Ten of us altogether met up for another brain stretching exercise. We first viewed a video curtesy of TED where a philosopher must have confused an audience of young people by telling them the idea of a inner self was not true. Although we felt that the ego maybe an illusion the inner being or essence is a reality and many believe to be the true Self.
After a break we read and discussed the following mixture of different ideas.
The Source of PhilosophyWonder: The main source of philosophic questioning is the sense of wonder, a childlike wonder just about everything. Philosophy starts with bewilderment, astonishment, amazement about the world, life, and ourselves. Philosophy arises from the workings of an inquisitive mind which is bewildered by seemingly common things or by those that appear to be entirely impractical. It emerges out of readiness to follow the call of human intellectual curiosity beyond common sense acquaintanceship with the world. The same idea is expressed in the old saying that the business of philosophy is to deal with the things supposedly familiar, but not really known and cognized. Philosophy reveals the illusion of knowledge where none in reality exists. Indeed, everything touched by philosophic bewilderment miraculously changes its character from a known to an unknown. B. Russell resuscitates the same idea in claiming that philosophy "keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect".
Self-Knowledge There is nowhere we have to go, nothing we have to do, although lots of going and doing seem to happen. This apparent activity is just as it is without anything being wrong with it. It simply cannot make or create anything with regard to spirituality.
At some point we are reoriented in our search away from the attainments and achievements we long for – we come to a maturity and a place of pause. In this pause we likely realize we are chasing our tail. We might then begin a serious inquiry into the very nature of our essence, what-we-ARE, not what we might become if we do spirituality the right way, trying to hold our posture straight and our thoughts still. We might then realize that only by inquiring into our beliefs about ourselves, by questioning and challening our core set of default beliefs, do we have a chance to see past them, to realize their shortcomings, to recognize that what we believed ourselves to be isn't as we thought................
There is no hiding with LSDSue Blackmore She has a degree in psychology and physiology from Oxford University (1973) and a PhD in parapsychology from the University of Surrey (1980). Her research interests include memes, evolutionary theory, consciousness, and meditation. She practises Zen and campaigns for drug legalisation
Beyond the flowers that turn into cats, an acid trip forces users to face whatever comes up, and self-knowledge often follows
face the fact that I could not blame the drug nor anyone else for my visions, and certainly not for the worst fact of all – that such cruelty has always happened and is happening somewhere even now. Ultimately I confronted the fact that I was not fundamentally different from either the torturers or the tortured, that I had in myself strains of cruelty and hatred that might, under other circumstances, lead me to be the perpetrator as well as the sufferer.
This is just one small example, and everyone's stories are different, but again and again people report that through LSD they learned to know, and accept, themselves. This may be why LSD has such powerful and can be so helpful for people mentions "spirituality" and whether anyone becomes "kinder and wiser". Surely knowing oneself underlies all these – knowing and accepting your own mind, taking responsibility for what you have done and what you might do. Even simple kindness grows with self-knowledge. When we see ourselves clearly we can see others more clearly, and then it is so very much easier to be kind.....
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
20th Jan 2012
Nine of us today on a dry relatively warm day for January. First of all we watched a video of a woman who spoke of her time when she divorced her husband and proved her self reliance by not seeking any money from him. She has since bought a home together with her new husband. She spoke about giving up fear letting it go, giving her guardian angels a chance to help her achieve peace and success.
Some of us found it relevant to their own life, other people were more hesitant to accept that it was the spiritual aspect that helped, more the practical work she put into it.
I asked had anybody heard about Plato's cave analogy apart from when it has come up in previous meetings and surprisingly none had. I then outlined what he meant and its meaning today, our reality is the shadow world. We hopefully will attain the the ability to see the spiritual underlying truth.
We then looked at the following:
Thoughts and Thinking
We collectively glorify our ability to think as the distinguishing characteristic of humanity; we personally and mistakenly glorify our thoughts as the distinguishing pattern of who we are. From the inner voice of thought-as-words to the wordless images within our minds, thoughts create and limit our personal world. Through thinking we abstract and define reality, reason about it, react to it, recall past events and plan for the future. Yet thinking remains both woefully underdeveloped in most of us, as well as grossly overvalued. We can best gain some perspective on thinking in terms of energies.
Automatic thinking draws us away from the present. We wistfully allow our thoughts to meander where they will, carrying our passive attention along with them. Like water running down a mountain stream, thoughts running on autopilot careen through the spaces of perception, randomly triggering associative links within our vast storehouse of memory. By itself, such associative thought is harmless. However, our tendency to believe in, act upon, and drift away with such undirected thought keeps us operating in an automatic mode. Lulled into an inner passivity by our daydreams and thought streams, we lose contact with the world of actual perceptions, of real life. In the automatic mode of thinking, I am completely identified with my thoughts, believing my thoughts are me, believing that I am my thoughts...............
Some of us found it relevant to their own life, other people were more hesitant to accept that it was the spiritual aspect that helped, more the practical work she put into it.
I asked had anybody heard about Plato's cave analogy apart from when it has come up in previous meetings and surprisingly none had. I then outlined what he meant and its meaning today, our reality is the shadow world. We hopefully will attain the the ability to see the spiritual underlying truth.We then looked at the following:
Thoughts and Thinking
We collectively glorify our ability to think as the distinguishing characteristic of humanity; we personally and mistakenly glorify our thoughts as the distinguishing pattern of who we are. From the inner voice of thought-as-words to the wordless images within our minds, thoughts create and limit our personal world. Through thinking we abstract and define reality, reason about it, react to it, recall past events and plan for the future. Yet thinking remains both woefully underdeveloped in most of us, as well as grossly overvalued. We can best gain some perspective on thinking in terms of energies.
Automatic thinking draws us away from the present. We wistfully allow our thoughts to meander where they will, carrying our passive attention along with them. Like water running down a mountain stream, thoughts running on autopilot careen through the spaces of perception, randomly triggering associative links within our vast storehouse of memory. By itself, such associative thought is harmless. However, our tendency to believe in, act upon, and drift away with such undirected thought keeps us operating in an automatic mode. Lulled into an inner passivity by our daydreams and thought streams, we lose contact with the world of actual perceptions, of real life. In the automatic mode of thinking, I am completely identified with my thoughts, believing my thoughts are me, believing that I am my thoughts...............
Friday, December 16, 2011
16th December 2011
Nice sunny morning for an introduction to the philosophy of Florian Schlosser. We watched a short video where he outlined his non-duality teaching. Florian from an early age had the burning desire to know what reality is and our place in it. With many interests that one after another he found empty until giving away his wealth he entered a monastery. He has now come back with a new way of laying the ego to rest by reassuring the body that it is safe by grounding oneself with three simple instructions.
After a break and a good conversation about many things including relationships with all the problems that go with it we the read Florian's articl:
From the perspective of normal consciousness we mostly experience ourselves as "somebody" – an identity however named – to whom time and reality happens. We experience the course of life as an
event which is separated from us and at the mercy of which we more or less are. Or we doing our best to take some influence on it.
To explore the essence of time and reality as it really is, we first have to turn to "the one" to whom time and reality seemingly occurs. The question is whether "the one" who experiences time and reality really exists? Does an experiencing person really exist? And is the one we call the experiencing person – the "I" which experiences – really separated from "his/her" experience?
But how can we explore what the "I" is and if it really exists? Let's start together:
Who is thinking? Is it you who is thinking or are there just thoughts, which emerge and leave again? Who is feeling? Is it you who is feeling or are there just feelings which emerge and leave again? Who has physical sensations? Is it you who has sensations in the body or are there just sensations which emerge and leave again?
If you want to check this, then just try to stop your thoughts. Simply like that -STOP. Does it work? If you are completely conscious and honest for a moment you will realize that it is not so easy to switch off the experience of thinking, feeling and sensing.What you recognize is a never ending stream of movement (experience) which just happens. Now, to whom does this movement occur? Who has always been conscious of this? What is it exactly that is conscious? Normally you will say: I am conscious. Check it briefly if you like: Are you conscious of the present experience, whatever it may be, just now? Of course you are. Now, what is this "I" that is conscious? It is consciousness itself. Therefore you are consciousness, aren't you? Time is movement in consciousness
As we find out by close investigation there is consciousness, in which the movement of thinking, feeling and sensing in the body emerges and leaves again. This movement in the consciousness feels like an occurrence (appearance) in time. But if you again allow a moment to be quiet and conscious you will notice that time itself is an illusion, which is created by the ever changing experiences in consciousness. Without the movement of thinking, feeling and physical sensations there is no independent time, which can be measured i.e. experienced. So time is not separated from experience but (an) included part of it, well, it IS experience itself. Time is movement in the consciousness. And also the "feeling of I" is included in the movement and therefore not separated from it.
Let us now stop for a while and strike an interim balance: We see that consciousness only comes into being by movement. That is all. There is no one who experiences anything. It is the experiencing which experiences itself as movement in consciousness – that WE ARE. What may confuse us sometimes is that the movement of attentiveness is mixed up with pure resting awareness. Let us make clear this difference also. The movement of attentiveness Attentiveness is the natural ability to focus energy on a certain object, to observe it. For example this can be an object "in the outside", but also an object "in the inside", like a thought or a feeling. So we can focus with attentiveness. If you inquire precisely now, you will see that by mere focussing the feeling of an 'I-observer' on the one hand and at the same time the observed object appears separated from you.Observing only creates the feeling of an "I" and an experience separated from "you". But both don`t exist like this.
Neither is there really an "I" nor the object separated from "I" e.g. an experience. Both of it only emerges seemingly as a dual reality when attentiveness focusses
Both of it only emerges seemingly as a dual reality when attentiveness focusses. If you look closely you will realize that attentiveness itself is part of the movement. It is moving permanently from one object to another. Similar to a monkey it jumps about. The faster and the more restless attentiveness moves, the more varying is the experience of time. Abrupt, erratic movement of attentiveness creates a rapid feeling of time. Slow and quiet movement creates a feeling of "having time" and slowness.
So not only time itself is an illusion but also the experienced speed (quality) of it. Now back to consciousness again, through which all of this is recognized. So you – consciousness itself – are conscious of the experiences including the movement of attentiveness. To make it clear once again: you are already conscious of this – now -in this moment. Experience comes into being by observation Where is the border between consciousness and the experience (including the observing) that emerges and leaves again? If you investigate further you will find no border. The border does not exist.
After a break and a good conversation about many things including relationships with all the problems that go with it we the read Florian's articl:
From the perspective of normal consciousness we mostly experience ourselves as "somebody" – an identity however named – to whom time and reality happens. We experience the course of life as an
event which is separated from us and at the mercy of which we more or less are. Or we doing our best to take some influence on it.
To explore the essence of time and reality as it really is, we first have to turn to "the one" to whom time and reality seemingly occurs. The question is whether "the one" who experiences time and reality really exists? Does an experiencing person really exist? And is the one we call the experiencing person – the "I" which experiences – really separated from "his/her" experience?
But how can we explore what the "I" is and if it really exists? Let's start together:
Who is thinking? Is it you who is thinking or are there just thoughts, which emerge and leave again? Who is feeling? Is it you who is feeling or are there just feelings which emerge and leave again? Who has physical sensations? Is it you who has sensations in the body or are there just sensations which emerge and leave again?
If you want to check this, then just try to stop your thoughts. Simply like that -STOP. Does it work? If you are completely conscious and honest for a moment you will realize that it is not so easy to switch off the experience of thinking, feeling and sensing.What you recognize is a never ending stream of movement (experience) which just happens. Now, to whom does this movement occur? Who has always been conscious of this? What is it exactly that is conscious? Normally you will say: I am conscious. Check it briefly if you like: Are you conscious of the present experience, whatever it may be, just now? Of course you are. Now, what is this "I" that is conscious? It is consciousness itself. Therefore you are consciousness, aren't you? Time is movement in consciousness
As we find out by close investigation there is consciousness, in which the movement of thinking, feeling and sensing in the body emerges and leaves again. This movement in the consciousness feels like an occurrence (appearance) in time. But if you again allow a moment to be quiet and conscious you will notice that time itself is an illusion, which is created by the ever changing experiences in consciousness. Without the movement of thinking, feeling and physical sensations there is no independent time, which can be measured i.e. experienced. So time is not separated from experience but (an) included part of it, well, it IS experience itself. Time is movement in the consciousness. And also the "feeling of I" is included in the movement and therefore not separated from it.
Let us now stop for a while and strike an interim balance: We see that consciousness only comes into being by movement. That is all. There is no one who experiences anything. It is the experiencing which experiences itself as movement in consciousness – that WE ARE. What may confuse us sometimes is that the movement of attentiveness is mixed up with pure resting awareness. Let us make clear this difference also. The movement of attentiveness Attentiveness is the natural ability to focus energy on a certain object, to observe it. For example this can be an object "in the outside", but also an object "in the inside", like a thought or a feeling. So we can focus with attentiveness. If you inquire precisely now, you will see that by mere focussing the feeling of an 'I-observer' on the one hand and at the same time the observed object appears separated from you.Observing only creates the feeling of an "I" and an experience separated from "you". But both don`t exist like this.
Neither is there really an "I" nor the object separated from "I" e.g. an experience. Both of it only emerges seemingly as a dual reality when attentiveness focusses
Both of it only emerges seemingly as a dual reality when attentiveness focusses. If you look closely you will realize that attentiveness itself is part of the movement. It is moving permanently from one object to another. Similar to a monkey it jumps about. The faster and the more restless attentiveness moves, the more varying is the experience of time. Abrupt, erratic movement of attentiveness creates a rapid feeling of time. Slow and quiet movement creates a feeling of "having time" and slowness.
So not only time itself is an illusion but also the experienced speed (quality) of it. Now back to consciousness again, through which all of this is recognized. So you – consciousness itself – are conscious of the experiences including the movement of attentiveness. To make it clear once again: you are already conscious of this – now -in this moment. Experience comes into being by observation Where is the border between consciousness and the experience (including the observing) that emerges and leaves again? If you investigate further you will find no border. The border does not exist.
Friday, November 18, 2011
18th November
Eleven of us today as Kathy joined us for the first time. Started off showing the TED video on current thinking about child development and it was impressive. The comparison was made of a butterfly and a Caterpillar but we are the caterpillars. It is the baby that has the wings of exploration into new ways of thinking. The frustration of the kiddie and the eventual joy shown when solving a light/music puzzle was a picture.
The discussion afterwards showed we all came to different conclusions but we were all impressed by their problem solving.
After a break we reviewed an article on various ideas of Eastern thought part of which is below.
There Is No Final Destination To Reach
In life, you will never reach an "end point" where you feel you have finally made it. Even death is not an end point because your energy will continue further into new experiences of the non-physical nature and may further manifest into a new physical form as a matter of movement. There is no "end" in life because this whole movement was never about fulfilling any fixed agendas – it's just energy experiencing itself. Life, as a movement, is all about experience – and one experience is not better than the other from an absolute perspective, even the most elevated experience is still just an experience, nothing more nothing less. Having this perspective keeps you grounded in reality and acts as a "leveler" each time you feel that you've reached "perfection" or have illusions of reaching such a place.
Every time you reach a certain stability with one experience you will want to move on to a new experience. Even awakening/enlightenment is an experience. Living consciously is an experience different from the experience of living unconsciously, aligning with your natural vibration is an experience different from the experience of disconnected living – but in the end its all just experience, to say one experience is better than the other is like saying that being an adult is better than being a child, because that's not really the case. Being a child is an experience of its own and being an adult is another experience having its own flavor – of course, it seems to be better to have more control and maturity in life, but that's just one perspective, and such a perception also constitutes an experience. There is never going to be final destination where you feel you've reached the "peak" perfection of life, there will always be the next thing.
The discussion afterwards showed we all came to different conclusions but we were all impressed by their problem solving.
After a break we reviewed an article on various ideas of Eastern thought part of which is below.
There Is No Final Destination To Reach
In life, you will never reach an "end point" where you feel you have finally made it. Even death is not an end point because your energy will continue further into new experiences of the non-physical nature and may further manifest into a new physical form as a matter of movement. There is no "end" in life because this whole movement was never about fulfilling any fixed agendas – it's just energy experiencing itself. Life, as a movement, is all about experience – and one experience is not better than the other from an absolute perspective, even the most elevated experience is still just an experience, nothing more nothing less. Having this perspective keeps you grounded in reality and acts as a "leveler" each time you feel that you've reached "perfection" or have illusions of reaching such a place.
Every time you reach a certain stability with one experience you will want to move on to a new experience. Even awakening/enlightenment is an experience. Living consciously is an experience different from the experience of living unconsciously, aligning with your natural vibration is an experience different from the experience of disconnected living – but in the end its all just experience, to say one experience is better than the other is like saying that being an adult is better than being a child, because that's not really the case. Being a child is an experience of its own and being an adult is another experience having its own flavor – of course, it seems to be better to have more control and maturity in life, but that's just one perspective, and such a perception also constitutes an experience. There is never going to be final destination where you feel you've reached the "peak" perfection of life, there will always be the next thing.
Friday, October 21, 2011
21 October
Well attended meeting all seemingly happy with the world which was a happy coincidence as the two short videos we saw in the beginning were all about happiness. To sum up the way to be happy is to accept that you are perfect just the way you are, to be more loving, have faith or a spiritual outlook and be positive. Although things can help you find happiness really it is within yourself where you will truly find it. Nothing new but nice to get reminded of the eternal truths.
After a break we read the following tract which I find is the clearest explanation of what enlightenment is.
Extract
We will examines how we create a persistent alienation from ourselves, from others, and from the world by fracturing out present experience into different parts, separated by boundaries. We artificially split our awareness into compartments such as subject vs. object, life vs. death, mind vs. body, inside vs.. outside, reason vs. instinct ...
The result of such violence, although known by many other names, is simply unhappiness. Life becomes suffering, full of battles. But all our battles in our experience - our conflicts, anxieties, sufferings, and despairs - are created by the boundaries we misguidingly throw around our experience.
Who am I? The query has probably tormented mankind since the dawn of civilization, and remains today one of the most vexing of all human questions, ..When you are describing or explaining or even just inwardly feeling your "self" what you are actually doing, whether you know it or not, is drawing a mental line or boundary across the whole field of you experience, and everything on the inside of that boundary you are feeling or calling you "self" while everything outside that boundary you feel to be "not self"...So when you say "my self" you draw a boundary line between what is you and what is not you.
Have you ever wondered why life comes in opposites? Why everything you value is one of a pair of opposites? Why all decisions are between opposites? Why all desires are based on opposites?
Notice that all spatial and directional dimensions are opposites: up vs. down, inside vs. outside, high vs., low, long vs. short, North vs. South, big vs. small, here vs. there, top vs. bottom, left vs.. right. And notice that all things we consider serious and important are one pole of a pair of opposites: good vs. evil, life vs. death, pleasure vs. pain, God vs. Satan, freedom vs. bondage.
So, also, our social and esthetic values are always put in terms of opposites: success vs. failure, beautiful vs. ugly, strong vs. weak, intelligent vs. stupid. Even our highest abstractions rest on opposites. Logic, for instance, is concerned with the true vs. the false, epistemology, with appearance vs. reality, ontology, with being vs. non-being. Our world seems to be a massive collection of opposites.
This fact is so commonplace as to hardly need mentioning. But the more one ponders it the more it is strikingly peculiar. Adam was the first to delineate nature, to mentally divide it up, mark it off, diagram it. Adam was the first great mapmaker, Adam drew boundaries.
So successful was this mapping of nature that , to this day, our lives are largely spent in drawing boundaries. Every decision we make, our every action, our every word is based on the construction, conscious of unconscious, of boundaries,
The peculiar thing about a boundary is that, however complex and rarefied it might me, it actually marks off nothing but an inside and an outside., For example, we can draw the very simplest form of a boundary line as a circle, and see that it discloses an inside versus an outside. But notice that the opposites on inside vs.. outside didn't exist in themselves until we drew the boundary on the circle. It is the if boundary line in other words, which creates pairs of opposites,, in short, to draw boundaries is to manufacture opposites...And the world of opposites is world of conflict. So instead of handling and manipulating real objects, Adam could manipulate in his head these magic, names which stood for the objects themselves.
Now our habitual way of trying to solve these problems is to attempt to eradicate one of the opposites. We handle the problem of good vs. evil by trying to exterminate evil. We handle the problem of life vs.. death by trying to hide death under symbolic immortalities. In philosophy we handle conceptual opposites by dismissing one of the poles or trying to reduce it to the other.
The point is that we always tend to treat the boundary as real and then manipulate the opposites created by the boundary.
The goal of separating the opposites and then clinging to or pursuing the positive halves seems to be a distinguishing characteristic of progressive Western civilization - its religion, science, medicine and industry.
The opposites might indeed be as different as night and day, but the essential point is that without night we would not even be able to recognize something called day. To destroy the negative is, at the same time, to destroy all possibilities of enjoying the positive. Thus, the more we succeed in this adventure of progress, the more we actually fail, and hence the more acute becomes our sense of total frustration.
The root of the whole difficulty is our tendency to view the opposites as irreconcilable, as totally set apart and divorced from one another. Even the simplest of opposites, such as buying versus selling, are viewed as two different and separate events. Now it is true that buying and selling are in some sense different, but they are also - and this is the point- completely inseparable.
The inner unity of opposites is hardly an idea confined to mystics, Eastern or Western. If we look to modern say physics, the field in which Western intellect had made its greatest advances, what we find is another version of reality as a union of opposites. In relativity theory, for example, the old opposites of rest vs. motion have become totally indistinguishable, that is, "each is both". An object which is in motion for one observer is, at the same time, at rest for a different observer. Likewise, the split between wave and particle vanishes into "wavicles. and the contrast between structure vs. function evaporates. Even the age-old separation of mass from energy had fallen to Einstein's E=mc2, and these ancient "opposites" are now viewed as merely two aspects of one reality.
After a break we read the following tract which I find is the clearest explanation of what enlightenment is.
Extract
We will examines how we create a persistent alienation from ourselves, from others, and from the world by fracturing out present experience into different parts, separated by boundaries. We artificially split our awareness into compartments such as subject vs. object, life vs. death, mind vs. body, inside vs.. outside, reason vs. instinct ...
The result of such violence, although known by many other names, is simply unhappiness. Life becomes suffering, full of battles. But all our battles in our experience - our conflicts, anxieties, sufferings, and despairs - are created by the boundaries we misguidingly throw around our experience.
Who am I? The query has probably tormented mankind since the dawn of civilization, and remains today one of the most vexing of all human questions, ..When you are describing or explaining or even just inwardly feeling your "self" what you are actually doing, whether you know it or not, is drawing a mental line or boundary across the whole field of you experience, and everything on the inside of that boundary you are feeling or calling you "self" while everything outside that boundary you feel to be "not self"...So when you say "my self" you draw a boundary line between what is you and what is not you.
Have you ever wondered why life comes in opposites? Why everything you value is one of a pair of opposites? Why all decisions are between opposites? Why all desires are based on opposites?
Notice that all spatial and directional dimensions are opposites: up vs. down, inside vs. outside, high vs., low, long vs. short, North vs. South, big vs. small, here vs. there, top vs. bottom, left vs.. right. And notice that all things we consider serious and important are one pole of a pair of opposites: good vs. evil, life vs. death, pleasure vs. pain, God vs. Satan, freedom vs. bondage.
So, also, our social and esthetic values are always put in terms of opposites: success vs. failure, beautiful vs. ugly, strong vs. weak, intelligent vs. stupid. Even our highest abstractions rest on opposites. Logic, for instance, is concerned with the true vs. the false, epistemology, with appearance vs. reality, ontology, with being vs. non-being. Our world seems to be a massive collection of opposites.
This fact is so commonplace as to hardly need mentioning. But the more one ponders it the more it is strikingly peculiar. Adam was the first to delineate nature, to mentally divide it up, mark it off, diagram it. Adam was the first great mapmaker, Adam drew boundaries.
So successful was this mapping of nature that , to this day, our lives are largely spent in drawing boundaries. Every decision we make, our every action, our every word is based on the construction, conscious of unconscious, of boundaries,
The peculiar thing about a boundary is that, however complex and rarefied it might me, it actually marks off nothing but an inside and an outside., For example, we can draw the very simplest form of a boundary line as a circle, and see that it discloses an inside versus an outside. But notice that the opposites on inside vs.. outside didn't exist in themselves until we drew the boundary on the circle. It is the if boundary line in other words, which creates pairs of opposites,, in short, to draw boundaries is to manufacture opposites...And the world of opposites is world of conflict. So instead of handling and manipulating real objects, Adam could manipulate in his head these magic, names which stood for the objects themselves.
Now our habitual way of trying to solve these problems is to attempt to eradicate one of the opposites. We handle the problem of good vs. evil by trying to exterminate evil. We handle the problem of life vs.. death by trying to hide death under symbolic immortalities. In philosophy we handle conceptual opposites by dismissing one of the poles or trying to reduce it to the other.
The point is that we always tend to treat the boundary as real and then manipulate the opposites created by the boundary.
The goal of separating the opposites and then clinging to or pursuing the positive halves seems to be a distinguishing characteristic of progressive Western civilization - its religion, science, medicine and industry.
The opposites might indeed be as different as night and day, but the essential point is that without night we would not even be able to recognize something called day. To destroy the negative is, at the same time, to destroy all possibilities of enjoying the positive. Thus, the more we succeed in this adventure of progress, the more we actually fail, and hence the more acute becomes our sense of total frustration.
The root of the whole difficulty is our tendency to view the opposites as irreconcilable, as totally set apart and divorced from one another. Even the simplest of opposites, such as buying versus selling, are viewed as two different and separate events. Now it is true that buying and selling are in some sense different, but they are also - and this is the point- completely inseparable.
The inner unity of opposites is hardly an idea confined to mystics, Eastern or Western. If we look to modern say physics, the field in which Western intellect had made its greatest advances, what we find is another version of reality as a union of opposites. In relativity theory, for example, the old opposites of rest vs. motion have become totally indistinguishable, that is, "each is both". An object which is in motion for one observer is, at the same time, at rest for a different observer. Likewise, the split between wave and particle vanishes into "wavicles. and the contrast between structure vs. function evaporates. Even the age-old separation of mass from energy had fallen to Einstein's E=mc2, and these ancient "opposites" are now viewed as merely two aspects of one reality.
Friday, September 16, 2011
16th September 2011
Nine of us gathered around for today's session of deep thinking. We listened to the second part of The Science of Near Death Experience. Dr. van Lommel, lead investigator for the prospective NDE study published in 2001 in The Lancet, now devotes himself full time to research on the NDE and the mind-brain relationship. During the 2006 IANDS Conference, he presented "On the Continuity of Consciousness."
Dr. van Lommel graduated in 1971 from the University of Utrecht and finished his specialization in cardiology in 1976. He worked from 1977-2003 as a cardiologist in The Netherlands' Hospital Rijnstate, an 800-bed teaching hospital.
After that we had a break although the subject never changed. then we read and discussed the:
What Is Your Relationship With This Moment?
A "moment" is of course an idea of the mind where it looks at reality in a "time based" manner, but it's useful to use this idea to understand your relationship with your life. Your moment to moment relationship with life is what accumulates into your life experience. If you sense that you are in a state of conflict, with the present moment, during most of your waking state, it's a given that your experience of life presently is one of lack, frustration, struggle and strain. When you start shifting your relationship with each moment, into one of peace/joy/love, you will see your reality shifting towards one of well-being, abundance and ease automatically. The truth is evident, but the mind finds it difficult to put into practice.
How to change your relationship with this moment?
At this moment, just take the time to sense your inner space. What exactly is going on within you? What are the thoughts your mind is occupied with, what are the feelings passing through your body? Your thoughts are indicative of your relationship with life (which is always this moment) and your feelings are just an "indication" of how this relationship shows up in experience. When your relationship with life is one of alignment you feel good in your body, and when you are in conflict with life it feels bad in your body. The feelings in your body work as a "truth meter" to tell you what your relationship with the present moment is.
When you bring Awareness into your inner space, you now have the choice to make a shift in your relationship with this moment. Only through awareness/self-observation can you detect the negative thought patterns that operate in your mind, some of them so deeply embedded that you take them to be the truth. Remember that negativity/negative thinking is always in conflict with the movement of life (life is pure positive energy), and hence will always create suffering in you. Awareness of negativity is enough to bring forth a transformation, because awareness by itself is a transformative agent.
Whenever you sense that you are in a state of conflict (indicated by negative feelings), bring awareness to the thoughts in your mind. Just bringing in this awareness is enough to cause a "dis-identification" with the negative thought movement, and it creates an invitation for the intelligence of life to take over. Staying in this state of awareness will bring in a space of silence/peace, and it prevents your attention from being dragged into believing the negative thought cycle of your mind. This shifts your relationship with the present moment from one of conflict to one of peace/alignment. Awareness always brings you in harmony with the present moment.
Dr. van Lommel graduated in 1971 from the University of Utrecht and finished his specialization in cardiology in 1976. He worked from 1977-2003 as a cardiologist in The Netherlands' Hospital Rijnstate, an 800-bed teaching hospital.
After that we had a break although the subject never changed. then we read and discussed the:
What Is Your Relationship With This Moment?
A "moment" is of course an idea of the mind where it looks at reality in a "time based" manner, but it's useful to use this idea to understand your relationship with your life. Your moment to moment relationship with life is what accumulates into your life experience. If you sense that you are in a state of conflict, with the present moment, during most of your waking state, it's a given that your experience of life presently is one of lack, frustration, struggle and strain. When you start shifting your relationship with each moment, into one of peace/joy/love, you will see your reality shifting towards one of well-being, abundance and ease automatically. The truth is evident, but the mind finds it difficult to put into practice.
How to change your relationship with this moment?
At this moment, just take the time to sense your inner space. What exactly is going on within you? What are the thoughts your mind is occupied with, what are the feelings passing through your body? Your thoughts are indicative of your relationship with life (which is always this moment) and your feelings are just an "indication" of how this relationship shows up in experience. When your relationship with life is one of alignment you feel good in your body, and when you are in conflict with life it feels bad in your body. The feelings in your body work as a "truth meter" to tell you what your relationship with the present moment is.
When you bring Awareness into your inner space, you now have the choice to make a shift in your relationship with this moment. Only through awareness/self-observation can you detect the negative thought patterns that operate in your mind, some of them so deeply embedded that you take them to be the truth. Remember that negativity/negative thinking is always in conflict with the movement of life (life is pure positive energy), and hence will always create suffering in you. Awareness of negativity is enough to bring forth a transformation, because awareness by itself is a transformative agent.
Whenever you sense that you are in a state of conflict (indicated by negative feelings), bring awareness to the thoughts in your mind. Just bringing in this awareness is enough to cause a "dis-identification" with the negative thought movement, and it creates an invitation for the intelligence of life to take over. Staying in this state of awareness will bring in a space of silence/peace, and it prevents your attention from being dragged into believing the negative thought cycle of your mind. This shifts your relationship with the present moment from one of conflict to one of peace/alignment. Awareness always brings you in harmony with the present moment.
Friday, August 19, 2011
19th August
Nine of us today. We viewed a video showing a surgeon being interviewed about his finding of shared experience told by survivors whose heart stopped where their brain activity had flat lined. Many had after death experiences when conventional thinking would say it was impossible.
After a beak we read about sitting in the centre.
Your Centre of Being
You've probably heard of the phrase "being centred". Generally it refers to being focused, aware and totally present. If you play a sport you might prepare yourself by closing your eyes and taking a breath. If you are about to do something that requires concentration you might first draw yourself inward. Even if you are about to relax, you might look at your surroundings, make yourself comfortable and tap into a sense of contentment and steadiness within.
The ancient yogis called the state of being centred, "in your seat" or the Sanskrit term, asana, posture or seat. The universe holds your unique asana, or seat, no matter where you are physically, mentally or spiritually. The challenge is how well you sit in it.
To explore the experience of this, you might want to take a moment to notice how you are seated in yourself right now. Are you comfortable? Perhaps you feel settled, connected and in harmony. Being centred often carries a sense of strength and clarity. Or are you uncomfortable? Perhaps thrown off for any number of reasons—longstanding issues or everyday challenges. Self-criticism is a clever adversary to feeling centred.
Naturally you are more well-seated when you are pleased with the way your life is flowing. But can you maintain your centre in a storm? Outside circumstances act upon us to un-seat us. Sometimes you can feel shocked or knocked about. You can be engaged in external or internal battles.
But, even when you are experiencing big challenges and intense emotions you can be centred. Actually, sitting in intense emotion is a method of working through it. Consider, for example, the difference of taking the time to sit and experience anger rather than flinging it. Or feeling sadness rather than pushing it away. Here you can be firmly seated and acknowledge it. "I am sitting in confusion. I am sitting in frustration. I am sitting in a feeling of lack." You remain totally connected to your seat while fully experiencing heightened emotion at the same time.
Your Own Sacred Space
At a deeper level, your seat is an inner sacred space. This centre of being is your connection to your divine nature and is you as your spiritual Self. It is the posture of expansion and wisdom.
How do you build upon and maintain your centre of being? Through effort and awareness. The practice of observing yourself gives you the opportunity to notice how you are seated—when you are centred and when you have wobbled. Even noticing you are off your seat allows you to become more steady. The practice of meditation allows you to investigate the nature of the mind and over time gives you the ability to redirect the negative thinking that unseats you. And, the more you recognise the times you feel centred, the easier it is to get back to it when you are un-seated.
Being centred gives you a sense of scale, a power to see beyond the flux of everyday life. You expand your sense of being and you experience your life with awareness, wonder, understanding and acceptance.
Inquiry: At Your Deepest Core
Clear away any physical or mental agitation by taking a deep breath or focusing on the emotional centre of your heart. Gently inquire: "Who am I at my deepest core?" "What is the experience of my highest spiritual centre?" "How can I merge into the peace of being centred?" Allow the inquiry to resonate and investigate how you feel.
Meditation: Centre of the Universe
Take the point of view that you are the centre of the universe. Become acutely aware of how your life unfolds from within. Just as you can move your arm, consider how every word you say and every action you take comes from within. Close your eyes and meditate on the universe unfolding from within.
Contemplation: Perspective
When you shift into the perspective that you are the centre, the experience changes.
Contemplation: The Present
The present moment carries the most vitality. It is filled with vibrant awareness. At any moment, you can sit quietly and scan the impressions of your senses—sounds, fragrance, tactile experience. You can notice the chattering of the mind and go beyond it to focus on your own consciousness. Go deeper, past the knowledge of I am. Allow that experience to enter and expand into a sense of total connectedness in the present moment. Sit in this awareness now . . . and now . . . and now . . .
See your own reality. Throw off the outside coverings and see the inside substance. Observe that until now you have made a box around yourself. Now you want to know what is really inside. If you don't go to your reality, your whole life will be nothing but pretense and fantasy. Living in make-believe, you will not be able to take the last step of evolution. So if you want to go further, be genuine. Go beyond words and come to the truth of experience.
See that although "I" appears to change with the change, in reality it is changeless. When people depart from you or you depart from them, see with the knowledge that something in you both will stay, something in you will meet again. As understanding deepens, relationships become profound. They are not only of the body, but they are perfumed with essence.
Otherwise, life is filled with so much fear and anxiety that it is unbearable. But if you know that essence is never lost, though you feel sadness at a dear one's departure, still you can come back to your work, continue your routine, and experience living fully. Though there is seeming disappearance, this disappearance is in order to appear somewhere else. In order to go there, you have to leave here. In pure relationship one companion goes ahead of the other. The other follows later. The parting is temporary. They meet again. The changeless indicates that which cannot die, for it was never born; it is the very life of life.
After a beak we read about sitting in the centre.
Your Centre of Being
You've probably heard of the phrase "being centred". Generally it refers to being focused, aware and totally present. If you play a sport you might prepare yourself by closing your eyes and taking a breath. If you are about to do something that requires concentration you might first draw yourself inward. Even if you are about to relax, you might look at your surroundings, make yourself comfortable and tap into a sense of contentment and steadiness within.
The ancient yogis called the state of being centred, "in your seat" or the Sanskrit term, asana, posture or seat. The universe holds your unique asana, or seat, no matter where you are physically, mentally or spiritually. The challenge is how well you sit in it.
To explore the experience of this, you might want to take a moment to notice how you are seated in yourself right now. Are you comfortable? Perhaps you feel settled, connected and in harmony. Being centred often carries a sense of strength and clarity. Or are you uncomfortable? Perhaps thrown off for any number of reasons—longstanding issues or everyday challenges. Self-criticism is a clever adversary to feeling centred.
Naturally you are more well-seated when you are pleased with the way your life is flowing. But can you maintain your centre in a storm? Outside circumstances act upon us to un-seat us. Sometimes you can feel shocked or knocked about. You can be engaged in external or internal battles.
But, even when you are experiencing big challenges and intense emotions you can be centred. Actually, sitting in intense emotion is a method of working through it. Consider, for example, the difference of taking the time to sit and experience anger rather than flinging it. Or feeling sadness rather than pushing it away. Here you can be firmly seated and acknowledge it. "I am sitting in confusion. I am sitting in frustration. I am sitting in a feeling of lack." You remain totally connected to your seat while fully experiencing heightened emotion at the same time.
Your Own Sacred Space
At a deeper level, your seat is an inner sacred space. This centre of being is your connection to your divine nature and is you as your spiritual Self. It is the posture of expansion and wisdom.
How do you build upon and maintain your centre of being? Through effort and awareness. The practice of observing yourself gives you the opportunity to notice how you are seated—when you are centred and when you have wobbled. Even noticing you are off your seat allows you to become more steady. The practice of meditation allows you to investigate the nature of the mind and over time gives you the ability to redirect the negative thinking that unseats you. And, the more you recognise the times you feel centred, the easier it is to get back to it when you are un-seated.
Being centred gives you a sense of scale, a power to see beyond the flux of everyday life. You expand your sense of being and you experience your life with awareness, wonder, understanding and acceptance.
Inquiry: At Your Deepest Core
Clear away any physical or mental agitation by taking a deep breath or focusing on the emotional centre of your heart. Gently inquire: "Who am I at my deepest core?" "What is the experience of my highest spiritual centre?" "How can I merge into the peace of being centred?" Allow the inquiry to resonate and investigate how you feel.
Meditation: Centre of the Universe
Take the point of view that you are the centre of the universe. Become acutely aware of how your life unfolds from within. Just as you can move your arm, consider how every word you say and every action you take comes from within. Close your eyes and meditate on the universe unfolding from within.
Contemplation: Perspective
When you shift into the perspective that you are the centre, the experience changes.
Contemplation: The Present
The present moment carries the most vitality. It is filled with vibrant awareness. At any moment, you can sit quietly and scan the impressions of your senses—sounds, fragrance, tactile experience. You can notice the chattering of the mind and go beyond it to focus on your own consciousness. Go deeper, past the knowledge of I am. Allow that experience to enter and expand into a sense of total connectedness in the present moment. Sit in this awareness now . . . and now . . . and now . . .
See your own reality. Throw off the outside coverings and see the inside substance. Observe that until now you have made a box around yourself. Now you want to know what is really inside. If you don't go to your reality, your whole life will be nothing but pretense and fantasy. Living in make-believe, you will not be able to take the last step of evolution. So if you want to go further, be genuine. Go beyond words and come to the truth of experience.
See that although "I" appears to change with the change, in reality it is changeless. When people depart from you or you depart from them, see with the knowledge that something in you both will stay, something in you will meet again. As understanding deepens, relationships become profound. They are not only of the body, but they are perfumed with essence.
Otherwise, life is filled with so much fear and anxiety that it is unbearable. But if you know that essence is never lost, though you feel sadness at a dear one's departure, still you can come back to your work, continue your routine, and experience living fully. Though there is seeming disappearance, this disappearance is in order to appear somewhere else. In order to go there, you have to leave here. In pure relationship one companion goes ahead of the other. The other follows later. The parting is temporary. They meet again. The changeless indicates that which cannot die, for it was never born; it is the very life of life.
Friday, July 15, 2011
16th July 2011
Eight of us today, would now be 11 if they all turned up the maximum number for a small living room. We watched a TED video of the musician Evelyn Glennie who also happens to be very deaf. Despite the handicap Evelyn hasn't let it stop her and now motivates those attending her lectures to listen with all their senses. A remarkable woman. After a break we studied a paper part of which is below.
The essence of spirituality is the search to know our true selves, to discover the real nature of consciousness. This quest has been the foundation of all the great spiritual teachings, and the goal of all the great mystics.
Throughout the history of humanity it has been said that the self we know -- the individual ego -- is a very limited form of identity. Ignorant of our true selves we derive a false sense of identity from what we have, or what we do -- from our possessions, our role in the world, how others see us, etc. Because the world on which it is based is continually changing, this derived sense of identity is always under threat, and our attempts to maintain it are responsible for much of our "self-centered" behaviour.
Behind this identity is a deeper identity, what is often called the "true self". This can be thought of as the essence of consciousness. Although our thoughts, feelings and personality may vary considerably, the essence of mind remains the same. We are each very diffferent people than we were twenty years ago, but still we feel the same sense of "I". This sense of "I-ness" is the same for everyone, and in that respect is something universal that we all share.
When we discover this deeper sense of self we are freed from many of the fears that plague us unnecessarily. We discover a greater inner peace, an inner security that does not depend upon events or circumstances in the world around. As a result we become less self-centered, less needy of the other's approval or recognition, less needy of collecting possessions and social status, and become happier, healthier and more loving people. In many spiritual teachings this is called "self-liberation".
Most spiritual teachings also maintain that when one comes to know the true nature of consciousness, one also comes to know God. If God is the essence of the whole of creation, then God is the essence of every creature, and every person. This is why the search to discover the nature of one's own innermost essence is the search for God.
The essence of spirituality is the search to know our true selves, to discover the real nature of consciousness. This quest has been the foundation of all the great spiritual teachings, and the goal of all the great mystics.
Throughout the history of humanity it has been said that the self we know -- the individual ego -- is a very limited form of identity. Ignorant of our true selves we derive a false sense of identity from what we have, or what we do -- from our possessions, our role in the world, how others see us, etc. Because the world on which it is based is continually changing, this derived sense of identity is always under threat, and our attempts to maintain it are responsible for much of our "self-centered" behaviour.
Behind this identity is a deeper identity, what is often called the "true self". This can be thought of as the essence of consciousness. Although our thoughts, feelings and personality may vary considerably, the essence of mind remains the same. We are each very diffferent people than we were twenty years ago, but still we feel the same sense of "I". This sense of "I-ness" is the same for everyone, and in that respect is something universal that we all share.
When we discover this deeper sense of self we are freed from many of the fears that plague us unnecessarily. We discover a greater inner peace, an inner security that does not depend upon events or circumstances in the world around. As a result we become less self-centered, less needy of the other's approval or recognition, less needy of collecting possessions and social status, and become happier, healthier and more loving people. In many spiritual teachings this is called "self-liberation".
Most spiritual teachings also maintain that when one comes to know the true nature of consciousness, one also comes to know God. If God is the essence of the whole of creation, then God is the essence of every creature, and every person. This is why the search to discover the nature of one's own innermost essence is the search for God.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
17th June 2011
A record number today ten in all. John joined us for the morning. After current news and genial banter was over we reviewed the reason people of all ages asked the same questions who am I and what is reality and what purpose am I here for if there is one.
We touched upon the branching of philosophy into science where it made great strides in measuring and investigating what is this world we are in. This viewpoint leads to duality and a moving away from Eastern non-duality.
We reminded ourselves of the vastness of space when light from the distance stars take 15 billion years to reach us travelling 186,000 miles per second.
Do we believe it or is it some hypnotic dream and it is all in our minds?
We then watched a video on overcoming the bumps of life following the 3 "A"s.
Afterwards we read about three spiritual leaders opinion on the role of acceptance on the way to enlightenment. One suggested that if there is acceptance then there is still duality when in reality there is one One.
We touched upon the branching of philosophy into science where it made great strides in measuring and investigating what is this world we are in. This viewpoint leads to duality and a moving away from Eastern non-duality.
We reminded ourselves of the vastness of space when light from the distance stars take 15 billion years to reach us travelling 186,000 miles per second.
Do we believe it or is it some hypnotic dream and it is all in our minds?
We then watched a video on overcoming the bumps of life following the 3 "A"s.
Afterwards we read about three spiritual leaders opinion on the role of acceptance on the way to enlightenment. One suggested that if there is acceptance then there is still duality when in reality there is one One.
Friday, May 20, 2011
20th May 2011
Smaller numbers than last time but all seemed to enjoy the video of a researcher story teller who found that her philosophy of "if you can't measure it it doesn't exist" to be wrong although they noted the American way of running to a psychotherapist. We also reviewed several ideas from different viewpoints including this.
How to be a Wizard
A wizard knows the laws of creation, and how to work with them. A wizard allows synchronicity to manifest. A wizard follows three basic principles. The first principle is that of wholeness. The more rested I am, the more relaxed my mind and body, the more in touch I am with my self, the more free I feel, the easier my soul, the more whole I am. And the more whole I am, the more synchronicity seems to occur. Conversely, when I am out of balance, tired, stressed, frazzled, wrapped up in concern or in some other way off center, synchronicity does not manifest nearly so abundantly.
We cannot make synchronicities happen. It is in their very nature to occur "by coincidence". We cannot control or manipulate the world in order to create synchronicities -- their source is not of this world. Yet we can encourage their appearance; we can open ourselves to them. This we do by opening to ourselves, to our inner wholeness.
A wizard allows inner wholeness to be a priority. A wizard keeps rested, relaxed, centered and clear.
A second characteristic of synchronicities is that they tend to support our needs. They seem to bring us just what we need, at just the right time. It is as if the Universe has my best interests at heart, and arranges for their fulfillment in ways which I could never have dreamt of. It is, to quote a renowned Indian teacher, "the support of nature". We support nature by centering ourselves, and nature supports us back, providing the opportunities to fulfill our needs. This is what makes them so magical and remarkable -- such a coincidence.
To allow the support of nature into our lives we need to follow the second principle of wizardry -- intuition. This can be hard, because it is often difficult to know what is true intuition and what is just "stuff" seeping up from our unconscious. For me, following my intuition means following my feelings, not my thoughts.
Another little coincidence. The word "wizard" is one of only six words in the English language that when put in reverse alphabet code (a becomes z, b becomes y, etc) is coded as the original word in reverse, i.e. as "draziw".
How to be a Wizard
A wizard knows the laws of creation, and how to work with them. A wizard allows synchronicity to manifest. A wizard follows three basic principles. The first principle is that of wholeness. The more rested I am, the more relaxed my mind and body, the more in touch I am with my self, the more free I feel, the easier my soul, the more whole I am. And the more whole I am, the more synchronicity seems to occur. Conversely, when I am out of balance, tired, stressed, frazzled, wrapped up in concern or in some other way off center, synchronicity does not manifest nearly so abundantly.
We cannot make synchronicities happen. It is in their very nature to occur "by coincidence". We cannot control or manipulate the world in order to create synchronicities -- their source is not of this world. Yet we can encourage their appearance; we can open ourselves to them. This we do by opening to ourselves, to our inner wholeness.
A wizard allows inner wholeness to be a priority. A wizard keeps rested, relaxed, centered and clear.
A second characteristic of synchronicities is that they tend to support our needs. They seem to bring us just what we need, at just the right time. It is as if the Universe has my best interests at heart, and arranges for their fulfillment in ways which I could never have dreamt of. It is, to quote a renowned Indian teacher, "the support of nature". We support nature by centering ourselves, and nature supports us back, providing the opportunities to fulfill our needs. This is what makes them so magical and remarkable -- such a coincidence.
To allow the support of nature into our lives we need to follow the second principle of wizardry -- intuition. This can be hard, because it is often difficult to know what is true intuition and what is just "stuff" seeping up from our unconscious. For me, following my intuition means following my feelings, not my thoughts.
Another little coincidence. The word "wizard" is one of only six words in the English language that when put in reverse alphabet code (a becomes z, b becomes y, etc) is coded as the original word in reverse, i.e. as "draziw".
Friday, April 15, 2011
15 th April
Eight of us assembled in an attempt to explore the mystery of life. We watched a TED video where the guest speaker told us of the later development a mere two million years for the frontal lobes of the brain to appear in humans. Giving us the ability to envisage the possible future and how it gets it wrong - it is never so good nor as bad as we imagine. He told us that through experiments synthetic happiness is as good as the realised happiness. How a convicted prisoner given a life sentence and released in his 70s due to DNA proving his innocence exclaimed it was a glorious experience.
We then read about simplicity of faith leaving the complicated bit to Nature/God.
Down the River of Life to the Ocean of Presence.My mind keeps returning to the status of the human heart in the midst of external and internal turmoil caused by the massive uncertainty of the times. It's the position all of us are in, differing only by the degree of intensity in most cases. Some of us are attended by financial concerns, some by health concerns, some by environmental concerns and all of us by spiritual concerns.
Our main concern is the degree of complexity we bring to the process. All of this complexity rests upon our belief that there's something we can do, based on our own insights and industry, which can change our lives for the better. This is the process that got us into whatever mess or state of mind we are presently in. It's our reliance on our own resources to meet each and every challenge that consistently shows us we're inconsistent in our efforts and our grasp of what's taking place.
We think we're in charge.Some of us believe this to a remarkable degree and circumstances bear it out, further convincing us that we are in charge. Our sense of immunity and hubris turn into an inner polarity of something like the Colossus of Rhodes. That's no longer standing, by the way. We're permitted to think we are in charge and we are encouraged to believe we are in charge, for one purpose. The purpose is a lesson. Now, if you like lessons of this sort, you're on the right planet. The purpose of everything you go through is a lesson, period. All of these lessons have to do with growth. You can even call it evolution...............
We then read about simplicity of faith leaving the complicated bit to Nature/God.
Down the River of Life to the Ocean of Presence.My mind keeps returning to the status of the human heart in the midst of external and internal turmoil caused by the massive uncertainty of the times. It's the position all of us are in, differing only by the degree of intensity in most cases. Some of us are attended by financial concerns, some by health concerns, some by environmental concerns and all of us by spiritual concerns.
Our main concern is the degree of complexity we bring to the process. All of this complexity rests upon our belief that there's something we can do, based on our own insights and industry, which can change our lives for the better. This is the process that got us into whatever mess or state of mind we are presently in. It's our reliance on our own resources to meet each and every challenge that consistently shows us we're inconsistent in our efforts and our grasp of what's taking place.
We think we're in charge.Some of us believe this to a remarkable degree and circumstances bear it out, further convincing us that we are in charge. Our sense of immunity and hubris turn into an inner polarity of something like the Colossus of Rhodes. That's no longer standing, by the way. We're permitted to think we are in charge and we are encouraged to believe we are in charge, for one purpose. The purpose is a lesson. Now, if you like lessons of this sort, you're on the right planet. The purpose of everything you go through is a lesson, period. All of these lessons have to do with growth. You can even call it evolution...............
Friday, March 18, 2011
17th March 2011
Nine of us today met up to explore the mystery of life. We first looked at a Eckhart Tolle video considering the question is thought coming from the ego. Eckhart believes that thoughts are entities in their own right and are in actual fact the ego. He advised creating space in the mind to observe this activity. Afterward we looked at this idea on it.
Find Happiness 22: “Good Thoughts” and “Bad Thoughts”: Baloney!
by Lucky on August 1, 2010
Earlier in my life, I used to waste an inordinate amount of mental energy dealing with what I felt were “bad thoughts” (i.e. thoughts which I felt were “wrong” for me to think). If a “bad thought” happened to pass through my head, I would immediately attempt to get rid of it (to no avail, of course, since we cannot really control what we think). Try as I might, the thought would most often keep returning, almost as if to taunt me, and I would struggle to stop it. This occupied much time which I could have otherwise spent productively.
Also, since I was not successful in getting rid of “bad thoughts,” I decided that I was in a hopeless situation. This invoked worrying about how my life was going to be wasted because of “wrong” thinking, and anxiety about whether I would ever be able to fix the problem. More time frittered away.
To make things worse, my hopelessness created downstream effects of dejection and low self-esteem.
The acute mental distress I thus experienced forced me to look for a solution. After much searching and effort, I came across an enlightened person; the great thing was that he wanted to help me find happiness and was infinitely patient. He would not only solve my problem, he said, but would rebuild my psyche into something akin to a shimmering palace.
In time I learned from him that I am the silent being that is aware of my thoughts and am therefore in a way separate from them. Secondly, he taught me that there are no "good thoughts" and no "bad thoughts"; there are only thoughts. He explained that thoughts are like birds flying across the sky and that I should just watch them; I should not try to chase any of the birds away or capture any of them, just watch them fly by............
Find Happiness 22: “Good Thoughts” and “Bad Thoughts”: Baloney!
by Lucky on August 1, 2010
Earlier in my life, I used to waste an inordinate amount of mental energy dealing with what I felt were “bad thoughts” (i.e. thoughts which I felt were “wrong” for me to think). If a “bad thought” happened to pass through my head, I would immediately attempt to get rid of it (to no avail, of course, since we cannot really control what we think). Try as I might, the thought would most often keep returning, almost as if to taunt me, and I would struggle to stop it. This occupied much time which I could have otherwise spent productively.
Also, since I was not successful in getting rid of “bad thoughts,” I decided that I was in a hopeless situation. This invoked worrying about how my life was going to be wasted because of “wrong” thinking, and anxiety about whether I would ever be able to fix the problem. More time frittered away.
To make things worse, my hopelessness created downstream effects of dejection and low self-esteem.
The acute mental distress I thus experienced forced me to look for a solution. After much searching and effort, I came across an enlightened person; the great thing was that he wanted to help me find happiness and was infinitely patient. He would not only solve my problem, he said, but would rebuild my psyche into something akin to a shimmering palace.
In time I learned from him that I am the silent being that is aware of my thoughts and am therefore in a way separate from them. Secondly, he taught me that there are no "good thoughts" and no "bad thoughts"; there are only thoughts. He explained that thoughts are like birds flying across the sky and that I should just watch them; I should not try to chase any of the birds away or capture any of them, just watch them fly by............
Saturday, February 19, 2011
18 February 2011
We examined two philosophies today Gurdjieff's and being in the flow. Both have things of value but we all felt that in the flow was far more benefit.
Mr. Gurdjieff was an extraordinary man, a master in the truest sense. His teachings speak to our most essential questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life, and of human life in particular? As a young man, Gurdjieff relentlessly pursued these questions and became convinced that practical answers lay within ancient traditions. Through many years of searching and practice he discovered answers and then set about putting what he had learned into a form understandable to the Western world. Gurdjieff maintained that, owing to the abnormal conditions of modern life, we no longer function in a harmonious way. He taught that in order to become harmonious, we must develop new faculties—or actualize latent potentialities—through “work on oneself.” He presented his teachings and ideas in three forms: writings, music, and movements which correspond to our intellect, emotions, and physical body
FLOW OF WALKING
In most activities,one side of the brain usually becomes dominant…however when walking casually without any particular destination,both sides of the brain have a chance to express themselves and this can lead to a more creative experience.
It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven. – Matthew Henry
Walking is close to the roots of our being. -Sid
All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Mr. Gurdjieff was an extraordinary man, a master in the truest sense. His teachings speak to our most essential questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life, and of human life in particular? As a young man, Gurdjieff relentlessly pursued these questions and became convinced that practical answers lay within ancient traditions. Through many years of searching and practice he discovered answers and then set about putting what he had learned into a form understandable to the Western world. Gurdjieff maintained that, owing to the abnormal conditions of modern life, we no longer function in a harmonious way. He taught that in order to become harmonious, we must develop new faculties—or actualize latent potentialities—through “work on oneself.” He presented his teachings and ideas in three forms: writings, music, and movements which correspond to our intellect, emotions, and physical body
FLOW OF WALKING
In most activities,one side of the brain usually becomes dominant…however when walking casually without any particular destination,both sides of the brain have a chance to express themselves and this can lead to a more creative experience.
It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven. – Matthew Henry
Walking is close to the roots of our being. -Sid
All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Saturday, January 22, 2011
21st January
This week's Horizon programme was all about what was reality. Each expert had a different opinion one was convinced that as everything in the Universe obeyed the laws of mathematics the universe must be mathematics. One said we live in a multi-universe where each moment the universe divided so that there are many different versions of us and in some we did not exist. Another scientist for 20 years wrestled with the problem of black holes disappearing leaving no trace came to the conclusion the universe is a hologram. They are conducting experiments to find out if this is true. With all of these theories it involves thought and thought can not see the world as it just is.
We watched a short video of a Sufi mystic and poet telling of the change we need to make in the form of an analogy of a river ending in a desert. Having the faith to give itself to the wind to cross the desert and over the mountains to become once again a river.
We then studied a paper about the healing moment of just seeing and not doing but at the same time not seeing and not not doing. Too simple for words.
We watched a short video of a Sufi mystic and poet telling of the change we need to make in the form of an analogy of a river ending in a desert. Having the faith to give itself to the wind to cross the desert and over the mountains to become once again a river.
We then studied a paper about the healing moment of just seeing and not doing but at the same time not seeing and not not doing. Too simple for words.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
18th December 2010
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.
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.
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
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