The sea will be the sea, whatever the drop's philosophy...
Non-distinction speaks in silence.
Words carry distinctions.
The unmanifested has no name; all names refer to the manifested.
It is useless to struggle with words to express what is beyond words.
All division is in the mind; there is none in reality.
Movement and rest are states of mind and cannot be without their opposites.
By itself nothing moves and nothing rests.
It is a grievous mistake to attribute to mental constructs absolute existence.
Nothing exists by itself.
No jewel is more radiant and clear than a mind free from judgments.
Here is the space where we can truly meet.
And no "practice" is more full of grace than simply dropping judgment. Yet this effortless non-doing requires great courage. Because the moment we drop the judge, we are assailed by ten thousand voices from our conditioning, our politics, our education, shouting, "How dare you! This is irresponsible! You must choose sides! You must condemn the opposition! How can the world survive without your judgments?"
Yes, the moment after you drop judgment, a tidal wave of inner voices judges YOU. Be courageous. Drop them too! When we drop the voices of our judgment, we drop the voices that judge us, and we drop them not one at a time, but all at once. Let an exhalation of surrender sweep these voices away like scattered petals, dry leaves. Then breathe in the breath of emptiness, sparkling with Shakti, vibrating with the pure power of silence.
Hollow and transparent, blaming no one, we are present, eyes open to a luminous world, created just now. The ocean of the heart overflows through these eyes. Few words are needed. We meet. And we respond to a world that actually IS, instead of responding to our mental judgments about it. This is real response-ability.
When Jesus said, "judge not, lest ye be judged," he was not warning us, but inviting us into the spaciousness of love, a realm beyond karma. Judge-not is the gateway to the miraculous. Judge-not is immediate spontaneous communion in Christ-Consciousness.
Fred LaMotte:
photo Keochkerian David
Parting Word
As for me
I have no mind
to lose anymore, I am through
with all that—
the sky is my mind
today. (And
it always is
and always was
today.) Blue,
her color
sorrowing over us . . .
Does it flow out of or into us, seeing?
Unseen ray of perception the face beams
at things, or
face on which things shine!
I am so glad
that I no longer know,
no longer
care.
And one more thing:
the future?
Never
been there.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE SOUL
DESCENDING to the earth,
That strange intoxicating beauty of the unseen world
Lurks in the elements of Nature.
And the soul of man,
Who has attained the rightful balance,
Becoming aware of this hidden joy,
Straightway is enamoured and bewitched.
And from this mystic marriage are born
The poets' songs, inner knowledge,
The language of the heart, virtuous living,
And the fair child Beauty.
And the Great Soul gives to man as dowry
The hidden glory of the world.
THE CHARM OF BEAUTY
FROM the unseen world descends
Heavenly beauty,
And plants its flag in the city
Of earthly fairness,
Throwing the world's array into confusion;
Now riding the steed of comeliness,
Now flourishing the sword of eloquence,
And all alike bow down,
Saints and kings, dervishes and prophets,
Swayed by the charm of Beauty's fascination.
EARTHLY BEAUTY
WHENCE the charm of a fair face?
Not earthly beauty only
Can so allure us with its loveliness.
Perchance we see in this, as in a cloudy mirror,
The far faint reflect of the Perfect Face.
And these deep feelings of delight and wonder
Can only issue from the One True Beauty,
For in Divine Perfection there is no other partner.
Nor is it all desire and lust that tempts men's hearts with longing.
. . . Evil appears but as the other side of Truth.
from "The secret rose garden" of Sa'd Ud Din Mahmud Shabistari
