Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Your Work And God's Work

Q: How does one express God, or do God's work in the world?

MM: God's work? God knows nothing of work. The idea of "work" is a very human idea. As far as God is concerned there is only effortlessness, and all gets done. It is more of a question of how do we stop destroying "God's work" - the earth, the oceans, and all of it's creatures.

Ask yourself instead - how do I express myself in the world, and how do I do my work - without doing harm? Attempt to know yourself. What drives you, what motivates you, what seems good and what seem bad to you, etc. Really look closely and learn. Meditate, and get in touch with your innermost self. Learn to separate what you are conditioned to believe from what you yourself know to be true from your core.

The better you know yourself and the more you are guided by that - you will find there is no difference between "your work" and what people call God's work. The truth is that God has no work - but you do. You need to get the laundry done and the kids fed. Your work - and what people call "God's work"- is always what is directly before your eyes - be that the dishes that need to be washed, or jumping in front of a moving train to pull someone off the tracks. At some point what has been thought of as hard work, becomes effortless and natural.

Q: But aren't there choices - like - do I do the laundry, answer emails, or do I read a book to my child?

MM: Is the child standing in front of you asking you to read, or are you doing the laundry wondering about this? What is before your eyes?

As a general rule, when in doubt - always make it a priority to attend to a child.

A child always demands your presence in the present. That's why the above is good advice - not just for the benefit of the child, but also for you. (Use Here You Are to help you - that's what it was written for - to help adults meet with their children in the present).

If you take a moment - you will always know what is needed right now, without thinking, and right action will follow.

Q: What if I get 25 letters a day "before my eyes" - asking me to donate money to good causes ? Or people, or my child, making unreasonable requests?

MM: Don't open them! If you do, make sure you stay in the present. In the present - you cannot make a mistake. The same is true with unreasonable people or children. As soon as "unreasonableness" is before your eyes - respond accordingly.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Closer Than Your Own Breath

Q: So - MeditationMom - to follow up on your last post - have you then discovered God? If so, what would you say about that discovery? What then about believing or not believing in that discovery - for yourself or for others who are trying to "learn" from you? Doesn't that just bring us back to belief or non-belief?

MM: I would say first - Be careful. You cannot learn from me. I can only help you to un-learn some of your notions and beliefs, so you are free to meditate and look for yourself. Some people feel nervous about that because they feel it will weaken their beliefs. But they need to remember that Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, etc - all did this and recommended to do this. Meditation, sitting in silence, personal or wordless prayer, whatever you want to call it - is the way home.

Then I would say "There is no God" - "but God" - meaning there is nothing that is not God. When people talk about God, in general, they think of God as something or someone "additional" and "outside of" and "separate" from existence and themselves. In my experience God is existence itself and neither part of it, nor not part of it. In other words - the end of "parts", and ideas of separation, altogether. Or, as Jesus put it, "me and my father are one". How can you separate yourself from God? It is impossible.

As far as "having discovered God", and then either believing or not believing in what has been discovered - think of it this way: it is like a fish who has been looking for the ocean while all other fish are arguing whether one should or should not believe in the ocean, and in what kind of ocean! On his search he some day is separated from the ocean through unforeseeable circumstances - he jumps out of the water by mistake maybe while being chased by a bigger fish, is caught on a fishing line, or some other situation.

Now you could say he "discovered", or become aware of the ocean, even though there was nothing to discover. It was always closer to him than even his own breath. Now it is no more a question of belief or non-belief, it is just what it is - truth. He also now knows that it is only a question of time before he will be completely dissolved back into the ocean.

It is the same with God. God is closer to you than your own breath - much closer! Hiding in plain "view". For this view you have to close your eyes and be still. As Jesus said - be still and know. You cannot be still - and believe or not believe in anything at the same time. Being still means to go beyond belief and all thoughts. This is why I have equal love and compassion for believers and atheists alike. It is not a question of believing or not-believing. It is a question of meditation and calming one's mind altogether.

Beyond belief, is where the truth is to be found.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Do You Believe In God?

Q: MeditationMom - do you - or do you not - believe in God? Some of your writing seems atheist, and sometimes it seems that you do mention God a lot.

MM: Neither, and both. You'll have to practice your Buddhist non-dualistic thinking to be happy with this answer. My writings are confusing because I respond differently to individual people . All the people who write to me are truth seekers - the religious and atheists alike. The truth everyone is intuitively looking for is "beyond belief" - literally - and already belongs to everyone. As Jesus said: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." This freedom is all that matters.

Maybe I should ask you which God you are asking me about?



A joke on the subject: A tourist in an Irish bar asks his neighbor: "Are you a Catholic or a Protestant?" "Neither!" answers the Irish patron with some annoyance, and adds: "I am an Atheist."
After a pause the tourist asks: "Well, are you a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist?" to which the Irish man replies with a little more enthusiasm: "Actually, I am a Buddhist atheist."

God - to most people - believers and atheists alike - is an idea. Many different ideas actually, we
fight wars over. Everyone has a different idea about God - even the kind of God people don't believe in is fought over.

To others, God is a suspicion - as in "there must be something or someone greater than little old me "out there" running or overseeing things". Atheists are more mature, and brave enough to live in a chaotic and random universe. To them, God is simply a stupid, if not a dangerous and destructive idea. Most atheists just want people to stop killing each other in the name of God. Atheists though are blind too, for example, about how many people have been maimed and killed because of what they believe in - which is science.

To the devout God is a feeling - a very profound one, and anyone telling them "there is no God" is saying "you don't have that feeling". When, especially people who tell others to get in touch with their feelings, their emotions, their sexuality, as well as their "dark side", then tell those people that "their feeling" of God - their "being in touch" with the divine or the sacred in life - is not real - all hell breaks lose between these two groups.

Those who actually discover God, discover something far beyond thought or feeling, and beyond anything anyone could say anything about, and certainly something beyond belief. They usually stay silent on the subject. If they say anything they risk being misunderstood, getting crucified or stoned to death, and also risk starting yet another religion for humanity to fight over. In other words - when it comes to God or the divine - you cannot learn about it from anyone or any book, even though this can certainly be inspiring and give valuable guidance in the best of cases.

Ultimately - the whole subject of God is best avoided as it is a fight among the blind over something they are all speculating about. Believing is OK, and not believing is OK . Both can help, or be a hindrance, on the way to truth and freedom.

What is meant by God is equivalent to absolute, infinite and eternal truth, absolute, infinite and eternal freedom, love, compassion, wisdom, kindness, perfection, principle, all-one-ness that includes all opposites of good and evil, and all that is beyond all ideas. There is only one way to discover this, and that is with the deepest trust during meditation. This trust needs to be greater than the fear of death. The reason for that is that only with that, can one go beyond thought or feeling - beyond oneself - completely. "Oneself" is the blindness that prevents discovery.

When the Dalai Lama was asked what his religion is, he answered that his religion is Kindness. This is a highly scientific answer and demonstrates the insignificance of individual, personal, belief or non-belief in God, or any religious dogma.

Ramana Maharshi said it well: "No one doubts that he exists, though you may doubt the existence of God. If you find out the truth about yourself and discover your own source, this is all that is required."

In other words - God is a discovery - and unlike anything that anyone has ever believed, or not believed in.


Monday, March 2, 2009

The Most Subtle

Q: What do you mean "by the most subtle"?

MM: God!
That of which we are made, from which we have come, and to which we will return. You can believe in God; you can not believe in God; you can call it something else - the eternal, the infinite, the Tao, the Force, anything you like; or, you can learn to pay attention so deeply that you will simply come to know. This knowing is different from our normal knowing of something. This knowing does not belong to you. It has not been earned or acquired. It is what remains after all of one's knowing and believing is dissolved.