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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781846949517 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Collective Ink |
| Publication date: | 04/16/2012 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 144 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d) |
Read an Excerpt
The Wondrous Journey
Into the Depth of Our BeingBy Ilie Cioara
O-BOOKS
Copyright © 2011 Ilie Cioara, Petrica VerdesAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-84694-951-7
Chapter One
LoveThe written or spoken word can never be reality,
Uttering the word "love" will never be true love;
It is a meaningless symbol, for the experience is missing,
Harmonizing all into one perception.
Real love has no motives,
Thinking cannot conceive it, senses cannot perceive it,
It knows no fear, it has no purpose,
It is not an emotional state, nor is it excitement.
Love cannot be cultivated, like a garden flower,
Nurturing its growth;
It cannot be offered as a gift
To the individual trapped in the limited dimension.
Patterns, rules cannot contain it,
It cannot be turned into a prisoner of the past.
Love is present in a climate of freedom,
When obsessive thinking stops its madness.
Love is the movement of an integrated, harmonious being,
Boundless beauty – immense joy,
Absolute kindness and selflessness;
Hatred, egocentrism, falsehood are completely excluded.
Its movement is fullness, never returning,
Completely enveloped by love, the human being becomes
a Universe.
The moment you name it, it immediately disappears,
The whole being is detached from its real movement.
If you try to grasp it, to pin it down, that very moment
it flies away,
For you have become fragmented again.
Love heals and transforms all that is unnatural,
It elevates the individual beyond the worldly dimension.
Only love can transform the ugliness, harmonizing all,
The whole world changes, the savage man evolves,
All wars end and holy peace ensues;
The human being and humankind are healed through love.
Ordinarily, we use the word "Love" much too easily, in a superficial way. In reality, it is only an empty word, lacking any content, meaning or value. This is also the case when we make an emotional confession, with our hand pressed to our heart. Such attempts to demonstrate Love are mere deceptive, meaningless statements.
The ordinary thinking mind, regardless of its motivations, can only experience a relative love. For instance, we love our wife, our children, our parents, our country, our political and religious leader, because they will help us reap certain material or psychological benefits; or we hope that in a foreseeable future they will provide certain satisfactions.
This is, in fact, the so-called love we cultivate ordinarily, in our attempts to experience it as fully as possible. In pursuit of this vision, we create attachments which, by their very nature, completely enslave us. We need to always remain alert, so as not to lose that which we possess – the object of our hopes – and also not to be deceived in our expectations. Our thinking process becomes the fiercest enemy of our peace and health. Worries, fears and sorrow – as emotional shocks – create stress and degrade us psychologically and physically.
Whereas authentic Love – as a true manifested phenomenon – represents the revelation of the Sacred existent within us and the integration of our being into Universality.
It is not and it cannot be created by thinking – trapped in time and defined by its memory residues.
The source of true Love lies in a different dimension; thinking has no access to it, and the human mind, no matter how refined, cannot encompass or comprehend it.
Finally, Love, divine in Its essence, is nothing but the original man, free from the superficial layers that he himself created with the passage of time – the fruit of ignorance and arrogance – so obvious in the man-ego of the present day.
Understanding this truth – not just intellectually – but through a direct encounter with our interfering and outdated surface consciousness, leads us to unconditional silence. The whole structure which sustains the "ego" becomes silent, seeing its powerlessness. In the empty space that ensues, Love appears spontaneously.
From now on, the new man becomes a whole universe, enveloping everything with a simple embrace: people, animals, plants, as well as so-called still life. That which we considered to be close to us, whatever we preferred previously – is now being regarded indiscriminately, on the same level as everything else. There is no distinction between what is "mine" and the rest of the world. Only such encounters transform us radically, through perpetual purification, creating, through us, favorable conditions for the transformation of the world as a whole.
The Freshness of Life
Everything in the Universe is in constant movement,
What is now – in a flash – is consumed and dies,
The old moment is replaced with the new, appearing
rhythmically,
A constant succession – inviting us to know ourselves.
Yesterday and the thousands of yesterdays
Created our lives of fiction: lies, fear, madness;
All that was – is dead – worthless in the present,
The moment – a precious mystery – integrates us
into reality.
We owe everything to the moment,
It offers us all, when we encounter it directly,
Asking for nothing in return, no effort or struggle;
All of our Happiness comes from this simple encounter.
Our whole being is open, in humbleness,
Nothing is anticipated, thinking is completely silent.
There are no expectations, no ideal or purpose to
accomplish,
It is simple: we encounter Life in the content of the
moment.
Spontaneously we detach, nothing is accumulated!
We do not add any values to our small "self";
Our Attention is directed to the new moment, with the
same intensity
We need to give it all our respect and loyalty.
Therefore, moment to moment, Life is always fresh, active,
Showing us how naive we are,
When we believe in faiths and moral systems,
Based on dead things and personal thinking.
The newness, freshness of Life in its unfoldment
Requires us to be the same way – a Sacred Integration;
Repetition is a trap, holding us prisoners,
As "egos", we create our own bondage.
Only by encountering Life in Its unlimitedness
Will we discover Love in the Great Boundlessness;
It dissolves all: pain, torture and sorrow,
Disdain, hate and vanity – the whole conditioning.
All that exists in the immensity of the Universe is in a state of permanent movement and freshness from one moment to another. Each moment appears as a spark, ends its course in a flash and disappears, leaving the path open for the next moment. This way of life requires us to know ourselves as we truly are and not as we would like to be.
Yesterday and the thousands of yesterdays experienced in this life, as well as in countless past lives, have created a deficient structure, in which egotism directs and leads all of our actions. Everything we have lived and experienced in the past exists as mere outdated recordings, old and worthless in the present. These residues prevent us from encountering the mystery of the moment, integrating our being and enabling us to experience Eternity.
Therefore, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we must always encounter the eternal newness which the Aliveness in its eternal mobility brings forth. This experience does not require any effort, struggle or sacrifices.
Happiness – to which each living being aspires – can be experienced only in the simplicity of this encounter with Life. Let us, therefore, open our whole being to Life, with a humble attitude, without pursuing any purpose or gain. The mind is completely silent; without expecting anything in return, it directly encounters the mysterious content of Life, unfolding in the moment. Immediately afterwards, we detach, without accumulating anything; with the same intensity, accompanied by lucid Attention, we encounter the next moment, by giving it the respect it deserves. It is only in this constant movement and renewing freshness that we are able to truly encounter Life and understand its meaning.
From the same experience, we also discover how naive and powerless our personal mind is when it relies on faiths, philosophical concepts, moral systems as well as any outdated recordings of the conditioned mind.
Practice can prove to us, beyond any doubt, that the repetition of what we know or imagine is a real trap, holding us prisoners in the dark prison of our smallminded "ego". Only as free beings can we experience the integrity of our being and transcend from the finite world into Boundlessness. In this circumstance, the "personal self" or the "ego" (the personality) disappears by itself – as well as its entire content based on ambition, greed, disdain, fear, pride, sorrow, violence and hatred – in one word, the whole time-space vanity.
Truth is Awake and Active
Truth is eternally awake and in perpetual movement,
Active each moment, in constant renewal.
We have wrongly divided it, creating small or great truths,
Truth is revealed as unity, when we are "psychological
emptiness".
The conditioned mind cannot encounter It,
For it is always confined by its limited nature.
Truth is immense – boundless – Infinite Energy,
Two separate states, different in their essence.
In its powerlessness, the mind must become silent,
There is no other way to detach from the past.
When the limited is silent, the being is extended into
Infinity,
In that moment, the Sacred Truth envelops us instantly.
Present in all and everything, it is within us as well as
within everyone,
It is waiting, day and night, for us to discover it, through
integration.
Do not waste any time! Give yourself to Truth!
Humbleness is the path! Otherwise you keep deceiving
yourselves.
You cannot desire it, search for it, there are no expectations,
This simple encounter with ourselves leads to realization.
Truth is constant freshness, it reveals the Great Happiness,
Free from motivations, independent from thought.
The Absolute Truth – unique source of the whole of existence – is, through Itself, Pure Reality, alive and active, in continuous movement. Its simple presence creates renewing transformations in all the existential forms in the world of matter, on the perpetually ascending journey of evolution. Everything that exists today in the Boundless Universe originates from Truth; and to Truth we shall return, after exhausting the long process of experiences in the world of matter.
Because of misunderstanding, the human being has brought down this One Truth to the level of the mind. With this unfortunate event, the Oneness of Truth has been divided, according to each individual's limited and subjective mind. The chaos, violence, greed, ambition, hatred and arrogance – existent in the world of today – are natural effects of this attempt to bring the Infinite to the level of understanding of the human mind.
If all these statements are very clear, not because anyone said so, but evident through themselves and their obvious effects, we ask ourselves the question: What is the solution? What can we do about it?
There is only one solution, namely: to renounce the error that our ancestors made – in this very moment.
The human mind – conditioned by time and space – is and will always remain limited, no matter how erudite it may be. Therefore, it will never, in any circumstance, be able to encompass and comprehend the Absolute Truth.
The Infinite, nevertheless, has the perfect capacity to encounter the finite, limited world, confined by itself. In order to avoid any ambiguity, we must emphasize that this phenomenon cannot occur the other way around. The finite is and will always remain incapable of understanding the Sublime Truth.
Only when the mind is silent, in humbleness, for it has understood its powerlessness, in that moment of inner aloneness, the Supreme Truth, existent in the depths of our being, is revealed in all Its splendor and beauty.
In fact, this is the true purpose of the descent into the current incarnation, in the ephemeral climate of earthly existence. Let us, therefore, not waste time with trivial and deceptive occupations.
The very fact that we are reading these words, in this moment, is a true sign that we have reached a sufficient level of spiritual maturity enabling us to realize the great mystery.
We cannot search for the Absolute Truth; we cannot desire It, nor can we discover It through expectations, as a result of mental activity.
Truth is revealed spontaneously, when the "ego" is dissipated under the rays of all-encompassing, lucid and impersonal Attention and our being is integrated. The constant freshness of Truth provides us with boundless Happiness, on moments of existence, free from any worldly motivations.
The "Psychological Void" between Words and Thoughts
In the pause between two spoken words,
Created by reason,
Lies the "emptiness",
A direct encounter.
When words are rare
You encounter this gap;
Connected words
Create the thought process.
The "psychological void" between thoughts
Is beyond meaning;
A silent meeting,
Through total melting.
In this state
There is true comprehension;
This space expands,
Defined by Light.
In "emptiness", the Sacred affirms itself,
The "ego" is shattered;
In this moment
A new man appears – a creative being.
In humble simplicity,
Through "emptiness" we become Eternity;
A natural fulfillment,
Uniting us with the Whole.
The "psychological void", passiveness of the mind or peace of the soul I mention in each topic represents a true window to Infinity. Through this crack in the ego – ensuing naturally – the true nature of our being is revealed as Perfection or Divinity. This divine Reality lies within each human being, without any exception.
During a conversation or a discussion, no matter how fast we speak, we discover that between two words there are small gaps in which thinking is completely absent. These gaps become even more evident when we talk more slowly, consciously creating distances between words.
In these gaps, the "ego" disappears completely and Eternity – existent within us as well as everywhere in the sphere of existence – unites us with the Great Whole; on the other hand, the Light of this Reality makes it possible to rationally connect and understand these words. Therefore, in this "psychological void", the "I" disappears and, in the empty space, the real being expands into Infinity. Thus we discover – through a direct experience – that we are a divine Particle, defining itself as Love and Intelligence in perpetual movement.
The same phenomenon occurs during silent speech, when we do not externalize what we think or imagine. Thinking and imagination are also expressed, in fact, with the help of words.
This space can be extended by simply becoming conscious of it with a lucid, all-encompassing Attention. Let us remind that this Attention is the Sacred itself, manifest in the depth of our being. It makes all nebulous shades of the chaotic activity of the "self" disappear.
In order to avoid any confusion, we need to point out that any efforts of will or imagination are unable to accomplish the "psychological void" we mention in all the poems. This inactivity of the knowing mind is attained without any previous programming, goal or ideal to accomplish. Simply encountering the movement of the mind with the light of lucid Attention creates a state of silence. All the benedictions arise from this silence, and our being is integrated and united with Divinity.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Wondrous Journey by Ilie Cioara Copyright © 2011 by Ilie Cioara, Petrica Verdes . Excerpted by permission of O-BOOKS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 Love 7
2 The Freshness of Life 10
3 Truth is Awake and Active 13
4 The "Psychological Void" between Words and Thoughts 16
5 Intuition 19
6 The Book of Life 22
7 The "Ego" Dimension and the "Love" Dimension 26
8 Innocence 32
9 Words 35
10 "Self-knowing" Is Not a Method 37
11 Life - A Journey into the Unknown 40
12 The Path of Liberation 42
Happiness 46
13 Beauty 50
14 The Thinker 53
15 Physical and Psychological Death 56
16 The Flash of the Moment 59
17 Levels of Consciousness 62
18 Abandon Yourself to Life 69
19 Happiness Is Independent Of Age 72
20 In the "Psychological Emptiness" We Encounter Reality 74
21 Psychic Pollution 76
22 Immensity 80
23 The Surprise of Liberation 83
Evolution of Consciousness 89
24 Listening 93
25 The Fulfillment 96
26 Spiritual Powers 98
27 I See Pure Consciousness in Everything and Everywhere 100
28 Responsibility 102
29 Exposing the "Ego" 105
30 We and the World are "One" 107
31 Religion 110
32 Who Am I Truly? 117
33 Some Live As If in a Dream 119
34 Encountering the Boundless 122
35 Wisdom 124
About the Author 133