Friday 16th November 2001 13-30 CET
Do u c?
I have a friend, in his mid-fifties, who has recently become an
SMS convert. Yep, he got a mobile phone! Considering he
doesn't have a computer, fights with his infra-red control for
dominance of a tv channel and has only in this last year qualified
as capable of effectively using a vcr....hehehehe....such an action
as mobile phone text messaging represents a quantum leap in
his technological progress, hehehehe. He's a lovely guy though
and would help anyone, anytime :):)

Like many people he has begun to experience the frustration
of 'learning a new language', the kind of "i c u 2, focl", stuff
of condensed messaging. He has also discovered that this can
lead to great misunderstandings,for well intentioned messages
can easily be misunderstood/misinterpreted.

In terms of religions, doesn't that sound familiar?

Language, words, are simply symbols that clothe communications
of concepts, ideas, wants, needs. For example, the word 'love'
has come to be interpreted (depending upon your standpoint)
as anything between lust, caring, discipline, control,...and so on.
A word can only be truly understood if we take care to appreciate
the context in which it is used;the historical meaning at it's time
of useage; the intellectual, psychological and emotional
circumstances of it's use.

Those who would defend 'tradition' in religion would be well
advised to seek a better comprehension of the historical useage
and context of a phrase before attempting to use it as a weapon
against those not persuaded of the same 'religious concept'.

Never in the history of mankind has there been such a torrent
of words as we see today, nor have the meanings of words been
so devalued, abused, misused, huh? From soap powder to
religious conversion....NEW.....has been utilised to
symbolise some dramatic improvement. Whenever we see
this word 'new' I feel that most of us adopt a cynical posture,
for the word has degraded in it's meaning, huh?

In fact any word is a subjective symbol, for the interpretation
of it's meaning is entirely dependent upon the viewers/listeners
personal experiences. Words are, in fact, a very poor methodology
of communication. Well it was written that 'actions speak louder
than words'.

So to those who wanted to know the meaning of 'ahimsa' (ito
blog 14th November) I would suggest a more objective approach
than simply relying upon my 'subjective comprehension'. If you
use any major search engine on the net, you will get results.
Choose the one that answers that which you seek. OK?

In the 'Oneness' that which is needful for each one of us to see,
to be aware of, always presents itself to us when we are
ready to welcome it. :):)

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Thursday 15th November 2001 16-30 CET
Aspects
The enquiring spirit looks in all places for those 'coincidences', it is not
blinded by prejudice or intolerance, tradition or custom.
It recognises that as a diamond glistens in the light, so a truth is
reflected from many differing planes and levels. Such appears to be
the superstring-like activity of 'the Oneness'.

In this reality we call "the life experience'' there exists many apparently
differing religions. Within just one religion - take any of the major ones,
Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Bhuddism -we can find schism
and dissent, argument and disagreement, traditionalism and modernism.
In short, within any single religion there appears to exist a battleground
of one perception of a truth versus another perception of a truth. Little
wonder then that in attempts to unify an individual religion, attacks
against other religions occur. Create a 'common enemy' if you seek to
create a 'common cause'.

It is, in fact, these religious 'wars' and battles that have done much
to create the very opposite of what they should have created. If a
religious concept/belief breeds intolerance, if a religious concept/belief
breeds hatred, if a religious concept/belief breeds a lack of 'reverence for life'
.....it is fair comment to conclude that it has nothing whatsoever to do with
the UNCONDITIONAL lovingness that is the hallmark of the One God,
'The Oneness'.

Ok, so it's reasonable to conjecture that this WAS the case, mankind, after all,
is walking a pathway of progress and some would argue a pathway of gradual
revelation (not me). That which was has a relationship to that which is...this is
a basic fundamental concept to do with learning, study, the acquisition of
knowledge/qualification. The basic rules of mathematics, for example. The
rules of language, grammar, punctuation as another example. Yet, has
the science of mathematics stood still? Is language an immovable thing
that does not evolve, change, develop to suit the needs of each
generation.

It has been my experience...I would feel not mine alone....that awareness,
'super-consciousness', involvement in the 'Oneness' can neither be
learnt nor taught. It simply IS. It simply IS in each one of us - an
integral and indivisible aspect of our experiential existing. We know
it before we come to this 'experiential existing' and all these aspected
reflections are reminders, 'coincidences', re-awakenings, awarenesses,
stimulations to celebrate our uniqueness and the need for our uniqueness
within the 'lovingness' expressions of the 'Oneness'.

The 'nowness' of the 'Oneness' has never been dependant upon
pre-condition, qualification, knowledge of tradition...any more than
a perception of the diamond's bright shining was dependant upon the light
being the same today as it was yesterday!

Ain't that a truth? Whenever in your experiences has the daylight been
today exactly the same as it was yesterday, or one hour ago, or one
minute ago?

Let us beware that in our thirst for knowledge, in our ego-driven hunger
for 'understanding', in our vanity of comprehension of another person's
experiencing of the diamond's reflectivity.......that we do not become
blind to the awareness of the 'now', are not open to the interactivity
of 'the lovingness'.

If you can read it in a book...can you also see it in a raindrop?
If you can hear it in a speech....can you also hear it in the ant's heartbeat?

Can you feel that it is in the uniqueness of the 'ordinary' that
the extra-ordinary is found?

Always...and in all ways.

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Wednesday 14th November 2001 22-00 CET
Tear-drops, pearl-drops, dew-drops.
As a youth of 15 years, Gandhi had experimented with definitions of the truth.
Included in these were the forays into 'less than truthful behaviour'. In his
autobiography he tells the story of such an incident of 'untruthfulness' and
it's profound results.

In seeking to help his brother, who had run up a debt of 25 rupees, Gandhi
stole a small piece of gold from his brother's armlet. He used the gold to pay
off the brother's debt. At first sight this was a not unreasonable course
of action...but principles are principles and even as a youth Gandhi had his.

This 'theft' was not mitigated in his mind even by the concept that it was
'for a good cause'. It preyed upon his mind until he reached the point
where he felt he must confess this deceipt to his sick father, for whom
he had the highest possible respect and love.

He could not, however, bring himself to confess to his father directly,
so he wrote it in a note and handed to his bedridden father. Quote:

"I wrote it on a slip of paper and handed it to him myself. In this note
not only did I confess my guilt, but I asked adequate punishment for it,
and closed with a request to him not to punish himself for my offence.
I also pledged myself never to steal again in the future.

I was trembling as I handed the confession to me father. He was...confined
to bed. His bed was a plain wooden plank.

He read it through, and pearl-drops trickled down his cheeks, wetting the paper.
For a moment he closed his eyes in thought and then...tore up the note. He
had sat up to read it. He again lay down. I also cried. I could see my
father's agony. It is still so vivid in my mind.

Those pearl-drops of love cleansed my heart, and washed my 'sin' away.
Only he who has experienced such love can know what it is. As the
song says
'Only he
who is smitten with the arrows of love
Knows its power'

This was for me an object lesson in Ahimsa. Then I could read in it
nothing more than a father's love, but today I know that it was pure
Ahimsa. When such Ahimsa becomes all-embracing, it transforms
everything it touches. There is no limit to it's power.

This sort of sublime forgiveness was not natural to my father. I had
thought he would be angry, say hard things, and strike his forehead.
But he was so wonderfully peaceful, and I believe this was due to
my clean confession."

When Gandhi was 16, his father died. Gandhi was 56 years old when he
wrote his autobiography.

Some experiences in life are so profound, so important, so essential
to our 'self-knowing'........they are always as fresh in our memory
as the morning dew.


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