“LIBERATION LEADS TO LIBERATION. These are the first words of truth — not truth in quotation marks but truth in the real meaning of the word; truth which is not merely theoretical, not simply a word, but truth that can be realised in practice. The meaning behind these words may be explained as follows: By liberation is meant the liberation which is the aim of all schools, all religions, at all times. This liberation can indeed be very great. All men desire it and strive after it. But it cannot be attained without the first liberation, a lesser liberation. The great liberation is liberation from influences outside us. The lesser liberation is liberation from influences within us.”
~ Gurdjieff
~ Gurdjieff
Forwarded from The Classical Wisdom Tradition
Virtue in the Classical Tradition: Techniques
The Rule of the Stoics
“There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power.” These are the opening words of the Handbook by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. He continues, “Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.”
Method:
This technique can be used in any setting and for any length of time, but I recommend sitting quietly and taking at least 5 minutes to go through the following steps.
Note what kinds of things are in your power: opinion, aim or intention, what you avoid, what you move towards. Note what kinds of things are not truly in your power: everything else, including your body, your property, your reputation, as well as the behaviors and opinions of other people. Then, recall anything you may be anxious about, angry about, feel guilty about, or are otherwise troubled by, and determine whether those worries belong to the class of things within your power or to the class of things that are beyond your power. If they are within your power, commit to taking corrective action. If they are beyond your power, release them and return your focus to those things within your power.
Source: Epictetus, Handbook 1
The Rule of the Stoics
“There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power.” These are the opening words of the Handbook by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. He continues, “Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.”
Method:
This technique can be used in any setting and for any length of time, but I recommend sitting quietly and taking at least 5 minutes to go through the following steps.
Note what kinds of things are in your power: opinion, aim or intention, what you avoid, what you move towards. Note what kinds of things are not truly in your power: everything else, including your body, your property, your reputation, as well as the behaviors and opinions of other people. Then, recall anything you may be anxious about, angry about, feel guilty about, or are otherwise troubled by, and determine whether those worries belong to the class of things within your power or to the class of things that are beyond your power. If they are within your power, commit to taking corrective action. If they are beyond your power, release them and return your focus to those things within your power.
Source: Epictetus, Handbook 1
Forwarded from MahaYog - Yoga 🔱 and Buddhism ☸️
Your consciousness has no concreteness and is primordially pure, inherently empty and not created by any thought. Therefore, abide in this state where there is no meditation, meditator, or object of meditation. This is true meditation and samadhi. Through this you will attain the fruit - the state and status of Buddhahood!
Guru Padmasabhava
Guru Padmasabhava
Forwarded from SanatanaDharma
"Simply by detachment from the association of worldly people, and by associating with exalted devotees, anyone can attain perfection of knowledge and with the sword of knowledge can cut to pieces the illusory associations within this material world. Through the association of devotees, one can engage in the service of the Lord by hearing and reciting. Thus one can revive his dormant God consciousness and, sticking to the cultivation of God consciousness, return home, back to Godhead, even in this life." (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.12.16)
"Modern man does not understand how much his "rationalism" (which has destroyed his capacity to respond to numinous symbols and ideas) has put him at the mercy of the psychic "underworld."
"He has freed himself from "superstition" (or so he believes), but in the process, he has lost his spiritual values to a positively dangerous degree.
"His moral and spiritual tradition has disintegrated, and he is now paying for this break-up in world-wide disorientation and dissociation."
~ Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols
"He has freed himself from "superstition" (or so he believes), but in the process, he has lost his spiritual values to a positively dangerous degree.
"His moral and spiritual tradition has disintegrated, and he is now paying for this break-up in world-wide disorientation and dissociation."
~ Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols
"Gurdjieff had given us a pledge to say each time before beginning the new exercise—that we would not use this for the self, but for all humanity. This 'good-wishing-for-all' vow, so deeply moving in intent, had a tremendous effect upon me. For the first time in my life, I felt that I was truly doing something for humanity as I strove to make my own molecule of it more perfect. The meaning of this Work, which at first had seemed quite egotistical and self-centered, suddenly blossomed out like a tree of life encompassing in its myriad branchings the entire human family. The implications of it were staggering. By my single efforts toward Being, I could help sleeping humanity one hairsbreadth nearer to God. I believed this. Every time I said the pledge before beginning my exercise, I believed that if I made something for my own inner world, I would be making it for 'all humanity.' It was my first experiencing of the Mystical Body of Christ of which I knew nothing then, but would encounter many years later like a familiar concept though always shrouded in its immense mystery."
~ Kathryn Hulme, Undiscovered Country
~ Kathryn Hulme, Undiscovered Country
“I begin to understand that silence does not come because I seek to become silent. It comes when the mind sees the process of thought and its conditioning by the known. For this it must observe as one watches a beloved child, without comparing or condemning. One observes in order to understand. It is only when I know this conditioning that silence and tranquillity are sought not for security but for the freedom to receive the unknown, the truth. Then the mind becomes very quiet. This opens the door to a state that is reality, with immense possibilities. The mind is no longer an observer of the unknown. It is the unknown itself.”
~ Jeanne de Salzmann, The Reality of Being
~ Jeanne de Salzmann, The Reality of Being
"(Objectless awareness) is a tensile field of vibratory awareness, within which you can be conscious of the whole without having to split the field into the usual subject/object polarity. . . The Tibetan Buddhists call it rigpa: ‘pure awareness.’ And I have come to suspect that the contemplative masters of our own Christian lineage were also well aware of this state and that this is actually what is intended by the word ‘vigilance’ in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and ‘recollection’ in the West. It doesn’t mean thinking deeply about something, recalling it. Rather, it means that you yourself are gathered – ‘re-collected’ – within that deeper inner attentiveness whose much more powerful energetic vibrancy allows a different mode of perception to unfold.”
~ Cynthia Bourgeault
~ Cynthia Bourgeault
Forwarded from Tradition Publishing Co.
The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus
Edited by A. E. Waite
In the long history of the Western esoteric tradition, few individuals have shown a deeper understanding of its secrets than Paracelsus. This collection of his essential writings on the art and science of alchemy is edited by the leading scholar of esotericism A. E. Waite.
Volume I includes Paracelsus’ major work the Coelum Philosophorum and other writings on the four elements, the transmutation of metals, and the philosophers’ stone or Tincture.
Volume II contains a description of the Tria Prima and the correspondence of alchemy with astrology. Also included are writings on the quintessence and immortality, as well as the longer Archidoxies.
https://tradition.st/the-hermetic-and-alchemical-writings-of-paracelsus/
Edited by A. E. Waite
In the long history of the Western esoteric tradition, few individuals have shown a deeper understanding of its secrets than Paracelsus. This collection of his essential writings on the art and science of alchemy is edited by the leading scholar of esotericism A. E. Waite.
Volume I includes Paracelsus’ major work the Coelum Philosophorum and other writings on the four elements, the transmutation of metals, and the philosophers’ stone or Tincture.
Volume II contains a description of the Tria Prima and the correspondence of alchemy with astrology. Also included are writings on the quintessence and immortality, as well as the longer Archidoxies.
https://tradition.st/the-hermetic-and-alchemical-writings-of-paracelsus/
Forwarded from Arktos
"Neither family, nor privilege, nor wealth, nor anything but Love can light that beacon which a man must steer by when he sets out to live the better life."
— Plato, The Symposium
— Plato, The Symposium
"I have lots of things to teach you now, in case we ever meet, concerning the message that was transmitted to me under a pine tree in North Carolina on a cold winter moonlit night.
It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don’t worry. It’s all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds.
But in our true blissful essence is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all.
It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect...
Practice kindness all day to everybody, and you will realize you’re already in heaven now."
~ Jack Kerouac, 1957
It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don’t worry. It’s all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds.
But in our true blissful essence is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all.
It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect...
Practice kindness all day to everybody, and you will realize you’re already in heaven now."
~ Jack Kerouac, 1957
Forwarded from Tradition Publishing Co.
Theurgy: On the Egyptian Mysteries
Iamblichus
An unparalleled compendium of knowledge from the ancient Egyptian and Chaldaean mystery traditions, Theurgy by the neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus is an encyclopedic history of cultic beliefs and practices in the ancient Near East. Through a concise description of their esoteric principles, this book reveals the origins and development of ancient spiritual traditions regarding cosmology, divination, the afterlife, and many other subjects.
ORDER |
https://tradition.st/theurgy-on-the-egyptian-mysteries/
Iamblichus
An unparalleled compendium of knowledge from the ancient Egyptian and Chaldaean mystery traditions, Theurgy by the neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus is an encyclopedic history of cultic beliefs and practices in the ancient Near East. Through a concise description of their esoteric principles, this book reveals the origins and development of ancient spiritual traditions regarding cosmology, divination, the afterlife, and many other subjects.
ORDER |
https://tradition.st/theurgy-on-the-egyptian-mysteries/
Forwarded from Advanced Institute of Esoteric Studies
"The most powerful prayer, one well nigh omnipotent, and the worthiest work of all is the outcome of a quiet mind. The quieter the mind, the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is. To the quiet mind all things are possible."
~ Meister Eckhart
~ Meister Eckhart
Forwarded from MahaYog - Yoga 🔱 and Buddhism ☸️
Feeling attached to something attractive or disgusted by something repulsive, realize that it is a delusion of your mind, a magical illusion, and nothing else.
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava
Forwarded from MAHASIDDHAS, MAHAMUDRA & DZOGCHEN 👹
Lama Gendun on Nature of Mind
The recognition of the nature of mind is the only thing that we actually need –it has the power to liberate us from everything and to liberate all beings in the universe, too. All phenomena of the external world are only the manifestations of the luminosity of our own mind and ultimately have no reality. When we allow our mind to rest in the recognition that everything that it experiences is its own projection, the separation between subject and object comes to an end. Then there is no longer anyone who grasps at something and nothing that is being grasped at –subject and object are recognized to be unreal. In order to experience this, we allow our mind to remain in its ordinary consciousness, the awareness of the present moment, which is the deep, unchanging nature of mind itself and which is also called “timeless awareness.” (yeshe) That is the natural insight that arises spontaneously when in every moment we look directly at the true nature of mind. In seeing the nature of mind, there is nothing to “see” since it is not an object of perception. We see it without seeing anything. We know it without knowing anything. The mind recognizes itself spontaneously, in a way beyond all duality. The path that leads to this is the awareness of the present moment, free of all interference. It is an error to think that the ultimate truth is difficult to recognize. The meditation on the nature of mind is actually very easy, as we do not have to go anywhere to find this nature. No work needs to be done to produce it; no effort is required to find it. It is sufficient for us to sit down, allow our mind to rest in itself and directly look at the one who thinks that it is difficult to find the nature of mind. In that moment, we discover it directly, as it is very close and always within easy reach. It would be absurd to worry that we might not succeed in discovering the nature of mind, as it is already present in us. It is sufficient to look into ourselves. When our mind directs its gaze upon itself, it finds itself and that the seeker and the sought are not two different things."
The recognition of the nature of mind is the only thing that we actually need –it has the power to liberate us from everything and to liberate all beings in the universe, too. All phenomena of the external world are only the manifestations of the luminosity of our own mind and ultimately have no reality. When we allow our mind to rest in the recognition that everything that it experiences is its own projection, the separation between subject and object comes to an end. Then there is no longer anyone who grasps at something and nothing that is being grasped at –subject and object are recognized to be unreal. In order to experience this, we allow our mind to remain in its ordinary consciousness, the awareness of the present moment, which is the deep, unchanging nature of mind itself and which is also called “timeless awareness.” (yeshe) That is the natural insight that arises spontaneously when in every moment we look directly at the true nature of mind. In seeing the nature of mind, there is nothing to “see” since it is not an object of perception. We see it without seeing anything. We know it without knowing anything. The mind recognizes itself spontaneously, in a way beyond all duality. The path that leads to this is the awareness of the present moment, free of all interference. It is an error to think that the ultimate truth is difficult to recognize. The meditation on the nature of mind is actually very easy, as we do not have to go anywhere to find this nature. No work needs to be done to produce it; no effort is required to find it. It is sufficient for us to sit down, allow our mind to rest in itself and directly look at the one who thinks that it is difficult to find the nature of mind. In that moment, we discover it directly, as it is very close and always within easy reach. It would be absurd to worry that we might not succeed in discovering the nature of mind, as it is already present in us. It is sufficient to look into ourselves. When our mind directs its gaze upon itself, it finds itself and that the seeker and the sought are not two different things."