Things I have written or found useful along the way.
Climbing the Mountain
There is a mountain to be climbed but before this journey can begin, we must see this mountain as real and believe it is possible to get to the top in the lifetime we are given. Most of us are born destined to never know that the mountain exists, our brains unable to contain the possibility. Some will come to know of its existence, but only as something to be revered and paid homage to. A few will feel drawn to climb the mountain but the preparation to do so will consume their lives. A very few will actually attempt the climb and reach varying heights before time runs out. Occasionally someone will actually reach the top and leave this world or come back to remind us of the possibility. This journey up the mountain is, of course, the quest for self realization and what you will find here are things connected to that journey in the hope that they will be useful to those attempting the climb to the top where all is known and nothing is hidden.
Dragon
Fear; a state of alarm or dread. It is part of the human condition and comes into being as soon as our brains have developed sufficiently to support the self awareness that defines us as human. We come to identify ourselves as a doer and begin to notice that there are consequences to what we do or don’t do and fear comes into being.
It is always in the background waiting to rear it’s ugly head. We are afraid of not getting what we want and we are afraid of getting what we don’t want. We are even afraid of getting what we want because of the possibility of losing what we have gained. And we act on the fear because what we desire is the way we feel when we get what we want or don’t get what we don’t want and what we dread is the suffering we experience when we don’t get what we want or get what we don’t want.
The dragon is the embodiment of this fear. He is the creature that inhabits our nightmares, capable of shredding us to pieces or turning us into charred remnants where we stand. What he holds in his hand is the most valuable treasure in the universe. If we are caught up in the illusion and see the world as real, then we see this thing as gold or jewels because these are the things that can give us the power to alter our physical circumstances so that we can attain the happiness we long for. But ,of course, it is neither of these. What he is guarding is just the truth. He wants, above all, to give it to us but he knows we must be ready to receive it for the effect to be transformative rather than destructive.
And so he waits, maintaining his terrible visage until we are done with the world and the illusion and long to know things as they really are. And then he comes to us and we see the jewel and we see the dragon and we decide that if being shredded is what it takes to have the jewel then we are willing to pay the price. And in that moment we see the dragon for who he really is, Quan Yin’s messenger and we are transformed by the jewel we are given.
