(no subject)
And so further along the bunny trail is there really a trail at all? Sometimes I think I depend on Ramana too much for the answers and he would say something like this:
"The three states come and go, but you are always there. It is like a cinema. The screen is always there. Several types of pictures appear on the screen and disappear. Nothing sticks to the screen; it remains a screen. Similarly, you remain your own Self in all the three states. If you know that, the three states will not trouble you, just as the pictures which appear on the screen do not stick to it. That means that the three states will not stick to you."
(Bhagavan in 'Letters from Sri Ramanasramam' 183)
Ok, maybe you have had a taste of THAT but has it made life any better? Well, by definition here, life and the related adventures would just be grand old fireworks appearing and disappearing on an eternal screen so how could the scenes get any better? In that context, life would indeed be a great big play of imagination and, yes, that includes the seeker who thinks he/she needs to return to or attain some form of true happiness or nature. I think we used to call that a "trip" back in the day. Is it all a big old mind trip? Well, the only way to see is to follow the prescribed practice of whatever teacher is appearing to you and see for yourself and, yes, even that is a game of sorts. Can awareness be more aware? Can the eternal Self become the eternal Self? No, it seems that has been the substratum all along, doesn't it? And, from what I can tell, it doesn't really have an agenda or worry about any-thing that is passing in that big ol'sky because even the agendas and worries ARE passing through that big ol' sky. The Zen metaphor of clouds becomes very apt and I often think of Alfred E. Neuman saying, "What me worry?" Are you really worrying or is that simply a ripple in the pond? (notice no movement ever lasts and appears and disappears in the same silent sky) And, what about fear? (chants "can the seer be the seen?" three times and runs around the hypothetical room) "Woooo Doggie," Jed would say.... (pauses for a smoke)
Ummm, so what is the real problem, dude? I've pondered this lately as well as the concepts of vasanas and samskaras and have come to see these hypothetical problems and sticky patterns kind of like straws you might cling to keep from sinking into the ocean and, thus, the only real problem is our refusal to let them go. And, of course, the irony is that all of these movements are totally transparent to begin with so, as Papaji might say, "Nothing has ever happened!" No-thing may seem like a huge pill to choke down but aren't all things mirages appearing in the shimmering heat? Impermanence is not hard to prove and the scenes are ever changing but they simply do not last. That said, they sure do garner our attention and seem real but, ultimately, no-thing is real in the sense that it will endure forever. And so does the Self finally become disenchanted from the endless dreaming(s) and say, "Hey, wait a fuggin' minute!" I dunno but I can say I feel a certain disenchantment with fleeting scenes and have always felt as if this whole show was heavy on the surreal. It has seemed like many things at many differing stages but all of them vanish like a rabbit in a puff of smoke. Today with all of its majestic invention comes and today with all of that happening goes. I cannot call it real if it appears and disappear and so that must mean I am there to note all the comings and goings and so naturally the obsession turns to this unflinching I (eye). However, at the same time, it is often like you're still plugged into the magic show also. It's almost like a prior investment or perhaps the conditioning many sages have spoke of. Ramana once said the mind spread outwards like a spider spinning a cosmic web and, yes, it seems as if it is these threads or straws that one should examine. Maybe it's like the songbird who has constructed its own cage and yet the entire cage is utterly conceptual. It certainly is a vivid magic and yet one day you realize that is all it can be due to impermanence. Where can you stand now? Who can you be that doesn't vanish? Have you ever been an actual object in space-time? Who knows the presence that is prior to all of these constructs? Who is this "me"? Furthermore, how does one find out? All of the sages pretty much agree on this one thing;
Keep quiet and look to where the thoughts and energies are arising from. Take a look and see...
This what I've been working with. Learning to observe what is observing. Learning to refocus. Learning to love that great peace. Learning to trust and say ok completely. Still, learning could also be said to be like unlearning as there is this sense of just letting all the straws go and coming apart completely. Life is fine in this and will go on being what a life is being but is that passing pageant "me"? And am I the doer or the dreamer or simply undefinable as any passing thing? Some days all of this talk almost seems like a denial of living itself but you have to put the show in the context of what remains after the show has long gone on. It's ok to know the dream is a dream and enjoy it in that context but I think that maybe it is better to know what always remains. And so I will pause here on that enduring note from which all the other notes spring. Yep, the usual donut with the three good dogs... Love them babies!
"The three states come and go, but you are always there. It is like a cinema. The screen is always there. Several types of pictures appear on the screen and disappear. Nothing sticks to the screen; it remains a screen. Similarly, you remain your own Self in all the three states. If you know that, the three states will not trouble you, just as the pictures which appear on the screen do not stick to it. That means that the three states will not stick to you."
(Bhagavan in 'Letters from Sri Ramanasramam' 183)
Ok, maybe you have had a taste of THAT but has it made life any better? Well, by definition here, life and the related adventures would just be grand old fireworks appearing and disappearing on an eternal screen so how could the scenes get any better? In that context, life would indeed be a great big play of imagination and, yes, that includes the seeker who thinks he/she needs to return to or attain some form of true happiness or nature. I think we used to call that a "trip" back in the day. Is it all a big old mind trip? Well, the only way to see is to follow the prescribed practice of whatever teacher is appearing to you and see for yourself and, yes, even that is a game of sorts. Can awareness be more aware? Can the eternal Self become the eternal Self? No, it seems that has been the substratum all along, doesn't it? And, from what I can tell, it doesn't really have an agenda or worry about any-thing that is passing in that big ol'sky because even the agendas and worries ARE passing through that big ol' sky. The Zen metaphor of clouds becomes very apt and I often think of Alfred E. Neuman saying, "What me worry?" Are you really worrying or is that simply a ripple in the pond? (notice no movement ever lasts and appears and disappears in the same silent sky) And, what about fear? (chants "can the seer be the seen?" three times and runs around the hypothetical room) "Woooo Doggie," Jed would say.... (pauses for a smoke)
Ummm, so what is the real problem, dude? I've pondered this lately as well as the concepts of vasanas and samskaras and have come to see these hypothetical problems and sticky patterns kind of like straws you might cling to keep from sinking into the ocean and, thus, the only real problem is our refusal to let them go. And, of course, the irony is that all of these movements are totally transparent to begin with so, as Papaji might say, "Nothing has ever happened!" No-thing may seem like a huge pill to choke down but aren't all things mirages appearing in the shimmering heat? Impermanence is not hard to prove and the scenes are ever changing but they simply do not last. That said, they sure do garner our attention and seem real but, ultimately, no-thing is real in the sense that it will endure forever. And so does the Self finally become disenchanted from the endless dreaming(s) and say, "Hey, wait a fuggin' minute!" I dunno but I can say I feel a certain disenchantment with fleeting scenes and have always felt as if this whole show was heavy on the surreal. It has seemed like many things at many differing stages but all of them vanish like a rabbit in a puff of smoke. Today with all of its majestic invention comes and today with all of that happening goes. I cannot call it real if it appears and disappear and so that must mean I am there to note all the comings and goings and so naturally the obsession turns to this unflinching I (eye). However, at the same time, it is often like you're still plugged into the magic show also. It's almost like a prior investment or perhaps the conditioning many sages have spoke of. Ramana once said the mind spread outwards like a spider spinning a cosmic web and, yes, it seems as if it is these threads or straws that one should examine. Maybe it's like the songbird who has constructed its own cage and yet the entire cage is utterly conceptual. It certainly is a vivid magic and yet one day you realize that is all it can be due to impermanence. Where can you stand now? Who can you be that doesn't vanish? Have you ever been an actual object in space-time? Who knows the presence that is prior to all of these constructs? Who is this "me"? Furthermore, how does one find out? All of the sages pretty much agree on this one thing;
Keep quiet and look to where the thoughts and energies are arising from. Take a look and see...
This what I've been working with. Learning to observe what is observing. Learning to refocus. Learning to love that great peace. Learning to trust and say ok completely. Still, learning could also be said to be like unlearning as there is this sense of just letting all the straws go and coming apart completely. Life is fine in this and will go on being what a life is being but is that passing pageant "me"? And am I the doer or the dreamer or simply undefinable as any passing thing? Some days all of this talk almost seems like a denial of living itself but you have to put the show in the context of what remains after the show has long gone on. It's ok to know the dream is a dream and enjoy it in that context but I think that maybe it is better to know what always remains. And so I will pause here on that enduring note from which all the other notes spring. Yep, the usual donut with the three good dogs... Love them babies!