I am the Cynic. Coo Coo Ca Choo
I seemed blessed from an early age in that I had an innate ability to emphasize with others and this ability gave me the nickname "psych" as a young teen among several of my friends. They thought of me as the psychiatrist of the bunch. I could listen, give advice and guidance, offer a proverbial shoulder to cry on. This ability allowed me understand several things about people. I understood that most everybody, with few exceptions, tried to do their best. In whatever they were doing. People often do not do what they are "supposed" to do for many reasons. But malice is often not one of them. I found that if I could listen, really listen to what was being said behind the words, I could assist someone in unwrapping the mystery of why they exhibited bad behavior; or made poor choices. In my brief stint as a Vocational Job Coach and an Independent Living Mental Health Counselor, I experienced very measurable success. Am I pleased with the level of change I was able to help several "clients" achieve.
But I experienced a lapse in judgment that changed the direction of my life.
All of my life, I have not liked cynics (I told you that there were exceptions!) and felt them to be my greatest challenge. A cynic, by definition of http://www.i-cynic.com/whatis.asp is "an idealist whose rose-colored glasses have been removed, snapped in two and stomped into the ground, immediately improving his vision."
I fear that I have become the sum of my greatest fear.
Oh God! Help me. I am a Cynic.
Now, this would fly into the face of someone who has tasted of the Tao, who has known of the words;
"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and
hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest
distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To
set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood the mind's essential peace is
disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space when nothing is lacking and nothing is in
excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the
true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things nor in inner feelings of
emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things and such erroneous views will disappear by
themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity your very effort fills you
with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness
of things is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the
truth.
Stop talking and thinking, and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to
miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment there is a going beyond appearance and
emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of
our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.
Do not remain in the dualistic state -- avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace of this and that, of right and wrong, the Mind-essence
will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One, do not be attached even to this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend,
and when such a thing can no longer offend, it ceases to exist in the old way.
When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes, as when the mind
vanishes, objects vanish.
Things are objects because of the subject (mind); the mind (subject) is such
because of things (object).
Understand the relativity of these two and the basic reality: the unity of
emptiness.
In this emptiness the two are indistinguishable and each contains in itself the
whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine you will not be tempted to
prejudice and opinion.
To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited
views are fearful and irresolute; the faster they hurry, the slower they go, and
clinging (attachment) cannot be limited; even to be attached to the idea of
enlightenment is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither coming nor going.
Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and
undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and
unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefits can be derived from distinctions and separations?
If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike even the world of senses and
ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true Enlightenment.
The wise man strives to no goals but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many; distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the
ignorant.
To seek Mind with the (discriminating) mind is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion; with enlightenment there is no liking and
disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference. They are like dreams or flowers in
air: foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong: such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.
If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations, the ten thousand things are as they are,
of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence is to be released from all
entanglements.
When all things are seen equally the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, both movement and
rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality no law or description applies.
For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold
to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value.
In this world of suchness there is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubt
arises, 'Not two.'
In this 'not two' nothing is separate, nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a
single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before
your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small; no difference, for definitions have
vanished and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and Non-Being.
Don't waste time with doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction.
To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one
with trusting mind.
Words!
today. "
The Hermit speaks to Tao1776.
This is the country of silence... the deep need of the soul for quiet solitude... Give yourself this gift.
O cynicism!
Loosen your ties that bind my soul.
I want neither
rose colored glasses
nor idealism.
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