The Opening Of The Rose Takes Time


Below is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on December 26, 2004. -TG.

Ishvara:

Intelligence, knowledge, those things that can be learned, are simply rungs of a ladder that lead to something that is priceless, something that is worth your whole life in attaining. Most people cling to the rungs of the ladder, expecting a particular rung to be it, forgetting that they begin this journey at birth, and the journey is about the direct experience of Life. Most individuals manage to escape the experience, living somehow as the other, creating a selfish persona, a "me," that is always in competition with the supposed powers-that-be, always looking for something, wanting something, being sick, diseased, addicted, lonely and separate.

The intellect rationalizes, "Well, I haven't found the right religion, the right practice, the right path, the right teacher; I haven't found the way", or "It's their fault; my parents' fault; the government's fault; the world's fault; karma's fault." If Life were controlling, if Life were an agenda, you could get by with that kind of thinking. "Yes, it's Life's fault that I'm not successful. It's Life's fault that I am diseased. It's Life's fault that I am lonely." But Life does not control. From the perspective of the conditional mind, Life is really indifferent to you. Not too satisfying is it?

Humans are always searching for some "God" that will love them, but they have given up the expectation that "God" will love them unconditionally; it is a very conditional God they have conceptualized. Religions are conditional: God will love you, if you do the right thing; if you do the wrong thing, God will expel you, punish you for eternity. Some believe that if they sacrifice their life, they will get to enjoy a host of virgins on the other side. Some believe that if they live a pure life, they will get to sit at God's feet, play harp music, and walk on golden streets. Some believe that even if they don't live a good life, they will get to come back and do it again. You see, it is all about "outside"; it is all about the other. Very few ever get around to recognizing where it is, or even what it is. It is really an inside job. That is why I said there is nothing out there; the "outside" is all darkness.

Existence is energy waiting to be utilized and manifested in whatever way, whatever mold, whatever process can take place, but it is not usable from the outside. "God," "heaven", "hell", and "the next lifetime" are all concepts which humans have devised about the outside. They are concepts that come from the unknowing; it is like a child, who hasn't the slightest idea of the truth, making up stories. Such stories can be interesting, even exciting, but there is no truth to them. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. The stories that humans feed themselves, in some way to pacify themselves, have a subtle divisiveness to them.

You continue to search, trying to make sense of the world around you, but really the only way to know is to come inside, to come into this place of silence. The place of silence is where you are not reaching out, not striving after something, not using the intellect to calculate or figure out; instead, there is a stillness, and the stillness increases the more you can let go of any concept, any belief, any perception of need or lack or want or don't-want, any judgment, expectation or resistance. The more you let go of these things, the more still you become, until finally there is that moment--actually when you least expect it--when you suddenly have the experience. You have a direct experience of Life. You may laugh, you may cry; you may feel as if you have lost your mind, but you've had the experience; you have experienced Life-as-it-is. At that point, you are no longer concerned with who's there or who's not there. You are no longer concerned with a goal, a should or shouldn't; there is no more judgment, no more resistance, no more attachment.

The intellect thinks, "Oh, that means I will just fall into oblivion and do nothing." No, not quite. Because of the direct experience of The Consciousness itself, the real You, there is a creative explosion of possibilities; suddenly the whole universe opens up to you, and you realize that you can do anything. You can direct yourself in any way. You can move and exist and be all that you can imagine as possible. There is only one requirement: that you remain in silence, that is, you don't let the intellect become activated and start laying shoulds and shouldn'ts on you; you don't fall into judgments about your creation; instead, you recognize, "Oh, that's it; now what?"

There is a movement, a dance, and an unfolding to direct experience. It is like the rose. Most humans go about it backwards: they try to get the rose to open by pulling on the outside petals. What happens? The petals come off. You have to wait for the rose to open from within. There is something within the rose that causes the petals to begin to open, and any amount of prying or forcing just messes it up. You may get it open by prying, but it will be unnatural, deformed, and it won't last very long. The opening of the rose takes time. Your opening takes time.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

Copyright © 2005 - 2006 by Alaya®.
All rights reserved.
Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.

If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.

This message comes to you from Alaya, a nonprofit organization. Alaya depends upon financial contributions for its continued existence. Follow this link for information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution to Alaya.
Thank you for your support.

To learn more about Ishvara and the Alaya Community, visit our website at www.alayanet.org

To subscribe to this message list, send an email to tgrant@alayanet.org with the word "Subscribe" in the subject of your message.