Posts Tagged ‘Whimsy’
Who’s a Who, and Who are You?
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
~ Dr. Seuss
Horton Hears a Who
“[Self] Realization is of the fact that you are not a person.”
“You are THAT!”
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Who’s a Who, and Who are You?
Q. If “A person’s a person, no matter how small”,
and a person’s a person, though tiny or tall,When is a person no person at all?
A. A person’s no person, whether tiny or tall,
when s(he) doesn’t think s(he)’s a “person” –
any person at all.
Q. Doesn’t everyone think they’re a “person” –
whether tiny or tall;Does anyone think they’re no person at all?
A. Nobody thinks that they’re anyone – tiny or tall,
when they don’t think anything – anything at all.
Q. But when they’re not thinking,
who are they?
And who am I? And who are you?
A. To realize that we must stop thinking,too!
Ron’s comments and recitation of “Who’s a Who, and Who are You?”
Ron’s explanation of “Who’s a Who, and Who are You?”
Dear Friends,
Since launching the Silly Sutras website I have posted many writings – aphorisms, quotations, poems and essays – about Eastern non-dualism philosophy, which I accept as highest spiritual teachings. Paradoxically these writings point to an ultimate Truth which cannot be expressed in words, but only suggested silently – like the Buddha pointing to the moon.
Thus, sometimes we may best communicate wordlessly with silent gestures, pantomime, looks or tears; or auditorily with laughter, tunes, or music.
With words, Truth is sometimes best expressed with jest – whimsically, humorously or paradoxically.
The foregoing poem “Who’s a Who, and Who are You?” was composed to both whimsically and paradoxically point to ineffable Absolute non-duality Reality.
Einstein told us that our space/time duality reality is a persistent mental illusion – a way of thinking. Similarly, for millennia mystical inner explorers have revealed the ever illusionary nature of our impermanent relative ‘reality’ – calling it (in Sanskrit) “maya” or “samsara” – which the Buddha likened to a mental mirage.
In sutra sayings I have paradoxically proclaimed that:
“Reality isn’t REAL!”
that it is just a mental movie – a holographically, fractally, and kaleidoscopically projected ‘theater of the mind’.
In composing “Who’s a Who, and Who are You?” I have attempted to express paradoxically and whimsically how Dr. Seuss might point from space/time to Ultimate non-duality Reality.
I hope we can get the ‘point’; or at least begin to wonder what it means.
And so may it be!
Conversation With God
Conversation With God
Man: God?
God: Yes?
Man: Can I ask you something?
God: Of course!
Man: What is for you a million years?
God: A second.
Man: And a million dollars?
God: A penny.
Man: God, Can you give me a penny?
God: Sure. Wait a second.
Ron’s Comment on “Conversation With God”
Dear Friends,
Did you know that the official motto of the US corporate plutocracy is:
“In God We Trust”?
Significantly that motto appears on all US paper currency and coins.
The foregoing is an imaginary whimsical conversation with God initiated by a devout worshiper, who is apparently confused about God’s true identity.
May it remind us that God is LOVE, not money.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Can We Be Born-Again?
~ Ron’s Memoirs and Quotations
“As we live through thousands of dreams in our present life, so is our present life only one of many thousands of such lives which we enter from the other more real life and then return after death. Our life is but one of the dreams of that more real life, and so it is endlessly, until the very last one, the very real the life of God.”
~ Leo Tolstoy
“God generates beings, and sends them back over and over again,
till they return to Him.”
~ Koran
“I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again.”
~ John – 3:3
“Lord Krishna said: …. The learned neither laments for the dead or the living. Certainly never at any time did I not exist, nor you, nor all these kings and certainly never shall we cease to exist in the future. Just as in the physical body of the embodied being is the process of childhood, youth and old age; similarly by the transmigration from one body to another the wise are never deluded.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
“But know that by whom this entire body is pervaded, is indestructible. No one is able to cause the destruction of the imperishable soul. The embodied soul is eternal in existence, indestructible and infinite, only the material body is factually perishable….”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
“The soul never takes birth and never dies at any time, nor does it come into being again when the body is created. The soul is birthless, eternal, imperishable and timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed. Just as a man giving up old worn out garments accepts other new apparel, in the same way the embodied soul giving up old and worn out bodies verily accepts new bodies.” “The soul is eternal, all-pervading, unmodifiable, immovable and primordial.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna
© Elizabeth Lyle, www.dreamingheart.com
CAN WE BE BORN-AGAIN?
We’re born –
and born-again,
And born-again,
and born-again,
Until when –
We realize
we were never ever born.
And then –
we’re never born again.
Ron’s comments and recitation of “Can We Be Born-Again?”
Ron’s explanation of “Can We Be Born-Again?”
Dear Friends,
The foregoing “Born-Again” poetic essay explores the perennial mystery of inevitable bodily death by whimsically addressing possible afterlife, rebirth or reincarnation. The poem was written only after an extended reflective process, hereafter described.
In online spiritual memoirs – tentatively titled: “From Litigation to Meditation – and Beyond”: An ex-lawyer’s spiritual metamorphosis from Secular Hebrew; to Born-again Hindu; to Uncertain Undo – I have told how after a midlife spiritual awakening I began experiencing gradual inner transformation.
After meeting my Guruji from India, I was soon calling myself a “Born-again Hindu”, with extreme enthusiasm about encountering such a great yogi. (See The Luckiest Day of My Life ~ Meeting My Spiritual Master ) Initially I only considered myself to be “Born-Again” psychologically – but not physically.
Later, after much reflection, I accepted Hindu and Buddhist theories of physical rebirth or reincarnation – that all humans are repeatedly ‘born again’ in supposedly separate bodies with separate karmic destinies, until achieving the spiritual ‘goal’ of Self-realization or merger with ONE mysterious Divine Source and matrix.
Ultimately, after many amazing mystical experiences, I further accepted ancient Eastern non-duality teachings questioning the reality of any rebirth because this ever impermanent space/time duality reality is an illusory and unreal play of Cosmic consciousness – maya or samsara. Such non-dualist teachings like Advaita-Vedanta say that humans egoically and mistakenly mentally self-identify with their optical illusions of apparent separation from each other and Nature until “enlightenment” or Self-realization. Whereupon the illusion of separation and duality ends forever.
My recognition and acceptance as true Reality of spiritual non-duality was validated and corroborated when I learned of Einstein’s revolutionary discoveries about space/time that:
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think.”
“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.”
“There is no place in this new kind of physics for the [quantum] field and matter, for the field is the only [manifest] reality.”
So I began believing that we were never truly born or reborn in space/time, which is merely “an optical illusion of consciousness.” But I realized that only very rare Buddha-like beings who non-dually merge with Cosmic consciousness need never be “Born-Again”.
However it seems apparent that the vast majority of humans remain karmically compelled to continue existing as space/time entities until overcoming all vestiges of our hallucination of separation from each other, from Nature, and from our sole Source and spirit.
Though still evolving, I have been experiencing ever growing happiness and ever less fear of death by self identifying as Eternal spirit rather than as a merely mortal physical body – more and more as Ram and less and less as Ron. So I consider Ron as a gradually disappearing ‘fundamentalist non-dualist’.
Because fear of inevitable physical death remains a major societal issue, impeding our spiritual evolution, I hope that my “rebirth” writings and story will help all of us transcend such fear, and thereby lead ever happier lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
You Are The Sun In Drag, by Hafiz
Even after all this time
the sun never says to the Earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.”
~ Hafiz
“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness,
the astonishing light of your own being.”
~ Hafiz
“Love said to me, there is nothing that is not me. Be silent.”
~ Rumi
“If you could get rid of yourself just once, the secret of secrets would open to you. The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe would appear on the mirror of your perception.”
~ Rumi
“You are “gods”; you are all children of the Most High.”
~ Psalm 82: 6
You are the sun in drag.
You are the sun in drag.
You are God hiding from yourself.
Remove all the “mine” – that is the veil.
Why ever worry about
Anything?
Listen to what your friend Hafiz
Knows for certain:
The appearance of this world
Is a Magi’s brilliant trick, though its affairs are
Nothing into nothing.
You are a divine elephant with amnesia
Trying to live in an ant
Hole.
Sweetheart, O sweetheart
You are God in
Drag!
~ Hafiz, translated by Daniel James Ladinsky
from The Gift: Poems by the Great Sufi Master
Ron’s Commentary on Sufi Master Hafiz.
I am privileged to share with you the foregoing poem by Iran’s favorite poet, 14th century Sufi master Hafiz (Hafez). Just as many Western people keep copies of the Bible in their homes, many Persian people keep copies of Hafiz’ writings which they consider the pinnacle of Persian literature.
Written in Farsi, this poem was expertly translated to English by Daniel Ladinsky. Yet my Iranian friends say that to be fully appreciated it must be read as originally composed.
But even for those of us who do not understand Farsi, the timeless genius of this poem, as translated, enriches and enlightens our hearts.
May we joyously join Hafiz in heartfelt gratitude as this Master poet importunes us:
“Join me in the pure atmosphere of gratitude for life.
Join my eyes and soul in their divine applause.”
~ Hafiz
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
The Law of Flaw
“All is perfection,
But nobody’s perfect.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Incarnation is limitation.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth
who continually does good and who never sins.”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.
It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken
and the wisest might err.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Incarnation is limitation.
All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who claim or think they’re perfect.
The greatest self-delusion
is the conviction of being
beyond self-delusion.
The fewer our fears,
the fewer our flaws.
“He who is without sin
cast the first stone.”
He who is without vice,
give the first advice.
High flyers, Beware!
All people are fallible,
and fallible means fall -able.
So, the higher we fly
the further we may fall.
Ron’s audio recitation of The Law of Flaw
Kalu Rinpoche, the Zen Master and the Orange
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
~ Albert Einstein
Kalu Rinpoche (1905 – May 10, 1989)
Ron’s Introductory Comments.
Is “reality” absolute or relative?
And how should the answer to that question influence our worldly ways?
Our phenomenal Universe is miraculous, marvelous, and meaningful. But it is ever changing and impermanent – a “relative reality” of space, time and causality which some mystics call illusion, samsara, or maya.
It arises and appears in an unchanging mysterious matrix of Infinite Potentiality, which some call “Absolute Reality”.
When aware or awakening to this distinction between Absolute and relative reality, we may realize that while we are apparent entities in this world, our Source and ultimate identity transcends this world; that we are ‘in this world but not of this world’.
Thus realizing the impermanence and relativity of our phenomenal reality, we may ponder on its meaning and purpose and, accordingly, on how to best behave herein: viz. what thoughts, words or deeds (if any) are most appropriate and skillful?
SillySutras.com is dedicated to raising perennial questions about how to best be in this world. Even spiritual masters and great scholars can disagree on answers to such questions.
So, ultimately, each of us must intuitively answer such questions for ourselves.
In the opening chapter of “Thoughts Without a Thinker”, concerning psychotherapy from a Buddhist perspective, author psychotherapist Mark Epstein recounts this apt anecdote about a meeting at the home of a Harvard University psychology professor of two prominent teachers of Buddha-dharma with different ideas about dharma.
“Thoughts Without a Thinker”, by Dr. Mark Epstein – Excerpt From Chapter One.
“In the early days of my interest in Buddhism and psychology, I was given a particularly vivid demonstation of how difficult it was going to be to forge an integration between the two. Some friends of mine had arranged for an encounter between two prominent visiting Buddhist teachers at the house of a Harvard University psychology professor. These were teachers from two distinctly different Buddhist traditions who had never met and whose traditions had in fact had very little contact over the past thousand years. Before the worlds of Buddhism and Western psychology could come together, the various strands of Buddhism would have to encounter one another. We were to witness the first such dialogue.
The teachers, seventy-year-old Kalu Rinpoche of Tibet, a veteran of years of solitary retreat, and the Zen master Seung Sahn, the first Korean Zen master to teach in the United States, were to test each other’s understanding of the Buddha’s teachings for the benefit of the onlooking Western students. This was to be a high form of what was being called ‘dharma’ combat (the clashing of great minds sharpened by years of study and meditation), and we were waiting with all the anticipation that such a historic encounter deserved. The two monks entered with swirling robes — maroon and yellow for the Tibetan, austere grey and black for the Korean — and were followed by retinues of younger monks and translators with shaven heads. They settled onto cushions in the familiar cross-legged positions, and the host made it clear that the younger Zen master was to begin. The Tibetan lama sat very still, fingering a wooden rosary (mala) with one hand while murmuring, “Om mani padme hum” continuously under his breath.
The Zen master, who was already gaining renown for his method of hurling questions at his students until they were forced to admit their ignorance and then bellowing, “Keep that don’t know mind!” at them, reached deep inside his robes and drew out an orange. “What is this?” he demanded of the lama. “What is this?” This was a typical opening question, and we could feel him ready to pounce on whatever response he was given.
The Tibetan sat quietly fingering his mala and made no move to respond.
“What is this?” the Zen master insisted, holding the orange up to the Tibetan’s nose.
Kalu Rinpoche bent very slowly to the Tibetan monk near to him who was serving as the translator, and they whispered back and forth for several minutes. Finally the translator addressed the room: “Rinpoche says, ‘What is the matter with him? Don’t they have oranges where he comes from?”
The dialog progressed no further.”
What is Life? – Quotes
“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
What is Life? – Quotes
“Life is like an onion; you peel off layer after layer
and then you find there is nothing in it.”
~ James Gibbons Huneker
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life.
‘It goes on.’”
~ Robert Frost
“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on. ……
To live remains an art which everyone must learn, and which no one can teach.”
~ Havelock Ellis
“In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.”
~ Charlie Brown
“If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z,
where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut.
~ Albert Einstein
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust –
we all dance to a mysterious tune,
intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.”
~ Joseph Campbell
“Life is a long lesson in humility.”
~ James M. Barrie
“..the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.”
~ Walt Whitman, “O Me! O Life!”, Leaves of Grass
“Life is the hyphen between matter and spirit.”
~ Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare
“Life is a whim of several trillion cells to be you for a while.”
~ Author Unknown
“When we remember we are all mad,
the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”
~ Mark Twain
All About Silly Sutras
What are silly sutras? Sutras are thought threads connecting pearls of wisdom. “Sutras” – like sutures – come from Indo-European Sanskrit and Latin root words meaning to sew. Instead of joining tissues, sutras join issues. With sutras we weave a tapestry of insight from direct experience and perennial precepts. Sometimes sutras are concise epigrammatic and enigmatic aphorisms, with vast significance. Sometimes they are grouped to refer to a common category like Yoga or Tao, or as in Buddhist sutras, to record oral teachings of Gautama Buddha.
On this site, “Silly Sutras” are Ron Rattner’s mystical musings expressed as aphorisms, rhymes, poetry, essays, strange stories and apt quotations. Sometimes Ron’s whimsical sutras really seem silly. But remember that in a crazy world normality’s insanity, and silliness is sanity. So our silly sutras offer a sane asylum from this crazy world, and are dedicated to all life everywhere.
May the Universe empower us to realize together our common dream for a better world where everyone everywhere is happy.
“Infuse us, enthuse us, and use us to bless all Life as Love.”
