Hay-Ku of the Day (A Mental House Divided)

Form-fixated mind   

Loses sight and sense of the 

Field of awareness.

"Minding" is paying

Attention to "this" to the 

Exclusion of "that."

"Narrowing focus" 

And "shifting attention" is 

Creating "space-time."

Paying attention 

Is equivalent to self- 

Sacrifice and love.

Carnal mind is a

Wonderful servant and a

Terrible master.

Thinking is not the

Problem -- identifying

With "what I think" is.

(1) Mental House Divided ": Mind is a mental process, not an object; a conscious movement arising in a much broader field of awareness. As such, minding is something we do, not something we have -- this by first narrowing the focus of our awareness, minding "this" to the exclusion of "that", and then constantly attending to shifting mental focal points. With all mental movement itself the result of said linear sequential shifts in attention from one focal point to another. All of which occurs within the single field in which all such centers naturally arise. Mind, as such, is a continuous process of mental self-polarization, reflection and conception with respect to the over all field of awareness one truly is -- a rather miraculous process of self-creation enabling pure awareness to reflect upon itself, and in so doing give birth to its own self-consciousness, or awareness of being. 9/02; 5/03

(2) "Mental House Divided 2": The problem with relative consciousness as a process of self-reflection is the very real danger that the pure awareness (field consciousness) one truly is may become falsely identified with it's own limited, partial reflections. Thinking itself apart, field or unitary consciousness, as such, would quite naturally lose sight and sense of itself as whole. Said pure awareness, thus identified with its own limited self-reflection in mind (relative consciousness enslaved to a habitual tendency toward self-reinforcing shifts in attention), would beget, in turn, a deep sense of self- alienation. A mind with an apparent mind of its own would seem to be born, and with it a sense of self-existent being separate and apart from the field in which it arises. Pure awareness, as a unitary or non-dual field of consciousness, would necessarily become a mental house divided. Dual authority and internal conflict would naturally follow. 9/02; 5/03

[Rich Note: "A Mental House Divided 1" was used as an introduction to Chapter 2, "Through a Glass Darkly, But Then Face to Face," of "Out of My Mind and Back to My Senses."]