Indescribable - An Origin Myth

Translated by Pthena

[ Translator's notes:
I thought about whether I should transcribe the names of people, places, and deities rather than translate them into common American English vernacular. Transcription would lend the air of mystique common in some religions. When I compared the content of the myth with the idea of mystique, I decided that transcription of some words of the original would be pretentious. ]

Indescribable - An Origin Myth

Tommy was on his way to the Holy City. He was planning on making a stop at the Pantheon since this was his first trip. He stopped for the night at his Aunt's house since she lived closer to the Holy City, and thus, was on the way.

In the morning before breakfast they said their morning prayers at the household shrine in the corner. Tommy noticed that the god pedestal only had what seemed to be fine sand on it. His Aunt then explained that when she had gone to the Pantheon some ten years earlier, her favorite of all of the gods and goddesses was the one called Abstract. Abstract was quite indescribable she said, so much so that one could not determine god or goddess even. Rather than buy a replica of one of the other gods from the merchants for the household shrine she had taken a scraping of the real Abstract in the Pantheon. Those scrapings were on the god pedestal.

After breakfast Tommy was heading out the door when his Aunt told him that whatever else he did he should not forget to see Abstract while in the Pantheon.

Over the years and decades, others had taken scrapings from Abstract too, not only Tommy's Aunt. Eventually the Chief Priestess and Priest concluded that Abstract should be replaced with a new statue. The original had been moved into the back artisan's room while a sculptor was carving out a replacement.

When Tommy walked the vast halls of the Pantheon looking upon the gods and goddesses he came to the empty place where Abstract had stood. Overcome by the indescribable wonder, he reached out both hands to capture a piece.

With his prize in hands he dashed to the merchant's stall and indicated that the merchant unstop a bottle. He then carefully poured the contents of his hands into the bottle and put the stopper in place, paid the merchant, and headed home.

When Tommy reached home he cleared the god pedestal, unstopped the bottle, first pouring, then shaking, then placing the bottle upright upon the pedestal, just in case some of the Indescribable was still inside. He looked at the bottle for a while then laid it on its side.

The next day, as Tommy prepared to say his morning prayer, he noticed that the Indescribable had indeed filled the whole top of the god pedestal, so he removed the bottle so that it would not distract him in his devotions.

The next day, Tommy noticed that the Indescribable had filled the whole corner of the household shrine, so he removed the god pedestal itself so that it wouldn't distract him in his devotions.

Eventually, Tommy noticed the Indescribable in very unlikely places. He decided to keep this all secret, but secrets leak out, much like the Indescribable.


[ Translators note: Okay, I see the word Pantheon in my translation. I've decided to leave it in place for the sake of pretension. Nobody's perfect. ]

a reply to: pthena

Hi bud.
Beautiful depth, and so thought-provoking !
Love your writing style, and the more we get to see of it : the more we notice what is superfluous amusement and distraction, and then the real, subtle, understated ideas, that run underneath.

One take : Egoistic misled 'understanding' of 'the Indescribable' : leads to 'thing' worship, and ridiculous shenanigans.

But then again : our experiences are always so freakin weird.
Have a 'spiritual corner' here, that was once 'hit' by lightning !!

a reply to: Nothin

The theme is pretention. I may have misspelled it.
Let me check.

Looks like pretention is the archaic spelling.
Pretension is more modern.

Actually, the idea is a lead up to prayer. What the purpose of prayer may be. I read a bunch of different reasons and methods of prayer in Wikipedia.

Lightning strike seems awesome!

a reply to: pthena

Can see 'prayer' as an underlying theme as well.

Am not much of a 'believer' : yet still have some behaviors that resemble 'prayer'.

a reply to: Nothin

Now that I read the myth,
I feel hesitant to comment further.
Some of the implications seen from different views
may be interpreted in so many ways.

It would be such a shame if I were to impose
some prior constraint.

My diety is my breath. I witness it entering and existing my body until I become one with it. But its not my breath diety that is important. Its the witnessing. All experience arises in the present, does its dance, then disappears into mind. Witnessing the present empowers the I AM. Witnessing the past/future empowers the mind. So silent prayer, meditation empowers the I AM. The portal in which the minds duality recognizes as confined me. The portal in which our non-duality self recognizes as the unconfined me. Thus spirituality is not attained. Its something we grow within ourselves by removing the weeds that suffocate our being. Thats at least, how see it.

a reply to: glend


If we look at this picture which I stole from Peter Georgescu.
And then compare with your breathing, we may find some correlation.

Your lungs may contain the breath, but not completely,
just as Tommy can hold Indescribable, but not completely.

The non-duality is still quite a hurdle for me.
The finger tips and heals of the hand are touching, experiencing each other, like two halves of a single person, but the Indescribable is in the cups of the hands and outside of the hands.

I can't see the hands and the Indescribable as one.
Baby steps?

a reply to: pthena

That was beautiful pthena. Now I have a new respect for prayer.

"I can't see the hands and the Indescribable as one."

We do not know the sourness of a lemon until we taste it. So suggest you taste it, to find out.. Knowing or not knowing is all noise, We have to go beyond the noise for the truth..

"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."

That eye is your seat of conciousness, the I AM. Single means no mind.

a reply to: pthena
The feeling of fingers (plural) touching fingers is one feeling (non dual).
That feeling is undescribable.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

Have you ever done that thing where you and someone else press your arms together, then you take your other hand and place it on the two arms and slide it back and forth? It feels strange because your own nerve endings are connected inside but your nerve endings and other person's nerve endings aren't. So you feel two types of feelings with your finger nerves at the same time; an internally connected and a non-internally connected.

I was practicing different positions last night. And what comes natural is this one:

I found this picture this morning on a Christian Yoga web page. This position is not easy to find in prayer tutorials. Doesn't even appear in the vast majority of tutorials. At least it doesn't show up readily in the search engine. I wonder.

originally posted by: pthena
a reply to: Nothin

Now that I read the myth,
I feel hesitant to comment further.
Some of the implications seen from different views
may be interpreted in so many ways.

It would be such a shame if I were to impose
some prior constraint.

How very pretentious of you😉 (to take your work so seriously as to fear commenting on it)

As you said yourself nobody can be perfect. And pretension is a matter of perspective and is not always a fault, imo. It is what it is. I dislike that saying but it is what it is- dang it there it is again!

originally posted by: pthena
a reply to: Itisnowagain

Have you ever done that thing where you and someone else press your arms together, then you take your other hand and place it on the two arms and slide it back and forth? It feels strange because your own nerve endings are connected inside but your nerve endings and other person's nerve endings aren't. So you feel two types of feelings with your finger nerves at the same time; an internally connected and a non-internally connected.

I was practicing different positions last night. And what comes natural is this one:

I found this picture this morning on a Christian Yoga web page. This position is not easy to find in prayer tutorials. Doesn't even appear in the vast majority of tutorials. At least it doesn't show up readily in the search engine. I wonder.

Sounds pretty cool. So, while laying on your back in the position pictured, you Then put your arm together with another person?

a reply to: 3n19m470

It is what it is. I dislike that saying but it is what it is- dang it there it is again!

I only dislike the saying when someone else says it.
It is what it is.

If you presume that the pretension of another is merited
and then they say "It is what it is"
and you didn't understand what they were saying,
then assuming that they are dismissing you to your
own ignorance follows.

That brings distress to the mind.
Therefore:
Presume not the wisdom of the wise.

--------

Sounds pretty cool. So, while laying on your back in the position pictured, you Then put your arm together with another person?

Yes.

There are presumptions involved when it comes to prayer however.

The presumption that when one is alone, the person whose arm is touched is God.
One should not presume that Indescribable can be described as God,
nor that Indescribable may be described as having an arm.

-------------
The girl who first taught the feeling by the hand of the arms together made certain claims about what it could be likened to. I assumed that she knew what she was talking about. But now I find myself wondering if she was merely repeating something she had heard.

Now that I've thought some more; it could have been a trick.
What if she wanted to feel my hand stroking her arm?
In which case the trick would have succeeded.
I'm not even embarrassed because,
It is what it is.

a reply to: 3n19m470

How very pretentious of you😉 (to take your work so seriously as to fear commenting on it)

There is this thing called Post-coital tristesse or sometimes Post-coital dysphoria.
Spinoza in his Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione, wrote: "For as far as sensual pleasure is concerned, the mind is so caught up in it, as if at peace in a [true] good, that it is quite prevented from thinking of anything else. But after the enjoyment of sensual pleasure is passed, the greatest sadness follows. If this does not completely engross, still it thoroughly confuses and dulls the mind."

The idea of a story as it comes from the mind, then unfolds as if of its own accord is quite engrossing, sensual, and is quite a joy. The produced story brings a different sort of joy. The explanations and commentary seems burdensome. Not always, but sometimes.

I can liken it to when I was very young, sitting in the middle of the bed with my crayons, working away on fine multi character creations of art. When the idea goes from thought to hand and the hand works seemingly on its own, then the eye sees what is becoming. It is a great sensual joy.

Looking upon the finished crayon production is a joy, however not as great.

When others see the crayon mural and don't understand why in the world I would do such a thing, and what was I thinking, it was very difficult if not impossible to explain what I was thinking. There was no joy in the attempt to explain.

Attempting to wash the crayon off the wall was nothing but a chore. Without the mind engrossing creative interaction, there was no joy at all.
--------------
I should probably wait a few hours after writing a masterpiece before attempting to either enhance it or wash it away.

Read something today that thought was inspiring. Hope you don't mind me sharing it here...

We will find God when we realise that we don't have to search for God.

Hi Pthena.....you might like this:
Watch "Yoga Nidra Level 1: Experiencing Self Born Bliss (Beginners)" on YouTube
youtu.be...


There is evidence that yoga nidra helps relieve stress. An ancient technique from India, it has now spread worldwide and is also being applied by the US Army to assist soldiers to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.
en.m.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: glend

Saint Francis of Assisi said.....'What we are looking for..... is what is looking'.
Or seek for the seeker.

Joan Tollifson - The Unity of the Transcendent and the Personal - The Nonduality Podcast.

Joan says to hang out in the actuality....which I think is a beautiful way to say that which cannot be spoken.

I suppose I'm feeling a bit like it's time to kick against the goads.

The damnedest thing happened to me yesterday. I will call it The Rip van Winkle Effect, sort of like a Mandela Effect.

I watched two videos from NASA-Science; one about gravity's effects on space-time and another on quantum foam. When I thought about the fact that I had no idea what the hell was being discussed I woke up the the fact that I was 20 years out of the loop on current information, much like Rip van Winkle.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

What about quantum foam?
Seems to me that no one will ever see any solid evidence of that.
It's highest level theory based on bleeding edge theoretical mathematics.

I read people flinging quantum this and quantum that around as if they know what the hell they're talking about. I haven't seen any evidence that they do know what the hell they're talking about. Then they reach unreal conclusions about what quantum foam proves, to wit, "There is no reality".

So when these "There is no reality" people experience "non-reality" in the deepest sense, are they standing, sitting, or curled in a fetal position? I suppose though that position wouldn't matter seeing as no matter is real.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

I had a dream the other night. Which doesn't sound that special, unless you hadn't dreamed for years. It involved ghosts that were chasing me and my mother (she is no longer alive). They eventually caught up to us. Then I awoke, I wondered what the dream was about. I suspect the Ghosts were my fears.

In ignoring the brain it seems to behaving erratically of late, mood swings and the like.. Images from childhood, just pop into my awareness, things that dont seem to have any significance at all. Then the other day I was mentally giving flowers to everyone I know by name then this barely perceptible grunt came from deep - I hope they all die. It didn't overly worry me because as a watcher I try to observe rather than become one with any feelings. But it did make me aware the inside me are things that I would never suspect could take root.

I will read about Saint Francis of Assisi out of interest but practice, rather than reading about practice, is my plan right now

Thank you.

a reply to: pthena

Seems to me that no one will ever see any solid evidence of that.

lol. I like delayed choice quantum erasor. It seems the conciousness of reality and that of our conciousness is joined at the hip....