Notes From Empty Space

What will you do with your one wild and precious life?

2006-12-31T11:34:00.002-08:00

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Saddam has been hanged.

My sister, ten years younger than I and “the healthiest person in the world,” was recently incapacitated with some strange affliction that could be a stroke or…they don’t know what. She’s holed up in bed, doped with codeine, hardly able to move.

Katrina
Tsunamis
Accidents
Illness

“Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Poet Mary Oliver said it so well and…no one in this crazy culture seems to pay attention.

Even though I know that until a person is ready, until a person begins to question their own foolishness, they don’t concern themselves with who they are, with what this life is all about, to “the one thing that must not be forgotten,” (as Sufi poet and mystic Rumi put it).

"Mortal man, how long will you…set your heart on trifles and run after lies?" (Psalm 4: 2)

Even though I know that people are ready when they are ready, the one thing that makes me cry out, the one thing that makes me beat my head against the wall in dismay is: “how can people not see? how can people not question what they are doing?”

See what?

See that our life is more than our triviality, our entertainment, our security, our pleasure and entertainment, our success, even more than our family and friends, even more than ethics, morality, principles, giving back, ending poverty and disease, even more than bodily life itself.

So, if it’s not those things, what is it? If we only begin to ask this question, there is hope. And there are answers… or rather, once we are living the answer, we know and the questions disappear.

What’s there when everything else is dismissed, put away, when everything else is gone? And, rest assured, it will all at some point, be gone. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

I can’t give you the answer because anything I say will also not be “It”. Anything I say will be yet another effort to define, pin down, create an answer the mind will try to turn into The Answer, will try to turn into an idol. It’s about looking beyond, or underneath, all the idols, all the Answers, all the Solutions (our latest best Solution for everything is, of course, science and technology) – clearing them away, emptying the mind of its fascinations. Listening to the “empty space.” Becoming the “empty space.”

I had the extreme good fortune of having had intense, migraine-like headaches for several years. When they struck I couldn’t think. I had to let go of all my thoughts because they made the pain worse. And yet, nothing was lost. Not even the thoughts were lost, at least not the parts that were worth anything. They came back to me, sorted, re-organized, truer, more whole, and healthier than when they had been “my” thoughts, “my” agendas. In some important sense they were no longer "mine" but came from Higher Consciousness, the Consciousness we all hold in common. Even calling it "Higher Consciousness" restricts it: take the term as "a finger pointing at the moon" and go for the moon.

"Silence speaks, the contemplatives say. But really, I think, silence sorts. An ordering instinct sends people into the hush where the voice can be heard."
-Patricia Hampl, excerpted from Virgin Time, thanks to the Speaking of Faith website.

It’s in the realm of paradox (or as we say these days, “irony”) that these matters cannot be described with words, yet they must be spoken of. They can’t be described with words because our words of description try to capture and define them. And what we are referring to cannot be captured, cannot be pinned down because these things are of the realm of the unlimited– the “kingdom of God.” And, it is this we seek. It is only here, in the state empty of our own mental gyrations, where we find safety, unconditional love, wisdom, fullness.

"for thou alone, O Lord, makest me live unafraid." (Psalm 4:8)

There are times when, trying my darndest to accomplish “whatever,” I come to the end of my resources. I fall into confusion, fear, frustration. I’m sure you know what I mean. When this happens, if I “take refuge” in the reality of my situation, in the “not-knowing,” and stop the mental churning, I suddenly feel more secure, even comfortable in a dynamic way. I’ve put my dilemma in the hands of “the Beyond.” From there I wait…for something to shift. And it does. Sometimes I realize I must give up my agenda. Sometimes things just seem to work out. In either case I am willing to listen, and that makes all the difference.

All our struggling and churning is, finally, unnecessary–although I'll acknowledge that we probably have to go through the stage of thinking it is, in order to finally "surrender"… and find out it isn't. Surrender has become a bad word in our American and Western vocabulary. Our egos want to be captain of the ship and we mistakenly associate surrender to God with giving our soul and integrity to oppressive parents, priests, teachers or political forces. We think it is "giving up" or "resignation." It is neither. It comes from recognizing that we, as ego, simply do not understand the Big Picture enough to make wise decisions–even with our smarts and our science. It is what Job discovered when the "voice from the whirlwind" reminded him that, as wise as he thought he was, he did not truly understand "the foundations of the earth." Job, finally overwhelmed by the power and majesty of God, realizing that he had spoken in "words without knowledge," replies, "I have spoken of great things which I have not understood, things too wonderful for me to know….Therefore I melt away."

Islam means "submission" to God, to Allah. Could it be that Islam has something to teach us? I'm not talking about Islamic extremists, of course, but the heart of Islam. Islamic societies are built around their relationship with God.

In our pluralistic society it is not possible or even desirable to single out one religion but it might be possible to honor the commonality at the heart of them all. This is what is sometimes called "The Perennial Philosophy" or "Perennial Wisdom." Aldous Huxley wrote a book, The Perennial Philosophy, in which he identified the common experience and insights at the mystical heart of the world's religions and assembled quotes supporting his observations. When I read the book I understood immediately what he was describing because in my own search I had studied within several spiritual traditions and had intuitively sensed the convergence. In 2006 I founded Two Wings Spirit in Minneapolis to teach the Perennial Philosophy. If you are interested in further information you can visit the website: www.twowingsspirit.org also, read Huxley's book.

What will you do with your one wild and precious life?

2006-12-31T11:34:00.001-08:00

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Saddam has been hanged.

My sister, ten years younger than I and “the healthiest person in the world,” was recently incapacitated with some strange affliction that could be a stroke or…they don’t know what. She’s holed up in bed, doped with codeine, hardly able to move.

Katrina
Tsunamis
Accidents
Illness

“Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Poet Mary Oliver said it so well and…no one in this crazy culture seems to pay attention.

Even though I know that until a person is ready, until a person begins to question their own foolishness, they don’t concern themselves with who they are, with what this life is all about, to “the one thing that must not be forgotten,” (as Sufi poet and mystic Rumi put it).

Even though I know that, the one thing that makes me cry out, the one thing that makes me beat my head against the wall in dismay is: “how can people not see? how can people not question what they are doing?”

See what?

"Mortal man, how long will you…set your heart on trifles and run after lies?" (Psalm 4: 2)

See that our life is more that our triviality, our entertainment, our security, our pleasure and entertainment, our success, even more than our family and friends, even more than ethics, morality, principles, giving back, ending poverty and disease, even more than bodily life itself.

So, if it’s not those things, what is it? If we only begin to ask this question, there is hope. And there are answers… or rather, once we are living the answer the questions disappear.

What’s there when everything else is dismissed, put away, when everything else is gone? And, rest assured, it will all at some point, be gone. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

I can’t give you the answer because anything I say will also not be “It”. Anything I say will be yet another effort to define, pin down, create an answer the mind will try to turn into The Answer, will try to turn into an idol. It’s about looking beyond, or underneath, all the idols, all the Answers, all the Solutions (our latest best Solution for everything is, of course, science and technology) – clearing them away, emptying the mind of its fascinations. Listening to the “empty space.” Becoming the “empty space.”

I had the extreme good fortune of having had intense, migraine-like headaches for several years. When they struck I couldn’t think. I had to let go of all my thoughts because they made the pain worse. And yet, nothing was lost. Not even the thoughts were lost, at least not the parts that were worth anything. They came back to me, re-organized, truer, more whole, and healthier than when they had been “my” thoughts, “my” agendas. In some important sense they were no longer "mine" but came from Higher Consciousness, the Consciousness we all hold in common.

"Silence speaks, the contemplatives say. But really, I think, silence sorts. An ordering instinct sends people into the hush where the voice can be heard."
-Patricia Hampl, excerpted from Virgin Time, thanks to the Speaking of Faith website.

It’s in the realm of paradox (or as we say these days, “irony”) that these matters cannot be described with words, yet they must be spoken of. They can’t be described with words because our words of description try to capture and define them. And what we are referring to cannot be captured, cannot be pinned down because these things are of the realm of the unlimited– the “kingdom of God.” And, it is this we seek. It is only here, in the state empty of our own mental gyrations, where we find safety, unconditional love, wisdom, fullness.

"for thou alone, o Lord, makest me live unafraid." (Psalm 4:8)

There are times when, trying my dandiest to accomplish “whatever,” I come to the end of my resources. I fall into confusion, fear, frustration. I’m sure you know what I mean. When this happens, if I “take refuge” in the reality of my situation, in the “not-knowing,” and stop the mental churning, I suddenly feel more secure, even comfortable in a dynamic way. I’ve put my dilemma in the hands of “the Beyond.” From there I wait…for something to shift. And it does. Sometimes I realize I must give up my agenda. Sometimes things just seem to work out. In either case I am willing to listen, and that makes all the difference.

All our struggling and churning is, finally, unnecessary–although I'll acknowledge that we probably have to go through the stage of thinking it is, in order to finally "surrender"… and find out it isn't. Surrender has become a bad word in our American and Western vocabulary. Our egos want to be captain of the ship and we mistakenly associate surrender to God with surrender to oppressive parents, priests, teachers or political forces. We think it is "giving up" or "resignation." It is neither. It comes from recognizing that we, as ego, simply do not understand the Big Picture enough to make wise decisions–even with our smarts and our science. It is what Job discovered when the "voice from the whirlwind" reminded him that, as wise as he thought he was, he did not truly understand "the foundations of the earth." Job, finally overwhelmed by the power and majesty of God, realizing that he had spoken in "words without knowledge," replies, "I have spoken of great things which I have not understood, things too wonderful for me to know….Therefore I melt away."

Islam means "submission" to God, to Allah. Could it be that Islam has something to teach us? I'm not talking about Islamic extremists, of course, but the heart of Islam. Islamic societies are built around their relationship with God.

In our pluralistic society it is not possible or even desirable to single out one religion but it might be possible to honor the commonality at the heart of them all. This is what is sometimes called "The Perennial Philosophy" or "Perennial Wisdom." Aldous Huxley wrote a book, The Perennial Philosophy, in which he identified the common experience and insights at the mystical heart of the world's religions and assembled quotes supporting his observations. When I read the book I understood immediately what he was describing because in my own search I had studied within several spiritual traditions and had intuitively sensed the convergence. In 2006 I founded Two Wings Spirit in Minneapolis to teach the Perennial Philosophy. If you are interested in further information you can visit the website: www.twowingsspirit.org also, read Huxley's book.

Spiritual Lessons of Iraq

2006-12-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

The urgent talk these days is “what to do about Iraq?” and “what to do about the Middle East: Iran, Israel/Palestine, Islamic terrorists?” And then there is North Korea. Everyone has an opinion. Like maggots on dead meat, plans proliferate as to how this country and the West can shape the rest of the world and bring it into “modernity, freedom, democracy and economic prosperity.” But do we really know what to do? Do we really know what to do– even for ourselves? Or, are we the blind trying to lead the deaf? Or maybe the other way around.

A person who has been through the fire of transformation sees all this as quite futile. Such a person knows there is something else at work in these conflicts and dilemmas. There is an spiritual evolutionary process underway, a process that shapes all sides, not just “them.” It is a process that is intrinsic to life and one guided by Divine Consciousness, a Consciousness acting not from “outside,” but from within us and amongst us, bringing all of us to fulfillment of our potential and our purpose in living in human form. (Physical evolution, the Darwinian kind, is just a limited aspect of this larger evolutionary process.)

It is because we are ignorant of this deeper process of becoming that we feel we must “do” something, to “make things happen.” We can be “born again,” profess submission to Allah, or have any other self-image of piety or expertise, but if we don’t know and trust this deeper work of Consciousness we are deluding our self and merely serving our own ego when we try to “fix” the world. If, on the other hand, we are dedicated secularists, smugly superior to this “religious nonsense,” believing solely in reason and the human capacity to problem solve, we too are impeding alignment with the solution that is already underway. (Human ingenuity has a place, but not as “captain of the ship.”)

Where is the Evolutionary Process taking us? I can’t say in any ultimate sense. I think we cannot even imagine the complete journey. But I do have a sense of the learning we need to accomplish in our time on planet earth and how our present dilemmas relate to that task. One lesson is certainly to recognize and abandon our tendency to act from ego. This shift is probably not going to happen to the world at large, or even our whole society, but it can and will occur with individuals. If there are enough of us, the ethos of the world will change sufficiently so we will collectively pull back from the brink. If not, well…the fire next time.

And this too can be part of the journey. Apocalyptic scenarios occur throughout the mythologies of the world, not just in the Bible. The cosmos is replete with exploding stars, empires rise and fall, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions hit without warning, wars wreck havoc. Violence and cataclysm are woven through the tapestry of the universe. Will you be a victim or a student… or maybe even an adept?

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” as Mary Oliver put it. (in “The Summer Day” from House of Light)

Back to my earlier point. If not ego, then what? That is the point: there is an alternative. But “It” can’t be pinned down, can’t be controlled. “It” can’t even be known in the sense we use that word in school or in science. We can know “It,” but only by stilling the mind, by becoming receptive and waiting for “It” to reveal to us what “It” pleases. Not that “It” is capricious. Rather the issue is: are we ready to listen and live what is shown to us. When we are ready we recognize the truth when it’s put before us. In this way we gain gnosis, knowledge of the Divine and Its ways.

I am speaking about the ultimate level of the Divine, which is sometimes called the Godhead in Christian terminology or Brahman in the Hindu tradition. Buddhists call it Sunyata or the Void, Emptiness. “It” also dwells within us as the Inner Self (atman in Sanskrit,). Lack of awareness of the Inner Self (the atman) within Christianity is a huge gap and the reason for many of the distortions of spiritual truth in exoteric (institutional) Christianity. Suppression of a robust, living mystical Christian tradition is why Christianity has, for the most part, lost its way. I will have much more to say about this.

In writing this blog, as in living my life, my intention is to “listen” for understanding and insight from “beyond,” from what seems to the ordinary, egoic mind to be nothingness, empty space. It is the "emptiness" that is the source of everything. I sometimes forget and act or think from ego, but my intention is to become receptive and listen, to follow Lao Tzu’s urging from the Tao te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation):

"Do you have the patience to wait till the mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?"

Certainly President Bush did not follow that advice in invading Iraq. That’s the problem: our ego gets a hold of an agenda, like a dog with a bone, and won’t let go– and now we find ourselves in this mess.

But Bush is not the only one, nor is Rumsfeld or the neocons. The problem lies with all of us. We all do it: we try to solve what we characterize as problems, according to the dictates of the same part of us (our ego) that created it as “problem.” For our spiritual evolution we need to see not problems but messages that Life is trying to teach us. And spiritual evolution is what this life is about.

In our current situation, we tried to deal with Islamic militancy, Saddam’s tyranny, and middle-eastern “otherness” – without seeing and taking responsibility for our role in the creation of all of these. We try to solve “the problem” by trying to change “the other,” by further intruding into that part of the world, to “fix” it. Until it finds its right relationship to the Self (that of servant or instrument of the Inner Self), ego only knows how to operate in the way ego operates: by meddling, by trying to control– and that in service of its self-interest, whether it dresses that self-interest in terms of freedom, patriotism, doing God’s will, being practical or anything else.

The healing perspective is to look for our own part in the conflict and address that. From that effort we will change. And as we change we respond to others, not react to them. They, in turn, will finally respond to us and we will then have relationship, not intractable conflict.

A friend told me his experience of this transformative process, in his relationship with his older sister. Their dysfunctional relationship had been one of sister rudely pushing younger brother around. When he reacted she insinuated he had a problem. He then typically went into “what’s wrong with me,” a neurotic pattern of self-doubt, and, of course, resented her. This has been a life-pattern between them but he recently experienced a spiritual awakening, has begun meditating and become more aware of what he’s experiencing in the midst of tense situations. When the old pattern came up recently he handled it differently. He didn’t react but rode along in silence (they were in a car). She tried to goad him into the familiar pattern, cast accusing glances at him, implying that he was being difficult (she was trying to “fix” the situation by “fixing” him i.e. pushing him back into the pattern– in which she came out the winner). Still he stayed centered, didn’t react, didn’t try to do anything to fix the tension, just stayed with his experience. Finally, before they parted she revealed what was really bothering her. Actually she discovered what was really bothering her: she wanted to spend more time with him, wanted his attention. When she finally got in touch with and voiced her authentic need, he responded and their relationship changed.

I offer Bush and the Iraq mess only as an example of our tendency to act from ego, our tendency to try to fix difficult situations by trying to change the other– in this instance, by military force. We all engage in this fruitless activity in one way or the other. One lesson in this evolutionary life-journey is to wake up to our own clueless efforts to try to resolve the messes our egos create through further ego-efforts. We compound our problems in doing this. However once we become aware of a pattern like this there is the possibility of learning, of changing our attitude and behavior. In that sense Bush, by playing it large on the world stage, is doing us a favor: revealing us to ourselves– if we will take the hint.

I’ll later go into the evolutionary process in greater detail. A hint: we are in the midst of coming to wholeness, as individuals and hopefully as a society. We could think of it as globalization on the spiritual level. Here is a prediction: we will not be able to disengage from Iraq and the Middle East for a long time because this spiritual process, which is now underway, will not let us go until we , not just them, learn our lessons. Islam, and our conflict with Islamic societies has much to teach us. It's not just that we must “educate” them. Life is a school. Once we are ready to learn it becomes a compelling adventure. Once we do learn life is a constant miracle.

2006-12-15T02:46:00.000-08:00