meditation/onlyness

[Guest guest]

, Michael Bowes

<rmichaelbowes> wrote:

> Dear Era,

>

> At some point the spiritual life becomes a "lonely

> thing". That is because there is only ONE BEING.

>

> When others don't love you, you can always love

> yourSELF. And as long as you do love yourSELF then

> the approval of others isn't necessary.

>

> michael

>

 

 

Onlyness

 

The first spiritual experience I had was on acid in 1969. As other

people's acid trips are generally more interesting to the tripper

than the hearer of the experience, suffice it to say that the trip

culminated in this way:

 

"All of a sudden, everything exploded into a kind of bright light,

then total absolute quiet and darkness. In a flash I apprehended

with an absolute certainty that everything, all of creation, the

history of the world and the universe, my whole little life, everyone

I knew, every experience I had ever had, had been a dream. Not only

was it a dream, it was all my dream and I was the only dreamer of the

dream. The only one who existed. I had dreamed the whole dream

only for this moment of awakening, and the dream was over.

 

It was kind of shocking. The next thought was, 'but if it's all

only me, and no one else, how lonely.' "

 

Even after returning to "normal" reality, the memory of this

experience stayed with me and profoundly changed my life. I felt

there had been some truth to the experience, but that it obviously

was not a complete understanding.

 

In my quest to discover my true nature, I have been fortunate enough

to meet some truly awakened beings and have asked them this

question, "What is like? Is it lonely?"

 

One said, "Alone, but not lonely."

 

Another said, "It is not lonely because of the love."

 

As members of the human species, we do not seem programmed to like

being along. On the other hand it occurs to me, why not take sense

of loneliness and see it as longing for the beloved. A longing for

God, your true self, from whom you are actually never apart? Then it

becomes a wonderful thing.

 

As Sita in the Ashoka garden pining for Ram. As Radha and the gopis

pining for Krishna. Why not see loneliness this way? This way it

becomes divine.