Wisdom and the Third Eye

Now that we’ve found that inner bedrock, I have a few thoughts. First is that the enlightenment is probably never fully awakened in this lifetime, and if we claim it is, we’re basically claiming we’re a god or some similar thing. Second, We have to stop being spiritual gluttons for fuzzy feelings. There are still reassurances, but we can’t have everything, even the Buddha died from poisoning. Everything is not going to go our way all of the time. It’s a series of checks and balances. Third is that the light comes and goes. There are a lot of things that can reassure us of our progress, though, and they are not hard to find..

The key is the present moment. We can’t look forward or backward all the time. When we do that, we forget that the only place we are is now. When I say to you, “where do you live?“ The only answer is, “right now”  We have to be our authentic selves in the moment. When we let strange philosophies cause us fear, we let ourselves, our true selves, fade away. I do think, however, that we must avoid violence and evil, but some of us are both of those things, so what do we do? We awaken, one soul at a time, until there are no violent souls left.

If there is no strife or bitterness in us, then we are better, so to speak, than much of the world. This is wisdom, rooted in compassion. This is the goal. We have to love our fellows, whether or not they deserve it. This is very hard, mark my words.

When we begin to awaken, we learn that we are desperate for community, but we begin to notice that our community is smaller now. We must be rooted. We must act out of wisdom. We must find our community in Heaven, Nirvana, Bliss. There is no other way. Zen teaches us to be unresponsive to negativity. This is hard to do, and we will fail frequently. All the same we must try, we must train ourselves. The path is now, right now. When we can start a practice, we can start to heal.

A mindfulness practice is key to realizing these truths. I’ll say again, I’m just sharing what I’ve learned. There are three influential teachers that have helped me, Richard Rohr, Thich Nhat Hahn, and Eckhart Tolle. You would do well to research their teachings.. 

Remember, don’t accept every thought in your mind as fact, friends. Have wisdom rooted in compassion and wise action. More to come…

Peace to you and yours.