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Monday, September 22, 2014

One Faith, One Creative Force

Ebbing and Flowing River

Since I last blogged almost a month ago, our "tribe" has, again, fluctuated: people coming and going - some returning, some new arrivals.  Right now, our "tribe" consists of Daryl, Julia, Jake, and me.

A very easy-going lass named Rainbow showed up one day, and ended up staying with us for a few weeks.  She hadn't heard about me or this "tribe" until she came to Moab and somebody told her about us and directed her to our cave.  She felt a dilemma of either quitting her job, getting rid of her car, and staying with us, or going on a promised journey to Sri Lanka with her long-time friend.  After much soul-searching, she opted for going to Sri Lanka.  Then it turned out that Max and Tom returned!  So for a while we were back up to a tribe of seven folks camping in the caves: Daryl, Julia, Sean, Rainbow, Max, and Tom.  Then Tom decided to leave again on his experimental search.

It then came time for me to visit my parents a hundred miles away in Colorado.  I usually don't go anywhere without the "tribe", but this time I went solo, staying with my parents for nearly a week.  I had the hunch folks in our tribe would leave while I was gone.  Sure enough, Max and Sean left to California with Rainbow in her car.  Now it was down to just Daryl, Julia, and me again.  I've been saying this tribe is more like a river.  It's not the same water on whatever day, but it's the same river, and the same rocks.  It seems Daryl, Julia, and I are the rocks of this tribe.   But perhaps another rock has tumbled back down stream.

The other day I was pleasantly surprised to see Jake, from early summer, just showing up again!  And it sounds like Steph and Freebird are also on their way back in a week or two.  Maybe I can have photos in this blog again, Steph being the prime photographer.

I am pleased with our "tribe" of eclectic drop-outs, drop-ins.  Daryl is a play-write and general writer, comedian, and a very articulate radio companion with a keen eye for spiritual truth.  Julia is an extremely independent feral feline who understands wild plants, edible and domestic, and basic wilderness survival, as well as being an artist and published author of a couple books.  I'm half-way through her excellent "The Edge of Sanity" under her pseudonym.  So far I'm really impressed, and will see how I feel about it when I'm done reading it, maybe push the book here.  Jake is our youngest family member, recently turned 21.  Early 20s was the majority last year, but he's the minority, for now.  He's easy-going and constant, and you have to glean what his interests are (like I'm discovering he's got a growing talent for guitar), and I'm looking forward more to seeing what makes him tick.

One thing I've noticed about our tribe, those here and those coming and going, is a common sense of humor.  I'm amazed at how often my tummy hurts from laughing so much.  Some days we also have elevating, eye-opening philosophical and spiritual discussions.

Radio Show continues

Meanwhile, I continue to do the radio show with Daryl, "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out," every Sunday, 9:00PM to 11:00PM MST/MDT on KZMU Moab Community Radio, often joined by Julia and whoever else is with us.  We often continue our discussions from the previous week on the air for all to hear who cares to.  For listening online, if www.kzmu.org doesn't work, try http://www.live365.com/stations/kzmu or http://streema.com/radios/KZMU.

Random edibles

In addition to the plethora of food we find in dumpsters, we've found lots of fruit this season: delicious prickly pears in the canyon, and, around town, peaches, apples, pears, grapes, and jujubis.  We've also been drinking lots of teas: from wild grasses, wild basil, Mormon tea, as well as from juniper and pinion needles, and a lot of mysterious concoctions brewed by Julia.  And wild mustards, including seeds, and lamb's quarters, have been a main staple.  Today I harvested a bunch of feral peppermint.  And we made some fermented wonders, too: sauerkraut, plum wine, peach wine, and peach vinegar.

Working on my magnum opus

I'm back to working on my life's magnum opus, about the divine feminine hidden within judeo-christian tradition, and discussing it with Daryl.  It astounds me to be able to talk with someone who already gets it. It's something I had long put away, but it inadvertently came up when Mark Sundeen was writing the book about me.  And, little did I know, it would have everything to do with the philosophy of living without money.  It has come full circle, getting me all excited.

But talking more about  this stuff will have to wait.  Meanwhile, some epiphanies about faith.

Faith

I'm thinking about the concept of faith again, having more epiphanies about it.  I just remembered blogging about faith before, so I did a search and realize my post called "Faith" was almost exactly a year ago!  I guess it's the season to talk about faith.

A lot of pragmatic minds really dislike the world faith.  And some have argued with my saying that faith is the essence of not just religion and spirituality (with some Buddhists also even arguing with me here), but that faith is the essence and foundation of science.
  Not only that, I will go so far as to say that faith is the essence and foundation of all life and all existence!

For those getting turned off already, let's make this really simple and let's look at, ironically, the pragmatic evidence of faith right before your eyes.

Examine everything you know how to do.  I mean everything!

Is there anything you know how to do that you did not first believe you could do?

Some people have smaller faith, some have greater faith, but everybody that can do anything has faith in the unknown.

You don't know you can do it until you do it.  You must believe it, not know it, to do it.

And you can't do it until you believe you can do it, regardless of how much or how little evidence you have to go on!


Some have small faith to do small things, some have great faith to do great things, but everybody who knows how to do anything has faith in the unknown.

That means everybody on earth!  And that means that the very first foundation for all scientific discovery is faith in the unknown!

If you want to do great things, you must have great faith.  But you can't have great faith until you start with small faith.  Faith is synonymous with courage.  Courage is facing fears, walking into the unknown, believing.  Have courage to face your small fears, small unknowns, and your courage will grow, your faith will grow.  If you cultivate your small faith enough, you will eventually be able to move mountains, or even do greater things.  If you start out as a cottonwood seed, you can eventually become a huge cottonwood tree.

All the talk in the world, and all the logical arguments about how unfounded your fears are won't make your fears go away.  Only by stepping into your fears and facing them will they go away.  And only then will your faith grow to levels that will astound you.

People will say, then, "faith in what?"  or "faith in whom?"

That's a moot question.

Faith itself is the creative force of the universe.

Faith itself is God, or whatever you want to call it.  Faith does not care what you call it.  If you can pinpoint and name what you have faith in, it wouldn't be faith.

Faith is resting in the unknown, in what the eye cannot see, what the ear cannot hear, what can't even enter into the human mind!

The word "God" can exist in the human mind.  But what you have faith in cannot exist in the mind.  You cannot think it.  Thus, even that word "God" and all conceptions of God must ultimately be crucified, banished, as your own mind will most certainly die some day, along with all its conceptions.  Any conception of God you think you have faith in is an idol, an illusion, a creation of your own mind.

One Creative Force

Meditate deeply on this:  If you do not have faith in the unknown, nothing you do can be new.  That means, if you do not have faith in the unknown, nothing you do can be creative.  If you replicate what you already know, you can only imitate, not create.  Only by faith can you be creative.  Without faith, you can only imitate.  Without faith, you can only be a machine, reproducing cookie-cutter images, with zero creativity.  Without faith, there can be no life, only soul-less machinery. 

But don't get me wrong, most of what is called "religion" or "faith" in our world is completely without faith.  Why?  Because it cannot accept the unknownIt can only follow scripts.  It can only follow scripture or liturgy.  It can only follow what is already written, already thought, already done.  It can only follow the old, not the new.  All scripture is Old Testament, even what they call the "New Testament."  All that is written down, all that is thought, all that is "known", is old, is script.  All scripture is script, and all who follow a script are actors, imitators.  The Greek word for an actor on a stage is hypokritēs (ὑποκριτής), hypocrite.  


Faith follows what is unknown, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what has not entered the human mind.  Faith follows what is born anew.  You must be born anew, every moment, else you are not life, else  you are not creative.  

"You are my offspring, this moment I have given birth to you," says the Spirit.
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Scripts follow faith, faith does not follow scripts.  Scriptures and forms and thoughts arise from faith, faith does not arise from scriptures and forms and thoughts.  Scripts describe what has already passed away, even if a split second ago!  All that is written, all that is thought, all that is recorded, is script.  Faith describes what is perfectly new, perfectly Now!  And what is new is, paradoxically, the only ancient, the only unchanging, ever Now.

People speak of many religions, many faiths.  There are many words, many thoughts, many so-called religions, many ideas, many labels put on faith, but there is only one faith.  There is only one faith, there is only one creative force.  And to have "faith" on what is known by the mind, what is thought, what is seen, what is heard, what is written, is to not have faith. 


Everything that is real has faith.  Only that which is artificial has no faith.  All that is alive has faith.  Faith, by its very nature, is life.  Only what is dead has no faith.  Everything that steps forward has faith in the unknown, for there has never, ever been a step that has stepped into the known, what is known by the mind.  Only delusion thinks it steps into the known, and only delusion can have no faith.  Ego thinks it knows.  And whatever thinks it knows knows nothing.  Faith is humility, and humility is not self-deprecation but the simple ability to see reality.

The same force that moves a spider to venture out of hibernation into the first days of spring, not knowing where he's going or where he will live, carrying no possessions, carrying no food, is the same force that makes you write a song or make a sculpture.  The same force that moves a sperm cell to make its way to the ovum, uniting with her to create a new egg, to become a new zygote, a new fetus, a new baby, is the same force that invented the wheel.

Religions can fight and compete with each other, faith cannot, because there is no other faith to fight and compete with.  A religion that calls itself a faith and must denounce other religions is not a faith.  Faith cannot say, "I have faith".  Anyone who says, "I have faith" demonstrates they have no faith.  Faith can only be, and only by being can faith proclaim Herself.
Faith is not something that is added to the worldly mind.
It is the manifestation of the mind's Buddha nature.
One who understands Buddha is Buddha;
one who has faith in Buddha is a Buddha himself.
(Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

One Faith (Ephesians 4:5)
Anything that is not of faith is debt (Romans 14:23)
According to your faith let it be to you.  (--Jesus, Matthew 9:29)

 Now, forget everything I've said, and have faith.


27 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that the tribe continues Suelo. Your adventures are always an inspiration to me. Hopefully one day I will be able to take the leap and join you.

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  2. You are really clever.......when u talk bout faith which is derived from within not by thinking because thought changes n not permanent.so god must realy be felt through faith..

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  3. It warms me to the depths of my heart to know you're doing so well and enjoying the best of the world. The tribe abides.

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  4. Glad you are doing well Daniel, but I still have to respectfully disagree with you about faith. Bly any definition you can find in a dictionary, faith is the absence of reason. What you are calling faith is actually reason I believe. If Eienstein looked up at the sky and came up with E=MC squared that is wonderment and reason. It is not faith. We might call it "beginners mind" in the Buddhist world. Faith is just such a bad word to use here Daniel. When you chose (which is reason) to experiment without money, that was reason

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    1. This is the same argument that came up last year about faith! The dictionary was not written from direct experience of faith. To find the meaning of something, you must go to one who directly experiences. Do you believe the dictionary is infallible scripture? But I actually do agree that faith is the absence of reason, but it gives birth to all reason. Put away your scriptures (dictionary) and see for yourself by direct experience.

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  5. You are confusing imagination with faith.

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  6. The Simile of the Infant

    Generally, monks, beings find sensual pleasures enjoyable. Now if a young man of good family
    has discarded sickle and carrying-pole5
    and has gone forth from home into the homeless life,
    one may rightly suppose that he has done so out of faith. And why can this be assumed?Because for the young, sensual pleasures are easily accessible. Of whatsoever kind, coarse,
    average or refined—they all count as sensual pleasures.

    Anguttara Nikaya 5:7

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  7. oops continued from same text...

    Now suppose, monks, there is a tender infant lying on its back. Through the nurse’s negligence, the child has put a little stick or a shard into its mouth. Then the nurse very quickly would consider what has happened, and very quickly she would remove the object. But if she is unable to remove it quickly, she would hold the infant’s head with her right hand, and crooking
    a finger, she would extract the object, even if she had to draw blood. And why? Though certainly it hurts the infant—and I do not deny this—yet the nurse had to act like this, wishing the best for the child, being concerned with its welfare, out of pity, for compassion’s sake. But when the child has grown up and is sensible enough, the nurse can be unconcerned about the child, knowing that now it can watch over itself and will no longer be negligent.

    Similarly, monks, as long as a monk has not yet proved his faith in things wholesome, not yet proved his sense of shame and moral dread, his energy and wisdom as to things wholesome, so long do I have to watch over him. But when he has proved himself in all these things, I can be unconcerned about that monk, knowing that he can now watch over himself and will no longer be negligent.


    (Having proved one's faith in things wholesome, in going from household life into homelessness, to the point that Buddha himself does not have to be concerned about that person/monk, isn't a low attainment by any measure of the word. This is Buddha we are talking about here, this isn't a low bar of standards.)

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  8. I agree, I think you are confusing imagination with faith. Faith is the absence of reason. There is really no other way to spin it.

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    1. A sunset is a sunset, and it takes no amount of reason to see it, nor any spinning to argue its beauty and essence. What would keep you from seeing it is to lower your eyes to a dictionary, or to try to argue its existence. There is nothing to spin, nothing to argue, nothing to reason.

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  9. I'm looking for a blog post or one of your essays where you talk about how humans make symbols more important than reality. You said something like we learn to love the symbol and hate the reality on your radio show about a month or two ago. Where can I find this?

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    1. Michael, off hand, this is what I found, about idolatry, from April 4, 2010
      http://zerocurrency.blogspot.com/2010/04/idol-thoughts-for-pesach.html

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  10. If you had a million dollars before you gave up money, do you think you would have still given up money?
    -Namele

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    1. Let's ask Buddha...

      How blissful it is, for one who has nothing
      who has mastered the Dhamma,
      is learned.
      See him suffering, one who has something,
      a person bound in body
      with people.

      How blissful it is, for one who has nothing.
      Attainers-of-wisdom
      are people with nothing.
      See him suffering, one who has something,
      a person bound in mind
      with people.

      -Udana Sutta 2:5 & 2:6

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    2. To talk about what I would or could do in this or that circumstance is to talk about another person, and is to boast. I can only talk in truth about myself now. But I can refer you to Karl Rabeder, a millionaire who gave up his fortune: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/7190750/Millionaire-gives-away-fortune-that-made-him-miserable.html

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  11. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1512403129017299&set=vb.1409968825927397&type=2&theater

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  12. Hi Daniel. I did a quick search abut that multimillionaire who gave away all this money. I remember him because I carried around that same article in a notebook for years. His name is Karl Rabeder. According to Wikipedia, there was report in a German newspaper, seriously questioning the whole scheme. The newspaper says it did not happen. There was a link to the article but it was in German.

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  13. What I have found is that there is a Holy Scripture inside that we need to get in touch with.
    The meaning of life is Creativity that when activated, is given freely. We are all somewhere to go.
    But prisoners can go nowhere. I came here because i share the Zero Currency idea.
    Type Zero Currency into the Facebook search

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  14. Just finished Mark Sundeen's book. Most impressive I find your honesty but the biggest impact it had was your persistence in continuing to understand your evolving faith.

    I struggle hard to find meaning in anything yet your doggedness in following your chosen path reminds me of a saying from Thomas Aquinas: "The church has some that God doesn't have and God has some that the church doesn't have".

    Good luck and keep searching Seulo.

    Tony Wilkinson
    Perth, Western Australia

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  15. Thank you. I always stop in from time to time to see what you have to say. It's so refreshing.. a cool glass of water for the thirsty soul.

    As for faith..the semantic arguments are irrelevant. If you are about to step into the unknown because of an inner calling, you can call it reason, you can call it imagination, but it's simply a belief in the unseen--"the substance of things hoped for." The unmanifested, about to be manifested.

    catherine

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  16. "Have faith."
    --Thor Heyerdahl, realizing the very essence of all scientific discovery.

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  17. From a Russian fairy tale, "Go, not knowing where. Bring, not knowing what. The path is long and the way unknown."

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  18. "Every path but your own is the path of fate" ...... Henry David Thoreau

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  19. An instructive post. People to really know who they want to reach and why or else, they'll have no way to know what they're trying to achieve. People need to hear this and have it drilled in their brains..
    Thanks for sharing this great article.

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  20. What did Jake do prior to joining you? How did he convice his parents to allow him to do this? I am curios because i am anxious to take this path and meet you.

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