三江源

Devil's Claw was wonderful for a foot injury I had. I suspect it has a kind of beauty not immediately accesible to all.

The thing about the paranoid mentality is that it is very perceptive, and there is usually a grain of truth at the root of the paranoid ideas, but that grain in misconstrued/distorted/overblown. So it works on two levels : (i) the perception, and then (ii) what the mind does with it.

Athanor, this is so utterly untrue. You are really way off on this one. Kate is spot on.

Lust isnt a destructive emotion. It's biology. Just accept it, smile at it, endure it when it's painful, as a friend who is strengthening you, extending your endurance capabilities. Laugh at how much you are desperate for sex. Really, why shouldnt it be funny that we are so biologically driven? Let the feelings pass through you, eat you up, burn you to death, and you will rise again and again from being killed by burning lust. It's ok. That's the way to become a strong container. Supressing lust is a laughable idea in the extreme. Just dont feed it. But honour it with great respect and love, it's your life force calling. RyanO's post about giving your lust to the earth is truly a wonderful transformative spiritual practice.

Yes. There are degrees of flowers, really. Some are stupendous. Others just rather pretty. Or not.

Eric Yudelove's books are beautifully conceived and written and densely packed with stuff that will get you going where you need to be going with Taoism. You couldnt do better than study with Eric.

RyanO What a fantastic post, what an elegant and fruitful solution to the issues that are all over this board from so many of the males here. Perfect. Thankou for giving it out.

What EagleShen says here is in accord with my own experience also.. it's all for the refinement of balance and the 'living skillfully' necessity, which has to penetrate all layers of one's being.

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The way we use our sexual energy is representative of the way we respond to life. That's all there is to it.

SITE OF SRI AUROBINDO & THE MOTHER AUROBINDO.RU Home Page | Workings by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother | Spiritual significance of flowers Soul of a Flower Have you ever gone into a garden early in the morning? The flowers are facing the sun, awaiting its advent. Have you felt the mighty aspiration that surges all around for the coming light? Have you watched a bud, completely closed, and how slowly, miraculously, the petals open, one by one? Whence came this force, this energy, this pulsating life? Have you seen the earth after it has received a few drops of rain. Multi-coloured little hands come out from the earth in a gesture of thanks giving? They are the fairy-lilies named 'Prayer' by the Mother. We can palpably feel the vibration of gratitude and we look in joy at this spontaneous and beautiful response of Nature. Nature, so receptive, so open to the Grace! If only we could be likewise.... And then we wonder: What is it that gives to a flower and so often to a child, its beauty, its sweetness, its feeling of a happy self-giving? It is the presence of the Divine in the flowers, in Nature. It is what we call the 'Psychic Presence'. And love. Love of flowers can help us to find our own psychic being, the Divine within us. The unselfish movement, uncalculating, is one of the most beautiful forms of psychic consciousness in the world. But the higher one rises in the scale of mental activity, the rarer it becomes. Per with intelligence come all the skill and cleverness, and corruption, calculation. For instance, when a rose blossoms it does so spontaneously, for the joy of being beautiful, smelling sweet, expressing all its joy of living, and it does not calculate, it has nothing to gain out of it: it does so spontaneously, in the joy of being and living. Take a human being, well, apart from a very few exceptions, the moment his mind is active he tries to get some advantage out of his beauty and cleverness; he wants it to bring him something, either men's admiration or even much more sordid gains yet. Consequently, from the psychic point of view, the rose is better than human beings. Only, if you climb a rung higher and consciously do what the rose does unconsciously, then it is much more beautiful. But it must be the same thing: a spontaneous flowering of beauty, uncalculating, simply for the joy of being. Little children have this at times (at times, not always). Unfortunately, under the influence of their parents and the environment, they learn to be calculating when yet very young. But this kind of wish to gain by what one has or does is truly one of the ugliest things in the world. And it is one of the most widespread and it has become so widespread, that it is almost spontaneous in man. Nothing can turn its back on the divine love more totally than that, that wish to calculate and profit. Do flowers love? This is their form of love, this blossoming. Certainly, when one sees a rose opening to the sun, it is like a need to give its beauty. Only, for us, it is almost unintelligible, for they do not think about what they do. A human being always associates with everything he does this ability to see himself doing it, that is, to think about himself, think of himself doing it. Man knows that he is doing something. Animals don't think. It is not at all the same form of love. And flowers, so to speak, are not conscious: it is a spontaneous movement, not a consciousness that is conscious of itself, not at all. But it is a great Force which acts through all that, the great universal Consciousness and the great Force of universal love which makes all things blossom in beauty. Is there a sense of beauty in flowers? Directly there is organic life, the vital element comes in, and it is this vital element which gives to flowers the sense of beauty. It is not perhaps individualised in the sense we understand it, but it is a sense of the species and the species always tries to realise it. I have noticed a first rudiment of the psychic presence and vibration in vegetable life, and truly this blossoming one calls a flower is the first manifestation of the psychic presence. The psychic is individualised only in man, but it was there before him; but it is not the same kind of individualisation as in man, it is more fluid: it manifests as force, as consciousness rather than as individuality. Take the rose, for example; its great perfection of form, colour, scent expresses an aspiration and a psychic giving. Look at a rose opening in the morning at the first touch of the sun, it is a magnificent self-giving in aspiration. What is this psychic prayer that flowers represent? The psychic, when it manifests in a plant, in the form of a flower, is in the form of a wordless prayer; it is the elan of the plant towards the Divine. You have written: "Love of flowers is a valuable help for finding and uniting with the psychic. Could you explain this more in detail? Since flowers are the manifestation of the psychic in the vegetal kingdom, love of flowers would mean that one is drawn by the psychic vibration and consequently by the psychic in one's own self. When you are receptive to the psychic vibration, that puts you in a more intimate contact with the psychic in your own self. Perhaps the beauty of flowers too is a means used by Nature to awaken in human beings the attraction for the psychic. How can one enter into psychic contact with flowers? When one is in conscious contact with one's own psychic, one becomes aware of an impersonal psychic behind the whole creation and then, through this, one can enter into contact with flowers and know the psychic prayer they represent. Mother, when flowers are brought to you, how do you give them a significance? To the flowers? But it's in the same way, by entering into contact with the nature of the flower, its inner truth. Then one knows what it represents. Each flower has its special significance, hasn't it? Not as we understand it mentally. There is a mental projection when one gives a precise meaning to a flower. It may answer, vibrate to the touch of this projection, accept the meaning, but a flower has no equivalent of the mental consciousness. In the vegetable kingdom there is a beginning of the psychic, but there is no beginning of the mental consciousness. In animals it is different; mental life begins to form and for them things have a meaning. But in flowers it is rather like the movement of a little baby - it is neither a sensation nor a feeling, but something of both; it is a spontaneous movement, a very special vibration. So, if one is in contact with it, if one feels it, one gets an impression which may be translated by a thought. That is how I have given a meaning to flowers and plants - there is a kind of identification with the vibration, a perception of the quality it represents and, little by little, through a kind of approximation (sometimes this comes suddenly, occasionally it takes time), there is a coming together of these vibrations (which are of a vital-emotional order) and the vibration of the mental thought, and if there is a sufficient harmony, one has a direct perception of what the plant may signify. In some countries (particularly here) certain plants are used as the media for worship, offering, devotion. Certain plants are given on special occasions. And I have often seen that this identification was quite in keeping with the nature of the plant, because spontaneously, without knowing anything, I happened to give the same meaning as that given in religious ceremonies. The vibration was really there in the flower itself.... Did it come from the use that had been made of it or did it come from very far, from somewhere deep down. From a beginning of the psychic life? It would be difficult to say. If our flower-offering depends on our state of consciousness, does it help us to learn the significances of flowers even if it is purely mental to begin with? Yes, surely. Have flowers a power in the occult world? Yes, they have an occult power; they can even transmit a message if one knows how to charge them with it. Can the flowers transmit other messages apart from the significances you have given It is not impossible but the person who sends the message must have a great power of formation. Is the power of formation purely occult or can a mental or vital power of formation also transmit messages? The mental power of formation can certainly transmit messages. But for these messages to be received and understood, the person to whom they are sent must himself be very receptive mentally and particularly attentive. When we offer flowers, with what attitude should we offer them? Does it matter if we do not know the significance? This depends complely on the person who gives the flowers and on his state of consciousness. The same answer may be given to both the questions. According to the degree of consciousness of people what they do has a deep significance. Do flowers retain the force always, even when they decay? Decay? No, my child; when they dry up, yes. Decayed flowers are just nothing. A decomposition takes place, so the thing disappears. Perhaps it brings energy to the soil, that's quite possible; but still, when it decays it is good only to make manure to grow other flowers. But if it dries up, it is preserved, it can remain for quite a long time. Sweet Mother, what should we do with the flowers which you give us every day? Flowers? You ought to keep them as long as they are fresh, and when they are no longer so, you must collect them and give them to the gardener (any gardener you know), so that he can put them in the earth to produce other flowers. Yes, one must give back to the earth what it has given us, for otherwise it will become poor. THE MOTHER

BE LIKE A FLOWER Be like a flower. One must try to become like a flower: open, frank, equal, generous and kind. Do you know what it means? A flower is open to all that surrounds it: Nature, light, the rays of the sun, the wind, etc. It exerts a spontaneous influence on all that is around it. It radiates a joy and a beauty. It is frank: it hides nothing of its beauty, and lets it flow frankly out of itself. What is within, what is in its depths, it lets it come out so that everyone can see it. It is equal: it has no preference. Everyone can enjoy its beauty and its perfume, without rivalry. It is equal and the same for everybody. There is no difference, or anything whatsoever. Then generous: without reserve or restriction, how it gives the mysterious beauty and the very own perfume of Nature. It sacrifices itself entirely for our pleasure, even its life it sacrifices to express this beauty and the secret of the things gathered within itself. And then, kind: it has such a tenderness, it is so sweet, so close to us, so loving. Its presence fills us with joy. It is always cheerful and happy. Happy is he who can exchange his qualities with the real qualities of the flowers. Try to cultivate in yourself their refined qualities. THE MOTHER

ohhh!

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Ohhh! Well done Michael. Thankyou for still being here! xxxxx

Mods, can you make this post a sticky, or make it a pm and send it to all the blokes on the board?!

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Yes, good point. SO many times people sneer and disbelieve when they see people being flung around and falling to the floor etc without being touched but actually it happens pretty easily when a wave of pure energy is directed at someone who is full of blockages, they fall over or spin backwards or just plain flip out.

Well my dear I have a feeling that it is to do with heart. I think heart is often overlooked in all the male practice talk. I feel that when the heart is open and soft, that is what takes you to the supreme places. The throat also need to be soft. If you soften your throat and your lower dt, right now, reading this, consciously relax and soften there.. see how different you feel straight away. Once these have softened, it is easier to soften the heart area. It isnt possible to be soft in the heart and throat and to be exploitative at the same time... From the male pov : Mat Black knows about it, he is sexy and pure, wise and innocent all at once. Or so it seems to me. I guess he would have some good things to say. Actually just his presence helps point in the right direction. In terms of teachers, Dirk Oellibrandt is your man for this stuff. he is a wonder and a joy. And in europe!

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I'm going to try this today, I'd never have thought to put them together except in a face mask. ("healthy alternative" food thread, anyone? ) I just found out about Yacon syrup, which is wonderful - sweet but not affecting blood sugar much. It is from a south american root vegetable.

I agree with you. It is devastatingly misunderstood in our culture and confused with inexperience. ie Innocence versus Experience which is not a duality we need in sexual matters.

As I experience it, the feeling of original sin, it's genesis, is the appalling pain of feeling separate from God. And there is a terrible sense of shame that arises from that feeling.