There are only 3 simple steps. Maybe, really, only one simple step.
Unfortunately, these “simple” steps seem to take a lot of
study, practice, and creativity, for most individuals.
That is what you need to pay, your energy.
That is what you need to pay, your energy.
Simple, yet, takes a lot of work. Sounds like a Paradox to me.
Let me set the stage.
Just finished Richard Rose’s “The Albigen Papers.” No, you don’t have to buy the book, I’ll tell
you some of the secrets for free. The
book is out of print. Cost me $30 to get
a copy!
Links to his writings are here:
Links to his writings are here:
In the 1950’s, he and a group of his seeker buddies went through
a “Hunt the Guru Syndrome” (p.134). They
each enrolled in different mystic and occult groups and cults and gathered
information from each and shared and discussed this information with each
other.
Rose then spent 7 years doing yoga and ascetic practices,
including celibacy. At age 28 he let go
of these practices, and then at age 32 he fell into “Cosmic Consciousness,”
Enlightenment, Samadhi, whatever you want to label this state.
He then spent the next 20 years trying to convince people
that they were “robots” asleep to reality.
He finally wrote and rewrote the The Albigen Papers over the course of
about 10 years to put his findings in clear order, and published them in 1973. It is also a scathing critique of religions,
cults, secret societies, “positive thinking,” and psychiatry. Very clearly written.
I’ll paraphrase his gauge for evaluating –isms (pp. 118-9):
1-Does it lessen your fear or raise your hopes using “concept-building?”
2-Does it hint of “sensual license?”
3-Is it cheaper to subscribe to, or to follow (making the
teaching an ongoing expense)? Is it
expensive and are you, therefore, deluded into thinking it is being select for
financially successful (perfected) people?
4-Does it have a power structure that may bring you to power
one day?
5-Does it appeal to any other vanity?
6-Did you join it because you were too tired to go on
looking?
Elsewhere he notes:
7-Does it engage in esoteric thinking, or very complex
theology, or promise the “secrets” after a certain amount of money or years
spent “in the fold?”
He makes a very central statement (p. 147): “There can be no
path to Truth, only paths away from untruth.”
This is also Wei Wu Wei’s “The Negative Way.”
He also says this again (p. 202) “We must back into the
Truth, by backing away from untruth.” He
particularly likes the methods of Zen Buddhism and Ouspensky.
Rose also extolls the help of similarly minded friends that
he terms an “Ashram,” a place “open to all” (p. 187). Meditation and self-analysis is highly encouraged
(p. 190).
Hmmmm, sounds a lot like Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
He has an interesting observation on discussions with like-minded
individuals in groups. He describes a
ladder where you can reach down to engage in discussions with those just one
step below you, and one step above you, but not with those too many steps above
or below you. He also likens this to a
pyramid where you can engage 6 or more below you (p. 199). He warns that “If you reach down too low,
your efforts will be wasted, and you can be hurt. Or crucified.”
The most fun part of all is that he advocates (p. 216) “…a
conscious effort to retraverse our projected ray.” “I have used the picture of peering back into
the focus of the projector, as being the final step of being one with the
Absolute. Actually, we go back in one
sense, and at the same time we find that we were back there all the time.” Sounds like Douglas Harding’s pointing
experiments!
This is also part of the method of the Taoist text “The
Secret of the Golden Flower.” Read
Thomas Cleary’s translator’s notes!
So, what are the 3 simple steps? Body.
Mind. Spirit.
1-Body: Harmonize
this vessel in your own creative way.
2-Mind: Develop
concentration, meditation, and above all, examine and reject everything that is
not true.
3-Spirit: Look at
what is watching. Feel what is watching
this all unfold.
These are also the reverse steps of the Three Commandments:
1-There is only one Source.
2-Love everything. 3-Enjoy
yourself.
You ask how do these correspond?
3-Enjoy yourself.
Bask in the beauty of being embodied.
Work, play, eat, have consensual sex.
Develop strength, flexibility, and flow of the body. But, always keep the other 2 commandments
foremost in your mind. Perhaps, this is
the least important for Enlightenment? My
wife contends that this may be the starting point for most of us!
2-Love everything. Do
no harm to yourself and others. Be kind
to people. Bring them into your Ashram,
Sangha, your seeker’s group. Truly
loving means stripping away everything that is untrue. Examine mind for what is untrue.
1-There is only one Source.
Feel the truth of this by looking inward at What Is. This is really the only important final step.
I’ll leave you with a final quote by Richard Rose (p. 225):
“…there is an eye that must be open. We open it by closing all other eyes…”
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