William Samuel

William Samuel
William Samuel

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

THE ZEN TRAP, THE TAOIST TRAP, THE ABSOLUTIST TRAP


THE ZEN TRAP, THE TAOIST TRAP, THE ABSOLUTIST TRAP
The Semantic Games of Subjectivism

Nothing is more ridiculous than a theological argument among theologians, especially if they use a common book to support their differences and can't even agree on exactly which verses to use nor on how to interpret the ones they do use. 

 Ah, but nothing is more absurd (or funny) than an argument among metaphysicians. The reason for the absolute absurdity lies in the fact that metaphysicians argue about things they say don't exist and can't happen.

 The danger of metaphysics (and perhaps the reason the rabbis of old discouraged the study of subjectivism) is that one can so easily entrap himself in his own semantic game and begin believing himself and his words.

 Metaphysicians who have discovered the inner nature of things are, sooner or later, brought to express that knowledge to others—if only because “others” see their light and come asking questions. One can spot the metaphysician who is entrapped at the absolute level because he has stopped asking questions.  He has begun believing he must find every answer within his own objective/subjective head, so to speak. He denies the “outside,” calling it an illusion. The metaphysician, old or new, finds that his subjective words have quantum power in his experience, compared to the former use of those same words “out there” in the world. Right there, the unwary metaphysician, establishing the “God is absolutely ALL” position, spends the rest of his life explaining (and trying to understand) that position—and, without realizing it, never moves beyond it. He may even hold to that lordly place telling of the simplicity of Allness and the inability of words to capture his thoughts, all the way to his “seeming” grave, but he stays right there at the semantic bend of the river, content to see himself able to joust verbally with “others” and hold his own. From that point, unless the subjectivist is willing to move on, he measures his progress, not by new insights and new Light of the Absolute, but by his ability to hold to the “God is ALL” (or whatever else) position. “I am God and not man!” he proclaims against the greatest odds—enjoying the battle. 

 This is the Zen Trap, the Taoist Master's Trap, the Absolutist Trap. While it is absolutely necessary that we come to this correct conclusion—God is, indeed, all in all—we are expected to go beyond it. “It is a mountain; it is not a mountain; it is a mountain again.” The subjectivist who has not recognized the third position can't get there by merely claiming to be there. 

 Ah, but there is Something Beyond.

 The Child within us is beyond. The Child within us remains unacknowledged and undiscovered by the Zen advocate, the subjectivist and Taoist. 

 “Nothing is beyond INFINITY,” says the absolutist. 

 God is beyond Infinity to infinity. The Child I am is beyond infinity. For goodness sake, even experimental mathematics is beyond infinity. If science can get beyond infinity, why can't we? We can. 

 “Nothing is beyond ALL,” says the absolutist.

 God is beyond All—or any other concept. The Child I am is beyond all.

 “See the trap that semantics can become,” said Han, old master of Kwangse Province. 

“See that trap and go beyond that trap. But one doesn't go beyond it, without working his way through it. THAT is the hard part. THAT is the Zen of the matter. THAT is also why we get busy and get going and get beyond the glib flow of words that settles nothing out there in the world—and frequently misleads others. Leave the endless talking to entrenched metaphysicians and theologians. 

We begin the DOING. We complete the INTERFACE.”

 The paradox that so baffles us at the metaphysical and transcendental level is that the interface of DOING requires the concomitant use of words that don't matter. Try to get a metaphysician to DO anything for the world and he'll tell you every time, “There is no world to illumine or instruct. There is no world to heal.” Those words are only half the Truth. Ah, but at least they are half the Truth, half way up the mountain. Indeed, we get our subjectivism correct—that only God is happening—then we put our knowledge to work on the illusory scene.

THE WORLD IS A PERFECT VESSEL AND WHOEVER
TRIES TO ALTER IT, SPOILS IT. LaoTse, 500 B.C.

The view that there is no world to heal and no persons to instruct is a perfect view—almost. But there is a View beyond that view, as the real master have told, including LaoTse, Jesus and many others. The greater view simply hasn't been widely “seen” yet.

 “Oh, yes? What?” the minister, metaphysician and philosopher ask in unison.

 There is a world to be understood rather than denied. When it is understood, we understand the reasons for the illusion of a world in need of healing.

 Nothing is done for this world of illusion by the view that there is no world to heal nor persons to illumine. (If the absolute view of metaphysics really “worked,” the illusive world would not appear to be on the brink of a common disaster in every field of human experience.) To arrive at the near-final conclusion that the world is all right (despite the tenacious claims and holds of world-belief to the contrary) is a wonderful and necessary second step, but Truth is an ongoing revelation that ultimately tells us why the appearing appears. Subjectivism without the Child within is a dead thing, even as religion is. Without the Child, religion and metaphysics are like stillbirths in the world. The final light from the third step (the step beyond metaphysics) tells us what we are to do for the illusion. When we know this, we set out to do it. And until we do that, we haven't done anything.

 To paraphrase the enlightened Zen saying once more (Mountain; not a Mountain; Mountain again); First there is a world to heal and many ignorant people to be instructed; then we see there is no world to heal nor persons to be illumined; finally, the world is understood for why it appears, and our real action begins, with much for us to do in each position.

 These are the apparent steps along the way up the mountain of Da Shan. The minister often bogs down in the first step, the absolutist most certainly in the second. The illumined are those who have continued to move on and have found the Child within themselves. The Child is the third step, and those who have found It are already gathering into a joyful new community preparing the way for mankind's recognition of the Child-within-Everyman. Messiah! This Community spans the universe in a sweet camaraderie of simplicity and childlikeness.

 But, let the reader understand: The child within us can be acknowledged and found anywhere along the objective or subjective way. Within religion or outside it. We do not leave or forsake either science, religion, metaphysics or “the world.” Rather we understand them and include them to infinity, perceiving whatever is real of their activities and truth. 

The Child within does this for us! Wherever and whenever the Child enters our conscious recognition, That One takes us quickly through the objective, subjective, male, female, first, last, above and below “steps,” without ignoring or ridiculing them—and brings us to a marvelous Balance and a unitive knowledge of Godhead. In that balance, where the marvelous Equation is learned and lived, we live our subjectivism in the objective experience, accomplishing wonders—and mankind doesn't even see us doing it!

 The first step laughs at the second. The second step holds itself mighty and superior, doing nothing in the world that it calls an illusion. The second step deceives the elect and denies both the first and third steps with all the vigor it possess. Religion and metaphysics without the Child neither eat the oats they profess nor allow the world to. But the Child IS the third step—and includes the lesser steps to infinity. The Child within us leads the way to Godhead here at hand.

**********

Han and Mary were talking at the pond. “Friend Han, you have said that the subjective (metaphysical) view of the Perfect World is only half the truth. What is the other half?”

 “The objective truth,” answered Han.

 “And these two are the whole Truth?” asked Mary.

 “Oh no,” Han said emphatically. “Godhead and Its Selfhood, the Child, are the whole Truth. They are much greater than the sum of their parts.”

**********

The soldier said, “The subjective view of the second step seems to be diametrically opposed to the objective view of the first step. How can these contraries exist side by side? They are like positive and negative. Shouldn't they neutralize one another, like matter and anti-matter?”

 “In the world, people think they do,” the old man smiled. “But, here we appear to be sitting in an objective world, talking to ourself at the pond. Yet, we sit here talking of subjective things. Therefore, I see that my subjective idea does not neutralize nor eliminate my objective world—even though there are times I would like mightily for it to turn the picture around complete. Ah, but when I found the Child within myself—so much closer to me than I had ever thought of God being; closer than any concept of an Ever-present Being—the Child showed me how to live my subjectivism objectively right here in this world of appearances. When I learned this, my world came alive.”

 “I speak of these unfoldments as happening sequentially—as three steps—but that is only a concession to time and words that a linear world demands. The three steps are happening simultaneously in non-time, for all of us, within one omni-dimensional Godhead. The non-day of non-time will arrive in this linear sense of  things, as the masters and prophets have declared—and then I shall see as I am seen.”

 Han smiled. With a firm countenance and eyes ablaze, he added, “Meanwhile, as long as I appear to be here in this linear sense of things, I will continue to do everything I can do for my world and for the images of myself I see within it. I shall not stop short with religion alone. I will not withdraw into arrogance and blindness in the subjective world of my own viewing. I shall do for my world as long as I can. I will run as long as I can run, and walk as long as I can walk. Then I will crawl on my knees if I can. But as long as I am 'here' and 'now,' I am here for God's divine Purpose. That Purpose is not without action to help men find what I have found and do what I have done.”

 A thoughtful silence followed at the pond. “Does that answer your question? Han asked the soldier.

 “Yes. My God, yes,” the soldier said.


Excerpt from "The Child Within Us Lives! A Synthesis of Science, Religion and Metaphysics"  By William Samuel  

Available on Amazon 

If you would like further guidance in understanding any of William Samuel's work based on Self discover you are welcome to contact me, Sandy Jones - samuelandfriends@gmail.com - Ojai, California -   

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Thursday, September 7, 2017

The Return of Youth



Excerpt from 
by William Samuel 

 Dear Dr. Lee,

  No, Awareness does not actually "expand." It only appears to, just as it sometimes appears to contract, wither, become narrow and limited with the years and struggle of the possessor.

  The longer we misidentify as the accumulator of experience, the more layers of lack and limitation the misidentity has to contend with, and the more foolish fears it fancies and fights.

  Modern psychiatry is busy digging under those layers in order to readjust some aspect of the misidentification's affairs. There is no question but what psychiatry is capable of making many changes in that one's experience, but it does nothing for the actual Identity that exists instead.

  If present day psychiatry wants to render a real service, let it call attention 'to the pre-existing, perfect Being being this Awareness called "you" and "me." It goes without saying that the only "psychiatrist" who can do this with honesty is the one who has discovered it for himself and operates as the re-identification.
Sincerely,
*******************

THE ACCUMULATOR

  Why identify as the gatherer of wisdom? Why consider oneself the collector of experience and memories? This is to look out at a universe through an ever grimier window; this is to bury the unencumbered brightness of youth; this is to forget the feel of earth underfoot, the crispness of morning air, the smell of green fields and the wonderment of distant sounds.
  
As we disassociate ourselves from the "accumulator" to recondition ourselves again as pure and simple Awareness, isn't it reasonable that we should be aware as we once were without the insulating blanket of age and debility?

  Identifying oneself as an accumulator of flotsam and jetsam, it is only natural to experience taking aboard an ever increasing load of stultifying anchors, chains, nuts and bolts until they sink the misidentification to the bottom.

*******************


WE STOP PLAYING THE ROLE OF A DYING MAN

  So long as one acts as the recipient of Life, then just that long he must take aboard the accumulations of a personal experience. This ever growing conglomeration of bunk is like the grime that darkens the attic window, ultimately shutting out the light. is it any wonder age weighs so heavily on this stockpiler of experience? Is it any wonder he eventually bends and breaks under the weight of his accumulation? He never lets go anything, but tucks every tidbit into a corner marked “memory" or "experience" and has the effrontery to call it wisdom.

  Am I suggesting that this process be reversed? No. It would be futile to reverse the old man's actions and still have him aboard to work more mischief.

  What is required? The answer is simplicity itself: RE-IDENTIFICATION, simple, unadorned and effortless re-identification. All that is ever "necessary" is to reconsider oneself from the enlightened standpoint of unpossessed Awareness itself, not as an ego, attempting to stuff itself into a pulpy, aging body and then have images do all sorts of tricks for it.

  This is not the endless task of reversing the old man's “effects," dropping his burdens one by one, as religion teaches. This is not to wash clean the window of perception. (Yet, re-identification surely appears to render these results.) This is to end the agony, by identifying as the sunshine, not as the attic window through which it shone dimly. This annuls the relentless march of time's accumulation. The sunshine is not concerned with a silly spook who was never real.

  So, reader, stop being a rag collector, a junk man, an accumulator of flotsam and jetsam. Stop considering yourself as one who goes through life amassing as much experience as possible. Stop pigeon-holing memories. Stop your incessant planning of what to do in order that tomorrow's events will be more to your liking.

  "But what will happen to my affairs if I make no plans?" asks the business man. "Re-identification does not allow for the terrible things that will happen when 'the human experience' is let go," he says.

  "What about my school work?" asks the student.

  "Or my home and family?" wonders the mother.

  Re-identification is like switching primary attention from the shadows on the television screen to the complete and beautifully functioning television set itself, the basis for all the images in the first place. Activity among the spots on the screen does not go to pot when we concern ourselves with the television set. We do not lose our footing when we lift our view from the moonlight shadows along the walkway to behold the majesty of the heavens. Re-identification is living the Identity that is the fact anyway.

  There is little we can say to the business man, the student or the mother that will convince them of this. There is but to do ourselves; to show forth the happiness that "results," and then speak as best we can to those who ask about it. In effect, that is what this book is—a statement concerning things it has been my good pleasure to find; what I have seen and heard and done that you may also discover if you choose to. Our words mean nothing to those who have not grown weary of beachcombing or of the great pile of junk they carry along with them.

*******************

  I have been asked, "How do we go about not accumulating memories? How do we keep from pigeon-holing all that transpires within one's daily activity? Are we supposed to forget?"

  Infinite intelligence does not forget what it knows itself to be, and it does not acquire more than it already is.

  Somewhere along the line we are required to make the break with the old identification. It is not enough to know that the old man is a fiction. It becomes necessary to think and act from the position that we are, rather than from the one we are not. In the determination of one's honest Identity, we find tranquility, thereby letting go that which we ignorantly believed ourselves to be and the misery attendant to such a belief.

*******************

  Dear reader, let me tell you this: UNENCUMBERED AWARENESS ITSELF AM I. This is the Identity I am. This is the "who" and "what" I am. This was my Identity before I seemed to recognize it and it will be my Identity should it appear I forget it. This is likewise YOUR Identity. This is the ageless Identity. This is the undying and eternal Identity. This is the Whole and Perfect Identity which was and is and forever shall be!

*******************

A SELECTION ABOUT "YOUTH," "DEATH" AND "EXPANDING" AWARENESS

  It may be said that the vistas of Awareness widen and widen until such time as they include again the pure sights and sounds we experienced as children.

  Do you remember the tender thrills of childhood—the smell of freshly cut grass, how clean the air after a rain, how little things were so exciting, how small surprises were such breathtaking, joyfilled moments? Do you remember how very blue the sky and how white the clouds within it, how rich green the fields, how unfettered and free the feeling of the first day of vacation? Do you remember the joy of experiencing no care, no responsibility, no worry, no fear of health or wealth? Can you remember how wonderful was your father's praise, and how comforting your mother's touch? Can you recall the time when there was no consciousness of age, debility, sorrow and death?

  Reader, I tell you that in this work all these things will be your happy experience again! Every bit of this is "regained" as we become non-evaluating Awareness, as we let go the judge, as we drop the accumulation of judgments and opinions.

  When can we do this? Today! Right now! We do not have to die first. There is nothing to die but the belief in a possessor called "me" who is capable of enslaving God's own Awareness of Himself, the veritable I that I am! As we let go the age-old liar, we return to honesty, "born again" to "become as a little child."

  And this is only the beginning. Just as Awareness consciously appears to regain the uninhibited enthusiasm of youth, so it appears that the body you call yours regains its agility, poise, grace and strength.

  Even more astounding, "expanding" Awareness consciously perceives that the loved ones of old are yet within its Vision, loved ones that the narrower sense of a possessed and opinionated Awareness exclude in a process called death!

*******************

EXPANDING AWARENESS PERCEIVES THE "DEPARTED"

  Judgment narrows the conscious vista of vision exactly as anger narrows it. Who can see the beauty of a flower in the midst of a fit of rage? Judgments, the products of reasoning, planning, calculating and manipulating, would, within their chimerical province, smother Awareness completely if they could. 

"Perfection is directing this experience being-I by being the Experience I am."

  This is so. This is true. This is a fact!

*******************

Dear Nancy,

  This is not difficult to understand. We know when one stops worrying he sees and hears things he was unconscious of while thundering through his worry-thicket of thought-taking. This is all we mean by Awareness "expanding."

  This is a simple example of Awareness apparently "regaining" all the judge excludes for himself by his own opinions of good and evil. Invariably, his judgment of "good" constitutes the basis for his passions and appetites.

  As one stops attempting to be the judge, conscious Awareness "regains" the joy, the happiness, the effervescence and sparkle of youth ever more and more, from glory to glory, until such time as the veil—the ego, the personality—is rent and "we see as we are seen."

How do I know? Let go the intellect; be Awareness, unjudging and unyielding; joy in the carefree, pristine world of the Heart and see for yourself what awaits you!

*******************

MORE ABOUT DEATH

  Death is real only if Deity ceases to be conscious of existing. The Awareness that "sees," "feels," and does all that constitutes Self-consciousness, will never die, will never stop being aware, will never cease being conscious. Why? Because Awareness is Deity's activity, not the personal activity of an opinion-holding ego.

  All that "must surely die" is the belief that such an ego exists, capable of being the custodian of Awareness. The possessor is of few days and full of trouble. It flourishes in the warmth of its own concoctions, to be cut down and cast into its own hell of values which it gives to valueless images.

  Death is the appearance of the inevitable sacrifice of the possessor's values and opinions. That which man assigns the greatest value often appears to be devalued before him or taken from him, even as all he hates is usually heaped upon his shoulders, until he sees that nothing is good or bad; until he sees that nothing is to be cherished or despised; until he sees that "things" are being just what they are being—”things"—and that perfectly!

*******************

"HE SHALL RETURN TO THE DAYS OF HIS YOUTH"

  Those who study this "philosophy" with us on Lollygog are always amazed to find a return of youthfulness, not only in outlook but in action and appearance. Why should there be surprise? To be this NOW of UNJUDGING Awareness is to let go the great weight of opinions, notions, prejudices, quirks and idiosyncrasies which, added to personal memory, are all there is to "age." It is the one who acts as though he possesses life who ages and seems to suffer the decline and death of the deceiver.

  "Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God (who is Being all there is to the Awareness reading these words) fainteth not, neither is weary? He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength . . . but they that wait upon the Lord [they who will simply be the unjudging, motiveless Awareness we be] shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."

  When one lets go the worried plans intended to improve the already perfect NOW, he discovers the Self that "turneth the shadow of death into the morning." "The former things are passed away . . . and there shall be no more death."
  
"If there be a messenger . . . an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness . . . his flesh shall be fresher than a child's; he shall return to the days of his youth . . . and his life shall see the light!"


*******************

EXPANDING AWARENESS

I
  One stays with the Now and lets go the hinterlands, past and future. Surely that one experiences an "expansion" of Now such that it is no longer a sharp edge dividing "was" from ”will be.” Then, to his amazement, he knows what was and what will be; He lets go fear and sees with new clarity!

II
  One stays with Tranquility and lets go the hinterlands of depression and ecstasy, abhorrence and desire. Surely that tranquil one experiences an "expansion" of Tranquility, so that the world is no longer divided into good and evil. Then, to his astonishment, he knows what "good" is and what "evil" is. He lets go ambition to be the miraculous qualities of Deity!




If you would like further guidance in understanding any of William Samuel's work based on Self discover you are welcome to contact me, Sandy Jones - samuelandfriends@gmail.com - Ojai, California -   
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Saturday, September 2, 2017

Identity and Reality

 


Artwork by Sandy Jones 

Celestial Song 

 By William Samuel 

If one hundred theologians were asked to define Christ, they would likely give a thousand different answers. Why are there so many opinions? Because theology echoes the myriad distortions that spring from the intellect.
Once the intellect has been subdued sufficiently to allow the Heart to be heard, we begin to get the answers; and the Heart's messages are soothing and uncomplicated, nothing like the bedeviling bamboozlement of a befuddling intellect!
So, how does the Heart interpret the Christ? As simple truth! As gentle, unpretentious truth. You can spell this word with a capital or not—it is the same truth which is the Christ! The Heart reveals that "Truth" and "Christ" are identical—meaning "the same one."

The dictionary defines truth as "fact; that which is; conformity to reality." "I am the truth," said Jesus Himself. "Identity-I (and not the possessor of it) am the Truth, the fact of Reality." Identity is the Christ-Truth itself.

This is much too simple and unsophisticated for human theology, of course. Man has a penchant for complicating the simple. He would have the Christ range from a very literal, bleeding body named Jesus of Nazareth, to a metaphysical mystery of transcending Light and Illumination, or both. The simplicity of "Christ" and simple, lowly, unpretentious, gentle "Truth" as synonymous terms is too naive a concept for intellectual churchdom. Erudition is steeped in the esoteric, egobuilding disciplines of its man-hewn theological "mysteries."

The world church makes Truth one thing and Christ another; but the fact is, simple Truth (truth) itself is everything meant by the term. The Christ proclaims: "I am the Truth. I, Truth, am come to take away the untruths of the world. Behold, I am with you always. I will never leave you nor forsake you." Indeed, the Christ-Truth is here—not far off, not something we must struggle up a long, rugged mountain to reach. Let us understand this here and now!

If we can comprehend and admit that the alphabet is here or that the principle of arithmetic is here, that the harmonious principle of music is here, or that Life, this Now-Awareness-I-Am, is here—then we can surely rest, stop fighting it and admit, concede, surrender to the fact that the simple truth—the Christ-Truth—concerning our rightful Identity is right here, right now, present!

Are you willing to make this simple admission? Or will you deny it? The only "second coming" Truth awaits is our individual acknowledgment of its presence as our very own Identity!
________________

Inevitably, intellectual mankind complicates everything and makes a mystery of truth. In intellectual circles the idea is prevalent that Reality is relative at best and can never really be known; that all we can do is get closer to it—and that, say the ministers, philosophers, theologians and educators, takes years of study, prayer, self-immolation, self-denial, suffering, toil and perhaps a death or two thrown in for good measure. Malarkey!
Reality is real, not relative, and it can be discovered without labor! Instead of effort, it is the tenderest labor of love; it is happiness beyond belief; it is reward that hasn't even been dreamt of!
Prove me now here-with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
For this proof, the first action is simply, quietly to turn within to one's Self, there to listen to the Heart, where Truth is and where the answers are!
*******************
THE ANSWER IS HERE
One's own Heart is here, consequently the Truth is here. It is comforting to desist from the rat race for a moment and acknowledge that Truth is at hand. Truth is the solution to all that seems untrue, hence unreal. How wonderful to realize, no matter what the apparent problem, that one is never any farther from the Happiness, Peace and Tranquility he may think he needs than himself. "Himself" is right here, this very now, closer than breathing.
My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore;
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, to there! for,
behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
*******************
Excerpt from "A Guide To Awareness An Tranquillity"
By William Samuel


If you would like further guidance in understanding any of William Samuel's work based on Self discover you are welcome to contact me, Sandy Jones - samuelandfriends@gmail.com - Ojai, California -   

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