-
In response to Ellens post concerning Meditation I delved back into 'living in the Now' with words...something I've really been working at in silence and have not spoke or written about much. Figured I'd post over here and keep the ramblings out of her thread 8)
Our swaddled and weary senses restrain us in a
mysterious land of suspension and removal which has
the qualities of distance and separation. We let nothing
really touch us and become slaves to automatic living,
paying very little notice to what goes on around us.
Thus, we deny ourselves the fullness of living in the
now, which requires that we must be able to open fully
our senses and to direct our awareness.
Herbert A. Otto
"Sensory Awakening through Smell, Touch, and Taste"
in Ways of Growth 1968 p. 50.
What is the use of planning to be able to eat next week
unless I can really enjoy the meals when they come? If
I am so busy planning how to eat next week that I
cannot fully enjoy what I am eating now, I will be in
the same predicament when next week's meals
become "now."
If my happiness at this moment consists largely in
reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but
dimly aware of this present. I shall still be dimly aware
of the present when the good things that I have been
expecting come to pass. For I shall have formed a
habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult
for me to attend to the here and now. If, then, my
awareness of the past and future makes me less aware
of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am
actually living in the real world.
Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity 1951 p. 35.
Here's another re-post:
We can see that experience gives rise to knowledge, which becomes our memory, from which arises thought. So thought is always about the past; history. We cannot think about the present moment. It is impossible. Once we have a thought about something, reflect on it, it is past, even if it was just a split second ago. It is not the present. If we are thinking, it is always about a moment, a movement or action, that has already occurred.
Of course, we cannot stop thinking by trying to not think about it. That sort of circular effort is endless, and never leads to any realization. Instead, we must simply be Aware. When we look at something like a sunset, is it possible to just look at it, without immediately putting ourselves in the past by commenting "Oh, how beautiful"? Because when we do this we are inserting a space, a separation, between ourselves and what we are observing. Can you simply be, without bringing any history, without adding anything extra to it?
Once we can understand and accept this, then and only then can we truly begin to learn. Then and only then can we have ‘no-mind,’ no internal dialogue.’
So to be constantly in a state of not knowing, this no-mind, is to be able to actually learn. This is to be in a state of constant learning. Then life itself is as exciting and curious as watching a movie or reading a book. When we are reading a good story, or watching one unfold, our attention is always focused and in harmony with the story. We are drawn into it, and we follow it with all of our senses. And even though we know it is only a story, it can move us to laughter and to tears.
Life, as such, is the ultimate story; much more compelling than any movie ever was. Because the story of our life is never over. It never stops. You can never put the book down for dinner, or walk out of the theatre of this life. This story only ends when we die; and yet even this we cannot know for sure. As long as we are conscious, we must continue to be open and learn in every moment.
Only when we are able to lead a life of this kind of thought-less, open inquiry, having available to us and using but not depending on past knowledge, only then can we come into contact with that which cannot be accumulated or measured. It cannot be measured because there is no "amount" to it. It doesn't gather, but continues to unfold, infinitely. It is ever-new and constantly opening right before our very senses.
Then, when we are in this very practical and real, yet indescribable state, this is what we can truly call being-in-the-Now.
This, this what I describe above, is what I've been working on.
It seems over the past few years I've gotten quite far away from this living in the Now, and am on a path to recapture it. Many a fool have led me astray, although none as foolish as myself.
Thank you for your patience here folks...
z
-
...some more:
http://restlesssoma.com.au/soma/index.php?topic=1964.0
-
...some more:
http://restlesssoma.com.au/soma/index.php?topic=1964.0
Hi Juhani,
I found your post only after my hasty decision to post mine here. ;) I knew someone had started a thread on this very topic.
There are some comments I'd like to make concerning Kris' post, but one thing I'd like to ask of you Juhani, or anyone else that's familiar with Mr. Raphael's work, (Jahn?) would be to take his post and give an explanation of what YOU think it says, in your own words. Your interpretation.
Nothing worse than taking a third party post and discussing it when the author of it is not around. Again, if you can tell me what you make of it, then we can discuss what you think and what I think and leave those that aren't here alone ;)
Thanks in advance...
Zam
-
Good post Zam, thanks.
-
what YOU think it says, in your own words.
I take it literally - it is about living from one's core, from one's spine. One can do it - one lives in the moment. The rest is practice, practice, practice - about how to actually live from the core :)
-
Good idea Zam.
Kris use to say if one isn't here and now one is nowhere at all. Nobody is home.
First the core:
"Where is the “here” in “Be Here Now?” The “here” exists at the core of our being, physically in our spinal column. This place is sometimes called the place of the Core Star by some Knowledge Schools. The Hindus refer to this shaft of light as the Shushumna. A fundamental secret of Masters is to continuously live from this place.
What does living from this place mean? How do we do it?"
The spinal column is our core. Not the mental mind or the mitote in our head.
1) We are supposed to live from the core of our being. Q=How do we do it?
In fact, looking closer to what Kris writes we do not get much guidance more than that we shall bring back the energy that we spend.
"An essential aspect of living from our core is to always recall and return our energy back to this core. Toltecs understand the importance of recalling and returning our energy from people, places, and things in our life. The recapitulation is one such technique for doing so"
Most people plan and worries for what they shall do next weekend, next time they meet some person, their old family or something else in the future. And when we get older we think a lot what happened back then, start to tell the stories. People love to get fed up with other peoples stories. Why else would the buy and read so many novels and watch that many films. Not to mention the kids with their games, adopting characters, playing roles. Anything that can get you away from your self and here and now is selling. Of course we need entertainment but with few exceptions the entertainment industry is used to get away. To dream ... nothing wrong with dreams either. We need dreams in the same way as we need hope but we must come fully into our body and fully be here and now.
Let the future be the future - not today.
I plan for tomorrow. Prepare documents, clothes etc but I do not let myself to be occupied by tomorrow because the energy I have is only enough for today.
Let yesterday rest in peace.
I still have some things that steal some energy from the past. What I said in a interview in february this year - it stills bothers me for example. As long it does I give power away to my past and I loose contact with the here and now. Best is to cut the cords with the ghosts from the past and recall the energy that we spent all over the place.
One technique to get more and more here and now that is used by the Dalai Lama is to get to bed for the night like preparing the death. First we recall what happened during the day and state our gratefulness for the significant events, or whatever we are grateful for and then we prepare our last breath.
The nice continuation on this "going to death" exercise is when we wake up in the morning. Then our first questions naturally are:
- Who am I?
- Where am I?
.~.
-
Thank Jahn, makes it a bit more clear. I will address a few of these points at a later date, as I'm running out of time at the moment.
z
-
Celebrate the temporary. Live in the Now.
I mean right now, not later this afternoon.
Not after awhile.
Not in a few hours, when the dishes are done and the kids are in bed. Not next week, when the in-laws have left. Not next year, when you're caught up on the doctor bills.
I mean celebrate now. Today. This minute. There is something in your life to celebrate right now! Sure, maybe you've had a tough life. Maybe you've just had some bad news. Maybe the company has been laying people off and you're out of a job and scraping by. Maybe you've had an illness in your family and you have a mountain of bills. Okay.
Perhaps things have been going pretty smoothly, for that matter. Maybe you've had good news and the family's all well. Everything seems under control for the moment, but life still seems a bit flat. How come?
I want you to try something.
It won't take long. You can spare five minutes. Can't you?
First, remove whatever distractions you can. Turn off the radio or television or computer. It will still be there when you come back ;D Or if you're lucky enough to have a quiet room, go there. Dim the lights or turn them off.
Now stand. Plant your feet squarely on the floor about six inches apart. Close your eyes. Put your shoulders back and stand straight. Take a deep breathe and let some of the tension in you ride out with your breath.
Permit yourself to relax inside.
Take another deep breath, inhaling gradually and feeling your breath slowly fill your abdomen and your chest. Do this several times, and concentrate on how it feels to stand relaxed and breathe into your own depth and your own strength.
-
Well...
Close your eyes and shift your attention with an intent anywhere you like - is it the same thing? You could shift to relaxed state, e.g.
How about not leaving a single energetic trail behind?
Walking like a warrior whose footprints are blown away by wind in a few moments and then...it is like he never was...as he was in now...then.
I see these things quite different.
Are they same for you?
-
This is good too. Its difficult to do. Ive really been having to wax my skills on this lately.
Like even in those twelve step programs (my mom was in one), a day at a time. Thats all we really can take, and we cannot function if we're worrying about shit, coming up ahead, about what may or may not happen.
The main way I perceive the 'message of the now,' cause like Ive said before, its an old concept, Buddha too, is when we're in the now, we're in tune with that which is 'observer,' or us. Not the mind 'mitote' as Jahn put it, which flutters around, and isnt engaged in the moment.
When we can engage in the moment, then we can take whatever experience we're dealing with, come what may, and fully absorb ourselves in it. The observer/self knows, what to do, in each second. It can engage and can find the spiritual, in many situations, whereas if mind is fluttering to and fro, it will 'miss out' on those moments, the simple. It is possible to be attentive, in where we're at, on all the surroundings, in a moment, it can be done, just as spirit, is attentive to everything, every moment, at once.
I was standing out on the porch today, working on doing just that, getting in the moment. Its colder out today, I could feel the chill, even though I had a jacket on, it could still chill me, the air. Though the sun was shining. I was observing the porch, the fallen leaves, then looking at the evergreens, the sky, aligning myself 'there,' to try to not worry about the latest nuisances of life, not to avoid those things, certainly not, that's not my style, but bring myself back 'into the now,' for the moment, and just, shutup and observe. I wasnt thinking much about anything... but knew to stand there on the porch, for awhile. Oh correction, I was thinking a bit about the dream where i retrieved the baby, for a bit....
So I began hearing the geese in the sky. I couldnt see them at first, but then, they began to fly overhead.
It was an interesting formation. I saw them as one, but it was a rather sloppy formation, which is probably why there was so much squawking. Probably cause they were all communicating how to get into a better formation.
So what was interesting was, some of the slower ones, had cut off, and then, the slower group, formed their own separate v formation. However, the aim wasnt to stay, in a separate group. Theyd formed a temporary group in flight, so they could catch up to the other ones, who were also in v formation.
Then, the geese, after flying as two, became one formation, once again. So, from that, being present, I got the message from spirit, from that.
And as Ive been writing a bit today, on meditation, its kinda like that, as well. Its really all 'one formation,' us and spirit. However, we do this strange 'splitting off,' for whatever reasons we have, basically, being born, so what we're supposed to do, is basically, aim back into that overall formation of spirit. However, just like the other geese, did their thing, not supposed to do it soley by self. You're supposed to group it, try to elevate and bring others with you. Its a group effort, not an individual one, though certainly, like a formation of geese, there are individuals, but they have to have the same aim, be in the same direction of spirit, and even 'mimic' that formation of spirit, to get there. Back in the line.
but there'd also be no formation, without even the little geese who have to struggle. It wouldnt exist. Our struggles, are necessary, too. They have a part, a role, to play in getting back 'in line' with spirit. We can't get in line with spirit, without a little struggle. Cause how are you going to know how to fly, if you dont know how to struggle first? Its through struggling first - then you fly. There is no flying without struggle.
Celebrate the temporary. Live in the Now.
I mean right now, not later this afternoon.
Not after awhile.
Not in a few hours, when the dishes are done and the kids are in bed. Not next week, when the in-laws have left. Not next year, when you're caught up on the doctor bills.
I mean celebrate now. Today. This minute. There is something in your life to celebrate right now! Sure, maybe you've had a tough life. Maybe you've just had some bad news. Maybe the company has been laying people off and you're out of a job and scraping by. Maybe you've had an illness in your family and you have a mountain of bills. Okay.
Perhaps things have been going pretty smoothly, for that matter. Maybe you've had good news and the family's all well. Everything seems under control for the moment, but life still seems a bit flat. How come?
I want you to try something.
It won't take long. You can spare five minutes. Can't you?
First, remove whatever distractions you can. Turn off the radio or television or computer. It will still be there when you come back ;D Or if you're lucky enough to have a quiet room, go there. Dim the lights or turn them off.
Now stand. Plant your feet squarely on the floor about six inches apart. Close your eyes. Put your shoulders back and stand straight. Take a deep breathe and let some of the tension in you ride out with your breath.
Permit yourself to relax inside.
Take another deep breath, inhaling gradually and feeling your breath slowly fill your abdomen and your chest. Do this several times, and concentrate on how it feels to stand relaxed and breathe into your own depth and your own strength.
-
And thats an example as to 'why' we have to be in line with the now. Cause if we're not in line with the now, the moment, we miss those messages that are right before our eyes....
-
Well...
Well? Well, Hello Juhani! :)
Close your eyes and shift your attention with an intent anywhere you like - is it the same thing? You could shift to relaxed state, e.g.
Same thing? As compared to....what? Can you reference what you're referring to? I'd hate to speculate on assumptions ;)
How about not leaving a single energetic trail behind?
Walking like a warrior whose footprints are blown away by wind in a few moments and then...it is like he never was...as he was in now...then.
Marvelous, eh?
I see these things quite different.
Do tell!
Are they same for you?
Again, could you give me more specifics?
z
-
Focus on energy vs focus on perception
-
Celebrate the temporary
Don't wait until tomorrow
Live today
Celebrate the simple things
Enjoy the butterfly
Embrace the snow
Run with the ocean
Delight in the trees
Or a simgle lonely flower
Go barefoot
In the wet grass
-
Focus on energy vs focus on perception
Ah,
Thank You! ;D
z
-
Don't Wait
Until all the problems
Are solved
Or all the bills
Are paid
You will wait forever
Eternity will come and go
And you
Will still be waiting
Live in the Now
With all its problems
And its agonies
With its joy
And its pain
Celebrate your pain
Your despair
Your anger
It means you're alive
Look closer
Breathe deeper
Stand taller
Stop grieving the past
There is joy and beauty
Today
It is temporary
Here now and gone
So celebrate it
While you can
Celebrate the temporary
-
What a gift is Breath
The supplier of life
And strength
Thank God
For Breath
You see, you do have something to celebrate. Life. Breath. Life-giving breath. Celebate the fact that you are alive and breathing. Feel the celebration in your stomach. Feel it in your chest.
-
To celebrate the temporary
Is to breathe deep into your strength
To plan for tomorrow
Then leave tomorrow
To take care of itself
And celebrate being alive today
Many people do not know how to celebrate the temporary.
Some of my friends live constantly for tomorrow. They are always working and planning for that great future day when everything will be under control, when they can relax at last and begin to enjoy life. Sometimes even their bodies are bent forward, straining into the future.
And, of course, that great tomorrow never comes. It is always coming. Tomorrow. Their life style is a tomorrow style, and when tomorrow comes they do not know how to celebrate it because they did not learn how to live for today. So they must wait for another tomorrow - which never comes.
Maybe they do retire and move to Florida.
Maybe they do get that cabin in the woods.
Maybe they do buy their own home and get that second car.
There is always something more. Better neighbors or a new addition to the house or replacing the old car. They do not know how to relax into the present. To enjoy the now. To celebrate the temporary because that may be all we have.
I would not for a moment suggest that we forget the future. I do not believe in living only for today. I believe in planning ahead, preparing myself for the future, nourishing some Dreams. To live only in the moment is a form of escapism. But that is not what I mean by celebrating the temporary. Nor is living only in the moment a danger for most of the people I know. Only once in a great while do I meet someone who lives for momentary pleasure alone.
The danger for most of us is living too much for the great future to come - or living in the past. That is the other danger, and it is just as sad to see.
We all know persons who live mainly on bygones, who spend most of their time and energy grieving over what has happened. Or what did not happen. Lamenting how it might have been, if only...They are "if only" people, living on their own grief and the sympathy of those who will suffer with them.
They do not know how to celebrate the temporary either. They are too busy enjoying the pain of the past. Their bodily posture is the bowed head and hunched shoulders.
Another way to live in the past is to keep recelebrating what happened in "the good old days." The althlete who must review the big game with his friends whenever they get together. Those who begin every conversation with "Remember the time when ..." or "What is so-and-so doing now?"
Some reviewing of the past and of celebrative moments is good. When it becomes an exclusive style of life, it is boring and limits the celebrating of new experience.
I have visited old frinds and spent an evening talking about past events and mutual acquaintances. When I have come away, I have often felt a sense of frustration at having lived only in the past. Something dies when relationships get stuck in this reviewing of past history with no new imput of fresh experiencing. Some of each deepens a friendship.
I do not mean to look down on "if only" people nor on "just wait until tomorrow" people. Sometimes I am an "if only" person myself. Sometimes I'm a "tomorrow" person. There are times, inescapably, when all of us assume this stance. But the "if only" stance and the "tomorrow" stance can become frozen into a life style - if we do not learn as well how to celebrate the temporary, to live also for today.
I'm looking out the rain-blurred window of a big jet pulling out of LaGuardia on a foggy evening as darkness falls. An old impulse almost speaks, "If only the window were clear so I could see everything clearly!" Then I reject the old impulse. Go away. I do not need you.
To celebrate the now is to enjoy the blurred colored lights on the landing strip seen through the fragmenting raindrops on my unclear window.
To enjoy their unclearness
Their beautiful blurriness
To enjoy what is
As it is
For What
It is
In itself
To celebrate the now
Is to go up
On the mountain
And take off
Your glasses
Sometimes
And enjoy the lights
Of the city down below
Blurred and lovely
-
Thats interesting. Today I was thinking about celebrating the haves, and not the have-nots. Which is very similar, and connected to this.
Thats part of tomorrow, what I will be/have/where ill be. When we focus solely on the have-nots, we become anxious and depressed. Which of course doesn't mean, dismiss those things, if we do need to have something, then we should work for it. Like we need to have our dreams, for they can inspire us to do great things, or work. However, if we cannot draw back into appreciating what we have, then we become miserable, which really, is another way of missing out on what spirit has given us, not what spirit has 'not' given us.
Life, sure, that's a huge thing. Being alive, but of course we'd rather live well. If we're not ill, and we have health, that alone is something many people do not have.
The nice thing about impermanence, like our troubles, they will be temporary. We can approach them with worry that they'll be permanent; however, if we're working on our issues, not sweeping them under the rug, we can tackle them. One thing Ive been working on, in dealing with troubles, or issues as of late, is to see them differently so they're not as stressfull. Then of course, focusing on what I do have. And there may be plenty of have nots at the moment, but even that, is only a temporary deal and not permanent.
-
Taste, Feel, Touch, Listen, See
To celebrate the temporary is to taste, to feel, to touch, to appreciate with all the senses what is around you right now. "That's ridiculous," you may be thinking. "I do that all the time - so what's new?"
It's true, we taste, feel touch, listen and see all the time. But we do it without awareness! Our heads are so often in another place that we don't really taste what we are eating. We don't really enjoy what we are touching, don't realize the pleasure in the simple things we are doing.
I remember the occasion when I instructed members of a workshop to take ten minutes to walk outside in silence, letting something of beauty drawn them. The workshop was being held on the grounds of a Benedictine monastery, surrounded by St. John's University in Minnesota. Several monks who lived on the campus were attending the workshop. I asked members of the group to relax, to breathe deeply, to let the beauty around them into their awareness.
A short while later the group began drifting back inside. I shall never forget one monk who said, "I've lived here most of my life. But this morning, in ten minutes, I saw things I have walked by for years and never noticed."
For most of us there is some beauty around us day by day. We sit beside it or look past it or ignore it. We fail to let it speak to our spirits, to call out to the beauty within us. We are somewhere else, living for tomorrow or fretting over the past.
I invite you to try a simple experiment for yourself. It will take only twenty or thirty minutes out of your life. Lie down on the floor, inhale and tense every muscle in your body as you hold your breath. Then exhale as you let the tension go and relax into the floor. Take another deep breath and let the tension in your body go out as you exhale. If you feel tightness somewhere, try to let it go.
When you feel relaxed, and if you have not fallen asleep, give yourself ten minutes to walk slowly, gracefully, and easily in your yard or nearby park. The experience will have more power if you are sharing it with someone else. You should remain silent during the walk, however, and share observations afterward.
Try to be present to whatever beauty calls you. It may be the intricate patterns in a single flower blossom. It may be the winter sky. It may be the variations of color and shadow in a single tree.
The main thing is not to try to program what happens. Don’t decide your route in advance. Just be. Just flow with whatever your feelings lead you to. Just exist, with no plan, no program, no schedule. Is it too much to give yourself ten minutes just to be? Why not try it now before you read further?
Another helpful experience to heighten your awareness is to give your total attention to one flower or leaf or tree. Study it at close range, just permitting its beauty, its color, and its shape to speak to you. Then move a little closer to the subject and study it from that vantage point. Let it call out of you the sense of wonder and appreciation – the feeling of joy. Then move closer yet. Each time you do, you will see an entirely new world which you had not noticed before. When possible, share this with a partner afterward.
I shall long remember the night Carol brought the lilacs. I was a member for a time of a small house-church group, meeting weekly for conversational sharing and creative worship. Carol had agreed to provide leadership that week. It was lilac season, and she arrived with an armful – fresh, fragrant, lavender. She gave us each a large lilac cluster and asked us to study it in silence for awhile.
It was an experience of genuine pleasure just to be with those lilacs for a time. We held them, touched them, felt their texture, smelled them, touched them to our faces. One of the most pleasant parts of the evening was sharing memories and associations with lilacs. Each of us had some childhood experiences with a lilac bush in the yard of our home or that of a neighbor.
Lilacs are a delight, and we tend to walk past them each spring without really stopping to see them, feel them, smell them, and appreciate them. We say, “Oh, isn’t that nice. The lilacs are out again.” When we next think about them, they are gone. Lilacs come and go very quickly, and to appreciate them fully we must celebrate the temporary, giving some of ourselves to the lilacs.
To celebrate the temporary
Is to lie
On your back
On the floor
In the dark
And listen
Really
Listen
To a beautiful piece
Of music
Not doing
Anything
Else
But
Listening
With every fiber
Of your being
-
I was once leading a five-day workshop for clergy and wives in the Pacific Northwest. We were in a cabin on Puget Sound, and it had rained most of the week - which is usual in the Northwest. But about four o'clock in the afternoon of the fourth day, the clouds broke and the sun burst through. We were in the middle of our afternoon group session. Our response was spontaneous. We all rushed outside and stood in the sunshine, glorying in its warmth, its brilliance, in the glimpse of snow-covered mountain peaks which had been obscured all week. We laughed; we shouted; we danced around. We celebrated the temporary beauty and glory of the sun.
Fifteen minutes later the sun had disappeared again behind gray clouds. But I still remember with joy that brief dance in the sun and how delightful it was.
I had a similar experience once in Florida, where I was leading an intensive group workshop. We were gathering for our evening sesion, and a full moon was already well up in the sky. Fleecy clouds were racing across the sky, creating beautiful patterns of light and shadow as they obscured the moon, then revealed it. Rather than ignore this rare spectacle, we delayed our meeting and moved outside. We gathered on the shore of the lake and spent fifteen minutes just watching the moon and clouds in awe. It was a wonder-full way to begin the evening. We celebrated the temporary.
One of the crucial insights to grasp if you would celebrate the temporary is the importance of coming to your senses. Our culture has trained us so well to live in our intellect that we have literally lost touch with our senses. We simply do not hear the messages. We do not listen to the wisdom of our body, the guidance of our intuition. This is a grievous loss, and we need to get our senses and our intellect back into communication with each other. This is not to slight the importance of the intellect. On the contrary, the mind is enhanced when it is informed by the reality processes of the senses.
If you wish to work toward celebrating the temporary with your whole self, then three things are necessary. All three are incredibly simple. One is relaxing. The second is breathing. And the third is depriving yourself by turning off the sound of your voice in order to allow your senses to emerge.
Our bodies are amazing vehicles. They can carry tensions around inside them, locked into the muscles, for years and years. These tensions - the result of anger, fear, grief - can block us from perceiving the beauty around us, the support of the earth, the warmth and love of others. So it is essential to learn how to relax and release the tensions that block us from the full experience of life - with all our senses. I will say some more about relaxing in the section "On Letting Go."
Breathing is essential. I am convinced that most people do not breathe properly. Too many of us breathe shallowly, using only the upper portion of our lungs. This means we do not breathe into our potential, our depth, or strength. It also means that we inhibit the internal communication which breathing carries as it flows in and out. We lock our muscles in such a way as to prevent full breathing, and in so doing we prevent full living. We shut off the messages of our strength, our joy, our pain, our sexuality. We may feel "safer" that way, but the consequences in shallow living are a high price to pay.
Many disciplines today are teaching us the importance of deep breathing. Yoga begins wih training in breathing, and I have learned much from my practice of yoga. The field of sensory awareness, as taught by Charlotte Selver and Charles Brooks, stresses breathing and relaxing into more creative functioning. Some newer forms of psychotherapy now stress breathing as a basic resource for health. Among these forms is Alexander Lowen's bio-energetic analysis.
When we relax and breathe more deeply, we are more in touch with our intuitive self, or feeling self, our instinctive wisdom, as well as our logical wisdom. We are more able to trust, to risk, and to let life flow.
Members of a workshop I was leading at Iliff School of Theology decided to celebrate the temporary one beautiful summer evening. They had invited a number of persons from the community to join them and "celebrate a summer evening." Members of the workshop planned and led the experience, which was designed to help individuals who did not know each other discover an experience of community in only a few hours.
When everyone had gathered, we stood in a circle, took a few deep breaths and let go some of the tension of our bodies. Each of us then found a partner and sat silently to watch a magnificent Colorado sunset over the Rockies. The unbelievable colors in the clouds, the quiet and cool of the evening, all combined to make the occasion one of depth and meaning.
Yet we do not need spectacular sunsets to celebrte the temporary. We can celebrate the temporary in the delicious smell of coffee perking in the morning. The feeling of cold water running over our hands and faces. The smell of lime shaving cream. The taste of fresh oranges. The smell of a rose. The touch of a child's hand.
To celebrate the temporary
Is to wade
In a stream
Barefoot
And
Really
Feel
The cold water
Running through your toes
To walk in the warm sand
And listen to the ocean
To climb a tree
And look down
At the world below
To watch a bird
To celebrate the temporary is to let go of worrying about yesterday and tomorrow long enough to be here, now. It is to give our attention, your awareness, to smelling, feeling, seeing, tasting, and hearing the myriad delights around you. To live today.
-
I will say some more about relaxing in the section "On Letting Go."
Hey Z, just got confused .... is this part of a book you've written? Forgive my slow-wittedness, or blindness if I missed it.
-
Hey Z, just got confused .... is this part of a book you've written? Forgive my slow-wittedness, or blindness if I missed it.
It's a book that's already been published. I'll give all the details when I'm done ;)
z
-
It's a book that's already been published. I'll give all the details when I'm done ;)
z
ahh.. it's a mystery is it? :)
-
ahh.. it's a mystery is it? :)
Of course ;)
We're living with our eyes wide shut, right?
z
-
Of course ;)
We're living with our eyes wide shut, right?
z
hardly shut... couldn't read the mystery if my eyes were shut!!! :D :-*
-
hardly shut... couldn't read the mystery if my eyes were shut!!! :D :-*
;D
-
Focus on energy vs focus on perception
Hello Juhani,
As I have a bit more time, could you explain this a bit further?
This is very interesting.
I understand what you're saying....but isn't every time we focus on energy, isn't it funneled through our perception?
Lay it on me....sounds like a good topic.
z
-
Focus on how you are in the world instead of how it feels to be in the world
Focus on the full picture instead of momentary glimpses
Focus on ends instead of means
Focus instead of focusing
Or then - don't
There is endless freedom to choose one's life
What's behind the Rim?
Where are we going and where are we coming from?
Why are we?
How are we?
What are we?
When are we?
Why, how, what and when am I?
-
Zam, you seem to work quite a bit with clergy - what is it you do? Do you teach them recapitulation techniques and energy work as well (i.e. how to reclaim fragments of self from the past - how to get wholly into 'now')?
-
Zam, you seem to work quite a bit with clergy - what is it you do? Do you teach them recapitulation techniques and energy work as well (i.e. how to reclaim fragments of self from the past - how to get wholly into 'now')?
Hi Juhani!
I'm quoting from a book by the name of "Celebrate the Temporary" by Clyde Reid.
I was going to wait until I finished quoting to comment on the book and author, but Now is as good as any to bring him 'out.' ;) I'll withhold further comment on him until I'm finished though...
z
-
So does he do energy work as it is the crucial bit in getting into 'now'? If these fragments and energies are not re-claimed, one is forever lost in his past ,and, it seems, cannot objectively be in 'now', or, if he can - then only for a moment.
-
So does he do energy work as it is the crucial bit in getting into 'now'? If these fragments and energies are not re-claimed, one is forever lost in his past ,and, it seems, cannot objectively be in 'now', or, if he can - then only for a moment.
Hi Juhani!
I'm not going to speculate on 'what' 'he' does. This is something that (as I'm sure you know) happens to a great deal of writers, namely Castaneda. Look at all the hoopla surrounding him and his work! I'm unconcerned with that.
I know what "I" have done after reading his words.
z
-
I'm not going to speculate on 'what' 'he' does.
Not required either. You've read his book - does he deal with recap and reclaiming one's energy from one's past events to stay in 'now'?
-
Not required either. You've read his book - does he deal with recap and reclaiming one's energy from one's past events to stay in 'now'?
Since I'm posting the book here, you can discern for yourself. No worries, it's a short book ;)
z
-
Not required either. You've read his book - does he deal with recap and reclaiming one's energy from one's past events to stay in 'now'?
Hey Juhani,
I was just talking to Ang about this, and we seem to have different views on this 'reclaiming one's enery from one's past events.'
Please share you view of this, so I could then apply what it is exactly you are looking for.
thanks!
z
-
Hey Juhani and Zam...I've been reading you guys going back and forth and this keeps jumping out at me..."reclaiming energy".
I've been going through some intense recapping lately and have found that energy is a continually flowing strand. By recapping, I don't "reclaim" anything. I only stop the flow of that energy to the person, event or place I'm recapping. I will always have that particular energy line (memory), but in essence, I'm cauterizing, or clamping off the flow of energy. My success is measured only when I can remember the person, event, or place with no emotional attachment to distract me from "the now".
Maybe I'm all washed up, but, I consider memories un-erasable. It would be like trying to pick and choose what would crash on my computer hard drive. The folders are still there, I just don't need to open them anymore.
Could just be semantics, and that we're seeing the same thing. :)
Ang
-
Could just be semantics, and that we're seeing the same thing. :)
"just semantics" is an interesting phenomena. ;)
There is - for myself - a difference between "reclaiming" and "stopping".
My son, when younger, was attending therapy with a psychologist. The aim was to get him to stop certain behaviours and thoughts "anxiety" based etc..
For a while this worked; was a good technique in behaviour modification, however it didn't deal with the underlying emotion. This particular psychologist was very much into the "now" as he saw it. Past emotional content was only evoked if one brought it into the now - so his theory went. It was a nice theory, and could be true too; however, for my son, later processes of "reclaiming" was more effective and transforming - something about it, both 'energetically' and 'psychologically' was empowering to him.
-
Reclaiming to me means I lost something. It was never lost, but always there, just redirected it...that's all. :)
-
I "claimed" what I thought was "my world", my awareness, al the years earlier in my life than "right now". I thought all was quite intact and just fine. And it was but, really, not ........ comparitively speaking, that is. With a renewed and revivied perspective of this world, I go back to where I thought "I was" daily in my recapitulative efforts. What I am saying is, aren't we living the world we assemble, even if sooner or later we end up finding out there were so many pieces of that world we weren't aware of? Is THIS the energy we seek when we cling to our impeccability ...... the very impeccability which affords us the opportunities to trap maybe just a tiny fragment of the total energy we need for our leap into our next awareness?
This IS my awareness, whether it is all just a dream, an illusion, or not. I am AT the edge of the abyss and claim this opportunity to achieve a great end.
t2f
p.s., I'm gonna claim a big chunk of energy, I hope, when I perform a warriors task of recapitulation this coming Saturday, my 61st birthday. Several blocks from our home is an apartment building which was once the old hospital I was born in. My Mom always spoke of how I was born on the 6th step of the stairs just inside the door, as she straddled the 7th step. I gonna go back to that "step #6" and ................................
ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!
-
Maybe I'm all washed up, but, I consider memories un-erasable.
Quite the different - in advanced shool we rewrite our history. This is possible because our energy isn't there.
-
p.s., I'm gonna claim a big chunk of energy, I hope, when I perform a warriors task of recapitulation this coming Saturday, my 61st birthday. Several blocks from our home is an apartment building which was once the old hospital I was born in. My Mom always spoke of how I was born on the 6th step of the stairs just inside the door, as she straddled the 7th step. I gonna go back to that "step #6" and ................................
ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!
Good luck with that one :D
But Man are you 60+ and a Scorpio as well! Please take my congrats to both!
-
"just semantics" is an interesting phenomena. ;)
It was a nice theory, and could be true too; however, for my son, later processes of "reclaiming" was more effective and transforming - something about it, both 'energetically' and 'psychologically' was empowering to him.
Here you are definitely right. We do not stop anything - we transform. That is the core of our energy work - to transform. The Queros (The old Inkas of Peru) transform the energy from Hucha to Sami, from Heavy to Light. In the same way we transform our history so we will be lighter in the future. We cannot carry rucksacks of the past.
.~.
-
Good luck with that one :D
But Man are you 60+ and a Scorpio as well! Please take my congrats to both!
Thanx, man, but living to any certain "age" isn't really an accomplishment unless yerr dealing with the level of insanity which I seem to muster every day! ha. Scorpio's rule.
-
p.s., I'm gonna claim a big chunk of energy, I hope, when I perform a warriors task of recapitulation this coming Saturday, my 61st birthday. Several blocks from our home is an apartment building which was once the old hospital I was born in. My Mom always spoke of how I was born on the 6th step of the stairs just inside the door, as she straddled the 7th step. I gonna go back to that "step #6" and ................................
ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!
Have a wonderful birth-day dear tommy!!!!!!!! :-*
-
Lean into Your Pain
One of the most common obstancles to celebrating the temporary is our avoidance of pain. We dread pain. We fear pain. We do anything to escape pain. Our culture reinforces our avoidance of pain by assuring us that we can live a painless life.
Advertisements constantly encourage us to believe that life can be pain-free. There is a remedy and an easy escape from every hurt - novocain from the dentist, anesthesia before the stiches, pain-killers for the headache. Alcohol or drugs to kill the pain of an awkward social situation or personal crisis.
To live without pain is a myth. It is possible to live virtually without pain by cutting yourself off from your feelings. The pain is in you, but the message does not reach your consciousness. Many people live this way, like walking zombies, rather than allow themselves to feel pain.
To live without pain, however, is to live half-alive, without fullness of life. This is the unmistakable, clear, unalterable fact. The more we escape pain, the more it comes back to haunt us in other ways. When it comes, we are unprepared for it and there is no escape.
I am not proposing that we go about looking for painful experiences - like putting our hand on a hot stove to prove we are alive. If the pain of having a tooth repaired is too intense, then surely we should have it deadened. But should we demand novocain every time, before we even know how much it will hurt? Should we not be able to live with some pain? The danger is living deadened lives, avoiding the experience of pain at any cost.
We sometimes stuff our mouths beyond our need for nourishment in order to deaden our feelings. By keeping our attention in our mouths, we can ignore the anxiety signals coming from our insides.
But there is another way to live. A more satisfying way. To help you feel into this other way, I'd like to invite you to try a simple experiment. There is a basic yoga position which helps to dramatize the experience of leaning into pain. You sit on the floor with both legs extended before you. You should be wearing loose clothing, no shoes.
You take the right foot and place it inside your left thigh as high up the leg as it will reach. Then extend both arms high above the head with your thumbs locked together. Slowly bring the arms forward, reaching for the left foot and bringing the head down toward the left knee. Unless you are unusually loose, you will probably reach a point where it hurts as you come down.
When you hit that point of pain, concentrate on the precise point of the pain. Say to yourself, "That's where it hurts - right there." You may find that you have a tendency to pull back from the pain when you hit it. That is a life style for many people - retreating from the first hint of pain. But try this time to lean into the pain, look it in the eye and see what happens. Why not stop reading now and try it. When you hit the point of pain, concentrate on it and relax into it. Take a deep breath and lean a little lower. It will only take a few minutes to try this, and the rest of the chapter will make more sense to you if you do.
The fascinating discovery of most people trying the simple head-knee pose is that pain is not all that bad. By concentrating attention on the pain, and by relaxing into it, the pain tends to diminish or disappear. Leaning into life's pain can also be a life style, and is far more satisfying than the avoidance style. It requires small doses of plain courage to look pain in the eye, but it prepares you for more serious pain when it comes. In the meantime, all the energy expended to avoid pain is now available for the business of living.
What many of us do not realize is tht pain and joy run together. When we cut ourselves off from our pain, we have unwittingly cut ourselves off from joy as well. To allow yourself to feel pain is to allow yourself to feel. To prevent pain, you also prevent other feelings because you have blocked off the messages from your body. You may think you experience joy, but the experience of joy encompasses the whole body, not just the head.
To celebrate the temporary
Is to lie in bed
A few minutes
When you first wake up
Watching
The sun
Coming through
The window
The reflections
On the ceiling
The colors
In the room
And
Thanking
God
For
Life
-
Happy Birthday, T!
:-*
-
p.s., I'm gonna claim a big chunk of energy, I hope, when I perform a warriors task of recapitulation this coming Saturday, my 61st birthday. Several blocks from our home is an apartment building which was once the old hospital I was born in. My Mom always spoke of how I was born on the 6th step of the stairs just inside the door, as she straddled the 7th step. I gonna go back to that "step #6" and ................................
ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!
Sounds like it could be a re-birth! ;)
Happy Birthday Tommy !!! :)
-
Quite the different - in advanced shool we rewrite our history. This is possible because our energy isn't there.
I know you can change whatever you want about yourself, and have continually done that, but don't you think, you are able to keep a memory without extending it any energy?
-
Happy Birthday, T2!
Zammy
-
Whenever something hurts you and you don't accept it fully as a complete part of your history, you create a gap in your memory; a gap which, when the hurt is strong or repeated many times, becomes occupied by a spirit of trauma.
~~
"Can you tell me what, from your judgment and experience, you consider to be the source of suffering and unhappiness in the world?" A wave of movement went through the audience. I looked around and saw mostly young people, while a few academic-type older men sat in a first row. People looked at one another, waiting to see who would answer, and then I heard Masha's low voice pronounce with a slight giggle, "Is it evil?"
Vladimir looked at her momentarily with the same unusual attantion I noticed in his eyes before, then continued, "When you say 'evil', it is a powerful statement. But this statement also distances you from the source. It's like you cut yourself off, or cut off everything which is good in yourself from the nature of evil, and you think that through that, you can achieve healing and protection.
"In reality, it is vice versa. When you distance yourself from the source of suffering, when you name it as opposite to what you want to be (I assume that you all want to be good, don't you?), you lose a chance to change it. Because it continues to live inside you, as part of you, making you make many of your choices, but you refuse to recognize it, so you remain in ignorant bliss and you continue to suffer.
"We call the source of unhappiness and disease 'trauma'. And we believe that there are live representations of trauma in all of us. In our tradition, we call them 'spirits of trauma.'
The Master of Lucid Dreams
Olga Kharitidi
I know you can change whatever you want about yourself, and have continually done that, but don't you think, you are able to keep a memory without extending it any energy?
I think we can reclaim the energy, and the parts of our spirit which have wandered awry in avoiding the pain, without erasing the memory. The memory can then exist without any inner reaction to it. And/or, we can take it on a different track, like Jahn suggested, to re-write it, tweak it, and transform it. This might involve changing our assemblage point and our cognitions about it.
For example, "I was raped by a violent, evil man," can change to
"I took myself to the outer limits of victimhood, in exploring this lesson. The rapist was my partner. We contracted at soul level long before we came into the world to act this out together. "
-
It's not so much that we forget ... instead, the painful memory loses all its power and importance, as we are able to then fully inhabit it and let go....
-
To celebrate the temporary
Is to lie in bed
A few minutes
When you first wake up
Watching
The sun
Coming through
The window
The reflections
On the ceiling
The colors
In the room
And
Thanking
God
For
Life
reminds me of a pic I took one morning...
-
Thanx, Yawl!! Me an' the WJ gonna check out a new restaurant in town and then come home and let her have her way with me :)
-
Y'all geaux, dudes! :-*
-
interesting....
a lot to ponder in this sequence.
as you all know, i am into recapping in the traditional way, tho i recognise there are many ways to do this. however i have always felt the description of what is actually happening, in CC's books, were not sufficient. I do suggest we have to look at this ourselves.
you all no doubt know this technique is also essential in Buddhist tradition.
I shuffle the words around myself, trying to understand what is actually going on energetically when I recap, and some comments here are quite relevant.
my experience is that my energy is not so much lost, but fixated - it should be in flow, but at some point, any point, the world freezes me with it. so recapping reclaims the flow, rather than the energy. but then that freezing also has forgetting, so recapping 'unlocks equity' (I have been talking to bank managers this last week).
yet there is much more - when i arise from a recap session, i feel excited and overwhelmed with joy and sadness, at the memories of my life. what strange beings we are. you know, in some of my poojas, i offer the moment 'to memory'. not sure why i do that, but somehow, our memory seems sacred to me. like it's all i have.
-
I was leading a workshop one day for Roman Catholic priests and nuns who work as campus pastors around the country. At one point the group was divided into units of five or six, sitting at round tables for discussion. As I slid my chair up to listen to one group, a young woman was talking about her feeling of emptiness after an enjoyable weekend. Tears filled her eyes and she put her head down and cried.
As she talked about her emptiness, she mentioned her hesitation to form deep attachments with anyone at the workshop. She didnt want the pain of giving up another friend. She told us how she had experienced a great sense of loss as every close friend in her life had died or left her within a brief span of time. "I have no one left."
It had hurt so much to give up her friends that she couldn't imagine giving up anyone else - even a temporary friend. She could not celebrate temporary relationships because she feared the pain of losing them. And so she continued as a lonely, empty person, unable to experience deep joy or deep pain.
That may have been all she could do at that time. I suspect most of us have gone through similiar periods in our lives. There are times when our losses seem to accumulate and we feel we must withdraw for awhile into our psychological shells and lick our wounds, protecting ourselves from further pain until our strength returns.
Others seem to live constantly by the same numbing principle which the young woman was experiencing - even when their losses are not so grievous. They withdraw into emptiness at the approach of pain, living empty lives in their unwillingness to risk the possibility of further pain. Or any pain at all.
To celebrate the temporary
Is to really take time
To taste bread
To give it
Your full attention
For just a few minutes
To smell it
Touch it
To chew it slowly
While it dissolves
In your mouth
To think about bread
And the life it brings
The strength it gives
-
I know you can change whatever you want about yourself, and have continually done that, but don't you think, you are able to keep a memory without extending it any energy?
We are not able to change our personality. The personality that are given and can be explained by a birth chart. Also we cannot change our path of Destiny.
A thought, an idea is energy. What you mean is that you can have a memory that is not "infected" or soaked in emotional energy. Of course.
There was a time when I had a fight with my parents and back then; when I started to think about my father I got a knot in my stomach and started to sweat. The situation got more and more strained so I had to act and take a energy fight. The solution was that I had to drag that monster (that my father had become) out of the basement - into the light - and kill it.
Today I have a very relaxed and good relation with my father and I do not get any physical reactions when I think of him.
-
I was leading a workshop one day for Roman Catholic priests and nuns who work as campus pastors around the country...
To celebrate the temporary
Is to really take time
To taste bread
To give it
Your full attention
For just a few minutes
To smell it
Touch it
To chew it slowly
While it dissolves
In your mouth
To think about bread
And the life it brings
The strength it gives
Ok, Z...I really think you should come to Mass with me sometime. ;)
:-* :-* :-*
-
Ok, Z...I really think you should come to Mass with me sometime. ;)
:-* :-* :-*
<<<chuckles>>>
I have! I have!
My annual installments are quite enough, thank you.
z
-
yet there is much more - when i arise from a recap session, i feel excited and overwhelmed with joy and sadness, at the memories of my life. what strange beings we are. you know, in some of my poojas, i offer the moment 'to memory'. not sure why i do that, but somehow, our memory seems sacred to me. like it's all i have.
Is that the effect of giving our lives and experiences to Eagle? Something we hold dear yet cannot but share and offer.
-
Is that the effect of giving our lives and experiences to Eagle? Something we hold dear yet cannot but share and offer.
We are like eyes to a blind man. We see what he can't see, his own creation.
-
We are like eyes to a blind man. We see what he can't see, his own creation.
Indeed.
Was it Mares who said that Unspeakable knows everything there has ever been to know, there is to know, and there will ever be to know? It holds all knowledge about all possibilities of all possible lives of all possible life forms. Yet It needs to manifest Itself in the form of human beings to experience what we experience.
That does expand the meaning of 'recap'.
-
My future and past self exist now in the terms of nagual. My future self has done more growth and are more mature and evolved than me. Therefore I can get help from my future self, in the same way I can assist my past self.
-
I encountered an interesting example of the avoidance style when I spent a year in Topeka, Kansas. I was a Research Fellow at the Menninger Foundation, one of the nation's leading centers for the study of psychiatry. I soon became aware of the fact that there was a community of "permanent people" in Topeka and a number of smaller groups of "temporary" people. The permanent people were the Topeka residents who more or less had their roots in that community. The temporary people were those who had come to study at the Foundation and knew they would be in the city for only a year or possibly three years.
The permanent people tended to avoid deep contacts with temporary people, their friends usually being other permanent residents. On rare occasions a permanent resident would become involved in the life of a temporary person and allow a friendship to blossom. Since this seemed to be the exception, however, the temporary people sought each other out for their friendships. Deeper and closer relationships developed because of their temporary nature.
I decided that the permanent poeple avoided us temporary types because they did not want the pain of giving us up. If they allowed themselves to like us, it meant they would miss us when we left. So it was easier to avoid involvement and thereby avoid the pain of letting us go! By avoiding the pain of involvement, they also cheated themselves and us of potential joy.
The interesting thing is that all our relationships are temporary. Can you think of a single permanent relationship? Mother? Father? An old and dear friend? They all die eventually. Or move away. Or change. Just as you and I change and grow. If we cushion ourselves against deep involvement because someday we may lose the person, we only cheat ourselves and them as well.
So why not celebrate those relationships now while we have them? And while we can appreciate them? Even if we have them for just a day, or a week, or a year.
I was sitting with an old friend on the campus at Berkeley one warm spring Sunday afternoon. The sidewalks and courtyards were swarming with people out for a stroll in the sun. Pete and I sat on the cement for a time, listening to an informal group of musicians beating out primitive rhythms on an assortment of bongo drums and old cowbells.
It was fascinating ot watch the faces in the crowd around that pulsating musical heart. People just enjoyed each other, enjoying their right to be free, to wear odd clothes or go barefoot. There were children hanging from the branches of the tree under which the musicians beat out their ancient music.
We were reminiscing that day, Pete and I. Recalling the day we had played hookey from high school classes for a walk in the park and had to face the dean...Remembering old girlfriends...And double dating...And we talked about my kid brother, Jim.
Jim was killed in an Air Force jet crash in Portland, Oregon. Jim and his pilot were patrolling the Northwest coast during the Korean War. Jim was flying radar observer. The jet simply went dead in the air one day. He and his pilot could have bailed out, but they rode the plane into a clump of trees to avoid hitting the homes nearby where children were playing. (I remember sitting through Jim's funeral without crying. I thought I was being strong then, but now I know I just wasn't allowing myself to feel the pain that was there. I had to do my crying for Jim years later - and may still have some to do.)
I was the brother who made the headlines, but Jim was the one everybody loved. Who was the more successful? Is success measured in becoming known, or is it in loving and being loved?
Pete and I grieved awhile that day about the loss of a young man we had both cared about deeply. Our conversation went something like this:
Pete: What a tragic thing it is when a life can be snuffed out like that! What a loss. He's gone and there's nothing we can do about it.
Me: That's right, we can't do anything about it. But there is another way we can look at it.
Pete: What's that?
Me: Look, we both feel pain at losing Jim, because we loved him. I don't want to deny that pain for a moment. Be we can also rejoice that we had him for twenty-four years. We did know him, and he did enrich our lives during that time. Why not celebrate what we did have rather than grieve what we can't have?
Pete: I really hadn't thought of it that way.
It often does not occur to us to celebrate the good, the joy, and the love that we have received. We spend our time feeling bad that we don't still have it today, and so today is dampened by that sadness and is not celebrated for itself.
We can make choices about our life style. We do every day. We can choose to live a life of regretting, and "if only" style. Or we can choose a realistic, sometimes regretting but basically celebrating style that focuses on the good along with the painful. That is celebrating the temporary.
When you have nothing else to celebrate, celebrate your pain! At least it proves you are alive.
-
The interesting thing is that all our relationships are temporary. Can you think of a single permanent relationship? Mother? Father? An old and dear friend? They all die eventually. Or move away. Or change.
Absolutely - there is a huge number of permanent relationships - they just happen to span more than only this life. Where is the 'now' now?
-
Absolutely - there is a huge number of permanent relationships - they just happen to span more than only this life. Where is the 'now' now?
Where is the 'span of more than only this life?'
-
Where is the 'span of more than only this life?'
Have you heard about karma? Who were your parents in your previous life? Why were you born to them? Who do you encounter in your life and why? Etc. We are all gonna die on the physical plain, but there is a difference in the depth of realisation of it and that the death is not the end of it. That is also living in 'now'.
-
Have you heard about karma? Who were your parents in your previous life? Why were you born to them? Who do you encounter in your life and why? Etc. We are all gonna die on the physical plain, but there is a difference in the depth of realisation of it and that the death is not the end of it. That is also living in 'now'.
Yea, I've heard about it. ;)
Nice belief system...
...I don't adhear to it though.
Thanks for your comments Juhani. It's nice to see your parting comment: "That is also living in the 'now.'" One reason for me to post all of this...to give someone just a bit more and let them do with it as they please.
z
-
Then you should be prepared for criticism as well.
Heck yea~!
-
Good. Then - when you quote a book, please add author, title and pages you quoted.
-
Good. Then - when you quote a book, please add author, title and pages you quoted.
This has already been done, but here you go, again:
Celebrate the Temporary
Clyde Reid
First Harper & Row paperback edition published 1974
-
This has already been done, but here you go, again:
Celebrate the Temporary
Clyde Reid
First Harper & Row paperback edition published 1974
Could you then somehow separate your own thoughts from quotations? E.g outline the text of Reid as a quotation?
You might wonder what is the purpose of this excercise? Well, it is to discern more easily your thoughts from Reid's (with which not everybody agrees).
-
Could you then somehow separate your own thoughts from quotations? E.g outline the text of Reid as a quotation?
No problemo!
You might wonder what is the purpose of this excercise? Well, it is to discern more easily your thoughts from Reid's (with which not everybody agrees).
I understand what the purpose is you state, but....
Can you discern what the purpose I had in posting as I did? It was very specific.
As to what 'everyone' agrees upon, I'd be careful in making general comments such as these....or are you speaking for 'everyone' now?
Agreement is not required in reading this. Is agreement required in reading what other's quote?
This thread has seemed to have caused a bit of re-action with you, Juhani. Your one-liner replies really don't give justice to what you're attempting to convey. Feel free to 'lay it on me' as to what's really up concerning this thread.
Zam I Am
-
No problemo!
Good. Cheers!
-
Could you then somehow separate your own thoughts from quotations? E.g outline the text of Reid as a quotation?
Like you wanted Juhani to condensate and comment Kris Raphael.
-
I just want to jump in and say this.
We all quote others in this forum ... it can't really be a valid bone of contention at this juncture, can it? So long as one is crediting the author? In this thread, be it Kris Raphael, Clive Reid, Olga Kharatidi, or whomever, it would be a strange thing to make issue of, that we've quoted them.
I've observed different intentions when others have been quoted:
1) To be informative, as with our news items in "We're Stuffed", or in the many explications in the different religion folders, and
2) To bring another idea to light, which we either love for the idea's sake or we love for the writer's sake. Or both, as with the host of passages from CC. In that case we share, and we probably presume there that no one could have said it better, least of all ourselves.
Ideally, the beloved passages get some follow-up from us, but sometimes the passages stand as is -- at least representing what we might have said ourselves, had we had the capability. In either case, though, discussion would always seem to be fair game.
-
Nothing wrong with quoting. Nice to know which is a quote and which is the writer's own views.
-
Nothing wrong with quoting. Nice to know which is a quote and which is the writer's own views.
Sometimes.
Sometimes I like to just read and delve into the words. Don't concern myself with who wrote them. Really focus on what's written, what the author's attempting to convey, and how I'm interpreting it.
Let me explain.
This was part of an experiment for myself. Part of Stalking myself.
I've found it almost magical at times when I read something from someone I've never read or heard of before. The awareness/perception is enhanced.
I find that when I read something or someone that I already have a pre-conceived notion about, it's then classified into a catagory, such as, "Oh, this person is a Doctor, so s/he must know what s/he's talking about." Or, "I've never really cared for this persons thoughts in the past," so it's tainted with my judgement of that past notion.
Yes, we should just read what's written. Yes, we should make it clear who wrote what.
Sometimes...ah well.
z
-
Absolutely - there is a huge number of permanent relationships - they just happen to span more than only this life. Where is the 'now' now?
ALL relationships are impermanent. The key word in that statement is 'relationships.'
-
Have you heard about karma?
Most people have, Juhani. Are you trying to teach Zam something? Or have you been being abrasive because you feel threatened cause you lack the knowledge he does?
Who were your parents in your previous life? Why were you born to them?
Who cares...
Who do you encounter in your life and why? Etc. We are all gonna die on the physical plain, but there is a difference in the depth of realisation of it and that the death is not the end of it. That is also living in 'now'.
Physical plane. The ego is merely a swinging door blowing between the realm of life and death - which when you understand that - its all one and the same
Do you know what karma is? What's your idea on karma? Note: im not asking for a trite definition...
-
Then you should be prepared for criticism as well.
Same goes for you. The only thing you ever do is criticize folks, unless of course, you consider them up a rung or two above you.
And that is very rare....
-
As to what 'everyone' agrees upon, I'd be careful in making general comments such as these....or are you speaking for 'everyone' now?
Heck no....
Keep going Zam - you're doing well and Ive been enjoying your input on this thread.
-
Could you then somehow separate your own thoughts from quotations? E.g outline the text of Reid as a quotation?
Juhani, coming from you this is quite stunning. You do more quoting and using other people's thoughts to validate what you want to express, and pale in comparison, when trying to formulate your own theory on anything at all. Maybe you should try to practice what you preach, once in awhile, and write something, yourself on, and share some of your own knowledge. Ive never seen you do it, and you wont because, you dont have any of your own.
If you spent your energy trying to learn, and gain knowledge, and practice and implement what you learn, vs criticizing others and trying to put them down because your ego is so fragile and threatened by anyone else who possesses what you wish you had, perhaps you'd learn something for your own self.
-
And dont get mad at me Michael. Sometimes bluntness and a boot is necessary. Like on this thread.
Back to the Now, for gods sakes......
-
Back to the Now, for gods sakes......
If I understand the concept accurately, we never left the "Now".
:)
-
Sometimes.
Sometimes I like to just read and delve into the words. Don't concern myself with who wrote them. Really focus on what's written, what the author's attempting to convey, and how I'm interpreting it.
Let me explain.
This was part of an experiment for myself. Part of Stalking myself.
I've found it almost magical at times when I read something from someone I've never read or heard of before. The awareness/perception is enhanced.
I find that when I read something or someone that I already have a pre-conceived notion about, it's then classified into a catagory, such as, "Oh, this person is a Doctor, so s/he must know what s/he's talking about." Or, "I've never really cared for this persons thoughts in the past," so it's tainted with my judgement of that past notion.
Yes, we should just read what's written. Yes, we should make it clear who wrote what.
Sometimes...ah well.
z
Hmm Zam.., you saying my wanting to know which part of your post is quoted and which part is your own stuff may result in my reading of said post being tainted with judgement? ;)
Nice experiment you mentioned in stalking yourself. Yes.. it does help should the need arise! :P
-
And dont get mad at me Michael. Sometimes bluntness and a boot is necessary. Like on this thread.
Interesting thing about bluntness and boot - often its just because we don't agree with the other! Nothing wrong with that, except that sometimes.. (nice new word you introduced here, Zam! ;) ) well sometimes.. we don't agree because we just have different perceptions of a situation.
Interesting thing perceptions.. sometimes they even show us stuff.. and then we can get to stalking them!!
-
If I understand the concept accurately, we never left the "Now".
:)
:D
-
The interesting thing is that all our relationships are temporary. Can you think of a single permanent relationship? Mother? Father? An old and dear friend? They all die eventually. Or move away. Or change. Just as you and I change and grow. If we cushion ourselves against deep involvement because someday we may lose the person, we only cheat ourselves and them as well.
So why not celebrate those relationships now while we have them? And while we can appreciate them? Even if we have them for just a day, or a week, or a year.
.............
Me: Look, we both feel pain at losing Jim, because we loved him. I don't want to deny that pain for a moment. Be we can also rejoice that we had him for twenty-four years. We did know him, and he did enrich our lives during that time. Why not celebrate what we did have rather than grieve what we can't have?
Impermanence. That is Buddha's cornerstone. No matter how long we look into any version of the future, no how deeply we look into 'Now', we still reach a point where everything drops away - everything.
I like your stories Zam, it brings out your point. Regret and the pain of loss are such a big thing these days - everyone wants 'closure' which usually means someone has to be convicted in court! Madness! If we cherish what we have now, we can afford to let go. But I know many who know this intellectually, but not emotionally - that is the difficult part.
And you are right, we can celebrate our pain, but that is a bit advanced me thinks... ;)
I should add I usually don't say much on the 'Now' issue, as I see 'Now' as a journey - takes a long time to come to where Now really is, and I for one haven't got there yet. But I'm using every tool I know to reach it.
-
Impermanence. That is Buddha's cornerstone. No matter how long we look into any version of the future, no how deeply we look into 'Now', we still reach a point where everything drops away - everything.
I like your stories Zam, it brings out your point. Regret and the pain of loss are such a big thing these days - everyone wants 'closure' which usually means someone has to be convicted in court! Madness! If we cherish what we have now, we can afford to let go. But I know many who know this intellectually, but not emotionally - that is the difficult part.
And you are right, we can celebrate our pain, but that is a bit advanced me thinks... ;)
I should add I usually don't say much on the 'Now' issue, as I see 'Now' as a journey - takes a long time to come to where Now really is, and I for one haven't got there yet. But I'm using every tool I know to reach it.
The whole idea of "impermanence" as Buddha's cornerstone also translates over into Toltec's idea of "we are beings who are going to die." Just something I've always found to be an interesting parallel.
There's an aspect of quantum that deals with the idea of time as a hologram - and in that paradigm, it can be seen that perhaps this "impermanence" is only a matter of our humanform perceptions. Within the actuality of the hologram, everything that has ever existed will ALWAYS exist at the level of molecular "memory". I was reading another thread this morning here at Soma about "memory", as recalling a question asked by Serafina a few days ago about the question of memory as it relates to recapitulation, and it just seems to indicate a lot of different "threads" coming together.
The cool thing about the quantum paradigm of "time as a hologram" is that on many levels it actualy speaks to the idea that we can actually access the hologram directly, using the tool of perceptual awareness. Hard to put into words, but it's rather like what the toltecs call "a shift of the assemblage point", which allows the seer/seeker to directly interface with any aspect of him/herself at any point in "time".
My own theories related to this have to do with the double being the vessel which carries our awareness not only beyond our own impermanence, but potentially beyond the hologram itself. Our bodies may indeed be beings who are going to die, but an evolving self (higher self, double, dreaming body) gives us the ability to transcend our impermanence and transport our awareness as a cohesive totality beyond the "limits" we perceive from our humanform perspective.
Oy... words get in the way, of course. :-\
One of the first "downloads" I received through gnosis (silent knowing) was, "You humans have no concept of the nature of time."
I've been pondering that one for years... and can only nod in agreement. Time is a funny fellow, probably wearing a jester suit, who's having a good laugh at it all. :)
-
Good post! Just associatively brings to my mind one of the great dreams I've had - I moved in huge dark space back in time alongside of one gigantic energy fibre. Once I merged with it, I was back in AD 33. Tricky thing - time.
-
The cool thing about the quantum paradigm of "time as a hologram" is that on many levels it actualy speaks to the idea that we can actually access the hologram directly, using the tool of perceptual awareness. Hard to put into words, but it's rather like what the toltecs call "a shift of the assemblage point", which allows the seer/seeker to directly interface with any aspect of him/herself at any point in "time".
Love this bit about "time as a hologram"! I see the "assemblage point" as sort of like the lazer's counterpart in physical holograms; and the 'shift' the 'angle'.
I sometimes wonder at the inventions and discoveries of humans - they seem to parallel so much of the 'abstract'. Or is it our way of bringing out into manifestation that which can show us the way? Sort of like a loop..
My own theories related to this have to do with the double being the vessel which carries our awareness not only beyond our own impermanence, but potentially beyond the hologram itself. Our bodies may indeed be beings who are going to die, but an evolving self (higher self, double, dreaming body) gives us the ability to transcend our impermanence and transport our awareness as a cohesive totality beyond the "limits" we perceive from our humanform perspective.
Oy... words get in the way, of course. :-\
Nope!! Your words are greatly fine!!
One of the first "downloads" I received through gnosis (silent knowing) was, "You humans have no concept of the nature of time."
I've been pondering that one for years... and can only nod in agreement. Time is a funny fellow, probably wearing a jester suit, who's having a good laugh at it all. :)
"time" is an amazing thing.. somehow it always comes down to that; we have no concept of the nature of time. I wonder if it is possible to have so in our 'humanform' perception? Something seems to get lost in the translation..
-
Yes Della, you make a good point there.
It brings to mind something tho, about manifesting - if we cling to the desire for what we are seeking to manifest, then we are harbouring fear, and it is the fear that we manifest, thus sabotaging our intent. Thus we are much more successful in manifesting when we can let go first.
There is some law somewhere that we can only retain what we have let go. Like those knots that we finally throw down in frustration, only to see them unravel with ease as they fall.
Julie struggled for a long time in her theses to neatly explain Maya (till she finally gave up that hope), and for some time used the word impermanence, meaning everything changes - not that things aren't permanent in their existence within Maya, but that they are not permanent in our desire to see them stay the way we want.
Permanence, is a quality we strive to find. To cling to something we can rely on - which eventually leads us into our deepest core of silence, as if in absence we find certitude. Whereas energy in its solid and fluid forms, 'exists'. always 'exists', yet is constantly changing. a paradox, but one we are called to resolve as beings within.
The relationship between Brahman (the unknowable) and Maya (manifestation) has been debated and related over thousands of years in India - which is real? Buddhism, which influenced adviata and Shankara, stand on one end, claiming that all manifestation is illusion. While Bhakti, devotion, stands nearer the other end, pure Materialiasm (which also existed in India). Devotion requires an 'object', thus they relate that Maya is not illusion, and that permanence can be found in God. Bhakti devoties often express their joy and love of the world, and see in that, and in it's very shifting nature, a truth to cling to, in fact, the Godhead itself, in everything.
But Hinduism has another word, or concept, Vijnana. It works this way, first we live in the ignorance that our world and relationships are real, and when they are taken away we suffer - the more we cling the more we suffer. Then we get wisdom, and let go, realising the impermanence of our attachments. On the deepest level, we reject all, and enter into absolute essence - they call that Jnana. (actually Nirvikalpa Samadhi.) Nothing remains - all is rejected, even ourselves. But then, we come back (like those who return from Keter) and only then are we able to play in Maya - to access the full range of existence, past present and future. We are called Vijnani.
Well, that's just a little rave at 4am in the morning - good night irene...
-
The whole idea of "impermanence" as Buddha's cornerstone also translates over into Toltec's idea of "we are beings who are going to die." Just something I've always found to be an interesting parallel.
There's an aspect of quantum that deals with the idea of time as a hologram - and in that paradigm, it can be seen that perhaps this "impermanence" is only a matter of our humanform perceptions. Within the actuality of the hologram, everything that has ever existed will ALWAYS exist at the level of molecular "memory". I was reading another thread this morning here at Soma about "memory", as recalling a question asked by Serafina a few days ago about the question of memory as it relates to recapitulation, and it just seems to indicate a lot of different "threads" coming together.
Della, that's been my understanding on things for many years now. The thing was when I went through my big boom phase, got a glimpse of the field/eagle, and how time is a play on the mind itself, it made those possibilities open many doors, which then I was able to understand 'why' we can gain insight into the future, or potential futures really, or even work energetically with our pasts, do whatever retrievals of energy that we must. There'd be no reason or bother to do recap work (course I may debate on the extensiveness of this at times), if there wasn't the ability to retrieve that energy or aspects of us which can get stuck in time, and realign things to a different point on the 'map.' I do view time as a map but not a linear map, flat and one-dimensional. I did view it that way, until that door swung open for me, and then, many other things fell into place, and suddenly made 'sense.' Though in the physical and those trapped by the whole matter manifestation, fixed in that line of thought, no, it wouldnt make sense.
The cool thing about the quantum paradigm of "time as a hologram" is that on many levels it actualy speaks to the idea that we can actually access the hologram directly, using the tool of perceptual awareness. Hard to put into words, but it's rather like what the toltecs call "a shift of the assemblage point", which allows the seer/seeker to directly interface with any aspect of him/herself at any point in "time".
Yep, and the more you shift the more you can see so many different dimensions, and even possibilities of who we're becoming. Also, it makes something like free-will much more possible to fathom...
My own theories related to this have to do with the double being the vessel which carries our awareness not only beyond our own impermanence, but potentially beyond the hologram itself. Our bodies may indeed be beings who are going to die, but an evolving self (higher self, double, dreaming body) gives us the ability to transcend our impermanence and transport our awareness as a cohesive totality beyond the "limits" we perceive from our humanform perspective.
I think too, the more we're in tune with that aspect as well, will be able to be the perfect 'guide' through that journey. However, of course we still have to do a lot of work, to be able to give that in us the power to be able to make the journey, cause the more out of alignment we are with, the more even the double can get 'stuck' and we may not be able to have the line of communication with.
Oy... words get in the way, of course. :-\
One of the first "downloads" I received through gnosis (silent knowing) was, "You humans have no concept of the nature of time."
I've been pondering that one for years... and can only nod in agreement. Time is a funny fellow, probably wearing a jester suit, who's having a good laugh at it all. :)
I think its to try to keep everyone in line, and keep things simpler. But for those who can't accept the simpler, and want to be able to move about more freely.... be one step ahead... then we have to jester back with time ;)
-
Hmm Zam.., you saying my wanting to know which part of your post is quoted and which part is your own stuff may result in my reading of said post being tainted with judgement? ;)
Nice experiment you mentioned in stalking yourself. Yes.. it does help should the need arise! :P
Hi Daph,
missed your comments here yesterday.
No, no, not accusing you at all. I was accusing myself ;)
But of course I do have to ask, when you read something, are you strictly bound to the words or does the author of those words have an affect on your interpretation of what your reading?
I don't want to put this into a 'right' or 'wrong' scenerio either. It's just something I've been working with. Perhaps the words I used were a bit incorrect as well; the words such as 'tainted' 'judgement' etc., etc. Maybe.....do we 'feel' words differently based on the author?
I dunno.....
I'm off to lala land :P
z
-
But of course I do have to ask, when you read something, are you strictly bound to the words or does the author of those words have an affect on your interpretation of what your reading?
Hiya Zam,
For myself, the author does not have a personal effect on my reading, not as far as the content is concerned. I do "test" this now and then, just to make sure ;)
Was not always so, but I made a decision for it to be so, and so I watch myself very carefully. For me, what I read (or hear) either resonates or not. Sometimes when it doesn't, I check to see why, and often "stalk myself ruthlessly" :D
Sometimes it just doesn't resonate; sometimes I find some block or other.
-
Hiya Zam,
For myself, the author does not have a personal effect on my reading, not as far as the content is concerned. I do "test" this now and then, just to make sure ;)
Was not always so, but I made a decision for it to be so, and so I watch myself very carefully. For me, what I read (or hear) either resonates or not. Sometimes when it doesn't, I check to see why, and often "stalk myself ruthlessly" :D
Sometimes it just doesn't resonate; sometimes I find some block or other.
Sounds like we're in agreement. 8)
z
-
Interesting topic, whether or not the "artist" (or in this case, the writer) matters. I used to think no, that something could be viewed in isolation, without reference to who, what, where, when and why.
But then, I can't help but think, what force of energy comes through in a certain piece? Surely the artist's or writer's Intent is relevant? Which brings us back to knowing the identity of the artist/writer... and what his/her context was.
I think a case can be made either way.
-
Interesting topic, whether or not the "artist" (or in this case, the writer) matters. I used to think no, that something could be viewed in isolation, without reference to who, what, where, when and why.
But then, I can't help but think, what force of energy comes through in a certain piece? Surely the artist's or writer's Intent is relevant? Which brings us back to knowing the identity of the artist/writer... and what his/her context was.
I think a case can be made either way.
Either way...I'd agree with this as well.
I agreed with Daph, as what she wrote is very much how I read.
....but
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in 'written communication' is that it's usally one-way communication. If one has the ability to contact the author and ask questions and such, it makes for better understanding.
Another stumbling block for me is just the fact Of written communication. I do much better face to face. If I can see you, how you talk, how you emphasise certain words or phrases, watch you body language, I can get a much better understanding of what it is you're trying to relate to me. IMHO written words lack emotions, feelings and a host of other actions.
...but
We're talking about written words, so...
Gurdjieff wrote a whole slew about this: communication. How each word has so many different meanings, etc., etc. I could go and drag his words over here, but he'd just confirm what we already know: communication, especially written communication is tough ;)
z
-
Ah yes! Then we are into the giftedness of the writer him/herself.
And here the question is, "What voice comes through, here?"
Which is why I'll always say, whether one agrees or disagrees with CC -- whether or not one has respect for him-the-man, he was superb at bringing us the voice of Don Juan. That was CC's gift, however he accomplished that! (just for example)
-
Where you're saying you get a lot from body language, I get a lot from Voice ... the hearing.
Some writers just convey that sound better than others...
In the end, I'm a sucker for poetry, for this reason.
There are some writers, like M, (in my reception, anyway) whose Voice is quite palpable upon reading. I have a theory that it's a function of how well one is able to access spirit...
-
i am hearing: does the identity of the author influence the reading or reception of the material?
that is one issue,
but i see it differently:
does the material, the content, hide or reveal the author?
in the first case we have a paradigm where the 'knowledge' exists in the content, the ideas being discussed. This is the focus of the intellectual centre. This is the focus of a person who is fascinated by the 'idea', and believing that ideas hold the real value.
in the second case we have the paradigm where the 'knowledge' exists in the author, the person behind the text. This is the focus of the intuition centre. This is the focus of a person who is interested in that indefinable quality within another - not their words or thoughts, but their essence. Believing that the person holds the real value, and what they express is only a conduit to that value, and of little importance in itself.
this reminds me of the story DJ told of the market place - a young hungry man and an old mysterious man. you can read the story - of how a magical deer appeared etc. But the point in the end was that the young man destroyed the food, not realising the food was also power. Why?
Because it had been picked in the market place by a person of power - this is something you know if you have chosen food yourself, as a person of knowledge, looking for power in the items one selects.
Thus i would say, I am interested in the ideas, only as they lead to the author, who has the power, or not. When people come to this forum, I am interested in this extraordinary event, that out of the millions of people in the world, you come here. That is the incredible thing - so who are you?
i have read these ideas over and over for many years, and now i seek to see one of two things. How have you, whoever is the reader of these words, absorbed and utilised these ideas in your own life? Thus I look at the words in how they lead me to either the real person or a facsimile of who the person thinks they should be.
then, if i am lucky, i seek who the person is, and what is their juice, in that they have chosen some ideas, out of the whole available range available, to bring forth a thread of light via those ideas. not just how they have been digested, but how that person has been able to turn around and use those thoughts with intent and purpose - that is, as a thread of their own light. that is rare.
so for me it is not a question of who wrote what, but who you are. and if i see you are a person who is awake, then i see power in the food also, and feast with glee, as it nourishes me on all three levels.
-
Michael,
Great post.
Your reply hit the nail on the head; exactly what I was attempting to bring forth ;)
z
-
so for me it is not a question of who wrote what, but who you are. and if i see you are a person who is awake, then i see power in the food also, and feast with glee, as it nourishes me on all three levels.
Do I hear the echoes of the Eagle?
;D
Thoughts for food. Well here is another one.
After some time in these forums and at the Toltec school I have found out that there are two kind of people that have their own characteristics how well this form of written connection suits them. Zam prefer the face to face approach and that is wise because in my classification system he belongs to the heart group or emotional group*- which are labels I can expand on some other day. While the other group belong to the more mental group where this communication without gestures, intonation etc is not that important.
For me it is important to find the voice behind the words. Especially when I read books. When I find the voice I also find the flow in what is written. Many here are quite skilful to present posts with a good flow. And for me it is many different voices that I hear.
* To a great extent defined by this definition from Zam:
"how you talk, how you emphasise certain words or phrases, watch you body language, I can get a much better understanding of what it is you're trying to relate to me. IMHO written words lack emotions, feelings"
-
Julie struggled for a long time in her theses to neatly explain Maya (till she finally gave up that hope), and for some time used the word impermanence, meaning everything changes - not that things aren't permanent in their existence within Maya, but that they are not permanent in our desire to see them stay the way we want.
This is an ongoing theme which Wendy and I discuss often - "everything changes." Last night as we were driving home rather late, the discussion had turned to that very subject. I commented that as I grow older, it's interesting to realize that I've lived at least long enough to see the world really change... and to realize simultaneously that nothing has really changed at all. The illusion within the illusion - the humanform proclamations of what is real.
Early on in my workings with Orlando, he was talking about "reality" - permanence vs. impermanence...
If we're going to discuss reality it's important we agree what reality is and therein stands its fallacy. A wooden table is solid enough but in a thousand years it will crumble to dust, as unreal as it was before the seed was planted from which the tree grew so the table could be spun whole by mortal hands that could thump on the wood and proclaim it "real", when in reality it was a transient thing, and if the mortal survived those thousand years until the table disappeared, would he argue it was "real" because it had been there once (even though it was there no more); and if his past perceptions tripped over the phantom leg of where that table once stood, would he stub his toe enough to make it bleed?
What was the nature of the table's reality? It came from nothing and to nothing returned, for before it was a seed dropped from a tree, it was nothing if not nothing at all. Scientifically we can explain it all from stamen and pollen to seed to tree to table to dust, but the real conundrum is this: before the table existed it did not exist yet was part of a future reality, and after the table crumbles to nothing it no longer exists, so how are human perceptions to confirm it ever existed at all or argue it was any more real when it occupied molecular space?
Ah, but even if it no longer exists does that make it "unreal", for now there's the legend of the table sung into being by those who remember it, and what created the thing if not mortals who needed a place to place their faith in reality?
So what of magick? Any reality is as real as the willful ability to create it and the need to perceive it, no?
It's one of those things that always brings a smile to my face (and often causes my head to tilt to the side, like a confused puppy - ???)
Permanence, is a quality we strive to find. To cling to something we can rely on - which eventually leads us into our deepest core of silence, as if in absence we find certitude. Whereas energy in its solid and fluid forms, 'exists'. always 'exists', yet is constantly changing. a paradox, but one we are called to resolve as beings within.
Exactly. For me, it's been a matter of making that connection to the infinite... and in doing so, beginning to vaguely and slowly and delicately intuite the connection to the eternal.
But Hinduism has another word, or concept, Vijnana. It works this way, first we live in the ignorance that our world and relationships are real, and when they are taken away we suffer - the more we cling the more we suffer. Then we get wisdom, and let go, realising the impermanence of our attachments. On the deepest level, we reject all, and enter into absolute essence - they call that Jnana. (actually Nirvikalpa Samadhi.) Nothing remains - all is rejected, even ourselves. But then, we come back (like those who return from Keter) and only then are we able to play in Maya - to access the full range of existence, past present and future. We are called Vijnani.
Thanks for this expansion - it actually makes a lot of sense and aligns strongly with my own beliefs. Though I have never studied Hinduism, it seems that certain aspects of it correlate strongly to some of the toltec and quantum-shamanism terminology - Tonal (Maya), Nagual (Brahman)... just seems to validate yet again that the truth is in all of us, even if we use different words to get to the same place. Often, I have found, it's extremely helpful to me to be able to look at something with a different perspective - so thanks again for that opportunity.
-
On Letting Go
A young man once registered for a conference I was conducting on small group leadership. For the first few days he was uncommonly quiet and withdrawn. I had known him from a previous conference, and he had been much more alive and involved.
Finally I asked him, "Harvey, I notice that you have been distant and uninvolved since this conference began. Would you like to tell us why?"
"I guess I'm disappointed," he replied. "I attended a workshop here once before, and I was in a tremendous group. We really had a great time together. I guess I came here expecting to find that old group, and it's not like that at all." It became increasingly apparent that Harvey had not given up his old group when it ended, hoping to find it again. We talked for awhile about the necessity of giving up those things in life which hold us back from participating in the present.
Then we did an interesting thing. I handed Harvey an imaginary shovel so he could "bury" his old group. He entered into the role play with great vigor, digging a grave in the middle of the floor. When he had finished, he shoved his "old group" into the imaginary hole. Others in the group joined in, shoving into the hole some things in their lives which they had been holding onto unnecessarily.
The "grave" was then filled up, and the group celebrated a new feeling of freedom for having given up some unneeded baggage. Nonverbal acting out is often more than symbolic. Some genuine changes can begin when the whole self is involved in such experiences, because we are dealing with real feelings. Harvey, for example, became an actively participating member of the conference from that moment. The change in his behavior was dramatic.
"Letting go" is an important dimension of creative living. It is difficult indeed to celebrate the temporary, to live fully in the present, when we are holding onto old emotional baggage which belongs to the past. Letting go has many aspects.
One of these aspects is the giving up of our need to control situations and persons. There are many people who are not comfortable unless they are in charge. They must control what happens and when it will happen. They fret under any leadership but their own. The result is that there are no suprises. And no joy. And no one grows but the leader.
I once worked with a group which exhibited a high degree of control. Its members had difficulty letting go and enjoying the freedom in whatever happened. For one evening session with that group, I proposed a "moonwalk."
The moonwalk is experienced in a large plastic tent with a plastic floor that bounces up and down and throws you around whenever anyone steps on it. To experience the moonwalk, you take off your shoes and crawl into the tent. You must be willing to give up control of much of your movement and permit yourself to be bounced around in a crazy fashion for about ten minutes. It can be excellent practice for letting go in order to celebrate the temporary.
It is important to recognize the direct relationship between letting go physically and psychologically. We are increasingly admitting the connection between the body and the emotions. Our very muscles "hold on" to old burdens, and if we can let go in the muscles, we can sometimes move past old hang-ups.
I would like to suggest a simple experiment in letting go for you to try. If you have a strong bar from which you can hang by your arms, or a swing set in the backyard or nearby playground, use that. Hang your full weight from the bar, holding on as tightly as you can. Feel how much energy it takes to hold on. Then relax and let go. Concentrate you attention on the sensation of letting go and see how good it feels.
I was at a picnic recently with some friends, and several of the children were playing on a swing set nearby. One three year old discovered a neat way to draw her parents' attention. She would stand up in her swing and grab hold of a bar about five feet off the ground. Then she would scream for help because she was "afraid" to let go. Time after time the mother or father would rush over to rescue her so she wouldn't have to risk letting go. She would have fallen about one foot to the ground. I hope that little girl learns to let go and take the consequences.
If you do not have a bar from which you can hang, lie on the floor and take a strong grip on a table leg or a convenient piece of furniture. Note how much strength it takes to hold on tightly. Then relax every muscle in your body and let go. You can practice letting go of things physically and see if there is any carry-over in your ability to let go in other ways. People who are constipated, verbally or otherwise, need practice in letting go.
Another aspect of letting go is to relase the tensions within us and allow ourselves to feel. Many persons have not given themselves permission to have feelings, thereby blocking feelings from their awareness.
It may be that their parents did not give them permission to feel, frowning on expressions of feeling in the family and making it a virtual taboo. Many adults are walking around still carrying unwanted childhood taboos in their bodies. They have not given themselves permission to be adult and make their own decisions. And no one else can do it for them.
The need to know in advance exactly what will happen is another expression of control and holding on. So we find people gathering for worship with every detail planned in advance and printed in a program - to hear a sermon on the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide their lives! When the element of suprise is gone, bordom sets in. When we can let go some of our complusive controlling of the future, spontaneous and exciting things can begin to emerge.
The difficult truh to grasp is that when we do not let go, we often choke to death the beautiful things we had hoped to keep alive. When we do not let go for our children, our holding on too long kills something in them for us. "It's for their own good!" we say. "They're not ready to be turned loose!" Often it is our own need to hang on which prompts our behavior long after the children have been crying for us to let go.
The opposite is sometimes true as well. Children may have difficulty letting go of their parents, thus prolonging unduly their period of dependence.
I remember an occasion when members of a group I was leading were asked to walk outside on a winter day and to allow themselves to be drawn to something of beauty. One man came back inside, clutching a small handful of snow. The snow had so attracted him with its beauty that he could not let it go. He sat with that ball of snow in his hand, unable to leave it behind, and watched it turn to a lump of ice, then melt. Had he been able to let it go, it could have continued its life as snow.
Letting go means to be more free. Letting things happen. Letting life bring you surprises and challenges and joy. To let go some of the controls that bind us in is to let life flow instead of limiting life by channeling it all in advance. Like the friend who called up recently and said, "Some of us are going to the grocery store to get some things for a picnic. We'll be ready to eat in about an hour. Could you join us?" What is more delightful than a suprise picnic? Or more disappointing that one which is planned a month in advance and is rained out?
To celebrate the temporary
Is to get rid
Of that hairdo
That prevents
Celebrating
That can't be rained on
Or touched
Or violated
By rolling
Down a hill
To be free of all
That self-inflicted
Bondage
Is
To celebrate
The temporary
Celebrate the Temporary
Clyde Reid
P. 56-64
-
I'd like to add just a bit more to the current piece by Dr. Reid. It's not that I disagree with him, there are just a few more points I'd like to add.
You know, here's the thing: We have this idea that in order to evolve or develop we have to get rid of bad habits. This is a very common and popular idea, but can be a big mistake. Why? Because this is looking only from a relative perspective. Our culturally conditioned idea is that freedom is an activity thing. Like, freedom to us means to choose this activity over that activity. I need to be free to think that way I want to think, say what I want to say; have freedom of speech, freedom of movement, the right to carry arms, etc.; all these freedoms. In the west, well in the world today for that matter, the idea of freedom has to do just with activity choices. And this is a kind of freedom, we can say. It is a relative freedom. But it is not absolute freedom. Actually that kind of relative freedom is still bondage, because it is based on thinking mind.
Real freedom is being free from thinking mind. Freedom is being free from a mind full of thoughts, opinions, issues, ideas, philosophies, commitments, promises, and ideals.
This is what I have been referring to as ‘living in the Now’. But it can also be awareness training. In any case it is not something to think about or debate. Not something to have an opinion about. That is the wonderful thing about freedom. It doesn't torture you to death with its own opinion. We think of freedom as something to do with our personality, our ego; something that we demand. We demand to have our freedoms.
Our personal ego is indeed the fuehrer. Our thinking mind is the dictator that dictates to us that we will do this and we will do that. That's why I say that there is no such thing as free choice. Of course there is relative free choice. But that's not really free choice, is it? We're choosing based on our conditioned mind. This freedom that we cherish is merely a conditioned choice. Not real freedom. Real freedom is being free from that conditioned choice. Freedom is when we just do what is in front of us because it needs to be done, and that's all. We have no thought about it one way or the other. We don't appreciate it and we don't not appreciate it.
Maybe we can say that there is an overriding sense of gratitude, because that is a quality that arises out of our essential self. But this is not gratitude as apposed to ingratitude. It is not something that makes us feel good about our self. Look out. If it makes us feel like a good person, then it has within it the ability to make us feel like a bad person, if we don't do what is in front of us. So this is not what I am talking about at all. I am saying freedom is doing just what is in the moment, because it needs to be done. That’s it.
Seems there’s a fundamental mistake about freedom; about seeing freedom as an activity thing. If we are here in the present, we always know. There is never any problem. We always know what to do.
So this is true freedom, surrendering. And true bondage is being bound by the monkey mind; bound by this event driven mind that chases us from moment to moment to moment, and make us chase life in this way. 'I've got to have this. I can't wait to have that. I am looking forward to this moment and this moment and this moment", and "You should have seen me in that moment and that moment and that moment". Of course this is the way the relative mind works. And there is no one who doesn't have this mind.
The true master still has this event driven mind, only s/he knows the nature of it. S/He is practicing. So s/he is in on the joke. S/He is not trying to get rid of it. That's not freedom. That is not evolution. That is not awakening, trying to get rid of the relative mind. Seeing something wrong and trying to fix it; this is the mistake. We can't eliminate our ego. We can't get rid of our personality. This would be a disaster! This is the nature of our being. This relative mind…it has a full pillar in the Temple of Wisdom! You take the pillar out and the temple will fall down! So it is very important. It has a function. The problem is mistaken identity. We think we are only that pillar, so we miss the whole temple. And all the ceremonies happen in the temple.
Just be present. This is like saying ‘just be in love.’ Just live in love. We don't have to make something happen. We are perfect already. We have just not yet noticed. Certainly our superego doesn't think so. But that is part of our structure that, if we identify with it, it keeps us from noticing. Just notice!
z
-
The nice thing about "freedom" is that it is multi-layered; it provides for any type of freedom that we each may desire. The desire itself offers us further insights, until, I suppose, it no longer matters whether we are free or not; we just are, and perception is then just a position of the AP.
-
The nice thing about "freedom" is that it is multi-layered; it provides for any type of freedom that we each may desire. The desire itself offers us further insights, until, I suppose, it no longer matters whether we are free or not; we just are, and perception is then just a position of the AP.
;D
-
;D
;) :-*
-
We are perfect already. We have just not yet noticed. Certainly our superego doesn't think so.
This is something one may discuss because to be perfect does not invite Change. What is meant by "we are perfect" is that we shall have no shame about who we are. Something like to tell a extremely fat person - you are perfect the way you are - addressing their core self as a living being. This is correct from one point of view but misunderstood if it may take away the reason to loose weight and take up healthy lifestyles (making sound choices).
In class we talk about little ego, or the pretender. The ego that wants to be, the fragment that imitate. If super ego is the same I don't know.
-
This is something one may discuss because to be perfect does not invite Change. What is meant by "we are perfect" is that we shall have no shame about who we are. Something like to tell a extremely fat person - you are perfect the way you are - addressing their core self as a living being. This is correct from one point of view but misunderstood if it may take away the reason to loose weight and take up healthy lifestyles (making sound choices).
In class we talk about little ego, or the pretender. The ego that wants to be, the fragment that imitate. If super ego is the same I don't know.
Thanks Jahn for the input. This is what I'm looking for ;)
Zam
-
You might ask yourself what it is you need to let go. For some of you, it is making decisions in advance about what will happen in the life of your family, or with your spouse - and then being crushed and angry when it doesn't always work out that way.
For others, it is the enjoyment of suffering you need to let go. I have worked with many people in groups who complain that they have a problem. But when offered the opportunity to solve the problem, they suddenly realize how much they enjoy having it. Displaying their problem may keep them in the center. Even the pain may feel good to them. After all, their emotions reason, it is better to hurt than to be ignored. So they do not grow.
An interesting aspect of letting go is what we call "letting your child out to play." There is a beautiful human relations exercise called the blind trust walk. You ask members of a group to choose a partner, then one partner closes his eyes and becomes the "blind partner." The other leads him around for a stated length of time, perhaps ten miutes, introducing him to a variety of sensory experiences - touching different textures, walking and running, going up and down stairs, bumping into people, tasting or smelling objects. It is an excellent exercise to help people heighten awareness through the senses, and celebrate the temporary in the world around them.
One time I was leading an elderly Canadian lady as my partner. At first she was very stiff and reserved. She did not want to touch objects I would hand her, reacting as though they might dirty her hands. As the walk proceeded, however, she began to loosen up and enjoy herself.
Then it was my turn to be the blind partner. As she began leading me, she relaxed further and began to enjoy the experience more and more. I suddenly had the sensation that there were two distinct people leading me - the elderly lady still held my wrist, but there was a little girl nearby, giggling and delighting in her freedom. My partner had "let her little girl out to play," and I could sense the difference dramatically. It was beautiful to feel - until her little girl ran me into a table at full speed!
It is a nice thing to let your child out to play once in awhile. Our adult roles call for us to be serious and "straight" so much of the time that we often forget to enjoy life. Yet Jesus calls us to "be as little children." It is delightful to experience people enjoying their "childness" occasionally.
I once went hiking in the Rockies with the Colorado Mountain Club. A friend and I hiked about three miles up a mountain slope to the top of a beautiful pass. The trail was covered from time to time by banks of snow which we had to cross. My friend and I would throw snowballs, or put ice down each other's backs. At one point we slid on a snowbank on the seat of our pants about fifty feet down the mountain slope. Within the bounds of reason and safety, we had "let our child out to play." It made the day even more exhilarating.
Possessing people is another thing some of us need to let go. I remember hearing a lady at a party ask a man, "Does she belong to you?" She indicated one of the women in the group. "No," he replied. "She is my wife, but she belongs to herself." Many people have the conviction that when you are married, you belong to your spouse.
The husband who feels that his wife is his property becomes quite upset if she has any deep friendships outside the marriage. In extreme cases, he will not even permit her to enjoy talking to another man, much less have a life of her own.
The same is true of the wife who feels she owns her husband. Such possessiveness kills relationships. It smothers love and builds frustration and boredom. It is one of the things we must learn to let go.
A corollary of this attitude of possessiveness is the feeling that we cannot have a relationship with someone unless it is a permanent, lifelong commitment. The person who believes this then restricts himself or herself to family and a few friends, ruling out temporary relationships. But temporary relationships, as we have seen, can have their own special beauty. They do not need to be permanent or total to have meaning.
I remember a young colledge student I once sat with on an airplain trip. The flight was about thirty minutes long. But we got into a conversation that had both depth and meaning. We felt a special bond in the common understandings that emerged. A thirty-minute friendship may not seem like much, but it can be a thing of rare beauty. It has been years, and I have not forgotten it.
When we can give up the myth of permanence as a condition for sharing ourselves, we can celebrate temporary relationships as well as longer ones. After all, what is time? One day is a long time. One week is forever. One year is perhaps a seventieth of our whole life.
Sometimes people find a meaningful temporary friendship, then try and hang onto it. They quickly jot down names and addresses and promise to "look you up" at a later time. They have not learned to celebrate a relationship for its temporariness and let it go. They are caught in the mindset which says that a relationship to have meaning must be ongoing. Disappintment is often the result when we try and re-create a contact that had meaning in a particular place and time.
Letting go is a basic lesson of life, and is a necessity if we are to learn how to celebrate the temporary. We must let go of our bondage to possessions. We must let go of our family, our friends, even our life. So long as we cling to life as a permanent possession, it will not be as full as it can be. To be willing and ready to give it up at the right time is to celebrate the temporariness of life.
To die gracefully is to live fully. To cling too tightly to life is to kill it prematurely.
I find Jesus to be a man who knew how to celebrate the temporary. He taught us not to be anxious about tomorrow, but to let tomorrow take care of itself. And he knew how to enjoy a good party!
What do you need to let go? Why not make a short list of those things in your life you need to give up. Then decide which is most important and go to work on letting it go so you can more easily celebrate the temporary.
Celebrate the Temporary
Clyde Reid
P. 64-68
-
That issue on possessiveness is a good one. Its a means of control, and controlling another individual for selfish reasons.
I keep in mind, we dont even own our own lives. We really dont. If this was the case, I could prevent myself from having a physical death if I chose it, cause its 'mine' my body and soul and self, right? But I cant prevent a physical death. This body, if anything is borrowed, so I question if my soul, the self, is my own too then? Or am I also, borrowing that too?
So possessing another invididual, course, when people feel the need to, thats not really love. Thats control, thats trying to take ownership of something you dont own. Cause if you dont even own what is 'you,' then you cant own another. And even trying to keep away friends, or loved ones, which that happens a lot of course, is really possessive, because then its limiting that other invididual from even loving, and there's no reason why people cant love, more than one person, course, theres all sorts of versions of love, or even friendship. But to even try to possess 'that,' then the other isnt really being loving. They're just acting out in fear. And maybe its some really innate fear, because oneday, that invididual will be gone from them anyway, but its also fear of the impermanent too, and change, and all that goes with.
But the funny thing is, that possessiveness, is usually the reason people end up leaving folks like that. If they wouldn't have tried to be restrictive to them, then they would've stayed, or trying to change them into something they're not. Or isolate them. Then the other will only wish to be 'free' and freedom will become a desire, also so they can be free to love, who they want, when they want, without restriction.
-
Something like to tell a extremely fat person - you are perfect the way you are - addressing their core self as a living being. This is correct from one point of view but misunderstood if it may take away the reason to loose weight and take up healthy lifestyles (making sound choices).
interesting point Jahn. I am often before this - because to affirm the core, is a part of the process in changing the outer pattern. person needs to feel core-affirmed before they can allow themselves to let go of surface behaviours.
I have this problem when I criticise someone for a certain behaviour that is unproductive - they take it as a criticism of core. I say, you should stop picking your nose in public. And they say, "Oh yes, I know I'm a really bad person - I won't go out into public ever again!".
and then I say, "No, that's not what I mean... bla bla bla..."
so how do you tell a person to change a surface behaviour that is not core, and really only requires a little effort to pull out of a pattern habit, without the other person feeling you have just denied their whole existence - because they already a feel lack of self-esteem, where any trigger lays them low.
then they use that to avoid criticism - the last thing anyone wants is some grovelling misery moaning on the floor - so they say, If you criticise me in any way, you'll be responsible for me going into a big identity dive!
-
so how do you tell a person to change a surface behaviour that is not core, and really only requires a little effort to pull out of a pattern habit, without the other person feeling you have just denied their whole existence - because they already a feel lack of self-esteem, where any trigger lays them low.
That is the whole issue. And any "tell a person to ..." won't work among common people. It/you will only be perceived as another embarrassing thing from a bad guy in the outer cruel world.
Any change must come from within. Much talk is about empowerment these days and they make psychology out of that. What it is all about is to accumulate energy and to increase awareness. This can be done in cognition therapy and groups that work with empowerment, but they may lack some essential tools or good therapists, that present strategies rather than tools for real change.
The only way I know to make change possible is to start a dialogue about the mechanisms behind change or improvement and thereby increase awareness among the students on the layers that covers our core self. To be aware of the differences between the pretending ego and self. Then perhaps any relevant criticism "hit" the pretender but the observer may balance by addressing the core, that says that such criticism is valid.
However, I've seen many senior students defend themselves (the pretender) when the need for correction is proposed by the guide. We have our patterns and we continue to repeat them. If we are unable to change these patterns and the guide has become a parrot, repeating the need for correction, then the guide turn into silence and life become our teacher.
So to follow advices from the guide is the easy way to go. Life is such a tough teacher.
-
Life is such a tough teacher.
Indeed, and if we resolutely refuse to learn in this life, we schedule meeting with Yama, come back, try again, maybe learn a bit, then next time we try again and so it goes. Whether one wants it or not, realises or not, but the fundamental cosmic teaching-learning process proceeds in its own pace and direction. It is such a stunning thing! Our little 'I'-s are utterly bewildered by trying to grasp the larger context of every moment. :)
-
i ask this question because it has confronted me for many years now. one way to tackle it is to 'demonstrate' what the correct behaviour should be - action speaks louder than words etc.
the problem with this is that the other person simply doesn't notice - holds a secret attitude that their behaviour is correct, and you are just weak or a fool in that area. many years can be spent at this method with absolutely no result.
another tactic is to adopt the same behaviour back - to mirror them. That usually gets them all upset - its a sure fire way to make them move into extreme, either anger, or self-pity or whatever is their poison. Plus it tells them that that behaviour is normal - see, you do it also.
I take your point, the change must come from within. But even people I know who are actively engaged in that, still exhibit the same problem I am talking about. In fact it can get even worse - the more you know the better you are at defending yourself.
Another method, is to avoid challenge when things are tender - when the 'mood' is on. Then approach the matter later. The problem with that is that later it's the last thing you want to talk about, plus if you do, the other person denies it. Because of the 'multiple persona' issue - the persona that does the behaviour is no longer in, someone else is there who doesn't act that way, so they don't know what you are talking about. Thus you have to speak to the persona who does the behaviour, and that persona cleverly sets up the most advanced defensive strategy imaginable.
Life - yes that's right, oh but that can be such a cruel teacher. When we say life is the best teacher, we are saying karma - that there is an intelligence in the events of the world, even if that is the simple consequence of actions and choices - the inevitable result of behaviour. In my experience, it is ruthless and merciless - much better to have a friend who will tell us when we need to look at something.
-
Life - yes that's right, oh but that can be such a cruel teacher. When we say life is the best teacher, we are saying karma - that there is an intelligence in the events of the world, even if that is the simple consequence of actions and choices - the inevitable result of behaviour. In my experience, it is ruthless and merciless - much better to have a friend who will tell us when we need to look at something.
It is a very dense timeframe that we share. One "spiritual" problem according to this multiple pretender that I see is that there is such a complete smorgasboard of every spiritual path that is available. People get some beliefs here and there and suddenly they are able to explain everything and they just get impossible to reach out to. Their new found "spirituality" create their wall. One essential thread in the CC books was - make it simple - do the work ... face it here and now ... that is a kind of goal itself. If one can encourage that approach- fast, simple, and furious ;D - maybe such advice will be an eye opener?
~.~
-
One essential thread in the CC books was - make it simple - do the work ... face it here and now ... that is a kind of goal itself. If one can encourage that approach- fast, simple, and furious ;D - maybe such advice will be an eye opener?
~.~
Sounds great - put things to practical test and see if it all works. Eventually, all that matters is whether one can do things.
-
I've been keen on my daily actions...really paying attention to what I'm doing and not-thinking every moment of the day. Really 'Living in the Now.'
I've changed a bit of the wording, as the word 'Intent' seems overused, 'attachment' is a bit vague. I'm going to run with Intentional Stance. ;)
There is an intentional stance of the daily world.
An example of this would be my 'stance' for today. You see, I work, Monday thru Friday. When I have to work tomorrow as opposed to having tomorrow off. IF I have to work tomorrow then I hold that in my mind, in my intentional stance, which means that I certainly cant go camping in the mountains tonight, I have to work tomorrow! And I certainly cant go driving to another state, or fly to another city, I have to work!
So if I have to work tomorrow my attitude is different, the things I do are different, everything is circling around the idea that ...hey I have to be at work tomorrow! What will I do till then? (I've use the word 'attachment' in some of the previous posts.) I'm thinking, and have become attached to this thought...
That is an example of an intentional stance. And we all have different intentional stances.
What am I going to do?? Change the context of my life? Exactly.
And that is what the warriors way is about...changing over all your socialized intentional stances to warrior intentional stances.
It's a struggle though...
Why it is a struggle? Because it is a struggle to hold the intentional stance of a being who is going to die, or finding ones hands in a dream, in every single waking act!
This quote from Wheel of Time illustrates it best. pg 93
"A warrior_hunter knows that his death is waiting, and the very act he is performing now may well be his last battle on earth. He calls it his last battle because it is a struggle. Most people move from act to act without any struggle or thought. A warrior_hunter, on contrary, assess every act; and since he has intimate knowldege of his death, he proceed judiciously, as if every act were his last battle."
Thats the struggle to keep any one of the warriors stances in your mind/body as you do anything. We do it everyday with the socialized world. We uphold the intent of the daily world by typing the way we always do. We intend things left and right ...we know how to fix a meal...how about internal silence? Do we have the intentional stance for this?
I believe if I work at this with true focus and intensity, there comes a time when the daily world will begin to let go of this warrior. I'll notice it in my acts. When I hold the Intentional stances of the 'warriorsway' in my mind the same way I'm holding the intentional stances of the daily world right now, then my acts will begin to acquire power.
I believe, and am starting to experience exactly what don Juan told Carlos...that the inner dialogue is what ties us down. I'm really working on this inner silence. It keeps me here, in this now. If I'm not thinking, I can't be in the past and or future, right? Or can I?? :-)
Eh, just some thoughts ;)
Zam I Am
-
just some thoughts ... well it triggered an automatic association for me.
I work Tue to Fri, at least in town, as I do a lot of work at home, but then I am in a different energetic environment.
To prepare myself, as I usually stay up till after 4 am on weekend nights, which I can't do on week nights, I have a special resetting of intent ceremony on Mon nights.
I have a bath in the garden, under the quince tree. I take a long bath about 10pm that can go for more than an hour. In this time, I use the power of the bath to focus my intent - to renew and reset my intent. In this, I specially employ the absolute silence technique - it is always the power place in the ceremony.
Then I send out my intent to every task or situation I am dealing with currently, and especially what I am seeing ahead for that week.
It is good to have these high tree lookout posts in our energetic landscape. I draw lines between important places on the energetic path that stretches ahead of me - like looking at a road snaking along a valley while I'm high above at the pass.
-
It is good to have these high tree lookout posts in our energetic landscape. I draw lines between important places on the energetic path that stretches ahead of me - like looking at a road snaking along a valley while I'm high above at the pass.
"High above at the pass." ;)
This conjours up memories of when I Dreamed you last. The Dream began with us 'high above' and you were pointing out certain landmark features, both below us as well as above us.
z
-
Soma is such a pass - a little forest hut, at the side of the track, as we pause to see the view, before heading back down into the next valley, where we dodge and wiggle through the obstacle course of life.
-
Recent discussions drudged this up...an oldie but a goodie ;)
Enter the Now from Wherever You Are
I always thought that true enlightenment is not possible except through love in a relationship between a man and a woman. Isn't this what makes us whole again? How can one's life be fulfilled until that happens?
Is that true in your experience? Has this happened to you?
Not yet, but how could it be otherwise? I know that it will happen.
In other words, you are waiting for an event in time to save you. Is this not the core error that we have been talking about? Salvation is not elsewhere in place or time. It is here and now.
What does that statement mean, "salvation is here and now"? I don't understand it. I don't even know what salvation means.
Most people pursue physical pleasures or various forms of psychological gratification because they believe that those things will make them happy or free them from a feeling of fear or lack. Happiness may be perceived as a heightened sense of aliveness attained through physical pleasure, or a more secure and more complete sense of self attained through some form of psychological gratification. This is the search for salvation from a state of dissatisfaction or insufficiency. Invariably, any satisfaction that they obtain is short-lived, so the condition of satisfaction or fulfillment is usually projected once again onto an imaginary point away from the here and now. "When I obtain this or am free of that ― then I will be okay." This is the unconscious mind-set that creates the illusion of salvation in the future.
True salvation is fulfillment, peace, life in all its fullness. It is to be who you are, to feel within you the good that has no opposite, the joy of Being that depends on nothing outside itself. It is felt not as a passing experience but as an abiding presence. In theistic language, it is to "know God" ― not as something outside you but as your own innermost essence. True salvation is to know yourself as an inseparable part of the timeless and formless One Life from which all that exists derives its being.
True salvation is a state of freedom ― from fear, from suffering, from a perceived state of lack and insufficiency and therefore from all wanting, needing, grasping, and clinging. It is freedom from compulsive thinking, from negativity, and above all from past and future as a psychological need. Your mind is telling you that you cannot get there from here. Something needs to happen, or you need to become this or that before you can be free and fulfilled. It is saying, in fact, that you need time ― that you need to find, sort out, do, achieve, acquire, become, or understand something before you can be free or complete. You see time as the means to salvation, whereas in truth it is the greatest obstacle to salvation. You think that you can't get there from where and who you are at this moment because you are not yet complete or good enough, but the truth is that here and now is the only point from where you can get there. You "get" there by realizing that you are there already. You find God the moment you realize that you don't need to seek God. So there is no only way to salvation: Any condition can be used, but no particular condition is needed. However, there is only one point of access: the Now.
There can be no salvation away from this moment. You are lonely and without a partner? Enter the Now from there. You are in a relationship? Enter the Now from there. There is nothing you can ever do or attain that will get you closer to salvation than it is at this moment. This may be hard to grasp for a mind accustomed to thinking that everything worthwhile is in the future. Nor can anything that you ever did or that was done to you in the past prevent you from saying yes to what is and taking your attention deeply into the Now. You cannot do this in the future. You do it now or not at all.
The Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle
-
Excellent!
;D
-
Good idea.
;D