Tenrikyo Ofudesaki - As You Mature -
Some
things to ponder concerning "maturity" and the performance of Services
intended to prepare the mind for pondering deeply and hastening our maturity.
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Maturity implies a change in the state of our being. In this case it implies a fundamental change in the state of our mind by revealing its original conscious foundation. That change can be immediate as in the immediate awakening intended through the "Sazuke" or slow and pretty much imperceptible like the growth of the body from childhood to adulthood.
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The teaching that shows the way to awaken to the true origin of the human mind accommodates both paces as a matter of necessity. We should recall however that our original parent is hastening us to quickly awaken right now. The slower pace being an accommodation for those children who are currently unwilling or unable to comply with the instruction exactly as it is provided.
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The state of the mature mind is one that is able to distinguish between the original consciousness that is ever present and the self-centered imaginings and truths of the world that rise out of it.
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The promise and the purpose of the work or Service of preparing the mind to bring about a fundamental change that will allow us to reach full development as a realized and awakened human being that is capable of leading a joyous life; as was originally intended at the time of the creation of the idea of free and independent, self-centered human beings.
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The process of maturation is not one of an accumulation of knowledge or pure ideas; as those have been shown to be the source of unintended problems that are slowing the growth and maturation of our species; rather, it is one of temporary settling and removal of all of the self-centered ideas that are covering over and depressing our original "heart" and "core" as it impatiently waits to be identified, known and understood while all the while residing unknown at the very foundation and "root" of our self-centered imaginings and of all that exists.
will come. You will come to see the truth as you mature.