manitou

I'm coming in rather late to the conversation but I do have a few thoughts. They relate to karma. We, the U.S., in order to build our country, kidnapped nearly an entire continent of people to build it for us against their will. Then, once the country was built, the kidnapped and enslaved people were released, but no further thought was given to their welfare. There was no organized attempt to socialize the freed slaves into society, no organized attempt to teach them living skills appropriate for this country. Then, from the mid 1800's to the present time, we white folks have treated the ancestors of the slaves with contempt; an attitude of barely 'tolerating' them. Being quite content to see them living in projects, living nearly at an animal level. Keeping them separate and unequal. We say 'It wasn't me that did this - it was my ancestor!' (My ancestors, the Greenleafs, were actually builders of slave ships in Massachussetts in the 1700's - I do not exempt my self from this story either) And do recall that time is an illusion, that it's all actually happening now. It sure is, it's still happening. Whoopie, we have a black president. Personally, I love him. But did anybody else catch the snippet on the news right after he was first inaugurated when it showed a group of republicans rallying and vying to get the White House back? Do you know what they actually said (I heard it on MSNBC but only heard this clip once - I looked for it again and again and never saw it again) - there was a republican man standing at a podium and getting everyone excited, saying "What's the first thing we're going to do when we get the White House back?" And someone in the crowd shouted "Fumigate It!" resulting in peals of laughter. that's what I'm talking about. What the F**k kind of karma do we think we deserve?? The laws of equity in the universe are not going to let this nation escape its karma. We don't deserve to escape the karma. Of course we're going down. That which must be deflated must first be inflated. Our inflation is about at an end, IMO.

The way I find that it works when you love your brother as yourself there is no separation between you and him. One wouldn't love their enemy and thrash them at the same time. It's just to realize that you too have those negative tendencies within you, although they may not be playing out at the moment in time that the other person is acting out the negative. And it's all a matter of degree. We wouldn't be able to recognize the ugly within another if we didn't also possess it within ourselves somewhere.

It's always darkest before the dawn, comes to my mind. The dark night of the soul sort of thing. Try lifting a finger to bend the light just a little and change up your routine. Something as simple as drinking more water during the day? I always feel more energized if I drink lots of water. I know you're not talking about physical energy, although that surely enters into it. You're talking about a mental ennui that places you in the dead zone. I'll bet there's not a K-active person around who hasn't spent their share of time in the zone. Maybe that's part of it, it seems to be. You will stop being treated like a child and worrying about what your folks expect of you when you display to them the fact that you are an adult - when your actions follow suit. Are you still in their home? Move out. Are you waiting tables in their restaurant? Find another job. Do your folks put a guilt trip on you about helping the family out? Then in the most loving and gentle way you can, put yourself first, do what you want to do for a living, and find a compromise position of continuing to help the family out if they need the help. This is probably way too mundane for you, but sometimes we just have to take physical action first to get the emotional to follow suit. We can't think our way out of the condition, it only gets worse like a snowball rolling downhill and getting bigger. But know one thing, darling. You are loved here.

Periodically the tinnitus will include voices in the distance - it usually sounds to me like people playing at the beach! We live out here in the middle of nowhere and there's no one around. I try to listen to see if I can make out any actual words, but I can't seem to quite hear it. But a truly odd sensation when it happens.

I like that, White Wolf. The forge. Yes. And as long as I've got you on the line, I have to tell you that my old man periodically thinks about joining this forum. He really likes your moniker, White Wolf Running on Air. He may join as Old Man Running on Oxygen one day soon, lol.

Aah yes, the tinnitus. It's unbelievable. The way I deal with that now is to respect it as the creative current or a type of 'shine' sound. It could drive you nuts if you let it. Thanks for your comments, I do resort to the MCO but not as often as I should to keep it at a lower level. Guess I've just gotten used to it.

I apologize in advance for perhaps not following exactly your initial post. It was a bit on the long side. I understand what you say about not relying on the kundalini spirit to spout out knowledge. What I have experienced is that the kundalini energy will mess around with a chakra (in other words, we're aware of the particular chakra that it's sitting in) and bring forth the situations that are needed to remedy that which needs to be addressed. The power chakra? The heart chakra, etc? If we understand the purpose of the kundalini energy, it is a clearing out process that brings us to straight thinking. In the past 7 years, my K-energy has gone through the chakras, first up the front, then down the back - messing with me at each and every chakra stop along the way until I got the message it was trying to get through my thick head. The K-energy now often sits right under my crown chakra or splits and sits in my shoulder blades. But because I have paid serious attention to it, it has given me the ability to triangulate, or see with a third eye. The physical sensation remain bothersome to me, however - the constant buzzings and tinglings and the horribly hot feeling of the underside of your skin being on fire. Especially at the top of my head. I'm getting pretty good at ignoring the symptoms, but I've definitely benefitted from the process as a whole. I never asked for the damn thing (at least consciously), but I realize now that it is something that probably cannot be avoided if the spirit chooses to use you as a host.

Would you call Freemasonry a secret society? I don't know if it would qualify or not. But I do know that the 33rd degree of the Scottish rites ends in the I Am consciousness in the guise of the 'god' inside of us that the Freemasons refer to as Hiram Abiff. In other words, We are It. What I think is that all we can see is the bottom of the cloud, and it sure looks chaotic at this point in time. But we can't see the top of the cloud, and some pretty fantastic things are happening there. It takes people with developed eyes to be able to see the enlightenment, but it is all around us, we just don't recognize something that is above our vision level. I think just of the Tao Bums and the years I've spent on this forum. Maybe it's just me, but in between the bickerings there is a level of enlightenment that has increased over the years, in general. And that's because we've bounced off each other for years, we've challenged each other - and we have all benefited. I know this doesn't get into your alien questions at all, but that isn't something I think about much. My mind is pretty open to anything, so nothing at all would surprise me.

There's your huckleberry. and in my experience the power-feeling must be the power that comes through us, as opposed to us feeling that we are generating the power ourselves. Ego remains the enemy to the true, silent power of the sage.

The thing that pops out at me is that feeling powerful involves ego - a separation of yourself from the rest, feeling more powerful than others. As opposed to feeling happy and grateful, as you put it.....I don't think the two mindsets can peacefully co-exist. To feel grateful would be to feel as part of the Whole, sensing your humility and realizing that you are part of the magnificent Whole. I'm doing a lot of studying now on Science of Mind, and it addresses this same thing. Healings are not done from a place of a power-feeling; rather, they're done from alignment with what's already perfect and existing, removing error thinking.

The use of the term Falling in Love has a connotation of exclusivity, as with one person. We've all done this, but usually with selfish motives and a disappointment down the road because 'they' are not who we thought they were and they aren't capable of 'satisfying all our needs'. This often involves selfishness and a desire to have our own needs met. Doesn't it seem that the kind of Love we're talking about here is a universal phenomenon, as opposed to an individualized one? Falling in love is a strange thing. I 'fell in love' about 30 years ago with a man in the most dire situation - an alkie who could not stay sober for more than a few months at a time. His drinking time was spent on skid row, bouncing between two worlds, like one foot on a banana peel, the other in hell, if there were such a place. My own sick 'need to fix someone other than myself' kept me in check within this relationship. However, a funny thing happened. We were both able to transcend ourselves, over the years, and after doing inner work fix our own inner selves to a goodly degree. The relationship is most satisfactory now, after a lot of ins an outs - and the love I feel for him isn't the wild intense love of my youth - but rather a mature and ripened love and tolerance for another human and their foibles. and he for me, I know. Accepting the whole enchilada as it is. To me, that's love. I do actually think there is an activity, an achievement that involves transcension of this type. It has to do with finding a way to love ourselves first, to get down to the nitty gritty of who we really are. As you succinctly put, you have lost your desire to punish. The hardest one to stop punishing is ourselves - our inner self knows our character, not our façade. We can quote all the beautiful words in the world and sound very learned and wise - but there is no shortcut on turning our eyes into ourselves and untangling those knotted noodles so we can get down to Truth and Self. I think if Love (the type of agape or unconditional love we're talking about here) manifested on its own with no effort, this world would be a much better place than it appears to be. It is an absolute Practice to keep one's eyes high, focused on the good and the beautiful. Our thoughts have much more power than we think they do, and they affect those around us, aura to aura. Thoughts are tangible things, the masters tell.

Flofolil, what a beautiful topic for discussion. When I read your initial post I happened to be reading, 'How to Use the Science of Mind' by Ernest Holmes. Mr. Holmes is trying to communicate the healing mindset necessary to enable the healing, and he speaks of this unconditional love in this way. It seems to fit: (please sidestep the biblical reference if needed): EXAMPLE "I will fear no evil for thou art with me." Today Divine Love and infinite tenderness sustain me. In order that I shall not separate myself from this love, I endeavor to see it reflected in everyone and everything. I shall permit only that which is loving, kind and true to find entrance or exit through my consciousness. Thus I shall be assured that I am bathed in the warm glow of that Love which casts out all fear. Today I bestow the essence of love upon everything. Everyone shall be lovely to me. My soul meets the soul of the universe in everyone. Nothing is ugly; everything is beautiful, everything is meaningful. This love is a healing power touching everything into wholeness, healing the wounds of experience with its divine balm. I know that this Love Essence, the very substance of Life, the creative Principle back of everything, flows through my whole being, spiritual, emotional, mental and physical. It flows I transcendent loveliness into my world of thought and form, ever renewing, vitalizing, bringing joy and harmony and blessing to everything and everyone it touches." And then he continues: Although it is not easy, something stimulates him to persist in his effort, so he gradually reverses his thoughts about people. He comes into harmony with life. He unifies with living. He begins to see good in everything. As he does this, the good that was already in him, the love that had merely been wearing the mask of hate, the jealousies, animosities and resentments which had been born of a sense of isolation, disappear. The love which was already there comes to the surface. People begin to see that a great change has come over him, that, after all, he is not such a bad person, there is much in him to admire. Gradually, this thought changes from one of speculation to one of confidence, from one of intellectual analysis to one of deep emotional response, and finally, to one of spiritual awareness whereby people see in him the embodiment of love, of kindness, of sympathy and of fellowship. He has found union with love. He no longer seeks it. He is it. Flolfolil, it is a mighty worthy goal you have set for yourself, as I see it.

I think that's exactly right. Why not start practicing trust, knowing that the world is a friendly place when we are in consciousness of the connectedness of all life? To choose the path of not-trusting seems to me to be based on fear of what other people may think - like thinking you're too naïve or something - can't quite put my finger on it. We might as well choose the reality we want - a high one or a low one. Like when the Nazarene said something about casting your eyes high into the hills. It's all in how we choose to look at things. And when we start manifesting a more balanced life because we have chosen our focus, and by god, it works......this is the proof that we individually need to continue up the trust of the unity and working-together of everything. The more we see that it actually works (and we're not really crazy) the more we can turn over to just watching the passing parade and not being horrified, judgmental, or even overly attracted to something.

I'm currently reading Ken Wilber's book No Boundary. He puts into words beautifully something that we touch on often in our discussions, the unity of opposites or the Oneness of everything. Hopefully someone will find his words useful: "Most of our 'problems of living', then, are based on the illusion that the opposites can and should be separated and isolated from one another. But since all opposites are actually aspects of one underlying reality, this is like trying to totally separate the two ends of a single rubber band. All you can do is pull harder and harder - until something violently snaps. Thus we might be able to understand that, in all the mystical traditions the world over, one who sees through the illusion of the opposites is called "liberated." Because he is "freed from the pairs" of opposites, he is freed in this life from the fundamentally nonsensical problems and conflicts involved in the war of opposites. He no longer manipulates the opposites one against the other in his search for peace, but instead transcends them both. Not good vs. evil but beyond good and evil. Not life against death but a center of awareness that transcends both. The point is not to separate the opposites and make "positive progress," but rather to unify and harmonize the opposites, both positive and negative, by discovering a ground which transcends and encompasses them both. And that ground, as we will soon see, is unity consciousness itself. In the meantime, let us note, as does the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, that liberation is not freedom from the negative, but freedom from the pairs altogether: Content with getting what arrives of itself Passed beyond the pairs, free from envy, Not attached to success nor failure, Even acting, he is not bound. He is to be recognized as eternally free Who neither loathes nor craves; For he that is freed from the pairs, Is easily freed from conflict."

I only say what I say because it comes from my personal experience. I recognize my mind in your mind - your mind is incredible - you have the mind of a scientist or something close. I have the mind of a detective. It is very tricky to shut down minds like ours but it must be done, because we can't Think our way into the answers on this one. We're very clever about fooling ourselves and letting ego be the master of our thoughts. If, at some point, the inner journey isn't taken, then the journey is only half finished. A person can start taking the inner journey, the self-cultivation, by merely reflecting on our own behavior day after day - how could I have been kinder today? Did I say something I should apologize for? What are my real motives for doing what I did? Follow the real motives to the bottom, the underlying selfishness. See it all for what it is, all the contortions, and the awareness of them will straighten them out. It is only after the clearance sale on the inside that we can truly see our part in everything that happens around us and a different type of clarity is achieved - a clarity that can't be won by thinking. It's a clarity arrived by placing one of the legs of the tripod within your cleared-out self, because your cleared-out self is the same self we all possess; only we let the dross accumulate on top of it and warp it. I know I am being a pain in the arse here and nobody wants to hear it. But it is the only way down the emotional path to the One. The cerebral path alone won't get you there. Best wishes

also, Doubt is an indication that your mind is set upon something. I think it's better to remain teachable and let doubt take you where it may.

what if the 'dead in Christ' means those Christians who are truly dead inside? The ones who think that all they have to do is join the Jesus club, put their money in the plate on Sunday, and are assured some sort of eternal palace to live in for ever and ever as a reward for 'believing' in Jesus? I see no difference between Believing in Jesus and Believing in Santa. The "Christians" I've met in this part of the country (Midwest) are some of the most mean-spirit folks I've ever come across. No social consciences, not a care in the world for those who haven't as much as they - in fact, often a contempt. I hate to paint Christians with such a wide brush, but I'm only speaking for those I've found here in the spiritually-incestuous Ohio Valley, a place where people are born and never seem to leave. It raises hypocracy to an art form. If those same Christians would uncover the "God" within and stop judging everyone else around them I think they could develop a much deeper understanding of what they're looking for. They are a part of the Whole, and yet that arrogant mindset of Only Through Jesus Can You Find God keeps reassuring them that they alone have the answers and are above everyone else. I think the whole rapture thing is an offshoot of the arrogance, and I wouldn't give another thought as to how the rapture is going to work. My feeling is these folks are more deluded than most.

You're trying to do it all with logic. Please consider doing inner work so the intuitive part of you comes to the fore. The questions will align with answers that are already there, once you get yourself out of the way. Getting to the intuitive means that the answers don't have to follow logic or linear alignment. The puzzle will come together.

what kind of doubts are you talking about? You have certainly reached a place of grand discrimination, which would be as a result of doubt that one is right, one is wrong for you. Why do you see this as undesirable?

That damn Eve did it again

He couldn't find a replacement because he wasn't looking in the right place. He should have looked in the most unlikely place, within himself. He would've found what he was seeking rather than come to the conclusion that because He couldn't find it, therefore nothing exists. He just didn't find it, that's all. When you talk about Beliefs you talk about something of the head, a left brain decision made from conscious evaluation of data that you've accrued 'out there'. When you speak of Realization it's a totally different thing altogether. Realization are gulps of truth we see about ourselves or life's patterns that are as a result of experience; a merger of the left brain organization with the right brain intuition and knowledge from experience. (Please forgive my oversimplification by referring to left and right brain, but I think it works for these purposes) this is called self-cultivation. I doubt that he did it.

Lao Tzu would say the utility of the pond was in its emptiness, lol.

Actually, Marbles, I'm in full agreement to the idea that God Is Dead. I fully agree with your Mr. N. But I think God is Dead in the sense that the idea of a god being "out there somewhere" directing traffic for the world is what he was talking about. Perhaps if he had lived a bit longer he may have evolved a bit further and gotten down to the golden fleece. Mr. N. "was" God, if you will - only he wasn't in awareness of it.

LOL, you darling thing. So that being the case, why bother with philosophy? the cells of the body are dead but the current of life that moved through the cells for 70 years is not dead. It's elsewhere.