Posts Tagged ‘creation’
Transformation
“The identification of pure awareness with the mind and its creations
causes the [mistaken] apprehension of both an objective world
and a [separate] perceiver of it.”
~ Patanjali – Yoga Sutras
“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
~ Buddha
“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong.
What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.”
“There is no place in this new kind of physics both for the field and matter, for the [Quantum] field is the only reality.”
~ Albert Einstein
“All things are vibrating energy fields in ceaseless motion. ….
What we perceive as physical matter
is energy vibrating (moving) at a particular range of frequencies.
Thoughts consist of the same energy
vibrating at a higher frequency than matter,
which is why they cannot be seen or touched.
Thoughts have their own range of frequencies,
with negative thoughts at the lower end of the scale
and positive thoughts at the higher.”
~ Eckhart Tolle – A New Earth
Lofty intentions fuel our ascensions
to higher dimensions.
So, always aspire to be ever higher.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s Introduction to “Transformation”
Dear Friends,
Ancient shamans, seers, and indigenous societies have intuitively known for millennia that there is a cosmic web of life connecting everything and everyone in Nature – from the greatest galaxies to the tiniest sub-atomic particles; that we are each an integral inter-connected part of Nature’s web of life – not separate from it; and that, as Albert Einstein observed:
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
Today’s posting, like most other SillySutras postings, is intended to inspire our spiritual evolution, and thereby to help us live ever happier lives.
The spiritual evolution process is often called “transformation”. So today’s posting includes quotations, comments and the following brief poem, titled “Transformation”, (with mp3 recitation) about our spiritual awakening to ever elevated states of Being.
My comments after the poetic verses help explain the spiritual importance of “Transformation”. Please consider them as you enjoy this “Transformation” posting.
Ron Rattner
Transformation
Transformation and
transfiguration
– like creation –
are vibration.
So, elevation
of vibration
of creation
brings transformation
and transfiguration
of manifestation.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Transformation”
Ron’s explanation of “Transformation”
Dear Friends,
Most SillySutras postings are intended to help us live ever happier, loving, and more peaceful lives, while we still mentally self-identify as mortals separate from each other and Nature. Without emphasis on any path or teacher, they are aimed at inspiring our spiritual transformation from the unavoidable earthly third dimension [3D] ego-mind illusion of time, space, and duality toward awakened eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE
Though very rare awakened Avatars have achieved transformation from Humanity to Divinity – from human consciousness to superconsciousness – the overwhelmingly vast majority of Humankind are still spiritually evolving, experientially learning from life, and remembering our true Divine Self-identity.
“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished.
If you’re alive, it isn’t.”
~ Richard Bach
“If you’re not dead yet, you’re not done yet.”
~ Elizabeth Gilbert (quoting her mother)
Mystics tell us that our beautiful planet Earth is an ever impermanent and illusory mental reality created by our behaviors and thoughts – a dreamlike mirage.
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~Buddha
Though Einstein’s insights revolutionized our scientific understanding of space/time “reality”, most humans haven’t yet changed their ways of thinking about such illusionary “reality”.
Until now, most Humankind have mistakenly kept behaving as if they are separated from each other and Nature, and not part of it. This behavior has resulted in continuing selfishness, cruelty, wars and unsustainable and disharmonious exploitation of each other and our beautiful planet.
But gradually we are awakening. From seeing everyone and everything as discrete, and separated by apparently immutable boundaries, we are more and more realizing that everyone and everything shares Universal awareness as our common essence and Eternal Source.
Depending on whether we are in harmony or dis-harmony with Nature, our unique thoughts and behaviors either hasten or impede our spiritual evolution and transformation.
Invocation
Ever mindful that we are eternally interconnected
and coexist with all Life on our beautiful blue planet Earth,
let us ever BE loving, kind, compassionate, and harmonious
with all earthly beings and lifeforms.
Ever mindful that Nature is our nature,
let us see and cherish Nature in everything and everyone.
Ever mindful of our existence as ONE Divine LOVE,
let us always BE and live as eternal LOVE!
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Monistic Musings – Reflections and Questions on “God” and Divinity
“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion.
It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology.
Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity.”
~ Albert Einstein
“You are “gods”; you are all children of the Most High.”
~ Psalm 82:6
“Let never day nor night unhallow’d pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done.”
~ William Shakespeare
Remember God, forget the rest.
Forget who you think you are,
to know what you really are.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s Introduction to his “Monistic Musings”
Dear Friends,
After my spiritual awakening I began wondering why many monotheistic religious fundamentalists – especially Jews, Christians and Moslems – historically espoused different, dogmatic and disharmonious views of their “ONE God”. And I reflected on why monotheistic fundamentalism had often resulted in religious crusades, inquisitions, and jihads against alleged heretics or nonbelievers in the one true God or Messiah.
Later, after my introduction to Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist non-dualism teachings (which I accepted as valid and consistent with Western monotheism), I learned that those Eastern religions also had violent fundamentalist sects; that for example Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by an opinionated Hindu fundamentalist opposed to Gandhi’s advocacy of egalitarian and nonviolent Hindu-Muslim tolerance and cooperation.
As I reflected philosophically, I rhetorically asked and answered the following musings about monotheism, God, and divinity which I’ve called “Monistic Musings – Reflections and Questions on “God” and Divinity”.
These rhetorical ruminations have increasingly helped me remember and revere the Divine Holiness of everyone, everything, everywhere, with ever expanding gratitude for this hallowed human lifetime.
They are shared with the deep aspiration that they may similarly inspire all of us, until ultimately we realize that everything’s holy; and, that nothing’s really Real, but Divine LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Monistic Musings – Reflections and Questions on “God” and Divinity
Q. What is “God”?
A. “God” is a word – a noun –
with countless connotations,
different for different people –
all believing or disbelieving in “God”.
Thus, “God” did not create humans,
but humans created “God” – with thoughts from
ruminations, revelations, intuitions, and speculations.
For many monotheists
“God” is a universally Supreme Deity,
and sole Creator and Ruler of the universe;
and, “God” is a “he” word,
meaning an anthropomorphic male deity,
with supernatural yet human-like qualities.
But, in this duality “reality”,
gender is everywhere in everything.
So, how can there be just one such God?
Isn’t it so that for every such God,
there’s got to be a Goddess;
for every “he” God, a “she” God?
Thus, mustn’t any unitary Divinity,
be beyond gender and duality –
and so, transcend this polarity “reality”?
And if Transcendent,
though universally immanent,
mustn’t such a sole Divinity
be infinite, ineffable and inconceivable?
So how can we describe,
denominate, or depict THAT?
Even if we neuter it,
how can we name it?
Doesn’t any designation of unitary Divinity,
tend to divide and disrupt humanity?
What about atheists who ardently deny Divinity,
versus convinced theists and deists?
And what about religious fundamentalists?
Aren’t “God”, Allah, and Adonoi,
the same ‘Supreme Being’?
And if there is just one “God”,
how can that one God
be a different “true God”
for Christians, Muslims, and Jews
and their diverse denominations?
If one “true God” is the same
for all those religions,
what do they fight and shout about?
‘Methinks they protest too much’
because they really can’t conceive Divinity.
Don’t their fundamentalist shouts
disclose their doubts
about the identity of Divinity?
And isn’t there a connection between
monotheistic fundamentalism
and messianic fanaticism?
If one “true God” is the sole benevolent
Creator and Ruler of the Universe,
why did “S/He” create a world
with so much suffering and sorrow?
Why not a perpetual paradise without evil?
How can “S/He” allow holocausts
and other terrible calamities?
In projecting “God” as Creator,
don’t we just reify and deify
our doubts about Divinity?
Did “God” create karma and causation?
If so, why?
So, can we get beyond speculating and
arguing about “God” and Creation?
And can we transcend
dogmatic divisive designations of Divinity?
Can’t we be tolerant
of all benevolent religions,
moral codes, and philosophies?
Can we – as the Buddha –
avert theistic speculation
that “tends not to edification?”
Buddhists aren’t theists or deists.
They don’t believe in a Creator God –
but they pray a lot.
I wonder who they’re praying to?
And I wonder who’s listening to their prayers –
and to everyone else’s prayers?
Isn’t it the same universal Awareness?
If so, how can we ever know?
How can we infer, find,
and know “God”
only through reason,
rather than revelation,
inner insight, or intuition?
If there is a universal Divinity
transcending our “reality”,
what is it’s identity?
Can we ever know such Divinity –
mystically, experientially, intuitively –
while yet dwelling in duality?
Can we know the Immortal
before leaving “this mortal coil”?
Or must first we depart or die,
to be “born to Eternal life”?
To know the Immortal,
must we abjure desire
for earthly pleasures and ways
of this world?
Can’t we be “in this world
but not of this world”?
If so, how?
How, when and where shall we seek God?
Shall we follow doctrines, dogmas, or ideologies
from ‘outer’ authorities or theologies?
Or, as unique beings,
shall we each look within
and follow our Sacred Heart?
Doesn’t inner infinity ‘create’ outer “reality”?
So, isn’t inner infinity true Divinity?
And isn’t true Divinity
Eternal Mystery?
The Bible says:
“Ask, and it shall be given..; seek, and ye shall find.”
So, now that we’ve asked all these questions,
will “God’” answer them?
God Knows!?
Ron’s Dedication of “Monistic Musings”
Dear Friends,
As explained in the above introduction, my curiosity and continuing reflections about disharmonious monotheistic views of One God and the true Messiah motivated the foregoing “Monistic Musings”, and have helped me increasingly experience the Divine Holiness of everyone, everything, everywhere.
So these musings are dedicated to inspiring all of us to see ourselves as “children of the Most High” [Psalm 82:6], until ultimately – beyond all illusory ego-mind perceptions of separation from each other and Nature – we inevitably realize our common SELF identity as Divine LOVE!
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
God is a Word
“In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God
and the word was God”
~ John 1:1
“And God said to Moses,
I AM THAT I AM”
~ Exodus 3:14
“An important part of the adventure of life is to get hold of the mind, and to keep that controlled mind constantly attuned to the Lord. This is the secret of a happy, successful existence.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda — Man’s Eternal Quest
“God alone is the Doer.
Everything happens by His will.”
~ Ramakrishna Paramahansa
Remember God, forget the rest.
Forget who you think you are,
to know what you really are.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Consciousness is always Self-Consciousness.
If you are conscious of anything,
you are essentially conscious of yourself.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“This separation between man and man,
between nation and nation, between earth and moon,
between moon and sun . . does not exist, it is not real” ;
“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”
God is a Word*
Q. What is God?
A. As the Bible says – God is word:
A word used by different people
to designate their different ideas
of a transcendent power;
An omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotence
which they may intuit, accept or reject,
but can’t ever comprehend.
Nor can such transcendent power
ever be aptly named.
For any designation would
constitute limitation
of the illimitable –
THAT.
So, whether or not the “universe” was created by God,
“God” is a word created by humans.
But, just as ‘a rose by any other name is the same’,
However humankind calls or tries to imagine it
There exists an indescribable infinitely potential and supreme Power:
An Absolute Reality and Existence, and Origin of All,
as
THAT.
Footnote.
*Innumerable words – God, Love, Nature, etc. – may be used to signify an ineffably infinite divine Power or any of its infinite potential 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 Comments about “God is a Word”
Dear Friends,
The word “God” is extremely common. Countless people commonly curse, exclaim, read, think, or pray to “God”. “In God we trust” appears on all US currency and coins.
But who of us has deeply considered what “God” really means to us or other life-forms? How many times have we unthinkingly uttered or heard such exclamations as “thank God!” “God bless you”, “God love you” – or even curses including the word “God” – without wondering about their significance.
Encouraged by my beloved Guruji I have spent much of my post-retirement life-period reflecting about “God”, and other synonymous words. And I’ve found that our beliefs and concepts about “God” evolve as we evolve spiritually; and that continually contemplating God as non-duality Reality furthers our evolution.
The above poetic essay was composed to propose that “God” is a word used by different people to designate their different ideas of a transcendent power, which ultimately is beyond words. Thus, it explains that humans created the word “God” – with thoughts from ruminations, revelations, intuitions, and speculations, paradoxically trying to identify THAT which is beyond words, beyond all thought.
It is offered to encourage exploration of our common inner Divinity and SELF-identity – in furtherance of our (conscious or subliminal) universal longing for a state of ONENESS with Divinity – with “God” or THAT.
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
~ Proverbs 23:7
“A man is but the product of his thoughts;
what he thinks, he becomes.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~Buddha
With our continuing reflections and thoughts about “God”, may we increasingly discover and experience our joyously loving common inner Divinity – until ultimately we non-dually melt and merge immortally as ONE Divine LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Creation”/ “Evolution”/ Rumination
“We never cease to stand like curious children
before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Whence come I and whither go I?
That is the great unfathomable question,
the same for every one of us.
Science has no answer to it.”
~ Max Planck
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.
Never lose a holy curiosity.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Sometimes the questions are complicated
and the answers are simple.”
~ Dr. Seuss
The quest is in the question.
The question is the answer.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
When questioning begins, certainty ends.
When certainty ends, wisdom begins.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Creation”/ “Evolution”/ Rumination
Was space/time causality “reality” ‘created’ 5000 years ago
– or previously?
Or is “reality” ever ‘created’ instant by instant
– ever NOW?
If so, how?
Is there a Divine ‘design plan’?
If so, who is the Divine ‘designer’? Is S/HE friendly?
And if so, why and how did S/HE ‘design’ “reality”?
Is evolution ever implicit in “creation”?
As evolution happens, who/what evolves:
‘Human consciousness’? Living organisms? Beings? “Life”? “Reality”?
Is evolution inevitable, or just optional;
is it imperative, or just elective?
Do we always evolve, or sometimes devolve?
What is our Source?
Do we emerge from Divinity?
After ‘creation’, do we seek our Source,
as a matter of course?
Do we ultimately dissolve in Divinity
– and merge with Mystery?
Does Spirit mind,
and does mind matter?
What really matters?
It’s all MYSTERY!
Ron’s comments on “Creation”/ “Evolution”/ Rumination, and
about finding ever increasing happiness with continuing curiosity
Dear Friends,
The foregoing whimsical “Creation”/ “Evolution”/ Rumination poetic inquiry/essay was composed with great curiosity after my mid-life change of life, which began an immeasurably helpful and still continuing spiritual questioning process.
Thanks to continuing curiosity with open-minded uncertainty, I’ve sometimes been blessed with seemingly simple spiritual answers to complicated questions about “reality”, “self-identity”, and societal insanity – insightful answers which have brought ever-increasing happiness to my life, from intuitive levels of awareness beyond prior conceptual consciousness.
For example, inspired by curiosity I’ve occasionally received and shared ‘simple’ sutras, like these about “reality”, “death” and “silence”:
“Reality isn’t Real”;
Theory of Everything: e = mc2 = consciousness = Self”;
“Remember God, forget the rest”;
“Birth and Death are virtual,
but Life is perpetual”;
“In the beginning was the Word,
but in the end Silence says all.”
As these sutras suggest, thanks to continuing curiosity with open-minded uncertainty I have discovered and adopted helpful new life paradigms, which were unimagined before my spiritual awakening. And ultimately I’ve concluded that beyond all intellectual inquiry – beyond thought – there is only Mystery.
I’ve shared my curiosity questioning process, and the preceding poetic inquiry/essay, sincerely aspiring to encourage all of us to seek and discover within ever increasing spiritual happiness, by following Albert Einstein’s wise advice:
“Never lose a holy curiosity” . . . .
“The important thing is not to stop questioning”.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
