On Structure

On Structure:

Some people are naturally very organized. They plan their days, the arrangement of things in their environment and placement of their priorities within a realistic flow of what's possible in a day. Then, they move to tweak timing by making sleep and waking regular e.t.c. As a result, the universe happily starts cooperating with their disciplines and fruits start to fall from the wish fulfilling tree. If they are Dharma practitioners, the arrangement includes meditation or gom in Tibetan, (internal exploration). The fruits in that case, are extraordinary and begin to transcend short term results of temporary happiness e.t.c and give us access to new wide-open spaces and limitless possibilities.

Then you have those who feel Dharma is all about not having any structure at all. They resist ritual, (by mouth at least) while continuing to cling to all kinds of negative but extremely predictable habits while blaming others for their difficult situations. Only the fancy words Dzog Chen remain, but what it should really be called is chaos covered with fear of being discovered. It has nothing to do with what we call naked awareness.

Structure is not an enemy or inconvenience. Routines and arrangements of things are opportunities for transcending convention. You cannot really play excellent music without understanding basic scales. Even effortless sublime Tango arises spontaneously and effortlessly, only after lots of effort was made. Spiritual attainment is not just another better or superior concept. It is more like a developed muscle. once established, it's always there confirming our uncontrived nature.

The arrangement of outer things is an excellent place to start because we see and believe in those things. You cannot say you don't or you will be caught in a lie. From that good habit, once your house is somewhat in order, you can move to arranging your inner landscape. Once that becomes clear you can start to take responsibility for your secret mandala of how you're thinking.

Beware well-read scholars and voyeurs. You can't think your way into enlightenment no matter how fancy your thoughts are any more than Jim Bezos can sue his way to the moon.