One taste - no chocolate
Submitted by Catherine Sword on Sun, 2007-01-07 16:36.
I don't think Cypher was killed. I think he chose to go back to sleep, thus prolonging his game. When Agent Smith says he wants out this "zoo, this prison, this reality" he is saying that he wants to see this game to the end.
As for Morpheus tricking and lying to Cypher that is only what Cypher "believes/thinks". Morpheus may know something about the truth but he can only show the door. the individual must choose. Morpheus could describe the experience of the red pill until he's blue in the face, but nobody will get it until they step through the door. Individiuals must make a committment. There's where a problem arises. There is no going back even is you choose not to go through the door because now you know there is a door. Your life is still different but is it any easier than going through the door to the hard work beyond?
You say this TASTE could last "forever" but I doubt "forever" and isn't that what Cypher represents. One who has passed through the door, stayed awhile, tired and opted out. Is this any different from priests and nuns who choose to return to the life of a layperson? Any different from Buddhists monks or leaders who offer to sell their titles on the internet?
These instances may be set-backs. Maybe they fight against evolution. I see an image of a daisy with its petals being folded back. We only fool ourselves that we can go back or even that we can stop going forward. Is there a choice?
Dang! Have I slipped through the doorway? I thought I was just holding the door ajar for a little peek. I don't know if my thoughts are formed enough to have ideas of what this TASTE is, but you are right - I think I have some sort of hope. I'll have to sit with that attachment.
One Taste - Do you know the taste
When Cypher died his game was over and a new Cypher was created without and remembrance of his former "SELF" and a new game is played. But there is no game to play only a prison of illusionary pain, old age, disease and death. Smith did not want to play the game anymore. He wanted its "END",he wanted to destroy the Matrix, the zoo, the prison, the reality. As he said to Neo - " Thank you for showing me the purpose of all life - The purpose of life is its "END". What if, Ms Sword, what you thought enlightment was, was in fact its opposite. What if it is very raw, very naked and very painful. Neo said " I have all these memories of my life, NONE of them happened, what does that mean"? Well Catherine what does it mean? Vagragarbha said "Only when all manifestations of the mind have been negated, will the clear light (enlightment) truly dawn. Only when all attachments to this world have been blasted away can we know what lies behind illusion. Only when all your memories, all your experiences even YOU become utterly irrelevant can you know "WHAT" you really are. Cypher had only one demand for betraying every one of his friends. That was he would not remember anything about who he was and what he did. There's only one problem with that and that is in the bardo of death you remember EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING about who you were and what you did. What will be the price he pays for this in his next life, Ms Sword,what price indeed.
farther out on a limb
You certainly challenge me, Master Harold, to state more specifically what I think or feel or hope with regards to enlightenment. I "think", and I sure hope, that enlightenment is an end to the cycle of birth and death because I "feel" gol darned tired of this game. What do you mean that enlightenment could be opposite to what I was thinking? Did you think what I was thinking?
Regardless of my thoughts (for the moment), what do you mean in suggesting that enlightenment might be raw, naked and painful? Please elaborate on that. Doesn't this contradict the very quote you then present? "Only when all manifestations of the mind have been negated....only when all attachments...have been blasted away can we know what lies behind illusion." Nakedness I might give you (figuratively speaking), but "rawness" and "pain" would themselves be negated in the clear light of enlightenment - wouldn't they?
And is it really such a problem to remember everything in the bardo? Isn't part of the compassionate work (your battle) to remember as much as possilbe, to be as concious, as aware, as much awake as one can be in all realms so that there someday will be more teachers than students, and finally no students, but ONE conciousness?
Then we'll all take a rest and somebody will be silly enought to re-boot the game.
Oops I've fallen off the limb
One must enter the bardo with a clear mind knowning that all you have seen and done in this last life was infact a dream. To remember your life is to have an attachment and that is a big trap. You must remember that you are not "THIS" but "THAT" and only "THAT". Everything that you think exists is only part of the "PROGRAM", part of the "PRISON FOR YOUR MIND". You never existed nor did your Mom, Dad, not even Steve. Next time you look at Steve please thing this, you do not exist, you are but a illusion as I am. If you maintain this view things do get very naked, very raw and very painful, but in time that view will be replaced with another view.
catch and release
Attachment is a catch and hold game when we should be "catching and releasing". Solidity is the illusion. When I look at Stephen he exists, or are you suggesting "I" am dreaming 1000s of people who all have their own free will? That's quite a juggling act.
But Stephen exists in the same fashion that I exist. Yes, we are prisoners and I can see how it could be raw and painful to see him as an illusion. That would appear to negate the love between us and some wonderful memories and experiences both past and future. That would be horrible if that were all there is but it isn't really all there is.
Stephen and I (our true natures) are energy, but at this moment we are form. At this moment, we are form. Yep, this moment too - still form. So I can see how easy it is for a form being to "catch" these experiences and hold them as solid, and even forget their true nature.
This other view you are encouraging me to practice, is it like checking in as often as possible to remind myself - still form, not energy yet. The more I practice this the more likely at the point of my death I won't be holding onto all those memeories or emotions. Without those attachments I will more clearly see the way to my true nature (energy). I'll be able to say, "Ah, that form was nice but it's over now and I'm on my way". And of course, Stephen will be doing a similar thing. So, if I can focus on this "view" it's not so painful.
Do students need to negate all that we believe exists to give us distance and space to see this other view? Once we get that perspective, we can more freely enjoy being in the form realm moment by moment without attachment, but with a different view.
Remember the Yoga of One Taste
Catherine please remember my writing on this {This is what destroyed Cypher}. We want to destroy Samsara (the Matrix) but all it wants to do is seduce us.