 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||
|
|||||||
you are here: > Self > 11.
The virtuous human being
| 11.21 |
THE VIRs as goals
|
|
| Whether we deny it or not, we want and need saints to physically exist, to act as inspiration and to exist as hope- that humanity can someday operate at a more unified framework. | ||
| 11.21.1 | The virtues as goals | |
| Ultimately, the goals of virtue provide us with goals to seek to achieve. That we may not achieve these goals is less important that we have a series of values by which we understand the intrinsic nature of purity and of enlightenment. In that, we have a centre, we have a means of making sense and of discernment. | ||
| Enlightenment, as I have said, is real; and each of us, whoever we are, can in the right circumstances and with the right training realize the nature of mind and so know in us what is deathless and eternally pure. This is the promise of all the mystical traditions of the world, and it has been fulfilled and is being fulfilled in countless thousands of human lives. | ||
| The wonder of this promise is that it is something not exotic, not fantastic, not for an elite, but for all humanity; and when we realize is, the ancient and wise tell us, it is unexpectedly ordinary. | ||
| Spiritual truth is not something elaborate and esoteric, it is in fact profound common sense. When you realize the nature of the universal mind, layers of confusion peel away. You don't actually become enlightened, you simply cease , slowly, to be deluded. And being enlightened is not some omnipotent spiritual superman, but becoming at last a true human being. | ||
| One of the greatest mystical teachings calls the nature of mind" the wisdom of ordinariness." | ||
| Our true nature and the nature of things is beautiful in its simplicity and synergy. The irony is that our so-called ordinary world is extraordinary; a fantastic collection of delusions that keep us from knowing our true nature. | ||
| Imagine if the wisest enlightened beings that have passed on were looking at us know, how they would marvel sadly at the lethal ingenuity and intricacy of our confusion. | ||
|
Copyright © 2010 UCADIA. All rights reserved. |
||