Notes to Myself

Going through some old papers, I came across a few notes to myself, some of which follow.

Ultimately, the key is “Gratitude.” This is the magic pill that ends suffering. Gratitude for this day, for this life, is not hard to experience. Paul Reps said, “How grateful I am with no thing to be grateful for.” He did not say “nothing” to be grateful for, but “no thing.” The difference between “nothing” and “no thing” should be studied.

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Arrogance will not allow one to heed the council of another. Self-centeredness is the opposite of Yoga (unity). Not expanding to fill the Universe but contracting to bring everything into the radius of the small self is usual but not favorable.

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Everything changes, yet everything remains the same. This is the great mystery. A sage understands what that means. From the individual standpoint, we must change in order to remain the same. I emphasize that “everything is in a state of flux.” Yet everything is as it has always been.

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There are two levels of truth. First, there is the personal. Here questions must be answered with the knowledge that the individual is interested in earning a good living and in the intricacies of relationships. The second level is the Universal, not looking at things from one point of view but being conscious of Cosmic meanings — what really is Life and Being. Comparatively few are interested in the second Truth and are turned off by revelations a few have had because they have nothing to do with the individual.

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Creativity comes naturally to truly spiritually-minded ones. This is the reason why many Zen masters were very original painters and very wise poets. Most left a verse for their followers when they were dying — the “Last Word,” so-called. It was often likened to “a snowflake in a raging fire.”

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When one is bored, it means one is bored with him or herself.

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From the artificial to the natural, with gratitude — this is the Way. Gadgets do not make people happy. Bliss comes from inside.

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The Sutras, and other spiritual documents, are all saying, “Everything is as it has always been.” The Uncarved Block was never carved and turned into individual “souls.” Adam and Even never left the “Garden of Eden,” also known as the “Uncarved Block.”

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We shape everything as we are led (puppets?), thinking that we have control of what we become. Faith in ourselves, very uncommon, is necessary. Outside, in the Cosmos, there is only vibration. Inside, much vaster, we find Eternity. The big mistake is to judge as an individual. To know Truth, one must think of the Whole and understand why, in this great Multiplicity, all is said to be One. Churches cater to the individual, but it is the road away from the Truth. The Chinese speak of the Uncarved Block, before the Yin and Yang, or anything else. To know, in truth, that nothing left the Uncarved Block is Wisdom. With the beginning of time came the great illusion. Do you want to know the Truth or remain brainwashed?