Chapter 7
He himself is nothing. He seeks
nothing for himself .
His personality is always dissolved in the
valour and glory of the action itself
Cervantes
A
Remarkable Man
Kim Taylor was born in India, the son of a dancer, and he had been
Professor of Oriental Arts and Philosophy at the University of Austin, Texas
before moving to England. He published his own books privately under the name
“The Ark Press”, and wrote, under the pen-name Michael Adam, “Man is a
Little World”, “A Wild Strange Place” and “My Wild Lone”. Later he
wrote a book entitled “Womankind”, published by Wildwood House. He told
me a story about the time he had met Krishnamurti in India, at the time of the
Calcutta riots and the conflicts between Hindus and Moslems. He was describing
the terrible atrocities he had witnessed and observed that, as he spoke, K's
face became full of anguish, so he stopped speaking. There were a few minutes
of silence and then a bird sang at the window. Krishnamurti looked up at the
bird and his face became radiant once more. This is an example of living in the
moment as K. let go of the distressing images that were evoked by Kim's graphic
descriptions.
When Kim and his then wife Eya moved to Zennor I often went to
visit them in the lonely and beautiful countryside of Penwith in West Cornwall.
On some days an atmospheric drizzly mist would roll in from the Atlantic and we
would sit inside surrounded by Kim's collections and Eya's dried herbs hanging
from the kitchen ceiling. Sometime later they sold the house and moved into
Mousehole where they had a house in a terrace overlooking the sea. After
leaving Eya as a result of difficult circumstances Kim began teaching
calligraphy classes in Newlyn and there he met Bea, after which they moved to
an old mill cottage in a valley close to Helston. Kim and I had a similar
philosophical outlook and many shared interests, one of which was to live close
to nature and the elements. They coincided very much with the Taoist way of
living, merging with the flow of life's current and going the way life takes
one, without resistance, doing what one has to do in harmony with the
situation, moment to moment, riding with the changes.
This extract is from “My Wild Strange Place”, by Michael
Adam:
“It was time to act. Without wanting one reaches out one's hand.
Without will one pushes or pulls. Without preference one leans to the left or
the right. Without choice one takes this or that. One says “Yes”, sometimes
“No”. The world is all there is, here and now. Now waking and walking, now
eating and drinking, now weeping and smiling, now sleeping, now dying. It is a
full life. With sun and rain added it is a rich one. A strange life too, for
one lives one's day and looks down on it with the eyes of a hawk that hovers
still above the moor and sees all the errant running of a rabbit....Strange to
be at once a hawk and a rabbit.”
My
friend Kim is talking about “doing” and “being”. Without putting these words
into categories, without comparing and contrasting, without judgment or
analysis, we see that “doing” is an active condition and “being” is a passive
state, but also that doing and being are one, two sides of the same coin, the
yin and the yang. Out of nothing
everything arises. We do what we have to do and everything happens or doesn't
happen and we are both the creator and the created, both at the same time. The
world is as it is because of us, standing on the “ground of being” and playing
our part in the drama on the world's stage, despite ourselves and because of
ourselves. Only when we “stop the world” do we cease to be the puppet and
become the magician, the fully realised individual who knows that he doesn't
know and that nothing really matters, and that everything happens because it
does.
“Two birds sit on the same tree; one eats the fruit,
the other looks on”
If this
book has served any purpose at all, the above quote will be clear to the reader
and no further explanation will be necessary. However, delving deeper into the
fascinating subject of one's own life may uncover fundamental truths which
guide and motivate all our lives and reveal the universality which governs all.
My own truth came when walking with a friend, Jim, on Tregonning Hill one sunny
morning. It was an experience which is beyond description and I will not
attempt to describe it except to say that everything was revealed, in all its
glory and wonder, and the sensation was of unity with all creation.
The
nature of consciousness expressed itself in a knowing that energy, light, sound
and warmth were all one vibration and there was no separation. The observer was
truly the observed and the body and mind were no different from the landscape
which was spread out beneath the ancient Iron Age fort which was, for a brief
time, our chosen domain. The petty matters which concern us in the material
world into which we are born ceased to have meaning and relevance, and fell
away, giving way to an awareness of beauty and freedom and the sanctity of
life. Later, on our way back down the slopes of Tregonning, Jim announced:
“People cannot accept you as you are but always try to make you into what they
are not!” It seemed a profound statement, and a sign that we were well on our
way back into the world of reality, which is also the world of illusion.
Re-entry
into the dualistic earth-bound world of reality may come as something of a
shock for those who were left behind and possibly do not recognise the person
who had been in a place where all is one and indivisible, where all goes back
to the garden. At this point it pays to have good spiritual friends. However,
it is necessary to return to the “real world” and carry on with one's daily
routines, but with a different perspective on life. “If you ask me if your
mission in life is over, I can answer that if you are alive, it isn't!”
We carry
on with our lives as though nothing had changed, and in fact nothing has
changed as “it” has always been there within in a latent state, though the
saying that one is “in the world, but not of the world” is seen to be relevant
to the newly acquired condition. Whenever we encounter other human beings we
take them as we find them and we have an innate knowledge and appreciation of
the level of their spiritual understanding, in an awareness which contains
within it a sense of humility and acceptance, the acceptance of “what is”.
Friends in
Eternity 1982
When
first we met I knew you were my friend!
Your
dancing eyes, your undenying smile -
the
knowing glance that hints of untold secrets
and
tells of an awareness of the One.
We are
the One, the centre of creation -
that
flowing, ebbing tide which has no end.
There is
a feeling that we met before
so many
times, upon the path of life;
and yet…
I know that time is an illusion -
that
moment of eternity has never gone.
We are
the Life, the flowering of creation,
the
pounding of the wave upon the shore.
The
years pass by, the seasons light and dark,
and we
move on or stay and chance our luck;
distracted
by our new-found acquisitions, yet
we apprehend
the bringer of the dawn.
We are
the Earth, the rock of our creation,
the
whirling, spinning being that leaves no mark.
The
Nature of Mind
As we
have seen separation brought about by belief, not least by the belief in who we
are, breeds conflict, when thought exceeds the boundaries which limit its
performing its true purpose, which is to be a tool and a servant of Mind and
not the master. We need to investigate thoroughly the function of thought, but
how to do this if we employ thought alone to examine this problem? We might as
well try using water to fix a leak.
Thought
is linked to the perception of the self or psyche which we believe is the
reality of who we are. Doubtless, thought itself is the problem, despite its
obvious and essential uses. But how do we set about tackling the controlling
power of thought, so that it can be put in its place? Not logic nor reason can
provide the answer, but only the seeing without the motive, the seeing which
comes from the empty Mind, emptied of the accumulated trash which cluttered and
confused it. “Seeing is believing” is a
common saying which has some truth in it if it is unobstructed by thought. The
problem arises when every person holds to a separate belief and it is therefore
better to base one's understanding and actions on fact and necessity rather
than on divisive belief.
Krishnamurti
said “Belief implies the existence of something we don’t know.” He asserted
that belief and separation breed endless conflict, as if we are inhabited by
demons. The atheist also has a belief, the belief that God does not exist. Yet,
if there is no creator there can be no creation, so does the atheist deny his
own existence? The obvious answer to this conundrum is that there has to be a
creator, but we do not believe in him: we recognise “him” and understand that
creation is a continuing process and the powerhouse of evolution. Yet we can
only perceive “him” through our conscious awareness of the unity and intricacy
of creation. Essentially there is no conflict between “creationist” and
“evolutionist” theories. Through our creative existence evolution is
progressed, guided by the environment and its needs and demands.
Religions
are constructs of thought, even though they have been inspired by the spiritual
experiences of remarkable men, such as Jesus, Siddhartha Buddha, Mohammed and
other great prophets. However, as we have demonstrated, thought is iniquitous
and it dominates and usurps the functions of Mind. We share in the same
universal consciousness, and it is only thought which sets up the separation.
Only the Mind freed from thought can comprehend the beauty and the Oneness of
creation. We are in fact set up by thought, without even realizing it. We do
not even realise that there is a problem.
Mind can
be likened to a vast room, in which all kinds of garbage accumulates, and in
which there is a disordered jumble made up of discarded thoughts, memories and
recollections. I suggest that you take a walk around your mind, picking up this
trash and throwing it out, clearing out your furniture, cleaning and dusting
and polishing, and letting in some fresh air to blow away these relics and
manifestations of the past. Then brighten up the place with a few well-chosen
posters on the walls, displaying the following admonishments : Be Attentive; Be
Alert: Be Aware; Be Discriminating; Be Observant; Be Perceptive; Be Selective;
Be Truthful.
In this
way we set the stage for liberation from the tyranny of thought and the false
ego, the preoccupation with the self. By our own efforts we can stop the
endless procession of images which assail the Mind, the incessant internal
dialogues and argumentative diatribes, the chatter and the noise.
As this
uproar dies down and is replaced by a growing sense of euphoria and well-being,
a feeling of acceptance and tranquillity will pervade the meditative Mind,
freeing it from the yoke of thought and its attendant mischievous machinations.
However, it is important to note that we should not carry in our minds the
expectation of some future reward, the image of something we are seeking, and
to recall the words of Carl Jung, the mystical psychologist “I know that I
don't know.” A mind that is free has no expectations. How can you know what you
don't know?
The nature
of Mind, unencumbered by thought, is innocent, spacious, perceptive,
disciplined, incisive and intelligent. This is not the mind which thought
dominates and manipulates through desire, acquisitiveness
self-aggrandisement. Intelligence is the
seeing of “what is”, the one and only reality which so often is obscured by
thought. The “what is” is constantly changing; it is not bound by the past, by
memories, regrets, formulas, routines and habitual concepts. It is not hampered
by unfulfilled desires and expectations of the “future”. It is constantly on
the move. Truth is never still – try to catch it and it eludes you; truth
changes from moment to moment in the ever-present Now. What we perceive is not
necessarily what is true. Our clouded perception emanates from our conditioned
minds.
Instead
of seeing things as they are we see things as we think they are, from our
undiscovered perception of “what is”. There is only one truth but we cannot see
it or relate to it out of a clouded or flawed perception of it. We must learn
to relate to “what is” from a clear perception of the way things are, from a
mind which mirrors reality, not conditions it or interprets it for its own
ends. The mechanical mind is always playing tricks, so that we are led farther
from reality, and perception and reality are increasingly drawn apart. We need
to view any situation from a clear, unclouded mind, a mind which is empty of
motive and the mischief of thought, a mind which is attentive, innocent and yet
aware.
Thought
describes reality, interprets reality, explains reality, but would you prefer a
description of a blueberry cheesecake, or would you prefer to sink your teeth
in it? This is the difference between thought and perception. A great work of
art, a Rodin sculpture or a Van Gogh, communicates to those who see. A great
piece of classical music, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, speaks to those who
hear. Even with a judicious choice of words, can I adequately describe to you
their beauty and majesty?
Mind can
be heaven and mind can be hell. Thus we create our own Heaven and Hell.
Whatever religions may tell you, heaven and hell are here and now. The heavenly
“reward” is here and now, if we accept it. By exercising our native
intelligence, which is all-seeing, all-knowing, we can deconstruct the
programming which set up the stream of conditioned thought, not as a gradual
process but as a flash of perception. By the cultivation of an alert and
meditative Mind, and by the clarity we bring to our roaming perception, we can
enter a new world, a world of wonder and bliss. Thought then regains its true
place, as a means of functioning in this complex world, a tool with which to
survive and prosper – but that is all!
These
are the insights and realisations which came to me over the years on the
journey to nowhere.
The Tigress 1974
What did
you want from me
when you
poured out your love?
Like a
hungry tigress scenting blood
you
drained me of my strength,
and
lapped up every drop.
What did
you seek in me
that you
do not have within?
Knowing
that I had no more to give
you came
to me again
then
smiled your last farewell.
What did
you find in me
to whet
your appetite?
Like a
hungry tigress scenting blood
you
sought to satisfy
your
overwhelming need.
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