Restless Soma
Death (the tumbling force, public) => Wisdom => Topic started by: Michael on September 03, 2008, 08:50:23 PM
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seems like a good spot to begin this discussion on the wisdom in Tolle's book.
I have a suggestion: how about people reading this book, place quotes that excite them here, and then we can unpack them, to see where they lead.
that way, some can read faster than others, while the others can participate in the highlights.
I'd like to kick off from a quote Luna gave elsewhere:
(I like this part also (pg. 69-70) ...)
Whenever you are in a negative state, there is something in you that wants the negativity, that perceives it as pleasurable, or that believes it will get you what you want. Otherwise, who would want to hang on to negativity, make themselves and others miserable, and create disease in the body? So whenever there is negativity in you, if you can be Aware at that moment that there is something in you that takes pleasure in it or believes it has a useful purpose you are becoming aware of the ego directly. The moment this happens, your identity has shifted from ego to awareness. This means ego is shrinking and awareness is growing.
If in the midst of negativity you are able to realize "At this moment I am creating suffering for myself" it will be enough to raise you above the limitations of conditioned egoic states and reactions. It will open up infinite possibilities which come to you when there is awareness - other vastly more intelligent ways of dealing with any situation. You will be free to let go of your unhappiness the moment you recognize it as unintelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees larger whole in which all things are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence unites.
I find myself in disagreement with him here - not his base statement:
Whenever you are in a negative state, there is something in you that wants the negativity, that perceives it as pleasurable, or that believes it will get you what you want.
That has been painfully obvious to me for a very long time. It's the old comment. "What's in it for you?"
In my observations of people who fall for this recursive pattern - negativity in its forms of fear, complaining, worry, anger, antagonism and so forth - it is painfully obvious that they do actually enjoy it. On some level, in some form of inverse pleasure. I have come to the view long ago that that is an accurate insight.
I'm not speaking of two types of negativity - immediate (like when you drop a rock on your toe) or in cases of high pressure (like when the police are coming tomorrow to turf you out of your home).
What we are speaking of, is the habitual sliding into an identity posture of negative moods. Play the tape over and over of what so-and-so did to me, or what a nasty person so-and-so is, or how my life will be misery because of ...
There are so many good reasons today to be in some form of dispair, but good reasons are not the issue - it is the hanging on, that demonstrates a secret pleasure.
So, fine. I'm perfectly in agreement with Eckhart on that (BTW, does anyone know what his name was before he changed it to Eckhart?) What I'm not in agreement about is the simplicity of his answer.
I do admit that if I am the person caught in this mood trap, then for me,
If in the midst of negativity you are able to realize "At this moment I am creating suffering for myself" it will be enough to raise you above the limitations of conditioned egoic states and reactions.
there may be some truth.
And I agree:
The moment this happens, your identity has shifted from ego to awareness.
despite his inaccurate use of the term 'ego', nonetheless, I think we all know what he means - ie egotism.
The problem is that that shift is too temporary to change a life long pattern. It is a major starting step, the first time you realise it yourself, but woefully insufficient to turn the Queen Mary around.
It did happen that way for me, but I was never a negative mood person anyway, so I was only realising the correctness of my natural behaviour - bully for me.
However, in my experience, explaining this to another person who is the victim of such mood traps, has had absolutely no effect whatsoever on their habit. Even when they agree, and acknowledge it themselves, it makes no difference.
This is the point of the difference between Priests and Magicians, in the I Ching.
I did not understand why this was the case for a long time. Eventually I discovered two critical things:
Very very very very few people are internally constructed to have the power to utilise an idea in changing their behaviour. Only a tiny portion of humanity are so designed, that their mind can affect their 'horse'. For most people, behaviour is linked to body and emotion, not thought. Meaning they will change from repetitive action or from repetitive emotion. Not from thought alone (although I have watched with considerable interest the use of repetitive thought by some modern psychologists).
Secondly, and more importantly, what holds a person in this mood trap, is a special kind of force. They are powerless against this force.
I recall a potent dream in my twenties, about a friend who was in a pit - negativity of self-esteem and bulimia, very low as I saw her in the dream, although she put on a good front in daily life. What was pointed out to me clearly in the dream, was that making her aware of her problem, about this stuff that it was in her hands to be different etc, was resulting only in humiliation.
Ignorance of her real situation was all that was protecting her from suicide. She quite simply was completely powerless - it was a matter of shakti. She had none. The more people told her she could change herself, the more it compounded her depression - to be in such a powerless state was bad enough, but to know she had the key to change, and yet to be completely impotent to use it, could only cause utter despair.
It is not knowledge of our situation that transforms us, it is shakti - personal power. Only when we have the inner power to throw off our leech, can that knowledge be of assistance.
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This has been something of my current interest in observing lately, in fact after being around so many people this summer Ive come to see it surrounding me so deeply that some part of me longs to escape to a remote wilderness.(ha.. yes even more remote then I am) Sounds bitter in ways doesnt it.. but I dont mean it to be bitter.. I just find this condition overwhelmingly dominate on a scale that it tips the earth.. the results of this are obvious. In some ways I feel as if I would be giving up on humanity all together so I take a long look in the direction of compassion and pray.. remaining among them yet always.. always! Alone.
Alone in a powerful way.
To 'see' this condition as the dominate energy around me in some ways also sparks my will like a tug of war game I know I win.
Michael, you mention personal power being the only movement that will remain. No amount of understanding or shift of perception will keep the footing in a new land. I have also learned this in the most intimate ways and found that the shift is one I can help with.. yet it becomes like a thread addiction to me, because it doesnt remain.. the results of this can become horrific for the other, when they realize the life line is theirs not mine.
I do think for a rare few the shift is enough to spark the will into movement of its own.. I havnt given up on the glimps but have learned the limits of that.
Ive also discovered in the face of such a condition the very idea of increasing their own personal power drives them further into their pool of glory. My coyote medicine has shown me how to approach in a very soft hidden way.. perhaps suggesting a project that would increase the light inside yet not be seen as 'self work'
Ive learned how to keep my footing balanced and strong in the face of this also.. not an easy task at first.. the first opening of letting go and its easy to be plunged so deeply in you forget your own sanity and take a good swim in the shit.
A result of emotional attachment (I have had many battles with my heart)
What to do.. what to do.. I ask for other suggestions when we find ourselves surrounded by such things in this world. In service of spirit.. is there more the coyote can do?
Stand tall and shine untouched as an example.. a positive reflection?
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While I have yet to read this book, it's on my "list" Along with a few others.
Michael you bring up an interesting topic, one that has almost been haunting my significant other. And it is trying to teach me, I can feel that, but it's a lesson that seems as stubborn as the situation itself.
I just can't understand why the attachment to the negitave. To me it seems like such a low vibration, that I can't understand how he'd want to be there all the time. But when you mention that, in these types of situations, they don't have the personal power to shake off the leech, it rings with truth.
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This has been something of my current interest in observing lately, in fact after being around so many people this summer Ive come to see it surrounding me so deeply that some part of me longs to escape to a remote wilderness.(ha.. yes even more remote then I am) Sounds bitter in ways doesnt it.. but I dont mean it to be bitter.. I just find this condition overwhelmingly dominate on a scale that it tips the earth.. the results of this are obvious. In some ways I feel as if I would be giving up on humanity all together so I take a long look in the direction of compassion and pray.. remaining among them yet always.. always! Alone.
Alone in a powerful way.
To 'see' this condition as the dominate energy around me in some ways also sparks my will like a tug of war game I know I win.
Michael, you mention personal power being the only movement that will remain. No amount of understanding or shift of perception will keep the footing in a new land. I have also learned this in the most intimate ways and found that the shift is one I can help with.. yet it becomes like a thread addiction to me, because it doesnt remain.. the results of this can become horrific for the other, when they realize the life line is theirs not mine.
I do think for a rare few the shift is enough to spark the will into movement of its own.. I havnt given up on the glimps but have learned the limits of that.
Ive also discovered in the face of such a condition the very idea of increasing their own personal power drives them further into their pool of glory. My coyote medicine has shown me how to approach in a very soft hidden way.. perhaps suggesting a project that would increase the light inside yet not be seen as 'self work'
Ive learned how to keep my footing balanced and strong in the face of this also.. not an easy task at first.. the first opening of letting go and its easy to be plunged so deeply in you forget your own sanity and take a good swim in the shit.
A result of emotional attachment (I have had many battles with my heart)
What to do.. what to do.. I ask for other suggestions when we find ourselves surrounded by such things in this world. In service of spirit.. is there more the coyote can do?
Stand tall and shine untouched as an example.. a positive reflection?
:-*
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The problem is that that shift is too temporary to change a life long pattern. It is a major starting step, the first time you realise it yourself, but woefully insufficient to turn the Queen Mary around.
To me, this is the challenge. For myself and in dealing with others. Let's face it, we all here, I'm pretty sure, have experienced, glimpsed or held on to that moment ... that aha! what the hell am I doing? What is the solution ... There was always someone there "holding out their hands" to us, even if we didn't see them at the time.
What to do.. what to do.. I ask for other suggestions when we find ourselves surrounded by such things in this world. In service of spirit.. is there more the coyote can do?
Stand tall and shine untouched as an example.. a positive reflection?
Yes! Because your shining is infectious and it spreads. I've witnessed it with others who have no idea what "path" I'm on, or what philosophy I prescribed to. It's true Presence of Being. It has such a huge effect on others!
Yup - this is it in a nutshell, Michael. In my own dealings with a former friend/associate who was on the path, a new term came into being. Simply put: negative pleasantries. This friend had a good heart, was kind, generous, and had all the traits of what we traditionally refer to as "a good person", yet she had become so locked into the chains of her "negative pleasantries" that there was no turning her around.
The interesting thing is that she worked directly with Orlando for a period of about 5 years, and during that time she did come to see and realize that her negative pleasantries were essentially a habit - i.e., a program stuck in its own groove. THAT seemed to be the key more than anything - and for about a good two years, she actually did turn herself around, lost her hypochondriac manifestations, became healthy and even happy. The problem was MAINTENANCE! Once that program of negative pleasantries sets in, it becomes much easier to simply *allow* for THAT, than to attempt to MAINTAIN a more "positive" life. So in the long run, she dropped off of the path and went back to her woeful old self, but even THAT (which she called a "failure") seemed to hold some delight for her, as if she had proven herself right and she really was a "failure" after all. Validation of her worst fears, in other words.
Now, after some years in between, she is leaning toward the path again, but I have no reason to think she has really changed - for precisely the reasons you mention. Even though she reached that point which Tolle refers to as the shift from ego to awareness, she was never able to get a handle on maintaining that awareness at the level of do-ing, at the level of change. So, I would simply say that awareness in this case isn't sufficient, but has to be carried further into the invocation of the will to actually move the assemblage point away from its habitual settling places - i.e., comfort zones.
Keep your hands out for your friend, Della ... it takes some longer than others. If we become impatient with them, they sense this and fall back to old habits. :)
I read some of Tolle awhile back, and basically found him to be a bit too simplistic in his approach. Some would say, "But it IS that simple." Sure, on paper, it's very simple. But in practice, it's a commitment that carries far more weight than even marriage - and very few people are capable of making that kind of commitment, even to themselves.
Therein lies the beauty ... Simplicity. And your right, it's a huge commitment. Will everyone make it .... probably not, but I'm feeling more people than we may think, are ready. Planting a seed and nurturing it. Some sprout up fast, some grow slowly, others wither and die.
As with all things, of course, they key seems to reside in balance.
Yes! ... the state of just Being ... no negative, no positive .... perfect balance. :)
Page 100:
PRESENCE
"A woman in her thirties came to see me. As she greeted me, I could sense
the pain behind her polite and superficial smile. She started telling me her
story, and within one second her smile changed into a grimace of pain. Then,
she began to sob uncontrollably. She said she felt lonely and unfulfilled.
There was much anger and sadness. As a child she had been abused by a
physically violent father. I saw quickly that her pain was not caused by her
present life circumstances but by an extraordinarily heavy pain-body. Her
pain-body had become the filter through which she viewed her life situation.
She was not yet able to see the link between the emotional pain and her
thoughts, being completely identified with both. She could not yet see that
she was feeding the pain-body with her thoughts. In other words, she lived
with the burden of a deeply unhappy self. At some level, however, she must
have realized that her pain originated within herself, that she was a burden to
herself. She was ready to awaken, and this is why she had come.
I directed the focus of her attention to what she was feeling inside her
body and asked her to sense the emotion directly, instead of through the filter
of her unhappy thoughts, her unhappy story. She said she had come
expecting me to show her the way out of her unhappiness, not into it.
Reluctantly, however, she did what I asked her to do. Tears were rolling
down her face, her whole body was shaking. “At this moment, this is what
you feel.” I said. “There is nothing you can do about the fact that at this
moment this is what you feel. Now, instead of wanting this moment to be
different from the way it is, which adds more pain to the pain that is already
there, is it possible for you to completely accept that this is what you feel
right now?”
She was quiet for a moment. Suddenly she looked impatient, as if she
was about to get up, and said angrily, “No, I don't want to accept this.” “Who
is speaking?” I asked her. “You or the unhappiness in you? Can you see that
your unhappiness about being unhappy is just another layer of unhappiness?”
She became quiet again. “I am not asking you to do anything. All I'm asking
is that you find out whether it is possible for you to allow those feelings to be
there. In other words, and this may sound strange, if you don't mind being
unhappy, what happens to the unhappiness? Don't you want to find out?”
She looked puzzled briefly, and after a minute or so of sitting silently,
I suddenly noticed a significant shift in her energy field. She said, “This is
weird. I 'm still unhappy, but now there is space around it. It seems to matter
less.” This was the first time I heard somebody put it like that: There is space
around my unhappiness. That space, of course, comes when there is inner
acceptance of whatever you are experiencing in the present moment.
I didn't say much else, allowing her to be with the experience. Later
she came to understand that the moment she stopped identifying with the
feeling, the old painful emotion that lived in her, the moment she put her
attention on it directly without trying to resist it, it could no longer control
her thinking and so become mixed up with a mentally constructed story
called “The Unhappy Me.” Another dimension had come into her life that
transcended her personal past – the dimension of Presence. Since you cannot
be unhappy without an unhappy story, this was the end of her unhappiness. It
was also the beginning of the end of her pain-body. Emotion in itself is not
unhappiness. Only emotion plus an unhappy story is unhappiness.
When our session came to an end, it was fulfilling to know that I had
just witnessed the arising of Presence in another human being. The very
reason for our existence in human form is to bring that dimension of
consciousness into this world. I had also witnessed a diminishment of the
pain-body, not through fighting it but through bringing th light of
consciousness to it.
A few minutes after my visitor left, a friend arrived to drop something
off. As soon as she came into the room she said, “What happened here? The
energy feels heavy and murky. It almost makes me feel sick. You need to
open the windows, burn some incense.” I explained that I had just witnessed
a major release in someone with a very dense pain-body and that what she
felt must be some of the energy that was released during our session. My
friend, however, didn't want to stay and listen. She wanted to get away as
soon as possible.
I opened the windows and went out to have dinner at a small Indian
restaurant nearby. What happened there was a clear, further confirmation of
what I already know: That on some level, all seemingly individual human
pan-bodies are connected. Although the form this particular confirmation
took did come as a shock."
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I know I'm pulling from the latter part of the book, but these seem relevant to our conversation. Hope y'all don't mind :)
Page 106:
"BREAKING IDENTIFICATION WITH THE PAIN-BODY
A person with a strong, active pain-body has a particular energy
emanation that other people perceive as extremely unpleasant. When they
meet a person, some people will immediately want to remove themselves or
reduce interaction with him or her to a minimum. They feel repulsed by the
person's energy field. Others will feel a wave of aggression toward this
person, and they will be rude or attack him or her verbally and in some
cases, even physically. This means there is something within them that
resonates with the other person's pain-body. What they react to so strongly is
also in them. It is their own pain-body.
Not surprisingly, people with heavy and frequently active pain-bodies
often find themselves in conflict situations. Sometimes, of course they
actively provoke them. But at other times, they may not actually do anything.
The negativity they emanate is enough to attract hostility and generate
conflict. It requires a high degree of Presence to avoid reacting when
confronted by someone with such an active pain-body. If you are able to stay
present, it sometimes happens that your Presence enables the other person to
disidentify from his or her own pain-body ad thus experience the miracle of
a sudden awakening. Although the awakening may be short-lived, the
awakening process will have become initiated.
One of the first such awakenings that I witnessed happened many
years ago. My doorbell rang close to eleven o'clock at night. My neighbor
Ethel's anxiety-laden voice came through the intercom. “We need to talk.
This is very important. Please let me in.” Ethel was middle-aged, intelligent,
and highly educated. She also had a strong ego and a heavy pain-body. She
escaped form Nazi Germany when she was an adolescent, and many of her
family members perished in the concentration camps.
Ethel sat down on my sofa, agitated, her hands trembling. She took
letters and documents out of the file she carried with her and spread them
out all over the sofa and floor. At once I had the strange sensation as if a
dimmer switch had turned the inside of my entire body to maximum power.
There was nothing to do other than remain open, alert, intensely present –
present with every cell of the body. I looked at her with no thought and no
judgment and listened in stillness without any mental commentary. A torrent
of words came out of her mouth. “They sent me another disturbing letter
today. They are conducting a vendetta against me. You must help. We need
to fight them together. Their crooked lawyers will stop at nothing. I will lose
my home. They are threatening me with dispossession.”
It transpired that she refused to pay the service charge because the
property managers had filed to carry out some repairs. They in turn
threatened to take her to court.
She talked for ten minutes or so. I sat, looked, and listened. Suddenly
she stopped talking, looked at the papers all around her as if she had just
woken up from a dream. She became calm and gentle. Her entire energy
filed changed. Then she looked at me and said, “This isn't important at all, is
it?” “No, it isn't,” I said. She sat quietly for a couple more minutes, then
picked up her papers and left. The next morning she stopped me in the street,
looking at me somewhat suspiciously. “What did you do to me? Last night
was the first night in years that I slept well. In fact, I slept like a baby.”
She believed I had “done something” to her, but I had done nothing.
Instead of asking what I had done to her, perhaps she should have asked
what I had not done. I had to reacted, not confirmed the reality of her story,
not fed her mind with more thought and her pain-body with more emotion. I
had allowed her to experience whatever she was experiencing at that
moment, and the power of allowing lies in non-interference, non-doing.
Being present is always infinitely more powerful than anything one could say
or do, although sometimes being present can give rise to words or actions.
What happened to her was not yet a permanent shift, but a glimpse of
what is possible, a glimpse of what was already within her. In Zen, such a
glimpse is called satori. Satori is a moment of Presence, a brief stepping out
of the voice in your head, the thought processes, and their reflection in the
body as emotion. It is the arising of inner spaciousness where before there
was the clutter of thought and the turmoil of emotion.
The thinking mind cannot understand Presence and so will often
misinterpret it. It will say that you are uncaring, distant, have no compassion,
are not relating. The truth is, you are relating but at a level deeper than
thought and emotion. In fact, at that level there is a true coming together, a
true joining that goes far beyond relating. In the stillness of Presence, you
can sense the formless essence in yourself and in the other as one. Knowing
the oneness of yourself and the other is true love, true care, true compassion."
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Thanks for those Luna.
I always have mixed feeling when I read this type of 'therapy'. I don't mean that word pejoratively - it is just a way to describe such interactions - I'm sure there is a better word.
On the one hand I am in admiration that in that case, that situation, that technique produced highly successful results. I really enjoy such stories. On the other hand, something niggles at me, that something is not right, yet I most often can't articulate to myself what that is.
His technique is well based. Essentially, to stop fighting against the emotions that are inflamed. I also agree with him about the thought process - I am constantly aware that by following the thought process, the argument, you tend to find yourself on a road to nowhere. The emotion is the key. The thought are only the latest frame work - people will rail against some person or thing that happened, but those things are simply the latest vehicle of a pain that lies much deeper, and has a completely different cause.
So if you or the person upset, keep going over the 'latest arguments' they never resolve the emotion.
The only way to respond, is for you the companion, or the upset one if you have the ability to do this, to pull out of the thread of 'objects' being thrown up - the thoughts, the latest 'trigger' of upset. Pull away and say, "there is a deeper cause for this pain - what is that?".
That is what he is calling Presence. It has a powerful effect. So he is asking the person to just be with their emotions, and not their thoughts. I agree, that is an excellent technique, and it can apply to much more than emotion.
We can take this a lot further, in the old form of healing - be it yourself or another you are healing. The method is to go to the source of the emotion. We begin with the current upset... stop and focus on the emotions... hold that and allow yourself to sink into it till you actually journey back in 'astral time' - till you find something buried that is like a thorn deep in the 'flesh' of your being - your endlessly mysterious being.
Then we respond to that thorn, which could be many different things. I call this 'hub' healing, but that's for another day.
So why do I feel not quite right about these stories?
I'm not sure. Perhaps it is because there is some evolution in me that has found this type of healing, no matter how dramatically effective some event appears, still doesn't heal the one most important thing.
The ideas he has given above in your quote - I say take them and work with them yourself. If you can apply this method yourself, in the midst of your own emotional turmoil, then you on the right track - you are going somewhere essential.
When it comes to others.... I personally have been with people who have had the most gobsmackingly life changing realisations, of not just themselves, their emotional causation, their unique being, but also of the universe. And yet they stepped off the path.
QS talks elsewhere about 'being' the path rather than 'being on' the path. This is very insightful, and accurate - when we are on the path, we are the path. Yet I still use this phrase, being on or off the path, because I have seen so many step off. The image of a train is so strong in my imagination, that I see some people at a crucial moment, take an irretrievable step.
So yes, healing in the way he describes is indeed a wonderful experience to be present at, to participate in, even when doing nothing.
I sometimes wonder, as Julie said last night, when we were talking about the sixties, and why so many people who had such intense experiences and such high ideal, at some point in the eighties, just gave it all up and went off to live very straight lives: she said she now feels they were never there. She only thought they were there with her, but actually they never were. They were only playing a game of youthful adventure, but it never meant much, no matter what fine words they read or sprouted.
Why should we 'put our hands' into anyone who is not going to stick to the path? Aren't we only switching light bulbs in the eyes of a phantom - always was a phantom and always will be one?
I don't know the answer to this, but I certainly know the question.
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M;Why should we 'put our hands' into anyone who is not going to stick to the path? Aren't we only switching light bulbs in the eyes of a phantom - always was a phantom and always will be one?
I don't know the answer to this, but I certainly know the question.
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When I keep my hands out, I Am All that I am. I am an example. People see this whether they are on a "path" or not.
When I close them they turn into fists.
To me, it's all in the approach.
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When I keep my hands out, I Am All that I am. I am an example. People see this whether they are on a "path" or not.
When I close them they turn into fists.
To me, it's all in the approach.
Absolutely agree with you Luna.
It might be easier to give up, they had their chance, but for me, when I give, I also receive.
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~
That is what he is calling Presence. It has a powerful effect. So he is asking the person to just be with their emotions, and not their thoughts. I agree, that is an excellent technique, and it can apply to much more than emotion.
Here's just a bit Tolle mentions concerning emotion. He covers emotion quite extensively.
In addition to the movement of thought, although not entirely separate from it, there is another dimension to the ego: emotion. This is not to say that all thinking and all emotion are of the ego. They turn into ego only when you identify with them and they take you over completely, that is to say, when they become “I.”
The physical organism, your body, has its own intelligence, as does the organism of every other lifeform. And that intelligence reacts to what your mind is saying, reacts to your thoughts. So emotion is the body's reaction to your mind. The body's intelligence is, of course, an inseparable part of universal intelligence, one of its countless manifestations. It gives temporary cohesion to the atoms and molecules that make up your physical organism. It is the organizing principle behind the workings of all the organs of the body,
the conversion of oxygen and food into energy, the heartbeat and circulation of he blood, the immune system that protects the body from invaders, the translation of sensory input into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain, decoded there, and reassembled into a coherent inner picture of outer reality. All these, as well as thousands of others simultaneously occurring functions,
are coordinated perfectly by that intelligence. You don't run your body. The intelligence does. It also is in charge of the organism's responses to its environment.
Indirectly, an emotion can also be a response to an actual situation or event, but it will be a response to the event seen through the filter of a mental interpretation, the filter of thought, that is to say, through the mental concepts of good and bad, like and dislike, me and mine. For example, it is likely you won't feel any emotion when you are told that someone's car has been stolen, but when it is your car, you will probably feel upset. It is amazing how much emotion a little mental concept like “my” can generate.
Although the body is very intelligent, it cannot tell the difference between an actual situation and a thought. It reacts to every thought as if it were a reality. It doesn't know it is just a thought. To the body, a worrisome, fearful thought means “I am in danger,” and it responds accordingly, even though you may be lying in a warm and comfortable bed at night. The heart beats faster, muscles contract, breathing becomes rapid. There is a buildup of energy, but since the danger is only a mental fiction, the energy has no outlet. Part of it is fed back to the mind and generates even more anxious thought. The rest of the energy turns toxic and interferes with the harmonious functioning of the body.
z
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Indirectly, an emotion can also be a response to an actual situation or event, but it will be a response to the event seen through the filter of a mental interpretation, the filter of thought, that is to say, through the mental concepts of good and bad, like and dislike, me and mine.
What he says here is an accurate description. However, I employ Gurdjieff's distinction, in which G calls this type of emotion, emotion associated with the mind centre. G has three main centres - the mind, the emotional, and the physical. But a component of each of these has a sub-area of the others.
So there is an emotional sub-area of the mind. That is what ET is referring to. The emotional sub-area of the mind is when our emotions are affected by our mental processes, in it's broad context. But these emotions are still connected to the emotional centre itself - ie they still draw their energy from the emotional centre.
This distinction is one of the easiest to see. There are times when the emotional centre activates outside our mental processes or stasis. These are very unusual experiences, and extremely powerful, when we feel emotion but have no thoughts connected to it - for no apparent reason we find ourselves in an emotional state.
We could also be experiencing emotion from it's sub-area of the body - when emotion arises directly from physical receptors, like when we feel highly pleasant emotion from lying in the sun on a balmy day. Immediately that may trigger an association in our mind, which in turn triggers an emotion from the mind centre.
It is not common to feel emotions arising spontaneously from the emotion centre itself, but when it happens, it has a strange consuming quality.
These distinctions are not just for mental gymnastics - they are first to aid observation. Watch what is happening in our being, so that we can pull out of our identification. It is also to assist in exercises and practices which develop each of these centres and sub-areas in turn.
What ET is describing is perhaps the most misused and addictive form of emotionality. Weird how out of control we are with our mental-emotions. He is right about the filtering. Every input is filtered by our tyrant - the mind. By which I mean the whole 'world' we know. And it is given free access to our power source, our emotional engine, to do with as it pleases.
By dropping out of the mental process, and sitting with the emotion, we are in fact stepping outside the tyrant's control, and we are left with the emotion. But we find that without the mental process, the emotion lacks purpose, because it does not spring from the emotional centre itself. It looks silly, without the tyrant's ploy. Thus it tends to drop away very quickly. Which happens anyway, and is why you observe people replaying the same thought threads over and over - they are trying to sustain the emotion with the mental trigger, by pulling it repeatedly until it has finally been drained.
But then we look for another mental trigger. Because we are addicted to these mind-emotions. In fact 99% of people live only to fire up these emotions. When they die off, we become bored.
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Absolutely agree with you Luna.
It might be easier to give up, they had their chance, but for me, when I give, I also receive.
And to give/love unconditionally is to not expect anything in return. There is no "giving up", no "they had their chance". Those concepts don't exist. It is what is.
Btw, while sitting on the patio this morning, I looked down and saw a little feather .. thanks for enjoying the beautiful a.m. with us ... warm smiles.
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Here's another section of the book that I enjoyed:
Tolle:
You may remember the paradox of time we mentioned earlier: Whatever you do takes time, and yet it is always now. So while your inner purpose is to negate time, your outer purpose necessarily involves future and so could not exist without time. But it is always secondary. Whenever you become anxious or stressed, outer purpose has taken over, and you lost sight of your inner purpose. You have forgotten that your state of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.
As you already know, your secondary or outer purpose lies within the dimension of time, while your main purpose is inseparable from the Now and therefore requires the negation of time. How are they reconciled? By realizing that your entire life journey ultimately consists of the step you are taking at this moment. There is always only this one step, and so you give it your fullest attention. This doesn't mean you don't know where you are going; it just means this step is primary, the destination secondary. And what you encounter at your destination once you get there depends on the quality of this one step. Another way of putting it: What the future holds for you depends on your state of consciousness now.
When we speak of the elimination of time, we are, of course, not referring to clock time, which is the use of time for practical purposes, such as making an appointment or planning a trip. It would be almost impossible to function in this world without clock time. What we are speaking of is the elimination of psychological time, which is the egoic mind's endless preoccupation with past and future and its unwillingness to be one with life by living in alignment with the inevitable ‘isness’ of the present moment.
Whenever a habitual 'no' to life turns into a 'yes', whenever you allow this moment to be as it is, you dissolve time as well as ego. For the ego to survive, it must make time – past and future – more important than the present moment. The ego cannot tolerate becoming friendly with the present moment except briefly just after it got what it wanted. But nothing can satisfy the ego for long. As long as it runs your life, there are two ways of being unhappy. Not getting what you want is one. Getting what you want is the other.
z
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And to give/love unconditionally is to not expect anything in return. There is no "giving up", no "they had their chance". Those concepts don't exist. It is what is.
Btw, while sitting on the patio this morning, I looked down and saw a little feather .. thanks for enjoying the beautiful a.m. with us ... warm smiles.
;D
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there are two ways of being unhappy. Not getting what you want is one. Getting what you want is the other.
Kris, when was the last time you cried?
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Kris, when was the last time you cried?
Last night while watching a movie.
z
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and...
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We were watching an episode of CSI: Miami. At the end of the show there was a military funeral. I’ve attended several, so I became identified with those that I perceived as ‘sad’ in the show.
What occurred was an instantaneous ‘thought’ of when I, myself, was in that situation, (In the 'Time' of 'Past' of course,) then relayed that to my body. This is a trigger that I’ve had since the first funeral I attended.
It’s an interesting ‘situation’ to view: the thoughts take over, digging up the past and placing them almost ‘into’ the show. There were two events occurring: My intellectual, my ‘own’ version of what occurred when I was in that situation, over-layed on the actual show that was being presented.
I was unconscious as Tolle would say, completely identified with my Mental Form.
Took me a bit to find the below listed comments, but worth it:
_____________________________
"How does a man of knowledge exercise controlled folly when it comes to the death of a person he loves?" I asked.
Don Juan was taken aback by my question and looked at me quizzically.
"Take your grandson Lucio," I said. "Would your acts be controlled folly at the time of his death?"
"Take my son Eulalio, that's a better example," don Juan replied calmly. "He was crushed by rocks while working in the construction of the Pan-American Highway. My acts toward him at the moment of his death were controlled folly. When I came down to the blasting area he was almost dead, but his body was so strong that it kept on moving and kicking. I stood in front of him and told the boys in the road crew not to move him any more; they obeyed me and stood there surrounding my son, looking at his mangled body. I stood there too, but I did not look. I shifted my eyes so I would see his personal life disintegrating, expanding uncontrollably beyond its limits, like a fog of crystals, because that is the way life and death mix and expand. That is what I did at the time of my son's death. That's all one could ever do, and that is controlled folly. Had I looked at him I would have watched him becoming immobile and I would have felt a cry inside of me, because never again would I look at his fine figure pacing the earth. I saw his death instead, and there was no sadness, no feeling. His death was equal to everything else."
Don Juan was quiet for a moment. He seemed to be sad, but then he smiled and tapped my head.
"So you may say that when it comes to the death of a person I love, my controlled folly is to shift my eyes." I thought about the people I love myself and a terribly oppressive wave of self-pity enveloped me.
"Lucky you, don Juan," I said. "You can shift your eyes, while I can only look." He found my statement funny and laughed.
"Lucky, bull!" he said. "It's hard work."
We both laughed. After a long silence I began probing him again, perhaps only to dispel my own sadness. "If I have understood you correctly then, don Juan," I said, "the only acts in the life of a man of knowledge which are not controlled folly are those he performs with his ally or with Mescalito. Isn't that right?" "That's right," he said, chuckling. "My ally and Mescalito are not on a par with us human beings. My controlled folly applies only to myself and to the acts I perform while in the company of my fellow men." "However, it is a logical possibility," I said, "to think that a man of knowledge may also regard his acts with his ally or with Mescalito as controlled folly, true?" He stared at me for a moment.
"You're thinking again," he said. "A man of knowledge doesn't think, therefore he cannot encounter that possibility. Take me, for example. I say that my controlled folly applies to the acts I performed while in the company of my fellow men; I say that because I can see my fellow men. However, I cannot see through my ally and that makes it incomprehensible to me, so how could I control my folly if I don't see through it? With my ally or with Mescalito I am only a man who knows how to see and finds that he's baffled by what he sees; a man who knows that he'll never understand all that is around him. "Take your case, for instance. It doesn't matter to me whether you become a man of knowledge or not; however, it matters to Mescalito. Obviously it matters to him or he wouldn't take so many steps to show his concern about you. I can notice his concern and I act toward it, yet his reasons are incomprehensible to me."
________________________________
"Had I looked at him I would have watched him becoming immobile and I would have felt a cry inside of me, because never again would I look at his fine figure pacing the earth. I saw his death instead, and there was no sadness, no feeling. His death was equal to everything else."
I've *seen* in this manner, but most of the times I'm indulging.
Zam
P.S. These comments above are in the midst of a great discussion concerning controlled folly, but, that's another discussion for another time ;)
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We were watching an episode of CSI: Miami. At the end of the show there was a military funeral. I’ve attended several, so I became identified with those that I perceived as ‘sad’ in the show.
What occurred was an instantaneous ‘thought’ of when I, myself, was in that situation, (In the 'Time' of 'Past' of course,) then relayed that to my body. This is a trigger that I’ve had since the first funeral I attended.
It’s an interesting ‘situation’ to view: the thoughts take over, digging up the past and placing them almost ‘into’ the show. There were two events occurring: My intellectual, my ‘own’ version of what occurred when I was in that situation, over-layed on the actual show that was being presented.
I was unconscious as Tolle would say, completely identified with my Mental Form.
That's a good post Kris. It is what I had previously asked you to do - to weave your own experience in with a quote to lend weight and insight. You came from your own emotional event, reflected on it from the viewpoint of Tolle's knowledge, then bridged across to Juanito's knowledge, to offer us a composite meal.
However, I could not help noticing that in describing the event - the last time you cried - that you didn't use a single emotive word, except for the very minimal, 'sad', which you even put in single quotes as if to say it is an intellectual reference, not an emotional one.
Just an immediate observation on first reading.
Do you feel awkward writing in emotional language?
It has been my observation that those who have difficulty writing emotively, often speak with emotive moods behind their words. I mean moods that they are not in harmony with - moods which sweep like winds behind their voice.
Does you partner sense these waves of moods?
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However, I could not help noticing that in describing the event - the last time you cried - that you didn't use a single emotive word, except for the very minimal, 'sad', which you even put in single quotes as if to say it is an intellectual reference, not an emotional one.
Just an immediate observation on first reading.
A very good observation, I might add. This was done with purpose, yet another learning I picked up from Tolle’s work. Hmmm...let me re-phrase that. I've learned what Tolle mentions from numerous others; his work reached down thru me and touched my consciousness.
As I re-lived my reaction, I noticed it was a very intellectual crying. This reaction was not to my emotional body. The example I’ll use from Tolle is as follows: “If someone steals your friends car, you won’t be as emotional as if someone steals Your car.” Paraphrased of course. It was a thought from the episode on TV that triggered some past emotions, and I became aware of this pretty quickly as it was occurring.
Do you feel awkward writing in emotional language?
Unsure if awkward is a term I’d use. At times passion rises up from the ashes, other instances not so much in How I write. I’ll refrain from labeling either ‘good or bad,’ just that I’m becoming more and more Aware of each experience and how it's described with words.
It has been my observation that those who have difficulty writing emotively, often speak with emotive moods behind their words. I mean moods that they are not in harmony with - moods which sweep like winds behind their voice.
Yes, I do have moods that I’m not in harmony with, and yes, they do sweep like winds behind my voice. As the Awareness rises, as the view becomes a bit clearer, perception of this has been most revealing indeed! Imho, this is The Work.
Does you partner sense these waves of moods?
<<<Puts on his best Juanito face and voice, calling out>>> “Hey, hey, Partner! Do you sense these waves of moods?” ;)
I’d also like to call forth another witness: Raven. “Hey, hey, Raven! Do you sense these waves of moods?”
Although Ang has dealt with me on a face to face level, Jenn and I have had some pretty intense discussions and I know she *see’s* me pretty well.
So?
z
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Yes, I do have moods that I’m not in harmony with, and yes, they do sweep like winds behind my voice. As the Awareness rises, as the view becomes a bit clearer, perception of this has been most revealing indeed! Imho, this is The Work.
I’d also like to call forth another witness: Raven. “Hey, hey, Raven! Do you sense these waves of moods?”
Yep.. ;)
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I also see you doing 'the work' ;)
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nifty...
This was done with purpose, yet another learning I picked up from Tolle’s work.
are you saying that Tolle recommends you avoid using emotive words?
I suspect you are saying that realising your moods were 'from the ego' as he puts it, you felt they were better presented in an intellectual way. I can't see that that is an appropriate response to utilising his insight, but at least you were aware of the fact there was a specific type of emotion involved.
Anyway, the problem with these emotive winds, is not that they happen - one would be a sad case were there none. Rather the problem is when they blow from our shadow - from the area to which we push things we don't want to acknowledge openly.
And we don't want to do that because we are desperate to display ourselves to others in a special light - we don't want others to see our warts.
We do want others to believe we are someone they will like and admire.
And the more we desire that, the more we fear the opposite,
and the more we fear something, the more we attract it.
We become what we despise.
Much better to write poetry.
Much better to soften the belly.
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What is a productive way to deal with these emotive winds?
z
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“Hey, hey, Partner! Do you sense these waves of moods?” ;)
Yes, I do. As you do in me.
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What is a productive way to deal with these emotive winds?
z
If I may offer ....
Express them in writing as sincerely as you express them in person.
A
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Yes, I do. As you do in me.
If I may offer ....
Express them in writing as sincerely as you express them in person.
A
Brilliant!
Now why didn't I think of that??
We've discussed this before...do you recall?
What an excellent day! How is yours progressing?
If I were any better I'd be twiins!
Chuckles...
z
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Brilliant!
Now why didn't I think of that??
We've discussed this before...do you recall?
What an excellent day! How is yours progressing?
If I were any better I'd be twiins!
Chuckles...
z
Yes, we have discussed before.
Going well! hard to sneak in a comment here and there ... I'm in an office setting ;) Will check in later.
Love you :-*
A
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And we don't want to do that because we are desperate to display ourselves to others in a special light - we don't want others to see our warts.
We do want others to believe we are someone they will like and admire.
And the more we desire that, the more we fear the opposite,
and the more we fear something, the more we attract it.
We become what we despise.
Much better to write poetry.
Much better to soften the belly.
The Upanishads, the ancient scriptures of India, point to the same truth with these words:
What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the eye can see: know that alone to be Brahman the Spirit and not what people here adore. What cannot be heard with the ear but that whereby the ear can hear: know that alone to be Brahman the Spirit and not what people here adore .... What cannot be thought with the mind but that whereby the mind can think: know that alone to be Brahman the Spirit and not what people here adore.
God, the scripture is saying, is formless consciousness and the essence of who you are. Everything else is form, is “what people here adore.”
z
P.S. This is another piece by Tolle.
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curious, I had a feeling Tolle might be into advaita.
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curious, I had a feeling Tolle might be into advaita.
Are you reading the book?
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According to an ancient Sufi story, there lived a king in some Middle Eastern land who was continuously torn between happiness and despondency. The slightest thing would cause him great upset or provoke an intense reaction, and his happiness would quickly turn into disappointment and despair. A time came when the king finally got tired of himself and of life, and he began to seek a way out. He sent for a wise man who lived in his kingdom and who was reputed to be enlightened. When the wise man came, the king said to him, “I want to be like you. Can you give me something that will bring balance, serenity, and wisdom into my life? I will pay any price you ask.”
The wise man said, “I may be able to help you. But the price is so great that your entire kingdom would not be sufficient payment for it. Therefore it will be a gift to you if you will honor it.” The king gave his assurances, and the wise man left.
A few weeks later, he returned and handed the king an ornate box carved in jade. The king opened the box and found a simple gold ring inside. Some letters were inscribed on the ring. The inscription read: This, too, will pass. “What is the meaning of this?” asked the king. The wise man said, “Wear this ring always. Whatever happens, before you call it good or bad, touch this ring and read the inscription. That way, you will always be at peace.”
This, too, will pass. What is it about these simple words that makes them so powerful? Looking at it superficially, it would seem while those words may provide some comfort in a bad situation, they would also diminish the enjoyment of the good things in life. “Don't be too happy, because it won't last.” This seems to be what they are saying when applied in a situation that is perceived as good.
The full import of these words becomes clear when we consider them in the context of two other stories that we encountered earlier. The story of the Zen Master whose only response was always “Is that so?” shows the good that comes through inner nonresistance to events, that is to say, being at one with what happens. The story of the man whose comment was invariably a laconic “Maybe” illustrates the wisdom of nonjudgment, and the story of the ring points to the fact of impermanence which, when recognized, leads to nonattachment. Nonresistance, nonjudgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.
Those words inscribed on the ring are not telling you that you should not enjoy the good in your life, nor are they merely meant to provide some comfort in times of suffering. They have a deeper purpose: to make you aware of the fleetingness of every situation, which is due to the transience of all forms – good or bad. When you become aware of the transience of all forms, your attachment to them lessens, and you disidentify from them to some extent. Being detached does not mean that you cannot enjoy the good that the world has to offer. In fact, you enjoy it more. Once you see and accept the transience of all things and the inevitability of change, you can enjoy the pleasures of the world while they last without fear of loss or anxiety about the future. When you are detached, you gain a higher vantage point from which to view the events in your life instead of being trapped inside them. You become like an astronaut who sees the planet Earth surrounded by the vastness of space and realizes a paradoxical truth: The earth is precious and at the same time insignificant. The recognition that This, too will pass brings detachment and with detachment another dimension comes into your lie inner space. Through detachment, as well as
nonjudgment and inner nonresistance, you gain access to that dimension.
When you are no longer totally identified with forms, consciousness – who you are becomes freed form its imprisonment in form. This freedom is the arising of inner space. It comes as a stillness, a subtle peace deep within you, even in the face of something seemingly bad. This, too, will pass. Suddenly, there is space around the event. There is also space around the emotional highs and lows, even around pain. And above all, there is space between your thoughts. And from that space emanates a peace that is not “of this world,” because this world is form, and the peace is space. This is the peace of God.
Now you can enjoy and honor the things of this world without giving them an importance and significance they don't have. You can participate in the dance of creation and be active without attachment to outcome and without placing unreasonable demands upon the world: Fulfill me, make me happy, make me feel safe, tell me who I am. The world cannot give you those things, and when you no longer have such expectations, all selfcreated suffering comes to an end. All such suffering is due to an overvaluation of form and an unawareness of the dimension of inner space. When that dimension is present in your life, you can enjoy things, experiences, and the pleasures of the sense without losing yourself in them, without inner attachment to them, that is to say, without becoming addicted to the world.
The words This, too, will pass are pointers toward reality. In pointing to the impermanence of all forms, by implication, they are also pointing to the eternal. Only the eternal in you can recognize the impermanent as impermanent. When the dimension of space is lost or rather not known, the things of the world assume an absolute importance, a seriousness and heaviness that in truth they do not have. When the world is not viewed from the perspective of the formless, it becomes a threatening place, and ultimately a place of despair. The Old Testament prophet must have felt this when he wrote, “All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it.”
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Watching the owner of the company whom I work with rant and rave this morning presented the opportunity.
Through detachment, as well as nonjudgment and inner nonresistance, some space was created. This is a huge opportunity for myself as Duane (the owner) and I have much history.
z
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Are you reading the book?
I have had a peek at it.
You really want my opinion? Probably not, but here it is anyway. From all I have seen in it so far, he looks to have the right ideas - which is not as common as one would hope, considering that it's not that difficult.
I see this book as covering a good synthesis of the main understandings gleaned from many traditions and wisdoms. I know that each tradition would likely get upset that he has take these interpretations, but as far as I can see, you won't go wrong studying his stuff.
Personally, I found Rajneesh's early books more dynamic and insightful, and also brought together the central themes of a much vaster spiritual scope that ET. But then is that necessary, to go that far? After all Rajneesh was a Professor of Philosophy if I recall correctly.
So yes, I'd say go for it. I think he has a good grasp of the material.
Will it change anyone?
Somehow I doubt it. Meaning I doubt this assertion at the beginning regarding that. I expect those who read it will be momentarily lifted a few inches off their usual seat - momentarily see a possibility they would like to aspire to, and then sink back to the old spot.
Words don't have the power.
Now Rajneesh did change people - he catapulted them out of their world, through the ideas of changing their dress and doing many wild and interesting exercises ... well at least until he started on sex, and it all went pretty mundane after that. His early stuff was very good. But if they changed, did they change to somewhere worthwhile?
I don't feel so. After considerable observations and even visits to his home centre in Pune, I have been left disappointed with the results, although I do know that certain individuals did move on to worthwhile directions. There are always some who will use wisely what they find and then keep moving.
So I'm saying, I don't feel you will find transformation in this book. But I do feel you can use this book fruitfully in your own transformation. So juice it well.
(How's that? Is that enough? Can I get back to the Yogins of Ladakh now?)
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There are always some who will use wisely what they find and then keep moving.
That's the beauty ... we all find different ways to spur ourselves on. One person's garbage is another person's treasure. There is no one true Way ... but there Is only one Way for each of us.
(How's that? Is that enough? Can I get back to the Yogins of Ladakh now?)
Yes, please ... don't mean to hold you up ;) Tell us a little about your book and how it's effecting your spiritual path.
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The more I tap into this "inner space", the longer I have held it. It then it becomes a significant force in everything I experience. It produces a very calming effect as well as heightened awareness. I sense a feeling of doing things more "appropriately" ... not in a measure of "right" or "wrong", but as I said ... "appropriately". I even find myself speaking this way. There is no negative or positive "reaction". Just a sense of presence.
RECOGNIZING INNER SPACE (pg. 141-143)
"Space between thoughts is probably already arising sporadically in
your life, and you may not even know it. A consciousness mesmerized by
experiences and conditioned to identify exclusively with form, that is to say,
object consciousness, finds it at first almost impossible to become aware of
space. This ultimately mean that you cannot become aware of yourself,
because you are always aware of something else. You are continuously
distracted by form. Even when you seem to be aware of yourself, you have
made yourself into an object, a thought form, and so what you are aware of is
a thought, not yourself.
When you hear of inner space, you may start seeking it, and because
you are seeking it as if you were looking for an object or for an experience,
you cannot find it. This is the dilemma of all those who are seeking spiritual
realization or enlightenment. Hence, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is not
coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or
'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
If you are not spending all of your waking life in discontent, worry,
anxiety, depression, despair, or consumed by other negative states; if you are
able to enjoy simple things like listening to he sound of the rain or the wind;
if you can see the beauty of clouds moving across the sky or be alone at
times without feeling lonely or needing the mental stimulus of
entertainment; if you find yourself treating a complete stranger with heartfelt
kindness without wanting anything from him or her... it means that a space
has opened up, no matter how briefly, in the otherwise incessant stream of
thinking that is the human mind. When this happens there is a sense of well-
being, of alive peace, even though it may be subtle. The intensity will vary
from a perhaps barely noticeable background sense of contentment to what
the ancient sages of India called ananda – the bliss of Being. Because you
have been conditioned to pay attention only to form, you are probably not
aware of it except indirectly. For example, there is a common element in the
ability to see beauty, to appreciate simple things, to enjoy your own
company, or to relate to other people with loving kindness. This common
element is a sense of contentment, peace, and aliveness that is the invisible
background without which these experiences would not be possible.
Whenever there is beauty, kindness, the recognition of the goodness of
simple things in your life, look for the background to that experience within
yourself. But don't look for it as if you were looking for something. You
cannot pin it down and say, “Now I have it,” or grasp it mentally and define
it in some way. It is like the cloudless sky. It has no form. It is space; it is
stillness, the sweetness of Being and infinitely more than these words, which
are only pointers. When you are able to sense it directly within yourself, it
deepens. So when you appreciate something simple – a sound, a sight, a
touch – when you see beauty, when you feel loving kindness toward another,
sense the inner spaciousness that is the source and background to that
experience.
Many poets and sages throughout the ages have observed that true
happiness – I call it the joy of Being – is found in simple, seemingly
unremarkable things. Most people, in their restless search for something
significant to happen to them, continuously miss the insignificant, which
may not be insignificant at all. The philosopher Nietzsche, in a rare moment
of deep stillness, rote, “For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!....
the least ting precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's
rustling, a breath, a wisk, an eye glance – little maketh up the best happiness.
Be still.”
Why is it the “least thing” that makes up “the best happiness”?
Because true happiness is not caused by the thing or event, although this is
how it first appears. The thing or event is so subtle, so unobtrusive, that it
takes up only a small part of your consciousness – and the rest is inner space,
consciousness itself unobstructed by form. Inner space consciousness and
who you are in your essence are one and the same. In other words, the form
of little things leaves room for inner space. And it is from inner space, the
unconditioned consciousness itself, that true happiness, the joy of Being,
emanates. To be aware of little, quiet things, however, you need to be quiet
inside. A high degree of alertness is required. Be still. Look. Listen. Be
present.
Here is anther way of finding inner space: Become conscious of being
conscious. Say or think “I Am” and add nothing to it. Be aware of the
stillness that follows the I Am. Sense your presence, the naked, unveiled,
unclothed beingness. It is untouched by young or old, rich or poor, good or
bad, or any other attributes. It is the spacious womb of all creation, all form."
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CAN YOU HEAR THE MOUNTAIN STREAM? (pg. 143)
"A Zen Master was walking in silence with one of his disciples along a
mountain trail. When they came to an ancient cedar tree, they sat down
under it for a simple meal of some rice and vegetables. After the meal, the
disciple, a young monk who had not yet found the key to the mystery of Zen,
broke the silence by asking the Master, “Master, how do I enter Zen?”
He was, of course, inquiring how to enter the state of consciousness
which is Zen.
The Master remained silent. Almost five minutes passed while the
disciple anxiously waited for an answer. He was about to ask another
question when the Master suddenly spoke. “Do you hear the sound of that
mountain stream?”
The disciple had not been aware of any mountain stream. He had been
too busy thinking about the meaning of Zen. Now as he began to listen for
the sound, his noisy mind subsided. At first he heard nothing. Then, his
thinking gave way to heightened alertness, and suddenly he did hear the
hardly perceptible murmur of a small stream in the far distance.
“Yes, I can hear it now,” he said.
The master raised his finger and, with a look in his eyes that in some
way was both fierce and gentle, said, “Enter Zen from there.”
The disciple was stunned. It was his first satori – a flash of
enlightenment. He knew what Zen was without knowing what it was that he
knew!
They continued on their journey in silence. The disciple was amazed
at the aliveness of the world around him. He experienced everything as if for
the first time. Gradually, however, he stated thinking again. The alert
stillness became covered up again by mental noise, and before long he had
another question. “Master,” he said, “I have been thinking. What would you
have said if I hadn't been able to hear the mountain stream?” The master
stopped, looked at him, raised his finger and said, “Enter Zen from there.”
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“Truth is one, paths are many.” ~ Siri Swami Satchidananda
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"There's no where you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." --- not really a quote. It's a lyric from All You Need is Love, The Beatles
Performed in the final scene in the movie, "Across the Universe". A movie we watched last week. We didn't really know what we were putting on, and found it surprisingly good for a movie musical :)
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"There's no where you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." --- not really a quote. It's a lyric from All You Need is Love, The Beatles
Performed in the final scene in the movie, "Across the Universe". A movie we watched last week. We didn't really know what we were putting on, and found it surprisingly good for a movie musical :)
Yes, I enjoyed it!
z
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"Awakened doing is the alignment of your outer purpose - what you do – with your inner purpose – awakening and staying awake. Through awakened doing, you become one with the outgoing purpose of the universe. Consciousness flows through you into this world. It flows into your thoughts and inspires them. It flows into what you do and guides and empowers it.
Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness.
A reversal of your priorities comes about when the main purpose for doing what you do becomes the doing itself, or rather, the current of consciousness that flows into what you do. That current of consciousness is what determines quality. Another way of putting it: In any situation and in whatever you do, your state of consciousness is the primary factor; the situation and what you do is secondary. “Future” success is dependent upon and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate. That can be either the reactive force of the ego or the alert attention of awakened consciousness. All truly successful action comes out of that field of alert attention, rather than from ego and conditioned, unconscious thinking."
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well, couldn't have said it better myself.
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The more I tap into this "inner space", the longer I have held it. It then it becomes a significant force in everything I experience. It produces a very calming effect as well as heightened awareness. I sense a feeling of doing things more "appropriately" ... not in a measure of "right" or "wrong", but as I said ... "appropriately". I even find myself speaking this way. There is no negative or positive "reaction". Just a sense of presence.
RECOGNIZING INNER SPACE (pg. 141-143)
"Space between thoughts is probably already arising sporadically in
your life, and you may not even know it....
That is a good explanation by ET. I especially like the part that simple pleasures play in this process - he explained that well.
But knowing and doing... there lies the real skill.
I am of the view that the momentum and power of the 'world' we live in should never be underestimated. Like how young people distinguish themselves vehemently from their parents, but invariable revert to carbon copies of them as they age.
The first realisation is to know there is another option in life. The second is to realise that option - by which I mean gaining a glimpse. I call this the 'Tree Realisation'. Climbing a tall tree and seeing out above the canopy. But the journey has still to be made by foot - step by step. A scout returning to the whole army describing the landscape over the mountains is really inspiring, but alas, the whole army is a mighty thing to move.
The next realisation is to know we are in a battle to the death with the entire force of our lives, and that we will lose.
Only after people have had that realisation, the Realisation of Despair, are they worthy warriors.
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Some letters were inscribed on the ring. The inscription read: This, too, will pass. “What is the meaning of this?” asked the king. The wise man said, “Wear this ring always. Whatever happens, before you call it good or bad, touch this ring and read the inscription. That way, you will always be at peace.”
This story is actually based on fact. It is about a certain emperor, whose name slips my mind just now, but he did in fact get tossed out of his kingdom, lived in penury and finally regained his kingdom. The sufi tale of the ring comes from the sufi lineage, and may or may not be true, but it is nonetheless true as a teaching story.
I love these stories and used to feed off them so much in my youth, until one day I realised they had tricked me into following a path that led only to difficulties, while all my contemporaries went off to make money and acquire possessions and positions. All I had to show for my idiocy in listening and taking for real these stories, was my wealth of perception.
No superannuation, not yacht, no health insurance. Those story writers I could see laughing at me - "You didn't believe all that stuff did you?" they laughed... all the way to their bank.
Oh well, it's too late now - what's done is done. I have my wealth and they have theirs - who knows which is better?
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The next realisation is to know we are in a battle to the death with the entire force of our lives, and that we will lose.
Only after people have had that realisation, the Realisation of Despair, are they worthy warriors.
I love these stories and used to feed off them so much in my youth, until one day I realised they had tricked me into following a path that led only to difficulties, while all my contemporaries went off to make money and acquire possessions and positions. All I had to show for my idiocy in listening and taking for real these stories, was my wealth of perception.
No superannuation, not yacht, no health insurance. Those story writers I could see laughing at me - "You didn't believe all that stuff did you?" they laughed... all the way to their bank.
Oh well, it's too late now - what's done is done. I have my wealth and they have theirs - who knows which is better?
As I picked up my son from school yesterday (he was in the art room helping the art teacher ... he usually doesn't frequent the art room). I was waiting for him to gather his things and turned around in the courtyard, noticing the inscriptions on the adobe wall up above. Your words just reminded me of them.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven"
Matthew 5:3
and....
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"
Matthew 5:5
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_038.jpg/300px-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_038.jpg)
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"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven"
Matthew 5:3
I am not quite sure I understand what this means. How is a person poor in spirit? How is this possible?
???
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As I picked up my son from school yesterday (he was in the art room helping the art teacher ... he usually doesn't frequent the art room). I was waiting for him to gather his things and turned around in the courtyard, noticing the inscriptions on the adobe wall up above. Your words just reminded me of them.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven"
Matthew 5:3
and....
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said, “for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven.” What does “poor in spirit” mean? No inner baggage, no identifications. Not with things, nor with any mental concepts that have a sense of self in them. And what is the “kingdom of heaven” The simple but profound joy of Being that is there when you let og of identifications and so become “poor in spirit.”
In the Sermon on th Mount, Jesus makes a prediction that to this day few people have understood. He says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” In modern versions of the Bible, “meek” is translated as humble. Who are the meek or the humble, and what does it mean that they shall inherit the earth?
The meek are the egoless. They are those who have awakened to their essential true nature as consciousness and recognize that essence in all “others,” all lifeforms. They live in the surrendered state and so feel their oneness with the whole and the Source. They embody the awakened consciousness that is changing all aspects of life on our planet, including nature, because life on earth is inseparable from the human consciousness that perceives and interacts with it. That is the sense in which the meek will inherit the earth.
z
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said, “for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven.” What does “poor in spirit” mean? No inner baggage, no identifications. Not with things, nor with any mental concepts that have a sense of self in them.
Interesting, I would have thought these people would be rich in spirit!
;D
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said, “for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven.” What does “poor in spirit” mean? No inner baggage, no identifications. Not with things, nor with any mental concepts that have a sense of self in them. And what is the “kingdom of heaven” The simple but profound joy of Being that is there when you let og of identifications and so become “poor in spirit.”
In the Sermon on th Mount, Jesus makes a prediction that to this day few people have understood. He says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” In modern versions of the Bible, “meek” is translated as humble. Who are the meek or the humble, and what does it mean that they shall inherit the earth?
The meek are the egoless. They are those who have awakened to their essential true nature as consciousness and recognize that essence in all “others,” all lifeforms. They live in the surrendered state and so feel their oneness with the whole and the Source. They embody the awakened consciousness that is changing all aspects of life on our planet, including nature, because life on earth is inseparable from the human consciousness that perceives and interacts with it. That is the sense in which the meek will inherit the earth.
z
I would think that to be truly egoless, one could not also be meek or humble, since being meek or humble, implies that some"one" is being meek or humble. Don't know whether Jesus said that or not.. but it certainly sounds like a good control tactic for a religion! :)
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its always been a tricky quote.
the only explanation most of us adopt, is to interpret the words meek and poor in terms of egoism.
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Such it is with words...
z
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Such it is with words...
z
Yeah... words can be a real bitch eh?! ;)
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Yeah... words can be a real bitch eh?! ;)
;D
Share your words with us over here: http://restlesssoma.com.au/restlesssoma/index.php?topic=2049.0
P.S. Hiya Daph!
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;D
Share your words with us over here: http://restlesssoma.com.au/restlesssoma/index.php?topic=2049.0
P.S. Hiya Daph!
ribbet ribbet.. :P
Hiya Zam!
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THE THREE MODALITIES OF AWAKENED DOING
There are three ways in which consciousness can flow into what you do and thus through you into this world, three modalities in which you can align your life with the creative power of the universe. Modality means the underlying energy frequency that flows into what you do and connects your actions with the awakened consciousness that is emerging into this world. What you do will be dysfunctional and of the ego unless it arises out of one of these three modalities. They may change during the course of a day, although one of them may be dominant during a certain stage in your life. Each modality is appropriate to certain situations.
The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Each one represents a certain vibrational frequency of consciousness. You need to be vigilant to make sure that one of them operates whenever you are engaged in doing anything at all – from the most simple task to the most complex. If you are not in the state of either acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others.
ACCEPTANCE
Whatever you cannot enjoy doing, you can at least accept that this is what you have to do. Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation, this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly. We already spoke at length about the importance of inner acceptance of what happens, and acceptance of what you have to do is just another aspect of it. For example, you probably won't be able to enjoy changing the flat tire on your car at night in the middle of nowhere and in pouring rain, let alone be enthusiastic about it, but you can bring acceptance to it. Performing an action in the state of acceptance means you are at peace while you do it. That peace is a subtle energy vibration which then flows into what you do. On the surface, acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it is active and creative because it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, that subtle energy vibration, is consciousness, and one of the ways in which it enters this world is through surrendered action, one aspect of which is acceptance.
If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do - stop. Otherwise, you are not taking responsibility for the only thing you can really take responsibility for, which also happens to be one thing that really matters: your state of consciousness. And if you are not taking responsibility for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for life.
ENJOYMENT
The peace that comes with surrendered action turns to a sense of aliveness when you actually enjoy what you are doing. Enjoyment is the second modality of awakened doing. On the new earth, enjoyment will replace wanting as the motivating power behind people's actions. Wanting arises from the ego's delusion that you are a separate fragment that is disconnected from the power that lies behind all creation. Through enjoyment, you link into that universal creative power itself.
When you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it the quality of your life – increases dramatically. Joy is the dynamic aspect of Being. When the creative power of the universe becomes conscious of itself, it manifests as joy. You don't have to wait for something “meaningful” to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need. The “waiting to start living” syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state. Expansion and positive change on the outer level is much more likely to come into your life if you can enjoy what you are doing already, instead of waiting for some change so that you can start enjoying what you do.
When you say, I enjoy doing this or that, it is really a misperception. It makes it appear that the joy comes from what you do, but that is not the case. Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you. The misperception that joy comes from what you do is normal, and it is also dangerous, because it creates the belief that joy is something that can be derived form something else, such as an activity or thing. You then look to the world to bring you joy, happiness. But it cannot do that. This is why many people live in constant frustration. The world is not giving them what they think they need.
Then what is the relationship between something that you do and the state of joy? You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present, any activity that is not just a means to an end. It isn't the action you perform that you really enjoy, but the deep sense of aliveness that flows into it. That aliveness is one with who you are. This means that when you enjoy doing something, you are really experiencing the joy of Being in its dynamic aspect. That's why anything you enjoy doing connects you with the power behind all creation.
ENTHUSIASM
Then there is another way of creative manifestation that may come to those who remain true to their inner purpose of awakening. Suddenly one day they know what their outer purpose is. They have a great vision, a goal, and from then on they work toward implementing that goal. Their goal or vision is usually connected in some way to something that on a smaller scale they are doing and enjoy doing already. This is where the third modality of awakened doing arises: enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm means there is deep enjoyment in what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. When you add a goal to the enjoyment of what you do, the energy-field or vibrational frequency changes. A certain degree of what we might call structural tension is now added to enjoyment, and so it turns into enthusiasm. At the height of creative activity fueled by enthusiasm, there will be enormous intensity and energy behind what you do. You will feel like an arrow hat is moving toward the target – and enjoying the journey.
To an onlooker, it may appear that you are under stress, but the intensity of enthusiasm has nothing to do with stress. When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you become stressed. The balance between enjoyment and structural tension is lost, and the latter has won. When there is stress, it is usually a sign that the ego has returned , and you are cutting yourself off form the creative power of the universe. Instead, there is only the force and strain of egoic wanting, and so you have to struggle and “work hard” to make it. Stress always diminishes both the quality and effectiveness of what you do under its influence. There is also a strong link between stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger. It is toxic to the body and is now becoming recognized as one of the main causes of the socalled degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Enthusiasm and the ego cannot coexist. One implies the absence of the other. Enthusiasm knows where it is going, but at the same time, it is deeply at one with the present moment, the source of its aliveness, its joy, and its power. Enthusiasm “wants” nothing because it lacks nothing. It is at one with life and no matter how dynamic the enthusiasm inspired activities are, you don't lose yourself in them. And there remains always a still but intensely alive space at the center of the wheel, a core of peace in the midst of activity that is both the source of all and untouched by it all.
Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth
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Well ... I just finished the book. I know ... I'm a slow reader ;)
Here's a bit about Ego and what I've seen as sort of a "virus" with people. Whether it's just in everyday conversation, or an all out "brawl", responsibility of word and action can be lacking. One person's grievance becomes a "consensual" grievance.
I experienced this while working with a customer last Friday. An opinion turns into a conviction and before you know it Everyone agrees (whether it's true, or not) ... I watched it happen in a matter of seconds. The basis for this reasoning was Past interaction. Our major competitor was involved and most of our company used to work for that corporation.
It was interesting, to say the least ... without awareness, presence I would have drown. A potentially "ugly" situation was turned "friendly" ;) When I speak or act from my essence, true self ... there is a connection. That is Genuine. Ego is not. Ego usually has an ulterior motive and is quite transparent.
"A New Earth (pg. 42 ) REACTIVITY AND GRIEVANCES
Whereas resentment is often the emotion that goes with complaining, it may
also be accompanied by a stronger emotion such as anger or some other form
of upset. In this way, it becomes more highly charged energetically.
Complaining then turns into reactivity, another of the ego's ways of
strengthening itself. There are many people who are always waiting for the
next thing to react against, to feel annoyed or disturbed about – and it never
takes long before they find it. “This is an outrage,” they say. “How dare
you...” “ I resent this.” They are addicted to upset and anger as others are to a
drug. Through reacting against this or that they assert and strengthen their
feeling of self.
A long-standing resentment is called a grievance. To carry a grievance
is to be in a permanent state of “against,” and that is why grievances
constitute a significant part of many people's ego. Collective grievances can
survive for centuries in the psyche of a nation or tribe and fuel a never-
ending cycle of violence.
A grievance is a strong negative emotion connected to an event in the
sometimes distant past that is being kept alive by compulsive thinking, by
retelling the story in the head or out loud of “what someone did to me” or “
what someone did to us.” A grievance will also contaminate other areas of
your life. For example, while you think about and feel your grievance, its
negative emotional energy can distort your perception of an event that is
happening in the present or influence the way in which you speak or behave
to ward someone in the present. One strong grievance is enough to
contaminate large areas of your life and keep you in the grip of the ego.
It requires honesty to see whether you still harbor grievances, whether
there is someone in your life you have not completely forgiven, an “enemy.”
If you do, become aware of the grievance both on the level of thought as well
as emotion, that is to say, be ware of the thoughts that keep it alive, and feel
the emotion that is the body's response to those thoughts. Don't try to let go
of the grievance. Trying to let go, to forgive, does not work. Forgiveness
happens naturally when you see that it has no purpose other than to
strengthen a false sense of self, to keep the ego in place. The seeing is
freeing. Jesus' teaching to “Forgive your enemies” is essentially about the
undoing of one of the main egoic structures in the human mind.
The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your
grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage
of old thought and emotion."
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That stuff on grievance is very true
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That is a good passage. My PC is breaking it all up, so I'm bringing it here for amplification:
"A New Earth (pg. 42 ) REACTIVITY AND GRIEVANCES
Whereas resentment is often the emotion that goes with complaining, it may also be accompanied by a stronger emotion such as anger or some other form of upset. In this way, it becomes more highly charged energetically.
Complaining then turns into reactivity, another of the ego's ways of strengthening itself. There are many people who are always waiting for the next thing to react against, to feel annoyed or disturbed about – and it never takes long before they find it. “This is an outrage,” they say. “How dare you...” “ I resent this.” They are addicted to upset and anger as others are to a drug. Through reacting against this or that they assert and strengthen their feeling of self.
A long-standing resentment is called a grievance. To carry a grievance is to be in a permanent state of “against,” and that is why grievances constitute a significant part of many people's ego. Collective grievances can survive for centuries in the psyche of a nation or tribe and fuel a never-ending cycle of violence.
A grievance is a strong negative emotion connected to an event in the sometimes distant past that is being kept alive by compulsive thinking, by retelling the story in the head or out loud of “what someone did to me” or “what someone did to us.” A grievance will also contaminate other areas of your life. For example, while you think about and feel your grievance, its negative emotional energy can distort your perception of an event that is happening in the present or influence the way in which you speak or behave toward someone in the present. One strong grievance is enough to contaminate large areas of your life and keep you in the grip of the ego. It requires honesty to see whether you still harbor grievances, whether there is someone in your life you have not completely forgiven, an “enemy.”
If you do, become aware of the grievance both on the level of thought as well as emotion, that is to say, be ware of the thoughts that keep it alive, and feel the emotion that is the body's response to those thoughts. Don't try to let go of the grievance. Trying to let go, to forgive, does not work. Forgiveness happens naturally when you see that it has no purpose other than to strengthen a false sense of self, to keep the ego in place. The seeing is freeing. Jesus' teaching to “Forgive your enemies” is essentially about the undoing of one of the main egoic structures in the human mind.
The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion."
I'm not missing the point about grievance, which I agree can indeed end up coloring all our perceptions, like poison.
Something is missing in this explication about "forgiveness", however, though I'm hard-pressed to put my finger on it. I just want to tentatively work it out here, on paper. This isn't a commentary on Tolle -- these are my primitive thoughts.
It seems to me that there would come a point in one's path wherein "forgiveness" simply isn't necessary. "Forgiveness" implies the state of being offended, and if one is not "offended" to start with, then this ritual is unnecessary. (The ritual of forgiveness, that is.)
As the story goes, Jesus said on the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." That was generous of him, for indeed something heinous was occuring, I suspect anyone would agree, believer or not. "Killing" or "murder" was certainly against Jewish law. But was God or Hashem "offended"? I don't know ... perhaps that jealous god was offended -- he did seem to have a penchant for a lot of irrationality, per what was written in the Tanach. Did Jesus die "offended"? Does anyone die "offended"? Isn't being "offended" moot, come death? And if being "offended" is moot, I submit that so is "forgiveness". We give this ritual too much power.
Still, there are many remedies in Jewish law for the wrongdoing done to others. They have proscriptions regarding the begging and acceptance of "forgiveness" as well.
In my view, it's about responsibility and reparation, not about what niggles at our egos. What do we owe others? What can we negotiate together -- let's put it in some terms rather than this New Age "forgiveness", which is a hair from being the indulgence of self-pity.
It seems to me that damage-control and -repair are much more significant than this rote ritual of "forgiveness". If a man was recklessly driving and wrecked my fence when he ran into it, it has more meaning for me if he took care of rebuilding the fence, rather than his begging of "forgiveness". I could "forgive" him easily ... but what about that fence?
On the other hand ... if a man, deliberately or accidently, killed a loved one of mine, he cannot replace that loss. That is entirely between him and his maker. There is no repair available to me for that loss. So what we have then is a gaping imbalance, which only I can restore for myself. That is, if 'restoration' is even possible -- it's for me to go on, and find and renew my own joy in living. His begging of my forgiveness makes no difference in that. Visualizing him imprisoned for the rest of his life makes no difference in my healing. In fact, the more I 'enjoy' that scenario, the less I have re-empowered myself. "Forgiveness" is really the least of it, but I could make things worse for the rest of my life, for sure, by hanging on to my anger and resentment about it.
In the end, "forgiveness" is a ritual performed for self, in its rote-ritual form. It has nothing to do with the other, from whom we beg it. In that respect, it's a lie, for I don the pretense of begging your forgiveness, when what I really need is my own self-reckoning. When what I really need is to make amends and repair. "Remorse" is a drunkard's dream.
Absolution and Unconditional Love
Where "forgiveness" might have value is precisely where we could stand to redefine it or rename it.
I've done wrong, I've done wrong, my existence is miserable and I'm worthless. I've gone mad with my self-contempt -- I did this to person A, and that to person B. I can't make amends --- do you still love me? Will you eternally disapprove of me, am I doomed with no light at all? Will I still be able to see your light?
Seems like an act of pure folly to ask this of person C, who has nothing whatever to do with my wrongdoings or negotiations. And yet ... there is this existence of pure, unconditional love, which shone upon the beggar can indeed pull him out of the shitter. Some people have that .. by virtue of their enormous shakti, or sometimes by virtue of their place in our lives. And, if we are lucky, we can be "blessed" by their "forgiveness". It's a kind of absolution, and probably the thing upon which the Confessional was based, many moons ago. Though it's never as simple as 20 'Hail Mary's'.
To have that unconditional love in one's life is not the end-all solution, though -- it's just a temporary life-saver. We still must do the work. We have to repair that fence! But, this shakti can save a life .. can give one the temporary balance to walk the tightrope across the abyss in the pitch-black. It has enormous value, in other words. But is it "forgiveness"? No, it's Love. And a rare, rare thing in this world, even for our best aspirations. We misunderstand it, most of the time.
Those are my thoughts for now, subject to amendment and change.
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It seems to me that there would come a point in one's path wherein "forgiveness" simply isn't necessary. "Forgiveness" implies the state of being offended, and if one is not "offended" to start with, then this ritual is unnecessary. (The ritual of forgiveness, that is.)
Agreed.
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There's a rather thought provoking little book... The Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal - on the possibilities ands limits of forgiveness.
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There's a rather thought provoking little book... The Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal - on the possibilities ands limits of forgiveness.
I'll bet that is thought-provoking!
Simon Wiesenthal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Wiesenthal)
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It seems to me that there would come a point in one's path wherein "forgiveness" simply isn't necessary....
good post and insights
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Seems like an act of pure folly to ask this of person C, who has nothing whatever to do with my wrongdoings or negotiations. And yet ... there is this existence of pure, unconditional love, which shone upon the beggar can indeed pull him out of the shitter. Some people have that .. by virtue of their enormous shakti, or sometimes by virtue of their place in our lives. And, if we are lucky, we can be "blessed" by their "forgiveness". It's a kind of absolution, and probably the thing upon which the Confessional was based, many moons ago. Though it's never as simple as 20 'Hail Mary's'.
To have that unconditional love in one's life is not the end-all solution, though -- it's just a temporary life-saver. We still must do the work. We have to repair that fence! But, this shakti can save a life .. can give one the temporary balance to walk the tightrope across the abyss in the pitch-black. It has enormous value, in other words. But is it "forgiveness"? No, it's Love. And a rare, rare thing in this world, even for our best aspirations. We misunderstand it, most of the time.
Interesting take,
some thoughts which flow for me...
Did God demonstrate his love for Jesus by sending him to crucifixion?
Can love be brutal?
I recall a Sufi story, where a man came to a teacher to join as his student. The teacher asked, why did he leave his previous teacher? The man replied that his previous teacher was too hard, and all he got was abuse.
The teacher then said, yes, you can join as my student and you will find it much easier, but let me warn you, I will never love you as much as your previous teacher.
As this story goes, the man returned to his previous teacher, but me thinks that was a very unusual man.
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Can love be brutal?
So it would seem, M, yes: great love and great brutality can abound together!
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I think forgiveness gets very misunderstood.
Whether we call it forgiveness, surrender, or acceptance is not important. What matters is that we let go of anything unhealthy that we are holding and that may be holding us (back) from reaching toward better things.
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Well, I am happy to say that it hasn't been all that complex for me. I found, once I stopped holding on (to any number of things) and just let it go I am freer, lighter, happier.
And that, in turn makes many more things possible (for me).
Peace
:)
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Well, I am happy to say that it hasn't been all that complex for me. I found, once I stopped holding on (to any number of things) and just let it go I am freer, lighter, happier.
And that, in turn makes many more things possible (for me).
Peace
:)
Never said it didn't.
Is it ok with you if I have views that don't match yours? Its not personal, I promise you.
Love you.
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Never said it didn't.
I am not implying that you did say it didn't. ::)
I just am giving my views and experiences on things.
Is it ok with you if I have views that don't match yours?
Love you.
That's a silly question.
Its not personal, I promise you
No worries. I'm not taking anything personally. Though it does interest me slightly that you made several attempts at manipulating my words and responses (reactions?) in this post/thread. Intriguing.
;D
Have a good day
-
Zen&Now said: "Is it ok with you if I have views that don't match yours?"
That's a silly question.
Then maybe I should clarify the question, is it ok (with you) if I have views that don't match yours?
No worries. I'm not taking anything personally.
Educate me...what would it matter if you did (or didn't) take things personally???
Love you.
-
Zen&Now said: "Is it ok with you if I have views that don't match yours?"Then maybe I should clarify the question, is it ok (with you) if I have views that don't match yours?
Educate me...what would it matter if you did (or didn't) take things personally???
Love you.
The ships have all sailed, zen --- what are you clinging to?
-
That stuff on grievance is very true
It is ...
"The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your
grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage
of old thought and emotion."
-
It is ...
"The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your
grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage
of old thought and emotion."
Oooh!
Excellent and timely. Nice work Panthera!
:-*
-
I posted this elsewhere and I'd like to put it here because it was a morph from Tolle to now ...
I read Tolle's books and now I'm reading Jed McKenna. I keep going 'further', as McKenna calls it, and I run into things like this:
“Look here, there is no present to the structure of the ‘you’; all that is there is the past, which is trying to project itself into the future. You can think about the past, present, and future, but there is no future, there is no present. There is only the past. Your future is only a projection of the past. If there is a present, that present can never be experienced by you, because you experience only your knowledge about the present, and that knowledge is the past.
So what is the point in trying to experience that moment which you call ‘now’? The now can never be experienced by you; whatever you experience is not the now. So the now is a thing which can never become a part of your conscious existence, and which you cannot give expression to. The now does not exist, as far as you are concerned, except as a concept. I don’t talk about the now.
Courage is to brush aside everything that man has experienced and felt before you. You are the only one, greater than all those things. Everything is finished, the whole tradition is finished, however sacred and holy it may be – then only can you be yourself – that is individuality. For the first time you become an individual. As long as you depend on somebody, some authority, you are not an individual. Individual uniqueness cannot express itself as long as there is dependence.”
U.G. Krishnamurti
And this by the same person:
"I am always negating what I am saying. I make a statement, but that statement is not expressing all that is being said, so I negate it. You say that I am contradicting myself. I am not contradictory at all. I negate the first statement, the second statement, and all the other statements - that is why sometimes it sounds very contradictory. I am negating it all the time, not with the idea of arriving at any point; just negating. There is no purpose in my talking."
I've read past posts or journaling and think, Who wrote this - this doesn't sound like "me". Because it's Not ... It's only the 'illusion' that I label 'me'.
It's a continual dismantling. No .... It's more like a search and destroy mission! I remember reading cc and what dJ said about "clearing the tonal". It's much more than just 'clearing'. It's the entire annihilation of everything you Know to be True. A Crash and Burn. There's nothing pretty about it. Nothing 'blissful', or 'comforting'. It's the tearing down of everything you are, the 'likes', And the 'dislikes' ... as well as the 'hates', and the 'loves' ... that's the toughy ... the 'loves' - what/who do you "love"? All of it must go - Gut it out entirely. Stripped down to the bone, and then watch as the bones burn to ash.
Working on it. Kicking my ass ...
-
“You can think about the past, present, and future, but there is no future, there is no present. There is only the past. Your future is only a projection of the past. If there is a present, that present can never be experienced by you, because you experience only your knowledge about the present, and that knowledge is the past.
So what is the point in trying to experience that moment which you call ‘now’? The now can never be experienced by you; whatever you experience is not the now."
U.G. Krishnamurti
This part is correct. Always we interpret. I don't hold that the 'now' is not available to us, seeing as we are registering it constantly, as the base consciousness. Yet a nano-second after, we have 'arranged' it. And everything is built on that arrangement.
Our first journey is to dive to that nano-second. To sneak under.
But it is nonetheless true that everything we know about the world, ourselves and the future, is a predicate of our congealed past. That is why we have to do so much work on our past - dig out the 'sleepers', re-work our 'history, drop our 'history', educate ourselves with the right input, to gain some control over this 'congealed thing' called our past.
We have to do that, because our arrangement is of vital importance.
I am not one who holds up the experience of the 'now' as definitive, sufficient and absolute. There are two sides to our brain. We also have the task of constructing a new world which has value and meaning, and relates all down the line to our primary purpose - plus we need to have a primary purpose.
A purpose that is not just a fig-leaf over our criminal past, where we speak fancy words, but demonstrate to all who have any eyes in the back of their neck, that we remain the same old stupid idiot we have always been. That is what rebuilding our past is all about, and to the extent we succeed or fail in that task, determines our fate.
Plus, unless we reduce the criminality of 'our past' to misdemeanour, it will never allow us free to experience what part of 'now' is available to us. Our past is the Great Mafia in our life - just look at the posts on this forum, and watch as everyone retells who they are over and over.
Also watch the viciousness of people's individual Mafia. Look at those who use deception cloaked in honey. Those are the worst Mafia, for they try to enslave you, like spiders, they invite you into their web, all smiles and grins and love-heart badges. Then there are those who enslave you by fighting against you, where they trap you in their web while pretending to be antagonistic - the more you struggle, the more entangled.
People are only entrapping you in the very web they are caught in themselves - what we witness is the web of the criminal past of each person. Look for those who are only misdemeanour pasts, where a door is always left open, if only you are looking to leave. Look for the non-sticky webs, they are much better associates on this narrow track.
-
Tolle knows well the point he is pointing to...but he may not really "get" the point (yet), unfortunately.
I invite you to consider the whole past, present, future thang in a whole new way.
Instead of past, present, future...consider we are always ever only in a state of living into our futures. Where you are today is poised on the edge of your future...ten minutes from now you will still be poised on the edge of your future.
I understand your concept, but even labeling it "the future" reduces it finitely. It's simply a state of being a part of this whole infinite process that continues indefinitely ... a flow ... a Universal Flow.
We like to think/feel/believe that in our futures anything is possible...but this is not-so. We tell ourselves we cannot see our futures and thus can keep perpetuating that magical thinking we affectionatly refer to as "someday."
Now...in order for our future to contain anything (other-than us standing there blinking dumbfoundedly) we have to "create" it. And we do this, actively (albeit not necessarily consciously), every minute of every day. Every minute of every day we are actively thinking about what our future holds and what that means to us.
Now, if you stop a second and consider just what you think about every minute of every day...the litany of stuff you are dialoging to yourself...you can see quite clearly how you "create" the ONLY possibility for your future. AND...when you stop and consider what you think about, what you are telling yourself, you can see quite clearly how you are actively preparing yourself for the ONLY possible future you can live into.
Consider that we are NEVER not-in a state of creation...that all we do is "create" our futures to live into. The moment you think to yourself about some guy at work what a jerk he is...you have "created" the ONLY possible future for you to live into with him. What you have done, in concluding he is a jerk, is to de-select any other possibility with him...and set the stone foundation for the ONLY possibility with him.
This is never not-so.
There is never a now...there is only ever perched on the edge of the future you are creating to live into.
Maybe I'm odd, but, I don't go around all day thinking about what the future holds for me. All the future is , in our minds, is a projection of the past. Until surgically removed, burned away, annihilated, the Past continually repeats future, there's no perching, no anticipation ... only Being ... it's like knowing at any particular time what exactly to do. No thinking, just doing ... hard to explain. It's not an emotional, passionate thing ... it's more of a "calm" doing.
No...oddly enough...it is just a "clearing."
If we consider how we are only ever actively creating our futures, and also consider the hard-wiring of survival mode and how survival mode perpetuates itself...we can begin to "get" the implication of a "clearing."
What we are thinking every minute of every day IS actively creating our futures (that we have no choice but to live into)...in survival mode we are hard-wired to always ever only be listening for threats...and so what are we thinking about? Yeah, threats...and what is that doing? That is actively creating the only possible future for you to live into,
Now...if we were to write all the things you are listening for down on say a chalk board...and we were to write all the things you are thinking down on a chalk board...and we were to write all the things you tell yourself down on this chalk board...it is going to get filled up pretty fast.
And *that*...what would be there on your chalk board IS the only possible future for you...
UNLESS...you pick up the eraser and wipe the board clean...then what would be there???
See...that full chalk board is like an old growth forest...nothing new can grow there because there are all these trees that are already there. All the nutrients can be in the earth, but the sunlight couldn't get to it. People buy books, go to these seminars, do all these self-help things and wonder why they can't create new futures for themselves.
Only when we "clear" the old growth away does new growth become possible. So yes, it is ALL about the "clearing."
And if we go back to the chalk board and all that is written there (the old growth)...and we wipe it away...*what* becomes possible? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Yeah *warm smile,* *winks* that becomes possible.
Love.
For me, it's truly a Burning, an anhiliation of every part of whatever I Think is self. There is no self. As you say ... "you made it up" ... and you did.
Now when I only "clear" the forest, I still retain the same nutrients that produced that self initially. I don't want any of that ... the roots are usually the problem areas ;) Burn them out. Burn the soil. What I want to do is totally destroy! Burn it all down ... fire cleansing ... let it sit ... nothing, empty. Think of everything you Dislike, but go further, everything you Love .... throw it in the inferno. But you might say ... how heartless, how unfeeling. The unfortunate thing is the way that we define all of these concepts ... i.e. I am a mother, I am a designer, I am a sister, I am a friend, I am a student, I am a teacher, I am a master, I am empathetic, I am a dreamer, I am, I am, I am ........... and then go further, reflecting these concepts on to others ... He is/She is a master, a student, a friend, a father, a whatever..... None of this matters ... it's all a perception, a judgment, a program, a belief ... Burn it! Unless every single strand of attachment is gone and lays in a pile of ash, the forest will have the ability to grow back ... the Old Forest. It all must go.
The sterile ash fertilizes the new woodland and eventually a new will grow back. It takes Seasons of winds to breathe, rains of tears that bring moisture, and bright light of warmth, to birth anew. Maybe a small flower garden, a vegetable garden, select carefully and totally aware. Now I can begin "flowing".
What becomes possible? Truth ... but then That is also redefined ;)
Be well ... Ang
-
~
The sterile ash fertilizes the new woodland and eventually a new will grow back. It takes Seasons of winds to breathe, rains of tears that bring moisture, and bright light of warmth, to birth anew. Maybe a small flower garden, a vegetable garden, select carefully and totally aware. Now I can begin "flowing".
Whoa...good stuff.
z
-
~
Whoa...good stuff.
z
:-*
-
Ya know...I am just so done trying to stretch people's concepts to something that works...I just look at the how it is and go from there.
In the end, if you really get what I am saying (not just know and understand) it creates the possibility of you having literally anything...and everything you want in your future.
I'm aware of what you're saying. Be assured that I get what I need as I need it.
Whereas, and sorry sorry, the ways currently in place aren't really improving people's futures all that much...nothing personal...just noticing that as I look around the room at the various things I attend.
Do you really think we're responsible for improving people's futures? Yuk! If they really want improvement, I'm sure one day they'll take that first step.
No...I am sure you don't. Nor are you probably thinking: butt in seat, socks on feet, pants on legs either. So...*what* do you think you are filling your future with? Yeah...your past...that thing you are constantly thinking about. *Warm smiles*
Constantly? Me? I'm thinking ... No. Do you constantly think about your past?
We are constantly in a state of creating our future...and this has never not-been the case. However, we are usually totally oblivious to the fact not only that we are, but also how, we are creating our future literaly every minute of every day. We usually are just thinking about the guy that cut us off on the road...and completely blind about how that thought IS creating our future whether we wanted it to or not.
You shouldn't let people effect you that way ;) First of all, maybe the guy was on his way to the hospital to see his wife who was just in an accident .. maybe he woke up late and is late for work ... people cut in front of me all the time, and you know what, I Let them. But when I NEED to cut in front of somebody, they almost Always allow me ... and I wave to thank them. Beautiful how that works when I realize how Un-Important it is in the flow.
Well...I know that Tolle and a few others are all one the Now thingy...even so they still don't quite get the: butt in seat, pants on legs thing. That is fine for them. We will all go off meditating in the corner and suddenly, somehow someway the earth with just magically change...someday. Yeah...well in the time we are waiting for someday (which never shows up btw, sorry for the spoiler, but I just thought you should know).
I prefer actively creating possibilities for the future...and actually I prefer actively creating the kind of future I want.
Imo, i need not Make possibilities ... that would be me making something up, right? Beliefs, right? The possibilities are already there. Ego likes to "create". Makes her feel important. She "wants' a lot too ;)
Got that. However, I would like to invite you to consider that the nutrients is the real you...the who you were before you started making thing mean anything. The soil is your heart, your soul, your love. And it is rich.
I see it going much deeper than that.
You are, in the end, you...that ball of burning energy that has something BIG to do here on earth. You are that heart...you are that beautiful lover of life.
I Am, in the end, me ... the end ... nothing else ... nothing.
It is the meanings you made up that terrorized you...and that terror blocks you from bringing all that beauty that is in you forth...like the fear that stops you in relationships and makes the relationships turn out whacked.
But those meanings aren't real. You can't fix them, change them, or burn them...because they don't exist.
Terror ... fear ... trying to remember the last time I was so fearful as to be "terrorized" ... can't remember anything of late. I'm not sure where you're going with the "fear that stops me in relationships and make the relationships turn out whacked" ... maybe your just speaking of people in general.
I promise you that if you just "get" (not know or understand, but get) what I say next...that that old growth will never and can never grow back...not ever. You couldn't make it grow back if you tried.
What you say next, is the same thing you keep saying to everyone. I know it's because you know everyone is 99.9% the same. And because humans are so similar, they experience the same stuations, day after day, year after year, century after century...... ect. So the prognosis is easy. And in this prognosis, instead of freeing people from their beliefs, you actually confirm and cement them even more. Do you realize this psychoanalytical bullshit actually harms those you think you're helping? Everyone has a "childhood" experience you speak of, but shit River, aren't we all past that, I mean really ... no, REALLY. (here, I'll include it for dramatic effect ;))
And that is that there was a definitive day in your childhood that something happened (it doesn't matter what it was), you still, to this day recall that event in perfect clarity. On that day something happened...and you (for the first time in your life) told yourself what that meant. You made it mean something. It was the first time your beautiful, loving, soul-self, felt like you were not good enough. Humor me and just think of it (don't post it)...it is right there present in your mind. You made not being good enough mean something...and that something that you made it mean has created your whole life after that.
From that devastating day...you made a plan...throughout your life you have revised that plan. A part of you *knows* and *understands* that that "truth" you told yourself about yourself is not-true...but another part of you is deathly afraid that it really IS true. It is *that* which blocks you. You don't need therapy or years and years to sort it out. You don't need to recap it...just be present to it (without running, hiding, minimizing...or letting your internal dialog trample it). It was a sucky day...and it hurt. And realize that every single human everywhere has had one of thosedays in their lives.
Now...just fully "get" that what you told yourself about what happened that day...you "made up" in your infinite little-girl wisdom.
Many good things about you came from the plans you made that day...they will never be lost. But the meaning...and the fear that the meaning really IS true...will be completely lost. And you will never be able to make it mean that again...and thus, the old forest can never and will never grow again.
If and when you get that...think about how many days that took (or more pertantly, how many hours)...when I tell you that I am not interested in other people's ways, it is not because they are not all lovely, wonderful people...it is simply because none of those ways work as quickly, as affectively, or as thoroughly as this way.
I care about people "getting" it because we have things to do on this earth.
The new will grow as soon as you choose what it is you really want.
Just for fun...of all the things you think about...notice how little time is spent thinking about what it is that you truly want for this world.
Why is it we don't have those things in this world? Well because everyone is thinking about how the guy at work is a jerk. So what do we have more of? Yeah, we have more jerks.
It's really not my concern to care about people "getting it" ... there's really Nothing to "get", anyway.
This World will take care of itself. The inhabitants of this world may not fare so well.
I don't spend much time "thinking" anymore, unless I absolutely must. It's quite nice ;D
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Plus, unless we reduce the criminality of 'our past' to misdemeanour, it will never allow us free to experience what part of 'now' is available to us. Our past is the Great Mafia in our life - just look at the posts on this forum, and watch as everyone retells who they are over and over.
Also watch the viciousness of people's individual Mafia. Look at those who use deception cloaked in honey. Those are the worst Mafia, for they try to enslave you, like spiders, they invite you into their web, all smiles and grins and love-heart badges. Then there are those who enslave you by fighting against you, where they trap you in their web while pretending to be antagonistic - the more you struggle, the more entangled.
People are only entrapping you in the very web they are caught in themselves - what we witness is the web of the criminal past of each person. Look for those who are only misdemeanour pasts, where a door is always left open, if only you are looking to leave. Look for the non-sticky webs, they are much better associates on this narrow track.
I like this. Or even go further and reduce the charges to "parking ticket". A mere fine. No long lines, no traffic school, no community service, no judge, no jury ... no struggle. Imagine the freedom then. Wow!!
-
its circular
a spirit witnessing a being steps
and a beings steps being witnessed
i mean
better things
a witnessing being witnessing spirit within its steps
yearn to reunite
yearning
finds a way
hot cold
warm
the scenery changes
i will always believe in love
if the train they want to get on and convince me otherwise
says we have the facts it attachment!
i will have to disagree
i found tolles fallen apple within the garden
and broke
and looked up
from that bench
i am going back there now
because again i am broken
and i believe in love
and always
'Will'
for love
even in pain
lashing out
good stuff here
circular
-
Check this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmS-JuVvVf4
-
yes i saw them when i was younger and angstyer
and played drums modeled on their bashing often
thanks for the trip down memory lane .
now adding to circular image forementioned
i got an image of a funnelly thing
with its central axis
and a timline running through the centre
in meta-phor at least
as time passed through
out years
funneling through an axis pivotally
strands added portals dimensions
as woven strands
at ages even extremely young
damage created ricocheting images hurling towards a recipient
within a jacket of propulsive
strand like fibre
dna perhaps
or added flavours as imagined to exist
within that space
universally situated
in energetic referential subspace locally
and otherwise echoed throughout infinity
personally bound
attaching pillar
through finite timeline
equally adjoining infinite proportions
and perspectives
individually
the common thread in my "thinking"
connecting adjoining extra dimensional universe
being "love"
or all is one
i remember phil saying something about
the great explorers
and the crowd going crazy at that
and it going straight over my head
-
and the crowd going crazy at that
and it going straight over my head
over your head and out ?
-I don't follow completely -
(Nick)
-
One for cover ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRS4NKjUdhI
eh eh ... ?
-
its true communication
is a two way street,
when it comes to words
and listening,
i did not understand either,
awareness though,
attention,
what can hold our attention ,
a counter point ?
seeing our folly? ,
floundering? ,
humility
sustained awareness ,
movement?
so much just gets done
when our recepticle
widens due to non localised ease of swelling
seems so hard to forget yet
continues to "baffle"
watching words form
structures
"love "
what a symbol
does resonant tone inhabit
structure ?
"paying " attention
i got it
giving
wow
tightening grip
loosened
some for "me"
ok
balanced out again
they have allocated places to determine
boundaries for which to reside
separate units of communication
i am lost in which to communicate
allocation of signs
gives rise to "signs"
within which incorporates and combines
searching unity of each separate toward hole
i keep hearing this image
and i wonder how it could be true ?
seeking understanding
a frightening prospect in that context
"sorcerers speak of sorcery as a magical, mysterious bird which has paused in its flight for a moment in order to give man hope and purpose. Sorcerers live under the wing of that bird, which they call the bird of wisdom, the bird of freedom. They nourish it with their dedication and impeccability.
The bird of freedom can do only two things, take sorcerers along, or leave them behind. Don't forget, even for an instant, that the bird of freedom has very little patience with indecision, and when it flies away, it never returns."
so i saw this
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/eagle/EagleFlightLesson.html
-
its true communication
is a two way street,
when it comes to words
and listening,
i did not understand either,
awareness though,
attention,
what can hold our attention ,
a counter point ?
seeing our folly? ,
floundering? ,
humility
sustained awareness ,
movement?
so much just gets done
when our recepticle
widens due to non localised ease of swelling
seems so hard to forget yet
continues to "baffle"
watching words form
structures
"love "
what a symbol
does resonant tone inhabit
structure ?
"paying " attention
i got it
giving
wow
tightening grip
loosened
some for "me"
ok
balanced out again
they have allocated places to determine
boundaries for which to reside
separate units of communication
i am lost in which to communicate
allocation of signs
gives rise to "signs"
within which incorporates and combines
searching unity of each separate toward hole
i keep hearing this image
and i wonder how it could be true ?
seeking understanding
a frightening prospect in that context
"sorcerers speak of sorcery as a magical, mysterious bird which has paused in its flight for a moment in order to give man hope and purpose. Sorcerers live under the wing of that bird, which they call the bird of wisdom, the bird of freedom. They nourish it with their dedication and impeccability.
The bird of freedom can do only two things, take sorcerers along, or leave them behind. Don't forget, even for an instant, that the bird of freedom has very little patience with indecision, and when it flies away, it never returns."
so i saw this
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/eagle/EagleFlightLesson.html
A good intent should bring this on/in ...to simplicity.
I like acting rather than talking...it's true.
My idea of posting this... now was "See something , ok, feel something, think something..."
I think truth is intimately connected with the Universe that surrounds us, which is mostly unknown and even unknowable. I am not don Juan with words.
To balance.
Some like whiskey some like coffee.
__
/////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Here is a guy that got killed this summer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiuasdiQT6k
-
Hello Nick
do you mean like perhaps now ?
like a story Don Juan
told
about
a man being
thrown
in a river
and then
doubly
catching
up to himself
on
the bank ?
its another facet
approaching attention
from a different direction
memory
right now i am doubly working hard
to catch up to the work i have let slip
which has built up to
being doubly booked
within responsibilities
aquired and assumed
rome was'nt built in a day
but day one was
necessary in the process
as processes require
motivated sequences
-
Yes .Posting this from the play station.
Sorry for the occupation.
-
http://youtu.be/zLOiRHit9AE
the wind on a whim
for this morning
-
I feel this thread has been filled with power, to each their own, grandly because of my broken post.
Your response was powerful in a sense, (perception?) as well and .. so it went.
A good thing. a result may be a complete perception like that 'all is love' you are submitting ?
-
I 'd have to take my part, my responsibility, (my part of my responsibility) even in the end.
(of this / it)
;)
_
-
power
second rings and all
third rings
ring ring ?
who's there ?
center point
sure i could tell you about my day
and i could intervene upon my self
i could hold my breath also
and take a middle road
that would emit only truth
through every breath as awareness
of everything i encounter
my heart would swell
and i would follow it
it s a continuation of a discussion
seriously as observation s
intervene what you will
and watch the ripple occur in your ocean
on another time i might play you off as a bad boy against yourself
so i could be the good if you catch that drift
please excuse the discombobulation
of my words bobbing in my ocean
i assure you i will try my best to not accost you
indicitivly catching it where i can
however you may implicate yourself
as do i
and middly point
power was a foot on a path
following a heart
they are fancy words
implying echoing words off an ocean
i prefer a mode like this opposed to
neat and structure
although we must keep an eye on the pulse
if we persist
lightening ?