Developing the Abstract Eye

The main reason for our inability to experience Spiritual Reality, is our conceptualization/objecti-fication of the World, and at the foundation of this is our identification with Ego – our “separate” selves. We perceive Reality as objects, and we think of ourselves as objects. This can be overcome.

We mentally (and largely unconsciously) wrap all we perceive in layers upon layers of concepts. These wrappings are not only the words and ideas we superimpose upon all things, but also the emotions and opinions that go with them. In such a way Truth is veiled from our eyes and souls. The world we see is a reflection of the world in our minds. Instead of receiving what IS, we perceive what we have learned and our self-centered relationships to it.

How then, can we remove this obstacle to the Light? Well, why not look at abstract art? In figurative works of art, there are often a story-line taking place in time and space, and there tend to be objects which we know by name and experience. Looking at such a piece we find ourselves go into thoughts and memories. We might ask ourselves what the image is about, and what it means? In either case, the forms in figurative art are familiar to us, and they are hard to watch with the pure and virgin gaze we need develop for spiritual progress.

When we behold non-figurative and abstract art, the game is very different. Here, the nameless, unknown, or uncertain forms, do not as easily give rise to conceptual thinking. They may suggest or remind us of objects we know, but abstract works lend themselves a lot better to an open mind. The trick is to keep the verdict at bay, and to let things remain what they are – unknown. While our minds struggle to understand what they see (in the “meaningless” jumble of color and form), we should give them a fight, and let the work remain abstract – keep it in the shadows of Mystery.

Even if we succeed in doing so, we typically fall into another trap, which is that of judgment. We like this, we don't like that, we would have preferred it another way, or we are disturbed by a lack of balance, too much pink, the frame, or any other of a million reasons. Here is where we must be vigilant. Whenever we notice these judgments, we should try to let them go, and re-focus our gaze on the art before us. Remember, we want to see what IS, and get away from what we THINK about it. This may of course take some practice.

The mechanisms of mind, including the Ego itself, are much like little children. When we give them a finger, they are happy for a while, but will soon start bothering us about the rest of the hand. It is fortunately also true, that if we ignore them, they will raise their voices for some time, but eventually quiet down. With no confirmation at all, they turn all silent and crawl into a corner somewhere.

As we become experienced with watching abstract art, we tend to discover other pleasures, than those previously known to us. There arises a joy in watching the balance of composition by itself, and the play of simple fields of color, and brush-strokes, are suddenly enough to bring great and satisfying experiences. The openness and suggestive power of nameless forms is a great adventure to the mind, and we learn how to receive the artwork without interpretation. This is a great step. Those of us who have learned this skill, have a great tool when tracking the steps of The Lord, and those who doesn't might still have some leads on where (how) to look.

Now let's leave the gallery and go for a meditative walk in nature. While we see trees, bushes, rocks, sky, lakes, and all the other things we know, we can learn how look at them as we do an abstract piece of art. Think of them not as these things you have knowledge about, but perceive them as patches of form and color that together make up the undivided weave of reality – the very fabric of Creation. We are so accustomed to evaluate and judge that, even were we to walk through untouched lands, most of us would fall into these habits of “too barren, too dense, too green, too chaotic, too murky, etc”.

Allow me therefore to repeat: The world is not a piece of art for you to judge as a critic. It is not a meal cooked to please your personal taste. The world wasn't molded to suit your specific body or mind. The world is the reality from which you have grown, just like the straws of grass on the ground. For you to even think about judging it, or having opinions about it, is great and swollen pride. For millions of years it has prevailed, silently, perfectly, until right now, when you and I come here and start uttering our preferences, as if they somehow mattered. Who cares if we dislike the autumn, if we find birches more pleasant than spruce, or robins more likeable than crows? Life is not about our opinions. If we can bring ourselves to understand that, we may also be able to behold nature (and art, and people) with less of a labeling and judgmental gaze. Again, it is about being receptive to what is. It is about listening with our eyes, and to do so as if all the forms of life were equally important.

If we practice this, and continue to do so, there is a great chance that the Lord will let His Presence be known to us. All things in Nature sing His tune, and when we become aware of that, we also hear that same voice answering from within. That's the first step of true freedom, and a spring of deep and saturating joy. Whenever we make an effort to listen, we can now make out the Piper's flute on the wind, unwrapping the veils of Paradise, and its piercing benevolent Beauty!

Words of the Wordless - 1

The Light of Evening

Impossible to share
Walking by the lake
In a crescent moon evening

Unwrapped of thought

And freed from self
He hums with joyous Spirit

If the beasts of myth
Crawled onto the shore
In that elated hour of magic

He'd marvel no more,
Than at the already strong,
Sublime, and gracious Presence

Opening the Ribcage

When I recently came across the quote below, by Thich Nhat Hanh, posted by the Thich Nhat Hanh Quote Collective on Facebook, my heart was greatly moved. Twice in the last couple of years I have come to see very clearly my own shut door, by having it opened slightly to the greater world, for a little while. Without this experience it is really hard to understand or see what I will try to point at in this post, but perhaps by reading the beautiful lines below we can begin to imagine an opening of the soul.

“Since I learned how to love you,
the door of my soul has been left wide open
to the winds of the four directions.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When we think of ourselves as separate individuals moving through a world apart from us, there arises a great need for physical and mental protection. The fear generated by such a perspective results inevitably in the construction of a mental armor – a closed gate. I believe most of us never reflect upon this part of our psyche, and we are therefore largely unaware of it. I, at least, was almost fully unaware of mine before I was fortunate enough to have it opened for a while, which gave some perspective.

As we grow up we become reserved (mildly put), and suspicious of everything we encounter. We keep things at a distance, and only rarely do we somewhat dare open the gates to our hearts and souls. Thus, as we meet new people, and even nature itself, we do so in a halfheartedly and protective fashion, inviting them barely to the edge of our inner gates. This mainly happens on an unconscious and automatic level, but if we pay close attention to how we approach the world, we may come to notice this to some extent.

My first experience of having this armor opened, was at a Sesshin (Zazen meditation retreat), while doing outdoor walking meditation, and just like expressed in the Thich Nhat Hanh quote, I felt as if the wind was suddenly allowed inside of me, and the whole scenery could then enter through a great gate consisting of my chest. The sense of separation between subject (myself) and object (the world) was thereby substantially lessened.

Since these experiences I have tried to remember the feeling of those moments when I meet people, whether friends or new acquaintances, and to be aware of how I approach them. Doing my best with being as fearless as possible, I welcome them with my chest and body straight towards them and as mentally naked as I can manage.

A great part of the spiritual path is walked by learning how to receive. It is about welcoming the places, events, and people we come across and to acknowledge was is. While we might be busy with making an impression, acting, judging, and labeling what we see, the secret is to receive what comes before us, without disturbing its revelation, with the noise of our own self-portrayal. Even when we act, it is vital that we listen in this way, so that we can become aware of what we're really doing. Life is free though, and that is true even of the most profound dimensions of it. Therefore, if we can learn to keep the bowls of our selves empty and welcoming, Heaven will provide the wisdom, joy, and compass for further travels. If we can muster the courage, to slightly open our ribcages, and let the sharpness of life touch our sensitive hearts just a little bit, then we will also open ourselves to the winds of the Lord, and from their whispers, steadfastness and an even greater courage will grow.

I really recommend everyone to study how we welcome and relate to situations and people. How do we approach them physically (posture, direction, facial expression)? What happens on the mental level? (emotions, thoughts). If possible, are there changes we can make, for a more inviting, and less protective stance? Do we welcome the world to enter at all, or do we still prefer to keep it at a distance?

That Mystery, which brought us about, supplies us with food, keeps us warm, and in a great other number of ways sustains our being, have we learned how to trust it yet? To what extent do we dare bare our hearts to its immensity?

Love, they say, is best done naked.

Body and Earth

While the spiritual journey consists of a shift of focus (identity) from form to spirit, it is important that we do not make an enemy of the body, or of matter itself. In spiritual contexts you neither fight, nor flee, but accept and transcend what you wish to overcome. It is much like finding an ugly spot on your new wall-paper. As long as you do not accept it, the spot will keep bothering you, and leave you no peace of mind, but as soon as you accept its presence you become free of it. In a way, you will no longer see it.

The Salvation presented by Jesus of Nazareth, or the Nirvana of Siddhartha Gautama, are Absolute. That means they are independent of conditions. If you think that a change of environment is necessary, you are wrong, though it might initially be very helpful. On this issue Sri Ramakrishna speaks wisely: “...when the trees on the footpath are young, they may be eaten up by goats or cows for want of fencing. A fence is needed in the initial stage. When, however, the trunk gets thicker no fence is needed. Then even an elephant tied to the trunk will not do any harm to it.”
(From the Gospels of Sri Ramakrishna)

While the body is not the truth of what we truly are, it is our one vessel on this voyage, and abandoning the vessel does us no good at all. On the contrary, it is our inability to accept and connect with the vessel that keep us bound to it. In our problems, worries, and ambitions of every day life, we lose contact with body and earth, and lead a life almost fully in our minds. We think about the frightening or hopeful future, and on other places and times which we cannot touch, taste, smell, hear, or even see. To a great extent, we live not in Life, but in our minds' maps of reality. In this abstract world of ideas, opinions, plans, goals, regrets, and strategy, we become disconnected from body and being – fully or partly lost in a labyrinth of endless thought-patterns. 

Reconnect now. Feel the body. Feel the weight of it, and the pressure on your bottom, back, or feet. Can we read on without losing the awareness of it?

Since we spend most of our days primarily with the voice in our heads, it is very good to re-establish a conscious connection with the feet, which are furthest away from the brain. When we walk it is great practice to make aware every single step, and the feeling of contact with the ground or floor. As long as that conscious contact is maintained, we are never fully lost in thought. Many forms of spiritual practice like Hatha Yoga, Zazen, and even Martial Arts, or any kind of Dancing, helps greatly in getting to know the body. To welcome the body, be in the body, and be the body, helps us re-discover and experience the Oneness between mind and body. The spiritual presence underneath and within all, is more easily discerned when the energies of the body are welcome, balanced, and perceived by us.

What I'm speaking about here is a very far cry from idolizing the body, or any form of emotional (positive or negative) attachment to it. You need not look in the mirror once to love and accept the physical structure you have at your disposal. Live through this flesh and give it the honor it deserves, but allow also its decline by age and any disfigurements from accidents and disease. These are as natural as its strength, beauty, and agility, and may teach us to seek in the right place. All we need to understand really, is that some disabled persons are happier than the girls on the catwalk, and we need to look there no further.

By making it a daily practice to make aware our breathing, or our placing of the feet on the ground, we establish a connection with the body energy, and the surrounding air or soil. Whenever we find ourselves repeating or listening to a superfluous stream of thoughts (typically a reprisal) we will gain a lot by moving focus instead to the temple of our being – the body, and listen in to the silent sermon held at all times in the halls of nerve, sinew, muscle, and bone. In such a way we may come to remember the secrets of the Earth, from which our bodies sprang and are sustained.

"For in him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)

One Indestructible Tower

I'm playing with building blocks, together with my very young daughter. Being a person trained and active in the making of art, I soon start to envision the small “artwork” I have laid the foundation to on our living-room floor. In a miniature fashion I'm sort of thrilled and eager about seeing it finished. My daughter however has other joys entirely, and finds it very amusing to destroy my construction, when it's only half way done. With a sigh I gather the pieces anew and start over. This time, I get a little further before CRASH, she once more turns it to ruins (and laughs hysterically, clearly pleased with her power).

When it happened this scene illustrated very clearly to me, what I already knew; that our joy must be based primarily in being and doing (adding one block to another) rather than in our goals or achievements (the finished construction). Achievements are very elusive, ideas really, that keep us dreaming about and dreading the future, and regretting or lingering in the past.

When we are not content in being, our actions are strained and restless. The fruits of our actions (if we ever get there) end up unwholesome – a reflection of our inquietude. Just as a starving person will care little for the shape, form, or balance of the meal, when discontented we sow and reap disharmony.

That we need desire and discontentment to propel our cultures and societies forward is simply not true. It is impossible to stay passive on a spinning globe, where suns and seasons have us thrown around in an ever changing carousel. That Life naturally seeks to continue, is by itself enough to initiate action, and that action is so much more wisely chosen and executed, from a place of contentment, and a background awareness of eternity.

Only at that moment, when you no longer desire IT, will I dare entrust you with IT's power.

For balance we should get our priorities right and find our joys firstly in being, secondly in doing, and thirdly, in achieving. As it is now, many of us reverse this order, and only manage to live when they manage to achieve. The rest of life is reduced to a means of “getting there”, to a few highlights, in an otherwise barely bearable existence.

How then can we find contentment in being by itself, enjoy doing what needs to be done, and celebrate achievement when The Lord allows it to happen? The answer is simply to change our focus and investments. I believe we have all experienced forcing ourselves to do something seemingly “boring” or “pointless” (like moving the lawn, shoveling snow, or perhaps playing with toys with our children) only to at some point discover it to be rather pleasant. When that happens we have managed to shed our ambitions, plans, hunger, and fears, and entered for a while the simplicity of being. Materials then feel more tangible, forms more beautiful, and living things turn much more alive. There is then happiness in being by itself, and time no longer veils the wealth of living.

Treasures are found where we dig, and where we dig only. Harmony and fulfillment is discovered by digging persistently in the right place, and that place is right here, and right now. Here is the only place that will never leave us – The one tower that cannot be destroyed, neither by the whims of men, nor the play of immortals.

Can you find (be) it?

"...Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

(Luke 12:33-12:34)

The Choice

Being angry with the thief for stealing our possessions is like being angry with the sun when it is too hot. But the thief had a choice, we might argue...

Well, then so have we... as we turn our anger into forgiveness, and free our minds from ego.

A Daily Dance with Shiva

Have I died yet today? Have I let go of all the energies that currently pull me into this and that? Have I stilled myself for a while, to assert and re-establish my contact with the ground? Shiva, the destroying aspect of the Absolute (in Hinduism), makes space for new life to prosper. Can I dance His dance, and experience renewal each and every day? Do I dare be new today? What is THIS very moment? What does it call me to be? In which way does it create me? Yes, here I am, open and free to listen.

The struggles, obligations, demands, opinions, ideas, identities, and worries we carried yesterday, are to be consumed in the holy fire of being, so that we can face this moment with the freshness and vigilance of spring. Let us taste the pure awareness of our being. Truly it is free from all these things. It wants for nothing, but simply is.

Let us allow ourselves to simply be like that. Let's die away from all the notions we have of who we are, what we want, and what Life is. Breath deeply, and experience the sensations of being. Receive them in their utter simplicity. Can we do so without adding anything? Can we do so without analyzing and labeling what right now IS? There are no questions here. There are no problems to solve. There is simply being. Movement.

There, something calls for my attention. A baby cries. Listen the sound of it. Feel the vibration of it. Welcome the experience of it. It plays with my ear. A small sensation of pain right there inside the ear. Welcome pain. How do you feel? What is your nature? I walk, feet on the floor. There is the form or the baby. How sweet. I lift it up and pull it to my chest. Sensations. Warmth. Life. I don't demand the baby to be silent. Feel the soles of the feet on the tiles. Feel the pressure of the chest against the infant. I allow it to cry for as long as it wants. I just do what I know to do, and rock it slowly back and forth. There is no hurry. I'm not trying to be in two places at once. There is only the matter of priority. The phone rings, and the food in the oven calls for my attention. I move steadily to the phone, and turn it off. How does the button feel against my finger? Smooth. I put down the crying baby on the floor, and move to the oven. Listen to the cries. They intensify, and change pitch for a while. Now, the handle of the oven. A little warm. Opening. Heat in my face. Slowly and carefully I take out the food and place it somewhere safe. Only ever one thing at a time. Always present to what happens. No demands. Simple being. No rush. There is the baby again. I walk back and start comforting it once more. Stay present to the sensations in the body, and the awareness in which all this appears. Have faith in being. Let the baby cry.

Through a Mystery the Universe of forms came into being. It expanded and created stars and galaxies. Stars died and planets were born. Simple organisms and plants were brought to life, and then more complex forms, animals, and finally beings. Was there a problem during this process? Who went through great stress to make all this happen? Naturally, and simply, all these things evolved. Through being, being came into being.

Our lives and actions are this very process, and it is still going on. Our only problem is that we do not trust it. We do not allow it to happen as it happens. We fight it. We thus rebel against the Lord, our maker. We make demands on reality, and we go to war with it, to realize our version of Life, as if we, separate from the Universe, could control it by ourselves. What happened to 'Thy will be done'?

I am not talking about passivity, but speak again about acceptance, and perspective. When does living turn into problems? Where does it happen? What is a problem? I once saw a film about newborn pikes, and how they grew into maturity, by consuming their brothers and sisters. As soon as one of the siblings had grown to be a fraction larger than the others, it ate them – swallowed them whole. In many beautiful lakes there are great pikes swimming around. Is the cannibalism of pikes a problem? Should we teach them manners?

Do we dare to let go of ego here, and see to what extent problems are made by us? Calming down, and letting go of ourselves for a while, we are given perspective. When we stand firmly in the purity and simplicity of being, it is easier to see what is what, and how we paint reality in our image, rather than the Lords. By dying away from this distortion of Truth, and by ceasing to fight the Lord's process, we become able to accept it for what it truly is. Seeing it clearly, we dare enter it, and when we become One with it, we have fully entered His Kingdom.

Feel the life-giving breath, going in and out, automatically, then ask yourself again; What is most important today?

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:26-6:27)

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself..."
(Matthew 6:33-6:34)

Honesty - The Master Solvent

A great spiritual approach is to let the things of the past fall aside for the freshness of the moment. However, at times, memories simply won't stop haunting us. What I'll write about in this post is no more than basic psychology, but perhaps it will look a little different in a spiritual context.

I recently had cause to look at one of my own memories, which, insignificant as it seemed, kept coming back to me. I see no reason to go into details, so let's just say it's a situation from my early teens where I'm given more responsibility than I can handle. I fail in an embarrassing way, and when my friends give me a hard time about it I refuse to acknowledge my ignorance, which makes the situation even worse.

Though the memory of this event has returned many times over, I didn't manage to recognize its nature, until a few weeks ago. Now, in retrospect, the heaviness, discomfort, and sadness of it is very obvious, and I can clearly see the psychological attachment I had to it. Though I barely admit it even now, I was still trying to work myself out of that situation, decades after it happened!

Basically, since it wouldn't leave me, even if it seemed a ridiculous every day event, I decided to look at the situation again. Probably due to meditation practice (mainly) I now managed to do so more honestly. Though staying alert to what IS, and stop clinging to the past, is a vital and accurate piece of spiritual advice, being HONEST, is even more important. With practice we learn to be honest in real-time, and react in tune with who we truly are, but if our memories aren't sorted out, we will have an impossible time staying present.

What I could see, and dare admit to myself, as I looked closer at that memory was: Yes, I failed. I was incompetent. I couldn't manage the simple task I was given, and I did handle it badly. When my friends challenged me and teased me about it they were mean and immature, and I was saddened by how they were treating me. It hurt. The whole situation really hurt. So I wept now, 25 years after it happened, and the angel of Honesty relieved me of my pain.

This was a truly distinct episode of healing. The heaviness of that event was reduced to a very light and very thin papery file in the cabinet of my memories, which I can now bring out and look at without any sort of emotional load attached to it. The difference is quite remarkable. I know it will no longer disturb me.

When we go through such an act of honesty once, we are given a bottle of the greatest solvent of all, which we may use many times over if need be, and perhaps even bring up Live. Staying present is the very opposite of looking away. Staying present is looking pain straight in the face and saying; I can handle you, because I now accept you. I am open to your terrible gaze, and I will not deny what you do to me. That is how the wrath of the Lord is washed away and how His light becomes clear to us. It may take three days on the Cross, but fore Heaven's sake, it is worth it.

The Eternal Subject

We have this idea that we can study life and reality. But while doing so we forget that our closest access to Life is not the object of our studies, but the one who studies. The act of studying is Reality and Life in progress. It is a live, first-person perspective of Life. The greatest way to understand Life is to observe observation and to be aware of awareness. It is Meditation.

This experience of awareness, which is what lets us know that we are, is not an object but a subject. It is actually misleading to say a subject, because then we pin it down, and regard it as an object. When we picture ourselves as objects, we move from the experience of being, into thinking about being, which is hugely different, and may be very misleading.

Awareness (subject), as we experience it, without thinking about it, really has no form. Looking in the mirror we see a body, but that form is nothing like the experience of awareness. Cutting a head open we see a brain, but that form is nothing like awareness either. When someone pinches our arms, or tickles our feet, we are aware of it. If someone bangs our heads to the wall we might lose conscious awareness for a while, and so we tend to draw the conclusion that awareness is in our brains. But is that really the case?

If we pull the pedals out of a car it no longer functions, but does that mean its ability to move is in the pedals? What else is required to make the car move? When we split reality into objects we attribute functions to objects. We say that lamps shine, plants grow, and that cows produce milk, but is that really the case? To produce the thoughts which rise in your consciousness right now, what do you need?

Water, food (plants/animals), sunlight, heat, gravity, electricity, an atmosphere, oxygen, space, a planet. These are some of the constituents of a human being. We can lose our eyes, our legs, a kidney, our memory, even our sanity, and yet survive. But if we lose any of the above, we instantly die. If it wasn't for these and the context we find ourselves in (the input) neither thoughts nor emotions would appear. Isolate a brain in the remotes of space, and I can assure you, it would neither think nor show signs of awareness. Without oxygen most car engines don't work, and without a ground on which to roll, wheels don't do much good. Lamps can't produce light. Lamps can only channel the electricity and power of the Universe and help produce light. That is what lamps do.

Looking at the world through a tube doesn't make us the tube. Feeling the heat upon the skin, doesn't make us the skin. We now go back to awareness, the very thing that tells us that there is being - I AM. But what is it that IS... aware? Instead of looking at awareness like an object, know it as subject. Experience awareness, which is you. Try to stay aware of awareness while objects and thoughts come and go. Do this often, and don't answer the question about what subject is, with your mind, because you can't grasp your Self like that. You cannot catch your own tail.

Awareness is acquainted through awareness. By paying attention to the infant of you, you incite it into communication and growth. A new, ancient root is waiting to be rediscovered. It yearns to sprout into its fullness of being – what we may call, The Christ inside.

When we no longer allow the forms of the world to bewitch us, we rest in the Oneness of Him.

By Paul:

“For we have many parts in one body, but these parts do not all have the same function. In the same way, even though we are many people, we are one body in the Messiah and individual parts connected to each other.” (Romans 12:5)

By Lao-Tzu (Approx 4-6^th century B.C.)
"The reason that can be reasoned is not the eternal Reason.
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The Unameable is of heaven and earth the beginning.
The Nameable becomes of the ten thousand things the mother.
Therefore it is said:

'He who desireless is found
The spiritual of the world will sound.
But he who by desire is bound
Sees the mere shell of things around.'

These two things are the same in source
but different in name.
Their sameness is called a mystery.
Indeed, it is the mystery of mysteries.
It is the door of all spirituality. "

(Lao-Tzu. “Reason's Realisation”. The Teachings of Lao-Tzu, The Tao Te Ching. Rider. Singapore. Revised edition. 1999 Paul Carus. p.30)

The Weakness of Spiritual Teachings

Those who could profit most from spiritual teaching have no chance to grasp them, and those who no longer need the teachings, are the only ones who fully comprehend their message. If you have never seen a forest, or a plant, it is impossible to make sense of the green parts on the map. You can stare at them for hours on end, and yet, you will only delude yourself while trying to understand them.

We have all been invited to the greatest party of all, but it seems the Host wrote encrypted invitation cards, and has only delivered the key to a lucky few. Most of us have no clue as to where or when the party is held. Now how do we get hold of this code key?

Can we trust those who claim to have it? Can, yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. Walk instead into that silent meadow, where the Manor of our Host is situated, and sit down upon the grass before His doorstep, and wait patiently. If He doesn't open the door, come back again, and do so regularly until you receive it. Don't shout, demand nothing, and expect nothing, because He can't stand ungrateful guests. Just remain perfectly still, and as silent as you possibly can. With some luck, He will allow your presence, and He can't hide in that House of His forever, can he?

When it comes to pass, that you make out His silhouette through the window by the door, something will happen inside of you that you cannot explain, and going back to that card of invitation, it will suddenly make sense to you. Though the words looked like real words even before, you will now see that though you could read them, you missed out on their meaning. You may now read them for the first time, and they will tell you what you already know. Because in that brief glance of the Host, something utterly silent was communicated, and in you the full invitation is now made visible - written on your very being. Reading the card will pull these words from your innermost self and into your mind, so that they may make sense also on that level. Welcome to the party!

On these issues Paul writes very well:

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it..." (1 Corinthians 3:2)

A 14^th century Zen Buddhist Master puts it this way:

“Even if, for example, one were to read a thousand sutras and ten thousand sastas, if the Dharma eye has not been opened, this Buddha wisdom would not be clear. One who has not clearly penetrated Buddha wisdom will not understand even one line of sutra.”

(Zen Mater Bassui. “Know Your Inherit Nature Before Studying the Scriptures.” Mud & Water. Wisdom Publications, Boston, Revised and expanded edition. 2002 Arthur Braverman. p.89)

If, before this experience, you find something intriguing, exciting, slightly attractive, or mysterious, in spiritual scripture or teachings, stay with them, but keep them open, and keep yourself open. Don't make up your mind about them, and don't let anyone else make up your mind for you. Accept that you do not know, and seek the Lord primarily in Life rather than in Scripture. A straw of grass, on the lawn outside the Church building, has more Truth and substance than the entire Bible. Touch the hand of another human being once, and you will have come closer to the Truth than you will through a lifetime of lofty ideas and thinking.

No book in the world can affect The Lord's presence and infinite being. If we'd rather read a tourist guide to Mount Everest than climbing the Mountain, we can do so, but though very importantly, it can direct us to the tracks most suitable for climbing, it does a poor job with replacing the experience of the Mountain, which, we have to understand, doesn't come or go with books or words.

Practice Timelessly

Heaven doesn't reward what we have done in the past, nor does it reward what we intend to do tomorrow. What do I mean by this? Do all our charity work, and hours of prayer/meditation count for nothing? Yes, in short, that is what I mean.

Years of spiritual practice or conduct will of course increase our chances to endure and welcome the wind of transformation when it comes, but if we're in that mind-set of gathering grace, for our future blessing, we are severely mistaken. They do not accept hand luggage on the Flight to Heaven. To enter that plane of communion we must be stripped naked.

With thoughts like “If I only pray regularly, and meditate every day”, I must surely reach enlightenment/salvation in this life”, or “I have been far to sloppy with my abstinence or fasting lately to expect any kind of progress” we bring Time into the equation. This is bad practice. It is weakness of faith, and it is aiming falsely. The actions of the Lord require no time.

When you look to the future for freedom, or take refuge in the past, you leave the one and only place where Life IS, and where awakening is possible – Here and Now. What you did last week, or the minute before this one, is of no consequence in this context. God, I dare say, will forgive the most hideous error or crime in a second. It is not “He” but We, that hinder His Light. We must find the courage to believe this, and to forgive ourselves, and that's the one and only tricky part.

 

Spiritual discipline, and a religious way of life, are not there to merit our future salvation. We practice and live this way to improve our relation to the NOW (Life). Whatever our self-judgment, whatever our doubts, we should let go of them and re-enter Being (here) at once. Here is where the Lord awaits us, here is where He invites us, and here is where we may chose to strip naked (sacrifice our egos) before Him. Nothing we did in the past have the power to stop this from happening, but for the mental bonds of faithlessness that cause us to hide in Time.

In essence, there is no distance to The Lord. Walking there takes no time. He is not even a step away. With a single leap of faith right now, we can skip decades of arduous practice. Trust the fullness of this moment. Give yourself to this place. We have always stood, and are still standing, by the Altar of the Lord. Do we have the faith and courage to "expose our necks" and let it happen – to let that happen which The Lord brings, whatever it may be?

Okay then, so we struggle some more and we suffer some more, but we are lost when we look to the future for our salvation, and we are of little faith until we can shed our savings on the doorstep of every day and moment, because “...surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19)

or as Paul writes: “...I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

It is better that we return to this now (the presence of the Lord), if only for a second, than make up plans for a future in perfect virtue. Fall into the deepest pit of Sin, it doesn't matter. If we re-enter this now in faith and fully undressed (of us), the Lord will welcome us with all of His Love, and embrace us as if we were (in our capacity of) His One and only Son. I will even claim that; if we come with empty hands, He is unable to deny us.

The Ways of Knowing and Unknowing

"Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness.", says the legendary Bodhidharma.

Jesus puts it like this: “"I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants...” (Matthew 11:25)

With infants he means those who keep their minds free from conceptual thoughts and judgment – those who manage to enter every day and moment as if they had just been born. Here follows an attempt to demonstrate the weakness and limitations of conventional knowledge, and an invitation to un-know the world in our minds, which is the world of separation, and the world of yesterday.

Imagine for a while that the gray area above represents the “empty” Universe. In this example it is all that exists. Even the beholder of this unknown reality is part of the grayness. There is nothing we can say about this Universe. There is nothing to make out, no context, no nothing. We do not even understand it as gray, because this is all we “know”.

Now we add something for the sake of perspective. Looking at the Universe this way we suddenly have a world of form - a world of concepts. The gray area in the middle remains untouched and unchanged, but the surroundings are different. Looking at this we now understand the unknown grayness as bright. This is how we perceive it. The surroundings we understand as dark. Observe that these two definitions appear together. By separating one from the other, two identities emerge. Brightness and darkness can only be understood when they exist together. They are dependent on each other.

What if we had added something else? While the gray area in the middle is still unchanged, we now understand it as dark. Dark, is how we perceive it, but what is its true nature? Is it bright or dark? We can point to it and call it dark, but do we now actually know this unknown “stuff” of our Universe? Its character seems to change with the alterations of its surroundings.

What about this? Another context and a new number of descriptions are suddenly possible. Our non-changing grayness can now be understood as calm, pale, boring, sharp, uniform etc, and yet it remains completely unchanged. This is something we can experience in real life too. We walk along, feeling fine, and comfortably dressed, when we happen to enter a fancy store or restaurant. Suddenly we become very aware of our clothes, and how bland or sloppy they feel. As the context changes so does our self image.

Observe that the noisy, vivid background in this example needs the straight grey to be understood as such. If our entire Universe was noisy and vivid, we would never know it. It would simple be, as it is. (It is not the case that it would truly be noisy and vivid beyond our understanding of it. Without any other element to inter-exist with, such characteristics as noisy and vivid simply do not exist.)

Exploring the world through our senses and understanding it through our minds, we are confined to this domain of relative conclusions. We are limited to a dualistic image of the world and life in general. We do not make our verdicts about the objects we encounter based on the immidiate surroundings alone. We compare also with of our entire culture of memories, and so we can relax our experience in the fancy boutique with memories of the bums in the street and our circle of similarly dressed friends. In such a way we get a wider perspective - a bigger picture, but it is still based on the same relative understanding.

(There are also the actual illusions of vision to take into account. Do the many grey discs in the image above have the same value and color?)

So, what is the true nature of this stuff, which we cannot truly see? Is there a way to understand this unknown grayness of our symbolic Universe in a more Absolute fashion? Can we know at all without the help of dualistic comparison?

Well, there are those who say we can. By spending time with stillness and silence, one can become aquainted with it. By beholding the world without prejudice, criticism, and labelling, and accepting what IS, one can ”see” beyond the concepts of the mind. This is the way of Unknowing, which has been advocated by Mystics in the East and West for millenia. It is the way of mindfulness and meditation, and holistic communion with reality itself. It is a completely wordless way of penetrating into the core and mystery of Being itself.

Look again. What do you perceive? If you cannot go to your mind, memories or feelings to tell you what you are, then what ARE you?

I'll end this post with a suggestion, or perhaps it is only some questions: What if the essence (grayness) of God is so dynamic in its nature, that it can be perceived in a multitude of different ways? What if no actual change is required to bring variation/creation about? What if the entire Universe is only a matter of perspective?... one's set of mind.

Disarming the Gorillas of Life

All spiritual traditions advocate detachment, or non-attachment, as it is sometimes called. Spiritual teachers, contemporary, and from the past, all have different ways to explain and express this very important principle of religious practice/conduct. Zen Master Bassui says we shall walk through this world as if it was a village ridden with pestilence (touch nothing), and Jesus expresses it even more radically when he states: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as his own life, he can't be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)

Like all spiritual teachings these are pointers meant for investigation and guidance. If they are understood as truth in themselves misunderstandings are inevitable. It would certainly be very stupid to love our enemies while simultaneously hating our families. What then, do they mean? And why should we detach ourselves from life and the many gifts of our Lord?

Just like the fish cannot know what water is, since it is constantly submerged in it, we cannot know what life is, until we (to some level) become free from it. When it happens, that we come to see life, not from a point of being submerged in it, but from a point of detachment, it is truly a fabulous revelation. Great unstoppable laughter is then likely to erupt, because the strangeness of life, and the incredible reality of its being, is pure awe and tremendous joy. In amazement we look around, and for the first time we become fully aware of the fact that; this really is! Just like fire is unaware of heat, we are not fully aware us, and if we cannot know our own nature, then how will we ever know the Lord, in whose mysterious image we're created? As it is, we are far too involved in the details and desires of daily life, to manage any kind of perspective.

Let's put it this way. To become free from the leashes of earthly life, we must neither desire, nor repel the phenomena and objects we here encounter. Neither negatively or positively charged energy can create the stillness and spaciousness required for perspective. Only when the energies of life are allowed to flow freely through us, without clinging to our consciousness, can we hope to elevate ourselves enough from the stickiness of the world, to experience what we are.

The more we have invested (of ourselves) in this world, the less willing we will be to let go of it. While the mind wrestles with the wraiths of impermanence, in its futile attempts to gain control (over the targets of its fear), and while we struggle to become (accepted or important in the eyes of others) we grasp continuously at the foundation of relative existence. The Absolute thus remains unknown.

I get this picture of an enormous, self-governed, artificial intelligence which reaches out (with one of its numerous antennas of sense) and connects to a tiny box within which a simple computer-game is running. Attracted to that game of climbing ladders, jumping barrels, and saving damsels in distress, the antenna inside the box forgets its greater self (the Master AI) and freedom. It now fears the digital barrels, and the screams of the damsel keeps it busy climbing ladders and collecting points. What in this situation would give it the courage and space to pause for a while, and remember its true nature?

It cannot stop the barrels from rolling, and therefore it must accept them. Not fear, not hate, not repel, but accept them. Love is even better. Save the damsel, love the damsel, but let go of possessive desire. (More about love in a later blog-post). Hiding, or bailing out from life is a repellent, negative energy decision, which gives importance and substance to the world we are trying to transcend, so that will not work.

The only solution available is detachment. If we can learn to accept, or maybe even love, whatever we encounter in this world, while to the best of our abilities, we avoid to cling, crave, desire, hate, fear, loath, judge, or in any way become seriously involved with it, then we may reach a point where we can see within ourselves the true meaning of detachment, and how it strangely enough takes us deeper into existence, and into the very soul of things..

With experience, faith gets stronger, and as the presence of the Lord becomes increasingly clear, so does our house on the rock, which no wind in the world can move. Only from there, true detachment, and fearless, unconditional love is possible.

Set God Free!

It seems to me that most people who look for God doesn't really look for God, but rather their expectations of “Him”. It seems to me they are looking for some kind of super-parent, which will never fail them, and who is always perfectly just. Seeking God with these kinds of preconceptions (desires) might send us on the way, but they will not help us find Truth.
 

God, as we think of Him, is only an idea. It is a human concept, and to a great extent, a human invention. However, this concept points to, and directs us towards the One Ultimate Reality, which our minds cannot grasp, hold, or understand.

Though icons and inner images of the Lord may serve very well to ignite the energy, love, and desire for God or Truth, necessary to begin the transformational process, these should never be confused with the unfathomable mystery of God's infinite being. Any idea or portrait of God, no matter how sublime, risk reducing The Lord to an object of the mind, which is even worse than believing the blue areas on a map to equal the ocean. Until we have actually swam or dipped our toes in the ocean, our minds will try to make sense of those blue areas. Struggling to understand them as they would any other thing, our minds will keep searching in the completely wrong place and way. Until the point of actual contact there simply is no way to know The Lord. It is better then that He remains a full mystery (an X) to the mind, and that we let Faith alone guide us.

The Bible, from which many paint their inner maps of God, is very clear about this:

“You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars--all the heavenly array--do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” (Deuteronomy 4:15-4:19)

God is not a form, and not an object. It is not the form of Jesus that constitute the Christ, but his Oneness with the essence of The Lord. Think about that for a while: Not an object? Then where IS the Lord? … and may that questions serve you well.

“Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:24)

"To Allah belongs the East and the West. Wherever you turn there is the presence of God...” (Qur'an 2:115)

As I understand it God fills every single place and thing, and that includes you and every other person and creature. He has no need to watch you from the outside, but sees you fully from the inside out. God isn't something that we find by looking for Him. God is rather what we experience when we attune our beings to His – when we step out of the way, to let His Light shine through us.

This post, this blog, contains not a single truth about the Lord. This text is a pixel on a digital map suggesting the reader to let go of God, as they think of Him, to find the Truth which beyond all concepts IS, which Christians, Jews, and Muslims have come to call God, but in Hinduism is known as Brahman, and that Buddhists (perhaps wisely) don't name at all... though I have heard many Buddhist teachers say things like 'The One Mind', 'The Source', 'The One Buddha Nature' etc, because in some way or fashion, they have a need to point towards "it".

Before Michelangelo painted 'The Creation of Adam', in the roof of the Sistine Chapel (in the early sixteenth century) the image of God as a wise bearded fellow, simply wasn't around (as far as I know). Today I guess most children start out with that picture, and some grown-ups hang on to it. That in itself is not a problem, as long as our images, no matter how refined, are understood as symbolic representations, rather than Truth. So please, don't be provoked now when I kindly claim that; God is an idea. God is a word and a concept of mind. God, as you think of Him, simply doesn't exist. Set God free from the shackles of your imagination.

“Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. He answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with a visible display. People won't be saying, 'Look! Here it is!' or 'There it is!' because now the kingdom of God is among you." (Luke 17:20-17:21)

Sex and Surrender

In instructions of spiritual nature we are commonly advised to let go, to surrender, to die away from, to empty ourselves, and so on. This seems to be the one trick before all others. Even the “Thy will be done” of our Lord's prayer, points to this letting go. I recently came to think about a situation, which could shed some light over what it is to let go. It is hopefully a situation which people can relate to, and a context in which many of us have had some kind of experience with surrendering. Let's talk about sex for a while.

From the perspective of a heterosexual male: When young (typically) and inexperienced, we tend to perform the sexual act with a lot of ideas and demands upon ourselves. We want to make an impression, and we want our partner to be a hundred percent satisfied with what we do (in bed). There is nervousness about keeping it up, doing it right, and finishing off too early. There might be concerns about length, looks, and tons of other stuff which may cause rigidity (of the undesired sort).

As important as these initiations are, they usually don't live up to our later ideas of great sex. However, with experience, and especially in lasting sexual relationships, we begin to relax about it. We learn to know that we are able. We have had some peak moments, and some rather mundane episodes as well. Having sex is no longer such a big deal, and if we don't manage to bring our partner to orgasm it is not the end or the world.

It may then happen that we manage to enter the sexual act without presumptions, or demands on ourselves or our partner. It may be that we trust our bodies to know what to do, and then we simply let go into it. At that moment we become sex – we become the love in sex. It is no longer a matter of you performing sex, but sex is performing you. This is where, in the midst of true ecstasy, you surprise yourself with having multiple ejection-free orgasms, and sounding like a werewolf. It is a ride, rather than a work towards that final reward.

Sex of course is typically rather pleasant, and it is therefore comparatively easy to let go into, but those who have this experience might benefit from it in other situations as well. There are some things that must fall into place for letting go to happen. We have to drop our demands on others, and reality itself. We have to trust the Universe and ourselves to know what to do, and we must know that if things don't go the way we like them to, it isn't the end of the world. In the sexual act we are hopefully present enough to forget our calendars and worldly concerns for a while, and that goes for other situations too. If we wish to experience surrender, we can't keep the whole world on our shoulders while hoping for it to happen.

Letting go is not an act. It is not something that you do. It is what happens when you no longer protect yourself, when you no longer try to control the world, when you no longer demand things of the world, and when you no longer fear the result of that lack of action on your part. Shortly put; it is Faith.

We may feel as we are welcoming, open, and okay with the situation, but when you happen upon a highlight in meditation, or a change of perspective during a silent retreat, it becomes more than obvious that in our normal mode of daily life, the vast majority of us is in constant protection, constant distrust, and constant manipulation of the world and others.

Without a doubt; There is a terrible and humongous need of letting go. This, we can all practice.

Blessed Are the Poor No More

Jesus says it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. So poverty should be better, if one aims for those gates of liberty. One must remember though, that in the days of Jesus, those who were poor remained poor, and they had basically no chance to escape poverty. People inherited their social status, and having a career was simply not an option for the poor back then. They had to accept their lot in life, and do the best they could of it.

Today, at least in the west, and increasingly in other parts of the world, the poor do not necessarily accept poverty. They may win a lottery, they may be selected to partake in a television show which brings them fame (and fortune), or they might through arduous work and luck, escape their unfortunate inheritance. This new situation makes for a completely different mental climate.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7) Jesus makes an important distinction. He say “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is not primarily physical poverty that matters, but a poverty in spirit. So, we ask ourselves, What is a poor spirit? This is how I understand it:

A wealthy man, does not only have money in the bank, or in property etc. He also carries his money mentally. He thinks of himself as rich. Wealth has become part of his identity – his sense of self. If he loses his money he feels like less of a man. He has made money important to his mental balance.

One can say that from the pure state of being, just the simple I AM, the wealthy person typically adds: I AM rich... not only in conversation, but also in self-identification. He is no longer poor in spirit. This addition to the pure awareness (consciousness) that we enter life with, can happen in many other areas as well, and it seems that that is exactly what most of us is keeping busy with – to add something to our sense of self. It might be things like: I am famous, I am powerful, I am skilled in this or that, I am well educated, I am physically strong, I am beautiful, I am just, I am spiritually advanced, or perhaps something like; 'at least I'm not like him/her'.

The spiritual path is exactly the opposite of this. While you may paint, for example, you do not mentally make yourself into an Artist. In conversation you may present yourself as an artist, so that people understand what you do, but you do not add it to your sense of self. You settle with I AM. You may be: I AM painting, or I AM framing this drawing, but you never try to become anything else but Being. You remain poor in spirit. While one paints for an exhibition and gathers a number of successful paintings in the studio, it is easy to begin this adding in the mind. One may start to envision (fantasize) about how the exhibition will bring great recognition, great sales, and perhaps even glory, but this too is adding to being. Every single painting, every single stroke, must be made from scratch, from a mental point of zero. There is no building to life, because in the end it all comes down again. Mental structures crumble just as physical ones, but unlike the physical buildings they hinder our way to The Lord.

The Lord IS. Life IS. Consciousness IS. It isn't this or that. When we try to become anything but being, we are busy carving our own domain – our own reality and tower. Regardless of our level of success, it is a bleak and tiny castle in the halls of the Universe. This occupation of enhancing the Ego is, in mythological language, our disobedience of the laws of Paradise. It is idolatry and the foundation of Sin. Because of it, we are expelled from the presence of the Lord.

The poor are blessed no more, because they are now entitled to that same dream of becoming – of rising above their fellow men, and to hide from the nakedness of being. Though material wealth doesn't equal wealth in the spirit, it is almost impossible to stay mentally untainted by it. Let us now look at ourselves and ask the question: What do I fear losing the most? Which losses would make me feel less of a man or woman? Behind what walls or subtle curtains do I hide my poverty?

“...and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

God the Snowball

The idea or principle of Oneness is hard to fathom for many people. How can The Lord (the Absolute) be one with the human level (the relative)? For ages Christian theologists have pondered the mystery of Christ. How can a being be God and human at the same time? How can God be both Father and Son, while yet undivided in essence? When this is made into a problem I believe it is because we investigate at the same level, and think of God much as any other object, only greater. In that way we find no satisfying answer to the question. However, if we consider the infinite nature of The Lord, other ways of thinking are possible. I personally enjoy the picture of a snowball.

In this symbolic snowball God is the snow. A snowball is 100% snow. In fact, there is nothing else. But the snowball is not half a ball, or a cube, but also 100% a ball. That is the human level. We are form. We think of ourselves as form – physical form and mental form, body, thoughts, and emotions. While many humans are only aware of this level (the ball), spirituality begins in earnest when we also become aware of the snow (The Absolute, called God, The Lord, or Father in Christianity).

When a human completes the spiritual transformation (Jesus of Nazareth, Siddhartha Gautama, for example), they are fully aware of the sacred essence (snow) and form (ball) at the same time. They have returned to Paradise and are liberated from suffering (Dukkha). It is a true liberation because when the ball crumbles the snow remains unharmed. Identity is no longer attached to form, but is rooted fully in essence. Such persons are manifestations of The Lord on Earth – they are the ONE son of God, because they are no longer separated from Life. They are One with All. Through them form is sanctified, and the gates of the Kingdom opened.

It is important to understand, that this essence (the snow) is not something that exists solely in holy persons, or in the Messiah only. Jesus may have been born into this state of freedom, but it is not restricted to him alone. He invites us into his presence and being “...that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). When the ball crumbles the snow remains.

This believing is of course more than just finding the concept of God believable. The believing that Jesus as Christ is taking about means to trust, and to follow. It includes action and a new approach to life. If a person tells you there is a great treasure behind the corner, you can't just say; I believe you. To find it, you have to actually walk there and bring it home. If you stay put, you do not actually believe that person, and if you don't go there, you can't expect to receive it.

To become aware of the essence of our being, to experience the snow, our obsession with form must fade. That is, as long as we keep feeding our form-hungry egos, as if they were the one truth and lord of Life, we will remain in hiding, and the Lord will not know us. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

Come naked (stripped of ego) before The Lord, and “He” will make Himself known to you. He will even help you undress if you let him. If you believe.

The Meaning of Life Undressed

One of the things that characterizes human beings, is our ability to make sophisticated tools, and to plan for the future. It is not strange then, that we tend to think in terms of meaning and purpose. The purpose of bricks is to build, and the purpose of bows is to hunt or kill. The meaning of gathering and sowing is to eat. However, when we bring this idea of purpose and meaning to Life itself, I believe we are severely mistaken. When we ask for the meaning of life, we reduce Life itself to a means.

While we surround ourselves with tools and gadgets that are means to various ends, Being itself is not. And that is what makes it sacred. Sacred “things” has no meaning. By merely existing they constitute value. They do not need a function. Whenever we mistake a means for an end we are deceived. People who look for fame, wealth, or power in themselves are always disappointed. These are tools that can increase our options in life, but they can't provide a sense of fullness. They are not sacred.

Life, the greatest of miracles and gifts, is in itself a far greater treasure than anything we may acquire once we live and breath. It is the foundation of all other joys. When we truly live, in moments of contentment and happiness, we don't ask for meaning, but when we look out from our seemingly isolated and small place in the Universe, we come to wonder, what is the meaning of it all?

To find an answer to that question, there need to be a plan or a decision involved. That question requires a Creator that produces Life with an intention. (Random example: Souls are intended to go through life and hardships so that they may be purified.) When we think like that, we reduce Life and God to a human level of thinking. We reduce the sacredness of Life to a means. It becomes a mere path to another, yet untasted Mystery. It is also a rather barbaric vision of the Lord, who would in reality say: “Let's put these beings through wars and bloody conflict through thousands of years. Let's have children abused, teenagers trapped in drug-addiction and prostitution, prisoners tortured for decades, and babies crippled from nuclear mutation, just to make them worthy of my Kingdom.”

Some people look on other people as tools. They think of others in terms of production-value, entertainment-value, pleasure-value, cost etc. Fortunately there are many who recognize the sacredness of life, and thus in societies where it is possible, we let the mute, lame and wheel-chaired ones, who contribute to no work or service, remain with us. By their very existence they constitute Presence. They express the Sacred. This is what our Birth means. As we come into Life our value is already full. There is nothing we must do to deserve it. I will repeat that statement: There is NOTHING you must do to deserve value. Whatever you do, you cannot be less than others. Cultures which deny this principle are already lost, or immature.

Life IS Meaning. When we mentally come to experience our full integration with Life – our fullness of Being, we cease to question the meaning. The question evaporates, so to speak, because whatever we were lacking, whatever we sought to fill the void in ourselves, is no longer missing. As we go from “having a life” to “being Life” the idea of purpose vanishes. When we truly ARE, there are no such questions left. That is what the spiritual journey is all about – to know and merge with what already IS.

If you look for a meaning, it means you have not yet come to recognize your fullness. You are still struggling to become – to understand. Know then, that even if you cannot feel it at the moment, you already ARE, and the understanding you seek is not to be found in books or blogs like this one, but in your very Self. It is not a matter of words or concepts, but has to do fully with Being. As your mind struggles to get things in order, and as your emotions accompany its tune, Life is shouting from within – Hey, I'm already here! Know me! I am everywhere.