Simple Seekers

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 childrens’ story of 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 and more shades of dripping green leaves, weighed down by the soft but steadily 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.”

“You interfere with Nature’s way?”

“Only when her way differs from mine.”

“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 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 your behaviour?”

“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 me from losing a tooth? I seemed to need and/or expect a more personal relatonship 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 they 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 knowing 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.”

…..

The concept of surrender may have a meaningful place on a battlefield, or in rigid religions wherein adherents are required to surrender to a powerful God, or to a powerful human, or organization led my more or less powerful humans who demand unquestioning obedience from their flock, and flock seems to be a curiously appropriate term, similar to a flock of sheep. But, in the spiritual world there can be no place for a win/lose situation.

For those who follow the path of seekers of enlightenment, there is no sense of inferiority toward those who have attained a higher level of awareness. We know that anything they know is also know within us. We only have to meditate deeply enough, and to walk the talk – to live our awareness of practical spirituality, and we too will learn from experience how relevant, or not so, our thinking is to what lived experience teaches us about life.

Our own truth develops from the degree of harmony between what we think and what we experience in the physical world.

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 that, 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, did I learn something about choosing, and values?

“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 those 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?”

“Intention sounds predetermined.”

“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 to have had a pre-existing cause.”

“Yes.”

“But a cause is not a justification, but just something that came before.”

“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

Thinking back at Lesson 22, 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 of armour.”

“Then he rules with an iron grip?”

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

“And yet?”

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

“Does he remind you of me?”

“Not at all.”

“Why?”

“Wands express action.”

“And teachers do not?”

“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 that 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 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 within 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 have intuitively known 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.”

…..

Veils are not walls, and yet they can appear to be.

The ancient wise ones may always have known that there are veils between the many worlds of reality, and these teachers of timeless wisdom would also have known that veils were necessary to protect both those above and those below the two sets of veils that exist between the many worlds of Mind.

The world of sleep is separate from the world of daily living. We need time out to unwind and reflect on the day’s activities. Our eyes close, and sleep takes us behind the veil that separates the light of the physical, living day, in which we, more or less, directed our own thoughts, emotions, and activities, and the night of surrender to powers beyond our control.

Dreams invite themselves, or are they sent from wherever, or caused by whatever? And yet these dreams are not mass-produced, but are uniquely designed for one mind, even if many more minds than one share similar dreams.

So, what has that to do with veils between worlds of higher wisdom? As above, so below – this seeming wisdom polarity does not refer to sameness but to a correlation between higher and lower aspects, degrees, levels, stages of worlds of thought and emotion.

Who sang that song about learning music (or anything else) that goes, “Let’s start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start …”? And yet, for all intents and purposes related to our consciously lived existence, perhaps there was no beginning, and so we start where are are, now.

Veils exist between what we once knew and what we now know and are, and what we might yet know, and become. Veils exist, if only in our minds. We separate Grade One from Grade Two, and yet, what we learned in Grade One formed a foundation for what we learned in Grade Two. There is both separation and continuity.

Life goes on in stages that blend and become as one. Veils separate past from future, and we are between these two veils. Perhaps, there’s no other place to be?

.

Who are we, behind our masks?. “Behind the Mask” was a required text on an introduction to modern psychology, when I went back to school in mid-life, to find the answers to questions that had followed me throughout my life. What’s it all about? And, why?

“Behind the Mask” – whatever happened to my very much underlined and highlighted copy? I kept it for many years. The title itself fascinated me, for it describes so perfectly, or seems to, to me, at least, the many roles we each play during our lifetime, and the seeming reality that so many people seem to forget to take their masks off when the work-day is over.

We are so very much more than the roles we play on the stage of life – the masks we wear, that Jung calls archetypes. At least he seems to place them back deeply in our minds, and not, as so many people I know, confuse them with the essence of their personality.

Skilled actors slip off their masks and return to whom they are, an individual living in a society of other individuals, with both similar and different temperaments, skills, and lifestyle choices, to everyone else.

Masks, or archetypes, serve a purpose, but they’re not real, and we are. Or, are we?

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. So, 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.”

…..

Before meditation there was mindless activity. We followed the herd without even knowing that we were following the herd. Actually, we were just doing what those around us seemed to be doing; eating, sleeping, and working at mindless activities. But, so was everyone else, or where they?

We never did get to see everyone else, but most everyone we knew seemed to be living a life that they had been living for almost as long as they had been living.

Then came meditiation and we, or some of us, learned to sit still and relax into mindless inactivity. Some sat longer than did other, and yet it was only a transitional stage in our mental development, as surely as every stage might be, if we let it become as such.

Taking time out from mindless activity to engage in mindless inactivity does not, in any way, prepare us to go much beyond mindlessness.

So, what’s the answer, in our age, of moving beyond past restrictions? Perhaps, bringing directed activity into a relaxed mind?