2012 - A Message of Hope

Ramai · December 16th, 2011, 10:51

2012 - A Message of Hope - YouTube

Love,
Ramai

olmate · December 24th, 2011, 09:52

The original meaning of the word "hope" is absolute certainty...

Olmate

Panthau · December 24th, 2011, 11:22

Hope implies wish for change. That happens on an individual basis. Besides that, everything is fine as it is. No need to judge or change anything, unless theres a wish for change on an individual basis.

I try to learn to love and accept what is. Because it is there for a reason, to learn and grow. Isnt it?

Boris Badenov · December 25th, 2011, 23:10

Peace denotes a lack of change. If you hope for change then you won't have peace. Reflect on this.

GilesC · December 26th, 2011, 12:33

... but things can change to become more at peace.

Panthau · December 26th, 2011, 14:29

Originally Posted by Boris Badenov

Peace denotes a lack of change. If you hope for change then you won't have peace. Reflect on this.

Well... that sounds like its the normal state as a human to have piece. I´d rather say, its the normal state to have a need for change. Reflect on this

olmate · December 27th, 2011, 00:58

For me it is about the connection between the conscious and unconscious. In the conscious we see a world with war and peace, adversity and prosperity, happiness and sadness.

Yet in the stillness and silence, it does not matter. Through the mantra (in my case) a wellstream is sent down ever deeper which provides a connection.

Having established the conection, it matters not whether a wild storm is raging or the ground is parched dry or a spring bloom is singing. The deeper the wellsping goes down it brings clarity, stillness, self-knowledge, the great gift of compassion and the inner stillness needed for ever-more complete attention, more generous transcendence. The mantra imperceptibly progresses through the interspace of stillness, between the waves of thought and of the inner life.

With time it brings an authentic poverty where I learn simply to be. Experiencing this lovely reality enables me to endure many setbacks and disappointments along the way. There will be times of defeat. But even when I seem to be regressing, growth is happening if there is faith at work. In the darkest night an invisible light still shines.

That is peace. That is hope.

Olmate

Ramai · December 30th, 2011, 06:37

Hi Olmate,
Are you referring to the Divine Darkness?

1.Unknowing, or agnosia, is not ignorance or nescience as ordinarily understood, but rather the realization that no finite knowledge can fully know the Infinite One, and that therefore He is only truly to be approached by agnosia, or by that which is beyond and above knowledge. There are two main kinds of darkness: the sub-darkness and the super-darkness, between which lies, as it were, an octave of light. But the nether-darkness and the Divine Darkness are not the same darkness, for the former is absence of light, while the latter is excess of light. The one symbolizes mere ignorance, and the other a transcendent unknowing — a super-knowledge not obtained by means of the discursive reason.
2. 'Of the First Principle,' says Damascius, 'the ancient Egyptians said nothing, but celebrated Him as a Darkness beyond all intellectual or spiritual perception — a Thrice-unknown Darkness.' This is for ever about the Pavilions of that great Light Unapproachable. It is caused by the superabundance of Light and not by the absence of lumination: it is 'a deep but dazzling Darkness' (Henry Vaughan). 'The light shineth in the darkness' (St. John, I, 5). 'In Thy light we shall see light' (Psalm 36, 9).

3. In one sense the Infinite is most truly described by what He is, whereas all finite existences are most properly described by what they are not in relation to Him who is; yet, inasmuch as all affirmations are necessarily drawn from that which is finite, it follows that God must transcend them all, and, therefore, without contradiction, it is true paradoxically to affirm that He possesses and does not possess both positive and negative attributes.

4. The mystics speak of other kinds of darkness; for example, the darkness of the night of purgation, and the dark night of the soul, but the Divine Darkness is in a different category from these.

5. The Triple Mystic Path is outlined here: - the Purgative, the Illuminative and the Unitive, which have a parallel in the Karma Marga, Jnana Marga, and Bhakti Marga of oriental mysticism.
6. Since it is absolutely impossible for the finite reason to receive a pure knowledge of God save through processes which divide and limit His Infinite Nature, the mystic at last with absolute faith must plunge into the Darkness of Unknowing, which he can only do when he has reached the loftiest point to which the highest human faculty will raise him.

The ascending stages of degrees of prayer and contemplation delineated by the mystics constitute a ladder by which the aspiring soul mounts from finitude into infinitude. Thus: -
The Prayer of Simplicity (vocal).
The Prayer of the Mind (voiceless).
The Prayer of Recollection (the Perfume or Answer of Prayer).
The Prayer of Quiet (beyond thoughts).
The Prayer of Union; of various degrees of Rapture, Ecstasy and 'Glorious Nothingness.'

7. Compare the well-known analogy of Plotinus:- 'Withdraw into yourself and look; and if you do not find yourself beautiful as yet, do as does the sculptor of a statue ... cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is shadowed ... do not cease until there shall shine out on you the Godlike Splendour of Beauty; until you see temperance surely established in the stainless shrine.' (Ennead, I, 6, 9).

8. These are the two modes of Divine Contemplation — Via Affirmativa and Via Negativa — which mark the equilibrating pulse of true mystical life.

In the former case, beginning from on high, there is an out-flowing and a down-flowing of the consciousness, which passes from universals to particulars and sees God in all things, in the lowest as well as the highest.

But in the latter case, there is an up-drawing and in-drawing of the consciousness, passing from particulars to universals, which sees that God is not any of the things contemplated, and therefore, by abstraction, it arrives at the superessential Darkness which out-shines and obliterates the light of all sensible things. Or, in other words, an approach is made to the unapproachable Light.

Thank you.
Happy New Year to All of U.
Love,
Ramai

olmate · December 30th, 2011, 07:53

Hi Ramai,

I don't know. Intuitively the focus is... straight and narrow is the path... Waste no time. Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Beyond that it seems to be a case of "becoming the prayer". But in any event, the focus quickly comes back to the path.

So sorry, I can't really identify what it is. The path just continues around another bend. Or as Robert Frost so eliquently puts it, two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Olmate