Post by Caressa2 on May 13, 2004 21:47:51 GMT -5
Embrace the positive and negative in wholeness
"Only when we can love hell will we find heaven."
-- Unknown source
People often view the spiritual path as a search for the light. In truth, spirituality asks us to bring light and darkness together in wholeness. And in fact, this is the only possible solution. In our world of duality, any effort to focus all attention on the light only serves to increase the power of the darkness. Our aim is not to deny or reject anything but to embrace it all.
"When you are able to contain both the light and dark together, that is a very enlightening state. It means that you no longer have to choose one experience over another. You do not have to choose love OR hate, blame OR forgiveness, sadness OR joy, anger OR openheartedness. You are no longer polarized; no particular feeling boxes you in and keeps you from the light of true self. You then have access to the full range of human experiences you came into this life to embrace."
-- Martia Nelson
groups.msn.com/TheLightworkers
THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
So much of my life was either/or, should have/could have, if only this/if only that. Always with the self-doubt and insecurities. Wholeness comes when I let go of the fear and put faith in the God of my understanding today.
As Osho/Zen puts it:
Schizophrenia brings a new twist to the old idea of 'getting stuck between a rock and a hard place.' But we are in preciselythis sort of situation when we get stuck in the indecisive and dualistic aspects of the mind. Should I let my arms go and fall head first, or let my legs go and fall feet-first? Should I go here or there? Should I say yes or no? And whatever decision we make, we will always wonder if we should have decided the other way.
The only way out of this dilema is, unfortunately, to let go of both at once. You can't work your way out of this one by solving it, making lists of pros and cons, or in any way working it out in yourmind. Better to follow your heart, if you can find it. If you can't find it, just jump - your heart will start beating so fast there will be no mistake about where it is.
Man is split. Schizophrenia is a normal condition of man - at least now. It may not have been so in the primitive world, but centuries of conditioning, civilization, culture and religion have made man a crowd - divided, split, contradictory.... But because this split is against his nature, deep down somewhere hidden the unity still survives. Because the sould of man is one, all the conditionings at the most destroy the periphery of the man. But the center remains untouched - that's how man continues to live. But his life has become a hell.
The whole effort of Zen is how to drop this schizophenia, how to drop this split personality, how to drop the divided mind of man, how to become undivided, integated, centered, crystallized.
The way you are, you cannot say that you are. You don't have a being. You are a marketplace - many voices. If you want to say 'yes', immediately the 'no' is there. You cannot even utter a simple word 'yes' with totality.... In this way happiness is not possible; unhappiness is a natural consequence of a split personality.
"Only when we can love hell will we find heaven."
-- Unknown source
People often view the spiritual path as a search for the light. In truth, spirituality asks us to bring light and darkness together in wholeness. And in fact, this is the only possible solution. In our world of duality, any effort to focus all attention on the light only serves to increase the power of the darkness. Our aim is not to deny or reject anything but to embrace it all.
"When you are able to contain both the light and dark together, that is a very enlightening state. It means that you no longer have to choose one experience over another. You do not have to choose love OR hate, blame OR forgiveness, sadness OR joy, anger OR openheartedness. You are no longer polarized; no particular feeling boxes you in and keeps you from the light of true self. You then have access to the full range of human experiences you came into this life to embrace."
-- Martia Nelson
groups.msn.com/TheLightworkers
THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
So much of my life was either/or, should have/could have, if only this/if only that. Always with the self-doubt and insecurities. Wholeness comes when I let go of the fear and put faith in the God of my understanding today.
As Osho/Zen puts it:
Schizophrenia brings a new twist to the old idea of 'getting stuck between a rock and a hard place.' But we are in preciselythis sort of situation when we get stuck in the indecisive and dualistic aspects of the mind. Should I let my arms go and fall head first, or let my legs go and fall feet-first? Should I go here or there? Should I say yes or no? And whatever decision we make, we will always wonder if we should have decided the other way.
The only way out of this dilema is, unfortunately, to let go of both at once. You can't work your way out of this one by solving it, making lists of pros and cons, or in any way working it out in yourmind. Better to follow your heart, if you can find it. If you can't find it, just jump - your heart will start beating so fast there will be no mistake about where it is.
Man is split. Schizophrenia is a normal condition of man - at least now. It may not have been so in the primitive world, but centuries of conditioning, civilization, culture and religion have made man a crowd - divided, split, contradictory.... But because this split is against his nature, deep down somewhere hidden the unity still survives. Because the sould of man is one, all the conditionings at the most destroy the periphery of the man. But the center remains untouched - that's how man continues to live. But his life has become a hell.
The whole effort of Zen is how to drop this schizophenia, how to drop this split personality, how to drop the divided mind of man, how to become undivided, integated, centered, crystallized.
The way you are, you cannot say that you are. You don't have a being. You are a marketplace - many voices. If you want to say 'yes', immediately the 'no' is there. You cannot even utter a simple word 'yes' with totality.... In this way happiness is not possible; unhappiness is a natural consequence of a split personality.
. I will be back looking for Lin and others.