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May 9, 2011

The Origin of Genocide and the Destruction of Our Planet.

Reggie Ray – Dharma Ocean Foundation

In the realization of selflessness, we are overcome by love.

~the above excerpt is from Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body by Reggie Ray

“It is unfortunate that few people appreciate the utter complexity of this debacle. Perhaps we could develop a great deal of admiration for sanity, if we paid more attention to the disastrous effects of insanity. If we ever came to know the enormous amount of intelligence that was wasted in the ridiculous project of self-confirmation we would be absolutely convinced that we had a far greater purpose and capacity. However, most people never even question the situation, they simply go along with what they are told to be or not to be…

Our attempts to become a static image—an idea—has forced us to retreat into our heads. We have forgotten our bodies, and as a result, feel lifeless.

Wisdom is an intimate knowing revealed in love or openness. It is not the product of our efforts or processes. It is uncreated or self-existing, and only discovered by unknowing or questioning all of these contrived and futile efforts to be some-one or some-thing. This process of unknowing is known as meditation.

When we cease trying to produce or create some kind of self-image we discover our true identity, selflessness. The discovery of selflessness is the death of ego, which may seem bleak or dismal, but it is not. In fact, it is the experience of luminosity. The experience of selflessness is the discovery of life, because in life there can be no solid self. Life is change without beginning or end, so there are no accommodations made for finished products.

In the realization of selflessness we are overcome by love. Love is pure energy, luminosity. It isn’t synthetic energy. It has always been present, but was distorted by our fragmented state of mind. It is direct contact with life. Once such concepts as self-&-other dissolve, an open-minded or spaciousness environment emerges, which allows others to be as they truly are. This open-mindedness or love can then be communicated with precision and honesty, and this sort of communication is called compassion.

We no longer see life as threatening, because there is no solid idea to be threatened. Therefore, we are capable of working with the situation as it is; instead of how we think it should be. All struggle and conflict ceases, because we have discovered that the origin of this conflict was an internal hallucination.” The Mindfulness Manifesto by Ben Riggs

Meditation is a tradition that venerates and preserves sanity. It is the purest expression of human culture.

“I had wondered what was holding this country together, what has been keeping the universe from cracking in pieces and falling apart. It is this monastery.” ~Thomas Merton’s remarks following his first visit to the Abbey of Gethsemani.

Click here to learn more about meditation, including instruction for the basic practice of calm-abiding.

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Dr. Reggie Ray currently resides in Crestone, Colorado, where he is Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the practice, study and preservation of the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the practice lineage he embodied.

The Dharma Ocean Foundation has an online media store where you can download “theme-based affordable bundles of talks, as well as complete program recordings.” Right now they are offering a free MP3 or PDF download, a talk from Reggie Ray entitled, “Emotional Awakening.” Click here for this free download.

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