Anything I imagine Life is, It Staunchly Refuses to Be
How silly - if not outright arrogant of me - to think I have any idea of what “my” life (or G-O-D) should be
PROLOGUE:
Joseph Campbell taught on the essential lesson of Eternity – perhaps one of the very few who grasped It – the impossibility of truly knowing It – the impossibility of truly knowing G-O-D. So, given that, what the hell is one to do with this “one, precious life?”
From one of my Facebook memories, April 27, 2018
"I have been blessed, through the magnificent journey of profound grief, to realize that I was able to 'catch a glimpse' of Hanuman-ji through Lefty's Great Form and our amazing life together - our impossible LOVE. A small glimpse maybe, but a glimpse of The Divine just the same.
I can only speak for myself, but such a 'Thing' is quite impossible to give words to... it can only be felt and 'Seen.'
All my Great Teachers, many of whom are Hanuman devotees or otherwise Great Servants, all 'conspired' to point me towards this Experience.
Pranams, I bow...
🙏💔😪💖🐾
Jai-Hanuman-ji
#SitaRam”
# # # #
In my last post, “The Path Narrows…”, I spoke of a salient lesson / observation a Great Teacher of mine recently shared with me regarding my Spiritual Path. It occurred to me that while my interpretation at the time was that of “Good, this means I’m “finding my way”!” (ha!) – there is another interpretation or aspect – that a Path that narrows can also mean one that becomes harder and harder to balance upon. Baba Ram Dass also spoke of this in His “Nowhere to stand” lesson. Here and here.
There appears an increasing, cruel absurdity in life, of life. Granted, “Ambiguity Increasing” (“Chaos is a ladder”) is a purposeful battle space (NWO) strategy (e.g. Ideological Subversion) but there’s another element to it – on a Spiritual level (?) - the complete warping, inversion, and outright disregard of the “Paths of righteousness.”
I am often caught literally aghast at the sheer affront of this seeming state of the world (society / culture / humanity) – many times holding my head and shaking it in times of being alone and quiet. It is so powerful, pervasive, and ubiquitous that a retreat into solitude, into Nature feels like the only reasonable antidote. That so many others simply go-along with this abomination – somehow able to operate within it – boggles my mind (and Heart). I often wonder if this is the beginning of insanity, of madness? Some of the people I’ve come to respect (and cherish) the most for their utter brilliance, were themselves afflicted with (sometimes) a deep melancholy and “madness” - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Charles Bukowski, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, etc. How does one not succumb to the seeming overwhelming forces of madness – in the midst of what is certainly madness? Greater minds than mine were besieged by this. We have their personal, shining accounts of it.
“Beware, here lies madness, for I have touched upon it myself. Beware, here lies salvation, for it will ask everything of you.” ~ B.F.
In Buddhism, “The Middle Way” is often summarized as the Path between grasping and aversion. Between the extremes of renunciation / asceticism and sensual indulgence. In Chinese Cosmology (e.g. Taoism, Confucianism, etc.), this concept / dichotomy is illustrated in the famous Yin / Yang symbology representing a necessary, unavoidable “blending” of the two – complementary and interconnected. Granted, these are simplistic interpretations. Incidentally, my studies in Yoga (Ashtanga and that of Bhakti / Devotional Hinduism) were more focused upon that of a “methodology” for addressing this Path of dichotomy e.g. The Noble Eightfold Path and The Eight Limbed Path / Patanjali Yoga )
The more I try to shape, plan, or control my life, the more it seems to resist my efforts. I find this almost comedic at times. And Thank G-O-D for a sense of humor, because without it, I shudder to think how I could’ve survived up until this point! What this has come to mean to me – if interpreted as some sort of Divine Message or Sacred Curriculum – is that I have to find the essence of life – the essence of “me” – and then operate from that “place.” And this (my) “lesson” is that of simplicity. Rather than an unforgiving “tightrope” that I must try to remain precariously balanced upon, my Life, my Path, is revealed (literally and figuratively) as that of a “full, peaceful breath.” It is revealed as something of a “homecoming” after a long, long journey and a Prayer fulfilled. Well, at least today it is (at this writing). It is a constant Practice – this remembering. Even (especially) the Practice of “remembering to remember.”
“Like at this moment, if you say to me, right here in this hall, at this moment, “Are you happy?” - I would say “Yeah, I’m very happy. We’re sharing Dharma, what more could I want?” If you say to me, “Are you sad?” – I’d say, “Yeah, of course I’m sad. Do you know how many children at this moment don’t have food, don’t have a home, don’t have a stable environment to grow up in, don’t feel safe? What am I gonna do, make believe they don’t exist so I can be happy here?” Is that what you think your happiness is, is it based upon denial? And then you say, “Well if I don’t deny it, how can I ever be happy, because I’m so sad? I’d say, “Don’t be a slob. The (High) Art form is all and everything, all the time, every moment. You are happy and you are sad, and you are empty and you are full, and it is meaningful and it is meaningless, and you know where you’re going and you don’t know where you are going, and you’re making choice and there is no free will. If you can’t handle these paradoxes – at least – (chuckles) – those are just the beginning ones.”
~ Baba Ram Dass, Santa Barbara, CA in 1996 (links to this Satsang earlier in this post)
Temet Nosce. Amor Fati. Memento Mori.
“The Good, The True, The Beautiful.”
Praise Be To Hanuman
The Breath, Great Servant, and Hammer of R-A-M-A and S-I-T-A
# # # #
EPILOGUE:
From a Facebook memory, February 19, 2022
“This is the most difficult Path to walk - the Middle Path. When faced with such Knowledge (Experience), how do you then move-forward in Life and in all things in Samsara? In Maya? In the Matrix?
The ONLY way out is THROUGH.
Choose your Bedrock Principles and Service wisely and They will Serve you in ALL things, in all times, in all the realms.
Cling to your Faith with ALL your MIGHT and cling to "The Good, The True, The Beautiful" and realize that the Path of the Sacred Warrior was the only REAL Path - the only antidote to the forces that try to pull you one way or the other...”
Praise Be To Hanuman 💪👑🌞✨🔥🙏💖