Monday, December 02, 2013

If There is a Devil, the Devil is Your Mind.

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

May your noses always be cold and wet.

Ach! heute das leben is schoen und... und? Well, that brings something to mind that has been cavorting at the fringes of my mind for awhile. I tried to treat with it at the conference in London the weekend bevor and... und... I know what the problem is but it's a bitch in the application of corrective measures. Our biggest problem is our reactive mind. See... here's the truth of the matter; life is perfect. It is perfect for those who have perfected eyes. Perfected eyes are not an easy acquisition, nor is halting, arresting, the reactive mind. If you are looking for the devil (let's hope not but... metaphorically speaking), you need look no further than your own mind. That is the seat of divisiveness and the agency of war upon yourself and others. Your mind is your biggest enemy and potentially, your best friend, once you are able to turn it right side up. Although many of us are born screwed up from the gitgo, one can easily say the majority of us are truly screwed up in the process of puberty, when the world divides on us into oppositional states which, is one of the reasons the Tribe inspired intentional gender confusions are pushed and proliferated from the initiation of public education. Their watch-phrase is; 'destroy the family unit'. After that it's Brave New World or The Penal Colony, depending on your choice of authors. Following that you got shitwits for lunch and 1984 on the menu. 'neti, neti' is probably a Zen thing; not this, no, not that either, more or less.

So... you have to stand guard at the gateway of the mind, at that avenue where thoughts enter and you have to reject everything that comes in and also throw out whatever is there already. What you will find is that once you've expelled the surface chatter there is a whole other layer below that and possibly yet more before you hit 'the beautiful silence'. The logic behind this is that whatever is real is not going anywhere. Following a period of persistent practice, the mind will be cleared of garbage and you can spot the garbage bombs as they seek to enter in and turn your mind back into a landfill. The natural, or supernatural state of the human mind is one of brimming optimism and enthusiasm. Lao Tzu has a number of passages that relate to this. The image given, if we colloquialise or manifest it at street level is that of a fellow with an continuous tumescence (a man in full, so to speak and women have their own version that manifests as wisdom, oracles and a kinship with Lady Nature) and a song being sung through the whole of the day with no strain on the voice. I met such a person and such encounters are not easily forgotten. One could simply dismiss such a character and label them mad, were it not for the forehead and features that so exactly mirror those of the ancient Japanese and Chinese figurines that you may or may not have seen by now.

It is easy to become disheartened at the amount of willful ignorance, apathy and appetite pursuit that surrounds you on all sides, as you attempt to make your way somewhere, wherever somewhere is, ♫somewhere a place for us. Take my hand and yadda yadda♫. It's all set up to bring you down. It was one thing in the not recent past because then you could just migrate to another location, or step outside of it altogether but now you have to deal with passports and permissions; countless government and social restrictions, on action and movement, not to mention a relentless pay as you go system of enriching virtual vampires at every turn. In other words, the squeeze is on. When Ronald McDonald Raygun came into office, as a handpuppet for Bush and the military industrial, Zio-Ogre complex, he authorized a few things that made life a grind for everyone involved, except for those profiteering from them. He closed the mental hospitals and unleashed the homeless epidemic. He made adjustments in the laws that brought about the explosion of condos and the jacking up of rents across the board to unlivable levels and went after the unions as a force recon effort against the middle class. A whole boatload of idiots bought into the principles from the security of their positions and spawned a legion of Governor Walkers, Koch Brothers and others who had no problem shitting where you eat. On the heels of removing all of the protective legislation that were in place for a damn good reason, the majority of the population wound up buggered to a fare thee well and don't come back.

In tandem with these horrors, they slowly but surely altered the sitting (fat-assed) perspective of the Supreme Court until it became what it is today, a rubber stamp for corporate fascism. How are we to see this world as perfect now? Good question. Here's the key, the individual human mind is more powerful than all of the negative consciousnesses put together, provided that mind understands what it is about. It is more powerful for the same reason that a single candle will push the borders of darkness back on all sides.

Even if everyone around you is slogging through the darkness, convinced that they can see where they are going, you do not have to share their state. The pull of the familiar is strong and the force of peer pressure is formidable but... you will find when you turn and go against the current of perdition that there is another current or let us say, magnetized pull that responds to your resonance. In the Hindu tradition they have the subud, which is a sound current. You can travel on currents; sound currents, etheric currents, high end vibrational currents of powerful cosmic emotion that can be likened to the winds of cosmic weather. Come sail with me on the cosmic seas of consciousness! Let us say you have reached the point where Love is the single most powerful expression of your being... as it was intended to be at the genesis but which got warped downward into the appetite market consciousness, that pings off of the lower floors of your being and eventually turns you into food for other more ancient appetites.

One of the reasons that various areas of existence are closed off to us or hidden from us is that the sight of these places and these inhabitants will serve to drive one mad with fear. Of course, until you can walk right past them with nary a sideways glance you're screwed. There are few things worse than to be in fear of that which is inimical to you. One's greatest fear should always be that one might go astray, or forget what you came here for; it wasn't so that you could prop one, or several, of your 6 cow stomachs into the child carrier portion of a Wal-Mart shopping cart.

The biggest obstacle to your existence as a free and sovereign being, is the pressure to conform. You're surrounded by life as you have 'come to know it'. That's not how it really is at all. As T.S. Eliot said, “that's not it at all”. Lest anyone think I've lost my scatological and sacrilegious edge, cue the Squeegees ♫Uh Uh Uh Uh taking a shit, taking a shit, Uh, Uh, Uh Uh,taking a shiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeit. Well you can tell by the way I swallow everything they're shoving down my throat♫ It's not just our bodies that turn things into shit. Life does not have to be like that but we make life that way when we buy into the version being forced upon us by the shitmeister's extraordinaire. Without Love, life eventually and rather quickly turns into a holocaust of gastric distress and other 'chronic' maladies. It's good to keep in mind that those screaming about holocausts are generally the ones who are behind them in the first place. Those who scream about oppression, while in possession of far more than their share of life's goods, are usually the most significant of oppressors. When they are able to generate either fear or hatred on your part, they have stolen from you 'the one thing that can afford them'. They have stolen your compassion, as Lao Tzu says“Compassion is a weapon from the sky against being dead.”

You have to set out upon your every day in a consciously loving state of mind and I am no less an offender in this regard than anyone else. At least I can remind myself and it seems I have reminded myself ten thousand times ten thousand and I still veer to one side or the other if I don't have my attention fixed on my way forward. There's a great Hindu poster that shows a charioteer being drawn off the road by his team of powerful horses. These are symbolic of the senses. The chariot is the mind and the charioteer is the self. We can see this and we can know this but it seems like, in almost no time, that we forget it. It takes constant enforced remembering to stay on course. Few people have the stamina or the will for it and they pay a heavy price for not paying attention. As I have pointed out many times, or maybe this is the first time in this fashion, the Major Arcana of Tarot symbolize archetypes; actually, the first 7 symbolize forces or powers. The second 7 symbolize mediums and the last 7 symbolize states or conditions brought about or corrected by the proper channeling of the forces or powers through the mediums. The Magician stands for 'focused attention' or 'concentration' and the dual meaning that attends the image is 'life and death'. This can be the result of paying attention and not paying attention so, pay attention. One can learn a lot from the sun. All the sun does is shine. It shines on everything. We should too and at some point it will shine through us. We should make the sun our shining example. We are frozen sunlight. We are sunlight in extension. The whole point is to turn into conscious sunlight and reside in our solar bodies. This is the objective of The Operation of the Sun, as perfectly exemplified in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. Wake up!

I am always talking to myself when I am engaged in my business here. It would be less than effective were I not doing so. In the town where I live, I am viewed as an eccentric and possibly a mental case because I am often singing wherever I am, on the street, in the supermarket, or sometimes I am talking to myself. It's a little sub rosa but you can hear me within a small parameter. I experience no shame or embarrassment from this. Why the Hell would I be insecure about my own freedom out of deference to those who have lost their own? Everyone should be singing to themselves as they go down the street. This is powerful magic. This is powerfully transformative magic. It doesn't just transform the world around you but it transforms you as well. When you lose your youthfulness, you become hard and rigid. You become old. You do not have to become old. You can remain vital and alive so long as you remain close to the source of it. Bad behavior and the wrong behavior patterns take us away from it.

My phone and internet were mysteriously off line all day but so was the entire, quite large province in which I live. They couldn't tell us why.


End Transmission.......

This weekends radio broadcast is up now.

Visible sings: The eponymous Les Visible Music Album♫ My Pickup Truck got Pregnant ♫
'My Pickup Truck got Pregnant' is track no. 1 of 10 on Visible's eponymous
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33 comments:

Anonymous said...

The chariot of the body

The five horses represent the five senses (tongue, eyes, ears, nose and skin).
The reins, the driving instrument, symbolize the mind.
The driver is the intelligence.
The passenger is the spirit soul.

zepheri said...

Was graced with the company of a singer who loved to sing to the trees. The best thing about it was her lack of fear as well as the reaction of other company.
Thanks again Les

est said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Visible said...

That is not what the western mystery tradition teaches but your welcome to your interpretation, just variations on a theme in any case. Meanwhile, what passenger? There's no passenger in my picture, only the one rider with a look of fear on his face and I suppose we'll just leave the will (the driver would logically be the will as in, to drive?) out of it... heh heh. I think I'll stop here.


...............................

One of the things I used to do on acid in the woods was sing up the trunks of trees and then out and over the leaves. They each had their music. I can still see the sun dappling down through the branches

Visible said...

Now I see the picture. That is not the one I saw.

Visible said...

The radio broadcast is now hotlinked at the end of the post.

Visible said...

Darn! I did a perfectly good troll in the water and caught nothing; how it goes sometimes. The tip off was supposed to be the variant between western mystery tradition and the fact that it was a Hindu poster I saw (not the one posted)but no one bit. Better luck next time, visible. Maybe I should have waited longer but I'm determined to go to bed now. See you on the flipside.

Anonymous said...

Dear Les,

I've always enjoyed reading your postings. Your wit and insight into affairs of the state and mind are always so playful and quixotic -- truly word bonbons for the soul. Thank you for showing us what really matters -- Love, Light, Truth, Creativity. A few years ago I had a fairly well read blog (redpill8), but it was pretty dark. I stopped writing because I was delving too deep in the stinking muck of their dualistic world for my own mental well-being, and decided I needed to reorient myself to more loftier goals of wholeness, which you define so wonderfully in this musing. Truly, you can be free once you lose your attachments, not only to things, but also dubious causes. The world of duality is a man made construct to which we should throw out like so much decaying garbage. And, maybe from this, if we allow it, wonderful things can grow. I agree with you, sing and create whenever you can. You are free if you allow yourself to be free. Be free. Namaste.

Wen Ao Long said...

I'm not one to say this lightly, but in this case I can: You did express very nicely in this. I understand you, and am amazed. I have undergone the same challenges, although I've clothed myself with different dogma. The only part that matters turns out to be that which we have precisely in common. Thank you for you. I'm sure you've gotten rid of my other comments, all two or three of them, but I've read only two or three of the pieces you've written. That's fair I suppose, as I got the better deal.

I sense sincerity in you, you are different than the New Age Fluff that I so despise. You really are a Warrior. And while you don't seek my acknowledgement or respect on this, I have given it anyway, because I can see what I see, and I appreciate what I see, without compunction as to expressing it.

Likewise, I'm not seeking your respect or acknowledgement. I continue my path as I have, and I know that there is only ONE WAY to fulfill my Duty. One way, with many forms.

Namaste

Wen Ao Long said...

I'm not one to say this lightly, but in this case I can: You did express very nicely in this. I understand you, and am amazed. I have undergone the same challenges, although I've clothed myself with different dogma.

The only part that matters turns out to be that which we have precisely in common. Thank you for you. While in some aspects of your replies to me in the past you were totally off as to my intentions or attitudes, I didn't really give you much reason or cause to be accurate! Doesn't matter now, not to me.

I sense sincerity in you, you are different than the New Age Fluff that I so despise. You really are a Warrior. Like you, I appreciate what I see, without compunction as to expressing it.

I continue my path as I have, and I know that there is only ONE WAY to fulfill my Duty. One way, with many forms.

Namaste

Jenny said...

vis-
I am the same- often sing to the bees when I work with them.....it is to live-to sing...jen

Nate said...

Greetings Vis,

Been keeping to myself the last year or so.
Sure can vouch for the fact that Mr A has been working his ass off here in the "Streets of the Great Satan" as of late.
But seriously, what the hell are you doing in my head with this post(grins)?

zepheri said...

Have recently had thoughts on Indian electricians and how the pay differs but culturally everything equals out. apaedam 310

zepheri said...

I knew you were tired, dam. 260 soryss super service ala post war stooges, not robots

Curtis Matthew Ellsworth said...

Maybe the title of this blog post applies itself a little more to me or, at least, a little differently. Probably not. Just yesterday, the first, I was precisely thinking about the book "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and how I read it very slowly and about three times when I was around 17. I kept thinking about how the character Robert Jordan had it right in saying "my mind's both my best friend and worst enemy", which is paraphrased, but it's in there. No matter how distracted I get from the negative parts of my mind, alarmed at the lack of the collective conscientiousness going around nowadays and my major shortcomings, it's my mind, and if I minded it so much, the ruminations and what not, then I need to handle that. It's my issue, what I'm preoccupied by, and if I'm blown off course by my perseverations, I truly need to find a way to knock that off. The coincidences of thought on here are rather astounding and are, perhaps, so or not so coincidental.

zepheri said...

13 djnede

Anonymous said...

"Let your heart be like the Sun,
Shine alike on everyone".
Ancient Chinese sage whose name escapes me.
Peter

Anonymous said...


Bhagavad-gita 6.34 The chariot of the body. The five horses represent the five senses (tongue, eyes, ears, nose and skin). The reins, the driving instrument, symbolize the mind, the driver is the intelligence, and the passenger is the spirit soul.

http://www.asitis.com/gallery/plate23.html

Call it Hindu if you like, but it was painted by a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, founder of Iskcon, before it, like the Golden Dawn, and every other organization in Kali yuga, was infiltrated and corrupted after poisoning and murdering its founder with arsenic over 9 months. He would have referred to it not as Hindu but as God consciousness, specifically Krsna Consciousness for he detested the Impersonalists who refer to God only in the impersonal form, being voidists, nihilists, Isvara wannabes and ultimately crypto-demons as they are.

Anonymous said...

http://www.asitis.com/6/34.html

Bhagavad Gita As It Is
Chapter 6. Sankhya-yoga
TEXT 34

cancalam hi manah krsna
pramathi balavad drdham
tasyaham nigraham manye
vayor iva su-duskaram

TRANSLATION

For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind.
PURPORT

The mind is so strong and obstinate that it sometimes overcomes the intelligence, although mind is supposed to be subservient to the intelligence. For a man in the practical world who has to fight so many opposing elements, it is certainly very difficult to control the mind. Artificially, one may establish a mental equilibrium toward both friend and enemy, but ultimately no worldly man can do so, for this is more difficult than controlling the raging wind. In the Vedic literatures it is said:

atmanam rathinam viddhi sariram ratham eva ca
buddhim tu sarathim viddhi manah pragraham eva ca
indriyani hayan ahur visayams tesu gocaran
atmendriya-mano-yuktam bhoktety ahur manisinah


"The individual is the passenger in the car of the material body, and intelligence is the driver. Mind is the driving instrument, and the senses are the horses. The self is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in the association of the mind and senses. So it is understood by great thinkers." Intelligence is supposed to direct the mind, but the mind is so strong and obstinate that it often overcomes even one's own intelligence. Such a strong mind is supposed to be controlled by the practice of yoga, but such practice is never practical for a worldly person like Arjuna. And what can we say of modern man? The simile used here is appropriate: one cannot capture the blowing wind. And it is even more difficult to capture the turbulent mind. The easiest way to control the mind, as suggested by Lord Caitanya, is chanting "Hare Krsna," the great mantra for deliverance, in all humility. The method prescribed is sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh: one must engage one's mind fully in Krsna. Only then will there remain no other engagements to agitate the mind.


Regarding Sabda or sound vibration:
http://krishna.org/mantra-wars/

jonsin said...

beautiful, beautiful; such a lovely reminder of who/what we really are. love, total communication with the undivided. peace that surpasseth understanding.

Farmer said...

Yep.

Its like when young, and loosing the ball, and you find it, and know why, and then go off again and play, instead of talking to the reason you found it.

"call the ball"

Excellent post "vis".

Farmer said...

The will out of it?

Grant?

I think i heard your car go by. Not sure, there is wax in my hears, and my hearing aid is making all sorts of weird noises, and telemarketers from India calling, selling insurance for the dying. Crazy world.

(chuckle)

Anyway, its winter here now, and I sent you boots, though I cant remember where to.

Oh yeah, the monkies on the roof stayed until morning, and then left in the fog, mumbling da da dada da da da", as I sprayed them with the water hose.

I see you are busy refining silver, and pulverizing the past, while polishing the shit stains off long matted bear rugs.

Your asshole that doubles as a mouth, is getting more pristine while fishing, but then again, I dont expect different out of sailors, and you do sing rather nice while on land.

I dont think that OB1Bytes will agree though, which is great to my satisfaction.:(

Visible said...

"clothed myself in different dogmas" (grin). How appropriate.

So far as I know Prabupad was a Hindu. I could be wrong though, certainly the tradition is. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is to control the mind and it doesn't matter how you allegory the parts so long as that intention can function. I was looking for trouble anyway, checking to see if there was some degree of emotion in the primary response. On occasion I do this, regrettably (grin).

People reading the comments who are sometimes mystified at what I say, or disturbed because of the surface appearance should be aware that I intentionally seek to unveil any number of things. So far, I'm lopsidedly successful although one might question the wisdom of it. I do not want to eradicate the slight Rugby scrum potential...


Farmer; while I'm on the subject, I'm beginning to wonder at that passive aggressive thing. Of course, your other efforts have already made the case more or less.

Anonymous said...

Hi Les,

I work for a prominent technology company. Some years ago, I wanted to teach a training class to my peers. To do so, I was required to prepare a presentation. At the time, I was very interested in the subconcience. I prepared a thesis on the subject and called it "Sleeping Beauty". I found pictures on the internet related to our connections to a subconscious mind and discussed how it belongs to all of us. I started with about 10 slides and 10 index cards. I couldn't stop talking even after I was done with the cards. I've been watching the internet for many years and am still fascinated by the creativity of people. Of course, Edward Snowden brought us some very useable information. All of us are in the same system. It seems, however, that some think they are in charge of it. Now we know who. Now that we know there are those who desire to own it, we know who the bullys are. Anyone who desires to own the system will fail. It belongs to all of us together. I think its time to activate Sleeping Beauty and put the bullies on time out until they learn how to play fairly with others.

smile,
B

Visible said...

A new Visible Origami is up now-

Dancing in the Suburbs of the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Anonymous said...


Strange, since i have been exposed to sacred songs from diverse shaman traditions, i can't get these sounds out of my head.
So i whistle, sing and chant whenever i feel like it. Still have to fight feelings of shame when getting caught. But its no longer my decision. These sounds come through me like a channeling, i often don't even realize it when doing it.
And it feels great.

Thomas said...

oh Les, this is just too good. Having just had 10 months of my mind being my absolutely worst enemy, and somehow magically returned to Love and God (aren't they the same?), this is just a dead ringer for me. My mind is still very undisciplined, but I am very happy most of the time now, so it's all good yea it is. Thank you thank you thank you. So true.

Anonymous said...

I tell myself all the time to not be so introspective.

MikeyNeptune

wiggins said...

Well Thatcher and Raygun seemed to have mirrored each others policies. She also closed mental hospitals - most sitting on prime real estate - and let her benefactor friends have first dibs at the pickings. Care in the Community was born.......another misnomer.

the gardener said...

I am constantly hearing this beautiful rendition of Ave Maria by Jewel-sometimes it sneaks out of my head and into my vocal cords to be let out. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZABVkrKAPdo

:53 is divine time

the gardener

Visible said...

A new Smoking Mirrors is up now-

Rack'em and Stack'em, Critical Mass for the Planetary Ass.

Anonymous said...

You might want to check out another rendition of Ave Maria, by Helene Fischer, right here. Jewel's a jewel, but Helene is from another planet.

Anonymous said...

via Homer..

Also there IS the faultless mantra - Pancha Tattva mantra.

There are ten offenses in the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, but these are not considered in the chanting of the Pancha-tattva mantra.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is known as maha-vadanyavatara, the most magnanimous incarnation, for he does not consider the offenses of the fallen souls.

sri-krishna-caitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita
gadadhara
srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is always accompanied by his plenary expansion Sri Nityananda Prabhu, his incarnation Sri Advaita Prabhu, his internal potency Sri Gadadhara Prabhu, and his marginal potency Srivasa Prabhu. He is in the midst of them as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

One should know that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is always accompanied by these other tattvas. Therefore our obeisances to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are complete when we say, sri-krishna-caitanya prabhu nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda.





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