The Mind

Difficult to detect, very subtle,
seizes whatever it wants, parades it around, then jumps to another fabrication, the source of all turmoil, tamed by observing the breath of its host.

The Finished House

The Finished House

In the finished house a flame is brought to the hearth.  

Then a table, between door and window  

Where a stranger will eat before the men of the house.  

A bed is laid in a secret corner  

For the three agonies – love, birth, death –  

That are made beautiful with ceremony.  

The neighbours come with gifts –  

A set of cups, a calendar, some chairs.  

A fiddle is hung at the wall.  

A girl puts lucky salt in a dish.  

The cupboard will have its loaf and bottle, come winter.  

On the seventh morning 

One spills water of blessing over the threshold. 

                                                             George Mackay Brown

Citizenship

                                Jesús Curiá Perez____________

For all the flaws in our human nature we do contain the seeds of our own improvement; an improvement that has been, with fits and starts, an ongoing one now for as long as we’ve been around. These fits and starts are most often accompanied by parochial interests (i.e. “Make American Great Again”). When “we” (all humans) set aside these parochial interests in favor of universal ones then we will be taking the big leap to an improvement outside the petty little circles of self-interest that continue to plague our lack of understanding and thus “progress” (in the very best definition of that word). To place free speech, non violence, cooperation, human rights and an acknowledgement of our human fallibilities above our competitive instincts, while promoting science and education above military might, will be the true dawning of a new age of enlightenment. To accomplish all these in a manner that recognizes no “others,” but rather embraces the ideal of being “a citizen of the world” will be a joyous occasion with very little precedence save for a few courageous souls who have so eloquently attempted to inspire us in this quest for unity. To say the world economy is becoming global, that this world is becoming a smaller place, while ignoring our continued small view of who we are in it, is the disconnect that makes our lack of progress in the areas above so poor. Begin thinking of yourself as more than just a consumer or competitor in a global economy. Begin to think of yourself as a member of the global economy, then take the next awakened step to citizenship; seeing not the competitive score, but appreciating the realization that you are part of (as opposed to apart from), the whole team.

                                                                        --LPC 2/16/18     

Connecting

The Silver Apples of the Moon
                              --Pierre DeLattre

I entered a gallery in Taos, New Mexico. More accurately I
was drawn to it. Everything about the place resonated with
me; the space, the art, the artist. I admired the work and
enjoyed sitting with the artist. He had a lot to say and said
it thoughtfully.  I said, "Tell me about this one." Quietly, he
stood, looked at it and from memory recited this:

The Song of Wandering Aengus I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire aflame, But something rustled on the floor, And some one called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded through the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.                                     --William Butler Yeats

The Practice

                                                                                                                    North Berwick

We must teach ourselves by practicing for ourselves. The results will arise at the practice, not at the teaching. Any teaching can only help us get an initial understanding of something. This is good and necessary, it can be the spark of inspiration for a path to something, but that something is going to come with the practice. It is going to be realized as something known due to the practice; the actual experience of the practice. I play golf. I have read books on the technique of the game and have taken lessons from a teacher. These have been enormously helpful to my initial understanding, however, it has proven to be the countless hours of practice that have given me the knowledge and the skills to excel at it. It is only through the practice of anything that we gain true experience and then the knowing or the wisdom of whatever it is. If you truly know it, you know it through the practice. If you doubt it, you doubt it through the practice. Teaching from books or masters may be true enough, but simply reading or listening is not enough to fully realize it. These teachings merely point the way to realization. To fully realize something we must take these teachings into a practice.  This is the same for my engagement with life itself. I must practice certain principles that lead to a better quality of life and conversely practice avoiding those that do not. So I seek out teachings that help point the way and then teach myself these things by practicing them daily, to“know”them.
It has been said that those who simply believe others are not truly wise. A wise person practices until he is one with that practice. A wise person gains the actual experience of doing something to gain the mastery that leads to the fulfillment of it. Having faith in something without knowing it is the antithesis of wisdom. It has also been said that faith without works is dead. To truly have faith in something it must be preceded by work or experience and these come by actually doing the work, having the experience, engaging in the practice and realizing the it of it through these. Then faith in something blossoms forth because it is known, not because someone told you to have it. A wise person does not readily believe before he considers something. He does not believe something before he tries it himself and actually gains the experience necessary for the wisdom to emerge. Only then does he believe. Only then does he develop faith. Even with this level of faith or understanding or wisdom our student keeps an open mind to what these represent because they are impermanent. And, impermanence is one of the cornerstones to reality; without knowing everything is impermanent we are living in an illusionary place.
To function in the world it is helpful to have convictions, opinions, beliefs and certain perspectives, but when we hold on to these without the willingness to look further we close off our path to deeper understandings and the wisdom that they bring. All of these convictions, opinions, beliefs and perspectives should be appreciated as things subject to change; subject to the same thing all phenomena are subject to and that is impermanence. If we hold on to them too tightly they will become less and less relevant, because everything does change. There is no stability or permanence. We would like to have some stability in our lives, but to fully appreciate there is none is one part of the path to become awakened to reality. The reality is: everything is impermanent, things arise and then cease, cease then arise, manifest as one thing and then something else. This includes our thoughts as well as our bodies. My friends in Scotland say if you do not like the weather wait a minute. Things may persist, but they do change and they will change much more fluidly if we do not try to hold on to them. Holding on to convictions, opinions, beliefs and perspectives means we are holding on to our thoughts and our thoughts are the most impermanent of all phenomena. And, when we cling to anything we are initiating a most unsatisfactory way of being in this world. If I tell my golf coach, this is the way I do this and cling to the belief that it is my way, I leave myself closed off to the possibility of improvement. The key, once again, is not to just believe him, but to try the new way and to see for myself . The very best teachers do not say here is how to do something, they say try this and see for yourself.

I have to remember that mind precedes all phenomena and mind matters most. My thoughts become my speech, my actions and ultimately my habits. If my speech, actions and habits are grounded in wisdom gained from my experience of knowing then happiness will follow. If my speech, actions and habits are anything less than this then suffering arises. It is through the cultivation of right understandings and thoughts that lead me to an awakened state, an appreciation for reality and happiness.

Lump of Clay

Do not error.

To not error means perfect honesty.

Those who are imbued with perfect honesty are in accord with the virtues of heaven and earth.

To be in accord with the virtues of heaven and earth is to be in harmony with what is natural.

To be in harmony with what is natural results in avoiding errors.

Avoiding errors means to be honest.

To be honest leads to trust, intimacy and love.

Trust, intimacy and love result from the

cultivation of honesty in all one’s affairs.

Perfect honesty means to not error,

To not error is most difficult to avoid.

Difficulty in avoiding error stems from being out of sync with that which is natural.

Being out of sync with that which is natural is to error.

To error is evidenced by dishonesty.

Dishonesty occurs as a result of one’s own thoughts, actions and speech.

One’s own thoughts, actions and speech can lead to distrust, a lack of intimacy and ultimately hatred: the antithesis of love.

Hatred is to be avoided at all cost,

Avoiding hatred comes from cultivating honesty in all one’s affairs.

Cultivating honesty in all one’s affairs leads to rigorous honesty,

Rigorous honesty approaches perfect honesty.

Perfect honesty is heaven on earth.

Heaven on earth is a loving person who is loved in return.

A loving person who is loved in return has achieved true intimacy, which was achieved by earning trust, which was achieved by rigorous honesty.

Rigorous honesty is being wary of thoughts, actions and speech.

Being wary of thoughts, actions and speech avoids dishonesty.

Avoiding dishonesty leads to trust, trust grows into intimacy and blossoms fully into love.

Love for one’s self and others.

Beyond love for one’s self and others lies heaven on earth.

Heaven on earth is knowing all the way to heaven is heaven.

Heaven is enlightenment.

Enlightenment is the knowledge there is no heaven and earth, no self and others, no us and them, no you and me.

This knowledge is fully developed awareness.

Fully developed awareness is unity consciousness.

Achieving unity consciousness does not allow for dualistic thinking.

Dualistic thinking is a roadblock to heaven (enlightenment).

Roadblocks to enlightenment are unnatural occurrences of separatism.

Separatism results from a lack of unity consciousness.

A lack of unity consciousness results from dualistic thinking.

Dualistic thinking is a delusional belief in a self-entity swimming in a sea of other self-entities.

Believing in a self-entity leads to us and them and you and me thoughts.

These thoughts are the source of much pain and suffering.

Pain and suffering that can be avoided by the elimination of the cause of pain and suffering

The cause of pain and suffering is ignorance.

Ignorance of three fundamentals of existence:

Suffering, impermanence and unity (no self).

Suffering which can be avoided by developing an awareness of its causes (ignorance) and cultivating skills (knowledge) to overcome them.

Avoiding the desire for permanence in an ever-changing, impermanent world.

And, finally, a growing appreciation and direct experience of unity consciousness.

A consciousness that negates dualistic thinking and embraces a belief in the Oneness in all things.

Do not error.

To not error is to behold the One in all things.

To behold the One in all things is a blissful state of harmony.

A blissful state of harmony is achieved during transcendent moments.

Transcendent moments come through cultivation of unity consciousness.

The cultivation of unity consciousness is achieved through meditation.

Meditation leads to conscious contact.

Conscious contact is a feeling of being fused to nature, call it god, a higher power, the universe or just the way.

This feeling of fusion is a direct experience of oneness with all and is pervasive.

Achieving the pervasive means being a part of all and realizing all is me.

All is me means there is no “other.”

No other is clarity.

When clarity is achieved one can fully appreciate poems like this one by Madam Kuan:

       ‘Twixt you and me

       There’s too much emotion.

       That’s the reason why

There’s such a commotion!

Take a lump of clay,

Wet it, pat it,

And make an image of me,

And an image of you.

Then smash them, crash them,

And add a little water.

Break them and re-make them

Into an image of you,

And an image of me.

Then in my clay, there’s a little of you.

And in your clay, there’s a little of me.

And nothing ever shall us sever;

Living, we’ll sleep in the same quilt,

And dead, we’ll be buried together.

Life/Art

                                    Portrait/LPC

Art, to be fully appreciated, must be true to contemporaneous life. It is not that we should ignore the claims of posterity, but that we should seek to enjoy the present more. It is not that we should disregard the creations of the past, but that we should try and assimilate them into our consciousness. Slavish conformity to traditions and formulas fetters the expression of individuality…

There should be a dynamic nature to one’s philosophy, which places more stress on the process through which perfection is sought rather than the attainment of perfection itself. True beauty lies in the incomplete. It is left for each individual to complete the picture and, in so doing, obtain true beauty, a beauty which is as unique as each individual. The virility of life and art lay in its possibilities for growth, not in achievement. It is the expression of each individual’s imagination which is to be sought, not the conformity of things symmetrical, which suggests completion or worse repetition. Uniformity of design in life and art proves fatal to the freshness of imagination.