EVERYTHING IS EASY — IN HINDSIGHT. Continue reading “Pithyism #20-20”
Tag: It.
… can’t really be named, only experienced.
Perspective
It used to freak me out that I’d never see the back of my own head. Now that I’ve accepted it, I can move on to the house of mirrors.”
— Barbatus the Elder
Pithyism #80
THE OLDER I GET, THE older “old” gets — and the younger “young” seems.
365 Names: The Encounterable
THE ENCOUNTERABLE IS A NAME I invented about three minutes ago (as of this writing: 2112.12 @ 2150), but is meant to express one understanding of the Consciousness inherent in the universe. As written elsewhere, I do not “believe” in a God* that can be prayed to or beseeched, but rather One that can be experienced, either through unexpected spontaneity or by creating a patterned context for such an experience (through disciplined and deep meditation or contemplation, say). “Belief” doesn’t quite enter into the equation; no words can fully express the encounter’s undeniable and all-unifying immediacy. As Maimonides likes to say, “Those who know, know.” Continue reading “365 Names: The Encounterable”
Why We Divine
When we stand in awe, our lips do not demand speech, knowing that if we spoke, we would deprave ourselves. In such moments talk is an abomination. All we want is to pause, to be still, that the moment may last. … The meaning of the things we revere is overwhelming, and beyond the grasp of our understanding.”
— Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
365 Names: “Der Aibishter”
DER AIBISHTER IS FROM THE Yiddish word meaning “uppermost” or “the highest one.” It’s a good Name for at least two reasons: 1) you can never have too much Yiddish, and b) it’s a nice descriptor of the nondualist perspective. For me at least, “God” is not Something to believe in or pray to, but rather to experience: “choiceless awareness,” “wordless consciousness,” “oceanic unity,” call It what you will. (Or better yet — don’t.) Continue reading “365 Names: “Der Aibishter””
5 Thoughts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All
1. IT IS EXTREMELY LAME TO apologize to people electronically en masse. But I’m going to do it anyway. Continue reading “5 Thoughts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All”
365 Names: “Ain Sof”
AIN SOF is the Name given by Jewish mystics to G?d’s most transcendent (read: non-immediate) aspect. Meaning, literally, “without end,” it falls short of describing the Indescribable by admitting with honesty that it can’t be done. “There is no way to praise G?d in a manner that is suitable, ” says Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. “But a little is also good.”
Once upon a time, in 2011 in fact, The Metaphorager aspired each day to feature a different name for that-which-passes-for-God. Some were creative, others traditional, each unique; so we’re going to attempt that project again (though not every day) until we run out of the names we’ve collected so far. If you want to see your favorite here, but haven’t, send it along with the subject line “365 Names” and let us know whether or not you want to be credited.
Pithyism #210a
AWARENESS: NOW HERE, OR NOWHERE.
Continue reading “Pithyism #210a”
Tasty Nugget/s
Only great pain is the ultimate liberator of the spirit […] I doubt that such pain makes us ‘better’; but I know that it makes us more profound.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
5 Thoughts: 32x
1. IT’S THE MAGNIFICATION THAT CHANGED history.
2. When Galileo Galilei first-lighted* his telescope more than four hundred years ago, he didn’t know that simple act would begin a new era for humanity. He certainly didn’t know that by deducing that Earth was not the center of the Universe, and daring to proclaim the evidence of his senses and reasoning, he would be convicted by the Inquisition. So it goes, and sometimes tragically. Continue reading “5 Thoughts: 32x”
Pithyism #12a
ANYTHING CAN BE LEARNED, BUT not everything can be taught. Continue reading “Pithyism #12a”