This power struggle is waged to determine who will rule the world. There is a song whose words go, ..."every body wants to rule the world." The Christian Religion, depicts this conflict in terms of the devil on the left shoulder of human beings, compelling them towards the dark side, and on the right shoulder compelling humans towards the path of the light side. This is the conundrum of our duality. In terms of this application, we humans are the ultimate decider's of which path is taken. Here we are sandwiched between these two powerful forces, pressuring us to chose a path, while we are not exactly conscious of what the possible outcomes might be. To say this is a very difficult position to be in, is a gross understatement. Being squeezed between these two cosmic forces, is greater than just a formidable situation; yet, here we are. I would suggested too, that under the evolutionary period we are in now, the freedom of working out are own destiny might feel less possible, while the idea of predestination becomes the greater possibly.
Our human situational dark side condition is not however, dire. Universal Nature has provided our nature with the ware-with-all to meet, and to over come what ever conditions we are to meet with; however, with one caveat. We must learn to modify and to resolve our human conditions from the inside, not from the out side. Here is what I mean, our material bodies are not just networks forged by flesh and bone, but are a complex of the most alive and powerful technology in the entire world. Our problem is, because of our current evolutionary consciousness, we only use one percent of the potential of the body's technological capacity. This state of affairs gives the dark side a distinctive advantage over the light side. However, the dark side has its weakness through its resistance to true development, and paradoxically, at the same time, the dark side is the enemy of its own best interests through its downward tendency.
I will give you an example of the dark side's weakness: in 1956 there was a science fiction movie called, "Forbidden Planet." A scientist, Edward Morbuis and his daughter, were sent to a planet to discover what caused an advanced civilization, called the Krell, to be killed off for no apparent reason. The entire population was killed by some kind of planetary force. Morbuis found that the entire civilization was killed by invisible intrudes. It turns out that the Krell, by concentrating there mind, were able to manifest anything they desired. As it turns out, the dark side's downward tendency, made it impossible for the Krell to control their deeper psychological urges, needs, and desires. Thus, the "invisible intrudes" were the Monster's of their Id; those personality components made up of unconscious psychic energy, which is deeply imbibed within the human psyche, until like a seed, the conditions made it ready to blossom.
Thus, what is our duty in this warfare with the forces and tendencies of our human nature? The fight is to be fought by every human being, for it is raging on the sacred plain of our human bodies. The fight is froth with fear and despondency of losing all that I have known, have gathered, and have been comfortable with; in other words, with life as I know it. We cannot always live on the enthusiasm of earthy joys. The rosy hue of dawn causes its early light to revel to us that we are more than we seem, and to make it our duty to commit to following the spiritual light, until we finally become spiritually realized. Not one of us can remain neutral, you cannot serve two masters. The cry has gone out to each, and each must choose. A choice, and corresponding path must be taken. The spiritual path though steep and rough, it ends in integration with divinity. The material path though broad and smooth, "but from its crown, on rocks the traveler is tumbled down," and ends in disintegration.
One truth, many paths. Be good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio 12-02-19
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Friday, October 4, 2019
"Who am I"
This is a difficult question to answer, although most people will have their answer at the ready. They will begin to give a litany of their identifications; I am a human, a male, a son, a father, a white man, a Christian, a student, etc... Yet, does their identifications explicitly define the question of "Who I am.?" It does up to a certain narrow perspective. If we include only the material aspects of our perspective, it does deliver a relative truth of who we are, all in terms of our material interpretation. But it seems we always identify ourselves with what we see, with what we touch, with what we smell, with what we hear, with what we possess, all exclusively with the objective world.
There is a poem written by, Edwin Arlington Robinson, called "Richard Cory." Richard Cory was, "empirically slim, always human when he talked, admirably schooled in every grace, richer than a king, he even glittered when he walked;" simple people wished they were in his place. Yet, one clam summer night, went home a put a bullet through his head.
Of all of his accomplishments, and material possessions, none brought Richard true, lasting satisfaction or joy. What was missing in Richard Cory's life that made him take his life? There is a song that asks a question, "Is that all there is?" and the answer resounds, "If that is all there is, what's the use of living." As human beings we have a cosmic, interior urge to expand. If we live in a 6' by 8' room, we will aspire to live in a 12' by 12' room, and if that room feels enclosed we will look for a larger room.
However, the material world in which we life, move, and have our being is ambiguous, and we feel threatened that what we have accumulated will be lost, so in our fear of lose we set safe boundaries around us to keep safe what we have. These boundaries we set up however, lock us in, squeeze us with fear and anxiety, and ultimately freeze our joy, and our urge for expansion. If the material world, we aspire too, and in which have most of our contact, is taken as the true reality, why then are we crippled with fear, anxiety, and suicides, on all levels. There must be a disconnect somewhere.
The basic disconnect is, that most of us are living in a psychological space that bares no connection to the reality of the full breath of our lives. The entire cosmos is managing with great efficiency; which is no small task. Yet, you have a disturbing thought stuck in your head that you cannot manage, and you're entire day is ruined.
Within the universality of space, if you look at yourself in perspective, you are a mere speck. But you believe you're thought-which is less than a speck, should determine the nature of your existence. Thought can never be greater than life. Thought can only be logical, and logic operates exclusively by parching everything between polarities, searching for conclusions. It's data base only recognizes the material and psychological aspects of our lives, while completely neglecting to figure in its cosmic aspects.
Our life is tied, like a web, inextricably into to the cosmos, and further into Universal Nature. We and the Universe are one organic unit. It, in a macro sense, and us, in a micro sense, united together. Our micro sense is literally reaching for the stars, so that we can finally rest easy in the destiny of our our heritage.
One truth, many paths. Be good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio
There is a poem written by, Edwin Arlington Robinson, called "Richard Cory." Richard Cory was, "empirically slim, always human when he talked, admirably schooled in every grace, richer than a king, he even glittered when he walked;" simple people wished they were in his place. Yet, one clam summer night, went home a put a bullet through his head.
Of all of his accomplishments, and material possessions, none brought Richard true, lasting satisfaction or joy. What was missing in Richard Cory's life that made him take his life? There is a song that asks a question, "Is that all there is?" and the answer resounds, "If that is all there is, what's the use of living." As human beings we have a cosmic, interior urge to expand. If we live in a 6' by 8' room, we will aspire to live in a 12' by 12' room, and if that room feels enclosed we will look for a larger room.
However, the material world in which we life, move, and have our being is ambiguous, and we feel threatened that what we have accumulated will be lost, so in our fear of lose we set safe boundaries around us to keep safe what we have. These boundaries we set up however, lock us in, squeeze us with fear and anxiety, and ultimately freeze our joy, and our urge for expansion. If the material world, we aspire too, and in which have most of our contact, is taken as the true reality, why then are we crippled with fear, anxiety, and suicides, on all levels. There must be a disconnect somewhere.
The basic disconnect is, that most of us are living in a psychological space that bares no connection to the reality of the full breath of our lives. The entire cosmos is managing with great efficiency; which is no small task. Yet, you have a disturbing thought stuck in your head that you cannot manage, and you're entire day is ruined.
Within the universality of space, if you look at yourself in perspective, you are a mere speck. But you believe you're thought-which is less than a speck, should determine the nature of your existence. Thought can never be greater than life. Thought can only be logical, and logic operates exclusively by parching everything between polarities, searching for conclusions. It's data base only recognizes the material and psychological aspects of our lives, while completely neglecting to figure in its cosmic aspects.
Our life is tied, like a web, inextricably into to the cosmos, and further into Universal Nature. We and the Universe are one organic unit. It, in a macro sense, and us, in a micro sense, united together. Our micro sense is literally reaching for the stars, so that we can finally rest easy in the destiny of our our heritage.
One truth, many paths. Be good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio
Sunday, August 11, 2019
what we forgot to remember about our life
We are caught by our locked-in social patterns, and by our cultural and religious norms. We are proud to exhibit these behaviors because it puts us on record, that we follow these cultural norms, and that we identify with them, and thus, we are entitled to belong.
Lesson to William Wordsworth's, (1770-1850), lament:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given ours hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon ;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like the sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are our of tune;
It moves us not.---Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on the pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
The basic problem is, we have lost our perspective of life. Most of us are living in a psychological space that bears no connection to the reality of the breath of our lives. The planet is managing fine; on time with no major flaws. The whole cosmos is operating flawlessly. Yet, you have a disturbing thought stuck in your head, and you are having a terrible day. Within the universality of space, if you look at yourself in perspective, you are merely a speck. But you believe your thought--which is less than a speck, should determine the nature of your existence. Thought can never be greater than life. Thought can only be logical, and logic operates exclusively by parching everything between polarities, searching for conclusions. Its data base only recognizes the material and psychological aspects of our life, while completely neglecting to figure in its cosmic aspects. Our life is tied, like a web, inextricably into the cosmos, and further into Universal Nature. We and the Universe are one organic unity. It, in a macro sense, and us in a micro sense, united together. Our micro sense is literally reaching for the stars, so that we can finely rest easy in the destiny of our heritage.
Lesson to William Wordsworth's, (1770-1850), lament:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given ours hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon ;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like the sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are our of tune;
It moves us not.---Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on the pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
The basic problem is, we have lost our perspective of life. Most of us are living in a psychological space that bears no connection to the reality of the breath of our lives. The planet is managing fine; on time with no major flaws. The whole cosmos is operating flawlessly. Yet, you have a disturbing thought stuck in your head, and you are having a terrible day. Within the universality of space, if you look at yourself in perspective, you are merely a speck. But you believe your thought--which is less than a speck, should determine the nature of your existence. Thought can never be greater than life. Thought can only be logical, and logic operates exclusively by parching everything between polarities, searching for conclusions. Its data base only recognizes the material and psychological aspects of our life, while completely neglecting to figure in its cosmic aspects. Our life is tied, like a web, inextricably into the cosmos, and further into Universal Nature. We and the Universe are one organic unity. It, in a macro sense, and us in a micro sense, united together. Our micro sense is literally reaching for the stars, so that we can finely rest easy in the destiny of our heritage.
One truth, many paths. Be good, do good
Louis DiVirgilio
Thursday, July 4, 2019
The Game of Life
I have played athletic games and have coached some of them for seventeen years. In fact, at age 62 I still play handball at a competitive level. The games in which I have participated have and continued to help shape my life. It isn't surprising that these deeply, ingrained, athletic experiences make up a vital part of the foundation of my present life. It follows also, that when I reflect on my life specifically, and life in general, I fine corresponding qualities of athletic contests and the expression of life, coinciding. For instance, all athletic games basically limit the field of play, set rules and conduct to be followed, set time limits for the contest, and over all, the format of human life seems closely to correspond to those above conditions of athletic play.
I believed for a long time that this athletic game analogy with life was an unique perspective. The only game analogy reference I had ever come across was when my athletic coaches pointed out correspondences between the operations of life and the operations of athletic contests, but such reference was usually concerned with attaining specific goals within the game. The uniqueness of this perspective, however dissolved when I came across a Sanskrit word, "lida" during my studies. In the Hindu Puranes, the creator of the our world, it says, created several primordial worlds which perished as soon as they came into existence. This trail and error creation process, is shown as a sport, an amusement for the creative gods. Its seems that the idea of sport, according to the ancient sages of India, appears at the genesis of our home world.
Proceeding from the above perspective, sports, contests, games, appear to be an integral part of our human make up. However, there seems, upon reflection of that idea, to be an astonishing disconnect between the rules and regulations of a sport contest, and the rules and regulations of life. In a sport contest all the rules and regulations are known and understood by the participants, in the game of life however, most of us are either completely unconscious of the rules and regulations or irony of ironies, live our lives under a false assessment of the rules and regulations of life.
How is it possible that we, self-conscious beings, are unaware of the rules and regulations governing our lives? The honest answer is, our ignorance, our lack of knowledge, our lack of motivation to find truth, which prevents us from knowing the rules and regulations of life. This fact has been known and expressed by all the masters and sages of antiquity to the present. For instance, in the Dhammapada, (Gautama the Buddha's record of his teaching), Canto 243: ..."But there is an impurity greater than all impurities it is ignorance." In Dickens, A Christmas Carol, this fact is dramatically expressed; the Spirit of Christmas Present, unfolds his robe displaying two wretched, frightful children, a boy and girl. They knelt down at his feet, and clung upon the outside of his garment. The Spirit exclaims, ..."O Man! look here! Look, look down here." Scrooge asks, "Spirit! Are they yours?" The Spirit replies, "They are Man's, and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware of them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it, slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!" In yet another reference, from the great Hindu epic, The Mahabharata, an episode called Bhagavad-Gita, where Krishna speaks to Arjuna, ..."The truth is obscured by that which is not true, and therefore all creatures are lead astray."
We stand upon the rock of our beliefs as if they were footings of the ultimate truth, and with righteous indignation we act on those beliefs: some commit suicide and simultaneously mass murder believing their act will bring them heavenly reward, some believe wealth is the route to happiness, and pursue that path with blind disregard to the negative impact to others, some believe the end of the world is near at hand and think nothing of pillaging the natural resources of the world, some believe the earth is flat, some believe the Jewish Holocaust was a fabrication, some believe Hitler had it right, etc., etc. We rest confidently on our rock of beliefs, even though they are mainly built on the authority and expertise of others. When our beliefs are meet with oppositional argument, even if the argument rings of truth, we retaliate with, denial, anger, and indignation. St. Paul, recognizing the rigidity of our beliefs and suggests, ..."prove all things and hold to that which is good." The implication is that we should prove all tenets, whither they are gained from scripture, logical arguments, philosophical reasoning, agreement with a preconceived idea or comes from a teacher. All tenets should not be blindly accepted and thus unproven become attached to our rock of belief. They should be tested and proved by filtering them through our own spiritual center of authority-our Buddha within, our Christ within, our Krishna within. The Buddha reiterates St. Paul's idea, "Be lamps unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to truth as a lamp. Hold fast as a refuge to the Truth. Look not for refuge to anyone beside yourselves." Also in this same respect, there is a rather harsh Zen Buddhist saying, 'If you see a Buddha on the side of the road, kill the Buddha.' Its meaning is, don't become attached to the personality of the Buddha, and begin to worship him, but attach to the truth he speaks. Thus you become a follower of truth, rather than a follower of a personal figure.
I believed for a long time that this athletic game analogy with life was an unique perspective. The only game analogy reference I had ever come across was when my athletic coaches pointed out correspondences between the operations of life and the operations of athletic contests, but such reference was usually concerned with attaining specific goals within the game. The uniqueness of this perspective, however dissolved when I came across a Sanskrit word, "lida" during my studies. In the Hindu Puranes, the creator of the our world, it says, created several primordial worlds which perished as soon as they came into existence. This trail and error creation process, is shown as a sport, an amusement for the creative gods. Its seems that the idea of sport, according to the ancient sages of India, appears at the genesis of our home world.
Proceeding from the above perspective, sports, contests, games, appear to be an integral part of our human make up. However, there seems, upon reflection of that idea, to be an astonishing disconnect between the rules and regulations of a sport contest, and the rules and regulations of life. In a sport contest all the rules and regulations are known and understood by the participants, in the game of life however, most of us are either completely unconscious of the rules and regulations or irony of ironies, live our lives under a false assessment of the rules and regulations of life.
How is it possible that we, self-conscious beings, are unaware of the rules and regulations governing our lives? The honest answer is, our ignorance, our lack of knowledge, our lack of motivation to find truth, which prevents us from knowing the rules and regulations of life. This fact has been known and expressed by all the masters and sages of antiquity to the present. For instance, in the Dhammapada, (Gautama the Buddha's record of his teaching), Canto 243: ..."But there is an impurity greater than all impurities it is ignorance." In Dickens, A Christmas Carol, this fact is dramatically expressed; the Spirit of Christmas Present, unfolds his robe displaying two wretched, frightful children, a boy and girl. They knelt down at his feet, and clung upon the outside of his garment. The Spirit exclaims, ..."O Man! look here! Look, look down here." Scrooge asks, "Spirit! Are they yours?" The Spirit replies, "They are Man's, and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware of them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it, slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!" In yet another reference, from the great Hindu epic, The Mahabharata, an episode called Bhagavad-Gita, where Krishna speaks to Arjuna, ..."The truth is obscured by that which is not true, and therefore all creatures are lead astray."
We stand upon the rock of our beliefs as if they were footings of the ultimate truth, and with righteous indignation we act on those beliefs: some commit suicide and simultaneously mass murder believing their act will bring them heavenly reward, some believe wealth is the route to happiness, and pursue that path with blind disregard to the negative impact to others, some believe the end of the world is near at hand and think nothing of pillaging the natural resources of the world, some believe the earth is flat, some believe the Jewish Holocaust was a fabrication, some believe Hitler had it right, etc., etc. We rest confidently on our rock of beliefs, even though they are mainly built on the authority and expertise of others. When our beliefs are meet with oppositional argument, even if the argument rings of truth, we retaliate with, denial, anger, and indignation. St. Paul, recognizing the rigidity of our beliefs and suggests, ..."prove all things and hold to that which is good." The implication is that we should prove all tenets, whither they are gained from scripture, logical arguments, philosophical reasoning, agreement with a preconceived idea or comes from a teacher. All tenets should not be blindly accepted and thus unproven become attached to our rock of belief. They should be tested and proved by filtering them through our own spiritual center of authority-our Buddha within, our Christ within, our Krishna within. The Buddha reiterates St. Paul's idea, "Be lamps unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to truth as a lamp. Hold fast as a refuge to the Truth. Look not for refuge to anyone beside yourselves." Also in this same respect, there is a rather harsh Zen Buddhist saying, 'If you see a Buddha on the side of the road, kill the Buddha.' Its meaning is, don't become attached to the personality of the Buddha, and begin to worship him, but attach to the truth he speaks. Thus you become a follower of truth, rather than a follower of a personal figure.
One truth many paths. Be good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio
Louis DiVirgilio
Friday, June 21, 2019
wash your spirit clean
What makes it necessary to wash our spirit clean? Our spirit is the eternal energy that moves all life, without which there would be no life. Why then should we, "wash our spirit clean?" If you haven't noticed, our earth life is one big ambiguity. We are born on earth, and our out come, inevitably is the grave. In between, we strive, but with an anchor of the fear of death around our neck. As the singer/song writer, Prince, sings, ..."In this life your are on our own." If that wasn't enough, we are our own, destroyer, and our own savior, and with only a finite capacity of understanding, we are let to make sense of the deepest mysteries of the Cosmos, like: What is the cause of the cosmos? From where do we come? Where shall we fine peace at last? What power governs the duality of pleasure and pain by which we are driven? Many of us turn to the religious scriptures and doctrines to dispense a higher authority for answers. However, a reliance on religious belief has shown that great errors of doctrine and scripture have distorted their version of the truth. "Much that is called religion has created an unconscious attitude of hostility towards life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasant to the eye of God, and that knowledge with out action is empty. All men must see that the teaching if religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it with out fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've always known." (I haven't found who is responsible for the above quote.) It was Emerson who said that to go through life depending on some eternal power to save one's soul was like running up bills on the chance of somebody else's paying them, with no thought or intention of paying them oneself. If not from religion, you may ask, then where are we to look for our own salvation? Are we our own savior?
Yes, we are our own savior, with a caveat. In order to balance out the ambiguity of our lives, we must first understand that we live in a dualistic world. There is a materialistic aspect of our world, and a spiritual aspect of our world, and both move cyclically. The material aspect works through an objective consciousness of reality, mostly through the five senses. Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, warned, that the senses are "bad witnesses to reality." The Chandogya Upanishad says, "Ordinary mortals do what they are told, and get attached to anything, their country, or a piece of land. Everything they work for, secular or religious, comes to nothing. Only those who find out the "being" they truly are, can find freedom, here and in all worlds." So, in order to become your own savior, the onerous is on you to pursue, and find your freedom. This is were the spiritual aspects come into play, and so does the idea of "washing your spirit clean."
Even though spirit is at the pinnacle of the Divine, it is for us ordinary people inaccessible. The Divine Self is hidden in the deepest cave of the heart. We have to build a road into the regions of consciousness where we can behold what lies there with an appropriate and sufficiently powerful organ of perception, call it a "Divine Eye." Although the Divine Self is hidden within the nonsense and muck of our material lives, it is still viable, and waiting for us to lift that veil of ignorance, so our Divine Eye can see and feel and move into its light. By keeping your spirit clean you can move with your Divine Eye into regions of consciousness where you can behold the Divine Light. So, go pray upon the mountain, go pray beside the ocean, be grateful for the struggle, be thankful for the lessons, wash your spirit clean.
One truth, many paths. Be good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio
Yes, we are our own savior, with a caveat. In order to balance out the ambiguity of our lives, we must first understand that we live in a dualistic world. There is a materialistic aspect of our world, and a spiritual aspect of our world, and both move cyclically. The material aspect works through an objective consciousness of reality, mostly through the five senses. Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, warned, that the senses are "bad witnesses to reality." The Chandogya Upanishad says, "Ordinary mortals do what they are told, and get attached to anything, their country, or a piece of land. Everything they work for, secular or religious, comes to nothing. Only those who find out the "being" they truly are, can find freedom, here and in all worlds." So, in order to become your own savior, the onerous is on you to pursue, and find your freedom. This is were the spiritual aspects come into play, and so does the idea of "washing your spirit clean."
Even though spirit is at the pinnacle of the Divine, it is for us ordinary people inaccessible. The Divine Self is hidden in the deepest cave of the heart. We have to build a road into the regions of consciousness where we can behold what lies there with an appropriate and sufficiently powerful organ of perception, call it a "Divine Eye." Although the Divine Self is hidden within the nonsense and muck of our material lives, it is still viable, and waiting for us to lift that veil of ignorance, so our Divine Eye can see and feel and move into its light. By keeping your spirit clean you can move with your Divine Eye into regions of consciousness where you can behold the Divine Light. So, go pray upon the mountain, go pray beside the ocean, be grateful for the struggle, be thankful for the lessons, wash your spirit clean.
One truth, many paths. Be good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio
Thursday, May 9, 2019
our human heritage is the divine
Being the inheritor's of a God-Spark is not a possibility easily accepted. Yet, within the human spirit lies a recognition that we are more than we appear. There is a cosmic urge to reach beyond our grasp, do the impossible, know the unknown, to live an examined life. This is all part of our evolutionary heritage. This God-Spark represents our essential core. We live, move, and have our being, as does all manifest life, from this Source. This idea is not some divine inspiration that was brought down to me by an angle or written in stone nor broadcast by the voice of God. I learned this idea by studying ancient philosophies and spiritual writings. I found the idea of Divine Consciousness expressed in the Old Testament, in Genesis, ..."the power of God was moving over the waters" (space), ... God's Consciousness, (his power), spoke the Eternal Word which energized all manifestations; from no-thing, to all things. Divine Consciousness was installed in all things and its vibration sustains All. I also found the idea in the New Testament, in St. Paul's letter to the Colossian, "It is my task to fully proclaim God's message, which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all mankind, but has now revealed to his people. God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all people. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God." Keep in mind that the name Christ is not part of Jesus's name. It is Greek and means "anointed one," and is applied only to those who have reached spiritual liberation. Becoming a Christ is achieved by acknowledging your God-Spark, connecting with it, and purifying your being until you become your Christ Principle. Just as Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha becomes the Buddha, which in Sanskrit means, "to awaken," when he sat under the Bodhi tree and become enlightened / awakened. The secret is, Christ is within you, not outside of you. I have also found the idea of Divine Consciousness being an essential aspect of our being in Rumi's poems, a Sufi -a mystical branch of Islam. I found the Divine Consciousness idea in ancient Egyptian, (5000+years ago), Chinese, Greek, Hindu, Buddhist, Hebrew, pagan, Gnostic, American Indian, philosophy and spiritual writings.
You can see that the idea of Divine Consciousness as an essential core to all things manifest, is "not knew under the sun." Let's take this idea and apply it to our lives, and see what it means.
We are, at our essence, a Spark of the Divine Consciousness. Therefore, if "We contemplate ourselves, we will see that we are not demons or animals or men or gods, we are simply the essence of perfection, perfect souls."
The quote is from a Hindu text, called "Jnanarnva." This is a difficult concept to wrap our heads around: (1) coming from first hand experience, that we in our daily affairs are not perfect- not by a long shot, (2) most of us in North and South America were schooled by Christion Faith, telling us we were born with Original Sin, have only one life to gain salvation, and if we fail to acquire salivation, our fate will be eternal damnation; successful salvation under those conditions is every unlikely. Yet, regardless of our religious instructions, we intuitively know deep within our soul that we are more than our thoughts and feelings and the mind that experiences them.
Listen to the mystically inclined Emily Dickinson, as she tries to come to terms with the medium of our own knowing, in thought.
I do not know the man so bold
He dare in lonely place
That awful stranger Consciousness
Deliberately face.
When we begin to apply the idea, that we have within our being a "spark" of the Divine Consciousness, our chances of reaching salivation increases infinitely. Divine Consciousness brings with it the attribute of infinity. Since we have a "spark" of Divine Consciousness our spark is also infinite. Our time to get things right is relatively infinite. Knowing that we are a spark of the Divine Consciousness, should quiet our anxiety by opening up our field of life from one to many life-times. This is in line with the natural cycle of all life: birth, growth, decay, death, and then the renewal cycle, birth, growth, decay death, ad infinitum. There is a story told about Gautama the Buddha, being asked about how long he had been reincarnating? He answered, : "Consider a mountain, the length and width and height that a water buffalo can walk in one day. Now imagine a bird with a scarf in its beak that flies across the mountain once every hundred years, letting the scarf brush cross the mountain top. In the length of time that it would take for the scarf to wear away the mountain, that is how long I have been reincarnation." An intuitive reader might be thinking, 'that sounds great, but if we just circulate our lives one after the another, where is the hope for progress.' If there is only continuous circulation of our life, our life would be a living hell, and I am sure that some of us believe that condition is exactly the case. The good thing is, movement through life is not strictly circular, but is cyclic with a spiral configuration. Therefore, the spiral movement leaves us the possibility for progress and also regress.
Our spark of Divine Consciousness is not completely veiled within the physical plane. Its voice is heard in a continuous loop echoing within, and felt as an urge, as an imperative drive towards perfection. Once this urge is engaged it becomes irrevocably established. That is because it is a Cosmic Force. Keep in mind, that we are a microcosm of the macrocosm. The urge will not be relinquished until it finds repose in its Source. In other words, we have a built in motivation to awaken, to connect, and finally to become our Source. So we have a universal purpose to become our Source, and we have all nature behind us and the whole glory of the living Universe to achieve that ultimate goal. As the Aussies say, "No worries, mates!"
Our biggest obstacle is overcoming our ignorance about our true identity. We have a dualist life. You can verify that idea very quickly by looking at a model of our brain. The brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left and the right half, with a canal like crease down its middle, separating the two half's. The left side of the brain is related to our physical side, our ego side. The right side of our brain is related to our spiritual side, our spiritual self. Empirical evidence of the operational effects of the left and right hemispheres can be understood by reading histories of stroke victims. A graphic account of the effects of a stroke can be gained by reading a book called, "My stroke of Insight," by Jill Bolte. She is a PhD brain scientist, and therefore has an first hand perspective from which to analyze the effects of her stroke. She says, her left brain functions were gone; could not speak, make analytical judgments or apply them, relate experiences to herself, and had no feeling of her ego identity. She had awareness, but is wasn't individualized. In other words, she had no concept of separateness. All experiences where amalgamated into a continuous unity. Her only discrimination was an awareness of the kind of energy people would bring with them as they related with her. This kind of complete right brain awareness is difficult to explain, but I am sure there are readers who have had experienced its unitarian effects.
Once we make the discovery that our human nature is dual, and that a battle is ever waging between our higher Self and our lower self, we can enter the realm of the mystic warrior. As we enter the battle field within ourselves we call forth and analyze our life purpose, our motives, taking courage to compare wrong things with the right things. There sitting nose to nose with our truth, we do battle with our lower nature, and by harsh toil, by subduing pain and pleasure, by unbending faith in our higher Self we secure sacred wisdom. Only then can we wheel the spear of knowledge piercing through the world of shadow and illusion, to gain freedom from our own mortality, and to live eternally within the splendor of the light.
THE BRIDGE
It spans an abyss
where siren sounds from an impetuous
wind
lure and snag curious souls.
The curious become ensnared, not by
eagerness
to know, but by an affection for the abyss.
They are captured, by their own intentions.
The tantalizing, spinning wind, gently
urges
and coerces them, while filling their senses
with tastes of euphoria.
It whispers: "All yours. All yours to have.
Take and fill. Take."
As they succumb to their affection, the wind
bends their souls until their heads turns
down and their feet up.
Suddenly, the wind releases its hold and
head long they fall into the heart of the
abyss.
If only the poor souls' eyes, cleared, and
glimpsed the golden span within arms
reach.
If only they could have grasped it, and held
fast with all their strength, instead of
frolicking in self-pleasure. What a price
paid for such frivolity. Such unworthy
attention. Yet, alas! Too late.
The Bridge still spans the abyss,
as a humble signpost against
grand illusion, and high conceit.
And he need only grasp it with sincere
heart, to escape the torments of mortality.
You can see that the idea of Divine Consciousness as an essential core to all things manifest, is "not knew under the sun." Let's take this idea and apply it to our lives, and see what it means.
We are, at our essence, a Spark of the Divine Consciousness. Therefore, if "We contemplate ourselves, we will see that we are not demons or animals or men or gods, we are simply the essence of perfection, perfect souls."
The quote is from a Hindu text, called "Jnanarnva." This is a difficult concept to wrap our heads around: (1) coming from first hand experience, that we in our daily affairs are not perfect- not by a long shot, (2) most of us in North and South America were schooled by Christion Faith, telling us we were born with Original Sin, have only one life to gain salvation, and if we fail to acquire salivation, our fate will be eternal damnation; successful salvation under those conditions is every unlikely. Yet, regardless of our religious instructions, we intuitively know deep within our soul that we are more than our thoughts and feelings and the mind that experiences them.
Listen to the mystically inclined Emily Dickinson, as she tries to come to terms with the medium of our own knowing, in thought.
I do not know the man so bold
He dare in lonely place
That awful stranger Consciousness
Deliberately face.
When we begin to apply the idea, that we have within our being a "spark" of the Divine Consciousness, our chances of reaching salivation increases infinitely. Divine Consciousness brings with it the attribute of infinity. Since we have a "spark" of Divine Consciousness our spark is also infinite. Our time to get things right is relatively infinite. Knowing that we are a spark of the Divine Consciousness, should quiet our anxiety by opening up our field of life from one to many life-times. This is in line with the natural cycle of all life: birth, growth, decay, death, and then the renewal cycle, birth, growth, decay death, ad infinitum. There is a story told about Gautama the Buddha, being asked about how long he had been reincarnating? He answered, : "Consider a mountain, the length and width and height that a water buffalo can walk in one day. Now imagine a bird with a scarf in its beak that flies across the mountain once every hundred years, letting the scarf brush cross the mountain top. In the length of time that it would take for the scarf to wear away the mountain, that is how long I have been reincarnation." An intuitive reader might be thinking, 'that sounds great, but if we just circulate our lives one after the another, where is the hope for progress.' If there is only continuous circulation of our life, our life would be a living hell, and I am sure that some of us believe that condition is exactly the case. The good thing is, movement through life is not strictly circular, but is cyclic with a spiral configuration. Therefore, the spiral movement leaves us the possibility for progress and also regress.
Our spark of Divine Consciousness is not completely veiled within the physical plane. Its voice is heard in a continuous loop echoing within, and felt as an urge, as an imperative drive towards perfection. Once this urge is engaged it becomes irrevocably established. That is because it is a Cosmic Force. Keep in mind, that we are a microcosm of the macrocosm. The urge will not be relinquished until it finds repose in its Source. In other words, we have a built in motivation to awaken, to connect, and finally to become our Source. So we have a universal purpose to become our Source, and we have all nature behind us and the whole glory of the living Universe to achieve that ultimate goal. As the Aussies say, "No worries, mates!"
Our biggest obstacle is overcoming our ignorance about our true identity. We have a dualist life. You can verify that idea very quickly by looking at a model of our brain. The brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left and the right half, with a canal like crease down its middle, separating the two half's. The left side of the brain is related to our physical side, our ego side. The right side of our brain is related to our spiritual side, our spiritual self. Empirical evidence of the operational effects of the left and right hemispheres can be understood by reading histories of stroke victims. A graphic account of the effects of a stroke can be gained by reading a book called, "My stroke of Insight," by Jill Bolte. She is a PhD brain scientist, and therefore has an first hand perspective from which to analyze the effects of her stroke. She says, her left brain functions were gone; could not speak, make analytical judgments or apply them, relate experiences to herself, and had no feeling of her ego identity. She had awareness, but is wasn't individualized. In other words, she had no concept of separateness. All experiences where amalgamated into a continuous unity. Her only discrimination was an awareness of the kind of energy people would bring with them as they related with her. This kind of complete right brain awareness is difficult to explain, but I am sure there are readers who have had experienced its unitarian effects.
Once we make the discovery that our human nature is dual, and that a battle is ever waging between our higher Self and our lower self, we can enter the realm of the mystic warrior. As we enter the battle field within ourselves we call forth and analyze our life purpose, our motives, taking courage to compare wrong things with the right things. There sitting nose to nose with our truth, we do battle with our lower nature, and by harsh toil, by subduing pain and pleasure, by unbending faith in our higher Self we secure sacred wisdom. Only then can we wheel the spear of knowledge piercing through the world of shadow and illusion, to gain freedom from our own mortality, and to live eternally within the splendor of the light.
THE BRIDGE
It spans an abyss
where siren sounds from an impetuous
wind
lure and snag curious souls.
The curious become ensnared, not by
eagerness
to know, but by an affection for the abyss.
They are captured, by their own intentions.
The tantalizing, spinning wind, gently
urges
and coerces them, while filling their senses
with tastes of euphoria.
It whispers: "All yours. All yours to have.
Take and fill. Take."
As they succumb to their affection, the wind
bends their souls until their heads turns
down and their feet up.
Suddenly, the wind releases its hold and
head long they fall into the heart of the
abyss.
If only the poor souls' eyes, cleared, and
glimpsed the golden span within arms
reach.
If only they could have grasped it, and held
fast with all their strength, instead of
frolicking in self-pleasure. What a price
paid for such frivolity. Such unworthy
attention. Yet, alas! Too late.
The Bridge still spans the abyss,
as a humble signpost against
grand illusion, and high conceit.
And he need only grasp it with sincere
heart, to escape the torments of mortality.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
the path
The moment I read the axiom, "Know thyself," my soul stirred and I immediately knew I would embark on an adventure of spiritual discovery.
To those of us who have the innate desire and the courage to expand our life's, adopting fuller and more satisfying perceptions, a path must be walked, connecting our dominant material world with our spiritual world. This connection is vital, for it allows us access to the spiritual aspect of our being. (Before we go any further, I think it is necessary to make a distinction between, "spiritual" and "religious." After I voluntarily abandoned my Catholic Faith, some would say I also discarded my spiritual life. Most people associate spiritual expressions, exclusively with religion. However, spiritual expressions are often completely separate from religion. Spiritual expression originates from within the soul of human beings, as part of their higher principles, and although religion can initiate a spiritual response, religion is not the source of spiritually. It is thus possible for human beings to be highly spiritual without being religious.) The encounter with our spiritual aspect causes a renewal, and a new rebirth. Our entire life becomes redefined. We merge our dual aspects (material and spiritual), undergoing a metamorphosis. It is only through this state of creative synthesis that we can hope to express a full human life.
The actual negotiation of the path is difficult. One must develop it alone by summing up the enormous range of lived experiences into the raw materials necessary for its higher development. There isn't a template to follow, yet aid and direction is always near to those with one-pointed commitment, by realized masters. There is a yoga saying that makes traveling the path attainable, "One truth, many paths;" always keep your eyes on the goal.
To those of us who have the innate desire and the courage to expand our life's, adopting fuller and more satisfying perceptions, a path must be walked, connecting our dominant material world with our spiritual world. This connection is vital, for it allows us access to the spiritual aspect of our being. (Before we go any further, I think it is necessary to make a distinction between, "spiritual" and "religious." After I voluntarily abandoned my Catholic Faith, some would say I also discarded my spiritual life. Most people associate spiritual expressions, exclusively with religion. However, spiritual expressions are often completely separate from religion. Spiritual expression originates from within the soul of human beings, as part of their higher principles, and although religion can initiate a spiritual response, religion is not the source of spiritually. It is thus possible for human beings to be highly spiritual without being religious.) The encounter with our spiritual aspect causes a renewal, and a new rebirth. Our entire life becomes redefined. We merge our dual aspects (material and spiritual), undergoing a metamorphosis. It is only through this state of creative synthesis that we can hope to express a full human life.
The actual negotiation of the path is difficult. One must develop it alone by summing up the enormous range of lived experiences into the raw materials necessary for its higher development. There isn't a template to follow, yet aid and direction is always near to those with one-pointed commitment, by realized masters. There is a yoga saying that makes traveling the path attainable, "One truth, many paths;" always keep your eyes on the goal.
One truth, many paths. Be, good, do good.
Louis DiVirgilio
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