The king asked the Buddha, ―Are you a God?‖ The Buddha said ―No.‖ Then the king then asked, ―Are you a Saint?‖ ―No,‖ replied the Buddha. ―Are you a Magician‖ asked the king? ―No‖ said the Buddha. Then the king asked, ―What are you?‖ The Buddha replied simply, ―I am Awake.‖
Enlightenment (what most Spiritual Seekers are looking for) - Suppose it's all a deception! Well, suppose it is. Look what happens: as soon as the deception is seen, and the pretence is relinquished – ‗PROGRESS‘ is made, because it's progress away from exaggeration, away from being right or wrong or being enlightened or ‗being‘ anything at all!
Don't know, got no idea, have no business talking about it, writing about it, teaching, who would know anyway, just the knowing which isn't knowing. The more belief systems are questioned, the better! Surrender even the hope of progress, and progress will happen on its own. Maybe ‗enlightenment‘ truly does disrupt the patterns of Ego, and so the Ego reacts with fear?
Regrettably, most of us, are merely in search of (at least) ‗Feeling Better,‘ while possibly surrounding ourselves with consoling sayings and beliefs, incense, and countless books on obscure subjects written by others who themselves have not reached enlightenment! (The late ‗Douglas Harding‘ (1), one of the few who seemed to know of what he spoke, titled one of his books, ‗On Having No Head‘). But let's face it: of all the people that you and I know who have spent a good deal of their lives sitting on meditation cushions, chanting in Sanskrit, gulping psychedelics like M&Ms, and subscribing to ‗The Yoga Journal, ‘ how many have achieved the pinnacle of ‘ Human Possibility‘ that all of the great
‗Spiritual Teachings‘ insist is available to anyone, if only we wanted it as badly as life itself?
It would mean putting ‗enlightenment‘ at the top of our to-do list and priorities, ahead of career, family, comfort and security, things which, speaking for myself
- actually comprise some of my favourite parts of being alive. In the Christian
world, of course, Jesus was a fisher of men and told them to put down their nets right there and then and said to them ―Follow Me.‖
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Like the ‗Moonies‘ (2) in the early days, those who joined up never even called home or checked in with their parents (perhaps today the families of Peter, Judas and the rest would kidnap them and deliver them to a deprogrammer?).
Same for monks who divested themselves of all worldly goods and personal attachments, to roam through the forest with ‗The Buddha. ‘ (3)
The Jews, naturally, didn't have much choice. Following ‗Moses‘ (4) into the desert for 40 years, as it seemed (in the beginning) as if it would definitely be a step up from brutal slavery (by the Pharaohs), but soon after entering the desert a lot of them protested about it anyway. Even they didn't always want their freedom more than the familiarity of the less than optimal life they knew.
‗Ram Dass,‘(5) the well-known teacher and author of ‗Be Here Now,‘ once spoke of a picture he saw in the newspaper of an abused and battered infant crying as it was taken out of the arms of its mother, while reaching back desperately for its abusive mother. The message was clear: we are wired to choose the familiar and the comfortable at any cost.
A contemporary guru ‗Andrew Cohen‘ (6) made it crystal clear in one of his meetings that it was imperative, that we ―want to be free more than anything else,‖ and that we needed to be ―deadly serious about it.‖ I've personally never really been deadly serious about anything (except maybe writing this book) so that put me off a bit, especially since the most ‗enlightened‘ people I had come into contact with over the years always had at least one thing in common: they laughed uproariously and often (the ‗Dalai Lama‘ (7) for example - actually, to be fair, I believe Andrew Cohn does too).
I've recently finished reading ‗Butterflies Are Free To Fly‘ (8) by Stephen Davis
and ‗The Enlightenment Trilogy‘ (9) by Jed McKenna , who, like Andrew and many others who walk among us these days, present themselves as people who are ‗done,‘ in the sense that prior to enlightenment, we are all perpetually in a state of ‗becoming,‘ as distinct from finally being released into the vast mystery of ‗present being,‘ with no further demands of life, only curiosity and total amazement on being ‗fully awake.‘
Stephen & Jed are done with all becoming. So they can naturally make statements like, ―All that's required is an arm and a leg? That's it?‖(Jed McKenna). ―The truth is, as you let go of judgment, beliefs and opinions, the only thing you ever need and want is exactly what‘s right in front of you‖
(Stephen Davis). They can't believe their good fortune to learn that waking up is such a bargain. Living without a few limbs, Jed says, is far preferable to even one more moment of living a lie (staying asleep).
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It seems to me that it is appropriate for us ‗Spiritual Seekers‘ to get on with our day (as we are currently doing), exactly as our God or whatever other name you wish to call the ‗Infinite I‘ (10) (who is in charge of our existence) desires us to do.
What follows in this book are my own observations (with suppressed Ego where applicable!) of what both Stephen Davis (Butterflies Are Free to Fly) and Jed McKenna (The Enlightenment Trilogy) are getting across in their brilliant books.
I have condensed down their remarkable books to the relevant sections that had life changing ramifications for me and hopefully will have for you too after reading this book. I hope that you will find my book an indication of what we are all here on Earth for and who your ‗Infinite I‘ is and how that affects your perceived reality.
Wherever I could, I have used plain English to get this extraordinary information to you, so that you can then seek out all the detailed information from Stephen’s and Jed’s remarkable books; after becoming aware of what you are about to get yourself into.
Please understand that Stephens & Jed’s books (Butterflies Are Free to Fly & The Enlightenment Trilogy) are essential further reading (note: Stephens book is free on Internet and Jed‘s will need to be purchased. I personally feel that Stephen‘s book was more help to me than Jed‘s – maybe you too should start there). I have placed a number next to each item that will require further investigation, from the Internet Wikipedia site listed at the end of each chapter under Footnotes.
The main reason for writing this book is to help myself process the radical information that I have read (and become ‗done‘). If it helps you with your spiritual journey then I am happy with the outcome.
This PDF book does not carry a copyright, you are hereby granted permission to print it, copy it, share it, give it away to anyone else, quote it, do anything you want with it – except you cannot sell any part or the whole book, or make money from it in any way, or assist anyone else in making money from it in any way. Like Stephen Davis, I feel very strongly that the information in this book should always be available for free to anyone who wants to read it.
I will be starting a Google Gmail site off shortly (under the name of
David.Webb.Ashram@Gmail.com) Please join the group of like minded people, so that we can all move towards transitioning into a ‗Butterfly‘ as Stephen states in his book, or ‗Done‘ as Jed calls it in his Trilogy.
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‗Quantum Physics‘ (11) is proving that our true reality is not what we were brought up to believe. You are unaccompanied in your personal quest, but I will support you where I can (with others that are awake) on the Gmail site.
If you read all the following chapters, you will be amazed how this book will lead you into a very personal life changing decision. You will either want to become ‗fully awake‘ or you will want to ‗stay asleep‘ (knowing that you are asleep). Either way, you will arrive at your ‗infinite moment‘ somewhere through this book. Any life changing decision you make (or not) is of no concern to me. I have no interest in changing you into anything. Your ‗Infinite I‘
is steering your bus.
The infinite moment you will arrive at, is that moment or moments when your mind stops and you are able to comprehend your personal ‗Infinite I,‘ and become one with it. The sunlight beaming through a hole in the clouds is a portal or when you're able to go inside and find the Infinite inside yourself. It's that incredible feeling of being completely empty and feeling like your going to burst open.
The only way I can describe this is ‗Wow!‘
Always remember to enjoy the ride; a good traveller doesn't have to arrive.
Again, please feel free to make comments or suggestions (positive or negative) on my Google Gmail Site, as they will all be appreciated. My Ego will not be affected either way, so say it the way you see it!
(David M Webb – Email:
David.Webb.Ashram@Gmail.com).
David M Webb – 2011.
☼☼☼
FOOTNOTES
1. Wikipedia – Douglas Harding – On Having No Head; 2. Wikipedia – Moonies;
3. Wikipedia – Budda;
4. Wikipedia – Moses;
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5. Wikipedia – Ram Dass – Be Hear Now; 6. Wikipedia – Andrew Cohen – (Spiritual Teacher); 7. Wikipedia – Dalai Lama;
8. Butterflies Are Free To Fly – Stephen Davis; 9. The Enlightenment Trilogy – Jed McKenna; 10. The Enlightenment Trilogy – Jed McKenna; 11. Wikipedia – Quantum Physics.
☼☼☼
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TABLE OF CONTENTS