Posts Tagged ‘self identity’
Envisioning a Better World
~ With Imagination and Faith
“Imagination is everything.
It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand,
while imagination embraces the entire world,
and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
~ Albert Einstein
“You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one”
~ John Lennon, “Imagine”
“Is all that we see or seem
but a dream within a dream?”
~ Edgar Allen Poe
“Your thoughts create reality. The most pragmatic way to create world peace is to use your power of visualization. Think Peace, Act Peace, Spread Peace, Imagine Peace. Your thoughts will soon cover the planet. The most important thing is to believe in your power. It works.”
~ Yoko Ono
“Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities;
but in the end when we become used to the new light,
we gain a new view of all reality transfigured and elevated in the light itself.”
~ Thomas Merton
“On a long journey of human life,
faith is the best of companions;
it is the best refreshment on the journey;
and it is the greatest property.”
~ Buddha
“Faith is the highest passion in a human being.
Many in every generation may not come that far,
but none comes further.”
~ Soren Kierkegaard
“Faith is different from proof;
the latter is human, the former is a gift from God.”
“The heart has its reasons that reason does not know.”
~ Blaise Pascal
“Faith—in life, in other people, and in oneself—is the attitude of allowing the spontaneous to be spontaneous, in its own way and in its own time.” . . .
“Faith is, above all, open-ness—an act of trust in the unknown.”
~ Alan Watts
John Lennon
October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980
Introduction
Dear Friends,
The above quotations about imagination and faith, and the following poetic sutra-essay and embedded videos, are posted as a tribute to departed hero John Lennon, on his recent October 9, 83rd birthday anniversary. John’s lasting legacy as a charismatic and visionary populist leader who imagined a peaceful planet fulfilling our common needs, is discussed in comments after the essay/poem.
Envisioning a Better World
~ With Imagination and Faith
Just as dreamers ‘create’ their dreams,
together we are a ‘dream-team’,
dreaming our world into being;
And, consciously or unconsciously creating a ‘common dream’.
Together, we are awakening to the greatest “secret of secrets”:
That we are not mere powerless perceivers of our “reality”,
but also its co-creators –
That we interdependently co-create our reality with our imagination, thoughts, words and deeds;
That everything we think, do or say changes our world in some way;
That our worldly “reality” depends upon the light of awareness with which we envision, experience and co-create it.
As we are awakening, we are discovering our true nature as Infinite Potentiality, and we are becoming infused with abiding faith in Nature and our Self, and in the impenetrable Mystery beyond every form or phenomenon.
As we are awakening, we are also discovering that our great gift of imagination can immeasurably help us live harmonious, creative, and loving lives.
We are learning – as Einstein taught us – that
what we imagine is “the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
So, as we awaken with abiding faith and love,
together let us “imagine” – like martyred hero John Lennon – that
“Someday …. the world will live as one”.
AND SO SHALL IT BE!
Ron Rattner
Just as dreamers ‘create’ their dreams,
together we are a ‘dream-team’,
dreaming our world into being;
And, consciously or unconsciously creating a ‘common dream’.
Together, we are awakening to the greatest “secret of secrets”:
That we are not mere powerless perceivers of our “reality”,
but also its co-creators –
That we interdependently co-create our reality with our imagination, thoughts, words and deeds;
That everything we think, do or say changes our world in some way;
That our worldly “reality” depends upon the light of awareness with which we envision, experience and co-create it.
As we are awakening, we are discovering our true nature as Infinite Potentiality, and we are becoming infused with abiding faith in Nature and our Self, and in the impenetrable Mystery beyond every form or phenomenon.
As we are awakening, we are also discovering that our great gift of imagination can immeasurably help us live harmonious, creative, and loving lives.
We are learning – as Einstein taught us – that
what we imagine is “the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
So, as we awaken with abiding faith and love,
together let us “imagine” – like martyred hero John Lennon – that
“Someday …. the world will live as one”.
AND SO SHALL IT BE!
Ron Rattner
Ron’s Recitation of “Envisioning a Better World
~ With Imagination and Faith”
Ron’s Comments on “Envisioning a Better World
~ With Imagination and Faith”:
Dear Friends,
The foregoing poetic sutra-essay is a tribute to departed hero John Lennon, on his recent 83rd birthday anniversary. Lennon – like Dr. King and Malcolm X – was martyred at age forty at the pinnacle of his powers, but he bequeathed to us a lasting legacy of unrelenting aspiration and inspiration for planetary peace and love.
Recent US presidential election politics have revealed that most Americans are justifiably dissatisfied with US empire policies and economics; that they especially object to extreme economic inequality, unjustly favoring the super-rich 1% at the expense of almost everyone else, caused by an ever warlike imperial government with much more hypocrisy than democracy.
John Lennon was and remains a charismatic and visionary populist leader who imagined a peaceful planet fulfilling our common needs and deepest desires for a radically new era when our “world will live as ONE.”
Lennon recognized that whatever our political, cultural, generational, or geographical labels or perspectives, we all share overriding common needs and aspirations. That as Humankind we share the same web of life, the same precious Earth ecology, the same aspirations for health and happiness and for just and loving societies serving basic needs of all life on a peaceful planet.
To honor John Lennon on his recent 83rd birthday, I’ve embedded below two live performances of John singing “Imagine”, plus written lyrics. As we listen to him projecting our heartfelt aspirations, let us join together with faith, to envision and co-create a wonderful new era when our “world will live as ONE.”
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
John Lennon singing “Imagine”
https://youtu.be/46_1OXewWu0
“Imagine”
Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
~ John Lennon
Surrender and Let Go of Ego
~ Quotations and Sutra Sayings
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.”
~ Rig Veda
“Free of ego, living naturally, working virtuously,
you become filled with inexhaustible vitality
and are liberated forever from the cycle of death and rebirth.”
~ Lao Tzu
“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?”
~ The Buddha
By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
the world is beyond the winning.
~ Lao Tzu
“They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.”
~ Rumi
“Surrender is faith
that the power of Love can accomplish anything,
even when you cannot foresee the outcome.”
~ Deepak Chopra
Love is the sacrifice of will.
If you cannot leave will behind
You have no will at all.
~ Rumi
Q. How much “ego” do you need?
A. Just enough so that you don’t step in front of a bus.
~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
We have nothing to surrender
But the idea
That we’re someone,
With something
To surrender.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s Introduction to Surrender and Let Go of Ego
Dear Friends,
Beginning thirty years ago, during a long post-retirement secluded period of meditation, introspection, and prayer, I began wondering and writing about the evolutionary spiritual significance of surrendering and letting go of ego. [See https://sillysutras.com/?p=2411]
At age ninety, as I update my memoirs with perspectives learned so far from this precious human lifetime, surrendering and letting go of our false separate ego-mind identity remains fundamental to our individual and collective karmic and dharmic spiritual evolution.
So I’m republishing the above and following quotations and large collection of sutra sayings (with recorded mp3 recitation), and my explanatory comments concerning the critical importance of surrendering and transcending ego.
May these writings help us, individually and as a global family, let go of ego to reveal and heal all sufferings from unfulfilled and futile ego-mind ideas and desires.
And so may it be!
Ron’s Sutra Sayings on Surrendering Ego.
We have nothing to surrender
but the idea that
we’re someone,
with something
to surrender.
Let’s let go
and
let life live us,
as Love.
Let’s leave it to the
Lone Arranger.
Let’s let go, and “go with the flow”.**Being “in the flow” is thought-free, effortless, and focused
merging of intention, action, and awareness
as consciousness – consciously letting Life happen through you.
Tao is Now,
Tao is One,
Tao is Doer,
Tao will be done.
Tao will be done.
So let Tao do it.
Give your spiritual
‘power of attorney’
to God.
“Let go, and let God.”**Unity Church maxim
Leave it to the Lone Arranger.
Ego Antidote:
The root of all problems is
I/me/mine.
End it with antidote,
Thy/Thee/Thine.
Ego: Use it to lose it!
Immolate ego
in the fire of faith.
As ego goes
consciousness grows
until it Knows –
Itself.
Ego is free to choose,
but is never free.
Self does not choose,
but is ever free.
Our only choice
is to accept
or reject
“what is”.
Acceptance is pleasure;
rejection is suffering.
Acceptance is freedom;
rejection is bondage.
Acceptance is NOW;
rejection is then.
So, if choose you must,
then with faith and trust,
say “yes” to Life.
With radical trust
we do as we must.
The more we trust
the less we try.
Enter a state of enlightened amnesia:
Be now;
forget then.
Remember God;
forget the rest.
Forget who you think you are,
to remember what you really are.
Ron’s audio recitation of Sutra Sayings- Surrender and Let Go of Ego
Ron’s explanation of Sutra Sayings– Surrender and Let Go of Ego
Dear Friends,
I consider of critical importance to our spiritual evolution the surrendering and transcending of our false separate self/identity with our ego-mind “I” thoughts.
In many prior postings I’ve explained that the greatest obstacle to our spiritual evolution is ego-mind, our “phantom self” misidentification with thoughts and labels, rather than with Eternal infinite existence as Divine LOVE, our true immortal SELF.
Ancient Rig Veda scripture says that “Ego is the biggest enemy of humans”. And transcending ego is the fundamental message of all enduring spiritual teachings.
Therefore at age ninety, and while we are now experiencing exceptionally advantageous cosmic energies and auspicious astrological planetary alignments favorable to spiritual evolution, I’m updating and republishing postings which can most help us benefit from that energy.
Previously in “Words About Wishes” I’ve explained that ego-mind’s futile pursuit of illusory and impermanent external pleasures and desires can never give lasting happiness. So this posting discusses the most effective ‘antidotes’ to such futile pursuit of external pleasures and desires – viz. the letting go, surrendering and thought-free acceptance of those egoic desires.
In “The Power of Now” Eckhart Tolle defines “ego” as a “phantom self” and explains that transcending ego is of universally pre-eminent importance, because as long as we are identified with our mind the ego runs our life.
I agree with Tolle and have composed many silly sutras about surrendering ego, including those published above. They are respectfully offered to remind us to follow our eternal inner guidance and always “go with the flow” for the benefit of others.
This message is especially important in current turbulent times, which have disrupted and jeopardized earth-life for billions of people worldwide.
If we let life live us as LOVE, these challenging times can afford us immense evolutionary opportunities to co-create not just a better world, but a radically transformed world – with constant kindness and compassion for all life-forms everywhere.
Dedication
May these writings help us,
individually and as a global family,
let go of ego to reveal and heal all sufferings
from unfulfilled and futile ego-mind ideas and desires.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Only Breath ~ by Rumi
“That which permeates all,
which nothing transcends and which,
like the universal space around us,
fills everything completely from within and without,
that Supreme non-dual Brahman —
that thou art.”
~ Shankaracharya
Only Breath ~ by Rumi
Not Christian or Jew or
Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion
or cultural system. I am
not from the east
or the west, not
out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not
natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,
am not an entity in this
world or the next,
did not descend from
Adam and Eve or any
origin story. My place is
the placeless, a trace
of the traceless.
Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two
worlds as one and
that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner,
only that breath breathing
human being.
(Translation by Coleman Barks, from Essential Rumi)
Human Potential Differential?
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“You are not a drop in the ocean.
You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
~ Rumi
“Our destiny is Divinity.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“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
“Give, and it will be given to you.
~ Luke 6:38
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi, peace prayer
“The wicked earns deceptive wages,
but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.”
~ Proverbs 11:18
“Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love”
~ Hosea 10:12
“A faithful man will abound with blessings,
but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”
~ Proverbs 28:20
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!”
~ Psalm 126:5
“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
Ron’s Introduction to Human Potential Differential
Dear Friends,
At age ninety, I’m continuing to update my memoirs with perspectives learned so far from this precious human lifetime.
Beginning thirty years ago, during a long post-retirement secluded period of meditation, introspection, and prayer, I began wondering whether human ignorance was leading us to unavoidable ‘end-times’; whether human evolution on Earth was inevitable, or just optional.
I observed people in various stages of evolution – from barbarians to Buddhas – and questioned whether Earthly humans who were selfish, violent, or warlike might ‘condemn’ us all.
So I began composing (and continuing to amend) the following Q and A sutra-essay titled “Human Potential Differential?”, which I still deem important, in light of my recent “Best Things in Life are Free” memoirs posting, the above sutras, quotations, and the following explanations.
Like “Best Things in Life are Free”, this “Human Potential Differential” 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
Please enjoy and consider it accordingly.
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 !!!!
As medieval alchemists transmuted lead into gold,
Mother/Father/God will transform Humanity
into ONE LOVE.
Transformation is inevitable,
but advent of ultimate realization
depends upon each unique soul’s chosen thoughts and behaviors, whether selfish or loving.
We ‘reap as we sow’,
and as we cultivate compassion;
we harvest happiness.
Ultimately, we are each dharmically destined
to Awaken as an Infinite Ocean of ONE Eternal LOVE,
rather than existing as mere ego-mind “I” drops
in that limitless Divine Ocean.
By lovingly following our Sacred Heart
We will melt and disappear timelessly –
into the Mystery of Divinity –
as Eternal LOVE.
Ron’s Recitation of Human Potential Differential
Ron’s Comments on Human Potential Differential?
Dear Friends,
During thirty years of post-retirement solitude, I’ve deeply questioned and reflected on whether human ignorance is leading us to unavoidable ‘end-times’; whether human evolution is inevitable, or just optional. Ultimately, I’ve concluded that human evolution is inevitable but that its rate differs for each unique soul.
Recognizing that dharmically and karmically we reap as we sow, and inspired by Jesus Christ, I’ve given my irrevocable ‘power of attorney’ to the law of cause and effect to non-judgmentally forgive all moral ignorance.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly taught forgiveness.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
~ Luke 6:37
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you”
~ Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27
And even as he was dying on a cross in excruciating pain, Jesus beseeched God’s forgiveness of those who crucified him:
And Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
~ Luke 23: 34
In emphasizing “they know not what they do” Jesus invoked Divine forgiveness in response to apparent unwitting (rather than malevolent) sins of the Roman soldiers who crucified him.
Human Potential Differential in current turbulent times
For the following reasons, even in this era of unprecedented global warfare, suffering and turmoil, I’m spiritually optimistic about survival of Human Earth-life, despite dire “end times” predictions of its cataclysmic collapse:
1) I’ve realized that “Our destiny is Divinity” because we’re not what we think we are, but Infinite Eternal Awareness!
2) As unique immortal souls we are each dharmically destined to be dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE beyond unavoidable third dimension space/time duality[3D] Earthly ego-mind fears and illusions. We each transcend inescapable ego-mind fears and illusions at rates dependent upon whether our unique thoughts and behaviors are loving or selfish – helpful or harmful.
3) Moreover, there is no death. Death is just an energy transition, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE. It’s an illusory belief that our lives end when our mortal bodies no longer function.
4) Karmically, as each unique soul evolves to ever ascending energy planes, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, forever free of unhappiness and disharmony until dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE beyond unavoidable third dimension space/time duality[3D] Earthly “realty”.
5) While subjected to ego-mind, we unavoidably exist with karmic cause and effect sufferings from the earthly illusion of space/time/duality “realty”. But the more we intentionally lovingly follow our Sacred Heart the more we enjoy happy lives, and the less we suffer from perpetually unknown karmic causes and conditions.
6} Ultimately, we’ve never been separated from our Eternal Source Mother/Father/God. So we have nothing to fear – EVER
Conclusion and Dedication
As each unique soul evolves from illusory space/time duality third dimension [3D] to ever ascending energy planes, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, forever free of unhappiness and disharmony until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God,
as ONE LOVE.
This “Human Potential Differential” posting is deeply dedicated to encouraging and inspiring each of us to live fearlessly, lovingly and forgivingly, until we inevitably transcend all fearful ego-mind thoughts and behaviors as Universal Divine LOVE
Invocation
May today’s Human Potential Differential
verses, quotations and explanations
help us 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,
until as destined we are dissolved
As an Infinite Ocean
of ONE Eternal LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Cartesian Critique:
On Confusing Thinking With Being:
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“If you correct your mind,
the rest of your life will fall into place.”
~ Lao Tzu
“The mind is a bundle of thoughts.
The thoughts arise because there is the thinker.
The thinker is the ego.
The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda
“When the mind is completely empty –
only then is it capable of receiving the unknown.” ……
“Only when the mind is wholly silent, completely inactive, not projecting,
when it is not seeking and is utterly still –
only then that which is eternal and timeless comes into being.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“To think or not to think,
that is the question!”“Thinking and Being can’t coexist.
So stop thinking and start Being. ”“Forget who you think you are
to BE what you really are. ”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Lau Tzu
Cartesian Critique: On Confusing Thinking With Being ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Introduction to Cartesian Critique
Dear Friends,
At age ninety, I’ve updated and again posted the following “Cartesian Critique” essay to encourage and inspire our transcendence of fearful and harmful egotistic thoughts and behaviors, so that we’ll live happily and in harmony with each other and Nature.
The essay challenges the formerly well-known philosophical proposition deduced and assumed by influential 17th century French philosopher René Descartes –
“I think, therefore I am”.
Descartes’ philosophy, known as Cartesian dualism, incorrectly assumed separation between the human body and mind. Although it became very influential in Western philosophy, Cartesian dualism ignored contradictory ancient Eastern non-dualist philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, which have been scientifically validated by 20th century quantum physicists.
This Cartesian Critique essay (with above and following quotations and comments) explains how Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” proposition confused ego/mind thinking with Being as thoughtless universal awareness.
The essay’s message is particularly important in current fearful times, when we humans are the only species creating huge crises which disrupt and threaten life on our precious planet by mistakenly self-identifying with our unique thoughts rather than with Universal Consciousness of all Reality.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Cartesian Critique: On Confusing Thinking With Being.
Descartes deduced his presumed separate existence with thought.
He reasoned: “I think, therefore I am”.
But wasn’t that putting Descartes before his Source?
Isn’t it apparent that we exist when not thinking?
Isn’t thinking optional, while Being is perpetual?
Why are we called human “beings”, and not human “thinkings”?
Isn’t existence much more than just thinking?
Don’t we exist in thoughtless states?
Doesn’t Being encompass conscious and subconscious
phenomena beyond thought – like emotions, feelings, sounds,
tastes, sensations, moods, dreams, autonomic processes, etc.?
Don’t all thoughts comprise and concern past ideas,
whereas life is ever lived in the Now,
never in the past or the future?
Aren’t we most aware of our existence
when we are thoughtlessly/choicelessly mindful?
What might Descartes say,
if he were here today?
Ron’s Comments on Confusing Thinking With Being.
Dear Friends,
The above Cartesian Critique essay questions French philosopher René Descartes’ famous proposition “I think, therefore I am”, and it explains how Descartes confused thinking with being; and the ego/mind with universal thoughtless awareness.
This essay was composed following my midlife spiritual awakening as universal consciousness, and acceptance of Eastern non-duality philosophy which contradicts Descartes’ duality philosophy of body-mind separation. Thereafter, I realized that “Ego is the biggest enemy of humans”, and that our transcendence of Ego is the ultimate aim of all enduring spiritual teachings.
So on learning about Descartes’ incorrect “I think, therefore I am” assertion, I composed the above critique.
From a non-duality perspective, Descartes mistakenly deduced his supposed separate existence with egotistic-thought, which paradoxically placed Descartes before his Source, and violated both Eastern and Western wisdom teachings cautioning against reversing the natural order of things.
For example a Western proverb cautions: “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
And ancient Taoist wisdom enjoins us to go with the flow, without mental resistance:
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
“If you correct your mind,
the rest of your life will fall into place.”
~ Lao Tzu
Conclusion and Dedication
Honoring Nature is especially important in current troubled times, when we humans are the only species creating huge ecological and other crises which are disrupting and threatening life on our precious planet by mistakenly self-identifying with our fearful egotistic beliefs and behaviors of existing separately from each other and Mother Earth, rather than as the Eternal Source of our existence.
So this posting is deeply dedicated to inspiring us to transcend our fearful beliefs and behaviors, and to BE in harmony with each other and Mother Nature.
Invocation.
May these writings inspire and encourage us
to BE beyond thought;
and thereby to transcend fearful
egotistic beliefs and behaviors,
enabling us to live in harmony
with each other and Nature.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Remember!
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Remember God, forget the rest.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Forget who you think you are,
to know what you really are.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Just BE Divinity –
Ego-Free LOVE!.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Remember! ~ Ron’s Memoirs
Ron’s Introduction to “Remember!”
Dear Friends,
Thirty years ago, during a long post-retirement period of meditation, prayer, and introspection after my spiritual awakening, I remembered that as egos we continually exist as different illusionary separate space/time energy forms, until we’re dissolved as ONE LOVE within Mother/Father/God – our Eternal Source.
Whereupon I “channelled” (and later recorded and posted) the following sutra-poem, “Remember!”, which at age ninety I’ve re-recorded and republished today with updated sutra-sayings, quotations, and invocation.
This sutra-poem is dedicated to inspiring our heart-felt remembrance that as ego-embodied Human Souls we continuously appear and re-appear as space/time energy forms, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE within Mother/Father/God – our Eternal Source from which we’ve never separated.
As we deeply consider “Remember!”, may we gratefully and faithfully recall that being alive is being Love; that beyond the ego’s illusion of separation from Mother/Father/God, we eternally exist as ONE ‘dazzling Divinity’.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Remember!
Don’t forget what you knew
before you withdrew,
from dwelling in Heaven’s domain.
Recall your affinity,
with dazzling Divinity,
and in that Presence remain.
Remember with gratitude,
life is beatitude,
even its sorrows and pain;
For we’re all in God’s Grace,
every time, every place,
and
FOREVER (S)HE will reign!
Ron’s audio singing of “Remember!”
Invocation
May we ever remember and never forget
That our true identity is Divine LOVE;
That as ego-embodied Human Souls
we’ve appeared as illusionary space/time energy forms,
to faithfully follow our Heart
Until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE
within Mother/Father/God –
our Eternal Source.
May we ever remember and never forget
That our separation from Mother/Father/God never happened.
So we’ve nothing to fear – EVER.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Advaita-Vedanta For Dummies
~ You are not what you think you are!
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Consciousness is always Self-Consciousness.
If you are conscious of anything, you are essentially conscious of yourself.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Personal entity and enlightenment cannot go together.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
~ John 8:32
“You are “gods”; you are all children of the Most High.”
~ Psalm 82: 6
“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
Essence Of Advaita
E = mc2 = Consciousness
Subject = Object = Consciousness
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Theory of Everything:
E = mc2 = Consciousness = SELF.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Ron’s Introduction to “Advaita-Vedanta For Dummies”
Dear Friends,
Thirty years ago, after my midlife spiritual awakening and during a long post-retirement period of meditation, prayer, and introspection I “channelled” the following sutra-poem about Advaita-Vedanta.
Advaita-Vedanta means non-dualism, and is the oldest extant school of Hindu philosophy.
With the above quotations, and following explanations, this sutra-poem expresses my previously unimagined insights about our true spiritual Self-identity and ultimate Reality.
These insights are especially important now because of auspicious astrological planetary alignments, and quickened cosmic energies favorable to spiritual evolution, which are elevating a “critical mass” of humanity toward unprecedented 5D lasting happiness beyond suffering in illusory 3D matrix reality,
So I have updated this posting and dedicate it to our inclusion in the awakening “critical mass”, and attainment of lasting happiness in these extraordinary times.
May we consider and enjoy it accordingly!
Ron Rattner
“You are not what you think you are!”
You are not what you think you are:
You are not a person, or a personality.
You are not a body, or a nobody.
You are not your mind, or your thoughts.
You are infinite Eternal Awareness.
You are the screen, not the movie.
You are Rama, not the drama.
You are the glory, not the story.
You are the Whole, not your role.
So, wake up, and –
Transcend entity identity!
Ron’s audio recitation of “You are not what you think you are!”
Ron’s explanation and dedication of Advaita-Vedanta For Dummies
Dear Friends,
As revealed by the foregoing quotations and sutra-verses, we’re not what we think we are, but Infinite Eternal Awareness!
Until midlife I self-identified only with my mortal physical body, its thoughts and story, and believed that bodily death ended life.
But I was then blessed with ever increasing happiness and peace of mind, after a synchronistic spiritual awakening, which revealed previously unimagined insights about our true Self-identity and ultimate Reality. The foregoing quotations and sutra-poem summarize these insights.
Since launching the SillySutras website in 2010, I’ve been sharing these insights to inspire and encourage our ever increasing happiness and peace of mind by realizing and choosing our ultimate reality as non-duality, beyond the ego-mind illusion of being supposedly separate persons apart from each other and all sentient life-forms on our precious planet.
Such insights are especially important in current turbulent and troubled times, because they provide a rare opportunity for a “critical mass” of humankind to compassionately transform the world, by elevating us to unprecedented lasting 5D happiness beyond suffering in the illusory 3D matrix reality.
And such a “critical mass” can transcend current insanely unsustainable ecological desecration of precious planet Earth, and end barbaric exploitation of vulnerable beings and other life-forms, which threaten Earth life as we’ve known it.
Moreover, such a “critical mass” of humanity is furthered by current auspicious astrological planetary alignments, and by exceptionally quickened cosmic energies favorable to spiritual evolution.
Concluding observations and dedication
Although much of humanity continues to suffer illusory separation from each other and Nature, many others are awakening.
Deeply disturbed by irrational and immoral interruptions of their normal lives, more and more people are compassionately awakening to our sacred connection with, and deep moral responsibility to cherish and lovingly preserve, all life on our precious planet Earth.
Therefore, this updated Advaita-Vedanta For Dummies posting is dedicated to inspiring the spiritual awakening of a “critical mass” of our global family, and thereby our attainment of unprecedented happiness in these unusually troubled times, until our ultimate spiritual Self Realization – as Infinite Non-Duality Reality.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Awakening
“Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man’s life, and it is the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening?”
~ Khalil Gibran
“Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is getting past your delusion that you are not already enlightened.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”
~ Lao Tzu
“When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing, seek nothing, expect nothing, then the supreme state will come to you uninvited and unexpected.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Meditation is the process of understanding your own mind.”
~ J Krishnamurti
“In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“The discipline which I have imparted to you will lead you when I am gone. Practice mindfulness diligently, to attain the goal of awakening.”
~ Gautama Buddha
“All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact:
Be — don´t try to become.
Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.”
~ Osho”
“NOW is the only reality. All else is either memory or imagination.”
~ Rajneesh
“God is not in heaven – God is in the present moment.
If you are also in the present moment you enter the temple.”
~ Rajneesh
“God is the ultimate experience of silence, of beauty, of bliss, a state of inner celebration.”
~ Rajneesh
“In meditation, silently and serenely, all words are transcended.
In Illumination, all things appear as is.
Silence is the ceasing of ego-grasping. Illumination is the functioning of the wonder of wisdom.
The unity of these two is awakening to Buddha Nature.”
~ Zen Master Sheng-yen
“Those whose spiritual awareness has been awakened never make a false move. They don’t have to avoid evil. They are so replete with love that whatever they do is a good action. They are fully conscious that they are not the doer of their actions, but only servants of God.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“When the love of God comes to you,
it will overwhelm your heart with a fulfillment
unequaled by the nectar of a thousand million human loves.
Overflowing all boundaries, that Love embraces everyone and everything.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Divine desperateness is the beginning of spiritual awakening
because it gives rise to the aspiration for God-realisation.”
~ Meher Baba
“Love has to spring spontaneously from within And it is no way amenable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together; But though love cannot be forced on anyone, It can be awakened in him through love itself. Love is essentially self communicative; Those who do not have it catch it from those who have it. True love is unconquerable and irresistible, And it goes on gathering power and spreading itself, Until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches.”
~ Meher Baba
“You are a Buddha, and so is everyone else. I didn’t make that up. . . the Buddha himself said so. He said that all beings have the potential to become awakened.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma,
nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings.”
~ Bodhidharma
“There is a power now slumbering within us, which if awakened would do to evil what light does to darkness.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“What we usually call human evolution is the awakening of the divine nature within us.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
“That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Only by awakening can you know the true meaning of that word.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Spiritual Awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“All arts lie in man, though not all are apparent.
Awakening brings them out.
To be taught is nothing; everything is in man waiting to be awakened.”
~ Paracelsus
“The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best that is in us. It is only through our own personal awakening that the world can be awakened. We cannot give what we do not have.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
~ Carl Jung
“The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
“Awakening is not changing who you are, but discarding who you are not.”
~ Deepak Chopra
“Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be”
~ Alan Watts
“Enlightenment or awakening is not the creation of a new state of affairs but the recognition of what already is.”
~ Alan Watts
“There is none dwelling in the house but God.
When a man is awakened he melts and perishes.”
~ Rumi
“We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
~ Carl Gustav Jung
My friends, it is through the establishment of the clarity of mindfulness
that you let go of grasping after past and future,
overcome attachment and grief,
abandon all clinging and anxiety,
and awaken an unshakable freedom of heart,
here and now.
~ Buddha [the Awakened One]
“Those who awaken never rest in one place.
Like swans, they rise and leave the lake.
On the air they rise and fly an invisible course.
Their food is knowledge.
They live on emptiness.
They have seen how to break free.
Who can follow them?
~ Buddha [the Awakened One]
“If you want to awaken all of humanity,
then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world,
then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.”
~ Lao Tzu , Hua Hu Ching
“The most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha is
. . . freedom: freedom absolute, total, unconditional.
He does not want to give you an ideology,
because every ideology creates its own slavery.”
~ Osho
“An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad.”
~ Bodhidharma
Introduction to “Awakening”
Dear Friends,
Thirty years ago, during a long post-retirement secluded period of meditation, prayer, and introspection, I “channelled” the following sutra-poem about “Awakening” to Buddhahood.
It was inspired by very rare beings (like Jesus, Gautama Buddha, and Krishna) who intentionally incarnated in mortal earthly bodies to teach and help Humanity.
They appeared as Awakened beings in an Infinite Ocean of Divine LOVE, rather than as mere Ego “I”-drops in that limitless Divine Ocean.
Because we’re now experiencing extraordinary global wars, fears, and sufferings, the “Awakening” verses seem more crucial now than when they were “channelled” thirty years ago. So they are re-published today with additional explanatory sutras, quotes, and comments, consistent with most recent postings about “Interdependence” and “Egocide”.
Those postings explained that although we can’t avoid ego illusion upon physical incarnation in low energy Third Dimension [3D] space/time and duality, we can choose to hasten our elevation to higher dimensions beyond fear and suffering with thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are loving and helpful, not selfish and harmful.
Therefore, let us now choose to live loving and helpful lives, so that with all life forms everywhere we can consciously exist cooperatively and interdependently, not selfishly and exploitively; and so may we hasten our destined realization of Being immortally ONE with Divine SELF as LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Awakening
Through eons of ignorance,
we have been asleep –
Dreaming “I am a body,
a name, a form, a story” separate from
the rest of “reality”.
Now, blessed with a precious human
existence and truth teachings,
we are awakening gradually,
And experiencing ever more
moments of living truth.
But still, from the habits of countless
lives of ignorance,
we suffer a kind of spiritual narcolepcy –
involuntarily falling asleep again and again.
Only when those habits are
totally transcended,
will we awaken –
FOREVER!
Ron’s audio recitation of “Awakening”
Ron’s “Awakening” Sutra Sayings
“Bliss abides when thought subsides.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Mind and memory are “then”,
But– Life is NOW,
ever NOW,
n ever then!”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Life is NOW
Ever NOW
Never then.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Life is NOW or never,
Life is NOW forever.
Life is NOW
Ever NOW
Never then.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“There’s nothing to say,
but words point the way.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
When no one’s a “doer”
nothing’s undone.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Tao is now,
Tao is one,
Tao is doer,
Tao will be done.
Tao will be done,
So let Tao do it.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Everything’s NOW,
So nothing is new.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Time is how we measure NOW,
and spaces
are for places
where we think we are in time.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Remember God, forget the rest.
Forget who you think you are,
to know what you really are.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“We are not merely mortal drops
in an ocean of ephemeral forms,
but the eternally Infinite Ocean of Universal Awareness,
appearing as drops!”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“As ego goes,
consciousness grows,
until it Knows –
Its-SELF.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Cultivate compassion; harvest happiness.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Love blesses the world; fear afflicts it.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“You are not a mortal; you are immortal.
So never fear being a non-being.”
***
“Our deepest fears hide our highest potentials.”
***
“As we lose our fear of leaving life,
we gain the art of living life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“The Witness and the witnessed are ONE.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“This world is wrought with naught but thought.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Thought divides Awareness as a prism divides light.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Thinking and Being can’t coexist.
So stop thinking and start Being.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Forget who you think you are
to Know what you really are.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Spirit speaks when mind is mute.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Theory Of Everything:
Consciousness = Subject = Object = Self”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“We’re whole,
we’re whole,
we’re whole.
Nothing ever
can dissever our soul.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“We are shackled by illusory bonds of belief.
Freedom is beyond belief.”
~ Ron Rattner – Sutra Sayings
“May we bless the whole
as we play our role
in the cosmic theater of life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s Dedication of “Awakening”
As recognized by the above sutras and quotes, awakening from the illusion of existing separate from our innate Divinity is the essential purpose of spiritual evolution.
Thus the word “Buddha” is not just a name but an honorific title, meaning in Sanskrit “one who is awake” to Reality.
So the foregoing verses gratefully honor and are dedicated to all “awakened” boundless beings – whether historically known or unknown – who help other beings awaken from a fearfully persistent illusion of individual mortality to joyous realization of our deathless ONENESS as Eternal Divinity.
May such ‘Awakened Ones’ inspire our uniquely destined realizations of eternal oneness of Life as LOVE, in this precious lifetime.
Embedded below is four minute YouTube video of H.H. the Dalai Lama’s July 6th, 2023, 88th Birthday Message that eloquently expresses The Buddhist Bodhisattva’s aspiration for happiness of all sentient beings and powerfully summarizes the purpose of this “Awakening” posting.
Let us enjoy and deeply reflect on it.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 88th Birthday Message, July 6th, 2023
Finding Lasting Happiness
~ Ron’s Memoirs
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life,
the whole aim and end of human existence”
~ Aristotle
“From the moment of birth every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affects this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.”
~ H.H. Dalai Lama
“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it.
What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away. Pleasure and pain alternate inexorably. Happiness comes from the Self and can be found in the Self only. Find your real Self and all else will come with it.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Seek first the kingdom of heaven,
which is within.”
~ Matthew 6:33; Luke 17:20-21
“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to . . problems of human existence.”
~ Erich Fromm
“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”
~ Rumi
“There is nothing outside of yourself, look within.
Everything you want is there.
You are That.”
~ Rumi
“You are not just the drop in the ocean.
You are the mighty ocean in the drop.”
~ Rumi
“Our destiny is Divinity.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Earth-life is a round trip metaphoric journey,
on which we are destined to return to where we began.
On return, we learn – we never left.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Introduction to “How can we find lasting happiness?”
Dear Friends,
We’re all matriculating as supposed mortal persons on the Earth branch of the Great Cosmic University. We are here to learn lasting happiness from our life experiences, especially from our karmic successes and failures.
We don’t ‘graduate’ until we’ve learned to non-judgmentally accept everyone and everything everywhere in the Universe, (including ourselves and our enemies) with loving, compassion, and forgiveness.
Upon ‘graduation’ we find timeless happiness as LOVE, beyond all fears, pain and suffering.
And as we begin the ’second 2023 biannual Earth-school semester’, I greet you with wonderful news!
Because current global sufferings and interruptions of normal lives are awakening billions of human souls to our God-given blessings, we have unprecedented opportunities as Earth students and citizens to co-create a new and wonderful world of lasting happiness, harmony and health, with freedom, peace, and justice for all.
To explain this optimistic observation, I’ve posted the above quotations and sutra sayings, and the following Q & A essay about finding lasting happiness.
These writings follow recent SillySutras postings which revealed for us that chronological time is being quickened by unique cosmic energies, and auspicious cyclical and astrological planetary alignments, to awaken a “critical mass” of Humanity worldwide to our instinctive caring for one-another, which will bless Earth-life with an unprecedented era of Universal LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Q&A Sutra Essay: “How can we find lasting happiness?”
Q. How can we find lasting happiness?
A. We can find lasting happiness upon transcending our illusionary ego-self, and Being our true SELF.
Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone wants lasting happiness.
However, most seek it futilely in worldly pleasures which are always impermanent.
But, ever abiding Happiness is our true inner nature – our eternal SELF – and our ultimate destiny.
So to find lasting happiness we must look within.
There mindfully we can uncover and eliminate all illusory ego-mind ideas which obscure awareness of our true SELF.
And upon so transcending our ego-self we can BE our true SELF,
which is the lasting happiness of Divine LOVE.
Ron’s Explanation and Dedication of “How can we find lasting happiness?”
I’ve shared the foregoing quotations, sutras and Q & A essay/poem, to help remind us of profoundly simple answers to seemingly complicated questions about happiness and suffering, and to help us discover that lasting happiness as Love is our true nature, and ultimate destiny.
These writings are dedicated to inspiring us to help heal this beautiful world with heartfelt Love, as we remember that ‘everything we think, do or say, changes this world in some way’, and realize that “Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to problems of human existence.”
Accordingly, I wholeheartedly encourage us to join billions of others worldwide as an awakened “critical mass” of humanity which will peacefully end insane and unsustainable desecration of our precious planet, and immoral exploitation of all other life forms thereon.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Invocation
May our current unusual fears and sufferings
prove immense disguised blessings.
May they deeply awaken our instinctive caring for one-another,
and inspire an Earth-life era of wholehearted Universal LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Egocide
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda
“All troubles come to an end when the ego dies”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“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
“Free of ego, living naturally, working virtuously, you become filled with inexhaustible vitality and are liberated forever from the cycle of death and rebirth.”
~ Lao Tzu
“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.”
~ H.H. Dalai Lama
“The entire Buddhist path is based on the discovery of egolessness and the maturing of insight or knowledge that comes from egolessness.”
~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
“In essence there is and always has been
only one spiritual teaching,
although it comes in many forms.”
~ Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now
“As ego goes,
consciousness grows,
until it Knows
– Its-SELF.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“The choice that [mentally] frees or imprisons us
is the choice of love or fear.
Love liberates. Fear imprisons.”
~ Gary Zukav
“Bondage and Liberation are of the mind alone.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“The supreme purpose and goal for human life… is to cultivate love.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“Have love for everyone, no one is other than you.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
Introduction to “Egocide”
Dear Friends,
We are now experiencing exceptionally advantageous Age of Aquarius cosmic energies, and auspicious astrological planetary alignments, favorable to spiritual evolution. I optimistically foresee that these unprecedented energies and rare alignments are elevating a ‘critical mass’ of Humankind to ascend from low illusory Third Dimension Ego-mind consciousness to previously unimagined Fifth Dimension (5D) heart/mind telepathic awareness.
Therefore I’m updating and republishing postings like “Egocide” which can best benefit us from these unprecedented evolutionary opportunities.
Transcending ego is the fundamental message of all spiritual teachings, because Ego-mind is the greatest obstacle to human spiritual evolution.
According to Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The ego and the mind are the same”.
“The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.”
So, if recognized, the ego “will automatically vanish”.
Thus today’s “Egocide” posting includes above key quotations, and the following sutra-poem (with mp3 recitation), which was composed after I’d realized the crucial importance of undoing ego to transcend inevitable karmic suffering in this illusory low energy Third Dimension (3D) space/time causality duality ‘reality’.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Ron’s explanation of “Egocide”
Dear Friends,
The following whimsical “Egocide” poem was composed after I’d realized the crucial importance of undoing ego to transcend inevitable karmic suffering in this space/time causality ‘reality’.
For millennia spiritual teachings have identified “ego” as the fundamental impediment to spiritual evolution and realization; as “the biggest enemy of humans.” (Rig Veda ); and the “number-one enemy of compassion.” (Dalai Lama). The Dalai Lama has said that all Buddhist teachings aim “to wipe out the persistence of ego.” And Eckhart Tolle believes that transcending ego “is and always has been [the] only one spiritual teaching.”
Every incarnate Human (except for extraordinary and incorruptible Buddha-like, Krishna-like, or Christ-like beings) is in some evolutionary stage of transcending mistaken ego identity.
When required to preserve life on our precious planet, such beings rarely appear in mortal human bodies as exemplars or avatars to teach with their words and deeds.
For example as a rare exemplar of Divine LOVE, Jesus Christ inspired millions with his words and deeds of non-judgmental and merciful forgiveness, of even enemies and persecutors. So even while suffering excruciating pain on a crucifixion cross He beseeched:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Upon Earthly incarnation, Human ego-identity is unavoidable
In the 19th Century, Hindu Holy Man and Avatar Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa appeared to demonstrate and teach how “all troubles .. end when the ego dies” , during an extraordinary fifty year lifetime in what is now West Bengal, India. By following traditional devotional practices Ramakrishna’s Eternal soul attained Hinduism’s highest God realization spiritual goal to BE dissolved and liberated into the unity of everything.
But rather than exist as Eternal bliss, Sri Ramakrishna chose to return to his mortal human body to help inspire and teach others.
Whereupon he revealed that ego-identity as a supposedly separate life-form in our low energy third dimension reality is unavoidable. But that we can choose lives and behaviors which are either loving and helpful, or selfish and harmful to others.
So, the following “Egocide” sutra-verses and above quotations are shared to inspire and encourage us to live loving and helpful lives, so we can realize and BE what we truly are – immortally ONE with Divine SELF as LOVE..
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Egocide”
Ego’s attrition
is our mission;
Egocide’s our goal.
When ego’s dead
we’ll lose all dread,
Knowing we are Soul.
Then we’ll say
that life’s a play,
Each body/mind a role;
That we’re the Glory
and not the story,
Not just parts –
but WHOLE.
Ron’s recitation of “Egocide”
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
