The Third Tablet

It is said that Moses received from God a third stone tablet of laws, but he shattered it in anger. Or did he accidentally drop it, being human, and this too was ordained, since the laws engraved upon it were too abstruse for that age?

Perhaps, as a result of God's mood swings, the laws on the third tablet contradicted the laws on the other two. Is there not evidence in scripture that the Almighty is bi-polar? But this may only be a flaw of human perception, refracted through regret over the past or anxiety about the non-existent future. For when we behold the Almighty as pure Presence, we avoid the polarizing effects of time, and God appears quite sane. It is in such moments of Seeing that the third tablet is miraculously restored, and takes precedent over the other two.

Whatever the explanation, we may now receive the revelation of the third tablet, which was discovered intact in a chamber beneath the Sphinx. 

* Thou shalt not worry, for what is, is.  
  
* Thou shalt not honor any power above gentleness. 

* Thou shalt not listen to the belly crying 'More!' or the brain crying 'Less!' but only to the sigh of the heart, 'Enough.'

* Thou shalt not search for any human dignity greater than walking, standing, sitting or reclining. For my supreme gift to the universe is the relaxed composure of a human body, just as it is.

* Thy senses are pathways to Me; thou shalt not suppress their delight. If thou dost honor as a sacrament the faintest sensation of skin, eye, ear, nostril and tongue, thou shalt crave nothing more violent or addictive. Ye, merely to breathe shall be thine ecstasy.

* Thou shalt not repress thy sexual nature, nor holy desire. Only make love with care and respect, and never betray thy heart's chosen partner.

* Thou shalt not worship any concept or image of Me in thy mind, for idols graven of thought are more dangerous than idols of silver and gold.  

* Thou shalt not seek my name and form in any temple but thy heart. And when thou findeth Me there, thou shalt see Me in the humblest form: a leaf, a flower, a glittering little piece of dog shit.
* Thou shalt not define thyself through any story of the past or any hope of the future: for thou art the radiance of the present moment, and in this radiance I Am.

* Thou shalt not doubt that I am Thou, and Thou art I. Do we not both say, I Am? In this Am, We are one.

These are the laws of the third tablet. They are unbearably simple, unspeakably self-evident, and impossibly easy to follow. That is why they have never been given until now, and will never be given in the future.

The Right Time

I've often said, "I'll get to it when I have more time." But the truth is, "more time" in the future is a fundamental delusion of  mind. There will never be more time than there is in this moment.

The feeling that "I don't have time" is produced in a tense, stressed nervous system. The anxious brain discharges a signal that becomes the thought, "I don't have time." What is really happening is stress in the body, and this stress is happening always in the present moment, causing constant rapid thinking in the mind, wavering between thoughts of the past and thoughts of the future. The whole sense of rush toward the future, and impoverishment of the present moment is a result of physiological stress.

That is why, if I feel that I'm rushed, out of time, ghasping for more  leisure, hungry for that sense of eternal expansiveness that is available not in heaven, not in a monastery, not on vacation, but in Presence: then make the time to practice pranayama and meditation. It is only through breath, exercise, and the deep discipline of centering that we end the mind's wavering from past to future, and come into the pure Presence of eternity, which is Now.

When the nervous system is stable and the brain is refreshed, when consciousness is alert and settled in the self-radiance of its silent Being, vast time available anywhere, at any moment.

We think the problem is 'they' when it is 'I.' We think the solution is acting out there when it is resting right here. Let 'I' rest in 'Am.' Then see what needs doing.

Build It Here

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim. 
Dear friends, if you can't build your mosque
in lower Manhattan, build it here,
in the ground zero of my heart.
Here is infinite, empty, ancient space
to fill with the call of the minaret.
But you will find a Christian church here too,
a Buddhist temple, a shrine to Radha Krishna,
and a sacred tree for the Gods of ancient Ireland.
If you don't mind sharing 
the space of compassion,
it's yours.

Forgive

Riddle

Here is a course of radical spiritual instruction, an ancient initiation, available today. This initiation is only for those who are serious about transcending ego, expanding awareness, embracing all possibilities, and shattering boundaries, even the boundaries of the Bodhisattva!

The instruction is free, but requires everything you have. Though the teaching is profound, no master teaches it. The practices are mystical yet earthy. You will celebrate its beginning but not its end. The instruction is so intense that many drop it midway. The course involves no rules, but constant discipline. It is so intimate you cannot take it with a group, nor can you take it alone.

What is it?

Pearls Without a String

Is there an ego?

In a moment of real happiness, or in a moment of truly serving another, there is no no ego, no I who says, I am happy.

But in a moment of dissatisfaction, the experience of separateness arises. Memory strings such moments of separateness on an imaginary thread & calls them me, as if they had continuity. But they are just gray pearls without a string.

Relax. Spend more time doing what makes you happy, and more time serving from the heart. Then there's no you who has to do any spiritual work to transcend your ego.

Primordial Religion

The prophet: your Mother.
The scripture: your Body. 
The holy name: your Breath. 
The temple: your Heart. 
The alter fire: Awareness. 
Eternal Life: Now.
All religions: Shadows.
All rituals: Rehearsals
for This Human Being
Consciously Breathing.

Happiness Is Unimaginable

I can't imagine being happy.

I think about where I want to go, whom I want to be with, what I want to acquire, to make me happier. Do these images of happiness in the mind make me happier?

Imagining happiness is the seed of unhappiness because happiness is never in the future. The image of Summer in thought only deepens the Winter of our discontent.

Bliss is imageless. I only taste it in the present moment.

Hence the greatest mystics rejected visualization practices, preferring the 'via negativa' or way of un-knowing in Christian mysticism; 'sunya' or emptiness in Buddhism; 'nirbija samadhi' or awareness without seed in the Yoga tradition. Bliss has nothing to do with what can be imaged or visualized as a thought. Bliss is the vast space of awareness, where the coming and going of thoughts is incidental.

When I hanker for something better, an image of future happiness, am I not creating a conflict with what is? That always promises to be greater than this. The imagination of my future negates the value of the present moment. Hence Jesus said, 'Take no thought for tomorrow.' He wants me to be happy now.

My most creative work springs not from an image of future happiness, but from the overflow of Presence.

Imagining happiness is the subterfuge my mind uses to perpetuate it's restlessness in a more palatable form. But if I want to taste bliss, I must taste it right where I am, and quit planning to be happy.

PRACTICE
In this moment, stop clinging to images of happiness. Don't push them out or deny them. Just release your hold on them. Become aware of the space around you: not the objects contained in space, but space itself. Feel the effortless expansion and softening of pure space. Now close your eyes, feel this soft space in the cells of your body, in the atoms. Allow what is to flower silently from the heart of the Unimaginable.

21,000 Times a Day

Already today I've been baptized 12,000 times by the Holy Spirit. I'll be born again 9,000 times before sunrise. It happens with every breath, doesn't it, friend?

All we can do is say "thank you God," bowing down to whomever we meet. Our bodies are the temples of this birthless deathless refreshment.

There's no religion any more: just the art of living. We're all high priests. Our status is so high, in fact, we got to be born on earth!

Millions of heavenly devas stand in line waiting for this opportunity. Don't waste a moment wishing you were somewhere else! Resting gratefully wherever you are is the fastest path to the next perfection of Now.