From the Album: Bishops Rock and Oak Creek

Posted on February 8, 2015 by janeadamsart

On earth there are places of enchantment and of power. They speak.

The red rocks in the Sedona landscape are a temple transcending their human worshippers. Shamans hear their pulse; gated billionaires build their towns around them …

Here are a few more pictures from my albums – taken when I went there to meet Robert Adams in 1996, shortly before he passed away: a picture post.

Peace.

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

This blog is a vehicle to promote also my published work – The Sacred India Tarot (with Rohit Arya, Yogi Impressions Books) and The Dreamer in the Dream – a collection of short stories (0 Books). Watch this space.

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All art and creative writing in this blog is copyright © Janeadamsart 2012-2014. May not be used for commercial purposes. May be used and shared for non-commercial means with credit to Jane Adams and a link to the web address https://janeadamsart.wordpress.com/

Robert and the Tanya

Posted on February 6, 2015 by janeadamsart

Arcanum 0 – the Fool: A pilgrim in Sedona. (In the distance you can see the peak called Thunder Mountain, at the foot of which Robert lived)

When I met Robert Adams in 1996, the surrounding Arizona landscape spoke volumes to me of his teaching and his face and eyes. I walked and explored each day into the sacred red rock wilderness: Robert’s Ashram. At the end of my booklet “Imponderables” – (see the last four posts) – I included the following Kabbalah passage from the Lubavitcher Tanya, which also spoke and sang to me of Robert: about No thing.

Ampitheatre – Bishop’s Rock

From the ‘Tanya’:

“… FOR WHEN the intellect in the rational soul deeply contemplates and immerses itself exceedingly in the greatness of G-d, how he fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds, and in the presence of Whom everything is considered as nothing – there will be born and aroused in his mind and thought, the emotion of awe for the Divine Majesty, to fear and be humble before his blessed greatness which is without end of limit, and to have the dread of G-d in his heart.

“Next, his heart will glow with an intense love, like burning coals, with a passion, desire and longing, and a yearning soul towards the greatness of the blessed En Sof. This constitutes the culminating passion of the soul, of which scripture speaks as ‘my soul thirsts for G-d, my soul longs for thee.’ This thirst is derived from the element of Fire, which is found in the divine soul. As students of natural science affirm, and so it is also in the Tree of Life, the element of Fire is in the heart, whilst the source of Water and moisture is in the brain (or third eye?) … referring to the faculty of Hokhmah called ‘the water of the divine soul’.

“The rest of the seven emotional attributes of man are all offshoots of fear and love and their derivations.

“Da’at, whose etymology is found in the verse: ‘And Adam knew Eve’, implies union. It is that faculty which binds one’s mind with a very firm and strong bond to, and firmly fixes one’s thought on, the greatness of the blessed En Sof, without diverting one’s mind.

“Even one who is wise and understanding of the greatness of the blessed En Sof will not – unless he binds his knowledge and fixes his thought with firmness – create in his soul true love and fear, but only vain fancies.”

From the ‘TANYA’ Ch.3
by Rabbi Schneur of Liadi, 1787

NOTES
En Sof – ‘without end’, the Infinite, ‘has no beginning
Hokhmah – revelation, wisdom, ‘the potentiality of what’ – the second of the Ten Sefiroth or emanations of En Sof
Da’at – unknown cognition, awe, abyss. Union of worlds and of man with woman. Knowledge in the sense of concentration.

The meaning of these three letters within Bishop’s Rock – Aleph, Cheth, Daleth – is ‘EChD – from One to Oneness’. It emerges from the infinite Silence, and returns into the Silence.

The fear and love of God are Gevurah and Hesed on the Tree of Life: the soul triad’s equilibrium.

Tree of Life with Robert’s teaching of Four Principles, Three Vehicles and Three Virtues. Note Gevurah and Hesed – constraints/severity and grace: the fear and the love.

When Robert was a teenager in New York, he woke up saying “God … God … God” – who passed his school exams for him while he gazed upon the atoms in class. He had a Jewish mum and a Catholic dad – or was it the other way round?

To me he said, “it never ends, there is no end”; and he said, “relax“. He said other things, but I couldn’t understand them through his Parkinsons whisper – I could only absorb and feel.

Robert’s transmission of the silence between the words, felt part and parcel of my Kabbalah and alchemy studies. It is all the One, wearing Joseph’s many coloured coat of dreams, dharma and pilgrimage. As the Sufis say – from the Source, we return to the Source. We emerge from God, moving into God.

From my photo album –
Bishop’s Rock and Oak Creek, Arizona

“Your Self doesn’t know the answer.
The true Self has no question.
Therefore there is no answer.”

Robert Adams

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

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Robert’s Imponderables: Part Four

Posted on January 27, 2015 by janeadamsart

Completing this series of Robert’s sayings in Transcript §85:

“There never was a time when you were not, and there will never be a time when you disappear. There is no birth for you, there’s no prevailing of your body, there’s no disappearance. There is only eternal life . . . Ponder this.”

“The mind cannot destroy the mind, pondering cannot destroy the mind, thinking cannot destroy the mind. The only way to destroy the mind is to inquire, ‘To whom is there a mind?’ . . . Ponder this.”

“You are already free and liberated, and there’s really nothing you have to do. Just be your Self . . . Ponder this.”

“To be your Self means that you’re nothing else. To be your Self means that you’re not the body, nor the mind, nor the world, nor its things. To be the Self means that you are the imperishable Self, which is all pervading.

“Water cannot drown it, fire cannot burn it. You are that Self that has always existed. Some people call the Self ‘God’, some people call the Self ‘Brahman’, some people call the Self ‘choiceless effortless pure awareness’. It makes no difference what you call the Self. Just to know you are That, will free you immediately . . . Ponder this.”

Sedona Landscapes – click on image to view

“There is really no one who can do anything for you. I cannot really do anything for you, because I am really in your Self. There’s no difference between my Self and your Self. There’s one Self. Therefore, when you look at me, you see your Self. What do you see? . . . Ponder this.”

“Ponder the one who has been pondering all this time.”

“Ask yourself, ‘Who am I? Why is it so hard to become the pure unblemished Self? For whom is it hard?’

“Ask yourself, ‘Why do I think I’m human, and have to go through experiences?’

“Ask yourself . . . Ponder this.”

“That’s enough pondering.”

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

aquariel link

Robert’s Imponderables – Part Three

Posted on January 24, 2015 by janeadamsart

Part Three of extracts from Robert’s satsang transcript §85 – see previous posts …

“You have absolutely nothing to do with pondering anything, for the truth is already present, shining in all its glory and splendour, and you are That . . . Ponder this.”

“There is really nothing you have to do to get yourself Self-realised, only to get yourself out of the way . . . Ponder this.”

“Since there is no one to ponder, why are you pondering this? You are beyond pondering, beyond trying to change conditions, beyond trying to improve your humanhood, beyond trying to get along in the world. Since you are already the world, there is nothing else to do but to awaken to the truth . . . Ponder this.”

“To be your Self means not to be the body, or the mind, or the conditions in your life . . . Ponder this.”

“To be always happy, to be always contented, always at peace, and not to think at all, are the marks of a realised being . . . Ponder this.”

“What you see in this world is only your self. You can never see anything else. Wherever you look, you will see yourself. If you have troubles, you will see troubles everywhere. If you are at peace with yourself, you will see peace everywhere. You are the cause and creator of your particular world, and yet you have the power to change it, by turning within and not reacting to the things of this world whatsoever . . . Ponder this.”

“You are born into a certain situation, with certain parents, a certain religion, a certain environment. This is alright, and this is all good, and this is how it should be. Use the opportunity to awaken. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, and comparing yourself with others, use the opportunity to awaken, to become totally free, by negating all these things and understanding the truth about yourself . . . Ponder this.”

‘It is a rare privilege to be born as a human being, even though it is an illusory birth. But to be born as a human being is the only way you can find your Self. An animal, a tree, a mineral, cannot do this. You have been given the rare opportunity of birth, so that you may find Self realisation, and unfold into your true nature. Do not use your time for anything else. This is the purpose of being in this birth: to become absolutely free and liberated . . . Ponder this.”

Ramana siddha

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

aquariel link

Nilakantha and the Golden Constellation

Posted on September 5, 2014 by janeadamsart

Sacred India Tarot – Ramana as Skanda son of Siva

Tensions are imagination trapped in illusory codes. The tension appears to have the power to materialise, but it has no substance after the thought. Whenever I get through a bit of rotten concrete I turn and see how weak it is. The human lower mind is powered mostly by negative apprehensions. This is why it became embedded in our psyche and expectation, that we have no power to see above the hedges or to change direction – no power of Magic.

There is a huge gulf between general human bedtime, and the real human nature to draw together the stars and move with them consciously, joyfully. The power and the dawn and the history of Magic is simply … this! to take up my bed and walk.

The tapestry is the stars and the Great Heaven: quantum unity. This theme of the tapestry is mirrored back to me from persons I move with, this week: things they say. My tiny thread-loop in the tapestry stands in the lane at night and looks up at the sky.

Starling murmuration by jchip84

Back in history, some priests got hold of Magic and began to manipulate aspects of it with a tendency which grew and grew. For a while they had power and the passwords to re-shape people and environment beguilingly. It concealed from them, the Power. They lost sight and lived inside dark glasses to write history. Tension bred and grew, which obscures and fragments the Power. The political world is ruled by Tension, which manifests nowadays all our yesterdays. But I see the Power and I see the monster in the waves. The Power is hauling it up and out to be seen. Tension appears eternal (so does hell) but in due course it breaks and self destroys. It dismantles. It is rotten concrete whose reinforcing wires get rusted and snap.

The Tension which obscures the Power is separative. By “separative” I do not mean the sword-tip which parts the elements to live with and enhance each other, like brush strokes of colour. “Separative” is the dreary default dream-like notion that I am an isolated object, and therefore powerless, a frightened wage slave, reading only the headlines.

The Power which dissolves the Tension, is “all there is”. There is as Robert used to say – the power that knows the way. I need only turn toward it voluntarily, and see. This is metanoia: a word meaning ‘repent’, in the sense of ‘turn around to face the light’. Whenever and wherever this happens in the world, those stars come out and form a constellation linking oceans: a golden net.

http://thesunhermit.wordpress.com

http://thesunhermit.wordpress.com

I just came across this, in Katie Spero’s blog Let Yourself Learn: – together with a golden mountain and what happens when the subtle thread to your friend strengthens over the ocean:

“When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer
in his absence as the mountain to the climber
is clearer from the plain.”

Kahlil Gibran

Siva – Rudra the Wild Hunter

A Story – adapted from Alan Jacobs’ “Myths of Siva: Siva Nilakantha”

“Once upon a time the Gods in heaven and Demons in Hell formed a parliament. To create ambrosia, they planned to churn the Milky Way as if to make butter. They tore great Mount Mandarva from its roots, for a churning stick; Vasuki, snake of the world became the rope.

“As they whirled and stirred the celestial ocean, to their horror there rose to the surface, a hideous black oil-slick – Kalakuntha, the world’s poison: Time itself. The Gods and Devils in terror like smart young ladies seeing a mouse, appealed to Lord Siva.

“Siva dipped his hands in the sea. Drinking the poison to the last drop, he held it in his lily throat which – as if kissed by a serpent – turned a sinister peacock blue. Now named Nilakantha, Blue-throated One, he retired to his cave in Mount Kailas. All the sages and rishis made their pilgrimage.

kailas and manasarovar

“Ramana on Siva’s hill Arunachala says, ‘When the selfish thought returns to the Self, Self-awareness shines, distilled and pure: the elixir of health and wholeness, ever enduring.’

“Mixing too much with the world, I swallowed poisons churned up by confusing my activities, good and bad. With a deep exhalation, I cleanse my body. Drawing in fresh prana, I use that attention to dive within and find in my heart’s cave, Siva Nilakantha … ever illumining those who, from dreaded Kalakuntha, call upon His transmutation.”

Alan Jacobs 1993

“Within a cavern of man’s trackless spirit
is thrown an image so intensely fair
that the adventurous thoughts that wander near it
worship, and as they kneel, tremble and wear
the splendour of its presence, and the light
penetrates their dreamlike frame
’till they become charged with the strength of flame.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Siva – Rudra Immerses

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

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Stump the Guru – Santa Robert Xmas

Posted on December 24, 2012 by janeadamsart

This is part 1 of a sort of big Xmas card. Part 2 is in my other blog, Aquariel.

I visited the late Robert Adams (21 January 1928 – 5 March 1997) in Arizona in 1996. You can find the story of that journey (also in two parts) in this blog, last June.

Robert found it very hard to speak, because he had Parkinsons. But he was irrepressible. Here are some of his words:

“What I teach is utter nonsense – gobbledy gook. It has no meaning, except to my Self. I have no teaching. It is simply my confession. It is useless for most people, because I’m not giving a direction. I’m not telling you to meditate twelve hours a day, or to stand on your head, or to watch your mantras. There’s no instruction. There’s just my personal confession … the way I feel.

“Now, it does some people good, these invisible instructions. By just being here: by opening your heart, something happens. So don’t listen with your head, do not try to analyse or judge, or come to any conclusions. As I always say – ‘do not believe a word I say.’ Why should you? Who am I? I’m nobody! nobody important. Listen to your own heart. I’m a sort of mirror. What you see in me is yourself … I can truthfully say that i am ultimate oneness, absolute reality, emptiness – unborn – nirvana. I am that I am.

“When many people read spiritual books on Advaita vedanta, or on jnana marga, they immediately try to act out the part, and they memorise many of these quotations and sayings. They become useless! You have to go through spiritual disciplines to get to the place where you wake up. In my own experience, I probably did these disciplines in a previous existence; for when I was very young, I felt these things. I had no idea what it was, until I read the books. So the reading of books confirmed my experience, and then I went to see Ramana Maharshi – but I had already felt this.

“There is a difference. I have to be very careful what I say, because this path sometimes gives people license to become arrogant, obnoxious It’s just the opposite. If you have jnana, knowledge, you show loving kindness, compassion, joy – and you express yourself as that.

“… You look for a reason … a solution – a cause? But there is no reason, cause or effect. There IS emptiness. Emptiness is the Self, and I AM that. Now, when I speak of I AM, I’m not referring to Robert. I am referring to omnipresence. I AM is that; therefore when I utter ‘I AM’, I am speaking for all of us, for there is only One – and we are all ultimate Oneness. There is no distinction.

“They say that there is a Central sun. All of the galaxies in the Universe revolve around the Central sun; one revolution takes 24,000 years. The closer the galaxy gets to the Central sun, the more evolved a planet becomes; and the further away from the sun, the greater the dark ages on that planet.

“But where did the Central sun come from? Who gave it birth? Since the beginning of time, there have been individuals who pondered this question. Where did creation come from? Out of what did it evolve? Great rishis in India, great seers in Japan, in Egypt, thousands of years ago, sat beneath trees pondering these questions. If God created everything, where did God come from? Who created the God? …

“So these olden day rishis and seers pondered. And something very interesting happened. As they pondered externally the cause of creation, all of a sudden they found themselves becoming introverted. They began to look within themselves. They began to realise – I AM. And inadvertently they pose the question, “who am I? Who am I?” without knowing what they were doing. They didn’t even voice it verbally. They just felt it – who am I? And as they did this sincerely, religiously, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, something happened. And it came to them – I am That.

“They were amazed. Remember, these great thinkers from the past did not know each other; they did this independently, and in Egypt, Africa, India, Japan they all came up with the same answer, I AM THAT. In other words, there is no external world. There is no thing but mind. And because there is mind, there is a Universe. Therefore I am the creator of the Universe: because the mind exists, everything exists. They came a long way, for they realised that everything was an emanation of the mind. They didn’t stop there. They pondered, ‘what is mind? If my mind is the cause of creation, where did it come from?’

“… They enquired, ‘then who am I? Who am I?’ and they abided in themselves … They were not in a state of samadhi, because they were awake. During their awakened state, they became no thing. There was no mind; no Universe, no God, no body. There are no others. And they realised this is the Self – not my self, but the Self; and they were absorbed in the silence. From that moment on, the world still appeared to them, but they were able to see right through it.

“Now, these ancient rishis were unable to share this with devotees or disciples, because it’s a personal experience. Since it’s beyond words, beyond mind and beyond thoughts, how can one actually share this? Therefore, these ancient rishis became silence. They never spoke. Yet such power emanated through them, that if the right devotees came to them and just sat with them, doing nothing, saying nothing, wanting nothing, desiring nothing, they too achieved that state. It was amazing. This was passed down through the ages. It was commonly called Advaita Vedanta, or Jnana (the path of wisdom) – and it is still the supreme truth.

“Now, let’s talk about you. As long as you want to become enlightened, you’re making a grave mistake; for there is no one to become enlightened. As long as you want to end your problems and change your problems from bad to good, you’re making a grave mistake, because there are no problems. As long as you think there’s something wrong or there’s something right, or right overcomes wrong, and we have to try to correct the condition or situation, you’re making a grave mistake. You see, whatever has to happen, HAS ALREADY HAPPENED.

“There’s nothing you have to do; yet your body will do it … Do not be concerned over your affairs, for right actions will always take place. By right actions, I mean the Dharma – that which is supposed to happen. Some of you will still feed the homeless, will still have your jobs, will still do what you’re doing. But it will not be ‘you’. Unlike yogic achievement, when you know this for yourself, you cannot prove or show anybody anything.

“Time for questions – stump the Guru. Why do you want to become free … ?”

Merry Xmas!

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

Aquariel Link

All art and creative writing in this blog is copyright © Janeadamsart 2012. May not be used for commercial purposes. May be used and shared for non-commercial means with credit to Jane Adams and a link to the web address https://janeadamsart.wordpress.com/

Today’s Sketches of Robert, Ramana and Ramesh

Posted on December 2, 2012 by janeadamsart

I discovered last night this beautiful photo on the web, to draw from: Robert & Seek. The photo is on a blog called http://itisnotreal.com

Robert’s parkinsons’ whisper, slightly nasal, and wide uncluttered eyes…

“Who am I? … I’m teaching you today a combination of bhakta and jnana. Bhakta and Jnana – Devotion and Wisdom. Think of your Heart centre in the right side of your chest and see the form of the deity that you love dearly. The form may be of Krishna, Jesus, Ramana, Moses, Mohammed or a Guru. Inhale, say Lord – or Hari – exhale, say the name of the One you love and desire.

This is called using Name and Form. It is an ancient tradition.

If you are an atheist and don’t want to see anyone’s form, you can see LIGHT, pure light, in your Heart. And you can chant to yourself, something like this: “I am an open channel for the manifestation of all Good …” Whatever your practice is, this is what you can do. But you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to follow this, make it happen.

Then … “Who is the ‘I’ beyond this image? Who is the ‘I’ that is seeing Christ, seeing Ramana? Who is the ‘I’ that’s observing all these things?

“Who am I?” Never answer that question! Just pose the question to yourself … who am I? … who am I?

You will notice the thoughts will not come through again. The thoughts have stopped. You will no longer be bombarded by thoughts! like you were before. For thinking of the Sage within your Self, has calmed you down tremendously. Who am I … ?

If thoughts invade you again, go back to Ramana Maharshi in your heart. Or Christ, or whoever. See the image, (breathe in Hari,) repeat the Name. Hari Ramana! Hari Ramana!

Then go back again to “Who am I?” … “Who am I?”

When approximately an hour has passed, get up and go about your business. You will find that during the day something very interesting has happened to you. You are filled with peace! You’ve entered a different dimension. Things that used to make you angry will stop. Things that made you depressed, lonely, upset – have gone away. You will feel fulfilment. Do the same thing before you go to sleep.”

From transcript “The Method of Freedom”

The photo for this drawing was another “find” – this time on facebook – (Eraaramesh, thank you!) Ramana and the little brothers and sisters … nephews? I seem to recognise them.

A “revisit to India” is long due. Drawing this, recaptured for me the luscious sights, sounds, smells and faces of Tamil Nadu – those waggling heads. Wonderful feeling.

Not like a boat’s sail wide outspread
and worn away by wind and weather,
but like the humble anchor sunk
in the vast ocean’s depth, the mind
should plunge and settle in the heart
of wisdom.

Garland of Guru’s Sayings by Muruganar
(Ramana’s conversations set to verse.)

Ramesh Balsekar talks at home, Sindula Building in Mumbai – his crowded lofty living-room. I hear the sparrows and crows, and over the rooftops, the sea can just be seen. He looks rather pensive in this sketch. I would like to have got him more sharp and “pouncy” – his teaching style is like a falcon. However, there were these inward moments also, particularly when the lady sitting next to him sang the bhajans at the end of a vigorous morning. He closed his eyes then, and slowly tapped the rhythm.

Ramesh was rarely still. He quivered like a racehorse:

“My concept is, that no action is anyone’s action … The input is: God sends you a thought, over which you have no control … the brain reacts to that input and brings out an output, strictly according to the programming. And that output over which Lawrence has no control, Lawrence says is HIS ACTION. You see? … From that deepest possible source, which is the Source itself, the question will arise: If Lawrence doesn’t do any action, WHO IS LAWRENCE? WHO AM I?

“But the big difference is, that it is not the intellect which asks the question. The question ARISES from personal experience that Lawrence doesn’t do anything. Lawrence doesn’t act – therefore who is Lawrence? Then the question arises FROM THE VERY DEPTHS OF YOUR BEING, into which Ramana asks you to dive – ‘If I don’t do any actions, who am I?’

“And then again, if it is God’s will or grace, and the destiny of that bodymind organism, FROM that very Source from which the question arose, will arise the answer: there really is no Lawrence. There never has been any Lawrence, other than the name given to this bodymind organism. You see? And as far as my concept goes, that is the only sadhana or effort necessary. That is my interpretation of Ramana Maharshi’s query “who am I?”

That is my answer, Lawrence, to the question, the burning question which everybody has: How do I go about this Self enquiry, if this Self enquiry is not a mantra and not an intellectual question?

From a conversation with Lawrence Bentley

A butterlamp at dawn

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

Robert – Popeye the Sailor Man

Posted on July 30, 2012 by janeadamsart

From “Robert Adams” group on facebook –

“Many people call me, they want me to talk about this, or to change some of the things I do, or to do this, or to do that.

If I were a minister or a philosopher and rehearsed the program, and had a written text to go by, then there can be changes.

But I am what I am, and that’s what I am, I’m Popeye the sailor man.

I do not plan anything.

I do not have any rehearsals.

This body just does what it does.

What you see is what you get, nothing more and nothing less.”

– Robert Adams –

Robert: It has no end (1997, a posthumous portrait)

‘Student: I think part of the problem is, speaking for myself of course, is that I don’t believe it will happen. I feel it happens just to a favored few, like Jesus or Buddha or yourself. What’s the sense of trying it if it’s not going to happen?

R: Well, if you don’t feel it’s not going to happen, what can you do? Go see a movie. (students laugh) You’ve got to realize you are greater than you think, and you’ve got the same power within you as everybody else does. It may appear to be asleep, but as you work on yourself, work on yourself, work on yourself, you will awaken it. And one day it will become stronger than you are and take you over completely and you’ll be free. But you’ve got to keep on working on yourself and stop putting yourself down. That’s the worst thing you can do is to put yourself down. That’s blasphemy because you’re putting God down.

Think of yourself as a higher person, love yourself, worship yourself, bow to yourself. You are greater than you think.’

Robert Adams ♥

myself ear Robert

A post from thewondrousdharma.com today:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

~ Marianne Williamson

This is from Marianne’s 1992 book, ‘A Return to Love’. It has been erroneously attributed to Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech.

Vessel, Spine, Mooncrab

“Let us form a Vessel”

In my mind today, with Popeye the Sailor Man, is this sketch (1987) of being the boat – spine and ribs. Down the hatch … The vessel is a taut membrane to the pressure of the deep – a parchment or papyrus for the pen. Of course, the wisdom arrives from the deep as looking-glass script, and we automatically convert it!

Awareness tackles what comes along – sharp rocks, islands, lighthouses, sharks, sunshine, storms. It is jaunty and nautical. Down in the hold is a sense of gold – space of the boat’s shell, with along it, the curved flourishes of the hardwood keel. The keel is six inches thick, and it goes right down into the deep. In the golden space of the hold is all the boat’s furnishing of life, en passant … but I do not see it. The keel is spine, the golden space is breath.

Now I am the sailor man! The hands are because I was playing the piano, touching keys, practicing Cesar Franck. The claws – oars of lateral sensitivity – each side, are my Moon-Crab sign. We travel space through day and night, the deep.

Falling into Hermetic Self

and this is the dawn …

Body tao tree

… and the Tree by the well. All is well.

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

This blog is a vehicle to promote my published work – The Sacred India Tarot (with Rohit Arya, Yogi Impressions Books) and The Dreamer in the Dream – a collection of short stories (0 Books) – along with many other creations in house.

I write, illustrate, design and print my books. Watch this space.

A Robert Adams Transcript

Posted on July 18, 2012 by janeadamsart

Thank you, Hamish McLean for sending me this transcript today.

“Not everyone needs a guru. A guru can be a tree, a mountain, a lake, a flower.

“You’ve heard this before, but let me explain it. When a tree becomes your guru, the tree is no longer an ordinary tree. It’s you. You are identifying with the essence of the tree, which is consciousness. You’re not seeing the tree as a tree. It’s the beauty of the tree or the mountain, or the lake, or whatever, that first attracts you. But if you just see the tree as a tree, you’ll be disappointed, for the leaves drop off, bugs attack it, people chop it down. Yet if you identify with that tree, spontaneously, intelligently, that tree becomes you, and the essence of the beauty is the essence of your beauty. In that respect the tree is your guru.

“Therefore a guru in the human form is a being whose words in the silence you feel in your heart. And just like the tree, the essence of the guru is your essence. There is only one. Therefore when a student is sincere in their spiritual practice, when they put that first before anything else, when they continue to work on themselves, automatically the guru within yourself, the essence within yourself, like a magnet, will attract and pull you to a guru outside of yourself, which is really yourself, that can cause you to rise higher and become liberated. You’ve got to stop seeing yourself as a human being. You’ve got to catch yourself. Whenever you think something is wrong, someone has hurt you, someone hasrubbed you the wrong way, when things do not go right at your job or at home, do not be like the ordinary person and react to it. And do not believe that if you do not react, things will get worse.

“I cannot tell you enough that every situation that happens to you is necessary for your growth. There are no mistakes. Everything that you’ve been through, everything that you’re going through, is absolutely necessary for your spiritual growth. If it does not look kosher to you, realize it’s your mind reacting. It’s your ego reacting. And the way to handle it, is to just observe.

“Do not get involved by arguing, fighting, trying to change things. Just observe. If you can observe without getting excited, then you’ve passed that test and you will not have to repeat it. But if you get angry, you get upset, you want to get even, you’re always thinking about it, and you have hate and animosity, even though you move away from that situation, you will meet that situation again, and again, and again, until you learn not to react to it.

“The universe is a university to educate the soul. Before we can go any higher and awaken, we have to have these little realizations where we begin to feel that there is nothing wrong. There is absolutely no thing wrong. All the good of the universe is yours. There is absolutely nothing wrong, nothing. If you can only live in the moment and feel what I’m saying, everything in this world, in this universe will become you. That’s why people like Jesus and others have been able to say, “All that I have is yours,” meaning that consciousness is bliss, and bliss is expressing itself as the world, as the universe, as yourself. Live in that bliss. Refuse to acknowledge anything else.

“It appears that if you do not acknowledge something, something will go wrong in your life. But you are not made for something to go wrong in your life. There is absolutely nothing wrong anywhere, so how can anything go wrong in your life. Even those of you who believe God is running the show, God couldn’t be good and bad, or there would be a capricious universe in which we live. The moon would crash into the sun, wheat would grow one time and roses would grow another time from the same seed, when we live in a capricious universe.

“There are not two powers here. There is one power and you can call that God. It is all-pervading. If it is all-pervading, and there is no place where it is not, how can there be a problem? For in order to be a problem there has to be God and something else. But all you’ve got to do is a little meditation, and you will see that there is only God as everything and there is no room for God AND anything else.”

Robert Adams ♥

I wonder what your grand cross is. Mine yesterday, was a long, footloose summer walk in the Chess Valley flower-meadows outside London … and a x on my phone, as a squabble with a friend cleared up.

From a path along the woods, I saw the river below, full of recent rain and almost spilling its banks over the fields; then it thunders down a little weir. Inside the weir I guess, there is an extra little door to let the pressure through.

From Homer Rows, 2004

The Tree of Life, with Robert’s teaching

Posted on June 26, 2012 by janeadamsart

The Tree of Life is my working vessel in the school of the soul. Kabbalah means “receive” and also “balance”. Ain Sof is “without end”. Ten emanations from the One Source, follow the lightning flash down the polarities of the Tree of Life, to earth. These are the pillars of Solomon; the centre stem is Consciousness. The hebrew letters are the hieroglyphs or musical notes of the Paths. After I met Robert Adams in 1996, I put his realisation or way of being (in essence – the Three Virtues, the Three Vessels, and the Four Principles) – on the Tree of Life.

My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom.

I write, illustrate, design and print my books. Watch this space.