| Consciousness in Brooklyn? |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|02:16 pm] |
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| | Guru Singh | ] |
BIG NEWS! :)
I'm moving to New York city in a few weeks to be a Raw lifestyle coach! I just got my certifications and I've been preparing branding and logos and marketing plans and all the rest of it for the past couple weeks here in Atlanta.
Here's the thing... I don't know hardly anyone in Brooklyn! And I especially don't know any other raw vegans, yogis, conscious people, or spiritualists. I want to find roommates that at least have similar lifestyles.... I don't think the typical New Yorker would quite sympathize with morning chanting or their roommate drinking algae or growing Kombucha fungus in the fridge unless they were of certain "alternative" inclinations themselves.
So I'm posting this entry in this community in the hopes that someone here is from Brooklyn and knows someone of a conscious nature looking for a roommate.
Here's to intention! :-)
Thanks |
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| Invitation to make a blog post to celebrate a woman philosopher! |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|01:40 am] |
Everyone (of all genders) is invited to participate in Theano's Day, an event to celebrate and rediscover women's contributions to philosophy throughout the centuries.
Blurb from the Pledge Bank signup site, which you may find here: http://www.pledgebank.com/theanosday
"I will blog to spotlight a woman, living or dead, who has made an important contribution to philosophy but only if 100 other people will do the same."
Also there's a Facebook group for Theano's Day to discuss the project with other participants: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=526821601&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=74564828672&ref=mf
More information, from the website: http://www.pledgebank.com/theanosday
Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras' wife Theano was a scholar and intellectual in her own right. Along with helping him raise five children, she put together writings on mathematics, art, beauty, philosophy, and child raising. She is credited with developing the Golden Mean, a crucial idea in aesthetic theory.
By taking this pledge, you sign up to honor and celebrate important women such as Theano by promising to create a blog post on June 24th concerning a female philosopher. As with Ada Lovelace Day, spotlighting women's contributions to technology, the woman you select may be from any nation, culture, or time period, living or dead...and you may blog in any style or format, using any software in any language.
( Read more... ) |
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| What is Enlightenment? |
[May. 20th, 2009|03:07 am] |
What is enlightenment?
Enlightenment is a label to refer to something that can't be explained. It can only be pointed to and talked around. It's the living realization that there is only one thing, one event, one life, one everything, one nothing, one all. It's waking-up from the dream of separation, division, and realizing true nature. Realization, true nature, enlightenment, it's all the same. Even separation and division is part of this, is waking-up to that too.
Then it can be explained. I can understand that its all one.
Understanding intellectually is perhaps a door-way to it (yet no understanding at all can lead to realization, there are no rules to how it unfolds), but it's not a complete understanding. When you are say that you understand but you're not sure it can ever be understood because it is a living realization, then no understanding is necessary. When self-realized, it can't be understood because there is nothing to understand and you see in your living seemly unfolding experience, that there is no you there to understand it. You realize that you are everything, but you are not doing anything because there is no you there to choose anything.
So I don't exist? It sure feels like I do.
You exist, but you are that which is unexisting and existing simultaneously. Real and unreal. Moving and unmoved. You just don't exist as you understand yourself to be. You feel you exist as separate.
But I realize I am not separate.
It's not realized unless you can see in your own experience that you can not be defined or known, since you are everything and nothing simultaneously. Realization is realizing that you have no-choice EVER because there is nobody here to choose anything. You can understand that somehow you are not separate, but that understanding is based on a belief. What I am stating here, is not a belief. Belief, faith, and anything of the sort, will fall away upon seeing this.
Are you saying there is no free-will? I make choices everyday.
You believe you are not separate, but if nothing is separate, then that means you are everything. If you are everything, then that means you are nothing because there is nothing here to compare yourself to anything else. If you are everything, then you would have the power to control all aspects of yourself as everything. You can't control anything, because you are nothing. Nobody is there to make a choice to choose something.
I am everything, but I am limited to this aspect in this life and in this aspect of this body, I do have choice to choose what will happen. I am everything because I come from a Source that connects us all. Therefore, I have choice in this body, right?
To imply that everything is connected, there would have to be two (or more in this case: everybody else). The belief that you are everything, gets you nowhere expect to seeing an illusion that you still have choice. If you as everything/everybody is connected to a Source, then the Source would seemly be the only one thing choosing, but if you are connected to that Source, then you are that Source itself. You are implying that the Source lets you choose for It, but if you are It, then that implies that It is choosing through you. So who has the power here? Who is actually choosing: you or the Source?
I guess it would be both, since we are connected.
Yes, but if you're connected as one thing, then there is not two there. Only One, therefore neither is making choices because there is no distinction. Being everything, there is nothing simultaneously. Nothing is appearing as something else. Nothing can't decide anything, because nothing is the only thing. Everything in this world, is seemly to appear as an unfolding from nothing, nobody, no-one and that is why this can not be explained since it's happening, it's not happening. Nobody is doing it, but it is unfolding. That is why I say you are everything but you're not doing anything. Everything you observe is you because there is only one here, yet it derives out of Nothing since there is nothing else to compare everything to. Everything=One, One can't be compared to anything else, therefore it's nothing. Nothing=One. Everything/Nothing is It.
Okay, so I am everything and nothing. What is the point?
You are everything and nothing, but you are not here to claim that as your identity. You are nothing so there is nobody here to claim the everything. Oneness appearing as everything and doing nothing. There is only one here, doing nothing, so where is there to go? What is there to do? What is there to be gained? What is there to be learned? Who is there to grow ones self? There is no point. Quite pointless. It is 'all' irrelevantly seemly 'here and there'.
Isn't there something to be learned about the everything/nothing I am?
There is nobody there to learn it or anything else, yet the seemly appearance of learning may arise, but you are not there to make the choice to learn or not. Learning may arise, but the learning is pointless. Where are you going to take that learning and who is there to benefit from it? There is nothing of value happening. Everything/nothing means infinitely everything and nothing, therefore, if something appears to be something new, that is you too. You were it before it seemly appeared for the first time in the so-called world. You may not have been aware of it as you before it seemly appeared, so there seems to be an evolving, learning, unfolding taking place, but what does matter? It doesn't add to who you are, you are infinitely everything/nothing.
How depressing. If there is no purpose to any of this, then why am I aware of any of it?
That is the mystery that can't be solved, but once this is fully-embodiment as a living realization and not just a belief, it's not depressing at all. It's quite liberating. In fact, in many cases, searching and seeking for purpose has lead to such an extreme-case of depression, that one awakes to this and the depression is seen as this one event that doesn't matter. When you see that everything is this, even depression, the depression no longer holds any emotional value (no attachment to the depression that is arising) for you (since it's seen that you are not there to be depressed, nobody is there to be the depression).
How do I fully embody this realization?
You are not there to choose to do something to realize this. Choosing arises but not by you, so there is nothing you can do. Either this is realized or its not. Nobody can tell you how because there is no how. In fact, trying to do something to realize this will perpetuate this since realization and non-realization are not two different things. Not realizing this, is this too.
There seems to be techniques and methods that arise, that can act as 'door-ways' to glimpses of this, but there are no guarantees. The infinite is unpredictable and undefined, some techniques work for 'some' and not 'others'. Some have even been seeking this for decades and find nothing because they are looking for something else other than what is arising now.
What would you suggest?
Everything I suggest will become just a task to do something. It will imply that there is something to get and somebody to get it. The fact is that this is it, whatever is arising is it. Realization doesn't happen for a 'somebody' in a 'future time', it's who you are now.
Many realized 'people' have suggested things like: live in the now, stick with the awareness that is aware of everything being observed, sit quietly like meditation but don't try to stop your thoughts or manipulate anything arising, look within your own experience and see if you can find the answer to the question "who am I?" or "what am I?" and realize it can never be answered with a thought, notice where the I-thought is coming from and trace it back to the source, be aware of the identifications you make as who you are: a mother, a doctor, a spiritual person, an addict, an activist, a christian, a professional, a nobody, a self, etc... Let go, don't resist anything arising, and the list goes-on.
Those suggestions have arose here too and many of them are pointed to in detail through this site: http://consciousflex.blogspot.com/ under the label: enlightenment. However, all this implies that there is a you there to make a choice to do these things. There may be a reading of this and a stimulus-response may arise to what appears like a choice to do these things and that is fine, everything is this, even the seemingly 'separate person' who is appearing to make a choice. All of it, is this, so either way whatever arises, happens spontaneously and naturally on its own accord.
For a variety of different 'realized people' who point to this in different ways, there is a list of recommendations on the very bottom left-hand corner of that site.
You say realization is who I am, but I don't feel realized. Why is that?
There is really no reason or causality or purpose to this or anything else. Infinite means timelessness, always here, no beginning or end, therefore, nothing causes anything else. But many things have been suggested as to why the seemly appearance of a separate self arose:
1. We were born into this world with this realization because it's who we are. At around the age of two, we were all conditioned to believe in a separate self. The terrible-twos is a sign of this identity taking place. "My toy!".
2. The mind is designed to separate things for survival purposes. The mind has to know the difference and similarity between things in order to keep the game of life unfolding. If you didn't see the difference between a car and yourself, unfolding yourself couldn't happen.
3. The never-changing ever-present awareness that is everything innocently confused itself by gradually recognizing opposites and claiming one as more itself and another as a lesser degree of self until it trapped itself.
4. This mystery can not be solved and a fear arose out seeing this everything/nothing of not knowing what this life is or who/what it is being aware of this life that it is, causing an identification to occur, in order to resolve the first arising fear.
However, those are just stories that unfold in this and because it's there, it's part of this too. But the stories never tell truth. Truth can only be pointed to, talked around, or realized.
Whatever is happening, is happening the way it should or it would not be happening.
Then there is some sort of purpose! Why would you say everything is happening the way it should?
All the seemly opposites that exist, are not opposites at all, it's one thing. Therefore, there is no right or wrong with whatever is arising. This life is, but nothing in this life is wrong and nothing is right about it either. It is what it is without purpose, but purpose may seemly appear and arise. Seeing the appearance of purpose is this too, but in realization, what is seen, is that there is no purpose or agenda of where this is going or why it's here.
What happens after life? What happens when you die?
What is realized is that life has no opposite, death is the opposite of birth. Life is eternal. Infinite. No beginning and no end. This moment right now is timeless. This moment right now is not moving. The appearance of time arises in this and that is this too, but it's the unmoved mover. The only death that occurs is the death to the illusion of the separate self.
I need this body to be aware of this. When this body is not there, then this is not being aware of. So how is this life eternal?
Awareness is the timelessness, it is the everything/nothing. Awareness is not separate from this or anything else. You are aware of the body, therefore, the body is within the awareness and the body is also the awareness itself. What is seen, is that this timeless awareness is aware and unaware simultaneously. This awareness is the nothingness is which gives rise to the seemly everythingness. It is the nothingness and everthingness, one thingness.
Is this timeless awareness intelligent?
It is the intelligence, since it is everything/nothing.
Well, if it is everything/nothing, then that means it's intelligent and unintelligent, right?
The question itself is quite irrelevant because it implies that if there is an intelligence then it has an intelligent agenda or purpose to itself. It is what it is, it doesn't question itself because it doesn't answer itself.
There is nobody or thing there to question and nobody or thing to answer. For a question to arise, there has to be something else there to compare itself to. It would have to see something else other then itself and question the something else that appeared (that is appearing as not itself, which is the only thing that is not possible in this: for itself to not appear as itself since it is everything) and there would have to be something else for an answer to arise out of it.
So here 'we' have it, a seemly 'you' to question and a seemly 'me' to answer. Yet, when it realizes itself, all questions stop, because it's seen that there is no questioner, nobody to question and nobody to answer.
Questions may arise in this and that is this too, questions can even arise for the realized, but for the realized there is never an answer because there is nobody to answer back. Even the question that arises to the realized, realizes that there is no questioner questioning anything, it's just a question arising. No different then anything else arising since everything that arises is this: one thing.
You say some weird things, but it makes sense! How do I know you are realized? How do I know you are enlightened?
You're aware right? You are aware of these words and you are aware of everything you are observing right?
Well, yeah?
Is that awareness enlightened or unenlightened?
What do you mean?
I mean enlightenment is just a label, refer to the beginning of this conversation.
All these so-called answers are designed to dissolve the so-called questioner, perhaps if you read this conversation again, that may arise.
I just don't want you to be right. I want this life to have purpose and meaning!
If that is the case then you don't want this realization, you want the appearance of something else and that is what you will find, if that is what you want.
There is a part of 'you' that knows all these 'answers'. You are this, therefore you resonate with these words and you know this next answer: every realized being doesn't want something else, because it's seen that there is nothing else and that is the most liberating, most peaceful, most blissful and most contentment realization in the whole of the universe. You lose yourself, but you gain the universe.
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| Part 5 of 5 Non-Duality is Non-Dual |
[May. 18th, 2009|02:43 am] |
What is the obstacle? Indulgence of a belief.
From the standpoint of the human mind, the senses, there is no such thing as nonduality, but the scriptures refer to the human mind as the devil, don't they? We are aware of the human mind are we not? Not THROUGH the human mind. Awareness is not partitioned. All that is included within this awareness are not separate functioning entities... they are ideas within the one awareness. This awareness includes. There is not awareness AND things/ideas.
We must stick with changeless fact to ever have clarity. Diddleing with things, the human so-called mind, opinions and beliefs -- multiplicity-- will not reveal the truth. Who or what is the one aware of things, thoughts, the sun, planets, your mother, your car, your very body (your favorite one and others)?
Is not that awareness ever-present and whole right now? Do you honestly know of a time when there is no awareness? If, you say that there is no awareness when you slept or when one passes out.... how do you know there was sleep or passing out? Is not the one aware constantly aware? And what of the one claiming an apparent absence?
Must not that one be present in order to claim absense?
Valuing the senses and sense information is simply a habit that we must come out from and be separate. We are aware of the senses, not through them! Give a moment or two to this and consider it... finally not just reading over words and one can find that the kingdom of heaven is at hand... just previously seemingly unnoticed. That which you have labeled your self is a false self--you are the "labeler". It appears to function as a self, but what of appearances? What of a mirage in the desert? Upon investigation, one will find no such personal one who changes with the prevailing opinion of the day.
Do you believe, agree with, every single thought that comes blipping across your screen? Do you take hearsay to be fact and fact to be hearsay? That receiving set you have between your ears cannot tell you who you are. It can only report what it hears and it can't even really do that, but, seemingly functioning on borrowed light, we put stock in its flailing and floundering around and say that it is has power.
No false world has ever gotten started and now needs to be eradicated. Seeing the REAL world through a false sense (human thinking mind) does not suddenly create two worlds. Does it? NO. Just where do we locate this false world (for that which is a "not" cannot be found, can it?) and, having found it we can then eradicate it? These are serious questions. The honest answers to which will reveal that the Sole and ONLY world (the world of non-duality) is the One that exists right here, right now.
All Love,
Don
If you enjoyed this post, you would probably like
www.therestofmyself.com |
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| repost |
[May. 15th, 2009|04:04 pm] |
*Sorry if this is off-topic, or not pertinent to the group, dear moderator. Please delete if you feel post is inappropriate. thank you.
I am wondering if anyone would like to assist me with technical or practical aspects of some particular magical working.
I have in mind the various details which I find most appropriate. It may help to clearly outline or 'spell out' the causes, motives and potential goals, to obtain a true answer and most efficacious production of effects, as desired.
I am calling for mystical, shamanic, Qabalistic, metaphysical, spiritual, or any possible psychological ramifications to meet discussion and ultimate realization.
Anyone might conceivably contribute or benefit from this shared effort, as their would be commonality in the distinctions to be made.
Literally or figuratively, materially or spiritually, in an abstract or a concrete sense, after the manner and fashion of the subject is defined, whether you be concerned to whatever degree you are capable, or involved to the extent which is only limited or restricted by your own innate properties and propensities, either personally, superficially, casually, intensely, fully, partially, temporarily, permanently, occasionally, or briefly and in mere passing- I trust the Universe to take care of it's own.
That be the impetus, stimulus, cause, inchoate and completely minimal- the seed of future growth.
Who will rise to the challenge of the occasion and join forces? Allies? |
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| books of Nisargadatta Maharaj |
[May. 11th, 2009|09:50 pm] |
Dear all,
All the books of Nisargadatta Maharaj is now available for free download at : http://nisargadatta.we.bs
Also see a collection of photos, videos etc...
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| Prajapati Awakens |
[Apr. 17th, 2009|03:09 pm] |
Stillness.
No sound, no wind, no moon, no stars.
There was only One.
He breathed.
He breathed in silence, “I am”
Who knows whence He came?
No thought, no desire, no creation. Yet.
“Yeah, I am”
If time had existed, many a million years would have passed.
But there was neither a past nor a future, not even a now.
In silence arose the first question, “Who is?”
The emptiness trembled in anticipation.
“Who is?”
And then began Time,
A silvery thread of light speeding towards the endless edges,
Backward and forward,
And instantly there was eternity in the past and in the future,
Time wiping out the possibility of its own genesis.
He asked only the one question ‘Who am I?’
The question was Tapas
The questioner was Tapas,
The answer too, was Tapas.
In Tapas, He burned.
( Read more... ) |
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| Episode 40 of Out of Our Minds has been published! |
[Mar. 15th, 2009|08:43 am] |
Episode 40 is titled, "The World is Fundamentally Play". I never thought I would have published so many episodes when I first began podcasting. OOM is a bi-weekly, 15 minute spirituality podcast focused on nonduality and the traditions of jnana yoga, advaita vedanta, zen buddhism, etc. I speak from direct experience and understanding, but borrow upon Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, HWL Poonja, Adyashanti, Eckhart Tolle, Alan Watts, and many others. The podcast can be found at...
http://www.awaken2life.org/podcast-more-oom.html The website is Awaken to Life. Not only are all 40 episodes of Out of Our Minds available for free, but also the site contains previously published articles, satsang schedule and excerpts, a free e-book and audiobook, cartoons, recommended books, and more. |
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| Egoless as possible creativity aids yourself and others in release of painful duality |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|04:42 pm] |
So much pain in my darkness where I feel so alone
a light shines through
I move towards it
I want to be saturated
But I know there are others behind me
I choose to stay put
And live a life within constant duality
One can not exist without the other
As above, so below
I am observing the contrast
I am conscious within it
I will add more colors to it
A beautiful spectrum that loops around
In the eyes
The ears
The heart
Anything and everything in between
Maybe most won't understand
But I know for certain that I am not alone
~Molly Lenore
REMEMBER: No one can advance with the rest left behind |
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| We are on a schedule |
[Jan. 18th, 2009|04:43 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
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Very happy to join this positive and wise community!
We invite you to explore Ian Xel Lungold and Dr. Carl Johan Calleman's findings on the evolution of Consciousness and how it aligns with:
- Earth's biological evolution
- Epics of time for Human cultural history (and future)
- Acceleration
- Progression toward non-duality
- One of the Mayan calendars!
Ian gave this talk in February of 2005, just a few months before he left Earth. (Bless his Soul.)
"What do we do now?"
Please see the last video listed below, where he brings us almost up to date...
"Consciousness has a plan and we are all part of it."
Blessings and Love upon all of creation.
http://www.mayanmajix.com/
http://www.mayanmajix.com/cycles.html
http://www.calleman.com/
( Read more ) |
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| I'm completely bonkers but it's ok and here is why |
[Jan. 6th, 2009|05:26 am] |
why I'm bonkers or why it's ok that I'm bonkers? well, duality is a freakin biznatch on the rag with nothing to put in her water bong, so let's just forget about that and walk into the circle of it all.......
i dont know exactly why i'm here.
i don't know why i flip and flop like a fishie out of water at times...
but there's always that line...
connecting me to you
there ain't no hook
we're the fishermen too
so now we're all standing 'round thinkin "what we gonna do?"
i say we shake the line outside the bounds of time
yeah this may not be just another rhyme
so lets just shake it
shake it into the night
fill in the blanks
it's your beautiful right
and don't let them tell you "you killed when you loved"
humans aren't a damn food chain
there's no voice from above
just wake up and see
that I'm you and you're me
we killed cuz we hate
it was all a mistake
we ate up separation
like a poisonous bait
believe in yourself
you're not going to hell
mamma's got lots goin 'round
and it's free, not for sale
and if that makes you sick
guess what?
you're not a prick
but the cure ain't gonna come
from hatin anyone
it's respecting
and never-ending reflecting
in the world united as
1
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| Non-duality is Non-dual -- Part 4 of 5 |
[Jan. 4th, 2009|12:57 pm] |
Part 4
One may ask, how is this practical in "daily doings". Non-duality means ONE -- without a second. There are not two worlds, as dualism states. Heaven and Earth are one and the same. The Master said "as above, so below". "When you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner, then you shall enter the kingdom". Perhaps better stated, when you realize that the outer IS the inner and the inner IS the outer (not TWO separate "places") then you will see the ONE Kingdom here where I AM.
There is not a True Kingdom AND a false kingdom. There is not a Kingdom AND some "god" somewhere. There is ONE Non-dual Life, appearing as Itself in all of its glory. To a skewed mis-identified sense, this is not seen. In other words, identifying as a body and a collection of beliefs you call a "human mind", One cannot peer into Infinite MIND. Who cares? Correctly identified, One cannot find One that is mis-identified, nor an illusory world -- it may SEEM as though there are those mis-identified, but a seeming is a seeming, a fiction is a fiction. If the seeming holds some validity, brings about some impetus to act in defense, then deeper inquiry into the nature of Reality may seem necessary.
The "illusory" world is the mind-created distortion (referred to in Genesis as the mist that spread across the land). It has no Reality (self-generating Life) as its "light" is borrowed. Does one need to and can one wipe out the appearance of an imaginary tiger in the corner when he is hypnotized that it is there? Does an onlooker see the tiger? He may see the hypnotized one cower in fear, but does the onlooker feel fear? What would one do, heal the belief that there is really a tiger in the corner? NO. Wake the hypnotized one up!
When One is faced with a claim of nonsense ("There's a tiger in the corner!"), ONE does not try to make sense of nonsense! ONE does not take an error and try to mentalize it into rightness, in other words, heal the "human mind". One acknowledges that it seems like error, seems to be contrary, knowing that ONLY Truth is True and is valid. One can then dismiss it as hear-say, rumor, the lie that it is. To refute a lie is not necessary. The habit is to try to prove that a lie is a lie. Knowing that a lie is a lie, there is no need to disprove it -- Truth by being Itself is proof that ONLY TRUTH IS TRUE.
This, then leaves One to do what seems necessary in the seeming. After all, "Before 'enlightenment', chopping wood and carrying water; after 'enlightenment' chopping wood and carrying water". The wood does not chop itself and the water does not carry itself.
The Beingness of BEING, that which Being IS, is the function of Goodness in action. Knowing this, AS the ONE KNOWING that is Knowing, is all that is necessary and reveals that there are no obstacles to Being. So, that which may be deemed by some human sense to be an obstacle is actually nothing -- nothing that needs to be refuted, healed, nor righted. Seeing THIS is seeing the Present Wholeness that ONE IS, and the Self-recognition thereof. Seeing this, reveals that there are no obstacles TO ONESELF. If an obstacle seems to be present, be self-assured that it is SELF-IMPOSED.
All Love,
Don
if you enjoyed this post, you would probably like www.therestofmyself.com
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| Adi Da (a.k.a. Adidam Samraj, Bubba Free John, Da Free John, and Franklin Jones) is Dead |
[Dec. 21st, 2008|10:08 pm] |
http://nonduality.org/2008/11/28/adi-da-is-dead/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidam
Da Free John was the first exposure I ever had to contemporary nonduality. I was introduced to him by Jerry Katz in 1997, who was at that time a fellow telephone interviewer at a local marketing research company in Halifax. Je became and the closest and longest-standing friend I've made in Halifax since my wife and I arrived here in 1996. Jerry gave me a copy of Da Free John's mid-1970s book, The Knee of Listening, and he played several videos of his talks for me.
Like many gurus, Adi Da was at times surrounded by controversy about his use of drugs and alcohol and his sexual encounters with devotees and members of his ashram. He has also been criticized for a seemingly egotistical approach in his teaching. I never knew the man personally, so I have only experienced the benefit and insights of his teachings through printed and other media. That gives me the advantage of not having to worry about whether or not he was a sexually manipulative asshole in real life, or to what degree that might have been the case. His teachings, or those that I've read and heard, are first-rate. His experiences and deep ongoing spiritual questioning (indeed, his sadhana) can be great signposts for the early student. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 17th, 2008|01:37 pm] |
We may ask ourselves or being asked: "Do you celebrate Christmas?" There may be different answers for different people depending on their faith or spiritual state.
In any case, we may assume that Christmas is a purely Christian holiday. At a closer look it is not. Though the holiday was introduced to Christianity after Charlemagne’s enthronement in the 9th century, Christmas – and many other seasonal customs – have their roots in the winter solstice celebration, common to northern people long before. Christmas trees, holly branches, mistletoe, candles, feasts, gift-giving – all are actually older than Christmas proper.
Some may cling to words such as it is called "Christmas", but that would not make a very good argument, as the same people may find themselves scandalized when we point out that Easter is named after Eostre, the goddess of the east.
"Santa Claus" derives from the Christian Bishop Saint Nicholas of 4th century Greece. It is interesting to observe that he has slowly become a more archetypal figure. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Pu Tai (Hotei in Japanese), the cheerful fat monk with the big hemp sack full of gifts for children. In common folklore, which often has little to do with authentic Buddhism, Pu Tai is considered to be an incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha. We as Buddhists may place a little statue of Pu Tai on a table next to our Santas near the Christmas tree –- I am sure they both will smile at each other. A charming cultural synthesis! When I grew up, all children believed in St. Nicholas or Santa Claus. People now may ask why we would let kids believe in Santa, only to disillusion them later. However, Santa is actually for any age, teaching us unselfish, anonymous generosity.
Even the biblical nativity narrative is a wonderful story. We hear it over and over during this season. Whether mythology or history (the same applies for many stories about the Buddha), it touches people deeply. Beyond centuries of accumulated superstition and religious institutionalism, Jesus seems to be another enlightened being (Bodhisattva), serving different people throughout history and culture. The nativity story is like a parable that illustrates the wisdom of expressions like "the meek shall inherit the earth". That is also deeply "Buddhist" as many parallels in the sutras may show.
The Virgin Mary touches on a spiritual counterpoint in Kuan Yin (Kwannon, or Avalokiteshwara) in her feminine enlightenment (salvation) aspect: She, too, hears the sorrows of the world. Buddhism, like Christianity, comes out of a male-dominated culture and time; both incorporate this healthy female balance.
Let's ask ourselves, what could be more "Buddhist" than a holiday that celebrates peace, love, giving, compassion, and human warmth!
I salute you! There is nothing I can give you which you have not; but there is much, that, while I cannot give, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven. No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take Peace. The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take Joy. And so, at this Christmas time, I greet you, with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
(Frater Giovanni, 1513)
In that spirit, a "Merry Christmas" to all of you, and of course always a happier New Year!
LOTUS ZEN TEMPLE
E-SANGHA COMMUNITY
cross posted |
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| Puppet |
[Dec. 11th, 2008|07:35 am] |
Hearts of governors of the world are in hands of the Creator
Who operates the world?... |
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| Non-duality is Non-dual -- Part 3 of 5 |
[Dec. 10th, 2008|12:21 pm] |
Part 3
Claims of being "one with" another is really an excuse to have unrestrained license to riot in the streets of ignorance. It's a feel-good phrase of occult metaphysics whose goal is to allow one to be able to get away with following the mandates of the false sense of self and then to suffer no consequences. The following are examples of affirmations spoken by the cult of "one with" [followed by what is really being said/meant in brackets]:
"Oh , I'm one with God, so my actions are always right and guided by God" [and I can do what I want].
"I have full justification in my actions, God is using me to do this" [thing that I want to do because it will benefit my situation].
"I do what I love" [because its what I want to do, it makes me feel good].
"I am a Divine Idea" [and you are a mere ignorant human], "here, let me help you".
"I know the Truth" [so why did this happen to me?].
The list goes on and on and is peppered with a personal self-proclaimed human God -- with duality; one that is greater; one that is lesser; one that is "divine"; one that is not. Where is Non-duality in all of this nonsense? Does the ONE ALONE PRESENCE have to affirm such to Itself to be Itself or in the face of danger to ward off or combat danger?
Non-duality is Non-duality. Truth is Truth. Any watered down or adulterated "version of" is NOT. ONLY Truth is True. In the Light of TRUE Non-duality, any myth or pagan polytheistic (look this word up, it's eye-opening) religion that makes room for "one" to be "one with" a god or one that worships a god is NOT; has no basis in Reality (see christianity, metaphysics, hinduism, buddhism, judaism, etc.)
Who or what is "one with" the Sole and ONLY ONE?
Non-duality is not a religion (in todays organized sense of the word) -- it is Fact. Fact stands true. To say that Fact stands true in the face of falsity is unnecessary and untrue. Why affirm that "what is not" is NOT? What IS is never confronted with what is not. In other words, ONE POWER is forever busy being the Sole-and-Only Power the Sole-and-Only Identity that IS and is reveling in and as Itself. It is the ONLY Omnipresent Identity and NEVER denies or gives attention to that-which-is-not (which is an affirmation of what-is-not), so why should the Awareness reading these words right now?
All Love,
DOn
if you enjoyed this post, you would probably like www.therestofmyself.com
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