The Illusion Of Suffering part 2 (Learn To Be Still)

This is part 2 of my blog entry 'The Illusion Of Suffering'.

The lyrics of this song 'Learn To Be Still' by 'The Eagles' run very deep..they talk of the need to be STILL and WATCH what is going on in one's life, in one's mind...in the world in general.

Being STILL and WATCHING is all that needs to be done. From a certain point of view, it is not incorrect to say that stillness and awareness grow on their own, without anyone doing anything. (See my blog entry 'The Dance Of Life'.)

Evolution is a process that happens on its own. But one must be aware of the value and the healing that stillness and watching provide.

___

'Learn To Be Still' lyrics:

It's just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You'd give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will-
Learn to be still

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don't know how to be alone
So we wander 'round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

Now the flowers in your garden
They don't smell so sweet
Maybe you've forgotten
The heaven lying at your feet

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

You just keep on runnin'
Keep on runnin'
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They sing 'Its just another day in paradise'....then they sing 'maybe you've forgotten the heaven lying at your feet'.

They seem to be saying that life is already perfect, that life never went wrong at all. That all suffering is an illusion.

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken...

And someday you will...

(Just) learn to be still...


Over here they are saying that thinking about the deep, painful questions of life is of no use. The mind does not have the ability to answer such questions.

The essence of the song is...'Learn to be Still'. Through stillness and calm watching of what is going on, awareness of life will grow and as awareness grows, all answers will come on their own, when the time is right.

Waiting for answers, desperately seeking answers to painful questions is a part of the illusion that the mind has built. The mind does NOT want any answers, the mind does NOT want to solve any problems. And it cant.

Only stillness, WITHOUT slipping into what Pink Floyd so beautifully expresses as the 'Comfortably Numb' condition, is the answer.

As stillness comes, awareness grows and understanding of life deepens. And painful questions answer themselves. Slowly but surely.

Life seems to flow in a vaxing and vaning manner because it is in the nature of the ego to vax and vane.

.......

The Eagles sing 'Its just another day in paradise'....then they sing 'maybe you've forgotten the heaven lying at your feet'.

These statements are not at all vague. So many spiritual paths say that suffering is an illusion.

Here are a few paraphrases....I do not have the sources at my disposal currently.

'Only that which is real is real, and deep down life know what is real. Illusions fight with themselves all the time, and illusions will wear themselves out when the time comes.' --- A Course In Miracles.

'A Course In Miracles' says that only illusions fight with themselves. Life does not fight with itself. The illusion that life is fighting with itself will wear out when the time comes.

'Stillness Speaks'--Eckhart Tolle.

All through this book named 'Stillness Speaks', and in his other books, Tolle insists that humans are in the grip of illusion. That real life is not and cannot be in conflict with itself.

Eastern mysticism talks of 'Maya' and insists that suffering is an illusion.

Such messages that come through, about the illusion of suffering, are everywhere. More examples will be added to this blog entry, in time.

Luminous Emptiness

"The Death Process as Described in "The Tibetan Book of the Dead."

I. The Moment of Death, and the Clear Light of Pure Reality.

First of all there will appear to you, swifter than lightning, the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness, and that will surround you on all sides. Terrified, you will want to flee from the radiance, and you may well lose consciousness. Try to submerge yourself in that light, giving up all belief in a separate self, all attachment to your illusory ego. Recognize that the boundless Light of this true Reality is your own true self, and you shall be saved!

Few, however, are those who, having missed salvation during their life on earth, can attain it during this brief instant which passes so quickly. The overwhelming majority are shocked into unconsciousness by the terror they feel...." - Tibetan Book Of The Dead





This image reminds me of a book named 'Luminous Emptiness', by Francesca Fremantle, a disciple of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the founder of Naropa University, a university dedicated to Tibetan Buddhism and other miscellaneous eastern mystical schools.

Here is a short story I wrote based on this photograph:

"Luminous Thunder of Consciousness"

As the colourless light of emptiness reveals itself to the girl...she feels afraid.

The light comforts her, assumes various forms to amuse her and console her...but still she feels afraid.

"The human forms around you are just dream phenomena, not people says one. I look like a being to you but I am not a being. In fact, all the beings around you are formless life, conscious emptiness, pure innocent platonic love, talking to you."




"Just hear what we have to say", say the formless beings in chorus.

"If you do not understand what you hear, have faith...and keep listening, keep watching...and allow life to flow through you without resistance, allow the words to flow without resistance...all we are doing is shining the light of awareness on the demonic forces that are around you, so do not be afraid, just watch, and hear our words, and the light will grow...the demonic energy will transmute into bliss..."

"To do our job, we have to say and do crazy things...we cannot explain why, you won't understand right now."

"Just quietly listen to, and watch the dance that formless life does, as it displays its platonic love, its wonder, its power. Do not fear...we are here to restore you, not destroy you."

"Liberation through hearing during the Bardo phase, like the book 'Luminous Emptiness' says..."

"You will feel ok as your awareness increases and you see the reality of the pseudo-horror around you..."

And the dance continues...

Dreidel

Lyrics of 'Dreidel' by Don McLean. A wonderful song about life's dance, and how it makes us dance.

I feel like a spinning top or a Dreidel
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle
You just slow down
Round and around the world you go
Spinning through the lives of the people you know
We all slow down
How you gonna keep on turning from day to day?
How you gonna keep from turning your life away?

No days you can borrow, no time you can buy.
No trust in tomorrow. It's a lie.
And I feel like I'm dippin' and divin'.
My sky shoes are spiked with lead heels.
I'm lost in this star car I'm drivin'.
But my air sole keeps pushin' big wheels.
My world is a constant confusion.
My mind is prepared to attack.
My past a persuasive illusion.
I'm watchin' the future it's black.
What do you know?
You know just what you perceive.
What can you show?
Nothing of what you believe.
And as you grow, each thread of life that you leave
Will spin around your deeds and dictate your needs
As you sell your soul and you sow your seeds
And you wound yourself and your loved one bleed
And your habits grow, and your conscience feeds
On all that you thought you should be
I never thought this could happen to me.

I feel like a spinning top or a dreidel.
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle.
You just slow down.
Round and around the world you go
Spinning through the lives of the people you know.
We all slow down.
How you gonna keep on turning from day to day?
How you gonna keep from turning your life away? Oh..

I feel like a spinning top or a dreidel.
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle.
You just slow down.

The Dance Of Life

The play of this life...all a happening, nobody is doing much. All events that unfold in this world are happening on their own. People are just puppets who are a part of the happening, they are not doing much. Even the little that they do is an illusion.

What people are actually doing* is totally different from what they THINK they are doing.

It is a 'Living Dream' that is unfolding. Eckhart Tolle terminology.

The 'Living Dream' is based on an 'awakened reality', but it's a fictitious version of the 'awakened reality'.

*The 'Living Dream' does not have any doership, only an illusion of doership.

The following video shows how life moves in this world...no one is doing anything...it is all flowing on its own.

Link: SnabbStart