 Being + Consciousness + Bliss
Three (3) is a Magic number... but, who cares? And, why care? Especially since the new "depth" metaphysics can now be apprehended through a one hour course on mindfulness, why in the world should anyone need, or even want, to undergo complete ego annihilation? In what circle of conversation is there any interest in the subject of the Trinity? Language is such a hobgoblin! I am certainly among those who resent the mere idea that "God" is, first and foremost, "Father" without any reference to "Mother"... this seems to me like a very big pot of soup with only one carrot and water as ingredients and, behold!, a group of "chef-theologians" are looking into the gently boiling water, poking at the lone carrot with long wooden spoons, and arguing, "No! That single carrot is really three! How could it be a mother?" And now we are going to practice mindfulness! A charming bell sounds... A beautiful woman with a luxurious voice begins to speak... she gives precise instructions in the "how" of mindfulness practice... for the span of three breaths, I am at the threshold of mindfulness!... Then, I wonder, am I the only one to hear that gruff-voiced interrruption, "Who am I?" Well, who the hell am I? I ponder... I was, for some thirty years, "Robert of the Soup"... but, I always knew that that was only a fraction of "me", and mostly, just a false self... (When no one was around, I was someone else entirely, and like an abused dog in an animal shelter, only then could I emerge from my cage... when no one was present...) Thirty years of conversation with homeless, completely shattered, ego annihilated folks unveiled the mystery of our human condition... We are all a big fat nobody... but more, we are all addicts to these, our non-identities... Somehow, though, we survive. We make more nobodies, who eventually become more non-identities... And then, in one way or another, we all eventially go poof... How can a non-identity ever be mindful? How does a caricature of a human become a being? How does a mind, a fully activated mind, come to inhabit a body? What might be some evidence that a being is home in a human body? How about this: a human being intensely desires engagement with other human beings: intensely desires dialogue, encounter, and communion with other human beings... In other words, soul is our desire and capacity to no longer be an "I"... soul is our desire and capacity to jump into the abyss of isolation and to become another Christ: to become another Mother of God and to give birth to another Christ... to become, like the Blessed Trinity, no longer Three, but Many (how about Everyone and Everything?)... Soul is our intense desire and capacity to return from the exile of "mindfulness" into a rugged "mindlessness" and then to become the Real Self, liberated, free-in-delight, and truly conscious... From False to Real The Vedantist "names" the Blessed Trinity as Being + Consciousness + Bliss (Sat... Chit... Ananda)... From false to real, from non-identity, to magic... (God is Alive, Magic is Afoot. -- Leonard Cohen) is the daily work of attunement: attuning to contemplative practice and activated compassion: there is no mindfulness without the mindlessness that bridges the false with the Real... Finally emptied of the false: mindfulness becomes an entirely new dimension of being... when the Real has become our Identity, we'll become who we really were all along... Finally, if you are not certain as to the truth of compassion, just take this quote from Ram Dass to heart: Treat everyone you meet like God in drag... And, if you are not certain as to the truth of contemplative practice, go ahead and take this quote from a Sufi saint, Rabia of Basra, to heart: I saw that the divine beauty in each heart is the root of all time and space. We are all just walking each other home. -- Ram Dass
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AuthorRobert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in California. He is living now almost within shouting distance of the Twin Cities. He is a poet, artist, writer, and long-time Companion of the Way still dreaming... Archives
May 2022
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