Love

"Love ... is the natural condition of all experience."

 

Rupert Spira. “Presence, Volume II: The Intimacy of All Experience.” Non-duality Press, Salisbury, UK, 2011. 

One Consciousness ?

     First - we open to the possibility that everything is universal;
     two - we understand that everything is universal; and
     three - we experience that everything is universal.

     Everything is universal means nothing is personal – ‘nothing personal.’ Nothing is personal means separation is not real. There is no separate entity in the cosmos. If you prefer, what it ultimately means, and that’s the most important, is that that which is hearing these words (I’m now saying), in this moment, is not a separate individual, but is a universal consciousness. That is, for all practical purposes, what it boils down to. 
     And most of us are not ready to accept this possibility that that which is hearing these words, in this moment, is not separate, personal, mortal.
     So we have first, to be ready to accept this possibility; then, to understand (or glimpse, or have the insight) that it is true; and then, to live, experience, feel, perceive that it is true at every moment. These are the three stages I was referring to.

     Because of the culture we live in, we believe that there is strong evidence that consciousness is separate, that it is personal. We feel that it is an outlandish type of concept to claim that it is universal, because most people believe otherwise. So the first step is to find out where is the evidence that substantiates our beliefs that consciousness is separate, and what is the value of that evidence. And it is not until we have investigated this evidence and recognized that although before the investigation we believed that we had strong evidence, after the investigation it turns out that the evidence was bogus. Then we are open, you see? This being open to the possibility requires an investigation. We believe that that which in us perceives, because that which we call ‘I’ or ‘me’ is really that which perceives, that which thinks, that which decides, that which acts, as a result of those decisions. That’s what we call ‘I’. But basically, this ‘I’ is first of all, that which perceives. The rest comes after – the decider, the doer. The perceiver comes first. Because in order to have a decision, or to have an action, I need to perceive right? So what ‘I’ am is truly the perceiver – which means the consciousness, which I define as whatever it is which is perceiving these words, in this very moment. And that’s what we call ‘I’. We say ‘I’ perceive, right? We believe that there is a different perceiver in each body or in each mind. So as a starting point, we could as ourselves ‘What evidence do we have that there are as many consciousnesses as there are minds or as there are bodies or body-minds? 
     Questioner : The evidence is that each person experiences different experiences. 
     Francis Lucille : Well, let’s take the analogy of a circular tower with all kinds of windows looking at the landscape, and there is only room for one observer in the tower. The landscape that appears in each window is different. Does the fact that the six landscapes that appear in the six windows imply that there are six observers in the tower? Does the multiplicity of the windows imply multiplicity of observers? No – right? So in this metaphor, each body-mind is a window, and consciousness is the observer. The fact that that which is observed in various windows, differs from one window to the other, does not imply that that which observes, differs from one window to another. When we seem to have evidence that there are many consciousnesses, do we have facts to back it up? So if this mind and that mind have different contents, implies that they are two consciousnesses? The questioner retracts his assertion. 
     In our culture we have not investigated this, we have zero interest in investigating this. There are no courses in consciousness; there are no courses in ‘What am I?’, in kindergarten, primary school, in high school or in college. I’ve never seen a ‘What am I?’ course, which means that there is zero interest for that. In other words, all the interest goes towards that which is perceived, but there is zero interest in investigating that which perceives. So because of this lack of interest, there is a lack of knowledge that goes with it, and (as a result) there are all kinds of childish and simplistic assumptions. 
     So the first thing is to investigate thoroughly whatever evidence comes up in support of the multiple consciousnesses theory, and to realize, to convince oneself, that there is zero evidence. So evidence can be concepts, arguments ‘there are several consciousnesses because …’, but there are also other types of candidates for evidence which are more irrational – they are feelings in the body. And these could come up in the form of ‘Well, theoretically speaking, that’s well said, and I agree, but, at the gut-feeling level, that’s not true.’ So then we also have to investigate the validity of the gut-feeling level evidence. At a some point we also become convinced that the gut-feeling level evidence is also bogus. And then we are left in the situation where we don’t know. But then we are open! That’s a big difference. We are completely open. When I don’t know, I am open to all possibilities. 
     And then there is a moment when we see it – the moment of understanding. Because the moment of understanding is an insight. In the beginning this insight takes place in a timeless moment, in a split second, in a timeless moment. But then, in this split second, we move beyond not knowing. Before we are in not knowing, we say ‘OK, it’s possible.’ But then, there is a kind of reversal of perspective that takes place – a shift that takes place – and then, after that we say ‘Oh, that’s the other way around! It has always been the other way around!’ That’s what I call the understanding or the glimpse. That’s really the entry on the path. Before, we are on the path to the path, on our way to the path, but we are not on the path. Then we really enter the path as we let go of the belief that we are a separate entity. And we let go of the belief that we are a separate entity the moment we have an insight of what we truly are, which is something universal.
     Universal is a word that doesn’t refer to this physical universe – universal is bigger than that – whatever there is in all realms, the totality. And at that point of course, deep inside, a shift has taken place in us, which is irreversible. 
     But all the consequences of this shift have not yet trickled down to all realms of our experience. So the path is this trickling down of this understanding, which was just in a split moment, in a split second, and to allow for this understanding to transform everything in our life. In other words, to cooperate with this understanding – to allow for this understanding to change, to transform the way we live. And in order to transform the way we live, we have to allow for it first to transform the way we think, the way we perceive the world, and the way we feel – the body. As a result of that, it will also change the way we act in the world, and the way we relate to the world, and that’s all. 
     This final stage, if you will, is a process of stabilization of our experience, to reach a true equanimity. And by the way, equanimity, in my book, doesn’t mean necessarily that we don’t get angry, or upset, because there might be things that are worth getting upset for. But equanimity means that there is no distinction between self and non-self; there is no distinction between inside and outside. It’s all equal. And it is this absence of distinction between the inside and outside that, as a result, also changes our behavior and the way we relate to our surroundings and to the people we interact with.            Francis Lucille

Beyond Suffering

     Francis Lucille : “… to experience suffering is a trap. I agree. It’s a self-created trap into which we have fallen. But, it is at the same time, also the trap and the ladder by which we can escape the trap. Because what suffering does to us is give us a desire to get out of it, the energy to get out of it. 
     That’s the ancient truth of the Buddha – the Four Noble Truths: #1 there is suffering; #2 there is a cause for it; and (#3) there is a way out of it – the ladder, right? If we were in the trap of ignorance, and if we weren’t experiencing suffering, there would be no incentive to liberate ourselves from the trap. So in a sense, the suffering we experience in ignorance is the beacon that indicates the exit. So from my vantage point, there is no problem with suffering ... 

     I define consciousness as that which is hearing these words in this moment. That has no states. That which perceives a state is not itself a state. That which perceives the states is itself not a state. That which perceives the phenomena is the noumenon, it’s not a phenomenon. [[ wiki: noumenon is a posited object or event that is known (if at all) without the use of ordinary sense-perception. ... generally used in contrast with, or in relation to phenomenon, which refers to anything that can be apprehended by, or is an object of the senses.]] So that which perceives a state is not a state. Of course if you read books on psychology, you will (read about) all kinds of states of consciousness. But here we’re talking apples and oranges then, because the way I define it is as that which perceives the states. And that which perceives the states - the perceiver-in-chief if you will - is not a state.
 
     Questioner suggests that when you speak of a perceiver and the perceived, there is dualism. 
     Francis Lucille : I would agree with that. The distinction between the perceiver and the perceived is, if you will, a pedagogical one. 
     If it is your experience that there is only one reality, then you are perfectly happy, at peace, there is no suffering, there is nothing to be sought, and there is nothing to be taught. 
     So the teaching only emerges when there is a student who emerges. And the student emerges as a separate entity. So then the teaching has to take the claim made by the student, of being a student & therefore a separate entity, at its face value, in order to be able to communicate. So then the teacher tells the student, ‘OK, you believe to be a separate self. What does it mean to be a separate self? You are that which perceives, right? Because you claim you are the body here, that perceives the world around you. Or you claim that you are the mind, this private, separate mind that perceives the thoughts. 
     But if you look more closely, the thoughts - you are the perceiver of these thoughts; this world, this body – you are the perceiver of them. Therefore, just as you claim that that which differentiates you from the world is the fact that you are the perceiver of it, and the world is the perceived. If I take you at your logic, following your logic, it follows that you are not your thoughts, your sensations, your perceptions, but you are the consciousness – whatever that is – that perceives them. 
     But then if you look at this consciousness, that perceives them and which defines you, which is really your centrality, this consciousness is devoid of any qualities because all qualities are perceived. Therefore you cannot any longer make the claim that it is separate, that it is limited. And then, once this is understood, this paves the way, makes possible the moment there is the understanding that that which we are - this consciousness - is devoid of any shape or form, or name, that makes possible the realization that it is universal.
     Because up until that moment, we were superimposing limitations onto it. At the moment we make this distinction between that which is perceived and that which perceives, that eliminates the possibility of any superimpositions, therefore of any limitations. That’s the theoretical aspect of it.
     But that points inwards towards an experience, which is real. Because the experience of consciousness is not a thought, it is an experience. And that’s how it gets started. Up until that moment, you are not on the way. You are on the way to the way, but you are not on the way. The point of entry in the way is through this experience of consciousness divested of any superimpositions, because then it knows its autonomy, it knows its reality. 
     Then you are told, ‘Wait a minute, now that you know you are real – as consciousness – that you are not making it up, that you as consciousness are real, you also have another intuition, which is that there is only one reality. Because everything is interconnected, everything is part of one single reality, therefore, this consciousness you know now to be real, must be this reality. So it must be the same consciousness that shines in all beings. And it must be the same reality-consciousness that we perceive as this universe. So then that’s when really non-duality really takes all its meaning – non-duality means there are not two realities. It means there is only one reality. Therefore, whatever is perceived, is consciousness and consciousness alone – or – reality and reality alone. 
     So my definition of consciousness, if you will, would be the reality that perceives, that which perceives reality, that which perceives in reality, that which truly perceives the reality it perceives. And there is only one reality. But what is important is the experience of this reality. And the experience of this reality is more readily accessible from within as that which perceives, than it is from without as that which is perceived. So we experience it first as that which perceives, and then we understand that everything that is perceived is nothing else than it. 
     And therefore the words from the Koran ‘Wherever the eye falls, is the face of God.’ Everything we see is divine reality, divine presence. But we cannot readily and easily go there through the external path. The teaching in a sense is accomplished through the teacher seeing the student as God, or as this reality if you will. And that in a sense communicates itself. That awakens within the remembrance of the divinity of consciousness. 
     There is this beautiful saying by Rumi ‘The gaze of Shams Tabrizi (Rumi’s master) has never contemplated an ephemeral mortal thing without making it eternal.’ In the Indian tradition there is also the saying ‘To see all beings in the self, and the self in all beings.’ All of that is the same and it is really the essence of the transmission - for those who are open to it, which is of course the precondition. 

Francis Lucille, 2 hour, unedited dialogue, Temecula, CA, March 22, 2014

Qualities of Authentic Experience of Consciousness

     We have to understand that the thought about our true nature is a happy thought. Why? Because it comes from happiness itself. So it’s like a fish coming out of the water. The fish is wet. So the thought that originates in happiness, is wet with happiness. It’s a happy thought. 
     In the same way, the body that originates in happiness is a happy body from the experience of happiness. It is still pregnant, if you will, with the presence from which it emerges.
     It is not any kind of thought that has this quality. Some thoughts originate from ignorance. Some thoughts are just old thoughts that just come back to the surface. They are not fresh, creative, new thoughts. So the thoughts that are really pregnant happy thoughts are the creative thoughts of understanding, thoughts of love – because thoughts of love come from the experience of love. The thought of understanding comes from intelligence. These are the happy thoughts. 
     Typically, as a truth-seeker, to be practical, I may be driving and all of a sudden my thoughts drift to something I’ve read, something I’ve heard in satsang, and I experience as a result a joy which is causeless in fact. It’s not like being based upon a Ferrari or something tangible, it’s just the joy to be, the joy that there is being. The joy that there is being is not related to me as a person.
     You can have it in the morning – you look at the sun, you look at nature, you look at the sky, and you feel this joy. This joy is not about you – this little ant in this huge landscape. The joy of marveling at all this extraordinary being that is deploying this extraordinary scenery. And you see that when there is true joy, true happiness, there is nobody in it. It is for the sake of itself. And as soon as little me comes in and says ‘Oh oh, I am here enjoying this thing, but unfortunately I’m not always going to be here enjoying this thing’ – it poops the party.
     The ‘I’ that experiences happiness is consciousness itself. There are not two consciousnesses – one to experience consciousness, and the consciousness which is experienced. It is consciousness that experiences itself – that’s a very important point. 
     We usually experience in terms of the senses, and mostly, in fact for most of us, in terms of the sense of sight. Of course some of us experience, if you’re blind or if you’re a musician, you tend to experience a little more in terms of sounds. If you are a dog, you tend to experience in terms of scent. But we experience in terms of the senses. 
     So when we try to experience consciousness, the natural tendency is to project a look-alike of consciousness in the mind, which is a concept, which is an image – perhaps something transparent, or a mirror, or a blackboard, or a white wall or something of that sort, - or a localization in a bodily sensation. So it’s something that has some kind of a shape, some kind of a structure, even if it is a vanishing one, it still has some content. 
     The experience of consciousness is not of the mind. And we know the experience of consciousness. We have not recognized that that which we experience as happiness, of love, or beauty, or understanding, or humor for instance – all of those are in fact the experience of consciousness. They have this quality of being impersonal, of being timeless. 
     How long does it take to understand a joke? You see what I mean? Jokes that are delayed – you can spend days before you can understand it, and all of a sudden, you’re walking down the street and ‘Ahhhhh’ and you start laughing. But it didn’t take days to understand the joke. These days, they don’t count, because during those days you were not understanding the joke. The only thing that counts is the very instantaneous moment when you get it, when you get the punch line and bingo. And so it is the same here. 
     So this experience of truth, of love, of beauty – it has this timeless quality, that first appears as instantaneous, no duration, but then appears as presence, as something that is always here – you know like consciousness is always in the background so to speak. It’s always in the background, but when you look at it, it takes no time to look at it. If you ask yourself ‘How do I know that I am conscious?’ – of course consciousness is in the background, but how long does it take to realize that you are conscious? No time – it’s an experience that is instantaneous. So it is analogous in this case to the experience of truth, love, beauty, understanding, being touched by love, being touched by beauty. 
     There are things that may happen before. You look at a painting, or you listen to music, and you are taken by it, and all of a sudden you cry. Or understanding, you look at this problem, you don’t get it, you don’t get it, and then, all of a sudden (snaps his finger) bingo, that’s it. 
     To go back to the point I was making, it is important to have been informed that the experience of consciousness knowing itself is not at all like a visualization of some blank wall, or like a feeling in the body like something which is here (pointing to forehead) or something which is here (pointing to chest). No. 
     It is more like the experience of love, of happiness, of understanding. If you think about it, every time you experience love, you’re happy; every time you experience understanding, you’re happy; every time you experience beauty, you’re happy. So what these experiences have in common is happiness. And what they have in common also is that they are the experience of consciousness. 
     So the experience of consciousness is identical to the experience of happiness. That’s important because then, we are not kidding our self as a truth seeker by trying to have the experience of consciousness, trying to visualize consciousness, to see it. No, no, no – that’s not what it feels like. It feels like happiness. So if there is no happiness, it’s not consciousness. You see, that’s important. If it is dry, if it has no flavor, if it has no perfume, it is not consciousness. It is something else. It needs to have this freshness, this happiness, this quality of perfume, to be the authentic experience of consciousness."         Francis Lucille

     Rupert Spira on this topic: http://www.johnlovas.com/2016/05/awareness-of-awareness.html 

Francis Lucille, 2 hour, unedited dialogue, Temecula, CA, March 22, 2014

 

THIS, this IS, this is IT!

     “This – the immediate, everyday, and present experience – is IT, 
     the entire and ultimate point for the existence of a universe.”                Alan Watts

       David Chadwick. "Alan Watts at 100." Shambhala Sun, September 2015.

Direct Perception

The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing.
The hearing of the understanding is another.
But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind.
Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty,
then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you
that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind.

Chuang Tzu

'Something Else'

     “Under our neurotic frets … everyone is already enlightened. Everyone is, underneath, at heart, innately a Buddha. ‘If everybody’s a Buddha,’ I have heard people object, though, ‘why is there so much suffering and misery and war and torture.’ It’s undeniable: people suffer, and unjustly. Yet from the heart of the combat zone we sometimes get reports of something else. 
     A former student of mine was caring for his gravely ill wife day and night, until he was so exhausted that he did not know if he was coming or going. Then, in a grocery store of all places, under the neon glare, he had the uncanny sensation that everything would be all right – indeed, that it already was. The child fiddling with the cereal boxes, a pregnant woman choosing between toothpaste brands, the carts in the aisles, the light and the air – all were exactly as they should be.”

        Smith H, Paine J. “Tales of Wonder - Adventures Chasing the Divine. An autobiography.” HarperOne, NY, 2009. 

     "All shall be well ..." : http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/04/and-all-manner-of-things-shall-be-well.html

Huston Smith - Connoisseur

     A connoisseur is a person of informed and discriminating taste. Perhaps the ultimate connoisseur is one knows how to, and does actually live, a deeply meaningful, joyful life.

     “I am not a religious scholar. What I do is try to show people how they can get something of value personally from religion, which is why I concentrate on its positive side. How you might label me is ‘religious communicator.’ ”
       Huston Smith, Jeffery Paine. “Tales of Wonder. Adventures Chasing the Divine. An Autobiography.” HarperOne, NY, 2009.

     "What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Is there a God? Can there be authentic mystical experience? Are Hindus and Buddhists correct that we can attain a state of enlightenment? Can psychedelic drugs give us a glimpse of it? Does religion have a viable place in the modern world? Is there a common core of values and insights among the world's religions?
     Huston Smith spent his career in a search for answers to these and other questions.

     'Huston Smith is an outstanding authority on the world's religions, not only because of his far reaching knowledge of their teachings and scriptures, but also because he has put so many of them into practice, and, as we say in Tibetan Buddhism, discovered their real taste.' Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

     'Few intellectuals had more of an impact on the comparative study of religion in the twentieth century than Huston Smith. Here, at last, we have a sympathetic but open-eyed biography of the historical figure by a first-rate writer. The result is a page-turning plunge into matters of ultimate significance.' Jeffrey J. Kripal, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Rice University"

       Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014. - an exceptionally worthwhile read - "a page-turning plunge into matters of ultimate significance."

 

Depth, Beauty, Joy

     “Just as the spirit is at the centre of each of us, so the spirit is also at the centre of everything else within this creation. The spirit is always at the centre. When we live our life with other spirit-centred beings in this creation, our relationship to the Creator is from spirit to spirit. Our role as human beings is to preserve that relationship, to maintain the spiritual order and structure of the world…. Indigenous psychology and Indigenous culture can only be fully and properly understood from within this belief: that spirit is the central and primary energy, cause, and motivator of life.  
     … Mother Earth was created as the most beautiful place Creator could imagine. It was there that Creator could see the evidence of his own thoughts, ‘the most beautiful thoughts,’ reflected back to him. … earth is not a place ‘where we are sent to learn lessons of life, or to be tested, or to suffer’; instead, our essential duty is to experience the beauty that sprang from Creator’s thoughts, and to reflect back that beauty back to him. ‘The human being was designed in order that the spirit would be able to experience this life in all of its depth, in all of its beauty, with all of its joy.’”

       Traditional Anishinaabe Creation Story, by Elder James Dumont, 2006 Inaugural Newbury Lecture, University of Sudbury

       Rupert Ross. "Indigenous Healing. Exploring Traditional Paths." Penguin, Toronto, 2014.

Mystical Experiences

     Mystical experiences “need not and should not contradict scientific facts, but when mystics experience the Ground, the One, the Universal Self, Godhead, they have transcended the Cartesian duality of subject and object that takes place in the physical world. Their experiences are therefore neither subjective nor objective in the traditional sense – since the ‘Cartesian Split’ has no relevance to that which lies beyond time and space, and so no relevance to the experience of That.

Universal core of common characteristics of mystical experience:          
          1. A sense of everything in the cosmos as interconnected.
          2. An apprehension of the One – described variously as life, or consciousness or a living Presence.
          3. A sense of objectivity or profound reality.
          4. A feeling of blessedness, joy, happiness, satisfaction.
          5. A feeling that what is apprehended is holy, or sacred, or divine.
          6. Paradoxicality of experience.
          7. Ineffability, or the sense that what is happening cannot be described with words.
          8. Transiency of the experience.
          9. Persistent positive changes in attitude and behavior."
 
        Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 2014

North Street, Halifax, NS

Interbeing

"When the soul wishes to experience something,

she throws an image of the experience out before her

and enters into her own image."

Meister Eckhart

 

luminokaya.com

Heart-Mind Porousness Meditation

     "Mindfully resting in the easy, natural flow of the breath, allow the stream of your experience to be filtered through the focal point of your heart center. If you like, you can gently touch your heart as you begin in a gesture of attuning yourself to allow the stream of ever changing experience to be clearly seen and deeply felt as it flows through the open heart. In this way, each moment and each mindful breath can cultivate and affirm the inseparability of clear presence, embracing the flow of experience, with great compassion."

       Joel & Michelle Levey - adapted from their new book: "Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mind Fitness" Conari Press, 2015.

Gretel and Bess

Flow in Mindfulness Meditation

      Shinzen Young defines 'flow' - the technical term in Basic Mindfulness Training (not Csikszentmihalyi's construct) - "as the movement, change, energy, or force present within a sensory experience. ... Flow is not something separate from specific sensory experiences; it is a characteristic that appears within a specific sensory experience as a result of continuously bringing clarity and equanimity to that experience."

     The downloadable pdf "What is Flow" found under "For Students", then "Further Reference",  

http://www.shinzen.org/index.htm contains very useful information for those deeply engaged in meditation.

pocoloco   www.dpreview.com

 

Mysticism Deprivation

     “A householder who was nevertheless engaged in an advanced meditation practice known as tantra, Manibhadra attained enlightenment while carrying water from the village well back to her home. Dropping her pitcher one day and seeing the water gush out of the broken gourd, she was suddenly liberated. The broken pitcher served as a powerful model of what her meditation was trying to show her. Like the water breaking forth, her consciousness flowed out and merged with all of reality. This jarring loose, or breaking free – this going to pieces without falling apart – is what Buddhism acknowledges as one of the self’s secret needs – to be released from a belief in its own absolute reality.”
 
       Epstein M. "Psychotherapy without the Self. A Buddhist Perspective." Yale University Press, New Haven CT, 2007.
 
     The latest scientific research on the neurobiology of psilocybin-induced mystical experience raises the possibility that human beings may actually suffer if DEPRIVED of mystical experiences: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2015/03/650-effective-management-for.html

Impact of Self-concepts

     “Ordinarily, we assume that our feelings of having a self mean that the self is utterly real: unbreakable, enduring, permanent, and absolute. ‘Really real,’ as Professor Robert Thurman likes to say. 

     But the Buddhist understanding is that, although the self appears to be real, it is only the appearance that is real. The self is not a lasting entity in its own right. It is not separate and distinct from the circumstances that give rise to its appearance.

     Understanding this crucial distinction enables one to enjoy the self’s manifestations without trying to make them more than they really are. 

     The glass can be valued, even treated as precious, while knowing that it is already broken.”

 

       Epstein M. "Psychotherapy without the Self. A Buddhist Perspective." Yale University Press, New Haven CT, 2007. 

Buddhism, and Other Contemplative Traditions

     "... much of what I’m saying about Buddhism also applies to the contemplative traditions of other religions. In fact, contemplatives of different faiths often have more in common with each other than they do with practitioners of their own religion. It comes down to how much we personify or solidify the absolute —whether it’s a supreme being who passes judgment on us or an open expanse of love and awareness. In their experience of God, Thomas Merton, Rumi, and Martin Buber had more in common with the Buddha (and each other) than with most practitioners of their own faith.
     The difference is that meditation is the very essence of Buddhism, not just the practice of a rarified elite of mystics. It’s fair to say that Buddhism is the most contemplative of the world’s major religions, which is a reflection of its basic nontheism.
     Buddhism is about realization and experience, not institutions or divine authority. This makes it especially suited to those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious."

       Melvin McLeod. "Are You Spiritual But Not Religious? 10 Reasons Why Buddhism Will Enrich Your Path." Shambhala Sun, October 2014 edition

         http://www.lionsroar.com/are-you-spiritual-but-not-religious-10-reasons-why-buddhism-will-enrich-your-path-november-2013/

savolio   www.dpreview.com

Shining Character

     "Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, was once asked, 'Why do we do meditation?'
     He answered, 'To polish our character.'
     To polish something is to make it shine. Polishing our character is not that different from polishing anything - a wood carving, a silver candlestick, a glass lens, an inlaid tabletop, a model clipper ship. Why do we want anything to shine? Why do we want ourselves to shine? For the joy of it, I think. I can't think of a better reason.
     Why do such things give us joy as human beings? Why are we made the way we are? I cannot answer such questions. Spiritual practice is not about why, it is all about how."

       Lewis Richmond: Work as a Spiritual Practice. A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job. Broadway Books, NY, 1999.
 

Бирюков Юрий, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

Our Physical Journey towards Wholeness

     I keep being amazed at how we, as individuals & as a species, seem to have to physically experience & process & integrate the myriad mysteries of life - "the full catastrophe", from wondrous to horrific, and with mountains of sand to shovel in between. It seems akin to each of us being presented with a plate of food to eat, digest & incorporate into every cell in our bodies & thus become transformed. 
     May we do this work of a lifetime as mind-heartfully as possible.

Samsara by Wolfgang Weinhardt   http://www.viewpointgallery.ca/

How We Experience Complexity

     "ideas that are complex metaphors to the erudite, are literal for the laity."

        Jay L. Garfield PhD, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Professor of Humanities, Yale-NUS College, Singapore - from the New York Times interview by Gary Gutting "What Does Buddhism Require?" http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/gary-gutting/

     “We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”      Anais Nin


       “The poet and painter William Blake said, ‘As a man is, so he sees.’ He meant that the way a person sees or understands him or herself deeply conditions the ways he or she sees and understands objects, others and the world.”

       Rupert Spira. “Presence, Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness.” Non-duality Press, Salisbury, UK, 2011.

 

cand1d   www.dpreview.com

Joy is Available Right Now - Forget Happiness

     "Life is tough, but when you see & accept what is actually happening, even if it is very difficult or painful, mind and body relax. There is an exquisite quality that comes from just experiencing what arises, completely, with no separation between awareness & experience."

       Ken McLeod. "Forget Happiness. Commentary on two verses from Tokme Zongpo's Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva." Tricycle, Spring 2014 

     See "Post-traumatic growth": http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/01/post-traumatic-growth.html

Nick_Brisbane   www.dpreview.com