Og

The reason that the lotus is a powerful image in the hindu and buddhist religious systems is due to the fact that it is a blooming flower that grows up to the surface of a pond and then opens.

This is the metaphor for water as the boundary of the subconscious mind (the surface of water). You'll often find that heroes in stories will delve into water as part of their journey.

The stargate, for example, in the movie/TVshow appears as a pool of water, through which, alien parasites are enslaving the human race by posing as gods.

In the Bourne Identity/etc movies, Bourne is pulled off of the surface of the ocean with no memory and at the end, he jumped off a building into the river and swam off into the distance after discovering his true nature.

Luke Skywalker's space ship sinks into the bog and he can't pull it out until he has remapped his mind according to the master.

Dustan Hoffman's character in "Stranger than Fiction" is a life guard at the pool as he helps the main character through his hero's journey of self discovery. At the end, he puts on nose plugs and dives into the pool.

This is by no means limited to modern sci-fi shows. It is universal across mythologies from native american to hindu to christian (baptism anyone?). God moved over the surface of the waters in genesis? Its a common theme in art. There are many Dali paintings and such that depict elements of the subconscious coming out of water. For example.

Much of the point of meditation is presented in metaphors as smoothing the ripples in a pond so that you can see through the clear water or see the reflection of the sky in its clarity.

To me, this is what the metaphor of god in the bible is talking about. The rise of categorizing consciousness which ripples the pond and makes you unable to see.

... Anyway... was just thinking about this as I was preparing myself some Tazo tea named "lotus."

__________________
Vi veri veniversum vivus vici. (By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe)
The self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships
You & I, no distinction. - Tat Tvam Asi
Become Who You Are

Og

It's a good example of the use of the flood imagery in terms of psychological change. Noah and all that.

__________________
Vi veri veniversum vivus vici. (By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe)
The self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships
You & I, no distinction. - Tat Tvam Asi
Become Who You Are

xexon

Most people can only see the surface of a pond. Until the surface has become still, the depths below cannot be seen.

The lotus represents the unfolding of awareness. When fully opened, the lotus in in the exact middle of the world of duality. It has neither positive or negative qualities, but has both in equal measure.

What changes in the awareness of the lotus is how to manifest it.



x

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Destroyer of Worlds

pseudonous

According to what I have read there is a blue and white lotus that contain chemical compounds that can change your perceptions, mood or awareness. It seems this might be the main reason for the lotus to be considered a sacred plant in Hinduism and Buddhism.

There is also a blue lilly which was considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. This lilly contains the same presumably psychoactive compounds as the blue lotus, and may be the lotus referred to in Homer's Odyssey. Even more interesting, according to wikipedia "...its properties form the origin of the lotus variant of the Ogdoad cosmogeny." Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

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"One is most dishonest to one's god: he is not allowed to sin." - Nietzsche

debdodd

okay .... how about another ..... we are "encased" in "water" as a fetus, the water breaks, viola we are born .... I'd consider this also a journey ... with the end result of coming into consciousness and the beginning of the learning process (out side of what a fetus learns while growing in vitro) ...

just didn't see it included in your metaphors so I thought I'd throw it out there for discussion ..

__________________
"Ubi dubium ibi libertas."

"We are all lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery, overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again ....."