encountering paradise
The man or woman who lives life completely turned toward the Source of Love, affirming Love with every breath, will encounter Paradise everywhere and will begin to understand the justice rendered to all beings by Allah Most High, justice so perfect that no soul is wronged by even so much as the point of a date stone.
−Holy Qur'an (4:116-125)
8 comments:
24 Jun 2007, 09:35:00
oooops! One ponders on Paradise as being here now ... how can we see that perfection, when we are faced with the every day world.
If we turn to the Source of love ... which resides within us all. I have pondered on this and wondered is it our attachment to the outside world that obscures our vision? There must be a middle way ... I am not sure ... could you expand on the quote?
thank you.
24 Jun 2007, 17:33:00
In very simple words Trinitystar you could say we are made with 2 different sides...one is controlled by the ego and our senses and therefore imperfect and the other is our already perfect divine self. Jesus said 'I am in this world but not of this world.' The meaning here is that yes we must attend to daily things as if the world was the only reality but in fact there is another reality - the True Reality - that of the Divine which is perfect. We must lose our attachments to all earthly things before we can become aware of the true reality. When we do this we will become aware of the perfection/paradise everywhere. When one walks the path far enough he also learns that all is One in the end.
Hope this helps Trinitystar and my apologies Rudi for intervening.
25 Jun 2007, 04:33:00
I love this quote. It seems like the biggest challenge is the continual "remembering" to just turn toward the Source at all times...Paradise is instantly there when we just "remember".
Beautifully spoken words, Janice. Thank you for intervening. :)
25 Jun 2007, 04:53:00
Yes, we tend to be attached to 'earthly things' because we perceive ourselves as 'earthly things' (i.e. imperfect mind-body entities, i.e. flawed human beings). The moment this core attachment falls away, all the others also dissolve and we look at the world with completely different eyes - and what is seen is perfection itself.
People on spiritual paths tend to try to lose their attachments in various ways, but because they continue to cling to their core attachment, this struggle is doomed to failure (assuming liberation is the goal). All sorts of benefits come with being on a spiritual path, i.e. with trying to become a 'better' human being (such as a sense of purpose and meaning, spiritual experiences of various kinds etc), but true fulfillment only comes with radically questioning who you are and the shocking realisation that you are essentially Love. Love is not so much something that resides in you, it's more intimate than that - Love is who you are.
Because radical questioning needs to happen only once for this recognition to take place, I wouldn't call it a 'middle way'; I wouldn't even call it a 'way' or a 'path', because it doesn't lead anywhere - Krishnamurti (I think) called it 'a path from here to Here'. True Love, or love of Truth, is 'pure being' (i.e. the essence of all that 'is') or 'pure existence' (i.e. the essence of all that 'exists') - it is inner peace, cognisant stillness, silent awareness, aliveness. It can only be found here and now, because it is the 'Here and Now' (just as serenity said - "it is instantly there when we just remember"). In other words, the very notion of a spiritual path negates it.
25 Jun 2007, 12:27:00
Rudi,
I have always been taught to view everything from a higher vantage point ... you say that because we perceive ourselves as earthly things ... snd so we become attatched to the outside world. Being is Love and that is who I am ... believing it is not enough ... knowing is not enough ... Being in its natural state ... what if the questions stop ... the paradox is ... in one way if we say the Being is Love and through BEING there will be a sense of paradise ... in the here and now. But then, does that mean there is no need to learn from our situations. Through Being the clarity of situations are easily solved.
Remembering who we really are is beautiful ... yet, are we always working between the two worlds.
Or is the outside world the illusion we fabricate ourselves and in our non remerberance we lose sight of the real paradise?
Thank you for your comments
Janice, Serenity and of course Rudi.
YOu have a great blog ... working around the archives slowly. :o)
25 Jun 2007, 14:28:00
Trinity* said...
"... But then, does that mean there is no need to learn from our situations."
It's more a case of un -learning everything we have come to accept as true (as part of our upbringing, education, societal conditioning and spiritual indoctrination - see today's post, a quote from the Ashtavakra Gita). But then, although it may have taken a life time (or 'life times', if you are into reincarnation) to accumulate our conditioning, it takes only one single moment of uncompromising Truth to see through it all, and surrender it all.
"Or is the outside world the illusion we fabricate ourselves and in our non remerberance we lose sight of the real paradise?"
Yes.
26 Jun 2007, 10:12:00
Thank you on that Rudi ... for the clarifications of ones thoughts.
:o)
26 Jun 2007, 14:29:00
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