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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
 Posted - May 12 2011 : 12:21:58 AM
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I was out walking, which is my evening practice. I wait for the sun to go over the horizon; so that the rays will reflect off the top of the clouds. I weep. Happens every time. Beauty explodes. I cease to exist. Only beauty exists.
I walked a lap, which is about a mile.
I saw the high clouds in the sky. The light was gentler now, as the sun was almost gone. The clouds were like a giant ribcage in the sky, shimmering as an ethereal wave on the vast ocean of pure consciousness. Such beauty had I never seen before.
Then all of a sudden, the ribcage-cloud was no longer beautiful. It was not ugly. It was neither. In that moment, pure awareness turned in on itself, and realized that there is no beauty; nor is there ugliness; nor some strange combination of the two; or other strange philosophy.
In pure mind, all things are inert, neither one thing nor another, until pure mind decides which it will be. Like a showoff,the ribcage-cloud was unearthly beauty; then it was neutral; then it was ugliness; then it didn't matter. The choice belonged to the observer not to the observed.
In that moment, I saw how even beauty does not spring eternal. Aristotle and Plato were wrong. Even beauty is a facet of a conditioned mind, or a choice made by the pure mind. It has no independent existence. Nothing has independent existence.
In the end, even the worship of beauty can only take you so far. At the very end, it utterly fails. By grasping to beauty with a death-grip, you create only ugliness. By insisting on only beauty in yourself; by insisting on only beauty within others; by insisting on beauty for the world or god, or any other thing, you make a monster out of something wonderful.
In the end, even beauty is ugliness, if it does not flow naturally, without constraint, from the unconditioned mind.
Insisting on beauty is a fine golden chain, which prevents enlightenment. There is neither enlightenment, nor ignorance in the unconditioned mind.
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Edited by - kevincann on May 12 2011 12:45:53 AM |
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CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - May 12 2011 : 09:59:07 AM
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Wonderful post Kevin thank you. 
I used to use the word "perfect" or "perfection" where you would normally use "beauty".... but at some point I came to the same realization you have... even perfection does not exist. Perfection/beauty/etc, these are all still just labels. And "reality" is far beyond labels. Not perfect, not imperfect... not beautiful, nor ugly... everything is simply..... Here. (and even that is just a label) 
Love!
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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
Posted - May 12 2011 : 10:15:58 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by CarsonZi
Wonderful post Kevin thank you.
I used to use the word "perfect" or "perfection" where you would normally use "beauty".... but at some point I came to the same realization you have... even perfection does not exist. Perfection/beauty/etc, these are all still just labels. And "reality" is far beyond labels. Not perfect, not imperfect... not beautiful, nor ugly... everything is simply..... Here. (and even that is just a label)
Love!
Despite my usual noise and thunder and bags of tricks, I really
need some help. A dear friend, someone trained in AYP is helping
me. I am beyond grateful. Thank you for being here with me
too Carson. |
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HathaTeacher
Sweden
382 Posts |
Posted - May 12 2011 : 10:46:07 AM
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Hi Carson & Kev,
That's perhaps the "Catch 22" in any worship?
I thought about it yesterday. Either the worhiped will "vanish" (transforming into something new), or the worshiper will vanish (returning into something bigger) and before that, his/her senses become less and less sharp.
A delicate balance, similar to Tantra: Adoring creation/Maya, opening our heart to her - without becoming addicted to her, or labeling her, or expecting her to be such and such... She's ever changing, and so is the physical world, including our senses.
Last week, I was quite fascinated by Sir Roger Penrose's re-launched idea of the Universe being "recycled": expansion - implosion/black hole - a new Big Bang - a "new" Universe/new eon, new expansion... over and over. He says that measurements of "old"/faraway background radiation strongly indicate this.
Sounds close to yoga and the idea of manifest things/creatures/world undergoing endless change. |
Edited by - HathaTeacher on May 12 2011 10:48:11 AM |
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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
Posted - May 12 2011 : 12:21:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by HathaTeacher
Hi Carson & Kev,
That's perhaps the "Catch 22" in any worship?
I thought about it yesterday. Either the worhiped will "vanish" (transforming into something new), or the worshiper will vanish (returning into something bigger) and before that, his/her senses become less and less sharp.
A delicate balance, similar to Tantra: Adoring creation/Maya, opening our heart to her - without becoming addicted to her, or labeling her, or expecting her to be such and such... She's ever changing, and so is the physical world, including our senses.
Last week, I was quite fascinated by Sir Roger Penrose's re-launched idea of the Universe being "recycled": expansion - implosion/black hole - a new Big Bang - a "new" Universe/new eon, new expansion... over and over. He says that measurements of "old"/faraway background radiation strongly indicate this.
Sounds close to yoga and the idea of manifest things/creatures/world undergoing endless change.
I'd like to hear Carson's response..
For me, my "Beauty bandha" was my form of worship. It took me
very very far. But in the end, just like my ishta, which was
part of it, it became toxic.
I seem to know a lot about "left hand paths", but know very
little about "right hand paths".
I have been suffering for a long time, without wanting to
admit it to myself.
I'm ready to learn. Better late than never I guess.
-Kev |
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2011 : 01:01:25 AM
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"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder."
Well it also reminded me of this story posted on Davidg's topic a few days ago:
http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....D=9530#82227
A man asked Lao Tzu, "Can I follow you when you go on your evening walk?"
Lao Tzu said, "Yes, but with one condition: no talking."
The man agreed. For one hour continuously they walked in the mountains, and the man was really in difficulty. He was controlling and controlling and controlling. Many times the man wanted to say something, but knowing Lao Tzu, looking at him, he controlled himself. But when the sun started sinking and it was so beautiful, the temptation was so much that he forgot all about what Lao Tzu had said. He said, "Look! What a beautiful evening!"
And Lao Tzu said, "That's the end! Never again come with me -- you chatter too much!"
The man said, "What?! I have simply said 'What a beautiful dusk!' after one hour, and you are telling me, 'You chatter too much!"
Lao Tzu said, "Yes, you chatter too much and unnecessarily, because I have got eyes, I am also seeing the beautiful dusk. What is the point of repeating it? Do you think I am blind? Do you think I am insensitive? Do you have to say it to me? I know it is beautiful, so what is the point of saying it?"
"I am also here." In fact, the man who said "The evening is beautiful" was not there. He was repeating, it was a reaction.
When you respond, words may not be needed at all, or sometimes they may be needed. It will depend on the situation, but they will not necessarily be there; they may be, they may not be.
Response is of the heart. Response is a feeling, not a thought. You are thrilled: seeing a rose flower something starts dancing in you, something is stirred at the deepest core of your being. Something starts opening inside you. The outer flower challenges the inner flower, and the inner flower responds: this is responsibility of the heart. And if you are not engaged in trivialities, you will have enough energy, abundant energy, to have this inner dance of the heart. When energy is dissipated in thoughts, your feelings are starved. Thoughts are parasites: they live on the energy which is really for the feelings, they exploit it.
Thoughts are like leakages in your being: they take your energy out. Then you are like a pot with holes -- nothing can be contained in you, you remain poor. When there are no thoughts your energy is contained inside, its level starts rising higher and higher. You have a kind of fullness. In that fullness the heart responds. And then life is poetry, then life is music, and then only can you do the miracle of making deeds prove your words, not before it. Then you don't only say "I love you", your very existence proves the love. Then your words are not impotent words; they have a soul to them. And to live like that is the only life worth living: when your words and your deeds correspond, when your words and deeds are not opposites, when your words are full of your sincerity, when whatsoever you say you are.
Before that, you live in a kind of split: you say one thing, you do another. You remain schizophrenic. The whole humanity is schizophrenic unless one comes to this point where words and deeds are no more separate, but two aspects of the same phenomenon. You say what you feel, you feel what you say, you do what you say, you say what you do. One can simply watch you and will see the authenticity of your being.
The Secret of Secrets Vol. 2
http://www.oshoworld.com/e-books/se...search_title
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2011 : 01:26:58 AM
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I just asked to the mirror:
"Mirror, mirror upon the wall, who is the fairest fair of all?"
It did not respond.
Luckily, it has no mind to judge what is fair and what is foul. It just reflects what falls upon its surface.
O INNOCENT ONE! JUST AS A CITY MAY BE SEEN REFLECTED IN A MIRROR, I AM THAT BRAHMA, THE ABSOLUTE REALITY, IN WHOM THE REFLECTION OF THIS WORLD IS SEEN -- KNOWING THIS, O SINLESS ONE, BE FULFILLED.
Reflections in a mirror
http://www.balbro.com/heart/beat4.htm
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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2011 : 09:18:13 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by manigma
"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder."
Well it also reminded me of this story posted on Davidg's topic a few days ago:
http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....D=9530#82227
A man asked Lao Tzu, "Can I follow you when you go on your evening walk?"
Lao Tzu said, "Yes, but with one condition: no talking."
The man agreed. For one hour continuously they walked in the mountains, and the man was really in difficulty. He was controlling and controlling and controlling. Many times the man wanted to say something, but knowing Lao Tzu, looking at him, he controlled himself. But when the sun started sinking and it was so beautiful, the temptation was so much that he forgot all about what Lao Tzu had said. He said, "Look! What a beautiful evening!"
And Lao Tzu said, "That's the end! Never again come with me -- you chatter too much!"
The man said, "What?! I have simply said 'What a beautiful dusk!' after one hour, and you are telling me, 'You chatter too much!"
Lao Tzu said, "Yes, you chatter too much and unnecessarily, because I have got eyes, I am also seeing the beautiful dusk. What is the point of repeating it? Do you think I am blind? Do you think I am insensitive? Do you have to say it to me? I know it is beautiful, so what is the point of saying it?"
"I am also here." In fact, the man who said "The evening is beautiful" was not there. He was repeating, it was a reaction.
When you respond, words may not be needed at all, or sometimes they may be needed. It will depend on the situation, but they will not necessarily be there; they may be, they may not be.
Response is of the heart. Response is a feeling, not a thought. You are thrilled: seeing a rose flower something starts dancing in you, something is stirred at the deepest core of your being. Something starts opening inside you. The outer flower challenges the inner flower, and the inner flower responds: this is responsibility of the heart. And if you are not engaged in trivialities, you will have enough energy, abundant energy, to have this inner dance of the heart. When energy is dissipated in thoughts, your feelings are starved. Thoughts are parasites: they live on the energy which is really for the feelings, they exploit it.
Thoughts are like leakages in your being: they take your energy out. Then you are like a pot with holes -- nothing can be contained in you, you remain poor. When there are no thoughts your energy is contained inside, its level starts rising higher and higher. You have a kind of fullness. In that fullness the heart responds. And then life is poetry, then life is music, and then only can you do the miracle of making deeds prove your words, not before it. Then you don't only say "I love you", your very existence proves the love. Then your words are not impotent words; they have a soul to them. And to live like that is the only life worth living: when your words and your deeds correspond, when your words and deeds are not opposites, when your words are full of your sincerity, when whatsoever you say you are.
Before that, you live in a kind of split: you say one thing, you do another. You remain schizophrenic. The whole humanity is schizophrenic unless one comes to this point where words and deeds are no more separate, but two aspects of the same phenomenon. You say what you feel, you feel what you say, you do what you say, you say what you do. One can simply watch you and will see the authenticity of your being.
The Secret of Secrets Vol. 2
http://www.oshoworld.com/e-books/se...search_title
Beautiful.
When we prattle and waste words, like I am prone to do, we burn
Ojas, the fuel for higher consciousness. When we need it, when
we are called to act by the silence, if the Ojas is depleted
from prattling, we fall on our faces.
Preserving Ojas, which exists on many levels, not just in the
nectar cycle, is the essence of restraint, the beginning of
wisdom.
Thank you my beautiful brother.
-Kevin Cann |
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2011 : 10:18:23 AM
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Mind is the prattler, not you, you are always silent.
And there is nothing that can be called a "Pure Mind". Mind is mind. Prattling is its only job. The only way to skip its prattling is to go beyond it with Meditation/Yoga until it falls on its face and crashes.
Ojas does not increase or decrease. Its the body and the mind that get either weak or refreshed. And you think its Ojas depleting/increasing.
In reality, you are the source of inexhaustible Ojas.
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jeff
USA
971 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2011 : 12:15:58 PM
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Manigma,
Thanks.
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kevincann
USA
335 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2011 : 12:19:43 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by manigma
Mind is the prattler, not you, you are always silent.
And there is nothing that can be called a "Pure Mind". Mind is mind. Prattling is its only job. The only way to skip its prattling is to go beyond it with Meditation/Yoga until it falls on its face and crashes.
Ojas does not increase or decrease. Its the body and the mind that get either weak or refreshed. And you think its Ojas depleting/increasing.
In reality, you are the source of inexhaustible Ojas.
As you wish... |
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The Tyranny of Beauty
