The moment you are illuminated, the whole of existence is illuminated. If you are dark, then the whole of existence is dark. It all depends on you.
There are a thousand and one fallacies about meditation prevalent all around the world. Meditation is very simple: It is nothing but consciousness. It is not chanting, it is not using mantra or a rosary. These are hypnotic methods. They can give you a certain kind of rest — nothing is wrong with that rest; if one is just trying to relax, it is perfectly good. Any hypnotic method can be helpful, but if one wants to know the truth, then it is not enough.
Meditation simply means transforming your unconsciousness into consciousness. Normally only one-tenth of our mind is conscious, and nine-tenths is unconscious. Just a small part of our mind, a thin layer, has light; otherwise the whole house is in darkness. And the challenge is to grow that small light so much that the whole house is flooded with light, so that not even a nook or corner is left in the darkness.
When the whole house is full of light, then life is a miracle; it has the quality of magic. Then it is no longer ordinary– everything becomes extraordinary. The mundane is transformed into the sacred, and the small things of life start having such tremendous significance that one could not have ever imagined it. Ordinary stones look as beautiful as diamonds; the whole of existence becomes illuminated. The moment you are illuminated, the whole of existence is illuminated. If you are dark, then the whole of existence is dark. It all depends on you.
Everyday Osho — 365 Daily meditations for the here and now by Osho
Writing can be a deeply fulfilling spiritual experience, as well as an intellectual and artistic one. Consider: You are using words to convey your deepest thoughts and feelings, either to yourself by way of a diary, to your loved ones through letters, or to the whole world through poems, stories, essays, reportage, plays. Regardless of genre, you are wielding that most powerful, mind- and spirit-enhancing tool that civilization has ever invented, the tool of language, and you are doing so in ways that illuminate people’s lives, sometimes improving their lives in practical ways, while at the same time aesthetically delighting them.
The Daily Writer, Fred White
These are the two books I’ll be meditating on and blogging about this year. If you’ve read the blog for long, you’ve seen the 365 Tao series I wrote in 2005. Writing that series of posts changed my life into a deeply spiritual Tao-based way of existence. I’m sure these books will make their own changes in my life as well, and I hope in yours as you read my posts here.
May 2010 be the beginning of a new decade that is brighter and more illuminating for us all.
3 Responses
Tat Tvam Asi.
Happy 2010, Donna.
Thanks for the book titles–I am ordering both, along with Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way Every Day: A Year of Creative Living. Look forward to this year’s posts on Changing Places.
I’ve read most of Cameron’s books. I did Artist’s Way a while ago with an online group in 2006. Fun stuff, but I get a bit tired of the 12 step message that permeates Cameron’s work. We’re not all addicts. ;^)