Upanishads

[Moon Rooster by Barry Wilson]


This afternoon at the gas station ($3.21/gal. in Tuscaloosa) I suddenly had a notion of Large Self and Small, Mean Self. Meant figuratively, of course, and thought of the prayer or poem in fellow Jewish Texan Dean Ornish's book, Eat More, Weigh Less. I went looking for the words of the Upanishads.

Thinking of how it should be impossible to have a divided self, divided desires, because each of us is just one person, but of course we all have divisible parts. The puzzle of it though.

And so I thought of the Larger Self that connects with all things and knows what should be done, and the Smaller Self that looks only at the moment, immediate gratification. Another way of talking about Id and Ego. (Freud's translator was afraid that people would call it the Yid.)



Mundane. The Larger Self knows you should clean your house because it will make you feel more at peace. Small Self is a mess-maker.

Purt' near full moon tonight. Full moon and eclipse tomorrow in the Eastern Hemisphere.


Liberated from the grip of egoism, like the moon (after the eclipse), full, ever blissful, self-luminous, one attains one’s essence. – Adhyatma Upanishad