Guest guest Posted November 2, 2005 Report Share Posted November 2, 2005 MC: When you speak of non-duality, you don't bring in God or religion. And yet, other people would call non-dual reality a religious idea. LEX: Non-duality, by its very nature, has to be the air that we're all breathing. Mystical bodies of committed people who work out a coherent way of living and a coherent way of justice among themselves are the vessels of spirituality in culture. There's no way to transmit spiritual gifts without vessels, without organizations. MC: Would you tell us what you mean by God? LEX: I can't say what I mean by God. MC: Can you talk about your relationship to God? LEX: No. A person can't pontificate all the time. MC: How about dark nights of the soul? Does everyone have to go through one? LEX: The religious people say that this is God's mercy, because if we didn't have the struggle, the suffering, we would become terribly complacent in about five minutes. MC: Do you think that periods in which it seems all is lost are crucial for people on the spiritual path? LEX: Let's not talk about " spiritual " life. This sounds as if there are a few people living a spiritual life and the rest of humanity are not. This period of testing, of feeling everything is lost, happens with regularity to all human beings. They must get through it and that's the way they grow. Human life itself is spiritual life. MC: How about your perspective on the purpose of life then, the meaning of life? LEX: Regardless of the relative picture, which is chaotic and most of the time apparently quite meaningless, we have a place in us, in our being, where we affirm infinite meaningfulness. And that infinite meaningfulness, or God, comes to us in various ways and unexpectedly speaks to us or turns us around right in the middle of what appears meaningless. MC: And in terms of the purpose of life, is it just to have that experience? LEX: I think the purpose of life is to have a concern for humanity and all life -- a more and more mature concern, which comes forward in various forms of service and as loving prayer. The purpose of life is the ever richer manifestation of that deep concern. We could also call it love. MC: Rupert Sheldrake talks about morphogenetic fields -- that if a new pattern emerges in one place, there's a whole grid that can light up. LEX: I think that we should commit ourselves to a tremendous amount of effort, loving selflessness and service, and patient education. The human race has been working on its own spiritual evolution consciously since before recorded history and this problem is not susceptible to any kind of easy or sudden solution. MC: So, then, what is it to be " awake? " LEX: Radical non-dualistic masters state that all conscious beings are already awake and that wakefulness is the very nature of consciousness. If you raise your hand before your face and hold up three fingers, you will know with absolute clarity and certainty, without any ambiguity, those are three fingers, not four fingers or five fingers. That kind of clarity is the natural, innate awakeness of consciousness. Of course, this is a very small, limited application of it. If we extend that quality of consciousness gradually into all dimensions of our lives, and sustain it moment by moment, that is what spiritual awakeness is. But it's not that there are some people who are awake and some people who aren't. It's not some sort of strange commodity that only advanced contemplatives can catch a glimpse of after years of discipline. MC: What about formal disciplines? How do they fit into this process? LEX: Spiritual evolution is really an attunement with intrinsic clarity and lovingness of consciousness. It doesn't necessarily correlate with how many hours of meditation you're doing and whether you're living in a monastery. There have been awakened people throughout history who have developed ways of life and methods by which people have been able to accelerate their spiritual evolution, which are to be respected and cherished, but we should get away from the idea that the application of technique is the point. ........ A portion of interview on the 10-the aniversary of his death. NDS ~~~~~~~~~~~ love, Era Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 2, 2005 Report Share Posted November 2, 2005 Forgive me, but who is Lex Hixon and what's his claim to fame? Phil In a message dated 11/2/2005 6:54:26 AM Pacific Standard Time, Nisargadatta writes: MC: When you speak of non-duality, you don't bring in God or religion. And yet, other people would call non-dual reality a religious idea. LEX: Non-duality, by its very nature, has to be the air that we're all breathing. Mystical bodies of committed people who work out a coherent way of living and a coherent way of justice among themselves are the vessels of spirituality in culture. There's no way to transmit spiritual gifts without vessels, without organizations. MC: Would you tell us what you mean by God? LEX: I can't say what I mean by God. MC: Can you talk about your relationship to God? LEX: No. A person can't pontificate all the time. MC: How about dark nights of the soul? Does everyone have to go through o & shy;ne? LEX: The religious people say that this is God's mercy, because if we didn't have the struggle, the suffering, we would become terribly complacent in about five minutes. MC: Do you think that periods in which it seems all is lost are crucial for people o & shy;n the spiritual path? LEX: Let's not talk about " spiritual " life. This sounds as if there are a few people living a spiritual life and the rest of humanity are not. This period of testing, of feeling everything is lost, happens with regularity to all human beings. They must get through it and that's the way they grow. Human life itself is spiritual life. MC: How about your perspective o & shy;n the purpose of life then, the meaning of life? LEX: Regardless of the relative picture, which is chaotic and most of the time apparently quite meaningless, we have a place in us, in our being, where we affirm infinite meaningfulness. And that infinite meaningfulness, or God, comes to us in various ways and unexpectedly speaks to us or turns us around right in the middle of what appears meaningless. MC: And in terms of the purpose of life, is it just to have that experience? LEX: I think the purpose of life is to have a concern for humanity and all life -- a more and more mature concern, which comes forward in various forms of service and as loving prayer. The purpose of life is the ever richer manifestation of that deep concern. We could also call it love. MC: Rupert Sheldrake talks about morphogenetic fields -- that if a new pattern emerges in o & shy;ne place, there's a whole grid that can light up. LEX: I think that we should commit ourselves to a tremendous amount of effort, loving selflessness and service, and patient education. The human race has been working o & shy;n its own spiritual evolution consciously since before recorded history and this problem is not susceptible to any kind of easy or sudden solution. MC: So, then, what is it to be " awake? " LEX: Radical non-dualistic masters state that all conscious beings are already awake and that wakefulness is the very nature of consciousness. If you raise your hand before your face and hold up three fingers, you will know with absolute clarity and certainty, without any ambiguity, those are three fingers, not four fingers or five fingers. That kind of clarity is the natural, innate awakeness of consciousness. Of course, this is a very small, limited application of it. If we extend that quality of consciousness gradually into all dimensions of our lives, and sustain it moment by moment, that is what spiritual awakeness is. But it's not that there are some people who are awake and some people who aren't. It's not some sort of strange commodity that o & shy;nly advanced contemplatives can catch a glimpse of after years of discipline. MC: What about formal disciplines? How do they fit into this process? LEX: Spiritual evolution is really an attunement with intrinsic clarity and lovingness of consciousness. It doesn't necessarily correlate with how many hours of meditation you're doing and whether you're living in a monastery. There have been awakened people throughout history who have developed ways of life and methods by which people have been able to accelerate their spiritual evolution, which are to be respected and cherished, but we should get away from the idea that the application of technique is the point. ........ A portion of interview on the 10-the aniversary of his death. NDS ~~~~~~~~~~~ love, Era Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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