Words contain the essence of thoughts as a result of a realisation of truth. Therefore, it is important to be aware that our own reality is but an interpretation of truth.
Just as the shadow is not the object and the angle of the light influences our interpretation so does our own bias influence our interpretation and view of truth.
Blog Archives
My Guide
Sitting in contemplation
Incense smoke rising
My eyes closed
Thoughts of things that matter
That had no meaning
Come to mind – clarity
The hawk drifting
In circles in front
Eyes touching
The past gone
The present now
The hawk and I are one
Through its eyes I see
The wings feel as part
When the mind is troubled the breeze is broken
When the I is calm the wind is smooth
When the me is as one the smoke drifts in a steady line
Keeping my guide with me brings me to now
Is.
Being Friends with the Person you spend the most time with – YOU.
Today I wish for all of us to make friends with our own set of aggregates.
In a visualisation of yourself, wish to you that you are well, that you are happy, that you are free from suffering and that you live at ease. Then give yourself a hug.
Being nice to yourself is a step in the right direction towards all that is good.
A’ha, its not all about me!
As we progress on our spiritual practice we have quite a few a’ha moments. These include the many and varied realisations about: our practice, our friends, our job, the nature of existence and the futility of our existential angst.
After we experience one of these moments of realisations it is common to have that self talk and self congratulation of “I have realised …”. However,,,,, the true realisations are those that are able to be experienced without the filter of perception as we see the true nature of the phenomenon that we are contemplating.
For this reason a true realisation is the furthest thing from “I” or “me” as you can get because you have managed to eliminate all of “you” in the understanding of that phenomenon. Therefore, it is not a matter of “I have realised …” or “now I understand” as that has immediately welcomed the ego dog into the process.
The true realisation is a matter of “so THAT is the nature of that phenomenon!!”. To speak of that understanding is to bring the perception and filter of language. To speak of that realisation in specifics is to bring the ego back and to drive away the realisation.
To hear, to know, to realise.
Words contain t…
Intention
Today as the Sunday sun rises and announces a new day in whichever part of the world you might be in. Take the time to be thankful for whatever that you have.
If you had a place to sleep, give thanks and develop the wish for all people to have a place to sleep.
If you have food, give thanks and develop the wish for all people to have food.
If you have health, give thanks and develop the wish for all people to have health.
If you are happy and free from suffering … well, you know what to do.
When we sit to our worship and our prayers, request not for ourselves but for others that they may be well, may be happy, may be free from suffering and the causes of suffering, and may they live at ease.
Wish this for loved ones, acquaintances, those that we might call enemies, and for all those that are in times of famine, crisis or war.
This is my wish.
Mindful Absentmind
All traditions show that prayer brings you closer to the concept of God. The minimisation of the ego in order to allow the soul to soar. There is also amazing benefit in the practice of being mindful as we go through our day. Mindful of our thoughts, words and our actions.
When we learn a new activity we are mindful of our thoughts and actions until it becomes second nature. Actions such as driving a car, learning a new language, or even as a baby learning to walk. In the same way the key to removing our ego from controlling our day to day actions is to be mindful of what we think, say and do until it becomes second nature.
Start with setting aside small periods during the day such as during a meeting, or before interactions with specific people. If you know someone is going to particularly confrontational make a point of using this as an opportunity to be mindful, even develop a sense of compassion before the meeting.
From these small practice sessions will come longer periods of being absently mindful just like when you master that golf swing or have your first conversation in another language without having to resort to mental or physical dictionary.
Mindfully absentmind.
Realise the minute to know the immense
The norms of my society and culture emphasise that we must focus on the we and the I to know our place in the world. The view of us and our view of our opinion on religion, food, books, education, etc and by doing so being able to see that the we is different to the other and that the other is either: interesting and worthy of study, wrong and worthy of educating, or deviant and in need of changing.
However, it is only by looking outside of ourself and to see us with respect to the world and our very small place within it that we can truly see our place as an ant on an elephant. In this way our ego reduces the we and other to a collective “WE” and in that we way truly see our place in the world and not just our very very small concept of our world.
Wandering
Day to day we wake and ponder
Moving through the cloud of reality
With the clarity of a fast moving train
Rushing towards the next thing
To move and process and create
Our aggregates harnessed and supressed
We forget to see the context
Existing outside of our self
Forging a living removed from all
Wake up, wake up
The dreamer tells the soul
Wake up, the wanderer looks around.
Belonging
A true sense of belonging is not dependent on others.
The ability to generate loving kindness for others creates the sense of belonging.
Back to Basics and Messiahs I have known
When looking to the various traditions and the teachers that have taught lessons that have stood the test of time there appears a common theme – unity.
From Abrahams single deity to the teachings of the Buddha that we are all subject to the same natural laws, to Jesus’ rebellion against the rules of the day that only the well to do may enter the temple, to the trials of Mohammed who fought against the practice of individual deities to bring all of the tribes under a unitary system that sees different methods of worship but with one god head.
They all taught that we are all subject to a natural law regardless of our status, colour or wealth at birth and that there is a way to obtain the best from this natural law which usually involves caring for others and to eliminate the momentary bliss of physical satisfaction.
However, it is apparent that there are other teachings that speak to the ego, the sense of different, invidualism and that I am better than you because I am blessed with: wealth, colour, status, etc as a benefit of birth. Or my people are suffering because we are being tested by the one true deity over the falsehoods of your belief system. In all of these the intent of the original teachings and the historical context is overlooked, forgotten or see as irrelevant.
We are all subject to a natural spiritual law whether we believe or not in the same way that we are bound to this earth by forces of nature, whether we believe it or not.
Care for others as only through interdependence in belief and action do we maximise our existence and those around us.
RavenGuide 