If you forget yourself you become the universe (Hakuin Ekaku)

May I ask You. A good friend of mine sat down and sighed to her God: "I don't want to anymore, I don't belong on earth, please come and get me, I have had enough of it." Then she heard a clear voice say, "Stop wanting, start giving."
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I love to do so.

“Oh man, how much do you demand from life, how endlessly you are searching for what will make you happy once, and meanwhile life flies away. You hardly appreciate in what a magical world you are living, how you are carried in love and how everything is offered to you. Dissatisfied, short-sighted, superficial and self-centred being. Luckily the spiritual world has endless patience and has an endless love for man.”

Your good and dear friend felt quite put on her place and stopped squeaking and beeping, it was a wake-up call for her.

We would certainly love it when men see beyond their own noses and appreciate more what they have and not are fixated on what they don't have. In that sense, every Spark of God would like to say this to Its human being on earth.

Yet there is much more to be said for it.

It was a sharp and crystal-clear sentence that your female friend received. But there is a nuance, her Spark of God sees that she does her best very hard, she works hard and prays and tries to bother no one with her negative emotions, sees that she endlessly controls herself, and suffers from the destruction of nature and really cries at every tree in her environment that is cut down, necessaryly or unnecessaryly. We like to see her live and We love her. Then why such a sharp and confrontational sentence? Does she live so wrongly? Is she that self-centered? Is she so occupied with her own life?

None of that. Yet she gets to hear this sentence, at that very moment, but a sentence that every person deserves regularly and that all seven billion Sparks of God would like to say to Their man on earth, maybe with some exceptions.

For it is formulated in this way because it is clear language for man, briefly and to the point, clearly formulated and it is an urgent and compelling request. But in spiritual terms this is said:

“Dear beautiful man, you who does your best, and who wants to be happy so much, do know that you are now doing something that does not make you happy, what you pushes down, what makes you small and what makes you childish and gives victim-like feelings and thoughts which are not productive and make you even feel more unhappy. Get out of this negative and destructive attitude, leave the future for what it is, admonish yourself, dear man, do not over-feed your ego with this bullshit and seek thoroughly and rigorously distraction, get out of this emotion and get out of your ego self and look around you. Look at the beauty of life, look at the even greater suffering of a fellow human being and share from your wealth, share your talents, focus on the other and you will soon forget yourself and you will soon feel better, your blood will start flowing again and you will regain energy to pick up the thread of life.

Live again and enjoy together with the other.
And then you are again an adult part of the universe ”.

So I think it is nicely worded by the Spark of God of your female friend: "Stop wanting, start giving".

I could not have said it better to you, My son.
Your female friend is blessed.

My blessings to you all

No 462

If it comes, let it; if it goes, let it;

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Actually, it means that man not only says yes to everything just because it's happening to him. But there is something else, if it is happening to him, he does not judge it, or label it or rank it  in either good or bad or right or not, or welcome or not. Man leaves it alone, completely leaves it alone. It happens, so what? If man does that, he not only says yes to life, but he does something else. He completely and totally goes with the flow. As if it is happening to someone else, but in a compassionate and loving way, we are not talking about dissociation. And then really wisdom is in stake. Actually zen. Then life, the spiritual world and God for sure can continue with the plan. Man then makes the most of the opportunity life will reveal of what has to be revealed to the max, life will flow what has to flow, and in such a way man will experience the maximum of what life has to offer.

My blessings  to you all

Nr. 406

The obstacle is the path (Zen proverb)

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It’s true indeed.

The obstacle on the path is thus the actual task for man. How does he respond, how does he set about it, does he behave as a victim or does he make something of it?

But sometimes, the obstacle is a wandering path of misery and difficulties, and man drifts away from God more than ever. Of course never forever, because every detour is ultimately a path to God. But yet, what can man call out a misery on himself and his fellow human beings. What can the path of man through the obstacles on his way and his getting lost in endless addictions and sideways call out meekness and worries with his spiritual companions. It's not always good, on the contrary.

So there is a point in this proverb.

Certainly there is, because this saying evokes you not to get lost in the distant goal, for  the world of desire has an ever-waving horizon. And so you're postponing your happiness. This proverb calls you out to be alert, calls you out to be in the present, calls you out to say yes to everything.

For this is a thing, that much of your attention and energy and happiness are getting lost, because you are fixated on the goal of the path. And in the meanwhile, time passes, in the meanwhile precious moments in the present are getting lost because you do not pay attention.

Yes, paying attention is the proper expression. Because not only the obstacle on the path is an important issue, but a path without obstacles is an important issue too.

The path of man is all he has, really all. For achieving the goal is not always what it seemed to be. And the path, that's really all man has. Enjoy it, I may say, and say yes to the obstacles, in this way you are quite zen.

 
My blessings to you all

Nr. 393

Zen: I have beautiful flowers

   I have beautiful flowers

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This tweet can be more than it seems to.

It is a common tweet.
But it is a key to a hidden spiritual Zen truth.
For  sit quietly for the bunch of flowers you received or purchased.
You look at the flowers and look more extensively to the bunch.
And then the following can happen if you open up for it.

The flowers show their beauty to you and their beautiful colours, their abundance.

And then you see the exceptional form, and the splendour of the making, of the creation.
And then wondering will overcome you, wondering about life, about the special, about the beauty of life, the beauty of the form.
And then you are going to experience one big special force is the basis of these flowers, namely the power of God, Life, that this power is from God, Life, ís God, Life.
And then you will experience that you can not háve these flowers. They are independent from you. That they are from themselves, autonomous, powerful flowering.

That they are in their own beauty.

And then you experience they are connected with you, you are actually together, you are in a unity connected, that they are noticing you as well.

And then you feel that they actually are having you, they have more right to have you than you are having them. Because they are more present than you, less complicated and in more surrender.
And then you learn that you are together, that you are in unity.
And then you feel that you are linked in unity with God, with Life.
And then you experience the unity of God, Life.
And then finally you experience that you and the flowers are not from yourselves, but from God, Life. That God, Life  has you all.

And only then you feel what it means to say spiritually : I have beautiful flowers.

My blessings to you all

Nr. 246

Zen and obeying God are looking like eachother

 

I was recently in a monastery and went one day to the regular morning Zen meditation.
While walking through the dimly lit, historical colonnade to the meditation room , my mind is realizing the following.
I know Zen especially is propagating the here and now. And consider man so often struggling with what ought to be and what doesn’t. What he likes and accepts and what he does not like and what he does not accept.
And thus he says yes to one thing and no to the other thing. How can one really be in the here and now in this way?

Suddenly I realize saying yes to everything, stopping fighting with what ought to be and what is not, thus unconditionally saying yes, accepting everything, is actually the same as obeying life, obeying God . Saying to life, to God, " You know better, I accept everything, please show me the way."
I realize obedience to God is actually the same as living in the here and now , as living Zen .
Zen is actually surrendering to life itself .
Obeying God is : surrendering to life itself .
If you believe, you surrender to God.
If you do not believe , you surrender to life .

But it is all the same.
In both cases, you end up in the here and now.

 

I take my meditation sit in the room , the gong goes after a while and meditation starts.
I fall into silence and feel absorbed in a soft, loving atmosphere of acceptance, of Being, of Silence .
It speaks for itself I am having a wonderful meditation, of which the silence and the power is sticking to me the whole day on.
And God is telling me afterwards :

Be Blessed, My son.
You are always welcome to My bosom. You are always welcome to the Here and Now.
Everybody is always welcome to the bosom of God.
Everybody is always welcome to the Here and Now .

My blessings to you all
 

God is very emancipated

You have said that You’ll once would devote a blog to the position of women ?

So be it.
It is a strange phenomenon that in many religions women are suppressed. Even in a lot of New Age movements conservatism is common, saying a woman should know her place.
Indeed, a woman should know her place: namely being special, and equivalent to a man and having her rights and standing beside the man and in no way deserving any oppression and discrimination.
Concerning countries and people, religions and movements suppressing women and their talents, God says loud and clear, it’s had his day. The right road of mankind is the one on which men and women join equally and beside each other for the benefit of humanity.
There is no other way. God is telling you this. There is no other way.
I will refer to some salient points in the history of mankind. And of course We do not make a scientific exercise out of it.
God isn’t a theologian.

• Is the woman made out of a rib or made out of the side of the man? The symbolism of this is essential: the woman is not made out of a rib, this is implying the man was earlier. And there we get fairytales. The rib is just a part of the body of the man, so to say inferior.
  It is an allegory: in the beginning there was the image of the human and from that image, the man and the woman are made. And of course side by side, so beside each other. Beside each other. Actually co-evolved. So let it be said: simultaneously and equally, the primacy is not for the man. In nature, it happens quite often the male is dominant, but not all the time. Often couples have been around together, working together. The variation in nature does exist among humans as well: there have been matriarchies, and nowadays there are a lot of patriarchies. It is now time for equality.
• Judaism: Conservative groups are still acquainted with the dominance of men over women. Liberal movements have grown familiar with female rabbis and these rabbis are doing great. God likes this a lot: a female rabbi leading a group of men. It was about time for some correction and nuance. Orthodox groups, as in Israel, will be past one’s prime, this can’t last much longer.
• Hinduism: in this religion the feminine aspect has always gotten much leeway. Variation, colorfulness, emotion and imagination of Hinduism correspond more with the spiritual world than other religions do realize. Tara of Compassion and Durga the Goddess are Hindu Goddesses/Maria’s. But the practice of Hinduism has long been colored by partly primitive, undeveloped and disadvantaged people. The repression, the contempt for women, the suffering of women are great. But that is mainly a matter of social determination. The religion isn’t really causing this. Karma is misused for a fatalistic attitude to life. The gap between the ideal of religion and the practical reality is large in Hinduism. Better education and access to healthcare will generate female-friendly practice.
• Buddhism: Here is the male-female relation considerable quiet, it has flourished particularly among people with more development and civilization. Female Buddhas came, for example Kuan Yin (She who hears the cries of the world, a Buddhist Mary) and relatively many female pastors. A liberal movement on this field is Zen, a more orthodox variant is the Tibetan Buddhism. Furthermore is the practical reality often recalcitrant. But the philosophy of Buddhist religion in principle doesn’t prevent women's emancipation. More often the traditional society is imprisoning for debt a religion, maybe for long, but not for ever.
• Christianity: the first Christian communities were exceedingly emancipated. Specially because they still remembered the both holy Mary's. The Mary’s persisted at Christ's side, where the brethren, except John, had fled. The Mother Mary and the loving Magdalene. What a hymn, they have earned. These holy women, one always remaining holy, the other becoming holy in lifetime, their courage, their heart, their openness, their strength, their confidence, their leadership, their inspiration, their imitation of Christ. But the later patriarchy has brushed aside the women and has purged their stories, so the New Testament has many gaps. Orthodox Christian tendencies, including Catholic, have created in this manner institutions, where the woman doesn’t exist. But God will find a way to express the female element. To the Catholics it is Mary, the Mother, the eternal image of the Goddess, the feminine aspect of God, the Guardian, the loving One. And to the Protestants it is the Holy Spirit as feminine element, the Pigeon. Or practically through female ministers. A really bad reputation, in terms of the emancipation of women, do have, the orthodox Protestant tendencies: God is asking them: "where is the female aspect in your teachings?" Isn't God not the Father-Mother God?
• Islam: Important to notify is the setting of a misogynistic time and society in which the Quran has written. There are pretty respectful sutra's on women, and the Quran has contributed a lot to the emancipation of women in a misogynistic environment. But the picture nowadays is: too little, too poor emancipation, too much patriarchy and misogyny. The woman as a threat to the morality of the man. That’s not in the bargain. I therefore prefer to look at liberal tendencies. Female Soefie’s are pleasing God a lot. The Enlightenment must have his influence on the Islam. But this will happen the next 25 years.
• New age and spiritual movements: it is amazing to be seen how in this modern time a lot of tendencies among spiritual secularists and new agers come up based upon conservative and misogynistic lyrics. God is liberal, woman friendly and righteous. Eventually, only the emancipated currents will survive. The rest will become extinct like the dinosaurs. That’s how We “upstairs” consider tendencies. They really will be out of date. We encourage the development of spiritual tendencies where women give the key, go for the inspiration, if only as an overtaking maneuver.
• The secularization / the present: it is remarkable that the emancipation of women has progressed most in very secularized societies. God is supporting this. And I refer to previous blogs, where God is making a difference between Form and Content and is stating that Sacred Books are only guidelines, no codes of law. Without Enlightenment, without the Declaration of the Rights of Man, without the United Nations as the guardian of a new morality, without secular institutions without science you would have a misogynistic world. Be aware of the fact that exactly these institutions are designed and encouraged and helped by God. Sometimes even more than religions.
• The future: misogyny has had its day and will disappear in the future. Your world will only florish among cosmic, spiritual people, when the equality between women and men has been established fully on earth. And this time is closer than you think, even if this will ghappen unwillingly. But that is a topic for another blog.

 

My blessings to you all

Nr. 34

 

Zen and the art of essence

A Zenbuddhist, philosphical question arises within me, put to students in order to seduce them to go within deeper still. I pose the question to My God.
Can You help me with this question: "What was my face like before my parents were born?"

It was Mine.

I am moved by the answer.
Thank You, My God.

Be blessed.

My blessings to you all

Nr. 4