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Author Topic:   Hidden In Plain Sight: Why The Surface Is The Deepest Thing
Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 1770
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posted November 28, 2009 04:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

A young man who calls himself "spiritual, but not religious" says, "I do not believe in Christ, -- or, if you prefer, I do; -- since I believe in Love, and Christ is merely a personification of Love. But, rather than focus on the manifestation (in this case, Christ), which is only the projection of a self-fetishizing human consciousness, I penetrate into the deeper truth, which is pure and naked Love."

The words are commendable, for the most part, but we know that there is nothing "mere" about Christ, or about the form in which God's Love has made itself felt and known to men. A form which men can learn from, not because it is a familiar and convenient symbol, but, because it is exemplary. In the words of St. Athanasius, "God became man so that man may become God."

Love may be at the root of Christ, but Christ Himself is the flower. My friends, we should question this tendency to always devalue what is on the surface. The surface is not like a wrapping which must be torn off and tossed aside, if we are to enjoy "the present". The surface, if we are receptive to its secrets (hidden in plain sight), reveals all things. Beneath the surface, there are only analogues of the surface. Christ is Love, yes. But, if we do not see Love when we see Christ, we will not see it "on the other side" of Him either; if we do not see Love when we see Christ, we can see neither Love, nor Christ. If we are not receptive to the surface, no "deeper" discoveries will satisfy us.

This youth, who so hastily dismisses religion as a "mere" surface phenomenon, imagines that he is like a man unmasking someone in disguise, but, really, he is like a man who digs up a flower in order to exhibit the roots as "proof" of the unreality of the flower; or as something "more real" than the flower itself. What could be more foolish than this? And, yet, this is symptomatic of a form of arrogance which has all but taken possession of the modern world. People in our age actually believe they are arriving at a deeper reality when they dissect, reduce, and deconstruct the world as it appears, -- in short, when they dig up the flowers.

Manifestation is not, or not "merely", the begining of a journey which has its end in Spirit, -- rather, it is, just as surely, the fruit and crown of Spirit! It is the end; the living end; and the Living God. Love is perfected in Christ, as the seed is perfected in the fruit; and Christ is perfected in Love, as the fruit is perfected in the seed. Without Christ, Love is just a gift without a giver; without Love, Christ is just a giver without a gift.

Above, I wrote: "if we do not see Love when we see Christ, we will not see it "on the other side" of Him either". This is a strong clue to the esoteric meaning of faith in Christ. Those who believe that Christ is the Son of God, in an esoteric sense, believe that Matter is the manifestation of Spirit, and what is unseen is revealed by the seen. To truly see, -- to see things, -- and not through, into, under, over, around, or behind them -- is to experience the Divine. And because it is an experience of things as they are, -- not in their essence, but in themselves, -- it is not something which may be communicated to one whom God has not prepared to receive it. To attempt to describe this experience in words would only undermine it; since words can only point through, into, under, over, around, or behind things. Words can also point at things, but only by naming them; and to name an experience is not the same as to communicate it, -- except to one who has been initiated; who has had the experience and will know it by name. The only word capable of describing the experience of a flower is "flower". But if, when you look at a flower, you see only the connections it makes to other things, then you do not see the flower. Not really. To see the flower is to see only the flower.

The Japanese poet, Basho, once wrote: "If you wish to know about the reed, go to the reed. If you wish to know about the bamboo, go to the bamboo." How beautiful, how profound, and how true are these words! My friends, if we desire to know about the life of a monk, we should ask a monk; and not ask one who has chosen an entirely different path. What can the forest tell you about the sea? And when we go to the monk, the sea, or the reed, what do we look for? Only the monk, the sea, or the reed; the thing as it is. We do not uncover the roots of the reed (not unless we want to know about the roots, and not the reed). We experience the thing. We receive the impression of it by a kind of spiritual osmosis. That is all.

Consider how many billions of years have passed, in order that a flower may stand in the fullness of her bloom. Or how much space was needed -- a universe so immense, our heads ache to conceive of it, -- so that her petals might spread themselves some few auspicious inches. Has all the time, all the space, and all the care of Creation laboured together in order to produce this delicate miracle, just so that we might dissect, reduce, deconstruct, and, -- in a word, -- rape her? How presumptuous are we, when we rush to do all the things which God has (for good reason) left undone? And we have not yet succeeded in seeing what He has done. What is the only thing left to do? The one thing which has not been done, and which ought to have been done first? Only this: To see. To see what God has done. And, having seen, to know.

The Psalms say, "Be still, and know that I am God!" This stillness is precisely what is necessary for seeing. Indeed, the stillness is the seeing. When we wish to see what is directly before us, we do not need to look in this or that direction, but only lift our eyelids. In the same way, we have only to be still, in order to see and know that God is God. "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." ~ Luke 24:23



~ Valus

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NosiS
Moderator

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posted November 28, 2009 04:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NosiS     Edit/Delete Message
Thanks for sharing.

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pire
Knowflake

Posts: 1008
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posted November 28, 2009 08:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for pire     Edit/Delete Message
quote:
Consider how many billions of years have passed, in order that a flower may stand in the fullness of her bloom. Or how much space was needed -- a universe so immense, our heads ache to conceive of it, -- so that her petals might spread themselves some few auspicious inches. Has all the time, all the space, and all the care of Creation laboured together in order to produce this delicate miracle [...]

if it was a question, i would emphatically reply YES!

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AcousticGod
Knowflake

Posts: 1854
From: acousticgod@sbcglobal.net
Registered: Apr 2009

posted November 28, 2009 10:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AcousticGod     Edit/Delete Message
I think it often shows an appreciation for the surface when you look beyond into the conditions that produced the surface glory.

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Yin
Knowflake

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posted November 30, 2009 08:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Yin     Edit/Delete Message

quote:
If we do not see Love when we see Christ, we will not see it "on the other side" of Him either.

Believing Is Seeing

article

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 1770
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posted December 01, 2009 12:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

You're welcome, NosiS.
Thanks for listening.


pire,


AG,
That's a sermon
for another day.
First learn this one.


Yin,
"Desire engenders belief."
~ Marcel Proust

Desire righteousness,
that ye may believe in it;
for ye shall surely see
your soul's desire.

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 1770
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Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 01, 2009 02:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

A paradox:

It takes art, to communicate the obvious.

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 1770
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 01, 2009 12:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

"One's starting point is determined by the kind of person one is; the specific complex of aptitudes, interests, and temperament that constitutes one's individual personality or nature. Actually, this idea of there being different paths to God for different kinds of people is well known among spiritual directors of the West. 'There are directors,' writes Father Surin in his Spiritual Catechism, 'who get an idea and a plan into their heads, which they think much of, and apply to all the souls who come to them, thinking that they will accomplish something great if they bring them into line with it. So they have no other object than of carrying out what they have imagined, like one who should wish all to wear the same clothes.' St. John of the Cross makes the same point in The Living Flame. The aim of spiritual directors should be 'not to guide souls by a way suitable to themselves, but to ascertain, if they can, the way by which God Himself is guiding them.' The unique thing about Hinduism is the amount of attention her seers have given to identifying and marking the major alternative paths.... The result is a general understanding shared by even the average, non-professional Hindu, not only that there are multiple paths to God, but also what these paths are. It is as if Hinduism prescribes Quaker worship for one person and the rich imagery of the Mass for another."

~ Huston Smith, "The Religions of Man"

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Yin
Knowflake

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posted December 03, 2009 09:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Yin     Edit/Delete Message

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