Posts Tagged ‘fallibility’
Human Potential Differential?
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~ Buddha
“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
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“When I despair, I remember that all through history
the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers
and for a time they seem invincible,
but in the end they always fall — think of it. Always.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“All is a play in consciousness.
All divisions are illusory.
You can know the false only.
The true you must yourself be.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“This earth is nothing but movies to me.
Just like the beam of a motion picture.
So is everything made of shadow and light.
That’s what we are. Light and shadows of the Lord.
Nothing else than that.
There’s one purpose. To get to the beam.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda-Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 30
“This whole creation is essentially subjective,
and the dream is the theater
where the dreamer is at once:
scene, actor, prompter, stage manager, author, audience, and critic.”
~ Carl Gustav Jung
“Cultivate compassion;
harvest happiness.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Evolution is an endless process –
from nescience to gnosis to apotheosis;
from bestial to celestial.
We ever evolve as our boundaries dissolve.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Introduction
Dear Friends,
For many years I wondered whether human ignorance was leading us to unavoidable ‘end-times’; whether human evolution was inevitable, or just optional. I observed greatly contrasting behavioral differences between people in various stages of evolution – from barbarians to Buddhas – and wondered whether those who were selfish, violent, or warlike would ‘condemn’ us all.
The following sutra verses (first composed many years ago) reflect a prior perspective, which is explained and augmented in my optimistic comments below about human potential in current “new normal” times.
Ron Rattner
Human Potential Differential?
Q. Can humankind transform:
From bestial to celestial?
From infernal to supernal?
From barbarians to Buddhas?
From sinners to saints?
From selfishness to selflessness?
From immorality to immortality?
A. YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES !!!!
As medieval alchemists transmuted lead into gold,
God inevitably transforms Humanity into Divinity –
transmutes suffering into LOVE.Transformation is inevitable,
but pace of process is optional.Depending on karmic causes and conditions,
we ‘reap as we sow’.As we cultivate compassion;
we harvest happiness, until
we melt and disappear timelessly –Soul drops of Mystery
in an Ocean of Divinity –
as Eternal LOVE.
Ron’s Human Potential Differential Commentary:
Dear Friends,
During many years of relative solitude, I deeply questioned and reflected on whether human ignorance was leading us to unavoidable ‘end-times’; whether human evolution was inevitable, or just optional. Ultimately, I concluded that human evolution is inevitable while our pace of progress is optional.
After George W. Bush, Jr. was selected as 43rd US President, I learned that he and the Dalai Lama shared the same July 6th birth date. From my perspective at that time the Dalai Lama was a Buddha, whilst Bush was a barbarian.
Then I soon read with utter amazement, that despite Bush’s patently dishonest warlike behaviors and responsibility for millions of Iraqi civilian deaths, (in a CNN TV interview) the Dalai Lama publicly pronounced his uncritical love and praise for Bush as a human being.
Until then I had admired the 14th Dalai Lama as a paragon of wisdom and compassion, but I could not reconcile his status as renowned spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism with his patently paradoxical endorsement of Bush. As a long time social justice attorney, based upon irrefutable factual evidence, I regarded Bush as legally responsible and culpable for various international war crimes and impeachable domestic “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
The foregoing poetic verses were initially published as I reflected upon seeming paradoxical inconsistencies between the Dalai Lama’s elevated spiritual status and his public political pronouncements.
Recognizing the fallibility of all incarnate humans (especially Ron Rattner), and convinced of the unerringly accurate law of karmic causes and conditions, I have given to the highest Inner Authority (above any outer Ruler) my irrevocable ‘power of attorney’ to eternally judge and forgive all apparent human immorality. My power of attorney includes religious, secular, or political “leaders” who instigate, condone, or cover up official acts of aggression responsible for countless avoidable deaths and immense sufferings of innocent civilians, women and children.
Epilogue: Human potential in current “new normal” times.
In these crazy turbulent “new normal” times of unprecedented global suffering and turmoil, I steadfastly remain a dedicated spiritual optimist, despite dire predictions of the cataclysmic end of human life as we have known it. I’m optimistic because I’ve learned that Life is eternal and there is no death; that we are immortal souls who’ve temporarily forgotten our timelessly true Self-identity as Divine LOVE
For countless ages rare Avatars have revealed that with our thoughts we unknowingly create an illusory and dreamlike perceived duality “reality”, which they call maya or samsara; that we are not what we think we are, but Infinite Eternal Awareness!
From what I’ve learned from these revelations and decades of life experience, I’m irreversibly optimistic about survival of Human life, for the following reasons:
1) We are not what we think we are, but Infinite Eternal Awareness!
2) What we call relative duality “reality” isn’t really real; it’s merely an illusory mental mirage of supposed separation from each other and Nature; just a persistent optical illusion and play in Cosmic consciousness.
3) Cosmically, there is no space or time, just Eternal NOW! Life is eternal and there is no death. What we call “death” is just eternal spirit vacating an illusory physical vehicle.
4) We are not our mortal physical bodies; their genders, features, colors, religions, beliefs, emotions, habits or stories – or the ‘voices in our heads’.
5) We are immortal souls confused by ego, who’ve temporarily forgotten our true Self-identity as ONE eternal Divine LOVE, and are mistakenly believing ourselves to be separate physical mortals.
6) While confused by ego, we are unavoidably subject to inevitable karmic cause and effect suffering from the earthly illusion of space/time/duality. But the more we intentionally live fearlessly, lovingly and forgivingly, the more we will enjoy happy lives, and the less we’ll suffer from karmic causes and conditions.
Invocation
May today’s verses, quotations and explanations
help hasten our inevitable process
from nescience to gnosis to apotheosis.
Remembering that we reap as we sow,
may we ever more choose to cultivate compassion
and harvest happiness
for everyone everywhere.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
What is Perfection?
“All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who think or claim they’re perfect.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth
who continually does good and who never sins”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
“The man with insight enough to admit his limitations
comes nearest to perfection.”
~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Were I to await perfection, my book would never be finished.”
~ Chinese Proverb
“Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic,
and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress,
driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions.
Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind.”
~ H.H. the Dalai Lama
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.”
~ Leonard Cohen
“This is the very perfection of a man,
to find out his own imperfections.”
~ Saint Augustine
“Advance, and never halt,
for advancing is perfection.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are,
and are not the way they are not.
As you can see, this universe is perfect.”
~ Werner Erhard, est
“Incarnation is limitation.”
“All is perfection,
but nobody’s perfect.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
What is Perfection?
Q. What is perfection?
A. “Perfection” is an idea;
a conception in duality reality.
Perfection implies imperfection.
So in relative reality we can’t have perfection without imperfection.
And in Ultimate Reality beyond relative reality,
there is no perfection.
Ultimate Reality is beyond conception,
and so beyond “perfection”.
Q. What is perfection?
A. “Perfection” is an idea;
a conception in duality reality.
Perfection implies imperfection.
So in relative reality we can’t have perfection without imperfection.
And in Ultimate Reality beyond relative reality,
there is no perfection.
Ultimate Reality is beyond conception,
and so beyond “perfection”.
Ron’s Reflections on “What is Perfection?”
Dear Friends,
Have you ever met a ‘perfect’ person? Or perceived or projected “perfection” in this crazy world of ecological, political, and economic crises and constant conflicts? Have you ever considered seeking inner “perfection” as a life goal?
Before my mid-life change of life, I had never reflected on ideas of “perfection”.
But soon thereafter I attended “est”, an impactful self-help seminar where I was first exposed to certain Eastern spirituality principles skillfully collected and experientially presented to help participants radically transform their lives.
The key est teaching was acceptance of the present moment – emotionally accepting “what is” because it could not be otherwise. [See Getting “IT” at est, ] Apt to this teaching was the foregoing “perfection” definition, by est’s founder Werner Erhard:
“Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are,
and are not the way they are not.
As you can see, this universe is perfect.”
Intrigued by est, I began reflecting about “perfection” and sometimes wrote sutras and essays, later posted online. Accordingly, many Silly Sutras postings deal with my evolving reflections on “perfection”. Because these reflections significantly have helped my spiritual opening process, I have shared them hoping they may help others, as they have helped me.
After est, I soon realized that in our phenomenal duality reality “perfection” is an idea, which implies it’s opposite – imperfection; that we can’t have one, without the other. So, a “perfect” person isn’t possible.
Ultimately, I became persuaded by non-duality teachings discouraging “vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative” – and impermanent.
But for a while I mistakenly believed that there were exceptions to my conclusion that an infallible “perfect” person isn’t possible.
This happened after I was blessed to meet my beloved venerable Hindu guru, Sri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas. [ See The Luckiest Day of My Life ~ Meeting My Spiritual Master ] and also met certain other “enlightened” spiritual teachers in the US and India. Whereupon, I became a “born-again Hindu”, and read and recited Eastern scriptures and liturgy glorifying divinity of “gurus” and awakened “buddhas”.
Naively, I thereafter began projecting “perfection” onto Guruji and a few other “enlightened” teachers. But, ultimately, I realized from inner and outer experience that incarnation is limitation, and that however evolved an incarnate being may be s/he is fallible; that here on Earth, where we experience life in apparent physical bodies, human fallibility ‘goes with the territory’ – that “to err is human”.
With that realization, I ceased projecting “perfection” onto individuals and began relying on inner – not outer – authority. No longer a “born-again Hindu” I became, and remain, an “Uncertain Undo” , seeking relief from belief.
My devotional motto became, and remains:
“Adoration of the Infinite; not adulation of the incarnate”.
And I wrote The Law of Flaw, a poem beginning with these verses:
All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who think or claim they’re perfect.
In reading the seemingly contradictory above quotes about perfection please remember that in this impermanent world of relativity and duality words often point paradoxically or metaphorically to Eternal truth, which is ineffable. So
“The truest sayings are paradoxical.”
~ Lao Tzu
Whether or not we may agree that “perfection is a state in which things are the way they are, and are not the way they are not”, I hope this perfection definition helps you – as it helped me – find inner peace and happiness by emotionally accepting “what is” NOW, because it could not be otherwise.
But let us remember that emotionally accepting the present moment need not deter us from questioning or nonviolently resisting – like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi – pervasive suffering and injustice caused by human ignorance and greed, while envisioning our evolutionary transcendence thereof.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
The Law of Flaw
“All is perfection,
But nobody’s perfect.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Incarnation is limitation.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth
who continually does good and who never sins.”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.
It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken
and the wisest might err.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Incarnation is limitation.
All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who claim or think they’re perfect.
The greatest self-delusion
is the conviction of being
beyond self-delusion.
The fewer our fears,
the fewer our flaws.
“He who is without sin
cast the first stone.”
He who is without vice,
give the first advice.
High flyers, Beware!
All people are fallible,
and fallible means fall -able.
So, the higher we fly
the further we may fall.
Ron’s audio recitation of The Law of Flaw
