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one day my teacher's teacher appeared in front of me
right there on stinson beach in the middle of the day
I
was walking along the water's edge
thinking of how to get some money for a project
he said
you have reached a place in your sadhana (spiritual development)
where you no longer have to reach to get
you only have to open to receive
he
tapped my forehead then he was gone
i went home feeling that i had been initiated into a new kind of living
i call it magical living
  magical
living means that anything can happen
from anywhere at any time in any way
without discernable cause or reason
read
that again
meditate
on this definition of magical living for a week or so
don't try to figure it out just let all the possible implications
of magical living
come up from your depths and swim around in the aquarium of your awareness
then
let magical living leaven all the strategies you know
for getting what you want
all your philosophical certainties
all the tricks you've learned for living a rich, exciting, fulfilling
life
let
that leavened bread rise bake
and see how it tastes
the
universe gets a lot of free press
haven't you noticed how often people speak on behalf of the universe
the
universe is this and that
the universe wants such and such
i
wonder how they know what the universe is and wants
most people don't even know what they want
they don't even know how their hair grows
  or
who is taking care to pump their heart
or what will happen tomorrow
just
how big is this universe
the milky way galaxy is 100,000 light-years wide
though no one knows for sure
a light-year is the distance covered in a year
traveling at 186,000 miles per second the speed of light
thus a light year is 5,880 billion miles
multiply
that times 100,000 and you have the distance across our galaxy
as
large as our galaxy is
we know it is only one of approximately 100 billion galaxies in the
observable universe
though know one knows the exact amount for sure
scientists
estimate that a trillion galaxies exist in the known universe
though they don't know how many for sure
please
 where
is the center of the universe's wanting
ssssshhhh
a
little quiet please
more
Silence
less press
words
are made deep within us
in Silence
have
we seen this place
this kiln that fires the clay and dries the glaze on the words we use
to see this place is the essential meaning of enlightenment
and other such words
to
see this place within us where words are made
where words come from
is to experience things as they are and not as we name them
the
world that we name with words is not the real world
our name is not our real self
all
the words that have ever been spoken added to all the books
that have ever been written
 do
not equal one second of truth
truth
does exist
but
before
words are fired and glazed in the kiln of Silence
(for sophia)
just underneath the horrific surface of conditioned life
is a natural state of being
 it
belongs to everyone
it is ours from the beginning
do
you remember
i
have a friend named Sophia
she's four years old and she lives in the natural state
she dances and spins without regard for what others might think
she wears tiaras and her eyes glow even outside in full sunlight
she is joyful she is spontaneous and unafraid
her movements are easy and effortless
they are not governed by first or second thoughts
you can see she is still free
she speaks directly and simply
everything is revealed her emotions are right there for all to see
and then they are gone without a trace
people stop and stare because she is so bright
they smile like i did
and in that smile we remember and return to the natural state
it
is natural to be playful and curious and open and friendly
it is natural to dance and spin for no reason
it is natural to toss cyclones of energy back and forth
it is natural to live like this
in freedom with passion and joy
how
have we become so unnatural
if
we want to be free
we
have to come close to the heat
close
enough to catch fire and begin burning
  there
is a pile of old logs within us
stacks of pride and arrogance
of righteousness and vanity
and these must be burned away
welcome
the burning
and love the heat
and
be grateful to those who set you on fire
©
2009, Robert Rabbin, All Rights Reserved
Excerpted from the ebook
Sound Bites From Silence ©2009 Robert Rabbin. |
