“Thought cannot exist without consciousness but consciousness does not need thought.
Enlightenment means rising above thought, not falling back to a level below thought, the level of an animal or a plant. In the enlightened state, you still use your thinking mind when needed, but in a much more focused and effective way than before. You use it mostly for practical purposes, but you are free of the involuntary internal dialogue, and there is inner stillness. When you do use your mind, and particularly when a creative solution is needed you oscillate every few minutes or so between thought and stillness, between mind and no mind. No-mind is consciousness without thought. Only in that way is it possible to think creatively, because only in that way does thought have any real power. Thought alone when it is no longer connected with the much vaster realm of consciousness, quickly becomes barren, insane, destructive.
All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no mind, from inner stillness. The mind then gives form to the creative impulse or insight. Even the great scientists have reported that their creative breakthroughs came from a time of mental quietude.”
The above is what Eckhart Tolle says about thought and the mind in his book “The Power of Now” which I have been reading repeatedly for the past few months. In other words, I don’t think I’ll be wrong if I say, all those thoughts which are not self-seeking or ego-feeding are valid and are more powerful than those which are selfish in a way which divide one from the other or create a distinction from others. Since all of us are connected at energy levels, those thoughts which unify are stronger than those which divide.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Almighty
Almighty
A knower says You reside within my heart
But to look within I fall short
The knower also says You are everywhere
It is with You my existence I share
You created this wonderful world
On this colorful canvas Your love unfurled
I’m grateful that I am a part of it
In body, mind, soul and spirit
Have You created me or I, You?
I have to find out what is true
You are not different from me
For myself that truth I have to see
My questions may sound very absurd
Someday I shall be answered
Churning within are these queries
How do I do away with all my worldly worries?
You, by varied names we call
Is the name important? Claims are tall
Behind all names there is only ONE
Revealed to the seeker when differences are shun
To You are given varied forms
To worship You are set certain norms
With empty rituals and customs, You, no one can fool
To reach You Love is the only tool
How do I address You? I am ignorant
Only You are that which is permanent
You have existed throughout eternity
Whatever the name, Lord, God or Almighty
-Pepal Tree
06.08.2009
A knower says You reside within my heart
But to look within I fall short
The knower also says You are everywhere
It is with You my existence I share
You created this wonderful world
On this colorful canvas Your love unfurled
I’m grateful that I am a part of it
In body, mind, soul and spirit
Have You created me or I, You?
I have to find out what is true
You are not different from me
For myself that truth I have to see
My questions may sound very absurd
Someday I shall be answered
Churning within are these queries
How do I do away with all my worldly worries?
You, by varied names we call
Is the name important? Claims are tall
Behind all names there is only ONE
Revealed to the seeker when differences are shun
To You are given varied forms
To worship You are set certain norms
With empty rituals and customs, You, no one can fool
To reach You Love is the only tool
How do I address You? I am ignorant
Only You are that which is permanent
You have existed throughout eternity
Whatever the name, Lord, God or Almighty
-Pepal Tree
06.08.2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
My reflections on Edgar Cayce and Eckhart Tolle
A parallel between Edgar Cayce and Eckhart Tolle.
By the process of thinking we create our own reality. So, as Tolle says, if we stop thinking, that is, using the mind, or stilling the mind, we cease to create time. By accepting the present moment we cease to create the future. The future is actually psychological time. The present is what we had created earlier by unconscious thinking and by accepting it we stop creating time. By reacting to the present situation, we again create time. Edgar Cayce, the sleeping prophet as he is known, tells us that what we are experiencing in the present is our own making. We are experiencing the fruit of what we ourselves had set into motion at an earlier time. By accepting it, we cease to create fresh karma. By reacting to it, or with our non-acceptance, we put it off to a later date. This is creating our own reality. Our own time. The future. This is perhaps why we incarnate again and again until we accept what we ourselves have created. The key to end time is to accept the present moment. As Tolle says, the present moment is all we have. It is Life.
By the process of thinking we create our own reality. So, as Tolle says, if we stop thinking, that is, using the mind, or stilling the mind, we cease to create time. By accepting the present moment we cease to create the future. The future is actually psychological time. The present is what we had created earlier by unconscious thinking and by accepting it we stop creating time. By reacting to the present situation, we again create time. Edgar Cayce, the sleeping prophet as he is known, tells us that what we are experiencing in the present is our own making. We are experiencing the fruit of what we ourselves had set into motion at an earlier time. By accepting it, we cease to create fresh karma. By reacting to it, or with our non-acceptance, we put it off to a later date. This is creating our own reality. Our own time. The future. This is perhaps why we incarnate again and again until we accept what we ourselves have created. The key to end time is to accept the present moment. As Tolle says, the present moment is all we have. It is Life.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Peter Russell in his book "From Science to God"
The Golden Rule
As much as we want to feel unconditional love in ourselves, we also want others to feel that love toward us. None of us want to feel criticized, rejected, ignored or manipulated. We want to feel appreciated, honored, and cared for. This is true not only in our intimate relationships with our partners and family, but also in our relationships with those we work with, people we meet socially, and even strangers we encounter on the street or in an airplane. In all our relationships we want to feel respected.If love is what we all want, then love is what we should be giving each other. But that is not always easy. Too often we are so busy trying to get love for ourselves, or holding on to the love we have, we forget that other people want exactly the same. Before long we get caught in a vicious circle that denies us the very love we seek.
If we feel hurt over something someone says or does-whether they intend to hurt us, or whether it is all our own creation-our normal response is to defend by attacking in kind. Though not the wisest or most noble response, if we believe that our happiness depends on how others behave, this is how we tend to react. If the other person is trapped in the same mindset, they are likely to respond in a similar fashion and do or say something hurtful in return.
So the vicious circle is created. On the surface it may seem that a relationship is going well; both people appear friendly; there is no open hostility. But underneath a subtle game is being played. Each person, in attempting to get the other person to be more loving, is making the other feel hurt rather than loved. It is a tragic lose-lose game, which, if sustained, can ruin the best of relationships.
As easily as the circle is set up, it can be undone. The key is simple: Give love rather than withhold it. What this means in practice is that whatever we say, and however we say it, we want the other person to feel loved and cared for rather than attacked and hurt.
The Buddha called this “right speech”: If you cannot say something in such a way that the other person feels good on hearing it, then it is better to retain noble silence. This should not be interpreted as avoidance- “I don’t know how to say what I want to say without you getting upset, so I shall keep quite.” Expressing our thoughts and feelings is valuable, but we need to do so in ways that do not trigger the vicious circle. We should retain noble silence only so long as we need to-until we’ve worked out how to say what we have to say in a kind and loving manner.
Spiritual teachings often refer to this principle as the golden rule. Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your loss,” says Taoism. The Koran proclaims, “No one of you is a believer until he desires for himself.” And Christ said, “All things whatsoever that ye would that men should to you, do ye even so to them.”
The key is kindness, the intent to cause no harm to others. It springs from the recognition that the light of consciousness shining in us all is divine. We honor God in honoring each other, for each and every one of us is holy.
Unlike the God I rejected as a youth, God as the light of consciousness neither conflicts with my scientific leanings, nor does it run counter to my intuition and reason. Indeed, it pints toward an ultimate convergence of science and religion.
-Peter Russell
As much as we want to feel unconditional love in ourselves, we also want others to feel that love toward us. None of us want to feel criticized, rejected, ignored or manipulated. We want to feel appreciated, honored, and cared for. This is true not only in our intimate relationships with our partners and family, but also in our relationships with those we work with, people we meet socially, and even strangers we encounter on the street or in an airplane. In all our relationships we want to feel respected.If love is what we all want, then love is what we should be giving each other. But that is not always easy. Too often we are so busy trying to get love for ourselves, or holding on to the love we have, we forget that other people want exactly the same. Before long we get caught in a vicious circle that denies us the very love we seek.
If we feel hurt over something someone says or does-whether they intend to hurt us, or whether it is all our own creation-our normal response is to defend by attacking in kind. Though not the wisest or most noble response, if we believe that our happiness depends on how others behave, this is how we tend to react. If the other person is trapped in the same mindset, they are likely to respond in a similar fashion and do or say something hurtful in return.
So the vicious circle is created. On the surface it may seem that a relationship is going well; both people appear friendly; there is no open hostility. But underneath a subtle game is being played. Each person, in attempting to get the other person to be more loving, is making the other feel hurt rather than loved. It is a tragic lose-lose game, which, if sustained, can ruin the best of relationships.
As easily as the circle is set up, it can be undone. The key is simple: Give love rather than withhold it. What this means in practice is that whatever we say, and however we say it, we want the other person to feel loved and cared for rather than attacked and hurt.
The Buddha called this “right speech”: If you cannot say something in such a way that the other person feels good on hearing it, then it is better to retain noble silence. This should not be interpreted as avoidance- “I don’t know how to say what I want to say without you getting upset, so I shall keep quite.” Expressing our thoughts and feelings is valuable, but we need to do so in ways that do not trigger the vicious circle. We should retain noble silence only so long as we need to-until we’ve worked out how to say what we have to say in a kind and loving manner.
Spiritual teachings often refer to this principle as the golden rule. Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your loss,” says Taoism. The Koran proclaims, “No one of you is a believer until he desires for himself.” And Christ said, “All things whatsoever that ye would that men should to you, do ye even so to them.”
The key is kindness, the intent to cause no harm to others. It springs from the recognition that the light of consciousness shining in us all is divine. We honor God in honoring each other, for each and every one of us is holy.
Unlike the God I rejected as a youth, God as the light of consciousness neither conflicts with my scientific leanings, nor does it run counter to my intuition and reason. Indeed, it pints toward an ultimate convergence of science and religion.
-Peter Russell
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