manitou

Maybe it's best to remember that the Tao treats us all like straw dogs. As far as I'm concerned, your words are right and can't be argued with. instead, it's merely a choice of what perspective one chooses. You prefer to label things like ugly, unfair, greedy; all the result of judgments. My only point is that Tao, the Void, whatever you want to call it, doesn't give a hang who lives or dies. Or how that death occurs. We are straw dogs. There is a loving principle underlying, however, which in the end commands the order of the universe. A positive attraction, if you'd rather. We can choose to tap into that as much or as little as we wish. My wish is to tap into it as completely as I can, to align my personality with what I know to be the divine truths. This I am dead serious about. We are all One and the Same, stretching over the eras. Waiting for Jesus to come? Who cares? He's already here, he's always been here, and he's present in You, whether you know it or not. There's no good or bad. It just is.

I think that talking about the concept of Evil is a dualistic approach to a non-dualistic problem. What is evil, but the nonexistence of light? To call something Evil seems to indicate that there is an intent behind the act. Perhaps there's no evil at all, just lack of enlightenment. To call something evil is to make an unnecessary judgment. The TTC also eschews the fake quality of evil, to expand your thought a bit further. As to greed, yes, we all have it. It may be our first thought. But our second thought is the one that counts. Do we have to act out that greed? No. Can we modify our thinking over a period of time, if we are impeccable, as don Juan Mateus says? Yes. And at some point, greed takes the back seat. As to Health and Wealth, as you alluded to - yes,perhaps that is required to get through this life without misery. But that's a pretty low bar, just to be not-miserable. To find ourselves wrapped in divine love toward everyone and everything (regardless of their actions or how they feel about us) is a much higher bar, and one well worth aspiring to. it is only reached through the inner work and taming the ego and the selfish qualities within ourselves.

You're rght. When I originally got sober 31 years ago it was all about guilt, a troubled conscience, a sense of doubt and low self-esteem. Luckily the 12 steps of recovery got the peeling the onion process started. It has continued on its own for 31 years. Your idea of inspirational speakers isn't quite right. The words to truly heal come from within, not from without. Do-it-yourself analysis does indeed work if the motivation is pure and there is a bit of a framework that is tried and true, as the recovery process above described. It's as though there are two people sitting on two sides of a river. One has his eyes closed and is insisting that there is only one shore to the river. The one on the other side can clearly see that there are two sides. Who to believe? I so agree with Flowing Hands that Jesus was a shaman, just like us. We all have the potenial he had; he knew exactly who he was. Some of us are realizing that we too are him, the clues are within all of us. but the discovery of the real thing inside can't be done until the onion is peeled. Jesus peeled his onion, that's all. The magic came after.

Self examination is to begin the self realization of one's self. There's not a sage around that hasn't done this. it's a peeling the onion proposition, a do-it-yourself project. There are many ways to get there; but most importantly it's to determine one's own motives at any given time - to look under the reasons and motivations for your own actions and your own reactions. To recapitulate how you've lived your life up to this time, to make the amends to people you've sort of screwed over in the past. To make amends here in the present, if warranted. To keep your side of the street swept off always, always attempting with everything inside you to be the channel, the voice of the Wisdom that is inherent in all of us. It's just that it's the pony at the bottom fo the manure pile. It takes some serious work to get down there. it's the very thing that gives the sage the clarity to see things as they really are, as he sees himself as he really is. Once the self is conquered all other things can be seen, as we are all One and it's merely to witness the dynamics not only in ourself but in others as well. It all springs from the same source, the Void.

We have to suffer until the body dies only if we are living in attachment to our body. it's our choice whether to transcend the limited self or not - and to realize that our thoughts are All One, that we are All One, and that our individual limitations are in our own mind. We are gods acting like god-damn fools, to quote lester levenson. The way to wisdom is to study and reform the self. Best started, at this stage of development, by examining one's motives for everything we do. the real motives, not the excuses.

"We are all gods acting like god-damn fools" -Lester Levenson-

I would add that there must be a component of self-realization in attaining the inner wisdom as well. The wisdom of experiential realization.

There is the aspect too, where this chapter focuses on stilling the mind - in other words, to stop the chatter is the same as making no distinctions; and further, to make no judgments. This is the optimal mindset. When we don't place 'good' and 'bad' on things we are serene in accepting life as it is, not as we think it should be. Boring, itchy, miserable....these are all judgments and choices. The Tao is found by nonjudgment and loving attention to what is in front of us.

To understand this further, Is this to say that you wish to choose from the perspective of no-person, no individuation, and act from that perspective? And all direction .... is this to say there is no east / west / up / down / forward / backward? It's all relative? I've heard it said that 'all time and all space are yours'. Is this where your head is at on this one? My recent musing: To accomplish healing in another, one must Know that they are divine; both the healer and the one being healed. This knowledge must be beyond belief of the mind; rather it must be Knowledge of the Heart.

Watch him for a while, without preconception -

hey, that linguine with cuttlefish and ink sauce looked pretty good on the wikipedia page....

the metaphor of the eye works on the purely physical level as well. The one thing we all have in common is the black dots in the middle of our eyes - human, animal or insect. To stay in the One-consciousness talk directly to the black dot in front of you, knowing that you are That.

Hi Boy - been watching the wu-wei that Mr. Obama has been doing since coming into office. I first noticed it after the first time N. Korea shot off their missiles and Mr. Obama contained the situation by acting out The Art of War; by 'not-doing', it got done. He has been doing this ever since taking office. Apparently the Dalai Lama has noticed this as well - he has been to the White House on 3 occasions, the first time uninvited, on his own volition. Whether you want to call it wu-wei or just plain shamanic sorcery, the man knows exactly what to do, what not to do, and when to do it. It's a pure joy to watch this man in action; or non-action, as the case may be. All things fall into place at precisely the right moment. He will always take the high road when an action is needed.

It seems to me that this big internet thing is a living, breathing entity that we create as we go along; that when we post something onto TTB's (or the internet in general) we're adding to our communal knowledge and communal consciousness. Even if nobody ever reads any of this stuff, it's still being input into the pool of knowledge. I plan to use this thread to continue to post my own early morning (or late night) thoughts; the ones that seem to come from out of nowhere, but which seem to tap into something which we're always trying to describe; the place where words end and Knowledge takes over. If others would join me, I'd be thrilled. I just know there are some great off-the-wall thoughts that remain hidden in bashful minds. My most recent quasi-profound thought: We are god pretending to be a human.

Progression has more to do with getting ourselves out of the way than anything else. Sometimes we've just got to take a break from the inner dynamics and let it all settle. It's not a race anyway.

Hi! The place is the Oneness of knowing we are all god.

Late at night I take a couple tokes before reading a metaphysical book. It turns something one dimensional into something multi-dimensional and many more angles are seen.

All goes to the same place.

You're enlightened when you real-ize that you're enlightened.

I got into a meditative state beyond the blissful about a week ago - as CT says - it was terrifying. I was All There Is. There was no one or no thing out there - only my consciousness; I could feel any remnants of my personality melt away, like a sheet being pulled at all four corners with no wrinkles of personality left. My thoughts were simultaneous in the past, present, and future. I was all there is. The future was all up to me - there was nothing to look forward to because nothing else existed. It was a lonely place to be. I knew I had the decision as to whether to come back or not. I think fear brought me back, although I was tempted to let go and let the Nothingness take me. I wanted to live, that's all. It was actually a pretty horrible feeling.

Someone left the cake out in the rain.

I think we are the communal spirit that is constantly trying to perfect itself.

I hate to be so mundane, but check out the 12 steps to recovery on an AA website. substitute the word God for anything that fits. How did you achieve your clarity? By some internal housekeeping, I'll bet. By checking our underlying motives in everything we do or way (optimally) - by realizing that we've been indoctrinated to a negative and fearful mindset by well-intended people, and it's only through totally trusting the universe (or God, in some mindsets) and knowing that we are always going to be okay, regardless of the circumstances. By removing our judgment of other people, the best we can. By realizing that each and every one of us is 'god' and to judge someone is merely to cut off a part of yourself. The rub is that this is the part of clarity that is experiential and can't much be communicated in a talk; the best you an do is sort of point to the moon. Each individual must get to the pony under his own manure pile, by truly looking at himself as a being, emotionless, and making those changes which currently muddy the waters, which prevent clarity of reflection. It's an inside job for sure. I find it odd that the Western religiions don't have much of a device for 'going in' (Catholic maybe, but beyond 'confession' there must be actions to rectify as well). We're an arrogant lot, us westerners. We are all responsible for our own lives.

Only clear water can reflect the sun. Any illumination I possess happened accidentally as a result of having to take steps to change my character from the inside - to make myself more comfortable so I wouldn't drink. What i didn't realize when I started all this 31 years ago is that it would lead to a self realization that I didn't know I was looking for. The inner work is essential. Understanding our own motives. Checking our own behavior. Taming our own thoughts. Cutting off the inner dialogue. Becoming non-judgmental beings who find the ability to love it all because it's all One, and to not love another is to cut off a piece of ourself.