In This Vast Silence

In this vast Silence

You attack your own illusion,

A scuffle breaks out.

Your Lies emit cacophonous vibrations,

Echoing indelible images of your false i's.

No one is fooled,

Not even yourself.

from Lalo The Snake Catcher, ©2008 ~ L. Lopez

 

War Is Waged In Illusion and Sleep

WAR

HEY!

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?

STOP THAT!

IT IS BAD!!

VERY, VERY, VERY BAD!!!!!!

I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT!

CUT IT OUT RIGHT NOW!!!

Good Friday

After Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, he was brought before Caiaphas, high priest and chairman of the Sanhedrin, and the elders and scribes. Painting of Christ being tried in front of Caiaphas Peter followed at a safe distance and sat in the crowd to (Matt 26:57) "see the end". Caiaphas "sought false witness" against Christ, he was accused of blasphemy and sentenced to die. He was tormented, ridiculed, beaten and spit on and taunted by his captors.  

Painting of Christ being tried by Pilate

The next morning (now observed as Black Friday or Good Friday) Jesus was taken to Pilate, the Roman governor  who questioned him further.  Judas, seeing what was happening to Jesus returned to the temple priests and elders and said, Matthew 27:4 that he had, "sinned in that I have I have betrayed the innocent blood." The elders replied, "What is that to us? See thou to that". Judas threw the 30 pieces of silver down in the temple and then went away and hanged himself. Pilate passed off the the responsibility  of condemning Jesus to death to the people by giving them the choice of liberating Christ or another prisoner in honor of the feast day. At the persuasion of the priests and elders the people chose Barabbas, the other prisoner. Pilate asked the crowd what he should do with Christ; they all said, Matthew 27: "Let him be crucified". Pilate asked them, "Why? For what evil hath he done?" but they insisted again that he crucify Christ.  Pilate symbolically washed his hands in water, washing his hands of the deed saying, 27:24 "I am innocent of the blood of this person, see ye to it." thus passing responsibility back to them. The people accepted saying, 27:25 "His blood be on us and on our children" Pilate gave the people Barabbas, had Jesus  27:26 "scourged" and handed him over to the soldier to be crucified.  27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus to the common hall and gathered together the whole band of soldiers. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, they mocked him by bowing and saying "Hail King of Jews." They spit on him and hit him.

Once the sadistic brutes were done making sport and tormenting Jesus, they put his own clothes back on him and took him to Golgotha to be crucified. There, they nailed him to the cross, and 27:34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He tasted it, He would not drink. They took his clothes and gambled for them - fulfilling another part of the old prophecy. 27:36 And sitting down they watched him there.

 

 Painting by Albrecht 

27:39 Many passersby and people in the crowd taunted him and challenged him to get God to take him down from the cross. The chief priests, elders and scribes stood in the crowd mocking him. They said, 28:42 "He saved others but cannot save himself; if he is the King of Israel let him come down from the cross now and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now for he said , 'I am the son of God'. " Even the two thieves being crucified the same day taunted him with the same words.

27:45 Now, from the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land unto the ninth hour, 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, "My God, My God, Why hath thou forsaken me?" John 28-30 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

  Matthew 27:51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake and the rocks did rent; 52 And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. 55 And came out of their graves after his resurection and went into the city and appeared to many. 54 Now when the centurion and they that were watching Jesus saw the earth quake and those things that were done. they feared greatly and said, "Truly this was the Son of God." 55 And many women were there beholding afar off which followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to him : 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses (now known as the Virgin Mother), and the mother of Zebedee's children.

Matthew 27: 57, 58, 59. When evening came Joseph of Arimethae, a disciple of Christ, went to Pilate and begged him for the body of Christ; Pilate commanded the body be delivered.  Joseph wrapped Jesus in a clean cloth, laid him in his own tomb, rolled a huge stone in front of the opening to the sepulcher and left. 61 And mary Magdeline and the other Mary stayed sitting over by the tomb. 62 The next day the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate 27: 63, 64, 65, to get him to post a Roman guard over the tomb so Christ's followers could not take the body away and then claim Christ's prophesy that he would be resurrected in three days came true. Pilate sent guards and the priests sent guards and they sealed the tomb and set a watch on it.

 

 The Gospel illustrations made from woodcuts made by Fr. Jerome Nadal, a Jesuit Priest -1507-1580

Plate 1: Christ being tempted by the Jews at the temple on Palm Sunday. 

 Plate 2: Christ with the Gentiles the following Monday.

Lord Have Mercy

Be Peaceful

Be Peace

Be Love

BE

TOO MUCH TALKING

There's a whole lot of talking going on.
Too  much talking.
They say yes, they say no.

Others concur,
They disagree.

Hugging
Fighting
Hugging
 
Yes, no, yes, no... maybe.

Bargaining.

A whole lot of talking,
In head brains,
In heart brains.
Too much talking.

Does anyone really hear anything?
Do you know what is really meant?

No...

Filters, filters, everywhere,
Nothing is under~stood.

Filters in the brains,
Filters on the Heart,

Brains on automatic pilot.

Can you hear your cells
Whispering deeper down?
There are the roots of desire.

Do you know how to listen?

Somewhere in those unseen places,
In that deep darkness,
Lives the truth of who you were,
Who you really are,

Who you can be.

There, lie the real gems and secrets,
The treasures you yearn for.

If only you could Hear
In purer states of being,
In true honesty.

Perhaps a wiggling free
From the

Ordinary
Mundane
Hamster wheel
existence

You mistake for living

Could begin,

Opening doors to

Freedom from that deadening mechanicality.

If only...


BE at Peace
BE PEACE
BE

Negativity & Emanations

"A person with a strong, active pain-body has a particular emanation that other people perceive as extremely unpleasant. When they meet such a person, some people will immediately want to remove themselves or reduce interaction with him or her to a minimum. They feel repulsed by the person's energy field. Others feel a wave of aggression toward this person, they will be rude or attack  him or her verbally and in some cases, even physically. This means there is something within them that resonates with the other person's pain body. What they react to so strongly is also in them. It is their own pain-body.

Not surprisingly, people with heavy and frequently active pain-bodies often find themselves in conflict situations. Sometimes, of course, they actually provoke them. But at other times, they may not actually do anything. The negativity they emanate is enough to attract hostility and generate conflict. It requires a high degree of Presence to avoid reacting when confronted by someone with such an active pain-body. If you are able to stay present, it sometimes happens that your Presence enables the other person to dis-identify from his or her own pain-body and thus experience the miracle of a sudden awakening. Although the awakening may be short-lived, the awakening process will have become initiated."

Breaking Identification With the Pain Body
Eckhardt Tolle
A New Earth Pages Ch:6: Pg:174

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"From my point of view, he can be called a remarkable man who stands out from those around him by the resourcefulness of his mind, and who knows how to be restrained in the manifestations which proceed from his nature, at the same time conducting himself justly and tolerantly towards the weaknesses of others." ~ G.I. Gurdjieff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gurdjieff exhorts us repeatedly to study (observe) negativity in ourselves by not expressing negative emotions while being organically aware of the sensations in our bodies at the same time. By doing this we bring more of our Presence to the situation we find ourselves in. If we do not allow ourselves to express negative emotions while with others who have a strong pain-body, we begin to see how we are in reality. We all have what Tolle calls pain-bodies - many of them. Some are bigger and louder than others in us. Each of these has a story it tells itself over and over again. Depending on which way the wind blows or what you had for dinner, or whether you got you dollars worth, etc., one or the other of these stands at the forefront of you, pretending to be all of you, and meets the world entrenched in it's own story associating everything to it. It is identified with the story and identifies everything by it's story. It lives in illusion, and allowing it to continue on like that keeps you imprisoned in illusion.

There is an expression, "Fake it til you make it." This can be useful at the beginning, but you can only go so far by "faking it". At some point you must Be what you have been faking or drop the act, come hell or high water. Remember your aim. What do you really want? Who are you? Who do you really wish to Be?


Be at Peace
Be Love
BE

GOSSIP Revisited

I originally posted this topic on 2 September 2009 under the Title: Gossip.

I re-post it today as a reminder that, more often than not, what we say in gossip to our friends and neighbors does permanent harm to everyone concerned.

Gossip is manipulation.
Gossiping damages and halts  your progress and growth.
It can even end your inner work permanently.

Repairing this error is extremely difficult and many do not make it.

Worse yet, this lack of spiritual self control on your part also seriously damages the possibilities for the awakening of those you are gossiping to if they believe  your gossip.

Even if they do not - you have planted negative seeds, which feed their own stories and fears - making their journeys more difficult.

You alienate them from what could save them.

This is especially true when these people are just beginning to know for themselves that they sincerely wish for something higher.

Nothing created in negativity produces anything useful - except very hard lessons (if you can See and Hear) in what comes from intentionally directed negativity for your own selfish ends.


You banish yourself and your listener(s) to illusion.

You are stealing their opportunities to enter into a true spiritual realm of study.

... and giving in to your ego impulses to gossip takes from you what you have worked so hard to earn.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

From the Movie: Doubt  

After being accused of heinous acts, a priest, Father Brendan Flynn, tells the following story to his congregation:

"A man was gossiping with a friend about a man he hardly knew." Father Flynn looks into the eyes of the congregation sitting before him as he speaks, his intense gaze lingering on the faces of his two accusers. "I know none of you have ever done this." People squirm in their seats.

 Father Flynn continues: "That night he had a dream. A great hand appeared over him and pointed a finger down at him. He was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day he went to confession. He got the old parish priest and told him the whole thing."

"Is gossiping a sin?" he asked the old man. "Was that the hand of Almighty God pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution Father? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?"

"Yes!", the old priest answered. "Yes! You ignorantly badly brought up man! You've born false witness against your neighbor! You played fast and loose with [her] reputation and you should be heartily ashamed!"


"The man said he was sorry and asked forgiveness."

"Not so fast," said the old priest. "I want you to go home, take a pillow off your bed, take it up to the roof, cut it open with a knife and return here to me."

"So, the man went home, took a pillow off his bed, got a knife from the kitchen, took them up to the roof, and stabbed and cut the pillow open. Then he went back to the priest and told him he'd done what he asked."

"Did you gut the pillow with a knife?" the old priest asked."

"Yes, Father."

"And what was the result?" he asked."

"Feathers." he replied."

"Feathers." the priest repeated nodding his head up and down, yes"

"Feathers everywhere, Father." the man said, not yet getting the point."

The priest then told him: " Now, I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind."

"Well," said the man, "it can't be done, I don't know where they went. They flew all over"

"And that," said the priest, "is GOSSIP!!"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

If you can take this story into your heart with the appropriate attitude, be you the one who gossips or the one who is "innocently" listening to the gossip, or both, live with it for awhile. You will come to truly understand what it means on a higher level through higher consciousness. If you do that sincerely and are honest with yourself before God, you will be freed from that which causes you to gossip. It is difficult, but the Freedom you earn is worth it in the end.

I once heard, when I was a very young gossip fiend, that gossip kills. As I delved deeper and deeper into inner work in the following years, I discovered it was a lawful truth. Gossip kills.

Know that I Love You,

BE At Peace

Do No more Harm to yourself or to others

EVERYTHING IS Sacred

BE

I AM

Three Things: Power, Gossip and Intolerance _ Response to a comment

Wiseacrings:

I apologize for the tardiness of my reply to your comment (below) dated 21 April 2009. I watched the film to be sure of my response to you.

You are right, "the story continues", stories always continue, even after the film is over, even after “the end”. …but let’s back up a bit. I examined the scenes that came after the priest gave the sermon on gossip. Neither nun questioned him about the veracity of the story.

It is also true that we can “weave morality" or anything else to our advantage. I think this and the damage that can be caused by deliberately practicing this form of lying, is the point of this film.

The "Mother Superior" was not attempting anything so unselfish as to help the Parish Priest to see his subjectivity as you think. It is established in the opening scenes that she wants absolute power over this church and had obviously been enjoying it for some time before the new priest arrived. What we are seeing play out is a power struggle. The old nun is intolerant of anything she perceives as being out of step with her personal belief system. She micromanages everyone and at every turn she makes sure to let everyone around her knows who is in charge. She wants everyone to obey her, even the parish priest. In her mind the only aim of all of the subordinate nuns and all the children in their relationship to her is supposed to be to agree with her, or to remain invisible in her sight or out of her hearing range. The parish priest is quite the opposite.

What the young nun actually asks the priest after the Gossip sermon is:

Sr. James: “Was your sermon directed at anyone in particular?”

Priest: "What do you think?”

Sr. James: “Is it true?”

Priest: “What?”

Sr. James: “You know what I’m asking.” (She is referring to the accusations of the older nun)

Priest: “No.”

She questions him further during this scene about the "evidence" she and the older nun gathered. He explains his motives for his behavior with the boy to her satisfaction. She no longer doubts him - at this point. That she believes the Priest then brings on a harangue at her from the "Mothe Superior" during which she attacks Sr. James for being "gullible" and "naive".  After this terrible attack, Sister James doubts her own ability to discern reality from fantasy and doubts not only the priest again when she sees him walking through the hall hugging the boy, but herself.

Thank you for your comments Wiseacrings, 

Peace to you.