SFTS Lodge Dharma Message for December 2018: "Before the Eyes Can See ..."
So how does this all work out to me being who I am now?
Well, there's that verse at the front end of Light on the Path,“Before the eyes can see, they must be incapable of tears ...." Because they understand than they were never born and will never die and they have only to show empathy and love for everyone.
“Before the ears can hear, they must have lost their sensitiveness ...." So that anything said against you, regardless of who said it or how lousy it is, it don't break you up and you don't lose your cool.
"Before the voice can speak in the Presence of the Masters, it must have lost its power to wound ...." So what you say to them, regardless of what they do to you, is kind whether they are aware of it or not.
"Before the feet can stand in the Presence of the Masters, they must be washed in the blood of the heart ...." So that your very understanding will have become of the HEART'S BLOOD, the ESSENCE of LIFE ITSELF that is kept alive by the breath and the INFINITE POWER that is flowing through us all.
Then there's something else that Mabel Collins wrote in another book:
There are three truths which are absolute and which cannot be lost, but which may remain silent from the lack of speech.
The soul of Man is immortal, and its future is the future of a thing whose growth and splendor have no limit.
The principle which gives us life dwells in us, without us, is undying and eternally beneficent. It is not heard or seen or smelt, but is perceived by the man who desires perception.
Each man is his own absolute law-giver, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, and the decreer of his life, his reward, and his punishment.
These truths which are as great as life itself are as simple as the simplest mind of man. Feed the hungry with them.
Words we manufacture in our heads. But what's behind the words bleeds through to whoever's listening. You each carry the chalice within your own heart, what you give is up to you, what you withhold is up to you. You can make it narrow or confining, or grasping or you can let it be a gesture of compassion to everybody. It's not a profitable way to live. You don't end up with a fortune or anything like that. But believe me, if you follow the laws that are stated in those three truths, you'll always be taken care of.
-- Joe Miller in "Great Song: Life and Teachings of Joe Miller," Edited with An Introduction by Richard Power, Foreword by Coleman Barks, p. 163.
