Oneness may often sound, when spoken of, as an arid state, a blank state at the end of a series of denials, as something that will set us apart from the world, making us too holy to be with others as others. Oneness is not a state of mind, a state of heart, certainly not a consequence of rejecting any of the manifoldness of Life, what we call the world. Life is pure Affirmation, a cosmic "Amen!" Surrender to Grace is the affirmation of Life, Life appears as the world, as all its forms. To try to get to Heaven, as a denial of this manifoldness, is a denial of Heaven. The passive posture of pure Prayer, as example, is the activity of an affirmative appreciation of and gratitude to the ever-fecundity of Life. Any escape from the world is seen in religious life or spiritual journey, then, as an in-scape, any move from, a move into. Denial is only of that which arises from the treatment of Life in opposition to the nature of Life. The world we move from is not Life, is not Life appearing. The world we turn from is not a world, at all. Finally, one sees, in Life there is no denial, for Life cannot deny Itelf ~ only "Yes". Life is "Yes!". This "Yes" celebrates the world and the part of each being in it.
the Sacred Marriage
is the Union of Opposites ~
opposites are only in appearance, not essence
timeless peace is received
in the embrace of the appearance of duality in time ~
what we call 'the world'
these opposites are not a problem in themselves
opposition to the opposites becomes a cause of suffering, un-peace
oft, spiritual practice begins
as a repression of life, a "no" to the world, seeing it impure
one wants to get to heaven, be fit for heaven, nirvana, a better rebirth (all these are mental projections)
by denying the world
here, 'heaven' represents the desirable, pleasurable, self-gratifying
this has rightly been called 'spiritual materialism'
the projection of a heaven, as a physical place, into the future
is an image of this subjective 'heaven' ~
the two 'heaven's, one, are a single attempt at escape
in the absolute positivity of Life
there is only "Yes," affirmation, so no escape
the true paradise, or peace, is an in-scape
a going within to the heaven that is already here
this heaven is not here in a conventional sense, here not there,
but present within the experience of here
trying to get to heaven by denial
is the denial of heaven ~ 'hell' is this refusal to affirm Life
the entrance into inside the Veil happens
the moment of no resistance to Life, now
in fully accepting, gracefully by Grace
the world, with all of its opposites, the Veil opens
the Union of opposites, ironically, is, at the same time,
the marriage of the entirety of Life as heaven
the opposites lose opposition, in the wholly Communion, so peace ~
this peace is Heaven
the Contemplative, then, proceeds by in-scape
to within the Veil, within-to-within, grace-upon-grace ~
no inside or outside the Veil
for within the Contemplative, resistance is resolved
in a relaxation, a final affirmation
then, in this Embrace, one can love the world
in pure Affirmation and pure Affection
this Union of Opposites into pure Affirmation
has to be enacted within the sense of self ~
affirming the self by the self
this affirming the self by the self becomes selfless
Love present to Love
For the Union of Opposites, why begin with the self? What is more immediate to the human being than this sense of self?
would one start for the transformation of the self?
Then he breathed upon them, saying,
"Receive the holy Spirit."
