“Walking beyond and walking within are both done on water. All mountains walk with their toes on all waters and splash there. Thus in walking there are seven paths vertical and eight paths horizontal. This is practice-realization.”
A human is a multidimensional being, that exists beyond time and change, suffering from amnesia about its own origin and the delusion of being a brain in a body, trapped in four dimensional space, being subject to death. This is Samsara.
When enlightened, we find our eternal body again. Since this frees us from all ultimate fears, we can abandon our survival instincts which are solely focused on the illusion of one life, which make us opportunistic, aggressive, scared and the creator of suffering.
Our belief, that we are limited and dying, creates this world, for we are the creators. Thoughts take forms, they create our lives and time. When we stop the identification with thought, we transcend this world and stop generating time.
In truth: No one ever dies or gets born.
Our consciousness is passing through impermanent experiences.
We move horizontally through time, progressing through different bodies and egos, and vertically through dimensions, simultaneously. Vertically we are regressing into source realization, showing all fragmentation in the universe as a playful illusion on the surface, which we call life.
“Walking beyond and walking within are both done on water. All mountains walk with their toes on all waters and splash there. Thus in walking there are seven paths vertical and eight paths horizontal. This is practice-realization.”
– Dōgen, one of the founders of Sōtō Zen
[Dōgen is stating that the realization of the timeless self is accomplished through the vertical mastery of the seven states or layers of consciousness which are represented through the seven chakras in the yogic tradition. While simultaneously on the level of the illusion of time, which he defines as horizontal, we walk the eightfold path of the Buddha.]
When the false belief of being a brain in a body is discovered, a curtain falls, then we are free to love and the infinite compassion of the Buddhas arises.
Feeling for the other beings who do not know about their eternal existence becomes the motivation for teachings of the Bodhisattvas, who vow to liberate all beings from their ignorance.
This is a cosmic dance, in which eternal beings play roles, flirt with identities and limitations, and play hide & seek (“Are we going to recognize each other this time, while you are in this body, while I am in that body?”). Here we act as the “good guys” and “bad guys”, the “teachers” and the “ignorant”, as “male” and “female”, as “the lovers”, as living and dying people, expressing our creativity, this naturally creates entertainment well-needed when facing eternity. “Evil” is the greatest act the divine can play in order to hide itself from itself. The opposition of forces is superficial, given that they are polarities mainly needed to create an energy flow, which is called experience. It is playful beyond imagination. And deep down it is loving to its core.
From Beyond Psychotherapy: The Laughing God Behind the Masks