The Song of the Whirlwind
Wind moves, but cannot be seen;
Fallen leaves are seen, but do not move.
Both together, the whirlwind is known.
So are Father Spirit and Mother Earth.
Flying Upstream
After the big catch, whenever I went to visit my teacher, she would immediately leave. She would fly away, always upstream. I tried leaving Jada at home, but still she flew away. I felt a little sad and abandoned. I wondered if my state of mind or something I was doing was interfering with her willingness to teach.
In time, I came to realize that the flight was the lesson. The invariable consistency of the act, always on my arrival, helped make that point clear. Upstream, towards the source. At the time, and most of the time before and since learning from Great Blue Heron, my natural inclination is towards action, to do all I can to make the world a better place. This instinct has powerfully shaped the course of my life. Ever since a child, the parable of the talents, and the warning not to bury them sat on my shoulder, driving me to do what I could with what I have been given. As Nature began to open up to me and I began to hear the song and spirit of the many beings of Nature, I felt a constant pressure to write, to communicate the events and insights that were unfolding for the benefit of humankind. These upstream flights were telling me to do something else—to go upward and inward, to the Source.
One of the topics Father and Mother were revealing to me throughout this time had to do with the structure of mind. We have a doing mind, a thinking mind, and a being mind. I was shown a duck to illustrate this point. Ducks have legs that pedal around under the surface of the water with a lot of motion. They also have a body which glides through the water, displacing the water and creating a wake that trails behind it. They also have a head, which rests, still as could be, above all the rest, interfering with nothing and leaving no wake.
The doing mind, constantly active, highly interactive with the current and flow of life unfolding around us, and lowest level of our consciousness, is represented by the feet propelling the duck through the waters by means of a lot of movement. The thinking-mind is above the doing mind. It is influenced by the world and influences it, but it also enjoys a higher, more detached perspective on the doing-mind and the external environment. It is represented by the body of the duck.
The being-mind is still higher. It does not occupy a realm of words, thoughts or numbers, and so descriptions can only point in a direction, but not deliver the mind there. To experience the terrain, the traveler can’t be focused on the map.
Being mind enjoys a kind of perception and knowing that defies physicalism. being-mind transcends egoic sense of self, and so senses oneness with other. It can therefore hear the truth of others, even if it has never been spoken. It is being-mind that is able to hear the songs and spirit of Nature and all her children—the ten thousand things. This highest level of mind is symbolized by the duck’s head—perfectly still, completely above the flow of time and space phenomena, and so above ground-level power-struggles. being-mind perceives, receives, loves with gratitude, and knows intuitively. It does not engage in any effort to manipulate or achieve any goal. It leaves no wake.
One thing I learned quickly is that doing and thinking minds abhor relinquishing consciousness over to being mind. The lower levels of mind kick up all manner of reasons and resistance to the idea of spending any amount of time in being-mind. This only makes sense given doing and thinking mind, at least from their perspectives, will die when in being-mind consciousness. No thought. No interactive grappling with external reality. Ego death. Just perceptive, receptive being.
Despite being a long-time meditator, I found tremendous resistance to the suggestion that I let go of my ambition to write a book, and instead simply focus on being, on observing both the internal and the external worlds, not with thought and analysis, but raw, agenda-less receptivity.
I traced this resistance to a number of causes, some better than others. A book was a way of giving back to Mother, to helping her cause and defending her health. A book was also a way of bringing something valuable and enriching to people’s lives—a way for them to adopt a more fulfilling worldview. A book was also a way of obtaining status and wealth, which in turn would amplify my freedom to do what I wanted, go where I wanted, when I wanted. A mixed bag of motives. Mostly, I felt so excited by what I was perceiving and receiving that all I wanted to do was write about it and share.
But the lesson was clear: go upstream, towards the Source. God, the Divine, the Great and Holy Spirit, the Tao, Source, however you want to call it, is not best known by the doing- or even the thinking-mind. It is known best by the being-mind. It is not a verbal knowing, it is more an experiencing and resting in a palpable sense and presence of the Great and Holy Spirit.
This can flow down into thought and construct some verbal likeness of the experience, but the words are more like a graven image of the actual experience. “Thou shalt not make any graven image or bow down to them,” is the general gist of what is considered either the second or a part of the first commandments received by Moses. I understand this to, among other things, be a warning against mistaking theology and doctrine for the actual truth of Spirit. We are not to get so tied up in knowledge and faith that we fail to focus on an actual experience of Spirit.
“But, but but…” my mind had so much resistance. Most of the time, I found it almost impossible to escape the constant chatter of inner dialogue and concerns. If I was a poor student at the lesson on patience, I was even worse at this lesson; so poor, in fact, I’m not sure I have actually learned it yet, 20 months later. After all, here I am, writing a book; nor did I ever, for any meaningful length of time, stop being focused on writing this book.
I have had a sense that were I to submit to this lesson, let go of all urgency and concern about everything, I would be invited to a special place, a much better place of mind. I have sensed that this state of mind would be one of empathic knowing and ability to respond to the moment wisely and intuitively, to bring healing and blessing. It is a stress-free place because the perception of being right with Father and with Mother would neutralize and override any kind of upset kicked up by external events and their effects on the lower levels of mind. And yet my thinking-mind resists as if it were resisting execution.
There is no way of coming to an agreeable submission to being-mind from within the lower two states where we are trained to spend almost all of our time. On those occasions where I have slipped into being mind, it inevitably brings about peace, expansive gratitude, perception of unity with all, intuitive knowing, and skillful ability to be, do and say what is needed to help whoever or whatever is in front of me.
This is all possible because being-mind is above ego. In its desire to be important, ego is unable to be receptive to Spirit because perception of Spirit reveals a motive, a knowing, and a wisdom that does not arise from or cater to ego. In a state removed from ego, Spirit can enter and bless us. Ego-anchored doing- and thinking-minds are unable to understand how a book might be written through it if it isn’t focused on writing. The lower mind also doesn’t like the idea that maybe a book isn’t the final purpose. It doesn’t like the thought of in-the-moment positive influence as the only goal, in part because it doesn’t seem as potent as a successful book (though it probably is more so on a deeper, hidden level of human society) and even if it is more effective for positive change than a book, there is no glory or wealth involved in live-in-the-moment impact.
Jesus never wrote a book, sought office, or did anything normally associated with achieving great positive change in the world, and yet his in-the-moment life of pure, unflinching love for all people has changed the world more profoundly than any other life or book. Similarly, the second-most influential person to have ever lived—the Buddha—never wrote or ascended to a seat of power. Instead, he was good to everyone he met and spoke to them about a path of blessing and peace.
There are many less famous people who spend a lot of time in being-mind. Good therapists are able to turn off their analytic and verbal mind so that they can be fully, empathically present with the person or persons who are with them. A good religious leader spends time empty of themselves so that they can be absorbed into the experience of Spirit. Healthcare workers and people who work with other humans of all kinds also often spend time just being present and empathic with others.
The truth is that thinking and doing don’t stop. These lower levels of mind don’t come to an end; rather, they find their rightful role. The right thoughts and words well up at the right times. The right actions are taken according to the needs of the moment. The difference is that we aren’t trying to be the one in control. Rather than on a specific outcome of love, when we focus on Divine Love itself, Spirit, outcomes follow naturally.
The problem with this student is that I find it so difficult to let go of a specific desired outcome: this book. This is in part because ever since my early twenties, at which time I was given a life-changing spiritual experience, I have felt an unyielding call to write a book that spells out a new paradigm for understanding life. After dozens of attempts to write through the years, and after many attempts to ignore the calling to write, the thesis and these recent experiences with Nature have added new inspiration and new content. Now feels like the moment where this calling is finally going to find its fruition.
Nevertheless, even if that’s true, the book will be truer and more effective if I focus not on writing and format, but on spending time in being-mind. I do spend time everyday within my place of worship working with effort to be in being-mind. However, work and effort are of the lower mind and cannot achieve being-mind.
So, usually, I spend that time in what I’ll call highest-order thinking mind. By highest order thinking mind I mean employing thought from a sense of self for the highest possible purposes. To me, this means spending time every day expressing gratitude towards Mother and Father, and praying for the wellbeing and healing of all being, loved ones and for Mother Earth. Using thinking-mind in this way leaves the door open for a being-mind experience.
Sitting meditation was for many years a practice I employed to enter into being mind. More recently, since my experiences with the woods, sitting meditation sometimes feels right, but sometimes feels artificial. I have come to prefer spiritual practices. The first is to spend time in Nature with nothing but gratitude and appreciation, not so much in words, but in heart. I just let gratitude soak in all the forms and beauty of Nature and let each thing sing to me their song. Sometimes I can hear more clearly than other times.
I also have engage in personalized ritual. As the woods began to speak to me, step by step, a practice of adoration and honoring of Mother and Father has developed. The ritual has felt given to me, father than the result of plan. My shrine-time has increasingly come to lean towards ritual, symbolic activities, dance, and chant.
Different levels of mind are appropriate for different tasks at different times. If I have to create a blueprint for a bridge, I can’t just zone out and be empathic and grateful. I have to employ thought actively. Part of honoring and trusting being-mind is trusting that it will delegate tasks to doing- and thinking-minds as need arises. A sign that ego is trying to run the show is agitation, anxiety, frustration and so on. Thinking- and doing-mind can operate much more efficiently when being-mind is primary because these negative emotions don’t interfere. Being-mind is above the fray of day to day upsets. This is wu-wei.
Heron flew upstream. I’m trying to follow. Heron is infinitely patient. I am grateful.
The Teaching:
Go to the Essence and Source.
Let go of attachment to achieving,
Let go of attachment to analyzing,
Let go of attachment to control,
With a heart overflowing with gratitude and a mind empty of agenda,
Receive, perceive, and right words and right actions will flow out effortlessly.
Enter being-mind and know highest truth from the inside out.
The Song of the Pine on a Still, Misty Morning
I am unto myself;
I am.
I am, of my own being, Being.
I need nothing, seek nothing, am disturbed by nothing.
I am meditation.
I am.
The Song of The Prickly Woods
Will you listen, or not be bothered?
Will you believe that a place is sacred, or pass by?
Will you listen to the whispers, or are you without eyes and ears?
The decision to transform one’s consciousness
is not to be taken lightly,
nor can it be.
It requires a complete leaving off of all that was known,
believed, and trusted.
It requires becoming indifferent to much of culture,
the expectations of others,
and the praise and condemnation of others.
It is the purpose, cause, and fulfillment of the yearning within,
to adventure,
to discover,
to be victorious,
and to fulfill destiny.
It is the subject of the ancient tales of the hero.
The adventure is within.
One must set out carefully and deliberately,
carefully considering what one seeks in consciousness,
Who one wishes to be,
By what to define reality,
And what virtues one wishes to honor.
The old self will die,
There is no possibility of rebirth without first death;
And so the decision must be determined
with wisdom and knowledge.
Heaven, Paradise, Shambala, Nirvana, Surga, the Tao–
These are names of a state of mind.
This is the form of consciousness that is worth the pursuit,
And worth the sacrifice.
It is not impossible to find,
But it is incompatible with mundane consciousness.
There is no possibility of bringing the mundane into heaven,
But from within the Tao, all mundane things get done—
Heaven enters into the mundane, and makes it Tao
This is the consciousness worthy of pursuit
This is the consciousness worthy of sacrifice.
This is the consciousness worthy
of the death of the self who seeks it.
This is the way of the Healer.
The Song of the Sparrows
Listen here, listen over here!
It is unseemly to boast;
Make yourself small, and humble.
Do not sing for the attention of others,
Humility does not seek anything from others.
Sing only for the joy of singing.
In all you do, do it only for the purpose itself,
and the doing of one’s own joy.
Do not seek to impress, or to champion anything,
Champion only this:
To be self-contained,
To sing not for ears, but for the joy of the Song, and singing;
To do, not for recognition, but for the joy of doing.
This is the secret of happiness.
The Song of the Mallard Pair
Above materialistic consciousness
is symbol-consciousness and song-consciousness.
Above symbol- and song-consciousness
is Being.
Symbol-consciousness sees meaning and message.
It hears the songs, and is not deluded.
Being-consciousness is communion of soul with soul with Soul,
Of all with All,
One hears the songs,
Then hears the Song of Songs;
And the Song of Songs ushers in the highest state:
Pure Being.
And Being hears its own Song.
There is no self to hear and other to sing,
Singer, song, and hearer are parts of One.
This is the highest state.
Integrity, stillness, adoration:
These return a mind to Being.
From Being, the Song arises;
From the Song, songs arise;
From the songs, the 10,000 things.
The feet are moving under the surface,
But there is no burden or labor,
They do as they do for their own joy.
The body glides in stillness,
brushing against water,
causing a wake.
The royal emerald head is in complete stillness;
It makes no mark;
Makes no change.
These are the three levels;
Doing, Knowing, Being,
All must coexist,
When one knows neither symbol nor Being,
One labors under the surface.
When one has become still, and knows Being,
Hearing hears,
Doing does, And all gets done.
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