“[A] life full of goals and end-points is like trying to abate one’s hunger by eating merely the two precise ends of a banana. The concrete reality of the banana is, on the contrary, all that lies between the two ends, the journey as it were[.] Furthermore, when the time and space between destinations are cut out, all destinations tend to become ever more similar.”
― Alan W. Watts
*****
Peace and Love
Seth Kelly Curtis
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
*****
May God bless and protect you and…
May you always be
Healthy, Happy
Safe and Comfortable
Seth Kelly Curtis
“Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.”
― Siddhārtha Gautama
*****
Peace and Love
Seth Kelly Curtis
Do not concern yourself whether you’re going to do anything wrong or right. You are just one of the many actors on the stage of life. Everybody has come here to play a role, so-to-speak. Some people have to be the good guys, some people have to be the bad guys. This is the reason we never judge anybody. This is the reason you should never call anybody evil or bad. It is really a role that they’re playing. And a person on the path of Jnana does not judge anybody or anything. They leave everything alone. They observe it, they watch it. Come to no conclusions. Good and bad is out of their vocabulary. Right and wrong has been transcended. This happens before you become fully enlightened.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in this whole universe least of all yourself. You no longer worry about yourself. For even though you still feel you are a piece of the body you understand that there is a grand bliss, a joy, an absolute reality that you can call God that takes care of you completely and totally when you surrender completely and totally to the source.
So you see you do not have to look after your life. You do not have to watch what you eat or watch where you go or watch what you do. For whatever you eat, wherever you go, whatever you do is the right thing for you at the moment. It is where you’re supposed to be. You are where you’re supposed to reap. Everything is in its right place. If you learn to have faith like this you will grow. But if you keep believing I am the doer and I have to make things happen, otherwise nothing will happen and I will fall apart, then you will be making things happen all of your life. There will always be something to make happen. It will never end. Yet this is also your role that you have to play here on this earth. This is the destiny that’s yours. To do what you’re doing right now.
So, the person who understands what I’m saying does not consider the question any more, “Is the world real or false?” Remember if you have to ask that question, then the world is real and you have to act accordingly.
In the same instance that person does not ask the question, “Is everything preordained?” For remember for whom are things preordained? Only for the ajnani, for the ignorant one.
The only freedom you’ve got is to turn within and not react to anything. This is your freedom, your total and complete freedom. And that is really a lot of freedom if you think about it. You can really see that you’re free, to that extent.
In other words whatever befalls you, you do not become upset, hurtable, angry, you merely observe it and watch it and you realize that is your stuff that you’ve got to get rid of. That is your stuff you have to go through. It makes no difference how deeply you’re suffering, if you’re suffering or how happy you are, if you’re happy. If you’re sick or healthy or you’re poor or rich. If you are married or single. If you are living in a hut or a mansion.
These things are irrelevant. For what is relevant is your reaction to these things.
The person who does not react grows spiritually and becomes Master of the world, so-to-speak.
*****
May God bless and protect you and…
May you always be
Healthy, Happy
Safe and Comfortable
Seth Kelly Curtis
Understanding means a state of no-mind.
That’s what meditation is all about.
Meditation is the art of putting the mind aside,
not allowing it to interfere, not allowing it to
stand between you and the real.
When you face the real without any
interference of any kind – philosophical,
political, religious – when there is no idea between
you and the real, when the real is simply reflected
in you like a tree is reflected in the lake or the face
is reflected in a mirror,
then there is understanding.
Understanding is a byproduct of meditation;
misunderstanding is a shadow of the mind.
And these are the only two ways a man can live:
either one can live as a mind or
one can live as meditation.
Understanding arises out of silence;
silence means no-mind.
*****
Peace and Love
Seth Kelly Curtis
by Jayaram V
The Second law: This is the second law of existence. We may become aware of the information which is present or hidden in the universe and recreate it, but we do not create it anew. What we consider creativity is simply becoming aware of something which we do not know or which did not manifest in our minds or in our world until then.
Is there anything which we can create which does not already exist? Do we create any truths or laws which are not already present in the information soup of the universe as ideas or possibilities? What we consider new is what is new to us or to a large number of people or to the whole humanity. However, it does not mean that the idea did not exist until then in the universe in some form.
What we consider creativity is what our minds have not conceived before. When a new thought or invention or idea crosses our minds, we may presume that we created it, but it is not true. We may credit the first person who thought about it or was lucky enough to find it, but the truth is he or she connected to a truth which was already present.
No doubt, she must have struggled and worked hard to find it, for which society amply rewards her, but all her efforts go into exploring the truths and mysteries of the universe. In other words, all creation whether it flows from supreme consciousness or the universe or Nature or a Buddha or a human being is a just an unraveling of the preexisting knowledge hidden in the universe as an existential truth or possibility or potentiality. Did the Buddha create or invent the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path? No, he just found it or discovered it in an enlightened state or supreme awareness as existential truths.
This is the truth. We can only express what is inherent. If we can somehow tune into the universal mind, we may find innumerable new ideas. Perhaps, the label, “universal mind” may not be correct to describe the information which is stored in the universal storehouse of knowledge in numerous forms. Further, our senses and minds may not be the only means by which it can be known. There may be several other methods to extract it about which we do not have adequate knowledge at this level of our development and technological progress.
Perhaps someday human beings or their evolved forms may possess enough knowledge and ability to extract all the information contained in a black hole or a galaxy. It may become possible if we manage to survive for at least for a few thousand years more or may be a hundred thousand years. In the universal calendar, our civilization is not even a day old. Hence, our progress is too insignificant even to fathom that idea.
The mind is an instrument of Nature. It is bound to its laws. It cannot operate other than what Nature intends it to do. In other words, however free we may think, we are not truly free. We are bound to the laws of Nature, and so is all the knowledge that we know, yet to know and may never know. Both existence and nonexistence of anything exists within the bounds of the universe only. Therefore, both are bound to it, just as we all are.
Nonexistence may simply be the absence of something, the ignorance of the existence of something or something that has not yet manifested in a definitive form in the known universe. Therefore, creation may be just a process of bringing into existence something which we believe was nonexistent but which in reality is nonexistent to our minds and in our individual or collective awareness only. If the nonexistence of something can be conceived or imagined, then it may not even qualify as nonexistence, but a possibility.
All creation arises from Nature (or the universe), depends upon Nature and subsides in Nature, just as a wave that rises and falls on the surface of an ocean. It may be a mere transformative process or a projection of one thing upon another or an admixture of multiple realities or phenomena or a superimposition of one thing upon another. In other words, we have been presented with the illusion of being in control, with the ability to make a difference to our lives and existence, whereas in truth we can only facilitate natural processes that are inherent to the working of the universe.
The idea that we are caught in the web of the universe and can never be free from it, as long as we are conscious and alive in it and serve whatever purpose it may have, is depressing enough. The more you think about it, the more depressed you will feel. Fortunately, the universe is large enough to give us the illusion of having the free- will and the freedom to make choices and pursue our goals. That illusion keeps us life oriented and helps us navigate through life, without feeling miserable, even though we are but bound to the universe and exist in it just as the fish in the ocean.
Knowledge is eternal and indestructible, or (if you are uncomfortable with the idea of eternity) exists at least as long as existence exists. It is known through intelligence. Hence, in some traditions and philosophical schools intelligence is considered superior to knowledge and equated with the Supreme Reality which pervades the whole universe and its innumerable formations as pure intelligence.
In truth knowledge and intelligence are the two faces of the same supreme and eternal reality, just as Prakriti and Purusha in Hinduism are. Knowledge is Prakriti which abides in forms, and intelligence (buddhi) is Purusha which makes sense of them through knowing and grasping. Together, in Hinduism they constitute the supreme reality of Brahman or existence itself. In Jainism it is represented by the all knowing pure soul (nitya suddha) with infinite knowledge, perception and power. In Buddhism. it is comparable to the supremely intelligent Buddha mind. Yet, these comparisons may not be adequate to convey the universal truth which is being explained here.
Knowledge and intelligence are always present in the universe in innumerable forms and dimensions. We are either conscious or unconscious of them, or we may have a wide range of ideas, notions and theories about them according to our own knowledge and intelligence. However, whether we know them or not, we do not make any difference to the sum of the knowledge or intelligence which exists in the universe. They are mutable in the limited context of a person or a group of people, but immutable in the larger context of the universe.
We can neither add to the sum of the oceanic knowledge and intelligence of the universe in its multiple dimensions and formations nor can we subtract from it. We cannot also alter it or destroy it. At the most we may create little ripples in it which are but illusory just as the whirl that appears in water when we stir it. We can only draw from that perennial source of knowledge and benefit from it. Even ignorance and imperfect knowledge are types of knowledge only. They also exist eternally as possibilities.
Therefore, neither our knowledge nor our ignorance and neither our intelligence nor the lack of it can make any difference to the knowledge and intelligence that is already inherent in the universe. However, they can make a difference to our lives. We too do not add anything new to the universe through our lives and actions. We also do not truly know what purpose we serve in the universe or why do we even exist. We are probably a part of the process which was set in motion as a sum of possibilities when the universe came into existence, and became a materialized reality through innumerable causes and effects and random events.
We have thus ample reasons to believe that all creation is a manifestation or materialization into various forms and states of the of knowledge and intelligence which are hidden or preexisting in the universe. All the diversity in existence arises from the presence or absence of particular types of knowledge and intelligence only. A stone does not know that it is packed with information hidden in the structure and configuration of its atoms, in the energy component of its quantum particles and the qualities and properties which manifest from them. It may not possess the same intelligence as ours, but it may have an intelligence of its own, which is vastly different and which ensures its integrity, continuity, natural properties and functionality.
Yet, despite its apparent lack of life and intelligence, it is an integral part of the universe, and the information which is contained in it is an essential part of the information which is stored in the universe in various forms and states. Knowledge of the objective reality arises from observation. Knowledge of the subjective reality arises from experience. Both are already present in the universe and by knowing them we just become aware but do not create anything new.
*****
May God bless and protect you and…
May you always be
Healthy, Happy
Safe and Comfortable
Seth Kelly Curtis
In order to really grow inside,
you must first be challenged from all directions.
Things cannot just go your way.
You cannot command life or
expect it to fulfill your projections.
If things were always easy,
you would go to sleep inside your being.
As you become more sensitive,
more alert, intuitive, open and silent,
then fear, resistance and lethargy subside
and are replaced with a deep calm
and a faith in the unseen.
Though no outer company may be seen alongside you,
the one who walks with God is never alone.
The hosts of the heavens walk with them.
*****
Peace and Love
Seth Kelly Curtis
Brother Lawrence “The Practice of the Presence of God”
Love Embracing the Beloved
“All things are possible to him who believes,
they are less difficult to him who hopes,
they are easier to him who loves,
and still more easy to him who practices
and perseveres in these three virtues…
Believe me,
count as lost each day you have not used in loving God.”
Brother Lawrence
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
This article contains the Spiritual Maxims of one Nicholas Herman of Lorraine, a lowly born and unlearned man; who, after having been a soldier and a footman, was admitted a lay brother among the Carmelites Deschausses (bare-footed) at Paris in 1666, where he served in the kitchen of the community. He was afterwards known by the name of Brother Lawrence. He died in February 1691, at the advanced age of eighty, after a life the true saintliness of which can be well realized from his words of guidance.
“Herein you will not find set out a devotion which is merely speculative, or which can only be practiced in a cloister. No, there is an obligation laid on every man to worship God and to love Him, and we cannot carry out this solemn duty as we ought, unless our heart is knit in love to God, and our communion is so close as to constrain us to run to Him at every moment, just like little children, who cannot stand upright without their mother’s arms of love.”
Not only did Brother Lawrence perceive God as present in his soul by faith, but also in all events of life, whensoever they befell, instantly he could arise and seek the Presence of God. Yet he confessed that it was hard at first, that many a time he had been unmindful of this practice, but that, after humble prayer and confession to God of his failure, he had betaken himself to it again without trouble.
Of his life within God, his failures and attainments, he left a legacy of direction for those who would likewise seek “The Way, the Truth, and the Life in the Presence of God.” Thus his declaration most central to this undertaking was: “That the Presence of God can be reached rather by the heart and by love than by understanding. In the way of God thoughts count for little, love is everything.”
His one method of going to God and abiding in His Presence was to do all for the love of Him.
When we enter upon spiritual life, we ought to consider thoroughly what we are, probing to the very depth. Though creatures made for God, we are prone to all manner of maladies and subject to countless infirmities, which distress us and impair the soul’s health, rendering us wavering and unstable in our humors and dispositions. We must believe steadfastly, never once doubting, that all such is from God and for our good; that it is God’s will to visit us therein.
“Good when He gives, supremely good; Nor less when He denies. Afflictions, from His sovereign hand, are blessings in disguise.”
Brother Lawrence entreats us that we: “Must do all things thoughtfully and soberly, without impetuosity or precipitancy, with denotes a mind undisciplined. We must go about our labors quietly, calmly, and lovingly, entreating Him to prosper the works of our hands; thus keeping heart and mind fixed on God.
“That useless thoughts spoil all: that the mischief began there; but that we ought to be diligent to reject them as soon as we perceived their impertinence to the matter at hand, or to our salvation; and return to our communion with God. When we are busied, as well as while meditating on spiritual things, even in our time of set devotion, whilst our voice is rising in prayer, we ought to cease for one brief moment, as often as we can, to worship God in the depths of our being, to taste Him though it be in passing, to touch Him though as it were by stealth. Since you cannot but know that God is with you in all you undertake, that He is at the very depth and center of your soul, why should you not thus pause an instant from time to time in your outward business, and even in the act of prayer, to worship Him with your soul, to praise Him, to entreat His aid, to offer Him the service of your heart, and give Him thanks for all His loving-kindness and tender-mercies?”
The Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence systematically guides us through the means for attaining unto the Presence of God:
1. The first is a great purity of life; in guarding ourselves with care lest we should do or say or think on anything, which might be displeasing to God.
2. Second is a great faithfulness in the practice of His Presence, and in keeping the soul’s gaze fixed on God in faith, calmly, humbly, lovingly, without allowing an entrance to anxious cares and disquietude.
3. Make it your study, before taking up any task to look to God, be it only for a moment, as also when you are engaged thereon, and lastly when you have performed the same. And forasmuch as without time and patience this practice cannot be attained, be not disheartened at your many falls; truly this habit can only be formed with difficulty, yet when it is so formed, how great will be your joy therein.
4. Let us mark well, however, that this intercourse with God is held in the depth of our being; there it is that the soul speaks to God, heart to heart, and over the soul thus holding converse there steals a great and profound peace. All that passes without concerns the soul no more than a fire of straw, which the more it flares, the sooner burns itself out; and rarely indeed do the cares of the world ever intrude to trouble the peace that is within.
5. It is here therefore, in the heart, that we ought to strive to make a habit of this gaze on God; but that which is needful to bring the heart to this obedience we must do, as has been said, quite simply, without strain or study.
6. When the mind, for lack of discipline when first engaged in this practice, has contracted bad habits of wandering and dissipation, such habits are difficult to overcome, and commonly draw us, even against our will, to things of earth. One remedy for this is to humbly offer prayer to God. A multiplicity of words in prayer is not advised; discursive forms of prayer are often an occasion for wandering.
7. One way to recall easily the mind in time of prayer, and to preserve it more in rest, is not to let it wander too far at other times.
8. This practice of the Presence of God is somewhat hard at the outset, yet, pursued faithfully, it works imperceptibly within the soul most marvelous effects; it draws down God’s grace abundantly, and leads the soul insensibly to the ever-present vision of God, loving and beloved, which is the most spiritual and most real, the most free and most life-giving manner of prayer.
9. Remember that to attain this state, we must control the senses, inasmuch as no soul, which takes delight in earthly things above those in their Creator, can find full joy in the Presence of God; to be with Him we must leave behind the creature.
Thus, Brother Lawrence compassionately entreats us to ‘seek and find’, to ‘knock and the door will be opened unto us’, for his final guidance is:
“All things are possible to him who believes, they are less difficult to him who hopes, they are easier to him who loves,
and still more easy to him who practices and perseveres in these three virtues…
Believe me, count as lost each day you have not used in loving God.”
Just prior to the final moment when this lover of the Beloved passed away in the embrace of His Lord, a brother asked him if he was at ease and what his mind was busied with? He said: “I am doing what I shall do, through all eternity – blessing God, praising God, adoring God, giving him the love of my whole heart. It is our one business, my brethren, to worship Him and love Him, without thought of anything else.”
The brethren then begged him to entreat of God for them to possess the true spirit of prayer. Brother Lawrence, without pain or struggle, without losing in the slightest the use of any of his faculties, in perfect peace and calm replied:
“There was need of labor on my part also to make myself worthy of such a gift.”
These were his last words.
*****
May God bless and protect you and…
May you always be
Healthy, Happy
Safe and Comfortable
Seth Kelly Curtis
“A religious individual may most gloriously carry out his or her own rituals, as a part of his or her cultural identity, but the moment, that person starts to build a wall of separation between the self and the rest of humanity, coaxed by the textual commands of a scripture, the healthy religiousness turns into dangerous fundamentalism, which is a threat to both the self and the society.”
― Abhijit Naskar
*****
Peace and Love
Seth Kelly Curtis
“There is a considerable difference between concentrating upon a dream or hope, and concentrating upon building that dream into realization.”
-H. Spencer Lewis
*****
May God bless and protect you and…
May you always be
Healthy, Happy
Safe and Comfortable
Seth Kelly Curtis
Kelly's Quest 