Pinnacles
Charlotte Schmid
Is it possible that all the atrocities going on since time eternal and continuing in ever more devilish forms are only an expression of ever greater expansions of consciousness so that absolutely every branch of thought and mind will have a way to manifest on earth? Not in order to play evil but to explore and cover all dimensions of expressions, the 'web of knowing' would be woven into the most subtle and also the grossest form of manifestation? After all that is 'expressed' -- and it may go on for a seemingly endless time -- every form of energy existent in matter would have been patterned and only then could it be solidified and unified. Unified into the web that shields the hitherto most luminously hidden pinnacle, veiling the ascent to the highest and that which forever remains elusive.
I cannot see the forest because of the trees...
I cannot detect the pinnacle because the mountains surround me.
Isn't that a bit what our lives are?
We search and search, grope, climb, then fall into a hole, get out and slide into a crevasse and try again. We break through, take a turn and are shocked to see a vista that is similar to the one we just left. On and on, endless as it seems, we struggle, reach some goal, and have to come down again. There are not 'plateaus' on these pinnacles, just ups and downs. We aspire to new heights, to new insights and with greater truth we commit to find the Light.
We may attempt to climb Mount Everest and only find refuse dumped by members of previous expeditions reaching for the highest thrill and leaving behind their climbing gear, oxygen tanks, plastic containers which do not decompose in that climate nor evaporate into 'thin air.' Tons of debris are left behind as witness to what has been called human endeavor and human behavior. Human consciousness on the way to the pinnacle! How do we separate this 'human' part from the consciousness part or how do we make it a non-dual pureness and maybe a quantal awareness?
Let's assume we stand in a pit, surrounded by sheer rocks------a limited vision.
We climb out of the pit, see more rock formations------the vision increased.
We climb to the top of a moun-tain-----see a vast land
We fly in a plane-----houses and mountains appear toy-like.
We soar in a rocket----pinn-acles disappear and space alone is there.
Space, as
Darkness in its most luminous form.
Fire that burns cold.
Cold, clear light.
The Wildside
Lisa M. Payne
I took a walk on the wildside
ignoring my plight.
I wandered out, disappearing into
the shadows of the night.
At the square house, I met the
Master Builder there.
Secretly marrying the Master Magician
without much forethought or care.
Found and captured by the dark night's other dark side,
Stripped of all illusions, repeatedly
ravished until there's no pride.
Falling into the lure of a comfortable form of insanity,
Retrieved again by two saviors with a vestige of humanity.
Lost and cold along the pilgrim's winding road most forlorn,
One knows she must return before the break of morn.
It was the corner last where the Master Mariner stood,
Advising to return full speed home to do some good.
The reader, now confounded by the poet, must be cynical,
Yet this lesson be on how to reach the pinnacle.
I took a walk on the wild side . . . . . .
Beyond Self-Actualization
Nancy M. Davison
At the bottom level of Abraham Maslow's pyramidal Hierarchy of Needs we find food, clean water, and procreation (for the continuation of the human race). Then come safety, belonging, esteem, aesthetic needs, and finally self-actualization. The self-actualized individual is described as realistically oriented, unconventional, self-accepting, and with a good sense of humor. These are qualities which can be applied to the powerful, self-centered, me-first individual as well as to the socially evolved. However, if we want to find the true pinnacle, the ultimate achievement for the human being, we have to
look beyond self-actualization. We have all encountered those from whom a radiance and divine intensity emanate, people who are completely unconcerned with self-aggrandizement, people who take themselves far less seriously than those who strive for personality achievement, power and fame. These are
people who have taken the integrated, self-actualized personality to the next step, that of soul-infused self-transcendence.
Obviously self-transcendence is more challenging than self-actualization. Still, there are plenty of good examples to be found; the Curies, Mother Teresa, Pope John XXIII, Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu, Kofi Annan, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, and earlier, Roger and Frances Bacon, Aspasia, Hypatia, Plato, many more could be cited. They exist in every century, on every continent and in every field of service. These are people who have transformed themselves into glowing lights by which we can all see the world in which we live a bit more clearly. Their lives tell us that there are still trails to be blazed when we
seek to become more than the sum of our parts.
Kwan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is a marvelous model for those seeking to transcend the little self, to reach toward the next higher pinnacle. She has, as a composite, evolved to a consciousness far beyond that of the vast majority of her fellow beings, she has reached and been enveloped in the Light, yet she turns her back on that Light and dedicates herself to the task of helping those who are still struggling along. The laurel wreath of personal accomplishment is of no importance to her, something difficult to understand by those who are still immersed in desire on the personality level. Some will say it is impossible for any human to aspire to such heights of awareness, yet the Christ and the Buddha, both excellent examples of the spirit of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, were human before They reached enlightenment, and lived through many lifetimes to reach that stage. The Christ said that we would do greater things than He did in His Life in Palestine, and since He wasn't One to make idle remarks, it seems clear that He knew himself to be a model of what we can and must do to foreword the evolution of consciousness and the fulfillment of the Plan.
Maslow noted that those who become self-actualized are prone to "peak experiences." This explains the endorphin rush of the long distance runner, which, because of its very brevity, stimulates the desire for more, and awakens in the athlete the determination to train and strive ever more diligently. Each
new "high" -- physical, emotional, or mental -- reminds one that there is a level of consciousness beyond what s/he normally experiences in her everyday life, and whets her appetite for more. The "high" of the drug addict is the other side of the coin of self-actualization, for the desire bred from such
activities is destructive and alienates the user from society. The peak experience of the self-transcendent individual is not ephemeral nor brief, nor does it make personality demands on the disciple. It is a constant sense of
underlying and ever-lasting joy, no matter the condition nor situation in which s/he finds herself. Happiness is defined as personality based, and dependent on the fulfillment of desire, while Joy is the natural state of the soul, and so can never diminish.
There is a very long journey ahead of us all, but there is, for each of us, a Way we can choose to follow, a practice or goal to make that journey more understandable and immeasurably more joyful and useful to Humanity. We create it out of our relationship with our Self, and thus become the Way. A
Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, wrote a poem entitled Caminante. In translation it reads:
Pilgrim, your footprints are the path
and nothing more.
Pilgrim, there is no path,
you create the Path as you walk.
As you walk you build the Path,
and as you turn your gaze behind
you see the Way that you will never
have to walk again.
Pilgrim, there is no path,
only trails in the sea.
Progress
Ford Boyer
Deeply embedded in the mist of time,
I churn within the earthly slime.
I know, desire, for ages long
And think within my long captivity.
I slumber.
The emergence into light is blinding,
The sound that of a thousand drums.
Voices of unknown origin
Penetrated, then dim to a
Distant hum.
Slow, seeping awareness,
Kindled by an unknown flame.
Future and past lay dormant,
The present slowly came
Into view.
Bound by a thousand tiny strands of light,
Yet fluid, mobile and supple.
Progress, left or right?
Straight ahead and up the mountain
To the pinnacle of light.
A long and oft times tedious struggle.
At first no meeting, friend or foe.
Another step forward, ever onward
But oh, so slow, so slow.
A long dead branch to lean upon,
The number seven.
Oh Heavens! How much farther?
Arising from the mists of time,
Another weary cycle flows;
And here am I,
Staring at the mountain snows.
Just a beginning, again,
To crawl and claw
My way to inner heights,
To emulate the outer mountain thaw
And melt within the light.
Raining! Water.
Something tumbles and burns inside of me
(The number six)
That something called emotions
Raindrops on my tongue that
Quench my thirst,
I now proceed with caution.
High upon on the mountain side,
I think, therefore I am;
(The number five)
But then I face a wall, a dam.
And then I pause and inward look,
The inner planes I scan.
The inner light appears and
I think . . . .
Therefore . . . . .
I Can!