goran

A passage from 'Refuting' comes to mind

"The world as we know it is like a house of cards that depends on one single root cell without which it cannot stand. And when we dismantle that cell; when one takes apart the idea of objectivity and it becomes clear that conceiving in terms of it is no longer a valid mode of thinking, that foundation upon which the world rests inevitably disintegrates leaving the house of cards in free fall."

"Seeing through" this idea of objectivitythat is, seeing it as a mere conceptual constructwill, no doubt, be quite a paradigm shift; one that may even pave the way for another, even more profound kind of shift into non-dual awareness. if direct experience is all there is, how can there be core beliefs? core beliefs are the (hidden) ground to the thoughts that show up here, but they are not known directly.

Wow, good question. I have never thought about that - but if I were to think out loud I'd say that there's seemingly more that goes into a concept than a mere label. Consider a "pen", for example. The concept "pen" conveys some meaning, which usually involves its function somehow, and that isn't directly known in the form of a thought, for example like the label "pen" is. But if its meaning is conveyed, but not in the form of a thought, then how is it experienced? Somehow it's recognized. There's some "understanding" there that isn't in the form of a thought. I don't need to think about how I can use it to write letters, or that it is an object with mass, etc. in order to know that it's a pen; I instead recognize it immediatly. Therefore there must be some mode of understanding/meaning that isn't conveyed in regular thought form, so let's simply call that "understanding".

The "understanding" then, would be largely influenced, if not entirely based, on our beliefs, such as our world view etc.

langLetting The Mind Go

All the complexes and problems of the mind arise from its overcrowding and congestion. The cure isn't to reform it but just let it go where it wants to go. We are now letting it go where it belongs. A tremendous relief! It is not perfecting the mind, because the mind is imperfect in every way. Still one experiences sadness and confusion and anxiety, pain, as well as positive feelings. But they are seen as characterising the world and not as personal hang-ups. This relocation helps a lot, but is no recipe for continuous happiness or any kind of perfection where happiness and perfection don't belong. Only at Centre are you All Right! (1977 interview with Douglas Harding, by Richard Lang)

Only when you find no things in your mind and find Mind in no things, are you empty and spiritual, formless and marvellous. (To-shan Hsuan-chiou)

To know our Mind is to obtain liberation. To obtain liberation is to attain the Samadhi of Prajna, which is being without thoughts. Being without thoughts is seeing and knowing all things with a mind free from attachment But to refrain from thinking of anything, so that all thoughts are suppressed, is to be Dharma-ridden, and this is an erroneous view. (Hui-neng)