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#4062 - Monday, November 1, 2010 - Editor: Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
I know of a place not ruled by
flatness
Or constant risings & depressions,
& those alive are not afraid to die.
There wild flowers come up through the leafy floor,
& the fragrance of "I am he" floats on the wind.
...There the love bee stays
deep inside the flower
and cares for no other thing.
- Kabir posted by
Kia Pierce
photo by Alan Larus
more photos by Alan Larus (and a song) http://www.ferryfee.com/bluesky/2_ponds.html
The Energies That Keep Us
Alive
The energies that keep us alive are
joy, generosity, compassion, curiosity, truthfulness, serenity,
equanimity, wakefulness, one-pointedness, and impeccability—the
qualities of mind that Buddhist teaching sometimes calls
paramitas, or perfections, or sometimes bojjhangas, the factors
of enlightenment. They are qualities of awakened mind as well as
qualities that can be cultivated to aid awakening.
Jack Engler, "Just As It Is"
And she said, are there not stars here on earth as in the heavens? And they said, yes, we are bringing them down now so that you can reach to touch them, and then they will all be spilling in the wind, for only you will be able to see them in such a bright sky. Then later, look for the them in the fall among the drifted leaves, and they will be nimbed with frost like adamant and fire.
(Wild Pond Iris Leaves, Autumn
Sunset Light, Halcyon Gardens, Pennsylvania) In order to express life, to render nature,
one must will and will and will with all the strength of heart
and brain: Nature exceeds - and greatly - human genius. Before
Nature, I am plunged into infinite admiration; for every one of
her beauties, that she shows us and that we express, there are a
hundred, a thousand that escape us. We know only parcels of
truth. There are unknown forces in Nature; when we give ourselves
wholly to her, without reserve, she lends them to us; she shows
us these forms which our watching eyes do not see, which our
intelligence does not understand or suspect. In art, to admit
only what one understands, leads to impotence.
- Auguste Rodin
Autumn Leaves 23 photos by Peter Shefler on Facebook
(some with poems)
by Peter Francis Dziuban
That just about sums up the Science and Nonduality Conference for 2010.
Whose conference was it, really? The One who was really present, the One whose show it truly was, definitely showed up! There weren’t really many of “us” all experiencing Presence at a conference called SAND. It’s the other way around. Presence was “doing its thing”—which appeared as a lot of people at a conference.
That was the most noticeable (and beautiful) thing about SAND —a pervading Love or Oneness, despite the many perspectives being offered.
[ big snip]
Meanwhile, isn’t it great that Love goes right on being Love. Presence goes right on being Presence.
Maybe the topic of “which came first” is going down a wrong path—asking cause/effect type questions based on an old “model” that is fast becoming obsolete. And here’s where a nondual perspective can offer science new insights. Some nondualists would say Awareness, Being, is timeless, thus not in the realm of cause and effect. From this perspective, it’s clear that neither the universe nor “body-mind” came “first”—but that both seem to arise simultaneously. And this seems to hold true from a deep investigation of direct experience.
The arising universe is like a coin with two sides. Look at the coin from one side and it seems to be material. Look at it from the other side and it can just as readily be called mental. But both sides of the coin are there simultaneously—so “first” is a moot point—both are equally valid if one is talking about finity. And again, either way, material or mental, it’s all finite (call it the coin of finity). Only when “seeing” from an Infinite perspective of nonduality, is one completely “off the coin” of finite arisings, and able to see both sides for what they are. Imagine trying to see both sides of a coin clearly when looking from only one of the sides, from finite mind or finite matter. Can’t do it.
This is not to imply that there’s anything “incorrect” with finity or body-mind. It’s not only a big part of everyday experience—it IS everyday experience! It’s also the workplace of science—so it’s simply a matter of recognizing and appreciating the difference in perspectives.
Meanwhile, Love goes right on being Love.
article: http://nondualityamerica.wordpress.com/