Posted by johnboy of muchas gracias (gramercy) on January 30, 1999 at 14:57:21:
what is real? an adjective
of or relating to fixed, permanent or immovable things
not artificial, fraudulent, illusory or apparent
having objective, independent existence
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what about that which is impermanent? transitory?
movable? provisional? contingent? relative? conditional?
as contrasted with the permanent? the eternal? the
immovable? the non-provisional? non-contingent? neither
relative nor conditional?
a distinction can thus be made between that which
is substantially real and that which is provisionally
real
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maya is the confusion between the substantially real
and the provisionally real
Enlightenment makes the distinction between the
provisionally real and the substantially real
it raises our hearts and minds to another realm
and thus resembles western mysticism in that regard
Enlightenment does not suggest, however, that the
provisionally real is not "real"
the liberation that ensues does not result from
denying the reality of the phenomenal world but
simply derives from the recognition that it is
transient and impermanent, provisional and
conditional
in this regard, the liberation of enlightenment
and the radical freedom of the Christ-follower
are similar; there is a commonality even if, as
we know, contemplation and enlightenment differ
greatly in other regards
it is the false self that has no authentic
ontological origin and, of course, its agenda
and illusions are lies
this is not to say that there is no authentic
true self which undergoes divinization and
transformation and moans in the birthing process
this is not to say that there is no authentic
true world beyond the merely phenomenological
which undergoes transformation as all creation
moans in one great act of giving birth
the stripping of illusions and the victory
over maya are a refocusing and centering of
consciousness toward the Substantial, the
Unconditional, the Permanent, the Immovable
resulting in a habitual awareness that overcomes
isolation and fosters compassion and solidarity;
producing an awareness that births and nurtures
love and the fruits of the Spirit
wordless prayer, prayer that is silent and simple,
that leads to the unitive, does indeed transcend
subject-object dualism, but the dissolution of
this dualism is not to be equated with the
negation of either the subject or the object
love involves Lover and Beloved
the apophatic is nourished by the kataphatic
reality is ontologically rooted in the Real
and from it we issue forth, have primal grounding,
primal being, primal support, and an
eschatological "end"
for us as individuals:
the eschatological end does not require
our ontological end (especially if we
do not even equate physical death
with same)
for the universe:
its teleological end does not require
a cosmological end (especially if we
are process theologians)
the provisional is gathered up in the arms
of the Substantial, not annihilated
even if, as Michael Jackson said:"it used to be,
i and me; now it's us; now it's we"
i wonder if he was reading Buber?
i just used that "subject" caption to capture the provisional is gathered up in
a small audience
again, that
the arms of the Substantial, not annihilated