Just A Thought ~ NO DIVISIONS

"I make no distinction between the mind and the spirit, and therefore no distinction between the process of achieving spiritual growth and achieving mental growth. They are one and the same."

~ M. Scott Peck, American Inspirational Writer ~

Our habit of dividing life into parts, like a cake ~ one part for work, one part for home, a part for study, a part for relaxation, another part for meditation or our inner life, and so on, or heart, spirit and mind ~ creates problems that are not there in reality; it causes us to lead divided lives. There is no dichotomy, no separate parts, and we may experience reality anywhere at all as it is always there; the problem is, we are usually not there ~ or here!

Someone I once knew complained to me that although she'd been following a path for some years, she’d never had a spiritual experience. She obviously very definite ideas about what constitutes a spiritual experience, and had not seen what is always right in front of her eyes. She'd been looking, but not seeing.

We find intense beauty and wonder in comprehension, and this, after all, is what enlightenment is about: comprehension, understanding, realization, seeing things as they are, an experience of the mind, a so-called spiritual experience. We must enjoy and appreciate such moments.

There's the old Zen saying about the mountain: First, you see the mountain, then you don't see the mountain, and then you see the mountain. How is this? Well, first, we see the mountain like everyone sees the mountain, which is not really seeing it at all, as we simply label it a mountain and call it 'beautiful' or 'high' and so on; we never really come into contact with it; our desire to possess it by labeling it and then dismissing it gets in the way.

Secondly, we see the mountain by an intellectual understanding, analyze it, break it down into elements, and there, before our eyes, the mountain disappears, and we call it an illusion.

Thirdly, we see the mountain without any intellectual activity, without desire to possess, analyze or dismiss; it is just there, of the same substance and reality ~ or unreality ~ as ourselves.

I once knew a monk who refused to look at the sunset in case he felt attracted to the beauty thereof; he didn't see that he was already attached to it, whereas if he had just seen it without the idea to catch it with a label and possess it ~ which is not possible, of course ~ he could still have enjoyed it.

Is the sunset beautiful or the storm ugly? In our minds, perhaps, but not in themselves; they are just as they are.