“Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk” —His Holiness The Dalai Lama
"Gradually the realisation dawns that the scope of mental knowledge is endless. It is as endless as a circle or as infinite as the reflections of two mirrors facing each other. But the mind’s infinity is not eternity, only an image of reality. By encountering our own nature as image, we touch the hem of the cloak of transcendence. We could, if we chose to, remain within this mental consciousness for a lifetime, always discovering new reflections and connections, new points at which to begin the circle until we begin to realise that this is not a satisfying dimension. If we so choose, and yet are also aware of the incompleteness of that dimension of consciousness, the danger is that we become cynical, deniers of absolute truth. If we know this and do not go further we will almost certainly become cynical. The problem for us, knowing the limitations of the mental life, is to know where we go from here? What do we do? If we do not become cynical, the danger is that we withdraw from the impassioned pursuit of truth altogether. We lose heart. We compromise. We say, well, life is about enduring things and getting through and waiting for something to happen. The absolute is a romance. We give up being real pilgrims. We allow ourselves to be carried along, not by the spirit of truth, but by the crowd and social conventions.
This is why it is such a moment of grace, at whatever stage of life it may happen, to discover a spiritual path. For many people it is only at this cooling point that they do recognise the spiritual path beside them. The discovery itself occurs within a mysterious dimension.
The very way in which we recognise the spiritual as the culmination of both the sensory and the mental, seems to be the way we have to follow. The door we step through on to this spiritual path is the door we have been seeking the whole time; the threshold is one we may have been lingering on a long time. However that encounter with a living spiritual tradition may take place, it always remains the turning point of life. It remains in consciousness as a kind of timeless moment in personal history, not just another event among others, but a central point, wherever it occurred, whether at the beginning or at the end. It becomes the pivotal point around which all other events gradually constellate.
By the grace of the Spirit working within the raw experience and the questioning of experience we find the spiritual path... Gradually the realisation dawns that the scope of mental knowledge is endless. It is as endless as a circle or as infinite as the reflections of two mirrors facing each other. But the mind’s infinity is not eternity, only an image of reality. By encountering our own nature as image, we touch the hem of the cloak of transcendence.
We could, if we chose to, remain within this mental consciousness for a lifetime, always discovering new reflections and connections, new points at which to begin the circle until we begin to realise that this is not a satisfying dimension. If we so choose, and yet are also aware of the incompleteness of that dimension of consciousness, the danger is that we become cynical, deniers of absolute truth. If we know this and do not go further we will almost certainly become cynical. The problem for us, knowing the limitations of the mental life, is to know where we go from here? What do we do?
If we do not become cynical, the danger is that we withdraw from the impassioned pursuit of truth altogether. We lose heart. We compromise. We say, well, life is about enduring things and getting through and waiting for something to happen. The absolute is a romance. We give up being real pilgrims. We allow ourselves to be carried along, not by the spirit of truth, but by the crowd and social conventions. This is why it is such a moment of grace, at whatever stage of life it may happen, to discover a spiritual path. For many people it is only at this cooling point that they do recognise the spiritual path beside them. The discovery itself occurs within a mysterious dimension. The very way in which we recognise the spiritual as the culmination of both the sensory and the mental, seems to be the way we have to follow. The door we step through on to this spiritual path is the door we have been seeking the whole time; the threshold is one we may have been lingering on a long time.
However that encounter with a living spiritual tradition may take place, it always remains the turning point of life. It remains in consciousness as a kind of timeless moment in personal history, not just another event among others, but a central point, wherever it occurred, whether at the beginning or at the end. It becomes the pivotal point around which all other events gradually constellate. By the grace of the Spirit working within the raw experience and the questioning of experience we find the spiritual path. We have the sense at long last of really beginning. And indeed it is a new beginning. Gradually the realisation dawns that the scope of mental knowledge is endless. It is as endless as a circle or as infinite as the reflections of two mirrors facing each other. But the mind’s infinity is not eternity, only an image of reality. By encountering our own nature as image, we touch the hem of the cloak of transcendence. We could, if we chose to, remain within this mental consciousness for a lifetime, always discovering new reflections and connections, new points at which to begin the circle until we begin to realise that this is not a satisfying dimension. If we so choose, and yet are also aware of the incompleteness of that dimension of consciousness, the danger is that we become cynical, deniers of absolute truth. If we know this and do not go further we will almost certainly become cynical. The problem for us, knowing the limitations of the mental life, is to know where we go from here? What do we do? If we do not become cynical, the danger is that we withdraw from the impassioned pursuit of truth altogether. We lose heart. We compromise. We say, well, life is about enduring things and getting through and waiting for something to happen. The absolute is a romance. We give up being real pilgrims. We allow ourselves to be carried along, not by the spirit of truth, but by the crowd and social conventions. This is why it is such a moment of grace, at whatever stage of life it may happen, to discover a spiritual path. For many people it is only at this cooling point that they do recognise the spiritual path beside them. The discovery itself occurs within a mysterious dimension. The very way in which we recognise the spiritual as the culmination of both the sensory and the mental, seems to be the way we have to follow. The door we step through on to this spiritual path is the door we have been seeking the whole time; the threshold is one we may have been lingering on a long time.
However that encounter with a living spiritual tradition may take place, it always remains the turning point of life. It remains in consciousness as a kind of timeless moment in personal history, not just another event among others, but a central point, wherever it occurred, whether at the beginning or at the end. It becomes the pivotal point around which all other events gradually constellate. By the grace of the Spirit working within the raw experience and the questioning of experience we find the spiritual path. We have the sense at long last of really beginning. And indeed it is a new beginning sense at long last of really beginning. And indeed it is a new beginning."
- Father Laurence Freeman, The Self-less Self.
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