wise manI have been working with a fitness coach/trainer for a while now.  It has been a lot of fun.  He is excellent.  I have noticed that I am quite sensitive to how he responds to me.  I sometimes wonder how he feels about a question I have… if he feels like he has already answered it or it is silly, etc.  I recall, years ago, feeling similarly with my spiritual teach, professors, etc.  The image of me that they held was important to me.

These recollections and current experiences with my coach/trainer have been good.  It has brought to light (again) the sensitivity I am sure a number of you have with respect to your interactions with me.  I think this is particularly true in the spiritual area when the path is often viewed as one of Neti, Neti, Neti… not that, not that, not that.  It could feel like everything you say is wrong.  I know that such a response, even from my coach/trainer would be difficult for me.

I want to make it very clear to you all, that the path to enlightenment leaves one with nothing, NO-THING, to cling to.  The transcendent is an abstraction, not a concrete concept or ‘thing’.  Though infinitely solid and stable, it is also infinitely boundless and without edge or handle to cling to.  Any ‘thing’ is not it… not that… neti, neti, neti.  You rest into it, rest upon it, like a sort of cosmic cushion.  It lies beyond relativity.  So it is out of my love and devotion for you, that I keep pointing you in the direction of that which lies beyond all relativity.  I love all your questions.  I never judge you for them.  I am your devoted helper.

Remember that every point has a counter point.  Every notion has an equally valid yet contradictory notion.  My job is to free you.  Anything you cling to is Not That.  Please do not forget, that my corrections or introduction of contradictory points to what you may be holding on to is not a judgment of you.  Please do not feel that I have made you wrong.  It is only to keep you moving forward… to keep your vision looking beyond the horizon and not locked on to a fixed notion, position, or principle.  You are the transcendent, the divine, the absolute.  My purpose is to awaken you to that.  Enlightenment is not about adding anything, it is only about taking away reliance upon that which is Neti, Neti, Neti.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.