The gem we're seeking here

Regardless of the glitz and glimmer of the endless distractions of the world of the ten thousand things, the gem we’re seeking here, when all the obfuscation is removed, is an active unspoken dialogue with the Tao, the divine, the ineffable presence informing this reality beneath the surface of both its fine garments and its rags and tatters, for by attaining to that, nothing and no one on the surface of things, in this world of the world can any longer do more than superficially ruffle our feathers, while within we will feel as steady as a mountain.

This Tao, this unseen ubiquitous supraconscious presence is not to be found outside anywhere, though it informs the outside as much as the inside. It can only be found by stilling the raging mind long enough to feel its presence from within, psychospatially speaking, in the seat of the brain, deep down inside the skull on top of the upper brainstem where the uppermost vertebra meets the base of the skull. Here it will spontaneously and readily appear as soon as you stop engaging with the thoughts in the forebrain.

However we cannot in reality come to meet the Tao alone, we must all arrive here together, meaning that when you arrive through a state of momentary stillness at the realisation of the divine presence, you all at once know you are merely one of its infinite number of faces and that it’s the same Tao looking out through a multitude of eyes, yours being merely one pair – and that in so seeing, you almost automatically want to reach out and help everyone else realise it too – not by preaching the word but by the feeling and intention in your heart to include everyone in your realisation – without exception, especially including those you perceive to be totally twisted and distorted in their behaviour.

So having sat your mind squarely on top of your upper brainstem, the next part of the operation is to soften your chest and allow your love to flow inclusively until you feel it spread across the face of the earth and beyond. This is how compassion is engendered.

And to keep all that flowing: awareness of the divine in yourself and everyone else and hence compassionate respect for all fellow sentient beings, you have to be simultaneously mindful of your breathing. By keeping it slow and steady, you harness your awareness of the divine in everyone and everything to physical reality and thus make it substantial, rather than just intellectual or abstract.

For the moments you can go about your business in that state, aware of the divine presence informing every aspect of your existence, as you engage with others along the way, simultaneously remaining aware of the divine presence within them too, you can consider yourself a Buddha.

Which isn’t such a terrible thing to be able to consider yourself to be I think you must agree.

What do you reckon yourself?

May you be such a Buddha as you work, rest and play, it’s all you can do not to eat yourself.

With love, Doc