"Truth" - LaMotte & Goethe

With general truth our minds swell up,
assuming the abstraction to expand us and
make us smarter.  But a mind turgid with beliefs
is neither clear nor useful.  It is a gray intellectual
thicket that prevents real empathy, real presence.
The general truth, in fact, makes us smaller, because
it confines awareness to a conceptual box
which our ego must argue and defend.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

We can never directly see what is true, that is, identical with
 what is divine: we look at it only in reflection, in example,
in the symbol, in the individual and related phenomena.  We
perceive it as a life beyond our grasp, yet we cannot deny
our need to grasp it.

[.....] the highest achievement of the human being as a thinking
being is to have probed what is knowable and quietly to revere
what is unknowable.

Johann Wolfgang von Goeth

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Contemplating The Mysteries - Albert Einstein

The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
One cannot help but be in awe when one
contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life,
of the marvelous structure of reality.  It is
enough if one tries merely to comprehend a
little of this mystery every day.
Never lose a holy curiosity...

Albert Einstein

~

We participate in an unfolding, dynamic reality.
There is no solid, static universe, reality is mutable -
affected by our perception of it.

Opening to the vast universe takes all ways of "knowing:"
the rigors of science, the powers of imagination, embodied
wisdom and mystical vision - and - accepting what still
remains unknowable...

The Institute of Noetic Sciences

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

What Is There Beyond Knowing? - Mary Oliver

What is there beyond knowing that keeps
calling to me?  I can't

turn in any direction
but it's there.  I don't mean

the leaves' grip and shine or even the thrush's
silk song, but the far-off

fires, for example,
of the stars, heaven's slowly turning

theater of light, or the wind
playful with its breath;

or time that's always rushing forward,
or standing still

in the same  - what shall I say -
moment.

What I know
I could put into a pack

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
on one shoulder,

important and honorable, but so small!

While everything else continues, unexplained

and unexplainable.  How wonderful it is
to follow a though quietly

to its logical end.
I have done this a few times.

But mostly I just stand in the dark field,

in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out.  Life so far doesn't have any other name
but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.
I simply go on drifting, in the heave of the grass
and the weeds.

Mary Oliver

via - Poetry Chaikhana

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Deepest Silence - John Roger Barrie

The eloquence of the deepest silence echoes from the eternal.

Originating there and reverberating through the ripples of time
and space.  It bursts forth in shimmering waves, forming light
and color, shadow, and dimension.  But it remains unchanged.
Never affected by the slightest permutation of outer phenomenon,
silence interweaves the temporal but is forever untouched by it.

Ever abiding within and without, overlaid with the mutable
patchwork garment we know as the visible universe, silence forms
the woof and warp of all things seen and unseen.  Yet at any instant
it is immanent and accessible.  To the mystic, silence is the ground,
the core of reality.  All else relates to and emanates from it.

The deeper elements in all religions point to this silence.  It is God,
it is Buddha; it is Allah.  But, to paraphrase Lao Tzu, to name it
is to elude its essence.  It can only be experienced.

How can we not experience that which always envelops and
permeates us?  Merely affirming its existence will not garner for us
its experiential realization.  It is spiritual practice [like meditation]
that provides us with the means to fine tune our faculties so that we
perceive it for ourselves.  Such practice enables us, in due course,
to experience a blistering, conscious realization of silence that
suffuses the core of our being.

By embarking on the spiritual path, an aspirant is attempting to
encounter silence firsthand.  This is the quintessential journey in
life - the inner sojourn.  It is returning to a source long ago forgotten
but often glimpsed unawares.  Recapturing that which flitters on the
periphery of awareness is the goal of the mystic.  The mystic
consciously dives into silence, at first unfelt.  With repeated practice
it becomes a living, palpable Presence filled with immeasurable
vitality and boundless, nondual continuity.  But what causes this
gradual revelation?

First we need to discover why we do not experience silence.
The simplest answer is that we are habituated to noise.  We are
addicted to novelty, sensation, to ourselves.  Fuss and commotion,
mental chattering and outer stimulation occupy our minds from
dawn to dusk.  The twentieth-century Japanese Zen master Nan-in
rightly noted that we are overflowing with our own ideas and
opinions.  When one is clattering away on a keyboard sixteen hours
every day, the capacious pockets of silence are kept well at bay.  We
thereby deafen ourselves to the underlying silence we would 

otherwise clearly hear.

By intentionally quieting our restless minds and calling a temporary
halt to the random noise - inner and outer - to which we are subject,
we create an environment conducive to the manifestation of silence.
Welling up from within, this silence subtly engulfs us, drowning out
all the noise of existence.

When constantly engaged at the forefront of our minds, our awareness
restlessly flutters about from thought to thought, sensation to
sensation, thus pushing out silence.  The effort required to break
through the surface waves of the mind forges an inward path
 to the deepest levelsof silence.  When deliberately sustained....this
 inner drilling displaces the obfuscatory debris that clutters the mind
 with a matrix of noise. When all mental ruminations are at last
exhausted, genuine silence emerges.

But, many prefer the comfort of noise, the bustling of crowds, the
constant engagement of new thoughts and interesting repartee.
To embrace silence means splicing off a certain arena of the
familiar and venturing into uncharted territories.  While one
may fruitfully participate in communal spiritual activities, quite
often the deeper stages of this voyage are undertaken by oneself.

To keep the mind occupied with external concerns is to point the
inner compass in an outward direction.  This is the most subtle trap
to which the feeble mind continually succumbs.  For to interact
constantly with the objects of the senses is to eclipse entirely the
realm of silence, which is first experienced within.  When
repeatedly accessed, the decibel level of true silence will deafen
the resolute mystic.

Ever elusive yet all pervading, silence is known by those who take
the leap.  The adventuresome hiker seeks areas untrampled by the
masses.  The successful inner voyager treks to the precipice, and
then, having encountered  the Unknowable, brazenly discards map and
compass and boldly treads onward.  The yearning heart echoes the
cry that seized the Psalmist:
"Be still and know that I am God."

John Roger Barrie
Excerpt from Parabola

via - No Mind's Land

~

Photo -
 Northern Lights over Yellow Knife, Western Territories, Canada

Truth is an Oasis - Jinendra

Truth is a pathless Oasis
Who can show you the path?
Have faith in yourself...
And begin the inner walk

To experience Truth
Put all aside
All that you have heard
All that you have ever read
All knowledge of scriptures
and the philosophical tenets
Put them all aside

[.....]

Just simply be Aware
Of the Reality within you...
Observe through your Inner Eyes

As the inner walk progresses
Awareness of space
and time ceases

Always remaining Equanimous
Alone you walk ... ...
and walk ... and ... walk
To the deeeeeepest depth
Of your mind and heart
To arrive at the Whole Truth

To live truthfully
Let each moment of Truth
Bring you to the next moment
of Truth

And so, from this moment's Truth
to the next moment's Truth
From Truth to Truth ... to Truth
On this pathless path you move
Until you finally arrive
In this pathless journey
To the Oasis of Truth

As you continue your "inner walk"
The observer merges with the observed
In a flash is revealed the Unknowable
The Truth - the Self is now Known
Beyond all doubts

[.....]

Now don't hold on
to your preconceived ideas and beliefs
Let go of all your old conceptions
You will understand and see
the meaning that hides behind these words

The Truth brings total synthesis...
Inward-Outward you now exist
In total peace and harmony

Be aware and perceive rightly

Then the words come alive and become meaningful
If not, they are like writings on water
Soon to disappear into meaninglessness!

Jinendra
Center for Sustainable Happiness

Photo and text via No Mind's Land

Make a Covenant with the Mystery - Tom Spencer

...make a 'covenant' with mystery - by learning to stand in
relationship to what is known and unknowable at the very
same time.  I believe the essential trait that makes this
covenant possible is the capacity for wonder...

One need not peer off into the heavens to stand in
relationship with the mystery of our existence.  That
mystery is unfolding around us continually in a countless
variety of ways.  Our task is to pay attention - to stand
'with' means standing 'ready' by keeping our eyes, hearts
and minds open.  Even the most ordinary of experiences
has the capacity to change our lives...

Tom Spencer
from "Some thoughts about Wonder"

~

Photo from the Internet

"First" (excerpt) - Chuck Surface

[.....]

First...

Turn your wandering Attention within,
and find the Self within your self...

Find it not by "thinking about" it,
But by Feeling with the Whole of your Being.
What you are, Where you are,
Before the feeling of you, the person, ever arose...

[.....]

You are the formless, unmanifest Mystery,
And... you are all that appears.
From, within, and as that Mystery,
As it moves into Creation.

Once you have poked a hole in Heaven,
It will shine into your manifest Experience,
Of space, time, and objects.
Here... in this Dream of duality.

And in time, that Wellspring in your Heart
Will Dissolve the residues
of the salt doll "self",
In those living Waters.

Knowledge... is... insufficient.
Many "know" intellectually,
That they are formless Pure Being,
But continue to "feel" themselves bound...

For such "knowledge" is nothing more than "belief."

To cut the Knot...
"Find the 'I' Feeling and rest there",

As Ramana [Maharshi] said.
Not by looking at a conceptual "picture"...

But by diving deep, in Feeling, in Experience.

Throughout the day, as you can Remember,
Turn Attention within, turn Feeling within,
And forgetting all concept, theory, and conjecture,
Investigate the nature of Where and What you are...

And Resting there...
Moved by that Ancient Longing...
Dissolve in and as The Unknowable Mystery...
That you are.

[.....]

Chuck Surface

Facebook

To read the entire poem click
here then scroll down in the left margin
to Aged Poems - which are listed alphabetically.

~

Photo - pic of clouds turned on end. 

The Divine Spot...

Breathe into the bindu of the Heart,
The Divine Spot...

Let your whole body sink into
the quiet rhythm in the space
between the in-breath
and the out-breath,
the sacred point of the cosmos
where the Divine jewel dwells;
the Ineffable, the Unknowable,
the Unspeakable
Space of Pure Being...

If you are aware, you will feel
The Presence
pouring Its
exquisite vibration
through
the Heart -
a vibration so subtle
it is barely perceptible
by the gross senses.
Felt only through the nuance of
intuition and body instinct
and attentive noticing;
a faint tingling
a calm or stillness,
joy or bliss
tickling the Heart,
reverberating throughout
the body,
as if the Heart itself is
"waking up"
inside you;
the Deeper Heart
the Spiritual Heart
the abode of Illumination.

Experience the deep contentment of
Divine Ananda
as the burden of fear
that you have carried all your life
falls away;
if only for this moment.

Feel the pure, sweet "neutrality" of
deep contentment of Being
Just Being
Just Breathing
Just Living -
from the vibration of the Heart.

Keep your "inner eyes" ever on
the Divine Spot,
The Elixir of Life...

Mystic Meandering
April 8, 2017

Love and Surrender - Chuck Surface

These days, with more behind than ahead,
I do not yearn to solve the Mystery of Life,
Or come to "enlightenment" or "awakening."

Those words long ago lost all meaning,
And the Great Mystery has proven,
Beyond all doubt, Unknowable.

These days I Cherish two things:

The Sacred Presence in The Heart,
That Ineffable Sublimity,
which Illumines the Experience of Being:

Love.

And the Enlivened Serenity of the mind,
Though ever awash in Wonder,
Surrendered to Not Knowing.

Love... and Surrender.

Having these,
What care is there of attainment,
Or "levels" of enlightenment?

Having these,
What care is there for states of being,
Created and sustained conditionality?

Having these,
How can one bear arid discourses,
Seeking to prove this "Truth" or that?

Having these,
What "spiritual desire" can arise
Save...

Love's desire to Bless.

I've grown so weary of all else "spiritual."

These days, with more behind than ahead,
This Mystery within a Mystery is content
To breathe in Love, and breathe out Surrender.

Chuck Surface
In The Garden of the Beloved
Facebook

~

...in the course of my life, I found,
No finality in the milestones come to along The Way.
No flag planted, no summit attained.
And however Profound each milestone,
More should not be made of them,
than should be made,
Each being merely a juncture...
On a Journey of Endless Enlightening.

Chuck Surface

~

Photo - sent to us by a friend many years ago.
The Fawn's mother had been killed...

Midnight Inspiration...

Elbow on the sill again,

unable to sleep…

It’s been a while since
I’ve come to the window
in the middle of the night
to taste the Silence…

I immediately feel
the *Presence*…
Not just the silence of the night,
or the silence of nature,
but the True Silence
that breathes everything
and permeates all life…

True Silence is a balm;
True Silence *is* Love;
True Silence is the Friend;
is the Presence of The Beloved
that soothes my heart’s deep grief
   for an inexplicable loss at the edge of time…

Sometimes I can only feel this Presence when
wrapped *in* the Silence that permeates the night;
sitting at the second story window,
when there is only
The Quiet
in the air – breathing.

My troubled heart empties out as
it allows itself to be breathed.

My eyes scan the landscape
in the darkness
making out the familiar
silhouetted images of
houses, trees, and fence lines;
house lights in the distance,
shining their warm, inviting glow;
and the ever-burning
streetlights

waiting to light some midnight
wanderer's way…

I have missed sitting in the window,
entraining with the Sacred Silence in the night
where the deep internal kiss of Silence is felt
as the breeze wafts through the window,
letting me know “She” is here…

In the deep Silence I know that I am Home…
 In the Sacred Silence that fills the night
the Unknowable has made ItSelf known…
I have encountered the Ineffable
in the breeze, in the darkness,

in the window, in the silence ~
as Silence.

The Silence
 behind the silence…

My whole being resonates with Its
subtle vibration;
the alive, tangible
breath of the Mystery.

What is left to say really…

Nothing

Only to be silent in the Presence of Silence,
bowing internally

in recognition of the
Great Silence;
opening the Heart
to Its
In-spiration

Mystic Meandering
July 17, 2015

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In August 2011 I started a “practice” that I called
 “Window Sitting.”

I would come to the open window in my office around midnight
and just sit…listening in the Quiet of the night.
I would turn and face out the window, leaning on the window sill,
left elbow at the sill, leaning into the screen, as if out into the night,breathing in the night air and the silence…
It became a way of deeply listening to the Inner Silence as well.
It was a way, other than sitting on the cushion to meditate, to
rendezvous with deep Silence – the space of Pure Awareness,
pure Beingness, and I have often referred to it as meeting
”The Beloved.”

It’s a space where I become more aware of that Inner Presence.
I often scribble notes on scratch paper in near darkness when
The Silence sings to my Heart, which often becomes prose poems
such as the one above.  I put no artificial light on.

Or if The Silence is silent, I bask in the Rhythm of Silence
being intimately aware of The Silence that is Life…
The Nameless Unknown that permeates everything…
The practice lasted until winter of that year when it was too cold
to open the window, and started again the next May, but due to
circumstances beyond my control, it only occurred sporadically over a few months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~