Saturday, June 04, 2005

A little something about Masters... Part 2

Well, we were talking about masters. It amuses me to see all of the web sites and organizations and traditions that attach incredible minutiae to particular oracles upon whom are bestowed the title of master. You’ve got Old Masters and New Masters. There are masters within a given lineage and free form masters. There are avatars and Mahatmas; Paramahansas and Swami’s. There are ascended masters and disembodied entities that transmit ancient star data through channels that seem to all be located somewhere in California or other warm climatic zones.

There are big guns and small guns. The big guns are Jesus Christ and Buddha and Mohammed and Lao Tzu. These are the people around whom large world religions have formed. Will Ron Hubbard one day be in this pantheon? ...but I digress.

Let us consider light; white light, which contains all colors; boundless, limitless light. When white light goes through a prism it becomes seven rays of color. There are seven major world religions: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. But what about Zoroastrianism? ...but I digress. There are seven musical tones, seven body centers to which seven planets correspond. You can find a great deal of correspondences with the number seven but I will leave that to you.

For the purposes of illustration it might be good to think of humanity as being represented on a wheel. God is at the center of the wheel. God is the hub. Twelve main spokes radiate out from the wheel. If you look closely at the spokes you can see each one of them is actually 3 spokes very close together. And if you look closer yet you find that you are getting into an area where everything is everything so to speak. Honestly, this is about as clear as I can be at this point.

When you look at religious art you can be overwhelmed by the intricacy of what is presented. In the works of Dore you can see countless angels spiraling up into and out of what is never exactly clear. In Buddhist thankas-tapestries there are just endless amounts of Buddhas and there are a very large number of thankas and paintings and various graphics that depict endless variations of Buddhas in complex relations with Buddhas and wrathful deities and Dakinis and more and more and more. In Islam the same complexity applies and I don’t think I even need to mention Hinduism, do I? But there it is. What are we to make of all this? What are we to make of the countless stars in the sky? What are we to make of the innumerable drops of water that fall upon the Earth and the vast ocean that collects them together? What are we to make of anything?

Now it begs the question; do we need to know all of these things? Will our knowing all of these things lead to our mastery and our liberation? Is all of this relevant? And what are we to make of all the points where one system conflicts with another? Until now I have only mentioned the graphic end. There is also the doctrinal and dogmatic end. In each of these systems there are vast collections of text that outline intricate relationships between various ideas and utilize hundreds and hundreds of terms that all mean something in relation to something else. But wait! There’s more, even if you don’t order now. What about all of the techniques like Yoga and Meditation and Breath Control and I’m not even going attempt to add more here because it never ends.

And then there are all the different teachers and practitioners who have a slightly different or more radical take on each and every technique. Depth comes into it as well. We can be sure that the Yoga practiced by soccer moms in Marin would be different from that going on in a Himalayan cave. Still, they are connected and we have it on good authority that God loves soccer moms every bit as much as Himalayan Yogis. And how did you think I was going to leave that? Yes, I’m smiling.

Okay then. Let’s cut to the chase a bit. You are living in one of these rays. This causes you to see the same thing everyone else sees on their rays- all of which is the same- through a particular lens which causes it to appear to be Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim etc. The intricate schematic of all of the deities, saints, angels etc. vibrate and exist upon a single common state of being that has brought them forth as an example of that aspect of itself; much as the leaves on a tree, or blades of grass. They come out of it and they melt back into it. Being and nothingness come simultaneously out of the same thing and coexist forever... even as the universe melts in and out of itself the very way that you breathe.

A master knows that he does not know and can never know. In this total surrender to the understanding of ones inability to EVER comprehend the entire comes a reassurance that someone/something does know. Everything is under control. A master knows this. If you know, then God does not know and you are left to the fate of your knowing as it is worked out against the backdrop of what really does know. You become a lesson, to the world and to yourself. If you do not know- you must become as a little child- then God does know and can lead you without difficulty through all circumstance; “yeah even though I walk through the valley of the...”

A master is forever giving way before that which is and always will be. An understanding has taken place and it deepens forever. This is how some have a greater radiance than others; just as it is so with the stars in the sky. The process that takes place is an automatic thing. You might say that it is always taking place. It is a process of maturation that is seen in the manner in which a flower blooms; there is no difference here. Some flowers bloom early. Some flowers bloom late. Some flowers do not appear to bloom but I’m not going to get into that now; that’s for another time.

It’s been said that “many a rose was born to blush unseen.” Nothing is unseen; or unheard, if you are talking about trees falling in an empty forest. We confuse ourselves for the sake of our egos and for the purpose of self-deception and entertainment.

All over the world there are people memorizing minutiae. They think it is important. Maybe it is for the moment. People are chanting complex varieties of sounds when you never need more than one chant. God remembers all of these things and you will suddenly know them if they are important because God will remind you. Perfect recollection comes with the territory. If you are doing it, it can be a labor. If God is doing it, it takes no effort at all.

I mentioned some qualities that all masters possess. They also possess; humility, compassion and understanding. Humility because they are forever in the presence of something greater than themselves and believe me, they know that. Compassion because they know we are all in the same boat. We are all the same person at a different point along the same way- that’s the only reason we appear different. And Understanding, because the truth of any matter is always dawning in their minds at the moment they encounter it. This is due to the presence of their constant guest. Of course, too often there is no room at the inn.

I cannot hope to encompass but a small portion of what runs through my mind even in this moment concerning this subject. It just goes on and on, just like the source of the matter itself. Even if there is no mind to call my mind- it’s necessary to pretend in order to illustrate.

Mastery is an ongoing process in which the more we participate the more quickly it occurs. The first thing that must be realized is that we don’t have anything to do with it except to not oppose or interfere in it; to not send the guest from our door. It happens all by itself. You’ve heard the phrase about putting on the “whole armor of God”. These are God’s qualities. These are the treasures we need to seek. It’s a form of spiritual permaculture. You plant certain things to attract or repel certain things. What’s that old phrase? “When the pupil is ready, the master is waiting.” It’s amazing how many ways you can interpret something when you take the time to really think about it.

Visible sings: God in Country by Les Visible♫ I Need More Light ♫
'I Need More Light' is track no. 4 of 11 on Visible's 2001 album 'God in Country'
Lyrics (pops up)

God in Country by Les Visible

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn Les, that is elegant. No one to my knowledge, writes on these subjects better than you. It's no wonder you make the windows steam in this little corner of the internet and it's even less wonder you don't get invited into polite society. The lies would wilt like Triffids. In due time there would be no bodysnatchers and no buffet. I can't figure out if this means anything but you always make me want to say something outrageous.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Beautiful.

CC

Anonymous said...

Now that's a surprise. I didn't expect anything on a Saturday and here it is. Thanks.

Erin

Anonymous said...

Sometimes you just soar like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or some large body of voices reaching into a wide cathedral space. I swear there are occasions where I hear celestial music while reading your work. This is one of those times. I've been back to read this several times today and the whole thing is so elusive. Mucho Gracias.

Bradley

Anonymous said...

Dude, you are out there.

Anonymous said...

You must have a lot of faith to make these things work. I don't know how you would live in the real world and believe these things. It is very interesting what you have to say and I will be thinking about it.

Pearl

Anonymous said...

Just dropped in to see what's happening and nothing new so be well and I'll see you later.

Bruce





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