Some believe in existence;Others believe nothing exists.Rare is the one who believesNothing and is never confused.
~Ashtavakra Gita, 18.42
If we stand looking out at the world and make not a single assumption, the ‘world’ disappears. The mind is at rest, the body is at rest. Relaxation and peace abide. The senses are engaged but the mind is not in its usual habit of identifying each and every thing of which it is aware. Whether we encounter person or thing we are at rest without judgment, without criticism knowing only that all are essence, Absolute Reality.
No matter what we point to, its fundamental identity is reduced to That
~Robert Wolfe,Awakening to Infinite Presence
The world exists as we define it. There is therefore, the existence of millions of worlds here. Each of us has beliefs that define and create our world. Every wave arising from the ocean has its own characteristics but still it is ocean. Is the fundamental aspect of myself, myself? If not, then what? The nondual teacher Robert Nickel, at his one and only retreat in Ojai, California asked everyone to put all memory in a box and then ask who am I.Without a thought, all based on the past, who are we? What is, that is observing, noticing? If we linger in this place, if the mind will oblige and allow us to rest in this place, this moment, at the least, of not being attached to this or that that crosses the threshold of consciousness we know stillness. It is what is when no matter what is occurring externally “I” abides in Reality. The wind may be fierce, the rain may be pummeling, babies cooing, dogs barking, politicians pronouncing and all else engaged in loosely organized chaos but here in stillness is only the ‘heart’, the peace, the love, the absence of knowing.With the absence of knowing is great compassion. The stillness from ‘here’ pervades chaos, calms the birthing waters in which we remain throughout existence. Our memory of these waters and all that they impart to us, barely perceptible morse code, tap, tap tapping an ancient message. Yet, the Truth of our natures, the rhythm that informs all of existence does persistently prod us from a place of stricture and security to ‘nothing’ and liberation.Love, gushing, rushing and exploding as we connect into the effervescing, molecular dance of life! All life is available when there are no thoughts that it should be this way or that. Transparency allows all things to flow to and through with pure excitement and joy.Love, when strewn across an unknown path opens doors in all directions, flexes the muscles of potential, tickles the fanciful, fantastical, fervent vision that creates from pure essence. Vitality and enthusiasm of the unknown has power beyond measure to bring into being all that we desire. Desire: to long or hope for, the motivating force that creates our world. And when desire desists, when there is nothing left to desire, we are truly free to be witness to every moment in every way without effort. Effortless existence, effortless—Being. Rest and abide.
Bondage and desire are the same. Destroy desire and be free.Only by detaching from the world does one joyfully realize Self.
~Astavakra Gita, 10.4
Love, knows no boundaries, obstacles, conditions; flows naturally, spreads across the horizon obfuscating the notion of earth and sky; like watercolour on a water soaked surface infuses every micrometer of paper. It has the freedom to flow.Freedom: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or actionFreedom=Love=Freedom=Love=Freedom (x 0000)
The only tarot card for April is the Fool 0. It successfully represents all that we talk about above. The Fool is desireless, has no plan. stands at the edge of the world, has forsaken everything and is ready to step into the unknown.The Fool is innocence and ambles joyfully unimpeded by belief or structure. The Fool is not ignorance as he has awareness. He approaches each moment from a perspective of not knowing and of this he is clear. Each moment is simply unique. Of all the cards he is Truth; first and last, alpha and omega, the Fool is everything and nothing, without fear, resistance or judgment. The unknown, the mystery are the way. For these reasons we are advised to follow the Fool and rest in Truth.SaveSave
