Points to Ponder

  • Walking a spiritual path is very much like walking on a treadmill. There is an illusion of movement, a sense of getting from point "A" to point "B." The journey ends when you turn off the treadmill and stop trying to get somewhere. You have been standing on the goal, unknowingly trying to get away from it and moving absolutely nowhere. There is nowhere to go, you are already "there." You can neither reach what you are nor escape it, for you are it eternally. Know this, and be free.

  • You cannot leave a nonexistent prison. Nothing can free you, because you were never bound. Know this, and rejoice.

  • Indian legend describes Ultimate Reality or Ground of Being as Nirguna Brahman, which means literally "God without qualities." Language fails miserably here (including Sanskrit). To be without qualities is to have a quality: the quality of having no qualities. It presumes that there are qualities in the first place. Know that "Brahman" neither has nor lacks qualities, and that the Gunas (qualities) neither exist nor lack existence.

  • "Brahman" is neither subject nor object. Various Indian texts make the allusion that Brahman is an object ("God"), which it is not. Others, many titled "I am That," allude to Brahman as being subject, which it is not. Discard the concepts of subject and object altogether, and be free of confusion.

  • Rid yourself of all gurus, teachers, mentors and such, until only you remain. Then be rid of "you" (which is nothing more than another concept). To be rid of "you", investigate what you seem to be.

    (1) Embodied existence is suffering.

    (2) The body and mind are subordinate to consciousness.

    (3) In consciousness without content (Awareness), there is peace and bliss in simple Being. Nothing to add, nothing to take away.

    (4) The body is temporary and therefore as disposable as a piece of kleenex. Use it as a tool, as you would blow your nose on a kleenex. Then it will be discarded when its use is finished.

    (5) How to fear death, when there is no such thing as death? Just another mental category. The body itself is a mental category. Realize this, and fear of death becomes impossible.

    (6) If there is no death, there is no birth either. Bodies appear and disappear in the homogenous ether of Awareness, exactly the same way as thoughts do.

    (7) Time is thought. The perception of time passing is utterly relative and therefore, time cannot have any real existence.

    (8) Space is measured by the physical body. Without a physical body, where is space?

    (9) Causation depends on the idea of an ego, of "someone" there to make something happen. The "I" is nothing more than an imaginary line dividing reality from Reality. Examine the "I" closely and it disappears (taking causation with it).

    (10) Ownership is impossible. Who owns... the brief and temporary body? The mind, made up of a flow of thoughts lasting only seconds? How can an imaginary separating membrane ("me") own anything? Can a sponge own the water and soap it is soaked with? An object ("me") cannot own another object.

    (1) Why ask questions, when the answer appears an instant before the question ever arises?

    (2) Why do anything, since everything just happens anyway?

    (3) Why worry, since the future has already occurred and the past never existed (and vice-versa)?

    (4) Why do sadhanas, when you could be out partying instead?

    (5) Why post to this (mailing) list, when there is nobody subscribed to read it? Do you also mumble to yourself in the dark?

    (6) If you like to choose, why choose hatred and discontent over peace and love? If you need an adrenaline rush, ask your doctor for a prescription or go buy crystal meth. The life you save may be someone else's.

    (7) Since this passing show is about to end, why take so much interest? Nothing either has meaning, nor lacks it. Love it all, or ignore it. It's all about to vaporize like dry ice dumped into the ocean.

    (8) Since reality is homogenous, how could there possibly be such things as existence and nonexistence?

    (9) Do you think you were born? If so, you will think you will die. You were told you were born, you were told you will die... why do you believe this, yet deny existence to santa claus?

    Ten interesting things about a brick wall

    (1) It is, but does not know that it is

    (2) It is not concerned with any ego or lack of ego

    (3) If knocked down or crumbling with old age, it does not mind

    (4) It appears to have attributes, but has none to itself

    (5) It remains silent, and does not complain

    (6) It is at peace, but is not concerned with peace or lack of it

    (7) It does not think

    (8) It is not concerned with past or future, but is always here-now

    (9) It does not consider itself superior to humans

    (10) It does not seek anything outside its own being

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