manitou

I couldn't agree more with what you're saying here. It's a question of removing filters, personality disorders, rules, (as Suninmyeyes said earlier) and being capable of transcending the childish religious beliefs that most of us were given. It's a question of getting down to Who you Actually Are - finding the real Human Being inside - and it's most likely not who you think it is. It is getting to the point where we choose our reactions, whether they be reactions of kindness, sternness, or honesty - but the enlightened one is capable of pulling his chosen reaction out of the bag but not being manipulated by it. Not to be shaken by it. It's being capable of seeing the metaphysical dynamicism of the human soul and the souls of others. And yes - everything becomes our teacher. Standing in line becomes our teacher, as does getting cut off in traffic. Surrendering to simplicity. that's so beautiful, Cowtao. Getting to the point in life where we're capable of being happy with what we have, and are no longer plagued by what we don't have and once wanted so badly. It's acceptance of the fact that Life Just Is, and that everything mixes together to form one huge life experience for everyone here and now. I think the main thing that enlightened ones share is lack of fear of tomorrow....or much of anything, for that matter. The enlightened one no longer fears death, but embraces it as a necessary part of life.

Barack Obama

Did you ever read The Giving Tree by Silverstein? I was given it as a young child and it made me cry every time I read it; somehow that seemed to set a type of template for my life that I can't even put a finger on. Like it made me feel guilty for taking anything....it all had to be giving. This is not a particularly good book to give to a young girl in a dog-eat-dog capitalistic society.

CHAPTER 25 The vitality of all people Inevitably comes from their peace of mind. When anxious, you loose this guiding thread; When angry, you lose this basic point. When you are anxious or sad, pleased or angry, The Way has no place to settle. Love and desire; still them! Folly and disturbance: correct them! Do not push it! do not pull it! Good fortune will naturally return to you, And that Way will naturally come to you So you can rely on and take counsel from it. If you are tranquil then you will attain it; If you are agitated then you will lose it.

This is frustrating. apparently I have a lot of work to do. When I grow up and learn that everything is Two I'll pick up this thread again.

K - so sorry to have ruffled your feathers like that. I think I'll head out too. Best wishes to you.

This is such a simple illustration but so important at the same time. I too have always been uncomfortable at parties - never could really see the purpose for them. But the no-Self way is consistent with Not-Doing, which is what I do when I go to a party now. You just be. The conversations come to you with ease. No trying. I also have learned to take something, to give something to the party, which helps me feel more like I belong. Actually, I'm still not crazy about social events but at least now they're do-able and I always have a nice experience. Seth, I think your step is huge.

Actually, there's only one pony to meet.

Actually, I was a Coast Guard E4 (reserves) but I'm not thinking that was any big deal. Being an E6 is really something. And active in the Navy as well. Wow. I'm not referring to the 12 steps, Michael. That's just the dynamic that got the inner journey going. When we get down to the bottom of self we realize What we truly are.

Your allusion to seeing everything as roses isn't quite accurate. That would truly be stupid. I'm talking about something different. I'm talking about the love for everyone and everything we get down to when we've done the inner cultivation, that's all. What's your qigong good for? Being safe in the back yard? If it doesn't extend to Real Life, then it's pointless. Being willing to go to a bad part of town, in this instance, wouldn't be either stupid or brave. It would be knowing that it doesn't really matter when we die; we are a current of consciousness that streams in-body or out. When we truly lose the fear of death (I wish I could say 100%, but I'm not there yet) and when we truly find out Who We Really Are. We Are the Manifester; somehow collectively, somehow connected. When we are in Awareness consciously, the world unfolds at our feet, regardless of where we are. You will discover this after the inner work has been done.

The Real World is just our collective Inner World playing out. If this concept can't be grasped, then the TTC is just a nice story. Why bother to go to the trouble of having a philosophy (and a damned good one at that) if we don't live it?

My definition of Will, in this particular instance, would be if you admitted that you had some dysfunction inside yourself (due to your folks, no doubt) and became willing to do something about it. The easiest way to do recovery work (which is what you would be doing, recovering from your horrible upbringing) is to assume you have every character defect in the world. Be sure to include defensiveness and fear of what others may think. Then look at each and every character defect and see to what degree you have it in your life; how it plays out each and every day. This is how we bring Real Life into our soul do the inner work so we can discover the pony at the bottom of the manure pile. At the bottom of the manure pile is a type of (what the Christians would call) Agape Love. Love for everything in life; the willingness to not make judgment; to have no fears because you've gotten under the fear of death in your inner work. It takes a very long time to do this, but being self-reflective one day at a time will start the process; then the process will continue on its own. But you have to make the start by being Willing to make some changes. Your life is on hold until you get under the blame and victimization. You will constantly attract these things to yourself because your inner self still 'needs' to feel victimized. If this sounds crazy to you, I understand. It sure did to me when I had to start the process due to alcoholism and extreme anger at my folks too.

You have a great idea about how a sage would live. It's written all over the TTC that you just guided us through. You have the sage within you already. You have just not been willing to go to the trouble of uncovering him. He's at the bottom of the manure pile within our character. The hard thing is walking like we talk. Not carrying baseball bats. And Michael - I would have been willing to go down to your intersection and let you drop me off. You did say that in the seminar, and it occurred to me later that I would indeed do that. When you walk in the Tao there is nothing to fear. We need to put our money where our mouth is. All this stuff is more than just words - it's real. It is Real Life. If we can't tie together "real life", or a nasty part of the city with the Reality of the Tao that we've come to know, then we're not walking our talk at all. We're just making a living.

What we're talking about here is the difference between knowing 'about' Taoism, or 'living a life as a sage would'. The choice is ours.

It's not really strength you need - it's Will.

Manitou would say 'We're All One'. Marbles, I always wonder when you refer to the real world. Is this something separate from your philosophy?

Omigod. What a worthwhile class that was. When we Drop the Rock and stop believing in our own self-importance, that we've got to be running around here and there, and obtaining for ourselves, and teaching others what we think they don't know - then and only then will Life come to us. It just does, that's the onset of true wu-wei. Letting life come to us instead; making no judgments on anything, just let Life bring us what it will, and we respond in the way that Love dictates at that moment. It's all about losing self-importance and stilling the inner dialogue. It is then that the wu-wei can be realized. And yes, we do have more time for everyone else; and we also have time for appreciating the serendipity in life; to get out of ourselves and our inner dialogue. Our ego has been relaxed. We no longer feel the need to Prove ourselves in any way; we don't have to be the one shouting out the answers. Basically, we're in a state of I Don't Know....because we've made no judgments of what's good and what's bad. It just Is....and often times our judgments are wrong. How often have we seen good come out of bad, and vice versa? There's just no such thing as good or evil. The sage will find a way to act in Love in every situation and with every person he comes in contact with. (If we can maintain the Awareness). Life gets so much easier, it's almost ridiculous.

You're very right - but the lady did ask.

Hi again K - I just wanted to mention that I would bet my upbringing was every bit as bad as yours. My biggest liberation came one day when I realized my dad did the very same things to me that he had done to him when he was a kid. He was just giving me what he knew. His dad had the very same thing done to him. This kind of dysfunction is the gift that just keeps on giving. If I had had kids at the normal child-bearing age, I would have raised them up just the same way I was. With a heavy leather belt. If I had kids today I would be the best mother in the world. However, we have opted for puppies, particularly at our age. When I was a kid, we had a little beagle named Gigi. Part of the family dysfunction was to beat the hell out of that little dog every time she did something we considered "bad". I fell right into this, why not? I was only 6. I beat the dog for about 6 years. Then one day, when I was 12 and about to wail on Gigi one more time, I hear a voice in my head say 'Look What You're Doing!' I never hit Gigi again, and I was reduced to tears at that moment. I remember it was the first time in my young life that I had ever turned my vision around to my own interior, and it was a shocker. Even for a 12 year old. Our folks never had that moment of Aha! (at least not when they were raising us) that stopped their horrible behavior. They just never delved very deeply into their own souls at that time - and it really wasn't fashionable at the time I was raised to be introspective at all. My family was one that didn't 'believe' in psychiatry and things of that nature; any introspection at all. It was all about Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child. They honestly thought they were doing the right thing. They weren't. But our ultimate understanding, love, and forgiveness of their behavior is our only liberation. Otherwise we remain in a continual state of 'blame' and victimhood that is counterproductive to a healthy life and healthy outlook. Blame is merely the other side of the victim coin.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. One cannot ever expect that everyone is going to play nice. But what we can do is have control over our reactions, as Five Element said. If we've done nothing to tame our egos (by doing inner work and getting down to the Real us) then we're always acting out of an ego perspective. If we've been able to do inner work and tame the ego, then we have 100% of response reactions to consider, not just 50%. We don't have to react with an equal amount of unkindness, fighting fire with fire. The sage would always react with love. Sometimes love means telling another person the absolute truth as you see it, but always doing it with kindness and regard for the feelings of the other person, no matter how obnoxious. The reaction that Love dictates is going to be different in each and every situation, and it takes a Sage to figure out how to do it. The problem with walking around with targets on our chests is that there are some people who get a lot of emotional mileage from being a victim. I know plenty of people like this, as we all do. When we stop reacting blindly, it all changes. As for manifesting a million dollars, this too can be done once the inner work is done. You will see things entirely differently, and if your heart lies with a million dollars, you can get it. However, if one's heart still lies with a million dollars, one isn't quite through with their journey. There's no way in the world that this can be 'proven' to anybody - the inner journey must be taken first; the payoff is afterwards. It takes a long time, and nobody wants to hear that. P.S. Thanks Otis - it's a quick and dirty way to get started.

Love and women who are attracted to male occupations. Volumes could be written on this. The whole time I was in a 'masculine' occupation, it was just as Vortex said. But I didn't know it at the time. I thought I was just fine, I took the fact that women were taken less seriously as a challenge, and I seemingly did pretty well. That is, until the complete and total emotional breakdown. I thought at the time that it was 'just' because I was working a horrible homicide of a little girl; yet, years down the road, I saw that what stemmed from the breakdown was a chance to get down to the fact that I hated my femaleness; I had spent all my life trying to prove to Dad that I was his son. I didn't know it at the time. I found out later. But what I did manifest during those years on the Department was a horrible endometryosis condition that resulted in my female innards being totally removed. At this point in my life with the current understanding I do have, no one can tell me that this is just something that 'happened to me'. It was because I wasn't a boy and I was chronically trying to prove otherwise, but didn't know it. My ovaries got the message. As for relationships when the female identity is ignored? Wham, bam, thank you Sir. I tried to make things last but the dynamics weren't there yet. I went through men like Kleenex. Now I realize, in this relationship of nearly 30 years, that what I was missing was the ability to surrender to a male at any level; particularly sexual. That is only able to happen when the female identity within ourselves is truly loved. There is an emotional element of surrender that I was never able to achieve until now. But it took coming to grips with the fact that I wasn't able to love myself for the above listed reasons. Until we're capable of loving ourselves (which is the very hardest person to love, I think!) we don't really have it to give to anybody else. Makyea, I know that this won't resonate with you because it sounds like you're at the beginning of your career; you're still talking about PT, as if in boot camp, or in my case, an academy. Same difference; I've been through both. If there were anything I would suggest to you at this point in time, it would be to get a picture of yourself as a baby or young girl; honor the picture, frame it nicely, put it next to your bed. Talk to this child every time you think of it. Tell her you love her. It will help keep your female identity soft. If you pay no attention to the female within you will have a day of reckoning down the road. I guarantee it. It usually happens around the 15 year 'burnout' mark. Very best wishes to you-- Barb

Are there unusual circumstances going on in your life at this time?

Until he takes responsibility for his own life. Until then, we have jails to keep him away from society for a given amount of time. What we should do is kick up voluntary treatment programs in prison, but I'm sure that would be the last economic agenda we'll be following. When he gets into recovery, if he does (there are many programs for this behavior) he will start taking responsibility for his life. He has to get under his memories and work from that position. Only then will he be able to change his behavior. Just like an alkie not taking the first drink, when he finds himself thinking of a child in a sexual way he stops himself at that point, he has the tools to do so. We can talk all day about how someone "should" take responsibility for their own actions when they turn 18, but this just doesn't understand the nature of the beast.

Yes, we can say that everything is a self-realization thing, if we have the eyes to see the big picture. Until one has gone in and cleared out the Inner self, we will always be looking with contorted eyes. The wu-wei that is often talked about is more than we usually discuss on these threads. The circumstances are the very things that we manage to create, somehow. It's easy to say Yes, this caused this, and that caused that. But who is really the Big Causer? It is us. If we throw this all together and wrap it up in quantum physics, we would see that it's all here and now, that the passage of time is an illusion. Yesterdays causations are actually today's causation and tomorrow's causation. It's all here now. When we look at the 'circumstances' that caused something, it's best to look at it without Time being in the equation. Forget Time. Look at the whole circumstance as a whole, and the part you played in it. Then and only then can we develop the eyes of the Sage. The eyes aren't developed by learning a new martial art form or wishing for the Eyes. It takes real inner work, and one good measure of how much inner work needs to be done is the size of the ego.