It is said, in our work, that everyone serves someone or something, knowingly or not.
There are extraordinary patterns of behavior arising around us. Governments are exercising growing control over their citizens. Nations are embracing and justifying war. Licentiousness and addiction are rampant. The innocence of children is being sacrificed; they are being publicly sexualized to a degree that would have seemed impossible a few years ago. Religious and family values are waning.
Who do these trends serve? Can they arise with such speed and force without sponsors?
Is there such a thing as objective evil…evil for its own sake?
If you are seriously involved in work on self, these questions are likely to occur to you. I am going to offer you some tentative conclusions after more than 5 decades of observing and contemplating my behavior and the society I am part of.
The Old Testament is a commentary on the battle between good and evil. I am learning to see it as a record of certain knowledge that has been lost. The people of Israel are continually falling away from the laws of Moses to serve other gods who promise them benefits to their liking. Prophets are sent to warn them to forsake these false gods they have chosen to worship
These false gods are not imaginative, metaphorical or conceptual. The graven images that are worshipped are idols said to represent actual gods who demand service. They are non-physical beings about whom the ancients were very knowledgeable. They have names…Baal, he who wishes for power and dominion over others…Ishtar, she the seductress, who fosters wanton licentiousness and addiction…and Moloch, the destroyer who loves blood and death. When humans become incomprehensibly stupid, selfish and barbaric, are they serving them?
It is said, in our work, that everyone serves someone or something, knowingly or not. If you seek power, indulge in pleasure or want the destruction of others, who do you serve?
Those who have undertaken objective work for the world do not dedicate themselves to the ordinary motives of human beings. They become the psychoactive leavening of human society, making it possible for others to function in a more or less sane manner.
There are three unusual qualities of those who truly work.
First, they have a quiet confidence in God. He is for them an intimate Friend. Therefore, they know for whom they labor and it is not for themselves.
Second, they work without the notice of the world. To be celebrated is to be at great risk of dissipation.
Third, they perceive that there are intentional enemies of this work. They knowingly join a battle of good against evil.
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April 28, 2024
Tags: objective evil, objective work, service, work notes
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March 18, 2024
Vajrayana Buddhism has a form of meditation called Trekchö which is difficult to explain. It translates as ‘cutting through’ and ‘spontaneous’. It has been described as “recognition of one’s own innately pure, empty awareness”. Another trekchö instruction states: “This instant freshness, unspoiled by thoughts.”
There is no approach, no development path, no gradualism in this practice. It is direct, immediate and lacking in content. There are only “pointing out” instructions.
This practice is “inside itself”. There is noticing (“rig”) and there is noticing that you notice (“rigpa” or awareness). Can you combine them in one movement? Can you look directly into the awareness that experiences? Can you see that you are seeing?
Thinking will not get you there. The question triggers the event, or not. It is a skill that comes more easily with repetition. Once you know it, you have a reliable ‘place’ of refuge from your thoughts. You have spaciousness.
Trying to think it is solipsistic.Tags: meditation, Trekchö, Vajrayana Buddism, work notes
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March 5, 2024
Can you accept that no one thing is more important than another? From the world’s point of view, there is a hierarchy of values. From the point of view of spiritual work, one thing is as good as another.
We make judgments that some of the things we think and do are objectively important. But we have no idea what the universe, which is a living organism, actually needs from us.
Begin at the beginning. You are here, in this place and time, with certain relationships, habits and talents. Your life has probably not unfolded anything like what you wanted or imagined for yourself.
For certain, where you are is exactly where you need to be for your own evolution. What you have accumulated is precisely what you need for work on self. How can it be otherwise? This is the minor miracle.
There is another point of view. The universe has established you to meet certain of its needs. This is the greater miracle. What does the universe need from you as you are, where you are? Find out so that you can provide it voluntarily. Then you will get the help you need. How do you find out? Observe what your life asks of you.
Every day, the universe presents you with certain demands. If you accept them as obligations to be met to the best of your ability, you will receive the necessities to perform them. And more will be given unto you. This is evolution by reflex. Not by way of ambition but by way of responsiveness.Tags: humility, obligations, work notes
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February 26, 2024
The spiritual path leads nowhere if you do not walk it with humility.
You must see your ambition, see your self-importance, and welcome life as it throttles them out of you.
Ahmed Rifai was on the Hajj. At night he had a dream, that he had arrived at the Kaaba and that it was surrounded by a wall with gates. Over the first gate was the word LOVE. This gate was crowded and he could not enter. Around the side was another gate. Over it was the word PEACE. It too was crowded and he could not enter. Around the corner was another gate. There was no one there and Ahmed entered. Above this gate was the word HUMILIATION.
The path is needed to break down our false pride, crush our ego and enable us to feel humility. We cannot do this for ourselves. Life does it for us if we are willing to take it in. To have humility is to have wounds, disappointments, defeats. Your flag is in tatters. You feel to the depth of your being that you are unworthy. Only then can you be trusted.Tags: humility, work notes
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February 19, 2024
The most deadly of all thoughts is that life is, can be, or should be, fair. Everybody gets what they get.
We expect, we hope, like trying to move a mountain. Life cannot be pushed but it can be invited.
Everything is unfinished business until it’s finished…which is when you no longer trip over it. If something grabs your attention, divides you, causes you torment or dissatisfaction, it is not finished. When you deeply appreciate what you have, when you accept that you, and everyone else, gets what they get, the reactive phase of your life is finished and what remains is love.
While you accumulate, you accumulate. Accumulation is not accommodation. You look for experiences. You are troubled by what you do not have and what you do not understand. You do not have enough. Your life is a struggle of should, would, could. When what happens today is exactly enough, you have finished the phase of accumulation and you got what you got. You see that you get exactly what you need every day and you see that everyone else does. You can begin to reduce your accumulation.
If you think that you deserve better, that’s where you are. If you blame me for your behavior, blame away until you have finished. Am I responsible for your reaction to me? Not in the slightest. Your reactions are yours. My role in them, if any, is my material to work with. We each get what we get.Tags: fair, reactions, work notes
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February 12, 2024
To work on self is to work with my reactions.
Our life presents us with the challenges we need to confront in order to gain freedom from our reactions. We are responsible for these reactions. The responsibility for them cannot be displaced.
Nor are we responsible for the reactions of others to us. If we take responsibility for our own reactions, we will end up treating others with grace and precision.
How to begin this work?
Do not blame others for your reactions.
Be aware of the physical gestures, postures and sensations of your reactions in real time. After the fact is far less useful.
Do not analyze your reactions. Simply observe them. You can recognize them without thinking about them.
Your observing needs to become impartial. This specifically means to observe without derivative or secondary reverberations…judgments or justifications, shame, guilt or other forms of self-expression or self-importance. Laughter is allowed.
When observing becomes impartial, refrain from expressing your reactions. Hold the energy of them. Neither express nor repress.
To be without reactions is to be without an important source of energy. Do not wish for this too soon. If you arrive at this state, known among Sufis as Kemal, much is possible but very little is wished for.Tags: impartial observation, Kemal, reactions, work notes
