Perception is not Reality

[silent thunder]

 

Perception is not Reality.

 

A modicum of doubt, has revealed itself a precious commodity to me in the pursuit of my True Nature.

 

 

[silent thunder]

9 hours ago, ऋषि said:

 

 

 

Pearls!  Thank you for sharing. 

 

Your responses to some of my postings of late, have been like bolts of lightning from clear skies.  Deeply resonant, piercingly appropriate, devastatingly revealing and deeply appreciated.

 

 

[ilumairen]

11 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

Pearls!  Thank you for sharing. 

 

Your responses to some of my postings of late, have been like bolts of lightning from clear skies.  Deeply resonant, piercingly appropriate, devastatingly revealing and deeply appreciated.

 

 

I once had experience with a bolt of lightning from a clear sky which coincided with the realization, "It isn't about them, it was never about them. It's about me."

 

Which certainly will fail to convey the startling nature of both the physical and mental lightning strikes. Whether odd coincidence or something more, the experience left an impression. 

[silent thunder]

Vajra:  A revelation or insight that strikes Awareness like a bolt of lightning and is as hard and unshakable as diamond.

[old3bob]

the energy (which can be great!) caught up in or accumulated in doubt (per-se) may remain so until without a doubt it bursts forth, 

Edited April 13, 2020 by old3bob

[freeform]

1 hour ago, ऋषि said:

Amongst those who are still under the thumb of conflict which defines the struggle and origins of life and death (i.e. samsara in general), this kind of knowledge is destabilizing.  Of course that is the point, but such destabilizing influences are only genuinely welcome by those who are genuinely working to go beyond samsara.  Those who wish to move beyond samsara will seek to make use of openings which occur when its continuum is interrupted.

 

Nicely said.

 

I'd add one point which became apparent when seeing people working with teachers that offer up this sort of destabilizing insight.

 

One's sense of self must first be strong and coherent before any such destabilizing force becomes revelatory rather than damaging. It's a bit of a conundrum.

 

[old3bob]

the deal is that "True nature" has no doubt of same or itself, for doubt is of duality.  

[Creation]

On 4/13/2020 at 11:51 AM, freeform said:

 

Nicely said.

 

I'd add one point which became apparent when seeing people working with teachers that offer up this sort of destabilizing insight.

 

One's sense of self must first be strong and coherent before any such destabilizing force becomes revelatory rather than damaging. It's a bit of a conundrum.

 

Could you say more about what qualities one's sense of self would have for this insight to be revelatory rather than damaging, and how one could cultivate these qualities without strengthening the deluded parts of one's self?

 

I spent years trying to develop a stronger and more coherent sense of self in ways which I now see harmful and blocked my spiritual unfoldment, so this is a matter of some personal importance to me.

[freeform]

3 hours ago, Creation said:

Could you say more about what qualities one's sense of self would have for this insight to be revelatory rather than damaging, and how one could cultivate these qualities without strengthening the deluded parts of one's self?

Sure.

 

Although it’s important to understand that any sense of self, whether it’s resilient or fragile is still deluded. It’s just a resilient sense of self can be let go of much easier.

 

Resilient is a good quality. I think back to the forest garden I helped established with a few other students for one of my teachers. In a tropical climate, the soil is very fragile... a heavy downpour can easily wash all the soil away. So a fully ‘annual’ vegetable garden that we have in Europe just won’t survive for long... the heat and sun will kill most young veggies and the rain will wash away all the soil you’ve patiently raked, amended, de-rocked etc.
 

Similarly, plant diseases and viruses are common - so if your garden consists of just a single type of plant it can easily be decimated within a season.

 

Neatness doesn’t work. If any space remains unfilled it will quickly be filled with an invasive weed of some sort.

 

However once we understood the forces at work we devised a pretty resilient garden... lots of different trees - mangoes, jackfruit, longan, other varieties used for its leaves or medicinal bark... lots of climbing plants like kiwis and berry and flower producing plants... lots of low growing herbaceous plants... then creeping ground-cover plants that grow low to the soil and cover every bare patch... lots of dead logs left to rot - so the insects, and fungus get fed. Shade loving plants in the shade, sun loving plants in the sun.

 

Once the garden was set up in this way, it effectively took care of itself - a little bit of cutting back and a lot of picking of produce, but nothing else required. Now the garden can survive a monsoon as well as a hot dry spell and even if the temperature drops, it’s fine because it’s created it’s own little microclimate.

 

The ‘European’ garden was fragile... the ‘forest’ garden is resilient... 

 

We want to be resilient - so if someone tries to upset us, we can laugh it off... if someone wronged us, we hold no grudge and forgive easily... Not getting that job, or being rejected by that girl, or being called some racist slur etc. - all of it can be laughed off... or even if any of it does trigger anger or sadness, it’s quickly forgotten.

 

Being fragile - well you can probably imagine. It’s pretty much the opposite of this.