The Ocean’s Still Depths

In ‘The Four Quartets’, T.S. Eliot said, ‘the end of all our exploring is to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.’ This describes the Pathless Path. At the end of seeking happiness in objects and enlightenment through practices, we return to simply being. We experience being, before any thought, feeling, sensation or perception. These experiences come and go, but the awareness of being remains unchanged, unaffected by experience. The Vedantic tradition’s ‘Vedanta’ means ‘the culmination of knowledge’, referring to the awareness of being. The origin and goal are the same: the awareness of being. This idea is echoed by Sufi mystic Balyani. Our being is like the ocean’s still depths, undisturbed by the surface’s waves and currents, which represent thoughts and feelings. Living in the horizontal plane of time is contrasted with sinking into the vertical dimension of being, where the now intersects with eternity.

From event 18 - 25 October, 2024 Seven-Day Retreat at Mercy Center – 18 to 25 October 2024

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