Freedom At Any Cost!
"The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth." -- Jean de la Bruyère
What are you doing for Freedom - yours or anyone elses? There is NO time for complacency, comfort or ease. My master used to say there are three things that must be extinguished immediately: fire, debt and disease. Our country, our culture, the entire western civilization is diseased. Not only is it diseased, it IS a disease. And like many diseases, it has infiltrated itself so deeply into our psyche, like the worst type of cancer, that no one can distinguish it - like a tumor that is so deeply nestled and entwined within the brain, that to remove it would mean certain death. But in some cases, death is far more appealing than diseased living, or at least it should be.
“It’s interesting to reflect that if all insects were to disappear from the earth, within fifty years all forms of life on earth would perish. We depend on them that thoroughly. But if all human beings were to disappear from the earth within fifty years all other forms of life would flourish.” -- Jonas Salk
Although it is politically and spiritually often incorrect to say so, euthanasia is a kindness. Our culture is more disease than ease. Everything in our culture is topsy turvey. But we have little to compare it with. We don't bother to look truthfully into the past, but only take the histories from those who write them - and history is written by those in power. We don't have the common sense of gerbils, to do what is natural, but rather we do what the media tells us. Just because our society lives a certain way now, or for the last 10 or 20 years, does NOT make it right. Every great turn in culture has taken a revolution of some kind. It is at the very root of revolution - to revolve, to turn, to move away from. You cannot try to keep your place in the river AND flow downstream. It requires letting go of what you are now comfortable with - all of it. What we have now, among other things, is complication, materiality, selfishness. The opposite of that is simplicity, spirituality and community. Every facet of the modern life is polluted by some aspect of complicated choices, materiality or narcissistic ideals of "What can I get for ME?" These MUST be given up if one hopes to achieve liberty, freedom, or peace.
"The cost of Enlightement is EVERYTHING! - Jed McKenna (and many, many others)
"The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson (and echoed in the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, etc.)
So what IS to be done? The biggest revolution is within ourselves. Are we complacent? I am. And I am furious. I am anguished. And people would tell me I am wrong to be so. They would tell me it is not Enlightened to be so. But it is not enlightened to NOT be so.
I don't do 'Love & Light' because Awakening has nothing to do with Love & Light. I don't "do" Compassion, because compassion is a symptom and NOT a cause. You don't create Enlightenment by being compassionate. Compassion is Awakened as you awaken.
I have compassion for everyone. I LOVE everyone, more deeply than most can know, and this IS why I am furious and why I am anguished. Very few even see the pain they are in, or that there is a way out.
It has been said that if you are disillusioned by your spiritual teacher, than you are deeply lucky, for it is our job, not to make you happy, nor to comfort you, nor to strengthen your already too strong sense of comfort in being an individual, but rather to dis-illusion you - to un-illusion you, to take away the illusions that you so desperately hang on to. I don't want to be your friend. I want you to recognize Truth. If what is said through this person offends you, it only offends your mind, your habits, your beliefs, NOT you. In Truth, you are longing to hear the Truth, but your mind will fight it at every step. While it is possible to dip the arrow of Truth in honey, that is not my job. There is far too much honey out there already, and most expect the honey, and can't distinguish what is honey coated truth and what is honey coated manure. The vast majority is honey coated manure. So I will speak the truth and recognize that I run the 'risk' of offending some ego, some mind, some old habits. Tough Shit! The Ashtavakra says"Don't be cripple minded" I say, "Don't be a wienie!" Wienie-ism is running rampant in our society.
With this now deeply rooted, post modern attitude of entitlement, radical narcissism, and instant gratification without effort, I can only echo the words of Frederick Douglass, "Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Many will refute this with the ideology that, "There is nothing wrong!" AND that is ABSOLUTELY true. There is nothing wrong. The illusion is part of the game, and so is the destruction of illusion if you want Truth. That is also not wrong. It is simply the Truth of the matter. There is nothing wrong with pain and suffering. It is perfectly natural as a symptom that things are out of balance and can be corrected. It is not wrong, it is a warning signal. Similarly, illusion and ignorance are not wrong, they are a warning that something is not being seen. Yelling is not wrong, it is simply a voice trying to be heard over all the lies that you are being fed every day by most of those around you. Not that they are intentionally telling lies. They simply don't know better. They have been lied to; their parents were lied to; the society, religions, educational institutions, medical institutions, etc. etc. are all lying and being lied to. The Truth is like the most valuable diamond that could ever be found. But few even know how to distinguish it anymore. That is why you have to let go of EVERYTHING you believe. Drop it ALL. Have the Courage (from 'couer' - heart) to fight ignorance within ourselves and within the 'world'. To do otherwise is the greatest of sins. So, I will leave you with just a few quotes along those lines.
With the deepest of love & compassion,
Aja
............................
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." -- Dante, The Inferno
"The World is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
"Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good." -- Gandhi
"Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you." -- Benjamin Franklin
"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell." -- Harry Truman
What are you doing for Freedom - yours or anyone elses? There is NO time for complacency, comfort or ease. My master used to say there are three things that must be extinguished immediately: fire, debt and disease. Our country, our culture, the entire western civilization is diseased. Not only is it diseased, it IS a disease. And like many diseases, it has infiltrated itself so deeply into our psyche, like the worst type of cancer, that no one can distinguish it - like a tumor that is so deeply nestled and entwined within the brain, that to remove it would mean certain death. But in some cases, death is far more appealing than diseased living, or at least it should be.
“It’s interesting to reflect that if all insects were to disappear from the earth, within fifty years all forms of life on earth would perish. We depend on them that thoroughly. But if all human beings were to disappear from the earth within fifty years all other forms of life would flourish.” -- Jonas Salk
Although it is politically and spiritually often incorrect to say so, euthanasia is a kindness. Our culture is more disease than ease. Everything in our culture is topsy turvey. But we have little to compare it with. We don't bother to look truthfully into the past, but only take the histories from those who write them - and history is written by those in power. We don't have the common sense of gerbils, to do what is natural, but rather we do what the media tells us. Just because our society lives a certain way now, or for the last 10 or 20 years, does NOT make it right. Every great turn in culture has taken a revolution of some kind. It is at the very root of revolution - to revolve, to turn, to move away from. You cannot try to keep your place in the river AND flow downstream. It requires letting go of what you are now comfortable with - all of it. What we have now, among other things, is complication, materiality, selfishness. The opposite of that is simplicity, spirituality and community. Every facet of the modern life is polluted by some aspect of complicated choices, materiality or narcissistic ideals of "What can I get for ME?" These MUST be given up if one hopes to achieve liberty, freedom, or peace.
"The cost of Enlightement is EVERYTHING! - Jed McKenna (and many, many others)
"The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson (and echoed in the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, etc.)
So what IS to be done? The biggest revolution is within ourselves. Are we complacent? I am. And I am furious. I am anguished. And people would tell me I am wrong to be so. They would tell me it is not Enlightened to be so. But it is not enlightened to NOT be so.
I don't do 'Love & Light' because Awakening has nothing to do with Love & Light. I don't "do" Compassion, because compassion is a symptom and NOT a cause. You don't create Enlightenment by being compassionate. Compassion is Awakened as you awaken.
I have compassion for everyone. I LOVE everyone, more deeply than most can know, and this IS why I am furious and why I am anguished. Very few even see the pain they are in, or that there is a way out.
It has been said that if you are disillusioned by your spiritual teacher, than you are deeply lucky, for it is our job, not to make you happy, nor to comfort you, nor to strengthen your already too strong sense of comfort in being an individual, but rather to dis-illusion you - to un-illusion you, to take away the illusions that you so desperately hang on to. I don't want to be your friend. I want you to recognize Truth. If what is said through this person offends you, it only offends your mind, your habits, your beliefs, NOT you. In Truth, you are longing to hear the Truth, but your mind will fight it at every step. While it is possible to dip the arrow of Truth in honey, that is not my job. There is far too much honey out there already, and most expect the honey, and can't distinguish what is honey coated truth and what is honey coated manure. The vast majority is honey coated manure. So I will speak the truth and recognize that I run the 'risk' of offending some ego, some mind, some old habits. Tough Shit! The Ashtavakra says"Don't be cripple minded" I say, "Don't be a wienie!" Wienie-ism is running rampant in our society.
With this now deeply rooted, post modern attitude of entitlement, radical narcissism, and instant gratification without effort, I can only echo the words of Frederick Douglass, "Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Many will refute this with the ideology that, "There is nothing wrong!" AND that is ABSOLUTELY true. There is nothing wrong. The illusion is part of the game, and so is the destruction of illusion if you want Truth. That is also not wrong. It is simply the Truth of the matter. There is nothing wrong with pain and suffering. It is perfectly natural as a symptom that things are out of balance and can be corrected. It is not wrong, it is a warning signal. Similarly, illusion and ignorance are not wrong, they are a warning that something is not being seen. Yelling is not wrong, it is simply a voice trying to be heard over all the lies that you are being fed every day by most of those around you. Not that they are intentionally telling lies. They simply don't know better. They have been lied to; their parents were lied to; the society, religions, educational institutions, medical institutions, etc. etc. are all lying and being lied to. The Truth is like the most valuable diamond that could ever be found. But few even know how to distinguish it anymore. That is why you have to let go of EVERYTHING you believe. Drop it ALL. Have the Courage (from 'couer' - heart) to fight ignorance within ourselves and within the 'world'. To do otherwise is the greatest of sins. So, I will leave you with just a few quotes along those lines.
With the deepest of love & compassion,
Aja
............................
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." -- Dante, The Inferno
"The World is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
"Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good." -- Gandhi
"Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you." -- Benjamin Franklin
"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell." -- Harry Truman