Facebook Friends

If you don't know the fun and laughs Facebook quizzes can offer you might want to give them a try. Most quizzes ask a few questions to ascertain one's beliefs about a particular subject and then assign a symbol or series of symbols which are explained as to how they represent the person who took the quiz. My Facebook profile is filled everyday with news from friends who took one quiz or another. I now know the favorite bottled beverages, leading men, most disliked foods, and 25 random things about several dozen Facebook friends. It seems Facebook was just made for seekers.

If self-inquiry isn't the organic alternative to Facebook, maybe Facebook is the digital alternative to self-inquiry. After all, it's filled with the lists, likes and dislikes, and daily thoughts for each person who shows up. Maybe the ancient gurus and masters who coined the phrase never dreamed of Facebook. If they did, they might have thought it would lead to bondage more than liberation and enlightenment. But maybe the kid in the cartoon has a point.

Where Facebook quizes might seem like fun, and self-inquiry might seem like serious business, maybe they're actually very similar. No matter which course of action you take, the more you know the less you believe you are the things you thought you were. You find you're not your thoughts, nor even what thinks, and yet you include these in your friends list. If you don't know the fun and laughs of self-inquiry then maybe you might want to give it a try. It's not as serious as you might think.

The Thin Line

One evening on my way home I was talking with Rob who observed that there was only one letter different between the words mastery and mystery. Rob’s observation came on the heels of acknowledging that there seems to be a thin line between the two. It's true, whether we're dealing with a relationship or enlightenment, mastery is often equated with demystifying things.

It might seem that the defining line however thin, would be knowledge, and that would be correct. But mastery does not land on the side with a lot of knowledge compared to mystery having none. The reverse is true in that while a master may have a great deal of knowledge, what is most useful is the awareness that knowledge -- attaining and maintaining it -- is what keeps us steeped in mystery.

With a little imagination we can see the “y” as a symbol of the questioning “why”. Asking “why” is grasping at knowledge which when unknown leads to the suffering of needing to attain it, and once known leads to attachment. On the other hand, mastery has an “a” which brings about the sound of “ahhhh”. Mastery is the relief of letting go and finally grasping that there is nothing to attain but giving up the effort of seeking to understand why.

Self Enquiry

What difference does it make if we believe we are all One or not?

All That Is has apparency in the Oneness of Consciousness. Nothing can be perceived that is not a part of the whole. It surrounds and permeates your entire Being, facilitates your every thought, emotion, physical sensation, action and reaction. All is of the same substance. Even if you believe it doesn't exist, is remote, a separate something for which you must perform some extraordinary feat to attain, it will, without condition sustain and facilitate your life accordingly.

When you live without this sense of wholeness, you feel like a fish without a pond. Closing your eyes to the completeness already available, you feel the sense of separation. Without seeing that you are doing this, you are limited to associating the source of your anxiety with "others" which you also see as separate. It is the sense of separation that drives you to seek fulfillment on the shores of illusion where you flop around helplessly like a fish out of water. This is why nothing you have ever thought you could do to secure your satisfaction has ever worked completely, because you separate yourself from your goal by believing you don't have it. Until you have awareness for That which is at the core of All, beginning with your Self, everything beyond basic functions, that is readily available to you without thought or effort remains inaccessible, and you continue to search in the other places just like a fish without a sense of direction, beaching itself.

True liberation comes with the enlightenment of acceptance and appreciation of what IS. This is often mistakenly translated as accepting life circumstances and making something good of hardships. Instead, allow yourself to freely experience yourself swimming in the waters of absolute consciousness, one creation, totally sustained by the indivisible life force that permeates all that is. Feel it. Sense the life energy move in, through, and all around you as you breathe in your everyday moments. Make this your highest aspiration and your closest limitation will be nothing "else".

Singin' in the Rain

So, if was true -- really, really true, that the Age of Aquarius was upon us and old ways were giving way to something much better, so much better that it beat the heck out of any conceptual thought the planetary consciousness had ever entertained before -- what would you do? Could you trust...allow...invite...this in to your life with no expectations? Or would you stick to the old conditional ways based on severity and amount of anticipated loss, lack, and limitation? If you knew something different was being poured down on you, would you grab the nearest container and go out to catch you some, or would you cower at the thought of the unknown? On some level, these are the questions that are being asked and answered. The most important question is how your answers serve you. Gene Kelly once demonstrated the sheer joy and entertainment of singin' in the rain. With or without the benefits of an economic or cosmic stimulus package, the bottom-line remains, when soaked to the skin, and no quick way out, you might as well enjoy yourself. Sing, dance, play and keep your spirits up!