Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Ultimate truth from a bipedal instrument

Email from Charlie:

Dear Gilbert,

I love the print version of the book! - Why?

Clarity. - Simply that. - After spending time with Bob, your book comes along as a perfect reminder (so to speak) of that which Bob pointed out - that which cannot be invalidated or denied - That which IS - Always Here, Always Now, self-shining, lighting the present with Its unlimited unfettered Presence. - Lovely stuff, hard hitting, strikes right into the heart and bypasses the thinking-mind conceptual machinery.

Well done! - Thank you, from Heart to Heart.
Warm Regards,
Charlie.


Today's Note:
I was first introduced to Non Duality at the age of seven or eight.
- It was rather ordinary mixed with the mystery of existence. - The ordinary wonderous life of a child was penetrated by a profound truth way beyond the capacity of the child consciousness.
- I see now that it was an ultimate non-dual symbol expressed through my own hand.
- Being unsophisticated at that age (I still am) there were no added interpretations to layer over the experience. - So it still arises in memory in rather a pristine ‘condition’.
- In my school equipment, for the new school year, was included a pair of compasses.
- An instrument for describing circles having two legs and a pivot point at its apex.
- A pencil was to be fitted into one of the legs and locked in place by a circular threaded ring.
- I have distinct memories of the first time I used the instrument.
- I was filled with wonder at apparently actually creating something that appeared to be perfect. - A deeply symbolic symbol manifested on the page in front me as I drew the circle. Paradoxically there in the exact middle of this circle was a pin hole in the page. - This fixed point was paramount in the process of creation of the perfect circle.
Yet it was nothing. - It was a hole. - ‘Matter’ pushed aside by the sharpness of the compass point - to make way for the ultimate symbolic expression in space and time.
- Now, what has all this to do with Non-Duality?
- The compass is a dual legged instrument.
- One leg (point) penetrates the void and represents the stability of the non-moving, un-manifest while the other leg represents the action, the movement, and the ‘di’-scribing of the manifest. Dualism arises from the non dual through its own 'apparent' KNOWING movement.
'Present Evidence' (thanks D.H.) is obvious.
- The ‘movement’ is stabilized and ‘the trace’ or clear and obvious 'present evidence' is the absolute clear equality of emptiness and world which you see before you.
- 'One eternal motion' produces the eternal perfection.
- The stability of the True Self, as well as the Teacher, Sage or Guru is just like this nothing at the centre of perfection. When Teacher and pupil merge, all is eqaul and perfect.
- That which is stable and unchanging in your-self - is the knowing factor and all things are witnessed by this centre of perfection yet the so-called witness is actually invisible.

Note: I developed a love for geometry and its simple truths.
We all have experiencing of a profound kind in childhood. It just gets covered over by belief. There is no suggestion, subtle or otherwise, that I am special because of what I have expressed here.

Email:
Hi Gilbert!
I just read the blog posting about the compass. - Beautiful!
- It brought back similar childhood memories for me too. - The one on 'Nutshell', before it, was quite excellent too. - One thing I have noticed with some regularity over the past months is a spontaneous recalling of various past incidents of the most ordinary sort (but often people, places, and things I hadn't thought of in years and had no particular reason to) and a recognition of the clear shining permeating those incidents and a simultaneous knowing/seeing that that shining and this one here are one and the same. - Although it seems when recalling it that there was no particular recognition of it at those times, it is obvious it was there and the recognition of it doesn't matter.
Cheers - B