Elegant Simplicity

Greetings..

There is a fundamental ‘simplicity’ about Life, observable, self-evident, and deeply Spiritual.. this simplicity asks nothing but the experiencer’s presence and their attention.. it is the ‘attention’ that is the core issue of understanding our relationship with Life. When we experience and observe any aspect of our relationship with Life’s unfolding creation there are two possible conditions through which it occurs, one is through the filter of preconceived beliefs, either self-induced or as conditioned by the socio-religious mechanism for its own self-replication, or.. through the clarity, afforded by a mind that is ‘still’, that is curiously attentive, and sincere about suspending those mental activities that distort what ‘is actually happening’.

Clarity reveals there are other unique beings apart from ourselves sharing a common environment, unique in their mind’s private internal landscapes, but inter-related and interconnected in the experiences that inform and populate those internal landscapes of beliefs, memories, insights, and understandings.. clarity reveals that we are both individuality and the interconnected wholeness existing simultaneously, both separate and inextricably united at the same instant of being.. i/you/we/me are not the individual nor the whole, we are the Consciousness capable of experiencing itself in either or both of the perspectives, One and/or Many..

This is the beginning of ending conflict, recognizing that we are Individuals United in the common experience of Life exploring its own existence.. recognizing and ‘honoring’ that what we do to another we do to our self, and.. what we do to our self, we do to all.. if we, as a civilization, can ‘get this’, it negates the causes of conflict, and.. the common understanding that an insignificantly small percentage of the population is actually deficient, mentally, to understand this reality, is the awareness that inspires the compassion to help rather than punish those afflicted.. Ultimately, this awareness is the target that each individual aims for, constantly refining our relationships so that diversity and uniqueness are preserved, as together, we find cause for the common celebration of that diversity..

In this, Spirituality is revealed as the willingness to act in the manner most aligned with a common experience of security and well-being for all people and the environment of their existence.. a willingness to apply understanding, insight and imagination to the benefit of Life’s next highest experience of itself.. as evidenced by a willingness to cultivate the relationships of common experiences apart from those beliefs that would distort the practical understandings of those experiences.. this Spirituality exists as an inherent awareness within each being, that it is ‘part of a greater whole’, and as such, no less than the Whole itself.. the acknowledgement of this awareness becomes apparent as the experiencer embraces the simplicity of that which ‘is’.. when the experiencer can seize upon the simplicity of natural order as evidence of its own relationship with the Universe, that same simplicity reveals the experiencer in a seemingly incestuous affair with itself.. as the whole and its parts each seduce the other into a relationship from which each supposes itself the greater beneficiary.. all the while, Life advances into its own purpose, the experience of its own existence..

Be well, all else is..

[sound]

Such an 'elegant' read Tzu ... thank you for taking the time and energy to share ..

...constantly refining our relationships so that diversity and uniqueness are preserved, as together, we find cause for the common celebration of that diversity..

Originally Posted by TzuJanLi

There is a fundamental ‘simplicity’ about Life, observable, self-evident, and deeply Spiritual.. this simplicity asks nothing but the experiencer’s presence and their attention.. it is the ‘attention’ that is the core issue of understanding our relationship with Life.

In this, Spirituality is revealed as the willingness to act in the manner most aligned with a common experience of security and well-being for all people and the environment of their existence.

Interesting dichotomy for me in those two sentences, Tzu. I agree 100% with your first comment. My own experience tells me all consciousness seekers eventually come to that deeply profound truth later on in life, after many years of spiritual journeying. The interesting thing here however is that we come to that truth in our own unique way, via that which we individually discover while traveling along our chosen path. And not by our "willingness to act in the manner most aligned with a common experience."

Think Kwai Chang Caine leaving the older Shaolin monks to go eat dust and kick butt in the American wild west. As a young priest, sitting around midst the "security and well-being" of the monestary wasn't his path. But at the same time there was never any doubt his path would eventually lead him back to that "common experience" source. These are the inescapable realities of soul existence.

Greetings..

Originally Posted by bbr

Interesting dichotomy for me in those two sentences, Tzu. I agree 100% with your first comment. My own experience tells me all consciousness seekers eventually come to that deeply profound truth later on in life, after many years of spiritual journeying. The interesting thing here however is that we come to that truth in our own unique way, via that which we individually discover while traveling along our chosen path. And not by our "willingness to act in the manner most aligned with a common experience."

Think Kwai Chang Caine leaving the older Shaolin monks to go eat dust and kick butt in the American wild west. As a young priest, sitting around midst the "security and well-being" of the monestary wasn't his path. But at the same time there was never any doubt his path would eventually lead him back to that "common experience" source. These are the inescapable realities of soul existence.

Hi bbr: Do you think KCC left the temple with the intent to "eat dust and kick butt"? Leaving the temple was the older monks and masters wisdom instructing the initiates to 'experience life', they gave the 'wandering monks' the tools to survive, and.. life would reveal the wandering monk's character, their 'nature', which the shelter of the temple could not wholly reveal..

The "security and well-being" of the temple is an imaginary landscape isolated from the reality of Life, thus the wisdom of the masters to reveal reality to the young monks.. so it is with Life, those that imagine their existence as conceptual landscapes apart from reality, they create illusion and conflict in contrast to those that strive to improve the human condition, describing fantasies and distracting others from the simplicity of that which 'is'.. empowering the fantasies, giving them the illusion of 'real', leads Life to the edge of extinction, a condition 'unimaginable' by the stiil mind..

Be well, all else is..

Originally Posted by TzuJanLi

Hi bbr: Do you think KCC left the temple with the intent to "eat dust and kick butt"? Leaving the temple was the older monks and masters wisdom instructing the initiates to 'experience life', they gave the 'wandering monks' the tools to survive, and.. life would reveal the wandering monk's character, their 'nature', which the shelter of the temple could not wholly reveal.

Apart for the actual storyline itself, I guess see the temple run by the older monks as an analogy for the collective consciousness experience you described when you wrote, "willingness to act in the manner most aligned with a common experience of security and well-being for all people." Kane going out into the world as a wandering priest, was my attempt at offering a parallel to the idea that we all, as young seekers, travel a variety of individual paths. And in our later years we naturally gravitate back to that collective experience ideal and understanding.

I am sorry for going off topic...and if you prefer I can remove this post and start a new thread with it.

But with regard to the monks...this is a story Ive many times before, and at times have considered in terms of my own life and the man who told the story to me. But when it was told, I felt no sense of security or well-being. It may be that that man misjudged my feelings...or reflected his security and well-being onto me. But when the monk has experienced a 'temple' of learning as a place of distress or abuse....what does the real experience of life bring then?

Greetings..

Originally Posted by bbr

Apart for the actual storyline itself, I guess see the temple run by the older monks as an analogy for the collective consciousness experience you described when you wrote, "willingness to act in the manner most aligned with a common experience of security and well-being for all people." Kane going out into the world as a wandering priest, was my attempt at offering a parallel to the idea that we all, as young seekers, travel a variety of individual paths. And in our later years we naturally gravitate back to that collective experience ideal and understanding.

Hi bbr: We agree in that perception.. i am suggesting a practical examination of those 'paths' as to understand which are distractions that interfere with the 'peace and harmony' humanity says it desires..

Be well..

Greetings..

Originally Posted by xxheatherxx

I am sorry for going off topic...and if you prefer I can remove this post and start a new thread with it.

But with regard to the monks...this is a story Ive many times before, and at times have considered in terms of my own life and the man who told the story to me. But when it was told, I felt no sense of security or well-being. It may be that that man misjudged my feelings...or reflected his security and well-being onto me. But when the monk has experienced a 'temple' of learning as a place of distress or abuse....what does the real experience of life bring then?

Hi Heather: I cannot quite 'connect the dots', here.. could you be more precise? what do you refer to as "distress or abuse"?

Be well, all else is..

[BlueSky]

Life advances into its own purpose, the experience of its own existence..

Nice post......I especially liked the line above.
I must say though, that the way you talk of stillness sounds alot like a state of emptiness to me.
Yes, we can and have, put aside beliefs as they have shown themselves to be what they truly are over time, but there is so much more going on in our minds, that IMO, are impossible to erase so as to allow for what you define as an unfiltered look at life.
There just is.............IMO and consequently I'm not so sure an unfiltered look is possible or even something to strive for.
What are your thoughts on this?
James

Originally Posted by WhiteShaman

Life advances into its own purpose, the experience of its own existence..

Nice post......I especially liked the line above.
I must say though, that the way you talk of stillness sounds alot like a state of emptiness to me.
Yes, we can and have, put aside beliefs as they have shown themselves to be what they truly are over time, but there is so much more going on in our minds, that IMO, are impossible to erase so as to allow for what you define as an unfilterd look at life.
There just is.............IMO and consequently I'm not so sure an unfiltered look is possible or even something to strive for.
What are your thoughts on this?
James

Hi WS: I am not suggesting 'erasing' aspects of the mind's beliefs, only suspending the thinking process so as to see Life as it 'is'.. It's like looking at the ocean and imagining what is beneath the surface, then, wearing goggles and looking underwater for a brief time to see the actuality of it.. we cannot 'breathe water', and so cannot exist wholly integrated in the ocean due to our place in the physical experience.. similarly, we cannot exist in a 'thought-less' mind, but the clarity afforded by intervals of 'thoughtlessness' can counsel our understandings of the relationships we experience.. thanks for asking..

Be well, all else is..