Tagged: tolerance
From “I” Into ONE
The “good deeds” of one consciousness does not apply necessarily to another type of consciousness.
When the “I” is of most importance, then “helping others” is seeked out as the opportunity to show our care for mankind. After all, we may need to demonstrate to ourselves and the world that “we are good, worth of being in Paradise!”
In the consciousness of Oneness, there is no such a thing as “helping others.” There are no “others” as everything goes back to the whole rather than the part. That is the meaning of being part of the “common good.”
Help is there, but there is no “I” helping “others,” a “Me” helping around.
The action is the same but not the intention.
Is it hard to grasp? No worries. It is nothing intellectual. It is a question of feelings.
Yes, our language is designed to separate, but our feelings are not.
To feel we need to go beyond the separation of time.
Want to be tolerant when dealing with someone? That is to be “good,” right?
“Look, I don’t care what you say… but let me swallow your words anyway, for the sake of being tolerant, in that way; I can add a golden star in my chart towards “my” earning Paradise…”
If we could see how the ulterior motive arrives every time we would like to be “good,” we could catch our 2 faces, our dishonesty.
Oneness is more than a concert in the Park where everyone hugs and hold hands together, it is way more than a belief system promising Paradise and what not, when “you die,” it is more than a meditation with the promise of continuation in the “afterlife.”
Oneness is not Life insurance for the “I.”
“No… I don’t want to change what I believe. I have found the truth.”
Sure. Do you realize about the truth of your own change? What are you going to hold on to? Ideas, dogmas, intellectual musings, beliefs, spiritual experiences?
Those things do not change. They are static …whereas Life is change.
Is your truth reflecting your change?
“What change? I am the same. It is good to be that way.”
Right. “You” are different than Life. You cannot be One with Life.
Some start their spiritual career by choosing “good” over “bad.”
When that idea is challenged by another human being, it is easy to brush it aside, but when that idea is challenged by Life itself, there is no option but to listen.
There is either change with Life or “You” die in the attempt to hold on to your ideas and beliefs.
Either way, the “I” will die… Funny, huh? 🙂
From the standard of “good or bad,” the “change” is into : “No absolutes.”
By saying “No absolutes,” we are still living an absolute in the mind. We went from one extreme into the other, which will teach us to trust Life. To trust change.
At that point, perhaps we will realize that rather than putting significance to our own morality and changes interpreted through our thinking, we could look inside into our feelings and connect without words and structured beliefs into “what is.” That requires another consciousness.
We may discover in that, the “One” in everything.
The “law” of attraction in life
Life has many students coming from a diversity of consciousness.
To learn to “knock at the door” in life is what typically has been called the “law of attraction.”
Think about something that you want and it will appear. Many books have been written to share this wonderful “Secret,” only known by the selected ones and now being shared for mainstream.
If the door opens then we could tell the “Secret” to others 🙂 However; if the door does not open, that only means that destiny wasn’t meant to be in that particular door.
Keep knocking at different doors.
There is a “Secret” in attraction, which is experienced by all, nevertheless we may fail to realize.
When 2 magnets attract each other, they have to be from opposite polarity. There is a collision through that attraction.
Similarly, when we reject something in life we attract it, for the polarities are opposed. Isn’t that paradoxical?
Ananda couldn’t stand to be in the presence of smokers. When he moved into a new apartment complex, his main request was not to be around smokers. As months went by smokers started to appear, then 2 heavy smokers arrived nearby.
Ananda wanted to get out of that apartment complex but he couldn’t. His lease wasn’t over.
Mathias the wise tree, suggested to Ananda not to feel rejection towards those who smoke.
Ananda said: “ But the smoke gets into your clothes and it is unhealthy for you. “
Mathias replied: ” Even more harmful for your health, are the sentiments of rejection that you are emitting in that moment.”
Ananda changed his ways and accepted the smokers around him. Every time he was close to one of them, he thought that it was a “test” and that he had to “pass the test” by not feeling rejection and by having a friendly conversation with those smoking.
The “test” game is interesting. The game is to pretend to be “good” by tolerating. In that toleration, there is separation between the “I” and them, the source of my tolerance.
Mathias the wise tree, informed Ananda that he was still living in that place despite his wishes to move out, because of his rejection to smokers.
Obviously, Ananda had attracted that which he was rejecting.
One day, one of the smokers had a small conversation with Ananda, while smoking his cigarette.
Ananda did not think anything at all related with smoking in that conversation. He saw how the smoker got rid of his cigarette after a little while. Ananda did not feel or think about this episode to be a “test.”
3 days later, a new management took over the apartment complex and with that unforeseen change the opportunity for Ananda to move out appeared.
Ananda’s feeling of rejection finished and with that, the need for him to be in that place.
Have you seen a person having fear (rejection) towards roaches?
But… they are ugly despicable vermin, dirty, repulsive etc…. rationalizing our motives will not do anything to hide the rejection. It is not the “fact” of what they could represent but how we FEEL about that “fact.”
Usually that person rejecting roaches is the one who has most encounters with roaches.
What about the one who rejects a religious group or a philosophy or a group of people?
Their life will be full of that which is rejected.
That is the law of attraction in life.
Another example?
Ananda believed that garlic was “bad for the mind.” That belief became so extreme as to reject any food touched by garlic in the grocery store.
One day Ananda became very sick due to mold growing in the bathroom of his apartment. He was feeling tired and his lungs were not breathing to the full capacity.
Mathias the wise tree, recommended to Ananda to drink apple cyder vinegar in the mornings and to eat raw garlic before lunch and after eating lunch, for 3 days…
Mathias mentioned to Ananda: “Let your food be your medicine.”
But… garlic is “bad”… Any alternative? 🙂
To be tormented for a long while by doctors’ tests, insurance companies and secondary effects of medicines.
Ananda changed his view about garlic and his belief as well. His awareness changed once he became well again.
Everything that happens in life has benefit. We choose to call those episodes as “good” or “bad” according to what we perceive as convenient, without realizing that there is a journey made up of life experiences that every individual needs to go through.
Wisdom comes through those experiences in life, which will be converted into insight from lifetime to lifetime. When we are AWARE we could observe and obtain a valuable teaching from those experiences in life.
If everything is beneficial in the journey of the “life walker,” how is it possible for something to be “bad”?
When we reject any aspect of life, we cannot flow with life. A belief becomes the protector to preserve a particular type of consciousness, but at the same time, that same belief does not allow for consciousness to flow, to change… for life is change.
Paradox: All paths will lead to our destiny
Living life is about experiencing life to gain valuable insight, thus any path that someone takes to search for answers about their own life will eventually lead that person to realize the self. It all goes back to the self, but that needs to be realized and not conceptualized.
It all depends on our state of consciousness. That consciousness is not modified by “following teachings,” but by gaining insight.
In this way, there is no repression in the self.
We could do something out of compulsion. That is not honest. We could behave in ways that we truly do not feel.
Heckle and Jeckle went to a “spiritual/meditation” class.
Jeckle wanted to help himself to gain “peace of mind” as he was going through “problems” in life. Jeckle started his search for meaning at that point. Before that “problem,” Jeckle had no desire to listen to anything “spiritual” as that was “boring stuff” for him. 🙂
Heckle on the other hand, was very experienced. He had experienced different religious groups, spiritual groups, self-help groups, new age groups, metaphysical groups, psychic groups, etc. Read many things, realized others and so on. In every experience Heckle gained valuable insight to continue in his personal path.
Jeckle was listening attentively to the teacher in that “spiritual” class. The teacher was wearing a particular robe which gave him an air of importance.
The teacher spoke about the mind in that class.
“What is the mind? What is its origin? What is its function?” He went on to explain his beliefs as if they were “facts.” Those beliefs were backed up by a book that he was reading to the audience. The book was written by his masters.
“The mind leaves the body. So if you are sleeping and then you think about India and then you die during your sleep… Guess where you are going to live in your next life?”
The teacher went on: “ Life is not just this experience that we have here, but there will be plenty of other lives in the future and the time to be engaged in making those future lives happy, is now; through pure spiritual practices. All problems are just thoughts created by the mind. A feeling of love for someone is just another thought.”
The teacher finished his class with a meditation in which he repeated the same concepts for the audience to repeat in their minds and thus, “realize” those concepts for “themselves.” 🙂
Heckle observed that what this teacher called the “mind,” that was called the “soul” in other religious views. He also realized that this teacher was giving importance to the future rather than the “now” and that this teacher wasn’t aware of feelings but only about emotions.
Finally, Heckle concluded that the teacher’s set of beliefs and concepts were not useful for him.
What is the purpose of having a concept about the mind or to play with concepts or beliefs about its origin and function, if Heckle had an experience of it…of what this “thing” is without further labels?
That first hand experience is what is useful to realize the self as an experience, not to have a concept about it or theoretical knowledge.
Heckle was waiting anxiously for the teacher to end his talk, to ask questions and to debunk that “teacher” who was talking “useless stuff” from his viewpoint.
After all Heckle was in favor of the “truth” and not in beliefs and stories based on “hand-me down” teachings. 🙂
When the teacher finished his talk, he asked everyone to speak with their seating neighbor about their own realizations in the class.
Heckle heard Jeckle’s viewpoint first.
Jeckle said: “Wasn’t that a great explanation about the mind? I never thought that the mind was so important. I ought to watch my mind from now on…”
When Heckle heard that from his friend; Heckle did not have the courage to debunk the teacher.
Heckle learned through that experience that life teaches everyone in different ways. From that moment, Heckle learned the importance to respect everyone’s path.
When we hear about “Tolerance” of faiths, that is just a concept. We could learn to tolerate someone who thinks and feel different from us, without ever listening to what that person is conveying.
That is “conceptual tolerance” that stuff we can learn from a nice book or a “teacher.”
However, when we experience the need to respect someone’s path in his search for meaning in life, then at that moment; tolerance becomes an unnecessary word. 🙂
Jeckle learned about his mind.
Heckle learned from that teacher something about himself which was very important in his self-realization.
Thus, everyone learned something new.
Jeckle is just beginning his journey for meaning in life. Jeckle is acquiring information to feed his mind with “new things” to think about.
Heckle has already gone through that and now Heckle is learning to free himself from that information and letting life itself be the teacher. Heckle is learning to trust and not to think too much.
Different paths. All going to the same place but with different timings.
The flowers in a garden will blossom at different times. The gardener’s job is to respect their personal timing.
The virtue of Tolerance
A notch of depth will be shared below.
If God were to speak with a group of people about living life to the fullest, what could be “His” way of addressing the audience? 🙂
Most probably according to the audience’s state of consciousness. Otherwise, “his” message could not be understood.
One thing to notice is that “interpretation” of that message will happen until there is personal experience of the words conveyed. For all practical reasons, the only concern is to make sure the audience understands the message.
That is a powerful reason not to limit the manifestation of what we may call “God” in our lives. “God” is not meant to appear in just one form to everyone.
Why?
My intellectual ability, cultural traditions, moral values, beliefs, etc. are different from someone else from another culture or historical time.
As our consciousness moves to a different position, so will be our understanding.
Let me illustrate the above.
Matthew 5:39 (Holy Bible) “But– I say to you, not to resist the evil, but whoever shall slap thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other…”
The above is believed by many to be the words of God. For some, the words of the “son of God” and for others “nice words to live by.”
Malcom X said: “If you turn the other cheek, you can be enslaved for 1,000 years.”
Nietzsche interpreted “turning the other cheek” as “slave morality” in his “master and slave paradigm of moralities.
Even though the words: “To turn the other cheek” were pronounced by “God himself,” according to some; those words were not really understood.
As a matter of fact, those words caused a rebellion in those listening to them. Every experience of war or racist issues bringing the problem of “you vs. me” created an environment in which the majority of human beings were not able to “give the other cheek” to the “enemy.”
At that point, God decided to change his words and used the word “Tolerance” instead. 🙂
“To tolerate someone or something” was considered a virtue.
God himself could be praising our ability to “tolerate.”
That tolerance became a “Spiritual” power.
The power to tolerate.
You could “turn the other cheek” because you were “tolerating” as God has taught you.
The above is something which could be understood by many.
To “tolerate” means that there is a “wall” in me called a personality. That wall does not allow for things being thrown at “me” to pass through. The focus of someone who tolerates is to do the “right” thing.
The focus is important to understand consciousness at a deeper level.
Basically, when “I” tolerate John’s behavior, “I” will make myself believe that “I” am doing the right thing and even though John’s behavior is not something which “I” approve; that is fine for I have learned that to “give the other cheek” is “good.”
In a deeper level, to tolerate means to lie to yourself.
Is it possible for God to teach us about lying to ourselves?
That is the wrong question to ask when we could see the “valley from the top of the mountain,” but a valid question to ask when our consciousness is stuck on the focus of being “right or wrong.”
That type of consciousness is filled with judgment and duality.
To tolerate is a step forward in keeping things at peace. It is the first step for someone whose “normal” behavior is filled with animosity.
Tolerance is something that a person in this level may understand for to “give the other cheek” is still out of reach.
Is tolerance a virtue?
It all depends on your state of consciousness.
When your consciousness is focused on enjoyment, to “give the other cheek” is not an issue. Many examples in the life of the Buddha will point to this.
When our consciousness is located in “being right” we could give the “other cheek” as compulsion.
“It is the right thing to do whether I feel that or not.”
That is why, virtues are not found in the dictionary. That is why to be “virtuous” is not a matter of “practice.”
It is a matter of consciousness.
“Others” will label what they perceive as “virtue” but there is nothing to practice.
Tolerance is not necessary when the wall of the personality is not there anymore.
That is called emptiness.
To be empty is not something that could be defined. A concept is not the thing, but when we experience emptiness ourselves, then we will know.
When we know about emptiness, to tolerate someone becomes meaningless.
Is emptiness a virtue?
Let me laugh at that question …. 🙂 🙂
“Me” through the door
Spiffy and Spike were inquiring about the meaning of being in life. They decided to use the comparison of being like a door, to keep things simple in their sharing and avoid getting lost in language and ideas.
In Spirituality, to use analogies is a great way to enhance our understanding without giving pointless definitions and concepts.
Spiffy: The door has a purpose. But what is the door? Is it that rectangular shape piece of wood or metal with a knob?
Spike: Yes, of course.
Spiffy: But… isn’t its nature or purpose to “be” and “not to be”? 🙂
That is where the “mission” of that door resides.
Spike: “To be or not to be,” what is the meaning of that?
Spiffy: Those are the lines from Shakespeare. “To be or not to be, that is the question!” 🙂
Spike: The answer is that “we are and we are not” at the same time.
All the teachings in Spirituality are pointing to just that: “To be or not to be.”
When you are a door, you are “something.” When you are “something,” you are separated, a closed door. That door at this point will feel what “others” (other closed doors) could do.
“He insulted me.”
The door was closed.
“30 years ago she lied to me.”
The door never opened in 30 years.
“He will find out who I am. You’ll see”
A very stubborn closed-door.
When we are a closed-door, we are in the consciousness of individuality.
When that door is open, we have entered in the consciousness of Totality.
At that point there is “no door.” There is emptiness, void, space, nothingness, etc.
When the door is open, there is no one to feel insulted. No one to feel that lie of 30 years ago. No one who feels that need to show something to “others.”
When a door is closed, then religions and philosophies who are typically located in the consciousness of individuality, will teach about “virtues.”
When the door is open, there is no one who needs to know about virtues. His life is virtue itself. Naturally.
Tolerance, detachment, love, gentleness, are valued teachings when the door is closed, but those teachings are “pretty words” until the door opens….
When the door is open all those pretty virtuous words are practical. There is no need to “practice” or “work on” anything.
To go into the depth of “To be or not to be” may bring us to the realization on learning to open and to close the door.
Many of us are very good about keeping the door closed… Perhaps it is the time to learn to open it… again.:-)
On tolerance and patience
Ananda was complaining to Mathias, the wise tree; about the visit of a friend; Raysha.
Ananda likes to relax, unwind and take it easy. Raysha on the other hand, likes to be with people all the time, by using her effective “healing skills” she was helping many and having many people around her; but Ananda was not used to such movement.
Ananda told Mathias in a lamenting tone of voice with suffering gestures:
“ I couldn’t sleep well last night…What can I do, friend. I have to tolerate and have patience during her visit.”
Mathias responded to Ananda’s sacrifice and toleration: “ Friend, Mathias is amused at your performance…” 🙂
Ananda thought that he was going to get some sympathy from his friend; after all he was practicing the “virtue” of tolerance and being extremely patient with Raysha.
In the consciousness of “you” and “I,” that is when the child is separated from the Father as well as the other “brothers and sisters,” the word tolerance is “good.” It is called a virtue.
A child can “tolerate” another brother or a sister when things are not going according to his wishes.
A child can have patience with “another” when the response he is getting does not fit his expectations.
A child, who can only see separation, will be tolerating things as a “good thing to do.” It is a “virtue” to tolerate others.
However, in another consciousness, to tolerate means not to accept things as they are. In other words, “I” pretend to go along with whatever is happening to avoid confrontation or a childish tantrum in front of others.
Any sort of “toleration” has a breaking point. Things cannot longer be tolerated and then, the “real” self comes out from the repression of having to tolerate.
Is truly to tolerate a virtue?
When the “savage” child pretends to be “well behaved “ for the sake of all, to tolerate may be called a virtue by some. Nevertheless, it is not a virtue, when that performance is born out of separation and it does not reflect the true feelings of the self.
In oneness, there is only continuity in life changes. If we could observe ourselves and see how we “pretend” to be “nice” with “others” through being “tolerant;” we can see that our vibes and feelings change. Using a nice word such as “toleration” cannot mask those vibes.
In oneness there is emptiness of that “I” which puts a wall on things that are happening. That wall is the product of our own beliefs and comfort zones; that is the construction of a personality. When that personality clashes with “others” or with a circumstance, then we could either “react” or be “tolerant.”
To react is to hit something from the inside to the outside. To tolerate is to hit the self, the inside from the inside…
There is no virtue in self-damage, but in the childish world where there is only “you or me,” as separated beings, a virtue is meant to help others over the self. You need to select between you or someone else.
In Oneness, there is no “other.” Therefore, no need to tolerate or be patient. This is not a concept to be analyzed, it is an experience of life through a different vision.
Virtues cannot appear by being cultivated. We are already complete with all of them; but the illusory vision of separation may need to change, the “illusion” needs to be removed for those virtues to automatically appear.
The support of the “I” through spiritual teachings separating the “you and me,” is a beginner step into the recognition of that “I” but is not meant to be the whole “truth” but just a different view according to consciousness.
As we change our view, our consciousness from that separation into oneness, there is a different perception where patience and toleration are no longer needed.
Levels of understanding: Repeat, Churn, Imbibe
“In the physical there are 2 rulers with 2 kingdoms, the Kingdom of Rama and the Kingdom of Ravan.”
“Baba does not give sorrow to anyone, it is Ravan.” “ Now, you are going to the Kingdom of Rama.”
“The Father has come to save you. There is the procession of the Groom and the brides. He will take you back home, to the land of Peace…” “Children remain pure only this birth.”
If we take that literally, we are still using that language. It is poetic, it is romantic, it is easy to follow and to understand…. But there is no depth in it unless we churn it.
Baba is plainly talking about duality. Duality is something that we need to experience in this physical world. This is “High school” understanding.
“College” level understanding will allow me to see that there is duality only in the copper age onwards. Soul consciousness means to be free from duality; that is the Golden and Silver ages.
Now that we understand the beauty of predestination and that roles are running through us, we can see and understand ego and at the same time, we can see that is actually the Drama playing out which will “give us our kingdom.”
Of course, “Graduate level” understanding will show us that “we never had a kingdom” to begin with. The role allowed us to experience “having a Kingdom” but in soul consciousness there is no “consciousness“of “mine,” thus, is it your kingdom?
Here is when imbibing takes place. Ego is no longer in control. We can observe it.
Knowledge, Godly gyan can be very deep. It could be very challenging to understand without understanding. All of these paradoxical things will not allow us to “imbibe” divine virtues, although it will give us “freedom” from the cage of thinking “inside the box.” The box of repetition without understanding.
Once we understand the power of the Drama, words like “detachment” and “tolerance” are just unnecessary words meant to explain ideas which everyone will understand if we realize how ridiculous is for an eternally repeating “movie” to affect us.
Baba mentions that everything that exists has a name and form. We are “slaves” of names which automatically give us a form. That is “thinking.” If we could just be “free” from thinking, could we see something new?
You bet.
Exploring the Depth of Living 