God Waits at the Center of This, NOW--A Course in Miracles, 16.7 part 2
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- acim.org/acim/...
"The Lotus" metaphor in Asian spirituality lacks a clear counterpart in the West. There is "the Rose" of the rosicrucians. There is the Sacred heart of Jesus, the Ark of the Covenant, the Empty Tomb of the Risen Christ--but i am unaware of a beautiful version of the western onion, a many layered fruit that brings tears in abunadance when peeled. Such is the misery of self-examination in the western tradition--acid streams obliterate vision so that the desecrated plant can be fried and eaten. The transcendent beauty is sorely lacking.
The lotus grows out of slimy mud at the bottom of ponds. The stem emerges resonant and vertical, a heavenward vector--oblivious to gravity, even defiant in ascent, the lotus reaches beyond mucky origins with a pristine bud, unadulterated by what it has endured below. The delicately hued bloom opens in layer upon layer of petals, delicious to the eye and restful to the mind. They say the Lord has "Lotus feet" which imply incomprehensible richness of meaning incarnating in "a mere human" who scorns nothing while cutting past everything only to reveal life's central essence 'above' beyond our mortal perception. Eastern lore embraces this nesting of multiple meanings as a gift-map of creative possibility: lotus within lotus within lotus opening eternally upward and beyond, in softer and subtler levels of transparency to the Absolute Sublime Reality. The Buddhists express it "Om Mani Padme Om [om manay peh(d)me-hong]--"Behold the jewel in the Lotus." This is not only a task carved out of time to find the preciousness in the moment--it is the lifelong project of identifying the impenetrable Reality of God within the many facets of an increasingly subtle life, shedding layers, opening them toward an elusive center--excited, animated by the beauty of a process that ultimately has no end.
The attempted rape of Draupadi is a cherished tale about God's love told in the Indian epic, Mahabaratha. See past the alien nature of her marriage to five brothers to understand the reassurance offered by the telling. We can apply some Western logic to the set-up by calling Draupadi, the wife, "Nature" the five brothers are "the five elements, ether, air, fire, water, and earth." Their union represents love, service and dedication expressed by the physical, elemental universe for preserving, supporting and worshipping God's feminine aspect in the form of our illusory world---a mine of resources we manipulate, attack, enjoy and depend on, often without a thought. The "rape" [not] sequence happens thus: the eldest brother gambles away EVERYTHING in a rigged game of dice, ostensibly staged to come to an agreement over familial disagreement. Mad with the game he even gambles away Draupadi, twice! The evil cousins drag her out of her quarters and commence to strip her sari away in order to see "the winnings." A sari is a very long bolt of fabric anyway, so the assault has the form of an unravelling where piles of fabric gather around Draupadi while the wicked cousins pull and pull and pull. They fall down exhausted, unable to get to the end of the sari. It is an obvious miracle and so the insane effort to man-handle her body ends to the relief of everyone except the would-be rapists. Krishna, the Avatar in the tale, explains it this way.
When Krishna was a child, he cut his finger. The elder relative, Draupadi, hastily tore her own undergarment to create a bandage for the wounded boy. The years passed and Krishna ruminated the care and love she demonstrated. The bandage became longer and longer over time, until the moment Draupadi face trouble--her sari had increased to the immense magnitude the bandage had achieved in the time since she tended his wound. The wrap had become effectively infinite--whatever size was required to protect her as she had protected him. The lotus. The jewel. The nature of our illusion--frustrating to the miscreants, a love song to the lovers.
The lotus-idea also hides the direct implication, "the jewel," that we create our reality in the form of discovery. A journey begins with preparations for the worst, learning the landscape, and coping skillfully with what is discovered in new territories [unfolding, layer by layer]. The journey ends when all the means of preparation are exhausted in direct experience. Arrival is that moment when the territory is not alien any more and the preparations are forgotten in a hazy memory. As for Krishna and Draupadi--we begin as Draupadi, saved by the very layers of an illusion-as-protection. The journey of illusions end as we are lost in Our Own Avatar, savior of our own world, populated with everything that was given to us to save [everything in the world!] by creating an illusory band-aid so large that no hurt, wound or violence can escape its' immensity.
Thank you both so much for your honesty and willingness to share. I so enjoy and look forward to all your episodes.
Thanks for saying so...every once in awhile there's some laundry out there that surprizes the both of us!
Broadcasting from the heartland of America: the Hamilton Constellation shining on you. Such a beautiful loving relationship giving away the Spirit's manna --a great way to start the day--may you be so blessed!
Wow, thank you!
I do watch and share these action packed episodes that percolate through my mind and drip into my soul. The relevance touches my Heart helping to clear the illusions. So, my mind-mouth wants to run off with a thousand things that have been stirred but the wonder that is at its core is singular. Great episode BTW, thank you. There's some sort of alchemy at work, yes there is.
This is great--I really appreciate it. I do think that when some people are making an attempt to align with Spirit per ACIM [or any other I suppose] there is alchemy. I'm busy stirring my own lttle pot, but it is part of a larger project...
I would like to add to, why we want to forgive avery moment that come front of our face and reason for me is; because what I see is not true, reminding me there is no world, but only projection of guilt over the separation bubbling on the surface.
Thank-you for forgiving every moment! The closer anyone can get to complete forgiveness, the faster we all benefit. 'Bubbling' is a good way to describe the separation.