Hints For Happiness
Synchronicities Are Reminders
“Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see.”
~ Carl Jung
“I am open to the guidance of synchronicity,
and do not let expectations hinder my path.”
~ Dalai Lama
How can the divine Oneness be seen?
In beautiful forms,
breathtaking wonders, awe-inspiring miracles?
The Tao is not obliged to present itself in this way.
If you are willing to be lived by it, you will see it everywhere,
even in the most ordinary things.
~ Lao Tzu
“Remember God,
forget the rest.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Introduction
Dear Friends,
The following sutra/poem declares metaphorically that synchronicities are reminders of Cosmic Consciousness, which is our ONE true Source, Self identity and Ultimate Reality.
Explanatory comments following the poem suggest that synchronicities can advance our spiritual evolution and transcendence of illusory and disempowering ego-mind self-identity, by helping us remember again our once known, but long forgotten, true Divinity.
If ever you’ve wondered about ‘miraculous’ synchronicities or “coincidences”, this sutra/poem is shared to further our understanding of their spiritual significance.
Please enjoy it accordingly.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Synchronicities Are Reminders
In our wonderful world
of space/time causality reality,
everything’s impermanent –
arising from and melting into Mystery.
The Mystery of an Infinite Potentiality Reality:
Beyond conception,
Beyond description,
Beyond comprehension,
Beyond imagination.
Some call it Cosmic Consciousness.
Cosmic Consciousness is
the Essence,
the Origin, and
the Witness
of the world.
It is our ultimate Reality.
Our ever impermanent world
of apparent appearance and disappearance –
of infinite forms and phenomena –
is only a play of Cosmic Consciousness.
All such appearances are but
interdependently interconnected forms
of Cosmic Consciousness.
So synchronicities are manifestations of Cosmic Consciousness.
They are noteworthy forms and phenomena in space/time,
reminding us of ultimate Reality beyond space/time –
and of mysterious and timeless interdependent interconnectedness
of everything in space/time.
So synchronicities are reminders
of timeless Mystery beyond all appearances:
Reminders of our universal essence, origin and witness;
Reminders of our ultimate identity;
Reminders of Infinite Potentiality Reality;
Reminders of Cosmic Consciousness.
As mysterious synchronicities appear in our lives,
let us ever more reverently recall and become
their Source –
Our universal essence, origin and witness;
Our ultimate identity, and
Infinite Potentiality Reality.
And so may it BE!
Ron’s audio recitation of “Synchronicities Are Reminders”
Ron’s Reflections on “Synchronicities Are Reminders”
Dear Friends,
For millennia mystics have revealed that most of humankind (except for rare Avatars), are disempowered by illusory ego-mind self-identity, as supposedly separated from each other, Nature, and Cosmic Consciousness. So we’ve forgotten our (once known) true Self identity as infinitely omnipotent Divine beings, ONE with Nature and Source.
The foregoing sutra/poem metaphorically declares my view that synchronicities are empowering reminders of our true Self identity as Cosmic Consciousness.
Remembering that we actually are much more than we’ve thought or imagined, can help us transcend illusory, misleading and disempowering ego-mind self-identity as separated mortal beings existing only in space and time. It can help us rediscover ultimate Reality beyond space/time, and realize the mysterious and timeless interdependent interconnectedness of everything within space/time.
Since my midlife spiritual awakening, I’ve been blessed with many experiences of meaningful or noteworthy synchronicities from which I’ve determined that our Earth-life experience has been largely predetermined as part of the divine mysterious Natural order of the universe.
And I consider synchronicities to be scientifically significant spiritual experiences impelling us to reconsider mainstream materialist science which fails to recognize overwhelming empirical evidence that consciousness and mind are independent of physical bodies; that our physical bodies and brains are not originators of consciousness and mind, but their receptors, tuners and transducers; that synchronicities are signs of subtle and ordinarily imperceptible dimensions into which we are evolving individually and collectively.
Mystics reveal that as we evolve to subtler vibrational dimensions, we transcend time; that all is NOW; and that increasingly our compassionate thoughts and behaviors bless our existential experience.
According to Albert Einstein, our space/time
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
So for Einstein space and time are “only a stubbornly persistent illusion”; a way of thinking rather than a reality in which we live. I concur with Einstein’s ideas.
Without supposedly being separated monads in space and time, we can’t have any coincidence in space or time; without time there can be no premonition or fear of ‘future’ events, nor remembrance of ‘past’ events.
As explained in other related Silly Sutras posts, I consider ‘miraculous’ synchronicities or “coincidences” to be significant spiritual experiences that can spur an inner search for a new “reality” paradigm, ultimately leading to our transformational discovery that ever changing three dimensional space/time “reality” isn’t really Real; that timeless Cosmic consciousness is our true Reality. That life is timelessly NOW ever Now, never then.
Thus, this “Synchronicities Are Reminders” posting is dedicated to advancing our transcendence of illusory and disempowering ego-mind self-identity, by helping us realize and remember the immense spiritual significance of noteworthy synchronicities.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Channeling” for Joseph Campbell
– Ron’s Memoirs
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.”
~ Joseph Campbell
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”
~ Joseph Campbell
“God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought.
It’s as simple as that.”
~ Joseph Campbell
“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves
come when life seems most challenging.”
~ Joseph Campbell
Dr. Joseph Campbell with Ron Rattner, 10/8/83
Courtesy of California Institute of Integral Studies archives
Introduction
Dear Friends,
The following memoirs story tells how (almost 40 years ago) an ‘inner voice’ dictated verbatim a brief speech to be given by me two days later, upon my public presentation of an honorary PhD degree to Joseph Campbell, renowned mythologist, author and professor.
The story also recounts how spontaneously I whispered spiritual advice to Dr. Campbell while he listened on stage to laudatory public orations about his exceptional accomplishments.
In 2021 epilogue comments below, I explain why I consider this story as spiritually significant because the same Source of timeless wisdom which inspired Professor Campbell’s renowned teachings is within each of us. Therefore, I hope you’ll enjoy and find inspiration from the story.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Channeling for Joseph Campbell”
During the 1980’s I was Chairman of Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), an accredited graduate school giving degrees in areas of psychology, philosophy, comparative religion, and related disciplines. In that capacity, I was occasionally obliged to give commencement talks and to bestow honorary degrees.
In October, 1983, I was told on short notice that (at a public ceremony) I would be awarding to Dr. Joseph Campbell an honorary PhD degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Religion, and that I should prepare an appropriate presentation talk.
I was informed that two other speakers would be discussing Dr. Campbell’s impressive academic accomplishments, but was not told the order of speakers. I had never met Dr. Campbell. And since by that time he was very famous (especially after Bill Moyers’ PBS interviews), I was in a quandary about how much or what I should say.
A couple of days before the event, I was walking along a San Francisco Bay beach toward the Golden Gate bridge, when synchronistically an “inner voice” told me to write down some words for Campbell, and I obliged.
On three little paper scraps, I wrote five sentences that were ‘dictated’ by the inner voice.
(Copies of those notes and the brochure from the Joseph Campbell event are attached here.)
The presentation event took place in San Francisco on October 8, 1983 at the Palace of Fine Arts theater adjoining the Exploratorium. Dr. Campbell and I and the other speakers filed on stage, each wearing traditional black cap and gown attire, and we sat down. I was seated next to Dr. Campbell, on his right.
The program schedule provided for my presentation to follow introductory talks by two other school officials – Academic Dean Ralph Metzner, and Board Chairman Emeritus Michael Toms – who were lavishing profuse praise on Campbell. During the second talk, which sounded to me like a long, living eulogy, I suddenly and spontaneously put my left hand on Campbell’s right knee and without thinking whispered to him, “Don’t let this go to your head.”
Finally, with paper scraps in hand, I made the honorary degree presentation, uttering the following five sentences which had been given to me on the beach:
“Dr. Joseph Campbell, the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Integral Studies is privileged and pleased to bestow on you the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Religion.
We acknowledge thereby your mastery of these disciplines through your studies of myths and symbols. Like masters of other disciplines you have realized the Source common to all disciplines – to all wisdom.
A Source which integrates and unifies this creation, which is diverse in appearance but the same in essence.
So in presenting this degree to you, we honor symbolically that Source – within you and within each of us.”
Thereupon, Dr. Campbell humbly accepted the new honor.
After the program, a very intuitive PhD student with whom I was friendly, approached me and asked:
“Ron, was your talk ‘channeled’?”
After a moment’s hesitation, I replied “yes”.
From then on I began receiving more and more inner ‘dictation’ of spiritual thoughts, aphorisms and poetry. Even now my “inner voice” is assisting with these memoirs.
Ron’s 2021 epilogue comments
Dear Friends,
Almost forty years after “channeling” for Joseph Campbell, I’m still receiving spiritual wisdom from within, and I’m mostly letting life spontaneously guide me from moment to moment in the eternal NOW. Thereby, I am gratefully enjoying much greater happiness than I ever before imagined.
So I’ve republished the Campbell story, hoping that it can help us all enjoy similar happiness. The story can teach us (as I have confirmed from insight and experience) that we all share the same inner spiritual Source; and that for inner spiritual and practical earth-life guidance. we should always first look and listen within.
Especially in quiet times of stillness, with meditation or of being in Nature, every one of us can find wise guidance from the Sacred Heart of Humankind, which abides within as the Eternal Light of LOVE.
And so may it be be!
Ron Rattner
Vision Quest: From Eyesight to Insight
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“If the doors of perception were cleansed
everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
~ William Blake
“True vision is insight, not eyesight.
‘[N]ow we see through a glass darkly’,
but with ever expanding human consciousness and ever deepening insight,
we can and shall ‘see’ more and more –
we can and shall see what we couldn’t see before.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
~ Antoine de Saint Exupery
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
~ Carl Jung
“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight,
but has no vision.”
~ Helen Keller
“As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind,
so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.”
~ Helen Keller
“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
Introduction.
Dear Friends,
This is the story of how I learned from inner and outer experiences that true vision depends on our state of mind and upon imagination and insight beyond mere eyesight; that even people with no eyesight, like Helen Keller, can be visionaries.
Since childhood I wore eyeglasses for normal eyesight. And until my midlife spiritual awakening, I self-identified only with my physical body. So when diagnosed and told by “expert” eye doctors that I suffered incurably defective vision, requiring corrective lenses I never questioned that diagnosis. Nor did I consider defective eyesight as improvable or curable. Nor did I understand vision as a brain/mind function, or as possibly arising from consciousness beyond the brain.
But those beliefs changed after extraordinary inner and outer post-awakening experiences, which began a still continuing vision quest process from eyesight to insight.
My eyesight history
Early on November 8, 1932, (the day of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first Presidential election), I was traumatically extracted with forceps from my mother’s womb, a breech birth after an exceptionally protracted but incomplete labor period.
At about age three my parents brought me to an ophthalmologist for a misaligned eye. I was diagnosed with astigmatism and far-sightedness and prescribed thick eyeglasses – which I always required, but never liked. Gradually, I was given ever stronger prescriptions.
I became so habitually dependent on eyeglasses that I would grope for them upon awakening every morning, and wore them constantly. Once when I was a pre-teen at a YMCA summer camp, one of my cabin mates, with a distorted sense of humor, hid my glasses for several days. I still remember how lost and miserable I felt without them.
When I was eighteen years old and a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a college friend, who later became a prominent Chicago optometrist, told me about corneal contact lenses, which were then newly developed. And he recommended a Chicago expert who could usually fit them comfortably. Excitedly, I became an early corneal contact lens user.
Thereafter, I continued wearing hard contact lenses for about twenty five years, even though they sometimes irritated my eyes. But eventually I needed reading glasses and couldn’t get bifocal contact lenses. So, reluctantly I resumed using eyeglasses, which I believed necessary until after the extraordinary inner and outer spiritual awakening experiences hereafter recounted.
Ron – age 3 1/2
Out of body visions
At a 1974-5 San Francisco New Year’s Eve party, I had an unprecedented and unforgettable out of body experience (OOB). While lying face down on a bed in a small dark room, “I” floated out of my body and up to the ceiling. And from the ceiling, with my glasses on a bedside table, I beheld my body lying face down on the pillow. For the first time in my life I had 20/20 vision without eyeglasses, and without even using my eyes – or maybe my brain.
The New Year’s OOB experience soon led to a pivotal rebirth epiphany at age forty three, which, opened an emotional/intuitive flood-gate closed since childhood – unleashing for the first time in my adult life numerous synchronistic inner and outer experiences which gradually but radically changed my beliefs about “reality” and self-identity.
After the rebirth experience I had other out of body experiences with perceived visions, as well as innumerable inner visions and insights. Ultimately, I associated inner visions with a mysterious “third eye” associated with the pineal gland – providing apparent perception beyond ordinary eyesight. For example, I took shaktipat initiation from my Hindu master Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas only after perceiving his extraordinary silver aura and seeing him in inner visions, one of which was as clear as a color TV picture. And I learned from Guruji that such auric perceptions and inner visions were associated with the kundalini purification process.
Bates Bioenergetic Vision Improvement Method
Shortly before meeting Guruji I attended a San Francisco ‘new age’ exposition where various ‘green’ products were displayed and sold. One of the vendors was selling pin-hole glasses and a book she had written about natural vision improvement, as originally taught in the early 20th century by unconventional ophthalmologist William H. Bates, MD.
Synchronistically she told me that possibly I might improve and perhaps even cure my defective eyesight with natural vision improvement techniques; that pin-hole glasses did not improve vision but afforded an opportunity break the ‘addiction’ to glasses via obligatory squint focus through its small apertures.
Intrigued, I bought the book and the pin-hole glasses and assiduously began learning and experimenting with natural vision relaxation techniques, such as blinking, sunning, swaying, acupressure massage and palming. Experientially, I became persuaded that just as the so-called “placebo effect” could promote healing of physical ailments through optimistic attitude, that a relaxed and positive psychological attitude could also help improve eyesight.
I was encouraged in this belief by reading many eye improvement books, including “The Art of Seeing” by famed author Aldous Huxley, who gratefully affirmed how he improved his vision via Bates techniques. For several years I received vision improvement lessons from Anna Kaye, a former Polish attorney who had emigrated to the United States after World War II unable to see a door, and diagnosed with incurable atrophy of the optic nerve. Four ophthalmologists had recommended she learn Braille. But, unable to accept near blindness, she studied natural vision improvement with a Bates protegee in New York City and regained 20/30 vision in both eyes.
Also, I later met and was inspired by Meir Schneider PhD, a San Francisco healer from Israel whose vision improved from legal blindness and Braille to near normal sight with the Bates Method, supplemented by his own intense regimen of self-massage and movement.
Despite years of effort, I never succeeded in normalizing my vision with Bates techniques. But I’m convinced that (without any intervening eye surgery) Bates methods immensely improved my vision, deterred cataract formation, and taught me much about human body energy systems; that thereby they have contributed to my good health.
Recently, an experienced conventional optometrist told me that a multi-focal prescription from almost thirty years ago was so much stronger than my current much weaker prescriptions, that she could not explain the difference. Two years ago, wearing eyeglasses, I passed the California driver’s license renewal test. And I’m now wondering which will expire first – Ron or his driver’s license.
Ron’s Vision Quest: From Eyesight to Insight
On meeting Guruji, I was amazed not only by his miraculous spiritual powers but also by his extraordinary physical prowess at age one hundred, including his ability to see normally without glasses. Initially, I surmised that Guruji’s miraculous physical condition had resulted from his enlightened state of mind, and his mastery of yogic meditation, mantra, movement, and breathing techniques. So naively I began believing that “enlightenment” required not only a mind free from ego defilements, but also a healthy physical body with normal eyesight. And this belief motivated me more than ever to attempt normalizing my eyesight via Bates bioenergetic techniques.
But, gradually Guruji became physically exhausted and debilitated from his tireless schedule of selflessly helping others in the US. Yet he retained his enlightened state of mind. And soon I learned of other spiritual masters and saints with unhealthy bodies and/or impaired eyesight. So, I learned it was possible to be spiritually elevated, notwithstanding visual and other physical impairments.
For example, I noted that HH The Dalai Lama of Tibet, needed eyeglasses for near-sightedness. And after Guruji returned to India, I met and took kriya empowerments from Paramahamsa Hariharananda Giri, an Indian meditation master who also needed eyeglasses.
Also I learned that beloved Saint Francis of Assisi was almost blind at the time of his death, legendarily because he “cried his eyes out” but actually because of chronic conjunctivitis apparently contracted in Africa during the Crusades.
Thus, though ultimately I accepted my inability to normalize eyesight without glasses, I’ve never lost faith in our evolutionary potential of ever elevating inner vision through mindful identification and diligent purification of mental defilements.
Conclusion
In the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:11-12), St. Paul observes that “now we see through a glass darkly”, but that some day we shall fully know, as we are fully Known now by the Divine.
In our illusory space/time duality world, we view “reality” through the ‘mirror of the mind’, which imperfectly refracts and reflects the unseen light of Eternal Awareness onto the screen of our human consciousness.
But, we can evolve and transform our mind mirror from opacity to translucency to transparency. And thereby, with ever expanding human consciousness and ever deepening insight, we can and shall ‘see’ more and more – we can and shall see what we couldn’t see before.
And so it shall be!
Ron Rattner
Asking Is The Answer
“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
~ Albert Einstein
“What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure
that we can comprehend only very imperfectly,
and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility.
This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Ask, and it will be given to you
For every one who asks receives.”
~ Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10
The quest is in the question.
The question is the answer.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“I claim to be a simple individual
liable to err like any other fellow mortal.
I own, however, that I have humility enough
to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Asking Is The Answer
In asking, we are curious.
In asking, we don’t know.
In asking, we are humble.
In asking, we are ever open to inspiration.
Ever asking,
ever curious,
ever open,
ever humble,
ever unknowing:
This is the answer
to the enigma of the Unknowable,
to the mystery of Divinity –
The sacred secret of Life.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Asking is the Answer”
Ron’s explanation and dedication of “Asking is the Answer”.
Dear Friends,
The above “Asking Is The Answer” sutra poem summarizes one of the most important lessons I’ve learned so far from living a long and blessed lifetime: viz. to always keep curious and open minded, just as when we begin our lives as unacculturated children.
Since my midlife spiritual awakening, I’ve learned that open-minded curiosity and humility are crucial for life-long learning and spiritual advancement.
One of my greatest joys has been to continuously learn from life, while realizing that we live as part of Nature, in a world of infinite mystery with infinite possibility.
In his wonderful poem “Certainty” Sant Tukaram reminded us that nothing is “certain” in this world of permanent impermanence; that inflexible certainty – even about God – “can become an illness that creates hate and greed”.
And similar perennial wisdom was expressed and demonstrated by Albert Einstein, a scientific genius who was always intrigued by the eternal mysteries of Nature. Einstein, who described himself as a deeply religious man awed by the mystery of the eternity of life, and the … marvelous structure of reality, observed that:
“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
~ Albert Einstein
Especially in these extraordinarily turbulent and divisive times of worldwide interpersonal and international challenges arising from our “leaders’ and our species’ harmful and unsustainable behaviors, we can best address life’s challenges by heeding and following perennial wisdom demonstrated and counseled by our wise ancestors like Einstein and Sant Tukaram.
So let us learn, individually and societally, to get along with all others, especially our supposed adversaries or enemies.
Let us remain open-minded, humble and curious, always remembering and compassionately honoring the spiritual essence and divine equality of everyone everywhere, without mistaken certainty or hostility about them.
Invocation
With stilled minds and opened hearts, may we resolve current crises and compassionately live with peace and justice everywhere, without immoral exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable sentient beings, and the iniquity of inequity in our societies.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Wean Yourself ~ by Rumi
You were born with wings.
Why prefer to crawl through life?
~ Rumi
The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!
~ Rumi
Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?
~ Rumi
I long to escape the prison of my ego and lose myself in you.
~ Rumi
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
Wean Yourself
Little by little, wean yourself.
This is the gist of what I have to say.
From any embryo, whose nourishment comes from the blood,
Move to an infant drinking milk,
To a child on solid food,
To a searcher after wisdom,
To a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo,
You might say, “The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheat fields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding.”
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.
There is no “other world.”
I only know what I’ve experienced.
You must be hallucinating.
Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi translated by Coleman Barks
The Way In, Is The Way Out
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”
~ Rumi
“As you grow up, you form a mental image of who you are, based on your personal and cultural conditioning. We may call this phantom self the ego. It consists of mind activity and can only be kept going through constant thinking. The term ego means different things to different people, but when I use it …it means a false self, created by unconscious identification with the mind. …..
As long as you are identified with your mind, the ego runs your life.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.”
~ Rig Veda
“As long as you take yourself to be a person, a body, a mind, separate from the stream of life, having a will of its own, pursuing its own aims, you are living merely on the surface and whatever you do will be short-lived and of little value, mere straws to feed the flames of vanity.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Undo ego!
As ego goes,
consciousness grows,
until it Knows – Its Self.”“On the path of Undo
we’ll never be through
’til we’re an undone ONE”.~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Introduction to “The Way In, Is The Way Out”
Dear Friends,
The following written and recited sutra poem is about undoing ego’s misidentification with the mind. The poem metaphorically tells how we’re each caught (by ego) in a mental maze; so that to find our way out, we must know the way we got in. It is explained by above key quotations and comments below.
In addition to the poem’s posted voice recitation. there is a brief video segment of Ron reading this sutra poem on his computer screen in “Walks With Ron”, a free YouTube spiritual memoir film about me, by Rob Tobias.
I hope you’ll enjoy and be helped by this whimsical poem and by viewing that video memoir.
Ron Rattner
The Way In, Is The Way Out
In this crazy age
of mental malaise,
we’re caught
in a mental maze.
Without a doubt,
to find our way out
we must know
the way we got in.
Ron’s Audio Recitation of “The Way In, Is The Way Out”
Ron’s Explanation of “The Way In, Is The Way Out”
Dear Friends,
Upon birth in human bodies we experience amnesia about our true spiritual self-identity. Thereafter we are acculturated to perceive and mentally believe ourselves to be mere mortal physical bodies separate from each other and Nature. So, because of “an optical illusion of consciousness” we mistakenly identify and behave as separate entities, and become subject to the karmic law of cause and effect.
Every Human – except for rare Buddha-like beings – knowingly or unknowingly is in some evolutionary stage of undoing mistaken ego-mind identity – a process indispensable to our spiritual evolution. Hence for millennia spiritual seers have recognized “ego” as the greatest human “enemy” and impediment to our spiritual evolution.
Only as a 42 year old adult did I begin learning about mistaken ego identification. My midlife awakening sparked a previously unimagined spiritual metamorphosis process from “secular Hebrew”, to “born-again Hindu”, to “uncertain Undo”. So I’ve long proclaimed that I’m an ‘Uncertain Undo’ seeking relief from belief; and that “on the path of Undo, we’ll never be through, ’til we’re an undone ONE”.
As an “uncertain Undo”, I’ve experienced an ever happier life by gradually letting go of outdated beliefs and ideas about Self-identity and Reality. And, to help others find similar happiness, I’ve often written about this process of undoing ego, because of its fundamental spiritual significance. (See e.g. website archives linked here.)
So I hope you’ll enjoy today’s metaphoric ‘mental maze’ poem. And that it may help all of us who (knowingly or unknowingly) are longing for freedom from ego’s ‘mental maze’ by finding the way we got in.
Dedication
Today’s “Way In, Is The Way Out” posting is sincerely dedicated to helping us live ever happier lives, by undoing ego until “we’re an undone ONE”.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Undo Ego!
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.”
~ Rig Veda
“The foundation of the Buddha’s teachings lies in compassion,
and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego,
the number-one enemy of compassion.”
~ H.H. Dalai Lama
In the pursuit of learning every day something is gained.
In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.
~ Lao Tzu
“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”
~ Rumi
Q. How much “ego” do you need?
A. Just enough so that you don’t step in front of a bus.
~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
“Undo Ego!
Use it to lose it.”
“As ego goes,
consciousness grows,
until it Knows
– Itself.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Lau Tzu
Undoing
Undoing
There’s nothing to do
but undo,
Until you’re through and undone.
Then, when nothing’s undone,
there’s nothing to do,
But to BE –
Free and
ONE!
Ron’s audio recitation of “Undoing”
Ron’s explanation of “Undo Ego”
Dear Friends,
For millennia spiritual teachings have identified “ego” as a fundamental impediment to spiritual evolution and realization. Thus, the ancient Vedic seers told us that “Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.” (Rig Veda ) And the Dalai Lama says that ego is the “number-one enemy of compassion.”
Spiritual teachers refer to “ego” as mistaken human self-identity as a personality separate from eternal Infinite Potentiality – our true identity.
Ego is often described as a psychological prison, causing inevitable karmic suffering.
“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”
~ Rumi
I have posted the foregoing quotations, sutra sayings and poem about undoing ego to remind us of our critical need to let go of who or what we think we are, so we can realize and BE what we really are – ONE with Nature as Infinite Potentiality.
Every Human – except for rare Buddha-like beings – knowingly or unknowingly is in some evolutionary stage of undoing mistaken ego identity – a process indispensable to our spiritual evolution.
For example, in spiritual memoirs I tell how (after many years of reciting and following prescribed prayers and practices) I became an “Uncertain Undo” looking within to discover and discard remaining ego impediments to spiritual evolution and realization – as eloquently advised by Lao Tzu and Rumi.
“In the pursuit of learning every day something is gained.
In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”
~ Rumi
Whimsically I’ve suggested that everyone should “seek relief from belief”; because “on the path of Undo we’ll never be through ’til we’re an undone ONE”. So as an “Uncertain Undo” I’ve gradually been letting go of previously accepted beliefs and concepts about humanity, self-identity and reality.
My present paradigm is that we live earth-lives to learn from experience our essential common self-identity as LOVE – each from a unique karmic perspective.
That each of us is here to transcend suffering by uncovering and undoing our unique barriers to Self realization – our mistaken ego identities and tendencies. As we mindfully identify those mental mistakes, it becomes possible for us to use ego, to lose ego. As revealed in the Bhagavad Gita, Hinduism’s best known scripture, it is possible for our mind to become our “best friend”, rather than “worst enemy”
One must elevate – and not degrade – oneself with one’s own mind, as the mind is both a friend and an enemy.
For those who have subdued and conquered the mind, it is the best of friends.
But for those who fail to do so, the mind remains the greatest of enemies.
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Six, Lord Krishna to Arjuna
Dedication
This posting is respectfully offered to help remind us of our critical need to let go of who or what we mistakenly think we are, so we can realize and BE what we really are – ONE with Nature as its Eternal Source.
Also, these undoing ego writings are sincerely intended to help us live ever happier lives, until we all become “an undone ONE”.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Forgiveness And Atonement Of “Sins.”
“To understand everything is to forgive everything”
~ Buddha
“It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned.”
~ Saint Francis of Assisi, peace prayer
“To err is human; to forgive, Divine.”
~ Alexander Pope
“Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth about your Self return to your memory. Therefore, in your forgiveness lies your salvation.”
~ A Course in Miracles
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.”
~ “Peace Pilgrim – Her Life and Work in Her Own Words” Pg. 16
Forgiveness And Atonement Of “Sins.”
Introduction
Dear Friends and Fellow ‘Sinners’,
Posted hereafter is an essay with key quotes and comments about Forgiveness And Atonement Of “Sins” , a spiritually important subject for all of us.
We are all here to evolve human consciousness by gradually realizing and actualizing – beyond our perceived separation from each other – our common Oneness with all Life. Yet, despite our common spiritual essence, each of us is unique, with unique propensities, abilities and fallibilities, which provide unique evolutionary opportunities and challenges. So ‘clearing our karma’ involves mindful identification, observation and purification of our unique mental tendencies and obscurations which impede realization of Oneness.
For most of my adult life, forgiveness been a great challenge. So I don’t claim to be an accomplished “expert” on this subject, but now share with you as one who has long reflected on judgmentally perceived moral failings of other fallible humans.
Religious Teachings of Forgiveness
Most major religions teach the importance of forgiving or atoning for transgressions committed by or against us – our “sins”. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism teach forgiveness.
Forgiveness is especially emphasized in Christianity. Thus, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly taught forgiveness. Eg.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
~ Luke 6:37
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”
~ Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27
And even while in excruciating pain as he was dying on a cross, Jesus beseeched God’s forgiveness of those who crucified him:
“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'”
~ Luke 23: 34
In emphasizing “they know not what they do” Jesus invoked Divine forgiveness in response to apparent unwitting (rather than malevolent) sins of the Roman soldiers who crucified him.
What are Sins?
“Sins” are often considered acts or omissions violating moral or ethical codes, with emphasis on what is wrong. But the original meaning of “sin” in Greek is to miss the mark – like an archer missing the target.
“According to Christian teachings, the normal collective state of humanity is one of “original sin.” Sin is a word that has been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. Literally translated from the ancient Greek in which the New Testament was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence. It means to live unskillfully, blindly, and thus to suffer and cause suffering. Again, the term, stripped of its cultural baggage and misinterpretations, points to the dysfunction inherent in the human condition.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
When sins are considered ‘missing the mark’ from ignorance rather than malevolence, expiation requires that we focus on what is right, and on how to get back ‘on target’, rather than on what was wrong with mistaken acts or omissions.
Recognition and transcendence of “sins”
Thus to transcend the negative, we realize the positive.
“There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness. That realization is true forgiveness. With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges – the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
“Jesus’ teaching to “Forgive your enemies” is essentially about the undoing of one of the main egoic structures in the human mind. The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
“It requires honesty to see whether you still harbor grievances, whether there is someone in your life you have not completely forgiven, an “enemy.” If you do, become aware of the grievance both on the level of thought as well as emotion, that is to say, be aware of the thoughts that keep it alive, and feel the emotion that is the body’s response to those thoughts. Don’t try to let go of the grievance. Trying to let go, to forgive, does not work. Forgiveness happens naturally when you see that it has no purpose other than to strengthen a false sense of self, to keep the ego in place. The seeing is freeing.”
~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
Yom Kippur: Jewish Day of Atonement for “Sins”
In the Jewish tradition, the highest of High Holy Days is Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement and forgiveness. While fasting on that day, observant Jews communally confess their wrongs and ask Divine forgiveness, humbly acknowledging that there are none amongst them so righteous that they have not sinned.
“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins,”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
Recognizing the inevitability of ‘sin”, the Torah enjoins Jews to return to a righteous path with a process of societal repentance and reparation called teshuvah. “Teshuvah means returning to God and godliness.”; and returning to God is the essence of Judaism. ~ Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro,“Open Secrets”, pp.12-13
Forgiveness as returning to At-one-ment with Godliness
The process of returning to “godliness” which is the essence of Judaism is also central to all other major theistic religions.
Eastern religions emphasize “freedom” as an ultimate spiritual Reality and goal beyond thought or ego – beyond human comprehension, imagination, description or belief – which can only be known experientially, not rationally or mentally. (See https://sillysutras.com/what-is-freedom-question-and-quotes/)
All enduring religious and spiritual wisdom traditions recognize need for human transcendence of ego’s optical illusion of our imagined separation from each other and Nature; of our returning psychologically to a state of “At-one-ment” and self-identity with Universal Awareness – which is our ultimate Essence, and our ultimate destiny.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Ron’s Commentary on Forgiving and Atoning for “Sins”
Dear Friends and Fellow ‘Sinners’,
The foregoing quotations and essay about Forgiveness And Atonement Of “Sins” address a spiritually important subject for all of us.
We are all here to evolve human consciousness by gradually realizing and actualizing – beyond our perceived separation from each other – our common Oneness with all Life. Yet, despite our common spiritual essence, each of us is unique, with unique propensities, abilities and fallibilities, which provide unique evolutionary opportunities and challenges. So ‘clearing our karma’ involves mindful identification, observation and purification of our unique mental tendencies and obscurations which impede realization of Oneness.
Whether or not we are spiritual ‘seekers’, we are all spiritual ‘sinners’ who inevitably ‘miss the mark’ and make mistakes. Otherwise we wouldn’t be exploring and learning in ‘space/time soul suits’ on the ‘Earth branch of the great Cosmic university’. Except for rare Avatars, Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, all humans are fallible; even Pontiffs and Prelates aren’t infallible.
Before further discussing the spiritual importance of nonjudgmental forgiveness of ‘sins’, I will summarize my long history of judging others, to help you understand, and perhaps appreciate, my present perspectives on non-judgmental forgiveness.
History of judging others
After a midlife awakening, I began identifying my particular spiritual evolutionary challenges and opportunities. And gradually I realized that – as a litigation lawyer and long-time ardent social justice advocate – I had long established tendencies of often being outspokenly and acerbically judgmental, and of sometimes being unforgiving and angry about perceived injustices. Also I realized that these habits were not helpful to others or me; that they were impediments to my spiritual evolution, and inconsistent with mystical insights of Oneness with all Life, beyond our perceived separation from one another.
However, since first identifying these unhelpful habits decades ago, it hasn’t been easy to transcend them. Thus, on retiring from legal practice in 1992, by deactivating my law license it was easy for me to stop lawyering. But it was hard to stop gratuitously judging or blaming others – especially if they seemed to act immorally, hypocritically or harmfully.
Only gradually have I discerned significant – but often subtle – distinctions between being unduly judgmental and unforgiving of others, and my life-long ardent and conscientious advocacy for social justice. This often has required difficult discernments and decisions about conscientious truth telling and nonviolently resisting those who unjustly harm others, without vindictively, condemning, blaming and judging them.
The most challenging behaviors for me have been instances of apparently harmful betrayal of public or private trust. Apart from numerous flagrant betrayals of public trust by politicians and corporations which I have resisted, there have been a few unforgettable and psychologically traumatic events which I personally experienced as betrayals, but now see with forgiveness as disguised blessings which furthered my spiritual evolution.
Slowly my pain and suffering from harboring anger or bitterness, have helped awaken me to the futility and harm of blame. I have realized that blame, rancor or vengeance do not change others, and are always incompatible with a loving peaceful mind. But that love requires forgiveness, and does not preclude – and often necessitates – conscientious advocacy for social justice, and nonviolent resistance to harmfully immoral acts.
As inspiringly demonstrated by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., love and forgiveness, are integral to such nonviolent resistance. He explained that:
“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
”The time is always right to do what is right.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Ultimately I have realized how hating hurts the hater; that all unforgiving behavior is ego-mind trying to preserve its falsely imagined separate identity. Thus, that human unconsciousness and ignorance of our true self-identity is the root cause of all perceived evil, and that any bitterness we harbor against perceived “others” separates us from our divine Oneness with everyone and everything everywhere, and beyond.
As I have slowly understood that human unconsciousness, and ignorance of our true identity, is the root cause of all perceived evil, I have learned to forgive it, and thereby to live an ever happier life. And thus, I have concluded that our purpose on Earth is not to judge, condemn or criticize apparent evil but to transcend it with LOVE.
Thereby, and only after many years of unsuccessfully addressing my negative judgmental tendencies, I may have now mostly transcended them, by realizing that they arose from ego trying to preserve its falsely imagined separate identity.
So I’ve finally granted my irrevocable general power of attorney to The Lone Arranger to judge all “sinners”, including corrupt and prominent institutional and political “leaders” worldwide for whom I now feel sorry, as countless humans conscientiously and nonviolently resist their patently insane and ecologically suicidal behaviors which threaten to catastrophically destroy all human life on Earth as we have known it.
And while so deferring to the unerring law of cause and effect, with absolute faith in the Divine, I have enjoyed unprecedented peace of mind.
Discussion
We are here to learn and to demonstrate divine LOVE. But if we behave fearfully or selfishly, instead of lovingly and compassionately, we inevitably ‘miss the divine target mark’, and thereby ‘sin’. And if we miss our mark and ‘sin’, we’ll inevitably suffer karmically from the law of causality. So how do we avoid ‘sinning’, and atone for past ‘sins’?
First, we must become aware of how ‘sins’ happen.
On investigating, we learn that human “sins” and sufferings are karmically inevitable and unavoidable while we unknowingly perceive “through a glass darkly” with conditioned ego-minds. We realize that all our perceptions are illusory projections of past conceptions, which obscure our experience of the timeless NOW. Thus, we learn that our space/time causality reality is like a persistent illusion – a mental mirage; and we discover that
“space and time are not conditions in which we live, [but] modes in which we think.”, that “the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”, and that “our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
Such new-found awareness can reveal simple solutions to previously persistent behavioral problems, from levels of consciousness beyond those which unknowingly caused our mistaken ‘sins’. For example, the Buddha taught that: “to understand everything is to forgive everything”.
So we may discover that a significant solution to our ‘sinning’ problems is to forgive NOW (in the precious present), all unknowing mental mistakes made by ourselves and others. That “to err is human; to forgive, Divine.”
Then, with ‘amazing grace’ we can finally see that our non-judgmental forgiveness of mental mistakes is Divine, since human ‘sins’ of the conditioned ego-mind have arisen from ignorance of Self; from fear, not LOVE.
As a rare exemplar of Divine LOVE, Jesus Christ has inspired millions with his words and deeds of non-judgmental and merciful forgiveness, of even enemies and persecutors, for their spiritually ignorant behaviors. So even while suffering excruciating pain on a crucifixion cross He beseeched: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Yet, without judging ignorant beings but criticizing their disharmonious behaviors, Jesus was a passionate social reformer and redeemer who frequently decried hypocritical conduct and ethics by people who did not ‘walk their talk’ but practiced the very behaviors they decried – like those whose piety was on their tongue but not in their heart; those who claimed to love God but hated others. [John 4:20; Matthew 15:7-9] And without judging the beings but their behaviors he cast out those changing money and conducting commerce in the sacred temple courtyard, thereby demonstrating that we cannot serve both God and greed. [Matthew 6:24 and 21:12]
Perhaps, from Jesus’s supremely divine perspective, ‘mortal sin’ can be seen (with insight, not eyesight) as ignorantly believing oneself a “mortal”, rather than immortal; and, “original sin” can be seen as ego’s mistaken belief of itself as separate from ONE Eternal Spirit or Universal Awareness.
During a long lifetime of often morally judging those who betray or hurt others, I finally learned that it is infinitely easier to forgive and atone for, our ‘sins’, by mindfully recognizing how they egotistically happen, than to exist Christ-like or Buddha-like as divine LOVE. And that on becoming mindfully aware of our unwitting sins we inevitably spur our spiritual evolution process.
And so may it be!
Dedication and Invocation
May these teachings on “Forgiveness And Atonement Of “Sins” help all of us to forgive and transcend ’sins’ with love. But with quiet minds and open hearts may we continue to non-judgmentally, nonviolently, and conscientiously resist social injustice, while honoring the spiritual essence and universal equality of everyone everywhere.
And may this posting thereby help spur our spiritual evolution process,
so that we may open our hearts to forgive and give up
what we mistakenly think we are –
to BE, eternally, what we truly are:
The unseen Source of the world we see –
ONE spirit eternally encompassing all life as LOVE!
Hallelujah!!!
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Questions About Questions
“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The essence of all wisdom is to know the answers to
‘who am I?’ and ‘what will become of me?’ on the Day of Judgment.”
~ Rumi
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates
the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.
It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.
Never lose a holy curiosity.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The thought ‘who am I?’ will destroy all other thoughts,
and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre,
it will itself in the end get destroyed.
Then, there will arise Self-realization.”
“The question ‘Who am I?’ is not really meant to get an answer,
the question ‘Who am I?’ is meant to dissolve the questioner.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Who am I?
The quest is in the question.
The question is the answer.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Questions are then,
Life is NOW.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Questions About Questions
Q. When do questions arise?
A. Always then, never now.
Questions are thoughts, and thoughts are then.
Q. Can there ever be a question without a thought?
A. I don’t think so.
Without a question, there can be a thought.
But without a thought, there can’t be a question.
Q. Then, when is there never a question?
A. When there is no questioner.
Ron’s Reflections and Questions About Questioning
Dear Friends,
The foregoing quotations about the Mystery of Divinity and whimsical lines about questionig are offered to inspire and encourage our curiosity and reflection on the ‘Who am I?’ divine spiritual mystery – which Einstein called “the great Mystery into which we were born”.
On birth into new human bodies we experience instant amnesia, forgetting what we knew before we withdrew from dwelling in heavenly domains. Except for very rare Buddha-like saints and sages, we forget that we are immortal Divine Beings – each experiencing a Divine play of consciousness from a unique perspective.
Whereupon, we experience and suffer from ‘a case of mistaken identity’. Individually and collectively, we mistakenly self-identify only with our mortal physical forms, their emotions and perceptions, and their stories – and we become like actors playing unique roles in an ever expanding and endless play of consciousness.
As Shakespeare metaphorically observed:
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players”
~ William Shakespeare ~ As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII
But knowingly or unknowingly, we are here to experientially remember what we forgot on incarnation into mortal human bodies.
So our embodied lives become like spiritual mystery stories. Instead of a ‘who-done-it?’ detective story, each life becomes a ‘who am I?’ spiritual mystery, which we are born to solve. Yet, the ultimate solution to that mystery is beyond our comprehension, imagination or belief. So we must find it experientially and intuitively, rather than mentally.
However, spurred by unceasing childlike curiosity, our rational minds can lead us to experiential discovery of our immortal self-identity. So we can begin by reverentially and unceasingly asking “Who am I?”.
“Ask, and it will be given to you …
For every one who asks receives.”
~ Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10
But ultimately, we discover that
“The question ‘Who am I?’ is not really meant to get an answer,
the question ‘Who am I?’ is meant to dissolve the questioner.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
Thus, as observed by twentieth century Indian sage, J. Krishnamurti, only
“When the mind is completely empty – only then is it capable of receiving the unknown.”
“Only when the mind is wholly silent, completely inactive, not projecting, when it is not seeking and is utterly still –
only then that which is eternal and timeless comes into being.”
The foregoing writings are offered to inspire and encourage our curiosity and reflection on the ‘Who am I?’ divine spiritual mystery.
As spiritual siblings – children of Divine LOVE – may we ever aspire to solve that Mystery.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Certainty ~ by Sant Tukaram*
“Certainty can become an illness
that creates hate and greed.”
~ Sant Tukaram
“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.
Uncertainty is the very condition
to impel man to unfold his powers.”
~ Erich Fromm
“Since no one really knows anything about God,
those who think they do are just troublemakers.”
~ Rabia of Basra (first female Sufi saint)
“Never lose a holy curiosity” . . . .
“The important thing is not to stop questioning”.
~ Albert Einstein
“The whole problem with the world is that
fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves,
and wiser people so full of doubts.”
~ Bertrand Russell
When questioning begins, certainty ends.
When certainty ends, wisdom begins.
The fewer our certainties, the greater our possibilities.
With complete uncertainty, we have infinite possibility.
Everything is possible when nothing is inevitable.
We are shackled by illusory bonds of belief.
Freedom is beyond belief.
So, we seek relief from belief.~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Certainty
Certainty undermines one’s power, and turns happiness
into a long shot. Certainty confines.
Dears, there is nothing in your life that will
not change – especially your ideas of God.
Look what the insanity of righteous knowledge can do:
crusade and maim thousands
in wanting to convert that which
is already gold
into gold.
Certainty can become an illness
that creates hate and
greed.
God once said to Tuka,
“Even I am ever changing –
I am ever beyond
Myself,
what I may have once put my seal upon,
may no longer be
the greatest
Truth.”
~ Tukaram*
Source: “Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West”, with interpretation by Daniel Ladinsky
Footnote: *Sant Tukaram was a 16th century Indian devotional poet-saint, still widely regarded as one of India’s greatest and most influential poet-saints.
Ron’s Comments About “Certainty”:
Dear Friends,
Are you absolutely certain about anything in your life?
Have you ever been absolutely certain about something or someone, and later learned that your certainty was mistaken?
If so, please consider the foregoing quotations and wonderfully translated poem by 16th century devotional poet-saint Tukaram, one of India’s greatest and still most influential poet-saints.
These wisdom writings remind us that nothing is “certain” in this world of permanent impermanence; that inflexible certainty – even about God – “can become an illness that creates hate and greed”.
Throughout recorded human history, individuals and societies have been compelled to abandon previously cherished inflexible beliefs about religion, science, philosophy etc. which limited learning, impeded progress, and motivated evil and harmful behaviors.
How could we have advanced believing that the earth was flat, or that it was the center of our solar system, or that intuitive women should be burned as witches?
Thanks to quantum science ‘uncertainty’ theory, we have learned from physicists that what we’ve believed to be physical ‘reality’ isn’t really real; that ultimate “Reality” is indescribable consciousness.
“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”
~ Niels Bohr, quantum physicist
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
After an unforgettable midlife spiritual awakening, I have learned that open-minded curiosity and awareness are crucial for life-long learning and spiritual advancement. My awakening epiphany completely and irreversibly changed prior paradigms of Self-identity and Reality, and began a new life-phase of previously unimagined new discoveries.
One of my greatest joys has been in continuously learning from life itself, especially from inevitable difficulties and challenges. Thus I’ve found that we don’t need college or post graduate academic degrees to learn our most important lessons.
In recent years, many people worldwide have been experiencing and behaving from polarized fearful and reactive states of mind directed to others with conflicting political perspectives. To address this disturbing divisiveness, and consequent turmoil, we can follow principles of ageless wisdom revealed by Sant Tukaram’s critique of “Certainty”.
Although purported world “leaders” may seem insanely “certain” of themselves, Earth’s suffering citizens can best address crucial interpersonal and international political challenges, by compassionately honoring the spiritual essence and divine equality of everyone everywhere, without mistaken certainty about them.
Invocation
May Sant Tukaram’s wisdom inspire us
to transcend mistaken certainty
“that creates hate and greed”.
With quiet minds and open hearts
may we compassionately honor
the spiritual essence and equality of everyone everywhere.
Thereby let us overcome exploitation and discrimination
against the world’s most vulnerable sentient beings,
and the iniquity of inequity in our societies.
May Sant Tukaram’s wisdom inspire us
to transcend mistaken certainty
“that creates hate and greed”.
With quiet minds and open hearts
may we compassionately honor
the spiritual essence and equality of everyone everywhere.
Thereby let us overcome exploitation and discrimination
against the world’s most vulnerable sentient beings,
and the iniquity of inequity in our societies.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
