manitou

Spotless - this is quite incredible! Do stay grounded within the I Am, maintain your connection with the earth. BE in your body, don't let your head have full sway. I do think that us human beans are the tip of the spear of consciousness; and that there is a threshold that we are meeting. Some of us must be the first to experience this changing consciousness, and it sounds like you are one of the lucky ones. Hopefully some of us will be following right behind you. Hopefully you won't be vaporizing any time soon Love to you. Really.

I like this thread. I like to keep my mind vacant in case something important comes along.

Hi Haedon - glad to have you join us! You'll find lots of Dao information here, along with much Buddhism, metaphysics, all of it. Have a good time! Manitou

Hello to you! Welcome. We are a real mixed bag here, so Daoism is definitely an undercurrent here - the DDJ often referred to in posts to demonstrate a point. But we have just about everything - the beauty of this site seems to be the metaphysical mixture of many different traditions. Some real dynamic discussion here, along with some silly stuff. Glad you're here, Manitou

Aaron, it sounds like you were in the wu-wei as all this happened. I'm so sorry you were made to feel 'less than' because of bullying. But don't forget for a moment Who You Are. You know Who You Are, they don't. They don't realize for one moment that there is no separation between them and you, and the oneness of all. They are to be pitied, and I'm so glad your desire for retribution was short and quickly terminated. Actually, wow. You really transcended that nasty event like a true champion. And to directly try to address your last question as to bad things happening to good people - don't forget that diagnosing things as good or bad is a dual activity and as such, isn't real. What's good to you might be bad to me, and vice versa. it all just Is, that's all. It's all relative. And yeah, celebrating something bad happening to another does serious damage to your soul and set you back a few steps on your spiritual quest.

Basher - have you found anything coded in the mundane on page 4? (and I'd really like to know what RTFL means too. Rolling Towards Floor Laughing?)

I wonder. I think rather that babies are all born with one collective soul, and it's the individual filters of life experience that differentiate us and create the illusion of separateness. If we can get our minds around what you alluded to, the material from which we are composed, all else is thought form. vTrader - sorry for the metaphysics. But this really is pertinent to your question, as you are The Creator. You create your own reality. You are enclosed only be the walls of your mind. If your career is not a good one, can you work toward another career as you maintain this job temporarily? You speak of boredom, but Eckhart Tolle would only tell you that boredom is a result of not being here and now, right here in this moment. There really is a whole metaphysical path to walk down concerning changing our realities; and most likely it starts with an inner change somewhere. Sometimes we get stuck in a particular job because we're afraid to leave it, or we're afraid to tell our spouses that we want a change. If this is the case, then the real problem is Fear, not with the job. When the fear is conquered, the problem will be conquered. When trust in yourself and your creative abilities to find employment elsewhere become stronger than your fear of leaving, then you will most likely take action. I hate being on the horns of an enema. But sometimes you just have to shut your eyes and jump.

I think this is great advice, lol. Sometimes I'll turn it on just to see if I've grown any. Not yet.

This is beautiful, Steve. We look at that identity, of what is it composed? It's composed of all the false teaching that well-meaning people have given us. Parents, teachers, friends. It is composed of fear, the opposite of love.....fear of not having enough, not being the best. It's composed of self-loathing, the suspicion that we are not as good as others. It is composed of warped concepts of what it means to be a man or a woman in today's society. It's composed of the ridiculous belief that 'stuck energy' (money) has any bearing on our happiness. It is composed watching out for me and mine, and disregarding others. How to pin it down, grasp a hold of it? I suspect it can't be done. To pin down our supposed identity (or what we have become as a result of our life's achievements) would be to stop time and stop growth. This would be to set our thoughts in cement, our view of ourself as permanent and everlasting. We change, moment to moment. Life changes, moment to moment. The ones who make it through with the most serenity are the ones who embrace the change; who haven't pinned down their identity or the identity of anyone else, for that matter. When we see the lack of substance in that identity it loses its grasp on us. And this is the illusion, right here. That we have a separate identity from each other. Whereas, we are all part of each other, and all part of the grander picture. We are most powerful when we act from the perspective of the One Life that we are all a part. It is the old trickster Ego that makes us feel that we are separate. When we do what we can to diminish Ego, then we can see the forest through the trees. That's the level where the work of letting go is done for me. It is in the losing of our specific identities, our Ego-driven characteristics, that need to fall away. When the artificial personality is gone, the real human being can emerge. Beautiful, Steve. Thank you!

Let the action come to you. Don't jump the gun (never be the first). Ask yourself what would happen if you did nothing, and start from there. And the results cannot be known, only intent can be acted upon. Don't immobilize yourself by worrying about the What If's. Don't attach your hopes to the outcome. Don't attach yourself to the outcome at all. If you are a warrior and seriously walking a path, be impeccable in the present with what is in front of you. Do not act out of judgment; rather, act out of oneness and love, as though that other person were you.

Yes, yes, yes! I love to use the Three Treasures as a measure of my own behavior. My translation of choice is Yutang: Love Never Be the First Never Too Much By following the way of the 3 Treasures, by focusing on developing those three within ourselves, it becomes a way of whittling away the undesirable egoistic and selfish behavior within ourselves. When we become as the uncarved wood of the Dao, we can let life run its course, and because we're not acting out of ego, out of fear, out of arrogance, out of selfishness - because we're not acting out of all that, we're acting out of no-acting. I'm listening to a Tolle CD in my car. Today he said "Leave. Life. Alone". Or....Let it Be. When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comforts me, Speaking words of wisdom, Let It Be. We're talking about dynamics of action here, not the failure to do what's in front of you. But once you've gotten yourself clarified, there is no longer any confusion about what to do. You will feel the tug of right action if that's what's called for at the moment. I saved a girl's life in a restaurant last month, Heimlich maneuver. I didn't Let It Be, I took action. Something inside me came alive, virtually threw me across the restaurant, and acted. It came from my instinct. My husband recently went through a rough time with his attitude. Negative, negative, negative. Talking back to the news on TV all the time, just nasty. I chose to Do Nothing. When I would do nothing (and not say anything to him about his negative attitude) and just stay silent, his negative words reverberated through the room and he was able to see them himself. He finally got tired of his own attitude because I didn't enter the dynamic. There's a big difference between the two.

Having just finished a few Tolle CD's - I think he would recommend that you embrace the is-ness of the situation without judgment. To wallow in the idea of, for example, not being able to keep a partner by comparing yourself to others is to be caught up in the 'play', as somebody mentioned above. Good advice here, but awfully hard to put into action when you're going through it. Very best wishes to you as you go through this painful present. You will have more to give others after you've gone through this experience.

In addition to all the great advice given here, please try going outside and laying face down in the grass (if there's grass where you live) - otherwise do it in the dirt. Surrender yourself completely, relax every muscle, quiet the mind. Pay attention to your breathing (hard at first, because you're face down - but soon it will get into a nice rhythm) Get to the place of no-thought, if you can. Envision waves of energy cycling through you from the earth. When I do this I can actually feel it, feel the cyclical nature of the energy. Sometimes you'll feel that the earth's magnetism is 'pulling' at your heart. This is what you're looking for - a physical connection with the Mother. Stay there as long as you can. It may do a lot to relieve the anxiety. Very best wishes. Don't be a stranger!

Yes, I'd look carefully at page 4 too. There may be something there for you. Too much synchronicity.

One more time, Red Adair to the rescue...

RE: the OP. That's an interesting question, as to whether kundalini rising is necessary for enlightenment. I suspect that it is, because my personal experience was that the k-energy would get stuck in the chakras, and it became apparent to me that I had inner work to do in regards to that particular chakra to clear it. In that regard, I think that the rising kundalini, if used for the purpose of self-development, could be very instrumental in the process of enlightenment. As to whether it's absolutely necessary, who knows? But it does seem to be a clearing out process, if used for that purpose. The very word Awakening seems to imply a period of time, more so than Enlightenment, IMO. I think Awakening can include a series of discoveries we make about ourselves - the 'Aha's!' that will pop into our psyche. I think Awakening might describe the period of time after we realize that there's so much more to the physical than we realize, when we start to awaken to the truth. And what is the truth? That we are all one entity. That the I Am of me is the very same as the I Am of you - only observed through different filters. I think 'enlightenment' connotes enlightenment 'from something', in addition to having access to the Light within. Enlightenment, to me, means to be enlightened of all structure. All of it. Buddhist, Daoist, Christian, Hindu. It all goes to the same place, and the training wheels are no longer needed once the I Am, the Oneness, is found. And once found, then what? So I realize Who I Am. What now? To live with the ramifications one day at a time. To stay present, knowing my connection to every life force on earth - to love my brother as myself - to give to another rather than take for myself. This is where the real path starts, as I see it. How to handle the ramifications.

Hod, I don't remember the song, but thank you, thank you, thank you. Not only did it give legs to my East of the Sun, West of the Moon memory, the gentle sound of Donovan's voice shot me back into the '60's like a slingshot. Yellow-phoenix, I do believe the fairy tale was an awfully early and important imprint. I married a skid-row wino (my 'troll', if you remember the story) 30 years ago. On the other side of the coin, I was his 'troll', his jailer. We've stuck it out for 30 years, both married to each other and not - and we've found a mutual metaphysical spirituality which made all the fairy tale reenactment worth it.

BOO back attacha', SpookyGhost. You've landed in the right spot, from your introductory paragraph. Very glad to have you here.

I was referring to chapter XX, DDJ (Yutang). ....."The people of the world are merry-making, As if eating of the sacrificial offerings, As if mounting the terrace in spring; I alone am mild, like one unemployed, Like a new-born babe that cannot yet smile, unattached, like one without a home. The people of the world have enough and to spare, But I am like one left out, My heart must be that of a fool, Being muddled, nebulous! The vulgar are knowing, luminous; I alone am dull, confused. The vulgar are clever, self-assured; I alone, depressed. Patient as the sea, Adrift, seemingly aimless. The people of the world all have a purpose; I alone appear stubborn and uncouth. I alone differ from the other people, And value drawing sustenance from the Mother." To me, this 'muddle-ness and nebulous-ness' refer to the fact that the Sage no longer suffers with opinion. He does not suffer from judgment. As such, he has no pointed opinions about things that others have - he sees value in every spiritual or religious teaching, realizing that everybody has their own path. The 'vulgar' have acquired knowledge only (knowing, luminous). I think that the Sage gets into the 'Alzheimer's state' by choice. The Alzheimer's patient has no choice. Of course this is not actually the build-up of plaque that the Alzheimer's patient has - it's something altogether different. It is the position of no-opinion, no-judgment, and the inquisitiveness of the child's mind.

Being able to label something is one thing. Actually going on the journey is another.

The word 'suffering' never really hit home for me. But I can sure get into 'anxiety' if I'm not in balance. Grasping, projecting, judging, fearing tomorrow. The quiet mind, once cultivated, is sheer heaven.

I've been a studier of comparative philosophy of all sorts for about 40 years. My personal experience is that when you follow all philosophies far enough (or deep enough) they all seem to end up in the same place; the I Am of all of us. They seem to come together in the hidden dynamics of metaphysics once the structure of the philosophy or religion has been transcended.

As to going blank - I can really relate to that. I've gotten to the point of no-thought, even while being out and about. There is no dialogue going on in the head - no judgment or criticism, as opposed to my prior thought process. It was very judgmental, and being without judgment of others is a wonderful freedom. There is no worrying about any problems in the future. It is all Now, as you say, Spotless. And in this state can be felt unconditional love for everyone and everything. We must just take ourselves out of the equation. Remove time, as you said. This has taken a lifetime of work for me.

The funny thing, YellowPhoenix, is that my life greatly reenacted that fairy tale. And yes - it has been a lesser known path -

Sometimes I wonder about this, lol. It's almost like a gift to us from the ethers, this losing the memory thing. I am in the early stages of dementia - okay, maybe the middle. My mom is full blown dementia and living in assisted living for that reason. I find that my story is less and less important to me; many memories are leaving me. I have much trouble with short term memory. But the wonderful thing is, that this is forcing me to stay Present. If I am in Presence (or alternatively, if I Am a Presence) the short term memory is not a problem - that's because I am focusing all my attention on what I am doing, where I am going....or fully listening to another without my dialogue going on in my own head, thinking about how I am going to respond. I do think some of these benefits have derived from years of meditation and study. But I also believe part of this to be the natural progression of the slowing down of my brain. I think of it this way: the Power that Be Within Me hasn't brought me along this path so many years only to end up in a looney bin. I must trust that there is a purposeful dynamic that will be served by the presence of the more muddled brain. As I think of it, wasn't the sage rather muddle-minded, nebulous, not-knowing?