@SrRochardBunson Love is what differentiates human beings from the animals. I'm talking about compassion / agape, love that has no commerce, no expectation, love that only exists to make the other person more happy, less miserable. Loving God and creation leads to a deepened love for the natural world and our entire Mother Earth and this unfathomable creation. Animals do not have hatred either; our ability to hate makes the necessity of love more obvious. Love solves ALL our problems, always.
@SrRochardBunson The Sufi never has an inner feeling of emptiness, for we are filled with "The Friend", as Rumi calls our Creator. But, yes, we are beyond the entanglements of things that we cannot affect, which includes most of our fellows and their callous machinations, but that doesn't mean the loving heart committed to The Way does not seek to affect positively what we can. There nothing superior to The Way of Love, which Don Juan called "Paths with Heart".
@SrRochardBunson Rumi said, "How wonderful it is now that I am in constant conversation with You." Ask and ye shall receive, but only after a steep path and much testing. One must be "pure of heart" / rid of one's vices, having transmuted the 19 vices into their virtuous counterpart. Everything in the universe is created in pairs. How much better it is to live the virtue of freedom instead of the vice of addiction. Love instead of hate, {and so on}
@SrRochardBunson I cannot speak to the 3rd and 4th lines, but the first appears to apply to those who only do sacred things to be seen doing sacred things; their reward is in their being seen. There can be no such "for show" efforts to achieve the real thing, which is self-transformation with the help if the universe to become "pure of heart" and, thus, a pure blessing upon the Earth.
Do not remain in the dualistic state; avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace of this and that, of right and wrong, the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One, do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend, it ceases to exist in the old way.
@SrRochardBunson I have not achieved such a state (yet), but communicating with our fellow human beings requires object references across time, so while I don't doubt this is a state achievable in deep meditation, for normal life we will return to our subject-object references, as it is how physical space is laid out. The negative/selfish part of our mind's input stream does need to be shut out, that's for sure, but that's why the soul needs purification.
@SrRochardBunson If by emptiness, they mean not having a personal preference as to what another person chooses, then yes, I have experienced that as the novice, whose teacher's counsel contained no prejudice or opinion, only the happiest path. I am, however, not so advanced.
To live in the great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited views are fearful and irresolute; the faster they hurry, the slower they go.
And clinging (attachment) cannot be limited.
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way, and there will be neither coming nor going.
Obey the nature of things your own nature and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
@SrRochardBunson To be attached to becoming the best version of yourself you can be is a necessary goal for each human being, for only beginning that journey can we begin to improve the world around us, with less ego and more compassion. In humility and resolve, knowing our own flawed nature, we tend our flaws and serve compassion whereever we go, hoping that will give us the strength to surmount the next obstacle to a pure heart.
When thought is in bondage, the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived from distinctions and separation?
@SrRochardBunson To teach why vice is to be avoided, one must first understand vice and why its counterpart virtue creates more happiness not only in oneself but in the world around us. To create happiness, one must first stop creating misery. Learning the clarity of our moral nature is essential to learning "Act-Right". All our actions spread ripples throughout spacetime; "Act-Right" ensures that they are only positive, as we need never create negativity, and can learn how to avoid it.
@SrRochardBunson The wise man is one with the Tao and is therefore beyond goals, having fully submitted his entire being {Spirit, body, soul, free will} to the Divine Will, which now is fully in control, resulting in the most glorious result possible. Happiness is complete and neverending, fear is utterly absent, and all the doors of the universe can be opened with a question (but each door contains nine more behind it). Pure of heart, they only shine.
@SrRochardBunson Choosing between right and wrong is the entire purpose of our human being with our unique-to-this-physical-plane ability to use our free will to selflessly serve the happiness of others, or to selfishly take what we want from others for our own pleasure. The world cannot escape right and wrong, for we must teach our children and societies how to use our minds to discern one from the other and why to make the best choice for the greater good, which is often not the easiest one.
@SrRochardBunson This all appears to be in the context of actually reaching of the Godhead, which happens just before the free will (the last of our four parts) is finally submitted to the Divine Will. I can only imagine, but I doubt there are any thoughts happening in that literally awesome encounter.
@SrRochardBunson I imagine complete submission to the Divine Will to result in such a state, but I don't consider myself to be very close to that achievement. The best I seem to be able to muster is to selflessly serve those around me without concern for myself, but this meager level has rewarded me with a measure of success, in that I am content with the little I have, our kids have all they need, and my wife and I care for each other lovingly. It's a nice foundation for mysticism, IMO.
@SrRochardBunson It's too late and I'm fixin to be out of town for a few days starting in a handful of hours, but I feel a great truth in these words but can't comment any more. I will say, though, that there is a very interesting Sufi story about the guy who lived an entire life (as a woman) while he picked up two hands of water to wash his face. Remind me later, if you care.
@SrRochardBunson Ok, I'm off to the Berza world (the world our soul roams during unconsciousness; spelling just a guess). Thank you for inspiring me to write. I hope I didn't fuck anything up here; my perception is far from pure, so mistakes are more than possible, but I hope not very likely. I'll catch up with y'all delightful folks on Friday-ish, Lord Willing :-) Peace be with you, and may God bless us all with a full measure of Act-Right ;-) And I'm ignoring my notifications until Friday :-)
@SrRochardBunson Thanks for sharing. I'm always quite conflicted about insights like this. Because to me, it's a paradox. To have no opinions, and not distinguish between things, seems to conflict with our human reality; to simply not die in this physical world, we need to do a lot of judging!
Also I'm not sure about the emptiness thing; if you remove all definitions, boundaries, opinions, and everything is one and the same, then does movement still exist? And if not, why exist at all?
@bazkie You're most welcome! I don't have the answers, but I sure like thinking about the questions. I have been trying to figure out this exact thing for years.
It IS a paradox, for sure. If you followed it exactly you'd probably either be enlightened or a depressed slob. 😅
The cutesy answer from a teacher might be, "You do nothing and nothing is left undone."
A more satisfying answer might be "you do things, but you're just not attached to the results of the actions."
Movement definitely still exists. Its just movement between the "parts" of the same thing. Take the yin and yang symbol, for instance. ☯️ It really is supposed to be moving and the white changes to the black and back.
@SrRochardBunson yeah I guess the underlying message of all that is to be more of an observer, than a judge. I completely agree that's solid advice!
And if there's movement between parts of the same thing, then that creates a differentiation between the parts, which makes them separate things. I guess that's where the paradox re-emerges.
I guess I'm just not much of a buddhist 😂 but I'll take the advice about being an observer rather than a judge to heart, so thanks for that!
@SrRochardBunson All aspects of creation are created in pairs. The only true oneness is the Unfathomable Creator of all that will ever exist, but It is outside of creation. This soulds like gibberish to me, but I'm open to a deeper explanation than I can yet fathom.
@SrRochardBunson But we are born of duality, our soul having 19 pairs of vice and virtue combinations, where our soul is fully conducive to the suggestions of vice, and our Spirit / Conscience counsels us to goodness; that is, until we begin to cleanse and purify the soul, in the effort to make it shine like the Spirit we were born with. Being offended is the realm of the lower ego, but getting beyond that only means more insidious vices are yet to be conquered.
@SrRochardBunson That is why "Hallowed be Thy Name" points to all the cultures of the world's names of God. Resonating and repeating whichever Name we choose with our heartbeat, we strive to be responsive to Its calls to action in the name of selfless compassion. To become compassion made real among beings whose choices have no compulsion, free to be however selfish or selfless as we can imagine, we choose to serve mankind as a testament to Love, that we feel because we chose to find it.
@SrRochardBunson The glorious people of Ukraine disagree. The brutalized black and brown people of the Earth disagree. The deepest meaning of the human struggle requires us to end oppression of people and lessen misery for all people. Ignoring other people's suffering with no preference is the peace of a coward. You ever see those Nazi camp workers' lunchtime pictures, laughing and palling around? Everything we do has meaning, though most people are fools who have not a care.
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