Good Monday To You!
I had an enjoyable weekend.
I got some good writing done in the mornings while my mind was fresh and then went home to enjoy my garden.
Saturday evening, Penny, Vidya and I want to the movies and I was the resident “foot rubber”, but it was worth it because I got to enjoy Vidya’s organic popcorn with organic butter and Celtic sea salt, which is like a slice of heaven to me!
They feed me popcorn and I squeeze feet. Pretty good trade I guess!
I had a good time working with stones this weekend. I also was fortunate to have Vidya find me some new healing stones, and a beautiful energy-healing wand at the gem show.
I used my new healing wand to balance Penny’s energy field because she’s been a bit tired and there’s been a cold going around the office that got her.
She’s doing better after an energy balance, foot reflexology, and some time in the garden with the soil, sun and plants. I love seeing her in the garden because the plant spirits love her and she loves to make beauty out there.
I’ve had some funny experiences in the garden when Penny’s been away on business trips; I’ll be out working with the plants, trees or stones and sometimes the plant spirits will say, “where’s the lady that waters us?” It’s so cute.
I feel so blessed to not have lost my connection to nature. I never feel alone when I’m alone. I have a myriad of friends in nature.
It’s sad that when I share such things with people they often think I’m nuts!but!if they only knew!
Today I’ll be working with a client all day. We will work on better understanding the relationship between body and mind.
I’ve been blessed to see an incredible number of my students begin training with me (they show up looking tired, often puffy and overweight) change before my eyes.
In just a few months, I literally watch their transformation as thought I were seeing a time-laps video. Each successive class they attend, I get to see their light shine brighter and brighter from within.
Their minds get sharper, they feel and look much better. That’s great!
The CHEK Conference was such a joy because I got to see so many beautiful, healthy Chek Practitioners all in one spot enjoying each other’s company. The dinner party was really fun because so many beautiful people were dressed to dance, and dance we did!
Today, a little teaching story from Rumi:
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BE GOOD, OR YOU MAY BECOME BLIND!
How a certain person frightened an ascetic, saying, “Weep little, least though become blind.”
A comrade in the work (of religion) said to an ascetic, “Weep little, lest thine eye come to harm.”
The ascetic said, “The case is not outside of (admits only) two (alternatives): the eye will see, or it will not see, that (Divine) Beauty.
If it see the Light of God, what is there to grieve about? How little are two eyes (to him that is) in union with God!
And if it shall not see God, let it go! “Let such a miserable eye become blind!”
Do not grieve for your eye when that Jesus is yours: do not go to the left (but to the right), that he may give you two right (sound) eyes.
The Jesus of your spirit is present with you: beg aid from him, for he is a goodly aider;
But do not every moment lay on the heart of (that) Jesus the unprofitable work of (providing for) a body full of bones,
Like the fool whom we mentioned in the story for the sake of the righteous.
Seek not you from your Jesus the life of the body, ask not from your Moses the wish of a Pharaoh.
Burden not your heart with the thoughts of livelihood; livelihood will not fail: be (constant in attendance) at the (Divine) Court.
This body is a tent for the spirit, or like an ark for Noah.
When the Turcoman is there, he will find a tent, especially when he is one held in honor at the Court (of God).
Commentary:
As usual with Rumi, one must be careful not to read his poetic writings literally.
It is said in a variety of scholarly books investigating Rumi’s life, that once he achieved enlightenment, everything he ever said past that point was spoken in poetry, even his teaching lessons.
Poetry can’t be translated literally, yet so often is by those that haven’t yet learned to use their whole-brain; they can only see straight lines, even when looking at trees or a river; they often see nature in the way of their next shopping mall, or pay parking lot!
Rumi’s basic message is:
Fear tactics are only useful to coerce those that have no intimate relationship with God.
He informs us that to those that “see” Divine Light, the physical eye is but a tool for physical perception.
The ascetic responded to this (typical religious leverage) by saying about eyes, “If (my eye it shall not see God, let it go! Let such a miserable eye become blind!”
Having studied Rumi, his father’s teachings, his life and scholarly interpretations of his work, I would suggest that Rumi’s message here is that whatever pain shall come to you (your body) in life, will either diminish you to the point where seeking union with God becomes a legitimate motive, or will be understood as a process of letting go of that which you are ultimately not (a physical body).
Those that have an intimate relationship with God are unafraid to loose body parts, or their whole body; or course even the enlightened won’t rush to offer the loss of limb or part, but they would not be threatened by the loss, nor be crushed by the arrival of disease that threatens such loss.
Those without a true, or “conscious” connection to Spirit worship their body, for that is the most real thing they have.
Rumi exemplifies this by saying:
“Do not grieve for your eye when that Jesus is yours: do not go to the left (but to the right), that he may give you two right (sound) eyes.”
Here, most (Christians and possibly Muslims who also honor Jesus) would be overjoyed to see Rumi speaking of Jesus (the man), yet he is referring to “Christ”; “Christ” means, one with ALL.
Divine Consciousness, Divine Presence. He is saying that Jesus is yours, which means that Consciousness is yours.
He goes on to say: ! do not go to the left (but to the right), that he may give you two right (sound) eyes.”
Here I feel he is saying don’t go to the left (believing in social convention, in books, in what other (blind) people say.
Go to the “right”, into wholeness, into that which is behind the scenes of the physical eye, where Spirit can be seen and known as beyond, more real than physical objects or appearances. Remember, you see in your dreams, yet your eyes are closed! The “right” is akin to the menu of choices representative of holism, while the “left” represents making “logical choices”, which can’t be done without awareness of what’s on the (whole) menu.
This is exemplified in the next line, where Rumi says:
“The Jesus of your spirit is present with you: beg aid from him, for he is a goodly aider;”
“The Jesus of your spirit” is Consciousness. That you are self-aware exemplifies that Consciousness (Jesus) dwells within you; there is no need to beg outside yourself when you are as close to Spirit (Jesus) as close can get!
Thus, there is no need for middlemen, churches, books, which people have come to worship as more godly than the Spirit (Jesus) within.
Next, Rumi says: But do not every moment lay on the heart of (that) Jesus the unprofitable work of (providing for) a body full of bones,
Like the fool whom we mentioned in the story for the sake of the righteous.
Though many Christians, Muslims and those of Jewish faith have often misinterpreted organized religious teachings (due largely to being misled by the unenlightened preachers of such teachings) such that the body is viewed as something dirty, sinful, not to be loved, cared for, or adorned, which has led to tremendous amounts of physical pain and disease, their ignorance (of actual meanings) has not created bliss.
Rumi is simply implying that the work of caring for “your body”, is “yours”; you shouldn’t need to pray for help caring for your body since that is your only vehicle of self and Self-Realization.
People care better for their pets and cars than they do their bodies, yet, spend much time in prayer in churches every day around the world asking God (and Jesus!) to come fix their bodies. Though I have empathy for such people due to the massive misinformation campaigns of churches, state, drug, food and medical cartels, it is each individual’s responsibility to be present with, and aware of their own body to the point of knowing when any intervention (choice) is not working.
I feel that Rumi is suggesting that your time in worship should be spent exploring and learning about those things and experiences that are outside the realm, and grasp of your physical senses, outside the things that you can, and should take responsibility for yourself!
I feel he’s saying, don’t be “Like a fool whom we mentioned in the story for the sake of the righteous.”!referring to the religious person, who (of his own righteousness) informs the ascetic he may go blind.
Rumi goes on to say: “Seek not you from your Jesus the life of the body, ask not from your Moses the wish of a Pharaoh.”
Here I propose that Rumi is suggesting that your time in contemplative Union with God should not be used begging for help with the body you should care for naturally, if you understand that it is a gift from God (which all existence is!); nor should you be asking your mind (Moses) the wish of a Pharaoh (God), for the mind (the left) can’t ever know the truth of the right.
Go straight to the Pharaoh, which is Consciousness itself. No intermediary is needed. That’s the whole point of a spiritual practice…
Rumi says: “Burden not your heart with the thoughts of livelihood; livelihood will not fail: be (constant in attendance) at the (Divine) Court.”
Which is to say, you have what it takes within your rational mind what one needs to cultivate your (physical) livelihood – that will not fail (if you don’t act irresponsibly toward yourself and those you share relationships with); be in constant attendance at the Divine Court.
This means to be like a zen master who chops wood, rakes leaves, brings water, eats food, washes the dishes, yet is never out of touch with THE CONSCIOUSNESS behind all the surface appearances.
This is iterated in the next line where Rumi says:
“This body is a tent for the spirit, or like an ark for Noah.”
Your body is a vehicle of “experience”, a place where, through the Divine Gift of your ego, you can see and appreciate all that you have, all that you are. The body is like an ark for Noah, it gets you through the floods of life. It’s a vehicle that allows you to collect the experiences necessary to “wake up” to who and what you really are. You are the Universe looking at and experiencing itself.
Rumi finishes his lesson for us by saying:
“When the Turcoman is there, he will find a tent, especially when he is one held in honor at the Court (of God).”
The Turcoman (also spelled Trukoman) is a desert dweller from the regions of Iran and Afghanistan.
Rumi is telling us that when he (anyone with an ego) is in the presence of God (having made the journey represented by Noah in his ark), he will at once find that his body was but a tent, but that tent was necessary to create the illusion of separation so that reunion would have meaning.
The tent may be viewed as a time-machine. In GOD, there is know knowing of or experiencing of any “thing”. GOD IS ALL; an eye cannot see itself, there must be a subject-object relationship for perception “of God” to occur.
The Christian cross symbolically exemplifies this; the horizontal beam represents the journey exemplified here as that of Noah’s ark while the vertical beam exemplifies vertical time where past, present and future are One undivided experience, in which there can be no ego. Thus, one in the “vertical” (dream-state) only knows that because of the relative reality created by our experiences in time (the horizontal state).
Without having a knowledge of Rumi’s life and having studied the teachings of his father, one could easily fall into the trap of thinking that Rumi is shunning the body, like most misinformed religious people believe is necessary to get to God!
Rumi’s only putting the body into perspective, as he is the mind or ego, suggesting that we act rationally and care for what we have and not waste our time in worship asking for help (from Jesus) to care for what we should be caring for naturally and authentically.
To do so would be like asking Jesus to come weed your garden and take out the (bodily) garbage.
Can you imagine poor Jesus listening to all such requests moment to moment from those that are so sadly mislead by pseudo-religious teachings?!
Sadly, so many religious people caught in the conventional or social mind-set exemplified here have misunderstood me, feeling that I’m attacking religion, or Jesus.
Their own misunderstandings of what I share in my talks and courses is an exemplification of their own (false) programming; mind viruses passed onto them, often in their childhood when they had no defense against such confusion.
My whole message could be exemplified in this simple teaching story from Rumi.
Do what is authentically your duty!care for yourself, care for the land, care for people in your relationships because if God is God, they are all in and of God, and therefore, are God expressed as!
Once you’ve weeded the garden, raked the leaves, fed yourself and washed the dishes, and left your house in good order (horizontal or time-based worship), spend your time in (vertical or intuitive) worship to understand the deeper mysteries of life, not begging for help because you’ve forgone your own responsibility to (God’s gift of) your body and relationships.
I hope my interpretation of Rumi’s message helps you gain clarity in some what that helps free you such that you can have a deeper spiritual practice than just worrying about weather you are too fat, or have enough money to buy a new car, and the like. Certainly the interpretations of great masters I share come by way of my own understanding and experiences from a lifetime of study and spiritual practice. My advice to you, as to all my students, is to suspend personal judgement (of me or any such interpreter) until you have digested and practiced the offerings or suggestions for yourself. Only then can one authentically have a basis for effective judgement.
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
