Of Rubik’s Cubes that Weep, and other Christmas Presents
Hey all, this little ditty just sort of came together. Enjoy!
When you practice your practice, do not practice with the intention of attainment. Attainment does sometimes follow from practice. But this is not significant. What is significant is the practice itself. Once you have attained some state of being, you will immediately begin to cling to it. No matter how profound and expansive, or narrow and closed that state is, holding it still leads to stagnation, and you will stop developing. I do not mean to disparage such a state. There is a place for all states of being. But it is not something to glorify. For those who seek to develop and grow, the process of change is the point.
When there are too many airplanes landing at an airport the airplanes in the air will follow a holding pattern. This pattern is not a wrong thing to do. Quite the opposite! It is exactly the right thing to do, otherwise the planes would collide. Nevertheless, the passengers don’t go anywhere, they just circle around and wait. Its not bad, but its not something to prolong any longer then necessary. The state of clinging to any particular mental state is the same way. Its a holding pattern. However, you might find if you cling too long your plane will run out of gas and you’ll nosedive into the ground, always grasping at some state of profound beauty and peace high in the sky that you have lost, never to regain.
The great Mighty, of FUNKMODE.com explained this to me on an airplane ride a few weeks ago with a Rubik’s cube. A Rubik’s cube is a cube with 9 squares on each side, so if your one for numerological significance, like our flower arranger John Rider, its dimensions are 3x3x3 (but if you look you can find the same toy in larger or smaller sizes, so don’t get too bent out of shape). All squares of the cube move, except the square in the middle of each side. It is stationary. However, if the center square is stationary, and all the other squares move around it, how do you know the center is stationary? But I digress.
I hate Rubik’s cubes. I can never solve them because I always get one side or another in order and then I get stuck. How do you progress to a higher state of order when it obviously involves tearing apart the side that you’ve built up so nicely? The answer is, of course, you must tear it down, and then rebuild it, but do so in an intelligent way so that when you return you are in a more ordered state then previously. This process is repeated over and over again. The cube’s order must be destroyed and rebuilt over and over again. Each time returning to a slightly higher state of order.
Unlike a solved Rubik’s cube, the state of enlightenment cannot be described. But, when you reach a state of near enlightenment, you will not likely be in a state of profound beauty and peace. Like the Rubik’s cube, you will likely be in a state of constant, even violent flux. Thus, do not push to reach a state of bliss. No, let yourself crumble into various states of neurosis, and use your meditation techniques to transcend them. The more you become comfortable letting go of one state of being and transitioning into another, the closer you shall find yourself to the awakened state.
Eventually though, you will reach a state of almost perfect order. Now comes the hardest part. To reach a state of perfect order you must completely destroy all the work you have done, till all that remains is apparent disorder. Then out of this insanity, like a Phoenix, the perfect state is born. The Rubik’s cube is solved.
But there is one technique to solve a Rubik’s cube that unique. This way is called, “God’s Algorithm.” This technique is well and beyond more complicated and difficult then any other way to solve a Rubik’s cube. However, people who know this technique can take a Rubik’s cube from complete disorder to a solved state directly without any of the secondary steps. It is as if these people can see the solved state in any of the states of the Rubik’s cube. People who know “God’s Algorithm” can solve a Rubik’s cube in as little as 11.13 seconds! From this perspective, one might say that every state of the Rubik’s cube is an expression of the solved state. So just be done with all this bullshit and notice that your already enlightened!* Duh!
*I have never solved a Rubik’s cube with any technique, but Mighty did it during our conversation without giving it any notice or attention.
When you practice your practice, do not practice with the intention of attainment. Attainment does sometimes follow from practice. But this is not significant. What is significant is the practice itself. Once you have attained some state of being, you will immediately begin to cling to it. No matter how profound and expansive, or narrow and closed that state is, holding it still leads to stagnation, and you will stop developing. I do not mean to disparage such a state. There is a place for all states of being. But it is not something to glorify. For those who seek to develop and grow, the process of change is the point.
When there are too many airplanes landing at an airport the airplanes in the air will follow a holding pattern. This pattern is not a wrong thing to do. Quite the opposite! It is exactly the right thing to do, otherwise the planes would collide. Nevertheless, the passengers don’t go anywhere, they just circle around and wait. Its not bad, but its not something to prolong any longer then necessary. The state of clinging to any particular mental state is the same way. Its a holding pattern. However, you might find if you cling too long your plane will run out of gas and you’ll nosedive into the ground, always grasping at some state of profound beauty and peace high in the sky that you have lost, never to regain.
The great Mighty, of FUNKMODE.com explained this to me on an airplane ride a few weeks ago with a Rubik’s cube. A Rubik’s cube is a cube with 9 squares on each side, so if your one for numerological significance, like our flower arranger John Rider, its dimensions are 3x3x3 (but if you look you can find the same toy in larger or smaller sizes, so don’t get too bent out of shape). All squares of the cube move, except the square in the middle of each side. It is stationary. However, if the center square is stationary, and all the other squares move around it, how do you know the center is stationary? But I digress.
I hate Rubik’s cubes. I can never solve them because I always get one side or another in order and then I get stuck. How do you progress to a higher state of order when it obviously involves tearing apart the side that you’ve built up so nicely? The answer is, of course, you must tear it down, and then rebuild it, but do so in an intelligent way so that when you return you are in a more ordered state then previously. This process is repeated over and over again. The cube’s order must be destroyed and rebuilt over and over again. Each time returning to a slightly higher state of order.
Unlike a solved Rubik’s cube, the state of enlightenment cannot be described. But, when you reach a state of near enlightenment, you will not likely be in a state of profound beauty and peace. Like the Rubik’s cube, you will likely be in a state of constant, even violent flux. Thus, do not push to reach a state of bliss. No, let yourself crumble into various states of neurosis, and use your meditation techniques to transcend them. The more you become comfortable letting go of one state of being and transitioning into another, the closer you shall find yourself to the awakened state.
Eventually though, you will reach a state of almost perfect order. Now comes the hardest part. To reach a state of perfect order you must completely destroy all the work you have done, till all that remains is apparent disorder. Then out of this insanity, like a Phoenix, the perfect state is born. The Rubik’s cube is solved.
But there is one technique to solve a Rubik’s cube that unique. This way is called, “God’s Algorithm.” This technique is well and beyond more complicated and difficult then any other way to solve a Rubik’s cube. However, people who know this technique can take a Rubik’s cube from complete disorder to a solved state directly without any of the secondary steps. It is as if these people can see the solved state in any of the states of the Rubik’s cube. People who know “God’s Algorithm” can solve a Rubik’s cube in as little as 11.13 seconds! From this perspective, one might say that every state of the Rubik’s cube is an expression of the solved state. So just be done with all this bullshit and notice that your already enlightened!* Duh!
*I have never solved a Rubik’s cube with any technique, but Mighty did it during our conversation without giving it any notice or attention.