two attentions

Today I'd like to outline our two attentions, two minds, two ways of perceiving reality.
Are there more than two? Yes. Exploring these two will open the doors for exploring others.

There are many names for these two attentions. I'll touch on several of them to give you multiple angles
of perception and understanding.

As you are reading this post, one of your two minds is going to digest it.
It's like someone made a batch of soup and you've never tasted it before...
Do you ask what's in it, or do you just taste it?
These are the two minds. In a nutshell:
One wants to understand before/in order to experience.
The other wants to experience before/in order to understand.

The attention that wants to comprehend, grasp, understand... is also called the mind, in that it has no
tangible reality. It is lunar, mind, mens, imagination. It is based on knowledge and knowledge is the
known, the past. When you build reality based on the mind, it is called Saturn.

This attention is also the idea of oneself as the illusory ego, knowledge, past, mind.
When the mind is based on what is real, the present, it is called Jupiter.

Notice the qualities and correspondences of the two.
Saturn is black, dense, contraction while Jupiter is associated with white or sky blue, the air and sky,
and expansion.

Here is another way of relating the cross of matter to the lunar crescent of mind - the anchor and the trident:

The anchor weighs us down (saturn), keeps us fixed while the trident is the reverse - freeing one from
old ways and seeing things anew, as represented by Siva, the destroyer.

Let's observe another system's use of these attentions...
In the Kabbalah, we see two glyphs or autiot, one representing the open, creative hand (Yod - 10),
and the other the closed or grasping hand (Kaf - 20).
Yod is related numerically as an extension of Aleph - 1, and unfolds into Qof - 100.
Aleph is the Ox, the creative force, and Qof is the back of the head, that is, the seat of the Subconscious,
the cerebellum.

In contrast, Kaf - 20, the grasping hand, is an extension of Bet - 2, a house, dwelling or container, and
Resh - 200, is the head or face, the frontal lobe, seat of the personality.

So we can make the connection between the subconscious, open, creative hand with Jupiter/expansion,
and the personality, closed, grasping hand with Saturn/contraction.

The closed hand that wants to "grasp" or "comprehend" wants to know reality through knowledge, the past,
or by dissecting it, separation. It is like the Zen saying where the guy comes to learn with a cup already full.
The grasping/closed hand is already full of knowledge. It will pollute the present with that knowledge.
The open Jupiter/expansion creative hand is empty, ready to receive the present as a true "present"/gift.

Luke 5:37
"And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins."


Let's take a look at what Castaneda had to say about the two attentions...
I'll paraphrase or give my own summary in order to save space:

The first attention: ordinary awareness, the assemblage point fixed to its habitual position, the tonal,
the known, reason, the attention trained to perceive and interpret infinity as the mundane physical  world.

The second attention: extraordinary (heightened) awareness, the assemblage point shifted or moved to
assemble new, unknown emanations/frequencies as realities, the Nagual, the unknown, the attention
re-trained to be fluid, open-minded, to receive the unknown instead of project the known.

I just came across this relative quote:

"You must let go of your desire to cling. The very same thing happened to me. I held on to things, such as the food I liked, the mountains where I lived, the people I used to enjoy talking to. But most of all I clung to the desire to be liked. Those things are our barriers to losing our human form. Our attention is trained to focus doggedly. That is the way we maintain the world. Now is the time to let go of all that. In order to lose your human form you should let go of all that ballast."


Notice the terms "cling" (grasping hand) and "ballast" (the Saturnian anchor).
When we turn that anchor upside-down we have an umbrella (Latin umbra = shadow) or a parasol (beyond
the sun).  We also have a mushroom which is a doorway to the second attention.


There is a latin phrase familiar to Theosophists: "Demon est Deus Inversus"
Demon = devil = satan = Saturn
Deus = Dieu = Dieu Pater = Jupiter


But in alchemical terms, the seed of Gold lies in Saturn; or the alchemist transmutes lead into gold.
What is this transmutation? Inversus. Turn it upside-down and let nature/gravity do its thing.

From William Blake's "The First Book of Urizen"
Does this not suggest "turn your reason (Urizen) upside-down"?


Bhagavad Gita, chapter 6, verse 5:

"A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.
For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy."



Finally, my personal view on these two modes of perception is to call them past-now and future-now.


The past-now (Saturn) is the way we perceive this moment through the dirty filter of the past/knowledge.
In this mode, we are only able to re-assemble items/images of the past which we project onto the present.
It is an active mode - we are doing something - trying to "create" better than God/what is.


The future-now (Jupiter) is an expansive and receptive mode. We receive the future instead of projecting
the past. We receive the unknown, because we are not using our knowledge/reason.


To create and control takes effort and stress. And guess what - you're going to receive whatever comes
anyway. So why not relax and receive the moment. Simply observe what stress/grasping does to your 
body compared to relaxation/receiving. You can row your boat all you like, or let the current take you.


The same has been observed about breathing: Do you take a breath, or do you receive a breath?


In reference to the "Inversus" and the mind being a friend or enemy, you can see that one
can set oneself up against the flow of the future now, thus perceiving god as satan/adversary.
When we try to control through the past now, obstacles are often thrown in our way.
(Diabolos = to throw between) Is it a stumbling block or a stepping stone? Do you see shit 
or flowers? (do you flow, or row against?) Lead or gold?




In this blog, we have only looked at the relationship between mind/moon and matter/cross.
What do you think is the difference when substituting the sun for the moon?

Always Perfect, Always Changing

I think it's safe to say that most of the time we see ourselves and our world as
out of balance and inharmonious, fractured... and that we are engaged in the task of
correcting or restoring the balance or healing (making whole).

But there is another way to perceive ourselves and our world.
If you really think about it, or SEE it, it's quite impossible for the Universe to be out of balance;
same goes for the microcosm.

What I see in my greatest clarity is a perfect manifestation.
But it's interesting because we usually ascribe a fixity or conclusion to perfection because we think of it
as something to be attained... the end product. "It is finished."

But there is no end. It's a perfect FLUX! Perfect volatility.
Always perfect, yet always changing.

It's quite a different way of perceiving.
Imagine a Rubick's Cube, completed, with all faces one uniform color.
If you "change" the cube by rotating a part of it, the "perfection" is lost.
But the Universe is different... no matter how it is changed, no matter how it evolves,
it has some innate balancing mechanism that results in an always perfect manifestation.
This "perceived lack" over here is balanced by that "perceived abundance" over there.
The "error" is to imagine them as two separate conflicting manifestations.

Deuteronomy 6:4
"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, is One."
שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד


Note - Israel means "God strives"
The literal text uses IHVH, for the Lord, and says it twice:
"Hear O Israel, IHVH is our God, IHVH is One."

My translation:
Listen you striving gods! Existence is God!. Existence is One!
i.e. there is nothing to strive after.
THIS, existence (that which is), is all there is.
The All is One; One the All.

Communication - Part 2

I was just seeing how I create cycles by swinging or chasing my tail.
For me it becomes apparent in the desire to communicate.
One perceives a separation from their fellowman, their lover, their friend, neighbor...
and endeavors to bridge the gap, to make a union.
But the funny thing is, there is no communication in union!
There must be two to communicate.

So we can't find it in separation or union!!
It's a search for a non-existing, non-actual, assumed thing.
And yet, there is found, at times, something which satisfies the desire for communion.
I guess we sometimes get "close enough" to call it good.

Perhaps the most unified we can get is to realize that we don't know what the hell is going on. :)
To be enamored by/with the mystery. To share the silence that words cannot convey.

Quest-ions - Part 2

I found some great videos that happen to elucidate what I
have pointed at in my original Quest-ions post.
The first clip's laughter is so delicious!
The second clip is the unveiling.
The third clip is a short follow-up

Jeff Foster - All that's left is laughter...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UuaOye9VyI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeOhJ8-aGiE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI-f88aYg30&feature=related

Poem - 12/8/2010

Weighing the soul
   the truth and the lying
Opened my heart
   to laughter and crying
Seeking to balance
   the living and dying
Stretching my limbs
   now crawling, now flying

Cosmopolite
   transcending the Earth
Hermaphrodite
   the virgin gives birth
Roots in the heavens
   leaves in the dirt
The first shall be last
   and the last shall be first

This mind a steel trap
   this body my jail
This soul is held hostage
   'til Spirit posts bail
Hang me from a tree
   until Isis unveils
Within's the way out

   I've swallowed my tail

Love

From some perspectives, it seems that there are few things as wonderful as being in love.
But most of the time we watch this love turn into something else, or be replaced by something else...
sometimes jealousy, sometimes taking for granted, sometimes co-dependence, 
sometimes a 'team' to pay bills and maintain the family's needs, sometimes hatred...
More often than not, being "IN" love is replaced by "I love you", which can be very different things.
You can still say "I love you" and mean it and believe it while falling into any of the above categories I mentioned.
"I love you" can be for "all the years/experiences we've had" and not be IN love anymore, hearts beating, passion...

You know I'm a word-smith. Something people rarely realize is that passion is the opposite/complement of action.
Passion is passive, action is active. But people don't think that way - they think passion is active;
they try to DO passion instead of letting passion DO you.
You don't make yourself be IN love; you just find yourself IN love.
And why do we so frequently find ourselves OUT of love?
Because we falsely/mistakenly identify love with a personality.
We say "I am in love with Kim" or "I am in love with Greg".
But there is no "I" in love; the "I" is not what loves.
Love loves! And love loves itself! Love falls in love with love!
That's all that's ever happening! The "I"s just get in the way and fuck things up.
Love begins relationships and one "I" or two "I"s end them.
The "I" was never capable of love.
So "I" love "you" is doubly wrong and very difficult to maintain and even if you manage to
maintain it you probably fall out of love.

If two people could see that "Love loves Love" instead of "I love you", that could be an amazing relationship.
What freedom! What ease!


Please read these enlightened words of Kahlil Gibran on Love:
http://www.katsandogz.com/onlove.html


Think of how different the world would be if people knew that Love was loving love.
How could there be an ending to Love loving love?
There's only endings to "I love you".
Passion is passive. 


It's the same with non-duality's perception on meditation:
If YOU are meditating, then you're doing it wrong.
Meditation does you.




Try applying the same PASSION to sex, work, etc...

Some of you may notice a conflict - "we're not supposed to let things DO us...
We're supposed to be in control, use our will, create reality and not be a victim of it..."

Are you sure? Consider how to exercise will without an "I". Can you do it?
This "I" will be the death of you.

Love loving love...
Life living life....
Sacrifice your free will. That is the secret.

The Eye

This post will attempt to briefly touch on many aspects of the eye as it relates to spiritual and alchemical practice. This subject could fill several books, so to remain brief, many things will just be mentioned and pointed at and you will be left to contemplate and emphasize what you will.
I am also writing this post as a consideration of the alchemical First Matter.
Expect it to jump all over the place. :)

First a bit of alchemical, mythological, green language background:

dragon
early 13c., from O.Fr. dragon, from L. draconem (nom. draco) "huge serpent, dragon," from Gk. drakon (gen. drakontos) "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," from PIE *derk- "to see." Perhaps the lit. sense is "the one with the (deadly) glance." The young are dragonets (14c.). Obsolete drake "dragon" is an older borrowing of the same word. Used in the Bible to translate Heb. tannin "a great sea-monster," and tan, a desert mammal now believed to be the jackal.
NB - don't miss the link between tannin and the oak, oak galls/apples, grapevine.
leviathan
late 14c., from L.L. leviathan, from Heb. livyathan "dragon, serpent, huge sea animal," of unknown origin, perhaps related to liwyah "wreath," from base l-w-h- "to wind, turn, twist."
NB - notice the wreath on the World tarot trump in my very first blog. Also levi = "branch" or "vine",
also "joining" as in yoke/yoga.
medusa
"jellyfish," 1758, as genus name, from the name of one of the three Gorgons with snakes for hair, whose glance turned to stone him who looked upon it (attested in English from late 14c.). Her name is from Gk. Medousa, lit. "guardian," fem. prp. of the verb medein "to protect, rule over" (see Medea).
Pegasus
winged horse in Gk. mythology, late 14c., from L., from Gk. Pegasos, usually said to be from pege "spring, font" (pl. pegai), especially in "springs of Ocean," near which Medusa was said to have been killed by Perseus (Pegasus sprang from her blood).

The Hebrew letter Ayin (O) means 'eye' and 'fountain' and has a numerical value of 70 (or 130 with final N).
The Hebrew words for secret (SVD) and wine (IIN) also = 70.
The aries glyph is a symbol of a ram's horns and also a fountain.
One might consider the 'eye' of a hurricane and the Primum Mobile or the "Commencement of Whirling Motions" in kabbalah.

"The light/lamp of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single/simple, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness." - Luke 11:34

The greek word for "single" is haplous, which is defined by Strong also as "folded together".
NB - enfolding-unfolding universe.

The greek for evil is poneros, whose english equivalent is pernicious, but also similar to ponderus -
of weight, density; also ponder = contemplate, reflect. If in contrast to single (sol), we may think dual or
many (antimonos). In contrast to enfolded, we may think unfolded.

Latin translation  -

Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus si oculus tuus fuerit simplex totum corpus tuum lucidum erit si autem nequam fuerit etiam corpus tuum tenebrosum erit.

Simplex = simple, single, uncompounded, unmixt (think of alchemical use of mixt)

Nequam = worthless, good for nothing, vile, bad, rogue

In reference to haplous, Hapy, the Egyptian god of the inundation of the Nile, means "flowing, running
water" - i.e. mercurius.
Interestingly, Hapy is a blue-skinned pregnant male with full belly and breasts, kind of like Hindu Shiva.

"During the Nineteenth Dynasty Hapy is often depicted as a pair of figures, each holding and tying together the long stem of two plants representing Upper and Lower Egypt, symbolically binding the two halves of the country around a hieroglyph meaning 'union'."  - wikipedia

Note - here Hapy is dual, twin, mirror. Also consider the two halves of Egypt as our white and red twin waters

emanating from our Oak, the Tau cross symbol.

The Hymn to the Flood says:

"Lightmaker who comes from the dark

Fattener of herds

Might that fashions all

None can live without him

People are clothed with the flax of his fields

Thou makest all the land to drink unceasingly, as thou descendest on thy way from the heavens."

Let's study another New Testament reference to the eye:

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam/log out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote/speck out of thy brother's eye." - Matthew 7:5

In studying the greek, we find some interesting words and translations.

Hypocrite = stage actor, also 'one who answers'. I love the latter in reference to Krishnamurti and leaving questions unanswered/unknown.

First is proton in greek.

To cast out = ekbale, which consider the root:

bole
early 14c., from O.N. bolr "tree trunk," from P.Gmc. *bulas (cf. M.Du. bolle "trunk of a tree"), from PIE *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (cf. Gk. phyllon "leaf," phallos "swollen penis;" L. flos"flower," florere "to blossom, flourish," folium "leaf;" O.Prus. balsinis "cushion;" O.N. belgr "bag, bellows;" O.E. bolla "pot, cup, bowl;" O.Ir. bolgaim "I swell," blath "blossom, flower,"bolach "pimple," bolg "bag;" Bret. bolc'h "flax pod;" Serb. buljiti "to stare, be bug-eyed;" Serbo-Croat. blazina "pillow").

The "log" could be our bole, or oak. The greek used is dokon, which think Dogon - refer to post #7 here:

http://forum.alchemyforums.com/showthread.php?1602-Alchemy-and-the-concept-of-generation

Much of this verse is about the subtle and the gross in or emanating from the "eye".

Again, as in Luke 11:34, we have "to see clearly" - diablepseis from the roots dia and blepo. (What the blepo

do we know?) :D

The "speck" is greek karphos which means to wither or dry up as in a small dry twig, stalk or straw.

None of these are what one would think of speck-sized! Consider the roots kar (body) and phos (light) -

again remind us of Luke 11:34

"From your brother" is actually adelphou - from the womb. 

So there's a lot of greek cabalism to be considered.

http://biblelexicon.org/matthew/7-5.htm

The log in the eye may also suggest log-os: the Word.

The third eye - single and invisible - as the pineal gland is one of the seven "fruits" on the tree of life.

The rods and cones of the human eye may suggest two waters emanating from one fount/eye. The cones are

adapted to perceive detail and color, while the rods, which are far more numerous, are adapted to the dark

and perceiving motion and peripheral vision.

Our dual fountain is also represented biblically by two miraculous births:

Mary, a virgin womb, gives birth to Jesus - the ShIN/fire

Elizabeth, a "dead womb", gives birth to John - water