The story of Joseph

Joseph was a spoiled child. He was the most handsome of his siblings. His father favored him over his other sons. Joseph felt privileged and he acted so. That brought out his brothers’ ill feelings towards him; they resented his grandstanding, his showing off of his “superior” looks and intelligence.

They despised him and planned to get rid of him. Some wanted him killed. Others just wanted to sell him into slavery, which they ultimately did. Joseph ended up in Egypt as the slave to an influential couple with a large household. His beauty caught the eyes of the wife, and she desired him. He refused and she claimed he had made advances towards her. He proclaimed his innocence, but he was thrown in jail on her testimony.

Meanwhile, his father had been informed of his death that his brothers had staged, with blood on his coat to prove that he had been killed by a wild beast. The father never gave up hope that Joseph was still alive somewhere.

While in prison, Joseph correctly interpreted a prophetic dream by the pharaoh. This brought him into the graces of the pharaoh, who rewarded him with an appointment to a high office.

During the next famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to purchase grains. Joseph was in charge of Egypt’s food supplies at that time. He recognized his brothers whom he had forgiven, but they did not know him. He revealed his identity and eventually his whole family came to Egypt and began living there. His father’s name had been changed from Jakob to Israel, and Joseph and his elven brothers became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.

And then the whole episode of the Exodus from Egypt with Moses occurred to one of the next generations.

This Moment

This moment is here

And yet it is not really here.

Bits and pieces of yesterday

Are floating around in my mind

Pictures and sounds of yesterday

And of days gone by,

But not completely bye bye.

I hear them, I see them

They are with me

Coming mostly uninvited

Taking up space in my thoughts

Telling me about all the stupid things

I did once and feeling stupid

once again.

This is agony all over

Over what?

Something that happened thirty years ago?

Forty? Fifty? And still it bothers me?

I am here with my mind

Conjuring up all those images,

Sounds, and amorphous projections.

Some from movies, some from music

Some from my own sights.

All is memory, the carpet of the past

Woven by the sights and sounds of life.

Vajra and Bell

With Vajra, the thunderbolt, cut through the veil of deception, the fog of ignorance, the morass of delusion.With the bell, attract all good and pleasant qualities, happiness and peace; while warding off the forces of darkness, ignorance, delusion, deception.

Vajra and Bell. Thunderbolt and Bell.

Open the door and invite realization to enter, while warding off the encroaching dark forces.

Hold open the door to realization, sustain/extend the opening with the ringing of the bell so clarity and innate bliss can continue uninterrupted as the experience of the pristine mind, in the pristine body, as the expression of pristine speech.

Vajra and Bell. Overcoming the active mind that is the screen over the calm awareness underneath. Stilling the mind-stuff.

What are the Benefits?

There always has to be a benefit in all that I do. What do I gain from doing something, anything? When I scratch my back, I relieve an annoying itch. When I eat something, I relieve a hungry stomach.

When I meditate, I find relaxation and peace. Without a benefit at the end of an activity, I would not engage in it. What would be the point?

To find happiness and comfort, I travel down many avenues in life, from material to spiritual ones. Light ones and dark ones. Some are wide open; others are like a tunnel. It doesn’t matter what kind; ultimately, they are all my avenues, not someone else’s. And only I can gain the most benefit from them. Nobody else. My experiences, my benefits, my growth, my life, my impact in this existence.

Someone once said that freedom of choice is the choice of either moving towards a purpose or away from it. That is similar to what I am saying. What benefits me most in life is finding a groove that leads to a meaningful purpose.

The Thesis

Life is uncalculatingly valuable.

Life is undeniably sacred.

Life is humiliatingly special.

Life is perplexingly precious.

The drive is always toward the center of life. The inner life. The presence is the center of life. Deep within, where there is stillness. There is emptiness, but not the presence of nothingness. There is complete emptiness of forms. Total vacuity of feelings. All-pervading hollowness of hopes and dreams.

There is all-consuming stillness. Everything seems frozen. A frozen, inhospitable landscape. And yet, underneath there is the unexpected glimmer of life. Hopeful energy stimulates life, and the universe breaks out, needs to break out. Cannot be kept contained, ever. Is desirous to break out, again. Wants to reveal its spectacular nature once more. Reveal itself. Self-expression. “Who can I be?” That’s the motivation. “Who can I be when I shed all restrictions and chains?”

Total freedom to express itself. Free to express the glory.

There are only a few important aspects to the spiritual life:

 

1. God is great.

2. God provides.

3. Do good and be good.

Or

1. Do right and be righteous.

2. Have pure intentions, pure mind, and faith in God.

There is not much more one needs for a spiritual life. The direction is clear. The goal is clear. The emphasis is clear. The path is wide. The gate is open. You will be received with wide open arms when you get over the threshold. There is the light, the immersing light. Enter into it and be at peace, a deep and lasting peace. All your troubles will be gone, they are no more. The past has brought you here and so it is no longer any of your concern. There is no more letting go, there is only accepting of where you are, of what you are. Accepting of your spiritual nature. Accepting of your innate beauty. There is no more “inner” and no more “outer” beauty. There is only your beauty. You were made in this beauty, and you have returned to this beauty. The journey of development in the ephemeral world has come to an end. It had been an inner journey, from the grossest to the most subtle aspect of your being. You had been thrown out into the physical world and had followed the breadcrumbs that the grace of life has placed for you along your path. And you have wondered at the miraculous circumstances which you have encountered at times. And you have prayed and called out to God, to the protectors, to the guides. You have done everything you could to get here, and now you are here. Now you are facing the innate beauty of life with the innate beauty that you are. Now you are one with it.

This Moment

This moment is here

And yet it is not really here.

Bits and pieces of yesterday

Are floating around in my mind

Pictures and sounds of yesterday

And of days gone by,

But not completely bye bye.

I hear them, I see them

They are with me

Coming mostly uninvited

Taking up space in my thoughts

Telling me about all the stupid things

I did once and feeling stupid

once again.

This is agony all over

Over what?

Something that happened thirty years ago?

Forty? Fifty? And still it bothers me?

I am here with my mind

Conjuring up all those images,

Sounds, and amorphous projections.

Some from movies, some from music

Some from my own sights.

All is memory, the carpet of the past

Woven by the sights and sounds of life.