Labels enable talk
About what works
And what does not
To find one’s way
In life’s context
Of many realities
Unfolding ever more
Always another step
To find what works
Learning not to claim
One to be the only way
Free of dogmatic chains
Which do tie one down
To a one and only path
In a vast infinity of all
And spiritual freedom
To recognize one’s own
The clear choice of one
Unique and individual
In the relative harmony
Of life, of love, and spirit
The light and the sound
The divine in everyone
As God realizes itself
Every moment anew
Not because but in spite
Of one’s labels and chains
Allowing one to harmonize
By just letting go detached
With eternal compassion
And the love of soul.
“Gently rotating fifth wheel” — a plea for peace
Labels enable talk about many things
Many ancient traditions are going through difficulties in an increasingly secular modern culture that is in great need of spiritual healing to overcome various forms of neurosis, partly developed by the way we live. In part this has to do with the fact that those traditions are still using archaic language and methodologies that don’t resonate with people anymore or are hard to relate to. The forms need to be updated from time to time as they meet a new era.
The mind-blowing popularity of hatha yoga is not an indication of those ancient traditions being alive or well understood by the masses. Yoga is becoming more and more like a fitness exercise imported from India, spreading all over the world after much of its profundity has been stripped off to fit consumerism. This is neither a good nor a bad thing. It’s just what is happening. No doubt that such a trend has many beneficial aspects. There is also a longing among many of us for something deep and profound…
To have more complete healing or spiritual awakening, it’s important to work with subtle dimensions of our own being and to purify psycho-physical karmic habitual patterns that hold us back in invisible chains of pain and suffering… Countless individuals have had life changing epiphanies that might be hard for others to understand. Many of them have profound experiences through Tantric and yogic practices — such as “unblocking the knot of the channels” — in which the body becomes healthier, the mind becomes more wholesome, and a sense of openness develops through which new streams of joy, love, and creativity flow.
— From the foreword by Anam Thubten Rinpoche to “Awakening through the Nine Bodies: Exploring Levels of Consciousness in Meditation” by Phillip Moffitt, pp. IX-X
Once upon a time there was snow
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