Plunge into the Sea of Unbelieving

"I do not cease swimming in the sea of love,
rising with the wave, then descending.
Now the wave sustains me, then I sink beneath it.
Love bears me away where there is
no longer any shore." ~Al Halaj

In the actual world, conflict does not exist. Creation is a perfect ocean of energy, dissolving and recreating its forms in waves that flow within the motionless whole, un-caused and absolutely one. Where is the conflict?

Thought superimposes duality onto the One in order to nourish the hungry mind, which sustains itself on conflict. The mind insists on being "right." Being "right" is the addiction, the rush, of the mind. But to be "right," the mind needs a "wrong" against which it can argue. Thus the mind needs conflict to feel alive.

To be free of conflict would destroy our mind, our belief system. For the mind, the end of conflict is "the end of the world." Mind symbolizes this "end time" through apocalyptic religious imagery. What these visions really describe is not the end of the world, but the end of our world-view. The Apocalypse does not annihilate the earth, but our interpretation of it. Armageddon is the silencing of our thoughts. The armies of light and darkness clash and dissolve, because duality is over.

If you want peace, refrain from solidifying a permanent belief in anything. Plunge naked into this sea of energy without an interpretation. As if you have already drowned, flow as a current of exhilaration, a sparkling wave of Shakti in the silent bliss of Shiva, who is pure awareness.

Freed from all opinions, live in perfect agreement. Say "Yes" to everything that Is. How could it be otherwise? Give up being "right." A newborn child, a wayfaring fool, a breeze in the sky, a mushroom in the forest, whose roots are also the roots of all other trees, you are the stillness that enfolds the battle, you are the silence that pervades the babble of the marketplace. Conflict simply does not exist, because you don't think it.

When we plunge into the sea of unbelieving, awareness becomes clear and empty, like purest glass. Senses sharpen. Conflict dissolves by itself. Liberated from every belief, how can we possibly wish harm to any creature?

"This sounds dangerous!" you say. "It sounds like becoming a fool!"

Yes, exactly. The Bible itself says, "the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men" (1 Corinthian 1:25).

Awakening is risky. Your nostrils will flare and you will be a panther sensing the wind. Your spine will rise and undulate like a cobra. You will open as a rose and release your fragrance to the whole garden. You won't have edges.  You will be response-able. Able to respond, not out of your past, not out of your story, to imaginary characters, projections of your fear and desire. But to the face of divine Presence scintillating in every creature.

You will perform the most dangerous, wonderful, salvific act: to refrain from believing.


Photo by George Karbus