Monday's MeditationMom Moment - Walking, Talking Humans - At Peace

This is a sequence of questions from the same person. To read the whole thread and other people's contributions to this discussion you can go to Boards.ie were most of the online MeditationMom conversations take place in the various religion forums.

Question:Are those who attain enlightenment always enlightened?
MeditationMom: Yes.

Q: I ask, as some recent meditation sittings I've done have brought on glimpses of something akin to nothingness.
MM: "Glimpses of something akin" is not yet "it" and it will take more trust and love on your part for that. A glimpse of the ocean differs greatly from jumping in. Also, there is still an "I" that had the glimpse. Who had the glimpse?

Q: But I always come back.
MM: Who comes back? From where to where?

Q: The 'edge of mind' feeling though remains, and sometimes I can almost fall back into that state/feeling/whatever with the simplest effort.
MM: This is very good that you can go there at will and it is good practice to keep going "back and forth". But, "the edge of the mind" is not yet having jumped off the cliff, so to speak. That's where you need more love and trust, still.

Q: The only thing that seems to be holding me down are things & family, even my own body.
MM: The only thing that is holding you back is not body, things or family but "I". Who would you be without your things, body and your family? More importantly, who would you be without thought - especially the root thought of all thought which is "I". Who or what would that be? That is who you are! The Nothingness you had a glimpse of - when fully known - you realize is who you are, rather than an experience that you have. This can be known fully before death, but for most at death is when they find out, again and again, life after life. If you find out before death, it is called enlightenment and it does require losing ones fear of death . So far you are experiencing your mind at profound rest which is great, and truly gives a glimpse. There is one more step in order to go beyond, and it is not a step we can take, but a step that is granted. Readiness is achieved by working on love and trust to its utmost. A family is a great training ground to practice love and trust. The readiness I mentioned is nothing but a complete willingness to give up the self.

Q: Makes me wonder if its only something that can be utterly attained at the end of life, when the final tether (body) starts to unwind.
MM: The body is not the tether. The "I" is the tether. Even when there are "almost enlightenment" experiences, it is still the "I" that had them and then loses them again. Hassidic Jews say: "You have to die before you die." This is no small thing.

Q: Do these enlightened folks walk around in this state all the time? I find that hard to bet on, tbh.
MM: They do not run around in the state you describe, because that is not enlightenment.

Q: Crazy, I know, but I'm interested in the philosophical aspects of this question. I've heard of people attaining enlightenment, just curious if they are still walking, talking humans.
MM: Walking, talking humans - with a twinkle in their eyes and a profound peace about them, living ordinary lives. The "great ones" like Buddha or Jesus were just living ordinary lives at the time, and have only become "great" in our minds over time.

Vegetarian On A Bicycle

My oldest son is a vegetarian on a bicycle! And here is why this matters.

I found a short post on line yesterday regarding the health of our planet, titled: "A vegetarian driving a hummer, is better for the planet, than a meat-eater driving a Prius" Inspite of the title it wasn't a great post, but had an interesting link in it to this post titled "A Very Inconvenient Truth" - which reminded me of my son up North, who is a vegetarian - mostly anyway - and paddling to work on his bike every day.

America At Home

One of my favorite books, both as a spiritual journey story, and as a stunning collection of photographs is "From Alice to Ocean". It is the true story of a woman, Robyn Davidson, deciding to cross Australia by herself, with her dog and four camels. The inner journey of child-like joy and exuberance at the beginning of the story, turning into wondering, suffering and confusion until exhaustion and gratitude finally enter her rebellious heart and allow her to discover a quiet, joyful peace by the time she reaches the ocean, is one of the ways the fundamental story of Here You Are can play itself out in a person's life. Her journey is captured in the photographs of well know photographer Rick Smolan.

So when I came across Rick Smolan and his wife Jennifer Erwitt's latest book - America At Home, I was naturally curious. At first glance America At Home is a wonderful collection of both stunning and wholesome photographs of American households and their inhabitants. Sponsored by IKEA - my children's favorite furniture company - America At Home turns out to have more depth than you would expect. Amusing, insightful and contemplative reflections are offered on the idea of what Home means to us by an impressive number of contributing writers who include famous author, Amy Tan, Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, and Dominique Browning, the former editor of House and Garden and other writers, who all reflect on our relationship to what we call Home.

The people in the occasional photographs of gay couples look as mundane, stressed out or happy as the rest of the domestic dwellers running after their children and pets, helping to dispel the stereotypical notion of strangeness associated with this lifestyle that doesn't look any different from anyone else's. If you are familiar with Smolan and Erwitt's Day of the Life series books, you know - we are all a bit strange. The stranger we all are, or try to be, the more we are the same - we're just Americans!

America At Home informs us about what's important to us. Kids, pets and spending money, it seems. Marriage, not so much. 35% of our children live in single or no parent homes, and even though 62% of us don't think money can buy happiness we spend 41 billion more than we earn on whatever it does buy. Most likely IKEA furniture. I know that is what my children spend a lot of their money on. The rest must be going for pets at 41 billion a year, as well as Netflix to watch the hard working celebrities who apparently live an average of 13 years less than us couch potatoes.

Since 85% of us do no exercise of any kind, you'll be surprised how many billions of dollars we spend each year on health clubs. Many more such statistics add to the overall impression of this fascinating book that will have you find yourself starting many "Did you know..." conversations, and leaving it on your coffee table for a conversation piece. This will be especially impressive if you get the custom cover jacket you can order featuring your very own - to quote Matt Groening - "kinda functional and kinda loopy" family!

Long Time No See

Life took over and blogging time was gone all of a sudden. All my children came home, and both my parents, and parents in law, moved in with us for the summer to spend as much time as possible with the new great grand baby. A good time was had by all - except for a few days, here and there, that had everyone crying, and then making up. We're all closer, and - well, maybe wiser.

The funniest thing was that all the drama of the past, living in everyone's mind either doesn't exist in other family member's memory banks, is remembered completely differently, or suddenly remembered with great shock. Half the family members heard old stories that went on between other family members for the first time and were astounded. Others were looking for understanding and forgiveness, justifications or explanations. In the end all our little stories were so confusing, and the fact that one man's truth was another man's un-truth, was so unsettling, that everyone returned to their personal versions of events with great explanations to themselves about "what was going on with the other people" and why they had a different take on things. Everyone preserved their Egos in tact, and had their own spouses for allies - that part is both cute, and disconcerting. It is a survival instinct, not necessarily love and loyalty, and it hardly ever lead to true insights or truth about things. It was a useful and harmony restoring form of practical denial. There is function in family dis-function, and every family has their own special version they somehow treasure - or just can't do anything about, and look beyond in order to not lose the love for the people that make up this thing called family and family history.

We know our senses fool us, but our memory does, too. Does nothing matter? Everything matters, but only right now, here. Once it is past, or not yet - it is nothing. It is good. We're free.