Jesus said: The seeker shall not stop until he finds. When he does find, he will be disturbed. After having been disturbed, he will be astonished. Then he will reign over everything. Saying 2, The Gospel of Thomas.
A seeker is one not satisfied with her consciousness state. Nor with the accepted explanations of Reality. A seeker courses beyond the surface chit-chat of the humanimal society, beyond the dogma and doctrine of nationalism, of corporatism, and other forms of religion.
A seeker finds that the outer infinity and the inner infinity are the same infinity. A seeker finds that the Imaginal is real. The seeker is disturbed, then astonished in finding who is seeking.
All cognitive frames fall away and the seeker is silent, is the silence out of which all arises.
A seeker is one not satisfied with her consciousness state. Nor with the accepted explanations of Reality. A seeker courses beyond the surface chit-chat of the humanimal society, beyond the dogma and doctrine of nationalism, of corporatism, and other forms of religion.
A seeker finds that the outer infinity and the inner infinity are the same infinity. A seeker finds that the Imaginal is real. The seeker is disturbed, then astonished in finding who is seeking.
All cognitive frames fall away and the seeker is silent, is the silence out of which all arises.
This Saying remarkably parallels the thoughts Socrates shares with Glaucon about an individual ascending out of a cave of darkness and shadows into the Light, in book VII of Plato's Republic:
ReplyDeleteDisturbed
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"And if he were compelled to look at the light itself, would not that pain his eyes, and would he not turn away and flee to those things which he is able to discern and regard them as in very deed more clear and exact than the objects pointed out?" --Plat. Rep. 7.516b
Astonished
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"And so, finally, I suppose, he would be able to look upon the sun itself and see its true nature, not by reflections in water or phantasms of it in an alien setting, but in and by itself in its own place." --Plat. Rep. 7.515d-e
It's fitting that, after 'finding'--i.e., a Socratic illumination--one is "astonished," as the word etymologically means "dazed" or "thunderstruck," suggesting the presence of lightening--an event that connects heaven and earth.
"All cognitive frames fall away..." The two-dimensional shadows dancing on the dimly-lit cave's wall decay into their nothingness; the ascended seeker (the single one) stands in (is) the Light.
And the possible fate of one who has found, and then returns into the cave to lead others into the Light?
"And if it were possible to lay hands on and to kill the man who tried to release them and lead them up, would they not kill him?" --Plat. Rep. 7.517a
Whether encountered on the 'outside' or on the 'inside,' He will be crucified by the masses.
--Gary
Gary, it's nice to bump into you and your thoughts occasionally. Hope you are well. I really like the way you point to these similarities. I think that in addition,the seeker who finds is disturbed because what (s)he finds is so different from what was heretofore believed or anticipated, and that experience (to borrow from Nietzsche) requires a revaluation of all values...a disturbing experience indeed when one discovers all that one has trusted and relied upon is seen to be somehow radically different.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Brad
Hope you're doing well, too Brad! It's great to 'see' you here and to read your thoughtful additions.
DeleteI agree with your comments about the disequilibrated seeker who finds. In Plato's dialogue, Socrates addresses this issue, and reflects your thoughts:
"Consider, then, what would be the manner of the release and healing from these bonds and this folly if in the course of nature something of this sort should happen to them: When one was freed from his fetters and compelled to stand up suddenly and turn his head around and walk and to lift up his eyes to the light, and in doing all this felt pain and, because of the dazzle and glitter of the light, was unable to discern the objects whose shadows he formerly saw..." --Plat. Rep. 7.515c
I sense an imminent danger/risk in this situation. If the seeker who finds doesn't surrender to the (effects of the) light--doesn't die before s/he dies--the seeker may deny the light thrice, "Before the cock crow...," as Peter denied Jesus.
What does it take to surrender one's life to the Source? Perhaps a willingness to shape oneself into nothing.
--Gary