The Summit

This quote is originally from the novel, Mount Analogue written by Rene Daumai and Carol Cosman. I took it from the book The Experience Of Insight--A Simple & Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Joseph Goldstein.

You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this. What is above knows what is below but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs and one see; one descends and one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower region by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one no longer sees, one can at least still know.

Nan Yar?

Who Am I?

The Self alone exists;
and the Self alone is real.
Verily the Self alone is the world, the “I” and God.
All that exists is but the manifestation of the Supreme Being.

Ramana Maharshi

Speak To Us Of Teaching

A quote from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran:

Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching. And he said:

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter in the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.

Birth Of A New Way

I read The Enlightenment Intensive by Lawrence Noyes before taking my first Enlightenment Intensive and it was a great preparation for my my new adventure.

From the Book:

BIRTH OF A NEW WAY:
THE EXPERIMENT IN THE DESERT

Beyond this shore and the further shore, beyond the beyond, where there is no beginning and no end, without fear, go.--Buddha

WHAT IS AN ENLIGHTENMENT INTENSIVE, and where did it come from? The story begins...well, it depends on how far back we want to go. People have been searching into their true nature for thousands of years, some of them succeeding and leaving behind methods and teachings for those of us who come later. But the Enlightenment Intensive is not simply an old system in a new package. It was inspired by known methods from the past, especially Rinzan Zen, but it also contains the new element of the dyad form of communication. How this method came into being reveals a lot about what the Enlightenment Intensive is, how it works, and who the kind of people are who will invest themselves in the challenge of trying to directly experience the truth itself.

The story that follows tells this story, and it is a story. I myself wasn't there at the beginning. But from interviewing some of the people who were there, a creation account based on their memories can be formed. This is the story of what happened.

Truth Shows Up For Tea

Erik Grabow mastered my second Enlightenment Intensive. He did a beautiful job of setting the tone with lots of Rumi and Hafiz poetry. This is a poem that he wrote himself after his Master's Training at Origin.

Care

With great care
we prepare the table
and Truth shows up for tea.
The beauty lights are burning more brightly now
as love pours itself from cup to cup
with such graceful abandon.
How is it
a single light can shine with such intensity
from so many faces?

Polishing the Mirror

Go to Jeremiah Jeff Love's Godening website and download a free pdf version of Polishing the Mirror which is a wonderful introduction to the Enlightenment Intensive Retreat.

A Secret Path

O God, My God What Shall I Do?

And If Every Way Is Closed Before You, The Secret One Will Show A Secret Path No Other Eyes Have Seen.

Rumi--A New Illuminated Rumi--ONE SONG--Michael Green

A Holy War

Selfish acts and crooked intentions crowd around the heart. Only a real warrior can tackle that army.

A warrior needs good weapons, and the best is companionship with the lovers of mystery, the believers. Drop your spear and join the caravan of those who set their course by a sun that never sets. There's your holy war! No other decision meets more resistance.

Some part of you will twist and try to slide away, for the sight of the good companions shames that scaly old ego.

Little snakes that have never seen a true human being can grow into some very mean dragons!

Rumi--A New Illuminated Rumi--ONE SONG--Michael Green

This Love Is The Rose

If someone asks, "what kind of love is this?" say, let go your tiller and see! Those who haven't abandoned free will will never know.

Dive into this love and the world parts before you. This love and you are circling outside of time. Everything else is borrowed and crumbling. What is born in the spring fades in the fall. Don't pine for a beautiful corpse. This love is the rose that blooms forever.

Rumi--A New Illuminated Rumi--ONE SONG--Michael Green