What is it that attracts some people to embark on a Spiritual endeavor while others show little or no interest whatsoever?
People are on different levels, different 'rungs of the ladder', as Mr. Rose used to say. Some are driven by circumstances, miserable or otherwise, to search for release, which at first may be a drive for psychological healing. Others, fewer in number, are born with or develop a curiosity about themselves, their purpose, origin, and destiny, and thus they enter a Spiritual search, in hopes of finding real answers to those questions.
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- PyramidZen Admin
- The Pyramid Zen Society is a small group of students who subscribe to the teachings of Richard Rose. We opened this blog site to encourage self-inquiry, using the principles and "yardsticks" that Mr. Rose specifically laid out for such work. All questions will be answered within the context of that teaching since we have found it to be such a valuable resource on our own paths. We discourage argument for the sake of promoting an agenda or prosyletizing. However, constructive critical exchanges and even planned confrontation sessions on a particular topic can be helpful tools in the process of overcoming obstacles on the spiritual path. The monitors of this site reserve the right to disregard any content deemed inappropriate to its primary philosophic purpose.
Recomended Reading
- Carillon: Poems, Essays, and Philosophy of Richard Rose-(147 pp.) PB - ISBN: 978-1-878683-03-8
- Energy Transmutation, Between-ness and Transmission-by Richard Rose-(68 pp.) PB - ISBN: 978-1-878683-02-1
- Meditation-by Richard Rose
- Psychology of the Observer-by Richard Rose-(133 pp.) PB - ISBN: 978-1-878683-06-9
- The Albigen Papers-by Richard Rose-(240 pp.) ISBN: 978-1-878683-00-7
- The Direct Mind Experience-by Richard Rose-(316 pp.) ISBN: 978-1-878683-01-4
- The Sex Connection, A Study of Desire, Seduction and Compulsion-by Alan Fitzpatrick-(371 pp.) ISBN 9780977614714
Soul Food Archive
- "Each man blooms from a different catalyst. The only thing hat the enlightened men have in common is that which they find."
- "There is only one time to start and that is now. And we can expect to battle the urge to procrastinate from now on."
- "Let me remind you That the perceived Cannot perceive." Huang Po
- "Come to see all things directly."-source unknown-
- "If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the (Father's) kingdom." The Gospel of Thomas-Translated by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer
- "Even the spiritual path can become a distraction. We settle into a comfort zone, reading, talking, listening. We run through it like a field, never stopping to observe what goes on there, or when we do we personalize it, make it out to be what we want it to be rather than making an effort to see it as it is or isn't as the case may be. " John Rose
- "The path to Truth begins with the self. We cannot properly isolate, identify, or analyze the self, because it is the subject about which we know the least." Richard Rose
- "Religious democracy gives the false sense that we are all going to make it, and that may not be the case. If you do your research and read accounts of other experiences then you may find out many things for yourself rather than just riding the tide into heaven." Richard Rose
14 comments:
Are there still Pyramid Zen groups conducting meetings?
For the time being this blog is the best thing going as there are no known live meetings that I know of. I run a small group that meets from time to time in Lexington, KY so if you are in this area there is always a possibility.
Your answer is cheerful and encouraging...at times, it seems that the driving impulse to question is just a curse, an anti-survival drive that interferes with the ability to function in the world. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that getting the big answers brings one happiness or contentment.
Thoughts?
In response to the question on happiness in regards to the big answer. Happiness can become an obsession as can any mood or state of mind. Happiness and peace of mind are relative states, as is misery. It is also too easy to get caught up in wishful thinking which is a trap. One cannot postulate what is to be found at the end of the Path. All one can do is back away from that which is untrue and that means backing away from postulating what one will find. Ask yourself what is happiness? What is misery? etc... Looking at what you come up with honestly without painting a picture of what you want to find is a step in that direction.
The response about happiness is correct. It is not something we need.
In fact, one could say that true happiness would be a state where one has no need of any happiness. Reality has nothing attached to it. It is a state of being, with no external support.
I have been a student of John Deruiter for some time now, and these simple concepts of truth, deeply ingrained in his being, have resonated in me deeply.
Living a real life, with no wants or needs, is where true joy is found.
When you are "being" what you know, there is no need for anything, including happiness. Happiness is just something to experience, as is sadness, and not worth attaching to. Any experience is illusory, and will take you away from the truth if you identify with it. Truth is formless, and is the only thing worth attaching to.
Know the inexaustible goodness that exists in that point in you that has need of nothing. Cherish that.
Do as you please, then put the doing aside, remaining in that point.
Life does not really begin until you can be excited with absolutely nothing. Be full, as is, with nothing.
Realize the burden associated with having anything, then make the deep down commitment to be be free without form.
In response to Goose I would like to point out a few keys we should avoid as mentioned in THE ALBIGEN PAPERS of Richard Rose in the chapter ON GURUS AND UNIQUE SYSTEMS. "A. Does it lessen your fear or raise your hopes by means of concept-building? B. Does it hint of sensual license? C. Is it cheaper to subscribe to, or to follow? Is it venal, or more expensive and are you deluded into thinking that it, being select and consequently, more expensive, is only for financially successful people (perfected men, meaning the select)? D. Does it have a power structure that may bring you power someday? E. Does it appeal to any other vanity? F. Did you join it because you were too tired to go on looking?"
I am not saying all these points apply here, but I see where some of them may. I can see how some of these points you speak of where there is nothing to be done could apply to one who has already become Enlightened, but it seems dangerous advise for a genuine seeker who has yet to Become. What is the foundation that led you to the realizations you speak of? Unless one has moved beyond all desire and attachment what you say is not possible. What do you mean when you say "excited with absolutely nothing"? How is it possible to be excited in that state? The same goes with doing as you please. What does that mean? It sounds like total license to escape any accountability at all. I am not trying to argue here. I just want to confront these statements for the sake of true understanding. Did you come about this as a result of your own inward looking? or was it through someone else?
Why live, why even breath is an equally valid question! We can do nothing other than what we are already doing.
I simply dont know why I am searching? This is what I am trying to find out through honest self-observation. We might find out if we are insincere that it is to feed our intellectual egos, or to impress upon others with our knowledge. Or it could be for social contact for acceptance and a feeling of belonging with like-minded people. Or it could be a pollyanna to feel good about ourselves "doing good"? It could be because there is a question deep inside to find out who is driving this thing or to find the mind of God? Or it could be an unexplainable longing "To know", that has been with us as a child? Or an intutive feeling that there is "something" indefinable, more than us, some realm of knowledge that is beyond intellectual reasoning about it? Perhaps it is simply related to the "curiosity" drive or instinct found in all lifeforms?
This is what Richard Rose captures for me more than many other spiritualists. The Albigen system has a way of using today's language to seduce my intellect, and take me to a point where I simply admit defeat and cant think anymore. This teetering paradoxical point of collapse of thought goes beyond the paradigm of "accepted" science as we know it so far. This system is highly intellectual and critical and does not promise to print a "rosey" picture (excuse the ironic pun) of how things are, by using emotionally ladden "feel good" language. But knowing that we are less conditioned by breaking through our own illusions has to be some solace for all our searching.
Diane's comment that there does not seem to be any evidence that getting the big answers brings one happiness or contentment reminds me of the old zen koan, where when the master was asked how he felt after enlightenment he replied "as miserable as ever". I would have to agree that there is no guarantee that in enlightenment, the state of seeing things as they truly are, is necessarily going to make us happy. But there is another way to look at it. Perhaps there is joy to be found in the journey? Perhaps there is happiness to be found with contemplating the big questions rather than finding the answers? Perhaps it keeps us away from other things such as getting caught up in the playful toy-things in life, becoming addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex or life in the fast lane? Perhaps it gives us a new found sense of meaning and confidence in the World where we see through things that would otherwise keep us in bondage and make us fearful? We might still be in a cage but at least we realize the cage exists in the zoo.
All of these are equally reasonable and valid. Personally, I find it irrelevant to one's path in asking why others are not interested in the spiritual pursuit. Maybe it is ignorance as the Buddha would say. However the question is a bit like asking why doesn't everyone like the colour blue? I dont know why and have no hope of knowing the answer to that question, until I know the answer to my own question. The only valid and sincere question we should ask ourselves, where we do have hope of answering, is WHY WE ARE!
But in the final analysis if you saw a door with the words saying "This door opens onto the Absolute", and you knew that once opened you could never go back to how things were, wouldn't you be tempted to take a gamble and step inside and perhaps see the Wizard of Oz pulling the strings of the universe, so to speak? I know I would, and I suspect everyone reading this blog would do the same. Whilst we should not let it puff up the pride of our ego, let us be happy and thankful in the knowledge that we are (using Gurdjieff's terminology) somewhat less conditioned than Instinctive Man number 1.
A "true" guru or teacher sets an example of how to "be". If time spent with the guru manifests resonance in your heart, in contrast to in your head, this is the evidence that there is some substance here. Contact with the teacher can then become a sharing of reality. If the teacher is being real, and you resonate with this realness, then you will to some extent be immersed in the realness that the teacher is in. A being living in reality will naturally pull on what is real in you. Now you are becoming more familiar with a "space" that is very familiar but that you have, in a sense, taken a physical vacation from.
From my experience, the “you” that you are familiar with gains nothing from this exposure. You are just being re-introduced to what you know is true, but have essentially covered up with distractions in form. In a sense, you are freeing your being. If you are receptive to this new way of being, you will embrace it and spend more time listening to your heart rather than your head. Once you start doing this, everything changes.
By staying in this place of "knowing" you discover a freshness for life that you felt when you were a child. This is what I mean by being excited about nothing. Reality is always fresh and full of newness, unlike the lives most of us live, which are dull and repetitious. This is why we are always seeking for something in life to fulfill us, and we never really find it. When you are being real, there is no boredom. You are always full, no matter what you are doing or what state your body is in.
The only purpose of life is to be who we know we are. If you follow only what you know, you are fulfilling your purpose in life, and anything you do is inconsequential i.e. it cannot be taken to a deep level. Life, and anything that happens in life, is useful only as an environment to be in. Life is worthwhile when you are in it being real, and it loses its worth when you are not being real - i.e. when you identify with, or attach to things in form.
I really don’t know how much sense the above will make to people who read this. It’s difficult to put such abstract “knowing” into words. For now it’s the best way I can do explain my experience, and I would be more than happy to attempt to clarify anything that is unclear.
As I stay in this state, my knowing expands, as does my understanding of this knowing. There is no search anymore for anything. On a deep level, I have no questions. I find that if I stay in what I know, I am completely fulfilled, and have no need of anything whatsoever.
If I leave this knowing, and move into my head, all bets are off!
I've read through these posts a few times and I could comment on much of it. A couple of things said keep drawing me back so I'll just respond to those.
Andrew, you said you don't know why you are searching and you are trying to find out through "honest observation". Is it necessary to know why? We could waste an awful lot of time analyzing ourselves this way and think ourselves in circles or we could simply accept that we are searching and focus our efforts there. Motivational factors shift as we evolve anyway.
Diane asked about happiness and its relation to knowing. I think we should remove happiness from the equation. Are we searching for truth or for happiness? As Rose said... if you are searching for truth with an external goal it skewes the results and can mislead you. Happiness comes and goes in life. It's a frivolous human emotion (albeit a nice one!)but looking for it and desiring it can impede you. I agree with Goose when he said, "true happiness would be a state where one has no need of any happiness."
Some of the comments on happiness appear circular to me. I should throw out all desire for happiness, to replace it with "true happiness" which doesn't have any need for happiness. All we have done here is refine our understanding of happiness, in my opinion. I'm not sure from my commentary that you can ascertain my views on happiness; perhaps I shouldn't be throwing them out. We need to better define what we are discussing here I think. For example, the urge to question is not a state of lack of desire. Therefore, it interferes with "true happiness" per your definition, goose. What we are concerned with is the process of self-inquiry...we cannot assume the end result and it does not help the process to focus on what it might be, does it?
Yes, the comments on happiness are circular because coming across true happiness is. As are many things. Our spiritual paths for instance. We'll analyze ourselves for ages, then look outwards for guidance, then look back inwards and find what we are seeking. So the evolutionary circle there would be looking "at" ourselves with our minds, looking outward with our minds for guidance and learning to use our hearts instead, then looking back towards ourselves again. Only this time we have learned to look "into" ourselves with our hearts and our knowing. We start with the superficial mind analysis and grow into the depth of true knowing and receptiveness but it still comes full circle back to ourselves.
The same circle applies to happiness. We crave that superficial happiness. It feels good. We don't like being unhappy, right? So we try to make it happen and we try to hang onto it. The result of that is feeling truly quite miserable when we aren't "happy". Then we come to a place of understanding that happiness is fleeting and superficial as are all human emotions. We stop grasping for it and accept our emotions and ourselves as they/we are at the time. With acceptance comes peace. We continue on our spiritual search but without seeking happiness and we start recognizing times of a more settled, spiritual loving happiness in ourselves. And if we don't try to hang onto this and seek it we won't be miserable when it's not there. Again, there will be a loving, peaceful acceptance. And because we are not making ourselves miserable anymore when we don't feel the way we want to feel, we are more open to true happiness because we aren't desperately grasping for it, so it happens more often. Full circle.
I know that was all very redundant. Sorry : ) The bottom line for me, regardless of what we feel about happiness, we can't make happiness the goal of a spiritual search or we have preconceived expectations. Expectations skewe results. We have to just be receptive and go with the flow and accept where it takes us.
The best way to be unhappy is to spend all of one's time searching for or thinking about happiness. In order to view happiness as a goal to be obtained, one must view themselves as unhappy.
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