Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine,

Are you looking for a quotation that you can't quite place? Trying to track down a hard-to-find publication? Here, folks can help you find the answers, or discuss ways for you to discover them for yourself.

Moderators: Clemsy, Martin_Weyers, Cindy B.

Locked
Clemsy
Working Associate
Posts: 10645
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2002 6:00 am
Location: The forest... somewhere north of Albany
Contact:

Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine,

Post by Clemsy »

I'm just into chapter 3 of this wonderful new book and am thoroughly enamored. Underlined sentences and paragraphs everywhere. This one was particulalry striking:
"This... moon principle is that of life engaged in the field of time and space, in the field of phenomenal apparitions and dis-apparitions of forms. The sun, on the other hand, is never shadowed except in eclipse, and so does not carry its death within it; thus is represents consciousness disengaged from the field of time and space.

"...The great mystic realization is that these two aspects of consciousness are in fact one consciousness, so that your consciousness here in the field of life is at the same time disengaged from this field. The paradox of relating oneself to these two aspects of one's own true being and entity is the great mystical balancing act. It is a dangerous path-- the sharp edge of the razor-- the path between the knowledge of yourself as consciousness in the field and knowledge of yourself as consciousness in disengagement from the field. You can tip either way-- and then there comes an inappropriate attitude, inflation or deflation of one kind or another.

"The goal of all meditation and mystery journeys is to go between the pair of opposites." (pg. 51)
Check it out! Discuss here! :-)

http://astore.amazon.com/josepcampbfou- ... 1608681823
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

zoe
Associate
Posts: 235
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:00 am
Location: In route

Post by zoe »

Anyone who, even for a second, feels a pure, clear confidence on hearing the truth will experience immeasurable happiness. Why? Because, at that moment, that person is not caught up in the concept of a self or a living being or a life span. He is not caught up in concepts about the world, nor is he caught up in concepts about nothingness. He does not take any notice of the idea that this is a sign, or this or that is not a sign. For if you are caught up in ideas, then you will be caught up in the self. And even if you are caught up in ideas about nothingness, you will still be caught up in the self. That's why we should not get attached to the belief that things either exist or do not exist. This is the hidden meaning when I say that my teachings are a raft to be abandoned when you see true being.”

- Diamond Sutra

Andreas
Associate
Posts: 2274
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:07 am

Post by Andreas »

Yikes, how did I miss this. Very nice quotes.

It is a balancing act and a dangerous path also. Edinger in his book Ego and Archetype explains this. The inflation and deflation that the psyche must go through to achieve a balance.

It also brings up the issue of why it seems like a crime to our conscious self, a necessary crime for consciousness to become disengaged from our childish paradisial state of mind and achieve an autonomy. And in our normal lives, inflation, he says, is an act of going against the authorities. And it is dangerous because once you realize that you are the God, anything goes, and the higher we fly the greater the impact is when we fall, seems to me.

And this reminds me, one of my favorite chapters in Myths to Live by, Zen. Where at the end of the chapter Campbell tell us the story of the Guru, his disciple and the elephant and how difficult it is to keep both attitudes in mind.

Sorry I don't have the book but hopefully it's ok to point to similar realizations.

:)
“To live is enough.” ― Shunryu Suzuki

Locked