Eat Pray Be (Liz talks, I listen) - Yoni Dvorkis's Blog

<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CYoni%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Taken from:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">'Eat Pray Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert, pages 198-199</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>"As a reader and seeker, I always get frustrated at this moment in somebody else's spiritual memoirs- that moment in which the soul excuses itself from time and place and merges with the infinite. From the Buddha to Saint Teresa to the Sufi mystics to my own Guru-so many great souls over the centuries have tried to express in so many words what it feels like to become one with the divine, but I'm never quite satisfied by these descriptions. Often you will see the maddening adjective 'indescribable' used to describe the event. But even the most eloquent reporters of the devotional experience-like Rumi, who wrote about having abandoned all effort and tied himself to God's sleeve, or Hafiz, who said that he and God had become like two fat men living in a small boat -"we keep bumping into each other and laughing"- even these poets leave me behind. I don't want to read about it; I want to feel it, too. Sri Ramana Maharshi, a beloved Indian Guru, used to give long talks on the transcendental experience to his pupils and then always wrap it up with this instruction: "Now go find out."</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>So now I have found out. And I don't want to say that what I experienced that Thursday afternoon in India was indescribable, even though it was. I'll try to explain anyway. Simply put, I got pulled through the wormhole of the Absolute, and in that rush I suddenly understood the workings of the universe completely. I left my body, I left the room, I left the planet, I stepped through time and I entered the void, all at the same time. The void was a place of limitless peace and wisdom. The void was conscious and it was intelligent. The void was God, which means that I was inside God. But not in a gross, physical way- not like I was Liz Gilbert stuck inside a chunk of God's thigh muscle. I was just part of God. In addition to being God, I was both a tiny piece of the universe and exactly the same size as the universe. ("All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop," wrote the sage Kabir- and I can personally attest now that this is true.)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>It wasn't hallucinogenic, what I was feeling. It was the most basic of events. It was heaven, yes. It was the deepest love I'd ever experienced, beyond anything I could have previously imagined, but it wasn't euphoric. It wasn't exciting. There wasn't enough ego or passion left in me to create euphoria and excitement. It was just obvious. Like when you've been looking at an optical illusion for a long time, straining your eyes to decode the trick, and suddenly your cognizance shifts and there- now you can clearly see it!- the two vases are actually two faces. And once you've seen through the optical illusion, you can never not see it again."<span style="">&nbsp; </span></p>

Carol Sunshine Brown Date: 7/21/2009 11:03:00 AM I am in complete amazement of what you have written. You are truly blessed. Love, Carol Login to Reply

Carolyn Devonshire Date: 7/20/2009 7:11:00 PM The satisfaction or "euphoria" you experience when you first become one with the universe, a creation of God, is the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced. I find this happens to me when I spend weekends offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. I look up and see the Milky Way undisturbed by the lights of civilization and feel incredible joy and awe. We are all part of God, part of his creation. However, there are times when the day-to-day frustrations make us forget this. Thank you for this reminder. Love, Carolyn Login to Reply

Debbie Guzzi Date: 7/20/2009 9:22:00 AM yes, one can not be part of the cosmic consciuousbess and have ego remain..it's all...or just ego LOL. Glad you got where you wanted to go, 1 milisecond, just the realization that total loss of ego was necessary sent me screaming down the umbilical cord of life back into "body". I'm working on that ego..when the times right I WILL let go! Light & Love Login to Reply

Orma Sullivan Date: 7/18/2009 7:08:00 AM Liz, As Kafka might be saying at this point for you, the world truly does roll in ecstacy at your feet. Wonderful, wonderful. All best, Orma Login to Reply