Thoughts From A Mystic

The following passage shows how confused anyone, even so called experts, can be about ACCEPTANCE- Excerpt from, THE TRUTH ABOUT GROWING APART http://family.go.com/self/pkg-relationships/article-813922-the-truth-about-growing-apart-t/ Challenge your partner. Unconditional acceptance is for infants. The Shechtmans assert that caring for your partner means holding him accountable for living up to his best vision of himself and continuing to grow. "Challenge is a vote of confidence, a sign of respect," they say. "Conversely, accepting people exactly as they are is a form of abandonment. The message you send when you unconditionally accept a partner's self-destructive or self-defeating behavior is that you believe she can't do better. Ultimately, this defeats the marriage itself. When you don't challenge your partner, you are essentially giving up on her." The author(s) mistakenly assume acceptance is about concepts, e.g. "I'm n...

. In Christianity the cross represents death (not specifically physical), offering an 'entrance' into the sacred. Many people want to force 'meaning' (rational understanding) onto 'the cross', bypassing personal involvement and possible transformation. 'Death into resurrection' is the process of transformation, and Jesus is important as an example of this process. In institutionalized churches we see a holding onto tradition (stories) at the expense of personal transformation, which is why Jesus was such an iconoclast. Perhaps it's fear, weakness, or stubborn willfulness that keeps people from entering into the process of personal transformation. The detour of story- making is never-ending, and creates life paths that 'miss the mark', and create suffering. The challenge is always to recognize stories as STORIES, not truth. It's the reason Buddhists comment about statements, speaking about them as if they were, '...

. "Only contemplative prayer touches the deep unconscious, where all of our real hurts, motivations, and deepest visions lie. Without it, we have what is even worse—religious egoic consciousness, which is even more defensive and offensive than usual! Now it has God on its side and is surely what Jesus means by the unforgivable “sin against the Holy Spirit.” It cannot be forgiven because this small self would never imagine it needs forgiveness. It is smug and self-satisfied." Richard Rohr

. Let your thoughts and action be guided by what you love, not what you hope to get from them. Peace, Matthew

. Want what is. Peace, Matthew

. "...just notice the thoughts.... You don't have to believe everything your thoughts tell you. Just become familiar with the particular thoughts you use to deprive yourself of happiness. It may seem strange at first to get to know yourself in this way, but becoming familiar with your stressful thoughts will show you the way home to everything you need." Byron Katie

. "Through the lens of introspection we will come to realize that all of our suffering, major as well as minor, originates within our unenlightened consciousness. It comes from the fact that we do not accept the nature of existence. We feel that we have to fight constantly to maintain a sense of security. This lack of peace is what Buddha called 'dukkha' or existential anguish. Sometimes we are able to manage being unconscious of this suffering. We do this by distracting our mind through enjoying sensual pleasures, keeping busy, fantasizing about beautiful futures, and so on." Anam Thubten; NO SELF, NO PROBLEM; pg.91

. "If we want to realize the truth, the first thing to remember is that we don't have to do anything. No sacred dances. No secret mantras. No religious conversion. We just sit quietly wherever we find ourselves and simply don't do anything. This is most important. Don't do anything. We look directly and see what is true in that moment without labeling or judging anything. Now we see the truth which is beyond our fantasies." Anam Thubten; NO SELF, NO PROBLEM; pgs. 84-5

. Common parlance interpretation of 'The Good Samaritan' to show how self creates an unwillingness to act in 'needful' matters: Luke 10.30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. [No interpretation needed] 10.31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. [The priest appears more concerned with himself (and how he sees himself within his world), than the injured man who obviously needs aid. The reason why the priest is mentioned in this context is unimportant to postmodern audiences, but the fact that he avoids the interaction, due to a conscious choice, is of value.] 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. [the Levite was also more concerned about himself than the injured man.] 33 But a Sama...

. "Perhaps one of the main hindrances keeping us from having a direct experience of enlightenment is our preconceived notion of what enlightenment is. So we have to give up every idea we have of what enlightenment is." Anam Thubten, "No self, no problem", pg.40

. Faith doesn't require a 'focus', that is, it doesn't need a deity, religious group or teaching to trust. To be 'faithful' simply requires trust in reality (what is, not what is thought to be). To do this requires a letting-go of 'self', and 'my will'. Self-will distorts reality, which sets up an imaginary battlefield between self and 'the other(s)'. There is a contradiction between self and reality, and it's this contrast that makes the sense of urgency (in protecting 'oneself') appear real. When imaginary is recognized as imaginary (instead of real), self and other forms will drop away as inconsequential. It's only after self-will drops that faith has a chance to take effect, which allows the person to see through the 'veil of the unreal' (the imaginary) into the real. Peace, Matthew

. It's common for a person who looks and perceives (sees clearly) to experience awe and gratitude at the recognition of reality. Without a sense of awe or gratitude, it's likely that the person is staring at concepts disguised as the real. To discover the error look closer at what is observed, until the disguise is recognized and drops away; exposing the real that always lies 'under' the concept(s). [It doesn't matter what is perceived; only that the false isn't mistaken for the truth.] Peace, Matthew

. 'Works' may not seem to be problematic, but are often contrasted with 'faith'. This is because works come from a fallen state (locking the person in an untransformed state), whereas faith is a 'process' that can bring transformation. It may sound odd, but a transformed person does no works! To all appearances a transformed person performs the same actions as an untransformed person...but intention clarifies the difference. The untransformed person has 'motives', expecting outcomes, and desires change; whereas the transformed person's motives have vanished! Whatever happens, happens; which suffices. What is done (by the transformed person) is almost automatic, since it isn't dictated by personal desire or reason. Motiveless action is clearly delineated in Hinduism- see the Bhagavad Gita for more about 'actionless action'. Peace, Matthew

. "The world is full of sorrow, because it is full of lust. Men go astray because they think that delusion is better than truth. Rather than truth they follow error, which is pleasant to look at in the beginning but in the end causes anxiety, tribulation, and misery." v5, p.36, THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA, Paul Carus

. "The existence of self is an illusion, and there is no wrong in this world, no vice, no evil, except what flows from the assertion of self." v18, p.38, THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA, Paul Carus

. True prayer finds 'the good' in all things; false prayer wants 'bad' to be converted into 'good'. Peace, Matthew

. The energy that desires change (of self or the world) is what motivates the creation of the alienated self. When 'it' is recognized don't give support, but watch it as an observer. That which is thought to exist will fade into nothingness without your support. The true can only be seen when the false sense of who we are (in the world) is dropped. Peace, Matthew

. "...it was only when every single, subtle, experience and idea- conscious and unconscious- has come to an end, a complete end, is it possible for the Truth to reveal itself." p75, ¶3 Bernadette Robert THE EXPERIENCE OF NO SELF

"When we continuously employ the remorseless judge to calculate and measure everything we do or are, we imprison ourselves in an existence of struggle, guilt, and suffering, trying to appease a god that is ourselves projected." Tony Parsons, AS IT IS, pg.62