Oneness, Dharma and Logos and Natural Order

When in harmony with the nature of things, your own fundamental nature, you will walk freely and undisturbed.

However, when mind is in bondage, the truth is hidden, and everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness.

What benefit can be derived from attachment to distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike the worlds of senses and ideas.

Indeed, to embrace them fully is identical with true Enlightenment

The wise person attaches to no goals but the foolish person fetters himself or herself.

There is one Dharma*, without differentiation.

~The Dhammapada

* Dharma (Sanskrit) or Dhamma (Pali) in Buddhism is a word with a wide variety of meanings.

1. The natural order of the universe, both physical and moral.

2. The teachings of Buddha of universal law

3. Internal and external perceiving and judging (psychological processes) of the human in relationship with her reality.

Dharma is closely related to the Christian term, Logos, which means "word," "speech," "account," "to reason." The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus (525-475 BC) used Logos to mean the universal principle of order and knowledge. Both of these concepts, order and knowledge, are dependent upon a person's psychological abilities to reckon with their reality. The term, Logos, like Dharma, was used in different ways: the sophists used it to mean reasoned discourse (knowledge communicated); the Stoics used it to describe the divine animating principle of the universe.

The early Jewish philosopher, Philo (c. 20 BC – AD 50) adopted Logos in his writings and the evangelist, John speaks of Logos as word made flesh, in others words, the divine animating principle of the universe incarnated. Further, the "Word," as it is written in John's Gospel, can be traced back to the Greek term, "Logos" and Hebrew, "dabhar," or "creative expression."

One can see how these words, Dharma and Logos, are related to universal order, the order of our mind's thoughts and emotions, the way we express those thoughts and emotions in words and in action, and how our expressions of thought determine our relationship with others and the universal reality, in general. One can see how the use of these words may mean "law" at one time and "wisdom" at another, as they always contain both the physical world external to us and the psychological world, within us: thoughts, emotions, memories, all intimately connected to the body's physiological mechanisms through the autonomic nervous system.

This is what the first phrase of the quotation from the Dhammapada refers to.

"When in harmony with the nature of things, your own fundamental nature, you will walk freely and undisturbed. However, when mind is in bondage, the truth is hidden, and everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness."

The mind is in bondage when we identify strictly with our thoughts and are not aware of the influences of our memories and emotions on those thoughts. If we can watch the ways our memory and emotions influence our thoughts, we realize that not all thoughts are true. Some are defensive responses to the way the situation makes us feel. Some are judgments we conjure to justify our feelings.

Dharma is to cultivate the knowledge and practice of laws and principles that hold together the fabric of reality, natural phenomena and personality of human beings in dynamic interdependence and harmony.   ~Msr Ayyanagr

One could use the same definition for Logos, realizing that the way we use it is to call it God incarnate, Jesus the Christ, to understand our selves as Christians as "Jesus followers," in thought, word, and deed.

"If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike the worlds of senses and ideas. (thoughts and emotions)
Indeed, to embrace them fully is identical with true Enlightenment (Christ-mind)
The wise person attaches to no goals but the foolish person fetters himself or herself.
There is one Dharma*, without differentiation."

Our psychological sensing and thinking, and our external reality are One, constantly in dynamic relationship. Know this and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

With love and a prayer for One Mind, One Heart, One humanity, One planet!
_/\_Peggy at Ecumenicus