Filling the head with more and more information and knowledge doesn't make it more open but closes it off. Real openness means emptiness, a welcoming, ever-draining emptiness.

"The blindness that opens the eye is not the one that darkens vision. Tears and not sight are the essence of the eye."

The ego, especially the superego, hates to be mocked, to be laughed at, to be made fun of. It gets angry, then turns to all manner of external standard to justify its indignation. So, as a simple spiritual exercise, start laughing at yourself, poking fun, being a little silly, inconsistent, contradictory. And enjoy the upset it causes, to your self and to those around you.

days, days and
years of it,
work, changes

It would seem that there is a world of difference between protecting oneself from life-threatening danger in order to live a full and worthy life, and protecting oneself from criticism and feedback in order to continue a life of selfish narcissism but, in actual fact, it's quite a fine line.

"We are given over to absolute solitude. No one can speak with us and no one can speak for us; we must take it upon ourselves, each of us must take it upon himself."

Develop backbone. It is the engine for spirit.

Laziness, and its consequences – apathy, anxiety, depression – must be fought tooth and nail.

"A spectral moment, a moment that no longer belongs to time."

An enflamed vocabulary.

Point of Failure. Just enough tone to keep it together. A balancing act; funambulist: poised, trembling, alone, alive. No sense of being stuck in the middle.

Spiritual work, when stripped of religious undertones and New Age overtones, is simply the investigation of mind. Mind is a space, or a medium, into which flow all sorts of phenomena: especially, for the average person, thoughts and feelings. When we latch onto these thoughts and feelings (remain average) then they become worries and emotions – obstructions in mind and obstacles to peace. When we detach from thoughts and feelings – allow them to arise and allow them to pass – then we enter and permeate the space into which they venture or, rather, that space enters us. Spiritual work starts, always, with relaxing our mind of worries and emotions – gaining some control of self-indulgence – so that we can commence the amazing journey into true mind, which is never really our own, but rather a general universal space, available to all, on/in a very different dimension to that of the observable physical world. Without first quietening the mind and accessing the inner peace that our internal chatter smothers then higher levels on the spiritual path are simply inaccessible.

"Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others."

Can't see the wood for the trees. 

The beauty of this phrase lies in the word wood, which denotes both a large collection of trees, and the material from which each tree is made. So the adage is warning of the danger of being unwilling to either step back and see context or step in and see content – basically the danger in staying where you are.

The Bourgeois Fallacy

I was emailed yesterday with a request for the complete Bourgeois Fallacy, or what could be called A Bourgeois Manifesto – a set of flippant observations I made some time ago. A Manifesto of Spirit could be compiled simply by reversing each of the below – Freedom is freedom from choice; I am entitled to absolutely nothing; Death, pain and suffering are the best teachers; etc.

1. Freedom is freedom of choice.
2. I am entitled to the best of all worlds.
3. Death, pain and suffering are best avoided.
4. Propriety (property) is preferable to passion (spirit).
5. Time is always reversible (it's never too late).
6. The unknowable does not exist.
7. Depression is preferable to madness.
8. Talking makes things better.
9. Consume and conform and everything will be OK.
10. Society is necessarily stratified, with me in the middle: neither menial nor responsible.
11. There's always someone else to blame.
12. Wealth and health are the path to salvation.
13. Thinking is the path to truth.
14. Standard of living determines quality of life.
15. Everything of value is quantifiable (money can buy you love).

Settle down and grow up.