Author: asitisnow

My soul and I went down to the great sea to bathe. And when we reached the shore, we went about looking for a hidden and lonely place.

But as we walked, we saw a man sitting on a grey rock taking pinches of salt from a bag and throwing them into the sea.

“This is the pessimist,” said my soul, “Let us leave this place. We cannot bathe here.”

We walked on until we reached an inlet. There we saw, standing on a white rock, a man holding a bejewelled box, from which he took sugar and threw it into the sea.

“And this is the optimist,” said my soul, “And he too must not see our naked bodies.”

Further on we walked. And on a beach we saw a man picking up dead fish and tenderly putting them back into the water.

“And we cannot bathe before him,” said my soul. “He is the humane philanthropist.”

And we passed on.

Then we came where we saw a man tracing his shadow on the sand. Great waves came and erased it. But he went on tracing it again and again.

“He is the mystic,” said my soul, “Let us leave him.”

And we walked on, till in a quiet cove we saw a man scooping up the foam and putting it into an alabaster bowl.

“He is the idealist,” said my soul, “Surely he must not see our nudity.”

And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, “This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea.” And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.

And my soul said, “Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment.”

So we passed on. And in a weedy place among the rocks was a man with his head buried in the sand. And I said to my soul, “We can bathe here, for he cannot see us.”

“Nay,” said my soul, “For he is the most deadly of them all. He is the puritan.”

Then a great sadness came over the face of my soul, and into her voice.

“Let us go hence,” she said, “For there is no lonely, hidden place where we can bathe. I would not have this wind lift my golden hair, or bare my white bosom in this air, or let the light disclose my sacred nakedness.”

Then we left that sea to seek the Greater Sea.

By Khalil Gibran, The Madman

For those already on the spiritual journey, it is not common to realize that past and future are merely imagination of the mind. If we can “remember” the past and also able to “imagine” the future, what remembering and imagining each does is merely mental images in the now. The only difference with both functions is that one experience has the “feel” of remembering “backward” and the other imagining “forward”. Just as anger and jealousy are different due to its “feel”, yet they are ultimately ideas associated with unpleasantness – in the same way remembering and imagining too has the same nature – though they seem to be different yet they are similar considering that both are merely ideas of the mind.

If we were to explore a little further we will realize the flaw of these imaginative experiences. To remember we must have a past to exist whereas to imagine, we don’t need to have a future. If you are in the Now, both experiences becomes contradictory. If remembering and imagining are merely perception of the mind, then both must have similar nature – though they seemingly portray forward and backward.

Consider this: is it because of remembering, past came to be or because of past, hence remembering is possible? Both are different. The former has past as the effect whereas the latter has past as the cause. If you were to say because of past, only then can we remember, you are implying that past must be a cause for remembering to take effect. Now consider imagining – if both imagination and remembering are merely perception of forward and backward, then we are to say future must exist first before we can imagine it! But to our mind that cannot be true as the word “imagine” already means not in existence except a fancy thought.

Lets imagine the other way round – if past is a result conjured by the mind because of perception of remembering which is in tandem with what perception of imagining does to us, having future as a result – then it will equally be true to say if future can be exactly manifested according to our intent, past too can be created with our intent. Thus, if we have a meaning our past is uninteresting that make us who we are now, we can intent what we will like to be in the past and hence experience the exact result of that intent and experience it now. Having this thought can be equally bizarre, if not worst, then the earlier suggestion.

The explanation above is not to dispute reality but for us to explore deeply through our own experience whether there is any truth in both. It is always empirical to make what has shared practical – thus I invite you to imagine and remember – do you notice both are merely thoughts or ideas? Can one prove both exist? Even if photos of past is being shown, what we see is still in the now – images formed by the mind.

Thus Now is the only “realness” we can ever have – yet that is also untrue as Now can only come to be because of past and future just as middle can only come into existence with two end points. What then is Now – imaginary too? What about beyond Now? I will leave you here to your imagination. But do consider this option – if there is such a thing as “eternity” (differing from “being continuous”), as to mean unconditioned by time or space – beyond past, now and future; in other words beyond the grasp of the mind, which could also mean beyond the existence of mind, what is “seen” from eternity of past-now-future is merely an expression – meaningless, holographic, illusionary and non-tangible. If that is true, then the entire universe is merely a non-existential phenomenon – probably a dreamlike state and “we” are apparently part of it, which includes the body we are in. :D

The spiritual journey is not about packing our bags and go Home, if that is what you have in mind; rather it is about potential Awakening to what is already Home, here in the now – and that takes a paradigm shift of perception which can only occur with the help of Right Understanding. There is no Home to go or seek except to realize what is here is simply a dream.

The more I want to be worthy, the more I am convinced I am unworthy. The more I want to get out of a situation, the more I am convinced I am still in that situation. Constantly I am not aware the “want” I have is perpetuating what I am detesting – ironic isn’t it? For I have not noticed by now that it is not from want, that I get what I want.

Want and don’t want is inseparable just as front and back of anything. There are not two things but one – depending on which perspective I take to see. When I want something I am already not wanting another, albeit unconscious. When I don’t want the feeling of unworthiness I am propelled to want worthiness – get where I am coming from? Thus, the more I seek the opposite, the more I am reinstating what that caused me to seek in the first place. The paradox is that when I notice with acknowledgment, face to face with what really is, I am reclaiming what I want. So if I notice unworthiness squarely, I am already worthy of seeing it without any opposing meaning attached. If it has been otherwise, I am back to feeling unworthy. Seeing it does not mean giving in to it, rather on the contrary, it is about not giving power to what we think can frightens us. It is a step of courage to see the true nature of these meanings as it is, thus revealing the unrealness of it – for that you become free from it.

So the more I want to be free, the more I feel myself trapped in what I am in. What is here at this moment is not a trap except my inability to be with it – thus the meaning ‘trap’ comes into the picture. The same goes with thought or emotion. Both are so called innocent; my “don’t like” makes me perceived that they are a problem to my peace or worst, the one who is responsible for my emotion is the culprit. I got it all wrong when I don’t see the reality of what I am luring myself into. I have to eat up what I have unknowingly gave meaning to.

The consciousness is an amazing creator of experiences. If I am unaware what this consciousness is churning out, what comes later is what I am attending to. Let your interest not be on the outside, for the consciousness is already doing that job irrelevant whether you have to be there or not. Let your life journey be awakened to the pattern of your consciousness, by knowing how it works – the insanity of misperceptions and mistakes that your consciousness has erred. Only when you are awakened to it, you are free to choose what is for your highest joy for by then you are aware that each experience are merely effects of what your consciousness churned out.

I am a fool
to be fooled by myself
over and over again
not seeing
I am doing it all
for myself, to myself
yet when I am finally
awakened to this foolishness
I am only to see
what was foolished was merely
an error, a misperception
which cannot be otherwise
within it, a nightmare it can be
without it, a cosmic joke it truly is.
what a jubilation!