Coal and Diamonds

A finer point that is seldom understood is that to behold the moon of truth directly, all thoughts must cease. The type of thought does not matter.

The old stone pond is completely motionless and the full moon is shining round and bright on its surface. If you drop a lump of coal or a diamond onto its quiet surface, the result is the same: the moon-light disappears.

Lumps of coal are worldly thoughts. Diamonds are spiritual thoughts. To see the light of truth directly, all thought must be suspended. The mind must be absolutely motionless.

True spirituality is not the substitution of spiritual thoughts for worldly thoughts, but the cessation of thought itself.

Positive, wholesome and spiritual thoughts definitely create a conducive atmosphere for meditation, but they must not be taken into meditation. The object of meditation is direct seeing, not thinking about seeing. In this regard the arguments of both the Atheist (coal) and the Theist (diamonds) have the same result: they disturb the essential stillness required for direct seeing. It is an argument that can never be settled because the conditions of engagement are fundamentally flawed. Those who have seen the soul know, and so do not argue.

The above analogies are complete and need to be experienced first hand. No more need be said.
_{Henry Mann, Love Stream}