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DANCING LIGHTLY
“And
heavy is the tread of the living, but the dead returning lightly dance.”
(Edward Thomas)
“The
desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews.
Not to be born is the best for man.
The second best is a formal order.
The dance's pattern; dance while you can.
Dance, dance, for the figure is easy.
The tune is catching and will not stop.
Dance till the stars come down from the rafters.
Dance, dance, dance till you drop.”
W.H. Auden
MORE ON HEAVINESS VS. LIGHTNESS
Consider how personality identification impacts the thoughts and words and actions of so-called “seekers.”
The perfectionism of Personality Type Ones will assure them that no more seeking is necessary because they believe that they have found all the answers. Answers become beliefs, but beliefs are absent from those among the fully realized.
Similarly, the narcissism of Personality Type Threes and the knowledge-gathering of Personality Type Fives will assure them that no more seeking is necessary since they too have found all the answers. As with perfectionists, answers become beliefs, but beliefs are absent from those among the fully realized.
Beliefs
lead to a sense of heaviness, never to a sense of lightness. Those who cast
aside pointers from Maharaj did so because his pointers challenged the beliefs
which they had about their assumed ego-states, personas, roles, identities, personalities,
etc
The key to understanding their reactions / comments lies in being able to spot the WHOS which are driving their thoughts and words. Three critics of Maharaj (and of his understanding and evolved message) said:
“The
later books of Maharaj do not enjoy the same clarity as ‘I Am That’. It seems
that he himself got complicated or rather evolved himself or declined maybe as
happens to many teachers.
“At first when he was still listening to his guru he was telling the truth, like he did in ‘I AM THAT.’ In his other talks, his ego made him start telling things he dreamed up on his own that were not true.”
“He deteriorated from one of the great spiritual men of all times to one of the least spiritual people of all times.”
In the first case, WHO is complaining? One who is assured that he still has the “clarity” which Maharaj lost and one WHO hasn’t wavered or “evolved” or changed or “declined” at all.
In the second case, the WHO driving the thoughts and words of that critic include one who is “still listening to his guru” and one WHO believes he / she is totally free of ego.”
In the third
case, the WHO driving thoughts and words is one who is assured that he has not “deteriorated”
and is one of
“the greatest spiritual men of all times.”
Maharaj made clear that all of those types are “standing in the dull darkness of dawn while believing that they are standing in the full light of the noonday sun.”
Note the critics’ heaviness as compared to Maharaj’s lightness. The realized dance lightly, but the WHOS drive persons to stomp about and march about on the dance floor while banging away at the wood beneath the combat boots they always wear,
Those
in the heaviness of the darkness need the light if a sense of lightness is to
come, but those in darkness obviously cannot see the light. It is the darkness
which renders one blind, and it is blindness that perpetuates the blind
acceptance of falsehoods as truth, even in the absence of any investigation at
all.
The blindness has multiple fathers: body identification only; being driven by
the insane concepts taught by all cultures and stored in “minds”;
the fear and desire agendas that come with all personalities; the emotional intoxication that results when fears and desires are triggered and inspire persons to shift into reckless and risky motion / emotion / reaction.
That
inspires constant going and doing and zooming about blindly, abandoning the
temporary harmony that was being enjoyed in favor of chaos and disharmony
instead.
And time and again, persons driven into motion by all of the above are
surprised that once again they have rammed full-speed into a wall . . . or even
run off the edge of a cliff.
Blindness.
Emotion. Motion. Action. Reaction. Overreaction. And then, misery and
suffering. And all of that is rooted in mis-perceiving:
Maharaj: “The cause of suffering is in the identification of the perceiver with
the perceived. Out of it desire is born and with desire, blind action . . . . “
Advaitin Louise Sterling explained what it can be like if the light shines
forth and allows clear seeing to happen before all of those fathers mentioned
earlier are allowed to breed more darkness . . . more blindness . . . more
blind motion:
“I was feeling love for someone which changed dramatically to fear. ‘I’ slipped
through the crack and realised instantly that love and fear are the same
emotion. I laughed madly, felt wild and free, abandoned my work and hauled off
to do some gardening (first time in years) while chuckling in delight.”
Yes, “love” - which refers to that which in not Real Love - will never be far
removed from fear. Both are rooted in emotion. Both generate blind motion.
As for “slipped through the crack,” spot on. When ego surfaces and is driven by desire or fear and egotism - all of which are self -supporting - there is only a slight and temporary opening back to Reality.
One
can fall through the crack of distortion, or one can slip though the crack and
back into the stability of awareness. “Whoo! Another close call!” And another
bit of self- generated misery avoided.
As in the first “Matrix” film, with its greater focus on non-duality messaging
than in the subsequent films in the series, Morpheus becomes convinced that Neo
is “The One” who can crack open the Matrix and bring his people to both
physical and psychological freedom.
During the typical relative existence (where both physical and psychological
freedom are clearly absent), this becomes the case:
when the gravitational pull of ego-states and egotism begin to exert their drag, there is usually only a very small crack and a very narrow window of opportunity to abandon nonsense and return to one’s senses;
to
turn away from the false; and to move back to Reality. When such blindness
comes, it seldom “goes” on its own; thus, this from earlier:
Maharaj: “Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself
entirely to his guiding and moulding influence, or you seek the inner
guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you.”
The problem with the latter? When the personal is mistaken for the Real,
Self-forgetfulness will never come. The belief in an “Infinite / Supreme,
Superior Self” and in “infinite / supreme, superior selves will foster
blindness to the Real and block access to the inner guide;
thereafter,
the not-Real will be mistaken in the darkness for the Real.
In such circumstance, a rope might be perceived as a snake, a bit of blindness
with little consequence. But what if the snake is perceived to be a rope . . . believed
to be a rescue rope that is being tossed to one about to drown? What if, in the
darkness of the storm, the snake with its fatal poison is grasped when it is
mistaken for a rope that can provide a way out?
The additional relative problem with blindness is that it never ends on its
own. On its own, it will only flourish; persons will fall through the crack
into the darkness.
Maharaj: “The personal comes and goes, the universal is always with you. The
entire creation is your universal body. You are so blinded by what is personal
that you do not see the universal. This blindness will not end by itself - it
must be undone skillfully and deliberately.
“When
all illusions are understood and abandoned, you reach the error-free and
perfect state in which all distinctions between the personal and the universal
are no more.”
And when all distinctions between the personal and the universal are no more,
then only can one understand what is pointed to here with the term “not-two
harmony.”
Recall:
“This ‘not-two’ version of harmony is that which is Real, that which is the
unity beyond the perceived, unreal multiplicity.”
In Advaita, the not-two version of harmony is pointed to with Advaita’s not-two
summative statement of I AM THAT; I AM. Only when such harmony manifests can
there be light, lightness, freedom, and peace. Discontentment ends.
Restlessness end. Irritability ends.
Maharaj: “Pure sattva (harmony) is perfect freedom from . . . restlessness.”
Some ask, “If I am eventually to be free of even ‘The Seeker’ role, then why
seek harmony?” Such a person will not seek harmony.
Realized, you will come to know that it is already there, available as soon as
you see everything which blocks the continuous recognition and manifestation of
harmony - not mistaking fool’s gold for gold;
not
mistaking the harder way for the easier way; and not working tirelessly for
what can only be enjoyed effortlessly:
Maharaj: “What is the use of truth, goodness, harmony, beauty? They are their
own goal. They manifest spontaneously and effortlessly, when things are left to
themselves, are not interfered with, not shunned or wanted or conceptualised,
but just experienced in full awareness. Such awareness itself is sattva. It
does not make use of things and people - it fulfils them.”
From the platform of “witnessing via the use of the pure, universal
consciousness” while abiding as the awareness, the I AM THAT is seen perfectly
and the I AM is seen perfectly. Only via non-duality can the supposed “inner”
and “outer” - the Am-ness and the THAT-ness - be seen to be one.
Maharaj: “Harmony between ‘the inner’ and ‘the outer’ is happiness; on the
other hand, self-identification with the outer causes suffering.”
And that leads to the reason that it is the Nisarga Yoga which is offered here,
distinguishing between (1) abidance as one’s original nature and living
naturally throughout the relative vs. (2) living under the insane influence of
one’s relative perceptions and mis-perceptions and not overlaying Reality on
the relative and not abiding as harmony rather than in disharmony.
Maharaj: “Nisarga yoga, the Natural yoga: it is the art of living in peace and
harmony, in friendliness and love.”
Again, Louise explained exactly what is at play here: “ . . . The true identity
is the background of awareness in which both states of happiness and
unhappiness happen.”
From that true identity, the happiness of harmony can be enjoyed - up close -
and the unhappiness of disharmony can be merely witnessed - and not closely at
all.
Witnessing everything from a longer distance always puts everything in proper perspective. The personal is always small and up close. The Real is infinitely large and limitless.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
(That is what the act of “actual meditation” involves.)
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THE EXPLANATION
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."
teachings which become a part of the Papal Magisterium.
