Beauty 1

Table of Contents

Awake from the everyday

Meaninglessness..............................................................................3 Sterility of the conventional...........................................................5 What should I do?...........................................................................7 Normal consciousness is a trance.................................................9 Public consciousness.....................................................................11 Social conversations......................................................................13 Popular culture..............................................................................15

Refuse the illusory

What should I do?.........................................................................17 Groups you belong to...................................................................19 Pursuit of happiness.....................................................................21 The three vows..............................................................................23 The Great No..................................................................................25 First steps forward........................................................................27

Prepare for higher life

Change misery into mystery.......................................................31 What is relationship?....................................................................33

Return to the world Trials

Large scale brutality......................................................................37

The Bridge

Setting forth...................................................................................39 Halfway across the bridge...........................................................41

The Rare Senses

“What is wrong?”

“I am miserable.”

“But why? You have everything you need. You’re going to a good school. You can become anything you want.”

“I can’t explain it. It’s beautiful, but it doesn’t mean anything. I know that I can do anything.

But everything is false, hypocritical. There is no way I can choose any profession. What is most important is missing.”

“I need help. Someone who understands me, who can be a role model, who can give me the advice I need. But there is no one.”

must into the habit o intensely at words, and as of their meaning, syllable by syl by letter….You might read all th Museum (if you could live long utterly ‘illiterate,’ uneducated ten pages of a good book, le with real accuracy, —you ar in some measure an educa person.”

‘There is very little wisdom, and few wise people. But wisdom exists, and, since you have little help, you will have to find it yourself.’

“You t get of looking ssuring yourself llable—nay, letter he books in the British enough), and remain an person; but that if you read etter by letter, —that is to say, re for evermore ated

Normal consciousness is a state of stupor

“You grasp the essence of the here by conceiving the beyond – for this world is the reality of the spirit in a state of trance. The manifestation of the mystery is partly suspended, with ourselves living in lethargy. Normal consciousness is a state of stupor, in which sensibility to the wholly real and responsiveness to the stimuli of the spirit are reduced. The mystics, knowing that man is involved in a hidden history of the cosmos, endeavor to awake from the drowsiness and apathy and to regain the state of wakefulness for their enchanted souls.�

Public consciousness is judging by a standard imposed from outside, which you have not comprehended.

...

“Who are you going to vote for?”

“I hear it’s going to rain today.”

“How are the kids?”

“Who won the game?

“It is a bitter observation: Life is constant peril; moral or even physical security is a myth.

Few of us know what to do with our lives, with our power and will, with our intelligence and freedom. The heart is frail and blind; unguided, it becomes savage and forlorn.

What should I do?

“The real is just beyond my grasp, at the tip of my tongue. How can I touch it? How can I grasp it?”

What do I have to give up?

Look for the beautiful factor

You must g

‘But it’s in ‘No, I don’

give up the pursuit of happiness.’

the Constitution!’ ’t want it. But what else can I do?’

“I will never wear a suit, write a resume, or take a test�

Stand on the earth 1. Sense the earth under your feet.

2. Stand firmly on the place that you are.

3. Take your first step in the direction of what you see.

“I believe only that which I see with my own eyes or feel with my own heart.�

The Great No

Connection to outside influences is severed. Everything stops. A flame is revealed, which burns away impurity and mediocrity.

Under the ashes lie secret, essential elements. Cultivate and trust your native reluctance, your intuitive comprehension of what is false, shabby, and hurtful.

Change misery

into mystery.

Extreme poverty

“In spite of everyting, I still believe that people are really good at heart.� Anne Frank

War

Take in all the you see, and give all that you have. By engaging the entirety of our capacity for perception, we can penetrate into the heart of anything. Understanding begins with commitment to overcome illusion, and love of truth. <b>Everyday life:</b> Look for the meaning of all aspects of everyday life.

Seek awareness and understanding of work, leisure, shopping, socializing, entertainment, personal relationships, etc. <b>I agree to look inside, underneath, and beyond:</b> → Pull away the veils: Refuse dogmatism and ideology. → Love truth: Test and trial, willingness to sacrifice. → Inside, to explore the totality, find the core, existing truth of what exists. → Underneath, to see the reality or transcendent qualities which produces it. → Beyond, to bring this into the world.