--- In [email protected], "Rick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], "Patrick Gillam" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > (snip) > > > An aside: the non-judgmentalism of the witnesser may explain why > purportedly > > enlightened people can be assholes. They have no motivation to > change because their > > relative personalities, jerks though they may be, are fine to the > non-judgmental Self. > > > Wow! Now that's a stretch. > > Here is another version of the two birds in a tree analogy: > > > "After recognizing the possibility of divine guidance and actually > realizing its presence within ourselves, there naturally descends a > profound spirit of awe and reverence. God is so great and so good > that He is personally concerned with little insignificant me, you > and everyone else! More than that, we are not separate from Him, or > He from us. The Upanishads compare it to two birds on the same > tree. One bird represents the Supreme Lord and the other bird the > individual spirit soul. One bird is trying to enjoy the fruits of > the tree, but the other bird, representing the Lord, is simply > watching and waiting for His friend to turn his attention to Him. > Unfortunately, living beings are very busy trying to enjoy the > fruits of the material body some sweet and some sour but the > Lord is simply the witness and waits for us to become fed up with > the fruits of material life and turn our attention to Him." > > I would say that the enlightened asshole is a busy bird who although > may have attained great insight has still not lost the taste for > sour fruit. Why can't "enlightenment" be something that has many, > many levels and degrees and just because someone has become "close" > to God on some level it doesn't mean that they don't have a long > way to go on others?
Bottom line is that no matter how much the bird enjoying the fruits "turns his attention" to the bird *representing* the Lord, it's still a condition of duality. As long as there is still a "witness" witnessing, there is still duality. I suspect, as you say in your last paragraph, that this is merely an early stage of enlightenment, one that ripens over time into one in which there is no witness separate from activity because there is only one bird. Unc To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
