Clarity is the perception of wisdom. It is seeing with wisdom. It is being able to see and understand the illusion, and to let it play.
Gary Zukav
There has been so much learning today, from the last few pages of Zukav's The Seat of the Soul, from a Michael Singer Podcast , Looking into the Lake of Life which automatically reminded me of a poem I wrote a few years ago (see below), a guided meditation I listened to to from The Mindful Movement, Trust the Journey, and from my own meditation while gems of wisdom from the Yoga Vasisthas were recited in the background(Deepak Chopra). All of it connected in some strange serendipitous way bringing "my" little mind to this one thought about clarity.
Clarity is about being able to see beyond the illusion.
What illusion?
The outer world is there. There are objects out there, just as the water on the Lake is out there but what we "see" is an illusion. We do not see the water on the Lake of Life, we only see our reflection. Like Narcissus, we are so absorbed with our reflection, so addicted to this idea of "little me" we cannot see that world our reflection is projected on. Until we are "enlightened", free of the illusion, everything we look upon will be contaminated by our perceptions, judgement, and expectations. As long as we are mesmerized by the illusion we will do whatever we can to prevent others and ourselves from disturbing it. We will be separated from Life by our fear.
What we are doing is attaching our personal and unreal meaning to that which is impersonal and real. We don't know Life...we don't truly experience it when we are afraid to go beyond the surface reflection, that is merely an illusion we have of ourselves, and into the depths of the Lake, to the reality of Life. We cannot truly experience what it is to be alive in this moment when we are afraid of disturbing that idea we have of "self".
When we see wisely, we have clarity and with clarity we see how our reflection is in the way. We can see it as an illusion and are not afraid to go beyond it to the reality of Life.
In the very imperfect poem below, I attempted to show just how futile it is to desperately attempt to cling to this notion we have of "little me", this reflective illusion. Clarity will guide us to freedom.
The Ego's Reflection
Like Narcissus did so curiously, many centuries ago
I look about for who I am. I simply do not know.
When I glance into the water I am surprised by what I see;
there I find a shiny reflection staring smugly back at me.
"This must be who I am," I utter as I reach in to pick "me" up
but alas this watery image, with my hands, I just can't seem to cup.
It slips through my fingers no matter how tightly I hold on.
It drips, slithers and trickles away. What am I doing wrong?
Fear then overcomes me. This precious image I do not want to lose.
So I seek and grasp at any form around me that I can somehow use
to help me retrieve my perfect self from the surface of this lake;
to gather it up in its shiny form within me, to end a desperate ache.
But no matter what I grab or try to cling to, like the water, it slips through
the space between my fingers and disappears from earthly view.
I can not understand it as my confusion and frustration grows
I cry out questions to the Echo, to Nemesis and to anyone that knows.
"Why is it so challenging to hold onto a dense object made of matter?
And why does this lovely image I look upon break apart and splatter
whenever I dip my fingers beneath the surface the gawking world sees?"
Then I hear the silent answer from within me and I fall down upon my knees.
What I look upon so longingly, will never be more than a mere reflection
always lacking in the depth of being , in sweet stillness and divine perfection.
I am not just a shadow rippling on the surface of this pool of collected rain
I am the Seer, not the seen. I am the creator, not the goddess of the vain.
White and gold petals soon surround the image marking its glorious rebirth
and the roots of understanding ground the Self I am more deeply into earth.
Who I am cannot be reflected back for anyone to name, or know or see
and it is with this eternal knowing that the Observer is finally set free.
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