Very often, with regard to the teacher, one hears the phrase....
"Hard as a thunderbolt, soft as a rose."
That is so very poetic, and gives you a sense of the depth of the teacher, and how wonderful it must be to live/learn with such a wonderful being.
Let me translate, "Soft as the rose, Hard as the thunderbolt" for you.....
"Oh, he/she is Sooooo Sweeet!!!!! WHAT A FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!"
In other words, it all sounds sweet as poetry, much as you might be able to describe moldy fruit in a way that almost makes it sound delicious. But when you get your nose right into it, you find a reality that betrays the poetry. Yeats wrote, "Truth is beauty, beauty truth," however I would guess he was speaking more as I am than what many may perceive as an "Oh, everything is just so beautiful," kind of approach.
For REAL Truth, for Real beauty, untruth is the 'enemy'. And for the most part that takes the form of the false ego, the false sense of an important "I".
Recently I was watching a television show ( I don't remember which one) and a woman comes up to the protagonist of the show and says, "Don't you know who I am? I write a VERY IMPORTANT BLOG!"
To which the response was, "Now THERE'S an oxymoron."
There is a Vedic verse which says, "One should not become a mother, a father, a teacher, or worshipable demigod, unless one can liberate their dependents from the cycle of birth and death." I might add to that.... a blogger! (Of course, I would have to be willing to add my own blogs to that as well.)
We are all like the opera singer, warming up their voice to prepare to sing.....
ME..ME...ME...ME...MEEEEEEEE!!!!!
An expansion of the 'Social' craze - Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. And why? Because we are all desperate to be heard. We live in a culture where Radical Narcissism is the way and the life of all. There is no greater Truth than "ME", and that 'ME' cries out to be heard, to be understood, to be LOVED! But that 'ME' is the ego. It will never be satisfied. So one must recognize that, while perhaps 'enemy' is too strong of a word, the illusory nature of the ego must be examined, explored, revealed for the illusion it is.
The part of the teacher that appears as 'Rose' OR 'Thunderbolt' (read - Asshole) is being seen BY the ego. Go beyond the ego-response to the part that says, "Yes, I accept this, and I will dig deeper into the Reality of what is. For the function of Truth, of the Teacher IS to disillusion you. And if you aren't being dis-illusioned, then you best keep looking for another teacher. I believe it was Gloria Steinem who said, "The Truth will set you free, but FIRST it will PISS YOU OFF!"
Look around at what is really happening in the world, and in your own consciousness. Don't be an idiot and just try to sugar coat everything. It's okay to get mad. In fact, it's important. No real change (internal OR external) ever came from people saying, "Oh. It's okay. It's just swell. It's beautiful as it is. Now let's have some strawberry ice cream." Whether it's the world OR your own ego... GET MAD and then DO something about it, even if that 'doing' something is to actually recognize the deep and abiding peace behind it - not falsely, not superficially, but truly. If you fake it, it will quickly arise again.
"Hard as a thunderbolt, soft as a rose."
That is so very poetic, and gives you a sense of the depth of the teacher, and how wonderful it must be to live/learn with such a wonderful being.
Let me translate, "Soft as the rose, Hard as the thunderbolt" for you.....
"Oh, he/she is Sooooo Sweeet!!!!! WHAT A FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!"
In other words, it all sounds sweet as poetry, much as you might be able to describe moldy fruit in a way that almost makes it sound delicious. But when you get your nose right into it, you find a reality that betrays the poetry. Yeats wrote, "Truth is beauty, beauty truth," however I would guess he was speaking more as I am than what many may perceive as an "Oh, everything is just so beautiful," kind of approach.
For REAL Truth, for Real beauty, untruth is the 'enemy'. And for the most part that takes the form of the false ego, the false sense of an important "I".
Recently I was watching a television show ( I don't remember which one) and a woman comes up to the protagonist of the show and says, "Don't you know who I am? I write a VERY IMPORTANT BLOG!"
To which the response was, "Now THERE'S an oxymoron."
There is a Vedic verse which says, "One should not become a mother, a father, a teacher, or worshipable demigod, unless one can liberate their dependents from the cycle of birth and death." I might add to that.... a blogger! (Of course, I would have to be willing to add my own blogs to that as well.)
We are all like the opera singer, warming up their voice to prepare to sing.....
ME..ME...ME...ME...MEEEEEEEE!!!!!
An expansion of the 'Social' craze - Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. And why? Because we are all desperate to be heard. We live in a culture where Radical Narcissism is the way and the life of all. There is no greater Truth than "ME", and that 'ME' cries out to be heard, to be understood, to be LOVED! But that 'ME' is the ego. It will never be satisfied. So one must recognize that, while perhaps 'enemy' is too strong of a word, the illusory nature of the ego must be examined, explored, revealed for the illusion it is.
The part of the teacher that appears as 'Rose' OR 'Thunderbolt' (read - Asshole) is being seen BY the ego. Go beyond the ego-response to the part that says, "Yes, I accept this, and I will dig deeper into the Reality of what is. For the function of Truth, of the Teacher IS to disillusion you. And if you aren't being dis-illusioned, then you best keep looking for another teacher. I believe it was Gloria Steinem who said, "The Truth will set you free, but FIRST it will PISS YOU OFF!"
Look around at what is really happening in the world, and in your own consciousness. Don't be an idiot and just try to sugar coat everything. It's okay to get mad. In fact, it's important. No real change (internal OR external) ever came from people saying, "Oh. It's okay. It's just swell. It's beautiful as it is. Now let's have some strawberry ice cream." Whether it's the world OR your own ego... GET MAD and then DO something about it, even if that 'doing' something is to actually recognize the deep and abiding peace behind it - not falsely, not superficially, but truly. If you fake it, it will quickly arise again.
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