The Taboo

[Guest guest]

Many spiritual seekers get " stuck " in emptiness, in the absolute, in

transcendence. I call this " taking a false refuge. " It is a very

subtle egoic trap; it's a fixation in the absolute and all

unconscious form of attachment that masquerades as liberation. It can

be very difficult to wake someone up from this deceptive fixation

because they literally have no motivation to let go of it. Stuck in a

form of divine indifference, such people believe they have reached

the top of the mountain when actually they are hiding out halfway up

its slope.

Enlightenment does not mean one should disappear into the realm of

transcendence. To be fixated in the absolute is simply the polar

opposite of being fixated in the relative. With the dawning of true

enlightenment, there is a tremendous birthing of impersonal Love and

wisdom that never fixates in any realm of experience. To awaken to

the absolute view is profound and transformative, but to awaken from

all fixed points of view is the birth of true nonduality. If emptiness

cannot dance, it is not true Emptiness. If moonlight does not flood

the empty night sky and reflect in every drop of water, on every

blade of grass, then you are only looking at your own empty dream. I

say,

Wake up! Then, your heart will be flooded with a Love that you

cannot contain.

Liberation means the end of all division. It is not simply having an

occasional experience of unity beyond all division, it is actually

being undivided. This is what nonduality truly means. It means there

is just One Self, without a difference or gap between the profound

revelation of Oneness and the way it is perceived and lived every

moment of life. Nonduality means that the inner revelation and the

outer expression of the personality are one and the same. So few

seem to be interested in the greater implication contained within

profound spiritual experiences, because it is the contemplation of

these implications which quickly brings to awareness the inner

divisions existing within most seekers.

 

~ Adyashanti

 

 

There is an insidious (and not-so-subtle) taboo that pervades this,

as well as many other societies, and that is the taboo against

ecstasy. It has historically insinuated itself within most so-called

spiritual cultures, producing a kind of spiritual " by-pass " that has

inevitably led to the well-publicized peccadilloes among the gurus,

regularly revealed in the " new age news " – from Kalu Rinpoche to

Muktananda, from Adi Da to Richard Baker Roshi, from Sai Baba to

Satchidananda – the list seems to go on and on, and it points to the

same blind-sightedness incorporated in the taboo against ecstasy

being referred to here. It is the " dirty little secret " that few are

courageous enough to explore, choosing instead to take the ostrich

approach and persist in denying a fundamental aspect of their own

humanity.

For example, one of the Zen Masters I studied with (a man considered

to be one of the " true greats " ) told the story of how the monks

carried blunt sticks under their robes when they went out on their

begging trips in the morning from the monastery. The purpose of these

sticks was to beat down their sexual organ, which might happen to

stir upon seeing an attractive female. It did not surprise me,

therefore, that several of the female students where I was studying

reported that this Roshi made repeated, crude sexual overtures to

them in Sanzen.

Whatever is avoided within the psyche will continue to present itself

until it is thoroughly seen and understood, regardless of any other

level of attainment one might enjoy.

Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to speak of seeing the universe

in grains of sand, but as soon as the subject gets more " personal "

(and God Forbid it should touch on the genitals!), the shields go up

and the old conditioning kicks in, righteous fingers start to jab and

point, and rocks are gathered for the rockfest that inevitably

ensues.

The debate on whether the inclination for ecstasy is " hard-wired "

into the human framework is beside the point. That some might

be " taken " by rapture, and without even seeking it, is enough to

raise the red flags among those for whom the whole matter is still an

embarrassing and disturbing mystery that they would just as soon skip

over on their way to a sex-less " enlightenment " . Simply put, the

realization that " we are not the body " in no way diminishes the truth

of the body. We can run, but we cannot hide, and eventually life is

going to call us on whatever we have resisted welcoming – be it

ecstasy, the complexity of human relationships, or death.

 

 

LoveAlways,

 

b

[Guest guest]

Simply put, the realization that "we are not the body" in no way diminishes the truth of the body. We can run, but we cannot hide, and eventually life is going to call us on whatever we have resisted welcoming – be it ecstasy, the complexity of human relationships, or death.LoveAlways,b **** Any such realizaton that you are NOT the body, is NOT realization in fact.

That's merely being a "witness", a separate "observer", but with actual realzation, there is no such "observer" left to go "anywhere". It's *wholeness* such that you can't even "point". Where would you point? :-) You fucking *are* everything. Absurd! I'll leave the "yogis" to figure it out. :-)

 

Judi