Life can be understood only if you are ready to go into the unknown. If you cling to the known, you cling to the mind, and the mind is not life. Life is non-mental, non-intellectual, because life is total. Your totality has to be involved in it, you cannot just think about it. Thinking about life is not life. beware of this 'about-ism'. One goes on thinking about and about: there are people who think about God, there are people who think about life, there are people who think about love. There are people who think about this and that.
Mulla Nasrudin became very old and he went to his doctor. He was looking very weak so the doctor said, 'I can say only one thing. You will have to cut your love-life to half.'
The Mulla said, 'Okay. Which half? Talking about it or thinking about it?'
That's all. Don't become a language professor, don't become a parrot. Parrots are language professors. They live in words, concepts, theories, theologies, and life goes on passing, slipping out of their hands. Then one day suddenly they become afraid of death. When a person is afraid of death, know well that that person has missed life. If he has not missed life there cannot be any fear of death. If a person has lived life, he will be ready to live death also. He will be almost enchanted by the phenomenon of death.
When Socrates was dying he was so enchanted that his disciples could not understand what he was feeling so happy about. One disciple, Credo, asked, 'Why are you looking so happy? We are crying and weeping.' Socrates said, 'Why should I not be happy? I have known what life is, now I would like to know what death is. I am at the door of a great mystery, and I am thrilled!I am going on a great journey into the unknown. I am simply full of wonder! I cannot wait!' And remember, Socrates was not a religious man; Socrates was not in any way a believer.
Somebody asked, 'Are you so certain that the soul will survive after death?' Socrates said, 'I don't know.'
To say, 'I don't know' takes the greatest courage in the world. It is very difficult for the language professors to say, 'I don't know'. It is difficult for the parrots. Socrates was a very sincere and honest man. He said, 'I don't know.'
Then the disciple asked, 'Then why are you feeling so happy? If the soul does not survive, then...?' Socrates said, 'I have to see. If I survive there can be no fear about it. If I don't survive, how can there be fear? If I don't survive, I don't survive. Then where is the fear? There is nobody there, so fear cannot exist. If I survive, I survive. There is no point in getting afraid about it. But I don't know exactly what is going to happen. That's why I am so full of wonder and ready to go into it. I don't know.'
This is what a religious man should be. A religious man is not a Christian, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist, or a Mohammedan. All these are ways of knowledge. A Christian says, 'I know.' And his knowledge comes from the Christian dogmas. The Hindu says, 'I also know.' And his knowledge comes from the Vedas and the Gitas and his dogmas. And a Hindu is against the Christian, because he says, If I am right, you cannot be right. If you are right, then I cannot be right.' So there is great argument and there is much dispute and much debate and unnecessary conflict.
A religious man, a really religious man -- not the so-called religious people -- is one who says.'I don't know.' When you say 'I don't know' you are open, you are ready to learn. When you say 'I don't know' you don't have any prejudice this way or that, you don't have any belief, you don't have any knowledge. You have only awareness. You say, 'I am aware and I will see what happens. I will not carry any dogma from the past.'
Live your life whatsoever the cost. Be ready to gamble with it.
I don't know
Mulla Nasrudin became very old and he went to his doctor. He was looking very weak so the doctor said, 'I can say only one thing. You will have to cut your love-life to half.'
The Mulla said, 'Okay. Which half? Talking about it or thinking about it?'
That's all. Don't become a language professor, don't become a parrot. Parrots are language professors. They live in words, concepts, theories, theologies, and life goes on passing, slipping out of their hands. Then one day suddenly they become afraid of death. When a person is afraid of death, know well that that person has missed life. If he has not missed life there cannot be any fear of death. If a person has lived life, he will be ready to live death also. He will be almost enchanted by the phenomenon of death.
When Socrates was dying he was so enchanted that his disciples could not understand what he was feeling so happy about. One disciple, Credo, asked, 'Why are you looking so happy? We are crying and weeping.' Socrates said, 'Why should I not be happy? I have known what life is, now I would like to know what death is. I am at the door of a great mystery, and I am thrilled!I am going on a great journey into the unknown. I am simply full of wonder! I cannot wait!' And remember, Socrates was not a religious man; Socrates was not in any way a believer.
Somebody asked, 'Are you so certain that the soul will survive after death?' Socrates said, 'I don't know.'
To say, 'I don't know' takes the greatest courage in the world. It is very difficult for the language professors to say, 'I don't know'. It is difficult for the parrots. Socrates was a very sincere and honest man. He said, 'I don't know.'
Then the disciple asked, 'Then why are you feeling so happy? If the soul does not survive, then...?' Socrates said, 'I have to see. If I survive there can be no fear about it. If I don't survive, how can there be fear? If I don't survive, I don't survive. Then where is the fear? There is nobody there, so fear cannot exist. If I survive, I survive. There is no point in getting afraid about it. But I don't know exactly what is going to happen. That's why I am so full of wonder and ready to go into it. I don't know.'
This is what a religious man should be. A religious man is not a Christian, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist, or a Mohammedan. All these are ways of knowledge. A Christian says, 'I know.' And his knowledge comes from the Christian dogmas. The Hindu says, 'I also know.' And his knowledge comes from the Vedas and the Gitas and his dogmas. And a Hindu is against the Christian, because he says, If I am right, you cannot be right. If you are right, then I cannot be right.' So there is great argument and there is much dispute and much debate and unnecessary conflict.
A religious man, a really religious man -- not the so-called religious people -- is one who says.'I don't know.' When you say 'I don't know' you are open, you are ready to learn. When you say 'I don't know' you don't have any prejudice this way or that, you don't have any belief, you don't have any knowledge. You have only awareness. You say, 'I am aware and I will see what happens. I will not carry any dogma from the past.'
Live your life whatsoever the cost. Be ready to gamble with it.
I don't know
hans-wolfgang - am Dienstag, 28. September 2004, 01:27
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It happened in Ajmer... one Sufi mystic, Moinuddin Chishti, whose dargah, whose tomb, is in Ajmer. Chishti was a great mystic, one of the greatest ever born, and he was a musician. To be a musician is to be against Islam because music is prohibited. He played on the sitar and on other instruments. He was a great musician and he enjoyed it. Five times every day, when a Mohammedan is required to pray the five ritual prayers, he wouldn't pray, he would simply play on his instrument. That was his prayer.
This was absolutely anti-religious but nobody could say anything to Chishti. Many times people would come to tell him so and he would start singing, and the song would be so beautiful they would forget completely why they had come. He would start playing on his instrument and it would be so prayerful that even scholars and pundits and maulvis who had come to object, wouldn't object. They would remember at home; when they were back at home they would remember why they had come.
Chisthi's fame spread over the world. From every part of the world, people started coming. One man, Jilani, himself a great mystic, came from Baghdad just to see Chishti. When Chishti heard that Jilani was coming he felt, "To pay respect to Jilani it will not be good to play my instrument now. Because he is such an orthodox Mohammedan, it will not be a good welcome. He may feel hurt." So only for that day, in his whole life, he decided he would not play, he would not sing. He waited from morning and in the afternoon Jilani came. Chishti had hidden his instruments.
When Jilani came and they both sat in silence, the instruments started to make music -- the whole room was filled. Chishti became very puzzled over what to do. He had hidden them, and such music he had never known before. Jilani laughed and said, "Rules are not for you, you need not hide them. Rules are for ordinary people, rules are not for you -- you should not hide them. How can you hide your soul? Your hands may not play, you may not sing from your throat, but your whole being is musical. And this whole room is filled with so much music, with so many vibrations that now the whole room is playing by itself."
When your mind is fresh the whole existence becomes a melody. When you are fresh, freshness is everywhere and the whole existence responds. When you are young, not burdened by memory, everything is young and new and strange.
This was absolutely anti-religious but nobody could say anything to Chishti. Many times people would come to tell him so and he would start singing, and the song would be so beautiful they would forget completely why they had come. He would start playing on his instrument and it would be so prayerful that even scholars and pundits and maulvis who had come to object, wouldn't object. They would remember at home; when they were back at home they would remember why they had come.
Chisthi's fame spread over the world. From every part of the world, people started coming. One man, Jilani, himself a great mystic, came from Baghdad just to see Chishti. When Chishti heard that Jilani was coming he felt, "To pay respect to Jilani it will not be good to play my instrument now. Because he is such an orthodox Mohammedan, it will not be a good welcome. He may feel hurt." So only for that day, in his whole life, he decided he would not play, he would not sing. He waited from morning and in the afternoon Jilani came. Chishti had hidden his instruments.
When Jilani came and they both sat in silence, the instruments started to make music -- the whole room was filled. Chishti became very puzzled over what to do. He had hidden them, and such music he had never known before. Jilani laughed and said, "Rules are not for you, you need not hide them. Rules are for ordinary people, rules are not for you -- you should not hide them. How can you hide your soul? Your hands may not play, you may not sing from your throat, but your whole being is musical. And this whole room is filled with so much music, with so many vibrations that now the whole room is playing by itself."
When your mind is fresh the whole existence becomes a melody. When you are fresh, freshness is everywhere and the whole existence responds. When you are young, not burdened by memory, everything is young and new and strange.
hans-wolfgang - am Samstag, 25. September 2004, 21:13
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How is a priest, who is nothing but a servant, going to mediate between you and existence, or God, or nature, or truth? In the pope's message to the world this is counted as a sin, to try to have any direct contact with God -- a sin!
You have to contact God through a properly initiated Catholic priest; everything should go through proper channels. There is a certain hierarchy, a bureaucracy; you cannot just bypass the bishop, the pope, the priest. If you simply bypass them, you are directly entering into God's house. This is not allowed, this is sin.
I was really surprised that this pope the polack has the nerve to call this a sin, to say that man has not the birthright to be in contact with existence or truth itself; for that too, he needs a proper agency! And who is to decide the proper agency? There are three hundred religions and all have their bureaucracies, their proper channels; and they all say the remaining two hundred and ninety-nine are all bogus!
But the priesthood can exist only if it makes itself absolutely necessary. It is absolutely unnecessary, but it has to force itself upon you as something unavoidable.
Years ago the polack pope was again on tour. He was kissing the earth. He was asked by the news media,
"What do you think of the welcome?"
He said, "It was warm but not overwhelming."
Now this man must have been expecting; he was not satisfied with the warm, he must have been expecting an overwhelming reception, welcome. And when he said "warm" you can be absolutely certain it must have been lukewarm -- he was trying to exaggerate it as much as he could. Otherwise a warm reception is overwhelming -- what more do you want? Hot dogs? Then it will be overwhelming? A warm reception is enough. But I know what the problem is; it must have been lukewarm or perhaps even cold.
That same year this man was going to call a synod -- that is the Catholic senate -- in which all the bishops and cardinals of the whole Catholic world meet to decide certain urgent matters. And you can be sure what those urgent matters were: Birth control is a sin, abortion is a sin; and this new sin which has never been mentioned before -- to make an effort to be in direct contact with God is a sin.
Now the thesis that he has propounded he was going to put before the synod to get their agreement; then it became an appendix, almost as holy as THE BIBLE. If it is unanimously accepted by the synod, then it has the same status. And it was accepted because no priest will say that this is wrong, no cardinal will say that this is wrong. They were immensely happy that he has a really original mind -- even Jesus was not aware!
When I received the message that any effort to make direct contact with God is sin, I wondered what Moses was doing. It was a direct contact: there was no mediator, there was no one present. There was no eyewitness when Moses met God in the burning bush. He was committing a great sin according to pope the polack.
Who was Jesus' agent? Some agency was needed. He was also trying to contact God directly, praying. And he was not paying somebody else to pray for him, he was praying himself And he was not a bishop, not a cardinal, not a pope; neither was Moses a bishop, nor a cardinal, nor a pope.
These are all sinners according to pope the polack. And the synod did sign it, because all over the world the priesthood is in a shaky condition.
And the truth is that it is your birthright to inquire into existence, into life, what it is all about.
You have to contact God through a properly initiated Catholic priest; everything should go through proper channels. There is a certain hierarchy, a bureaucracy; you cannot just bypass the bishop, the pope, the priest. If you simply bypass them, you are directly entering into God's house. This is not allowed, this is sin.
I was really surprised that this pope the polack has the nerve to call this a sin, to say that man has not the birthright to be in contact with existence or truth itself; for that too, he needs a proper agency! And who is to decide the proper agency? There are three hundred religions and all have their bureaucracies, their proper channels; and they all say the remaining two hundred and ninety-nine are all bogus!
But the priesthood can exist only if it makes itself absolutely necessary. It is absolutely unnecessary, but it has to force itself upon you as something unavoidable.
Years ago the polack pope was again on tour. He was kissing the earth. He was asked by the news media,
"What do you think of the welcome?"
He said, "It was warm but not overwhelming."
Now this man must have been expecting; he was not satisfied with the warm, he must have been expecting an overwhelming reception, welcome. And when he said "warm" you can be absolutely certain it must have been lukewarm -- he was trying to exaggerate it as much as he could. Otherwise a warm reception is overwhelming -- what more do you want? Hot dogs? Then it will be overwhelming? A warm reception is enough. But I know what the problem is; it must have been lukewarm or perhaps even cold.
That same year this man was going to call a synod -- that is the Catholic senate -- in which all the bishops and cardinals of the whole Catholic world meet to decide certain urgent matters. And you can be sure what those urgent matters were: Birth control is a sin, abortion is a sin; and this new sin which has never been mentioned before -- to make an effort to be in direct contact with God is a sin.
Now the thesis that he has propounded he was going to put before the synod to get their agreement; then it became an appendix, almost as holy as THE BIBLE. If it is unanimously accepted by the synod, then it has the same status. And it was accepted because no priest will say that this is wrong, no cardinal will say that this is wrong. They were immensely happy that he has a really original mind -- even Jesus was not aware!
When I received the message that any effort to make direct contact with God is sin, I wondered what Moses was doing. It was a direct contact: there was no mediator, there was no one present. There was no eyewitness when Moses met God in the burning bush. He was committing a great sin according to pope the polack.
Who was Jesus' agent? Some agency was needed. He was also trying to contact God directly, praying. And he was not paying somebody else to pray for him, he was praying himself And he was not a bishop, not a cardinal, not a pope; neither was Moses a bishop, nor a cardinal, nor a pope.
These are all sinners according to pope the polack. And the synod did sign it, because all over the world the priesthood is in a shaky condition.
And the truth is that it is your birthright to inquire into existence, into life, what it is all about.
hans-wolfgang - am Samstag, 25. September 2004, 02:01
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To be religious means many things, because religion is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. First it means an egoless state -- first and foremost it means a deep acceptance of one's nobodiness. Religion is not a ladder that leads you higher than others. It is not trying to achieve some superiority but, on the contrary, it is relaxing into your ordinariness. A religious person neither feels inferior nor superior; in fact, he never compares himself with anybody else. He cannot compare -- his understanding makes it clear to him that comparison is not possible because there are no two persons similar. How can you compare people who are so dissimilar' You cannot compare Buddha to Krishna, Krishna to Christ, Christ to Mohammed, Mohammed to Kabir, Kabir to Nanak -- no, that is not possible. You cannot compare anybody with anybody else; everybody is unique.
But when I say everybody is unique, remember the word "everybody." I am not using the word "unique" in a comparative sense -- more unique than others, more unique than somebody else. EVERYBODY is unique! Uniqueness is an ordinary quality, the MOST ordinary quality. A religious person is utterly ordinary.
In India there is a tremendously beautiful treatise which contains only the names of God and nothing else: VISHNU SAHASRANAM, THE ONE THOUSAND NAMES OF GOD -- just names and nothing else. But those names are something unbelievably beautiful, showing different aspects of God. In those one thousand names there are two names: one is "God is the most ordinary" and the other is "God is the most extraordinary." Ordinary and extraordinary, both -- two names of God.
The religious person is ordinary, very ordinary. He lives a very simple, unpretentious life with no claim to extra-ordinariness. But that's what makes him extraordinary, so there is no contradiction in those two names.
To be extraordinary is a very ordinary desire. To be ordinary is not an ordinary desire; it is extraordinary. And to relax into one's ordinariness is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the world. The moment you relax into your ordinariness and you start enjoying the ordinary small things of life... in the early morning a cup of tea, a walk in the woods, a swim in the river, listening to the birds or just sitting under a tree -- "doing nothing, sitting silently, spring comes and the grass grows by itself" -- or cooking food or cleaning your house...
Religion is not concerned with what you do, it is concerned with the quality that you bring to your work. You may be praying in a church and there may be no religion in it, because the WAY you are doing it is irreligious.
A king and the high priest of the country were both praying early in the morning. It was still dark and they could not see in the temple. The king was saying, "My God, I am just dust under your feet. I am nobody. Have mercy on me!" And the priest said almost the same, maybe in different words but the same thing, "I am nobody. Have mercy on us!"
And then they both heard, with surprise, a third voice. By that time it was becoming a little light and they could see -- the poorest beggar of the town was also praying and he was saying, "God, I am dust under your feet. I am nobody. Have mercy on us!"
The king blinked his eyes, turned towards the priest and said, "Look who is saying that he is just ordinary, that he is nobody. Just look! Who is saying,'I am nobody'? Just a beggar! The king can say,'I am nobody,' the high priest can say,'I am nobody,' but a beggar? How egoistic! How pretentious!"
They both laughed at the idea of the beggar trying to be just like the king or the high priest. He was also bragging about being nobody. The king and the priest thought it insulting.
Of course, THEY can say they are nobody, because everybody knows they are not. Even God knows they are not! They are just being humble. But this poor beggar -- what humility is there? He is certainly nobody, and he is saying, "I am nobody." What is the point of saying it?
Remember, your so-called saints have tried to be humble before God, but just in order that they can be higher in the eyes of people. But a religious man does not even claim ordinariness -- he claims not. He is simply ordinary, whatsoever he is.
But when I say everybody is unique, remember the word "everybody." I am not using the word "unique" in a comparative sense -- more unique than others, more unique than somebody else. EVERYBODY is unique! Uniqueness is an ordinary quality, the MOST ordinary quality. A religious person is utterly ordinary.
In India there is a tremendously beautiful treatise which contains only the names of God and nothing else: VISHNU SAHASRANAM, THE ONE THOUSAND NAMES OF GOD -- just names and nothing else. But those names are something unbelievably beautiful, showing different aspects of God. In those one thousand names there are two names: one is "God is the most ordinary" and the other is "God is the most extraordinary." Ordinary and extraordinary, both -- two names of God.
The religious person is ordinary, very ordinary. He lives a very simple, unpretentious life with no claim to extra-ordinariness. But that's what makes him extraordinary, so there is no contradiction in those two names.
To be extraordinary is a very ordinary desire. To be ordinary is not an ordinary desire; it is extraordinary. And to relax into one's ordinariness is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the world. The moment you relax into your ordinariness and you start enjoying the ordinary small things of life... in the early morning a cup of tea, a walk in the woods, a swim in the river, listening to the birds or just sitting under a tree -- "doing nothing, sitting silently, spring comes and the grass grows by itself" -- or cooking food or cleaning your house...
Religion is not concerned with what you do, it is concerned with the quality that you bring to your work. You may be praying in a church and there may be no religion in it, because the WAY you are doing it is irreligious.
A king and the high priest of the country were both praying early in the morning. It was still dark and they could not see in the temple. The king was saying, "My God, I am just dust under your feet. I am nobody. Have mercy on me!" And the priest said almost the same, maybe in different words but the same thing, "I am nobody. Have mercy on us!"
And then they both heard, with surprise, a third voice. By that time it was becoming a little light and they could see -- the poorest beggar of the town was also praying and he was saying, "God, I am dust under your feet. I am nobody. Have mercy on us!"
The king blinked his eyes, turned towards the priest and said, "Look who is saying that he is just ordinary, that he is nobody. Just look! Who is saying,'I am nobody'? Just a beggar! The king can say,'I am nobody,' the high priest can say,'I am nobody,' but a beggar? How egoistic! How pretentious!"
They both laughed at the idea of the beggar trying to be just like the king or the high priest. He was also bragging about being nobody. The king and the priest thought it insulting.
Of course, THEY can say they are nobody, because everybody knows they are not. Even God knows they are not! They are just being humble. But this poor beggar -- what humility is there? He is certainly nobody, and he is saying, "I am nobody." What is the point of saying it?
Remember, your so-called saints have tried to be humble before God, but just in order that they can be higher in the eyes of people. But a religious man does not even claim ordinariness -- he claims not. He is simply ordinary, whatsoever he is.
hans-wolfgang - am Mittwoch, 22. September 2004, 17:46
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The Tao of the Circles -
Lao Tao's Te Ching Adapted for New Visions
Author: Carl Carant
ISBN: 0893343277 (paperback)
ISBN: 0893343285 (hardcover)
The Tao of the Circles affords the reader an intimate, sensitive and spiritual insight into the enigma described as the crop circle phenomenon. Design, which is the handmaiden of the Tao, is the principle vehicle used to present the mystery of the crop circles to our awareness.
As humans, we naturally create, react, and respond to life symbolically. These are the designs which guide us in our long journey. And so it is with the crop circles-they are multidimensional designs resonating the qualities of a force whose impressions are made manifest upon the life-sustaining qualities of a force whose impressions are made manifest upon the life sustaining fields of our planet. These designs appear to be the expressions of an unknown source directing our consciousness towards an unknown origin-the Tao.
The Tao of the Circles uses patterns of design to introduce us to the majesty hidden within the dynamics of meaning and purpose: the known and the unknown. Each formation is a design giving expression to a quality of the Tao whether it be hoaxed or unhoaxed. The crop circles naturally move us, impressing upon our consciousness the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual power of the Tao. The Tao of the Circles gallantly brings to our awareness all the we know and all the we do not know by design.
Lao Tao's Te Ching Adapted for New Visions
Author: Carl Carant
ISBN: 0893343277 (paperback)
ISBN: 0893343285 (hardcover)
The Tao of the Circles affords the reader an intimate, sensitive and spiritual insight into the enigma described as the crop circle phenomenon. Design, which is the handmaiden of the Tao, is the principle vehicle used to present the mystery of the crop circles to our awareness.
As humans, we naturally create, react, and respond to life symbolically. These are the designs which guide us in our long journey. And so it is with the crop circles-they are multidimensional designs resonating the qualities of a force whose impressions are made manifest upon the life-sustaining qualities of a force whose impressions are made manifest upon the life sustaining fields of our planet. These designs appear to be the expressions of an unknown source directing our consciousness towards an unknown origin-the Tao.
The Tao of the Circles uses patterns of design to introduce us to the majesty hidden within the dynamics of meaning and purpose: the known and the unknown. Each formation is a design giving expression to a quality of the Tao whether it be hoaxed or unhoaxed. The crop circles naturally move us, impressing upon our consciousness the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual power of the Tao. The Tao of the Circles gallantly brings to our awareness all the we know and all the we do not know by design.
hans-wolfgang - am Montag, 20. September 2004, 20:13
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Das innere Licht ist jenseits von Lob und Tadel.
Wie der Raum kennt es keine Grenzen
und ist doch auch hier in uns,
stets seine Ruhe und Fülle bewahrend.
Es ist nur, wenn Du ihm nachjagst,
daß Du es verlierst.
Du kannst es nicht fassen,
und von ihm trennen kannst Du Dich ebensowenig.
Und während Du keines von beiden tun kannst,
geht es seinen Weg.
Du schweigst, und es redet.
Du redest, und es bleibt stumm.
Das große Tor der Barmherzigkeit ist weit offen,
und keine Hindernisse stehen davor.
Wie der Raum kennt es keine Grenzen
und ist doch auch hier in uns,
stets seine Ruhe und Fülle bewahrend.
Es ist nur, wenn Du ihm nachjagst,
daß Du es verlierst.
Du kannst es nicht fassen,
und von ihm trennen kannst Du Dich ebensowenig.
Und während Du keines von beiden tun kannst,
geht es seinen Weg.
Du schweigst, und es redet.
Du redest, und es bleibt stumm.
Das große Tor der Barmherzigkeit ist weit offen,
und keine Hindernisse stehen davor.
hans-wolfgang - am Sonntag, 19. September 2004, 13:40
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