Can we grasp Reality in a direct, immediate, unconditioned way?
2013/10/04 10 Comments
A great quote
2013/03/10 Leave a comment
A man who understands the Tao in the morning,
can die contentedly in the evening.
– Confucius
About dissatisfaction and search for a solution
2012/10/02 1 Comment
She:
I have a counter question for you. What would you say to a person who cannot find any solid reason for dissatisfaction while feeling it acutely, who searches for something without knowing what it is?
Me:
That is the hardest issue to come to terms with: to identify the seemingly un-identifiable.
Of course we can find innumerable reasons for feeling this acute dissatisfaction; but even if we knew and could clearly define what it is we are dealing with,
it would make no difference – the inner reality would still remain the same, the same discontent lurks invariably, and sooner or later we would still have to face it…
Easier said than done…I speak from own experience…
When it finds itself in pain, the mind is hardly searching for a way out of the problem, a solution… – but every solution the mind has in store, reinforces the inner conflict, as whatever solution is within the range of “the old,” every solution is with other words, constant reiteration of ”the known”…Understand that whatever we know is old. Knowledge, and the instruments of our knowledge – definitions, names, rules, different approaches – are dead things…
Now – how can something old understand and validate something ever new and alive like your dissatisfaction…? Stay with my words for a second…and ponder…
It boils down to this: The mind is frantically searching to solve the problem It itself has created. It is like quenching the fire with fire. It is a paradox: Attempting intensely to find a solution, worsens the problem, as trying to solve it means escaping the problem…If you’re stuck in quicksand the more you move the worse it gets…
So I come back to my initial question:
“Can I, can you – venture to lovingly confront and stay with this ache without trying to flee from it…?”
Staying with this ache in full awareness and non-selective Presence, is to be with the problem, sincerely and indiscriminately connecting to it, living with it, loving it like a wounded child…In due time, when understanding that it is no point in fleeing, you will hear something…Something like a whisper from inside, something very subtle which will give you spontaneous answers…It can be very simple things… – out of this intimate contact, the most common things will feel like wondrous novelty – a step, a glance, drinking a glass of water…it doesn´t matter what…
Don´t have any expectations yet, follow the process step by step for the time being.
After you have acquired the skill of unconditional inner listening, you will know undoubtedly what it all is about…
Don’t see your dissatisfaction like an impediment, – even if it´s hard – consider it your potential!
Can we embrace a new paradigm?
2012/06/28 7 Comments
In a way, we want to find out…On the other way, our ego, somehow doesn´t allow that, and hampers us to perceive things clearly.
If I were to tell you “new things”, would your ego want to hear, or dismiss them as pure phantasy inventions?…
How can you give something unless there is also the desire of the other person to receive that? The desire to receive may be there, but, as the mind is a bad interpreter, it interprets according to its conditioning. With other words, it often doesn´t recognize the gift. The key to a problem may lie just in front of our eyes, but because it comes in a “strange” package, we won´t be able to see it, or accept it. Often we dismiss truth through indifference or sloth.
Our habits are our prison. How can we recognize “new facts” when we are conditioned to live according to outdated patterns? We claim that we are so modern, yet our way of perceiving reality is old: we keep repeating and reiterating our ancestors´ totally false ideas about reality which we still take as The True Paradigm. Can we recognize that the Paradigm of Darwin, Newton and Descartes is totally outdated, that this specific assumption that life is nothing but a material process, can be the menace for our survival?
To illustrate my point: if only the strongest makes it, it means that life is nothing but a constant struggle for survival. Survival of the fittest is the result of pure madness, madness generated by abysmal fear. It is this fear always trying to dominate and compete. Not knowing WHAT or WHO they are, most people define themselves only through competition. Basically this thesis builds on “I dominate and kill you so I know who I am.” That´s our present recipe for success.
It is quite manifest that, having the urge to dominate, struggle and kill for life, we define ourselves ultimately through crime, through death.
In this frenzied state of despair to survive, how on earth can we have time and peace to think, consider, see and think clearly, embrace beauty, approach life with a deeper understanding and joy? It is clear, we think of ourselves as being victims to be soon executed, and how can a man constantly living with fear of extinction be sensible, generous or altruistic?…A total contradiction, don´t you think?…
WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE ACT THE WAY WE DO, BECAUSE OUR COMPREHENSION OF REALITY IS MOULDED ACCORDING TO SOME WRONG IDEAS THAT WERE STATED VERY LONG TIME AGO.
Obviously, we cannot change our way of action, unless we get at the very Ideas which generated our wrong way of thinking. I am aware that it is overwhelming to start considering life and ourselves as a part of a spiritual grand design, but failing to recognize that, we are doomed.
Are we prepared for a new comprehension of Reality?…
Who is going to answer: our Real Self, or the fearful Ego…?
Immanuel Kant
2012/05/27 4 Comments
Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding! . . .
LAZINESS AND COWARDICE ARE THE REASONS WHY such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance, nevertheless gladly REMAIN IMMATURE FOR LIFE. For the same reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so convenient to be immature! If I have a book to have understanding in place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all. I need not think, so long as I can pay; others will soon enough take the tiresome job over for me.
Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”
Julien Matei
Mirrors of Encounters 