Open-Secrets

Month: August 2007

  • The End of Ambition

    Desire

    Yesterday, A.H. Almaas began his lecture with:

    We are all engaged in an interesting endeavor – to actualize something invisible in our lives, something not seen by the ordinary senses. This something transcends the biological imperatives of life. Our purpose transcends the simply biological.

    The lecture went on to explore the phenomena of sexual desire and its relevance to one’s spiritual search and the maturation of the soul. Instinctual desire is a topic addressed by most spiritual teachings. Most see it as an impulse or motivation to be suppressed or gotten rid of.

    Almaas looks at desire like any other phenomena – something to understand. His experience and teaching, the Diamond Approach, recognizes the value of understanding as a means of dissolving barriers and obstacles on the spiritual journey. This understanding is not an intellectual or theoretical process, but rather, a deep experiential experience.

    To understand instinctual desire so that primordial energy can be used in the service of the maturing soul, one must first free it from all of the social, mental, emotional, and personal baggage that distorts it. When the instictual drive is returned to its pure state, it can then be synthisized into soul in a way that supports her movement toward the mystery of her deeper nature.  

    Image from Deric Bownds’ Mindblog

  • Lovers

    Roses lovers almaas hafiz

    When you are a lover, you’re personal, but you have no boundaries that separate you from your lover. – A.H. Almaas

    The minute I heard my first love story,
    I started looking for you, not knowing
    how blind that was.

    Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere,
    they’re in each other all along. – Rumi

    Translator: Coleman Barks

  • Ballet of Life

    Opera ballets mystery

    The job of the artist is to deepen the mystery. – Francis Bacon

    Early precursors to ballets were lavish court entertainments of Renaissance Italy. The first ballet for which a complete score has survived was performed in Paris in 1581. Professional dancers first appeared in the mid-1600s. Court ballet reached its peak during the reign (1643-1715) of Louis XIV, whose title the Sun King was derived from a role he danced in a ballet. Many ballets presented at his court were created by Italian-French composer Jean Baptiste Lully and French choreographer Pierre Beauchamp, who is said to have defined the five positions of the feet.

    Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. – Ludwig Wittgenstein

    Image from ArtForge

  • Into the Night

    Night void intimate loving

    Night into night
    A wave of stillness
    An infinite amplitude
    Caressing space
    Dark velvet void
    Absence
    No direction
    No orientation
    No here nor there
    Nor not-here
    Night arising
    As night descends
    Only night
    Knows the night
    An absolute
    Intimate loving
                  J Harper

  • Transformation of Consciousness

    dubois almaas transformation consciousness essential presence

    Yesterday A.H. Almaas mentioned that essential presence is what transforms the consciousness.

    One’s practice becomes how to stay in touch with essential presence and not about achieving any particular state of consciousnes.

    Almaas said that there are very few people who can actually live from, move from, and act in essential presence though many think they do. It is more difficult than we imagine.

    After one is able to maintain contact with essential presence, expressing it becomes the practice. The practice eventually leads to: essential presence is what acts, it’s what does, it is what is.

    A result of this is that one’s life becomes a life of service – lived not from the perspective of the ego – getting what I want, enjoying what I want, but serving that deeper nature.

    Image by Laura DuBois

  • Transformation

    Transformation almaas

    True understanding has to do with transformation. If there is no transformation at the moment of understanding, then there is no real understanding . – A.H. Almaas

    Last night, I heard A.H. Almaas give a talk on transformation. He began the talk by saying he had been wondering what was the most transformative experience in his life. His conclusion was – none – experiences do not transform the soul.

    What transforms the soul is staying in touch with what underlies all experience – True Nature. Almaas pointed out that it is easy to get lost in the content of our lives – our experiences. Being in touch with one’s essence needs to be the first priority, the first love.

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