What's the (nondual) meaning of this image.

[Endangered-EGO]

Catholic friend sent me this, Wikipedia was no real help.

[Mason Riggle]

Of course this land is dangerous
All of the animals
Are capably murderous

When I was a boy
My big brother held on to my hands
Then he made me slap my own face
I looked up to him then, and still do
He was trying to teach me something
Now I know what it was
Now I know what he meant
Now I know how it is

One must eat the other
Who runs free before him
Put them right into his mouth
While fantasizing the beauty of his movements
A sensation not unlike
Slapping yourself in the face
Slapping yourself in the face
Slapping yourself in the face
 

 

[Tim R]

First of all, what is written on that image you posted doesn't occur anywhere in the bible, neither in Genesis nor in the book Hosea (where there is another reference to Jacob wrestling with God / the angle) .

And secondly, not all bible passages / verses have necessarily anything to do with nondualism or mysticism in general. In fact, only a small, small fraction of all bible stories consist of nondual pointers of any sort, and most of them don't even occur in Genesis (which is where Jacob wrestles with the angle), but rather in the new testament because that's when Jesus showed up. 

The story of Jacob wrestling with the angle is I think more commonly known as "Jacob wrestling with God". I recommend you watch this lecture:

It's from JBP's biblical series (which imo is the best of all his lecture series). Of course he won't go into nondualism, but I don't think this story is aimed to describe anything mystical anyway. 

 

But to get back to your question;

My interpretation of why "the angle was hitting him with his own hands" is because the struggle with God/reality is the struggle with yourself, literally. And the reason why the angle/God says "stop hitting yourself" is your frustrated desire to end suffering; which itself is the cause of your suffering. 

Edit: JBP presents a totally different view on this story (obviously, given that it isn't written like that in the bible), but I recommend you watch it anyway. 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Tim R

[Purple Man]

58 minutes ago, Mason Riggle said:

Of course this land is dangerous
All of the animals
Are capably murderous

When I was a boy
My big brother held on to my hands
Then he made me slap my own face
I looked up to him then, and still do
He was trying to teach me something
Now I know what it was
Now I know what he meant
Now I know how it is

One must eat the other
Who runs free before him
Put them right into his mouth
While fantasizing the beauty of his movements
A sensation not unlike
Slapping yourself in the face
Slapping yourself in the face
Slapping yourself in the face
 

 

One of the most fascinating records ever.

[The0Self]

2 hours ago, Tim R said:

First of all, what is written on that image you posted doesn't occur anywhere in the bible, neither in Genesis nor in the book Hosea (where there is another reference to Jacob wrestling with God / the angle) .

I am relatively certain that the original intent of this post (or at least the posted image) was laughter 

[Tim R]

2 hours ago, The0Self said:

I am relatively certain that the original intent of this post (or at least the posted image) was laughter 

Yeah I know?? actually the first thing I wanted to write was that either your catholic friend or the angle is a troll?

[Endangered-EGO]

5 hours ago, Tim R said:

My interpretation of why "the angle was hitting him with his own hands" is because the struggle with God/reality is the struggle with yourself, literally. And the reason why the angle/God says "stop hitting yourself" is your frustrated desire to end suffering; which itself is the cause of your suffering. 

Edit: JBP presents a totally different view on this story (obviously, given that it isn't written like that in the bible), but I recommend you watch it anyway. 

@Tim RRRR what I thought, I couldn't articulate it.

I'm not sure it's just a metaphor, but then, "You can teach Zen with any book"

 

@The0Self No, unfortunately it was a serious question, because I kind of relate to that picture.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I have encountered bad things from my teenage years to now, that I often told myself that "God is taunting/teasing me with a bad sense of humor". What made it so bad was that I couldn't even imagine how bad and crazy things could get, and then somehow they got worse, as if god was a creative torturer.

SPOILER ALERT from "The good place"-series

As if I was in the bad place from the series "the good place". And if that was a drama and not a comedy.

I still have subconscious beliefs about reality being hostile, even though I'm not terrified of tommorow anymore.

[roopepa]

@Endangered-EGO
That picture is meant for as a joke. There is no "non-dual meaning" in it. It's a meme.

Yet, you can give it any meaning you want, really. If there is something meaningful for you there, you may find it.

[Moksha]

Suffering is hitting yourself, without seeing why you are hitting yourself. When do you stop hitting yourself? You realize that the angel and yourself are the same. The delusion of the little self dissolves, and there is nothing left to hit.

[mandyjw]

That's hysterical and actually also really fucking profound. 

You try so hard to be good, not realizing you already are. 

[Endangered-EGO]

@Moksha Okay, that was my first impression too. But why is the angel taunting/bullying the guy.

[mandyjw]

It's sort of like the ego and the super ego. You telling yourself you're not doing well enough, not good enough, not measuring up, that you're selfish, etc. Negative self talk. There aren't two of you. But you sort of think like there there are, one who is flawed and one who is perfect. 

[Moksha]

2 minutes ago, Endangered-EGO said:

@Moksha Okay, that was my first impression too. But why is the angel taunting/bullying the guy.

As I see it, the angel is teaching him that his suffering is self-inflicted. The guy is the angel, he just doesn't realize it yet. It is all seamless. Consciousness has a way of slapping its dream characters around, until they finally have had enough. When that happens, the guy sees the sameness of himself in everything else, and he laughs. It was Consciousness, all along.