Vmarco

A bodhisattva is called a person of pure compassion,...how a bodhisattva "sees" is the subject of the Heart Sutra,...that is to say, pure compassion is an effortless consequence of seeing like a bodhisattva. How a bodhisattva "sees" is based on Zero,...however, zero upsets the logic of the Aristotelian mindset,...which is the condition under most peoples thinking. Aristotelian logic is based on One,...like the Gregorian calendar. Next,...using reverse order in this reply. There are Two aspects of light. Divided light, which includes the whole of the electromagnetic field, and all energy,...thus in the past. And Undivided Light, which contains no mass, no energy, no time,...and is in the Present. Aristotelian logic needs a beginning and end to make its logic palatable,...remember, Aristotelian logic begins with One. It is from Aristotelian logic that a God was invented. In Taoism and Buddhism there is no beginning or end,...no Big Bang. For science, the Big Bang is only a possibly,...it is not a fact. Science got very close,...and then say "it must be a Big Bang," ...we're science,...so you sheeple must believe in our beliefs. If a Big Bang existed,...Taoism and Buddhism are BS. But as someone said,...THE "BIG BANG" IS JUST RELIGION DISGUISED AS SCIENCE. There is no evidence of a Big Bang,...just assumptions that what they think they know leads to it. Physics/math models describing a universe with no big bang, no beginning, and no end, are actually much more elegant that the Beginning/end models. Here's a different point of view: http://guardianlv.com/2014/09/scientist-believes-black-holes-do-not-exist/ What is true, is the Present. And there is no Present in time. There is no Consciousness in time. There is no energy in the Tao,...the Tao does not come and go. For me,...these are not concepts.

Although the term Present is a concept for the conditioned mind,...the absolute Present is not a concept. Actually, the conditioned mind cannot adequately consider the Planet or its resident creature,...although it believes it does. A comparison could be made with compassion. The realization of Buddhist compassion (as discussed in the Heart Sutra for example,...that is, how a bodhisattva sees), is beyond the conditioned mind, who are not aware of the Present, but living in a simulated reality, akin to a Hollywood film,...only cognizant of the past. Steven Hawkings and Jim Hartle made an interesting observation in their No-Boundary theory,... that there is no singulaity, no Big Bang, no creation, or Creator, because there is no such thing as time. If there is no such thing as time,...where and why does all this time stuff come from,...that conditions our identity? "all matter is frozen or slowed down light" David Bohm Sure, no problem,...However,...how does Undivided, Timeless Light become the divided time-driven light of the electromagnetic field? There was lengthy thread on this,...titled What Is Light.

Having seen some of Tolle's newer Youtubes (2014), his offering is getting better IMO. However, he still clings to theism for his identity,...and thus is obviously not a fully enlightened being. "A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real." Vajradhara Buddha And yes,...it's all a new spin on old Buddhist awareness teaching. Some with me. Even though I type out about my experiences,...they're just regurgitations of Prajnaparamita. My fun here,...is in exploring different wordage to talk about what should be the most important subject for humanity,...Who are You. For me, the answer to Who Are You, lies in the inquiry, ...When are You, or Where are You. I read Tolle's Power of Now in 1999,...and although disappointed,...it seems typical. “The mind cannot comprehend an entirely new idea until a corresponding vibratory brain cell has been prepared to receive it.” Charles F. Haanel Tolle has been preparing minds.

When the Iron Bird Flies Enjoyable documentary http://www.awaken.com/2012/10/when-the-iron-bird-flies/

Discussion on the Absolute Present This thread is intended to explore the essence of the Absolute Present, Now, or Instant beyond time,...and space. There is no Present anywhere in space. Space does not exist separate from time. I intend to post ideas relative to the Present, in this thread, continually,...as to afford an easier access to the discussion,...a sort of repository for the Present. Any experience that arises out of time is not the present....but the past,...and occasionally the future. A predominately sentient being cannot experience the Now. Sentience (perception through the 6 senses of form) only perceive movement. There is no movement in the Present. Forty years ago I realized that actually nothing ever moves,…not a single millimeter in all eternity. What sentience perceive as movement is the illusion of things reproducing themselves at 186k mps to simulate the movement of phenomena. (Realizing the Present is a profound shift, such as implied in Harry Nilsson’s fable of Oblio’s leaving the Land of Point, where everyone was required by law to have a point, and everything had to have a point. The people or sheeple in the Land of Point are similar to those of Ping Wu’s Valley of the Blind; they are all stuck within a belief system that they cling to for their identity.) Time is One. A direct experience of that fact can be realized. In the mid-80's I was involved in research both solo, and with others,...on numerous occasions. Time is One. Lao Tzu said, "The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to yin and yang. Yin and yang give birth to all things." The Tao, like Undivided Light, is synonymous with Timelessness,...the Present. One is the whole of time,…the whole of the electro-magnetic field. While Yang-Yin is an unawareness of time as One. Sentient beings mostly view time contractively,…as Yang,…which is actually a burden for the Planet, and humankind. Imagine the heaviness of 7 billion contractive, sentient beings upon the World. Non-dual awareness is as if having been immersed in a suspended colloidal condition that rests between realities, as if one were water that had been stirred quickly in a pail and then suddenly converged into an expansiveness as the direction of the spin changed. Expansive awareness is a characteristic of Yin. Lao Tzu said, "Time and space are changing and dissolving, not fixed and real. Dualistic thinking is a sickness. Religion is a distortion. Materialism is cruel. Blind spirituality is unreal. Recognize that everything you see and think is a falsehood, an illusion, a veil over the truth." Hua Hu Ching, Forty Eight Non-dual awareness leads awareness to Oneness,…but Oneness is simply an attribute of Duality,…neither of which are real. To have a One, there must be a Many; a Here, necessitates a There; there is no Center without a Boundary. Oneness is really no closer to the Tao than Yang-Yin. Remember,…time is One. Yang-Yin is viewing divided or multiplied time as separate bands within the field. There is no Present in time. There is no Consciousness in time. Everything you truly want, is in the Present.

I have a few WW2 things handed down to me (swords, stamps, guns)but never felt compelled to collect that era. However, been known to have collected stuffed Stitch's, faery figures, silver coins, and Odilon Redon genre and Buddhist art. Love the idea of finding an appreciative home for something you have. I know I wouldn't give my 100+ Stitch's to just anyone,...but eventually I will give them away,...and not sell them on ebay. Actually though, most of my things have been in storage since '91,...someday perhaps, I'll have an end of this life dwelling, and get to open all my boxes. Manitou...I now longer collect things. Wish your item finds an appreciative home though.

"Were cockroaches to have a notion of God, they would probably imagine Him as a very big and powerful cockroach." Voltaire

That's why I use the term "gnow" with that experience, to differentiate it from the "know" that arises with thinking. Excellent about your contemplations on duality,...this was Lao Tzu's entry point,...we must recognize Who's Who in Duality, in order to recognize duality. The real attributes/characteristics of yang/yin are quite obscured to the humancentric pov. Duality must be viewed from duality's pov. yang...........................yin. centripetal....................centrafugal. integrating....................disintregating. spiral in......................spiral out. implosive......................explosive. converge.......................diverge. in...........................out generative.....................radiative. Gravity....................Levity inhalation.....................exhalation. sphere…………….................…….torus. Earth......................Heaven solid........................vaporous rotation decrease................rotation increase. quartz.........................calcite. heating........................cooling. charging.......................discharging. contraction....................expansion. Father Earth.....…….............Mother Sky particle………............………………..wave. Geb………...............……..……Nut. Father Time...................Mother Space induction......................conduction. winding light waves............unwinding light waves pressure increase.....................pressure decrease. infra-red..........................ultra-violet. low frequency..........................high frequency. Thus,...when I hear someone speaking of "mother earth," usually like they understand what they're talking about, it is obvious their pov is human-centric. Same with those who we display the T’ai chi T’u symbol arbitrarily. The T’ai chi T’u, or yin-yang, is a well-known symbol that shows dualities’ two primal forces that is simultaneously opposing and complimentary. Although this symbol represents the rhythm of duality within the universe and thus can be viewed in motion, there is a correct, meaningful way to display it statically. The yin, or dark, feminine energy should be located on the left, with its bright eye upward at the top, whereas yang, the bright, masculine energy, should be on the right, downward with its dark eye at the bottom of the pattern. Viewing or displaying the T’ai chi T’u any other way obscures the correct nature of duality. Duality’s reality is not a personal, human-centric reality. Object-ivists hold some queer views about the nature of our dualistic reality. To understand full spectrum consciousness, we must grasp the who’s who of polarity. For instance, yang is descending, implosive, spiral-in, warming, structuring and accumulative. Yin is ascending, explosive, spiral-out, cooling, de-structuring, and dissipating. These are not human personality traits, but words that point to the masculine-centripetal and feminine-centrifugal pulse of the universe. In polarity consciousness, male and female are equal, simultaneous, pressure conditioned movements in search of balance, the in-breath and out-breath of our reality. Except for random occurrence, it is unlikely that sacred space can be created without understanding this.

My first experience aware of the Present,..which occurred as an unexpected consequence of surrendering during a difficult occasion,...had an urge to follow the brilliance of everything,...it was my first experience seeing life this way, the vibrant perfection of the duality's illusion,...all one thing,...and yet beyond oneness. Anyway,...it was dawn,...the sun had not risen,...and I walk around an open zoo. In the 60's and early 70's, Alamogordo had a zoo accessible 24/7,...nowadays it has a no-see-thru fence, and one pays admission. The zoo housed lobos, eagles, ostriches, mountain goats, bobcats, etc.,...and the experience was one of no boundary between us,...just love. In 40 years of spiritual experiences,...for me,...the purpose of life is to bring more love in,...which happens effortlessly just by being Present. Being Present obliterates the conditions of the dream of life's situation,...which always arise from the past or future,...thinking, the other 5 senses, are always in the past. If hot tubing triggers it for you,...awesome. My first was a NDE,...thus I didn't necessarily want to physically die each time to access it. I later found, that for me, the quickest way was Connected Breathwork,...and, through the years, short sayings would initiate it. Then, I stumbled on non-meditation,...probably a result from years of not thinking. “Mind is the basis of samsara and nirvana. Once you realize (its nature), rest in the ease of non-meditation.” Saraha "In a state of non-meditation, you attain Mahamudra." "The state of non-meditation is born in the heart...." Jigme Lingpa

Uncovering the Present is a tremendum,...such a direct ecstatic experience, that when you look in a mirror, the beauty is dazzling in brilliance. Unfortunately, very, very few people ever directly experience the Present,...most out the fear of letting go of the past and future. Lao Tzu said, "Do you think you can clear your mind by sitting constantly in silent meditation? This makes your mind narrow, not clear." The Hua Hu Ching suggests, "the ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle; totally fascinated by the realm of the senses....if anyone threaten it, it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go. Let the senses go." "The practice of meditation is represented by the three monkeys, who cover their eyes, ears and mouths so as to avoid the phenomenal world. The practice of non-meditation is ceasing to be the see-er, hearer or speaker while eyes, ears and mouths are fulfilling their function in daily life." - Wei Wu Wei

Yes,...one cannot "see" illusion from illusion, only a perceived, simulation of reality. Yes,...hot and cold are the same,...just as yang and yin. Both are illusion,...only a perceived, simulation of reality. So,...how can real reality be "seen?" The Heart Sutra gives a nice summary. But even simpler is this,...uncovering the Present. Only from the Present can truth of what is, be recognized. Not the relative present of past and future,...but the absolute Present. A truth is this,...there is no Present in time,...there is no Consciousness in time. The relative can only "see" the relative. “As soon as one sense-organ returns to the source, All the six are liberated." Avalokitesvara, Shurangama sutra

Simpler than anyone can think,...because the threshold of absolute truth is beyond thinking. “Recognize that everything you see and think is a falsehood, an illusion, a veil over the truth." Lao Tzu

Incorrect! A recognition of Absolute Truth, even conceptually, is quite important for any conversation on reality. The denial of Absolute Truth denies reality. "Contradictions in perspective among those Seeing the profound do not occur" Taranatha Two truths cannot contradict one another. Galileo Galilei If anything contradicts the absolute truth that there is no Present in time,...then that contradictory pov is untrue. You are viewing my post as "intellectual" because that is how you view things. My posts, for the most part, are actually designed to help the reader to breakthrough their own indoctrination. Of course,...most do not want to break out of their conditioning,...their indoctrination is their comfort zone. Someone once said: "This conspiracy of mediocrity is very unfortunate. The great promise of the human potential movement was very straightforward - there are higher human potentials. Now, from the therapeutic culture, people say, "wait a minute. you're saying there are higher potentials, so does that mean I'm lower? because that can't be right". All of a sudden it implied a judgment, and nobody's allowed to be higher because that means someone else is going to be lower. And you're not allowed to call anybody lower; therefore nobody's allowed to be higher. So the Human Potential movement got derailed and was replaced by this therapeutic self-expression, self-acceptance movement, which catastrophically prevents higher transformation and mystical breakthroughs. What is missing in the New Age Community is real intellectual vigor. Under the therapeutic culture, if you feel good, you're enlightened. That is mediocrity, and a conspiracy toward mediocrity.” The underlying essence of Taoism and Prajnaparamita Buddhism is Absolute Truth,...Absolute Bodhicitta. And until you can recognize a single absolute truth,...you will remain imprisoned in the illusion of the relative. The most important thing someone can have their attention on in this life,...is to "relate with what will never leave you, and from which you can never leave"...the only thing can never leave you is Absolute Truth. "99.9% of the World's so-called wisdom, East and West, for the purposes of awakening, is about as useful as a glass of warm spit with a hair in it." Jed McKenna

Yes,...anything that changes is not truth. Truth is unchangeable. For most,...who have actually experienced truth,...it appears that awareness of truth is only momentary,...before a thought comes up, and obscures the higher awareness. Gurdjeiff speculated that only .4% of people ever have glimpse,...although today, I'd suggest that number has been increasing. My first glimpse of truth (1974) following a surrender of my conditions, lasted several hours in southern New Mexico,...until a thought ended it. Try doing the Supermarket Activity,...it can access a window of sorts, and keep you there a few hours (after activating such awareness through the activity). http://www.slimeworld.org/xxaxx/jbc_ndx.html The key to the activity is to just "do it." Analyzing it dilutes the experience. Enter a Supermarket for one hour,...not a WalMart or Sears, but a market like America's Safeway, Krogers, etc. In the store, you touch nothing, not a cart, not a basket,...read nothing, talk to no one. If someone talks to you, touches you, or you touch something,...immediately pick up an item, go to the check-out, pay for it and leave. Then try again later. Unfamilar stores seem to be better, so you don't bump into friends wishing to say Hi,...if you do have to suspend the task, you don't have to pick up something expensive,...but do purchase something. Also,...read the JBC intro linked above. For example "Not jumping to conclusions turns out to be a pretty good habit....Jump, meaning to form a conclusion prematurely before all the data is in.

NO! Terms like divine, god, almighty are, and can only be, intellectual,...because nothing divine exists beyond the conditioned mind. Even your ayahuasca trip, as you describe it, was all intellectual,...arising from your conditions. To say there is "no absolute truth," is first of all, an oxymoron,...because if there was no absolute truth, the absolute truth would be absolutely nothing, and thus an absolute truth. Next,...only those who have never experienced an absolute truth, dare say there is no absolute truth. I'll repeat an absolute truth,...same one I've attempted to dialogue on since probably my first post here,...that is, There Is No Present In Time. Of course, the conditioned mind cannot see it,...and will even cringed bat such a statement,...and that was the nature of your ayahuasca trip according to your description. Experience born of belief,...such as your ayahuasca trip,...can only be experienced through the conditions of belief. Your belief in divinity, god's, an almighty, and bouncing pink cartoons, obscure your ability to have a direct experience. You have never surrendered your conditions,...and thus they continue to step between you and your direct experience. I'll put that another way, for clarity,...in all your (owledge)posts on TTB, nothing suggests that you ever had a direct experience. Yes,...I understand, as someone once said, "To dare to even speak about radical transformation, let alone call other people to a higher level, is against the unstated rules. And of course, one's definitely going to be put in one's place for doing something like that. Such conspiracy of mediocrity is basically the conspiracy to express your own ego instead of transcending it or letting go of it. The idea has become "if I can really emote and express my self-constriction with sincerity, I'm somehow spiritual." The fact is, an experience can ONLY be experienced directly beyond the conditions of time. However, your "ego complex," that is, the compilation of memories, beliefs, hopes, fears, etc., conjures up philosophies like "there is no absolute truth" to make conditioned level of awareness more palatable. Ego never wants to hear that everything it thought was meaningful is actually meaningless,...which is fine,...however, for those who seek truth through the Taoist or Prajnaparamita paths, such a philosophy as "there is no absolute truth," has no place on those paths. I lived with a shaman in Chiapas for nearly a year, and quite familiar with drug induced experiences,...even had no less then 300 psychedelic trips myself, in the seventies and eighties,...and not one for the "high." Even hung out with the ethnobotanist Terence McKenna on 3 occasions,...as he was a good friend with the shaman I lived with. Besides myself,...Lao Tzu, the Tathagata, Tilopa, etc., all pointed to absolute truth. It is only uncovered in the Present,...and there is no Present in time. Yes,...the Present can be accessed through drug induced states,...although I would not recommend them for one's first several direct experiences, as the drug-induced physical state manifests conditions which counter the presence necessary to be Present. I would however recommend Connected Breathing,...hanging out with admirable friends (according to Buddha's definition), and proving anything in this post as incorrect.