Structure, and the desirability of getting out of it

[manitou]

 

 

What an incredible ride this has been.  I'm getting up there in years, 77 next month.  I've participated in this discussion group for 16 years, since 2008.  I've observed a few things, in my time with this wonderful community.

 

Regardless of which side of the planet we're born on, and what our 'local' religion tells us to believe, all of mankind seems to be given a thing inside of them that wants to move upward.  Some humans rebel against it because that's their nature and their conditioning.  But the demi urge is there, whether Christian, Daoist, Buddhist, all of us.

 

I know, from this, that we are all the same entity.  I know this because sadness in me creates a physical response; it makes my eyes cry.  Sadness in you creates a physical response.  It makes your eyes cry.  The warm presence I feel inside, the warm void that is always there (and always okay!) is the same warm void that you feel inside of you.  The more we are able to calm the mind, the less of a mess our lives are.

 

Structures are a fabulous pathway, religious structures.  It gets us so far.  But only so far.  The distance between the monk's fingertip and the moon, we're all on our own.  It is experiential and can't be transmitted with words. (It actually can be transmitted with words, but it takes the experiential aspect to realize that it's not actually as crazy as it originally sounded) 

 

I believe the mistake many make is to believe that their structure is the best and the truest, and decide to become an expert in the ways of the structure, perhaps even make a living at being a structure expert.  For a time, this is great for everybody (unless the master has lost his 'beginner's mind' and he's really enjoying the role of master).   However, any given student is not able to get further than the master's capability until the student leaves the master and realizes that there is a huge process of self-realization ahead of him.  The noble truth sought by the student is not found outside of himself, or within the structure of any religion, or even the words of his master.   It's hidden in the last place we would ever think to look.  Inside ourselves.  If the student can find it there, he has surpassed the master.

 

The only process that seems to cut through to the clarity is self-examination, as in 'the unexamined life is not worth living' (someone famous said it, I think)  To see ourselves totally non - judgmentally, but with the eyes of one who is looking for dynamics.  Early dynamics at their beginning, in childhood, which creates a particular reaction today.  These things get in the way of clarity.  So if clarity is sought after, the hatreds, grudges, and all the other reactions that get in the way have to be removed.  There are ways.