The Perfect Man

The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives, but does not keep.

Chuang Tzu thoughts are expressed in a simple way, but the meaning of the word perfect makes them difficult to grasp, especially when we rely on the rational meaning of perfect. In order to connect to Chuang Tzu’s perfect the word must be redefined as something that is constantly changing; it is a reflection of a moment in now where all things exist. A mirror is a good explain of a reflection of perfect for it shows all manifestations as they appear, but it never claims them. It accepts all reflections, but does not try to control them; it releases them without judgment. Each time the external form changes, the reflection becomes another aspect of perfect within the limits of its own rationality.

The perfect man may be defined as an expanding consciousness floating in a series of reflections that mirror the self in some way. The self moves through the now of moments and an aspect of that self discovers the impulses of pulsating energy which create thoughts, perceptions, beliefs and choices. Another self tries to control as well as overpower these self created images, and we experience fragments of a confused ego, which is stuffed in the illusion of a limited as well as distorted perfection.

This aspect of self believes perfect is the ultimate, the pinnacle, and those beliefs create self inflicted stress and fear, which manifest as imperfection. We trap this aspect in low frequency pulsating energy. Each vibration brings more resistance to light in that frequency, but this self created separation from self is just the tool we use to eventually dig under the rubble of our own distorted vibrations because in truth, we always employ our mind in the calmness that grasps nothing.

Beliefs Regulate Our Reality

There are two types on the path. Those who come against their will, the blindly religious people, and those who obey out of love. The former have ulterior motives.

They want the midwife neat, because she gives them milk.

The others love the beauty of the nurse.

The former memorize the proof texts of conformity and repeat them. The later disappear into whatever draws them to God.

Both are drawn from the source.

Any movings from the mover

Any love from the beloved

Anyone who has read Rumi’s work will immediately recognize his thoughts. Rumi has the ability to travel through linear time and sit next to all of us. He used his imagination and created myths that bridge our psychological gaps in knowing. Myths help us connect our instinctive knowing with certain individualized beliefs. Rumi spent hours writing about myths and piecing ideas together so we could draw a mental picture of our consciousness. His work is simple, but his ideas are complex if we accept his words at face value. We have a diverse mixture of beliefs and Rumi has a story about each one of them. He understood that our ideas about who we are must be examined because they do materialize in the flesh. Our beliefs regulate our reality.

We are expanding our consciousness. Consciousness is not a thing; it is a characteristic and attribute. Expansion is related to desire and knowing. We know more than we believe, but we block that knowing using doubt, fear and opposing beliefs. We are a universe within a universe. Our cells are suns and planets. Each one is filled with energy from the conscious mind. Energy can be directed to any portions of the body, and if it is not blocked by disbeliefs any illness can be healed. Energy, as Rumi points out, moves us in this reality. Energy will continue to move us as we change our myths and expand our imagination.

A Fragment of the Mind

The term Prajna in Buddhist teachings is the awakening of consciousness in the unconscious. This awakening functions in two directions. One is towards the conscious and the other is toward the unconscious. The Prajna of consciousness can be called the mind with a small initial letter. From this mind a dualistic world takes it rise: subject and object, the inner self and the external world and so on. In the Mind therefore, two aspects are also distinguishable: Prajna-mind of non-discrimination and dualistic mind. The mind of the first aspect belongs to this world, but so long as it is linked with Prajna it is in direct communication with the Unconscious, it is the Mind; whereas the mind of the second aspect is wholly of this world, and delighted with it, and mixes itself with all its multiplicities.

D.T. Suzuki wrote those thoughts in his work The Zen-Doctrine of No-Mind published in 1969, which was three years after Suzuki’s death. The fact that the book was published attests to the nature of the mind and its ability to function in the state of no-time. Suzuki’s concept of two minds is a very ambitious thought. I don’t consider my self a plural, but the more I delve into consciousness, I begin to understand how plural I am. I express my pluralness in this reality, but look at it as something outside of my self; it’s not me creating my pluralness it’s a higher consciousness, but there is no higher consciousness than what I experience, there is only a more expanded consciousness, which is more aware of the energy which flows through all consciousness.

In this sense I have a mind and a Mind, which is constantly expanding as my mind centered in this reality expands. Each experience brings more awareness to the surface of mind and I experience these moments in order to expand my moment-less Mind. Every aspect of my reality is wrapped in a scented package of awareness that is freshly delivered by the fragrant impulses of Mind. I absorb them and then discriminate in order to sense what I desire physically. The mind is the vehicle of Mind; ever expanding in the waters of my non-discriminating Mind.

Why this happens is the rational question that haunts my Western thoughts. I am a double edge sword that cuts reality into fragments and then pieces them together in order to expand the whole within each fragment. Each thought is instigated by an impulse from Mind and then transformed into a dualistic enterprise that separates one self from another, but no separation actually exists. I live in a state of no-mind where both the mind and Mind interact constantly, but I’m taught and then believe that my Mind does not belong to me; I must earn it, so the mind develops a path of earning filled with duality and separation.

But when there is an awakening of the mind I realize that my unconsciousness is much more conscious than I believed, and a union takes place where fragments of my mind blend with my whole Mind, and I begin to experience the place called no-mind where consciousness senses itself in wholeness rather than in fragments.