Not Waiting for the Miracle
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:54 pm
Hi everyone~
Since my proposed spirituality section is not getting the feedback I had hoped for, I hereby start it off as just another thread in the poetry section.
I am still of the opinion, however, that a separate section should in the future be made for this purpose - it would be easier to navigate, with specific themes etc.
But be that as it may; here's my first contribution on a thread I hope some of you will follow up
The Heart of Emptiness
-thoughts on Christianity, Buddhism and the spiriual life,
inspired by the songs of Leonard Cohen
“I needed so much to have nothing to touch
I have always been greedy that way” –Night Comes On
Reading the above quote as a reference to the spiritual desire for “immersion in the Void”, one would have to agree that, yes, it is a kind of greed. This desire is perhaps the first impetus to starting on the spiritual path, but it is an immature desire, in its nature the same as all the material or worldly desires of the ego.
It comes out of an experience of lack, a painfully paradoxical position of a mind that has not yet learned that its object of desire is in fact not an object to be gotten hold of, but an altogether different way of being. Only in letting go does one arrive, only in release does love increase. And this, the love aspect of it, is not grasped at all by the initial desire, too consumed with itself – with its wanting enlightenment - to relax and just be, to allow everything to be as it is.
·
“Love’s the only engine of survival” –The Future
Yet, for many there is another starting point, one that does indeed acknowledge love’s part in matters spiritual. Too often, however, people of this temperament have a somewhat warped image of the Divine Love that they rightfully hold to exist.
Theirs is experience grounded in belief. And like desire, belief is a powerful aspect of the ego, and also a subtle barrier against realizing the true spiritual life, leading instead often to the fortification of boundaries both within oneself, and between self and others, thus being counterproductive to the Divinity it claims to serve.
Belief can be said to be exclusive, whereas true spirituality is inclusive, resting in its own inherent authority without any need to defend itself or in any way manipulate others, seeing not division but unity. Spirituality is the living freedom of love, while belief really is an expression of a personal need for love.
In this context Christ’s admonition to “love others as oneself” becomes an expression of a most important point – the need to move beyond the personal.
Also St. Francis of Assisi, in the prayer bearing his name, accentuates this, saying that “it is in giving that one receives, in dying that one is resurrected to eternal life”. This dying is in its true, spiritual sense the same giving up of the ego that was mentioned earlier, and not, as some Christians presume, an allusion to a Heavenly afterlife.
I see Christ not as the one Son of God who promises eternal bliss for those who believe in him, or rather, understood the right way, I do…
For believing in Him can be said to mean to follow His example. I quote from the Gospel of Matthew:
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
·
”There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in” –Anthem
“The heart has got to open in a fundamental way” -Democracy
Everything, as it is, is Truth. This is the highest teaching of Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism. It doesn’t much help to hear it stated, though. “Everything is Truth” does not console in troubled times. Repeating it does not bring you closer to God. Put differently, it is not something to be believed, not an idea for the mind to grasp.
But come back, to the present moment. This is the beautiful teaching. Be alive to your surroundings. Do not let yourself be carried away on the mind’s magic carpet ride, the endless flow of thoughts, worries, desires, but let them come, and let them go. Breathe, and know God to breathe in this body you are used to calling your own.
Be this Awareness of what is going on in and around you. Take up the practice of meditation to help you in your pursuit of a truer life. It will be a help – gradually the mind will become less troublesome, and you will be more alive to the present moment. The joy of God’s ongoing creation will be more deeply felt. In Matthew, once more, it says:
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life[8] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Blessings of Peace!
~Taigaku
Since my proposed spirituality section is not getting the feedback I had hoped for, I hereby start it off as just another thread in the poetry section.
I am still of the opinion, however, that a separate section should in the future be made for this purpose - it would be easier to navigate, with specific themes etc.
But be that as it may; here's my first contribution on a thread I hope some of you will follow up
The Heart of Emptiness
-thoughts on Christianity, Buddhism and the spiriual life,
inspired by the songs of Leonard Cohen
“I needed so much to have nothing to touch
I have always been greedy that way” –Night Comes On
Reading the above quote as a reference to the spiritual desire for “immersion in the Void”, one would have to agree that, yes, it is a kind of greed. This desire is perhaps the first impetus to starting on the spiritual path, but it is an immature desire, in its nature the same as all the material or worldly desires of the ego.
It comes out of an experience of lack, a painfully paradoxical position of a mind that has not yet learned that its object of desire is in fact not an object to be gotten hold of, but an altogether different way of being. Only in letting go does one arrive, only in release does love increase. And this, the love aspect of it, is not grasped at all by the initial desire, too consumed with itself – with its wanting enlightenment - to relax and just be, to allow everything to be as it is.
·
“Love’s the only engine of survival” –The Future
Yet, for many there is another starting point, one that does indeed acknowledge love’s part in matters spiritual. Too often, however, people of this temperament have a somewhat warped image of the Divine Love that they rightfully hold to exist.
Theirs is experience grounded in belief. And like desire, belief is a powerful aspect of the ego, and also a subtle barrier against realizing the true spiritual life, leading instead often to the fortification of boundaries both within oneself, and between self and others, thus being counterproductive to the Divinity it claims to serve.
Belief can be said to be exclusive, whereas true spirituality is inclusive, resting in its own inherent authority without any need to defend itself or in any way manipulate others, seeing not division but unity. Spirituality is the living freedom of love, while belief really is an expression of a personal need for love.
In this context Christ’s admonition to “love others as oneself” becomes an expression of a most important point – the need to move beyond the personal.
Also St. Francis of Assisi, in the prayer bearing his name, accentuates this, saying that “it is in giving that one receives, in dying that one is resurrected to eternal life”. This dying is in its true, spiritual sense the same giving up of the ego that was mentioned earlier, and not, as some Christians presume, an allusion to a Heavenly afterlife.
I see Christ not as the one Son of God who promises eternal bliss for those who believe in him, or rather, understood the right way, I do…
For believing in Him can be said to mean to follow His example. I quote from the Gospel of Matthew:
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
·
”There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in” –Anthem
“The heart has got to open in a fundamental way” -Democracy
Everything, as it is, is Truth. This is the highest teaching of Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism. It doesn’t much help to hear it stated, though. “Everything is Truth” does not console in troubled times. Repeating it does not bring you closer to God. Put differently, it is not something to be believed, not an idea for the mind to grasp.
But come back, to the present moment. This is the beautiful teaching. Be alive to your surroundings. Do not let yourself be carried away on the mind’s magic carpet ride, the endless flow of thoughts, worries, desires, but let them come, and let them go. Breathe, and know God to breathe in this body you are used to calling your own.
Be this Awareness of what is going on in and around you. Take up the practice of meditation to help you in your pursuit of a truer life. It will be a help – gradually the mind will become less troublesome, and you will be more alive to the present moment. The joy of God’s ongoing creation will be more deeply felt. In Matthew, once more, it says:
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life[8] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Blessings of Peace!
~Taigaku
!!!