Tuesday, July 16, 2019
5 a.m. Saying 86?
- Jesus said: Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay down his head and rest.
Everybody has heard the saying, and presumably everybody thinks they know what it means. But I don’t think Jesus was complaining about being homeless. I think he was saying, This is not my place of rest, and it won’t be yours. I’d be interested in your take on “the son of man.” I have sometimes thought it meant “the descendant of humans,” the next step, so to speak. But I have no real idea.
Not quite The Son of God, is it?
That’s my point. From everything Jesus said, I get that he was emphasizing his kinship to us, not his essential difference. If he was essentially different, what lesson could his life be for anyone? But if he was our elder brother, so to speak, the one who had gotten farther along on the path of experience, his life would have everything to do with ours.
Yes, as encouragement, as a way to life more abundant. But what of Ouspensky’s argument that the life of Jesus was one long demonstration and teaching of the life of initiates, the few for whom the esoteric path is possible?
Jesus never said only a few can do it; he said only a few would do it, which I take to mean would want to, would be willing to pay the price. But I don’t know, of course.
Ouspensky was not wrong in differentiating between the idea that everybody would evolve – the common idea of a somewhat mechanical evolution – and the idea that only a few at any one time are ready and willing. But to stick to one point. Yes, Jesus was always saying 1) I am a man too, and 2) what I am you can become, only 3) the way to become what I am is strait and narrow – “strait” as in, a tight passage; “narrow” as in one with very little leeway.
So what about the comparison between his journey and the lives of animals?
Think of it as the difference between the natural order of things, ruled by territory and instinct and commonly understood behavior and rules of behavior (instinct, again), and a life lived consciously. To live awake is to live without the constraints of an ordered, bounded, existence. This has its particular features, some of which are convenient and some not. One thing such a life has is relatively unbounded possibilities. But another is relatively unbounded comforting limitations.
I think I garbled that. You mean, I think, lack of restriction is also lack of the kind of comfort that comes when you don’t have to do the work of choosing.
More or less. The burden of greater consciousness is not for everybody. For some the disadvantages will outweigh the advantages. That’s one reason why relatively few at a time are ever both willing and able.
Yes, and I get the sense that you, and I, differ from Ouspensky in that he seems to think that few people will ever be able to move on, as opposed to few at any given moment, whether that moment is a year or a lifetime.
Perhaps he was speaking for a different audience at a different time, which was, you must realize, more than eight decades in the past from 2019. In your day things move so rapidly as to erase the past before the ink has dried. It makes it hard to retain perspective even for those who are paying attention.
I’ve noticed.
You’ve noticed sometimes. Saying 87, then.
- Jesus said: Wretched is a body depending on a body, and wretched is a soul depending on these two.
On a guess, I’d say this means, if you think the 3D world is all there is, God help you, and if your 3D/non-3D point of view still thinks the 3D is all there is, even worse.
Look more carefully, and slower.
Okay. I suppose it might mean, if you are dependent upon someone or something else, it isn’t a good situation, and if you are a soul dependent upon a 3D mind that is dependent upon someone or something else, same thing.
Bear in mind the previous saying.
Well, it seems to go along with it. If you can’t live on your own – if you have to have the support of society, family, all the attachments that life commonly brings – you won’t be able to be your true self, which is the only self that can attain what he calls the kingdom of heaven. That doesn’t mean you can’t have them, but that you can not be dependent upon them in a certain way; can not prefer them to your own inner requirements.
Close enough, but this one will repay further thought by different individuals who come to it, because each will have a slightly different slant, a slightly different need, that will inform it.
And that’s enough for this morning, I take it. The next Saying is opaque to me, which usually means it requires a fresh start. So we’ll see you next time, unless you have anything to add here.
No, be well and remember that you can have life more abundant and it is not a matter of waiting until death sets you free, for after death you will still be you, only in different terrain, as we have said more than once.
Very applicable posting for me and my present “balking”. Thank you so much for sharing it, Frank.
A question about this (to Frank and/or other readers):
“The burden of greater consciousness is not for everybody. For some the disadvantages will outweigh the advantages. That’s one reason why relatively few at a time are ever both willing and able.”
I am having difficulty understanding what is meant by “disadvantages”, and how they could outweigh advantages of greater consciousness? Is it just the totality of the discomfort, the totality of being looked upon by loved ones as becoming even more nuts, the totality of having every place to stand, ripped out from under you, repeatedly?? I can see those being disadvantages….but how could they “outweigh” the advantages when one has come this far down the rabbit-hole?
Unless, by this point, the “advantages” are not looking quite so glorious anymore, but a bit daunting…unfamiliar ground…? It’s like the perception of what they are, has changed a bit during the journey to this point.
Ultimately, I guess the desire for awareness / greater consciousness (whatever that morphs into…) has to outweigh desire for “comfort/familiar”.
I would love to hear other’s takes on this, if you are willing to share: what do you perceive as the advantages and disadvantages of greater consciousness?
Thanks.
For me, the burden I’ve taken on is knowing that whatever happens/is happening to me, is of my own creation. This is a burden to me because I second guess myself, worrying about my thoughts, etc. The saying “ignorance is bliss” truly comes into play, where people are more concerned about what will happen to them rather than what they are causing to themselves. In a way, believing in an external power takes away the feeling of responsibility. This is one aspect of being burdened by greater awareness.
Another aspect I can think of is the fear that lingers in most of us. The fear of the unexpected and the unknown relative to the common experience, could be a strong burden for many who expand their awareness and perceptions. Knowing that you’re always connected, whether you perceive the connections or not, can create experiences most “unaware” people would not.
There’s a point beyond which we can’t go back. We won’t go back to “ignorance is bliss,” as Simon mentions. I understand how I got myself into a situation. I created it. And I begin to create what I really want. That can be scary, as it doesn’t always work out like I hope. Sometimes I just soldiered along, hoping for the best.
As the connection got stronger, my awareness got better. I’m connected to this bigger, greater something, and the brain/body/ego is just the organic interface to the 3D. I can relax into that connection, happy that the 3D self doesn’t have to go it alone. What really helps is that I remember that connection more often now. It’s always been there, I just get distracted and slip into old habits.