Posts Tagged ‘Lewis Carroll’

Pathless Paths

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“As far, verily, as this world-space extends,

so far extends the space within the heart…”

~ Chandogya Upanishad 8.1.3
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life”
~ John 14:6

“In a conflict between the heart and the brain,
follow your heart.”
~ Swami Vivekananda

“Follow your heart – even if it contradicts my words”

“If there is love in your heart,

you don’t have to worry about rules.”

~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas

“Let us accept all the different paths
as different rivers running toward the same ocean.”

~ Swami Satchidananda
“The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear
and the acceptance of love.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Truth is a pathless land.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
If you don’t know where you are going,
any road will get you there.
~ Lewis Carroll




Ron’s introduction of “Pathless Paths”

Dear Friends,

Pathless Paths is a Q. and A. essay/poem, which is hereafter shared to help us follow our hearts so we lovingly and fearlessly respect and accept all other humans as Divine spiritual siblings, each on a unique ‘spiritual path’ to ultimate Self Realization of our common inner Divinity – as LOVE.

The “Pathless Paths” title was inspired by 20th century sage J. Krishnamurti’s core teaching explaining that “Truth is a pathless land.”


Knowingly or unknowingly every human being is on an illusionary metaphoric round trip journey originating from an indescribable inner “pathless land” beyond space/time duality ‘reality’.



On our destined return, we learn we never left – and melt into an Infinite ocean of Universal Awareness – as LOVE.

Although each person’s life-form and each pathless path is unique, this Pathless Paths posting (with above quotations and following comments) helps explain why for all humans

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha




May these writings help hasten our timeless return within to THAT – mythical ‘destination’ we never left – as infinite LOVE.

And so may it be!



Ron Rattner


Pathless Paths

Q. What are “spiritual paths”?

A. “Spiritual paths” are unique pathless paths
to everywhere/nowhere/NOW.

They are symbols of how
each unique earth person evolves
to transcend his/her entity identity,

Merging with the universal Way or the Tao.

Unlike earthly paths, spiritual paths
do not lead to space/time destinations,

But to transcendence of earthly limitations.

So “spiritual paths” are ways
in which we become the Way.



Ron’s audio recitation of “Pathless Paths”

Listen to



Ron’s explanation of “Pathless Paths”

Dear Friends,

The foregoing key quotations and “Pathless Paths” essay/poem emphasize the spiritual importance of following the wisdom of our Heart with love and empathy.

These writings are especially important in current pivotally troubled times when most humans are polarized and fearful of existing or imminent threats of war, catastrophe, death, disease and/or deprivation of necessities and God-given rights.

Unknown to most people, Humankind are now suffering globally from unconscionable and obscenely immoral top-down psychopathic domination by far fewer than 1% of our total population. However, by spiritually raising human consciousness, we can transcend this fear and suffering, and collectively enjoy unprecedented elevation of the human condition.

To advance our spiritual awakening, this posting can help remind us of key perennial wisdom truths and principles which (when remembered and followed with faith and wisdom) can enable elevation of Humankind:

1) Our thought-created earthly perception “reality” is an unreal ego-illusion – maya or samsara.

2) Beyond perceived samsara, our true inner Reality and Self-identity is immortal and Eternal Divine LOVE.

3) By fearlessly, intuitively and lovingly following the wisdom of our Heart – we shall Self-Realize our true immortal identity as Divine LOVE.

Though our unreal projected perceptions, as supposedly separate mortal entities in time and space, are individually unique, spiritually we commonly share a universal matrix of infinite Reality – Cosmic consciousness from which we can morally resolve and transcend all mental perception problems.

Like Mahatma Gandhi, and his most famous disciple Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we can actively resist and refuse to obey immoral “leaders” who are causing malignant misery and dire threats to our planet, people and all other life-forms.

Dedication

Thus this “Pathless Paths” posting is deeply dedicated
to our fearlessly and faithfully following
the timeless intuitive wisdom of our Heart
to morally elevate Humankind beyond its current sufferings.


Invocation



With abiding faith in Self, Nature, and God,

May we continuously follow the wisdom of our Heart

By living lovingly and morally
With respect for all other humans
as Divine spiritual siblings,
Each on a unique ‘spiritual path’ to Self Realization
of our common inner Divinity – as Eternal LOVE.




And so may it be!



Ron Rattner

A Magic Mushroom in a Magic Meadow
on a Magic Mountain ~ Ron’s Memoirs

“Everywhere I look, I see the face of God.”
~ Walt Whitman/Ron Rattner
“In a single atom, buddhas as many as atoms
Sit in the midst of enlightening beings;
So it is of all things in the cosmos —
I realize all are filled with buddhas.”
~ Avatamsaka Flower Ornament Sutra
“Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”
~ Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century.
Who are YOU? said the Caterpillar.
Alice replied, rather shyly, I–I hardly know, sir, just at present– at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then. —-
The Caterpillar was the first to speak.
What size do you want to be? it asked. —–
Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn’t mind, said Alice: three inches is such a wretched height to be. ———
One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.
One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT? thought Alice to herself.
Of the mushroom, said the Caterpillar
~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 5


Panther Meadow, Mt. Shasta


A Magic Mushroom in a Magic Meadow on a Magic Mountain


Introduction

After my mid-life awakening my life’s focus gradually evolved from litigation to meditation and I became less and less ‘up-tight’ about some of my prior worldly ways. But I remained reluctant to use psychedelic substances, even though my pivotal OOB experience had been triggered by inadvertent ingestion of marijuana.

As a lawyer, I didn’t want to do anything illegal that might prejudice my professional reputation or law license. Also, as CIIS Board Chairman in the early 1980’s I didn’t want to participate in any activity that could adversely reflect on our institution’s obtaining crucial accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

As a spiritual practitioner, I had learned that many prominent Eastern teachers and paths strongly discouraged the use of any psychoactive drugs. Nonetheless many spiritual people I greatly appreciated – like Ram Dass – had been awakened, but not “enlightened”, by LSD and other psychoactive substances. In all events, because of many experiences without psychedelics, I became convinced that for me they were not necessary and might be detrimental to my spiritual evolution.

Once, soon after my divorce, I was with a date who sociably offered me a marijuana “joint” to share with her. Curiously and so as not to offend her, I took a few puffs on the marijuana cigarette. But, just as with nicotine cigarettes, it seemed insane for me to intentionally pollute my body’s precious lungs with smoke instead of breathing fresh air. And I never did that again.

Nor did I ever again intentionally ingest any other psychoactive substance, until an unplanned incident in a beautiful nature place on a legendary mountain sparked an unforgettable “peek experience”, forever raising my spiritual awareness.

Here’s what happened:

Magical Experience

After my spiritual opening, I began having extraordinary energy experiences involving other people, creatures and places. One of the places where I experienced extraordinary spiritual energy was Mt. Shasta, a spiritually legendary majestic volcanic mountain in Northern California near the Oregon border.

I ‘discovered’ Mt. Shasta in the early 1980’s while occasionally visiting a nearby ashram established for Guruji by his disciples in Yreka. There I was told that Guruji regarded Mt. Shasta as one of the world’s holy mountains, like those in the Himalayas. And I learned that Mt. Shasta is considered worldwide as one the most sacred and mystically powerful places on our precious planet; that there are legends about it as a focus for angels, spirit-guides, spaceships, and ascended masters, and as home of Lemurians, subterranean survivors of an ancient lost continent which sank into the sea.

Apart from these legends, Mt. Shasta’s extraordinary beauty and almost palpable spiritual energy attracted and fascinated me and I wished to spend time there rather than just passing by on trips to the ashram. So, I arranged to visit Shasta with two spiritual friends who had been initiated by Guruji – Tara and Ramdassi – both of whom were later amongst those on the 1982 pilgrimage to India, my ‘trip of a lifetime’.

On a lovely sunny Saturday morning in late summer 1981, we three began a day hike on the mountain, carrying our lunches and extra clothes in light backpacks. At mid-day we arrived at Panther Meadow, the most beautiful alpine meadow I have ever seen. I beheld it then as lushly verdant with abundant delicate plant-life, bifurcated by a tiny creek meandering into a pristine pond at the bottom of the meadow. Above the lush green meadow appeared a stand of beautiful evergreen trees, and above the tree line the snow-capped mountain peak framed by an azure blue sky glistened in the sun. Later, I learned that this extraordinarily beautiful nature place was ceremonially revered as a sacred site by indigenous peoples and spiritual pilgrims.

This breathlessly beautiful meadow appeared a perfect place for our picnic lunch. So, we found a place near the creek to quietly eat while reverently enjoying the immense beauty surrounding us. Before we sat down, I walked to the pristine pond into which the creek was flowing and tested the water temperature with my left hand. It was ice cold, from the melting mountain ice and snow – and I immediately withdrew my immersed hand.

Sitting near the creek, we silently and contemplatively ate our lunches. After perhaps an hour, when we had finished eating, Ramdassi withdrew from her backpack a small packet of tiny dried mushrooms, which she silently offered to Tara and me.

Although I had never before seen or eaten psilocybin mushrooms, I intuitively realized that these were such mushrooms and politely declined Ramdassi’s offer. Then Tara, who was a registered nurse at a large hospital, also declined the mushrooms. Whereupon, Ramdassi, who was a talented artist and shaman, importuned each of us to reconsider and to join her in ritually partaking of the mushrooms. She explained that she could not eat the mushrooms alone, but only with others, as part of a sacred ritual.

But Tara still refused them. Though I felt no desire to use the mushrooms, and was somewhat inhibited, I empathized with Ramdassi, sensed her frustration and was motivated to help if possible. So I asked her how many of the tiny mushrooms were needed for a psychoactive experience. She replied, “at least three or four”. Whereupon, I said: “OK, I’ll take only one, if that will permit you to proceed.” So she handed me one tiny mushroom which I ate as she proceeded with her mushroom ceremony.

Soon thereafter I fell into an exceptionally deep meditative state, which I later realized was a ‘psychoactive samadhi’. I was immersed in timeless state with my body sprawled prone, eyes closed and head facing downward and resting on the verdant meadow carpet. After Tara and Ramdassi had waited for at least an hour for my return to waking consciousness, the mushroom’s effects finally began to wane, my body stirred and eyes blinked open onto the green plant cushion.

Whereupon, I beheld an extraordinary and unforgettable sight. With “X-ray and microscopic vision” I saw beyond the green surfaces of the meadow grass, plants and leaves into each and every cell and atom thereof. And in each plant atom I wondrously beheld an image of a Divine being, angel or saint. These images were similar to those I had infrequently and fleetingly seen during deep meditations at home. They seemed to appear holographically and fractally in some regular repetitive fashion.

After gazing at this wondrous sight, my body finally stirred as I awakened from the samadhi state. Then, though as an ‘uptight’ city dweller I had never before gone skinny dipping alone or in the presence of others, I spontaneously threw off my clothes and jumped naked into the waste-high ice cold pond waters. And for the first time in this life my body spontaneously went into a crucifixion posture with arms extended parallel to the pristine pond’s surface. There, half baptized in the sacred water, my body so remained motionless for some timeless/thoughtless moments, without any awareness of bodily chill.

Ultimately, I came out of the pond, dressed, and continued silently hiking with Tara and Ramdassi. But in some ineffable and awesome way I felt transformed – as if I had just experienced a deep secret of Mother Nature.

What I Learned

Prior to this amazing experience, I’d already (intuitively but not experientially) realized that manifest “reality” is a holographic mental projection of consciousness. But this synchronistic experience seemed to confirm the accuracy of that insight about the holographic nature of our perceived reality.

Also, after initiation by Guruji I had learned that Hinduism, Buddhism and other spiritual traditions refer to an esoteric ‘third eye’ supposedly located around the middle of the forehead slightly above the eyebrows, and anatomically connected with the pineal gland; that in the Kundalini yoga tradition this ‘third eye’ is associated with the sixth or ajna chakra, which when fully opened supposedly permits universal vision into every place and time without limitation. This experience of x-ray/microscopic vision helped confirm what I had heard and read about the existence of such a ‘third eye’ with potential universal vision.

As to the significance of my unprecedented and spontaneous assumption of a crucifixion posture in the pristine pond, I can only speculate. Perhaps this act symbolized soul recognition of incremental rebirth and resurrection from a lower to higher state of spiritual awareness. Or perhaps it was the manifestation of a deep devotional tendency from another lifetime.

What do you think?

Dedication

May we remain ever aware and grateful for our divinely blessed lives on this beautiful blue planet Earth, always open to infinitely possible magical blessings beyond our present imagination or conception.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


Crazy World

“‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ said Alice.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the cat.
‘We’re all mad here.’”
~ Lewis Carroll
“I have lived on the lip 
of insanity,
wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door.
It opens.
I’ve been knocking from the inside.”
~ Rumi
Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.
~ Carl Jung
“When the world goes mad,
one must accept madness as sanity;
since sanity is, in the last analysis,
nothing but the madness on which the whole world happens to agree.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. —– They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.”
~ Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority,
but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination”
….
“When we remember that we are all mad,
the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”
~ Mark Twain
“To recognize one’s own insanity is, of course, the arising of sanity, the beginning of healing and transcendence.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
“It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
~ J Krishnamurti
In this crazy world normality’s insanity,
and silliness is sanity.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings





Ron’s Introduction

The following four-line whimsical poem was composed during a brief midlife period when I felt I didn’t belong here.  After you consider it, I’ll hereafter try to explain it.

Crazy World

I feel like a stranger in a strange world.

This crazy world has driven me sane!

I seek refuge from this crazy world;

I seek a sane asylum.


Ron’s 2020 explanation and dedication of “Crazy World”

Dear Friends,

During childhood my life seemed like a waking dream, most of which I forgot.

Then during adulthood I became a social justice seeker in a perceived unjust and insane society.  But now (at age 87), as I prepare to bid Bye-Bye to the 21st century, I’m again often experiencing this life as an illusory waking dream of an insane world. Yet I still deeply aspire to help those who are suffering in this dream world.

During the 1950’s, I was deeply influenced on reading “The Sane Society” a best-selling book by then prominent German-born psychotherapist Erich Fromm. In it Fromm analyzed the pathology of ‘normalcy’ in Western materialistic societies. He proposed that inequities and disharmonies inherent in entire industrial societies were pathological and lacking in sanity. That they thereby cause alienation, stress and mental illnesses of people comprising such societies. Fromm’s essay synchronistically confirmed my long-time views of the insanity of materialistic society, with its inevitable injustices.  

Long before my spiritual awakening, I had a deep inner instinct to pursue social justice causes, with considerable sensitivity to the “insanity and iniquity of inequity in our society”.   So, in becoming a lawyer and throughout my professional career, my main motivation was to help others; not to become rich or famous.

Then, following my midlife spiritual awakening, I began feeling like Moses in Egypt – like a stranger in a strange land. [Exodus 2:22] For a short time, I felt like I no longer belonged in this crazy world.

But I needed to support my young children, and gradually realized that maybe I might continue helping others better than ever before, because of my discovery of happiness and sanity beyond space/time “reality” normality. As the bible says, eternal happiness or “the Kingdom of Heaven” is beyond this world. [e.g. John 15:19]

The foregoing four-line whimsical poem was composed during the brief midlife period when I felt I didn’t belong here. I’ve shared it aspiring to help expand our experience of inner happiness.
 
Invocation

May the foregoing whimsical poem and serious quotations encourage and inspire each of us to seek and find refuge from this crazy world in an Eternally “sane asylum”.

Thereby may we irreversibly realize that our precious lives here, are like waking dreams – fleeting episodes in an endless play of ever joyous Universal Awareness, our ultimate shared eternal Self–identity.

And so shall it be!

Ron Rattner

Ron’s oral explanation and recitation of “Crazy World”

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Bi-Polar Paradigm Disorder

“‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ said Alice.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the cat. ‘We’re all mad here.’”
~ Lewis Carroll
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“When the world goes mad,
one must accept madness as sanity;
since sanity is, in the last analysis,
nothing but the madness on which the whole world happens to agree.”
~ George Bernard Shaw

Wassily Kandinsky – Black Lines


Bi-Polar Paradigm Disorder

We live in an age of mental malaise.

The world now suffers an epidemic
of bi-polar paradigm disorder.

This condition begins to arise when people
futilely try to divide the Indivisible,
by everywhere drawing imaginary border lines –
like “us and them”, “good and evil”, “God and Satan” etc..

These border-line people then get mentally unbalanced
and feel dis-eased and threatened by people
‘on the other side’ of their imaginary lines.

Their border-line thinking is not logical, but pathological.

Bi-polar paradigm disorder is closely related to another
wide-spread mental disorder now afflicting
most of Humankind – Chronic Belief Syndrome.

Researchers are looking for a common cure for both afflictions;
a cure which will provide Humankind with “relief from belief”.

However, they are presently unable to secure federal funding for their research project and don’t believe that such a cure is imminent.



Ron’s audio recitation of Bi-Polar Paradigm Disorder

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Ron’s Commentary on “Bi-Polar Paradigm Disorder” and “Chronic Belief Syndrome”.

Dear Friends,

We live in an age of mental malaise.

In some commentaries I have darkly described world society as insanely dystopian and Orwellian – as symptomatic of pandemic societal sickness.  And I’ve attributed  our suffering to human ignorance, fear and greed fomented and exploited by psychopathic world financial, political and corporate billionaire “leaders” selfishly serving interests of power and profits over people for a ‘Big Brother’ “deep state”

But today I offer a sure cure for all such sufferings – a true panacea and formula for alchemically transmuting dystopia to utopia.  Instead of complaining, today I’m explaining how we can and shall resolve our political problems. 

Inspired by Dr. Seuss, I have identified and ‘diagnosed’ above as the fundamental causes of our societal insanity two widespread mental disorders: “Bi-Polar Paradigm Disorder” and “Chronic Belief Syndrome”.

Delusionally believing ourselves separate from and mortally threatened by apparently perceived ‘others’, we compulsively fear them and fight ‘them’.  But we suffer from perception projection deception; what we think we see are merely mental mirages – seemingly apparent but nonexistent.   

Our hallucinatory mental problems cannot be solved from the same levels of consciousness that created them.

So, rather than prescribing new pills for our mental ills – offering only temporary symptomatic relief – today I am privileged to reveal natural and ‘open-source’ mental mood and awareness elevators, which are sure cures for all of Humankind’s illogical psychological problems.

Amazingly these sure cures are freely available – infinitely and eternally – within everyone and everything everywhere.  They are:

Universal Spirit, Being, Awareness, Bliss; Eternal Peace, Life, Light, LOVE.   

By uncovering, accessing and compassionately emanating these sure cures, we will inevitably solve and resolve all world problems and crises arising from Human ignorance and greed.   

And so it shall BE!

Ron Rattner