manitou

That sure resonates, Taomeow.

Musician here too. The most beautiful moment of a symphony is the silence before the baton comes down. Everything beyond that is elimination of possibility. When the beat and feeling of the piece are allowed to come from that place of silence, it is then that Spirit manifests itself as a musical entity. I try for this very thing on keyboard.

What would the Sage say about all this?

Equally coincidentally is that I found that same book at yet another yard sale years ago. I still have it too.

Yes, there are periodically things in the book that one must sidestep, I think mainly because of the era it was written in (around 1900 on the Advanced course) - the first book must certainly have been much older than that. The Bushmen comment is an example - perhaps their state of anthropological knowledge was incomplete or a bit arrogant.

What a beautiful post, Steve - I'm glad to find a kindred spirit that appreciates that book. The paradoxes that are discussed are wonderful, in the later precepts. "The peace that passeth all understanding". This is what my old Lutheran pastor would wish upon the congregation after each sermon. I know there are probably plenty of mature Christians, I just don't happen to know any of them around here in my part of the country. The ones that I know around here are still into fire and brimstone and God and Devil; they've not yet transcended their structure, which is a jungle gym that can only take you so high. But the concept of the Peace that Passeth all Understanding is exactly the counterpart to the stillness we're talking about here - that precious Silence upon you can rest in any situation, once you've developed the mind and the inner pathway to do so. As with the Tao. All the same stillness. What would a Buddhist call it, nirvana? I'm not sure. It's that stillness that leads me to Know that all is One. So IMO the thing that's missing from the fundies is the knowledge that they have inner work to do; rather, it's much easier to believe that as long as we show up on Sundays and give an offering, and oh year, celebrate Jesus' birthday on December 25, well then, that ought to keep us out of the fiery place. But the mature Christian who has climbed out of this childlike structure and realizes that the true journey is an Inner one - then and only then will he find the peace he seeks.

Wow, Gerard. You just blew my metaphysical skirt up. Metaphysics as a genre (what a laugh!) seems to pull ideas from the inner workings of the world's great religions, as it seems that they have all discovered parts of the mystery. I see metaphysics as a bit of a clearing house that perhaps gleans what it wants from each, and then uses common sense (rather than fable) to sort it all through. We metaphysicians realize at some point in time that it's more useful to look at the world from the inside out rather than from the outside in. When we realize Who We Really Are and manifest from that knowledge, ('we' being the Creator) then all things become possible and there are no limitations with the religious mindset problem. This dovetails so beautifully into Daoism, and it seems to dovetail into the Buddhist as well, judging from the mindset of the advanced Buddhists on this site. I'm of the opinion (no, the Knowledge) that we're all talking about the same damn thing whatever we want to call it. I had a strange run in with schizophrenia the other day. My old man and I were buying popcorn at a movie counter, and the surface of the counter we were standing at had a bunch of brown swirls with tan background. As I looked a little closer (while waiting for the popcorn) I noticed that the little brown swirls all had the manitou of twisted and screaming faces swirling in a type of fiery hell. For some odd reason, I sort of giggled and pointed this out to the popcorn girl. Why I did that, I haven't a clue. But she blanched and looked up at me and said "And Oh my God, I've got Schizophrenia!" she was shaken by the images on the counter which she hadn't noticed before. I felt HORRIBLE! But then, I realized that it was such an unusual thing to say and such an unusual circumstance, that certainly the reason it was brought out was something within her that needed to be addressed at this time. I grabbed both her hands and told her how sorry I was, but that there was something in this experience for her to address. I told her to handle it with Love and to shield herself with Love, and that nothing could get to her. She said she thought she'd be okay. I looked for her after the movie but she was gone. I'm hoping her shift was really over and she hadn't just freaked out and gone home.

I think this is the introduction into Oneness. We are all the same, have the same needs at the bottom of the personality. The personality is merely an offshoot of the conditioning we had as a kid. Once the personality is delved into and virtually stripped away, the Essence appears. But what power knowing that what we put out there is the same as what we get back. Yes, we can change attitudes, we can change mindsets, we can earnestly try to kick up our kindness throughout the day. When this happens, our manifestations change. Spirit (or whatever) brings to us that which we need. If there is nothing more I've learned for the past 50 years of metaphysical searching (which has taken me temporarily through lots of religious mindsets to glean what is there to understand on my own path) I've learned that the Universe is truly a friendly place when we get our own personality quirks out of the way. We are the projector for the film.

On the appearance, this won't seem pertinent at all. If anybody wishes to work the 12 steps of recovery to get to their Source, I'd be happy to work with them. This template is not fun.

I equate Hagar's experience with the consciousness of I Am, where your connection to the eternal is always with you. It lies underneath the fear of death at its deepest levels. when that fear's been conquered, what's left? (Actually, it's more of an embracing the concept of death as being the other side of birth). I also think it's a connection with the understanding that not always will you always be, you've always been.

This is the measure of Aaron's impeccability. Character is what we do when no one is looking. Aaron has a very nice future indeed.

If there was a protest anywhere near Bumfuk, Ohio I'd be carrying a sign. Joe, your points are so far over my head it's ridiculous, but i'm sure they're very viable. As I see it, your final point was that the rich are already paying their fair share? I don't know - I'm no accountant. The thing that I just can't seem to get past is the folks in the high-rises involved in the money trading game make out like bandits. The rest of us here seem to take it in the shorts. Sure, Herman Cain makes a good point - if you want to get rich, go out to work and get rich. But what Herman Cain isn't taking into consideration are all the people who aren't capable of doing that. People with all sorts of disorders and who don't possess the mental acumen that someone like Mr. Cain does. I see these people all over the place here. They're depressed, they're unmotivated, they're fat, and life has passed them by because their skills have been rendered useless. I need to get pretty controversial here. Let me apologize to anyone in advance if I offend someone. We know that time is an illusion. Einstein proved that. In essence, everything is Here and Now. It's easy to blame conditions on what our ancestors did, but we have to realize that we stand directly on the shoulders of our ancestors, and by that measure everything we have and enjoy today is because of our ancestors. What I'm getting at is what our caucasian ancestors did. They kidnapped people from an entire continent, enslaved them in chains, and forced them to work at the end of a whip to build up our country. Even our capitol was built by slaves. I think our national karma started the day we kidnapped our first African. Okay, so the slaves were ultimately freed. And then what happened? Were these folks supposed to suddenly rise up with sophisticated thought processes and build a viable economic future for their family? People who had come from a tribal society? Or would they most likely rely on the government assistance, just like they were forced to rely on the plantation owners? I think the answer is choice two. I don't think our forefathers had the whole picture in mind. Sure, the Industrial Revolution was gearing up shortly thereafter and there was plenty of menial work for everyone - including freed slaves entering the market. But with the shipping off of the more industrialized and menial jobs, these again were the very people who were left out in the cold. We have never taken the personal responsibility as a nation to rectify the horrible things our ancestors did to those they kidnapped, and their descendants. We've never taken the time to offer any sort of reeducation on a large basis for the condition of this societal remnant. But whether one wants to see reparations, or merely a continuation and betterment of the system already in place (government assistance) I think we all must admit that 'we' created the problem of the many people living in projects and not doing very well in life at all. Another part of the equation, I think, is that unions must get more realistic in their demands in the future. The unions will have to keep an eye on the financial health of the business which they are protesting against and not assume that the pockets are bottomless. Those times seem to be gone. What I'm getting at, is that I would certainly be willing to pay a little more if it would help to rectify the unjustness of all of this. There's no way the upper 1% can maintain their status if the 99% on the ladder below them fall. A few of the one percenters see this, but not nearly enough.

Well I for one would certainly attest to pot's mind-expanding qualities.

First of all, I can't believe you actually found the thing. I have one old beat up jalopy of a copy that I found (at a yard sale, of course!) about 25 years ago. I've read this book (and the TTC) multiple times over many years and I see no discrepancy between the two philosophies - just different emphasis in different areas. This little book emphasizes the I Am consciousness and speaks from that position, much as The Impersonal Life. It is the trio of these three writings that have been the basis of my understanding of things metaphysical. (Actually, I'd have to throw Castaneda in there as well). From the branch I'm currently sitting on, I see it as all one thing. Maybe some day I'll wise up and see all this for the 10,000 things they really are.

LOL. Interesting and oddly simple, Lerner!

Really interesting article, Apech. thanks for posting it. My personal thoughts are that we have lost so very much from the time of the Ancients. Their attunement with the creative force was ever so much with them - they lived under the stars, they slept on the ground, they were at the total mercy of the weather. Their life cycles reflected the seasons. It was all total symmetry in that sense. As we have become more and more sophisticated (or removed from the Real nature of things) we've lost this nature and our brains have taken us in a different course of human development. I read something one day (can't remember where) which indicated that the Ancients had the very same brain development that we have. Same size, same everything. In other words, if we were to be magically transported back to those days, our brains would have us do probably the exact same thing that they did under the circumstances. We wouldn't be any smarter at all (aside from accumulated information in our collective consciousness).It's so easy for our modern society to feel arrogant and that we have evolved so very far....and yet sometimes nothing could be further from the truth. As far out in space as science has to go to understand the nature of what's around us, the other side of the coin is that we have to go just as far inside us to get both sides of the picture. Without the combination of the external and internal understanding, the delicate balance of life can't be understood. the chemistry of both must be mixed within for the full picture.

It just seems like the Profit Motive has outlived itself as a viable means of continuing society, at least here in the West. There may be other places in the world where the introduction of the Profit Motive may actually help at this point in time. But here...it seems to have outlived its usefulness. This was a perfect tool when we were in the Industrial Revolution - it all worked. But now, since outsourcing and placing factories where labor is cheaper....this is certainly the end result of where the profit motive has taken us. This country, the U.S., had better rethink our motivation. It may be that the current demonstrations, when boiled down to the essence, is the current state of unfairness between Rich and Not-Rich. And of course the rich want to get richer and let's cut benefits to the people on the bottom of the heap to keep this Profit Motive society going. At some point, wouldn't it be wonderful if the focus was on People, rather than Money? The rest of us are just tired of being screwed, that's all. I don't hate hugely wealthy people. I just don't think they should be the ones getting all the tax breaks, etc. all the time. Perhaps the recent (and gradually growing stronger) unrest in this country is an extension of the Arab spring. My guess is that it is. I still maintain (although I left my structured Christianity a long time ago) that the meek are inheriting the earth, in some sense. Not 'meek' in the sense of being timid or even humble....but 'meek' in the sense of the common guy - just the ordinary man. It appears to me that 'We' are inheriting the earth, and the interesting thing is that it took mass communications to get there.

The internal dialogue in our heads is the one main thing that prevents us from seeing clearly. The conversations loop over and over because of what Apech said. The conversations are recurring because something is rubbing up against ego. Your identification of the conversations is a huge jump, because most people, before they realize they really are in control of their own mindset. are merely puppets to their internal dialogue. Folks spend years meditating to get rid of this tendency. It's like training the brain muscle, getting it to focus on one-thing, and ultimately no-thing. What Apech alluded to is that if there is enough emotional content to you in these looped conversations, there is something there for you to look at. This is a perfect time, now that you're separating from your inner dialogue, to look at each conversation on its own. Why you said what you said. Why they said what they said. What you wish you woulda said! At the bottom of all this is the end goal of honestly looking at the part you played in this disagreement (which are the only things that seem to loop like this, and this must be why!). It's just an indication that there's a layer of the onion that's ready to shed off. You may be ready to drop a habitual characteristic within yourself that keeps getting in the way.

Serene Blue - your article talks about the IMF and the WTO. Seems to me that NAFTA deserves a special seat at that table as well.

I think that when the tomes refer to the Great, they are referring to the One thing that encompasses everything. There is nothing beyond Great, in that sense. All atoms are the same, just aligned and attracted to each other differently. Underlying the atomic and molecular movement and positioning, seems to lie an Intent of sorts. When a person has spent a lifetime peeling the onion and gets down to their own god-nature (for lack of a better word), it is Seen and Felt that everything is the same substance. j My guess is that science and spirituality will indeed adjoin on this. I just think the more spiritually minded are concerned more about the Intent part of all this.

Yes, I think there is. Spirituality is the innate intuitive knowledge that there is an Order out there that we can tap into. Many different individual ways of trying to do this. Science is the other side of the same thing - they're just trying to measure and predict it.

That is very poignant, Cowtao. the Toltec tradition would say he used death as an advisor. He woke up each morning and looked at himself in the mirror (after his cancer diagnosis), and said 'This could be my last day on earth. What will you do today?' You're right. Once death has been faced and made friends with, what else is there to fear? Nothing. Because all fears extend out ultimately to fear of death.

I think that when we're at the level where our vision has clarity and we See the truth about something doesn't mean we should blurt it out. There's a right time and place for everything, and the sage would use wu-wei as his method for waiting for the right time. He would let the opportunity to come to him; prior to that, he would do nothing to change any dynamic in the situation. This is where wu-wei and 'setting our intent' in the Toltec tradition seem to merge - when the intent is set for the highest good by a person of Vision, it will come to be. One just needs to wait for it. We're butting up against sorcery here.

what you're describing here too is the witness state, where emotions are transcended and we become capable of seeing our exact part and responsibility in the circumstance. The wonderful thing about becoming capable of managing (or even eliminating through further understanding) our emotions, is that it enables us to have a 100% sphere of reactions. There is opportunity everywhere because emotion is not blocking off the other 50% of the range of possibility. If you've taken a mindset that you hate someone, then you can only act in hateful ways when you bump into that person. If the mindset is open, then all things are possible. Emotion seems to control the mindset; and then other times, the mindset seems to control the emotion. Either way, emotion is an Eliminator of Possibility - slaves, as someone previously said. We think we're free and we're really not. We're preprograming ourselves.

Thank you, darling. The funny thing is that when a child grows up with violence all around, that's the norm for their whole life, until they bottom out and learn differently! The important thing in my life was the turning point, where down started going up. And it's only because of our adversities that we become the people we are today, with the underlying understanding that we have. I have to be grateful for my horribly violent past because now life is the polar opposite. I merely decided to change my mindset and take responsibility for my actions. Some folks on this forum think in a sarcastic framework, some in a cynical framework. This is always our choice, which mindset to hold. I just now choose to see everything as part of the great continually evolving One. VMarco - someone has gone to an awful lot of trouble to justify dominating their wife, if you ask me, lol. I think that's why any fundamentalist view of any religion is ridiculous - the tomes are usually subject to variations of translation, and the writings of these translators can only be as deep and true as their own spiritual development is at the time. Then any idiot can come along and pick and choose little passages that justify their own personal desires. Cherry picking, sort of like our entrance into Iraq. I think all of the viable world's tomes point to the very same thing at the top of the hill (or, thinking like the sage, is pointing to the moon). It is for us to use our brains, see through the words, and triangulate the essence. One of the best ways that I can see to do this is through study of comparative religions or philosophies. After all, we all seem to have been born with a rather journalistic imprint on our hearts: Who, What, Why, Where, When, How? It seems to be our natural impetus throughout our lives, whether we are in awareness of it or not, is to find the answers to these questions. At some point in time those of us who are lucky align our mental awareness with the subconscious motivation to answer the questions in our hearts. For me, that was when life started getting really good.