Flowers on The Path

Flowers on the path 

The surreal sublime bliss of knowing you; supreme one
Following the flowers on the path you revealed
To my heart
Is the grace of endless devotion to your beauty and form
Surrendering to life; the dance of many names

I am the lucky one
Who discovers the multitude of precious flowers
A garland of sayings which point home
Uniting shadow and light
The destroyer and creator aspect of love
Utterly merged into cosmos
They hold hands and embrace as if never having parted ways

She is love
He is wisdom

In an effort to end the trance of suffering by Johnny Morrow

At the Gainesville Zen Center

An Essay on Human Psychology and Transcendence 

From this essay : (In my own case the transition from a mostly unconscious pattern of behavior to a more conscious and fully alert practice came with the support and guidance of a teacher who herself had practiced for years and for me was also brought about by suffering and self-hatred.)

Questions:

1. Do you find the purpose of psychotherapy, therapy, or psychology to be the investigation and understanding of our own identities and minds to manage symptoms, cope with life, etc. ?

2. Are you open to the possibility of a new type of psychology, transpersonal psychology, or parapsychology which aims at the transcendence of the personal self into a universal self?

Though it is helpful to know where we are mentally and physically the knowledge of our unique mind itself can act as a hindrance to undoing habitual emotional and social patterns which keep us imprisoned in a web of suffering.

The idea of fixing oneself can itself create obstacles
Whereas the transcendence of a 'self' is not impossible and that subtle difference is the difference between psychology and parapsychology.

Ken Wilber uses the term Transpersonal Psychology

In Buddhist Traditions Yeshe Tsogyal asks Padmasambhava -- can I take disturbing emotions as the path to enlightenment?

His response is that depending on our own level of understanding about the nature of our minds disturbance can be either a teaching or further destruction. What distinguishes someones capacity to take disturbance as a path or hindrance is exactly this identification with a personal self without the additional support or understanding of transcendence.

Carl Jung's approach called 'shadow work' borders this and certain existing practices today , more or less analytical, have resemblance and make attempts at declaring transcendence of a personal self to be much more important than changing or analyzing this personal self.

Shadow work aims one to the subconscious mind - to try and investigate and include that which may be hidden from the usual personal self identity and include it so that through wholeness transcendence becomes more likely.

But these unique systems have their own limitations and are not the same; despite sharing an important interest in a universal self which has shed the more fragmentary, limited self commonly at center stage in majority psychology.

Gurdjieff said , around the time that Freud's ideas were becoming more popular and accepted 

"What you call the subconscious mind, I am calling the true self!"
In parapsychology the emphasis may not simply be on getting to know what obscuration is present, but rather the very core nature of the mind and practices to cut through obscurations over and over again to arrive at the pure uncorrupted awareness.

Recognizing this unchanging awareness itself , again and again, helps to purify the existing observations and disturbances. What psychology attempts to do is arrive to this through analysis , which is helpful for a time, but has a tendency to be rooted in western belief and culture as opposed to the possibility of a universal self - transcendent of a limitation and belief rooted in awareness and direct understanding of the source of thought.

In psychology this is often termed ego. The other possibility is that this central thought "I" is what we do not fully yet understand so all energy and attention must be put there without adding new ideas to it.

In vedanta , this is known as the practice of Self - Inquiry. Where ones attention is singularly fixed on the experience of "I" and where all thought and phenomena can be directly investigated to be arising from this central thought "I".

Rupert Spira says:

"Turn your attention to the source of all thought and you will find yourself to be everywhere" as a form of self-inquiry.

Eventually with the right attention and investigation into this personal self "I" , it simply collapses and dissolves. The realization that there is not separation between self and world, truth and love, no sense of lack or need - occurs.

In Zen this is referred to as Satori, but Satori is not the end all. A glimpse or experience begins the initial interest in the mind at this sense of infinite peace and happiness.

So from there parapsychology , and self-inquiry require a devotion to practicing this until the "I" thought or personal self is completely resolved to the universal self.

Ramana Maharshi himself stated that this can be practiced in the midst of daily life , work, etc without interrupting it.

This may be another distinction between psychology and transcendent psychology which is that if traditionally psychology is an occasional or supplementary practice, this approach emphasizes an understanding of the practice and a willingness to practice in the midst of wherever or whatever you currently are.

For some this arises as a thirst to know or to practice, in others it may arise with support or encouragement from a guide or teacher, and for even others it may happen due to suffering which demands some attention.

In my own case the transition from a mostly unconscious pattern of behavior to a more conscious and fully alert practice came with the support and guidance of a teacher who herself had practiced for years and for me was also brought about by suffering and self-hatred. This encouraged a deep need to not just live with the ideas of who I thought I was but to look to transcend those ideas completely despite a strong fear that kept them in place and deep impressions from years of trancelike struggles.

This forms the basis of transitioning and transforming negative emotions and suffering into happiness and the possibility of taking everything , even disturbance, as a teaching.

Project Save The Seeds

There is an old saying “he who does not plant a tree in his life, shall go coffinless to the grave”

These trees were often planted to honor a marriage

Silence is the Eternal Language

A poem entitled “Wordless”

Before I am , it is

I speak yet cannot speak it 

I am quiet yet cannot quiet it

Descriptions of it are many, yet do not encompass it

It is decorated ; a painted canvas 

Beneath ribbons of 10,000 hues 

An innocent and unadorned clarity 

Quietly supports them all

Into transparency 

Society Approved Drugs

Interesting to think of the drugs which society approves such as apriprazole, benzodiazapine, etc and drugs which it doesnt and the psychic effect taking them can then have.

The mind which is saying “i am approved to take this” vs the mind which is saying “this may be risky” is important in terms of healing, connection, and trascendence.Living in an age where psylocibin can now be consciously adminitered or some may find cannabis helpful allows for these different psychic paths to be explored. The trouble regardless can be identification with a specific substance that can happen at psychic levels. Meditation and other tools which do not require an additional substance other than our own body/mind just as it is are therefore profoundly helpful for deeper discovery and discovering peace of mind as always available and abudant ; not merely localized or in short supply and dont necessarily require quitting something or changing a specific aspect of oneself.

Ideally, use of any substance (relating to the body, or the mind) can occur as consciously as possible and less unconsciously or based purely on belief in it to be useful. 

The use of caffeine and tea as a meditation aid might be a good example that has existed for ages as a verifiably helpful plant. 

In the story of Bodhidharma , tea originated from his discovery of it while meditating and falling asleep. 

It is also true that certain plants and substances are better than others and have different psychic communities and associations which mark important cues into their benefits or detriments. These are often identifiable by experience. Some are actually poisonous or unhelpful to things like meditation. However the aim is not to give traits and to qualify substances or experiences, but to ultimately leave them all off and abide in the natural peace of the mind - supported and nourished by a healthy body/mind. 

Generally speaking those which seem to act less on the central nervous system, and have a less addictive psychic or physical chemical effect seem likely better suited for not distracting practices which aim to end unnecessary suffering and unfold natural happiness and joy everlasting. . 

Jesus The Mystic

Jesus says : ”i have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am watching it until it blazes”

All manifestation, and phenomena are the expression of the unchanging , and long for returning as peacefully and happily to this unchangingness. That is the play of worlds and forms that we see and experience as body/minds as well as the world, planet Earth.

There is a beautiful saying that “existence is the play of consciousness knowing itself”

Often this brings the question “what is the meaning of life or the purpose of creation?”

According to the core of many traditions, the purpose of life is more like a burst of colors than it is a purpose the way a tool would have a purpose. A tool is only good until it fulfills its purpose and is no longer needed. So the purpose of life is actually self-knowing, and self-arising. It cannot be described, yet it can be recognized directly.

Jesus describes this beautifully.

Casting forms and actions into life; watching them as they appear and then disappear as the eternal witness

In sufi art this is often depicted as a kaleidescope of colorful forms that encircle an unchanging center and form an expanding center of shapes

In the analogy of watching fire, the watcher and the fire are ultimately unified as the watcher is also the one who has cast the fire upon the world i.e. consciousness

If you ever watch fire or look at the stars something interesting can happen where it seems to embody your current experience ; or contain it. Many traditions have used fire or the stars to map and investigate their own experiences as a meditative tool.

But Jesus goes even deeper in this prayer; pointing out that I (consciousness) cast and watch the fire (manifestation, body/mind/world) as it plays in one unified act

No Way Out

“What you seek is seeking you” - attributed to Rumi

-No Way Out-

No before

No during

& No after

The ebb and flow

Forms the intimate

Dance of divine play

Arising and returning

I am that which

Never changes

Photo & Poem by johnny morrow

What is the wisdom of no escape? 

When there is no where else to go or to turn, when all possibilities vanish and the vulnerable self which sought to seek or flee surrenders itself - a kind of death happens. A death of the fear and worry and unreal to the real which reveals an innocence and peace unbroken by time, space, or quest.

Words fall silent and passing through this gateway again and again sinks the “crazy mind” into the ocean of the heart. The mind is a perfectionist, but life is a beautiful mess. That is the art of opening. In this case it requires the complete willingness to be with whatever arises and goes without adding anything else to it ; even the slightest intention. Witnessing in this way, allow the sublime nature of being to sublimate and dissolve all senses into awareness.

If resistance is formed, return to its background. 

If an idea is born, acknowledge its dissolution.

And most importantly for those outer fringes of the body and world that are so tenderly experienced, as well as the presence of guests - always be kind and love them; for they are not separate from this either.

Dearest Beloved

What words can stem from peace

What words do I have left

in Love's storm & fury

God has planted this rudraksha 

In my heart

In every heart

As the hearbeat it reverberates

into the dance of worlds

I am the garden, I am the fruit,

I am the lover & beloved

I am the worship I am the 

surrender I am the inquiry 

What remains always has been

Even before he came to know

her, and she him

A blissful Self unadorned 

and free

Bliss, Truth, Emptiness

Before, During, After

All disappearing names as I 

watch the great

mountain touch beyond itself

I too am a mountain

without reaching and I 

am lucky when my peaks 

and valleys disappear.

Walking alone, God calls out

I am alone

You are my son

I am taking care of everything

You needn't do another things

but stay in this garden oasis 

of peace

And offer the kindness to any 

who travel here

Some will come and others will go

What remains

Eternally as you true lover-friend

Is the gift I have given

Yet so few have 

fully received 

Satsang

For Lisa Schumacher

Satsang

The Sweet Silence

Knowing and Seeking

Vanish Effortless as Being 

Seeing You for This 

Effortlessly Kissing

Embracing 

You as 

Fire in the Heart

Love

Love isn't an emotion 

or experience anymore;

it is just you,

just a sea I sink 

into and am

I am Love

You pointed me

to Eternal Love;

it isn't a myth.