Sunday 6 March 2011

How Often Dost Thou with thy Case, thy Habit, Wrench Awe from Fools?

Sometimes, the expectations are met, and even then the ego feels a little cheated. The seeker will have a blinding flash of revelation and realise that this is it, that this reality lived is all the same thing, or that everything is one, or that there is actually nothingness, and what seems to be is illusion ("...albeit a persistent one" as Einstein observed). Whatever words or concepts attached to the revelation never capture it, or are a part of it, or are the current manifestation in this ever-changing endless moment. So, I was always here, this was always it, nothing has changed, notes the ego. Is this all there is then? Is this really all there is?

The ego may then be lived along the lines of row, row, row your boat. Life is but a dream, and the dreamer is no more; there is just the dream, manifesting. The story can then unfold in a stream of arisings, unlived by a dominant persona, unvalued by a needy identity. Life is everything, everything is life, there is no judgement, nothing truly matters, yet everything does by virtue of its apparent existence. But is that all there is? Is all there is, all there is? The ego will never be satisfied and that is its job. Questing, striving, improving, giving up, sinking, triumphing, seeking, finding; it will never be done, life will never be settled - but life not seeming settled is fulfillment disguised. If the illusion of reality is recognised, this striving, straining, project-building, happiness-confirming, comfort-saving unfolding of the human story can, at last, be fully stepped into and lived. The ego may arise, but its validation is no longer the tale being told. So roll up your sleeves and dig into it - with the ego, or egoless, whatever it seems like - even if it all seems black and full of despair, it's a miracle there is anything to do or feel or think or be at all.


I wasn't able to dig up the specific, small clip I wanted from The Return of the Jedi. In its favour, this longer clip takes place before the nauseatingly cute Ewoks show up. The bit I wanted was a brilliant exchange between Han and Luke, full of irony, and in a series lambasted for weak character development, illustrative of the timbre of their relationship in a 30-second snippet of dialogue. Also in its favour is the first glimpse of Princess Leia in her Jabba-slave getup, the launch of a million boys' fantasies...those that were teenagers in the mid-80's especially. I can imagine Carrie Fisher looks at this, notes her perfect stomach, and thinks, "I looked fabulous and it's recorded for all time in an iconic film." It's also fun to laugh at the state-of-the-art puppets, and stop-motion monster; kids today have little patience for these effects, built by the boys in the backroom with latex. In fact, my children are even discerning about the quality of CGI; if it's not top-notch, they're likely to inquire "CGI much?" of the screen. Touchingly, the monster's keeper puts in the best small role performance of the Star Wars hexad as the sole mourner of the beast's demise. I wanted the exchange between Luke and Han because it captures the attitude arising for me, the character Suzanne, or whatever it's OK to call the ol' identity today. Have fun watching.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"even if it all seems black and full of despair, it's a miracle there is anything to do or feel or think or be at all."
Either you see the miraculous and wonder of this regardless of circumstances(I'm not denigrating or belittling extreme challenging situations or personal crisis) or you don't.

Peace and Love to you - Suki

PS - Carrie Fisher is 'HOT' in ROTJ

No One In Particular said...

I think you see even if you don't think you do...and yes, Carrie Fisher is Top of the Hot Film Babes in ROTJ!

Anonymous said...

The seeing is always on,just not realized by most.Though,it seems more and more are coming round to this 'seeing'.That difference makes all the difference in the world so to speak.Problems and situations are the same and may improve or get worse,but mental suffering and identification is not there to the same degree or intensity.Seeing that there is no self to actually suffer is grace,liberation or whatever you want to call it.

Peace - Suki

P.I. said...

Hi, thank you for your recent comments... Quote: "I'd like to link to you", yes go ahead, I'm flattered... I like your blog also...

No One In Particular said...

Hey CVB, you're linked! In "Stuff I Like". And I like a lot.

Muman said...

I love coincidences today my nephew said his Mom... my sister looks like Jabba the Hut on Mothering Sunday too lol....that's 14 year olds. Just watched you on tv...nice :-) Will i be picking my mala up again tomorrow to 'purify myself'... who knows.... who cares lol :-)

Muman said...

Hi Suzanne,

I'm getting from your tv interview with Renate that there is no self and everything is coming up in the now...........what i seem to be getting is that there is no actual thing as memory only a present thought can you comment on this ;-)tried to email you from your blogg but no luck could you email me via my muman profile email. Cheers bud.