Sermon round 5

The last I heard Mimor was going to the beach, I think it was, and was going to do some drinking. I hope she's having a good time and will return safely.

Originally posted by josephw
The last I heard Mimor was going to the beach, I think it was, and was going to do some drinking. I hope she's having a good time and will return safely.

Maybe she read round 4 and decided to stay out drinking a while longer. 😵

Originally posted by josephw
The last I heard Mimor was going to the beach, I think it was, and was going to do some drinking. I hope she's having a good time and will return safely.

Here you go.

For the next topic, I'd like to see a sermon about pleasure - physical, emotional, the denial of, whatever - and its role in our lives. I'm thinking of the Song of Solomon but entrants should feel free to use whatever passage is spiritually relevant.

This was from Mimor. Since we are late into the week, I'm going to suggest the deadline be Saturday Sept 13.

Originally posted by josephw
The last I heard Mimor was going to the beach, I think it was, and was going to do some drinking. I hope she's having a good time and will return safely.

It was a lovely time away but a bumpy re-entry so my priorities have been focused elsewhere for the last week or so. I appreciate the thoughts though.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Maybe she read round 4 and decided to stay out drinking a while longer. 😵

:'(

Originally posted by kirksey957
Here you go.

For the next topic, I'd like to see a sermon about pleasure - physical, emotional, the denial of, whatever - and its role in our lives. I'm thinking of the Song of Solomon but entrants should feel free to use whatever passage is spiritually relevant.

This was from Mimor. Since we are late into the week, I'm going to suggest the deadline be Saturday Sept 13.

Good. I'll need the time.

Good topic. Everybody likes pleasure. Of some kind or another.

Originally posted by Mimor
It was a lovely time away but a bumpy re-entry so my priorities have been focused elsewhere for the last week or so. I appreciate the thoughts though.

I understand completely. I've done the same many times.

It's been a long time though. I'm afraid if I drank more than 3 beers I'd get sick. My limit these days is 2.

As a matter of fact it's Friday. I've worked hard all week. I think I'll go have a couple. Cheers! 😉

Preface

Spend a few moments to feel
only your breathing out
and breathing in,
and your heartbeat’s drum.

Enjoy the pleasurable rhythms
that bear on and on
the movement of life
from now to now to now...

How deranged it would be
to try and cling
only to the breathing-in,
to clutch as in a fist
the in-breath,
or to try to expand it forever.

Such clinging turns pleasure
into suffering.

This is the point
of the Second Noble Truth.
This is the meaning
of Impermanence.

I.

Lover and beloved:
breathing out and breathing in,
two movements
of a singular breath.

This is the Logos;
this is the Tao.

Pleasure is all that the lover
desires for the beloved,
beauty is what they seek
together.

They see one another, and sing
of such things
as sun-washed wheat and roses,
or irises and ebony,
of sweet, swollen fruit,
of wine, of breath, of bread,
the musky scent
of rain-soaked earth—

This, too, is Logos.

All such songs of love and desire,
from I to Thou, one to the other,
from mirror to mirror—

This is the Tao.

II.

But the two movements
cannot refrain
from joining as one:
beloved and lover,
two streams met
in a singular river.

Like water poured into water,
breath stirred into breath,
or flame immersed in flame,
lover and beloved,
beloved and lover,
disappear into each other.

This, too, is the Logos.

“I-and-Thou” becomes only “We”,
one ocean, one air, one fire.
One immense and delirious
drawing in—!

And even the mirror
of mind to mind
is, for an ecstatic instant,
gone—

This is the Tao.

III.

And then must come the breathing-out,
the letting go,
the unentanglement and returning:

lover and beloved,
once again each
mirroring the other.

Thus, the rhythm
of form and fullness and form.

This, too, is the Logos;
this is the Tao.

IV.
Breathing in, breathing out;
lover and beloved;
the figure and the ground;
form and fullness and form;
drawing in and letting-go—

All this is the Logos.
All this is the Tao.

The secret:
it is in the rhythm, the movement,
and not the clinging holding-on,
that the current of pleasure
is more deeply fathomed,
and suffering more quickly let go.

Know this,
and you will come to know,
by whatever name,
the Buddha who you are...

PLEASURE.

What is it? I suppose it depends on who you ask? For many it means such things as riches and unlimited sexual experiences etc. Take for example a wise old soul by the name of Solomon. Ecclesiasties chapter 2 tells us Solomon had all these pleasures. He was rich beyond measure and was said to have around 700 wives and/or concubines. In fact, it is said that he partook of whatever his eyes desired. Sounds like the life, eh? Yet in the end he saw it as sheer vanity and vexation of spirit. Perhaps you can relate?

So if you can relate, what causes this vexation of spirit? After all, you are pleasing yourself in every way possible. Why would it not then bring joy to your heart even though at times it brings happiness? Then again, perhaps the goal of pleasing yourself for the sheer purpose of pleasing yourself is the cause of your vexation? Perhaps pleasure in and of itself does not cause the vexation, rather, it is caused by you innately knowing that it is fleeting and, in and of itself, is empty and vain?

In contrast, God is said to also take pleasure in certain things. For example, it is said that we were created for his pleasure. Also, he takes pleasure in uprightness and people treating other people the way they would like to be treated. You see, his pleasure does not seem to be as masturbatory (if that is a word) and empty as ours often is because his pleasure revolves around others receiving pleasure that he cares about. In fact, I think we can all relate to this form of pleasure any time we have gone out of our way to help someone in need or made sacrifices for those we love. This form of pleasure is not vain and empty because this form of pleasure does not begin and end with ourselves who most assuredly will have an end. Instead, this type of pleasure keeps on giving in the hearts and minds of those that you have touched and from there it can be felt from generation to generation.

In conclusion, I suppose pleasure revolves around love for self verses love for others. So which brings you the most pleasure? I suppose the answer lies in how much you love yourself verses your love for your fellow man. In short, where your heart is will determine what you take the most pleasure in and what you take the most pleasure in will determine the amount of inner joy you receive from from experiencing it. You see, we can lie to ourselves by saying that we can find inner joy simply by pleasuring ourselves but the crazy part is we innately know that it is a lie. That is the source of the vexation.

Bump for entries.

Come on guys, can't we get one more sermon or two?

pleasures are like poppies spread
you seize the bloom
the flower is shed
or the snowfall on the river
a moment white then melts forever
or the Borealis race
that flits ere you can point there place

- R Burns 'Tam O'Shanter, a tale of witches, ghosts and bougles'

Whatever I lost or twas stolen from me I regain
My perception of values I already possess I recover
Myself empty of words and ideas my ego is over
Free of dualism and of cause effect I have now just nothing
This nothingness taken away I just keep up swirling
By perceiving each second as Life I just keep up swirling
I am the Truth I am High on the best vintage Wine
Nothing holy😵

A fork in the road. A choice to be made.
There is no choice in THIS matter. A choice to be made.
Hell has chased me long enough, Heaven has always been there...
I burn for everyone of you, as you burn for me. The combined effect ...
Of the neverending CALL that I can now respond to.
Respond, shine, then dissappear.

Make yourself beuatiful and strong everyday-without any involvement from ego.

Everyone dies alone.

(edit:this effort was in response to,(and trying to even out the general message of the thread),and could have been entirely different if the other "sermons" had've been. 🙂 )