It's been a long time since I posted anything, I guess I've been internally processing a lot of things that I've not been able to express. My offering for today is my vision of nonduality patched together from many different spiritual perspectives. Incomplete as it may be, it helps me to keep my eyes on the big picture...and fills me with hope. So here goes:
Everything
on earth is transitory – it’s passing away.
It arises, and falls. All the things
we count on, even heaven and earth, shall pass away…. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of
man as the flower of grass. The grass withered,
and the flower thereof falleth away, But the word of the Lord endureth forever”
( 1 Pet 1:24-25).
Everything earthly is for
a season. Why do we let these things
that pass away have dominion over us?
They come, they go. But we cling
to them…
Everything
old is new again. Nothing is ever really
lost…it comes around again to manifest in the natural in a different form. Nothing is ever worthless, it all has meaning
and purpose, but that meaning and purpose is for a season…we just sojourn here…
(Ecc. 1:9-11, 3:15).
If we are
all “passing away” but nothing is ever really lost of our essence, death really
is swallowed up in victory. We are a
form through which the Life Essence (God) shines, albeit imperfectly. Each one is different so that the glory of Life
is manifested in a different way, from a different perspective, and temporarily
(for a season). But when that body passes away, nothing of the essence is lost,
because “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecc. 12:7). Since nothing is lost, there
is no sting and nothing to fear!
But the carnal
mind (or insert your term of preference here: ego, devil, beast, conditioning,
amygdala) is a fear-monger! And it
torments us continually…never shuts up!
That’s why many “relax” by watching TV, playing games – the carnal mind
is engaged with something else and is not torturing us with worry and
fear. The carnal mind is the enemy who
has taken us captive and drags us to hell to torture us. “For to be carnally minded is death: but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom 8:6). At the last trump (Rev 11:15) when the beast
in us has been defeated and the mind of the Christ reigns in us, we will have
rest. For those who still worship the
beast, “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever (continually!)
and they have no rest day or night” (Rev 14:9-11). This happens in the very presence of the Lamb
(v10), who is there all the time offering rest!
It’s All Good…
There is an
ancient story that tells of a student monk who began to laugh during group
meditation and prayer. The other
students, horrified and embarrassed for the monk, hoped that he would stop
laughing. But his laughter grew louder
and louder, until the other monks could not help but wonder what the teacher
would do in the face of such irreverence.
But to the amazement of all the other monks, the teacher pronounced the
laughing monk enlightened! The monk
laughed because he saw that everything is
wonderful! Everything does work together for GOOD! It’s Divine play, in a
way, but not as in a cruel game. It’s a
game in the sense that we shouldn’t take it so seriously, because nothing is
ever really lost. There is really GOOD NEWS!
It’s only a game – there’s nothing to lose and nothing will ever be
lost! We take it all so seriously, and
so cause all our own sorrow. So we can begin
to see that suffering and sorrow, although very real, are only for a season,
and that everything is perfect and as it should be. This is the peace that passes all
understanding, when we see that there was never anything to fear.
This is not to make light of the suffering in the world, just
because we are in a large place and know that suffering is only for a season. We need to work very hard to alleviate
suffering, for suffering is very real.
Right now, huge weather pattern changes are taking place,
changes that could destroy millions and leave much of our planet frozen solid
or an arid wasteland. And I know it will
be okay if even that happens…for nothing is ever lost. It is all so very real and awe-inspiring; it
is all also like a dream or a movie in which we are very involved. Upon awakening, we will find ourselves in the
heart of God. Death happens, yes, but it
has no sting. There is nothing to
fear. We are on a great adventure, and
we go back to where we came from. What
joy, freedom, peace, and rest is found in this knowledge: nothing
is ever lost and there is nothing to fear!
