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Onward & Upward
“History admires the wise, but it elevates the brave.” — Edmund Morris
When I first began my spiritual search more than 45 years ago, I did not really know what I was looking for. Although a part of me certainly tried to act like I did. So much of what I felt was going on with me didn’t really seem to have a basis in any kind of physical reality. I guess that’s a part of why I was so confused and lost as I stumbled along through my life path.
Over these many years I feel I’ve gained a perspective that puts much of that in its proper place. As I have added tools to my spiritual toolbox over that time, it is much easier to pause and look back at all the illusionary misperceptions that drove my direction in life. And the amazing thing about all that wasn’t just necessarily that the direction was off, but that my whole orientation to my path was completely off. Let me explain.
First, a little terminology education for all of you, so you all understand what I’m actually talking about. Not that you’re not intelligent to understand. Just extending the courtesy to you so you can learn the vocabulary of the word values I’m using. Hell, it took me years to really understand what this meant myself, so here goes.
The God Complex
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” — Lao Tzu
Why do we need heroes? Why do we need to worship? Why does it seem we always need to have someone to look up to? What is all that?
I think human beings are too easily brainwashed. We seem too insecure in ourselves and we look to others for validation and approval. That opens the door for others to take advantage of us. We seem to need a Daddy and a Mommy, and a God or Gods, to tell us what to do, and/or let us know we are okay, and/or just be someone we need to admire. Because they are greater than us, since we are so unworthy?
I feel we live in a world of many illusions. And this strong need for someone or something outside ourselves to ease our inside insecurities is one of the grandest illusions of all. We need to be free of hero worship, guru traps, and prophet perversions. They are pieces of this monumental illusion that leads us away from our own spiritual freedom.
Look around. It is everywhere. Our celebrity society, with its movie stars, sports stars, political stars, business stars, religious stars, media stars, stars everywhere in all forms. We promote them in all types of mediums, and joist them high on their pedestals. For they know better than us. And we know nothing. Right?
Vehicles & Tools
“I have come to believe that there are infinite passageways out of the shadows, infinite vehicles to transport us into the light” — Martha Beck
“The expectations of life depend upon diligence. The mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” — Confucious
Two things. Vehicles. Tools. Two … very … important things. They define, perfect and transport us. You may ask, rightly so, what am I talking about?
Okay, think about it. First, vehicles. How would we get anywhere if we didn’t have some type of vehicle; bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, bus, train, airplane, or even our own two feet? We need vehicles to get anywhere, so we can do the things we need when we get there. Right?
Second, tools. We need tools to do things, to accomplish things, to complete things. Something as simple as silverware to eat with, or as complicated as software code to run computer programs. For many of the things we do, we need tools to go the full distance with our tasks. Right?
Think how boring life would be if we had no vehicles or tools. Wouldn’t we just be sitting at home, twiddling our thumbs? But then again, would we even have a home? How would it get built with no tools? No, we’d still be in a cave, maybe starving, because we had no tools to hunt with.
That Ringing Sound
“The audible life stream is the cardinal, central fact in the science of the masters … the supreme fact and factor of the entire universe … the very essence and life of all things … less known than any other important fact of nature, yet it is the one determining factor of all nature.” — Dr. Julian Johnson, ‘Path of the Masters’
Got Sound? I certainly hope so. If you are reading this, then you definitely do, but you may not know that you do … unless you have been medically diagnosed with a condition called tinnitus.
For those of you that do not know what that is, Webster’s dictionary defines tinnitus as, “any ringing or buzzing in the ear not resulting from an external stimulus.”
The medical community reports that approximately 20% of the people in the USA suffer from tinnitus, which means over 60 million of us. Wow, that seems like quite a lot, but how serious is it really? Well, those reports say things that bring it on are allergies, head injuries, loud noises, medications, infections, tumors and diseases. Treatments are offered to treat those symptoms, but they are not completely sure what causes it. There are four main treatments currently available; prescription drugs, maskers (devices one wears that produce soft sounds to drown out the inner sounds), behavioral modification training (learning not to listen to the inner sounds) and surgery in the most chronic cases of all.
The Search
“Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” — Jalal ad-Din Rumi
A person who had just died walks up to the pearly gates of heaven and greets St. Peter with anticipation and joy. So, St. Peter welcomes him to heaven.
Then the person replies, “St. Peter, I’m so glad to have made it here to heaven. Now I’d like to meet God.”
St. Peter gazes at him oddly, takes an appraisal of him and finally says, “You mean to say that in all your years on earth you have never met God?”
The person appears puzzled, then answers with, “No. How could I meet God on earth?”
St. Peter asks, “Did you ever look for Him?”
The new person answers, “No, uh, I guess I didn’t.”
St. Peter replies, “Well you certainly won’t meet Him here either. That is, if you don’t look for Him.”
Do you know what you are looking for?
TMC