--- In [email protected],
"tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlis"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Truth Comes at a Cost
> by Adyashanti
> If I was to translate the enlightened state down into
> human terms, I'd have to describe it as contentment.
> Being nobody, going nowhere, needing no reason to exist.
Excellent. Just this morning I was reading FFL,
gazing at all the understandable (they've been
told for decades how important they are, after
all) but lamentable self-importance there ("Only
we can save the world by bouncing on our bums")
and remembering one of my favorite quotes by
a spiritual teacher:
I am not important.
Today I am here and tomorrow I will be gone.
This is my freedom.
I am not important.
> To the ego, that probably sounds a little boring and of
> course to an ego it is. But then again, there's really
> nothing for the ego in enlightenment. In enlightenment,
> the egoic false self is rendered an irrelevant illusion,
> a mask, a character that nothingness wears while pretending
> to be human.
>
> Not only is there nothing in enlightenment for the ego,
> the ego is really nothing but a defense against enlightenment.
> I'm not saying that ego is bad or evil because it's not. I'm
> saying that ego is a social and personal construct and
> therefore an illusion. But there's nothing wrong with an
> illusion. A painting is an illusion; a movie is an illusion;
> a good novel is an illusion. The problem isn't with illusion;
> the problem is with the emotional attachments and addictions
> of ego.
I like this guy. He's got a clue. I have very little
tolerance these days for those who go on and on about
how only the "highest" state of consciousness or the
"highest" reality is real. They're all equally real,
and equally illusory, even the supposed "highest."
Those who can't be happy in the "low," ego-bound states
of consciousness are fooling themselves if they think
they're going to be any happier in the "high," non-
ego-bound states of consciousness. Their lack of
happiness is something they bring to their current
state of consciousness, not an attribute *of* that
state of consciousness.
As before, so after. Before enlightenment, sport wood
and carry condoms. After enlightenment, sport wood
and carry condoms. If you're bitching about life before
your realization, you're probably going to bitch about
life after your realization, too.
