Simple Seekers

A simple seeker was meditating on a card she had pulled randomly from her Tarot deck, a lone figure with a lantern.

“Do you know what lived experience The Hermit card expresses?”

“I seem to relate to it.”

“In what way?”

“As a solitary seeker.”

“How can you consider yourself to be solitary while I’m part of your life?”

“It’s possible to be alone in a crowd.”

“We’re not a crowd.”

“What difference does it make?”

“To what?”

“Aloneness in thought.”

“What about aloneness in emotion?”

“What about it?”

“If you can feel alone in thought …”

“You slipped “feel” in.”

“Yes, to prove a point.”

“That thoughts aren’t isolated from emotions?”

“Yes. They each are as one of two sides of the same reality.”

“The reality of …?”

“Our state of mind.”

“I sense ego coming into the picture.”

“Yes. Ego is the central mover and pusher of our thoughts, emotions, and actions. We can’t do or even feel anything without our individual life force, ego.”

“There may be thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of people who don’t seem to be aware of this reality.”

“”This” suggests that you’re aware.”

“Yes, but I have no power of persuasion to inspire others to shake off the illusion of ego as being something they can function without, and still be able to live in the physical world as an individual, beyond the control of some guru more aware than they are.”

“Yes. They’d be as slaves.”

“Perhaps they are, now.”

“Yes.”

…………

A simple seeker’s note to herself

A sudden thought re The Hermit. Spirit may have caused my hand to pull that card.

“Why?”

“To help me understand that we each move through life alone, at least in some way.”

“In what way?”

“Nobody can live our life for us.”

“Personal responsibility?”

“Yes. It’s unavoidable, I guess.”

“Yes.”

……….

A simple seeker was meditating on the concept of separation and how it might differ from differentiation.

“What seems to be the problem?”

“Seems to be? Or is?”

“Seems to be, in the minds of some.”

“In the minds of some?”

“Yes.”

“But not in all?”

“Not in all.”

“But, if all minds are individual aspects of the one ..?”

“And they are.”

“Then, ..”

“Go on.”

“How can they be separate?”

“They can’t.”

“How is this possible?”

“Different meals can be prepared from the same ingredients. Apples are apples, whether they’re served as a pie or as a sauce.”

“Or a drink?”

“Yes.”

“But, different minds have varying degrees of potential.”

“Not all apples are the same.”

“So, differentiation could refer to various specific types of apples?”

“Or minds.”

“How can a mind be a type?”

“We each possess potentials that some others may or may not possess.”

“So, a mind is a mind, whatever its capacity or style of learning?”

“Style of learning?”

“Yes.”

“Exactly. We each learn in our own way.”

“But we each learn?”

“Yes.”

“Then, our individual learning style doesn’t necessarily separate us from others, who each learn at their own pace and in their own way?”

“Yes. We may be, in some respects, different in our habits, but we each develop habits.”

“So, different individual habits, or even group habits, or social customs doesn’t necessarily separate these individual groups from each other?”

“Yes. We each and all share more similarities than differences.”

………

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I wonder if Spirit was suggesting …

“It was more than a suggestion.”

“Trees are trees, regardless of their type?”

“Yes, and people are people, regardless of their age, gender, strength, size, race, beliefs, education, skills, and special talents (or lack of).”

“So, our differences don’t necessarily separate us from each other, unless we choose to let it happen, for whatever reason?”

“Yes, and in some instances, there can be very justifiable and/or good reasons for separating people, places, and things into categories. We don’t usually put young children into the same class with older students. It’s mutually beneficial to teach younger students with others of their own general age and/or mental capacity.”

“How does this discussion of differences and similarities relate to you and me?”

“In what way?”

“We seem to be so different in levels of awareness, and yet we manage to relate to each other. How can that be?”

“We’ve each intentionally developed a style, a practice of recognizing our differences, and seeking to benefit from them.”

“Would it work for others?”

“It’s the only way that will work.”

………

A simple seeker was enjoying, or might have been enjoying, a glorious Summer afternoon on her precious patio. A late-blooming bluish-purple clematis was stretching as open as it could go – seemingly determined to absorb as much it could of the gently moving air. It seemed to sense, as did the lavender, which was also blooming longer than usual, that their time was running out, at least for this season.

A second blooming, or was it a third? of pink and yellow – a name; how could she forget the name? But, of course, she had not. It had simply slipped away, for now. However, the beautiful snapdragon blossoms had not slipped away, yet. Fuchsias and geraniums seemed also to know that these lazy days of Summer were coming to an end.

The light-filtered green canopy above her would soon dry to glorious reds and golds. The leaves would flutter down, or be torn away, and blown away, by the wind.

It was inevitable. Nothing could change what destiny had planned, and what fate seemed only too willing to help bring about.

“Aren’t we getting a bit morbid?”

“But, it’s going to happen and nothing can prevent it.”

“Why would you want to prevent Nature from doing what Nature does every year at this time?”

“The slow dance of light and shadow is as silent music that the eye alone can hear. And, the perfume of the gently moving air feels so good to inhale, that deep breathing is more as a delicious indulgence than a required meditation practice. It seems to connect me to and within, this precious setting.”

“Then why are you sad?”

“It isn’t enough to have it now. I want to experience it tomorrow, and next week, and … it’s such a helpless feeling.”

“Do your loved plants share your sorrow?”

“No. They seem to have accepted whatever will be, and are happy to be enjoying what now is, a glorious afternoon.”

“What lesson could they teach you, if you were willing to learn it?”

“To enjoy what we have, while we have it, even while accepting that it isn’t ours forever.”

“Yes. Not only is it not ours forever, as far as this pleasant weather is concerned, it may be gone tomorrow.”

“Are you predicting stormy weather?”

“There will always be stormy weather, somewhere.”

……….

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Spirit said that there would always be stormy weather, somewhere. What did He mean by that? I wonder if He was speaking of something other than Nature.

“There isn’t anything other than Nature.”

“Yes, perhaps, but in this particular case, were you referring to physical nature or stormy states of consciousness?”

“Are there stormy states of consciousness?”

“Are there?

“Yes.”

“Do we each have stormy states in our personal consciousness?”

“There is no individual consciousness.”

“Then, we each and all share the same consciousness?”

“Yes and no.”

“Please explain.”

“We create the illusion of separate states of consciousness when, in reality, there are an infinite number of depths an qualities of consciousness that we each and all are a part of, and if we are stressed, then the Law of Attraction can supply us with ever-increasing quantities and qualities of that, or those, thoughts or emotions that we focus our attention on.”

“I let myself get pulled into negative thoughts re the changing season?”

“Yes. Your distress didn’t change the weather, but it prevented you from fully enjoying the beautiful weather, while it lasted.”

“Yes.”

………

A simple seeker was practicing slow and deep breathing, to calm her over-charged emotions, after reading a passionate post of a patriotic soul concerning her homeland, or at least the land of her birth.

The young journalist (did it require youth to care so deeply?) was obviously very agitated by what had happened, what now was happening, and might yet happen; all of it seemingly beyond her power to control.

“How did her energy affect your own, in such a way?”

“I don’t know how that was possible. Perhaps we’re kindred spirits.”

“Yes, we each resonate at a frequency which magnetically attracts and resonates with others resonating with the same, or a similar, vibration.”

“Through a computer?”

“No.”

“Then how?”

“Thoughts have power to resonate, whether written, spoken, or reflected upon in one’s own mind.”

“Then a computer …”

“Or a book …”

“I’m not going there.”

“Where?”

“You’ve hinted at a book for the past ten thousand years or more. I don’t care any more.”

“Why?”

“I allowed myself to get too personally involved in the project.”

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s the same with the young journalist, who has become a deeply distressed witness to a human tragedy.”

“Expanded awareness would have allowed her to transfer her agitated emotions to empathy?”

“Yes, and then to compassion.”

“Yes, and you’re right, again.”

“In what way?”

“In that she seems to see her world too close-up to allow for expanded awareness.”

“Would she care less for current events if she could distance herself from them?”

“No. She would still know that she is helpless to change what is.”

“What can she change?”

“I’m not sure.”

“We can each change how we choose to respond to whatever situation.”

“Would she have expressed less care if she had not shared her experience, her story?”

“Yes.”

……..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I did seem to let myself get very emotionally distressed when reading about a human tragedy so very far away from the safety of my own little home.

“What did you learn, if you learned anything, from our discussion of the young reporter’s experience, and her response to it?”

“I learned that we can’t live anyone’s life but our own.”

“Yes, but you must have learned something more.”

“What?”

“What did the young writer do?”

“She shared her experience.”

“Yes, and in the sharing, what she witnessed became the awareness of all who read her report.”

“Her response to her experience?”

“Yes. We may be limited in our capacity to change the world, alone. But if we share what we know, then we also share the responsibility of responding, with everyone with whom we share our story.”

………………

A simple seeker was relaxing, or at least trying to, in her new patio recliner that seemed many times too big for her to feel comfortable in, just yet. It reminded her of the children’s story of the three bears and a young intruder.

But, today was a glorious day in spite of, or perhaps because of feeling dry, and yet breathing in moist air, and taking pleasure in the one thousand or more shades of dripping green leaves, weighted down by the soft but steady falling rain, just beyond her partially protected patio.

The raindrops seemed to slide from some leaves more willingly than from some others. Why?

“For many more reasons than one, perhaps.”

“How can that be?”

“Shape, texture, angle of incline, location, …”

“Yes. Some are more exposed to …”

“A direct hit?”

“That would suggest that the rain was attacking.”

“And a victim mentality?”

“Where are you going with that?”

“Cause and effect is simply a sequential order of events.”

“My lost tooth?”

“It wasn’t lost.”

“Why did you let it fall out?”

“It was ready to go. No need to blame me.”

“But you could have prevented it.”

“Why would I interfere with Nature?”

“I do it all the time, in my garden.”

“Why?”

“It’s my garden.”

“And, it’s your tooth.”

“But I couldn’t save it without your help.”

“And I have nothing better to do with my energy than to interfere with Nature, in such a small and inconsequential situation?”

“It isn’t small, for me.”

“Was it a large tooth?”

“You know it was small.”

“And so was the issue.”

“What lesson could I learn from you behavior?”

“What did I do?”

“Nothing.”

“Yes.”

………

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Thinking back, why did I seem to think that Spirit would protect mee from losing a tooth? I seemed to need and/or expect a more personal relationship with Him, and not just a teacher-student one.

“Why did you want a personal relationship with me?”

“We would have been, or might have become, friends.”

“And a friendly teacher would have protected you from experiencing what most everyone else experiences as the grow older?”

“Perhaps I’m too simple to understand why all relationships can’t be mutually supportive.”

“All healthy relationships are mutually supportive.”

“Then why did you seem so ..?”

“I support your best interests more than you do, yourself.”

“How?”

“By helping you to understand the difference between what is important and what is not.”

“And my tooth was not?”

“Yes. Your tooth was not.”

…………..

A simple seeker was meditating on the concept of wisdom.

“Wisdom is much more than a concept.”

“How can anything be more than a concept?”

“How can anything be less?”

“Then, what is wisdom, beyond being a concept?”

“A concept of what?”

“A high level of understanding.”

“Understanding of what?”

“Whatever.”

“Whatever is a generalization of everything.”

“Then, of life.”

“Whose life? Or what life?”

“Wisdom as a concept of life in general.”

“Wisdom is wisdom, and life is life.”

“Yes, but I want to understand what life is.”

“How would wisdom help you do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Perhaps you know more than you’re willing to accept knowing.”

“Why would I resist accepting knowing?”

“For fear of consequences of knowing whatever.”

“What consequences can knowledge have?”

“Personal responsibility.”

“For what?”

“For how you choose to respond to awareness.”

“We were discussing knowledge.”

“True knowledge is awareness.”

“And awareness is knowing?”

“Yes.”

“Then, how to respond?”

“To what?”

“Knowing.”

“With integrity.”

“It could be risky.”

“Yes.”

…………

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Thinking back, what did I learn about integrity? And how did my discussion with Spirit about wisdom develop into one about integrity? He seems to have a habit of moving from one subject to another, or are they related?

“Perhaps you learned to accept that you know, or might know, more than you feel comfortable knowing.”

“About what?”

“Or who?”

“Who?”

“You.”

“I thought we were discussing the topic in general.”

“What topic?”

“Wisdom.”

“And integrity?”

“You slipped integrity into it.”

“I’m allowed. I gave myself permission.”

“Even so, we were speaking of generalities.”

“The specific is the general.”

………..

A simple seeker of enlightenment was meditating on the Tarot’s Eight of Cups, and comparing different interpretations. But her emotional response was always the same, a sense of distress and excitement at one and the same time, or of one mood rapidly replacing the other in her mind. Why?

“Are you asking me?”

“No. I was thinking to myself, but according to some, it’s the same thing.”

“Is it?”

“No. I would know.”

“What does it mean,” to know?”

“I would have had experience, and I would have learned from it.”

“Perhaps you have.”

“Regarding choosing change rather than letting it choose me?”

“Yes.”

“But I never choose lightly.”

“The choice would have no value if you did.”

“But, does choosing necessarily create value?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On how much is at stake in the choice.”

“How can we know, for sure?”

“There is no knowing for sure.”

“But the choice must still be made?”

“The choice has been made, in your mind, whether or not you dare to act on it.”

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know that it means that I accept that you’re right, again.”

“Will that knowing determine your choice?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

……..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Thinking back to my discussion with Spirit, did I learn anything about choosing, and value?

“Can there be choosing without weighing values?”

“How important is one option compared to another?”

“Yes. Values have a difference in weight.”

“How so?”

“Some are more lightly chosen, and discarded.”

“Yes, but there are also times when we must choose between two or more options of seemingly equal value. We can’t go down two different roads at the same time.”

“Yes. Which path have you chosen, for life?”

“You know that I’ve chosen to follow you.”

“Yes. We made a sacred vow, a long time ago.”

……………

A simple seeker was meditating on something that St Augustine was supposed to have said – that all evil has a reason.

“You seem to have difficulty accepting that reality, chela.”

“Reason sounds so overly deliberate and intentional.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Intentional sounds premeditated.”

“And deliberate?”

“Perhaps in the heat of the moment.”

“As a reaction rather than as a response?”

“Yes.”

“And intentional?”

“Either way, it would have had to have a pre-existing cause.”

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Wrong.”

“Please explain.”

“The number two comes before three, in simple number progression, but it doesn’t cause three.”

“Three is just the next number following two?”

“Yes.”

“What has that to do with evil?”

“Everything.”

“How?”

“Evil is a consciously, intentional, and extreme form of violence.”

“That explanation seems to separate the evil deed from the doer of the evil deed.”

“One is not the other.”

“One who bakes is considered to be a baker.”

“Regardless of the quality of her baking?”

“Doers of evil are not all the same?”

“Exactly. And, what is seen in the eyes of some as evil, may be considered by others to be a necessary or expedient means to further an end that may or may not, in itself, be considered to be evil.”

“The means doesn’t necessarily measure the quality or value of the end result?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a sad situation.”

“Yes.”

………….

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I don’t feel comfortable with the idea that “all evil has a reason,” even if St Augustine said it, if he did.

“What’s your problem?”

“If all evil …”

“Yes, and all good.”

“But some might do good because it’s in their nature to do good.”

“Yes, but they’ve developed that inclination, or intention, over time.”

“So, couldn’t a doer of evil …”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Doers of evil haven’t yet learned that evil doesn’t pay. They’ll suffer personally from their evil deeds, more than any they harm, until they develop a higher level of consciousness.”

“And they will?”

“And they will.”

………….

A simple seeker had randomly chosen and was now studying her daily personal relationship Tarot card, The King of Wands. This authority figure presented as having a firm grip on power.

“Is it possible?”

“Is what possible?”

“To possess a firm grip on authority.”

“He seems ready to do battle to maintain it. Beneath his royal robes he wears a body suit or armor.”

“Then he rules with an iron grip?”

“Wands are wood, but he does seem prepared, and yet …”

“And yet?”

“Something in his posture and facial expression suggests a willingness to listen to reason.”

“Does he remind you of me?”

“Not at all.”

“Why?”

“Wands express action.”

“And teachers don’t?”

“Not in a physical sense.”

“Intellectual development has physical results.”

“How?”

“Everything you do, say, or think is an expression of intellectual development.”

“Wow!”

“Does that mean you agree?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“It means that I’m impressed with your self-confidence.”

“Yes, but do you disagree?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Self-directed actions must be based on thoughts blended with emotions. And, our thoughts are influenced by those whom we have chosen, or who have been chosen for us, to develop and guide our thinking.”

“Do I guide your thinking?”

“Yes. You certainly have had a powerful effect on my thinking.”

“In what way?”

“You have continuously, or so it seems, challenged me to defend or question my own thinking.”

“And the effects of earlier teachers and social conditioning on your thinking?”

“Yes.”

“Now, back to The King of Action.”

“What about him?”

“I’ll ask you again. Do teachers possess power to influence their students’ actions, what they say and do?”

“Yes, both now and in the future. I now understand the power of what we know, or think we know.”

“Yes. We have learned from whomever we have allowed to teach us whatever.”

“Is Free Will involved?”

“Yes, for those of us who have developed awareness of being influenced by some others, we’re each personally responsible for what we choose to learn from them.”

“What about emotions?”

“Have I taught you any?”

“How can anyone learn or teach emotions?”

“Nothing we can say, think, or do, is or can be emotion-free.”

“How can we learn to recognize which emotion is embedded in whatever particular thought, word, or action?”

“Self-awareness.”

“How to develop self-awareness?”

“Self-reflection, and meditation, in some form.”

“How does self-awareness relate to the symbolic form of The King of Action?”

“His seeming sense of power is as a reflection of his self-awareness. He’s aware of his own personal strengths, his personal power. Are you, of yours?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

………..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I wonder if Spirit was speaking of me when He said that “We’ve learned from whomever we’ve allowed to teach us whatever.”

“You chose to listen to me. Why?”

“I seemed to intuitively know that I’d be wiser for listening to you.”

“With intent to learn whatever I might teach you?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“With intent to seriously consider whatever you might choose to share with me.”

“Yes, and that’s why I choose to share with you, what I do.”

………….

A simple seeker was meditating on the four Tarot Queens until her mind seemed to rest, or focus, on the Queen of Cups.

“What about her?”

“I seem to relate to her.”

“How?”

“Her throne has a high back, as does my new patio recliner, except that she looks much more at ease than I feel in this high-backed and oversized (for me) chair.”

“Perhaps elegance has always been part of her life. Is hers the style to which you would like to become accustomed?”

“No. It’s too late.”

“It was always too late.”

“Why is that?”

“We each have a path prepared for us.”

“Isn’t that fatalism?”

“No; Destiny.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Fate is imposed from outside sources or forces.”

“And destiny is not?”

“Yes. Destiny is not.”

“The acorn theory?”

“It’s more than a theory.”

“How would the results be different?”

“Fate allows for no adaptation to the journey or destination.”

“And destiny does?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“An acorn is destined to become an oak tree, but not all oak trees live to maturity, or grow straight and strong.”

“Outside forces influence but do not determine the outcome?”

“Yes. A seed’s inner essence determines the path it will follow. It knows what it is, where it’s going, and why.” Whether it arrives or not is out of its hands, and not worth considering.”

“Then why can’t I be as an acorn?”

“You are. Everyone is.”

“Whether they’re aware of that reality or not?”

“Yes. Awareness is an option.”

…………

A simple seeker’s note to herself

“What did you learn, chela?”

“That we each are as a seed.”

“In what way?”

“We each have unique strengths, weaknesses, and potentials, and each to variable degrees.”

“Yes. But how can that awareness help you choose how to live?”

“By meditating on my personal strengths, weaknesses, and possible potentials, and perhaps even more importantly, on those emotions, thoughts, and activities that I seem to be naturally attracted to.”

“Yes. It all begins with learning to know yourself.”

“Is that possible?”

“Yes, if only to some extent, and the rest is a mystery, for now.”

…………….