The cup to which the title of this article refers is the cup of personhood. It is a cup comprised of sensations, images, feelings, thoughts, and deeply held beliefs and memories; all of which have led the majority of beings into the very heart of darkness and ignorance. The problem is that we are unaware that we’re unaware; therefore, we continue to live at a superficial level of understanding. At a deeper dimension, however, we know that something is amiss. In Awakening Mystical Consciousness, Joel Goldsmith (a noted spiritual teacher and healer) expressed the following: “There is no Truth to be known about man.” So true.
How could this be possibly be? Because this whole realm is founded upon a sham. Although we appear to be human (for everything outwardly supports this assumption), in Truth we are not. We are Spirit, aka Consciousness. The problem is that we have been deeply conditioned to believe that we are persons. Consciousness is actually the creator of body-minds and all other objects. To investigate this matter (rather than to merely scoff at my audacity for stating such in print), we must enter the still silence of meditation, with the detached aim of knowingly re-discovering our essential nature. This does not occur by accretion; for we need not add anything to become what we naturally are. Meditation is only the means by which we allow that which is false to fall away.
“Empty yourself completely.”
“Give up all ideas about yourself and simply be.”
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: I Am That (page 188)
To discover what is Real, it is absolutely necessary that our cup be emptied of the false “self,” of all that we have previously believed to be true. We must willingly surrender all of our “I-did-this” tales, personal trophies, and medals pinned to our chest. Pride, which is a human trait, must be abandoned. It attempts to chain us by iron handcuffs (negative traits, for which we are ashamed) and even more strongly by golden handcuffs (positive traits, for which we boast). When this is first attempted, we will discover that the false “me” with whom we have erroneously identified, will rail. The ego (known by various personal names) will protest that such is nonsense; it will clutch its petty stories of victories and woes as though they were cherished prizes. How the ego loves its trivial accounts of triumph over tragedy, success over failure, strength over weakness! In Truth, all are nothing but story upon story.
If we’re searching for true Self, we must empty the cup, by whatever name and form it is known. We must recognize that all of our life events have been fiction; little more than bedtime stories intended to frighten or enthrall. We are not now the body-mind–and never have been! Consciousness is our true nature, now and forever. The good news is that once we pour out that which we are not, we have room to be knowingly filled with the Truth of our Being. Paradoxically, it is then–and only then–that we may say that our cup runneth over.
Dare to dream (and care for one another).
With heartfelt regards,
Art
Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell
P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🙏
Think2wice 