Beyond Mind, Beyond Death. When that mortal self realizes and accepts this distinction, something profoundly magical occurs: what remains is awareness alone, and a sense of abiding in utter silent stillness—there is the sense that the entire world is but a reflection of an underlying absolute, silent, stillness.
This awareness is referred to by Franklin Merrell-Wolff as "consciousness without an object," i.e., with no dependence upon physical perceptions and thoughts, indeed without that sense of personal identity which is itself a though Richard Rose writes: "The task of the seeker of eternity is to die while living."
The mortal seeker, in truly accepting his mortality, realizes that there is nothing to die and that only that which is eternal ever existed in the first place. So long as the seeker must live, then he must live in mortal separation from eternity. The sense of self-as-identity is the focus in awareness on experience brought about by the body experience—and it overlays the focus on the ever present, silent stillness in which this sense of self occurs. The sense of self-identity, occurring in awareness, is entirely dependent upon experience. Your entire sense of self is merely an experience!
The body/mind is an experience machine. You think to yourself, "Ah, but that
experience must be happening to somebody—and that somebody is ME!" Once
again the egocentric point of reference has got it backwards. It is the body/mind experiences that give rise to the sense of self-identity. The body will die and be dissipated. The mind is at all times one with the body and will likewise be dissipated. When that happens what will remain of "he-who-experiences"? Answer: Nothing of you will remain.
I love his teachings and am learning many new things about who I am not.
The last few years I was faced with some eye opening situations that challenged my own personal ethics, morals and values with close friendships, their behaviors and how they justified their own actions. You never know, but until someone you love and trust crosses a line with you that is way beyond your personal ethical standard, you are faced with a dilemma. I'm sure if one suffers long enough, a person can have their own "Creative Ethics" that in some twisted way justifies their actions to themselves. It's heart breaking to witness, even worse when they want you to be a part of it. It certainly changes a "Friendship." There is great good and evil within every person. I get we are all human and learning in a bizarre culture.
This year for me is about noticing the ego in myself and others and not identifying with it or judging it anymore. Letting go, forgiving and letting go.... not an easy practice, but it sure helps living day to day. I am not a religious person, or a christian, or an atheist. I have had
several enlightening intimate lessens involving teaching plants and
believe that I am most certainly non-dual and eternally infinitely
connected to all that is. Honestly, who really knows, but I'm sure I will find out when I get there. I keep this poem close to my heart during this practice:
This poem helps when I get off track. For me, my life is about creating beauty, fun and connection and exploring the inner and outer worlds in delicious comfort and style. How I express that part through all of the mediums, music, public art, writing, cooking, gatherings, good conversations, and silence is how I am doing it right now.
I love to get others views and I found these videos thought provoking. You may too. Let me know what you think.
Richard Dawkins examines sin. He asks whether the old religious rules
about what is right and wrong are helpful and explores what science can
tell us about how to be good.
Dawkins journeys from riot-torn
inner city London to America's Bible Belt, building a powerful argument
that religion's absolutist moral codes fuel lies and guilt.
He
finds the most extreme example in a Paris plastic surgery clinic that specializes in making Muslim brides appear to be virgins once again.
But
what can science and reason tell us about morality? Through encounters
with lemurs, tango dancers, the gay rights campaigner Matthew Parris and
the scientist Steven Pinker, Dawkins investigates the deeper roots of
moral behavior in our evolutionary past.
He explores the rituals
that surround mating and the science of disgust and taboo. Drawing on
crime data and insights from neuroscience, he argues that our evolved
senses of reason and empathy appear to be making us more and more moral,
even as religious observance declines.
Richard Dawkins explores what science can tell us about death.
It's a journey that takes him from Hindu funeral pyres in India to genetics labs in New York.
Dawkins
brings together the latest neuroscience, evolutionary and genetic
theory to examine why we crave life after death, why we evolved to age
and how the human genome is something like real immortality - traits
inherited from our distant ancestors that we pass on to future
generations.
He meets a Christian dying of motor neurone disease,
reminisces about the Wall Street Crash with a 105-year-old stockbroker,
and interviews James Watson, the geneticist who co-discovered the
structure of DNA.
Dawkins admits to sentimentality in imagining
his own church funeral, but he argues we must embrace the truth, however
hard that is.
In a television first, he has his entire genome sequenced to reveal the genetic indicators of how he himself may die.
Why does an atheist bother to get up in the morning?
That's the
question Richard Dawkins seeks to answer as he continues his exploration
of the big questions of life in a world shaking off religious faith.
In
a journey that takes him from the casinos of Las Vegas to Buddhist
monasteries in the foothills of the Himalayas, Richard Dawkins examines
how both religious and non-religious people struggle to find meaning in
their lives.
He looks at how our existence is ruled by chance,
meeting people whose fate was to be born into extreme poverty in India's
slums and the survivors of a natural disaster in Joplin, Missouri, a
city ripped apart in 2011 by a tornado on a random course.
In the
face of what appears to be a blindly indifferent universe, Dawkins
argues that we each have to forge our own sense of meaning.
He meets the comedian Ricky Gervais, an atheist since the age of seven, for whom meaning comes through doing something creative.
For
Dawkins, it is the awe and wonder in scientific enquiry - from the
human genome to the quest for the Higgs Boson - that get him up in the
morning.
In the dream, someone was driving on highway 1 along the
Pacific coastline enjoying the gray foggy scenery when suddenly they came across
a random hillside of unbelievable breath taking beautiful flowers in full bloom.
It was amazing to see.
Little did they know that a woman had decided many years
before that she wanted to create something incredibly beautiful to share with
the world that would keep reseeding, blooming and giving long after she had passed
on.She wanted to give thanks to her favorite beaches near by for always being there for her when she had been at the cross roads in her life.
So for years, she bought large amounts of native flowering seeds
from the region and after a while she had quite a huge accumulation and variety
of drought tolerant flowering seeds. She
waited for the rains to come and on the right day, she would go up to her hill
and create a random act of natural splendor and beauty for spring to make into a
masterpiece.
That day was today.
So if you find yourself driving along the coast on highway 1 and see an unmistakeable hill of color and beauty this year, and for many generations to come, please know that you make your own dreams come true. I just did.
I’m enjoying another month full of Sundays. Blissfully
chilled from the wet Pacifica CA coast breeze on my face. Seeing the
ocean wave’s crash steps away.Having
the time. Hand painting my vintage VW 1973 T2 Camper Bus while listening to
the full audiobook of Philip K. Dick’s VALIS trilogy on my headset. I have an artcar show deadline for June in Seattle to make. Smelling the sweet salty
air and feeling grateful that I finally know how to BE HERE NOW. And am actually doing it. I am loving life.
