A Sword of Clarity

All a man opposes is a clear picture of himself. And all a woman opposes is a clear picture of herself. There resides within each human being at every moment a whole person. Only rarely does anybody meet one. That is our story up to now. 

The rest of it has been merely the babbling of idiots. People who are broken are known widely and celebrated as real people. Their portraits hang on large walls and monuments are built to their memory. We are always about to change and be a lot better in the future. For us, the idiots, we live in a world of screwballs. God is said to have made it this way for a good reason since God is good. That is the excuse of the religious or pious. If only we knew. Every war is a war to bring peace here. Every transgression necessary to catch and cage up transgressors. All a man opposes is a clear picture of himself. It seems all religions paint it that God is always on the brink of wiping out what He created because it is so terrible and probably made that way. That God is supposed to be opposing the Evil One is the business of priests. They oppose a clear picture of God for their business would simply fold up. Modern priests conjured up the military-industrial complex and the war room is their temple.

As a swan sees it God created a perfect world and humans created the Evil One by simply closing our eyes and going into prepared cages. Some go to school. Others go to factories or mines. Still others go to jails. In advanced nations most go to virtual schools, mines, factories , and jails. Rarely is found a specimen who refuses all cages and opts for life. In fact, when a simple person says “No” to cages his option is but an authentic life, clarity being the only valid sword of a true knight.

 We Wonder

We wonder why the world we live in is such a mess. We got people everywhere all over the society who are broken humans occupying positions of authority over someone else. A person who is broken cannot fix anybody else. Such a person needs absolutely to abstain from even thinking of another until he or she fixes her own brokenness. Any action such a broken person takes will go astray of the mark. No nation on Earth has ever had a leader who was not broken. Know how I know that?

As soon as a broken person is healed they know, without doubt, that nobody who is whole and unbroken will entertain even for a second the suggestion of a position of authority. The whole person knows only brothers and sisters who are doing the best they can at any moment and is clear that the only assistance he or she can give is to love that person where she or he stands. This “love thing” means simply the unbroken person is going to be true to who she or he is and treat the other as a fellow “just like me”. Sing them a song if they will listen. Otherwise, just hang as one of the crowd. Nothing need be accomplished. That is the key.

By the “key” I mean everything that needed to be accomplished has been accomplished at the beginning of the Universe. It is unfolding its way and nobody can change that. Human beings came along at exactly the correct moment to be the appreciators of the marvel.  The marvel is present that has always been. We are incapable of  change, alteration, or control of anything for we do not even know where we are nor where we are bound. The whole person has simply accepted his or her role as appreciator. It is so much fun! And it is something I do well. I cannot fuck up appreciation. It is a relief to know my job is one I am perfectly designed to perform. Millions are fucking up politics, religion, education, medicine, sports, entertainment, and all the rest of it as you read this little writing. 

For centuries priests have been playing a role as intermediators between God and you and me. Interpreters of truth. Authorities. I do not need any interpreter when I appreciate. I never have needed one. As time went by, we have substituted “professionals” of all sorts as the new “priests” to interpret truth. Nothing could be more silly. 

I do not want you to listen to me and agree with me. No. Not at all. I want you to see how interested you are in the subject and get busy finding out for yourself what is so. I have a little candle that is lit. It can light another. I just hang in the crowd.  Singing a song to you is an unlimited thing. Nobody has a corner on it. Bob Dylan showed us that. La La La.

                              A Rolling Stone

LIARS ALL!

The historian writes and publishes to eat and feed his family. He gathers a certain amount of information and analyzes that to form a theory about some happening in the past. For example, the story of Billy the Kid in New Mexico Territory in the period 1874 to 1881 falls under a broad heading of Outlaws of the Wild West. The theory, however diligently prepared, will always be inadequate for the same reason all theories are so. The historian will knowingly ignore much of what was taking place because he has no way in his science to account for them. However, what will be omitted will actually be more important to human experience than what is included in a study that may eventually find its way into a classroom of students who are supposed to be learning.  Feelings, such as childhood disappointments, abuses, kindnesses, generosities, love, friendship, praise, recognition, courage, trust, integrity and many, many more along with the interrelatedness of us all will be of little value to the historian. He will disassociate himself from the kid in order to judge him. So, what that means is that in order to publish and not to perish the historian will tell a whopper of a lie by denying the realities he is ignoring, usually because he does not want to appear to be naiive, girly, spiritual, silly, flighty, sentimental, or otherwise unacademic. The only reason he does it is because it is much more easy to arrive at a reasonably crafted version of the Kid’s life and be applauded. He works for money from the system his official story will promote.

Thousands of years ago in India living human beings asserted that in any observation and analysis the observer is the thing observed. The question of the observer will always actually be “what is my life all about?” Of course whatever answer is found in denial of the truth must be inadequate. The observer will see what he is looking for but not admit even to himself he is doing it. He lies. In this way he is an accomplice to those who want the Kid to be put away from those of us with “acceptable” behavior. How many will admit, “I am that outsider I look at”? He is paid to pretend for us that he can look at Billy the Kid as entirely separate from himself and draw an accurate picture of the boy from accounts given him by those who remember the Kid as separate from themselves. This practice is done by thinking absent the rich domain of intuition. Intuition is bad for science for it leaves no track. It is nothing short of blessed for humans however. The Great Ones, like Albert Einstein were always aware there work comes from nowhere. Do not believe me but find out for yourself what intuition has to offer  to you today.

Whenever on of us tells the truth to another the statement will leave no track in ordinary thinking because it will come out of the domain accessible only by intuition. That is why we cannot tell how a creative work has been accomplished and repeat it. Everything worthwhile and beautiful comes to us this way. This fact ought to be given prominence everyday by every human being. Instead, it is called “magical” then “pooh-poohed” and dismissed, even punished, by society. That loss to humanity is immeasurable. No experts have the numbers for it and yet all of us experience the effects constantly as we move through a typical day.

I will tell a short story from my life. I had been married with children. My wife and I were divorced. I was at my ex-wife’s house for some business we had to deal with probably involving children. She took the meeting as an opportunity to vent much anger from her past as my wife. I listened to a long series of her grievances, uncomfortably, holding my tongue and hoping she would finish and let me leave and praying not to retaliate at the time. When she paused briefly I heard my voice say “I was just doing the best I could, Pam.” That came from the dimension of intuition. It left no track. No thought had preceded it. It came. It touched something inside Pam, though. What happened next amazed me. Pam stammered a bit , emotionally, and then said, “I know you were, and I was, too.” With that, we both sat down and what followed was a truly compassionate discussion for about an hour. Lasting healing took place. To me, this memory points out the great potential unused for the most part by humans that cannot be measured. What could we be? Listening to my ex-wife’s complaints showed me relationships among them and I was able to state a truth about us all. It was the truth of human nature. We need so much more intuitive clarity of this type. It goes back to “Know Thyself”. It is incalculable how much human pain can be erased by such a simple statement as “we are all doing the best we can at each moment in time”. LOOK AT THE NEXT HUMAN  FACE YOU ENCOUNTER WITH THAT TRUTH IN MIND AND SEE SOMETHING BRAND NEW THAT LEAVES NOT A TRACE OF ITS ORIGIN. What could we be?

 

 LOVE IN ACTION

What if you were told that you are the pathway to truth? A Great Master is quoted saying “I am the truth”. Suppose he meant to give you that message to apply it for yourself? Suppose all the consciousness of humankind from its beginning is in you now. That means all that has ever been known by any human ever is your knowledge now. That means you require no teacher. It would be silly for you to go to another, personally or in a book, to be taught about you. Study, rather, yourself. Socrates said that. That is a big help if it be so. This writing cannot teach you that about yourself can it? That would be silly. But, it would be a big help if you learned it is so, would it not? That is all one can do for another and it is a good example of love in action.

This means there is nothing to experience. This is so important. If you insist on an experience you will only be the victim of another illusion projected by the confused mind that wants experiences. That must create conflict in you between the reality of who you actually are and the old belief you need teachers. You need the Great Energy of clarity. Can anyone outside you give you that? That is silly. You have it!

Clarity is something that if you do not have it nothing else matters. If you do have it, nothing else matters. You cannot afford to be without it. That is its worth. 

Some think if I have enough money I am secure. Others think if I am very famous I am secure. Others think if I am feared enough I am secure. Others think if I am connected to enough people who have fame and wealth and power I am secure. You happen to know none of these have security at all. If you know it and are living as if you do not can you really say you are living?

 The Power of Uncertainty                                                          Life is absolutely 100% uncertain!  And...

therein lies a certainty. The human mind cannot explain the cosmos so stop striving or depending on others to strive on your behalf in lab coats, libraries, and government and religious enclaves which believe they can eventually understand it while ignoring everything that makes a human being great. You will find you not only do not evaporate but you finally live free for the first time in a long time and know one thing: the persistent push to make the workings of the cosmos to be understood by us continues to make a horrible mess. How are you going to stop? Only when your own mind sees itself. How will that happen? Nobody knows. Get it?

                                            

 GATEWAY

What is meditation?

To be a light to oneself

is so very important.

To inspire oneself.

Find out for yourself.

For yourself find out how deeply interested in this you are. 

You are the world and a light unto it

there is no authority outside oneself.

There must be freedom to observe.

Take note of how many teachers or gurus want to form organizations 

even though there is no authority outside oneself.

There must be observation of the actual now not

observation from the past which form “My conclusions”

so that one sees what actually is without judgment or condemnation.

Just watch it.

Watch it flower and disappear, a beautiful thing.

This is being a light unto oneself.  One Self.

Cells of your body change. Contents of cells change.

You have found the Gateway between two worlds.

 LOVE HAS NO OPPOSITE

I now see we, humans, thought we were evolving by language, and in a sense we were, but in a sad direction of separation. We named everything. Horses do not do that. No other animal does that. By doing it, we separated everything for ourselves, not for anything else living. The others, the animals and plants that did not evolve a new language, were left out. By separating from, you make yourself the boss. You say, my horse. My cow. My dog or cat or goldfish. Your world changes in a big way. I do not have to tell anybody how that change effects a life. You know. We all still go through the change from the moment of birth. Additionally, we also changed toward each other as humans. Us and them began. Levels of a society were labeled and assigned. By power. Women were separated from men inside a world where every being has a mother by natural law. Every boy loves a mother unless he is deprived of it. By nature love comes. Love has no opposite. 

To undo the damage requires each individual to make a choice to do whatever is necessary to cut through the chains that bind. It is a great fight…the greatest. But the good news is it is a fight that, when won, ends fighting anything or anybody. 

I end this by saying the only excuse valid fior continuing the naming game is that it makes it easier to find answers to questions and that is a miserable excuse for paying such a devilish price for being right rather than happy. You see, every question answered by the shortcut happens to create more questions to be addressed and many of them will be critical. 

Alas. It will always be so that the  slow path becomes the fast way home. Love has no opposite.

A  LAZY MIND

 I heard it said, “Understanding makes the mind lazy.” I felt immediately free. From now on I want to avoid the use of the term “understand” and enjoy freedom. In a dimension of freedom from understanding or even the wish to understand may be the only intelligent place. From the outset, the word understand seems nonsensical. It would seem to encourage one to cease motion. It carries a sense that one sees something from a particular point of view and that seems unintelligent indeed! One suspects a claim to understanding has been preceded by making a judgment and taking an inflexible position about a matter that will  prevent motion and soon may become rote and lazy, preventing learning. 

Schools of thought teach one by a system of memorization and repetition. The goal is not that the student be wise or learned but that he conform to a certain way of thinking. 

One who understands me is someone whose company I wish to avoid. That includes me. So, this leads me to see that to truly understand is to question everything. This reminds me of the saying "one can never cross the same river twice”. Let me remain open.

 Hello, Darkness

What the world calls darkness might be light. What does it mean? If I make claims such as “everybody has preferences” and know only that I have them what good am I? Such teachers need to address the meaning of “preference” deeply and then ask whether anyone has need of one. It matters not that I have one if I have no need of it. Certainly everybody who follows thought as a way of life will manufacture preferences but does that amount to “it is not possible to act without thinking first”? This brings us to a place to ask: what is the nature of action not preceded by thought? If there is any such thing. In other words, what is the quality of that produced by a still mind? “Hello, Darkness, my old Friend.” Suppose for a moment that rather than thought preceding happiness it is the other way round? Happiness trumps  thought every time. What is the meaning of, ”It came to me.” In team sports it is said, “Let the game come to you.” Every time we learn a new thing we find we have stopped thinking about it. So, did we already know it? I told myself for years that I had to suffer the agony of thinking  and trying to figure a thing out in order to…deserve to know it? There is the smell of guilt all over it. It is a cousin to do not ask for help, that is cheating. And that is evil in my book. 

Let life come to you. For it is always going to be so that if I cannot be happy where I am I cannot be happy anywhere.

 MORE ON SYSTEMS

Systems are by and large dumb and dishonest. This is another way to recognize that you are involved in a system. Here are a few examples. Chris Columbus was sailing West to get to the East, he thought. He named the residents he found when he struck what is now called America Indians because he thought he was in India. Later, when it was determined Columbus was greatly in error about his whereabouts, did the system he worked for correct the error? No. Until this day the aboriginal peoples in America are called Indians. Had they been called Americans, oh boy, it would have been far more difficult to justify completely displacing them. Correct? But since they are Indians, well, Hell, they are in the wrong place. Then, when black slavery was abolished it was thought, “Hell, send them back to Africa!” They too are in the wrong place. "This land is our land!" cried the immigrant. And it has long been taught that white children are superior to black children because they make much better grades on average in school. Schools they build! Duh? All traditions assembled under any system are contradictory and confusing, and especially so for children who are not yet dumbed down. They are taught to sit in an assigned seat for up to an hour at a time without talking to a neighbor or getting up and moving about. And they are taught to be friendly and to get plenty of exercise. And to stand up for their right to be free. They are taught not to ask a neighbor child for help on a test and taught it is divine to be helpful. They are taught sex is bad and that it is the most fun there ever was. They teach children to restrain and to assert. Teach them to dress alike and to be themselves and not to be vain. Children are trained to refrain from judgement and to judge everybody. Violence is condemned except for obligations to kill when it is required. One should respect and honor all people and yet despise your rivals in every contest and think and behave as if your school is better than their school, your country is better than theirs and your family is better. You are taught to love your parents even when you do not. And on and on and on. I even once read a sign nailed to the door of a church widely attended in Austin Texas that stated If you are hungry and in need of food or you need shelter please contact the appropriate governmental authorities as we do not provide such help. It is beginning to become  commonly recognized that to be free requires one to be free from conflicting ideals. When it is widely understood there will be no one to serve in a system of any kind. Systems will be obsolete and only free humans will there be. You may think this to be impossible. It will happen when enough take the trouble to find out for themselves a way far superior to any manmade system that works for everybody because it was set by the force that made the Universe and just as possible as life on Earth itself.

 On Or Off

The system is like a bunch of roads you ask permission to walk on.That is the key to finding out you are in the system. The system is enough to make anybody sick. All know it. No argument there. But when you get sick what do you do? You turn to the system that made you sick to fix you. The system breeds crooks. That can make anybody sick. But when the crook strikes what do you do? Turn to the system that made the crook to catch the crook and make things right. The system requires everybody to have a job who is able to work or to starve. But the system sets your pay and provides that you may be fired or laid off. When you are fired what do you do? You turn to the system that fired you to put you back to work for them hoping they won’t fire you this time. How many roads must a woman walk down before you call her a woman? By the way, the wealthiest members of the system are made sick by the system so nobody who walks those roads is exempt from its many troubles. The crooks the system creates are always at work each stealing from weaker thieves than themselves, We sometimes call the troubles arising from the system the Blues. We sing, “Blues stay away from me”.  And others. But what do we do when we get the blues? Right. What else? The system. The system makes its rules for anyone to oppose it. Try it long enough, fighting the system, and you will learn that fighting it is part of the system so even if you were to win your fight you are in the system and it will not change. Wars are part of the system. Economic collapses are a part of it, too. All are planned for by the system. 

A system can be likened to a wheel built by pride. Every baby, including you, started out in a state of complete humility. A part of no system, the babies ask no one for permission to be alive. Humility leads to gifts. Gifts lead to pride. Pride leads to a downfall. Downfalls lead back to humility. That is the wheel. Back at the beginning now. Question. Are you going to ride the wheel again? How many times? It takes no guru to realize that if I choose this time to remain in humility I can  receive gifts by simply staying there, in humility, and avoiding pride. Can I? Of course I can. Will I? Who knows? Would you rather ride the wheel some more?  

 It looks like it's a-dyin' an' it's hardly been born. Bob Dylan