Dear Persphone,
Just recently I wrote an article entitled ” The questions that are never answered ” Persephone intimated that it may be provocative in it’s content; Which I believe to be true. So I would like to take this opportunity to go one step further.

In my life I have trodden many paths that others had trod before me. The searching, the seeking and the therapy; very often reaching fanatical status. During a seminar in Australia, I was approached by a fellow teacher. Taking me aside, he said, ” I have to tell you the truth. You think, that what you are doing in front of the group, is all about you, and no one else! ” I stood for moment and could do nothing other than agree with him. In that moment I could find no other reason for doing what I was doing other than to serve myself.

Who else was there? I have to admit up until that point, I had followed the assumption that the closer I came to enlightenment, the further I could take my students and my clients. But after that encounter with the truth, as I now know it to be, changed everything. Not in the way I had planned it however, quite the reverse. The many “how to become enlightened books” that had, at one time become breakfast, dinner and tea to me, no longer served any purpose; other than to adorn my book shelves.

I completed my last seminar in Denmark, with a question ” Do you think that all you have learned, will make the slightest difference to anything?” Everyone in the room nodded their heads and said, “yes”. It was the second time that this clear thought had entered my mind. I was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing. And then fear struck; if not this, what else is there? The journey, the path, the search for awareness, consciousness, all that at one time had been so important to me, now became irrelevant.

I desperately tried to console myself with the fact that all of the foregoing had brought me to this point. But this time, the point felt like standing on the edge of a cliff with the Indians not that far behind. Very clearly, I could not teach that which I no longer had faith in. So I stepped off the cliff and I’m still decending or ascending, I can’t really tell as there are no signes to show the way.

Each day, I meditate or self hypnotise, giving my thoughts their freedom. I suppose one could say that this is what Osho meant when he used the words, “Bliss or Joy.” In these very relaxed states my thoughts just simply wander, I can reach the stratosphere and hang in space or I can be so small I can enter my own body. You might say, “it’s an illusion,” and you would be correct in your assumption, but so is everything else. When you have entered this state of expansion or contraction, without the limitations of the physical body and no attachment to anything whatsoever, it is then you can really know you are god and all that entails.

In this state I’ve come to the conclusion that life and death are actually the wrong way round. Our true selves can only be actualized when we are free of the encumberments of the physical body, which we have named death. Yet it is the ultimate freedom; the releasing of us from the illusion, and all the limitation that go along with that which we call life. We seek home, the returning to what we are, pure energy, pure life. And the most beautiful of all is, that when I know I’m god, there comes with it a silence like I’ve never heard before.

Love James.

There are so few times in one’s life, when there comes that crystal clear experience which changes everything. To me it is a single moment in time, when all logical thinking is suspended, and for a very short period one relies only on feelings, nothing else exists. I must make it very clear at this point, that this is not something that can be done at will. This is not some new level of understanding that one acquires after performing rituals or meditations. One could almost call it a malfunction of the brain, or at least a malfunction of the left-brain. But what ever name you like to give it, most certainly it is an altered state of consciousness. Our every thinking moment concerning the order of our daily life, is overseen by our logical mind, our conscious mind. This doesn’t mean that our subconscious is in anyway asleep or just not working. On the contrary, it is very active, just not on a level we can truly say we understand.

For many years now, more years than I care to remember, I have heard it said that the human race would begin to become more aware of their spiritual function, as their collective consciousness grew in strength. This is the point at which I have to disagree with the majority of people. Not because I like to disagree, it is simply that the conscious mind, collective or not, is too analytical to make such a decision. It is bound by its own understanding of time, past and present, beginnings and endings, and it’s continual ifs and buts. To comprehend what spirituality is, or even whether or not it exists, is not in it’s agenda. It simply becomes a problem for our conscious mind to examine, failing as always to come to any form of solution.

This is the same stepping off point for religion, and I do mean recognized religion. We enter into a chosen faith using our conscious mind and, given its analytical history, it questions everything. Does God exist? Does he hear me when I pray? If I’m good will I get to go to heaven? It never stops with the questions. What you never hear are the answers. And you never will, while you still continue to search for them with the logical aspect of the mind. The great thing about religion being logical is that you don’t have to get involved. As long as you go to church, sing the right song, put your hands together and say a few repetative phrases, then everything is as it should be. The rest is in Gods hands, you’ve done your bit. Wonderfully logical!

Fredrich Nietzsche, once said “God is dead”. I don’t believe this to be true, I think God is alive and is being held prisoner in the conscious mind. You have your God exactly where you require him to be, and logically you can do one of two things. Praise him or blame him, one is as meaningless as the other. But it does release you from taking responsibility for your own life.

Spirituality on the other hand belongs with the subconscious. Or maybe an even bolder statement would be to say spirituality is the subconscious. For it is there, where language no longer plays the major roll, time ceases to exist. There is no yesterday, today or tomorrow, we are and will remain in the present. It is where everything and nothing become one, it is where water and fire will mix. The boundaries of what could be and what is and what should be, dissolve into a flow of energy, revealing our true being. That which is not, becomes that which is. The very practise of using language to describe our existence and that in which we exist, becomes impossible.

For true knowing or true being, it is the collective subconscious that needs to grow. Unfortunately the subconscious doesn’t understand the difference between collective or individual, it would not exist with separation. Dualism is an unknown quality. And since the communication concerning spirituality must be passed from one individual to another, it is the conscious mind that receives the information first. And sure enough it will do what it always does, analyse it, organise and categorise it. Finally, it will pigeon-hole it, under the title of illogical. It has been said that, “man learns his lessons slowly”. Understandably so, when the only tool man uses is his logical thinking to unravel the mysteries of paradise.

Even in meditation the logical mind can deceive you. Even under hypnosis the logical mind can deceive you. Even in therapy the logical mind can deceive you. It can convince you that you have found the answer. It will bolster your ego and it will even admire your intellect. But all it has done is gently steer you, once again into a cul-de-sac. And as pleasant as this cul-de-sac may seem, reaching your destination has once again been thwarted. The question then remains. How do we reach our destination? This of course is a very LOGICAL question, which requires an ILLOGICAL answer: “Nothing” The search ends at the border of the subconscious mind.

“Life is paradoxical

Reality is composed of opposites and they are related in a way that to assert the one is to assert its opposite as well.

The paradox of having is that the more one has the greater is one’s discontent.

The paradox of pleasure is that self-control is the very first condition of pleasure; the pleasure that is unrestrained kills itself.

The paradox of intimacy is that distance is the first condition of intimacy: the intimacy in which there is no distance turns very soon into resentment or even into hatred.

The paradox of sexual pleasure is that all those factors, which create sexual pleasure and sexual happiness, lie outside sexuality.

The paradox of self-interest is that the only way of serving one’s interest is to serve the interest of the other, that is to say, the pleasure and the happiness of the other is an essential condition of one’s own pleasure and happiness.

The paradox of the self is that without the other, the self will be inconceivable.

The paradox of language is that silence is its highest function.

And there is the paradox of limits, which consists in the fact that one becomes aware of one’s limits only by transgressing them; there is no known way by which one can know one’s limits in advance.

Above all, there is the paradox of life itself, which consists in the fact, even biological, but emotional and spiritual equally, that it is by dying that life is. One is impossible without the other

~ Chaturvedi Badrinath ~, from The Mahabharata: An inquiry in the Human Condition published by Orient Longman.

I read this in the exquisite magazine, Resurgence: info@resurgence.org

“Dear friends,

I’ve just returned from a conference of world ‘elders’ in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz are having their own serious political troubles and the conference was basically about that and similar issues all over the world and how to ameliorate the global situation. We basically decided that we have to do whatever we can to help bring back traditional values as everywhere these are being abandoned and the new ways simply aren’t working!

I am changing my NGO in Kenya which is called ‘The Council for Human Ecology’ to ‘The African Council for Traditional Wisdom’ (ACT Wisely); it will include the work it’s already doing as well all the other projects I am involved in.

One of the things I am working on is an expressive name for the form or ‘religion’ that does not have any apostles or priests in between me and God (the great harmonizing energy). The kind of ‘religion’ I, and maybe many of us, have in fact been following for decades. Just a direct line between each of us and God directly.

It was also felt at the conference, that a global ‘problem’ is the fact that most people worship Jesus, Buddha and Mohamed as if they, themselves were God. And this brings all kinds of troubles and fanaticisms with it.

My feeling was to encourage a direct connection, and felt that if someone asks “… and what religion do you follow?” – some name is needed to respond with. People generally like to pigeon-hole us quickly. E.g. When I reply I say I am a sannyasin. (Ed. this is the name used for disciples of Osho – it also means seeker.)

So – if you can help with a name ‘idea,’ that would be great. Something like One-to-One, Harmony, etc (but not so smooshy) that everyone can relate to. (As opposed to Sannyas or Osho etc.)

All the best,
Oscar (in Kenya)
oscar@iconnect.co.ke

. . . . A Louisiana costal resident was driving down a road alongside the beach that is being hardest hit by oil at the moment. He was complaining about the lack of any clean-up crews on the beach and was venting his anger at BP. He had a large mustache that quivered with his indignation as he spoke, and his voice was rough and strained with his fury. Suddenly he stopped and jumped out of his truck. Running down along the beach with the news camera man right behind him, he suddenly stopped and plunged his hands into the oily sand. He then pulled up a bird small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. It was covered in oil, but it was still alive. “Oh, this poor bird,” he said, cradling it, his voice softening to one of caring and compassion. “This poor, poor creature.”

The news report ended at that point, so I don’t know what happened next, whether he was able to get the bird to one of the shelters where animals are being cleaned from the oil. And I have no idea how he had spotted this tiny bird from the road when a moment before he had been so focused on his rage. But in the twinkling of an eye, he went from shouting at the cameraman, his attention focused on BP and his anger at them, to someone perceiving the plight of another living creature and shifting his attention to doing what he could, revealing the depth of his caring. I found this very moving.

Over the next few months, I have no doubt there will be thousands of words written analyzing this event, assigning blame and expressing anger. This may well become the equivalent of an environmental 9/11 in terms of its impact on our society except that where the terrorist attack and the collapse of the World Trade Towers occurred in a two-hour span of time, the Gulf oil spill is a catastrophe unfolding over weeks and months, leaving us twisting in the wind with the uncertainty of how it will end. If as many fear, the storm surges and winds of the hurricanes expected this season carry the contamination of oil much further inland, including to populated areas and farming country, or if the oil enters the Gulf Stream and heads around to the beaches of America’s eastern coastland and then on to Europe, then the impact of this disaster will be much greater than it appears now and the ending may be years in the future.

If ever an event were worthy of our anger and sorrow, this is it. This is particularly true because this is no random act of nature like the earthquake that hit Haiti. It was an eminently preventable event. That it occurred comes as no surprise to many who have been predicting such a disaster for years, but it also comes as further indication of the deep structural flaws in our civilization, from our increasing dependence on resources that in fact are running out and are harder and harder to get, to the financial pressures and expectations that lead individuals and corporations to take shortcuts and neglect safety measures in order to save a dollar here and a dollar there. Yes, greed is involved, but it’s not just corporate greed. It’s our collective greed for a certain kind of lifestyle, a certain kind of dominance upon the earth, a certain kind of anthropocentric power to do with the world and its web of interconnected life what we wish, as we wish, when we wish. . . .

But if we are going to work effectively at a spiritual level through subtle activism with this event and its unfolding consequences, anger and sorrow must be set aside. Like the man in the news story who suddenly switched from expressing anger to taking action to help another living creature, we need to go beyond our anger and find our compassion and the presence of a healing light within us.

So, from my perspective at least, there is no single unified response of the inner worlds to this event. What this means to me is that I need to look to my own response. What do I feel? What do I think? And likewise, dear reader, what do you feel and think? For it’s out of our hearts and minds that we fashion our imaginative, mental, emotional, and spiritual responses, and our physical ones as well if we are in a position to take physical action. I don’t need a nature spirit to tell me it’s angry for me to feel anger myself or for me to feel compassion and sorrow and a need to do something to help.

Subtle activism is a way of offering help through the use of subtle energies of consciousness and life when we’re unable to help in more physical ways. It’s never a substitute for meaningful and appropriate physical action, but it can be an important complement. This is not the place to go into the whys and wherefores of subtle activism, its principles of operation and the theory of how it works; I have classes that do that if you are interested. What I would like to do here is just offer some specific inner responses you can make if you are inclined. However, there are two key ideas to keep in mind. The first is that all subtle activism is ultimately intended to create and foster wholeness. The subtle environment of the world is a place of important connections along which life energies flow, and when events like this occur, it’s these connections that get broken. The second is that inner work is done in a spirit of compassion, love and service. Wholeness is repaired or re-created through life-affirming energies, not through anger or blame, judgment or revenge. We must be like the man in the news interview, switching from our outrage to our compassion and reaching out to hold in our inner hands of love the life that has been impacted and that is threatened.

. . . .

You can help in this process by making available your own energies of compassion and wholeness to the situation through your loving attunement. You cannot do this in a state of anger or agitation, so don’t attempt this if your emotions about what is happening in the Gulf overwhelm you with sadness, anger, and so forth. Wait until you can find calm and peace within yourself. But when you do, then here is one way you can offer your help. Attune to a spiritual source of wholeness that is meaningful to you, that is, a source from which you would draw inspiration and presence to find wholeness in yourself. Draw that wholeness into you and merge it with your own calm presence, your own integration and sense of wholeness. In imagination and contemplation, project your presence into the affected areas of the Gulf where death and disruption are occurring to the life of the sea and the coastlines. Be a presence of wholeness and connection, as if you were a nerve cell connecting the spiritual worlds with the earth and water itself. In effect, you are offering your assistance and the energy of your presence to those beings who are seeking to “reknit” the subtle environment.

4: Be open to grief. Grief is part of the healing process of binding up broken subtle ties and connections. I’m not talking about wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. Grief can become mixed up with dramas of self-concern and victimization (the “poor me” syndrome), and you want to be clear of such dramas. You want to feel honestly the pain and sorrow involved with what is happening to the nature and the people of the Gulf. Grieving is part of the process of acknowledging the broken connections I spoke about earlier and thus of beginning a process of healing. Don’t be hesitant or resistant to grieving with the nature spirits and with the life of the Gulf that is being affected. You can share your own emotions of pain with them. At the same time, however, don’t assume or project that nature spirits feel that grief or pain in the same way; don’t anthropomorphize, in other words.

5: Eventually the Gulf will heal. Depending on the amount of damage that is done by the time this spill is cleaned up, that healing could take a long time, but it will happen. Harmony and balance will be restored, though it might look different than what is there now. . . .Here you want to gain the long view, the perspective of centuries and millennia. In attuning to the Gulf and the coastlines where death and damage are occurring, hold an image of these areas in their perfection when healing has taken place. See the area connected and whole. In other words, tune into the template of wholeness held by the vaster consciousnesses and hold the joy and beauty of that template; it forms a matrix around which healing can take place.

These are just some suggestions of things you can do, and they focus on the natural world. But the same suggestions, slightly modified, can be used to hold and bless the humans who are involved and who are being impacted. This goes for the engineers and others trying to repair this situation as much as for those whose livelihoods are being lost or whose health is being affected.

One important thing we can do is to hold the sorrow and grief of this event in our hearts without flinching. This takes courage because it’s a painful thing to do. And it takes wisdom and strength to hold that pain without being overwhelmed or constricted by it. Becoming despondent or despairing doesn’t help, but standing in solidarity with the people and creatures that are being affected and not turning away in denial can be very helpful. From an inner standpoint, it means our Light is available as needed.

No pun intended, but there is a gulf between where our society and our collective human consciousness are at the moment and where they need to be to fashion a world that is sustainable and that works for the benefit of all species of life. To write off this tragedy as “just another oil spill” and part of the price for doing “business as usual,” is to lose an opportunity to recognize the need to revision ourselves and our world and to move in a different, more holistic direction. If this tragedy has a deeper meaning, I believe it manifests in how we can seize this opportunity. (A new book that looks at how we can make this change in a most positive and creative way is Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, by Juliet B. Schor, an environmental economist; I highly recommend it.)

Many years ago a friend of mine was involved in drilling oil wells in Louisiana. One day he gave me a small bottle of crude oil brought up from a mile or so under the earth. I was interested to see that it had a reddish color, which made me think of the way many indigenous peoples refer to oil as the blood of the earth. In many spiritual traditions, the spilling of blood in sacrifice is considered transformative. Perhaps we might see this oil spill as Gaia spilling her blood to effect a transformation in our consciousnesses that we may learn to truly think like a planet and to care for the world that sustains us. If so, my prayer is that this sacrifice is not being made in vain.

From Lemurs to Lamas ~ Confessions of a Bodhisattva
By Prem Purushottama Goodnight

This e-book is really worth the paper and ink to download. It is an autobiographical account of one man’s spiritual journey, and from the very first introductory page – as vibrant and honest an account as I have read.

We knew each other some years ago and he wrote to me: “It is a little rough with some typos but once it was put together I just wanted to release it to the wind.” So, I am doing just that!

download: From Lemurs to Lamas (B)
added: 26/05/2010 | clicks: 54
From Lemurs to Lamas ~ Confessions of a Bodhisattva by Prem Purushottama Goodnight (size -5.7 MB)

It is interesting to see that the difference between a war inspired retreat and a religious, contemplative retreat is really only one word – enemy. And who is to say who or what the ‘enemy’ might be? From time immemorial kings, knights, soldiers, pilgrims and priests have taken time out to face the ‘enemy’ within. Time to rest, to retreat inwards, to quieten the mind and be refreshed.

Today Mohammedans still visit Mecca, Jews go to Israel, and Christians visit the monasteries, Lourdes and Rome. All looking for that safe place where there is assistance of some sort, to reconnect with the spiritual side of their beings. Increasingly, people of no particular religious belief or denomination also look for places that are quiet where, with support, they can drop into that tranquillity that leads to deep refreshment of the soul.

The main advantages of attending a retreat are obvious. The simplicity, the regular timetable, the simple, non-intrusive structures are all designed to slow the mind, steady and rest the body. Retreats can also gently guide the mind inward, observing the chaos that sometimes reigns. Then it is possible to delve deeper and find the peace that is always there, underneath, waiting to reappear.

This all happens in a gently disciplined way that is not dependent on one’s own mercurial moods or whims. The quiet regularity of the programme, and the willingness of the visitor to suspend their normal modes of unconscious behaviour, opens up fresh interaction with the present moment, and whatever may appear in that present moment.

At times this can be disconcerting, even disturbing as old ghosts emerge to dance in front of our mental eyes. However, in the care of experienced facilitators, those ghosts can usually be aired and honoured and are then free to fade, leaving more room for the clarity and knowing that is always there, covered up by layers of busy-ness, conditioning, out of date belief systems and old habits.

The need for this particular type of time out is becoming more apparent and urgent. Many people, instead of taking their ‘normal’ holidays, drinking and eating large quantities, or sightseeing, or lazing on the beach in the company of crowds and noise, prefer to visit a Buddhist centre, Christian religious order or Zen Buddhist monastery.

In addition, all over the world there are now non-denominational retreats that offer similar space and peace. If you are looking for something different, if your yearning for spiritual exploration and fulfilment is strong, if you don’t know quite what you want, but know you need the space to find out for yourself — it is encouraging to know that the places where this longing can be satisfied are increasing.

There are many books, magazines and websites describing group retreat centres of all types, as well as individually run retreats, both in the UK and internationally. You can find many described in The Good Retreat Guide – 6th edition, by Stafford Whitteaker.

It’s as if the collective consciousness has said “enough!” and places of beauty and peace are becoming available to suit any level of spiritual seeking and nourishment. All you have to do is inquire and you will be led to where you recognize you need to be.

The deceased’s wife, married to him for sixty-four years, was lovely, small, quite frail and with an intelligent and strong spirit. Her grown-up children referred to her on everything. Not only did they show her a lot of love, they also showed a gentle respect which, in this work of mine is quite rare.

She and her husband, brought up as Catholics, meditated together each day, just sitting in silence. This is what we did in the formal quiet time that is usual in a funeral ceremony these days. Unusually they asked for total silence, rather than the more familiar quiet music gently playing in the background. She lent me their tiny, sweet sounding bell, used everyday at home, to start and close the meditation. Ringing that bell took me back to the years before joining the large commune, when I lived with small groups of people where this was a familiar, and dear, practice.

The afternoon’s ceremony was set in the tiniest of chapels in a small, lovely graveyard surrounded by trees. My most abiding memory is of the easy, almost care-less behaviour of said grown up children. I knew they were going to sing and read tributes to their father. What I did not expect was the sight of a tall, handsome man, starting to read, with so many tears running down his cheeks that he could hardly speak. Before I could step forward to take over – another tall handsome brother leapt to his feet – walked to his brother’s side and put his arm around him (these men must have been at least in their forties) – only to be followed by another brother and a sister. One or two of them also laid a hand on the coffin around which they so tenderly stood, whilst the words were haltingly read. A little later the sister sang Danny Boy – totally unaccompanied, so naturally and beautifully.

I think those last two words summed up the whole experience, natural and beautiful. It felt to me as though my more formal words were only a piece of light thread, joining the energy of these loving people with their creation of the whole ceremony.

The coffin was carried by the men of the family to the grave side, where a poem by Shelley was read as they gently lowered it to its resting place. Then all these adult children gathered round the grave with their arms on each other’s shoulders and started again, to sing. I left quietly then, with these sights and sounds in my heart.

The miracle of this particular ceremony was not that it was a ‘good one’. More, it was that Love took over and I was no more Persephone the celebrant, but became just another part of something that was much greater than any single person there.

Officiating for funerals is very ‘alive’ work. I never know what to expect from so many diverse systems of belief, types of music, different requests and concerns.

I am given this work because I am not a minister or vicar. The assumption being that I have no particular religious beliefs. This is true – I do not follow any formal belief system. However, in this quiet spot, with these people, I discovered why I love this work.

I love people; in all their diversity, shadow and light. Very occasionally circumstances are such that something magical, other than my planned ceremony happens. Yesterday was one such and I wanted to share it with you.

Be a Light Unto Ourselves

Why did Osho change the traditional order used for The Three Jewels? At first I wondered if it was just a mistake that Sheela made when introducing us to them, but later I found discourses in which Osho referred to them in the order that was presented to us:

Buddham Sharanam Gacchami – I take refuge in the Awakened One
Sangham Sharanam Gacchami – I take refuge in the Community of the Awakened One
Dhammam Sharanam Gacchami – I take refuge in the Ultimate Teaching of the Awakened One

Traditionally they are said with Dhammam preceding Sangham. We can have our own insights as to why he changed them but clearly this is the order that his work has operated on me.

First it was I bow down to the Buddha, to the Master. This is the easiest. Who can not bow down to the Master once the Master is met. For me this is was what took place in what we refer to as Poona One. It was all Him. He gave us meditations. He gave us daily discourses. He guided us through our personal issues during darshan (Ed. personal meetings with the Master). He then began working on us in energy darshans; and finally introduced us to Satsang. (Ed. meetings with the Master in silence.)

Sangham Sharanam Gacchami was more difficult; and for some almost impossible. To surrender to the commune is much more arduous, because often it means saying yes to stupidity. But it is that saying yes to stupidity that is intelligence because one understands that it is transformative. It is surrender. Surrender means putting aside the conditioning and saying yes. This then lessens the grip that the conditioning has on oneself. In fact it lessens the grip of oneself. One can let-go of conditioning with awareness.

Not saying yes because of a need of appreciation, or because of a hunger for position or power; but in the understanding that it is here that the transformation takes hold. It is here that awareness is strengthened and the ego begins to lose its grip. When I saw Osho take off in the plane from the runway at Rajneeshpuram, I knew at that moment that I would never see him again.

This was the beginning of Dhamma, the ultimate truth of the awakened one. What does it mean to surrender to the ultimate truth? It is when one starts Being the teaching. One starts living the understanding. It didn’t really start at that moment watching the plane take off, it took a little time. I was still involved with the distribution of the books. We then had to move the books to Colorado and set up distribution anew. And then because of conflict with the organization I moved further and further away until I was finally standing on my own. The call of the inner guru was heard.

For the first time the spark of inquiry was lit. Up to that point I had meditated but it was witnessing phenomena, be it emotions, thoughts or sensing. Now the consciousness was seeking its source. This is what I believe to be conversion. It is here that surrender to Dhamma begins. To me it means Self-Inquiry. It is the movement from seeking to inquiring. It is the movement from the outer guru to the inner guru. Up to this point one is living on borrowed bliss. From this point on one is relying on one’s own light of understanding that has been lit by Buddha, strengthened by Sangha and is now being stabilized in Dhamma.

This does not mean that one is no longer open to the understanding being expressed through the Masters, on the contrary one is more open than ever. And once the contact with the inner guru is established there is no fear whether some teaching is valid or not because it is seen from one’s own understanding and there is clarity. The understanding is experienced for oneself, it is acted upon, even more accurately it can be said that the understanding itself, the seeing itself is the acting, is the transformation. Finally it is stabilized and lived moment to moment in Being Understanding.

Everyone passes through The Three Jewels at their own pace but what is important is that we don’t linger too long on the way and that we continue until finally we are living the Dhamma.

Now is the time to be a light unto ourselves.

“Be ye lamps unto yourselves,
be a refuge to yourselves.

Hold fast to Truth as a lamp;
hold fast to the Truth as a refuge.

Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves.

And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves,
shall betake themselves to no external refuge,

but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp,
and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge,
they shall reach the topmost height.”

Buddha’s Farewell Message to Ananda