Sunday, March 10, 2013

overheard yesterday at the bustop at johnson and charter

<<< phil, whether you meant to or not, I  think you just made it totally clear to me: the path of subtle integration of yin and yang operates behind all phenomena and penetrates even the smallest particle of substance.
<<< uh-huh.
<<< substance is merely the condensation of energy; everything in the universe is an expression of the subtle path and the mystic law that permeates all time and space.  nothing can evade it.  the subtle law is as natural and essential as breathing.  just as when people stop breathing they violate the normalcy of the body, when anything violates the subtle law, there is immediate disaster.
<<< there is indeed, sarah.
<<< there is a natural order of things, phil, which cannot be violated or dismissed.  food, for example, is eaten thru the mouth, not the nostrils; and we see thru the eyes, not our ears.
<<< true enough.
<<< everything has its natural function with which one cannot argue.  functions are many and varied, but they all serve nature, don't they?
<<< pretty much.
<<< initially, sorta like with doug and maybe even jenny, one may be ignorant of the subtle path because one is aware of particular phenomena rather than the subtle connection between what she thinks and says and does and what appears in her universe. when a person, even one as screwed up as, say, rachel, becomes aware of this connection, she may begin to cultivate herself in order to align her life with the subtle order of universal life.  no guarantees, of course, but it does happen sometimes?
<<< of course.
<<< so then, as she develops she gradually discovers that all things are subtly connected thru the so-called cosmic body, but at this stage so-called cosmic law is usually still perceived as one thing and her own being as another.
<<< yep.
<<< often such a person feels troubled, because she thinks the subtle law confines her and that she is "at its mercy", so to speak.  isn't this because she still entertains the notion of self and sees the subtle law as something external to herself?
<<< I think so.
<<< her desires fight her mind, her mind fights her spirit, and she is in a perpetual state of conflict and turmoil, both within herself and with the world at large.  she may struggle fruitlessly for her entire life!
<<< indeed.
<<< if, however, the struggle motivates her to further cultivate herself, to disperse her desires and cleanse the obscurity of her mind, it gradually dawns on her that she and the subtle path are one.  there is no separation, right?
<<< none that I've ever encountered.
<<< she is not the isolated individual she thought herself to be!  all divine, subtle beings, all quote "enlightened" beings, and I know that word makes you sick, phil, but still- all are aligned with her!  what happiness a person must experience in that state of wide open consciousness!
<<< yeah- I've seen a few people pretty blissed out over the years.  funny stuff, really.
<<< yet, in reality, there is nothing called happiness nor anything called unhappiness, phil!  the concepts of happiness and unhappiness are creations of the dualistic mind; neither of them exists in the integral realm.  for some reason some of karl's recent tirades come to mind here- 
<<< he's an unpredictable fellow.
<<< when one is in the so-called integral realm, heaven and earth and the myriad things are sorta like one's own fingers, ya know?  the physical universe is sorta like the palm of one's hand!
<<< (wild laughter)
<<< (wild laughter)
<<< (fifteen more minutes of uninterrupted wild laughter, followed by fifteen minutes of silence.)
<<< phil, I think I now understand that all ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and emotional reactions are totally frickin' empty.  there is not one single thing in life that can be held as the final and complete truth, is there?
<<< not to my knowledge, sarah. (pause) as far as I can tell, there is nothing to eliminate and nothing to establish.  if that sounds crazy, well... then... I'm not sure...ok, look... it just very well might be!  I might be crazy, the world might be crazy, history and science might be crazy, even you might be crazy, sarah!  I hope that doesn't sound too judgmental.  people deviate from their true nature and thus feel the need to do something to rectify their deviation, yet typically, the more they do the further they stray from their true nature.  who knows?  my neighbor tom, whom I consider a pretty solid fellow, by the way, does nothing, as far as I can tell, to deliberately or even accidentally fragment his mind.  he dissolves all his delusions in some sort of overarching and nameless awareness.  according to him,  the span of a human life is as quick as a dream or a bubble or a shadow and as fleeting as the morning dew or summer lightning in the sky.
<<< I hear ya, buddy.  I hear ya.
<<< however, this is no reason to be irresponsible and eschew an honest existence.  why so?  the short is just as valuable as the long.  time is not a matter of mere accumulation mere matter time is not long not short just as valuable maybe honest buddy dew in morning after quicksilver dreams.
<<< yeah, I totally agree.
<<< by the way, does jane know we're coming?
<<< of course she does.
<<< well, she's got a lot on her plate these days.
<<< naw- that's just the impression she likes to give out on occasion.  we talked this morning on the phone and she was saying that she was actually feeling quote "bored out of her frickin' skull."
<<< wow.
<<< yeah, it's a wowser alright.
<<< so she's gonna be in the lobby when we get there?
<<< that's what she said.
<<< cool.