Sutras
I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Faith is different from proof;
the latter is human, the former is a gift from God.”
~ Blaise Pascal
“The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. …To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
~ Albert Einstein – The Merging of Spirit and Science
I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life
My life has become faith-based.
I follow my faith,
but I’m not affiliated
with any organized religion or other belief system.
After many years of questioning,
I’ve found faith beyond belief,
beyond dogmas or theology.
I’ve found faith in everything everywhere,
and in the impenetrable Mystery
beyond every form or phenomenon.
I’ve found faith in my Self and in Nature.
I’ve found the faith to follow my Heart.
Mine is not a blind faith based on fear or doubt,
or on inculcated or adopted ideas of others.
It is an abiding inner knowledge,
flowing from a long life
of reflective personal and trans-personal
experience and observation;
An insight arising from – but transcending – reason,
consistent and harmonious with
the highest welfare and unity of all Life.
My life experience has shown that our universe
is a magnificent, marvelous, miraculous and awe-inspiring “reality”;
That immanent in each life-form and in all manifestation
is an ineffable eternal Awareness:
An Intelligence or Divinity
which is the mysterious matrix,
Essence and Source of our reality.
My life experience has thus
indelibly instilled in me
an abiding faith in that Source*
As a purposeful evolutionary impetus in each of us;
A faith that from that Source
we get what we need when we need it,
Assuring that ultimately everything happens for the best,
to promote our evolution;
A faith that we are inevitably evolving toward
harmonious universal expression of greatest good –
As Peace, Truth, Joy, Love, and Compassion.
With such Faith, I am empowered to follow my Heart,
without worry, fear or doubt;
To accept inevitable and inescapable
life difficulties and uncertainties,
and yet to live openly, spontaneously and authentically.
So, without any religious affiliation,
I’ve become a faithful follower:
I follow my Faith;
I follow the Way;
I follow my Heart.
And this above all,
It is my Faith that enables me to be true to my Self.
Footnote.
*Innumerable names – God, Love, Nature, etc. – may be used to signify that Source or any of its infinite aspects. Or as in the Jewish tradition it may be acknowledged that no name can denominate “That” which is beyond conception or expression – since naming limits the illimitable and ineffable Infinite Reality.
Ron’s audio recitation of “I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life”
Ron’s 2019 memoir epilogue to “I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life”
Dear Friends,
The foregoing poem explains insights arising from previously unimagined paradigms of “reality” and “self-identity”, experienced following a profound 1976 midlife awakening. It was composed during a post-retirement reclusive period, and first posted soon after the 2010 launching of SillySutras.com.
Since composing “I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life”, I’ve kept experiencing an evolutionary awakening process, and sharing further spiritual insights therefrom. And since then I have continued to be more than ever blessed with a “faith-based life”.
My miraculous survival and healing from a 2014 near death taxicab rundown, has sparked subtly significant attitudinal changes, bringing unprecedented happiness and gratitude for this precious human lifetime, with evolutionary acceptance of Life even beyond that described in the above original essay/poem.
With enhanced faith in the Divine, rather than mere belief, I have now given my ‘irrevocable power of attorney” to The Lone Arranger to resolve all worldly problems and sufferings, and to forgivingly ‘adjudge’ all those who ignorantly cause them.
And more than ever before, I now see this world mostly as a Divine play of consciousness – like a marvelous movie, or mental mirage or simulated holographic ‘reality’ – without fear of physical death, and with absolute Faith in its ultimate Divine denouement.
These verses are respectfully offered to inspire our ever expanding
faith-based acceptance of Life, as it is,
With ever growing Peace, Truth, Joy, Love, and Compassion.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
In Silence Sweet
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Yoga is the cessation of mind.”
~ Patanjali, Yoga Sutras
“Silence is the language of God,
all else is poor translation.”
~ Rumi
“Love said to me, there is nothing that is not me.
Be silent.”
~ Rumi
“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.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“Silence is the communing of a conscious soul with itself.
If the soul attend for a moment to its own infinity,
then and there is silence.
She is audible to all men, at all times, in all places, and if we will
we may always hearken to her admonitions.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
There is something greater and purer than what the mouth utters. Silence illuminates our souls, whispers to our hearts, and brings them together. Silence separates us from ourselves, makes us sail the firmament of spirit, and brings us closer to heaven.
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.”..
“Let silence take you to the core of life.”
~ Rumi
In Silence Sweet
In silence sweet
we may retreat
from every care and woe,
and there we’ll learn in perfect peace
all we need to know.
In silence sweet
we shall meet
the thrill of ecstasy.
and thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
we’ve nothing more to be.
In silence sweet
we shall find
all we’ve ever sought.
And thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
that all our wants were naught.
In silence sweet
we shall see
that everything is light.
And thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
there’s naught to fear but fright.
In silence sweet
we shall greet
our own true Self and Soul.
And thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
we are the timeless Whole.
In silence sweet
we shall enjoy
Eternity’s repose.
For perfect peace we e’er shall be,
Peace no mortal knows.
Ron’s audio recitation of “In Silence Sweet”
Ron’s dedication and explanation of “In Silence Sweet”
Sri Dhyanyogi Madhusundandas
Dear Friends,
The foregoing poem “ In Silence Sweet” is dedicated to my beloved Guruji, Sri Dhyanyogi Madhusundandas, whose blessings inspired and permitted its composition.
In recent “Why Be Here Now?” memoirs I proposed that the essence of all spiritual teachings is to exist in thoughtless presence (as Universal Awareness or Cosmic Consciousness) rather than in the past or future, as an ego-mind story of a supposedly limited and separate mortal being. And I recounted how by faithfully following (for many years) my beloved Guruji’s emphatic instructions to “meditate regularly” I’m learning about living with a stilled mind.
Today to clarify those memoirs I’ll try to explain why much more important than Guruji’s spoken words to ‘meditate regularly’ was his immense and intense spiritual Presence, demonstrating his realization of Truth; his silent cosmic energy emanations from an infinitely enormous life-force energy field, which Hindus call Kundalini “Shakti” .
“Kundalini is the cosmic power in individual bodies.
It is not a material force like electricity, magnetism, centripetal or centrifugal force.
It is a spiritual potential, Shakti, or cosmic power.
In reality it has no form.”
~ Sri Swami Sivananda
Experiencing Guruji’s Shakti.
After my midlife spiritual awakening experience I became claresentient, and e.g. began seeing and sensing human auras. (See https://sillysutras.com/kundalini-kriyas-a-potpourri-of-peek-experiences-rons-memoirs/) So on meeting Guruji two years later, I was immediately impressed with his extraordinarily powerful emanations of “shakti”, and his extremely luminous silvery subtle aura unlike any other I’d ever before perceived.
Gradually thereafter I learned that Guruji’s energy field was independent of his physical vitality, and even his physical presence. Moreover, I learned that Guruji not only emanated intense shakti but that he was one of those rare yogis who could intentionally transfer it to others not only by touch, gaze, or mantra sound, but also by thought. Thus on occasion I experienced Guruji’s shakti even when not in his physical proximity. And I have experienced intense shakti emanating from Guruji’s body even when it was very weak.
My most amazing and memorable experience of Guruji’s immense energy Presence happened two years after Guruji had left my San Francisco apartment in 1980, and returned (physically debilitated) to India.
In January/February, 1982, for the first time in this lifetime I had journeyed to India on a guided spiritual pilgrimage tour with Sant Keshadavadas, a devotional Indian spiritual teacher then known as a ‘singing saint’. That guided tour was, and remains for me, the most important trip of this lifetime. (See https://sillysutras.com/synchronicity-story-miraculously-manifesting-memories-of-a-spiritual-pilgrimage-to-india-and-nepal/ )
Throughout the pilgrimage tour I was constantly seeking to advance my spiritual sadhana , as a quest for “enlightenment”. By the time the tour ended in New Delhi, I was quite weary from following the intense travel schedule. But I was determined and anxious to remain in India to pay my respects to my beloved Guruji, and to receive his guidance and blessings for my sadhana.
Guruji’s body was then approximately 104 years old and physically very weak. So he was living reclusively with Indian devotees, who cared for him as he recuperated. Because of his debility Guruji’s whereabouts were kept confidential, and known to only by a few trusted devotees. Only after ‘miraculously’ overcoming an amazing series of extraordinary obstacles was I finally able to locate and visit Guruji in a small Gujarati town, Godhra.
There my aspirations for his guidance and blessings were fulfilled in an amazing silent satsang where Guruji spoke only two unforgettable words: “Meditate regularly.”
(For details see https://sillysutras.com/a-long-but-short-guruji-satsang-story-rons-memoirs/; satsang is a sanskrit word meaning being with a sat guru or being with “highest Truth” – https://endless-satsang.com/nondual-advaita-satsang.htm)
On arrival at the house where Guruji was staying, I was pleasantly greeted and told that Guruji was then in the garden, but that he would soon come in to greet me. I was brought into a lovely altar room with fresh cut flowers and a prominent throne-like seat for Guruji. As I waited there, my ‘monkey mind’ became quite active.
Despite many wondrous spiritual experiences during the pilgrimage tour, I was busily dialoguing with “the voice in my head” about my possible questions for Guruji. So when Guruji entered the altar room to sit enthroned in front of me, I was feeling far from mentally peaceful, as I sat there waiting for him to entertain my anticipated questions.
He appeared much weaker than when I first met him four years earlier. But he was emanating indescribably intense ‘shakti’ life-force energy, which seemed as powerful as ever. His energy field was so extraordinarily immense that it soon enveloped mine, and transformed my previously agitated state of mind. So, as I sat there gazing at Guruji, I began harmoniously resonating with his supernal ‘shakti’ life-force, and thereby feeling unusual peace of mind.
Thus my questions for Guruji gradually seemed to melt into silent infinite awareness. But they didn’t all dissolve. So after sitting there in silence for a while, I asked Guruji a preliminary question. But he remained silent, and kept intently gazing at me without answering the question.
Whereupon, supposing that he might not have understood me, I asked Guruji another question. But he still remained silent. Finally, as my appointment time was about to expire, I desperately exclaimed:
“Guruji, I’ve come halfway around the world to see you.
Please tell me what I should do for my sadhana.”
After a pregnant pause, Guruji at long last replied:
“Meditate regularly!”
We had no further dialogue. And soon I was politely informed by Guruji’s host that it was time to leave.
Afterwards.
As you might imagine, the unforgettable memory of Guruji’s profoundly silent ‘satsang’ has remained indelibly imprinted in my heart and on my ‘mental software’. His words “Meditate regularly!” were not merely spiritual instructions, but a timeless heartfelt blessing or sankalpa that my deepest aspirations for Truth might be fulfilled through regular meditation!
Moreover, beyond words but only with deep mental silence, Guruji eloquently demonstrated that the eternal LOVE we all seek is within each of us; and he ineffably validated Rumi’s profound observation that
“Silence is the language of God,
all else is poor translation.”
~ Rumi
Since 1982, by faithfully following my beloved Guruji’s emphatic instructions and blessing for me to “meditate regularly”, I’ve been learning about living with a stilled mind.
Perhaps fifteen years after that unforgettable satsang, my ‘monkey mind’ seemed to cease its ceaseless chatter, permitting me the option of using it or not, and of choosing to enjoy moments of choiceless awareness. Instead of constantly swinging backwards and forwards, like a pendulum, between the past and the future, it seemed to rest in a sort of ‘default position’ when not activated by conscious thoughts.
Whereupon I’ve enjoyed precious moments of Being with a stilled mind which have transformed my experience and deep understanding of incarnate human life, in previously unimagined ways.
In 1996 (after Guruji’s 1994 mahasamadhi and during my extended post-retirement period of reclusiveness), I was inspired to compose the above poem “In Silence Sweet”, which only hints at Guruji’s profound blessing bestowed in that unforgettable silent ‘satsang’.
In grateful dedication to Guruji, I have republished the poem today with the foregoing authoritative explanatory quotations.
May everyone everywhere enjoy the blessings of Silence Sweet and of those quotations.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Don’t Seize the Moment
“He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.”
~ William Blake
“We never can capture the rapture of NOW”.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“The more we live moment by moment,
the more momentous our lives.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Don’t Seize the Moment
Live moment by moment.
The more we live moment by moment,
the more momentous our lives.
Each moment is perfect;
it expands infinitely and eternally.
So, mindfully welcome each moment;
but don’t try to seize it – or freeze it.
Trying to seize it – or freeze it,
we’ll spoil it.
Say “yes” to each moment;
accept it, and don’t try to capture it.
We never can capture
the rapture of NOW.
Let each moment be –
let it go, let it flow.
And then, timeless Peace
shall we ever – KNOW.
Ron’s spoken explanation and recitation of “Don’t Seize the Moment”
Ron’s explanation and dedication of “Don’t Seize the Moment”
Dear Friends,
The above “Don’t Seize the Moment” poem was inspired by this enlightened verse from 18th century English visionary artist and poet William Blake:
“He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.”
For millennia mystics have recognized the permanent-impermanence of all forms and experiences in our space/time energetic ‘reality’ – an insight now confirmed by quantum physicists.
Thus Buddhists have realized the futility of ego attachments to fleeting earthly forms and experiences, which are like an ephemeral mirage; and, that all such attachments inevitably lead to suffering. That living love and letting go of ego ultimately matter most in our earth lives.
So Blake’s elegantly enlightened verse is consistent with Buddhist wisdom. And it especially inspired my “Don’t Seize the Moment” line that:
“We never can capture the rapture of NOW”.
The foregoing verses are dedicated to reminding us of the permanent impermanence of everything/everyone/everywhere; and, thereby to encourage us to become ever less attached and judgmental, while leading ever happier lives.
May they inspire us to let go of ego and let life live us as LOVE!
Thereby may we ultimately realize our common spiritual self-identity as Infinite Awareness beyond time – beyond birth and death.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Why Do We Rhyme?
“Tell the truth and make it rhyme.”
~ John Lennon
“Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”
~ Dr. Seuss
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You’re on your own, and you know what you know.
And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”
~ Dr. Seuss
“Today was good. Today was fun.
Tomorrow is another one.”
~ Dr. Seuss
“No sooner had I stepp’d into these pleasures
Than I began to think of rhymes and measures:
The air that floated by me seem’d to say
‘Write! thou wilt never have a better day.”
~ John Keats
“Rhyme, that enslaved queen,
that supreme charm of our poetry,
that creator of our meter.”
~ Victor Hugo
“Constantly risking absurdity and death
whenever he performs above the heads of his audience,
the poet, like an acrobat, climbs on rhyme
to a high wire of his own making.”
~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti
“All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“For poetry, he’s past his prime,
He takes an hour to find a rhyme;
His fire is out, his wit decayed,
His fancy sunk, his muse a jade.
I’d have him throw away his pen,
But there’s no talking to some men.”
~ Jonathan Swift
Dr.Seuss
Why Do We Rhyme?
Why do we rhyme?
Is there a reason?
A time for rhyme –
a rhyming season?
Or, do we just rhyme
without rhyme or reason?
Ron’s audio recitation of “Why Do We Rhyme?”
Ron’s explanation of “Why Do We Rhyme?”
Dear Friends,
On first living alone after my midlife change of life, I experienced many noteworthy life-style and behavioral changes, which I attributed to samskaras from other less worldly lifetimes.
As a lawyer I had always preferred succinct legal writings, unlike other attorneys’ paradoxically prolix legal briefs, which suggested to me that they might be charging for their words, not just for their professional expertise.
So, after I began reading and writing about spiritual subjects, I continued to prefer succinct and sometimes epigrammatic communications. Thus my favorite SillySutras.com writings are mostly concise and pithy.
Before a midlife spiritual awakening I didn’t compose and rarely read poetry. But, thereafter, I spontaneously began writing spiritual songs and poetry. And instinctively I was drawn to whimsical rhyming, repeating, and alliterating – like Dr. Seuss. So I wondered about possible significance of my midlife poetic tendencies, and whether they had reemerged from other lifetimes.
The foregoing poem, “Why Do We Rhyme?”, was composed while I was whimsically wondering about my new rhyming tendencies. Perhaps the rhyming lines from famous poets which precede the poem can help us answer the poem’s rhetorical questions.
And maybe Jonathan Swift’s poem quoted above can help us explain why,
After years of living ascetically
and ‘waxing’ poetically,
Ron’s still rhyming alive,
though ‘waning’ at age eighty five.
In all events, I hope you’ll enjoy this posting. May it help inspire ever more happiness in our lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World – A Sutra Song Synchronicity Story
Butterflies are living
metaphors for metamorphosis.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“What the caterpillar calls the end,
the master calls a butterfly.”
~ Richard Bach
Ron’s Introduction about composing “We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World”
After my mid-life spiritual awakening and newfound interest in spiritual evolution, I began to regularly and reflectively walk alone by San Francisco Bay, as a kind of informal spiritual practice.
While walking by the Bay, I synchronistically began “channeling” spiritual sayings, rhymes and poems. Often, too, I’d spontaneously sing original melodies to accompany my poems and rhymes. As I walked, I regularly wrote the words that came to me. But, mostly I forgot the melodies, which I couldn’t write.
One of the few songs with melody that I remembered, I called “Come Be Butterflies in a Caterpillar World.” It was “channelled” as I reflected on beautiful butterflies as living metaphors for metamorphosis.
After composing the butterfly song I rarely sang it, and it wasn’t otherwise performed or known to others except for a few of my friends.
Synchronicity Story about first public performances of “We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World”
But beginning in late 2008 Rob Tobias, an Oregon musician/songwriter/singer and videographer, and longtime partner of my niece Janice Medvin, started filming me for a biographical documentary record of eccentric Uncle Ron’s spiritual journey from litigation to meditation and beyond.
From many hours of raw footage, Rob created a 38 minute documentary film which he titled: “Walks With Ron (A Spiritual Memoir)” Included in the film are various archival audio-visual materials and music written and arranged by Rob. Rob has posted the film on YouTube and encourages its free sharing. (See https://sillysutras.com/walks-with-ron-a-brief-film-about-ron-rattner/)
In sharing my stories on film with Rob, I sang the butterfly song. Rob liked it, worked out musical notation, and began singing the song solo and in performances with his band, The Northwest Express. And in 2012 he released a professional CD including the song. You can find his recording at RobTobias.com.
In early July 2012, Rob repeatedly sang the song at the Oregon Country Faire, to appreciative audiences. On returning home to Eugene, he was amazed to find that someone anonymously had posted a sign on a telephone pole across from his house, that said, “Be a Butterfly in a Caterpillar World.”
Here it is:
Despite repeated inquiries, Rob could not discover the sign’s mysterious origin. But after viewing its message countless times, in September 2012 Rob decided to give a Rosh Hashanah talk about metamorphosis and transformative change as co-leader of a Jewish Renewal group in Eugene. On explaining this decision to his co-leaders, Rob offered to show them the butterfly sign which had been in place earlier that day. But on returning home with his friends, Rob discovered that the sign had suddenly disappeared, just as mysteriously as it had suddenly appeared weeks before in July.
In October 2012, during a trip to New England, Rob unexpectedly and synchronistically performed the butterfly song in Burlington, Vermont at a school assembly of over 300 enthusiastic children, and at a hipster pub where four children mysteriously appeared to do a butterfly dance. [A youtube video of Rob’s performance at the school assembly is embedded below.]
Ron’s dedication of We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World
As a heartfelt participant in our collective evolutionary transformation into an enlightened new age of harmony, peace and joy, I humbly offer this butterfly song.
May it remind us of our divine human potential to discover – like caterpillars – a previously unimaginable wonderful new life reality beyond our “self-woven karmic cocoons”.
To Life! Enjoy!!
Ron’s audio singing of We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World
Lyrics – We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World
We’re just butterflies,
We’re just butterflies,
We’re just butterflies,
In a caterpillar world.
Hey we’re flyin’ high,
See us flutter by,
Way up in the sky,
In a caterpillar world.
[1st Refrain]
After many moons
In our cocoons,
Totally transformed we’ve been,
From chrysalis to crystaline.
Then, leaving cares and apprehensions
We’ve flown to joyous new dimensions.
But the world keeps creeping and crawling,
So we’re just flying and calling.
Come be butterflies,
Come be butterflies,
Come be butterflies,
O’er a caterpillar world.
Wake up and arise,
Fly up to the skies,
Come be butterflies
From a caterpillar world.
Come now claim your prize
To be very wise
Flying through the skies
O’er a caterpillar world
[2nd Refrain]
Until bye and bye,
Never knowing why,
You’ve soared ever high
To a beautiful heaven above.
[2nd Refrain]
Rob Tobias singing We’re Just Butterflies In A Caterpillar World at Integrated Arts Academy, Burlington VT:
Truth is Everywhere/ Nowhere/ NOW!
“Truth is a pathless land.”
~ J.Krishnamurti
“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life”
~ John 14:6
“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
Kandinsky, “Yellow, Red, Blue”
Truth is Everywhere/ Nowhere/ NOW!
Truth is pathless.
Truth is mindless.
Truth is wordless.
Truth is timeless.
Truth is everywhere and nowhere –
NOW.
To know truth,
be Truth.
To know life,
be Life.
To know the way,
be the Way.
NOW!
Ron’s audio recitation of “Truth is Everywhere/ Nowhere/ NOW!”.
Ron’s 2018 comments about “Truth is Everywhere/ Nowhere/ NOW!”.
Dear Friends,
Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone seeks spiritual Truth – realization that we are “the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”
But in this troubled and tumultuous Trump era, rather than seeking eternal Truth, many people are impelled to pursue worldly political activities aimed at addressing current global insanity fomented by psychopathic oligopolist world “leaders”.
Concerned citizens worldwide justifiably perceive urgent need to avert apparently imminent nuclear or ecologic catastrophe, and other insane threats to earth life as we have known it.
But rather than deterring our pursuit of spiritual Truth, our determined nonviolent political actions to avert worldwide disaster can help further spiritual evolution. We need only follow the visionary truth-seeking path of Mahatma Gandhi, whose extraordinary life and nonviolence legacy have immeasurably blessed our world and inspired countless others.
Gandhi was a deeply spiritual man who often equated ”Truth” with “God” and who was influenced by teachings of Jesus, writings of Tolstoy, and Thoreau’s famous essay, “Civil Disobedience”. So he called his nonviolence movement (which began on September 11, 1906) “satyagraha”, a Sanskrit neologism he coined meaning the “relentless pursuit of Truth”.
Thus, Gandhi’s satyagraha movement was not just political, but encompassed relentless pursuit of spiritual Truth through the practice of active, faith-based nonviolence.
To help remind us that the deep meaning of Humankind’s search for Truth, includes political pursuit of peace and justice as well as the spiritual search for God or Self, I have posted the foregoing “Truth is Everywhere/ Nowhere/ NOW! ” poem and quotations from Jesus, Buddha and J. Krishnamurti.
Today’s poem was composed many years ago during an extended post-retirement reclusive period when I could not begin to imagine the extraordinary dystopian insanity of the current Trump era. Yet, I am now sharing it because its perennial Truth message remains especially relevant in these crazy times.
May it help bring us at long last to an era of worldwide peace and goodwill, as we realize that we are the Way and the Truth and the Life – not in the sky, but in the sole Sacred Heart of Humanity.
And may abiding Gandhian political/spiritual “satyagraha” impel current world political “leaders” to join democratically with their peace seeking citizens everywhere in nonviolent relentless pursuit of Truth, ending insane violence, injustice and oppression now rife on our precious planet.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Let’s Learn To BE – Memory Free – NOW!
“Mind is memory, at whatever level, by whatever name you call it; mind is the product of the past, it is founded on the past, which is memory, a conditioned state.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“Truth is not a memory, because truth is ever new, constantly transforming itself. (M)emory is a hindrance to the understanding of what is. The timeless can be only when memory, which is the `me’ and the `mine’, ceases.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
Forget who you think you are
to know what you really are.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Let’s Learn To BE – Memory Free – NOW!
The power of memory
is a great gift.
But the power authentically
to BE –
beyond memory –
is a greater gift.
For memory is then,
while life is
NOW.
So, let’s learn to BE
– Memory Free –
NOW!
Ron’s recitation of “Let’s Learn To BE – Memory Free – NOW”
Ron’s explanation of “Let’s Learn To BE – Memory Free – NOW”
Dear Friends,
After my spiritual awakening I intuited that “This world is wrought with naught but thought”. Later I discovered Buddhist sutras stating that “With our thoughts, we make the world.”
Whereupon, I became (and remain) extremely curious about the nature of “mind” – which is our ‘thought processor’.
And soon thereafter I discovered the above teachings of Indian sage J. Krishnamurti that “mind is memory” and “a hindrance to the understanding of” Truth, which is always new and NOW.
Inspired by Krishnamurti I have written many sutras, poems, and essays about “mind” as memory. One of those poems, “Let’s Learn To BE – Memory Free – NOW!” is posted above to help remind us that “Life is NOW, ever NOW, never then”.
That
“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
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Our Mentality Is Our Reality:
~ Sutra Sayings
“The greatest discovery of any generation
is that human beings can alter their lives
by altering the attitudes of their minds.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
“We do not see things as they are;
we see things as we are.”
~ Talmud
“Our mentality is our reality.
Our “reality” is what we think it to be.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”
~ George Orwell, 1984
Introduction.
The following verses were inspired by Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s crucial assertion that:
“human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds”
.
They are shared to remind us that our entire space/time “reality” arises only from thought. And that, with vigilant awareness, we can vastly improve our lives by observing, stilling and emptying our minds – our constant thoughts.
Our Mentality Is Our Reality
Our mentality
is our reality.
Change your mentality,
to change your reality.
Learn to observe,
and to still your mind.
Open your mind and see its Source.
Still your mind and Be its Source.
Change your mentality
and Be –
Reality.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Our Mentality Is Our Reality”
Ron’s Explanation and Dedication of “Our Mentality Is Our Reality”
Dear Friends,
My understanding of the foregoing key philosophic concepts began experientially with an unforgettable 1976 out-of-body experience [OOB] in which I observed every thought as a kaleidoscopic form. Thereafter I gradually deduced that our mistaken mental reification of a seemingly separate space/time “reality” subjects us to inevitable karmic problems and sufferings.
Following the OOB, my investigations leading to this realization began with reading published statements of J. Krishnamurti, such as those quoted e.g. in De-condition the Mind.
Now, after over four decades of validating observations and philosophic reflections, I continue to affirm the crucial importance of our mistaken ego-mind self-identification with perceptions and thoughts; that since our problems and sufferings arise mentally, we can gradually transcend them by observing and stilling our minds.
Since thought alone creates our problems and sufferings, thought alone can help us gradually transcend them.
May these writings help us transcend our identification with thought, and thereby to live ever happier and soul fulfilling lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Transmutation Beyond Computation
“What really counts in life can’t be counted.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“When one loves, one does not calculate.”
~ St. Therese of Lisieux
Transmutation Beyond Computation
Computers are great
and demonstrate
technology that’s fine.
But we can’t compute
the Absolute —
The Mystery Divine.
We’ll never measure
our greatest treasure –
The gift of Life sublime.
But without computation —
in meditation —
To Heaven we may climb,
And find elation
beyond calculation –
Transcending space and time.
Ron’s spoken explanation and recitation of “Transmutation Beyond Calculation”
Ron’s written explanation of “Transmutation Beyond Calculation”
Dear Friends,
After retiring from legal practice in 1992, I immensely enjoyed many years of introspective semi-seclusion in my San Francisco high-rise hermitage, without a computer, TV, or daily newspaper. Rather than following worldly “news”, I preferred to pray, meditate and reflect about perennial spiritual wisdom.
Until then, my public behavior mostly continued to appear “normal” by worldly standards, though inwardly I was processing a radically zen-like change of life.
So many friends and relatives believing that Ron was still a “normal” worldly person, kept urging me to get a computer and go online. Especially because my beloved Guruji had encouraged my intention to “think about God” after retirement, I adamantly refused to go online with the rest of the world.
And privately I wrote these lines”, which I shared with few others:
Inner Net, Not Internet
Ron’s going off-line,
out-of-line, out of linearity.
While the world wants ever more information,
Ron seeks infinite inspiration:
In the Unknown, in the Mystery –
The Mystery of Divinity.
Ultimately, in 2004 I bought a computer to help my son Josh resolve legal problems with his corporate landlord. Soon afterwards I wrote and shared online the foregoing whimsical poem, “Transmutation Beyond Computation”, which I’ve posted above with spoken explanation and recitation, for your enjoyment and possible edification.
Fourteen years after reluctantly going online, I now greatly appreciate miraculous computer technology which has become an essential tool in my life. But still I adamantly endorse prioritizing mindfulness and introspection over following fake “news” or gossip or online worldly trivial pursuits like twittering, tweeting, messaging etc..
So the essential message of “Transmutation Beyond Computation” remains valid, and I hope you’ll consider it.
As George Orwell accurately observed in his prescient classic “1984”,
“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”
So especially in these dystopian times it is crucial that our mental programming come from the Sacred Heart of Humanity, and not from monopolistic corporate media.
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
