The Absolute - Life as it is - Even the Sad bits!

I was recently in a comment thread on Facebook. My comment did not have to do with the subject of the thread itself, but in response to a comment made by the author of the thread, which was Only egos are sad.

I took exception to this, and responded with the shortest verse in the Bible;"Jesus wept." Jesus, of course, in this context, was responding to the news that his dear friend Lazarus was dead. Now, Jesus knew that in a short time he would raise his friend, so his sadness was out of compassion for Lazarus' sisters; Mary and Martha, and for the mourners gathered there. This is compassion in action.There is sadness. There need be no Mary, Martha, or even Jesus to be sad and weep, for there IS sadness.

There is only Love. Sadness lives and arises within Love. Here, I am not talking about a love that is the opposite of hate or fear. That is the emotion of love, and a mere shadow of the Absolute, which is Love itself. The Absolute is what you are. The Absolute contains all potential, is all potential. It is not a "thing", but an unfolding.

In the comments in this Facebook thread, it was said that:

" The natural state of the reality of you as God created you is pure joy-ever increasing joy without limit."

"love and joy are the same thing".

"If you are love/joy then you can not be sad."

If we accept that Love and the Absolute are the same, and that this is the only reality, then saying that joy is the only natural state of reality is limiting the Absolute to what the mind conceives of as joy. The bliss of the Absolute is only experienced by being it. Nisargadatta Maharaj expressed it this way:

"There is in you the core of being which is beyond analysis, beyond the mind. You can know it in action only. Express it in daily life and it's light will grow ever brighter."

Living the life you have; this "expression" you see all around you, is the only way to "be" the Absolute. Just as the Christ recognized his divinity, he also recognized his humanness. This is not duality, but a merging that has already taken place. To say that humanness or sadness are not part of the functioning of the Absolute, is to say there is something apart from the Absolute or separate from it.

Another comment in the Facebook thread stated that "The Absolute doesn't contain opposites" . The Absolute contains everything, including opposites. Where else would they arise from? You might answer that they arise from themind, but is not the mind functioning within the Absolute? The same commenter went on to say:

"When you are loving, are you not joyful? When you are joyful, are you not loving? The same is not true of despair and joy. You are not joyful in despair."

Love indeed brings joy. Joyfulness, however does not necessarily meanuniversal love. It could even mean selfish desire. In despair there is no love seen, but love is what sustains during sadness, which may arise, even in universal Love. Sadness, human behavior were experienced by the Christ. He lived his humanity to the Cross. He never ran from it, but accepted it. His life was not always joyful, but always in touch with Love. The parent who loses sleep over a sick child, or the elderly couple watching one another slowly fade in abilities and vitality, experience love as the reality they are in. Sadness and death are inevitable, but they arise and live within Love; the Absolute.

Life is as it is. Accepting all that arises, letting the illusory go it's way, not by chasing it off, or denying the pain, but by open acceptance, is living the life of Love. If we wait for "perfection", or an "end to sadness", ideas that live only in the mind, then we are waiting on a non-existent future for something that is unfolding RIGHT NOW!

Life is already perfect. The pain often is the love beckoning. To tell people, especially seekers, that there is a reward of "perfection" and perfect bliss, when life is already perfect, is to send them to look for a dream, not to awaken them out of one. Life with all of it's painful "illusions" is a perfect seamless thread. All one need do is see through the illusions, stop seeking perfection and realize it's presence, even in apparent sadness and death. Stop dividing the "real" from the "illusion", and accept all as life.

Life as it is. Isn't it wonderful!

Nebulous Clarity

The oxymoron that titles this blog needs some explanation.

The only way one can express the Absolute is by silence. This makes it a challenge to those who try to teach. When the call comes to teach concerning the Ultimate Understanding, a kind of confusion comes that makes teaching, at first seem impossible. This is often why those who are Awakened either do not teach, or wait a very long time to do so.

After waiting for 20 years, and finding a sense of establishment, I have been trying to encourage others to step into the unknown in this search.

I explain my understanding as Love being your True Nature. Of course, this is not accurate, as the seeker will interpret Love in their own way. The Masters use words like Absolute, or Self to explain theunexplainable. Or they will talk of nothingness, or no-self. None of these things are at all accurate. This is why the early Masters referred to this as neti-neti; not this, not this. Only by describing what something is not, can one come close, as the Absolute is beyond explanation.

I use the word Love, as most of us have a vague idea of love, or at least sadly, the lack of love. ThisLove of which I speak can not be explained as the opposite of hate, or a "feeling" or "emotion", but as the creative force that, not only holds all together, but creates the "objects", and the "flow" between them. This is not a True explanation, but how my mind explained it to "me".

For some years, I struggled with the second verse from Chapter One of the Avadhuta Gita:

How shall I salute the formless Being, indivisible, auspicious, and immutable, who fills all this with His Self and also fills the self with His Self?

I knew "myself" to be one with all. After years of "practice" I was "established" in the "I AM". Still I felt love for God, even as "I" recognized that "God" and "I" were not separate. Silent awareness would bring a response of tearful bliss. How can that be? I asked. How can love exist between two "objects" in this awareness? The answer came as "myself" and "God" vanished, and only Love was left. This was, of course, an answer in my mind. The mind called it Love. It was an explanation I could pass on to others, but not the truth. The Truth is here. I am the Truth, but I can't explain it. I can only be it.This is the meaning of Nebulous Clarity.

When this "happens" all is clear. There are no questions left. No more "seeking". But you can not explain it to others. Moreover, you cannot "explain" it to yourself! It is an understanding without knowledge. It requires the suspension of knowledge, and the suspension of a conclusion. There is nojudgment. There is no labeling. Only silent Awareness, without even an awareness of being aware.Nebulous Clarity.

Some years ago, I saw a play about Oscar Wilde, starring Vincent Price. It was presented as a lecture and talk, as given by Oscar Wilde at the end of his career. At the conclusion he said: "I've lied to you, you know! But you don't know where." This is the problem with the teacher of spirituality. They all "lie". Not in an attempt to fool you, or mislead you, but in an attempt to explain the Nebulous Clarity they live, but can't "explain", even to themselves. For any explanation is false. As soon as it is put into concepts, words, it is false. It can only be, and yet is beyond "being".

A teacher can only give pointers. You must look closely for yourself. Find who seeks, who wants clarity. But don't accept others "explanations", nor those of yourself. If you can "explain" it to yourself, it is false. You must "find" and accept Nebulous Clarity.

What is Love?

I suppose an easy way to describe Love would be to describe what it is not. This is how the Absolute is described, and I see Love and the Absolute as the same; our True Nature.

Love is not an emotion, although there is the "emotion" of love which hints vaguely toward it. This emotion of love is an attachment. It can also be a desire, but desire and love are not the same. Desire occupies and often controls the mind. Love needs constant freedom, the mind wants to "channel" it, limit it. This is especially true when the mind is in the grip of desire. One can desire "good" things, for "good" reasons, but desire is still not conductive to spirituality.

Being contented with what we have is lack of desire. Love is contented in itself. Loving another person, or loving to learn are part of the whole that is Love, but must be placed in perspective of the greater meaning of Love. Desiring to find "Truth" or "Enlightenment" are noble desires, but until you develop trust that you willfind them, even if the "you" must not be present at the meeting, it will not be found. Trust is from the heart. Trust is of Love.

Above I described the emotion of love as an attachment. We love ourselves. Our greatest "attachment" is our body/mind. When we love others, in a true manner, we see them as the same. We see them as God, or the Absolute. Just as we must see the body/mind as different, illusory from our true reality, we will come to see the "other" beloved, as illusory from the true reality as well. The only reality is the Love. This is how we overcome "attachment", by being the Love, not the lover.

Love of Family is strong. It grows to love of home, town, country, culture, religion, and if not tempered by wisdom, often leads to war!

It is the nature of Love to look after itself. No where is this more apparent that in the parent/child relationship. A parent will sacrifice, both financially and in bodily protection, for it's child, as if protecting itself. This is natural. When a stranger reacts naturally, and risks their life for another, we hail them as a hero. But parents do these things as a matter of living. The stranger, for that moment of danger, seesno separation and reacts as if his own life is in danger. The parent seeing no separation, gives all to the child. This is the natural flow of Love in action.

This love, that involves sacrifice, is called agape. This is a love that "becomes". By that I mean that Love, as the Absolute, unfolds so that each part, each instant becomes what is called for. Not predestination, but a "Wise" Love that knows what is needed, and brings it about.

A former Bishop of Durham in England; David Jenkins described the incarnation of Christ as God so Loving the world that the Love itself "became" manifest as Christ. This is an example of becoming that Love is capable of. The "infilling" of Love becoming manifest.

So, we have described Love as Becoming, and Trust as being "of Love". For this "infilling" to happen, there must be complete trust. This is the realm of sacrifice.

Sacrifice is not the giving up of something, but an emptying out. When the "I" is absent, the infilling has aspace to fill. We are always as "full" of Love as we allow our selves to be. We can be full of Love or full of "ourselves". The choice is ours. Sacrificial Love is the Love that moves the love away from ourselves, concentrates it on another (God, a person, a situation that needs our help), and in so doing, discovers it is all that exists, just this flow of Love.

So, to conclude, I have to say that a description of Love, like any other "description" of the Absolute, or God is not possible in words. It is accessible to the heart. All we can do is uncover our true nature, and that takes sacrifice. Not just the sacrifice of the body, but of everything we have come to identify as "I". It is this annihilation of the mind we fear. Overcome this fear through sacrifice, and become the Love. Then you will know what Love is.