02-10-2011, 12:00 AM
In this video he tells a antidote a friend of his once said which he says he goes back to again and again. The comparison is about leaving samsara and entering nirvana. The friend's analogy is samsara is like San Francisco and Berkey represents nirvana. Between the two is the ocean, the golden gate bridge, and there is a ferry boat to take travels across to Berkley.The people in San Francisco look over towards Berkley and ask "I wonder what its like over there, over there looks really nice." Campbell says that for such travelers they must long to reach Nirvana (berkley) like a person with their hair on fire longs to dive into a pool of water. If such is not the case, don't bother. Its not what you think. Because once you are on the ship and in the water,...have left the land of San Fransisco,... you say "mother f***" (I quote Campbell on this because you realize the journey is not what you expected. The water voyage is long and treacherous. You pass the Golden Gate bridge, you finally arrive at Berkley/Nirvana. You are on the land and you say to yourself "I wonder what it looks like now over towards San Francisco?" You turn around to look and there is no San Franscisco, there is no ocean, there is no Goldengate Bridge. There is only you...only consciousness.
It's not what we think. We must defeat the flyer becasue its the FI that makes the illusion. We can't think/theorize our way "into" Nirvana. We should not even seek to reach nirvana by imagining what its like. We can't know with the mind we were given....we must know by forgoing the mind that was not the true way. Fight the flyer. That's the treacherous ocean journey.
It's not what we think. We must defeat the flyer becasue its the FI that makes the illusion. We can't think/theorize our way "into" Nirvana. We should not even seek to reach nirvana by imagining what its like. We can't know with the mind we were given....we must know by forgoing the mind that was not the true way. Fight the flyer. That's the treacherous ocean journey.