Category: Spiritual

Know Can; Be Do

A friend pointed out that the etymology of the word ‘can’ is to ‘know.’ This is obvious in the physical realm, know-how is needed before I ‘can.’ In life at large this seems true as well, a certain gnosis, knowing from direct experience, is needed before one ‘can’ live a good life.

This reminded me that Gurdjieff said, “In order to ‘do’ one must ‘Be.’

These two brought up this:

It’s all God’s Will
Everything happens according to Law
To know is to can
To be is to do
Thus the universe maintains itself
Thus the Absolute recognizes itself
Relax in This.

Leaving and Returning Home

“Deep down in my being I am already what I seek. This is the impetus of my whole search. When consciousness is here, I realize that consciousness is me. I and all that surrounds me are the same consciousness. My true nature is consciousness.”
                                                                                                              Jeanne de Salzmann

After having recognized that “my true nature is consciousness,” and that it is always present when I wish to return to it, going away in the form of identification seems not really a problem and can even be enjoyable. While I know the wish to be present, in those periods of absence, perhaps I wished to go away as well. Though such a choice was probably not recorded in memory, it is still a possibility.

“It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I’ve gone and come back, I’ll find it at home.”
                                                                                                                            Rumi

I often decide to leave my physical home for trips, to nature or to visit loving friends. If “ … consciousness is me,” and “I and all that surrounds me are the same consciousness,” whether the ‘going away’ is a lawful deviation or a conscious choice is irrelevant. It is what had to happen, or, we could say, ‘it is God’s Will.’

So, it could not be a mistake, an error, or a failing. I have gone away. The only intelligent next step is to return, and celebrate it.

Really good vacations end just as I begin wishing I was home. Upon arriving home, I am struck and distinctly aware of the warmth, comfort and peace of being home. After a few hours, the direct awareness of being home fades but the warmth, comfort and peace remain without thinking ‘I am home.’

Similarly, when I have been away in identification, often there is first recognition of something missing, then a wish to return, to what, I may not be sure. As attention returns to Being, Awareness, there is often a strong experience of being home. Soon, the recognition of Being may become like the loving surroundings of my house, always present but not predominant in attention.

Perhaps, with practice and familiarity, I don’t need to leave my home of awareness to visit other domains. Deep thinking, even daydreams and intense emotions potentially can arise within the walls of awareness. Here the metaphor of the house breaks down. So, I may become like the tortoise, remaining within my home in all circumstances.

Then, wherever I am, physically and psychically, I am always Home and know that I have always been Home.

“When we know our true ‘I,’ something emerges from the depths of being and takes over. It is behind the mind. It is infinite, divine, eternal. We call it the soul.”
                                                                                                              Jeanne de Salzmann

Sorry?

Why be Sorry.
Do you lament the dry orchid flowers
Lying on the coffee table
Knowing next year’s spike is already in preparation?
Life is transition.
Loss is a moment in a movement
Diving into Uttanasana the head must drop.

If loss is only a bitter taste
Look deeply into it with me.
Therein is fullness and wholeness
As you know in the release of Shavasana
Always and Everywhere.

What is the Problem?

The problem is not sleep or awakening
The problem is identification
But it is not a problem
It is an illusion
A story told by a small part which has tensed up
See the illusion and the tension will relax

My difficulty is that this tensing and story telling is a strong habit
While one tense part is relaxing
Another is already tensing
See, relax …
But it is not a difficulty
It is living

See, relax, see, relax, see, relax …

The above comes from a tense part’s story

See, relax, see, relax, see, relax, be, see, relax …

We Eddies

We are like eddies of the great ocean
Floating in our source and being.
Brushing across fellow gyres,
We share drops of ourselves,
Taste each other’s knowing,
Recognize our source.
Those more tightly wound
Throw off disturbances;
Those more relaxed
Absorb disturbances and
Ease their neighbors’ tension.
All are of, by and for the great ocean.
Believing we have independence
We search for satisfaction among
The flotsam and fellow eddies of the vastness.
Ignorant that it is our source, space and material.
When the energy driving our gyrating runs down
We begin to relax and taste our essence
Which we float in.
Happiness is found in recognition that we are
the ocean, it is ourself and
All eddies share, and are, our source and material.

Keep Walking in the Light

GURDJIEFF: Who wants to begin must first forget about love, for it is impossible to think about how to learn to love. Have it as your ultimate aim, but in the meantime what is important is your direction. It is as if you were walking along a dark, road, and in the distance you see a light―a street lamp. But as you walk towards it you see that there are many other lampposts between you and that distant light. Little by little you approach the first of them. Meantime all your attention should be concentrated on that first lamppost. But when you have passed it, there is another, and so on, and your original light seems to get further and further away. And you should forget about the distant light and walk slowly because the road is dark, Every way is dark; it is easy lo break your nose. The first lamps are your immediate aims. When you have come to the first you see the second. And so it goes on every hundred meters. If you look far ahead you will only fall.

For those attuned to the current trends of nondualism and the direct path, this guidance from Gurdjieff appears anathema. They will say, “stop walking. Rest in the light of awareness which you already are.”

However, for most of us, especially myself, the truth is, if I stop and appreciate the light of awareness, after a few moments, out of boredom and confusion in the mind, I get up and start walking again. If I am lucky enough to recall Gurdjieff’s words, I look up and see the next light, the light of awareness in the background of my experience. If I again rest in it, the cycle repeats. If I keep walking, I may see the ‘next’ light and keep a part of my attention on it. Knowing it as my ultimate aim, my true self. And as I continue the journey, with grace, this light will grow in prominence until it fills my world.

This is one scenario. There are many others, as many as individual beings. May you find one that keeps your attention on your light.