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In this culture, the birth of a baby is celebrated: inviting a new person into this life, but death is so often seen as wrong or bad: the ending of this lifetime as the ultimate defeat and loss. Each is a journey taken alone as an individual self, yet surrounded by those with us at every stage. I could instead put my attention on the inevitable suffering a baby will experience through this physical life, and perhaps the joyful relief of leaving physical suffering behind when it is done, but that that might deny the beauty, joy, growth, and flowering that can take place between birth and death. The opportunity for the freedom of awakening (or re-birth?) ending suffering opens with that flowering in this lifetime, but if that's just another limited concept, ritual, or abstraction it cannot fulfill that promise. To choose spending time and energy with those in transition (of any stage) looks like an expression of that freedom to me.

If I listen from duality, every moment of silence is different and temporary, terminated by some sound or different silence, and it's only up to me if I avoid (and suffer), or embrace and enjoy them. In a larger view, the infinite silence which contains and allows everything to take place within it is not disturbed by any of those, just as infinite space is not disturbed by the transient stars, planets, or clouds of matter appearing within it. Our bodies and egos may be afraid of being lost in that space, but in reality we cannot be anywhere else, and the fear is only the illusion of being something other, or separate. And so it is with silence...

We may define "world" (or worldview) in any way we choose. As a finite expression of our separate minds, the definition also inevitably has boundaries, beginning and ending (but of course can only appear to exist within infinite emptiness). This also applies to physical manifestations such as our bodies, as well as this earth, solar system, and universe, and every component of those. My separate ego really desires to avoid "my" ending at any cost, and thus wraps rituals, legends, and "meaning" around any perceived (or threatened) ending. Likewise our collective family, society, culture, and civilization treats endings the same way. Not a "bad" thing in the larger view, but perhaps an inherent aspect of duality which identifies as a separate *I*, *ME*, and *MINE*, while being profoundly uncomfortable with the temporary nature of those divisions. With open eyes, we may recognize fitting "right action" as available at every point along the way.

As this passage describes, seeing ourselves as separate from all else in life is nearly universal, and perhaps inevitable in that learning differentiation: round, square, red, green, cause, effect, concepts, words... are required for our brain to develop past infancy. The function of our egoic self that develops is attachment to our "likes", and rejecting our "dislikes" and believing the delusion that getting only "likes" and never "dislikes" will be peace and happiness (the 3 poisons, which always result in suffering). At some point we can discover the non-separate whole (perhaps as an initial awakening "dṛṣṭi-svabhāva" or "kenshō" experience?) as one more thing amongst all else in life. When seen through the eye of ego, the "gap" between Oneness and separation is one more "dislike" in our way. Though it often takes time, it IS possible to see duality FROM Oneness (and as a manifestation of Oneness), not just as one more element within duality from my limited egoic view. From Wholeness, Oneness vs duality are NOT two separate things (which would be just another duality); in the whole view there cannot be a gap because there is no separation. So what CAN an ego do? I can recognize the Whole, appreciate, respect, acknowledge, value, and enjoy Wholeness, leave time and space in my busy life to practice, serve, be generous, kind, compassionate, forgiving and be merciful. And *I*, ME, and MINE become smaller and smaller, occupying less and less time and space as suffering also fades...

A beautiful passage, which expresses my understanding well. Though doing good rather than evil is a huge benefit for all concerned, if it is the limited ego of I, ME, and MINE "doing good", then exhaustion soon follows, and the benefits are limited and finite too. The ME that wants to avoid that only compounds the issue! (Unsatisfactory duality?) Clearly awakening to non-dual infinity that includes here-and-NOW along with all realms we see as beyond (such as "Heaven", "Nirvana", "Tiān", and many more) seems like a good start, along with not trying to see myself as other than that. Can we truly appreciate Bodhidarma's "Infinite emptiness within which all existence takes place"?

It is my finite ego that always wants this or that to be other than it is, my ego that draws the line between what I like (and call "good") and dislike (and call "bad"). It may be tempting to call on any authority I see to bless the "good" and curse the "bad", yet if I undertake that "self righteously", further suffering always seems to result. As a family, society, nation, culture, or even as humanity the majority of us may agree on some things being good or bad, but even those change over time, context, and situation. To me, all of this looks like conditioned patterns, passed down through heredity (IE death=bad), examples (Parents? Heroes?), instruction (scripture?), or karma. Awareness allows seeing beyond those limitation, recognizing (and appreciating!) the larger whole within which they take place (which of course includes us, and our choices) BE-ing the blessing seems like a choice that reduces suffering...

My individual ego (like my physical body) is never perfect- there is always some opportunity for growth, healing, and improvement- endlessly... Yet suffering results if an ego says "I am the perfect god, no improvement is possible". Only in the letting go described in this passage can we find the "profound experience of knowing that there is no one to fix". Of course ego then says "let's do that now, I'll kill this ego, and all will be well!"- But of course that is just adding another layer of ego, and an obnoxiously "holier than thou" ego at that! Recognizing within what isn't temporary, and does not come and go helps, allows facing the full emptiness that all of existence is, and has always been...

I agree, and meditation is a powerful and effective tool to recognize how much of what I may say (or feel) that I want is actually just a product of my heredity, environment, and conditioning. Whether it's as blatant as a street vendor or advertisement, or whether it's the tastes I inherited or grew up with. Yet the call of the infinite is there as well, always out of ego's grasp. To know BE-ingness intimately, at any cost, so regular meditation seems a small cost indeed.

Head and heart have never actually been separate, though it may seem that way when I feel limited to the conditioning of my family, teachers, and society. The greater silence within which everything takes place is ALWAYS there, even when I temporarily ignore it, and fill my life with DO-ing (often based on fears), and then feel dependent on the material rewards for that doing. Awareness focused on love of BE-ing and all that IS, allows right-action; doing what fits, and flows from love without suffering. All IS connected, even when my awareness is limited, and the reminders of nature, readings, and groups like this help me not to get lost in my conditioned distractions.

Beautiful poetic reading! Indeed beyond the inspired expression manifesting the gold of Love, before the green awakening of clear awareness, has always been that place where they blossom from, the cauldron of time within which they sprout and then play out. Beyond, yet containing all beginnings and endings, all of these transient experiences we know as Life. The infinite bliss that is closer and more intimate than any separate thing can ever be, the unlimited NOW, within which all BE-ing continually IS. And of course knowing that deeply IS clear awareness, and of course the flowing manifestation and expression of NOW is infinite unconditional Love, and here we are!

Dreams have no actual existence other than in the memory of the sleeper, but greed, hatred, and delusion are expressions of the dream of separation which DO affect those other dreams around us. Infinite Divine, and unconditional loving-kindness beckon from the waking realm, which includes all limited dreams without being lost in any of them.

Beautiful passage! Growing up in duality, I see myself as separate from others, and see Spiritual or Divine as separate from myself (though perhaps as an admirable path, dream or goal). With awake eyes it become clear the separation IS the dream state, and as long as we are alive, the head was never actually separate from the body (as much as it may have seemed that way). There is an infinitely deep peace in experiencing Life this way, letting go of the endless chase of the chicken for the head, and visa-versa: the illusion of separation was only in each part thinking it had lost the other. But how to help what looks like bleeding chaos "out there"? Can we awaken when we are tired of sleeping?

Being born into separation in this life, we come to see ourselves in relation to (and from the perspective of) that which surrounds us: family, society, culture, and environment. My experiences of those as safe or unsafe, affirming or hurtful, supportive or destructive shapes my perception of, and relation to myself as well, with those experiences and stories shaping my visible "conventional self". To remain limited to that "conventional self" becomes increasingly unsatisfactory with age! Just as the 3-year old in the passage learned to breathe and see a larger perspective, insight meditation provides a powerful tool to recognize the role of past experience, as well as the Love which extends infinitely beyond...

Our body cannot breathe (or eat) "once and for all" without any further needs, so compassion for the regular inflow an outflow is the only fitting response that allows life to continue. So it is too with energy and enthusiasm for life or the lack thereof, only with compassion for those ups and downs (and for that finite and mortal part we easily mistake as "all of myself") does life continue. Our fear-driven ego may tempt us with "should" and "ought" and impossible goals, and then punish to "motivate" higher achievements. So we can afford compassion for that fearful limited ego as it is replaced by awakening Love (as in last week's passage).

Beautiful passage, as is the longer article including it! The author speaks very eloquently of True Love beyond the many uses of that word in the English language. I might suggest the word "Awakening" for what he describes, and see that as the only true end to suffering in this reality.

Beautiful encouragement to practice awareness until we jump into the river within, and become the wonder missing nothing...

I often seem to use the word "Awareness" in the same way this author uses "Vigilance", but the same challenges arise for both of those words: a) That some opposite (non-awareness? non-vigilance?) is implied to also exist, and b) There is someone who IS (or isn't) Aware or Vigilant, and perhaps makes that a practice. It seems to me that the infinite Awareness, or bliss of BE-ing has NO actual opposite, only our temporary distractions from it as long as we see ourselves as separate. From the perspective of separation we can appreciate and value Awareness (or not), exercise and practice Vigilance (or not). But perhaps a clearer perspective may be that Awareness actually applies to the larger wholeness within which all of this transient dream of duality plays out?

When I live by the labels I apply to what I see, then death is the opposite of life, darkness the opposite of light, and love the opposite and only cure for hate. That voice speaks loudly of suffering here, and is strident indeed. Right thought, right action, and life are not limited by those theoretical divisions, but uniquely fit each moment of existence, every moment of now. Sometimes with the large voice of thunder and lightning obliterating the dead trees (making room for new life), at other times in the even larger silence of freshly fallen snow, or the whisper of the breeze through the leaves that echoes long into the future. Fortunately, only the temporary can end! The whole is so much more than the labels I applied to the parts...

Hating some (or even all) sounds while perhaps liking others, or thinking "too much sound", or "too much silence" are all expressions of my finite ego, shaped by past causes and conditions (including my heredity and karma). Awareness and meditation allow finding right hearing, just as right thought and right action, exactly fitting in each moment of now. There is no distraction nor need to escape in that. And True empty silence is not lessened by any sounds that may take place within it, while hearing is always in the ear of the listener.

As long as we are seeing only through limited eyes of separation, then death and life are opposites, there is struggle, fear, and suffering. Though it may seem obvious that in-breath, and out-breath are "opposites", but the Truth is that they are inextricably linked, parts of the same whole (just as we cannot fully inhale twice without exhaling between), and so it is with every bit of duality and karma. When sight is clear, then right thought, and right action for each moment of now are just as obvious, and Love is recognized as being primary behind every fear. That heart has no limit, no old or new, and does not suffer, though compassion for the suffering of duality is unlimited.