is it so Simple?

is it so Simple?

Consider:

just a recognition

that this page is white

and the print thereon

seems to declare

a difference..

appearance is different

but the difference melts

when it is noticed

the print is in and of

the white page..

difference is appearance..

Consider:

might this recognition

this brief metaphor

replace all religions

in the world's story?

Experience

Experience

How 
does Experience
appear..?

Mainly it is flow

sometimes swift
sometimes gathering..

It is the 
temporary seeing

and hearing which

the river can teach..

We make a shift:

the river separated

to the river within..

And when the river

is found within

we know then

the river is made

of what we are..

This subtle shift

experienced
is all of

Everything 

we can know...

~~CC

Rupert Spira:  Nature of Experience 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ9omxg4IIA 

RS:  Shining as the Simple Knowledge, I Am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOa87_zL2Tg

Unmani: The mind can't be present
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNcAjkkYuK0  

Unmani: How do I Identify with Who I Really Am?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Va5UhdR140&t=13s

Stumbling Blocks

Stumbling Blocks

Considering how this

phrase lingers from

recent conversations..

What are the blocks which

scripture mentions..and

have entered modern 

discourse..?

Often it seems

a stumbling block

is posed as criticism

of a belief confessed:

 vital to one

not to another..

Or..attachment to a

teacher comes under

scrutiny..

These sometimes 
hurtful exchanges occur 

when thought and

perception are awarded

more than their due.. 

What is crucial now

is to ask the Question:

How may these blocks

be swept away..?

There is 

a most direct way

which recognizes the

simple truth of  our

incarnational identity..

Knowing our identity

we can experience 

all blocks burning

in one fiery
ever-present

 Self...

Moving the Needle

Moving the Needle

If we imagine a scale:

on one end we are unfocused

and the other focused..

(subjective and objective

if you like..)

The needle seems pegged

on focus for many centuries

and may be stuck..

Focus has brought us much

but has..alas.. compressed our

peace and happiness..

We may now be entertaining

the possibility of moving

the needle toward unfocused..

Perhaps sliding the needle

all the way.. removing

all focus and form..

Moving the needle may

show us we can slide it

bringing new freedom..

Finally.. then to know

the needle is made

for sliding...!

Kindling

 Kindling

there 

are presumptions

concealed within most of our

Questions..

and the presumption

hidden away is

ironically

the answer we seek..!

presumptions are kindling

awaiting the fire

which will burn both them

and their home in the

Question..

kindling is chopped by our

language which cannot

help itself..splitting the whole

into many halves..as

knower and known..

So..in the asking of the

Question

our peace requires

igniting the kindling

blowing the spark and

 gently burning the

Question...!

Pursuit of Perfection

Pursuit of Perfection

I am a veteran..

An extreme example
of a pursuit of perfection

comes to mind..remembering my duty

on a missile crew..in those frightful

days of the Cuban Missile Crisis..

A nuclear weapon was a new thing

populations were at risk

a dark existential threat loomed..

Error-free 
performance was expected

from those awaiting a
launch execution order..

Perfection was sought in

communication authentication

by endless testing

by psychological reliability

and by sidearms at the ready

for a suicidal bent by

a crew member suddenly 

deciding to begin a war..

My military career began in
Durango..where I sought 
perfection in my grades..and was 
appointed to the military academy..
This is an institution dedicated  to
the pursuit of perfection in
a most unrelenting manner..
Demerits were the measure
and ever-present reminder
which informed 
of the distance one's life
stood away from perfection..

I had two roommates: 
Walter and Tom
Walter the perfectionist
descended from a line of
high ranking soldiers..
Walter's military appearance
and his dedication were for 
all to behold..while Tom
seemed displaced as a
California surfer..
My report today is that
Walter rests in Arlington
and Tom yet lives..surfing
near his shoreside home
on the island of Oahu..

The military purpose
in the end..seems a recognition
that the fragmented self
(which we all experience in
our conventional lives)
must strive for the perfection
which seems
not present in what appears..
Thus a need
to build barriers from others
whose similar fragmentation 
projects outwardly 
in harmful ways..

Yet..
what is important to discover

is that futility resides

at the end of all

paths toward perfection..

Perfection 
of the fragmented self

is denied by the pursuit itself..

 And can only be realized

by ending the pursuit 

and recognizing the
Perfection

we already are and 
have always been..

(Perfection is sought 
in accomplishment
for recognition and praise
 for a new self-identity
leaving behind that which
cried out in pain..
It is a promise of a new you:
stepping on a ladder
and climbing out of a
unsatisfying whirlpool
 of fear and desire...)

The Virtue of Imperfection

SouL Link Retreat

Wabi-Sabi: The Virtue of Imperfection

Many of us are prone to striving for perfection. Often thought a virtue to be attained, when we attempt to rid ourselves of faults, when we cannot be content with doing/being our imperfect best, we become anxious, intense, and incapable of resting in the present moment. Striving for perfection is a problem in the spiritual life.

Ours is a culture that applauds effort, hard work, productivity, and accomplishment. These are all good things without which the world would be the poorer and our individual lives less full. However, when it comes to matters of the soul, it is more often beneficial to linger, to wait, to be still, to accept the reality of what is - to trust rather than strive.

Because perfectionism is so universal and so detrimental, it may be helpful to look at the often subtle ways it is manifest in our lives. Our retreat will be an opportunity to do just that, to consider in what ways we may be driven by the need to be perfect and, in sharing about this, to discover how we might let go of that need, accept our faults, and realize that imperfection may just be a virtue.

From Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again by Roger Housden:

To praise the imperfect, the ordinary, is not something that comes easily to us in the Western world, wedded as we are to the idea of the new, the young, the latest innovation. But in Japan there is an entire worldview that appreciates the value of the imperfect, unfinished, and faulty. It’s called wabi-sabi, where the first term refers to something simple and unpretentious, and the second points to the beauty that comes with age. Wabi-sabi is the aesthetic view


that underlies traditional Japanese art forms like the tea ceremony, calligraphy, and ceramics. It’s an aesthetic that sees beauty in the modest and humble, the irregular and earthy. It holds that beauty comes with the patina of age and in the changes that come with use. It lies in the cracks, the worn spots, and the green corrosion of bronze, the pattern of moss on a stone. The Japanese take pleasure in mistakes and imperfections.

Date: September 22, 2018

Place: Broadmoor Community Church (315 Lake Ave.)

Time: 9:00 am (registration), 9:30 am— 2:00 pm (retreat) Cost: $30 early registration (by September 18), $35 at the door. Lunch is included.

Scholarships available.

Information: Tom Stella (719) 648-3939

Strings

Strings

This is the new theory 
created by scientists to approach
an intuition of the possibility of
a theory of everything..
Strings are esoteric objects
residing in mathematical manipulation
beyond all observing which
science has demanded heretofore..

Have string theorists reached the edge
at which their next question will
sweep them into the abyss
of no-thingness..?


Thanks for this, CP!


https://youtu.be/AuWDzQ-tiZ8

Selfsame

We..the disciples 

know we live in the vicinity

of a special teacher..

We follow..!

But seem slow to discover

the greatness in each of us:

our Self and his..
we are..Selfsame..

We forget the child within

the child who knows

what is special in all..

The child neglected

we search for happiness

in many wrong places..

 We wish to climb

a hierarchical ladder

deserved by our following

 a special teacher..

Yet, we are thwarted by

his universal teaching:

Don't receive me:

receive yourself

we are..Selfsame...
~~CC

Cracks

Cracks

do we know

that words and language

create cracks..and

we might be held hostage

to words and language

without knowing their

propensity to crack..

it is the crack of an eggshell

an eggshell of whiteness

allowing life to emerge..

whiteness appears to divide

shaping the world and us

with distinctions galore..

we work with distinctions

as each finds her own..

yet..within each journey

we are invited to

observe once more

a white eggshell

and to notice how words

seem to crack

what cannot be cracked..

then to notice.. cracks 

appear and disappear

demonstrating for all

the strength and weakness
indeed the beauty

of our words...

and from Leonard Cohen:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DX1HcpOtAYhc&source=gmail&ust=1537223902684000&usg=AFQjCNG0sFwhTyuo0HGCUENyQn2VtlLWhg

the story

the story

is a life experience

in and of that which we are..

we in seeming smallness

are mind infinite and eternal

which molds each new story..

conceiving and perceiving

our storytelling tools 

frame time and space

within that which we are..

and so..a caution: experience

in dreaming and waking

and telling

may seem to conceal 

that which we are 

with this story..then another..

we know there are many...!

Life as character

Life as character

living as a character

in the play of life..and

not believing 

there is only the play..

this seems the journey

each of us takes

whether liking or no..

as  character..we limit

and suffer separation..

when not believing

we enter a frightening ride

an abyss of not-knowing

fear..edged in freedom..

what is Arrival..?

knowing we appear

as suffering character

free-falling in a sky

of peace and joy...

shopping

shopping

the orange sweater 

harbinger of autumn..

this leaf coloration reminds and

a warm texture promises

fall sunshine and wind chills..

these thoughts and perceptions

we might observe

as paul cezanne 

checked out his carrot

with revolutionary results..

inviting the ordinary

to expose Itself...!

Effulgent Nothingness

  

Effulgent Nothingness*

a phrase of elegance
suitable to its elegant originator..
knowing this as our identity
we step away
from the corrosive divisions
which hold our attention
and feel the relief of a
 paradox of named meaning..
questions of how and why
are dismissed as we bathe
in the beauty and peace
of an embracing effulgence... 

*I owe this title to my friend in Australia,

Miriam Louisa Simons: See

https://echoesfromemptiness.com/2018/08/30/how-a-few-moments-of-empty-mind-spiked-with-questions-of-the-unanswerable-kind-can-deliver-you-to-your-effulgent-nothingness/

Who is conscious?

Who is conscious?

this question seems to be

a shortcut to understanding..

science is compiling and 

moving the bar

to surmise a conscious location..

a rock?

a rose?

a cat named mardi?

a dog named smokey?
selina?

robert?

the usa?

the blue marble?

the vast universe?

a sigh of relief comes

when experience reports:

only consciousness is

and you and all
are that...

Speculations

(below is an exchange on the

Google blog: Metaphysical Speculations)

speculation 

is the use of the mind

attempting to discover what is possible

to discover..using the mind..

often there seems to be no sense

of limitation..as the endeavor 

indefinitely moves 

on and on..

speculation 

tries to unify the parts

assumed separated..and

we have gone many miles

as speculation lighted the way..

but we now seem to be

at the end of the road built

by speculation..

might we find futility in 

pressing on

at the end of the road...?

CC, et al,

One can be a hard-core Ontological Idealist and a practical materialist. Would not a fully-enlightened medititator who experienced a life-threatening auto accident want an ambulance to take her or him to the hospital emergency room?

I find the persistent either/or logic which is applied grandly and grandiosely across the question to be quite frustrating when, at any location less than the whole enchilada of M@L or God or the Ontological imperative, it is ALWAYS a question of both consciousness and matter and this is why Buddha offered as practical advice, The Middle Way.

I agree that matter is contained higher density consciousness. This creates confusion because to the materialist consensual mindset is looks like consciousness arises out out of matter but this false view based on the reality that matter is consciousness become and made firm into relatively stable form.

Lou,

My problem with that is that there seems to be compromise to produce the middle way.  I think

that perspective is a better approach.  The materialist perspective, the predominant perspective in

science, assumes an independent reality outside of consciousness, aka duality.  The consciousness-

only perspective understands that the material outside is really inside, and actually made of

consciousness.  The appearance of things in both perspectives remains the same, but in the

c-perspective, appearance is understood as appearance, not independence...

Thanks!

CC

Solitude Self

           

the Solitude Self

it seems as exhilarating and fearful

to one person and the next..

the sense and belief in separation:

in these are rooted the fear..

in these..experience hides the

Solitude Self..which in the guise

of nothingness..becomes the fear..

yet this Self remains and waits

for belief rendering unbelief

and darkness falling at midday..

a reckoning crisis in solitude

may then uncover the

      the Solitude Self...

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&shva=1#inbox/FMfcgxvzKQrNLgZhgTMHstjMscZqtcxH

Birthday time..

Time

is simply the line we draw
in our minds..to help us explain..
(despite our real experience of
everything at once..)
how we each have a birthday..
now consider this:
without the line no birthdays
have we..!  no cake and no wishes..! 
and lost is the Happy..  :)


Birthday time..

a day of accumulation
memories and friends..
a time to discover time..

Dan and I in Cheyenne Mountain
watching satellite orbits
tried to train on the subject of time
time was not to be found..we were uneasy
no explanation would do..
we didn't figure it out..not at that time..!

in my time in Washington D. C.
my teacher of time was one Henry McIntyre
arriving at work in our little office
reading and clearing speeches and
pushing freedom of information..
Mac would start work with much hesitation
he was the Google tech..before Google time..
he was outside of time..co-workers in awe..

Jim Chapman was our pastor at Broadmoor Church
I assisted him in preparing Worship in Meditation
these..in thinking back..were all about time..see below.. 

The Funeral

The Funeral

Juxtaposed we find

metaphorical possibilities

on the 'oft heard word

"Great.."

in  recent discourse..

The funereal gathering

marked with precision

and heartening oratory

celebrated a life representing

a centered consensus..

claiming a greatness

past and present..

but with darkness lapping

in places too close..

The golf outing

with creditable swing

stands circumferential 

representing "deplorables" who

find the center not their own..

yet..a clubbing of truth

and a rough savaging

of human interchange

seem as arousal..

Arousal for rejection of

both sides of this

juxtaposition:

Are we witnessing the 

birthing of what is "Great"

all anew...?

  

Assumptions

Assumptions

separation:
this is what most assume
perhaps or perhaps not
on lifelong journeys..

oneness: 
the other assumption
seems to lie in potential
or in possibility
in all of our days..

the latter assumption
closes all gaps
or more truthfully:
discovers the gaps
never were..

all journeys
with their destinations
foreseen and promising
are many searchings
guided by the
first assumption..
apparently
these journeys continue
until..an ending...