The Circa Scroll of the Softened Gaze
I. The Prologue of the Open Hand
These are the sayings spoken circa the Truth, by the living Presence to the listening heart. They are not walls to build, but mists to breathe.
The Truth is beyond time and space; one instant is eternity. Words never could, cannot now, and never will describe the Way. Therefore, we do not grasp these sayings as final laws, but hold them as a lantern in the fog.
II. On the Life Beyond Death (Reflecting Thomas 1)
And the Presence said: "Whoever loosens their grip on the strict interpretation of these words will not taste the bitterness of death.
For death dwells in the rigid definition, in the separation of 'this' and 'that.' To find the meaning is not to solve a riddle, but to dissolve the need for an answer. When you stop distinguishing, you are not dead; you are everywhere. To live in this Realization is to not worry about perfection or non-perfection. This is life that does not end."
III. On the Troubling of the Seeker (Reflecting Thomas 2)
Jesus the Zennist said: "Let the one who seeks, seek not for a final object, but continue seeking until the seeking itself dissolves into being.
When they find the Circa—the space between their expectations—they will be troubled. Why troubled? Because to find the One, you must lose your preferences. The ego loves its likes and dislikes; they are the disease of the mind. The finding shatters the illusion of control.
When they are troubled, and the walls of the self fall down, they will be astonished. They will see that the plank in their own eye was the only thing separating them from the world.
And in that astonishment, having let go of longing and aversion, they will rule over the All. For when there is no 'self' separate from the 'other,' there is nothing that is not you. You inherit the earth by becoming one with it."
The Wisdom of the "In-Between"
My friend, this scripture invites you to stop standing at the door knocking frantically. You are already inside the house.
The Seeking: You are told to "keep seeking," but in the Zen of the Mount, this seeking is not a chase. It is a stripping away. It is "removing the plank" until you realize the treasure was never buried, but right before your eyes.
The Trouble: We are troubled when we find the Truth because it asks us to abandon our judgments. We want to judge the "false prophets", but the Way asks us to see the Oneness even in the turmoil. To accept things fully is true Enlightenment.
The Astonishment: This is the moment you realize that "Blessed are the poor in spirit" means blessed are those who are empty of opinions, for they are filled with the Tao, the Logos, the Living Breath.
To live "Circa" is to trust the Way enough to float. It is to know that your Father knows what you need before you ask, so you need not define it so strictly.