Non-continuity - J. Krishnamurti

Photo - vincent guth on unsplash

Questioner: The fact that death stares everybody in the face,
yet its mystery is never solved.  Must it always be so?

Krishnamurti:  Why is there fear of death?

There is fear of death as long as there is desire for continuity
[of the] character, the name, and so on.  Fear comes into being
when this continuity is threatened through death.  So, there is
fear of death as long as there is the desire for continuity.

Death, the state of non-continuity, the state of rebirth, is the
unknown.  Death is the unknown.  So death remains a mystery.

Immortality is not the continuation of "me." [the character]
The me is of time.  So there is no relationship between the me
and that which is immortal, timeless.  That which is immeasurable
and timeless cannot be caught in the net of time [and
therefore never dies - and we are that timeless energy]

J. Kirshnamurti
excerpt from a talk in Bombay March 1948

[Brackets mine]

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo -Vincent Guth
Unsplash

~

For all the innocents who have passed in humankind's never ending
propensity toward war...

_/\_

Namaste

 

A Time of "Dying"...

 Photo - David Peters

A time of "dying",

dying to the entanglements of this world;
to the demands of this world;
dis-mantling the attachments;
untangling the knots...

A time of "dying".
to self-image;
the loss of the structure of identity;
of expectations of how I hoped life would be,
how I would be -
Yet grateful for the way it is...

A metaphorical "death",
an internal "death";
the death of perceptions,
perspectives, beliefs and preoccupations -
only shadowy characters in the play.

Feeling the loss of my own "death" already,
my self-made identity - loosening its grip;
the decline in faculties of mind and body -
losing their functions...

Something in us knows
when we hear the haunting echo of birds
singing at dawn - "waking" you up -
that something inside is "dying"...

Yet, I welcome this "death",
this "release";
the release of physical tension,
the mind's mentations,
and the ache of the heart.

And possibly an opening
into a Great Transition;
a Rebirth into
the Rhythm of
the Grand Mystery
of the Universe...

Mystic Meandering
April 23, 2021

Loss - Richard Wehrman

More and more he felt
that those things he thought
he controlled, those powers
he believed he once had, were
slipping away; his capacities
to do diminished, his thoughts
multiplied and went in their
own directions, his ability to
remain one-pointed, to
meditate, ended in sleep.  He
judged himself harshly, but
letting that go, he found he
ended up with less and less,
whereas when he was younger
his imagination told him, by
this time, he would be stronger,
more focused, accomplished
in wisdom and knowledge.
Yet here he was, a snowman
melting away.....
This black mood matched
the time of year, and that was
reassuring: to understand
that everything is stripped
away before anything new
can be born.

Richard Wehrman
from: Being Here

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
Snow Bunny - eventually
took shelter in the brush
near the tree. 

Death and Rebirth - Matt Licata

In each moment the sacred process of death and rebirth is playing
out within us.  With each breath, something in us is dying: some
aspect of who we think we are, or what we're doing here, the death
of an old dream, or an idea about how it was all going to turn out.

In the face of this dissolution, the question isn't so much how can
we be reborn, but will we participate in death fully, and with an
open heart, paving the way for new forms to emerge, trusting that
rebirth will take place according to a timeline originating far away
in the stars.

In times of transition, our tendency is to rush to rebirth, back into
the known, in an urgent attempt to cure, maintain, or heal that
which is dying, that which longs for transformation [within us.]
It is so natural to resist falling apart in our need to put it all back
together.  But it is only from the core of the womb of death - a
death tended to consciously - that rebirth can come into being.

The invitation, which we can at times hear clearly, during the dark
of night, in the slowness and the depths, as we move in and out of
states of sleep and dream, is to not abandon death...  To not short
circuit the intelligence that death is, and to remember that rebirth
is not possible without dissolution.

Allow death some time to unfold, to share its poetry and its
fragrances, which are not partial, but of a light that is whole.
In those times in our lives, when things are being rearranged
and reorganized inside and around us, we can attune to what
is truly being asked, to allow the forms of love safe passage to
continue their journey.  And equally allow them to dissolve...
Give them permission to dance and play and participate fully
in the sacred return...

Matt Licata

Imbolc: Fire-Light

I am re-discovering the Fire-Light that wants to come to life here;
that wants to express, to give voice,
and not be constrained by “spiritual” conundrums.
The Light that Lives –
without mentations and cogitations of words and concepts
that cloud and dim its Light…

~

Interesting that this is arising for me at Imbolc –
the cross quarter day between the Winter Solstice
and the Spring Equinox.
Celtic tradition has it that Imbolc is celebrated
in preparation of “giving birth”,
in anticipation of the birth of Spring.

~

I’ve actually been feeling this inner Fire for a long time –
pushing through, coming alive, wanting to thrive,
threatening to consume “me;”
creating a combination of excitement and apprehension…

It’s a threshold kind of feeling,
like Imbolc, the threshold of “re-birth”,
of rekindling the inner Light;
the intuitive inner compass Light of the Heart;
the inner Fire-Light that is the expression of Being ItSelf...

I see a spark of light shining…
Alegria!


In the meantime, I intend to in-JOY the remaining days of winter,
tending the faint light until it ignites into the Flame...

Warm Winter Blessings!


top photo: sun through frost on window
bottom photo: street light through frost