MatriTalks 3
ACTION
Questions
& Answers
with
Han Marie Stiekema Sermes
A. The last two days we have
been talking about two types of ways through which you may re-connect yourself to the
Great Mother: the way of insight (meditation) and the way of surrender (worship). Today a
third way will be elucidated. It is called the way of action.
Q. What is the link between the Great Mother
and action?
A. Action mostly is set into
motion through suffering, which is the condition of separation from the Self, in which you
have lost contact with Reality, being "thrown upon yourself", in short the
condition of self-centeredness, which is also called "ego".....
Q. Because the ego is unhappy?
A. Nowadays many old teachings
- the spiritual traditions that came from the East - do not satisfy anymore. We need a
re-definition of our suffering.
Q. Still what is the link?
A. Action originates between
the felt misery - isolation and alienation - and the longing for Wholeness. It is the
attempt to overcome the gap.
Q. Like the Buddha said: "Life is
suffering, liberation is to escape from it?"
A. This was a most unlucky
statement. It suited the purposes of non-acceptance in favor of escaping from life.
Especially men considered this as a justification of rejecting daily life, the body,
nature and women, accusing them of being the cause of "the cycle of birth and
death".
Q. If I may correct you. Didn't the Buddha mean
"clinging to life" rather than life itself? In other words, it was the
unconscious identification with "the world" which caused the suffering.
A. Yes, this is indeed the more
"spiritual" interpretation. In the mean time "times have changed", so
has our suffering.
Q. In what way?
A. In former times, the
individual was caught in all kinds of social conventions. Hence, freedom consisted in
getting rid of the bondage. Nowadays, the situation has turned completely upside down.
Contrary to the past, we have lost every contact with reality. We are totally "thrown
upon ourselves".
Q. Can you explain more?
A. While being identified
with our (small) self only, we are cut off from the "rest" of reality, which is
everything else....A modern definition of suffering could thus be: "(Wo)man being
alienated from "Heaven" (your true Self, the Divine), earth (to start with your
own body) and the (new) community".
Q. Wow, this is indeed shocking. You are
introducing something, which will be difficult to digest for those, who are used to the
classical explanations.
A. It is even more frustrating
to discover, that you have been on the wrong track. The number of people caught in the
"enlightenment trap" is growing by the day, isn't it?
Q. You mean the old definition is creating its
own kind of suffering?
A. That is what I mean.
Q. So what this has to do with the
"Great Mother?"
A. There are two
"parties" involved here: the Great Mother and you. The requirements for a
meaningful process are the following. There should be a strong longing for Wholeness on
your part, while the Great Mother has to be "able" to fulfil that need.
Q. That sounds reasonable.
A. A strong longing for
Wholeness is usually the outcome of accepting your actual situation of alienation,
meaninglessness, self-centeredness and isolation, in short, it is the outcome of facing
(accepting) your suffering. The more you let the latter IN, the stronger your longing for
getting healed.
Q. Please go on.
A. On the other hand, there is
the Great Mother. The basic requirements are, that you know about Her Essence, What She Is
and what "She can do for you".
Q. It is getting more and more exciting.
A. Good. The main
characteristic of the Cosmic Vacuum is, that everything is dying in Her, while
continuously being reborn. Especially the old, ugly, sick, superfluous and accumulated
things are taken back by Her, transforming it into new life.
Q. What does this mean for me personally?
A. It means that by
surrendering to Her, by going with Her flow ("dying to the old"), you will be
reborn all the time. Your ego (unconscious identification with your self-image) will be
replaced by your True Self, your new identity.
Q. Which is equal to liberation?
A. It is only the initial step.
It is here, that surrendering to the Mother shows its "superiority" over all
other approaches. Because even a "liberated Self" cannot survive on its own. It
has no chances as a separate entity. Therefore, the "interference" of the Mother
is decisive. Besides "taking care" of death and rebirth, She is also the origin
("weaver") of the web of life, the interconnectedness of things and events.
Q. So, even after initial
liberation one still has to go another step.
A. The Mother invites the
"liberated Self" to once again become part of Her Web of Life. Only by fitting
in into the Whole - "Heaven, earth and the (new) community" - your Quest will
have found its true aim.
Q. It seems to me, that the whole story ends up
into some anti-climax.
A. That is what your ego feels.
Your New Self is feeling differently though, its essence is part of a bigger Whole. As I
said, its ultimate desire is, to actually fit in into that Whole once again, to the
benefit of all.
Q. To go into bondage, while having liberated
yourself only a short while before?!
A. Does a child that is
embraced by its mother feel a prisoner?
Q. No.
A. To be a prisoner of the
Eternal is the Ultimate Freedom. It gives you the incentive of healing your original
wounds: to joyfully join the web of life again: e.g. to restore the unity with
"Heaven", earth and the (new) community. It is the action that is spontaneously
born, once you surrender to the Great Mother.
Q. Okay, understood, thanks very much.
A. You are welcome.
Enough for today?
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