On this sunny but cold day one had a cold, another no transport, a third a tummy bug and one so desparate to escape todays philosophy meeting went to Tenerffe to soak up the sunshine and laze on the beach. Two others were otherwise engaged but despite this we went ahead just the four of us and we listened to Michael Hall PHD with very wise advice on how we shoul deal with the world by watching your thoughts and to realize that your thoughts are trivial and not to worry over a projected future and the past that has gone. After a break we read several articles on how to be what we truly are.
One part is this.
Resistance of what is will keep you creating the same situation over and over. If you can love where you are, you are free to move through it. You are open to learn the lessons that are inherent in your current situation. Your mind is open to receive solutions to problems, your heart is open to love, and you step into your personal power by owning your part in creating your life.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
19th November
Another interesting morning seven of us in all. We first reviewed the latest news of the strange bubble found in our galaxy 50,000 light years across. We thought about the infinite time the universe will exist and yet in this moment we are. A miracle on its own. We watched a video accompanied by beautiful pictures about co-creating and vibrations similar thinking to The Law of Attraction and In Tune with the Infinite. The we looked at research that outlined how we are automatons with no free will and should people be told as it makes them less caring. Although many philosophies such as Islam do say this and do not make believers ant-social excluding the bombers. We then read of the holy themes of mysticism.
Friday, October 15, 2010
15th October
Interesting morning, I believe everybody enjoyed the meeting of minds on the quest for answers. My thought this month was before there was this "light made reality" there was nothing and this something evolved us, is in us and is us. To realize that is to forgive our mistakes in life and to forgive others' mistakes. Also maybe the ego is not the enemy and on looking for other minds coming to the same conclusion I found this. If you are interested enough to read this then maybe you too will find it helpful.
Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 132
1996 Edition
March 19, 1965
THE FUNCTION OF THE EGO IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE REAL SELF
Greetings, my dearest friends. Blessings and guidance are extended so that each and every one of you finds your path easier and reaches the goal with less struggle and resistance. What is the goal? The goal, as far as you are concerned, can be only one thing: becoming your real self. We approach this task from many angles.
First I wish to discuss how the inner self differs from the outer self, or the real self from the ego. What is their relationship to each other? There are many confusing theories about the function of the ego. According to some the ego is essentially negative and undesirable and the spiritual goal is to get rid of it. Other theories, particularly those that characterize psychoanalytic thinking, say that the ego is important. The scientific view is that where there is no ego, there can be no mental health. These are two entirely opposing views. Which one is correct? Which one is false? Perhaps this lecture will shed some light on this important question.
Even if such conflicting views are not consciously held by you, they nevertheless blur your vision and hinder you from reaching the important goal of your self-realization. Let us briefly recapitulate the essence of the real self. Your inner self is an integral part of nature, bound to the laws of nature. Therefore to distrust this innermost self is unreasonable, for nature can be wholly trusted. If nature seems like an enemy, it is only because you do not understand its laws. The inner self, or the real self, is nature; it is life; it is creation. It is more
accurate to define the real self this way than to say it is "a part" of nature. The real self and nature are one and the same.
Whenever you function from your real self you are in truth, you are joyful. The most creative and constructive contributions to life come from your inner self. Everything that is great and generous, everything that is life-expanding, beautiful, and wise comes from the inner or real self. This cannot be emphasized often enough, even in your meditations. Trying to understand this truth, not only with your mind but with your feelings, is essential.
Now then, my friends, if this is so, what then is the function of the ego, meaning by this word the outer level of personality? The ego level is more accessible to you and you are more acutely and more directly aware of it. The ego is the part that thinks, acts, discriminates, and decides. The person whose ego has not sufficiently grown, whose ego is weak, is incapable of mastering or coping with life. And the person whose ego is overgrown and overemphasized cannot come to the real self. In other words, both extremes of the ego's weakness and its inflation must hinder the reaching of the real self. Your problems and conflicts always result from either too big an ego or too small an ego.
It cannot be said that one person has too big an ego and another too small or too weak an ego. Although this is so at times, most often an imbalance exists: underdeveloped in one area of your personality and overdeveloped in another. In this way nature tries to reestablish balance. The overdevelopment may be nature's attempt to straighten out the disturbance resulting from too weak an ego. Only when the ego is sufficiently developed can it be adequately dispensed with. Now, this may sound like a contradiction, my friends, but it is not. For if the ego is underdeveloped, your efforts to compensate create a weakness and evasion that can produce only more weakness. As long as the ego is not strong enough, you lack the faculties characteristic of your outer self which are to think, discriminate, decide, and act appropriately in any situation you encounter in the outer world. Anyone who strives to reach the real self by rejecting the development of a healthy ego, does so out of poverty. Such people do not yet own their outer self. Perhaps they know that their outer self, or ego, is ceasing to be necessary, so they try to skip the creation of a healthy ego. This may be due to laziness since ego development is so difficult, and they hope that this vital step can simply be avoided. But this error, like all errors, is costly. It actually delays reaching the goal. Only when you are fully possessed of your outer self, your ego, can you dispense with it and reach your real self.
This is a law. It is a logical law, for then you act out of strength and abundance, not out of weakness, need and poverty. Only when the ego is healthy and strong can you know that it is not the final answer, the final realm of being. Only when you possess a strong and healthy ego that is not overgrown and overemphasized, can you use this ego to transcend itself and reach a further state of consciousness.
In your work on this path you learn through your meditations, for instance, to use all the faculties of your ego to reach beyond it. What you absorb from outside must first pass your ego faculties. In practical terms: you first reach out with your ego faculties and use them to grasp truths that you later experience on a deeper level of consciousness. There are many human beings who do not realize that there is anything beyond the ego. Their final goal is to cultivate a strong ego, whether or not they think about it in these terms. This striving may lead them to the distortion of an over-developed ego. It is a dead-end street: the goal is misstated because it is much too limited in scope and possibilities, so instead of transcending the stage of the powerful ego, one's energies are used to further aggrandize it.
The law that you have to reach a certain state and fully be there before you can abandon it for a higher state is extremely important to understand, my friends. Humans often overlook it and, even more often, totally ignore it. The importance of this law has not been made clear enough to humanity, in spite of the discovery of many spiritual and psychological truths. This is one of the great, important laws for you to know and deeply comprehend.
In a variant form, the essence of this very law can be seen in the topic under discussion: the function of the ego in relation to the real self. The real self knows that the universe has no limitations; that in truth absolute perfection does exist, attainable for each individual; that unlimited expansion of faculties and forces, in the universe as well as in the individual, makes this perfection possible. When you become your real self, your godself, you become omnipotent, for you become the master of all existing laws. Even people who have never heard of such a philosophy deeply sense and yearn for this final reality, this potential of life and being.
It is possible to perceive this message from the real self quite clearly even without the ego.But without the ego the meaning of the message must be distorted. Not only have you all heard from psychological teachings about the childish striving for perfection, but you have experienced it within yourselves. The little child at birth does not yet possess an ego. It seeks omnipotence, pleasure supreme, the ultimate bliss that knows neither lack nor unfulfillment or frustration.
Without an ego these strivings are unrealistic, even destructive. You all have experienced in your pathwork that you first have to shed these desires or strivings before you can come to them all over again realize them.
In other words, every one of you who is on this path has to come to terms with and has to accept your limitations as a human being before you can realize that you have an unlimited fount of power at your disposal. You all have to accept your own imperfections, as well as this life's imperfections, before you can experience that absolute perfection that you must ultimately realize is your destiny. But you can comprehend this only after you have shed the childish distortion of this knowledge that is flawed because of a lack of ego. You all have to learn to let go of a desire for pleasure supreme and make do with limited pleasure before you can realize that absolute pleasure is your ultimate destiny. Accepting less is an acceptance of this earthly reality. For dealing with this dimension the ego faculties are necessary. Only when your ego deals adequately with the realm in which your personality and your body now live can you then deeply comprehend your real faculties, possibilities, and potential.
When I speak of the ultimate aim of perfection, of limitless power, of pleasure supreme, I do not mean that you realize this in a distant future when you no longer possess a body. I do not speak of this state in a measure of time, but in a measure of quality that could exist at any moment, specifically at the moment when you awaken to truth. Awakening to truth is possible only when you have first found and then let go of the childish distortions of utter perfection, utter power, and utter pleasure. In the underdeveloped ego, these desires are not only illusory but selfish and destructive. They have to be abandoned before they can be attained.
This is the very same law that determines how working from abundance produces abundance,but working from poverty and need produces more poverty and need. The healthy, strong ego knows reality without being upset that fulfillment may not yet be possible because of the obstructions to the real self. The weak ego considers itself annihilated when its wishes for omnipotence remain unfulfilled; therefore, its wish is negative. It will clutch to laws and conditions of the little ego, thereby distorting the greater laws. Out of need and weakness the ego forgoes the strength and fullness that comes when it deals adequately with the immediate now, thereby transcending it.
My dearest friends, this lecture is of very great importance to all of you. It may not only dispel the confusion about apparent contradictions in philosophical ideas about life, but, even more important, it may provide an essential key to your own development. It may facilitate a letting go that can happen only when you trust your innermost self as an integral part of nature and creation When you feel and experience your real self, you will not fear and consequently
overemphasize your ego faculties. Nor will you leave important underdeveloped ego faculties to slumber, untended.
Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 132
1996 Edition
March 19, 1965
THE FUNCTION OF THE EGO IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE REAL SELF
Greetings, my dearest friends. Blessings and guidance are extended so that each and every one of you finds your path easier and reaches the goal with less struggle and resistance. What is the goal? The goal, as far as you are concerned, can be only one thing: becoming your real self. We approach this task from many angles.
First I wish to discuss how the inner self differs from the outer self, or the real self from the ego. What is their relationship to each other? There are many confusing theories about the function of the ego. According to some the ego is essentially negative and undesirable and the spiritual goal is to get rid of it. Other theories, particularly those that characterize psychoanalytic thinking, say that the ego is important. The scientific view is that where there is no ego, there can be no mental health. These are two entirely opposing views. Which one is correct? Which one is false? Perhaps this lecture will shed some light on this important question.
Even if such conflicting views are not consciously held by you, they nevertheless blur your vision and hinder you from reaching the important goal of your self-realization. Let us briefly recapitulate the essence of the real self. Your inner self is an integral part of nature, bound to the laws of nature. Therefore to distrust this innermost self is unreasonable, for nature can be wholly trusted. If nature seems like an enemy, it is only because you do not understand its laws. The inner self, or the real self, is nature; it is life; it is creation. It is more
accurate to define the real self this way than to say it is "a part" of nature. The real self and nature are one and the same.
Whenever you function from your real self you are in truth, you are joyful. The most creative and constructive contributions to life come from your inner self. Everything that is great and generous, everything that is life-expanding, beautiful, and wise comes from the inner or real self. This cannot be emphasized often enough, even in your meditations. Trying to understand this truth, not only with your mind but with your feelings, is essential.
Now then, my friends, if this is so, what then is the function of the ego, meaning by this word the outer level of personality? The ego level is more accessible to you and you are more acutely and more directly aware of it. The ego is the part that thinks, acts, discriminates, and decides. The person whose ego has not sufficiently grown, whose ego is weak, is incapable of mastering or coping with life. And the person whose ego is overgrown and overemphasized cannot come to the real self. In other words, both extremes of the ego's weakness and its inflation must hinder the reaching of the real self. Your problems and conflicts always result from either too big an ego or too small an ego.
It cannot be said that one person has too big an ego and another too small or too weak an ego. Although this is so at times, most often an imbalance exists: underdeveloped in one area of your personality and overdeveloped in another. In this way nature tries to reestablish balance. The overdevelopment may be nature's attempt to straighten out the disturbance resulting from too weak an ego. Only when the ego is sufficiently developed can it be adequately dispensed with. Now, this may sound like a contradiction, my friends, but it is not. For if the ego is underdeveloped, your efforts to compensate create a weakness and evasion that can produce only more weakness. As long as the ego is not strong enough, you lack the faculties characteristic of your outer self which are to think, discriminate, decide, and act appropriately in any situation you encounter in the outer world. Anyone who strives to reach the real self by rejecting the development of a healthy ego, does so out of poverty. Such people do not yet own their outer self. Perhaps they know that their outer self, or ego, is ceasing to be necessary, so they try to skip the creation of a healthy ego. This may be due to laziness since ego development is so difficult, and they hope that this vital step can simply be avoided. But this error, like all errors, is costly. It actually delays reaching the goal. Only when you are fully possessed of your outer self, your ego, can you dispense with it and reach your real self.
This is a law. It is a logical law, for then you act out of strength and abundance, not out of weakness, need and poverty. Only when the ego is healthy and strong can you know that it is not the final answer, the final realm of being. Only when you possess a strong and healthy ego that is not overgrown and overemphasized, can you use this ego to transcend itself and reach a further state of consciousness.
In your work on this path you learn through your meditations, for instance, to use all the faculties of your ego to reach beyond it. What you absorb from outside must first pass your ego faculties. In practical terms: you first reach out with your ego faculties and use them to grasp truths that you later experience on a deeper level of consciousness. There are many human beings who do not realize that there is anything beyond the ego. Their final goal is to cultivate a strong ego, whether or not they think about it in these terms. This striving may lead them to the distortion of an over-developed ego. It is a dead-end street: the goal is misstated because it is much too limited in scope and possibilities, so instead of transcending the stage of the powerful ego, one's energies are used to further aggrandize it.
The law that you have to reach a certain state and fully be there before you can abandon it for a higher state is extremely important to understand, my friends. Humans often overlook it and, even more often, totally ignore it. The importance of this law has not been made clear enough to humanity, in spite of the discovery of many spiritual and psychological truths. This is one of the great, important laws for you to know and deeply comprehend.
In a variant form, the essence of this very law can be seen in the topic under discussion: the function of the ego in relation to the real self. The real self knows that the universe has no limitations; that in truth absolute perfection does exist, attainable for each individual; that unlimited expansion of faculties and forces, in the universe as well as in the individual, makes this perfection possible. When you become your real self, your godself, you become omnipotent, for you become the master of all existing laws. Even people who have never heard of such a philosophy deeply sense and yearn for this final reality, this potential of life and being.
It is possible to perceive this message from the real self quite clearly even without the ego.But without the ego the meaning of the message must be distorted. Not only have you all heard from psychological teachings about the childish striving for perfection, but you have experienced it within yourselves. The little child at birth does not yet possess an ego. It seeks omnipotence, pleasure supreme, the ultimate bliss that knows neither lack nor unfulfillment or frustration.
Without an ego these strivings are unrealistic, even destructive. You all have experienced in your pathwork that you first have to shed these desires or strivings before you can come to them all over again realize them.
In other words, every one of you who is on this path has to come to terms with and has to accept your limitations as a human being before you can realize that you have an unlimited fount of power at your disposal. You all have to accept your own imperfections, as well as this life's imperfections, before you can experience that absolute perfection that you must ultimately realize is your destiny. But you can comprehend this only after you have shed the childish distortion of this knowledge that is flawed because of a lack of ego. You all have to learn to let go of a desire for pleasure supreme and make do with limited pleasure before you can realize that absolute pleasure is your ultimate destiny. Accepting less is an acceptance of this earthly reality. For dealing with this dimension the ego faculties are necessary. Only when your ego deals adequately with the realm in which your personality and your body now live can you then deeply comprehend your real faculties, possibilities, and potential.
When I speak of the ultimate aim of perfection, of limitless power, of pleasure supreme, I do not mean that you realize this in a distant future when you no longer possess a body. I do not speak of this state in a measure of time, but in a measure of quality that could exist at any moment, specifically at the moment when you awaken to truth. Awakening to truth is possible only when you have first found and then let go of the childish distortions of utter perfection, utter power, and utter pleasure. In the underdeveloped ego, these desires are not only illusory but selfish and destructive. They have to be abandoned before they can be attained.
This is the very same law that determines how working from abundance produces abundance,but working from poverty and need produces more poverty and need. The healthy, strong ego knows reality without being upset that fulfillment may not yet be possible because of the obstructions to the real self. The weak ego considers itself annihilated when its wishes for omnipotence remain unfulfilled; therefore, its wish is negative. It will clutch to laws and conditions of the little ego, thereby distorting the greater laws. Out of need and weakness the ego forgoes the strength and fullness that comes when it deals adequately with the immediate now, thereby transcending it.
My dearest friends, this lecture is of very great importance to all of you. It may not only dispel the confusion about apparent contradictions in philosophical ideas about life, but, even more important, it may provide an essential key to your own development. It may facilitate a letting go that can happen only when you trust your innermost self as an integral part of nature and creation When you feel and experience your real self, you will not fear and consequently
overemphasize your ego faculties. Nor will you leave important underdeveloped ego faculties to slumber, untended.
Friday, September 17, 2010
17th September
Only six of us for today's search for truth of what is. We first looked at how our blind spot is cleverly filled in by the mind. We did this by looking with the left eye closed and the right eye looking at a cross on the left at one point the black circle on the right vanishes.
We then watched a short video of a yoga enthusiast talking about how she found centreing in the moment so powerful.
We then read from a text that was on the same theme. This is its summary.
Your entire life is the result of your own thoughts about YOU, nothing happens by chance, nothing happens by accident. You are functioning in concentrated areas of energy that you are creating to show you who you really and truly are. If you don't like something, then recognize it for what it is and then change it. This physical world should be your play playground, it should be Heaven on Earth and not the hell most people create it and make it out to be for themselves. Do what you want with your own life, but just no longer resist whatever already JUST IS.
We then watched a short video of a yoga enthusiast talking about how she found centreing in the moment so powerful.
We then read from a text that was on the same theme. This is its summary.
Your entire life is the result of your own thoughts about YOU, nothing happens by chance, nothing happens by accident. You are functioning in concentrated areas of energy that you are creating to show you who you really and truly are. If you don't like something, then recognize it for what it is and then change it. This physical world should be your play playground, it should be Heaven on Earth and not the hell most people create it and make it out to be for themselves. Do what you want with your own life, but just no longer resist whatever already JUST IS.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
20th August
Just the six of us to explore the mystery of life both myself and Jean saw the report that those who accepted the spiritual reality of the universe lived thirteen years longer than those who were convinced that the material world is all there is.
We looked at a short video of a modern Indian guru who gave a good illustration of society as life or our journey being a bus filled with bickering passengers fighting over who was the most intelligent the most powerful and the best looking not realizing that the windows had blinds down so they never saw the miracle of what is nature self evident.
I did break the news though that the Guru is now dead at an early age of 60 but determined to be positive it was suggested he was meant to die at 47.
This led to what was meant by it and here we disagreed some taking it that you were meant to look at nature but I suggested that here too you would still be in duality and I believe it is only when the mind or the passenger drops the dominent role that we then see without seeing.
We also looked at that sad but up-lifting video of the young Australian who born without arms or legs led a useful full life filled with love for humanity bringing his audience of school children to tears.
We looked at a short video of a modern Indian guru who gave a good illustration of society as life or our journey being a bus filled with bickering passengers fighting over who was the most intelligent the most powerful and the best looking not realizing that the windows had blinds down so they never saw the miracle of what is nature self evident.
I did break the news though that the Guru is now dead at an early age of 60 but determined to be positive it was suggested he was meant to die at 47.
This led to what was meant by it and here we disagreed some taking it that you were meant to look at nature but I suggested that here too you would still be in duality and I believe it is only when the mind or the passenger drops the dominent role that we then see without seeing.
We also looked at that sad but up-lifting video of the young Australian who born without arms or legs led a useful full life filled with love for humanity bringing his audience of school children to tears.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
16th July
Just seven of us but small numbers make it easier for everyone to join in the discussion so it was a good meeting enjoyed by all. We discussed the search for the holy grail which I suggested was within us and not buried in some secret cache.
We then listened to a short video by a sage giving his views on enlightenment. After a stop for tea and a biscuit we then read and discussed this paper a critique of philosophy although it is referring mainly to Western philosophy
Philosophy means knowing something about the unknown without knowing it.
It is just preconceptions, hypotheses, man-constructed ideologies.
Philosophy tries to explain things -- never succeeds. At the most, it can succeed only in explaining away things, but it never succeeds in explaining them. Religion makes no effort to explain life. It tries to live it. Religion does not take life as a problem to be solved -- it takes life as a mystery to be lived. Religion is not curious about life. Religion is in awe, in tremendous wonder about life.
Philosophy is a substitute for religion. Those who go into philosophy are lost to religion, and those who want to go into religion, they have to drop all kinds of philosophizing.
Philosophy is just intellectual gymnastics, it has nothing to do with reality. It talks, argues, creates magnificent systems of thought, but it does not change the man who is creating all this. He remains the same man.
Philosophy is baseless. It makes castles in the air. Ideas are just ideas. You can project an y idea you like, nobody can prevent you; and once you project the idea you can find all kinds of rationalizations to support it. There is no difficulty.
Science grows out of doubt. Religion grows out of wonder. Between the two is philosophy; it has not yet decided -- it goes on hanging between doubt and wonder. Sometimes the philosopher doubts and sometimes the philosopher wonders: he is just in between. If he doubts too much, by and by he becomes a scientist. If he wonders too much, by and by he becomes religious. That's why philosophy is disappearing from the world -- because ninety-nine percent of philosophers have become scientists. And one person -- a Buber somewhere, or a Krishnamurti somewhere, or a Suzuki somewhere -- great minds, great penetrating intellects, they have become religious. Philosophy is almost losing its ground.
Beware of getting lost in philosophy and religion if you really want to know what truth is. Beware of being Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, because they are all ways of being deaf, blind, insensitive.
RELIGION IS NOT CONCERNED with philosophical questions and answers. To go on looking this way is stupid, and a sheer waste of life, time, energy and consciousness, because you can go on asking and answers can be given -- but from answers only more questions will come out. If in the beginning there was one question, in the end, through many answers, there will be a million questions. Philosophy solves nothing. It promises, but never solves anything -- all those promises remain unfulfilled.
Still it goes on promising. But the experience which can solve the riddles of the mind cannot be attained through philosophical speculation. Buddha was absolutely against philosophy -- there has never been a man more against philosophy than Buddha
We then listened to a short video by a sage giving his views on enlightenment. After a stop for tea and a biscuit we then read and discussed this paper a critique of philosophy although it is referring mainly to Western philosophy
Philosophy means knowing something about the unknown without knowing it.
It is just preconceptions, hypotheses, man-constructed ideologies.
Philosophy tries to explain things -- never succeeds. At the most, it can succeed only in explaining away things, but it never succeeds in explaining them. Religion makes no effort to explain life. It tries to live it. Religion does not take life as a problem to be solved -- it takes life as a mystery to be lived. Religion is not curious about life. Religion is in awe, in tremendous wonder about life.
Philosophy is a substitute for religion. Those who go into philosophy are lost to religion, and those who want to go into religion, they have to drop all kinds of philosophizing.
Philosophy is just intellectual gymnastics, it has nothing to do with reality. It talks, argues, creates magnificent systems of thought, but it does not change the man who is creating all this. He remains the same man.
Philosophy is baseless. It makes castles in the air. Ideas are just ideas. You can project an y idea you like, nobody can prevent you; and once you project the idea you can find all kinds of rationalizations to support it. There is no difficulty.
Science grows out of doubt. Religion grows out of wonder. Between the two is philosophy; it has not yet decided -- it goes on hanging between doubt and wonder. Sometimes the philosopher doubts and sometimes the philosopher wonders: he is just in between. If he doubts too much, by and by he becomes a scientist. If he wonders too much, by and by he becomes religious. That's why philosophy is disappearing from the world -- because ninety-nine percent of philosophers have become scientists. And one person -- a Buber somewhere, or a Krishnamurti somewhere, or a Suzuki somewhere -- great minds, great penetrating intellects, they have become religious. Philosophy is almost losing its ground.
Beware of getting lost in philosophy and religion if you really want to know what truth is. Beware of being Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, because they are all ways of being deaf, blind, insensitive.
RELIGION IS NOT CONCERNED with philosophical questions and answers. To go on looking this way is stupid, and a sheer waste of life, time, energy and consciousness, because you can go on asking and answers can be given -- but from answers only more questions will come out. If in the beginning there was one question, in the end, through many answers, there will be a million questions. Philosophy solves nothing. It promises, but never solves anything -- all those promises remain unfulfilled.
Still it goes on promising. But the experience which can solve the riddles of the mind cannot be attained through philosophical speculation. Buddha was absolutely against philosophy -- there has never been a man more against philosophy than Buddha
Friday, June 18, 2010
18th June
Just the five of us today but all left smiling so they must have enjoyed the short video of Dr Wayne Dyer author of Inspiration Your ultimate Calling and his talk about the falseness of the ego based on possessions, achievements and reputation.
We then read a paper on Personal Development, Spiritual Growth
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein
Awakening Consciousness
When I take a look at our society as a whole and think about the stage of evolution that we are at, it amazes me how many problems still exist on earth. We have advanced tremendously in technology and commerce but one thing we have neglected to advance is the world's consciousness, the ability to be awake in the world.
Any problems we have, come from a lack of awareness. If our politicians were really conscious there would be no question about right and wrong, they would be able to make the right decision. In pure awareness there is no dark only light. In fact if everyone was really awake and conscious the role of government would be very limited, because people would not depend on someone else to lead them.
We live in the age of information, but even with all the knowledge of the world at our fingertips what good does it really do us if we are not conscious and awake. The problem is that knowledge essentially binds us, the more knowledge a person gains the more asleep that he becomes. The more knowledge he gains the more entrenched his mind becomes in a certain way of thinking. He may think he is thinking outside of the box, it's the same box; he just makes it look different.
"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."- Albert Einstein
Just really take a good look at the world around you; you will realize that most of the population is operating from a level where they are asleep. Today's society has become extremely efficient at doing things with little to no awareness, we just run on auto pilot. Once you realize how much you really are operating on auto pilot in your day to day life, you will be able to search for ways to become more aware.
We then read a paper on Personal Development, Spiritual Growth
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein
Awakening Consciousness
When I take a look at our society as a whole and think about the stage of evolution that we are at, it amazes me how many problems still exist on earth. We have advanced tremendously in technology and commerce but one thing we have neglected to advance is the world's consciousness, the ability to be awake in the world.
Any problems we have, come from a lack of awareness. If our politicians were really conscious there would be no question about right and wrong, they would be able to make the right decision. In pure awareness there is no dark only light. In fact if everyone was really awake and conscious the role of government would be very limited, because people would not depend on someone else to lead them.
We live in the age of information, but even with all the knowledge of the world at our fingertips what good does it really do us if we are not conscious and awake. The problem is that knowledge essentially binds us, the more knowledge a person gains the more asleep that he becomes. The more knowledge he gains the more entrenched his mind becomes in a certain way of thinking. He may think he is thinking outside of the box, it's the same box; he just makes it look different.
"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."- Albert Einstein
Just really take a good look at the world around you; you will realize that most of the population is operating from a level where they are asleep. Today's society has become extremely efficient at doing things with little to no awareness, we just run on auto pilot. Once you realize how much you really are operating on auto pilot in your day to day life, you will be able to search for ways to become more aware.
Friday, May 28, 2010
28th May
Smallest group so far but still those that came enjoyed the delving into Jungian philosophy. Although it was a bit hard to follow. We also watched a video about how our thoughts tell how the body should react to anything so that gives us the ability to change our thoughts and thereby our reaction.
One aspect we did read about is this:
Synchronicity
Personality theorists have argued for many years about whether psychological processes function in terms of mechanism or teleology. Mechanism is the idea that things work in through cause and effect: One thing leads to another which leads to another, and so on, so that the past determines the present. Teleology is the idea that we are lead on by our ideas about a future state, by things like purposes, meanings, values, and so on. Mechanism is linked with determinism and with the natural sciences. Teleology is linked with free will and has become rather rare. It is still common among moral, legal, and religious philosophers, and, of course, among personality theorists.
Among the people discussed in this book, Freudians and behaviorists tend to be mechanists, while the neo-Freudians, humanists, and existentialists tend to be teleologists. Jung believes that both play a part. But he adds a third alternative called synchronicity.
Synchronicity is the occurrence of two events that are not linked causally, nor linked teleologically, yet are meaningfully related. Once, a client was describing a dream involving a scarab beetle when, at that very instant, a very similar beetle flew into the window. Often, people dream about something, like the death of a loved one, and find the next morning that their loved one did, in fact, die at about that time. Sometimes people pick up he phone to call a friend, only to find that their friend is already on the line. Most psychologists would call these things coincidences, or try to show how they are more likely to occur than we think. Jung believed the were indications of how we are connected, with our fellow humans and with nature in general, through the collective unconscious.
Jung was never clear about his own religious beliefs. But this unusual idea of synchronicity is easily explained by the Hindu view of reality. In the Hindu view, our individual egos are like islands in a sea: We look out at the world and each other and think we are separate entities. What we don't see is that we are connected to each other by means of the ocean floor beneath the waters.
One aspect we did read about is this:
Synchronicity
Personality theorists have argued for many years about whether psychological processes function in terms of mechanism or teleology. Mechanism is the idea that things work in through cause and effect: One thing leads to another which leads to another, and so on, so that the past determines the present. Teleology is the idea that we are lead on by our ideas about a future state, by things like purposes, meanings, values, and so on. Mechanism is linked with determinism and with the natural sciences. Teleology is linked with free will and has become rather rare. It is still common among moral, legal, and religious philosophers, and, of course, among personality theorists.
Among the people discussed in this book, Freudians and behaviorists tend to be mechanists, while the neo-Freudians, humanists, and existentialists tend to be teleologists. Jung believes that both play a part. But he adds a third alternative called synchronicity.
Synchronicity is the occurrence of two events that are not linked causally, nor linked teleologically, yet are meaningfully related. Once, a client was describing a dream involving a scarab beetle when, at that very instant, a very similar beetle flew into the window. Often, people dream about something, like the death of a loved one, and find the next morning that their loved one did, in fact, die at about that time. Sometimes people pick up he phone to call a friend, only to find that their friend is already on the line. Most psychologists would call these things coincidences, or try to show how they are more likely to occur than we think. Jung believed the were indications of how we are connected, with our fellow humans and with nature in general, through the collective unconscious.
Jung was never clear about his own religious beliefs. But this unusual idea of synchronicity is easily explained by the Hindu view of reality. In the Hindu view, our individual egos are like islands in a sea: We look out at the world and each other and think we are separate entities. What we don't see is that we are connected to each other by means of the ocean floor beneath the waters.
Friday, April 16, 2010
16th April
Only six of us today to explore the most important questions we can ask about who we are and what this is. We outlined what was learnt about the Universe over the last 3 meetings the vastness of the stars and space taking a trip to the end of the universe with YouTube. We looked at the minute atom and its volume compared to the actual matter it is composed of. We tried to imagine what there should be - no space - no time - no consciousness but instead we are, we exist as part of existence. A way of seeing the wholeness of reality rather than the normal duality. We then watched a Jim Carrey short video about how everything is intended. Following that we explored the wisdom of Richard Carlson.
You Can Be Happy No Matter What
by Richard Carlson, Ph.D.
The Principle of Thought
1. Your thoughts, not your circumstances, determine how you feel. Blaming our unhappiness on our
circumstances makes us feel powerless over our lives.
2. We need not constantly be in conflict with those around us. You may have no control over what
another person does, but you can be immune to the negative effects of your thinking about that person.
3. It isn’t the circumstances, but our interpretation of them that determines our level of well being.
4. Because our thought systems are filled with our memories of the past (information we have
accumulated throughout our lifetimes), they encourage us to continue to see things in the same way.
5. If you understand the nature of thought systems, you can begin to see beyond them and sense the value
in other points of view. What we did interpret as criticism we can see merely as an opinion from
another person with his/her own thought system.
6. We can virtually eliminate unprofitable arguments in our lives and eliminate feeling resentful,
confused, or angry at others who don’t see things our way. When we understand the nature of thought
systems, we will not expect others to see things our way...........................
You Can Be Happy No Matter What
by Richard Carlson, Ph.D.
The Principle of Thought
1. Your thoughts, not your circumstances, determine how you feel. Blaming our unhappiness on our
circumstances makes us feel powerless over our lives.
2. We need not constantly be in conflict with those around us. You may have no control over what
another person does, but you can be immune to the negative effects of your thinking about that person.
3. It isn’t the circumstances, but our interpretation of them that determines our level of well being.
4. Because our thought systems are filled with our memories of the past (information we have
accumulated throughout our lifetimes), they encourage us to continue to see things in the same way.
5. If you understand the nature of thought systems, you can begin to see beyond them and sense the value
in other points of view. What we did interpret as criticism we can see merely as an opinion from
another person with his/her own thought system.
6. We can virtually eliminate unprofitable arguments in our lives and eliminate feeling resentful,
confused, or angry at others who don’t see things our way. When we understand the nature of thought
systems, we will not expect others to see things our way...........................
Friday, March 19, 2010
March meeting
On a damp day nine of us settled down to a morning of deep thought, first we looked at a short film illustrating how big the universe is starting from the sun it travelled out to the edge of the known universe 10 billion light years away.
We reminded ourselves of previous films showing the emptiness of matter and the size of the largest stars (suns)After a break we then read and discussed the 10 laws for living a good life - similar to the law of attraction.
Below is five of them.
Life Law #1: You either get it or you don't.
Strategy: Become one of those who gets it.
It's easy to tell these people apart. Those who "get it" understand how things work and have a strategy to create the results they want. Those who don't are stumbling along looking puzzled, and can be found complaining that they never seem to get a break.
You must do what it takes to accumulate enough knowledge to "get it." You need to operate with the information and skills that are necessary to win. Be prepared, tune in, find out how the game is played and play by the rules.
In designing a strategy and getting the information you need — about yourself, people you encounter, or situations — be careful from whom you accept input. Wrong thinking and misinformation can seal your fate before you even begin.
Life Law #2: You create your own experience.
Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life. Understand your role in creating results.
You cannot dodge responsibility for how and why your life is the way it is. If you don't like your job, you are accountable. If you are overweight, you are accountable. If you are not happy, you are accountable. You are creating the situations you are in and the emotions that flow from those situations.
Don't play the role of victim, or use past events to build excuses. It guarantees you no progress, no healing, and no victory. You will never fix a problem by blaming someone else. Whether the cards you've been dealt are good or bad, you're in charge of yourself now.
Every choice you make — including the thoughts you think — has consequences. When you choose the behavior or thought, you choose the consequences. If you choose to stay with a destructive partner, then you choose the consequences of pain and suffering. If you choose thoughts contaminated with anger and bitterness, then you will create an experience of alienation and hostility. When you start choosing the right behavior and thoughts — which will take a lot of discipline — you'll get the right consequences.
Life Law #3: People do what works.
Strategy: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others.
Even the most destructive behaviors have a payoff. If you did not perceive the behavior in question to generate some value to you, you would not do it. If you want to stop behaving in a certain way, you've got to stop "paying yourself off" for doing it.
Find and control the payoffs, because you can't stop a behavior until you recognize what you are gaining from it. Payoffs can be as simple as money gained by going to work to psychological payoffs of acceptance, approval, praise, love or companionship. It is possible that you are feeding off unhealthy, addictive and imprisoning payoffs, such as self-punishment or distorted self-importance.
Be alert to the possibility that your behavior is controlled by fear of rejection. It's easier not to change. Try something new or put yourself on the line. Also consider if your need for immediate gratification creates an appetite for a small payoff now rather than a large payoff later.
Life Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about life and everybody in it. Be truthful about what isn't working in your life. Stop making excuses and start making results.
If you're unwilling or unable to identify and consciously acknowledge your negative behaviors, characteristics or life patterns, then you will not change them. (In fact, they will only grow worse and become more entrenched in your life.) You've got to face it to replace it.
Acknowledgment means slapping yourself in the face with the brutal reality, admitting that you are getting payoffs for what you are doing, and giving yourself a no-kidding, bottom-line truthful confrontation. You cannot afford the luxury of lies, denial or defensiveness.
Where are you now? If you hope to have a winning life strategy, you have to be honest about where your life is right now. Your life is not too bad to fix and it's not too late to fix it. But be honest about what needs fixing. If you lie to yourself about any dimension of your life, an otherwise sound strategy will be compromised.
Life Law #5: Life rewards action.
Strategy: Make careful decisions and then pull the trigger. Learn that the world couldn't care less about thoughts without actions.
Talk is cheap. It's what you do that determines the script of your life. Translate your insights, understandings and awareness into purposeful, meaningful, constructive actions. They are of no value until then. Measure yourself and others based on results — not intentions or words.
Use any pain you have to propel you out of the situation you are in and to get you where you want to be. The same pain that burdens you now could be turned to your advantage. It may be the very motivation you need to change your life.
Decide that you are worth the risk of taking action, and that your dreams are not to be sold out. Know that putting yourself at risk may be scary, but it will be worth it. You must leave behind the comfortable and familiar if you are to move onward and upward.
We reminded ourselves of previous films showing the emptiness of matter and the size of the largest stars (suns)After a break we then read and discussed the 10 laws for living a good life - similar to the law of attraction.
Below is five of them.
Life Law #1: You either get it or you don't.
Strategy: Become one of those who gets it.
It's easy to tell these people apart. Those who "get it" understand how things work and have a strategy to create the results they want. Those who don't are stumbling along looking puzzled, and can be found complaining that they never seem to get a break.
You must do what it takes to accumulate enough knowledge to "get it." You need to operate with the information and skills that are necessary to win. Be prepared, tune in, find out how the game is played and play by the rules.
In designing a strategy and getting the information you need — about yourself, people you encounter, or situations — be careful from whom you accept input. Wrong thinking and misinformation can seal your fate before you even begin.
Life Law #2: You create your own experience.
Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life. Understand your role in creating results.
You cannot dodge responsibility for how and why your life is the way it is. If you don't like your job, you are accountable. If you are overweight, you are accountable. If you are not happy, you are accountable. You are creating the situations you are in and the emotions that flow from those situations.
Don't play the role of victim, or use past events to build excuses. It guarantees you no progress, no healing, and no victory. You will never fix a problem by blaming someone else. Whether the cards you've been dealt are good or bad, you're in charge of yourself now.
Every choice you make — including the thoughts you think — has consequences. When you choose the behavior or thought, you choose the consequences. If you choose to stay with a destructive partner, then you choose the consequences of pain and suffering. If you choose thoughts contaminated with anger and bitterness, then you will create an experience of alienation and hostility. When you start choosing the right behavior and thoughts — which will take a lot of discipline — you'll get the right consequences.
Life Law #3: People do what works.
Strategy: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others.
Even the most destructive behaviors have a payoff. If you did not perceive the behavior in question to generate some value to you, you would not do it. If you want to stop behaving in a certain way, you've got to stop "paying yourself off" for doing it.
Find and control the payoffs, because you can't stop a behavior until you recognize what you are gaining from it. Payoffs can be as simple as money gained by going to work to psychological payoffs of acceptance, approval, praise, love or companionship. It is possible that you are feeding off unhealthy, addictive and imprisoning payoffs, such as self-punishment or distorted self-importance.
Be alert to the possibility that your behavior is controlled by fear of rejection. It's easier not to change. Try something new or put yourself on the line. Also consider if your need for immediate gratification creates an appetite for a small payoff now rather than a large payoff later.
Life Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about life and everybody in it. Be truthful about what isn't working in your life. Stop making excuses and start making results.
If you're unwilling or unable to identify and consciously acknowledge your negative behaviors, characteristics or life patterns, then you will not change them. (In fact, they will only grow worse and become more entrenched in your life.) You've got to face it to replace it.
Acknowledgment means slapping yourself in the face with the brutal reality, admitting that you are getting payoffs for what you are doing, and giving yourself a no-kidding, bottom-line truthful confrontation. You cannot afford the luxury of lies, denial or defensiveness.
Where are you now? If you hope to have a winning life strategy, you have to be honest about where your life is right now. Your life is not too bad to fix and it's not too late to fix it. But be honest about what needs fixing. If you lie to yourself about any dimension of your life, an otherwise sound strategy will be compromised.
Life Law #5: Life rewards action.
Strategy: Make careful decisions and then pull the trigger. Learn that the world couldn't care less about thoughts without actions.
Talk is cheap. It's what you do that determines the script of your life. Translate your insights, understandings and awareness into purposeful, meaningful, constructive actions. They are of no value until then. Measure yourself and others based on results — not intentions or words.
Use any pain you have to propel you out of the situation you are in and to get you where you want to be. The same pain that burdens you now could be turned to your advantage. It may be the very motivation you need to change your life.
Decide that you are worth the risk of taking action, and that your dreams are not to be sold out. Know that putting yourself at risk may be scary, but it will be worth it. You must leave behind the comfortable and familiar if you are to move onward and upward.
Friday, February 19, 2010
19th February
Nine of us got together for our exploration of questions about reality that few people look into.
After recalling the previous month where it was shown that stars can be so big that travelling round it at 999kph it would take a thousand years to complete and how there are as many stars as there is grains of sands in all the beaches of the world making the significance of humanity as nothing. But despite that we believe that we are in the centre as reality is a projection of consciousness. We then looked at a short video demonstrating the emptiness of atoms followed by a longer video about the law of attraction. Which we all agreed is true but it is not the final fulfilment of what we seek.
We will look at that next month.
After recalling the previous month where it was shown that stars can be so big that travelling round it at 999kph it would take a thousand years to complete and how there are as many stars as there is grains of sands in all the beaches of the world making the significance of humanity as nothing. But despite that we believe that we are in the centre as reality is a projection of consciousness. We then looked at a short video demonstrating the emptiness of atoms followed by a longer video about the law of attraction. Which we all agreed is true but it is not the final fulfilment of what we seek.
We will look at that next month.
Friday, January 15, 2010
January 15th
Three new members making nine of us for a hopefully instructive and interesting exposure to ideas that normally we do not consider. We watched a short video on the immensity of the Universe. The largest known star or sun is so big that if you travelled at 900 kph it would take 1000 years to circumnavigate. And as there are billions of stars as many as grains of sand in all the world's shores, it puts us in perspective. But we then discussed the all in the mind evidence so perhaps we are the centre of the Universe. Then we looked at an inspiring short video of a young man with no limbs who despite this handicap loved life.
We also discussed the following,
"Selflessness,"
Mark Epstein and the Dalai Lama in Thoughts Without a Thinker
"One of the most compelling things about the Buddhist view of suffering is the notion, inherent in the Wheel of Life Image, that the causes of suffering are also the means of release; that is, the sufferer's perspective determines whether a given realm is a vehicle for awakening or for bondage. Conditioned by the forces of attachment, aversion, and delusion, our faulty perceptions of the realms -- not the realms themselves--cause suffering. (pg. 16)
"Selflessness is not a return to the feelings of infancy, an experience of undifferentiated bliss, or a merger with the Mother -- even though many people may seek such an experience when they begin to meditate, and even though some may actually find a version of it. Selflessness does not require people to annihilate their emotions, only to learn to experience them in a new way."
"Selflessness is not a case of something that existed in the past becoming nonexistent. Rather this sort of "self" is something that never did exist. What is needed is to identify as non-existent something that always was non-existent." Dalai Lama.
"It is not ego, in the Freudian sense, that is the actual target of Buddhist insight, it is, rather, the self-concept, the representational component of the ego, the actual internal experience of one's self that is targeted."
"Conceptual thought does not disappear as a result of meditative insight. Only the belief in the ego's solidity is lost. Yet, this insight does not come easily. It is far more tempting -- and easier -- to use meditation to withdraw from our confusion about ourselves, to dwell in the tranquil stabilization that meditation offers, and to think of this as approximating the teaching of egolessness. But this is not what the Buddha meant by Right View.
Mark Epstein is a senior student of Vipassana meditation and a practicing psychiatrist in New York City. He is author of Thoughts Without a Thinker and Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart. The XIV Dalai Lama is the political leader of Tibet-in-Exile, a great spiritual teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, and author of many fine books.
We also discussed the following,
"Selflessness,"
Mark Epstein and the Dalai Lama in Thoughts Without a Thinker
"One of the most compelling things about the Buddhist view of suffering is the notion, inherent in the Wheel of Life Image, that the causes of suffering are also the means of release; that is, the sufferer's perspective determines whether a given realm is a vehicle for awakening or for bondage. Conditioned by the forces of attachment, aversion, and delusion, our faulty perceptions of the realms -- not the realms themselves--cause suffering. (pg. 16)
"Selflessness is not a return to the feelings of infancy, an experience of undifferentiated bliss, or a merger with the Mother -- even though many people may seek such an experience when they begin to meditate, and even though some may actually find a version of it. Selflessness does not require people to annihilate their emotions, only to learn to experience them in a new way."
"Selflessness is not a case of something that existed in the past becoming nonexistent. Rather this sort of "self" is something that never did exist. What is needed is to identify as non-existent something that always was non-existent." Dalai Lama.
"It is not ego, in the Freudian sense, that is the actual target of Buddhist insight, it is, rather, the self-concept, the representational component of the ego, the actual internal experience of one's self that is targeted."
"Conceptual thought does not disappear as a result of meditative insight. Only the belief in the ego's solidity is lost. Yet, this insight does not come easily. It is far more tempting -- and easier -- to use meditation to withdraw from our confusion about ourselves, to dwell in the tranquil stabilization that meditation offers, and to think of this as approximating the teaching of egolessness. But this is not what the Buddha meant by Right View.
Mark Epstein is a senior student of Vipassana meditation and a practicing psychiatrist in New York City. He is author of Thoughts Without a Thinker and Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart. The XIV Dalai Lama is the political leader of Tibet-in-Exile, a great spiritual teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, and author of many fine books.
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