OK, here’s my take Paul’s words and perhaps I might ask him to comment if he wishes to clarify or correct me if I'm wrong.
The metaphor underlying the post in question (pasted below) about the tides or the ebb and flow is about all the magnitude of things that make up appearances and really how there’s no end to appearances because the reality of what is infinite is just that – infinite and because of that - potential is always here and can’t by that definition be fulfilled. If you read Castaneda, you might remember when Don Juan was always guiding Carlos from the fascination of appearances. When he took mescaline and saw all the colours and visions and when Don Juan asked what had happened he described all these things, to which Don Juan basically told him that he missed the point of the whole exercise.
So because appearances can be any manner of size, shape or colour etc. the question is what do we gain by being absorbed in all that? Do we grow beyond it or is it a trap we’ve just set up for ourselves that we can exist in potentially for eternity (if that’s what we want). But in the end that’s not really going hurt infinity or God is it? Personally in terms of what some call “the infinite”, “the Source” or “Universe” or what not, I call God as I feel there’s a divine personality independent of my existence that I can connect with or relate to. Paul doesn’t, for him that’s merely an appearance too. So he says” there is no such thing as a prime mover there can only be appearance and it is this appearance which captures the imagination of Man”. But in any case the question is: Would us choosing to live in illusion via our own free will negatively affect God, if it was God who creates us with this free will do what we please with it in the first place? Seems illogical that it would. If you like, replace the name God, it doesn’t matter the term that suits you.
The other part of that is as tides go, they work in cycles - like creation and destruction and so on. But what we often do is build our houses of comfort on sand, doing our best to avoid the inevitable incoming tide. We do this precisely because all along we grow afraid of change and afraid of basically what that change might do – so we don’t grow. Paul’s text describes the illogical nature of that, because the cyclic nature of everything is set up just for that – for us to grow. So we can only avoid the incoming tide for so long and the more we build up our houses or even our castles on the sand, inevitably the more suffering we will put upon ourselves when all that’s taken away. And it will be taken away. So we are only in the end hurting ourselves, the tide will flow just fine irrespective our choice to deny / ignore it. Alternatively we could step back and see things as they really are and act accordingly. You can see clearly how the world denies and ignores what’s coming and so it is just going to hit us all firmly like a brick on the back of our heads soon enough.
So what’s the alternative? We’ll as Paul’s text clearly states – it’s illogical to do anything but follow the clues that are all laid out for us - when we choose to open our eyes to them. This doesn’t mean “just be”. What does that really mean anyway? Who isn’t already doing that and if that was the solution then it’s clearly not helped very much. In truth it depends on what you mean by this – because our deeper being sees, is aware and responds – it’s impeccable as Don Juan puts it, that’s the capital “I” as Sri Ramana Maharshi also puts it, the root of our being or our soul: “The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts have their root in the I-thought. Whoever investigates the True "I" enjoys the stillness of bliss.”
That investigation is not about shutting ourselves down by allowing our fears and other self deceptive emotions run our lives for us, who want’s that when we can run things ourselves? So if we start seeing ourselves “warts and all” in the mirror, we might look ugly but that’s just a judgement of the blind anyway and truth the mirror is a point of departure. If we don’t depart from there, then it’s only what it is - a mirror but it could just as much be a stepping stone for progress, a way to clearly see the next step upwards, if we want. We may have a limited nature but if we understand we’ve come from a limitless nature and that is what we can directly connect with if we choose to, then its clear there’s a way laid out if we only choose to see it. In Paul’s words it’s, a “scent” to follow and grow from what we mistakenly feel we must cling to. If we choose to stagnate, clinging to our own deceptions, that just keeps us in those dark holes we chase our tails in like endless circles we make to become windmills of ourselves. The other choice and we do have a choice is to continually learn and live without our self made limitations and walk that way. But if we don’t the responsibility of that consequence in the end is really ours alone to endure.
So that’s my take and might explain why I find his work valuable. Does that make sense? Maybe it’s a word salad too, so be it :)
In my opinion, like dreams, poems or such metaphorical essays bypass our intellect and that's not always a bad thing. Have a read again if you like and see if you see what I see in it:
"The tides of time weave shapes and colors of all sorts of designs and yet alone at the end of it all the potential remains yet unfulfilled. That very same potential endures in completeness none the worse for wear and tear. It really doesn’t matter the outpouring of energy as it’s expression is just that. The garden hose provides a seemingly endless supply but does it actually reach it’s end? Just because potential ebbs and flows it itself remains steadfast so the question becomes - what is it that makes it appear to ebb and flow? Since there is no such thing as a prime mover there can only be appearance and it is this appearance which captures the imagination of Man.
Reality can be purchased in many shapes, sizes and colors and through the medium of exchange one lives a life of experience capturing the thrilling excitement of emotional bondage. At the end of the day, on the day of accounting, the scale of justice is brought to bear and through our own adjudication we rest our case letting ourselves out the door to again fall into the battle of life and living. As potential unfolds and weaves the thread of life and living we endlessly endure ourselves. So what then is the point?
Can we come face to face with ourselves in order to see the light of day? Can imagination endear us to break the bonds of our own making? How does one set one’s self free from one’s own entrapment? Perhaps when we begin to tire of our own shenanigans do we let the chips fall where they may. Everyone is entitled to their opinion are they not, and as we begin to realize that opinions are nothing but conclusive thinking we tend to look elsewhere for our entertainment. Yes, we do begin to look elsewhere for entertainment and this is typically how thought is used to move beyond itself in transgression. Killing the Beast will do nothing when we can’t even see the windmill.
We all hear about opening people’s eyes to one thing or another and yet the very same voice [has] little concern about their own. How does one judge another without the self-inflicted pain of ignorance being brought to bear? The blind cannot see and in so pointing out that most obvious of fact the viewer blinds themselves to that which lies well above and beyond 'science’. Science is nothing but the arena of substantiated imagination and so when Man proclaims ignorance what is it that is really being exclaimed? When holes appear in the fabric of thought the typical solution brought to bear is to allow existing thought to extrapolate the thread to sew it all back together again. Upon successful completion it can be proclaimed that reality is continuous and complete. Case closed.
In the closure of the door to constant awareness we tend to find that the comfort and safety of our little corner of the universe to be completely acceptable. Why change what we find to be suitable to our sense of self? In so becoming we find being and as the ocean expresses itself as a flowing upon the sands of time we live life until that eventual moment when the tide turns and the sands give up the life previously bestowed. The ebb and flow of potential sets and leaves no footprints so what then becomes the purpose of finding home? In tracking the false images of thought it can be made to appear that one is making progress but in fact just because one looks in the mirror and sees one’s self doesn’t mean that one is enlightened to any degree. That which is seen is that which we see. Making up a good story to go along with it is just another tale being told in a world full of tales.
So if one can’t get there from here what is left?
All that we can do is to follow the rhythms of time, following the scent well laid out for us to follow otherwise we run the risk of following ourselves into the deepest darkest holes we could ever possibly fall into. Frantically scurrying from either light to dark or dark to light and back again, allows the wheel of time to express itself but in the end what is really being accomplished other to chase one’s tail. Just because we are the expression of that which is doesn’t mean anything other than what it is.
And that is the problem of being - that is the consequence.
I'd rather not chase my tail around every corner of the Universe through every hill and dale of dimension to find that out. In coming to rest we are at rest.
But you already know that. "
