manitou

I just couldn't agree with this more. I think that TTB's is an example of that. When extended out far enough (and in far enough), it always comes back to the I Am. Or the Void.

They only get along with the humpbacks.

Also...you're still thinking in terms of the physical body being separate from the energy body or spirit body. They're all there combined. If you've studied metaphysics at all, it's all Mind. Mind controls our physicality. Why were you bullied as a kid? Do you know?

When I was young we had a mountain cabin in California and there was a bird call that i've never been able to identify. I'm thinking maybe some kind of creeper or something. The call was 5 notes, descending. If anyone is familiar with the old song "The Portuguese Washerwoman", the bird call was the first five notes of that song. If you're a musician, it would have been G, F#, F#, E, E. Does anybody happen to know who this fellow is? This was 50 to 60 years ago, when this bird was around. I've never heard him since in any alpine areas. The altitude was about 6,000 feet, and I'm pretty sure was a summer visitor. Maybe they're not even here any more.

Lots of birdies here in Ohio right now. I love to imitate them, to whistle their song back. Except sometimes I feel bad because I'm afraid a birdie thinks he's found a mate when I answer - and then he sees me and says 'No chirpin' way'

Adorable, GMP. We're 'kitten-smitten' over here.

One Day at a Time.

And you thought we were done, lol. This is crucial, this part. I don't think a psychologist can cure years of bullying and social phobia 'just like that'. He brought you to the point where you could function within your inner dynamics and become a more normal member of society. But I think you have more work to do. Look at it this way: all the years of the bullying left you with a "comfort zone of familiarity", a feeling that wasn't comfortable, and yet it was Familiar. We tend to recreate our initial comfort zones (even if uncomfortable) through later relationships, etc. - just because we're familiar with the feeling. I call it our Emotional Bathtub Ring. The psychologist didn't pull this ring out of you. Try to see if there is something today that is causing you to sit inside this bathtub. A relationship you're in, where you're feeling 'bullied?' A family dynamic you're not speaking up about? You have to use your 'long eyes' to see this - truly zoom out into space and look at yourself without emotion, without judgment, without fear of what you'll find. You will find that you're not perfect. I think part of the problem might be that you think that psychologist 'fixed' you and you have no need to go any deeper. I underwent maybe 2 years of psychiatric help after my breakdown years ago - I did get plenty of Aha's! from that experience, but they were mainly the really obvious ones having to do with family, etc. But the psychiatrist never addressed any of it from a "you're actually manifesting this yourself" perspective. It was all about Them Doing it to Me and how I reacted. This was important stuff at the time, though. But the Way requires much introspection. Look for where you're allowing yourself to be bullied in some way.

What a beautiful post. Gratitude seems to be part of the Loving dynamic, as I see it. I love your last sentence - because somehow our Oneness (connected-ness), when we're in Awareness is the reason for the gratitude. It's an acknowledgement of those things that we normally take for granted, and see them for the wonderful things that they are. Can you feel grateful taking a shower? I can - I see the water as part of me, I talk to it (when in awareness) and I am very, very grateful that we have the simplest things like showers in this country. The other part of my heart stretches and feels sorrow for those in the world who can't do the simplest thing like take a shower. it seems to happen simultaneously. It seems to me that gratitude stems from the Here and Now. I think this aspect should be considered as well. We aren't in a state of gratitude if we're worried about an exam tomorrow, or regretting something that happened yesterday. And what a milepost gratitude is to see our own growth. For years, I felt nothing but hatred and contempt for my father. But now - years later - I feel true gratitude for the things he did do for us, and it's un-tempered by all the seemingly 'bad' stuff. Although he's deceased, I do sometimes talk to him and tell him I love him. I'm finally able to have a picture of him hanging in my bedroom. I am very grateful for this, because it shows me daily that looking at him doesn't offend me any longer, and that I really do have love for him after everything was said and done. Full circle, and Gratitude is the crowning glory of all the inner work.

I love Annie Besant. I used to go to the Theosophical Society in Hollywood CA. Right around the same time that Manley Hall was giving his lectures at the Philosophical Research Society. Wow, was he something.

Arthritis. This and the common cold, I've tried to triangulate and try to figure out 'Why' we manifest such things. Looking to the metaphysical, not the physical reasons. What is our body trying to say with arthritis? That we are frozen in place, that we need to be more flexible in some area? My husband has horrible arthritis, but I must say that his default mindset is judgmental and negative. That's not his mindset today, he's transcended it for the most part. But the darn arthritis lives on - and maybe I'm just too close to him to see the real dynamic in place. And the common cold is such a mystery. Is the body merely telling us to slow down? Or is there more involved, like some weird metaphor for 'brain melt' or something. Or maybe failure to 'breathe' and accept life on life's terms? I haven't a clue. But from time to time I do spend a little time trying to figure this out. So much easier with other body parts, so much more obvious. e.g. joint problems meaning a flexibility issue. Cancer seems to be 'something eating at us', for a long period of time. Breast cancer...motherhood stuff.

Is that you playing, Nungali? Wow! It got immediately put me into 'shimmy butt with Cairo arms' mode.

It's kind of amazing that this feels like the case when it comes to my insides, my heart. I do feel younger day by day. I've often thought that walking this path was akin to walking backwards up a stream of Time - Like, our bodies age, but something inside becomes more compassionate, less judgmental - and we return to the 'true human being' that was dealt to us at birth. Before all the contortions began. I feel like a little girl inside most of the time - and I've learned to have more fun, rather than taking stuff seriously. It really is like ageing backwards.

I do understand what you're saying here, VMarco - I do understand the Oneness of all. But this is a good way, I've found, to stay in Consciousness. It's a gimmick I use. Try it! While walking through a store or something, look in another's eyes and say to yourself 'This is the other half of me' and see if you can't feel the "shift" inside - from feeling separate from that person to feeling at One with that person. No boundaries between you - and any interaction you have with that person will be done with your defenses down and your understanding of Oneness at the fore. It's just a little trick that works.

LOL - I suppose it does, at a very deep level! Gratitude lives in close proximity to the I Am.

Yes, old fart - I am! Remember when I told you that I thought I sprained my crotch belly dancing? Well, it turned out not to be the dancing at all. It turned out to be putting all my weight on my left leg getting out of my little close-to-the-ground Prius. So now I swing both legs out before getting out. This ageing thing isn't all it's cracked up to be at all

If a person's ego is in the way of their judgment of a situation, then the viewing person is not going to be seeing with clarity. Ego causes us to 'react' a certain way to protect ourselves. If we've done what we can to tamper down and master the Ego, then clarity is achieved. There must be lots of ways to effect this change. If one is at this point in their lives and hasn't had to develop a hardened ego, then this wouldn't be such a big deal. But for those of us who have only been exposed to the Western mindset of competition in school, work, and play - then the ego usually is an impediment to seeing clearly. The mastery of the Ego allows us to act in a 360 degree response - we don't have Ego preventing us from doing something that needs be done, or seeing something that needs to be seen. If we give our ego free reign over our actions, then we have to react in a certain way. We can only react in the manner that our ego will allow us. If the ego has been mastered and can be sidestepped, then we get a full range of reactions, not just 180 degrees. Mastery of the ego allows us to act with Love, regardless of how the situation comes to us; whereas before the mastery, fire will always be met with fire. Now it can be met with Love instead, and the issue will fall into place of its own accord. There is no face-saving involved. ( Note: This is how it has worked for me, anyway. In my particular case, I had huge ego barriers (due mainly to my lack of self esteem at the time, and also due to the fact that I had been a police officer and developed a real arrogance there.) I had to work on ego issues to stay sober, once I got into recovery. So I am a true 'before' and 'after' picture of ego prior to and after the work that needed done. But perhaps you are one of the lucky ones that has found a way to do the inner work in another way involving nature - or perhaps you have very little ego to contend with from the get-go.) If your clarity is a straight shot down to the I Am, what the heck? Don't worry about it!)

I think this is excellently put. I am the same - western docs can be part of the input, but I am the final decider. The doc doesn't take into consideration the metaphysical reason for the disease (at least none that I've met) and I believe the metaphysical reason to be crucial. If the offending dynamic remains, there is nothing to prevent re-manifestation of the malady over and over.

Have you found that this humility extends out to all areas of a student's life? Or just on the mat? Of course this would differ from individual to individual, but is there a discipline that stresses taking it out into the street as well?

There you go.... Or something about removing the log from your own eye before removing the speck from another's.....

Perceiver - I tend to see spirituality in all maladies. Think back over the last several years of your life. Look at your family and social connections. Is there something you NEED to say to someone, but you've been reluctant or fearful of doing so, because it would rock the boat?

Isn't humility obtained by mindfully going through life, apologizing when we are wrong, allowing others to have the first place, giving someone else the biggest piece of pie, even though they don't see you doing it? Isn't humility picking up a piece of trash in a parking lot and going out of your way to toss it into a dumpster? Isn't humility the same as 'not taking the credit' when we seemingly accomplish something? To realize that it's not our Acquired Personality that has actually performed the task, but that which lives under the Acquired Personality? Is there a tradition that can teach how to get under the Acquired Personality? Is this tradition found in MMA? How incredible, if it is! I can see where if a pupil is under the tutelage of a teacher, rinpoche, or master - and the student is fully compliant with what the Master says, then perhaps this creates a type of humility if done for a period of time. But does this ensure that the student will be humble in Life when not in the presence of his teacher?

Good point, this. Some dreams are of a very short duration but seem to cover so much material! Apparently our dreams aren't framed in the same linearity as our waking thoughts. Must be some sort of time-fold-warp-Here&Now thing happening in our dreams.

I love those Buddha at the Gas Pump interviews. So once we've Awakened, a very simple way of staying in an Awakened mindset is to see each and every person you run into as 'the other half of yourself'. If we can do this, it levels the playing field so that no egos are higher or lower, all is equal. No reason to harm or be harmed because we're all the same basic Entity. The only thing left to do, in that case, is to 'love your brother as yourself'. True compassion, as the thread is titled, is to realize that you are everyone else. Every set of eyes on the planet is part of the one great Whole. Even potatoes have 'em. Compassion is a funny thing. True compassion must sometimes make the tough choices, to say 'No' when the person you're talking to wants to hear 'Yes', etc. But even acting 'to the contrary' is an act of Love if done with the right intent and for the right reason.

Is your avatar really a picture of your new car?