Zen, Yoga, Gurdjieff- perspectives on inner work: A Great Love, part II

Sunday, February 23, 2020

A Great Love, part II

Royaumont Abbey

Readers may have noticed that I have taken to injecting little personal notes from my daily practice between my posts about theoretical matters.

This is one of them, from yesterday morning.

One is constantly reminded of how easily we forget God and how great His Love is.

There is no force greater than this, yet it often seems to remain hidden from us because of our fallen state.

One can know with assurance that God created the universe with a great Love that surpasses all existence and Being.

One is able to begin this and every day in a profound humility that accepts this as a fact. It creates an inward harmonic vibration that can help sustain a more permanent sensation, with all the metaphysical help that accompanies it. In such a state, one is always a bit closer to the angels.

The question is whether one is willing to submit, or whether one's ego and self worship is more important than this simple and all-encompassing fact.

The Grace of the Lord is flowing into you now as you read this; and that Grace will be with us all day, whether we form an honorable partnership with it or not.

The choice in every moment is ours.

May you be well fed today,

Lee

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Recommendations and current reading list

Lee's current reading list (all recommended)

The Iceberg- Marion Coutts. This extraordinary book deserves to be read by every individual engaged in an inner search. The questions it raises about life, death, and relationship are framed by the authors responsibilities to her very young child and her dying husband. This is a book about real work in life, not esoteric theory.

Far From The Tree: Andrew Solomon. Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. Highly recommended.

Inner Yoga, Sri Anirvan—This extraordinary book is essential reading for any serious student of Gurdjieff or Yoga practice. Written at a level of both practical and philosophical discourse well above other contemporary work, Anirvan investigates the deep roots of Yoga practice, theory, and philosophy in a deeply sensitive series of insights. Of particular interest is the extraordinary and challenging piece on Buddhi and Buddhiyoga, which examines the questions of practice, life, and death with an acuity rarely encountered in other work of this nature.

Divine Love and Wisdom, Emmanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg gives us a detailed report on Reality as received from higher sources, reflecting many Truths one would be wise to study carefully. Readers will be astounded by the extraordinary degree of correlation between Swedenborg and Ibn 'Arabi. Many fundamental principles introduced by Gurdjieff are also expounded on in fascinating detail by Swedenborg. All of Swedenborg's works are well worth reading.

The Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom, Ibn 'Arabi. Another real gem, this book ought to be read by every seeker on the spiritual path. If you can only find the time to read one book by Ibn 'Arabi, this ought to be the one. By turns lighthearted, serious, insightful, and ingenius, al 'Arabi introduces us to our inner government character by character, explains their relationships, and indicates how to bring them into a state of harmonious cooperation. Written with love, the book deftly manages to avoid being didactic, delivering instead a sensitive, poetic, and even romantic look at how to organize our inner Being.

The Bezels of Wisdom—Ibn al 'Arabi. A compendium of observations about the nature of "The Reality"—what al 'Arabi calls God— from a 13th century Sufi master. This towering work easily holds its own against—and is worthy of comparison to—13th century masterpieces from other major religious traditions such as Dogen's Shobogenzo and Meister Eckhart's sermons.

Also worthy: William C. Chittick's The Sufi Path of Knowledge, an extensive review of al Arabi's works.