Posts Tagged ‘wisdom’
Words About Words
““No more words. Hear only the voice within.”
“Learn to speak by listening.”
~ Rumi
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~ Buddha
“Better than a thousand useless words is one useful word,
hearing which one attains peace.
Better than a thousand useless verses is one useful verse,
hearing which one attains peace.”
~ Buddha
“In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God
and the word was God”
~ John 1:1
“The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of God stands forever.”
~ Isaiah 40:8
“True communication” is neither verbal nor mental –
but transcendental.
True communication is communion –
Heart to Heart.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Speak little; say much.”
~ Ron Rattner (aka Swami Onandonananda)
Ron’s Introduction to Words about Words
Dear Friends,
Today’s “Words About Words” posting, is deeply dedicated to preserving, advancing and blessing all miraculous Earth-life with our compassionate and empathetic thoughts, words, and deeds, as co-creators of our perceived space/time reality.
With the foregoing apt quotations, “Words About Words” is a collection sutra-sayings and verses about words, and follwing explanatory comments which supplement other related SillySutras postings about silence, words, and thoughts.
These writings reveal important reasons (especially in these Orwellian post-pandemic times), for us to consciously consider how and why our thoughts, words and behaviors karmically cause our Earth-life experiences.
They accept ancient Eastern non-duality and karma philosophies as well as Einstein’s revolutionary scientific insights revealing that our world is a thought created mental illusion, like a wonderful mirage, where “reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else”. [George Orwell “1984”]
According to mystic masters, the more elevated and compassionate our thought emanations, the further and faster we advance our spiritual evolution. (See e.g. Thoughts About Thought) So this posting is deeply dedicated to thus elevating and advancing our spiritual awakening process, and to helping us live ever happier lives.
May these writings encourage and inspire us, as spiritually awakening beings, to ever emanate elevating word and thought energies of kindness, compassion and empathy which help transform the world, and advance our spiritual evolution toward ultimate Self-realization of our true non-duality identity and infinite Reality – as Universal Life, Light and LOVE.
And so may it be!
Words About Words
Words are thoughts.
Words are mind symbols uttered or inscribed
to denominate and communicate ideas.
Words are then,
Life is NOW.
Life is a word game:
Adding a few syllables to the Ineffable,
we play the word game of life
until we find and become THAT –
Silence that says ALL.
Language can be a ladder for ascent to the Ineffable.
With wisdom words
we implicate
that Truth
words never explicate.
Truth transcends wisdom:
Wisdom is primordial;
but,
Truth is pre-primordial.
There’s nothing to say, but words point the way.
So, let’s elevate our spiritual “lexi-consciousness.”
Cosmic contra-diction:
In the beginning was the Word,
but in the end Silence says all.
We maximize the impact of our words
when we minimize the number of our words.
The epigrammatic is most dramatic.
Better than any words is experience.
As the Bible says, “God” is a word – a noun –
with countless connotations,
different for different people –
all believing or disbelieving in “God”.
“God” is a word designating different ideas of a Transcendent Power.
Thus, “God” did not create man,
but man created the word “God” –
with thoughts from ruminations, revelations, intuitions, and speculations,
trying to identify THAT which is beyond words, beyond all thought.
When words are inscribed or uttered with deep insight
and heartfelt compassion, they can be very powerful.
Such words are imbued with the energy of their originator.
So, words from an ‘enlightened being’ are like sun rays;
they radiate the light of their Source.
Live laconically, and
Walk your talk:
Join “The Society of Laconic Walk/Talkers”, where –
The less we talk,
the further we go.
The further we go,
the more we Know.
The more we Know,
the less we say,
’Til as Silence we are the Way.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Words About Words”
Ron’s explanation of “Words About Words”
Our space/time world is an ever impermanent and illusory ‘reality’ in which everything and everyone is flowing energy. All supposedly separate forms and phenomena are energy vortexes or information systems constantly vibrating and oscillating within a continuum, field or range of frequencies. Most energies are imperceptible to humans. But some energy vibrations, like those of perceived physical matter, are slow enough for us to detect.
Thoughts and emotions are vibrating energy-forms which humans don’t normally see. They have a vibratory range from lower negative to higher positive. Negative thoughts of anger, anxiety or fear afflict us, while thoughts of kindness, compassion and love, bless us. Therefore, according to mystic masters, elevating our thought vibrations and emanations can be of fundamental evolutionary importance. Because:
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~ Buddha
Thus the more elevated our thought emanations, the further we advance our evolution toward realization of our true self-identity as Life, Light and LOVE. See: Thoughts About Thought
Thoughts from mistaken beliefs of separateness from each other and Nature cause slow vibrations and low emanations. As we evolve spiritually we gradually quicken and elevate our thought energies. And we thereby progressively transcend supposed separateness, and increasingly understand and experience our Oneness with all Life everywhere. Integral to a divine ‘design plan’, we are graced with infinite potentiality to collectively advance all life on planet Earth, through our loving and compassionate thoughts, words, and deeds, even while we still experience illusionary perceptual separation from Universal Awareness – our shared essence and ultimate identity as Absolute Reality.
It is with words that we mostly express and communicate our beliefs, thoughts and consequent mistaken concepts of perpetual separateness. So words are at the root of our thought-created illusionary space/time world and its inevitable karmic suffering. Thus, the Bible metaphorically tells us that
“In the beginning was the word”.
But, as destined, we inevitably evolve from thinking to loving; from living mentally, to Being consciously. In our evolutionary process, thoughts are obstacles if they muffle or mute our eternal inner voice of conscience, intuition and Love. And ultimately we learn experientially that, whereas in the beginning was the word, in the end it is silence that says all.
Also, we learn that as we gradually clear our conceptual conditioning, we may consciously communicate by various means other than words: that, without words or thoughts, we can powerfully communicate through gestures, touch, tears, smiles, music, and even telepathically.
And we learn that, however it is shared, LOVE is a ‘contagious’ blessing, for all Life everywhere. So, whereas in the the beginning we mostly communicate mentally to share our ideas and emotions, in the end we mostly commune silently to share Love; as we learn that true communication is neither verbal nor mental, but transcendental – that true communication is communion – Heart to Heart.
Thus, as spiritually awakening beings, we are ‘contagiously’ transforming the world by Being and emanating the Eternal Light of Truth and LOVE.
Dedication
The above sutras about words are shared and dedicated to advancing the human awakening process. They are especially important during current extraordinary polarized and turbulent times, when we must transcend fearful and hostile communications and emanations to avert impending calamity, and to co-create a blessed world of Peace and Love.
Invocation
May these Words about Words
encourage and inspire us,
as spiritually awakening beings,
to ever emanate elevating word and thought energies
of kindness, compassion and empathy
which help transform the world,
and advance our spiritual evolution
toward ultimate Self-realization
of our true non-duality identity and infinite Reality –
as Universal Life, Light and LOVE.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Problems:
~ Can We Ever BE
Problem-FREE?
“Life is not a problem to be solved,
but a reality to be experienced.”
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Ron’s Introduction to “Problems”
Dear Friends,
This posting asks whether we can ever be problem-free. And it affirmatively answers that question (philosophically and pragmatically) with quotations, poetic verses, and comments defining “problems” as purely mental and explaining why all problems are created and exist in the human mind as ego illusions, and are ended when seen mindfully and transcended with LOVE.
Please enjoy and deeply reflect on these writings.
They are sincerely dedicated to helping us live happily and problem-free.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Problems?
Q.
What causes problems?
And how can we solve them?
A.Ignorance spawns them;
Intelligence solves them;
Wisdom averts them;
Truth transcends them.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Problems?”:
Quotations About Seeing and Solving Problems
“Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.”
~ Erich Fromm
Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda“All problems are [ego] illusions of the mind”
~ Eckhart Tolle“There is not a single problem in life you cannot resolve,
provided you first solve it in your inner world, its place of origin.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda“Whenever you experience unhappiness or depression in daily life, this is caused by the ego, the self-cherishing thought.
Any obstacle to practicing Dharma or even to achieving
happiness and success in this life is caused by the ego.”
~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche“The ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle:
Totally fascinated by the realm of the senses, it swings from one desire to the next, one conflict to the next, one self-centered idea to the next.
If you threaten it, it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go. Let the senses go. Let desires go. Let conflicts go. Let ideas go. Let the fiction of life and death go. Just remain in the center, watching. And then forget that you are there.”
~ 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.”
~ Dalai Lama“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.”
~ Erich Fromm“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.”
~ Dalai Lama“All the happiness there is in the world arises from wishing others to be happy.
All the suffering there is in the world arises from wishing oneself to be happy.”
~ Bodhisattva Shantideva“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
~ Rumi“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
~ Albert Einstein“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.”
~ Albert Einstein“Freedom from the desire for an answer
is essential to the understanding of a problem.”
~ J. Krishnamurti“If we can really understand the problem,
the answer will come out of it, because
the answer is not separate from the problem.”
~ J. Krishnamurti“The quest is in the question.
The question is the answer.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings“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 Know what you really are.”
* * *
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s Comments about seeing and solving “Problems”
Dear Friends,
As sentient beings on planet Earth, we share innate yearning for continuing happiness. But there aren’t yet utopian Earthly societies inhabited by perfectly happy people without problems.
Thus, individually and societally, all humans inevitably experience problems and limitations which interfere with their happiness – no matter who we are, or how we are self-identified or categorized.
Though physically – like snowflakes – each of us is unique (but mortal) with a unique story and history, spiritually we are all inextricably interconnected and interdependent – existentially sharing an Eternal common Divine Source as Universal LOVE.
Problems preclude lasting happiness
So solving our societal and interpersonal problems is crucial to fulfillment of our inborn wish for lasting happiness. And just as curing disease usually requires diagnosis of its cause, to solve Earthly problems we need to see their source.
To help us “diagnose” our problems I have posted the foregoing quotations and enigmatic sutra poem (composed many years ago) about seeing, solving and transcending “problems”.
Seeing and solving psychological problems
The above sutra poem mainly addresses mental – rather than physical – “problems”, since physical pain is inevitable while mental suffering is optional.
As to psychological problems, His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaches that
“The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion” because “the need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence;” and because without “love and compassion . . .humanity cannot survive”.
Psychological problems and suffering inevitably arise when – ignorant of our true spiritual self-identity as LOVE –we futilely seek happiness from ephemeral worldly satisfactions. So the poem identifies “ignorance” as the source of “problems”.
And Rumi tells us:
“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”
Mental Problems are Ego Problems
Those mental ‘barriers’ which we have ‘built within’ all arise from ego, to which Buddhist teachings often refer as ‘self-cherishing thought’. Through ego we mistakenly mentally self identify as entities separate from the Whole – as separate perceivers of a supposedly objective world.
But this is an unreal ego illusion – samsara. And our self-cherishing beliefs and behaviors seeking psychological self-preservation and protection of that ego illusion of separateness are ultimately futile.
What never was can never be preserved
To promote lasting happiness and compassion, most spiritual practices have for millennia been aimed at transcending illusionary ego identity. For example this intention has been mentioned in ancient Vedic and Taoist texts such as Rig Veda and Tao Te Ching, as well as in Buddhist scriptures:
Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda
“The ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle:
Totally fascinated by the realm of the senses, it swings from one desire to the next, one conflict to the next, one self-centered idea to the next. If you threaten it, it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go. Let the senses go. Let desires go. Let conflicts go. Let ideas go. Let the fiction of life and death go. Just remain in the center, watching. And then forget that you are there.”
~ 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.”
~ Dalai Lama
Thus, according to perennial spiritual teachings, ego must be recognized, renounced and transcended.
No thought, no ego.
Ultimate overcoming of ego happens only when thought ceases NOW, and Universal Intelligence which has been mistakenly regarded as a separate experiencer of sensations and emotions, and a separate performer of actions, exists by itself and as itself, and is not mentally divided and projected.
Happiness grows as ego goes
Only very rare ‘awakened’ Buddha-like beings have completed the metamorphosis from Humanity to Infinite Intelligence – from human consciousness to superconsciousness. So the overwhelmingly vast majority of Humankind are incarnate because we are limited by illusionary ego entity-identity, and we inevitably suffer “problems” in space/time causality/duality.
But all of us can gradually evolve and achieve ever growing happiness by seeing and solving our ego problems from ever elevated mental states of consciousness, subtler than those which created them.
Initially we may use our inborn intelligence to “diagnose” and abandon the beliefs and behaviors causing our experience of such problems. Also, with wisdom we may avert problems by observing mistakes of others and not emulating such mistakes. And ultimately we will thoughtlessly BE problem-FREE – as LOVE.
Invocation
May we overcome our sufferings from earthly ‘problems’,
and experience ever growing happiness,
and fulfillment of our deepest aspirations,
by gradually recognizing, renouncing and transcending illusory ego-beliefs and behaviors,
until we become eternally problem-FREE –– as LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
What is Faith? ~
Quotations and Comments
“This above all, to thy own Self be true.”
~ William Shakespeare
“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature.
Have faith in yourselves!”
~ Swami Vivekananda
What is Faith? Quotations and Comments
Introduction
Dear Friends,
The following profound quotation collection concerns heartfelt intuitive faith, as distinguished from mental belief.
Comments below the quotations explain how inner faith can bring us previously unimagined and ever growing happiness, with continuing learning from life.
Accordingly, these quotations and comments are shared to help all of us find such happiness through inner faith. Please consider them accordingly.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
What is Faith? ~ Quotations
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”,
and it will move.”
~ Matthew 17:20
Faith is the highest passion in a human being.
Many in every generation may not come that far,
but none comes further.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
“The heart has its reasons
that reason does not know.”
~ Blaise Pascal
“Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.”
“Faith is an oasis in the heart
which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking.”
~ Khalil Gibran
“Faith is intuitive conviction,
a knowing from the soul,
that cannot be shaken even by contradictions.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“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
“The most beautiful and most profound experience
is the sensation of the mystical. …
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists,
manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty
which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms
this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
~ Albert Einstein
“My faith runs so very much faster than my reason
that I can challenge the whole world and say,
’God is, was and ever shall be’.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Faith is different from proof;
the latter is human,
the former is a Gift from God.”
“Faith embraces many truths
which seem to contradict each other.”
~ Blaise Pascal
“Faith is much better than belief.
Belief is when someone else does the thinking.”
~ Buckminster Fuller
“Faith means living with uncertainty –
feeling your way through life,
letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark”
~ Dan Millman
“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.”
~ Alan Watts
“This above all, to thy own Self be true.”
~ William Shakespeare
“The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature.
Have faith in yourselves!”
~ Swami Vivekananda
“Intelligence must follow faith,
never precede it,
and never destroy it.”
~ Thomas Kempis
Faith follows intuition;
Faith follows the Way;
Faith follows the Self;
Faith follows the Heart.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“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
Ron’s Comments on “What is Faith?”
Dear Friends,
In reviewing and revising previous SillySutras postings, I’ve been wondering about the subtle circumstances which have seemed most important in furthering my spiritual evolution from age forty two to age eighty seven. And why, after over four decades of spiritual exploration, I’m blessed with previously unimagined and still growing happiness,
Forty five years ago, I was self-identifying as an uptight and unhappy middle-aged secular litigation lawyer on the brink of divorce, when I had an unforgettable “out of body” experience [OOB] which has sparked over four decades of spiritual exploration and evolution, with still ongoing learning from life.
Now I mostly self-identify as eternal spirit enjoying a brief “in a body experience” as an 87 year old retired lawyer and spiritual writer. And I feel immensely blessed with great happiness and gratitude for this precious fleeting lifetime, despite its inevitable ups and downs.
Perhaps my best explanation for being so blessed, is that I’ve enjoyed ever growing deep faith as ONE with Divine LOVE, the inner mystery of Divinity. Previously, I have explained in essays how “I’ve Found A Faith-Based Life” and defined faith as distinguished from belief.
Today I have posted the foregoing profound quotations to help inspire our deep faith in our Divine Self and Source. Please read and reflect on them accordingly.
Also I’ve embedded below a beautiful youtube video performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s inspiring song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as excerpted from the film version of their classical musical play “Carousel”. The emotions we feel from that performance can also help inspire our deep realization that with faith and hope in our heart we’ll never walk alone
Invocation
May we enjoy ever growing deep inner faith and
Self-identity as ONE with Divine LOVE,
Bringing us previously unimagined and ever growing happiness,
with continuing learning from life.
And thereby may we help co-create a new Earth reality
of abiding peace, harmony and goodwill
for all life everywhere.
May everyone everywhere be happy!
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel”.
Seekers Beware!
“Seek first the kingdom of heaven,
which is within.”
~ Matthew 6:33; Luke 17:20-21
“Follow your heart – even if it contradicts my words.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas
”We are shackled by illusory bonds of belief.
Freedom is beyond belief.”
“It’s better to be a seeker with many questions,
than a Guru with all the answers.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Love is the only sane and satisfactory
answer to the problem of human existence.”
~ Erich Fromm
“Honor your Heart, over your rational mind;
use your mind to serve and follow your Heart..”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Path of devotion:
“Adoration of the Infinite,
not adulation of the incarnate.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Introduction
The following poem, which cautions about cults, was composed after I’d begun questioning rigid religious belief systems and dogma, and certain hierarchic spiritual or religious organizations. As explained in comments following the poem, this disillusionment led to my mostly looking within for life guidance, and to regard myself as an “Uncertain Undo” seeking relief from belief, rather than as a “Born-again Hindu”.
Seekers Beware!
Do not seek wisdom
of the occult
in a cult,
Lest cult inculcation
into cult culture
leaves you a cult captive.
Seek liberation, not cult approbation.
Seek illumination, not cultivation.
So seek and pursue
the one path that’s true;
Seek and follow
your Heart.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Seekers Beware!”
Ron’s Explanation of “Seekers Beware”:
Background
After my beloved Guruji, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, returned to India in 1980, I met and learned from other spiritual teachers, in addition to Guruji’s successor, Shri Anandi Ma. But I always maintained my heartfelt inner relationship with Guruji – above all other teachers.
For many years I considered myself a “born-again Hindu” and was mostly attracted to Indian spiritual teachers. But gradually I began questioning rigid religious belief systems and dogma, and certain hierarchic spiritual or religious organizations.
Beginning in 1987, I was especially attracted to the devotional path of Amritanandamayi (Ammachi) of calling and crying to the Divine. And for seven years I attended many of her US darshans and regular programs at her San Ramon ashram.
At first I experienced an exceptionally powerful devotional ambience around Ammachi. And I was much moved by her soulful singing of bhajans calling to the Divine. However, my experience of devotional blessings around Ammachi, and my enthusiasm for her darshans, gradually diminished and eventually ended in distressing disillusionment.
( See https://sillysutras.com/other-teachers-mata-amritanandamayi-ammachi-rons-memoirs/; and https://sillysutras.com/from-mata-amritanandamayi-to-amma-shri-karunamayi-rons-memoirs/ )
I was especially distressed on learning facts about Ammachi’s organization revealed in a spiritual memoir published by Gail Tredwell (aka “Gayatri”) entitled “Holy Hell, A Memoir of Faith, Devotion and Pure Madness” containing many shocking but truthful revelations.
On learning those facts, I realized that I’d been naively projecting purported perfection and infallibility, upon Ammachi and a few other Eastern teachers, rather than seeing them as limited humans, though perhaps further evolved in spiritual awareness. That realization was an important learning experience, which motivated me to emphasize following my heart for life guidance, and to regard myself as an “Uncertain Undo” seeking relief from belief, rather than as a “Born-again Hindu”.
Moral of the Story
Some of us may be blessed to meet inspiring spiritual teachers, gurus or saintly people on whom we may project and, accordingly, in whom we may perceive perfection. I have done this with my beloved and venerable Hindu guru, Sri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas, and with a few other “enlightened” spiritual teachers. But Guruji humbly taught:
“Follow your heart – even if it contradicts my words.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas
And I have realized the wisdom of Albert Einstein’s observation that
“The cult of individual personalities is always . . unjustified.”
~ Albert Einstein
So my devotional path has been:
“Adoration of the Infinite,
not adulation of the incarnate.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Thus, ultimately, I’ve learned from inner and outer experience that “incarnation is limitation”, and that however evolved an incarnate being may be s/he is fallible. Here on Earth, where we experience eternal life via mortal physical bodies, it seems that human fallibility ‘goes with the territory’ – that “to err is human”.
I’ve realized that we need to rely vigilantly both on our powers of discrimination and on our divine intuitive insights. But, that whenever in doubt, it is wise for us to to honor intuition over intellect, and to find guidance in our heart – not our head.
If a spiritual teacher (or other expert authority or pundit) speaks or behaves in ways that don’t make sense to us, we should listen to our heart, and not the pundit. We should act without fear or concern for opinions of others, who may disagree.
Also I’ve learned that we must still our ego-mind to hear our heart, instead of heeding the ‘voice in our head’. Thereby, accessing our inner wisdom helps us transcend many earthly limitations and so resolve problems created by astral entities or lower levels of human consciousness.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Is Personal Perfection Possible?
“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth
who continually does good and who never sins”
~ Ecclesiastes 7:20
“Were I to await perfection, my book would never be finished.”
~ Chinese Proverb
“Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic,
and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress, driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions. Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind.”
~ H.H. the Dalai Lama
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.”
~ Leonard Cohen
“This is the very perfection of a man,
to find out his own imperfections.”
~ Saint Augustine
“The man with insight enough to admit his limitations
comes nearest to perfection.”
~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Incarnation is limitation.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
All people are flawed;
none are perfect.
But the most flawed,
are those who think or claim they’re perfect.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Is Personal Perfection Possible?
Q. Is personal perfection possible?
A. As Ecclesiastes 7:20 aptly observes:
“There are none on Earth so righteous that they never sin.”
Incarnation is limitation – and fallibility.
We’re here to learn and to evolve,
and evolution toward ‘perfection’ implies imperfection.
So, a perfect person’s not possible.
Q. Is personal perfection possible?
A. As Ecclesiastes 7:20 aptly observes:
“There are none on Earth so righteous that they never sin.”
Incarnation is limitation – and fallibility.
We’re here to learn and to evolve,
and evolution toward ‘perfection’ implies imperfection.
So, a perfect person’s not possible.
Ron’s explanation and dedication of
“Is Personal Perfection Possible?”
Dear Friends,
The forgoing essay and quotations raise an important philosophical question for our consideration: “Is Personal Perfection Possible?”.
The idea of “perfection” has different meanings for different people. But, in our world of relativity and duality “perfection” implies “imperfection”. You can’t have one without the other. And realizing that all humans are limited or flawed can help us accept others as spiritual siblings – children of the Divine in varying evolutionary stages of opening to the eternal Light of Infinite Awareness.
Upon mistakenly believing ourselves to be mere “mortals” separate from each other and Nature, we become subject to the karmic law of cause and effect. And we are motivated by inevitable karmic sufferings to evolve beyond our supposed duality; beyond our conceptions of separate perfection or imperfection. Thus we are advancing toward realization that cosmically we are not separate “persons”, but ONE Eternal Spirit or Infinite Awareness.
But while we remain mentally caught by karmic cause and effect, we can’t ever achieve individual “perfection”.
Soon after my spiritual awakening I enrolled in a ‘new age’ seminar called “est”, founded by Werner Erhard, a charismatic and controversial former salesman who claimed to be sharing an esoteric epiphany he experienced while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. As discussed in my Getting “IT” at est memoirs chapter, the est training planted significant seeds for my spiritual evolution process by presenting some important and intriguing ideas from perennial wisdom teachings, which were then new to me, and which today remain important – like disidentifying with the “voice in my head” and “accepting the present moment”.
Accepting “what is” NOW in the present moment remains for me a core principle for living a happy life, after over forty years of experience and reflection. And since 1976 and est, I have repeatedly written about the illusory idea of individual “perfection”, as in the foregoing brief essay/poem and quotations.
In philosophically reflecting and writing on “perfection”, I have concluded from experience that when we empathetically see all humans as imperfect or flawed it helps us experience ever growing happiness.
So this posting is offered to help us identify all humans as spiritual siblings in varying evolutionary stages of opening to the eternal Light of Infinite Awareness – children of the Divine with whom we are ‘fellow travelers’ on the spiritual path to “perfection” beyond incarnation.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
In Silence Sweet
~ Ron’s Memoirs
“Yoga is the cessation of mind.”
~ Patanjali, Yoga Sutras
“Silence is the language of God,
all else is poor translation.”
~ Rumi
“Love said to me, there is nothing that is not me.
Be silent.”
~ Rumi
“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
“Silence is the communing of a conscious soul with itself.
If the soul attend for a moment to its own infinity,
then and there is silence.
She is audible to all men, at all times, in all places, and if we will
we may always hearken to her admonitions.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
There is something greater and purer than what the mouth utters. Silence illuminates our souls, whispers to our hearts, and brings them together. Silence separates us from ourselves, makes us sail the firmament of spirit, and brings us closer to heaven.
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.”..
“Let silence take you to the core of life.”
~ Rumi
In Silence Sweet
In silence sweet
we may retreat
from every care and woe,
and there we’ll learn in perfect peace
all we need to know.
In silence sweet
we shall meet
the thrill of ecstasy.
and thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
we’ve nothing more to be.
In silence sweet
we shall find
all we’ve ever sought.
And thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
that all our wants were naught.
In silence sweet
we shall see
that everything is light.
And thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
there’s naught to fear but fright.
In silence sweet
we shall greet
our own true Self and Soul.
And thus we’ll learn in perfect peace
we are the timeless Whole.
In silence sweet
we shall enjoy
Eternity’s repose.
For perfect peace we e’er shall be,
Peace no mortal knows.
Ron’s audio recitation of “In Silence Sweet”
Ron’s dedication and explanation of “In Silence Sweet”
Dear Friends,
The foregoing poem “ In Silence Sweet” is dedicated to my beloved Guruji, Sri Dhyanyogi Madhusundandas, whose blessings inspired and permitted its composition.
In recent “Why Be Here Now?” memoirs I proposed that the essence of all spiritual teachings is to exist in thoughtless presence (as Universal Awareness or Cosmic Consciousness) rather than in the past or future, as an ego-mind story of a supposedly limited and separate mortal being. And I recounted how by faithfully following (for many years) my beloved Guruji’s emphatic instructions to “meditate regularly” I’m learning about living with a stilled mind.
Today to clarify those memoirs I’ll try to explain why much more important than Guruji’s spoken words to ‘meditate regularly’ was his immense and intense spiritual Presence, demonstrating his realization of Truth; his silent cosmic energy emanations from an infinitely enormous life-force energy field, which Hindus call Kundalini “Shakti” .
“Kundalini is the cosmic power in individual bodies.
It is not a material force like electricity, magnetism, centripetal or centrifugal force.
It is a spiritual potential, Shakti, or cosmic power.
In reality it has no form.”
~ Sri Swami Sivananda
Experiencing Guruji’s Shakti.
After my midlife spiritual awakening experience I became claresentient, and e.g. began seeing and sensing human auras. (See https://sillysutras.com/kundalini-kriyas-a-potpourri-of-peek-experiences-rons-memoirs/) So on meeting Guruji two years later, I was immediately impressed with his extraordinarily powerful emanations of “shakti”, and his extremely luminous silvery subtle aura unlike any other I’d ever before perceived.
Gradually thereafter I learned that Guruji’s energy field was independent of his physical vitality, and even his physical presence. Moreover, I learned that Guruji not only emanated intense shakti but that he was one of those rare yogis who could intentionally transfer it to others not only by touch, gaze, or mantra sound, but also by thought. Thus on occasion I experienced Guruji’s shakti even when not in his physical proximity. And I have experienced intense shakti emanating from Guruji’s body even when it was very weak.
My most amazing and memorable experience of Guruji’s immense energy Presence happened two years after Guruji had left my San Francisco apartment in 1980, and returned (physically debilitated) to India.
In January/February, 1982, for the first time in this lifetime I had journeyed to India on a guided spiritual pilgrimage tour with Sant Keshadavadas, a devotional Indian spiritual teacher then known as a ‘singing saint’. That guided tour was, and remains for me, the most important trip of this lifetime. (See https://sillysutras.com/synchronicity-story-miraculously-manifesting-memories-of-a-spiritual-pilgrimage-to-india-and-nepal/ )
Throughout the pilgrimage tour I was constantly seeking to advance my spiritual sadhana , as a quest for “enlightenment”. By the time the tour ended in New Delhi, I was quite weary from following the intense travel schedule. But I was determined and anxious to remain in India to pay my respects to my beloved Guruji, and to receive his guidance and blessings for my sadhana.
Guruji’s body was then approximately 104 years old and physically very weak. So he was living reclusively with Indian devotees, who cared for him as he recuperated. Because of his debility Guruji’s whereabouts were kept confidential, and known to only by a few trusted devotees. Only after ‘miraculously’ overcoming an amazing series of extraordinary obstacles was I finally able to locate and visit Guruji in a small Gujarati town, Godhra.
There my aspirations for his guidance and blessings were fulfilled in an amazing silent satsang where Guruji spoke only two unforgettable words: “Meditate regularly.”
(For details see https://sillysutras.com/a-long-but-short-guruji-satsang-story-rons-memoirs/; satsang is a sanskrit word meaning being with a sat guru or being with “highest Truth” – https://endless-satsang.com/nondual-advaita-satsang.htm)
On arrival at the house where Guruji was staying, I was pleasantly greeted and told that Guruji was then in the garden, but that he would soon come in to greet me. I was brought into a lovely altar room with fresh cut flowers and a prominent throne-like seat for Guruji. As I waited there, my ‘monkey mind’ became quite active.
Despite many wondrous spiritual experiences during the pilgrimage tour, I was busily dialoguing with “the voice in my head” about my possible questions for Guruji. So when Guruji entered the altar room to sit enthroned in front of me, I was feeling far from mentally peaceful, as I sat there waiting for him to entertain my anticipated questions.
He appeared much weaker than when I first met him four years earlier. But he was emanating indescribably intense ‘shakti’ life-force energy, which seemed as powerful as ever. His energy field was so extraordinarily immense that it soon enveloped mine, and transformed my previously agitated state of mind. So, as I sat there gazing at Guruji, I began harmoniously resonating with his supernal ‘shakti’ life-force, and thereby feeling unusual peace of mind.
Thus my questions for Guruji gradually seemed to melt into silent infinite awareness. But they didn’t all dissolve. So after sitting there in silence for a while, I asked Guruji a preliminary question. But he remained silent, and kept intently gazing at me without answering the question.
Whereupon, supposing that he might not have understood me, I asked Guruji another question. But he still remained silent. Finally, as my appointment time was about to expire, I desperately exclaimed:
“Guruji, I’ve come halfway around the world to see you.
Please tell me what I should do for my sadhana.”
After a pregnant pause, Guruji at long last replied:
“Meditate regularly!”
We had no further dialogue. And soon I was politely informed by Guruji’s host that it was time to leave.
Afterwards.
As you might imagine, the unforgettable memory of Guruji’s profoundly silent ‘satsang’ has remained indelibly imprinted in my heart and on my ‘mental software’. His words “Meditate regularly!” were not merely spiritual instructions, but a timeless heartfelt blessing or sankalpa that my deepest aspirations for Truth might be fulfilled through regular meditation!
Moreover, beyond words but only with deep mental silence, Guruji eloquently demonstrated that the eternal LOVE we all seek is within each of us; and he ineffably validated Rumi’s profound observation that
“Silence is the language of God,
all else is poor translation.”
~ Rumi
Since 1982, by faithfully following my beloved Guruji’s emphatic instructions and blessing for me to “meditate regularly”, I’ve been learning about living with a stilled mind.
Perhaps fifteen years after that unforgettable satsang, my ‘monkey mind’ seemed to cease its ceaseless chatter, permitting me the option of using it or not, and of choosing to enjoy moments of choiceless awareness. Instead of constantly swinging backwards and forwards, like a pendulum, between the past and the future, it seemed to rest in a sort of ‘default position’ when not activated by conscious thoughts.
Whereupon I’ve enjoyed precious moments of Being with a stilled mind which have transformed my experience and deep understanding of incarnate human life, in previously unimagined ways.
In 1996 (after Guruji’s 1994 mahasamadhi and during my extended post-retirement period of reclusiveness), I was inspired to compose the above poem “In Silence Sweet”, which only hints at Guruji’s profound blessing bestowed in that unforgettable silent ‘satsang’.
In grateful dedication to Guruji, I have republished the poem today with the foregoing authoritative explanatory quotations.
May everyone everywhere enjoy the blessings of Silence Sweet and of those quotations.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
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.