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Reflection upon The Mirror

Great post by Rizal Affif. I'm reposting it without his permission, hopefully he won't mind. :D

Reflection upon The Mirror


What do you see in the world?
That is what is within yourself;

The world shows pain, hate, ugliness,
only because you are so, yourself;

Love, peace, beauty, are visible,
only when you are so, within.

Movement

I was in a jocular mood when this conversation transpired.

Me: "Sifu, aren't you supposed to talk in riddles and then the conclusion is some really wise and astounding answer?"

Sifu: "Show me how to advance 6 inches without taking a step and then apply it to your mind."

It took some time but I reached the target physically and mentally. Great lesson.

Light

This morning I decided to attend church with my family. This is still something I do from time to time.  During "Children's Time" the pastor calls all of the children up front for a quick lesson before they attend Sunday School. Todays lesson was titled "Light". The pastor took the children around to spots of light on the floor or to candles and each child had their own light to stand at. At the end he brought a child to stand next to me and said to me "You are light, too!".
This shocked me a bit, especially since I do not like being the center of attention. I've read many blogs lately on being light, heard numerous dharma talks about being light, read books mentioning being light. While everyone was looking as me and listening to the pastor, my head was suddenly swirling. Everything I've learned and tried to understand came together - I am light... and so are you.
It comes from inside and shines outward - shine on.

Emptying

How can one become empty when full of judgment and opinion? To be free it may be best to live as a being just being and knowing. It doesn't matter what others do, believe, or act - just let go of you and the unnecessary begins to fall away.

Assumptions

A difficulty for today is not jumping to assumptions about specific incidents that happen. Based on past patterns one can assume the current result is the same... that isn't always 100% but is the most likely answer.

Moment

For a moment the 2 became 1. No one was there. Just the moment of knowing, being, and bliss. It was just a moment that took no effort. Sometimes we try too hard when we shouldn't be trying at all... yet I try to get back. When will I learn there is no learning involved?

Egolessness

Is that really a word?

Coming across other blogs people state to find true happiness one must shake off the ego.  Wouldn't trying to get rid of the ego be egotistical? And how does one get rid of the ego if it doesn't even exist? It is just an illusion. I used to believe we had an ego to lose and wrote about it at the beginning of my blog, turned out it was never there to begin with.

The End?

This may be the end. I've started an online business that is taking up a significant amount of time. I've been given a decent advance from a few advertisers which means that more time may need to be devoted to making the site better to draw more people and advertisers in. My hope is to profit enough to quit my job and work from home and off the land more. Maybe at that time or when something strikes me to write then I will do more here. If not, I hope the best to my 60 or so weekly readers as they continue along their path. I'll still be around reading your sites for sure.

Unhappy Mind

It is proven that people with focused minds are happier than others with wandering minds. The more the mind wanders, generally, the less happy a person is. Unfortunately this is the default state of the mind, it enjoys wandering to the detriment to your mental health. A person can be happier by focusing on the moment and the task at hand.

The link below is to a study at Harvard performed by Matt Killingsworth. It is a very interesting article and worth the couple of minutes to read.

Unhappy Mind

Workers

A person walked into a quarry and asked a worker about his job. He replied "I hate this job, the sun is hot, my hands are blistered, the days are long." The person went to another and inquired the same. That man replied "I like my job, it gives me money to provide for my family. We have food on the table everyday, nice clothes on our backs, and my children receive a good education." The person then went to a third and asked the same question. His reply was "I'm helping to build a cathedral, it will take 100 years and stand for 1000. This is one of the stones that I'm contributing."

Birth

TTC: 51

The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.

     When a child is born the first taste of anything is the ‘muck’ of the mother as it comes out of the birth canal. This is important for its life and is the first experience with nature. The womb is completely sterile, but as the child is born it consumes bacteria from the mother which then starts to multiply in the stomach and intestines of the new baby. The bacteria is the environment that the mother resides in as well as the bacteria for the foods that the mother consumes. It gives the child an advantage to quickly adjust to life. Cesarean does not do this same task. While the child will adjust eventually it will have to consume the foods and slowly build up what is needed.

     I find it interesting how well nature has evolved us to better survive. The simplest things give advantage in ways that most do not understand. The basics are things we should not neglect, we don’t always know the benefits.

Fall back to move forward

TTC 69:

The generals have a saying:
"Rather than make the first move
it is better to wait and see.
Rather than advance an inch
it is better to retreat a yard."

This is called
going forward without advancing,
pushing back without using weapons.

     It dawned on me this morning while listening to the news how the above has proven effective. As most people know the U.S. and a couple other nations have been in a war in Afghanistan for about 9 years. The war has been slow going and doesn't appear to be allowing the U.S to claim victory as quick as had been hoped. Keep in mind, the U.S.S.R got their butts handed to them during their war in Afghanistan not too long ago and they are a super power as well.

     On the news report a general was discussing the unfair tactics that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are using in the villages. They have put away their weapons and chose to blend in with the population. They carefully watch the troop movement and find a pattern. Once they discover a weakness it is quickly exploited and troops go home horizontal. As quick as it began the Taliban fall back and and blend again.

      I can't comprehend how this is unfair. Because they don't put on military uniforms and fight like a military making war easier? During the American Revolution how many actually dressed in uniform and came out to fight the British the way Britain was accustomed? They complained as well that the Americans were doing what the Taliban are now doing. More Americans have died this year than any previous during this war. While it is easy to blame the U.S. President (it has to be someones fault, correct?) the Taliban are utilizing Lao Tzu's written strategy while the U.S. Have traveled half way around the world to occupy and fight in Afghanistan.

     This writing isn't to offend Americans. It is reality to what is written in the Tao Te Ching and war is a sensitive subject. If anyone wants to get into a political pissing match over this I highly suggest turning off your computer and then go fuck off.



Reactions

TTC 15:

Not seeking, not expecting,
the Master is present, and can welcome all things.



     How do you see other people? Have you ever noticed someone at a kid’s baseball or soccer game that is always yelling at the coach and referee? No matter what happens in the game that person seems very upset. After a few games other parents may start to say, “Oh that is John Doe. He is really over the top, we’re used to him.” Now the said dad has a label from the other parents. To them that is who he is. The dad may not feel that is who he is, but they are all wrong.

     To properly see someone is to watch who they are in the moment. Some people are very predictable with what they do. They believe that is who they are and continue that lie. Others believe who he is and keep that lie as well. We should deal with people in the moment. By doing so doesn’t mean that you forget that person often cons people out of money, takes advantage of others, etc. Instead you let them just be and know when a situation is happening to avoid it. Life is much easier when there are no expectations of who a person is, just how they are at the moment – a body in waiting.

Movie Scripts

     Have you ever learned something unexpected from a movie in which there was not a moral pushed or lesson taught? Over the weekend while watching the movie ‘Mongols’, a foreign movie filmed in China, the last section of TTC 2 dawned on me. It reads:

The Master

acts without doing anything

and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and he lets them come;

things disappear and he lets them go.

he has but doesn't possess,

acts but doesn't expect.

When his work is done, he forgets it.

That is why it lasts forever.

     The main character, who turns out to be Genghis (who would have thought that in a movie named ‘Mongols’?) has virtually no possessions through the entire movie. He leads his group without ever actually leading, they are willingly led. Regardless the situation he shows virtually no reaction other than going with the flow. While imprisoned he seems almost no different than getting drunk with his blood brother. Every situation is just dealt with when it arises and once completed goes on his way.

     Yes, it is just a movie with a script that the actor follows. Movies aren’t typical of this acting style, though. I learned a lot in the two hours by watching a character do nothing. I highly recommend watching it, keep in mind that anything with the great Khan will be bloody.

Procrastination

Have you met people that procrastinate completing a task but somehow are able to finish it quickly and almost flawlessly moments before it should be done? Sure, there are many people like this. I’m one as well. One of my biggest flaws would be laziness… or is it?

What if my personality of procrastination actually doesn’t exist? Perhaps a lifetime of conditioning really isn’t who I am. It may be the truth. We believe our thoughts and past are who we are, our conditioned personality. Most know this by ‘ego’.

So, the person that keeps putting off the work sees the deadline is tomorrow. Suddenly their focus is 100% on the task at hand and it is completed in perhaps a couple of hours although they’ve had a month to conclude.

I need to save internet links more frequently because now I can’t find the science article. It turns out the procrastinator and hard worker are two different personalities. The person is still the same person and intellectually knows they are the same person. Well, then how are they two different personalities? They aren’t really. What does that say about your ego if one moment something is being pushed off and the next you can diligently work the task? Your ego and who you believe you are is bullshit.

Egotistical

That is the high blown version of ourselves we project out into the world. That version of ego is really a projection of fear disguised as bravado and confidence. Those who are egotistical are not operating out of their hearts. Since the egotistical person does not trust his or her heart, they live a life that needs to be in control and deceptive.

The video below is a great example. Due to how it was broken up there are 2 parts. The first part starts on video 1 at the 5 minute mark and finishes. The second part is the beginning of video 2 until he leaves. The transformation is amazing.

Video 1

Video 2

False Reality

     What exactly is reality? Is that reality the same to everyone? I have pondered this thought over the last couple of years. It really makes no difference, overall all. Still, what we perceive is what our brain gathers from the environment around us. Is that environment the same of everyone? Maybe. A story exists in Islamic teachings (may have originated from Buddhists, though) about some blind men feeling an elephant and later arguing about what an elephant is. The story goes...

A community of blind men once heard that an extraordinary beast called an elephant had been brought into the country. Since they did not know what it looked like and had never heard its name, they resolved to obtain a picture, and the knowledge they desired, by feeling the beast - the only possibility that was open to them! They went in search of the elephant, and when they had found it, they felt its body. One touched its leg, the other a tusk, the third an ear, and in the belief that they now knew the elephant, they returned home. But when they were questioned by the other blind men, their answers differed. The one who had felt the leg maintained that the elephant was nothing other than a pillar, extremely rough to the touch, and yet strangely soft. The one who had caught hold of the tusk denied this and described the elephant as, hard and smooth, with nothing soft or rough about it, more over the beast was by no means as stout as a pillar, but rather had the shape of a post. The third, who had held the ear in his hands, spoke: "By my faith, it is both soft and rough." Thus he agreed with one of the others, but went on to say: Nevertheless, it is neither like a post nor a pillar, but like a broad, thick piece of leather." Each was right in a certain sense, since each of them communicated that part of the elephant he had comprehended, but none was able describe the elephant as it really was; for all three of them were unable to comprehend the entire form of the elephant.

     This is something that can be viewed on the news. A car accident happens and three witnesses state something different. Can we really trust our mind? Not so much. It isn't always reliable. It is hard to believe that all mass in the universe is just atoms and the arranged atoms that make up our brain, in turn our mind, generates something that never existed.

Decisions

A plumber receives a frantic call that a pipe burst in the basement of an old lady's house. The basement is filling with water, the drain is not able to keep up. Seconds later another person calls asking if the plumber can come over immediately to move his kitchen sink 2 feet to the left. Who should he help first?

This Crow stated in an earlier comment:

Needing something gives a fine incentive to the one who needs, to discover a way to fulfill that need.



"Helping" them to fulfill that need goes a long way towards ensuring that the necessary skills are not learned, resulting in more need.

What does your nature tell you to do?