Guru Purnima is celebrated every year on the full moon day of the Ashada month, normally in July. This year, Guru Purnima was last night and we had a wonderful celebration in the moonlight. The evening was perfect with a soft warm breeze and a bright moon. Some pictures from the evening are posted in the Gallery.
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Bruce Lee is considered to be the rebel of martial arts. His conviction regarding classical styles was to ‘absorb what is useful and reject what is useless.’
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I have little doubt that the original masters of each style saw eye to eye with Bruce Lee. However, over time, their knowledge was reduced to a rigid system, i.e. their knowledge was lost to a degree.
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It is the obligation of each generation to pursue and uphold the purity of the knowledge. However, Knowledge does not exist in books or rules. It exists only in the awareness of the enlightened. Now I am not saying that Bruce Lee was or was not enlightened. However, I am saying his approach to martial arts maps on to (corresponds with) the principle stated here.
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My work is to bring this principle to spirituality… to re-enliven the knowledge in its purity at the only place it dwells… within the awareness of the individual. Of course to do so, means we must enlighten the individual. That is no small task.
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Unfortunately, spiritual scholars today are more often historians than they are true scholars. A true scholar knows Truth from within their being. A historian recites memorized informational residue from the past and thinks of that as Knowledge. Though it is correct to revere the ancient Masters, it is incorrect to think that a historical record of their teaching embodies their Knowledge. When the Master speaks, it immediately ceases to be what the Master said and becomes what the listener heard. This is, of course, equally true of their written words.
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Bruce Lee met with great resistance as he pursued his goal. Martial artists felt he was disrespectful of the traditions of Masters. Actually, the opposite was true. Likewise, I certainly have been, and will meet with, resistances as I pursue my goal to bring forth Knowledge. It is my mission, my purpose in life, to do so.
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For us all, Bruce Lee stands as a symbol of dedication to that type of journey.
The concept of “The Power of Attention” is well known. What is not well known is how crucial the nature of that attention is.
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Unhealthy attention limits the mind, as if one were putting on blinders.
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Healthy attention frees the awareness to expand and penetrate ever deepening levels of wisdom and understanding.
What ingredients are necessary to make a culture great, large, and enduring, like the Golden Ages of the Chinese Dynasties or the Egyptian Empires? For anything to powerfully rise up in nature and be sustained, it must be in harmony with nature. If not, it would not receive any support.
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For a culture to have become great, there must have been a number of highly evolved people coming together and giving birth to that culture. Otherwise it wouldn’t rise up. It’s not possible.
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An Excerpt from Unconditioned Spirit.
Mount Soma is lively this week with the Summer Retreat going on. Please join us for our Guru Purnima Celebration on Sunday!
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The Truth about Religion and Flatlining
