i’ve often wondered, if god is the ethereal force between us, then where does the traditional “devil”-“trickster” fit in? Then I remembered the eastern philosophy of balance. The devil is inside each of us much the same as god is inside each of us. If we talk to god through our ego, we are really talking to the trickster who is in control of our ego, our desires. The trickster supplants urges, the trickster makes you crave all the latest gadgets. The trickster makes you less empathetic and more narcissistic.
Now I’m not advocating a complete flush of your ego. For many of you that just is not possible. What I am advocating is meditation and reduction of ego, and to listen to the yin for a little while instead of praying to your yang and having it reflect back what you want to hear. You might be surprised how much easier it is to be empathetic when you turn down your yang.
Its even stranger that you imagine. If you take of the mask of the trickster you find god within it. If you take off the mask of god you find the trickster within it.
The biggest trick is to stop trying to outwit the trickster and discover that you are the trickster, constantly tricking yourself. I am the truth and the lie. I am the knowledge and the mystery. I am the illusion and the revelation.
I suppose everything has a balanced opposite right?
I MEAN there is no such thing as something that has no counter or antagonist, regardless if it’s a good or bad thing? I would suppose not.
So, following that idea… if we assume that there is a polar opposite to everything, it becomes even harder for humanity to make CORRECT assumptions about things, right? hmm that came out alittle weird, let me try to explain alittle better…
If we assume that everything has an opposite, (which i believe is true), than we automatically start looking for these OPPOSITES, but how do we know that black is the opposite of white? i mean aren’t those two colors just different shades of the SAME color in the first place??? What im trying to say is that, we assume falsely because we have no better answer…
sooo… that brings us to a dilemma, even though it would seem correct that things would have an opposite, is it better to believe what seems true or just not to assume anything in the first place???
Yin contains yang within it and yang contains within it yin. They are not simply opposite, they are dual. Independent from one another yet interdependent. One cannot exist without the other. Both are true. Neither are absolute. There is a harmonious relationship, each completes the other making one whole, like male and female, sky and earth, night and day. Both are true, neither is right or wrong. The one whole is the whole picture.
so really in the dual nature you can’t get rid of the trickster’s voice as he is an intricate part of the whole.
Is there any reason we can’t suppress the trickster? I mean to me it seems that listening to the “god” side of the yin-yang, is more productive for the good of mankind, right?
You could say that, one who is focused on good and bad, right and wrong can never escape the trickster’s judgement. It is discernment that is required.
Firstly, at the risk of being extremely pedantic, there is no God side of yin and yang. God exists both in yin and in yang. But I hear what you are saying, ignoring the trickster is essential to penetrating through to the absoloute. Even the sincere spiritual cultivator will go through the process of first judging…this is bad, that is good…this is right, that is wrong… focusing on the ‘good’ is a kind of training to open up the Way for the individual to witness the inherent ‘goodness’. Discernment. It is a process. In the Real spiritual realm, there is no good and bad, right and wrong. There is only spirit. It is difficult for us to grasp the concept because it is a ‘concept’ beyond our current reality or state of mind. For now, we focus on doing good all the while remaining unmoved by that which is good and that which is bad. Unmoved. The [open] secret.
The reason we cannot suppress the trickster is because we think it is us, we are attached to it. We are moved by it.
The dynamic of Serious & Silly is just as important as the mutually arising Yin & Yang. We need BOTH the Serious & the Silly, both the Orderly Stable Lawgiver and the Chaotic Playful Trickster.
The core of man contains all opposites. Only in dynamic balance is harmony achieved. When we try to only have the Serious then the only method we can use to reach that goal is to hide the Silly away. The Serious cannot replace the Silly. The Silly cannot be destroyed. When we try to deny it, or any other part of our totality then it only gets expressed in other stranger forms.
Perhaps it would be useful to view duality like a balance beam scale. There is nothing that we are, say, or do that doesn’t tip the beam on way or another. Nature provide’s the equal and opposite ‘weight’ to bring the scale into balance or harmony. It isn’t that we can’t over-balance the scale with the illusions of mind, but our true awareness seeks that balance in all things, and our actions then flow from sponteneity. Wu wei.
Duality is distinctiveness, but not separateness.
How does the ego enter into the equation? Is the ego more easily influenced by the trickster for selfish fulfillment, versus the spiritual cultivator?
is the ego the center of the balance beam, as the beam gets tilted the influence of one becomes too heavy creating either someone who is totally selfish or someone who is totally selfless?
Once one can see the illusions of the mind and see the balance beam for what it is, where does that put us?
I agree that it’s more important to be balanced than to be serious all the time or silly all the time, but it goes beyond “serious” and “silly”, because you can be “silly” and still “selfless” and “serious” and “selfless”, or vice versa.
In the esoteric sense the trickster (in my view) is the core of the self and wants all actions to be centered towards your own best interests.
the trickster I’m speaking of is more along the lines of the angel satan in the book of job.
I think there’s something to grasp, I think that the goal of us being here is to overcome our “momenta” or “inertia”. The human desire isn’t naturally designed to be selfless.
The human nature is designed to accommodate the true nature - but there is sin - I love this - sin in archery means to miss the target - when we are not focused on the target, all our selfishness comes into play. If you are riding a bicycle and there is a pot hole in the road, if you focus on the pot hole you will cycle right into it. If you focus on that which you desire and not that which is ultimately useful - you will always be selfish, you will always remain in the cycle of birth and death.
Yes, scyth, and when the realization comes that your own best interests is in releasing your own best interests, then there is wholeness of heart/mind. The trickster and spiritual cultivator are no longer two sides of the same coin, they are simply the coin. The mind can separate them into ‘sides’, but that is the trickster at play. All is one, one is all.
Even worse, we are unable to stay focused on the target which is why we are a prisoner of this situation. When we verify this within ourselves, we see that we do not have free will. We lack, as we are, both the consciousness and will to remain on target so in spite of all the great speeches, we remain in these cycles.
The meaning of the Crucifixion and Resurrection is directly related to this aspect of our psychology.
