July 12, 2006
Hi Nick,
I visited 2 musician friends at their gig last night at a Vancouver pub, and took my 4-year-old daughter to the beach today; a lovely time in all. ‘Fly’ is my term for ‘getting a life’ or allowing a balance of as many pursuits as possible to be established, after 2 weeks (phew!) of analysis and criticism mostly on the topic of false prophets and prophecy in a very long letter to my friend, Clayne Conings. His baseball playing was really the best example I could have had. It was really time for a ‘reality check’ and moving on! Confucius said, “Don’t bother explaining that which has already been done; don’t bother criticizing that which is already gone; don’t bother blaming that which is already past.” (Analects 3.21) On false prophets, Jalaladdin Rumi said, “The imitator is like a canal. It does not itself drink, but may transmit water to the thirsty”.
Further to your examples of the principle of duality, I saw the complementary duality of earth and sky on the horizon. We do favor perceiving the dual nature of all things, which deludes us into missing the essential oneness. The ‘one’ represents truth, integrity and essence; the ‘two’ represents the ‘lies’ of delusive form, or anything which distracts the mind from the true unity. Men and women are the same in spirit, loosely symbolized by ‘one’; our bodies have a huge impact mostly on how that spirit’s expression is perceived; this is the delusiveness of physical form, loosely the ‘two’.
I’m happy that you’re happy. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Fine quotes are signposts on the road to Truth.
[You said:
“We underestimate our capacity for self deception.”
]
Well said. Quoting my letter, “… the ways of self are far more insidious than we will perhaps ever realize; that we are all, at whatever stage … we are at, designed by Nature to be unconscious or conscious pawns or servants of the Truth and Its metaphor, Sophia, who “ruthlessly” uses all those who love her in order to propagate Herself by any means, including a special use of false prophets or “imitators” as Idries Shah calls false Sufi teachers”. (The Sufis) Concisely: “It’s all good”.
Regarding Anthony de Mello’s ‘The Eagle and the Chickens’ allegory, in which the eagle is destroyed by his illusions, some quote responses:
On the suppression of Self:
The tree wants to blossom but the frost will not let it. (Greek proverb)
There is no greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 46, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 48, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
Nowadays men do not believe in humility, but always try to be first. This is certain death. (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 67, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 76, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
On the greatly delusive status quo (“the forces that demand conformity”):
There is work which is abandonment of work. (M. Ibn Ezra, Shirat Yisrael, 1924)
The need for approval is Self-rejection. (Luxin)
No personal regard where truth is involved. (Elijah Gaon)
I have only one life, and it is short enough. Why waste it on things I don’t want most? (Brandeis, ATOJQ 488D6)
On settling for nothing less than the Truth:
The exact opposite of what is generally believed is often the truth. (La Bruyere)
Nature has buried truth at the bottom of the sea. (Democritus)
Trust no man. (Reinhold Niebuhr, Beyond Tragedy, p130)
It is best to trust in God, not in our own reasonings and uncertain conjectures (Philo, Allegories, iii 81) [Trust the Divine Self, not the human self.]
Know ye not that ye are gods? (hermetic adage, p480, The Templar Revelation, Picknett & Prince) (and paraphrase, John 10.34)
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)
There is a story in the Avadhuta Gita which talks of the avadhut who stopped at a wayside inn and was asked by the innkeeper, “What is your teaching?” He replied, “There is no teacher, no teaching and no one taught.” And then he walked away. [Self is the teacher]
[Though the chatak bird is about to die of a parched throat, and around it there are 7 oceans, rivers and lakes overflowing with water, still it will not touch that water. Its throat is cracking with thirst, and still it will not drink that water. It looks up, mouth agape, for the rain to fall when the star Svati is in the ascendant. “To the chatak bird all waters are mere dryness beside Svati water”. (Sri Ramakrishna)
]
On the potential triumph of Self:
There is no democracy in creation. (Jean-Pierre Perreault)
Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles. (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 18, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
O Mother, what wilt Thou accomplish by killing one who is already dead? (Sri Ramakrishna, in a state of ecstasy, addressing the Divine Mother about his own approaching illness)
In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped. (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 48, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
The soft and weak will overcome. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 76, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
The sage is shy and humble – to the world he seems confusing. Men look to him and listen. He behaves like a little child. (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 49, trans. Gia-Fu Feng)
‘Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’. (Matthew 18.3)
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:4)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
And a little child shall lead them. (Isa. 11.6) [Christ Consciousness]
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. (Matthew 20:16)
Socrates is supposed to have said: “You must do a crazy thing once in a while to keep from going nuts”. (Hershfield, 1938 - 516.3)
If I wasn’t nuts, I’d be crazy. (Luxin)
“Fly or Die” (Ennoblement or Degradation):
The Sword and the Book came from Heaven wrapped together, and the Holy One said: “Keep what is written in this Book, or be delivered to the sword.” (Eleazar, Lev. R., 35.6)
If you bring forth that which is within you, then that which is within you will give you life. If you do not bring forth that which is within you, then that which you do not bring forth will destroy you. (Gnostic Gospel of Thomas 70)
zenmind.com/corner.html has a story called Indra’s Dream, about a god who became a pig.
Here’s my fable on “the fear of flying”:
The Moth and the Caterpillars, by Luxin
When we are avoiding the truths of our potential Oneness and Happiness as one collective Being that is really God, it’s like this story:
A moth lands on a leaf and greets a caterpillar there, ‘Hello, brother, how is Life?’ The caterpillar replies ‘Brother? I’m not your brother! I don’t know you at all! And just fly away, will you? I’m busy munching!’ The caterpillar turned away, pleased that he had so many juicy leaves to munch, and that he had warded off that delusional moth who had undoubtedly only wanted to eat his leaves. As the moth took flight, for a moment he felt sad that his caterpillar brother didn’t recognize his own brother. The next moment, a bird descended and swallowed up the caterpillar.
Over many days, the moth greets a great many of his brothers, who respond in various ways. Many don’t realize the moth is their brother; there are some who know who he is, and say ‘Oh … yes … brother … ahh … I’ve thought about flying like you, but it’s just so nice munching these leaves’. The moth says, ‘Fine, but if you don’t fly eventually you will die, and your potential will die with you’.
The moth lands on the thousandth leaf and greets a caterpillar there, ‘Hello, brother, how is Life?’ The caterpillar stops munching and says, quietly, ‘Oh, brother … It’s good to see you! Well, I’ve been eating a lot, you know. What’s it like flying through the forest?’
[I said:
You want to fly. My question is will you? To move beyond illusion one must have a reference point; that reference is numbers. Pythagoras implied this, and I speak of it again.
You replied:
I would agree. For me the universe is material and functioning by universal laws that are mathematical. Why not start a thread on it. I’d like to read your thoughts on the matter.
]
Now I say:
Your suggestion is my command. I’ll start a thread, perhaps called “Mental Ilness and Mathematics”, short for “Healing Mental Ilness Outside the System with Qualitative Mathematics”, with my own story included. First some analysis and background regarding “where I’m coming from”:
No one should be revered, and no one should be a constant follower, because God or the Truth is in all of us; we are all potential leaders. “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant”. (Matthew 23.8-11) False religion will exist to the extent that true religion goes unnoticed. True religion does not need an organization; it lives in the minds of those who have it. True religion does not need churches; the true church is the human body, the temple of the spirit of “God”, Spiritual Consciousness, or the True Self. True religion’s primary law, the Law of Love, and Reason that is the soul of Love, are the primary doctrine that is “written in the hearts of the devoted”. We all share a common, basic happiness or joy of living; Truth, Love, the “Key of Knowledge” (Luke 11.52) [the numbers key] and Humility allow the building of further levels of happiness.
If those with the Truth do not Love, they do not represent It, for Truth and Love are inseparable. “The truth is heavy, therefore its bearers are few” (Uceda, Midrash Samuel, 1579). Its bearers are unknown to the masses; once committed to Life, theirs is the work of Truth alone; they are detached, “In the world but not of it” as the Sufi saying goes; they are not trying to change or save the world as idealistic humanitarians do; they recognize the appalling suffering created by living “the Lie” – “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov.14:12) – but can only watch Nature’s retribution; the true ones are not ascetics, but enjoy all things in moderation; their only tools are Truth and Love; once committed, they have no choice but to serve the Truth or suffer. They serve not to escape suffering, but out of a universal love for all who suffer and seek the true comfort of Truth; they consider themselves greatly blessed and privileged. “To whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12.48.) Those amongst them who have the slightest self-interest are humiliated by a process of Nature; it seems that only those with the highest intentions, true humility, and a true love and respect for the Divine in others are sustained by the Truth they find.
Their 20th century business organization effort to promote Truth produced a scandal-plagued group – the Kabalarian Philosophy, which is no more inspiring or tolerant than any false religion – from which many left, and from which the man who I consider to be the current unrecognized “leader-at-large”, Clayne Conings, was expelled for questioning the former leader’s ways (sex with numerous teenage girl “members”, for which he has served a 5-year jail term). There is still a considered unity of purpose between the Kabalarians and its former members, and, in the light of my statement regarding metaphorical Sophia’s esoteric compulsion of all of us to serve Truth one way or the other for Its own sake, a considered “transcendent” unity of all people and all religions. I put “transcendent” in quotes because the essential unity is only “transcendent” to false religionists in being beyond the scope of their “spiritual vision”; from the universal perspective of essential unity or inclusiveness, the antonym “immanence” applies to all things physical or conceptual.
Anyway, it’s fascinating how the cause of Truth (which “has Its own powerful agenda” as the spiritual Law of Truth) is inevitably advanced by forces that chose to oppose It and support the Lie, bringing all under endless scrutiny by thinkers who know that Truth is always advanced by the few who are too wary to be trapped by the inquisitional slaves of hierarchical church “power”. Undoubtedly millions have been persecuted and slaughtered for considered “heresy” after saying a tiny fraction of what I have said in this post. I delight in the action of philosophyforums.com who banned me from that site, saying my writing, which does reference the mathematical key, was “nutty” and “pseudo-philosophy”. This from alleged “philosophers” who presumably support the ancient philosophers Pythagoras and Plato. Pythagoras coined the term philosophy and is known as “the father of philosophy” [my interpretation not “Love of Wisdom”, but “Love Wisdom” the only way wisdom can be characterized in the context; IMO Pythagoras was a cunning symbolist], and who stated “Number is all”, and “Number is 'the principle, the source, and the root of all things”.
philosophyforums.com’s decision to transfer my posts from philosophy to religion before dismissing me was especially amusing considering Pythagoras’ quote that “philosophy was not merely an intellectual pursuit, but a way of life, the aim of which was the assimilation to God”. The Divine aspect of philosophy as it was originally set forth has no appeal to those who wish to reduce a study of the Divine beauty of life and people to a dull set of propositions and inferences. How proud I am to be in the company of implicit heretics like Pythagoras and Plato. He he he he he he he he he he, he he he… hee hee hee !! Oh my God.
‘Man realizes the divine by knowing the universal and divine principles which constitute the cosmos - i.e., for the Pythagoreans, Number. To know the cosmos is to seek and know the divine element within, and one must become divine and harmonized since only like can know like. From this perspective it also becomes obvious that philosophy is nothing other … than the care of the soul.’ (Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library)
Guthrie writes of an “enigmatic statement of Heracleides that, according to Pythagoras, true happiness consists in knowledge of the perfection of the numbers of the soul” (q Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis ii, 84, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library)
Though most of Pythagoras’ comments regarding names, number and mind have been purged by translators who evidently considered such to be rubbish, the fractured and incomplete studies of numerology owe all their content to those who managed to save something from what number knowledge that did come forth from the Pythagoreans and other philosophers who came after.
Plato was deeply influenced by Pythagoras. In his Life of Pythagoras, Iamblichus repeats the statement of Plato that the study of the science of Numbers tends to awaken that organ in the brain which the ancients described as the “eye of wisdom” – the organ now known to physiology as the pineal gland. Speaking of the mathematical disciplines, Plato says in the Republic (Book VII), “the soul through these disciplines has an organ purified and enlightened, an organ better worth saving than ten thousand corporeal eyes, since truth becomes visible through this alone.”
“A man should come to resemble that with which it delights him to associate…Hence the philosopher through the association with what is divine and orderly (kosmios) becomes divine and orderly (kosmios) insofar as a man may” (Plato’s Republic)
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