Saturday, August 22, 2009

While the Truth Hides in Plain Sight

You can read Aesop’s Fables. You can read Mother Goose. You can read The Bible; The Koran, Sufi Tales and any of the Hindu Epics and find a similar thread running through all of them. They are the object lessons of existence. I imagine there are some who would object to my mention of folk tales with scriptural stories and more so for my mentioning them first but... there are tales more ancient than these stories and there have been tales since there has been a story to tell.

One of the things you see repeated in many of the tales and stories is the refusal of the population to accept an incoming calamity. They refuse to prepare and they refuse to change their ways. Often these calamities are sent because humanity has gone off in the wrong direction and needs some event to put it back on track. Generally humanity will get softer nudges first but they never pay any attention to them and that is why it eventually comes down to shock treatment.

The story of Noah’s Ark has a number of object lessons contained within it. It clearly shows how those who have the inside track on pending circumstance are considered to be mad by their fellows. It also shows that there are times when the board is cleared of what has been, so that what will be can operate with a clean slate. The scroll of history shows that there are times of relative peace and times of pervasive unrest. It shows that both have replaced each other with routine uniformity and also that you can usually see it coming.

The reason people cannot see something coming is because their focus is placed on the more immediate concerns of their appetites, desires and ambitions. Self-interest tends to operate against self-interest. In Spring and Fall you can see how this operates in the animal kingdom, when there is more road kill than usual, due to mating and feeding concerns. In the human realm the same distractions that kill the animals are flashing like neon all through the day and night.

People think if something takes longer to kill you that it is less dangerous. This is one of the ways that human reasoning and logic tend toward the general state of graduating suicide which ends most lives. Logic and reasoning are easily compromised whenever they are measured against the drive for acquisition. They are accommodated to the desire of the moment and the mind sorts out the pro’s and con’s to the advantage of the acquisition. Very often the acquisition is forgotten shortly after it is acquired or necessitates frequent reappearances at the well because the satisfaction of a particular act does not satisfy the actual hunger that is masquerading as a physical desire. This is how the drive for union and oneness gets confused with sex.

The drive for physical sex accomplishes other things besides an ongoing generation of the species. It reduces a particular luminous quality that would, ordinarily give rise to divine analytical wisdom, in favor of a temporary forgetting of the self... a tiny moment of death that masquerades as the true death which opens the door to liberation. It also sets a buffet table for those invisible energies that feed upon sexual fluids and creates a backwoods, kinfolk thing with the sort of progeny unleashed as a result.

The distraction of appetites is what occupies the human mind between the temporary occurrences of physical life as it travels between birth and death. There are appetites and survival imperatives. One does not satisfy and the other does not protect but rather makes one vulnerable due to what I call, ‘the wrong move syndrome’. You’ve heard that line about ‘he who would lose his life will save it and he who would save his life will lose it’. That’s in one of those stories somewhere. Everything you need to know is in those stories and tales but few pay any attention. Quite often those who are reading the stories and tales are paying no attention because it doesn’t have anything to do with them.

In the Mahabharata, if I remember correctly, one of The Pandavas came upon a creature, some sort of a bird and it asked him what was the greatest mystery of all. The answer was... though we see men dying all around us we do not think that we ourselves will die.

There’s more to this as there is more to just about everything in all of those stories and tales. One of the reasons that we don’t think we shall die is because... inside of us... hidden from our conscious minds, is the certitude of reincarnation and the ongoing stream of lives as they wend their way through the jungles of sensation toward the land of bliss beyond. Some are eager for this result and success is speedy. Some have little interest in anything outside of the jungles of sensation. Some of us are made differently.

Our appetites and desires sting us constantly and remorselessly like wasps. We get no peace because we allow these items to dance on the stage of the mind where they endlessly replace each other with a new and improved version of the last disappointment. This is an epidemic insanity within the collective human psyche and seemingly learned and intelligent people will argue- with the willing assistance of compromised reason and logic- that none of this is so because... well, because it interferes with what they want.

There are many clever and smart people who move about, much as their similar animals move about in their realm. Wisdom remains elusive though, no doubt, they imagine they possess it.

Except in rare instances, there is no survival here and one would do well to factor that in. There are some who have been walking on this earth for centuries in the role of caretakers but that is not likely to be a state conferred upon those who can’t even sort out the elementary passions. What we do is romanticize those passions which legitimize them and makes them into pyrrhic displays of a fatal immolation... it’s not much different than a moth around a light bulb.

You can see the whole of society led and driven by these passions; half naked bodies are draped over every product. The rich and powerful parade their trophies without knowing that they are escorting corpses through cob-webbed banquet halls. They put so much work into gaining the right to prance in front of the rest of the world that is denied their status... for the moment... and then it’s over and there’s no more credit in their accounts and it’s back to the wheel, baby.

All the fantasies of being a world leader; a great lover, a famous artist, a magnate or whatever one might desire are all available but never to result in what the dreamer expected. These roles exist for the lessons in them that are outlined in the tales and stories.

A true world leader is led. A great lover has the divine as the object of their passion, a famous artist is inspired and does no more than channel, a magnate is successful only to the degree of their philanthropy.

When one is understanding of these things there is a great deal of humor to be gleaned from observation and compassion seems to be the greater fruit of more protracted observation. One sees on all sides the Sisyphean efforts of a fool’s passage into futility. It is astonishing, the amount of effort people put into things of no value. Even a portion of the same energy, rightly directed, would provide a bounteous harvest of useful things.

There’s no telling anyone anything. They understand or they do not and those who do understand... know at what price understanding will come ...to those who do not understand. It is likely we all pay that price but it would be a matter of the degree of suffering necessary to get the point.

Here in this time a great deal can be sorted in a short time. This is where wisdom can be observed ...among those employed at this work.

Visible sings: The Sacred and The Profane by Les Visible♫ Nothing More ♫
'Nothing More' is track no. 5 of 13 on Visible's 2007 album 'The Sacred and The Profane'
Lyrics (pops up)

The Sacred and The Profane by Les Visible


The New Shangri-La.

18 comments:

kikz said...

well done :)

Anonymous said...

Les,

You have an amazing ability to process and synthesize information. Bravo!

Amicus

Ben There said...

Having gone through a rough period lately, here's something I've noticed. The more intense my own suffering the more sensitive I am to the general suffering in the world around me, and the more I want to alleviate that suffering to whatever extent is possible. In the midst of deep personal pain I realize the degree of my own arrogance and selfishness, my lack of compassion on a everyday basis, and the carlessness with which I sometimes live my life (and I don't mean that in a good way).

The lesson is there. You say it all the time and it's in teachings everywhere. Suffering serves as a wake up call. It redirects your attention to the areas of true importance. If it doesn't consume you and harden you it can mold you in to something wonderful. In my own case I just have to find a way to laugh at myself, get up off the ground, and pick up where I left off the last time that I hit the spiritual snooze button.

William Wilson said...

Hi Les, best
The fables you mentioned could be viewed in several different ways......many seem to be illustrating common sense, which seems to be in short supply nowadays.
The deal about certain things being a point of contact for unseen entities is a bit of concern, sometimes it'd be nice to put certain things on hold.
It's appreciated you write on such topics.

Anonymous said...

Another great post Les. I don't see how you do it. Those invisible friends must be working overtime with you.

"It also sets a buffet table for those invisible energies that feed upon sexual fluids and creates a backwoods, kinfolk thing with the sort of progeny unleashed as a result."

In the bible Paul said it would be better if man never was with woman that way he could better concentrate on the things of God. It would also mean the end of the human race.

I have always had a more esoterical take on the matter. Heterosexual sex is of a higher energy level which those "invisible energies" can't utilize. Prostitution, rape, orgies, satanic ritual even if heterosexual would possibly be an exception. On the other hand homosexuality and self gratification release lower energy/vibration which they can use. Could this be one reason the world is in such a sorry state. More people feeding the beast.

Fud

Anonymous said...

‘he who would lose his life will save it and he who would save his life will lose it’
I read that book too.
It was really great, full of insights and suggestions about what is good and bad for homo sapiens.
Too bad that even on the best of days none of us can live up to it 100%. But then again life is a sort of a test for what comes after - and none of us are perfect or we would be the creator of life himself.
Mouser

Hank said...

The simplicity is in the seeing. The difficulty is in the doing, and that goes along with my belief that the things that make sense don't work, and the things that work don't make sense.

This is an excellent article Les. I have had many of the same thoughts in different way, but I don't think I could ever put them in such a coherent and understandable fashion. It all makes perfect sense to me anyway.

I learned the lesson about the difference between wanting and having a long time ago, though understanding it came much later. It is what deterred me from pursuing a life of material acquisition and set me on a path of trying to understand the emptiness that came with following the path of what made sense. It made sense that if I wanted something, and I did what it took to get it, then I would be happy.

It took me a long time to understand that the happiness was in the wanting, not the having. It's why I buy a lottery ticket every week, and hope I don't win. It allows me the glory of the wanting, and none of the burden of the having. So many people in my life, including my parents could never understand why I never had the desire to "succeed". They could not, and in many cases, still can't understand that I find my success in a different place. Being lost in their pursuit of stuff, they are unable to perceive my incredible wealth. They cannot see the feast provided me by my imagination, or see the fullness of my heart, having learned what love really is. I have so many friends that search for love with their genitals and never find it, and wonder why.

There are times when I feel like I have stepped through some portal into another dimension, where I am no longer perceivable. There are some few there with me, watching back through the portal at the scurrying masses who are looking for the portal. They just don't understand that they can only come through with empty hands. Material will not pass through.

But there is no going back. Unlike the movie, there is no going back into the matrix. Awareness cannot be undone, and it carries it's own penalties. There is anguish and lamentation for those loved ones left searching, who, even though they have been told the "secret", don't seem to be able to let go.

"Some are eager for this result and success is speedy. Some have little interest in anything outside of the jungles of sensation. Some of us are made differently."

I don't know the nature or the reason for the difference, but it is there, and even though I love the friends I have found on this side of the portal, there are some old ones I miss. Unfortunately wisdom cannot be imparted. Peace my friends.

Anonymous said...

Les,regarding Aesops dog. The little pup who made the mess needs to be told NO, and have its nose gently rubbed in it.

Visible said...

There's a new Smoking Mirrors up


Dog Poets Broadcasting from the Sirius Cluster.

Visible said...

Hey Ben;

I hope that works out for you. I know in my own case I've had one of the roughest years in a very long time. I keep thinking it's got to end some time (grin). Enduring seems to be the key feature for me.

Ben There said...

Hey Les,

I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a rough year. I don't know where this stuff comes from sometimes. Just part of life it seems. I guess the key is something about "being okay to agreeable and disagreeable"; that and having the grace to not judge a given situation as good or bad. How can we really ever know? One thing we do know is when our buttons get pushed and the reactive mind goes into a raging fury. I'd like to get rid of that aspect of myself if at all possible.

I'm back on more of an even keel now, but humbled and cautious nonetheless.

I hope it continues to get better each day for you also. If there's ever anything I can do to help don't hesitate to let me know. My email (in case you've lost it) is bjd2222@hotmail.com.

This place of yours has always made a nice support group of sorts. You write what alot of us feel. It's so universal we all think you're reading our minds or something. It opens us up nicely.

Peace to you brother.

Visible said...

There is a new Smoking Mirrors up-


Hypnotized Frogs Cooking in the Alphabet Soup.

kikz said...

hey ben...

just a take a breath.. and remember what's really important.

:)

Ben There said...

Thank you Kikz. It's been a weird year for me. Mostly up and then some big down, some unexplainable severe burnout with the day to day mixed in with some thoughtless, careless living. Alot of the stuff was out of my control but I handled some thing poorly which resulted in some backlash. Meanwhile time whizzes by and I have the sneaking suspicion that none of it matters one whit :)

Anonymous said...

Les
Happy face and smiles!!!! To date, one of your most powerful works!!!
Mother Goose can teach us many things! The world of good stories is very old and chliderns stories are no different. Great link there.
I feel like a kid before "truth." I laugh at my past wants but just start the hole thing over again? It seems each time I restart I can leave behide something, and that seems good! How many more flips does it take to get to center of this?
Thanks for your words, clear they are. I hope that I can feel as a moth, going around the light of love and truth. It may hurt to touch, but thats just an idea I created. We as human think everything has a price or a burden to carry, Im starting to think thats all wrong!!! Its as if I want to be hurt? Why? I say I havent let my love for myself or oneness out. This love is turning and folding over events and people before I even stop to talk or look. To fast do I push off this and return to hopes and day dreams.
Not the best guy in the world but good quote
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened"
Winston Churchill
LeMat

Anonymous said...

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 9.11

avajānanti māḿ mūḍhā

mānuṣīḿ tanum āśritam

paraḿ bhāvam ajānanto

mama bhūta-maheśvaram

TRANSLATION

Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.

Visible said...

There is a new Petri Dish post up-


The Meaning of Life for Dummies.

Anonymous said...

Sorry if it's off topic but here goes. In my browser the smoking mirrors blog hardly loads and posting a comment is no option but the stream of consciousness, zippity doo dah all work fine. I'm boycotting spoogle as of now. Here is an alternate search engine to use www.ixquick.com, another page you might find interesting which probably won't last long is www.bloodpassover.com. My browser is set on paranoid mode and it won't let me use a nickname. Have a better one!





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