leCTURE
everything of worth is defenceless
Lecture in Adhisthana, August 2017
I gave the lecture “Everything of worth is defenceless” in 2017 in Adhisthana on the birthday of Sangharakshita, August 26. The entire preparation for this lecture was a rather crucial time in my life specifically in terms of being touched by the mysterious on a very intuitive level. It was a special experience to make this lecture come true and also to present it effectively. Without claiming anything, I can testify that it is possible for a previously narrow sense of identity, “I am this or that”, to become more fluid and more limitless – that it is possible, as it were, to become a larger version of yourself. Maybe that is what our world needs right now: for all of us to become bigger versions of ourselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtTN-AvPSWs
“In the depth of the Dhamma the beauty of bodhicitta is shown, a wonderful, delightful, mysterious force which enchants living beings and transforms them from self-centred, cramped persons into selfless beings, pervaded with love and compassion – illuminated.” (extract from “Everything of worth is defenceless”)
“Sangharakshita: “our roots need to be deep, it need to be roots in the sky”. A Flemish mystic from the 14th century, Ruusbroec, talked about “hanging in God” and he used the image of an upside down tree….so our roots are in the Transcendental….our roots need to be roots in the sky….”(extract from “Everything of worth is defenceless”)
https://soundcloud.com/freebuddhistaudio/everything-of-worth-is-defenceless-by-arthakusalin
“So, do i allow this sacredness in my life? If you are an artist, do you allow this sacredness in your art? Is there room for what is holy, for what is sacred? In making choices? In the way we lead our lives? If that wonderful and mysterious force which enchants and transforms and which we call “bodhicitta” is to overflow us, is to flood us, is to conquer the world, then we need to invite that bodhicitta in our poetry and art. Not to defend or protect but to animate and nourish. There is a Dutch poet, Lucebert, who wrote the verse “alles van waarde is weerloos”, “everything of worth, is naked, everything of worth, is defenceless” (extract)