This Is It

Lately I have grown weary with all the new age talk, the notion of this being the precursor to a more enlightened age... both socially and individually I have found all such teachings and ideas leading me astray from the only reality there is, here and now.

The teachers of Law of Attraction talk to you about "the now" as a moment of great opportunity and power, and in the same breath they also say to ignore your present conditions and imagine your life how you would like it to be. Am I missing something here or is this an oxymoron? If you are really living in the now then all thoughts and planning about the future, lest they be instantaneous insight or visions, are only distractions from the actual/real which IS the present moment.

Those who speak of the Age of Aquarius (or a new Golden Age), and admittedly I have been one, are again missing the point of presence. Maybe it is the last really bad period before something breaks through for humanity, but then maybe it isn't!! Some astrologers say the Age of Aquarius is another 100 or so years in the future still. The point is that right NOW there is little evidence of anything changing for the better, so to be constantly waiting for this to come is only aggravating, only a distraction from dealing with *what is* in a sane and serene manner, mindful and accepting, going with the flow...

It has been positively noted (by myself and many others) that too much fear and negativity, regarding anxiety over the future and/or depression/anger over the past, is detrimental and potentially harmful. Yet all talk of a utopia or dreamy future, that is an escape from the present, is setting up conflict between the real and ideal and just another trap the mind sets up for itself. In fact, the only plans, ideals and visions for the future that are of any substance and actuality are those that are or can be experienced or acted upon immediately, for THIS IS IT, and this life is not to be wasted building castles in the air, or in imagining that 2012 (or whenever) will be the beginning of those golden years we are all waiting and yearning for in vain.

"Whatever will be will be", and so I put it in God's hands knowing that my individual action and will must first be surrendered entirely before any good can come out of these. In other words, the Doing flows naturally out of the Being which is in the essence and nature of Seeing and Feeling, without struggle and conflict or wasted effort, acting in unity with this present moment.

JDZ

FAITH IN MIND

The Supreme Way is not difficult

If only you do not pick and choose.

Neither love nor hate,

And you will clearly understand.

Be off by a hair,

And you are as far apart as heaven from earth.

If you want it to appear,

Be neither for or against.

For and against opposing each other-

This is the mind's disease.

Without recognizing the mysterious principle

It is useless to practice quietude.

The Way is perfect like great space,

Without lack, without excess.

Because of grasping and rejecting,

You cannot attain it.

Do not pursue conditioned existence;

Do not abide in the acceptance of emptiness.

In oneness and equality,

Confusion vanishes of itself.

Stop activity and return to stillness,

And that stillness will be even more active.

Only stagnating in duality,

How can you recognize oneness?

If you fail to penetrate oneness,

Both places lose their function.

Banish existence and you fall into existence;

Follow emptiness and you turn your back on it.

Excessive talking and thinking

Turn you from harmony with the Way.

Cut off talking and thinking,

And there is nowhere you cannot penetrate.

Return to the root and attain the principle;

Pursue illumination and you lose it.

One moment of reversing the light

Is greater than the previous emptiness.

The previous emptiness is transformed;

It was all a product of deluded views.

No need to seek the real;

Just extinguish your views.

Do not abide in dualistic views;

take care not to seek after them.

As soon as there is right and wrong

The mind is scattered and lost.

Two comes from one,

Yet do not even keep the one.

When one mind does not arise,

Myriad dharmas are without defect.

Without defect, without dharmas,

No arising, no mind.

The subject is extinguished with the object.

The object sinks away with the subject.

Object is object because of the subject;

Subject is subject because of the object.

Know that the two

Are originally one emptiness.

In one emptiness the two are the same,

Containing all phenomena.

Not seeing fine or course,

How can there be any bais?

The Great Way is broad,

Neither easy nor difficult.

With narrow views and doubts,

Haste will slow you down.

Attach to it and you lose the measure;

The mind will enter a deviant path.

Let it go and be spontaneous,

Experience no going or staying.

Accord with your own nature, unite with the Way,

Wander at ease, without vexation.

Bound by thoughts, you depart from the real;

And sinking into a stupor is bad.

It is not good to weary the spirit.

Why alternate between aversion and affection?

If you wish to enter the one vehicle,

Do not be repelled by the sense realm.

With no aversion to the sense realm,

You become one with true enlightenment.

The wise have no motives;

Fools put themselves in bondage.

One dharma is not different from another.

The deluded mind clings to whatever it desires.

Using mind to cultivate mind-

Is this not a great mistake?

The erring mind begets tranquility and confusion;

In enlightenment there are no likes or dislikes.

The duality of all things

Issues from false discriminations.

A dream, an illusion, a flower in the sky-

How could they be worth grasping?

Gain and loss, right and wrong-

Discard them all at once.

If the eyes do not close in sleep,

All dreams will cease of themselves.

If the mind does not discriminate,

All dharmas are of one suchness.

The essence of one suchness is profound;

Unmoving, conditioned things are forgotten.

Contemplate all dharmas as equal,

And you return to things as they are.

When the subject disappears,

There can be no measuring or comparing.

Stop activity and there is no activity;

When activity stops, there is no rest.

Since two cannot be established,

How can there be one?

In the very ultimate,

Rules and standards do not exist.

Develop a mind of equanimity,

And all deeds are put to rest.

Anxious doubts are completely cleared.

Right faith is made upright.

Nothing lingers behind,

Nothing can be remembered.

Bright and empty, functioning naturally,

The mind does not exert itself.

It is not a place of thinking,

Difficult for reason and emotion to fathom.

In the Dharma Realm of true suchness,

There is no other, no self.

To accord with it is vitally important;

Only refer to "not-two."

In not-two all things are in unity;

Nothing is not included.

The wise throughout the ten directions

All enter this principle.

This principle is neither hurried nor slow-

One thought for ten thousand years.

Abiding nowhere yet everywhere,

The ten directions are right before you.

The smallest is the same as the largest

In the realm where delusion is cut off.

The largest is the same as the smallest;

No boundaries are visible.

Existence is precisely emptiness;

Emptiness is precisely existence.

If it is not like this,

Then you must not preserve it.

One is everything;

Everything is one.

If you can be like this,

Why worry about not finishing?

Faith and mind are not two;

Non-duality is faith in mind.

The path of words is cut off;

There is no past, no future, no present.


by Jianzhi Sengcan

Fourth Patriarch of Chan

Sensitivity is Essential

The so-called saints and sannyasis have contributed to the dullness of mind and to the destruction of sensitivity. Every habit, repetition, rituals strengthened by belief and dogma, sensory responses, can be and are refined, but the alert awareness, sensitivity, is quite another matter. Sensitivity is absolutely essential to look deeply within; this movement of going within is not a reaction to the outer; the outer and the inner are the same movement, they are not separate. The division of this movement as the outer and as the inner breeds insensitivity. Going within is the natural flow of the outer; the movement of the inner has its own action, expressed outwardly but it is not a reaction of the outer. Awareness of this whole movement is sensitivity. - Saanen 1st Public Talk 6th July 1980 Krishnamurti Notebook

Man is the only animal that is to be dreaded

One saw a bird dying, shot by a man. It was flying with rhythmic beat and beautifully, with such freedom and lack of fear. And the gun shattered it; it fell to the earth and all the life had gone out of it. A dog fetched it, and the man collected other dead birds. He was chattering with his friend and seemed so utterly indifferent. All that he was concerned with was bringing down so many birds, and it was over as far as he was concerned. They are killing all over the world. Those marvellous, great animals of the sea, the whales, are killed by the million, and the tiger and so many other animals are now becoming endangered species. Man is the only animal that is to be dreaded - Krishnamurti to Himself Ojai California Tuesday 26th April, 1983

Recent Reflections ~ On Being & Becoming

ON BEING - HERE & NOW

I See ~ I Feel ~ I Do -- Fill in the blanks with your ideas, without letting the thinking itself take command and create more mischief and deception. Conscious thought is the servant, not master, of these three most primal functions. What I think depends upon what I see, feel and do and must guide by remaining humble simply performing functions of reality navigation and interpretation or intuition...

In conjunction with "I Do" comes "I Will" (present to future), with "I See" comes "I Know" and with "I Feel" comes "I Believe"... Thought is simply an activity of Spirit (Seeing) of Psyche (Feeling) and of the Body (Doing), which by its very creatively material nature becomes the manifest outer conditions/formations and experiences of my here/now existence.

Having brought the brain-mind into subservience and cooperation, I am most grateful to have this most efficient and creative (intuitive in conj with seeing and feeling) and devoted servant as a guide through the the inner and outer realms of this psychic-physical existence.

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ON BECOMING - DOING & HAVING

Questions to ask myself today - How much do you really want it? How *truly serious* are you about getting down and doing the job till it is done?? What kinds of people and experiences will work well in association with immediate and longer term goals?? Finally, how much are you willing to *allow* a new joyful vision of positive creation into your life, by trusting and aligning with the very Source from which all (good) things come???

Also remembering now and again to simply be and breathe, exhaling feeling gratitude for what already is, inhaling new life and creative potential...
Three things I am most grateful for today... Personal freedom, excellent physical health and much potential/opportunity to create/expand my world intuitively and imaginatively. "Happiness is not in having what you want but in wanting what you have"...

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ON SELF CONFIDENCE

A simple yet profound description of true confidence (below)... I would add courage and a willingness to take bold action, without hesitation....

"With the realization of ones own potential and self-confidence in ones ability, one can build a better world. According to my own experience, self-confidence is very important. That sort of confidence is not a blind one; it is an awareness of ones own potential. On that basis, human beings can transform themselves by ...increasing the good qualities and reducing the negative qualities."
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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ON EGO versus HIGHER SELF - CONSCIOUSNESS

JDZ ~ In this life I am born alone, as time progresses playmates and peers become part of my world, but still it is self centered throughout early adulthood. The more selfish I can be in the accomplishing and fulfilling of personal ambition/desire, the closer I become to others, having less left to do, more to give.

Dr Wayne Dyer ~ "In the ego state you generally experience yourself as a separate entity. To move past this conditioning you want to begin to see yourself as humanity itself rather than as a separate form in a body. Very simply put, if you feel disconnected from the rest of humanity, and truly a separate entity needing to prove yourself and compete with others, you will be unable to manifest your heart's desire."

** We can be positively self-centered without having to be separate from humanity, the earth and the vast universe all around us...

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ON POSITIVE ASSERTION & AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

"Some people think, great God will come from the sky, take away everything and make everybody feel high, but if you know what life is worth you will look for yours on Earth, so now you see the light stand up for your rights!" Bob Marley & the Wailers

The more you advocate for yourself, the more you potentially have to give others and humanity at large. So while (obviously) it doesn't serve to be a greedy prick neither does it serve anyone or anything to deny oneself the abundance and the freedom to do as one pleases (within ethical bounds).

Reading Wayne Dyer's "Manifest Your Destiny" is most inspiring to me right now, affirmative yet spiritually aware, taking the whole picture into account yet the primary focus is on positive creation, taking affirmative action aligned with my true nature and heart's desire.

Demand is a strong word... yet for those (not unlike myself) who have difficulty with self assertion it can be an empowering idea... Like Abraham Hicks speaking of anger or desire for revenge as the next step beyond powerlessness, which will then lead to the what you refer to above as calm assertiveness, and of course living within ethical bounds respectful of the rights and feelings of others.

Meaning, sometimes the contrast of going from non-assertive to demanding, or from powerlessness to a feeling of rage, is just the next step which in turn will die out and be replaced by a generosity of spirit that is in no way self-denying or joyless nor is it withholding from others.
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ON EMPTINESS INNOCENCE & ENERGY:

And walking on that road, there was complete emptiness of the brain, and the mind was free of all experience, the knowing of yesterday, though a thousand yesterdays have been. Time, the thing of thought, had stopped; literally there was no movement before and after; there was no going or arriving or standing still. Space as distance was not; there were the hills and bushes but not as high and low. There was no relationship with anything but there was an awareness of the bridge and the passer-by. The totality of the mind, in which is the brain with its thoughts and feelings, was empty; and because it was empty, there was energy, a deepening and widening energy without measure. All comparison, measurement belong to thought and so to time. The otherness was the mind without time; it was the breath of innocence and immensity. Words are not reality; they are only means of communication but they are not the innocence and the immeasurable. The emptiness was alone. - Krishnamurti Notebook 20th October to 20th November 1961

JDZ

Beyond the Thinker

Knowing that the thinker not only determines but actually IS the thought he/she is thinking, that they are one, is empowering and liberating when the thinker decides to uplift and change the story (by changing himself)... because the thought in turn becomes manifestation.

Even more liberating and empowering is that the awareness of power to change and grow comes from neither thinker nor thought and its manifestation as thing. Detached (yet inseparable) from all Creation is the Inner Creator, Energy Source and Light of Being. Mind alone cannot aid in the mastery of itself... its imagined authority must surrender entirely, to alignment with its Source.

Here alone it is possible to remain a deliberate and conscious creator, beyond the mind itself (thinker and thought), otherwise remaining in a whirlpool of repetitive thinking... manifesting perhaps in a million different ways but not going anywhere, stuck in the past and subject to knee jerk negative thoughts & reactions plus alternatively painful and pleasurable emotional responses to adverse conditions created by the mind itself. To simply let go, let body and mind drop (not disappear) out of command, releasing all identification with body-mind vessel it is no longer a struggle or heavy karmic burden but a friend and ally.

True religion is not belief, the search for truth is a search for lost or forgotten ideals. Truth is what remains when all belief(s) (which are fixed & thought-based), both positive and negative, cease to be... where only Beingness, a wondrous sense of aliveness and beauty, remains. The relative being of self awareness and inquiry, knowing thyself, and in this awareness letting the self (as individual body and mind, not Spirit) go entirely... leading one beyond the relative to embrace the infinite and timeless.

JDZ

Religion and Truth

Religion, surely, is the uncovering of reality. Religion is not belief. Religion is not the search for truth. The search for truth is merely the fulfillment of belief. Religion is the understanding of the thinker; for what the thinker is, that he creates. Without understanding the process of the thinker and the thought, merely to be caught in a dogma is surely not the uncovering of the beauty of life, of existence, of truth. If you seek truth, then you already know truth. If you go out seeking something, the implication is that you have lost it, which means you already know what it is. What you do know is belief, and belief is not truth.
Krishnamurti -On Self Knowledge