Posts by Ron Rattner
Conversation With God
Conversation With God
Man: God?
God: Yes?
Man: Can I ask you something?
God: Of course!
Man: What is for you a million years?
God: A second.
Man: And a million dollars?
God: A penny.
Man: God, Can you give me a penny?
God: Sure. Wait a second.
Ron’s Comment on “Conversation With God”
Dear Friends,
Did you know that the official motto of the US corporate plutocracy is:
“In God We Trust”?
Significantly that motto appears on all US paper currency and coins.
The foregoing is an imaginary whimsical conversation with God initiated by a devout worshiper, who is apparently confused about God’s true identity.
May it remind us that God is LOVE, not money.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Life is For Giving
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi, peace prayer
“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” …
“For in truth it is life that gives unto life –
while you, who deem yourself a giver,
is but a witness.”
~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
“You can give without loving,
but you can never love without giving.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson and/or
~ Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
The value of a man resides in what he gives
and not in what he is capable of receiving.
~ Albert Einstein
The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
~ Lao Tzu
It’s not how much we give
but how much love we put into giving.
~ Mother Teresa
“If you wish to experience peace,
provide peace for another.”
~ Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
St. Francis of Assisi
Life is For Giving
Life is for giving, not getting;
For Being, not having.
Love gives and forgives.
Ego gets and forgets.
It is in giving that we receive.
So, let us end our obsession with possession,
And live to give, and to be –
LOVE.
Ron’s audio comments and recitation of “Life is For Giving”
Ron’s Commentary on Giving Not Getting:
Dear Friends,
For many years I have regularly recited [with amendments] the peace prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, declaring in conclusion that:
“it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and, . . it is in dying – to ego life – that we are reborn to Eternal Life”.
Those oft-repeated lines have inspired many of my writings, including the above “Life is For Giving” poem. In the above posted quotes about giving, I have excerpted these lines from Kahlil Gibran’s perennial wisdom in “The Prophet”:
“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
“For in truth it is life that gives unto life –
while you, who deem yourself a giver, is but a witness.”
~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, “On Giving”
As we consider and reconsider those wisdom quotes and prayer lines, more and more it seems that each human lifetime is part of a cosmic process of transcending ego’s optical illusion of our imagined separation from each other, and from our true spiritual nature; a mysterious process of our returning psychologically to a state of “At-one-ment” and self-identity with Universal Intelligence or Awareness, as our ultimate Essence and our ultimate destiny.
In that evolutionary process, as we transcend mistaken ideas of who we think we are, we gradually realize what we truly are. We learn that apparent separation of ‘giver’ and ‘receiver’, or ‘pardoner’ and ‘pardoned’, or ‘I’ and ‘others’, is a persistent perceptual delusion – like a mirage.
And we find that by spontaneously giving of ourselves and forgiving others with LOVE our spiritual Self-awareness process is furthered, bestowing ever-more fulfilling life experience.
Today’s writings about giving and forgiving are offered with the aspiration they will help us realize – like Kahlil Gibran – that “it is life that gives unto life”, not “I” or “me” giving to others. And that we may so live ever happier lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Peace Pilgrim: An Authentic American Sage Who Walked Her Talk
“We are all cells in the body of humanity — all of us, all over the world.
Each one has a contribution to make,
and will know from within what this contribution is,
but no one can find inner peace except by working,
not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
“I feel a complete protection on my pilgrimage. God is my shield.
There are no accidents in the Divine Plan nor does God leave us unattended. No one walks so safely as those who walk humbly and harmlessly with great love and great faith.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
“Evil cannot be overcome by more evil. Evil can only be overcome by good. It is the lesson of the way of love.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
Peace Pilgrim (July 18, 1908 – July 7, 1981)
© James B. Burton – Friends of Peace Pilgrim
Peace Pilgrim: An Authentic American Sage Who Walked Her Talk
Peace Pilgrim was an authentic American spiritual teacher whose life and words have inspired countless people worldwide.
Until 1953 she had lived as Mildred Ryder, an apparently “normal” middle class American woman, without formal religious or spiritual training or discipline. Whereupon after a midlife spiritual awakening period, she took a vow of poverty – renouncing her past history, name, and worldly possessions – and at age forty five embarked from California on an extraordinary coast to coast walking pilgrimage, vowing to “remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace.”
Thereafter for twenty eight years she walked all over the US well over 25,000 miles, carrying her few possessions in her clothing, which always included an outer blue tunic embroidered with the name “Peace Pilgrim”. True to her vow of poverty she walked penniless and without asking for money, food or lodging, but accepting only nourishment and shelter which was freely offered by kind strangers – and not even accepting rides instead of walking everywhere.
Wherever she went she spontaneously shared deep spiritual wisdom in simple and understandable language. Peace Pilgrim was authentically unique yet universal, transcending religious, secular, or nationalistic bounds. Her life was her message. And she truly walked her talk.
Following her 1981 death in a car collision, an inspiring book about Peace Pilgrim and her teachings was compiled, published, translated into many non-English languages, and distributed worldwide and without charge by a small group of her dedicated friends known as “Friends of Peace Pilgrim”. Due to generous donations, the printed book became a freely distributed world spiritual classic, with numerous re-printings.
Entitled “Peace Pilgrim – Her Life and Work in Her Own Words”, it also became available as an audiobook and as a free pdf download together with much more information about Peace Pilgrim at this website http://www.peacepilgrim.org
Also, “Friends of Peace Pilgrim” have produced and freely distributed an extremely uplifting and excellent one hour documentary video about her life and teachings, titled: “Peace Pilgrim: An American Sage Who Walked Her Talk”. A YouTube video of that film is linked below, and sincerely recommended.
Peace Pilgrim (July 18, 1908 – July 7, 1981)
© Friends of Peace Pilgrim
Ron’s Comments about Peace Pilgrim
After reading the Peace Pilgrim book and watching the video, we may wonder what happened in the 1950’s to Mildred Ryder, an apparently “normal” middle class American woman, that transformed her into a unique sage. How was it that without formal religious or spiritual training or discipline, she became Peace Pilgrim, a saintly ascetic and renunciate spontaneously sharing perennial spiritual truths, in simple understandable language with unconditional love, insight and integrity?
Perhaps, answers to these questions can be found in Peace Pilgrim’s simple yet profound words, as quoted in “Peace Pilgrim – Her Life and Work in Her Own Words”, like these:
“As I looked about the world, so much of it impoverished, I became increasingly uncomfortable about having so much while my brothers and sisters were starving. Finally I had to find another way. The turning point came when, in desperation and out of a very deep seeking for a meaningful way of life, I walked all one night through the woods. I came to a moonlit glade and prayed. I felt a complete willingness, without any reservations, to give my life–to dedicate my life–to service. “Please use me!” I prayed to God. And a great peace came over me.” ~ Pg. 7
“There was a time – when I attained inner peace – when I died, utterly died to myself. I have since renounced my previous identity. I can see no reason to dwell upon my past, it is dead and should not be resurrected. Don’t inquire of me – ask me about my message. It is not important to remember the messenger, just remember the message.” ~ Pg. 126
“Intellectually I touched God many times as truth and emotionally I touched God as love. I touched God as goodness. I touched God as kindness. It came to me that God is a creative force, a motivating power, an over-all intelligence, an ever-present, all pervading spirit — which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything. That brought God close. I could not be where God is not. You are within God. God is within you.” ~ Pg. 2
“When love fills your life all limitations are gone. The medicine this sick world needs so badly is love.” ~ Pg. 12
“Of course, I love everyone I meet. How could I fail to! Within everyone is the spark of God. I am not concerned with racial or ethnic background or the color of one’s skin; all people look to me like shining lights! I see in all creatures the reflections of God. All people are my kinfolk – people to me are beautiful!” ~ Pg. 50
“If you don’t know what God’s guidance for your life is, you might try seeking in receptive silence. I used to walk receptive and silent amidst the beauties of nature. Wonderful insights would come to me which I then put into practice in my life.” ~ Pg. 76
“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. Inner peace is not found by staying on the surface of life, or by attempting to escape from life through any means. Inner peace is found by facing life squarely, solving its problems, and delving as far beneath its surface as possible to discover its verities and realities.” ~ Pg. 132
If you are harboring the slightest bitterness toward anyone, or any unkind thoughts of any sort whatever, you must get rid of them quickly. They are not hurting anyone but you. It isn’t enough just to do right things and say right things – you must also think right things before your life can come into harmony.” ~ Pg. 16
“How often are you worrying about the present moment? The present is usually all right. If you’re worrying, you’re either agonizing over the past which you should have forgotten long ago, or else you’re apprehensive over the future which hasn’t even come yet. We tend to skim right over the present moment which is the only moment God gives any of us to live. If you don’t live the present moment, you never get around to living at all. And if you do live the present moment, you tend not to worry. For me, every moment is a new and wonderful opportunity to be of service.” ~ Pg. 64
Video – Peace Pilgrim: An American Sage Who Walked Her Talk
Conclusion
Inspired by Peace Pilgrim’s visionary legacy of nonviolence, peace and love, may each of us in our own way and our own time discover and be guided by that universal light of Love and Truth within all of us.
May we together live as One Love in peace and harmony with Nature.
And so it shall be!
Epilogue
Peace Pilgrim’s twenty eight year peace odyssey occurred during very tumultuous and dangerous times when the world was threatened with a possible World War III nuclear holocaust between the US and Soviet superpowers, while plagued by alleged anti-Communist wars in Korea and Vietnam, and elsewhere. Also, domestically these were dark days of assassinations by their own government of peace proponents President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.. Moreover ‘red-scare’ McCarthyism was so rampant that J. Edgar Hoover even regarded Albert Einstein as a security risk.
Peace Pilgrim was adamantly opposed to war and violence, but she primarily taught love and inner peace as the only solutions, because
“Evil cannot be overcome by more evil. Evil can only be overcome by good. It is the lesson of the way of love.”
Yet – like Dr. King – she publicly proclaimed that we were spending more than enough on wars and weapons to comfortably care for every human on planet Earth. So the FBI also had a file on her as a possible ‘subversive’.
Before her passing Peace Pilgrim believed her peace pilgrimage was succeeding because people worldwide feared nuclear annihilation and weren’t insane enough to allow that to happen. Nonetheless, we are again threatened with possible ‘red scare’ nuclear catastrophe as the US Empire is psychopathically spending billions to upgrade an atomic weapons arsenal already more than capable of destroying life on our precious planet.
Consequently, Peace Pilgrim’s message of perennial spiritual and political wisdom may be more crucially relevant to these troubled times than it was when she walked her talk. And her teachings – expressed from deep experience in simple understandable language with unconditional love, insight and integrity – may be more inspiring and important than ever before, imparting crucial ‘critical mass’ spiritual energy.
And so may it be!
Power Source
“If you put your soul against this oar with me,
the power that made the universe will enter your sinew
from a source not outside your limbs,
but from a holy realm that lives in us.”
~ Rumi – “That Lives in Us”
“You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours.
It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“The power to think is a great gift;
but the power to not think is a greater gift.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Knowing you don’t know is wholeness.
Thinking you know is a disease.
Only by recognizing that you have an illness
can you move to seek a cure.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Without stirring abroad, one can know the whole world;
Without looking out of the window one can see the way of heaven.
The further one goes the less one knows.”
~ Lao Tzu
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”
and it will move.”
~ Matthew 17:20
Power Source
It is said that “knowledge is power”.
However, transcendent power comes
not from mental knowledge, but from thoughtless Knowing;
And, until we really Know,
it is approached from unknowing –
What we think we know, but don’t.
We become ever more powerful as we
forsake our false beliefs,
And ever open to the vast Unknown –
To the Eternal Mystery –
To the Tao –
To the Universal Source of all Power.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Power Source”
Ron’s Comments on “Power Source”
Dear Friends,
This is an especially appropriate time for us to consider the foregoing timeless quotations and online essay about Power Source.
As above so below.
Did you know that on Earth there already exists potentially unlimited ‘free energy’ yet to be revealed and used for everyone everywhere?
Or, similarly, that beyond our perceived space/time “reality”, there exists within everyone everywhere a timeless and infinitely potential divine Power Source, awaiting our discovery?
Nonetheless, because of ignorantly insane Human ‘power seeking’ activities, we face possibly imminent ecological or nuclear disaster which could end Earth life as we have known it.
So this is an extremely appropriate age for all of us who cherish our precious planet to awaken from our “deep state sleep state”, and to fearlessly and mindfully access for everyone everywhere our divinely bequeathed limitless free energy “on Earth as it is in Heaven”.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Children Of The Divine
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“We are born and reborn countless number of times,
and it is possible that each being has been our parent at one time or another. Therefore, it is likely that all beings in this universe have familial connections.”
~ H. H. Dalai Lama, from ‘The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom”
“In this wonderful world of relativity,
we are all relatives.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven
is my brother and sister and mother.”
~ Matthew 12:50
Children Of The Divine
We are spiritual siblings,
born of Eternal Life, Light and Love.
We are children of the Divine,
experiencing Itself through infinite outlooks.
We are “sons and daughters of Life’s
longing for itself”*,
Each a glowing vital facet of an
infinitely faceted eternally luminescent jewel.
We are THAT!
We are THAT!
We are THAT!
*Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Ron’s audio recitation of “Children Of The Divine”
Ron’s Commentary on “Children of the Divine”
Long ago I was inspired by Khalil Gibran’s eloquent words from his timeless masterpiece “The Prophet” that
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”
to compose the foregoing “Children of the Divine” verses, posted with apt quotations.
May these writings help inspire us to remember that we are ALL children of the Divine experiencing Itself through infinite outlooks; that with differing ‘roles’ we appear and reappear on the world’s stage in an endless Divine play of consciousness to learn and express Eternal LOVE.
May they
“Infuse us, enthuse us, and use us
to bless all Life as LOVE!”
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Can We Be Born-Again?
~ Ron’s Memoirs and Quotations
“As we live through thousands of dreams in our present life, so is our present life only one of many thousands of such lives which we enter from the other more real life and then return after death. Our life is but one of the dreams of that more real life, and so it is endlessly, until the very last one, the very real the life of God.”
~ Leo Tolstoy
“God generates beings, and sends them back over and over again,
till they return to Him.”
~ Koran
“I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again.”
~ John – 3:3
“Lord Krishna said: …. The learned neither laments for the dead or the living. Certainly never at any time did I not exist, nor you, nor all these kings and certainly never shall we cease to exist in the future. Just as in the physical body of the embodied being is the process of childhood, youth and old age; similarly by the transmigration from one body to another the wise are never deluded.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
“But know that by whom this entire body is pervaded, is indestructible. No one is able to cause the destruction of the imperishable soul. The embodied soul is eternal in existence, indestructible and infinite, only the material body is factually perishable….”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
“The soul never takes birth and never dies at any time, nor does it come into being again when the body is created. The soul is birthless, eternal, imperishable and timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed. Just as a man giving up old worn out garments accepts other new apparel, in the same way the embodied soul giving up old and worn out bodies verily accepts new bodies.” “The soul is eternal, all-pervading, unmodifiable, immovable and primordial.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
© Elizabeth Lyle, www.dreamingheart.com
CAN WE BE BORN-AGAIN?
We’re born –
and born-again,
And born-again,
and born-again,
Until when –
We realize
we were never ever born.
And then –
we’re never born again.
Ron’s comments and recitation of “Can We Be Born-Again?”
Ron’s explanation of “Can We Be Born-Again?”
Dear Friends,
The foregoing “Born-Again” poetic essay explores the perennial mystery of inevitable bodily death by whimsically addressing possible afterlife, rebirth or reincarnation. The poem was written only after an extended reflective process, hereafter described.
In online spiritual memoirs – tentatively titled: “From Litigation to Meditation – and Beyond”: An ex-lawyer’s spiritual metamorphosis from Secular Hebrew; to Born-again Hindu; to Uncertain Undo – I have told how after a midlife spiritual awakening I began experiencing gradual inner transformation.
After meeting my Guruji from India, I was soon calling myself a “Born-again Hindu”, with extreme enthusiasm about encountering such a great yogi. (See The Luckiest Day of My Life ~ Meeting My Spiritual Master ) Initially I only considered myself to be “Born-Again” psychologically – but not physically.
Later, after much reflection, I accepted Hindu and Buddhist theories of physical rebirth or reincarnation – that all humans are repeatedly ‘born again’ in supposedly separate bodies with separate karmic destinies, until achieving the spiritual ‘goal’ of Self-realization or merger with ONE mysterious Divine Source and matrix.
Ultimately, after many amazing mystical experiences, I further accepted ancient Eastern non-duality teachings questioning the reality of any rebirth because this ever impermanent space/time duality reality is an illusory and unreal play of Cosmic consciousness – maya or samsara. Such non-dualist teachings like Advaita-Vedanta say that humans egoically and mistakenly mentally self-identify with their optical illusions of apparent separation from each other and Nature until “enlightenment” or Self-realization. Whereupon the illusion of separation and duality ends forever.
My recognition and acceptance as true Reality of spiritual non-duality was validated and corroborated when I learned of Einstein’s revolutionary discoveries about space/time that:
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think.”
“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.”
“There is no place in this new kind of physics for the [quantum] field and matter, for the field is the only [manifest] reality.”
So I began believing that we were never truly born or reborn in space/time, which is merely “an optical illusion of consciousness.” But I realized that only very rare Buddha-like beings who non-dually merge with Cosmic consciousness need never be “Born-Again”.
However it seems apparent that the vast majority of humans remain karmically compelled to continue existing as space/time entities until overcoming all vestiges of our hallucination of separation from each other, from Nature, and from our sole Source and spirit.
Though still evolving, I have been experiencing ever growing happiness and ever less fear of death by self identifying as Eternal spirit rather than as a merely mortal physical body – more and more as Ram and less and less as Ron. So I consider Ron as a gradually disappearing ‘fundamentalist non-dualist’.
Because fear of inevitable physical death remains a major societal issue, impeding our spiritual evolution, I hope that my “rebirth” writings and story will help all of us transcend such fear, and thereby lead ever happier lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
We Are All Relatives!
“We are born and reborn countless number of times, and it is possible that each being has been our parent at one time or another. Therefore, it is likely that all beings in this universe have familial connections.”
~ H. H. Dalai Lama, from ‘The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom”
“In this wonderful world of relativity,
we are all relatives.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven
is my brother and sister and mother.”
~ Matthew 12:50
We Are All Relatives!
In this wonderful world of relativity,
We are all relatives.
We are all connected kith and kin,
With our precious planet,
and all Life therein.
We all belong here,
as we all long here –
For everlasting LOVE.
So as ONE earth-life family,
let us live our lives with LOVE
As the Kin-dom of Heaven,
Blessed on Earth,
as it is Above.
AND SO IT SHALL BE!
Ron’s audio recitation of “We Are All Relatives”
That Lives in Us ~ by Rumi
“From wonder into wonder existence opens.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Consciousness is the basis of all life
and the field of all possibilities.
Its nature is to expand and unfold its full potential.
The impulse to evolve is thus inherent in the very nature of life.”
~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
“There are no mistakes, no coincidences,
all events are blessings given to us to learn from.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful
for the evolution of your consciousness.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
Life can be found only in the present moment.
The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
That Lives in Us ~ by Rumi
If you put your hands on this oar with me,
they will never harm another, and they will come to find
they hold everything you want.
If you put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longer
lift anything to your
mouth that might wound your precious land –
that sacred earth that is your body.
If you put your soul against this oar with me,
the power that made the universe will enter your sinew
from a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realm
that lives in us.
Exuberant is existence, time a husk.
When the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space;
love goes mad with the blessings, like my words give.
Why lay yourself on the torturer’s rack of the past and the future?
The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities
will find no rest.
Be kind to yourself, dear – to our innocent follies.
Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance.
You will come to see that all evolves us.
(Source: Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, by Daniel Ladinsky )
More Enlightened Rumi Wisdom Words
“There is no reality but God,
says the completely surrendered sheik,
who is an ocean for all beings.”
“When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
“There is a life-force within your soul,
seek that life.
There is a gem in the mountain of your body,
seek that mine.
O traveler,
if you are in search of that
Don’t look outside,
look inside yourself and seek that.”
“Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.”
“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.”
“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
“You were born with wings.
Why prefer to crawl through life?”
“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? ”
“I long to escape the prison of my ego and lose myself in you.”
” You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi
What is Perfection?
“All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who think or claim they’re perfect.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth
who continually does good and who never sins”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
“The man with insight enough to admit his limitations
comes nearest to perfection.”
~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Were I to await perfection, my book would never be finished.”
~ Chinese Proverb
“Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic,
and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress,
driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions.
Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind.”
~ H.H. the Dalai Lama
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.”
~ Leonard Cohen
“This is the very perfection of a man,
to find out his own imperfections.”
~ Saint Augustine
“Advance, and never halt,
for advancing is perfection.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are,
and are not the way they are not.
As you can see, this universe is perfect.”
~ Werner Erhard, est
“Incarnation is limitation.”
“All is perfection,
but nobody’s perfect.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
What is Perfection?
Q. What is perfection?
A. “Perfection” is an idea;
a conception in duality reality.
Perfection implies imperfection.
So in relative reality we can’t have perfection without imperfection.
And in Ultimate Reality beyond relative reality,
there is no perfection.
Ultimate Reality is beyond conception,
and so beyond “perfection”.
Q. What is perfection?
A. “Perfection” is an idea;
a conception in duality reality.
Perfection implies imperfection.
So in relative reality we can’t have perfection without imperfection.
And in Ultimate Reality beyond relative reality,
there is no perfection.
Ultimate Reality is beyond conception,
and so beyond “perfection”.
Ron’s Reflections on “What is Perfection?”
Dear Friends,
Have you ever met a ‘perfect’ person? Or perceived or projected “perfection” in this crazy world of ecological, political, and economic crises and constant conflicts? Have you ever considered seeking inner “perfection” as a life goal?
Before my mid-life change of life, I had never reflected on ideas of “perfection”.
But soon thereafter I attended “est”, an impactful self-help seminar where I was first exposed to certain Eastern spirituality principles skillfully collected and experientially presented to help participants radically transform their lives.
The key est teaching was acceptance of the present moment – emotionally accepting “what is” because it could not be otherwise. [See Getting “IT” at est, ] Apt to this teaching was the foregoing “perfection” definition, by est’s founder Werner Erhard:
“Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are,
and are not the way they are not.
As you can see, this universe is perfect.”
Intrigued by est, I began reflecting about “perfection” and sometimes wrote sutras and essays, later posted online. Accordingly, many Silly Sutras postings deal with my evolving reflections on “perfection”. Because these reflections significantly have helped my spiritual opening process, I have shared them hoping they may help others, as they have helped me.
After est, I soon realized that in our phenomenal duality reality “perfection” is an idea, which implies it’s opposite – imperfection; that we can’t have one, without the other. So, a “perfect” person isn’t possible.
Ultimately, I became persuaded by non-duality teachings discouraging “vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative” – and impermanent.
But for a while I mistakenly believed that there were exceptions to my conclusion that an infallible “perfect” person isn’t possible.
This happened after I was blessed to meet my beloved venerable Hindu guru, Sri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas. [ See The Luckiest Day of My Life ~ Meeting My Spiritual Master ] and also met certain other “enlightened” spiritual teachers in the US and India. Whereupon, I became a “born-again Hindu”, and read and recited Eastern scriptures and liturgy glorifying divinity of “gurus” and awakened “buddhas”.
Naively, I thereafter began projecting “perfection” onto Guruji and a few other “enlightened” teachers. But, ultimately, I realized from inner and outer experience that incarnation is limitation, and that however evolved an incarnate being may be s/he is fallible; that here on Earth, where we experience life in apparent physical bodies, human fallibility ‘goes with the territory’ – that “to err is human”.
With that realization, I ceased projecting “perfection” onto individuals and began relying on inner – not outer – authority. No longer a “born-again Hindu” I became, and remain, an “Uncertain Undo” , seeking relief from belief.
My devotional motto became, and remains:
“Adoration of the Infinite; not adulation of the incarnate”.
And I wrote The Law of Flaw, a poem beginning with these verses:
All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who think or claim they’re perfect.
In reading the seemingly contradictory above quotes about perfection please remember that in this impermanent world of relativity and duality words often point paradoxically or metaphorically to Eternal truth, which is ineffable. So
“The truest sayings are paradoxical.”
~ Lao Tzu
Whether or not we may agree that “perfection is a state in which things are the way they are, and are not the way they are not”, I hope this perfection definition helps you – as it helped me – find inner peace and happiness by emotionally accepting “what is” NOW, because it could not be otherwise.
But let us remember that emotionally accepting the present moment need not deter us from questioning or nonviolently resisting – like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi – pervasive suffering and injustice caused by human ignorance and greed, while envisioning our evolutionary transcendence thereof.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
