Newpath Tenrikyo - Tenrikyo Dynamic - CUTTING WITH THE PAST

Most of us have some kind of cultural conditioning or formal education that is based on wisdom accumulated over the long journey of our species. Often that wisdom and knowledge is passed along to us at an early age in the form of children's stories or codes of proper conduct. For many, those stories and the wisdom that they impart are as real and true as it gets and adhering to them is good enough to last a lifetime. Perhaps for others a deeper reading and exploration seems appropriate.

We as a species tend to be rather proud of our knowledge, at whatever level of sophistication or kinds of knowledge and wisdom that we  accumulate. After all, we refer to our species as Homo Sapiens or Wise Men. It is not unusual for us to go to great and even violent lengths to uphold the truth of what we know to be true. For each of us, that knowledge making up the entire sum of the common truths of our world.

Thinking about how our mind works we find that we have a tendency to accumulate new knowledge by adding it to knowledge that we have already accumulated. As we look all over the world and through all ages we find that it is common among humans to convert accumulated knowledge and experience that has been accumulated into worldly terms and  truths of our individual world. In attempting to provide us with a "new" path of single hearted salvation, the mind of our original parent encountered resistance in the form of doubts, questioning and rejection precisely because of our attachment to deeply held, already existing  worldly common truths.

When we speak of cutting with the past in relation to the teaching that is the Tenrikyo Dynamic the emphasis is on the words "new" and "worldly". Pondering the way in which our self centered imaginations work, there exists an unavoidable confrontation between something that is entirely new and the existing worldly common truths that have already been accumulated in our self centered imagination. To settle this confrontation the Tenrikyo Dynamic model shows us various means of completely calming our self centered imaginations so that a new and marvelous path of single hearted salvation, the mind of the parent can spring forth. Though there are lots of different ways to calm, settle and purify the self centered imagination there is only one truth of origin to be revealed and to do so requires removing the self centered imagination for long enough for it to be revealed, known and understood.

Though the models shown were meant to be appropriate for a particular time, place and various levels of spiritual maturity the principle work or service of calming the self centered imagination to reveal its origin remains the same for all times, places and levels of spiritual maturity. In this regard the mistaken use of the mind that we are warned against is our tendency to mix worldly common truths in with the teaching that intends to reveal the one truth of origin. The recommended solution to the problem being a clean cut with all worldly common truths until the truth of origin, the mind of the original parent is quickly revealed, known and understood.

 

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