Spiritual Poetry: Seeker and Finder

This episode’s reading is a short excerpt of spiritual poetry from the TAT Foundation publication Beyond Mind, Beyond Death. It’s the first volume published by the TAT Press, and I consider it a “desert island” book–one you return to again and again for insight and inspiration. The reading opens with “Just Look” by J.C. Its final line, “Drop all else and come to Me” is particularly poignant considering this seeker passed away several years ago. The poem reveals the frustrations of a person not knowing where to turn, but also the inner knowing that speaks to all, offering guidance. “The Other Side” by Bob Cergol clearly originates from the Silence, illustrating the position of both seeker and that which is sought, but this time definitively stating that “in that nothing is your Being/And in that Being– everything.”

This is podcast # 6 in The Induction Series. The aim of this series is to focus on “inspired” writings, those that carry the “living word.” Franklin Merrell-Wolff called them “mystic writings” and said that “when the ‘Voice of the Silence’ speaks into the relative world, the Meaning lies between the words, as it were, rather than in the direct content of the words themselves.”

Richard Rose said that “If you are interested in looking for Essence, from the point of the Process Observer you can be stimulated only by writings of inspiration rather than reason or direction” and referred students to his poem “Three Books of the Absolute.” While Rose used the term “inspirational,” clearly these are not necessarily inspirational, uplifting writings like one typically finds collected under that banner.

spiritual poetry
Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

If you enjoy The Induction Series, please leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment.  There are currently 54 reviews and once we reach 100 reviews that boosts the visibility of the book.  You don’t have to purchase the book on Amazon to leave a review, and a few minutes of your time will help others seekers find the book.  Just click the link above and leave a few words in a review.  Thank you! 

Please feel free to leave comments or send an email with the contact form.  I always appreciate hearing your thoughts.


 

Supporter Options




QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:

  • “your true heart e’er knows the way –/Just find and follow its golden ray”
  • “Look, just Look/Look and See”
  • “What shape was made with flesh and bone/That made this form your form alone?”
  • “From the other side there comes the call/’Your self is here, not there at all.'”
  • A comment from Bob Cergol about the poem: “The idea was to paint a picture of how the ‘I’ arises out of experience and loses its connection with the Source and then re-finds itself. When and how did your sense of ‘I’ first appear? What was the first sound that awakend ‘I’ in you and closed your ear to the Silent Source? What sight first cemented you in this vision of reality that blinded you to the True Light?”
  • Read more about Bob Cergol.
  • Getting Back to What’s Important,” an article by J.C.
  • Leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment. Our goal is to reach 100 reviews by the end of The Induction Series. We’re now at 54!

Support this podcast

The Realization of Nisargadatta Marahaj

This episode’s reading is an an excerpt from the book I Am That by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, which I found at searchwithin.org. The excerpt was titled “The Realization of Nisargadatta.” Though not labelled as such in the book, in this excerpt Nisargadatta clearly and, as always, succinctly describes his spiritual realization. See my review of Nisargadatta Maharaj for more about this remarkable sage.

This is podcast # 5 in The Induction Series. The aim of this series is to focus on “inspired” writings, those that carry the “living word.” Franklin Merrell-Wolff called them “mystic writings” and said that “when the ‘Voice of the Silence’ speaks into the relative world, the Meaning lies between the words, as it were, rather than in the direct content of the words themselves.”

Richard Rose said that “If you are interested in looking for Essence, from the point of the Process Observer you can be stimulated only by writings of inspiration rather than reason or direction” and referred students to his poem “Three Books of the Absolute.” While Rose used the term “inspirational,” clearly these are not necessarily inspirational, uplifting writings like one typically finds collected under that banner.

realization of nisargadatta
Photo by Tom Sodoge on Unsplash

If you enjoy The Induction Series, please leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment.  There are currently 48 reviews and once we reach 100 reviews that boosts the visibility of the book.  You don’t have to purchase the book on Amazon to leave a review, and a few minutes of your time will help others seekers find the book.  Just click the link above and leave a few words in a review.  Thank you! 

Please feel free to leave comments or send an email with the contact form.  I always appreciate hearing your thoughts.


 

Supporter Options




QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:

  • The manner of Nisargadatta’s self-realization.
  • “True words always come true.”
  • The desire to go within.
  • The void beyond consciousness.
  • All knowledge is ignorance.
  • “Stop moving and there will be no world.”
  • Leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment. Our goal is to reach 100 reviews by the end of The Induction Series. We’re now at 48!

Support this podcast

The Penny That Blots Out The Sun – Alfred Pulyan

This episode’s reading is an essay by Alfred Pulyan titled “The Penny That Blots Out The Sun.” Pulyan was a little-known Zen teacher based in Connecticut and active in the 1950s through his death in 1966. Like so many authentic teachers, he labored in relative obscurity, yet his words and deeds continue to affect many. See my review of Alfred Pulyan for a few more tidbits.

This is podcast # 4 in The Induction Series. The aim of this series is to focus on “inspired” writings, those that carry the “living word.” Franklin Merrell-Wolff called them “mystic writings” and said that “when the ‘Voice of the Silence’ speaks into the relative world, the Meaning lies between the words, as it were, rather than in the direct content of the words themselves.”

Richard Rose said that “If you are interested in looking for Essence, from the point of the Process Observer you can be stimulated only by writings of inspiration rather than reason or direction” and referred students to his poem “Three Books of the Absolute.” While Rose used the term “inspirational,” clearly these are not necessarily inspirational, uplifting writings like one typically finds collected under that banner.

alfred pulyan
Photo by Ryan Olson on Unsplash

If you enjoy The Induction Series, please leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment.  There are currently 44 reviews and once we reach 100 reviews that boosts the visibility of the book.  You don’t have to purchase the book on Amazon to leave a review, and a few minutes of your time will help others seekers find the book.  Just click the link above and leave a few words in a review.  Thank you! 

Please feel free to leave comments or send an email with the contact form.  I always appreciate hearing your thoughts.


 

Supporter Options




QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:

  • Seekers caught in continual seeking
  • The actual way in which a student is brought to awakening
  • Subud and Pak Subuh
  • Consciousness seeing itself
  • All mental attempts to reach the pure consciousness are in vain
  • The real enemy is the “my” consciousness
  • “All we do is rotate our own ideas like a squirrel in a cage.”
  • Grace
  • Transmission
  • Check out Bart Marshall’s Letters of Transmission: The Enlightenment Method of Zen Master Alfred Pulyan to see correspondence between Richard Rose and Alfred Pulyan.
  • Leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment. Our goal is to reach 100 reviews by the end of The Induction Series. We’re now at 44!

Support this podcast

The World is After the Fact – William Samuel

This episode’s reading is an essay by William Samuel titled “The World is After the Fact” from his book The Child Within Us Lives! In it, William Samuel reaches out to the audience laying bare the depth of his understanding and felt experience of Reality. I’ve only scratched the surface of William Samuel’s teachings, so owe it to a listener’s recommendation to include “The World is After the Fact” in The Induction Series.

This is podcast # 3 in The Induction Series. The aim of this series is to focus on “inspired” writings, those that carry the “living word.” Franklin Merrell-Wolff called them “mystic writings” and said that “when the ‘Voice of the Silence’ speaks into the relative world, the Meaning lies between the words, as it were, rather than in the direct content of the words themselves.”

Richard Rose said that “If you are interested in looking for Essence, from the point of the Process Observer you can be stimulated only by writings of inspiration rather than reason or direction” and referred students to his poem “Three Books of the Absolute.” While Rose used the term “inspirational,” clearly these are not necessarily inspirational, uplifting writings like one typically finds collected under that banner.

william samuel world
Photo by Eduardo Zmievski on Unsplash

If you enjoy The Induction Series, please leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment.  There are currently 42 reviews and once we reach 100 reviews that boosts the visibility of the book.  You don’t have to purchase the book on Amazon to leave a review, and a few minutes of your time will help others seekers find the book.  Just click the link above and leave a few words in a review.  Thank you! 

Please feel free to leave comments or send an email with the contact form.  I always appreciate hearing your thoughts.


 

Supporter Options




QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:

  • Time, Space, Sequentiality
  • Inverted cosmologies
  • “The divine WHAT exists before the image we see.”
  • “We see that matter is neither real nor unreal, and it appears in and as our experience for good reasons to be understood.”
  • Learn more about William Samuel at the official website.
  • Leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment. Our goal is to reach 100 reviews by the end of The Induction Series. We’re now at 42!

Support this podcast

Bernadette Roberts on How it Works – diving into the Unmanifested

This episode’s reading is an essay by Bernadette Roberts titled “How it Works.” In just a few paragraphs, Bernadette dives deep into the paradox of the unmanifested, manifesting, and manifested. It’s from her book The Experience of No-Self. Though Bernadette considered herself a Christian writer and seemed perpetually irritated with anyone trying to take her teaching out of that framework, this short essay clearly speaks to all people, regardless of time and place. If you want to learn more about Bernadette Roberts and her particular style of Christian mysticism, see my review on Spiritualteachers.org.

This is podcast # 2 in The Induction Series. The aim of this series is to focus on “inspired” writings, those that carry the “living word.” Franklin Merrell-Wolff called them “mystic writings” and said that “when the ‘Voice of the Silence’ speaks into the relative world, the Meaning lies between the words, as it were, rather than in the direct content of the words themselves.”

Richard Rose said that “If you are interested in looking for Essence, from the point of the Process Observer you can be stimulated only by writings of inspiration rather than reason or direction” and referred students to his poem “Three Books of the Absolute.” While Rose used the term “inspirational,” clearly these are not necessarily inspirational, uplifting writings like one typically finds collected under that banner.

unmanifested
Photo by Anne Nygårdon on Unsplash

If you enjoy The Induction Series, please leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment.  There are currently 39 reviews and once we reach 100 reviews that boosts the visibility of the book.  You don’t have to purchase the book on Amazon to leave a review, and a few minutes of your time will help others seekers find the book.  Just click the link above and leave a few words in a review.  Thank you! 

Please feel free to leave comments or send an email with the contact form.  I always appreciate hearing your thoughts.


 

Supporter Options




QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:

  • The unmanifested, the manifesting, and the manifested
  • All that Is
  • “Completeness can only be known when the manifested falls back into the unmanifested.”
  • Read my review of Bernadette Roberts.
  • Leave a review on Amazon of my book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment. Our goal is to reach 100 reviews by the end of The Induction Series. We’re now at 39!

Support this podcast