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Post by Smithee on Nov 8, 2012 13:28:47 GMT 10
“Where shall I find a worthy Master when I get back to my country?”
“There isn’t a single moment when you are without one,” said the Master.
The disciple was confused.
“Simply watching your reaction to everything - a bird, a leaf, a tear, a smile - makes everything your Master.”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 9, 2012 9:45:26 GMT 10
It was lecture time and the Master said, “The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music - but analysing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet’s greatness is contained in his words - yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation - but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through the careful examination of your body.”
At question time someone asked, “How then shall we find God?”
“By looking at creation, not by analysing it.”
“And how is one to look?”
“A peasant sets out to find beauty in the sunset, but all he finds is sun and cloud and sky and earth’s horizon - till he understands that beauty is not a ‘thing’ but a special way of looking. You will seek for God in vain till you understand that God can’t be seen as ‘thing’; he needs a special way of looking - similar to that of little children whose sight is distorted by prefabricated doctrines and beliefs.”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 11, 2012 14:42:07 GMT 10
To a disciple who was terrified about making mistakes, the Master said: “Those who make no mistakes are making the biggest mistake of all - they are attempting nothing new.”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 12, 2012 16:01:53 GMT 10
“Tell me,” said the atheist. “Is there a God - really?”
Said the Master, “If you want me to be perfectly honest with you, I will not answer.”
Later the disciples demanded to know why he had not answered.
“Because his question is unanswerable,” said the Master.
“So you are an atheist?”
“Certainly not. The atheist makes the mistake of denying that of which nothing may be said.”
After pausing to let that sink in, he added, “And the theist makes the mistake of affirming it.”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 13, 2012 16:13:40 GMT 10
Someone asked the Master if he believed in luck.
“Certainly,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “How else can one explain the success of people one does not like?”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 14, 2012 15:28:12 GMT 10
The Master was unsparing of those who wallowed in self-pity or resentment.
“To be wronged,” he said, “is nothing unless you insist on remembering it.”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 15, 2012 7:09:44 GMT 10
A scientist came to protest that the Master’s contempt for concepts as opposed to “conceptless-knowledge” was unfair to science.
The Master was at pains to explain that he was a friend of science. “But,” he said, “your knowledge of your wife had better go beyond the concept-knowledge of science!”
Later, when talking to his disciples, he was even more forceful. “Concepts define,” he said. “To define is to destroy, Concepts dissect Reality. And what you dissect you kill.”
“Are concepts then quite useless?”
“No. Dissect a Rose and you will have valuable information - and no knowledge whatsoever - of the rose. Become a scholar and you will have much information - but no knowledge whatsoever - of Reality.”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 16, 2012 13:11:16 GMT 10
The disciples were distressed to see the Masters teachings ridiculed in a national magazine.
The Master was unperturbed. “Could anything be really true,” he said, “if no one laughed at it?”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 17, 2012 8:46:35 GMT 10
“What is it you seek?”
“Peace,” said the visitor.
“To those who seek to protect their ego, true Peace only brings disturbance.”
And to a religious group that came to gawk at him and ask for a blessing, he said with a roguish smile, “May the peace of God disturb you always!”
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Post by Smithee on Nov 18, 2012 13:50:14 GMT 10
It scandalized the disciples that the Master had such little use for worship.
“Find yourself an object of veneration,” he used to say, “and you piously distract yourself from what is essential - awareness that leads to love.”
And in self-defence he would cite Jesus’ scorn of those who cried, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and were quite unaware of the evil they were doing.
He once offered a banana to an awe-stricken visitor who so venerated the gift that he hardly knew what to do with it.
When the Master was told of this he said characteristically, “Tell the silly ass to eat it.”
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