Universal Awareness

Vernal Equinox Blessings

“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1
“The winds of grace are always blowing,
but you have to raise the sail.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna





Ron’s introduction to Vernal Equinox Blessings

Dear Friends,

I first learned of Chapter 3:1-8 of the Book of Ecclesiastes on hearing a popular 1960’s folk song written by Pete Seeger called “Turn! Turn! Turn!” quoting the biblical passages verbatim beginning with: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” I then sensed the importance of those passages (attributed to King Solomon), but never deeply reflected upon them until after my 1976 midlife spiritual awakening.

Until then, I was largely insensitive to the symbolic importance of time cycles, and I had little inner inclination to celebrate or commemorate new years or new seasons. Only afterwards did I begin learning about importance of astronomical and astrological sciences with increasing appreciation of ancient pre-Christian cultures which recorded time through solar, lunar or lunisolar calendars, such as Persian, Mayan, Islamic, Vedic, Hebrew, Chinese, and Tibetan.

Paradoxically, since my midlife change of life I have become increasingly aware of the importance of earth-life seasons and cycles in time, while realizing that cosmically Albert Einstein was right when he told us: “the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”; and, that “space and time are not conditions in which we live, [but] modes in which we think.”

Thus I have realized and written that “time is how we measure NOW”.

Yet, this posting (on the March 19th, 2024, vernal equinox) is sincerely dedicated to inspiring our understanding of how auspicious earth-life cycles and seasons can help us bless and transform this world, until together we remember and realize that as timeless Divine souls we are the Eternal light of Universal Awareness as LOVE.

Vernal Equinox Blessings and Opportunities

The vernal equinox is a traditionally important astronomical event which can mark an especially auspicious new life phase for everyone everywhere, and for all earth-life. Especially in Northern climes spring is considered a season for spiritual renewal and rebirth; a time for recognition of our cyclic transition from darkness to light – of both inner and outer illumination. And this can be an especially auspicious time for political progress everywhere on our precious planet.

Thus, as awakening spiritual siblings we can collectively resolve critical interpersonal and international planetary problems, which threaten all earth-life, and which can be solved only through our awakened awareness of how and why we humans alone have caused these crises.

Whatever our cultural conditioning, or our spiritual, religious or ethical traditions, we can NOW join together in identifying and  symbolically discarding old defilements, so as to continue earth-life with a fresh clean slate – a process exemplified by the ancient vernal equinox New Year tradition of Zoroastrianism, which is observed by millions people worldwide as Nowruz.

Many religious historians believe that Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world-religions, and that it may have influenced humankind, directly and indirectly, more than any other single faith; that it has influenced the major Asian religions, and that many beliefs of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim monotheistic religions were derived from Zoroastrianism. 

Zoroastrianism teaches that Life’s purpose is to renew the world; to help the world progress towards perfection.  And, that Happiness in Life comes to those who live for the happiness of others.

Key Zoroastrian tenets are: 

“Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.”; 
“Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do,
and then all beneficial rewards will come to you”;  and
“There is only one path and that is the path of Truth.”


Like many Westerners I first learned of the wisdom of the Persian mystical tradition through the poems of the great Persian Sufi mystics Rumi and Hafiz, some of which are posted on the SillySutras website. Rumi’s poetry is so superlatively beautiful and mystically insightful – even when translated from Farsi – that he has been recently called the “most popular poet in America”, over seven centuries since his death.

And just as many Western people keep copies of the bible in their homes, many Persian and Iranian people keep copies of Hafiz’ writings which they consider the pinnacle of Persian literature.  The poems and sayings from Rumi and Hafiz quoted on SillySutras are the amongst the most beautiful and deeply insightful postings on the entire website, and I commend them to your attention. See here and here.

If like countless others you are inspired to help the world through infinite opportunities for transformative blessings for everyone everywhere enhanced by this auspicious equinox earth-life cycle, it is important to remember that such blessings are not automatic but depend on our loving thoughts, words and deeds. The principle was succinctly stated by 19th Century Indian holy man Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who reminds us that:

“The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.”

Conclusion

We are living in extraordinarily turbulent times with immense dangers and opportunities. But we are encouraged by Rumi’s consoling wisdom:

“Do not be sad.
For God sends hope in the darkest moments. 
The heaviest rain comes from the darkest clouds.” 
~ Rumi


May we collectively view what is happening environmentally and politically as disintegration of an old world paradigm that has become painfully and harmfully obsolete, to make way for a more enlightened and elevated new age that can and will bless all life on our precious  planet.

And let us each from our unique perspectives, and with our unique propensities, lovingly ‘raise our sails to the winds of grace’ which will hasten a new golden age of peace on earth and goodwill for all.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


“Turn! Turn! Turn!” – Video.




‘Spiritual’ People In A Perfectly Crazy World

‘Spiritual’ People In A Perfectly Crazy World

“Look how the caravan of civilization
has been ambushed.

Fools are everywhere in charge.

Do not practice solitude like Jesus.

Be in the assembly, and take charge of it.”

~ Rumi
“In the present circumstances, no one can afford to assume

that someone else will solve their problems.

Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction.

Good wishes are not sufficient; we must become actively engaged.”

~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from “The Path to Tranquility:  Daily Wisdom”
“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’,

a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security.”

~ Albert Einstein ( N. Y. Times , March 29, 1972)
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“Love is the highest, the grandest, the most inspiring,
the most sublime principle in creation.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Love Is The Law Of Life:
All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction.
Love is therefore the only law of life. 
He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. 
Therefore, love for love’s sake,
because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.”

~ Swami Vivekananda



Ron’s Introduction to ‘Spiritual’ People In A Perfectly Crazy World

Dear Friends,

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day, 2024!

We are immensely privileged to have incarnated on Earth at a rare time in modern human history, as a “critical mass” of Humankind pass from violent, fearful and dark times to an age of lasting peace, light, and Love – not just annually, but every day.

During ages of ignorance and darkness we’ve unknowingly and unwittingly been imprisoned and exploited by ego-bonds of belief in a mental matrix from which we are at long last escaping and ascending incorruptible and awakened to the Divine eternal light of LOVE.

We are about to emerge from eons of outer darkness to a new age of awakened inner eternal Light; from an era of collective fearful psychoses threatening God given human rights and freedoms, to an evolutionarily “enlightened” age free from suffering and deprivation.

On our precious blue planet Earth, time is inescapable. We cannot live ego free timeless lives, in dense 3D relative “reality”. So until we transcend illusory ego mind beliefs of being separated from Divine Source, every Earthly ending is a new beginning. And the ending of eons of human bondage is an extraordinarily historic turning point, with infinite opportunities for our transcendent Self realization as Divine LOVE.  

Thus, in this new Earth age many souls will be blessed to ascend to infinitely awakened levels of awareness, by choosing to be actively engaged in emanating and radiating harmonious heart levels of love and compassion.


Here are observations by the Dalai Lama from which we may draw inspiration and motivation, counseling that we must act to solve ecological crises and restore peace “before it is too late”:


“Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities that lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth’s living things.”

“This lack of respect extends even to the earth’s human descendants, the future generations who will inherit a vastly degraded planet if world peace does not become a reality, and if destruction of the natural environment continues at the present rate.”

“Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past also saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we know is the case only if we care for it.”

“It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past which resulted from ignorance. Today, however, we have access to more information; it is essential that we re-examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations.”

“Many of the earth’s habitats, animals, plants, insects and even micro-organisms that we know to be rare may not be known at all by future generations. We have the capability and the responsibility to act; we must do so before it is too late.”

“Just as we should cultivate gentle and peaceful relations with our fellow human beings, we should also extend that same kind of attitude towards the natural environment. Morally speaking, we should be concerned for our whole environment.”

“This, however, is not just a question of morality or ethics, but a question of our own survival. For this generation and for future generations, the environment is very important. If we exploit the environment in extreme ways, we will suffer, as will our future generations. When the environment changes, the climatic condition also changes. When the climate changes dramatically, the economy and many other things change. Our physical health will be greatly affected. Again, conservation is not merely a question of morality, but a question of our own survival.”

“Therefore, in order to achieve more effective environmental protection and conservation, internal balance within the human being himself or herself is essential. The negligence of the environment, which has resulted in great harm to the human community, resulted from our ignorance of the very special importance of the environment. We must now help people to understand the need for environmental protection. We must teach people to understand the need for environmental protection. We must teach people that conservation directly aids our survival.”

“If you must be selfish, then be wise and not narrow-minded in your selfishness. The key point lies in the sense of universal responsibility. That is the real source of strength, the real source of happiness. If we exploit everything available, such as trees, water and minerals, and if we don’t plan for our next generation, for the future, then we’re at fault, aren’t we? However, if we have a genuine sense of universal responsibility as our central motivation, then our relations with the environment, and with all our neighbours, will be well balanced.”

“Ultimately, the decision to save the environment must come from the human heart. The key point is a call for a genuine sense of universal responsibility that is based on love, compassion and clear awareness.”

(From “Humanity and Ecology”, © 1988, The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)

Ron’s Comments on ‘Spiritual’ People In A Perfectly Crazy World

Thus this an exceptional era for people who intuitively experience our spiritual common essence and nature to become engaged.



We live in an age of mental malaise; the Hindus call it Kaliyuga. Our precious planet is polluted by human ignorance and greed.


“The more that money rules the World,
the more that money ruins the World.”



We have degenerated into an insane society, unconsciously committing mass suicide by ecocide.



Unrestrained human consumption exploits vulnerable people and depletes finite planetary resources which sustain life. Billions of people suffer needless poverty, starvation and avoidable disease, while obscenely privileged oligarchs greedily acquire power and excessive material wealth far beyond their conceivable needs.



Earth-life as we known it is threatened by environmental catastrophe or nuclear annihilation, precipitated by corrupt world “leaders” who are
destroying the life support systems which sustain us.



Even in “advanced” countries, it is virtually impossible now to breath air or drink water which is not in some way polluted by our species. Agricultural soils have been depleted and corrupted. Global weather patterns and hydrologic systems have been materially disrupted by human activities; protective atmospheric ozone is being depleted. Glaciers are melting; long frozen Arctic tundra is thawing. Though non-polluting alternative technologies are available and feasible they are considered “economically” impractical.



By “bio-engineering” living organisms we are even tampering and blindly experimenting with our genetic origins. From birth (and even prenatally) every person’s body/mind is polluted by numerous and ubiquitous manmade chemical and radioactive materials, many of which are carcinogenic.



Many species are rapidly becoming extinct. Around the world, thousands of birds are suddenly falling dead out of the sky, and countless dead fish are appearing on shores of rivers, lakes and oceans. The oceans are polluted with our detritus, and much marine life is threatened. Even remote Arctic polar bears are becoming hermaphroditic because of phthalates and other chemicals dispersed by humankind, and they are threatened with destruction of the ecosystem on which they depend for survival. [See http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/toxic-waste-creates-hermaphrodite-arctic-polar-bears-5336813.html]



So, as we widen our circle of compassion to embrace the whole of Nature and all living creatures, it becomes apparent that as the Dalai Lama observes we must “become actively engaged” to avert imminent ecological catastrophe.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Synchronicity Story: Dr. King, Alice Walker, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and “If I Was President”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,
but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If I was President
The first thing I would do
is call Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
~ Alice Walker
Dare to be a nonconformist.
Society rewards conformers.
But, posterity honors reformers.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Let us elevate our aspirations,
from the bottom line to the highest good.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
In these critical times,
we need a critical mass
to solve our critical mess.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968


Ron’s Introduction.

Dear Friends,

Today’s posting honors American hero and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his 95th birthday anniversary.

Sixty years have passed since Dr. King’s 1963 “dream” speech, and his later assassination at age 39. Yet, as discussed in my following commentary, the US population still endures most of the flagrant societal injustices Dr. King addressed – and which were noted by Alice Walker in today’s synchronicity story about her poem “If I Was President”, including unjust imprisonment of countless political truth-tellers and societal reformers, like Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Nonetheless, I again share this amazing synchronicity story with the deepest faith that together we can and will awaken the world from its present fearful ‘nightmare’ to realize Dr. King’s prophetic ‘dream’:

That ‘free at last’, we will honor the equality and divinity of everyone everywhere, and thereby transcend exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable people, using our common-wealth for our common-weal to end the iniquity of inequity in our society.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Synchronicity Story.

One January morning I received an email notice of an archived lecture about departed hero Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. given by poet, author, and Buddhist peace activist Alice Walker, in Atlanta in 2006. The lecture was entitled “We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.” [a YouTube video is linked below]

Because of my great respect for Dr. King as a national hero, and for Alice Walker’s wisdom, artistic genius and exemplary engagement in non-violent peace activism, I listened to the lecture. It was eloquent and moving.

At one point Alice Walker noted the posthumous persistence of social problems addressed by Dr. King before he was assassinated, and she cited as emblematic of our continuing societal injustices the political incarceration and threatened execution of brilliant truth teller journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, following his egregiously wrongful political conviction for a crime committed by someone else.


Mumia Abu-Jamal


Especially, because I regard Abu-Jamal as an unjustly imprisoned ‘great soul’ who was subjected to an extraordinarily unjust trial, I had been amongst the millions world-wide protesting his political incarceration and threatened execution.

Synchronistically, a couple of hours after I listened to the Alice Walker lecture mentioning Abu-Jamal, I received a rare phone call from Prison Radio, a charitable organization dedicated to recording and distributing worldwide weekly radio commentaries by Abu-Jamal then telephoned from death row. (If interested you can listen to those commentaries at the Prison Radio website http://www.prisonradio.org/.)

The caller, Sharyn, invited me to a house party at which Abu-Jamal’s current legal situation was to be be discussed in depth. I told Sharyn that I had just been thinking about Mumia because of Alice Walker’s reference to him in her eloquent Atlanta talk about Dr. King. In response, Sharyn told me that shortly before she called me, Prison Radio had that day just received a new poem written and sent by Alice Walker from Mexico about Mumia and other prominent political prisoners.

Entitled, “If I Was President”, the opening lines of the poem say:


“If I was President
The first thing I would do
is call Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

 

Alice Walker

Synchronicity Questions and Reflections.

So why did the universe decide to synchronistically communicate with me that day through Dr. King, Alice Walker and Prison Radio about Mumia Abu-Jamal? It is a mystery, and a reminder of how little we understand our miraculous world “reality”.

From space/time perspective, synchronicities are noteworthy or meaningful coincidences in time. But from a cosmic perspective serial time is just an illusory way we think. So Albert Einstein has said:

“People … who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

Inspired by Einstein I have tentatively explained such synchroncities this way:

“Synchronicities are noteworthy “coincidences” in time,
which show us that in Nature,
there is no time and there are no “coincidences –
that everything that is, was, or will be is NOW;
that everything happens in harmony and synchrony
concurrently, not coincidentally.
Synchronicities are like Nature’s positive “bio-feedback’ or ‘radar’ signals showing when we are existing out of time and in the eternal NOW.”

And here is an interesting quote from Deepak Chopra:

“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.”

How do you explain synchronicities in your life?

Whether or not we can ever really explain mysterious synchronicities, may they ever infuse us with feelings of awe and gratitude for our interdependence with all miraculous and mysterious Life on this precious planet.


Alice Walker: “We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.”


Ron’s Commentary Honoring Dr. King.

Dear Friends,

On the 95th birthday anniversary of departed hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us join countless others worldwide in honoring and ardently following his visionary legacy of nonviolently seeking world peace and social justice with forgiveness and Love.

Regrettably realization of Dr. King’s vision of world harmony still seems distant, as societal problems he addressed more than half a century ago perilously persist. Moreover, threats of nuclear and ecological holocaust appear more imminent than ever before, as the US empire continues to insanely squander more than than half its budget on wars and weapons, while neglecting the human rights of most of its own citizens, as well as countless other innocent victims worldwide.


Dr. King’s history.

Dr. King was a fourth generation Baptist preacher and non-violent peace and social justice activist especially inspired by Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi.  He honored and followed Gandhi as “guiding light  …. of nonviolent social change’’, and in 1959 journeyed to India to study Gandhian methods.  On arrival there, King said:

“To other countries, I may go as a tourist,
but to India, I come as a pilgrim.” 

Afterwards, inspired by Jesus and Gandhi, Dr. King ardently preached non-violence, saying 

“We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.” 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Ultimately, Dr. King’s life paralleled Gandhi’s life.  Each began as an outspoken advocate of inter-racial equality and social justice in racially segregated societies:  Gandhi as a South African civil rights lawyer; and King as a Southern-Baptist preacher.  Gradually their missions expanded to encompass universal peace, freedom and social justice for everyone everywhere.  

Gandhi ultimately inspired independence of the entire Indian subcontinent from almost a century of colonial domination and exploitation by the British raj. 

Dr. King conscientiously  and eloquently decried the fraudulent and immoral US war in Viet Nam, and the entire exploitive US corporate capitalist economic system which fostered perpetual war for perpetual profit of a privileged few, to the undemocratic detriment of an impoverished majority.  He said:


“I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”

“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.” .. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.” 


Like Jesus and Gandhi, Reverend King preached love and forgiveness, saying:

“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.”


1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1964 Dr. King was awarded and humbly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, as ‘trustee’ for countless unknown others. And he cited Mahatma Gandhi’s success in India as a key precedent encouraging nonviolent civil rights activism in the USA, saying:

“This [nonviolent] approach to the problem of racial injustice …. was used in a magnificent way by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire and free his people from the political domination and economic exploitation inflicted upon them for centuries.”

And Dr. King described how (because of technological advances which threaten global nuclear/ecological catastrophe) the survival of humanity depends upon our nonviolently solving

“the problems of racial injustice, poverty, and war” by “living in harmony” with “all-embracing and unconditional love for all men”.


Eloquently he explained unconditional love as

“that force which all of the great religions [Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist] have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. . . . the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate Reality.”


Dr. King’s 1968 Martyrdom.

Like Jesus and Gandhi, Reverend King was martyred at the pinnacle of his powers.   Dr. King (like President John F. Kennedy) was assassinated by the US military/industrial secret government when his expanding influence became an intolerable barrier to their psychopathic war plans for Viet Nam and beyond.

Concluding Dedication and Invocation.

To honor Dr. King’s lasting legacy as one of the greatest Americans who ever lived, I have shared this posting with deepest faith that together we can and will awaken the world from its present fearful ‘nightmare’ to realize Dr. King’s visionary ‘dream’ of worldwide peace and justice, with love and forgiveness. 

That ‘free at last’, we will honor the equality and divinity of everyone everywhere, and thereby transcend immoral exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable people, using our common-wealth for our common-weal to end the iniquity of inequity in our society.

So that as Abraham Lincoln envisioned:

“Under God, [we] shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

 
And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Swami Vivekananda: 15 Laws of Life

Love Is The Law Of Life:
All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. 
Love is therefore the only law of life.
He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. 
Therefore, love for love’s sake,
because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.”

~ Swami Vivekananda
“…this separation between man and man, between nation and nation,
between earth and moon, between moon and sun.
Out of this idea of separation between atom and atom comes all misery.
But the Vedanta says that this separation does not exist, it is not real.”
~ Swami Vivekananda [Jnana Yoga]
‘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 [Jnana Yoga]
“Your own will is all that answers prayer,
only it appears under the guise
of different religious conceptions to each mind.
We may call it Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, but it is only the Self, the ‘I’.”
~ Swami Vivekananda [Jnana Yoga]
“But if there is ever to be a universal religion, it must be one which will hold no location in place or time; which will be infinite, like the God it will preach; whose Sun shines upon the followers of Krishna or Christ, saints or sinners, alike; which will not be the Brahman or Buddhist, Christian or Mohammedan, but the sum total of all these, and still have infinite space for development; which in its Catholicity will embrace in its infinite arms and find a place for every human being … It will be a religion which will have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, which will recognize a divinity in every man or woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be centered in aiding humanity to realize its divine nature.”
~ Swami Vivekananda

 

Swami Vivekananda, January 12, 1863 – July 4, 1902 *


Photo Inscription. *In September 1893 in Chicago, USA, Swami Vivekananda reverently autographed this photo with the handwritten inscription:

“One infinite pure and holy –
beyond thought beyond qualities
I bow down to thee”
.


Introduction.

Dear Friends,

This posting honors Swami Vivekananda, the great 19th century Indian sage and orator, and founder of Western Vedanta Societies, on his 161st birthday anniversary.

As principle disciple of Holy Man Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda first brought universal Indian wisdom to large Western audiences beginning as Indian delegate to the historic 1893 Chicago Parliament of World Religions, where his opening remarks famously addressed his “Sisters and Brothers of America”, and concluded with this prayerful invocation:

“I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”


[Reenacted excerpts from his Parliament speeches are linked only online.]

Thereupon and thereafter Swami Vivekananda eloquently explained to Westerners ancient perennial principles of Hinduism, and why according to Advaita Vedanta nondualist philosophy this impermanent and ever changing world of space, time and causality is illusory; that “In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation”; that “Love Is The Law Of Life .. just as you breathe to live; that the goal of mankind is the knowledge [that]…oneness is the secret of everything.”

Though Vedic rishis or seers had anticipated Einstein’s 1905 theory of relativity by millennia, their teachings were largely unknown in the West until first explained by Vivekananda soon before Einstein revolutionized Western science.

Swami Vivekananda experientially had realized as impermanent and illusory the appearance of our space, time, causality, and duality reality. From his rare level of nondualist consciousness beyond ego-mind he shared many wise perennial teachings to guide our lives on Earth, including the “Fifteen Laws of Life”, which follow, with my explanatory comments.

Written over a hundred years ago, these fundamental wisdom teachings remain exceptionally important for our worldwide transcendent awakening opportunities in current times.

May they deeply inspire and guide us to help heal the World by realizing and experiencing their fundamental truths.


Swami Vivekananda: 15 Laws of Life.

1. Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love’s sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It’s Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful; our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world – that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

4. It’s The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don’t Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin – to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge… now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man ‘knows’, should, in strict psychological language, be what he ‘discovers’ or ‘unveils’; what man ‘learns’ is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.

15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.


Ron’s Explanation.

Swami Vivekananda had realized and revealed to us that this ego-mind illusory 3D “reality” of supposed space, time, and causality-duality, is an unavoidable mere mental mirage beyond human thought comprehension, imagination, or expression.

Like Jesus Christ and countless other prior and subsequent spiritual avatars and seers, Vivekananda proclaimed (in 20th century vernacular) the pre-primordial non-dualist truth that “Love Is The Law of Life”, that the infinitely powerful and potential Human Heart and the Cosmos are not separated, but One Eternal LOVE.

For example, two thousand years ago Jesus Christ incarnated in a mortal human body to reveal that: “I and the Father are ONE”, and that “God is Love” saying:

“Let us love one another: for love is of God;
and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God.
He that loves not, knows not God; for God is love.
If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His
love is perfected in us.” [1 John 4:7-8; 12 ]”


Jesus taught us to not only love each other, but to love and forgive even our enemies, importuning God while suffering excruciating pain as He was being crucified by Roman soldiers,

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
~ Luke 23:34


Jesus so demonstrated that because we not separated but exist as One Eternal LOVE when we love each other we love our Eternal SELF – our Divine Mother/Father Creator and Sole Source.

Thus, Swami Vivekananda revealed over a hundred years ago, that these same fundamental wisdom teachings of Jesus, remain exceptionally important for our worldwide transcendent awakenings in current times.

And such revelations can inspire and awaken a pivotal “critical mass” turning point in human history, when much of humankind will energetically awaken to loving levels of consciousness and spiritual freedom.

We are thereby immensely blessed to participate in thus raising humanity’s collective consciousness, as we gratefully awaken from inside out as ONE INFINITELY POTENTIAL Divine LOVE .

Ron’s Dedication.

This posting honors both Swami Vivekananda and his renowned Spiritual Master, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, whose lives and teachings have been extraordinarily inspirational for countess beings, including me. Additionally it honors my beloved Guruji, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, who was also inspired by Vivekananda.

Vivekananda considered Shri Ramakrishna as “higher and nobler than all ordinary” teachers, and attributed all his powers to Ramakrishna, saying:

“All that I am . . is owing to my Master, Shri Ramakrishna, who incarnated and experienced and taught this wonderful unity which underlies everything, having discovered it alike in Hinduism, in Islam, and in Christianity.” [His] “One touch, one glance, can change a whole life.”


Synchronistically, my Guruji Shri Dhyanyogi – who was another one of those rare great beings whose “One touch, one glance, can change a whole life.” – was crucially inspired and helped by Vivekananda. 

The fascinating story of how this happened is told in “This House is on Fire, The Life of Shri Dyanyogi”, pp  61-64, by Shri Anandi Ma.

After fifteen years of solitary wandering in rural India Guruji had a dramatically transformative vision of Vivekanda, who assured Guruji that he would reach his spiritual goal. 

Soon thereafter Guruji discovered and was enthralled by Vivekananda’s teachings published in the book Raja Yoga, which included his apt lectures in the West, and commentaries explaining Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, widely accepted as a foundational Sanskrit text of  Raja Yoga philosophy. 

Guruji continuously read and re-read Vivekandanda’s Raja Yoga book, like a scripture, and ultimately he repeatedly recommended it to his disciples, including me.

Invocation.

May these precious wisdom teachings continue to inspire and guide countless people worldwide in current critical times.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


Reenacted audio excerpts from Vivekananda talks at 1893 Chicago Parliament of World Religions.








Uniquely The Same

“You are the light of the world.”
~ Matthew 5:14
Into my heart’s night

Along a narrow way
 I groped;
and lo! the light,

An infinite land of day.
~ Rumi
“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, …
beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
“If the radiance of a thousand suns
Were to burst at once into the sky
That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One –.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11, Verse 12
Every particle of the world is a mirror.
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.
~  Mahmud Shabestari, Sufi Mystic, 15th century.
And this is the reason the cosmos first
needs to be divided into the tiniest parts,
and enormous shatterings must take place
in order to separate the smallest particles.
And after they are polished up and clarified, behold:
each speck will contain the whole of all existence,
and it all is filled with God’s light and his glory.
~ Rabbi Avraham Kook
“There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe. 

The horizontal threads are in space.
 The vertical threads are in time.

At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual.

And every individual is a crystal bead. 

And every crystal bead reflects not only the light 
from every other crystal in the net,

but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.”
~ Indra’s Net – from the Vedas of ancient India, 7000 years old
“Light is the real essence of everything.
This earth is not “earth” as you see it;
it is light.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Reality’s essence is Divine luminescence.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings




Ron’s Introduction to “Uniquely The Same”

Dear Friends, 

The following “Uniquely The Same” sutra poem tells us that we are unique in form, but that in Essence we are eternally identical Divine Spirit, Light, Life, and LOVE.

Together with the above quotations and following recitation and explanation, this posting is dedicated to reminding us that as common Cosmic Consciousness, we are “the light of the world”.

Also, that we shall experience ever increasing happiness as we evolve toward destined Self-realization,
by using our mind as our best friend, rather than worst ego enemy.

Please enjoy and consider this posting accordingly.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


Uniquely The Same

We are all
uniquely the same.

In form we’re unique,
but in Essence identical:

Spirit, Light, Life, LOVE.

Deeply, but subconsciously,
we share common Cosmic Consciousness –

Common “I”ness.
Common “I am” ness.

As ever more we experience our Universality,
We shall ever more transform our “reality”.



Ron’s audio recitation of Uniquely The Same.

Listen to


Ron’s Comments on “Uniquely The Same”

Dear Friends, 

Today’s posting is dedicated to our remembering and realizing that our true Self-identity is as “the light of the world”; that although we appear separated, in Essence we are ONE eternally identical Divine Spirit, Light, Life, and LOVE.



As Jesus’ Christ’s Sermon on the Mount reminds us, we “are the light of the world”  – a world in which the law of the Prophets must persist “until heaven and earth disappear” [Matthew 5:14-18]. 

Except for rare Avatars and Bodhisattvas virtually all incarnate human beings are remembering and awakening as “the light of the world” to our Eternal Divine identity as ONE LOVE.

However, while we mentally experience ourselves as seemingly separated from Nature and everyone and everything else, we are subject to karmic cause and effect. But we enjoy ever increasing happiness as we evolve toward destined Self-realization, by mindfully remembering our true Self identity, and by using our mind as our best friend, rather than worst ego enemy.

Thus Hinduism’s best known scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, reveals this core teaching about achieving spiritual liberation or Moksha.

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 “Uniquely The Same” posting is deeply dedicated to
reminding us that we are “the light of the world”.

May it awaken and inspire our ever increasing happiness,
as we advance toward our destined Self-realization as
Divine Spirit, Light, Life, and LOVE.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Cosmology Mythology ~
From Beyond The Beginning,
To The Beginning And Beyond
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
And the earth was without form and void
And darkness was upon the face of the deep
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
And God said ‘Let there be light’; and there was light
And God saw the light, that it was good
And God divided the light from the darkness”
~ Genesis 1:1-4
“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
~ Albert Einstein




Ron’s Introduction to “Cosmology Mythology ~ From Beyond The Beginning, To The Beginning And Beyond”

Dear Friends,

From my present perspective at age ninety one, I’m continuing to emphasize prior memoirs postings which are spiritually fundamental. So I’ve posted today with “Cosmology Mythology ~ From Beyond The Beginning, To The Beginning And Beyond”, an enquiring poem ‘channeled’ during my reclusive post-retirement period beginning thirty years ago.

After only believing that I was merely my mortal physical body, its thoughts and story, at midlife (in 1976) I awakened to previously unimagined spiritual Self identity as pure consciousness.

Thereafter I soon synchronistically experienced a miraculous 1977 week in New York from which I began wondering about the reality of our earthly time, space and duality third dimension [3D] planet.

On returning to San Francisco from that miraculous week in New York, I began believing that our earthly time, space and duality existence is just an illusionary dream-like mirage. And I wanted to know: 1) how and when time began; and 2) whether there really are any earthly coincidences or accidents, or if everything that happens to us is predestined by laws of cause or karma.

Thereafter, I became experientially persuaded that our ever impermanent space/time duality causality reality – often called samsara or maya – is an endless illusionary projection of a mysterious Infinite Potentiality beyond conception, comprehension, or description. And that from the unavoidable ego-mind illusion of earthly third dimension [3D] time, space, and duality we are all, without exception, experiencing spiritual transformation and Awakened Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE .

I discovered and accepted Eastern Advaita-Vedanta non-duality philosophy, and similar non-duality teachings of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism, that the universe and time originated simultaneously from a state of emptiness or non-existence in a sort of cosmological “big bang”; that all that ever was, is, or will be is NOW.

The following “Cosmology Mythology” poem was inspired by my curiosity and intuitive speculation on how and why cosmic creation originated.

For reasons hereafter discussed and dedicated, I offer it for your inspiration and deep reflection.


Cosmology Mythology ~
From Beyond The Beginning,
To The Beginning And Beyond

Eternal Mystery:
Pure potentiality;
Infinite intelligence;
Plenum void, pregnant with cosmological constancy,

Matrix intending to manifest,
To realize and actualize infinite potentiality.

Aum thought –
Creation vibration:
Bursting brilliance of brightest light,
Ending endlesss night.

Silence sounding in
Ever resounding
Symphony of spheres.

Spiraling stardust:
Agglomerating and growing,
Glowing and flowing,
Cosmically, consciously,
Systemically, siderealy,
Galactically, fractally, spherically.

Mystery manifest
as life-formed multiplicities:
Rotating, revolving and
Ever evolving —
To complexities from simplicities.

Infinite Intelligence
Exploring, and communing –
With Itself,

In an autogyral
Endless spiral
Flowing up and beyond
The beyond.

In an autogyral
Endless spiral
Flowing up and beyond
The beyond.



Ron’s audio recitation of “Cosmology Mythology ~
From Beyond The Beginning, To The Beginning And Beyond”

Listen to



Ron’s explanation of “Cosmology Mythology ~
From Beyond The Beginning, To The Beginning And Beyond”


Dear Friends,

After my midlife spiritual awakening to Self-identity as Awareness, I rejected and ended previous beliefs about “Reality” and became very curious about how and why our cosmos was created.  

So introspectively I began wondering, e.g.:

“Did the cosmos appear from emptiness? 
What was its source – its matrix?  
Was it divinely created?  If so, why?
Did anything exist beyond its beginning? 
Will it ever end?  If so, will it begin again? 
What is its purpose, if any?” 



For example, while so wondering I composed  this metaphoric verse:

Life is a metaphoric metamorphosis process.

Gleaning meaning in matter,

we learn all that matters —

we learn all that matters is

LOVE!

Whether or not the foregoing Cosmology Mythology intuited verses ring true for you, may they inspire our wonder and amazement about our precious lives on this beautiful blue planet.  And thus, may they help us transcend long outdated beliefs about supposedly material reality which impede our reverential realization of ONE timeless spiritual Reality beyond materiality – a Universal Intelligence about which Albert Einstein observed:  


“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”

Dedication

May this Cosmology sutra-poem and mp3 recitation
encourage and inspire our deepest awe and gratitude
for our precious lives on this beautiful blue planet,
bringing us ever expanding fulfillment and happiness,
until our ultimate transcendence
of this permanently impermanent earth world
of space, time and duality
as ONE Divine LOVE.

 



And so may it be!


Ron Rattner

Forgiving the Past
To BE LOVE Now
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“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

“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins,”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20

“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

“There is only one time when it is essential to awaken.
That time is now.”

“That which is timeless is found now.”
~ Buddha

“Always say “yes” to the present moment.
What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is?
What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?
Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you, rather than against you.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“Life is NOW
Ever NOW
Never then.

Life is NOW
Ever NOW
Never then.

Life is NOW or never,
Life is NOW forever,

Life is NOW
Ever NOW
Never then.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“If the doors of perception were cleansed
everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
~ William Blake


“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things,
man will not himself find peace.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

“The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are.
Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

“Place your burden at the feet of the Lord of the universe
who is ever victorious and accomplishes everything.
Remain all the time steadfast in the heart,
in the Transcendental Absolute.
God knows the past, present and future.
He will determine the future for you and accomplish the work.
What is to be done will be done at the proper time.
Don’t worry. Abide in the heart and surrender your acts to the Divine.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

“The more you struggle to live, the less you live.
Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing.
Instead, surrender to what is real within you,
for that alone is sure….you are above everything distressing.”
~ Baruch Spinoza

“May you find grace as you surrender to life.
May you find happiness, as you stop seeking it.
May you come to trust these laws and inherit the wisdom of the Earth.
May you reconnect with the heart of nature and feel the blessings of Spirit.”
~ Dan Millman


Marc Chagall – The Praying Jew



Ron’s Introduction to Forgiving the Past
To BE LOVE Now




Dear Friends,

As a ninety year old faith-based optimist, I have explained in recent postings that we are experiencing an illusory low energy Earthly ‘reality’ of third dimension [3D] ego-mind space/time/and duality separation from each other and Nature, but that I now optimistically foresee our imminent quantum-leap ascension to a New Reality beyond unavoidable Earthly ego-mind illusions of seeming separation from Source.

Thus, as a global family of empathetic humans we are about to achieve a “critical mass” transformation enabling us to resolve our apparent Earth-life ‘critical mess’, by following our Sacred Heart’s innate empathy, compassion and LOVE for all people and all Life everywhere.

So today’s posting is dedicated to inspiring our newly elevated view of Forgiving the Past To BE LOVE Now

 – to inspiring our heartfelt surrender of illusions about space/time/and duality Earthly ego-mind ‘reality’ with ever-abiding Faith in our Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE.

Returning to “Godliness”

In lunar/solar new moon and equinox seasons of major religious ‘holy days’ we are often reminded that our spiritual goal is returning to “godliness” – to Ultimate Reality. This memoirs posting explains how we can advance our evolution toward attainment of that goal, by clearing past mental conditioning to increasingly be here NOW in the precious present.

Because this posting coincides with the Jewish High Holy Days, it emphasizes Yom Kippur communal practices of:
(1) non-judgmental forgiveness or atonement of supposed transgressions or ‘sins’ by or against us; and of
(2) annulment or rescission of obsolete and unhelpful private intentions, resolutions, or vows to ourselves or God.

Thus it explains that such practices, which are premised on societal awareness of inevitable limitation and fallibility of all incarnate humans, can be universally beneficial in advancing everyone’s spiritual evolution.

Also it explains why our spiritual evolution can be furthered by other practices or activities which help us quiet the mind and clear mental pre-conditioning to increasingly live moment by moment in the precious present, with Love as the supreme unifying principle of Life.

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.

“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

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.

Ron’s Concluding Comments

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 we ‘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(i)-minds. Thereby 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 insightfully discover that a fundamental solution to our ‘sinning’ problems is to forgive NOW (in the precious present), all mental mistakes which we and others have unknowing made.

That “to err is human; to forgive is Divine.”

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Faith-Based Surrender:
Comments and Predictions
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“Setting aside all noble deeds,
just surrender completely to the will of God.

I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve.”

~ Bhagavad Gita 18:66

“They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.”

~ Rumi
Grace is ever present.

All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.”

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“By letting it go it all gets done.

The world is won by those who let it go.

But when you try and try,
the world is beyond the winning.”

~ Lao Tzu
“Two things are necessary for the realization of God;
faith and self-surrender.”
“Surrender everything at the feet of God. …
Give Him the power of attorney.
Let Him do whatever He thinks best.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
“Surrender is faith
that the power of Love
can accomplish anything,
even when you cannot foresee the outcome.”

~ Deepak Chopra
We have nothing to surrender

But the idea

That we’re someone,

With something

To surrender.

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings




Ron’s Introduction to Faith-Based Surrender: Comments and Predictions

Dear Friends,

Because we are experiencing an illusory low energy Earth ‘reality’ of third dimension [3D] space/time/and duality separation from each other and Nature, most SillySutras postings have separately considered fundamental spiritual principles such as God, Love, Faith, Surrender, Ego, Devotion, Humility, Karma, Evolution and Transformation.

However, as a ninety year old faith-based optimist, I now foresee our imminent quantum-leap ascension to a New Reality beyond unavoidable Earthly ego-mind illusions of seeming separation from Source.

So today’s posting is dedicated to inspiring our newly elevated view of the above seemingly separate spiritual concepts, as interdependent appearances of Divine Grace, Faith, and Love, beyond all ego-mind illusions; thereby encouraging us to instinctively and irreversibly surrender such illusions with supreme Faith in our Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE.

Spiritual stories or parables have often metaphorically likened each of us as a traveler on an evolutionary journey, each with a unique dharmic path and perspective. In truth we are ONE non-dual Divinity which has incarnated into unique ’space/time soul-suits’ to experiment in time the infinite possibilities of such separate existence.

However, forgetting our true immortality and Divinity, we’ve egoically self-identified as separate and fallible mortal beings. And while mistakenly believing ourselves mortal, we have feared death, acted selfishly and suffered karmically.

But now, after countless reincarnations with countless trials and tribulations, we are remembering and realizing our Eternal Divinity as ONE Infinite LOVE. And to hasten our return process, many of us are skillfully and fearlessly using our thoughts as servants to our souls, instead of ignorantly suffering from ego-mind psychic domination.

And as we approach our return ‘destination’ we are realizing that everything and everyone is equally Divine, though each is in an apparently differing stage of returning to ONENESS. We are remembering that “In the beginning was the word and the word was God” ( John 1:1 ) And that “With our [human] thoughts, [we’ve made] the world.” ( Buddha )

Thus, as a global family of empathetic humans we are about to achieve a “critical mass” transformation enabling us to resolve our apparent Earth-life ‘critical mess’, by following our Sacred Heart’s innate empathy, compassion and LOVE for all people and all Life everywhere.

And with irreversible intuitive Faith, we shall surrender all ego-mind fears and separation illusions, to our heartfelt Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Choosing to Live in Hard Times
as The Best of Times
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . . and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18

“Deep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler – When You Don’t Choose Love You Choose Fear

“The choice that frees or imprisons us
is the choice of love or fear.
Love liberates. Fear imprisons.”
~ Gary Zukav

“Fear and Love cannot coexist.”
“So choose Love
And ever BE
Fearlessly FREE!”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

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

“As far, verily, as this world-space extends,
so far extends the space within the heart…”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 8.1.3

“If there is love in your heart,
you don’t have to worry about rules.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas

“Forces beyond our control can take away
our freedom to choose how we will respond to an outer situation.”
“When we are no longer able to change that situation –
we are challenged to change ourselves.”
~ Viktor E. Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning [edited by Ron Rattner]

“When we pray to God we must be seeking nothing — nothing.”

“We should seek not so much to pray, but to become prayer.”

~ Saint Francis of Assisi



“Our prayers should be for blessings in general,

for God knows best what is good for us.”

~ Socrates

“Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
~ Matthew 21:22

Remember with gratitude,
Life is beatitude –
Even its sorrows and pain;
For we’re all in God’s Grace,
Every time, every place, and
Forever (S)HE will reign!
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings





Ron’s Introduction to Choosing to Live in Hard Times as The Best of Times

Dear Friends,

At age ninety, my mortal physical body has been considerably weakened by age, symptoms from near death taxicab rundown injuries nine years ago, and post-pandemic lock-down restrictions closing public toilets and preventing my daily walks by SF Bay, and other usual activities.

However, though so weakened by body age, edicts and injury symptoms, I’m gratefully happier than ever before in this long precious human lifetime, with every day a bonus, and every breath a blessing.

Therefore, this memoirs posting explains with the above sutras and quotations, and the following comments how I’m able to psychologically and behaviorally live happily in current post-pandemic hard times.

Regardless of illusory but unavoidable Earthly ego-mind fears, I’ve remembered my eternal identity as infinitely powerful Divine LOVE. And that such ego fears and Love cannot coexist here.

So I’ve gratefully chosen to awaken each day by remembering and BEING Fearlessly FREE as Divine LOVE, in the following new ways:

1) All my daily procedures and practices prioritize spiritual over material activities, with nonjudgmental intention to help all other sentient Earth-beings.

2) They include simplification of usual routines, and undoing unneeded ideas and behaviors.

3) Daily practices include meditations, prayers, and mantras, blessing all sentient beings, and bestowing increased happiness for all people with whom I have face to face, telephone or internet customer service contacts.

Therefore, the above sutras and quotations and the following explanatory comments are posted to encourage and help us live happily in hard times.

Ron’s unusual ancestral and birthday background

Over a century ago both my maternal and paternal ancestors fled Ukraine to escape from Tsarist persecutions for their Jewish religious practices. Each of my parents were Rattner surname first cousins, whose families all lived near Kiev. And my father and his extended family fled for their lives from a Ukrainian village similar to the fictional village portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof, the popular Broadway play and film.

Into that unusual Rattner surname Ukrainian lineage, I was born on election day November 8th, 1932, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was first elected 32nd President of the USA, during “hard times” of the 1930’s and a great global depression, when many were unemployed hungry and suffering from intense fear and exploitation.

In his first inaugural address FDR wisely observed that

“The only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt


Roosevelt’s New Deal programs

The “hard times” of the 1930’s led to Roosevelt’s pioneering New Deal programs (like Social Security) benefiting most Americans, public works projects, financial reforms and beneficial regulations.

For example, the WPA (Works Project Administration) was established and federally funded to employ most unemployed people not only on crucial public works projects, but also to further the arts. Hence there were projects employing artists, musicians, actors, and writers.

In prior postings, I’ve shown that the most spiritually advanced societies have honored all their art and artists, who communicate deep feelings of instinctive spiritual wisdom beyond words.

And Roosevelt’s New Deal era programs wisely began by honoring Nature, art and artists in those hard times. As 20th century precedents they can inspire our chosen behaviors in current 21st century hard times.

Instead of following our “leaders”, we can each claim our unlimited power as ONE Eternal LOVE to fearlessly and lovingly follow our Sacred Heart until each unique sacred soul is dharmically dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE.

Our “leaders”

For eons, masses of Earthly humans (experimentally forgetting their common Divine birthright as Eternal beings of love and light, and thus fearfully believing themselves separate in space and time from each other and Nature), have been hierarchically exploited and ruled through religious, military, or political dogma by very few self-proclaimed leaders who’ve been obscenely rich, or allegedly infallible royal beings.

As psychopaths without morality, they’ve become dominant in most major human governments and empires. And most people have accepted and followed these leaders without questioning their psychopathically selfish motives even though they constitute less than 1% of Earthly humanoids.

But gradually an increasing number of people have morally refused to follow these rulers, unless apathetic, indoctrinated, or intimidated.

And such refusals are becoming crucial since these autocrats can exist only in low energy matrix biospheres, like Earth’s third density illusory world of space/time and duality. They cannot exist in elevated biosphere energies of infinitely potential fifth dimensions and above. So these evil rulers keep frightening and intimidating people to prevent their energetic ascensions to higher dimensions.

Reasons for choosing to live lovingly in current hard times

Even in this ominous era, I’m spiritually optimistic about survival of Human Earth-life, despite unprecedented global warfare, suffering and turmoil, dire “end times” predictions of cataclysmic climate collapse, and Earth’s domination by evil autocrats, because:


1) I’ve realized that “Our destiny is Divinity” since we’re not what we think we are, but Infinite Eternal Awareness!

2) As unique immortal souls we are each dharmically destined to be dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE beyond unavoidable third dimension space/time duality[3D] Earthly ego-mind fears and illusions. We each transcend inescapable ego-mind fears and illusions at rates dependent upon whether our unique thoughts and behaviors are loving or selfish – helpful or harmful.

3) Moreover, there is no death. Death is just an energy transition, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE. It’s an illusory belief that our lives end when our mortal bodies no longer function.

4) Karmically, as each unique soul evolves to ever ascending energy planes, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, forever free of unhappiness and disharmony until dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE beyond unavoidably fearful Earthly third dimension space/time duality[3D] “realty”.

5) While subjected to ever fearful ego-mind, we inevitably exist with karmic cause and effect sufferings from the earthly illusion of space/time/duality “realty”. But the more we intentionally lovingly follow our Sacred Heart the more we enjoy happy lives, and the less we suffer from perpetually unknown karmic causes and conditions.

6} Ultimately, we’ve never been separated from our Eternal Source Mother/Father/God. So we have nothing to fear – EVER

Conclusion, Dedication, and Invocation

We now live in an inevitably illusory and fear-pervaded low energy earthly biosphere of third dimension [3D] space/time and duality, where love and fear cannot co-exist.

As each unique soul inevitably evolves from the illusory space/time duality third dimension [3D] to ever ascending energy planes, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, forever free of unhappiness and disharmony until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God,
as ONE LOVE.

The spiritual insights about Love and Fear, expressed in the above key quotations, sutras and explanatory comments, are deeply dedicated to advancing and elevating our dharmically destined transcendence of all infinitely potential ego/mind biospheres to our Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE.

Invocation

May these writings about choosing to live lovingly and fearlessly in current hard times inspire and advance our dharmically destined Eternal Self-identification as ONE Divine LOVE.



And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


Only Breath ~ by Rumi


“That which permeates all,
which nothing transcends and which,
like the universal space around us,
fills everything completely from within and without,
that Supreme non-dual Brahman —
that thou art.”

~ Shankaracharya






Only Breath ~ by Rumi

Not Christian or Jew or
Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion

or cultural system. I am
not from the east
or the west, not
out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not
natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,

am not an entity in this
world or the next,
did not descend from
Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is
the placeless, a trace
of the traceless.
Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two
worlds as one and
that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner,
only that breath breathing
human being.

(Translation by Coleman Barks, from Essential Rumi)