Arcanta Podcast Interview
Current mood: contemplative

Visionary vocalist Thom Ayres, of Arcanta, discusses how his musical and spiritual paths converge. Also, hear new songs from "Book of Mirrors".

Interview, Pt. 1

Interview, Pt. 2

AlternativesRadio.com


Namaste...

9:27 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

A Map of the World

The first thing one notices are the strange amorphous shapes, entwined and entangled, seemingly endless in their permutations. Beautiful and surreal, they are at once alluring and alarming. This is the material world, the world of sensation and experience. Though no two formations are exactly alike, their colour signifies that all are of the same source.

The water is Consciousness. Pure, pristine, unadulterated. Fathomless and infinite. Eternally still, this is the primordial sea of Being, from which, through time and space, the material realm appears to arise.

Your Mind is the boat, sailing the oceans of Consciousness. Awareness guides the boat of the Mind, yet can only do so when the two other figures onboard are balanced. These two passengers represent the dualistic aspects of being; positive and negative, masculine and feminine, and so on. If one of them overcomes Awareness, attempting to steer the Mind, all will be crashed amidst the breakers, victims of the siren song of the material world. Yet when balance is achieved, the calm waters of Consciousness are skillfully navigated, and identifying with transient manifestations is no longer a threat. One can blissfully be here now.

Just as these seemingly seperate objects are all part of the same painting, forming one picture, so all of the above are but aspects of the same Being. All is Consciousness, and Awareness is the key.



(The painting is "The Journey Home" by Johfra.)

7:32 PM - 6 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

You

from the Ashtavakra Gita: While a person of pure intelligence may achieve the goal by the most casual of instructions, another may seek knowledge all one's life and still remain bewildered. Liberation is indifference to the objects of the senses. Bondage is love of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do as you please. This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and energetic person dumb, stupid, and lazy, so it is avoided by those whose aim is enjoyment or praise. You are not the body, nor is the body yours, nor are you the doer of actions nor the reaper of their consequences. You are eternally pure consciousness, the witness---so live happily. Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless awareness itself, unchanging---so live happily. Recognising oneself in all beings, and all beings in oneself, be happy, free from the sense of responsibility and free from preoccupation with [God]. Your nature is consciousness, in which the whole world wells up, like waves in the sea. THAT is what you are, without any doubt, so be free of disturbance. Have faith, my dearest, have faith. Don't let yourself be deluded in this. You are yourself the Lord, whose property is knowledge---you are beyond natural causation.                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is through your ignorance that all this exists. In reality you alone exist. Apart from you there is no one within or beyond samsara.                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Being pure consciousness, do not disturb your mind with thoughts of for/against. Be at peace and remain happily in yourself, the essence of joy. Give up meditation completely and cling to nothing in your mind. You are free in your very nature, so what will you achieve by conceiving? (omshanti)

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