the motionless foundations of eternity.

i’m at a place in my life where i feel a tremendous need to be really honest with myself. of course ‘tremendous’ may be too strong a word. i’m still quite willing to be self-deluded in some areas. for example, i can’t shake the feeling that women find me fabulously attractive. i’m just sayin. but i do nevertheless feel it’s important to face facts as much as possible. so i must admit that i honestly don’t understand the whole ‘i am that eternal self’ rigamaroll.

through my many years of meditation or maybe simply as a rational semi-intelligent human person i’ve perceived there to be some sort of shared underlying something-or-other. snd it may be eternal. i won’t argue. but i wonder how to take that leap to ‘i am that’? i’m not much of a leaper. i could definitely sign on to: ‘i am that happy relaxed self except when in any medical, including dental, situation.’

in the bhagavadgita, book two, verse twenty-three, (yeah i googled it,) it is written: “The Self cannot be pierced by weapons or burned by fire; water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it. The Self cannot be pierced or burned, made wet or dry. It is everlasting and infinite, standing on the motionless foundations of eternity. The Self is unmanifested, beyond all thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you should not grieve.”

again, i’m not really clear how i know that or why i shouldn’t grieve. my dog was hit by a car, apparently quite capable of being pierced, clearly not eternal and i felt pretty shitty ’bout it. nevertheless i appreciate the verse, it’s terribly inspiring even though i’m not prepared to worship that self as a god. we’ve got enough of those floating around causing trouble. but i’m prepared to love you as if we’re that same self in reality, standing on the motionless foundations of eternity. because maybe we are.

“old people shouldn’t eat health-foods. they need all the preservatives they can get.” robert orben.