To find your shadow energy,
You have to be dedicated to a journey of descent.
Think of this journey as going back to retrieve parts
Of your life that have been abandoned because
You felt so ashamed or guilty about them.
The anger that erupts from the shadow
Is attached to past events that were never resolved.
Now those events are over and gone,
But their emotional residue isn’t.
Shame, guilt, and fear cannot be accessed by thinking.
The shadow isn’t a region of thoughts and words.
Even when you have a flash of memory
And recall such emotions,
You are using a part of the higher brain–the cortex–
That cannot touch the shadow.
The journey of descent begins only when you find
The doorway to the lower brain,
Where experience is sorted out
Not according to reason
But according to intense feelings.
No matter how free you feel from shadow energies,
They exist inside you. If they didn’t,
You would be in a state of total freedom, joy,
And unboundedness.
You would be in unity, the state of innocence regained
When the hidden energy of the shadow
Has been purified.
Shadow energies make themselves known
Whenever a controlled situation
Turns unexpectedly anxious
Or causes unexpected anger or dread.
If you feel guilty or ashamed of yourself
After you experience these,
Then you have touched, however briefly,
On the shadow.
An eruption of irrational feeling isn’t the same
As releasing them.
Venting is not purification.
So don’t mistake an outburst for catharsis.
When a shadow energy truly leaves,
There is no resistance anymore,
And you see something you didn’t see before.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Milindapanha
The king said: 'Venerable Nagasena,
Where does wisdom dwell?
''Nowhere, O king.''
Then, Sir, there is no such thing as wisdom?
''Where does the wind dwell, O king?''
Not anywhere, Sir.
''So there is no such thing as wind?''
Well answered, Nagasena!'
Where does wisdom dwell?
''Nowhere, O king.''
Then, Sir, there is no such thing as wisdom?
''Where does the wind dwell, O king?''
Not anywhere, Sir.
''So there is no such thing as wind?''
Well answered, Nagasena!'
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Ashtavakra Gita 15:5
Desire and aversion are of the mind.
The mind is never yours.
You are free of its turmoil.
You are awareness itself,
Never changing.
Wherever you go,
Be happy.
The mind is never yours.
You are free of its turmoil.
You are awareness itself,
Never changing.
Wherever you go,
Be happy.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Mundaka Upanishad
The ego and the Self
Dwell as intimate friends in the same body,
Like two golden birds perched in the same tree.
The ego eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree,
While the Self looks on detached.
For as long as you identify with the ego,
You will feel joy and sorrow.
Dwell as intimate friends in the same body,
Like two golden birds perched in the same tree.
The ego eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree,
While the Self looks on detached.
For as long as you identify with the ego,
You will feel joy and sorrow.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Deepak Chopra on Unity and Duality
If duality is an illusion,
Then unity will not be established.
Both have their values, and without duality,
Unity has no substance.
Both are natural, both are true.
That is the nature of the world.
Like light and darkness, the contradictions exist,
They are there.
The North Pole is there, and so is the South Pole.
“The two fullnesses” complement each other.
There is 100 percent diversity and 100 percent unity,
Both performing their work at the same time.
That is the nature of the work of creation–
This is true reality.
To us, one seems real and the other unreal.
The reality is that both are real at the same time.
As water is true, so ice is true.
Both are quite opposed to each other,
And yet their affinity is so great
That the ice cannot exist without the water–
It is water and nothing but water.
So unity and diversity are there
Together and at the same time.
The highest goal of existence, then,
Is to achieve “200 percent of life.”
Life is a field of unlimited possibilities.
Such is the glory of total flexibility
In the human nervous system.
This is a tremendously important point.
It says that we can bypass
The limited, bounded choices
That we are used to making and go directly
Tto the solution of any problem.
The basis for this assertion is that nature
Has already structured
The solution in our consciousness.
The problems are in the field of diversity,
While the solutions are in the field of unity.
Going straight to the field of unity
Automatically hits upon the solution,
Which the mind-body system then carries out.
Then unity will not be established.
Both have their values, and without duality,
Unity has no substance.
Both are natural, both are true.
That is the nature of the world.
Like light and darkness, the contradictions exist,
They are there.
The North Pole is there, and so is the South Pole.
“The two fullnesses” complement each other.
There is 100 percent diversity and 100 percent unity,
Both performing their work at the same time.
That is the nature of the work of creation–
This is true reality.
To us, one seems real and the other unreal.
The reality is that both are real at the same time.
As water is true, so ice is true.
Both are quite opposed to each other,
And yet their affinity is so great
That the ice cannot exist without the water–
It is water and nothing but water.
So unity and diversity are there
Together and at the same time.
The highest goal of existence, then,
Is to achieve “200 percent of life.”
Life is a field of unlimited possibilities.
Such is the glory of total flexibility
In the human nervous system.
This is a tremendously important point.
It says that we can bypass
The limited, bounded choices
That we are used to making and go directly
Tto the solution of any problem.
The basis for this assertion is that nature
Has already structured
The solution in our consciousness.
The problems are in the field of diversity,
While the solutions are in the field of unity.
Going straight to the field of unity
Automatically hits upon the solution,
Which the mind-body system then carries out.
Deepak Chopra on Projection
Vedic rishis said that projection is the mechanism
By which consciousness created reality.
Our entire culture has been built upon projection,
And at this moment you and I
Are continuing the process.
Projection creates meaning.
By themselves, events are meaningless
Until we give them value.
While we are creating in the material world,
We are affecting every level of consciousness
And therefore
Every level of creation.
Meaning is never isolated.
For instance, angels exist because
They have been projected in consciousness.
Projection can get complicated.
A society that feels endangered
Can project wild fantasies.
Muslim fundamentalists project a West
That is corrupt, unholy, and decadent,
While Christian fundamentalists project an Islam
That is barbaric, fanatical, and godless in return.
Projection is “successful” when we no longer
Can see reality, but have created a false version
Based on fear, hostility, anxiety, or insecurity–
Any negative emotion
For which we refuse to take responsibility.
Projection can also be positive,
As it is when a smitten lover
Sees perfection in the object of his love,
Although to friends and family the beloved remains
An ordinary creature of flesh and blood.
By which consciousness created reality.
Our entire culture has been built upon projection,
And at this moment you and I
Are continuing the process.
Projection creates meaning.
By themselves, events are meaningless
Until we give them value.
While we are creating in the material world,
We are affecting every level of consciousness
And therefore
Every level of creation.
Meaning is never isolated.
For instance, angels exist because
They have been projected in consciousness.
Projection can get complicated.
A society that feels endangered
Can project wild fantasies.
Muslim fundamentalists project a West
That is corrupt, unholy, and decadent,
While Christian fundamentalists project an Islam
That is barbaric, fanatical, and godless in return.
Projection is “successful” when we no longer
Can see reality, but have created a false version
Based on fear, hostility, anxiety, or insecurity–
Any negative emotion
For which we refuse to take responsibility.
Projection can also be positive,
As it is when a smitten lover
Sees perfection in the object of his love,
Although to friends and family the beloved remains
An ordinary creature of flesh and blood.
Sutta Nipata 226
What the great Buddha has praised as pure,
The state that is called immediate,
There exists nothing equal to that state.
The state that is called immediate,
There exists nothing equal to that state.
Prajnaparamita
Subhuti, how does a person first feel a need to save beings?
He becomes aware of that kind of wise insight
Which shows him beings as on their way to destroying themselves.
Great compassion then takes hold of him.
He surveys the world, and what he sees fills him with agitation.
So such a person radiates great friendliness
And compassion over all these beings
And gives his attention to them, thinking,
"I would like to save these beings,
I would like to release them from all their sufferings."
But he does not make this desire into an attachment,
For even he never turns his back on full enlightenment.
He becomes aware of that kind of wise insight
Which shows him beings as on their way to destroying themselves.
Great compassion then takes hold of him.
He surveys the world, and what he sees fills him with agitation.
So such a person radiates great friendliness
And compassion over all these beings
And gives his attention to them, thinking,
"I would like to save these beings,
I would like to release them from all their sufferings."
But he does not make this desire into an attachment,
For even he never turns his back on full enlightenment.
Ramakrishna
Live in the world like a waterfowl.
The water clings to the bird,
But the bird shakes it off.
Live in the world like a mudfish.
The fish lives in the mud,
But its skin is always bright and shiny.
The water clings to the bird,
But the bird shakes it off.
Live in the world like a mudfish.
The fish lives in the mud,
But its skin is always bright and shiny.
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