Posts Tagged ‘Mahmud Shabestari’
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.
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
The best things in Life are Forever FREE!
~ Ron’s Memoirs
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
Introduction to “The best things in Life are Forever FREE!
~ Ron’s Memoirs”
Dear Friends,
At age ninety, I’m updating my memoirs to emphasize my most significant spiritual perspectives and insights learned so far during this precious human lifetime.
Today’s “Forever FREE!” posting was originally inspired by “The Best Things in Life Are Free”, a frequently popular song composed in 1927 for the musical play “Good News” during the economic stock market boom that preceded the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash, which led to a worldwide great economic depression.
In prior postings, I’ve shown how all musical art can communicate deep feelings of instinctive wisdom beyond words, until we gratefully Awaken Spiritually as ONE LOVE beyond time.
And I’ve found these lyrics to be spiritually insightful and inspiring:
Prelude
“There are so many kinds of riches,
And only one of them is gold.
Though wealth you miss,
Remember this :
Worthwhile things cannot be bought or sold.
The best things in Life are FREE!”
Refrain
“The moon belongs to everyone—
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and me
The flowers in spring, the robins that sing
The sunbeams that shine
They’re yours!—They’re mine!
And love can come to everyone—
The best things in life are free!”
My following summary and comments about today’s post will help explain the spiritual prescience of these lyrics; that although we are each unique, we are each dharmically destined to Awaken Spiritually as ONE LOVE beyond time.
Summary
Always remember that our ultimate identity is immortal Cosmic Consciousness as ONE LOVE.
We’ve appeared on Earth to experimentally experience illusionary time, space and duality as ego-embodied supposedly separated forms, but we’ve never really been separate from Mother/Father/God – our Eternal Source.
To be alive is to BE LOVE. Infinite Eternal LOVE is all that exists. As Jesus taught ‘We and our Mother/Father/God are One’.
There is no death. Death is just an energy transition, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE. It is an illusory belief that our lives end when our mortal bodies no longer function.
So we’ve nothing to fear. Nor need we accept as “real” any perceived Earth-life threats to our immortality.
Remembering that our separation from ONE LOVE never happened, we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
Background
Over forty five years ago, I began seeing Earth-life as an experiment in dense 3D space/time, with each human soul on a unique dharmic path to solving that energy experiment by forever following their Heart.
Recently, I’ve been optimistically predicting that our Earthly experiment in time will soon end, as a “critical mass” of human souls imminently awakens from eons of matrix thralldom. I foresee that Mother/Father/God will (as destined) soon honor Earth-Mother’s Nature to preserve it, rather than allow it to cataclysmically end.
I’m optimistic because our separate 3D Earth-world of mental fears and sufferings was not Divinely planned, but collectively chosen by human souls to experimentally experience illusionary time, space and duality, as an imagined separate reality.
And I’m especially optimistic since I’ve realized that Human souls have nothing to fear – EVER, because our illusionary perceived earth-life separation from Mother/Father/God as Infinite Eternal LOVE never happened.
Ron’s explanations of why The Best Things In Life Are Forever FREE!
1) What Humans call “Life” is an illusory concept in space/time and duality.
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
2) Time is an illusion, of every Earthly human soul’s separation from its Eternal Source.
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
3) The human soul’s fate in space and time is subject to free-will karmic cause and effect.
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
4) In illusory space/time and duality, the soul remains in form as a potentially infinitely expanding energy entity, until dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God, its Source.
5) 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.
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear
and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi
“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi
“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
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear
and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi
“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi
“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
6) The unique key for each soul’s transcendence of fear is found within each One’s Sacred Heart.
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“
You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ 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
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“
You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ 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
7) Until dissolved as formless ONENESS, each soul is a multi-dimensional fractal hologram, appearing infinitely in form.
“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
“Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm
“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
“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
“Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm
“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
8) Ultimately, Humanity’s illusionary perceived earth-life separation from Mother/Father/God – our Eternal Source never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
Conclusion and Dedication
As each unique soul 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.
This “Forever Free” posting is deeply dedicated to inspiring each of us
to lovingly follow our Sacred Heart until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God,
as ONE LOVE
Invocation
May these writings inspire and encourage
each of us to lovingly follow our unique Sacred Heart
until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God
as ONE LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Al Jolson, Mario Lanza, and Frank Sinatra Singing The best things in Life are FREE!
Remembering Wisdom Beyond Words And Mind With Mystical Music ~ Ron’s Memoirs
There’s a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us, somewhere.
There’s a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time to spare,
Time to learn, time to care.
Some day!
Somewhere!
~ West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein music, Stephen Sondheim lyrics.
“Nothing escapes the Principle of Cause and Effect,
but there are many Planes of Causation,
and one may use the laws of the higher
to overcome the laws of the lower.”
– The Kybalion
“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end,
by forces over which we have no control.
It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star.
Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust,
we all dance to a mysterious tune,
intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” .
“Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free
but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions.”
~ Albert Einstein
“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.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”
~ George Orwell, “1984”
“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
“Perception is a mirror, not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”.
~ Shakespeare [ Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2]
“Reality cannot be found except in One single source,
because of the interconnection of all things with one another.”
~ Gottfried Leibniz, 1670
“Though One, Brahman is the cause of the many.”
~ Rig Veda, 1500–1200 BCE
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“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
When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him, you will see yourself. As you treat him, you will treat yourself.
As you think of him, you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose sight of yourself.”
~ A Course in Miracles
“I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“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
“Love blesses the world; fear afflicts it.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“As we lose our fear of leaving life,
we gain the art of living life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“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
“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
Remembering Wisdom Beyond Words And Mind
With Mystical Music ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
Several recent memoirs postings have demonstrated with musical performances, the spiritual importance of mystical music .
Today’s posting again features the beautiful song “Somewhere” from the 1957 Broadway musical “West Side Story” (which contemporizes the “Romeo and Juliet” story) with masterly music by Leonard Bernstein and transcendent spiritual lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Both the original Romeo and Juliet story and the contemporized West Side Story version of the romantic tragedy involve young heterosexual lovers from clans feuding over domination of disputed territory. Only after tragic deaths of the lovers and many others do the grieving groups tribally agree to end their feuds.
In this memoirs chapter, I’ll first display and sing the “Somewhere” lyrics. Then I’ll briefly explain how that mystical music communicates deep perennial wisdom beyond words, and how our musical “mirror of mind” has evolved since the 1987 West Side Story opened. Please listen and consider “Somewhere” with a receptive mind and open heart.
“Somewhere” (West Side Story) Lyrics
There’s a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us, somewhere.
There’s a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time to spare,
Time to learn, time to care.
Some day!
Somewhere!
We’ll find a new way of living,
We’ll find a way of forgiving.
Somewhere,
Somewhere . . .
There’s a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.
Hold my hand and I’ll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!
“Somewhere” (West Side Story) sung by Ron Rattner
“Somewhere” (West Side Story) explained by Ron Rattner
Dear Friends,
In the “Somewhere” lyrics the young lovers (Maria and Tony) long to live in peace and quiet, with time together to learn and care, while forgiving all others, without feuding and fighting with them – with distrust, fear, and hatred. They affectionately hold hands to comfort each other from anxiety and fear of imminent tragedy.
Maria and Tony intuit and long for a completely peaceful, loving and harmonious existence that doesn’t yet exist in our predominantly low and fearful 3D earth energies of time, space and duality. But subconsciously (as Divine souls) they remember and can intuit the possibility of such an existence.
After eons of existing physically and fearfully in low third dimension energies humans are now in an ascension process from low third dimension to fourth dimension energies described or implied in the “Somewhere” lyrics.
Such energy ascension cannot be attained, until we transcend all fears and fighting with one another, to become harmonious with loving elevated energy planes.
Deep within ourselves we have always known that we were created as, and always have been, ONE Divine LOVE. And that any separation from Mother, Father, God is an ego illusion.
But long ago, with free choice, we began an experiment in time, space and duality, in which we intentionally forgot our true Divinity, and existed as seemingly separate and mortal physical forms – in an unreal and illusory mental reality, which we each created, perceived and projected from unique perspectives, with our thoughts and behaviors.
In choosing an Earth plane experiment in time, space and duality, seemingly separate from our Divine Source and true identity, we subjected ourselves to suffering from inescapable law of karmic cause and effect. But now after eons of fearful suffering we have an unusually auspicious opportunity to ascend to loving elevated energy plane behaviors because of favorable cosmic energies and astrological planetary alignments.
Therefore many humans, like Maria and Tony, can now intuit that our perceived Earth-life separation from eternal Mother/Father/God and Nature is a mental illusion that never happened; that our that true eternal identity and Reality is ONE Divine LOVE, from which we never separated; and, that any seeming separation from Mother, Father, God is an ego illusion. So we have nothing to fear – EVER.
Thereby together we can choose to end our fearful and hurtful separation thoughts and behaviors, with which we’ve created this illusion. And with our loving thought energy vibrations we can transcend any more low energy sufferings. (See above key quotations.)
Thus, I now optimistically foresee humankind’s imminent “critical mass” empathetic awakening to our instinctive caring for one-another, and ascension to elevated new dimensions beyond current space/time sufferings – wherein we will follow our hearts to co-create a prophesied New Earth era of long-lasting happiness beyond space/time sufferings.
Recent evolution of our musical “mirror of mind”
Our musical “mirror of mind” has clearly evolved since the West Side Story opened on Broadway over thirty years age.
Maria and Tony (like Romeo and Juliet) were portrayed as heterosexual young lovers from racially similar tribally feuding clans. And (presumably) the peace and happiness they longed for “Somewhere” wasn’t available to other young lovers with differing racial and sexual labels.
But e.g. as evidenced by Matt Leisy’s heart-felt singing of “Somewhere” at a 2015 gay pride benefit, those illusory racial and sexual labels are being transcended everywhere on our precious planet.
In the Romeo and Juliet story the young lovers’ human sexuality was only determined by their mortal physical bodies, in our “either this or that” illusory duality reality.
But perennial wisdom tells us that sex is merely a manifestation of gender on the physical plane of organic life. “Gender” is much broader and more general than “sex”. Gender manifests in everything on all planetary planes. And everything and everyone has masculine and feminine principles. They have both assertive masculine “I”, and receptive feminine “Me” energies – regardless of their physical bodies.
Thus, e.g. a physically embodied soul with male genitalia may have predominantly receptive feminine “Me” energies, whereas an embodied soul with female genitalia may have predominantly assertive masculine “I” energies.
And in the past thirty years we have clearly evolved to openly express much more truth, with much less taboo hypocrisy, about sex and gender on Earth.
Evolution Beyond Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entities in the universe. From an anthropocentric perspective, humankind are seen as separate from nature and superior to it, and other entities (animals, plants, minerals, etc.) are viewed as resources for humans to use.
Many humans view the universe from an anthropocentric perspective, and imagine non-human entities as humanoids, with human form or characteristics, versus hominids or “Great apes”, which are considered as human anthropological predecessors.
Although anthropocentrism isn’t important in the Romeo and Juliet stories, it is relevant to spiritually elevated perspectives of the mental Universe which humankind may soon experience in our process of evoluton from low third dimension to fourth dimension energies described or implied in the “Somewhere” lyrics.
As divine souls we mentally evolve to endlessly elevated causal planes of creation as seemingly ego-separated from Nature and Mother/Father/God – our common Source. And we may exist in infinitely expanding potential forms from infinite perspectives which are well beyond human conception, imagination or intuition, but which are all energetically subject to karmic cause and effect until our predestined transcendence of ego-mind as ONE Divine LOVE – Eternally NOW.
In this extraordinarily rare period of human awakening from eons of past fearful beliefs and behaviors, it is highly probable that we are being assisted by totally benevolent extraterrestrial beings who (if judged anthropocentrically) may appear to humans as bizarre and terrifying.
It is very important that we avert any such anthropocentrism and gratefully accept any such benevolent extraterrestrial assistance or appearance everywhere – and not just “Somewhere”.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Invocation
May we ever remember and never forget
That our true identity is immortal LOVE;
That all that is, was, or ever can be
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!
That as embodied Human Souls
we’ve fleetingly appeared through the
Mirror of the Mind
As illusionary space/time energy forms,
to always follow our Heart
Everywhere – and not just “Somewhere”,
Until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE
within Mother/Father/God and Nature –
our Eternal Source.
May we ever remember and never forget
That our separation from Source never happened.
So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
That all that is, was, or ever can be
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!
And so may it ever be!
Ron Rattner
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“The identification of pure awareness
with the mind and its creations causes the [mistaken] apprehension of both an objective world and a perceiver of it.”
~ Patanjali – Yoga Sutras
“All appearances are verily one’s own concepts,
self-conceived in the mind,
like reflections seen in a mirror.
To know whether this be so or not,
look within thine own mind.”
~ Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche)
Perception is a mirror, not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles
“When you look in the mirror, what do you see?”
Do you see the real you, or what you have been conditioned to believe is you?
The two are so, so different.
One is an infinite consciousness capable of being and creating whatever it chooses,
the other is an illusion imprisoned by its own perceived and programmed limitations.
~ David Icke
“The mind of the Sage being in repose
becomes the mirror of the universe,
the speculum of all creation.”
~ Chuang Tzŭ
“The Witness and the witnessed are ONE.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Saying
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“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.”
~ Albert Einstein
‘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]
“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
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.”
~ Buddha
“The world, indeed, is like a dream
and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!”
“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
“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]
“We are like the spider.
We weave our life and then move along in it.
We are like the dreamer
who dreams and then lives in the dream.
This is true for the entire universe.”
~ Aitareya Upanishad
“Our mentality is our reality.
Our “reality” is what we think it to be.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Whatever we think, do, or say,
changes this world in some way.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Thought divides Universal Awareness,
as a prism divides light.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Human consciousness is conditioned consciousness;
it is pure Awareness conditioned by ego conceptions.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Ego” = “Mind”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
One must elevate — and not degrade — oneself with
one’s own mind, which is one’s friend as
well as one’s enemy. The mind is the friend of those
who have control over it, and the mind acts like an
enemy for those who do not control it. (6.05-06)
~ Bhagavad Gita 6.5-6
Remembering the Mirror of the Mind ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
At age ninety I’m again updating memoirs to emphasize my most important spiritual insights learned since spiritually awakening over forty years ago.
I’ve learned that our space/time duality “reality” is an energetic mental illusion which we create with our unique “free choice” thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. And that by understanding and intuitively using and controlling our “mind” we can inwardly advance our happiness and spiritual evolution, despite challenging outer life circumstances, with inevitable fears and sufferings.
For millennia mystics, seers and sages have revealed that space/time/duality reality is an unreal mental illusion, that they’ve often called maya or samsara. And these inner discoveries have been scientifically confirmed by Albert Einstein’s revolutionary relativity discoveries that everything everywhere is endless energy – E=mc2.
As an elder seeker of Self-Realization, I’m sharing this memoirs posting to help us understand and use our minds to transform and transcend them. Therefore the posting explains how the mind functions like a mirror, which only perceives and projects reflections. These perceived reflections are mistakenly interpreted by our minds as physical or material objects, which are only optical energy illusions.
Like mirrors the clearer the mind, the clearer and more accurate are its displayed images. And minds like mirrors can identify as “reality” only via perceived light wave images. Since most humans discern only a tiny part of a vast and ever expanding electromagnetic energy spectrum, what we visually and mentally reify is only a persistent “optical illusion of consciousness.”
Yet while incarnate we cannot escape viewing our space/time duality world through the ‘mirror of the mind’. But more and more we can remember that it reflects the unseen light of Eternal Awareness onto the screen of our human consciousness its Source. And thereby we can gradually transform and transcend the mind’s persistent “optical illusion of consciousness.” by inwardly remembering and Self-identifying with that Eternal Light of Consciousness..
So by learning how human minds perceive, reflect, and project like mirrors we can better understand why our perceived reality is only a mental illusion, which we can inwardly control to advance (and not deter) our spiritual evolution.
(See What is the human “mind”? Is it best friend or worst enemy?)
(See Transcending Ego-Suffering)
Therefore, I’ve posted the above and following quotations and explanations about how human minds appear and function like mirrors, to further our spiritual evolution.
Quotations about mental unreality of time on Earth
“The world, indeed, is like a dream
and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!”
“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
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future
is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda
“The foundation of the Buddha’s teachings lies in compassion,
and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego,
the number-one enemy of compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama
“The mind is a bundle of thoughts.
The thoughts arise because there is the thinker.
The thinker is the ego.
The ego, if sought, will automatically vanish.
The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“All bad qualities center round the ego. ..
There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self.
The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The mind is only a bundle of thoughts [with] their root in the I-thought.
Whoever investigates the True “I” enjoys the stillness of bliss.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble.
If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
One must elevate — and not degrade — oneself with
one’s own mind, which is one’s friend as
well as one’s enemy. The mind is the friend of those
who have control over it, and the mind acts like an
enemy for those who do not control it. (6.05-06)
~ Bhagavad Gita 6.5-6
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
Conclusions about the Mirror of the Mind as a controllable ego-mind illusion
The foregoing quotations from scriptures and seers and information on related SillySutras postings enable us to conclude that:
1) The ego = the mind; they are the same. The ego is the root I-thought from which all other thoughts arise. The mind is only a bundle of thoughts [with] their root in the I-thought.
2) Ego is what we think we are when we mistakenly self-identify as an individual mortal physical body separate from eternal non-duality Reality,
and as perceiver of a supposedly material space/time world. And our body is our ego incarnate.
3) Our Ego identification as separate forms permits our free choice. But it subjects us to the karmic cause and effect law at every energy plane of illusory separate existence. And at lower energy planes karmic suffering is inevitable. So ego can become like a psychological prison in which earthly karmic suffering or reward is unavoidable.
4) Uncontrolled ego invariably attempts to perpetuate its unreal existence. But such attempted ego self-preservation is always futile. What never existed can not be preserved.
5) Until the ego-mind is psychologically cleared, it can be controlled to gradually advance spiritual evolution. We can use it to lose it. Like using a thorn to remove another thorn’s sliver, we can use ego-mind to clear ego-mind.
6) To hasten our spiritual evolution we should mindfully control our thoughts, and behave with forgiveness, kindness and compassion; and no longer confuse non-dual projected pure awareness as a separate objective world.
7) We should remember that our perceived Earth-life separation from eternal Mother/Father/God and Nature is a mental illusion that never happened.
So we have nothing to fear – EVER.
Invocation
May we ever remember and never forget
That our true identity is immortal LOVE;
That all that is, was, or ever can be
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!
That as embodied Human Souls
we’ve fleetingly appeared through the
Mirror of the Mind
As illusionary space/time energy forms,
to always follow our Heart
Until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE
within Mother/Father/God and Nature –
our Eternal Source.
May we ever remember and never forget
That our separation from Source never happened.
So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
That all that is, was, or ever can be
is the Eternal Light of Divine Love – NOW!
And so may it ever be!
Ron Rattner
Forever Ending Our Experiment With Time ~ Ron’s Memoirs
“The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land –
“I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master“What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
~ Crowfoot, 1890“Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.”
~ Buddha“In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?”
~ Buddha“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha “
Forever Ending Our Experiment With Time ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction
Dear Friends,
This memoirs chapter gratefully celebrates my ninetieth and most spiritually significant year. Because I’m still learning from ever-changing life experiences, as an elder seeker of Self-Realization I’m updating my memoirs (while still physically incarnate) to emphasize and explain my most crucial spiritual insights learned so far from this precious human lifetime.
Background
I was born in Chicago IL on election day November 8, 1932, when Franklin D Roosevelt was first elected 32nd US president, during a great economic depression era, when most Americans were suffering extremely hard times.
My parents were first cousins (both surnamed Rattner) from Ukrainian families living near Kiev. Their families had emigrated to the USA to escape hatred and persecution for their Jewish religious customs and beliefs. And I’m the last and longest surviving male from this unusual Rattner lineage.
We’re now living at an historically unprecedented time when survival of all humans – not just Jews – appears threatened by a Ukrainian war. After eons of territorial earth wars, technological advances now seemingly threaten us with planetary nuclear, biological, or ecological catastrophe, arising from worldwide hatred, exploitation, and insanity directed at people with differing appearances, customs, or beliefs.
Until now all my most auspicious spiritual experiences have happened since my spiritual awakening over forty five years ago from Newtonian reality, and previously presumed mortal self-identity as a physical body-form. Since then, I’ve been experiencing an ongoing inner evolutionary process that is opening my intuitive Heart to formerly unimagined loving realizations about our eternal Self-identity and Reality.
Optimistic Predictions
Thus I now optimistically foresee that we’ve reached an unprecedented turning point in human history, when our species is awakening to a prophesied enlightened Earth age with elevated energies, transcending eons of previous fears and sufferings as perceived energy thought-forms in time and space in which Humans have mistakenly believed ourselves separate from Eternal God-given Love.
For the first time in our recorded history we are now forced to realize that, because of advanced technologies, any more war could trigger an omnicidal nuclear, ecological, biological, or radiological catastrophe insanely ending earth-life as we’ve known it.
In my most recent memoirs chapters, I’ve optimistically predicted that our Earthly experiment in time will soon end, as a “critical mass” of human souls imminently awakens from eons of matrix thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation. I foresee that Mother/Father/God will soon honor Nature to preserve it, rather than cataclysmically end Earth-life as we’ve known it.
I’m optimistic because our separate 3D Earth-world of fears and sufferings is not chosen by Human free-will, nor Divinely planned. And I’m especially optimistic because I’ve realized that Human souls have nothing to fear – EVER; that our perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE is a mental illusion that never happened.
Therefore, this memoirs chapter is intended and dedicated to encouraging us to live unselfishly and compassionately, beyond all fear, blame, or judgment as demonstrated by rare mystic masters and avatars, and especially by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who in this Christmas season inspires many souls as the paragon exemplar of Universal LOVE and forgiveness.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
My conclusions about forever ending our “experiment with time”
1) What Humans call “Life” is a mentally created concept in space and time.
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live,
they are modes in which we think.”
“The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
2) Time is a karmic illusion, of every incarnate human soul’s separation from its Source. Each human soul is an eternal being of LIGHT, which appears unique in time as a polarized and mentally created energy-entity:
The soul of man has been separated from its source,
wandering in exile in a strange land – “I am stranger on earth” (Psalm 119:19-20) –
ever yearning to return to that from which it first sprang,
and cleave to the Soul of all souls.”
~ Ba’al Shem Tov, Hasidic master
3) The human soul’s future in space and time is always subject to free-will karmic cause and effect.
“Every Cause has its Effect;
Every Effect has its Cause;
Everything happens according to Law;
Chance is but a name for Law not recognized;
There are many planes of causation,
But nothing escapes the Law.”
~ The Kybalion
4) In space and time, the soul persists Forever in form as an infinitely expanding energy entity, until dissolved as formless into the Source Light of the Whole – of Mother/Father/God.
5) Psychological fear is the greatest impediment and deterrent to each soul’s evolution to ever ascending energy planes. Such inner fear subjects souls to thralldom by evil entities, which cannot survive in energies beyond illusionary fearful lower realm space/time separation from Source.
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson“The world is a prison and we are the prisoners:
Dig a hole in the prison and let yourself out!”
~ Rumi“You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me, leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.”
~ Rumi“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“[D]eep 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 & David Kessler
6) The unique key for each soul’s transcendence of fear is found only Within each One’s Heart – within the One Creator.
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
~ 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
7) Until dissolved as formless ONENESS, each soul is a multi-dimensional fractal hologram, appearing infinitely in form.
“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“Objective reality does not exist” ….
“the universe is fundamentally a gigantic … hologram”
~ David Bohm“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
8) Ultimately, Humanity’s illusionary perceived earth-life separation from ONE LOVE never happened. So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
“Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
~ A Course In Miracles“Perception is a mirror not a fact.
And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.”
~ A Course In Miracles“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen.
In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
Dedication
These memoirs are dedicated to
encouraging and inspiring us
to more and more behave lovingly,
on our precious blue planet Earth.May we increasingly live lovingly,
unselfishly and compassionately,
beyond all fears, blame, or judgments
as demonstrated by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ,
who especially in this holiday season
we remember as the paragon exemplar of
Universal LOVE and forgiveness.Therefore may we ever remember that
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha “
And so may it FOREVER be!
Ron Rattner
A Magic Mushroom in a Magic Meadow
on a Magic Mountain ~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Everywhere I look, I see the face of God.”
~ Walt Whitman/Ron Rattner
“In a single atom, buddhas as many as atoms
Sit in the midst of enlightening beings;
So it is of all things in the cosmos —
I realize all are filled with buddhas.”
~ Avatamsaka Flower Ornament Sutra
“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.
Who are YOU? said the Caterpillar.
Alice replied, rather shyly, I–I hardly know, sir, just at present– at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then. —-
The Caterpillar was the first to speak.
What size do you want to be? it asked. —–
Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn’t mind, said Alice: three inches is such a wretched height to be. ———
One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.
One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT? thought Alice to herself.
Of the mushroom, said the Caterpillar
~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 5
Panther Meadow, Mt. Shasta
A Magic Mushroom in a Magic Meadow on a Magic Mountain
Introduction
After my mid-life awakening my life’s focus gradually evolved from litigation to meditation and I became less and less ‘up-tight’ about some of my prior worldly ways. But I remained reluctant to use psychedelic substances, even though my pivotal OOB experience had been triggered by inadvertent ingestion of marijuana.
As a lawyer, I didn’t want to do anything illegal that might prejudice my professional reputation or law license. Also, as CIIS Board Chairman in the early 1980’s I didn’t want to participate in any activity that could adversely reflect on our institution’s obtaining crucial accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
As a spiritual practitioner, I had learned that many prominent Eastern teachers and paths strongly discouraged the use of any psychoactive drugs. Nonetheless many spiritual people I greatly appreciated – like Ram Dass – had been awakened, but not “enlightened”, by LSD and other psychoactive substances. In all events, because of many experiences without psychedelics, I became convinced that for me they were not necessary and might be detrimental to my spiritual evolution.
Once, soon after my divorce, I was with a date who sociably offered me a marijuana “joint” to share with her. Curiously and so as not to offend her, I took a few puffs on the marijuana cigarette. But, just as with nicotine cigarettes, it seemed insane for me to intentionally pollute my body’s precious lungs with smoke instead of breathing fresh air. And I never did that again.
Nor did I ever again intentionally ingest any other psychoactive substance, until an unplanned incident in a beautiful nature place on a legendary mountain sparked an unforgettable “peek experience”, forever raising my spiritual awareness.
Here’s what happened:
Magical Experience
After my spiritual opening, I began having extraordinary energy experiences involving other people, creatures and places. One of the places where I experienced extraordinary spiritual energy was Mt. Shasta, a spiritually legendary majestic volcanic mountain in Northern California near the Oregon border.
I ‘discovered’ Mt. Shasta in the early 1980’s while occasionally visiting a nearby ashram established for Guruji by his disciples in Yreka. There I was told that Guruji regarded Mt. Shasta as one of the world’s holy mountains, like those in the Himalayas. And I learned that Mt. Shasta is considered worldwide as one the most sacred and mystically powerful places on our precious planet; that there are legends about it as a focus for angels, spirit-guides, spaceships, and ascended masters, and as home of Lemurians, subterranean survivors of an ancient lost continent which sank into the sea.
Apart from these legends, Mt. Shasta’s extraordinary beauty and almost palpable spiritual energy attracted and fascinated me and I wished to spend time there rather than just passing by on trips to the ashram. So, I arranged to visit Shasta with two spiritual friends who had been initiated by Guruji – Tara and Ramdassi – both of whom were later amongst those on the 1982 pilgrimage to India, my ‘trip of a lifetime’.
On a lovely sunny Saturday morning in late summer 1981, we three began a day hike on the mountain, carrying our lunches and extra clothes in light backpacks. At mid-day we arrived at Panther Meadow, the most beautiful alpine meadow I have ever seen. I beheld it then as lushly verdant with abundant delicate plant-life, bifurcated by a tiny creek meandering into a pristine pond at the bottom of the meadow. Above the lush green meadow appeared a stand of beautiful evergreen trees, and above the tree line the snow-capped mountain peak framed by an azure blue sky glistened in the sun. Later, I learned that this extraordinarily beautiful nature place was ceremonially revered as a sacred site by indigenous peoples and spiritual pilgrims.
This breathlessly beautiful meadow appeared a perfect place for our picnic lunch. So, we found a place near the creek to quietly eat while reverently enjoying the immense beauty surrounding us. Before we sat down, I walked to the pristine pond into which the creek was flowing and tested the water temperature with my left hand. It was ice cold, from the melting mountain ice and snow – and I immediately withdrew my immersed hand.
Sitting near the creek, we silently and contemplatively ate our lunches. After perhaps an hour, when we had finished eating, Ramdassi withdrew from her backpack a small packet of tiny dried mushrooms, which she silently offered to Tara and me.
Although I had never before seen or eaten psilocybin mushrooms, I intuitively realized that these were such mushrooms and politely declined Ramdassi’s offer. Then Tara, who was a registered nurse at a large hospital, also declined the mushrooms. Whereupon, Ramdassi, who was a talented artist and shaman, importuned each of us to reconsider and to join her in ritually partaking of the mushrooms. She explained that she could not eat the mushrooms alone, but only with others, as part of a sacred ritual.
But Tara still refused them. Though I felt no desire to use the mushrooms, and was somewhat inhibited, I empathized with Ramdassi, sensed her frustration and was motivated to help if possible. So I asked her how many of the tiny mushrooms were needed for a psychoactive experience. She replied, “at least three or four”. Whereupon, I said: “OK, I’ll take only one, if that will permit you to proceed.” So she handed me one tiny mushroom which I ate as she proceeded with her mushroom ceremony.
Soon thereafter I fell into an exceptionally deep meditative state, which I later realized was a ‘psychoactive samadhi’. I was immersed in timeless state with my body sprawled prone, eyes closed and head facing downward and resting on the verdant meadow carpet. After Tara and Ramdassi had waited for at least an hour for my return to waking consciousness, the mushroom’s effects finally began to wane, my body stirred and eyes blinked open onto the green plant cushion.
Whereupon, I beheld an extraordinary and unforgettable sight. With “X-ray and microscopic vision” I saw beyond the green surfaces of the meadow grass, plants and leaves into each and every cell and atom thereof. And in each plant atom I wondrously beheld an image of a Divine being, angel or saint. These images were similar to those I had infrequently and fleetingly seen during deep meditations at home. They seemed to appear holographically and fractally in some regular repetitive fashion.
After gazing at this wondrous sight, my body finally stirred as I awakened from the samadhi state. Then, though as an ‘uptight’ city dweller I had never before gone skinny dipping alone or in the presence of others, I spontaneously threw off my clothes and jumped naked into the waste-high ice cold pond waters. And for the first time in this life my body spontaneously went into a crucifixion posture with arms extended parallel to the pristine pond’s surface. There, half baptized in the sacred water, my body so remained motionless for some timeless/thoughtless moments, without any awareness of bodily chill.
Ultimately, I came out of the pond, dressed, and continued silently hiking with Tara and Ramdassi. But in some ineffable and awesome way I felt transformed – as if I had just experienced a deep secret of Mother Nature.
What I Learned
Prior to this amazing experience, I’d already (intuitively but not experientially) realized that manifest “reality” is a holographic mental projection of consciousness. But this synchronistic experience seemed to confirm the accuracy of that insight about the holographic nature of our perceived reality.
Also, after initiation by Guruji I had learned that Hinduism, Buddhism and other spiritual traditions refer to an esoteric ‘third eye’ supposedly located around the middle of the forehead slightly above the eyebrows, and anatomically connected with the pineal gland; that in the Kundalini yoga tradition this ‘third eye’ is associated with the sixth or ajna chakra, which when fully opened supposedly permits universal vision into every place and time without limitation. This experience of x-ray/microscopic vision helped confirm what I had heard and read about the existence of such a ‘third eye’ with potential universal vision.
As to the significance of my unprecedented and spontaneous assumption of a crucifixion posture in the pristine pond, I can only speculate. Perhaps this act symbolized soul recognition of incremental rebirth and resurrection from a lower to higher state of spiritual awareness. Or perhaps it was the manifestation of a deep devotional tendency from another lifetime.
What do you think?
Dedication
May we remain ever aware and grateful for our divinely blessed lives on this beautiful blue planet Earth, always open to infinitely possible magical blessings beyond our present imagination or conception.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Illumination Rumination
“You are the light of the world.”
~ Matthew 5:14
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate:
only love can do that.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
~ Chinese Proverb
“For light I go directly to the Source of light,
not to any of the reflections.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire,
men cannot live without a spiritual life.”
~ Buddha
Into my heart’s night
Along a narrow way I groped;
and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.
~ Rumi
“Reality’s essence is Divine luminescence.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“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.
“There are two ways of spreading light –
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
~ Edith Wharton
Illumination Rumination
Soul light, like sun light, is Source light.
Mind light, like moon light, is reflected light.
Meditation reveals Soul light,
while rumination reflects mind light.
Rumination requires mental movement.
Illumination is in mental stillness.
Source light surpasses reflected light.
It’s better to Be the Light,
than to reflect it.
As we are guided by moonlight
until sunlight re-appears,
reflected mind light can guide us
until we are again illuminated as Soul light.
As moon light is but reflection of sunlight,
sunlight is but a reflection of Soul light.
So, for illumination,
focus on Soul light.
But at least reflect on it.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Illumination Rumination”
Ron’s Explanation and Dedication of “Illumination Rumination”
Dear Friends,
For millennia all Humankind have observed rituals of light and sun, with participants sharing wishes for universal happiness.
Since March 2020 we have entered a “new normal” post-pandemic era of unprecedented crises imminently threatening all Earth life as we have known it. So, whether or not we may have heretofore observed any symbolic light rituals, these are now times of apparent ‘darkness’, especially appropriate for our reflection upon perennial issues of inner illumination – or “enlightenment”.
Accordingly, I have again posted a sutra-poem, with quotations focused on our inner illumination process.
Titled “Illumination Rumination”, it is dedicated to helping all of us find and achieve lasting happiness through inner illumination as the “the light of the world”.
Background
This poem was inspired by an unforgettable and theretofore unimaginable intense inner experience. Over forty years ago, while passionately crying and longing for God on a Yosemite mountain top, with amazing grace I beheld an ethereal inner effulgence, which I can only describe as the ‘light of ten thousand suns’ – the Eternal Light of Cosmic Consciousness.
Since then – as I have increasingly self-identified with that glorious inner light of Eternal Awareness – my life has become ever more faith based and inner directed. Concurrently I have gradually become happier and more grateful than ever before.
With insight (not eyesight), I have begun to realize that as we evolve through a process of inner illumination we increasingly emanate the divine light of Cosmic Consciousness; that our illumined energy becomes ‘contagious’ and inevitably elevates human consciousness, infusing and inspiring others similarly seeking happiness and love.
And I emphatically concur with Dr. King’s wise words that
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only Light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate:
only Love can do that.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Invocation
May everyone everywhere be illumined
as “the light of the world”
To envision and co-create together
A wonderful new age, of universal
Peace, Joy, Light and LOVE.
May everyone everywhere be happy!
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Life Is A Light Show
“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
“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
Into my heart’s night
Along a narrow way I groped;
and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.
~ Rumi
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.
“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
“Reality’s essence is Divine luminescence.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Light is the real essence of everything.
This earth is not “earth” as you see it;
it is light.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Ron’s Introduction to “Life Is A Light Show”
Dear Friends,
“Life Is A Light Show” is a visionary poem metaphorically revealing that Divine luminescence is the essence of all Cosmic energy forms and phenomena. Its composition was initially inspired when I was immensely blessed to behold the inner luminescence of “ten thousand suns” while crying to God atop a Yosemite mountain. Thereafter, I was blessed with further fleeting mystical experiences demonstrating that Divine luminescence is the essence of everyone and every thing.
This poem is dedicated to reminding us that our space/time “reality” isn’t really Real, but just a dream-like mirage; a thought-created illusionary world of inevitable karmic suffering; that we will awaken and escape such suffering upon Realization that space/time is merely a dream-like relative reality; that ultimate Reality is the Eternal Light of Universal Awareness – our true Essence and Source.
“The world, indeed, is like a dream
and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!”
“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 (The Awakened One)
This message is particularly important in these dark and turbulent times when countless humans are unknowingly and unnecessarily reifying space/time illusions with fearful worries, thoughts and emotions.
After the poem’s written and recited verses below, I will explain why fearful thoughts and emotions invariably harm us and deter our spiritual evolution to higher states of human consciousness. And why averting fearful and hateful negative thoughts and emotions is especially important now as humanity is about to experience a new Age of Aquarius, with shocking disclosures of previously hidden outrageous abuses, crimes and betrayals perpetrated against us by formerly trusted ‘elite’ rulers and “leaders’.
Life Is A Light Show
Life Is A Light Show
From big-bang to black-hole,
the “reality” we think we know –
Is but a light show:
The Eternal light of Awareness
projecting and displaying itself to Itself
on the mirror of the mind.
A kaleidoscopic holographic theater of the mind
– an endless vibratory holo-flow –
A play of congealed Consciousness,
Ever flowing thought-forms
Imagining the universe.
Ever appearing and disappearing –
As above, so below.
Implicate – explicate – implicate –
Ever emerging from and melting into Mystery.
Infinitely experiencing
Infinite potentialities
From infinite perspectives.
An ever flowing, ever growing vibratory virtuality –
called space/time polarity/causality “reality”.
Eternal Awareness
Ever intending to Know Itself.
From big-bang to black-hole,
the “reality” we think we know –
Is but a light show.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Life Is A Light Show”.
Ron’s Explanation of “Life Is A Light Show”.
Dear Friends,
We are about to experience a rare turning point in modern human history as Humanity awakens to an “enlightened” new Age of Aquarius, marked by the December 21, 2020 Winter Solstice.
In this new relatively enlightened era many spiritually awakening people worldwide are about to learn shocking truths concerning outrageously immoral abuses and crimes heretofore perpetrated against them by their previously trusted ‘elite’ rulers and “leaders’, but concealed and unknown until now.
Also, it will be widely revealed, at long last, that for millennia human Earthlings have unknowingly been demonically polarized, divided and energetically exploited by subhuman astral dark forces, which have psychologically ‘imprisoned” them in a digitally pre-programmed matrix – a virtual or simulated world.
Accordingly, many humans have been suffering from thoughts and emotions of helplessness, anxiety, aggression and hatred. Such negative thoughts and emotions invariably harm and weaken us, individually and collectively, and render us susceptible to psychological subjugation which impedes our spiritual evolution to higher states of human consciousness.
Aquarius has been traditionally associated with evolutionarily ‘enlightened’ energies. And in this new Aquarian age many people will be empowered to ascend from matrix psychological domination by emanating elevated heart levels of human consciousness which radiate loving serenity and calmness. Such ascension will enable worldwide societies to cooperatively thrive by actualizing Aquarian virtues of democracy, freedom, courage, honesty, idealism, rebellion, human welfare, and inner-directedness.
Moral of the story.
For ascension to elevated states of human consciousness, we must individually and collectively emanate heartfelt loving energies, without harmful thoughts and emotions of helplessness, anxiety, aggression or hatred which invariably weaken us and reify illusory darkness.
We can accelerate such ascension by always remembering that these dark and violent times are not really Real, and cannot threaten or harm our true Eternal Essence and common Reality, which is LOVE as the LIGHT of Universal Awareness.
So let us calmly, peacefully and harmoniously see insane current space/time events as a non-threatening and perpetually changing illusory play of Universal Awareness, like a projected “Light Show” or movie. And let us refrain from reifying relative ‘reality’ illusions.
May we thereby avert harmful reflexive reactions or judgments about what we see or learn, especially revelations of betrayal by those we’ve trusted.
Invocation.
Whatever happens in this ever impermanent illusory world of inevitable karmic suffering,
may we never forget our eternal immortality and spiritual oneness with Nature and all earth-life,
and may we ever emanate and widely radiate universal peace and happiness,
while realizing that this world is like a projected “light show” – “nothing but movies”.
And so it shall be!
Ron Rattner
Beholding The Eternal Light Of Consciousness ~ Ron’s Memoirs
“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
“Beholding the higher light beyond the darkness
we came to the divine light Sun in the Godhead,
to the highest light of all.”
~ Rig Veda
“You are the light of the world.”
~ Matthew 5:14
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.
Beholding The Eternal Light Of Consciousness
Though I’ve always loved walking in nature, such walks rarely happened during my married years, as it was not an interest shared by my wife. But soon after our divorce, in summer 1976 I vacationed at Yosemite National Park, where for the first time I spent days hiking in the Sierra Nevada high country, while sleeping and eating at various park tent camps at differing elevations.
I arrived at Yosemite with many new questions arising from recent re-awakening and high energy experiences, and left with even more new experiences and new questions. But an amazing, unforgettable and unforeseen answer to one question – “Why I am crying so much?” – was soon bestowed.
After spending my first night at Merced Lake, the lowest elevation Yosemite tent camp, the next day I hiked over ten miles and more than two thousand feet upward to one of the highest camps, Sunrise, where I arrived just before sunset. I was assigned a bunk where I deposited my backpack, and then decided to ascend to the summit of a ten thousand foot granite dome adjoining the camp.
As I climbed up I felt unusually invigorated yet tired from hours of hiking. On reaching the summit of the granite dome, it seemed as if I was on top of the world. It was the end of a glorious clear summer day in Sierra Nevada high country. Turning southward, I beheld a magnificent mountain vista of the Cathedral Range.
The extraordinary beauty of that alpine panorama at sunset seemed unworldly, and evoked for me strange feelings of déjà vu – of being in the Himalyas – and of entering ‘God’s cathedral’. Spontaneously I began sobbing and crying intensely torrential tears.
Then, completely overcome with emotion, suddenly and instinctively I threw my body to the ground and with crying eyes closed, silently importuned a momentous request. Earnestly addressing the Highest Power with utmost urgency, I implored: “Take me. Take me now. I want nothing more; there is nothing more left for me in this life!”.
Whereupon, I beheld within an unimaginably intense and ethereal effulgence, which I can only now describe as the ‘light of ten thousand suns’. Ancient Vedic scriptures have thus alluded to this inner light:
“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
Until that transformative inner light revelation at Yosemite, I had been puzzled about why I had continued crying so much since the realization that I was pure Awareness – not my body, my thoughts or my story. Sadness at the divorce was not an adequate explanation for what was happening to me. But the puzzlement began resolving with that unforgettable Yosemite inner light revelation.
Before Yosemite my intense crying had begun with the realization that I was pure Awareness. And at Yosemite while suddenly and intensely crying and yearning to end my ‘imagined’ sojourn in this world, I beheld the transcendental Light of that Awareness.
My tears then were not tears of sadness, but tears of intense longing to merge with that Light, and so to end the illusion of separation from it. I had beheld Divinity in that magnificent panorama of God’s cathedral, and with all my Heart intensely yearned to be eternally merged with it.
But this realization of why I was crying, raised a new mystery: “How could it be that a secular lawyer who hadn’t cried or fervently prayed during his entire adult life, was now intensely crying and praying for God?”
Ultimately, I learned that I had been graced with “the gift of tears” – a blessed spiritual path of longing and crying for the Divine associated for millennia with devotional mystics in Catholicism, Sufism, Sikhism, Hinduism and other paths. The Universe gradually provided answers to that question, and other questions about my many mystical experiences, through a series of extraordinary synchronistic happenings and experiences which were bestowed after the Yosemite experience.
Though these happenings and experiences were too numerous for me to now recall and recount, I shall share some of the most memorable ones with you.
