it ain't over till the fat lady sings

I would just like to affirm that what I have been sharing in regard to the self-enquiry process and Self-Realisation is only what I have been able to gather from books, listening to and questioning teachers, exchanging ideas with friends as well as from my own reasoning and limited degree of subjective experience.

My blog sharings on this topic are really just me trying to figure things out for myself and have also served as a useful forum for the cross-communication of ideas with others who are similarly interested. There has also been a motivation to share this in a way which might be helpful or interesting to others and also to potentially generate and partake of some positive energy in this regard.

I think that whatever spiritual enlightenment is, then no teacher or teaching has a monopoly or exclusive franchaise upon it. So each person who is putting themselves forth as a teacher no doubt has a degree of illumination and a degree of understanding which might, for a time, prove helpful and supportive to others in their own self-unfolding, recognising that no-one can give or take away that which is the essential nature of us all.

However there also seems to be manifold opportunities for degrees of self-delusion, limited understanding and different view points at every stage of the journey. So it would seem then to pay to never take ones own or others opinions too seriously, recognising that ultimately, this play of Consciousness is a mystery which is beyond the human minds capacity to understand. We may have some helpful general concepts about it but in the actual living of it, it seems that we must let go of attachment to the conceptual mind altogether.

I have found in my own explorations, both here at Arunachala and before, that the various teachers and teachings all have something useful to offer and can all offer some light on what may be considered as aspects of truth and pathways towards that. Furthermore, depending upon their own degree of direct illumination and upon ones own receptivity, then a teacher can also act as a channel for the silent energy of Consciousness to catalyse ones own subjective experience of what is spoken of whether it is considered as a Divine Presence or as a Vast Silence.

I like how Werner puts it; that there are no stages in Reality, but if one has a lasting experiential opening to a deeper appreciation and living of that Reality, then not to take it as something final (taking oneself to have become Enlightened) but rather as more like the ending of one chapter and the beginning of something new. That we do not get stuck in thinking that we have arrived, but that we continue to cultivate the deepening of our experience thereby always allowing the mystery to unfold and expand. That when the fixated identity of being a 'me' falls away then we are able to not take the whole story of this holographic magic show so seriously. That we can take this adventure here on earth playfully and fully enjoy our role as embodiments of unfolding Consciousness being made richer by the experience.

So even if the fat lady sings then may be it's not really over, it may be just the beginning...................

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

William Blake