picnic Posted August 17, 2011 (edited) Hello, I've written a few books on my way and the latest one is very short indeed but seems to fit all I have to say into it's few pages. I'd like to put it here for you Tao Bums to read for free. Please note that it is a copyrighted book with an ISBN so should not be copied or redistributed. Either read it here for free or find it for sale. Pop! Thanks! Here it is...... Pop! by SonBeam Pop! © Copyright Chris Wilshaw 2011. All rights reserved and all the standard notes that you may not copy the book in any part but contact me if you wish to: or ISBN: 978-1-4478-1955-4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pop! In the stream bubbles appear one new one a second and as we watch old ones pop every second, pop, pop, pop. These bubbles represent humans coming into the world by birth and leaving by death, each second is this swirl of bubbles, pop, pop, pop, pop, and one day that pop will be you! The thought of a death a second is not such a nice one as to dwell on it and so we do not, the thought though of the ongoing mass game of Russian Roulette where your number is guaranteed to come up at some unknown time should force a smart adjustment in perspective and awakening to the moment and living, now. You do not spend your time sitting mourning each and every pop, considered though the thought of your own popping may be of some concern. Will you pop out of the blue unprepared or will you feel your pop coming? Part of your concern over your pop is sadness and loss you'll leave behind in others. Each moment a pop, pop, pop, each moment people suffering that. Aren't you though, the stream? •••• The change of perspective, which is the ultimate Enlightenment, is when we realize fully that there is no separation whatsoever between you and the world. Looking out at the world you're really seeing inside your mind. Your happiness and health are a fine reference as to what you believe you are seeing. As nearly all people take themselves to be a separate autonomous entity in the world then they constantly suffer other people, situations, environments and the play on their minds. Minds, when observed, change and change and change, that's all they do and the average person who is lead by this never ending flux is in constant turmoil. Seeking happiness is not noticed to be the ultimate admission of sadness. Would a happy person seek happiness? No it would be the least of their concerns as they are happy so then the quest for happiness, the thought that it is just around the corner, to be brought about by that next purchase, change at work, relationship, this ongoing mind made play, is the sickness of humanity, almost epidemic and so common it is accepted as normality. Comparison of one life to another is the game of media and the pass time of most people. The majority of conversation is “And she, then he...” and most of what people read is “So'n'so did this then So'n'so did that...” The comparison is always delivered with the confounded expression of disbelief or of admiration or some qualifying point as to how good or bad this state or action is. Look at me now even stating how “The majority of people are one way or another...” in just the same way. I do though have a purpose here and that is to awaken the reader, who is in all likelihood under this very spell, and free them of their sickness. •••• All of the unrest in the universe is in fact on the minds of humans. The universe is truly in a state of ever peaceful perfection yet humans run around trying to make things better, missing quite apparently that it is imperfectable and imperfect solely due to perspective. The perspective of "me in the world" is practically unanimous yet it is quite an impossible reality. The truth of it really can not be said in words but should anyone take time to answer some questions themselves as to how this separation were the case then they will, with certainty, conclude that separation is simply a persistent illusion. Take some time to think where you’d be without: space, bacteria, earth, plants, air. Take a second to consider what you truly are: A body, a mind, skeleton in a bag of skin? Can you lift a finger, tap your foot, can you beat your heart, can you grow a nail? •••• Comparison one person to another, one life situation with another, one outcome or the other is an undivided oneness comparing one idea of itself to another idea. All possibility of an alternative to 'what is' is only the mind at play. Things can not be different, only interpretation can change. That is the mind at work and when you've seen how it works and seen that it will go on that way forever, you laugh at it, cast it aside and realize perfection. Knowledge is thought by many to be factual and immutably true. The real highest knowledge though is the recognition that knowledge is limited. Knowing that knowledge is limited you are less prone to be caught up in fads, phases and the words of gifted speakers. When people have something to sell, be that a concept, a product, political idea or a religion they will give you solid facts and a hard sell. With a clear and open 'maybe' mind though you'll keep things simple, you'll be wise to the fact that facts come and go, that what was as true as can be often comes to be proven false with time. Importantly you'll be happy with simplicity and so not seeking to buy your way to happiness. •••• Pop, pop, pop... this life we live seems to be within this thing called time. Have you ever though been in the past or the future? You've only ever been here and now, you've never been into the future and you're never going back. The only time humans go anywhere other than now is via the mind. The mind loves to play with future wishes and past what-if's. People spend far, far too much of their lives avoiding reality and dreaming of alternatives. Now though is all you've got and all you'll ever have. And now is bliss. Now is perfect because it is the only reality. Now contains no negativity whatsoever unless the mind is allowed to draw past or future ideas in to cloud it. The mind second guesses reality so often that it can occasionally guess close to right, enough that is that you let it rule, just in case. The mind is not able to alter the past, it can not predict or influence the future. If the mind could shape reality, then why are there poor and unhappy people everywhere? The mind is a trouble maker. Use it wisely, that is rarely. •••• What do others think of you? What do you think of them? Really? Does this alter? No one knows anyone else, no one knows you, not really. The opinion one person has of another is not valid and so then when you're held in high esteem, disliked, loved, feared, despised, depended on, or seen as an angel, all that is is a brief and fleeting opinion. You could easily be a bastard and a great person at exactly the same time. Riches and what most see as happiness are also fictitious and passing labels of no fixed quality. There is always this relative scale and as success instills the fear of failure, a loss opens up room for gain, these games play out. True happiness never alters though. True happiness is here and now, unencumbered by mind, labels and opinions of others are not present. Someone labelling you as successful is meaningless compared with true happiness in the here and now. •••• The one thing separating you from consistent bliss is your mind entering with its normal routine. “Oh yes well this is all well and good but in the real world things aren’t quite like this, I have a... and a... and there’s …....” And that is it, case proven to be true. The mind is, as you have just seen, the enemy here. The sickness seen to be normal human life, the one that fought our wars, built the bomb, argued with a prerecorded voice over the telephone, made jokes to cope, drugs to mask the pain and remedies to cure the side effects of the medicines is the problem. Drawing you from a perfect now into a world where things matter, what others do is important, that someone said something is reason to be stressed during a day off, that some action forced you to need to write a letter to voice your opinion, that someone is an evil idiot and so on and so on... •••• Can we agree that without the what-if’s, and the if-only’s that we’d be much much better off? I’m sure we can to a point but then the mind will sneak back in with some trick. “Oh but I love my partner and my hobbies and, you know, I just love to read a little news and follow some soap operas and, come on, I need to know how my friends are, my family, I have to get to work on time, pay my bills, remember my groceries...” There is not though an incompatibility here. I’m not saying that the mind is a problem and we must live without it, that would indeed be a little too radical a notion. I’m instead painting the picture so you can see clearly that there is a perfect now, other than for the workings of the mind. So then, you can live in a very happy state as, when sadness is seen, when desire comes along, you can recognize the workings of the mind and let it go. •••• I stated in a previous book that: “When desire opposes the situation then conflict appears” and this is almost all of what I have said in this book up until now in just one sentence. There is this reality, quite immovable, quite unchangeable, and it can be no other way. When the desirer, the mind, looks at this Now Reality and has another idea in mind, then there is conflict in its simple and naked form. Laid bare conflict is this simple situation, the mind, which is unreal, vs the undeniable reality of being. This is what I mean when I say that you can not alter the world, you can only alter your attitude towards it. Given a poor outlook things will come to frustrate you, once you’ve hit your nail with a hammer you’ll do it again, when you bite your cheek and get frustrated by it, crunch, you’ll do it again. With a fresh and positive outlook where you drop the moment as soon as it happens, you may well bite your cheek when chomping on some nice food but you’ll be so absorbed in the very next moment that you’re far more likely to have something beautiful fill your eye than something miserable. So I’m promoting positive thinking? No, I’m not. I’m promoting the only reality, positive being. I’d certainly go as far as to deny the existence of time and say that time is part of the mind made illusion but as time is so ingrained in people I may avoid that debate right now. I’ll remind and challenge you though: If you can do anything in the past or the future, then you win, if you can only ever operate in the now, then the case is mine and I need not argue to bolster my stance. As you can only operate in the now moment and the past and future are mind made then positive thinking is seen to be a waste of time and just the mind attempting to trick its way back into the driving seat. Positive being however is intensely powerful as now is always now. No need for wishes and regrets, here you are. •••• Your life is not short of days when you live forever in the now and life is never free of delight. Pop! is a book by SonBeam, AKA TaWan and WuWu. Under these 3 names have been the books: Waterfall Awake Nature A very early book full of ideas but suffering from the authors Dyslexia. That is That (by WuWu) The non-philosophy of WuWu. A direct and powerful medium length book in 3 distinct parts. Tao Stories (by WuWu) A short collection of nice simple stories of life in Tao The Person of Tao (by TaWan) Over 300 pages of short pointers to enlightenment Pop! (by SonBeam) The very short book you have just read Edited August 17, 2011 by picnic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted August 17, 2011 Hi Pincin, I read only what you presented here in your post. Very nice. (But then, I agree with you so that must be considered.) Thanks for sharing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deci belle Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) Picnic~ I only read a teeny bit so far… how wonderful it is— and I adore your name!!!❤❤ Pop-pop-pop!! hahaha❤ Edited August 18, 2011 by deci belle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
picnic Posted August 20, 2011 Thanks, I hope all who have read it have found enjoyment be that thorough recognition of a truth they are already living or because this helped in some way towards that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davesdom Posted May 18, 2012 "In the stream bubbles appear one new one a second and as we watch old ones pop . . ." There is a story about Albert Einstein. Visitors would come to his home and ask his wife permission to speak with him. She would tell them to wait, for he was in his bath. He took bubble baths and watched the bubbles . . . that's how he engendered his ideas. She would tell the visitor that Albert would be very upset if she disturbed him . . . so they had to wait. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh Posted May 21, 2012 I like the attitude-approach a lot, nice and rational. I guess it represents what they call a 'short path' view. Which I like as well. Stosh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) "In the stream bubbles appear one new one a second and as we watch old ones pop . . ." There is a story about Albert Einstein. Visitors would come to his home and ask his wife permission to speak with him. She would tell them to wait, for he was in his bath. He took bubble baths and watched the bubbles . . . that's how he engendered his ideas. She would tell the visitor that Albert would be very upset if she disturbed him . . . so they had to wait. The physicist Richard Feynman spent a LOT of time examining bubbles, too. And bongo drums... Some day, we'll have to talk about Albert's first wife! Edited May 22, 2012 by A Seeker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
