Functioning
This experience is dumbfounding to the Mind. One realizes that one has always assumed, and has taken it to be the absolute truth, that there cannot be functioning without a functioner. But here, in the experience of Absence, one realizes that one has been wrong all along. Functioning happens smoothly and spontaneously, and does not need the presence of any self or personality. There is a perception of the body moving, doing what it normally does; eating, talking and so on. However, all this is seen as functioning, completely spontaneous, not belonging to a person or a self. It is also not seen as separate from any other functioning in the universe. There is Absence and the awareness of the oneness of existence, which is experienced as in a state of functioning.
Pearl Beyond Price, p. 463 • discuss »
Pearl Beyond Price, p. 463 • discuss »
So the function of the soul in life is not simply to maximize our pleasure but to realize our more objective function as an organ of truth, as an organ of realization, as an organ of a much larger being, of a much bigger, universal reality. We come to realize that our happiness, our joy, our fulfillment arises from actually serving the truth. We serve the truth by being as pure an expression of it as possible. God or the truth doesn't need you to do things for it, to walk around talking about it or buying it things, but actually to express it, to bring the truth to life. We serve the truth by manifesting it, because what the truth wants is to move from an unmanifest form to a manifest form. That's why the Sufis say that God needs man to express himself in the world. God manifests in the world through the purified ones.
Diamond Heart Book V, p. 341 • discuss »
Diamond Heart Book V, p. 341 • discuss »
So expressing the truth involves more than simply sitting there and radiating. Being an expression of the truth means going about our life, relating to people, doing things with authenticity and fullness of presence. We serve the truth when the purified soul is what is functioning in our life.
Diamond Heart Book V, p. 347 • discuss »
Diamond Heart Book V, p. 347 • discuss »
There are many stories about students who want to serve. Somebody goes to the teacher and says, “Why don't you give me something to do, I want to serve.” Many times the teacher says, “Go home, take care of your kids. Forget about serving God for now. Just go home, be nice to your wife. When the time comes, you will know how to serve.” There is a need for a tremendous amount of experience, for integration of experience, for balancing factors of all kinds for the soul as organ of action to function correctly. But we don’t have to be absolutely purified to function with objectivity. If the development is balanced, there is a tendency for action also to be balanced. We can't be purified all at once, but balance is possible from the beginning. Each one of us will have to allow ourselves to get deeper into our hearts and see what our hearts really want. what is the deeper purpose? What is the higher aim? What is the deeper longing for? What does the soul want?
Diamond Heart Book V, p. 347 • discuss »
Diamond Heart Book V, p. 347 • discuss »
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