Reflection 160

Welcome!


Illuminating The Universe

And surely it is only to be expected that, so long as I fabricate here this central obstruction, this nut of a head, this solid and opaque ball or blob, to serve as the nucleus of my universe, then I am not only hard and hard-faced, but also dense and small-minded, my vision is blocked, my understanding blurred and darkened, my world-picture distorted. With such a spanner thrown in my works, it's a wonder they work at all. And, conversely, when I dissolve this imaginary lump by seeing What's really here, then it is only to be expected that the universe ranged round this simple Clarity (or better, within it) should itself be illuminated and restored to its native order. To be wrongheaded (and to be headed here is to be wrong) about the central fact of my world is to be wrong about the rest. Expecting otherwise (as if one could be sane outside and mad inside) is like expecting a watch to go without its mainspring, a tree to flourish without its root, a lamp to shine without wick or oil. How odd that the one spot in the universe which I had systematically overlooked turns out to be the Spot that matters, the more-than-holy Ground which is, precisely, the Solution of all problems and the Fountain-head of all creation! (Douglas Harding. The Science of the 1st Person.)


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