The Planet of Appearances

"... lest a lie fall upon us,
and we remember what we hasten to forget."

I remember why I am on this planet -- this particular planet.

This is a Personal Planet. There are only two choices. And they just boil down to one. You either Take Things Personal here or you Opt Out. And Opting Out is just another way of taking things personal. You know what I mean?

I am here for training. My Sensei came here long ago and from all reports did pretty well. He has mostly gone on to other realms. But, at least in the warrior group I am in, this is known as His Planet. But he can speak for himself.

The training here is tough. But no more than you can endure. And there are lots of perks. It's a beautiful planet. My Teacher used to roam around all over, either walking or sailing in a boat. I pretty much try to follow his example. With the roaming and the walking. No sailing for me.

Well, anyway. He said it would be tough. But I knew tough and I didn't think it would be too much of a problem. In trouble already, before I even started.

By tough I meant taking on anything that was thrown at me. I didn't count on the subtleties. And on this planet, I came to find out, it is the subtleties that will do you in.

The training here is of a Personal nature. Look around. Everybody makes it personal. This is what we are here for -- to dive deeply into the training. We are doing pretty good at it, wouldn't you say?

The trick is to be a Person while not taking it personally. Hoo boy! If that isn't a subtlety, I don't know what is.

It's easy to get lost on this Planet. Things are not as they appear. Don't just slough that over. It's important. Things are not as they appear.

Appearance is a lie. Can't say it more bluntly. And this is a Planet of Appearances. So it's easy to get sucked in.

The Greek word for truth, aletheia, means "un-forgetting." To live the truth, you have to unforget the lie. And the lie is, write this down, all false appearance. And all appearance, at least on this Planet, is false.

Things are not as they appear. Now lest you run around all paranoid, there is a Reality giving birth to appearances. Our training is the embodying of that Reality in a world of false appearances.

My Sensei said this would be tough and tricky training. And he was right. I have fallen all over myself more than once. I have found two practices to be essential. I'll tell you what they are. But telling you is not going to make any bit of difference. You have to figure it out for yourself (it's a Personal thing).

Here they are anyway. Works for me. One is centering. And it's "one" because it has to happen first. The second is opening. Opening as widely and deeply as possible. And then some. Centering and opening at the same time. Opening so wide that the Planet Itself is contained within you. Then you are getting close to graduation.

Don't let that graduation idea stick too close in your head though. You don't want to stand around beaming about how wonderful you are and you have made it. You are still on the Planet of Appearances.