U.B. Jesus

Don’t Need a Book to Put Your Hand in the Fire

Happy Easter to those who Believe, and to those who Experience, and all humans between. Some twenty years ago, I wrote a really deep exploration of the Revelation, Ressurection and the Apocalypse that’s more aligned with Easter. Today I’m exploring the difference between seeking “Direct Experience” and “believing in” a given cultural story attached to the meaning of said Direct Experience.

Yesterday, I created a fun thought experiment for creative exploration, in seeing how to juxtapose “Dogness” with “Dogma.” While they share the same Dog, they can be seen as opposites in practice, and I wanted to see if they could be poetically married.

Central to this exploration is the idea of “belief” in Dogma, or “experiencing” Isness itself. The basic premise is the Dog metaphorically represents direct Experience without a linguistic narrative, while the Dogmatic represents “belief” in a story on top of and/or around the Experience. “Story” here is the defining word in the given juxtaposition.

Most if not all major religions are built upon the universal idea that direct, irrefutable experience of God is a possible phenomenon. For some religions, the experience can only be had by a chosen few, while others posit that this experience is available to any and all who seek it. That this Direct Experience of Oneness, of Non-Separation, of Unconditional Love is a possibility is not really disputed — or celebrated.

This universally-available Direct Experience is, by definition, undefinable. It is “beyond” words. In fact in the original Greek New Testament (yes, Greek) described Jesus as “Logos”; or “the Word” or “Principles” or “Nature.” Logos is not the words themselves, but the “Container” or “Framework” that allows words to have meaning. The word “water” won’t quench your thirst”; Logos in this context is Water itself. Experiencing Logos will quench Soul.

“De-scribing” that Direct Experience of Logos using words is not the Experience itself. It is representational of the Experience. As soon as lowercase ‘l’ language comes into place, we have a story about and around the Experience.

The challenge to this philosophical exploration is the “belief-of-non-belief”, or the idea that one must “believe” in Direct Experience while also not believing in belief itself. Here we have a confusion of beliefs and values.

To understand Dogness-as-Direct-Experience, Value structures must be teased apart from ‘beliefs.’ Values are to Logos as beliefs are to words. A Value is an innate structure of Consciousness, tied back to that stage’s given lens, filter or framework. The context of “belief” in regards to this post, namely the Religious, the concept is closely tied with “faith.” Neither belief nor faith demand the need for direct ontological experience, rather, are most often devoid of the need for real-world data. Belief and faith are assumptions, by nature.

“Value Structures” are on the left, and “Belief Modalities” are on the right.

In “bio-computing” terms, Values are nested holarchy Operating System stages that run particular software programs packets, or beliefs. The Operating System isn’t the belief itself. Each increasingly inclusive OS framework runs more and more abstract and integrated ‘beliefs’, but the belief itself shouldn’t be confused with the OS running said belief.

The moment we attempt to define the undefinable, the very split second we ascribe a dogma to Isness, the process of self-other separation begins. This process, aka “having an ego” in-the-world, is essential to survival. Outside of a monastic environment, living in Non-Dual Witness won’t get you very far, and likely eaten by the nearest hungry tiger.

I can’t speak for your dog, but mine needs me to survive at all, the price for living in Witness.

Dogs are man’s best friends.

Dogma is man’s worst enemy.

Be like a dog.

Don’t believe in dogma.

Indeed, I pushed into hyperbolic territory here, using the cliche trope of “man’s best friend” to its polar “man’s worst enemy.” While dogma is indeed problematic on many levels, “worst enemy” is more for poetic effect than the intended meaning.

I do all I can to avoid being prescriptive in my writing, often failing, as in these last two lines. Within my value system, and with poetic license, indeed I’m encouraging Direct Experience over its faith-based abstraction in dogma. The former, as far as I’ve dis-covered, is a path to LOVE. The latter is a path to separation from LOVE.

In the timeless and timely words of David Bryne, “you don’t need a book to put your hand in the fire”.

The fire of Logos is available to all, regardless of belief, culture, or genetics.

Rather than the attachments of belief in the Son of God…

U.B. Jesus!

Happy Easter…

Love,

jb

What he said…

Sunrise, I’m still dancing Girlfriend, she’s my champion
Swing low, pull me over
Hey — be my savior

Blood, Skin
Show me the book
Don’t understand the language that they spoke

Don’t pity me
Have pity on yourself
You might know Jesus but you’ll all join in hell

Shine On Sister!
Don’t need a book to put your hand in the fire
Shine On Sister!
Come on in cause it’s cold outside

Kiss Me!
Kiss Me!
I can tell your name by the markings on your face

U. B. Jesus
Makin’ my way & I’m lovin’ my life
Kiss Me!
Kiss Me!
Swing so crazy like the way you ride

Maybe I’m gonna fry in hell
But I feel good when I burn myself
In a smokey place, In my girlfriends car
Threw out the map when we drove to far

Jesus is big
Jesus is strong
Jesus’ll kill you if you don’t get along

Jesus can swing
Jesus has skills
Go on & try it if you don’t believe he will

Jump Back, Jump Back
Givin’ me a heart attack
Fall down, Fall down
Sweeter than a cherry bomb

Sweet Thing, Sweet Thing
Steppin’ on your violin
Space Boy, Fly Girl
Living in the underworld

Shine On Sister!
Don’t need a book to put your hand in the fire
Shine On Sister!
Come on in cause it’s cold outside

Jesus is cool
Jesus is scared
Baby you are the only car I drive

Foolin around
Foolin myself
Baby you are the only car I drive

Easy to touch
Easy to find
Baby you are the only car I drive

Melts in my mouth
Melts in the hand
Baby you are the only car I drive

Outta my skin
Outta my life
Baby you are the only car I drive
The only car I drive