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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jed McKenna
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March 2 - May 11, 2024
Raw Human Things The universe is the unity of all things. If one recognizes his identity with this unity, then the parts of his body mean no more to him than so much dirt, and death and life, end and beginning, disturb his tranquility no more than the succession of day and night. Chuang Tzu
Further Whoever was responsible for the idea of dividing self into lower and higher parts committed a serious crime against humanity. This division has given rise to the notion that the lower (ego and immature) self must be overcome while the higher (unitive and whole) self must be sought as the goal of human realization. Out of ignorance, I too clung to this notion because I believed it was this higher self that would be united with God for all eternity. It took a long time before my experiences led me to doubt this conviction and, at the same time, let in the possibility that this was not
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Layers Concepts can at best only serve to negate one another, as one thorn is used to remove another, and then be thrown away. Words and language deal only with concepts, and cannot approach Reality. Ramesh S. Balsekar
Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says that there are two ways to wash the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes. The other is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes. I do it in order to wash the dishes, but since I spend maybe an hour a week in this attempt at mindfulness, I figure it’s best not to make myself out as being a real in-the-moment kind of guy.
The process of awakening might be viewed as the transition between these two poles; the journey from fear and wrong-making to gratitude and open-eyed acceptance.
Communicating is a powerful key to understanding, whether it’s by oral expression or written. The mind naturally aligns itself into a more coherent state when it seeks to transmit knowledge than when it is merely processing it for its own needs.
It’s no different from the children’s game of Operator where a story is passed down the line from person to person and then the resulting story is compared to the original and everyone marvels at how little they have in common. No light, no matter how pure, can pass through so many filters and end up anything but murky and dark.
I’m reminded of an amusing parable wherein a young student approaches the local guru and declares scornfully that he has thought about it and has decided that he is an atheist. The student is surprised that, rather than being shocked or angry, the teacher seems pleased. “What are you happy about?” demands the perplexed student. “I have just told you that I don’t believe in God, so why do you smile?” “It means that you have started to think,” the teacher replies. “Now keep thinking.”
The clock indicates the moment— but what does eternity indicate?
The students ask for a fish, I hand them a worm. They may not be thrilled with a worm, but that’s the only way it’s going to work. On this path you fight for every step. No one goes with you and no one can do it for you. It cannot be otherwise.
A lifetime of being told that God is a god of love is near the heart of the conflict. Of course, such is only half a god, or a third, but it’s not really about God anyway. I might suggest that a person at this juncture rent and watch the Peter Brook version of The Mahabharata on video and pay special attention to the many facets of Krishna, and especially Peter Brooks’ own introduction to one of the segments where he points out Krishna’s seemingly un-Godlike behavior and asks the viewer poignantly, “Who’s to judge?”
Oscar Wilde wrote, “All thought is immoral. Its very essence is destruction. If you think of anything, you kill it. Nothing survives being thought of.” What he might have meant is that falseness exists only in shadow. Illumination by intellect “destroys” the untrue by revealing that there was never anything there to begin with. Just as light banishes shadow, scrutiny banishes illusion.
The debate over free will versus predetermination provides a particularly good example of this teaching process. Students are perplexed by this question because they focus on an answer when all their attention should remain on the question. “Stay with the question,” I tell them. “Don’t worry about the answer, just get the question right. Examine your assumptions.” Soon enough the question itself has been destroyed and, along with it, many layers of delusion.
Students, understandably, wish to deepen their understanding, but it is the role of the teacher to keep them moving forward rather than standing around deepening things. Self-realization isn’t about more, it’s about less. The only construction required for awakening is that which facilitates demolition.
Afrikaburn
Actually, I often don’t reply to the e-mail and letters sent to me at all because it is clear that the writing is the process and that no response is required. I’m being used as the target recipient in a process of Spiritual Autolysis in which my only role is to exist as an ideal in the student’s mind. This can be a very intense and accelerated process. It is not uncommon for a writer to send me a message every day apologizing for the one they sent the day before, embarrassed that they could have been so foolish, and enthusiastically sharing their newfound level of comprehension which, if all
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Mystics stay in the theater, but the theater isn’t the whole thing. It’s not the final, total, most ultimate thing. Enlightenment isn’t in the theater. If you want to be enlightened you have to go up the aisle and out the exit to the sunlight and totally leave the theater!”
“Omigod! Omigod! That’s what you’re saying, that’s your point! This whole thing started with you saying you’re not a mystic. You said I’d be disappointed because you weren’t a very mystical guy. Can you do that? Can you just go right out without doing the whole mystic thing?”
No-Self is True-Self The man in whom Tao acts without impediment Does not bother with his own interests And does not despise others who do. He does not struggle to make money And does not make a virtue of poverty. He goes his way without relying on others And does not pride himself on walking alone. While he does not follow the crowd He won’t complain of those who do. Rank and reward make no appeal to him; Disgrace and shame do not deter him. He is not always looking for right and wrong Always deciding “Yes” and “No.” The ancients said, therefore: “The man of Tao remains unknown. Perfect
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Like a Death Sentence My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon. Taoist saying
When she’s done, she’ll possess a clear understanding of the difference between being asleep within the cave, being awake within the cave, and being out of the cave, and if that’s all she ever gets from her time with me then she’ll at least be literate enough to order off the spiritual menu for the rest of her life.
(Q: “Why am I always so dissatisfied? Why can’t I ever just be content?” A: “You weren’t born to be content. Your discontent is the engine that drives you, be grateful to it.”
“In the process of waking yourself up, you quickly realize that there’s no outside authority. You have to verify everything yourself. If you adopt something someone else said, it’s only after you have verified it for yourself. If Jesus, Buddha, or Lao-Tzu made it, you can make it. There’s no choice about this; you can’t walk in someone else’s shoes and there are no turnkey solutions.
“The answer isn’t that I am or am not a person of faith or belief. The truth is that faith and belief are non-issues for me. In a very loose sense I suppose you could say I believe indiscriminately; ghosts, bleeding statues, alien abductions, cattle mutilations, crop circles, prophecy, demonic possession, whatever. I let all of that stuff in practically unfiltered because it’s more fun that way and because I have no reason not to. I mean, if you view dualistic reality as a dream, which I do, no discrimination is really called for. Where do you draw the line in a dream? It’s all good. Nothing
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“Well, the thing with vampires is you never see them hanging out together. That’s because they really don’t bond well. They don’t desire each other’s company or anyone else’s. That’s just the way of it. It’s a solo deal. Nature of the beast.”
“But back to the original question: Wouldn’t an enlightened Zen master believe in Zen? Wouldn’t an enlightened Sufi believe in Islam?” “You’re talking about vehicles and destinations. Once one has arrived at the destination, the vehicle is discarded, forgotten. If I take a train to Chicago I get off the train and enjoy Chicago. I don’t drag the train around behind me. It did its job. I don’t need it any more. Of course, if one is going to turn back and help others with their journeys, then he would rely on the vehicle he knows.”
“Sorry to be so bland, but no, nothing. Well, maybe the abs. I don’t have to wish for possessions because I have a pretty good idea of how the universe works and my wishes are fulfilled practically before I know I wished them. World peace and the liberation of sentient beings would indicate a belief on my part that something was wrong or that something needs fixing, and I’m not capable of any such belief. I’m certainly not a bodhisattva or a satguru, as I understand those terms. The other things you mentioned are just, uh, outer adornments. They would have no meaning to anyone in my, uh,
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“Power, prestige, wealth, adulation, six pack abs, sure, whatever defines us. However we describe ourselves, think of ourselves, project ourselves. Every feature, trait, characteristic, feeling, belief, opinion. All of it. Self-ness.” “It’s all just, like… worthless? Is that what you’re saying? Like… a person is just a costume?” “A costume, yes. Worthless is redundant in a game without stakes.”
“Sure. We spend our lives and our life-force cultivating and grooming our appearance in the eyes of others. That’s how we know that we exist. That’s how we know who we are. That’s where we find reassurance that we are real and not just hollow dream characters. That’s how the illusion of selfhood is constantly maintained.”
In the Ward of Fevered Minds Bed after bed, child after child. Some calm, some thrashing. Some laughing, some wailing. Calling for mommy. Calling for God. One sits up, eyes open, asking. I go to him, sit, answer. He nods, falls back, gone again. I was once in a bed like them— fevered, deluded. Now I’m in a chair— I suppose it’s better. A roomful of loonies. I return to my crossword puzzle Until the next one sits up, asks. Jed McKenna
Die While You’re Alive Die while you’re alive and be absolutely dead. Then do whatever you want: it’s all good. Bunan
“We’re all afloat in a boundless sea, and the way we cope is by massing together in groups and pretending in unison that the situation is other than it is. We reinforce the illusion for each other. That’s what a society really is, a little band of humanity huddled together against the specter of a pitch black sea. Everyone is treading water to keep their heads above the surface even though they have no reason to believe that the life they’re preserving is better than the alternative they’re avoiding. It’s just that one is known and one is not. Fear of the unknown is what keeps everyone busily
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“Lao Tzu said that what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”
The simple fact is that it’s a bloody mess, and the love-and-bliss crowd doesn’t sign up for that. They want the enlightenment that doesn’t include relinquishing one’s place among fellow water-treaders. They don’t want to stop treading, don’t want to slip, alone, into blackness. They want the other enlightenment, the one where they can stay with the group and keep their carefully constructed personalities and just be happy. Preferably, really really really happy.
SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT IS the damnedest thing. It is, literally, self-defeating. It is a battle we wage upon ourselves. Truth is a uniquely challenging pursuit because the very thing that wants it is the only thing in the way of it. It’s a battle we will kill to lose and must die to win.
If I were to reduce this book and my teachings to their essence, I would say it all comes down to nothing more than this: Think for yourself and figure out what’s true. That’s it. Ask yourself what’s true until you know.
That’s the note I’d like to end on. It’s your show. It’s your universe. There’s no one else here, just you, and nothing is being withheld from you. You are completely on your own. Everything is available for direct knowing. No one else has anything you need. No one else can lead you, pull you, push you or carry you. No one else is necessary to your success. It cannot be simpler; you are asleep and you can wake up. If you understand that, you’ll understand that it’s the best news you could possibly receive.
