

we have forgotten..

Some of the coloring

is darker as life

presents its struggles..

At some point

we need recognize

life as forgetting

erasing the colors

remembering with joy

that which we 

have always been 

and still are...

Simply this...

A Christmas Message from Rupert Spira:

"‘I am’ is the first name of Christ. “Before Abraham was, I am”. Christmas is the Mass of Christ, that is, the remembrance and celebration of the I am that I am, and that knows itself to be. Instead of stories of children, mangers and sheep, it is this I am that I am, and that knows itself to be, that should be proclaimed from our churches. To know the peace that passeth understanding and the unconditional happiness that accompanies it, it is only necessary to know our own being – the I am that I am, and that knows itself to be – as it is.

"To indicate that is the most precious gift that anyone can impart or receive.

"Happy Christmas! That is, be happy in the remembrance and celebration of your own being – its knowing of itself."

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

It is exceedingly hard

because of stern dependence 

upon thoughts and perceptions

in diligent research of the brain.. 

Hoping to yield with great effort 

the secret of consciousness..

The assumption seems entrenched

that the mind has capacities

beyond its lenses of limitation..

The mind is lodged in time and space

and stands mute in the presence of

no-dimension..

It seems we are waiting for the mind

to yield to its humble limitations

acknowledging that solutions to

the hard problem exceed its grasp

as the moth dies in its flame of desire..

Surrender may then be the path

to a direct recognition

of the secret of long seeking...

Happy / Merry

Happy / Merry

A contest of greetings

this annual diversion from

discovery of underlying Truth..

Both words are limitations

but happy seems expansive

merry seems temporary..

A merry occasion

brings momentary happiness

a taste of happiness..

Leaving the longing

for one more taste

and one more..

Searching for understanding:

Happiness is...

Son of God / of Man

Son of God / of Man

https://o-meditation.com/2017/12/25/who-is-jesus-christ-osho/

Christmas Eve

Another Christmas Eve..

Many of us have known this Eve

through many advancing years..

We have been reminded of the story

which refers to those events and beliefs

with their color and calming voice..

Perhaps this year we might allow

the visions and sounds to fade..

To fade not into sleep but

into an awareness now

of heavenly peace..

The Hidden Pearl

  

Religions seem to do this:

hide the pearl which is their source..

Buried sometimes quite deeply

is the most precious pearl..

The pearl is covered by opaqueness 

by decorative metaphor

by stories of ancient ponderings..

What is needed..first of all..

is to know the pearl for which

we are looking..

Take a path directly to the pearl

and avoid the circuitous routes

 offered by scriptural densities..

What can we say of the pearl..?

Seeming as no-thing

It is full of potential

Infinite as Here

Eternal as Now..

Finally..we return to those

stories and coverings and

see the Pearl shining

in simple words

scattered here and now...

Here..for example:

Note below how the 

Now and Joy

shine as the Pearl

we seek...!

The Nature of Consciousness

Rupert Spira:  The Nature of Consciousness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co-mK9ReLzY&t=3304s
(1:24, Q & A @ 1:02)
Topics:  Mary and Jane, Big Bang,...)

The Perennial Prayer

The Perennial Prayer

First the recognition

of one's hallowed identity..

Pausing there

experiencing the wholeness

and abounding love..

Then new recognition

of the real creation

within and made of

one's identity..

Obvious..no separation:

earth and heaven..

This new birthing

of life on earth

still needing bread and

forgiveness  cleansing

for our forgetting..

Recognizing ego's slyness

to fill new identity

leading to temptation..

Knowing finally
with peace and joy: 

The Kingdom already 

IS

Here and Now...

Mind and Matter and Joy

Mind and Matter and Joy

These words are our life knowings..
To see that mind and matter
are our conventional ways
of perceiving as we do..
And then asking:
Is this all..?
Unease brings this question..
Awaiting a collapse
and the birth of
Joy...

Rupert Spira videos:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ciQq8-U18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqOjFC9MCDc

Courage

Courage

The topic today..Cafe discussion..

Courage:  What is it..?

Perhaps a response to the more

fundamental word: fear..

Considering fear as a departure

from the Present..a venture

into the past whether very recent

or back then..

or a venture into the future

with an ominous slant..

Fear grabs our attention

especially:  fire..flood..other..

Whether near or far

sudden or not

courage takes one

to a transcendent place:

recognizing the wholeness 

of: "I"   ...

War Songs

War Songs

We look back

with nostalgia and pride..

My father heard these songs

over there..

He and we

as we Know

experience these songs

coloring our presence..

Note the comments

with this medley..

Those suffering dementia 

still know this music

with its words..

Could it be:

the experience Now

is the same experience

then and now...?

World War I Songs Medley by Terry R. Shaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcIlcNi_PfQ&feature=youtu.be

Alien life

Alien Life

As in all new science
we must start with consciousness..
Everything 
appears within consciousness
which is our simple experience..
The next step is to realize:
Everything 
is made of consciousness
aliens and robots..you too..!
Consciousness is infinite stuff
(a bit of liberty here..!)
Everything 
we can readily realize
must be made of that stuff..

The elephants of deception
are the assumptions that aliens
are made of other stuff
which will enter our view from
outside.. their exotic place..
This forgetting the nature
of the really real:
(Remember:
the all of consciousness..?)
Allows the mind to wander
locating and thinking of
appearances which maybe..
Until remembering awakens
and we return to
our beginning words...

http://nautil.us/issue/29/scaling/why-alien-life-will-be-robotic

Here I am

Here I am

Placeless and timeless

some face with fear..

Others experience
 as saving grace..

Those in fear

cling to the eclipse

to the covering

disguising Here

as here...

Shocking Words..!

Shocking Words..!

Shock and Surprise
this Hanukkah revelation..
A revelation of the
Perennial Tradition
the foundation of 
all religion and
and soon for science..
Consciousness seeps 
from this ancient text
as it does from others
after those centuries
of hiding in plain sight..!

Jesus' Shocking Words at Hanukkah

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tomhobson/2017/12/jesus-shocking-words-hanukkah/#j6HZ7wmis0jLh7iL.01

True knowledge is the experiential understanding that there is only ever-present, unlimited Awareness or Knowing. Nothing other than this is ever known even when it seems that a mind, body and world are known. This ever-present, unlimited Awareness, which is simply the intimacy of our own being, is the fundamental nature of the apparently inside self and its corollary, the apparently outside object, other or world.

All religions are founded upon this understanding. In Christianity it is expressed as, “I and my Father are one.” That is, I, Awareness, and the ultimate reality of the universe are one and the same reality. In Buddhism, “Nirvana and Samsara are identical.” That is, the transparent, open, empty light of Awareness which is not made out of any kind of a thing – nothing – is the substance of all appearances – everything. Nothing taking the shape of everything. In Hinduism, “Atman and Param-Atman are one.” That is, the individual self, when divested of superimposed beliefs and feelings of limitation, stands revealed as the true and only self of eternal, infinite Awareness. And in Sufism, “Wherever the eye falls, there is the face of God.” All that is seen is God’s face and it is God that sees it.

All these phrases are conditioned by the culture in which they appeared but they all point towards the same unconditional truth – the reality of all experience.

-Rupert Spira

The Window

The Window

This is hidden news

but most Revolutionary..

We need to watch

for the simple words:

I am

in whatever scripture

we now attend..

The words are a window

to Peace and Grace..

And to the Joy available

in these troubling times..

Peering through the Window

from inside

we find the world

as we have known..

With a turning

and peering through

from the outside

we find our Self

a newness with Joy...

Incarnation

I am Incarnation

We use the word "I"

every day and hour..

I brings to focus

observer and object

the birth of the other

of 2..

Incarnation then

is I and my world..

We celebrate I

in this season..

Yet we find more

with the question 

What am I..?

I seem lacking

unfulfilled

especially in those

darker hours..

Must I be 2..?

Then the discovery

and the flame:

I am not 2

I am 1...

Lead us not...

Lead us not...

Do not lead us..changes to
Do not let us..
Lead and Let..
As in all such oppositions
we need to locate our perspective:
objective or subjective..
Objectively we are asking for assistance
in not being led or not letting 
assuming the separation of the source
of assistance from our needing..
Subjectively we can realize:
there is no distance from the source
as we are the words on the page..
Any words may appear..lead and let
and others between..yet the page remains
undisturbed and whole..one with the words..
Lead and Let are we find dimming when
we realize we are the Page...


Pope Francis has called for a translation of a phrase about temptation in the Lord's Prayer to be changed.

The current wording that says "lead us not into temptation" is not a good translation because God does not lead humans to sin, he says.

His suggestion is to use "do not let us fall into temptation" instead, he told Italian TV on Wednesday night.

The Lord's Prayer is the best-known prayer in Christianity.

The pontiff said France's Roman Catholic Church was now using the new wording "do not let us fall into temptation" as an alternative, and something similar should be used worldwide.

"Do not let me fall into temptation because it is I who fall, it is not God who throws me into temptation and then sees how I fell," he told TV2000, an Italian Catholic TV channel.

"A father does not do that, a father helps you to get up immediately."

Bouncing Cosmology

Bouncing Cosmology

Not a Bang..but a Cycle
contraction and expansion
like the ocean and a wave:
the wave contracts within the ocean
then expands and becomes once more
the ocean..which it always has been..

Considering the bounce more subjectively.
I am the bounce..as are You..
I contract and perceive the universe
I expand and the perception lightens
disappearing into light..until contraction
brings back the universe in all its glory..!


The concept (bouncing cosmology) first appeared at least 40 years ago, and it agrees that the universe is expanding, but does not assume that the universe came into being when that expansion started and the universe was infinitely small. Instead, it proposes that the universe is eternally undergoing a cycle of contraction and expansion. These alternating phases smoothly follow each other like the phases of the tide.
(for more:  https://www.space.com/38982-no-big-bang-bouncing-cosmology-theory.html

A Journey

A Journey

As we face inward

we seem to leave behind

the tangles and misfortunes

of what was outward..

A real identity shines

bringing unexplained
fear to some and

happiness and peace
to others..
Those in fear 
may retreat so to
perceive once more
the expected.. their
outward faith in
rocky stability..

For the others
blissful remaining
is immediate wish
but eventual turning
reveals a merging
 inward and outward..
Yet the appearances
are as remembered..
As this journey
is enjoined by
each of us...

Evangelicals

Evangelicals

These E's

energized apparently

by teachings which

others quietly embrace..

It seems our culture of

separation and belief

has placed walls

which deny freedom

in knowing the roots 

of religious fervor.. 

An idolatrous odor

seems on occasion

to rise from worship

of flag and nation..

Their exclusion of

those not sharing this

moment's ecstasy

feels disheartening..

However..

these are judgments

perhaps made in haste

perhaps ill-informed..

Some words I

might readily erase...!

A matter of waiting

A matter of waiting

The Advent message

repeated over centuries:

Waiting in time for

fulfillment and peace..

What will happen

with the recognition

that time is a construct

a convenient line

appearing in Mind..?

To recognize that

 illusory time disguises

and demands attention

as the framework for

history and lives..?

The lifetime discovery:

to recognize that

here and now resides

fulfillment and peace: 

There is no wait...!

Burdens

Burdens

East and West cultures

embellish spiritual truth

with color and decoration

and with shadows of

creation's duality..

These confounding covers

produce sleep and 

resistance to calls for

new recognition..

Religious texts hide

their single truth

in their stories and

discontinuities..

We need to find teachers

ancient and new

with a balm of simplicity

to uncover..untangle

and burn all those

burdens which hide

our own Truth...

Resisting

Resisting

A morning recognition:

We resist what is not

rather than what is..

Resistance 

in normal parlance

is the pushing back on

what we see as events

in our world of separation..

Resistance seems as justice

and a change for the good..

Putting the above aside

for a moment:

Might we also see

that with resistance as

life's focus

we cloud the happiness

which is recognizable

here and now..?

Both perspectives are vital:

we need resist what is not

when moral sense rises

but recognize what is:

what is open and whole

behind the cloud...

WHAT REMAINS?

WHAT REMAINS?

We keep a focus

on what appears as the world:

the morning newspaper

checking email and 

Facebook and checkbook..

Perhaps we meditate

and notice the thoughts

interfering it seems

with meditating goals..

All of these outward

attractions and destinies

seem to claim somewhat

of what we are.. 

The question may assert:

What remains..?

The assertion arriving 

with fits of discomfort..

We might respond:

Nothing remains:

a frightening reply 

to some..calming to others..

This introduction

to what we are

is the real message

of this season...

Being of help

Being of help

It takes courage

to assert ourselves

claiming an identity

that has found fraud

in the seeming separate ego..

Oftentimes the ego clamor

with its many stories and facts

seems as a barrier unassailable..

Perhaps what is needed

is to relax

recognizing the answers

are embedded in the questions...

Science and Religion

and

The only reconciliation comes

from the recognition of the

Truth which illumines their

background..

It is the Perennial Truth

with a glow dimmed

as we immerse in 

either science or religion..

In religion is downloaded

an apparent separation

which is persistent 

in religious perception..

In science another download

and another separation..

These are prodigal journeys

and a return seems beaconing..

Science..in its quantum newness

seems slowly turning..

Religion..in non-dual awakening

may yet turn toward home..

Or..is each of us

by our own experience

marking the path...

Zig-Zag

Zig-Zag

Downtown or on the roadway

zig-zag searching

always for something..

Stopping at a coffeeshop 

reaching a place

seemingly removed..

An interruption in

a zig-zag map

with map forgotten..

The coffeeshop was not

a zig stop..or a zag

just momentary..a respite..

Might zig-zag dissolve

right here and now

 in this cup of coffee...?