manitou

I often get an awareness that we are manifesting anew each second through time and space, almost like pistons repeatedly firing. Like the energy of a wave, it's not the actual water that is moved, the water molecules remain in pretty much the same place. It's like the atmosphere around us is a colloid, yet we don't walk through it solidly. More like a hologram. MithShrike, when you mention the interesting sensation you experience in the connectiveness awareness, are you talking about the magnetic pulling sensation in the dantien area? That's where I feel it....plus when I really feel connected, I feel it in the area of the ovaries as well.

I sometimes wonder if the fact that modern man is so far removed from the innate intelligence the indigenous had, isn't somehow due to the fact that we have totally lost touch with the earth. We wear shoes. We walk on sidewalks. We drive cars. We take elevators up to our office. We sleep in beds, raised, in our raised-foundation homes. Maybe it's as simple as that. My very favorite thing to do, weather permitting, is to lay face down in the lush grass, particularly on a sunny day when the grass is warm. When I grab the grass with my fingers I get a vision of myself clinging to the earth, as from outer space. To Be Here Now in this moment is a wonderfully grounding experience, to feel either the stress draining from your body into the earth, or the energy of the earth cycling through your body. Either way, to embrace the Mother like this is something not to be missed...

Very nice, Immortal. I especially liked 'Begin each day as though it had purpose'. Thanks!

It's all good. Thanks for sharing that wonderful experience.

No, lol, but I am now.

You're right - bad analogy. Lotus - is there a website where you have your music?

The awesomeness of how everything is connected is beyond belief. The fact that we're living at the cross-section of curved time and space is awesome too. How can you possibly get your head around it? Some years ago I was driving through the California desert, one monotonous mile after the other. All of a sudden I had a type of vision where everything was connected by lines! The trees were connected to the clouds, these concentric lines (I think they were red) circling everything. The houses were attached to the ground, the ground to the people, lines in swirls of air going by, everything was lines. And time stopped, although I was probably whizzing along at 70 mph. It was a truly mystical moment, and it was the closest I've ever come to experiencing the stoppage of time. It was all just like a huge matrix. I'll never forget that moment.

Lotus - those words are beautiful. The ones that particularly hit me were Show me how to Live, Not how to Escape.... This seems to be at the basis of so many disagreements on this site. Perhaps even excessive meditation is a form of escape. I too am a musician and found that when I became kundalini active my music changed all together. I play keyboard, used to be I always needed music. Now since the K-awakening, I can play by ear. More accurately, by soul. This path of spirit seems to really bring the artists out in us, doesn't it? Thanks for taking the time to post your beautiful words...

This is wonderful, I think.

Non, I think you might be doing it wrong. I don't think that cogitating a woman's ovulation cycle and trying to find the best time to (pardon the expression) get laid is the very best way to go about it. I'm going to speak here for every other halfway normal woman in the world. Kindness is the sexiest thing in the world. Men who actually LISTEN are the sexiest thing in the world. Guys who are kind to old ladies are the sexiest thing in the world. Guys who have brains are the absolutely sexiest thing in the world. Flinging money around may work for a while but it gets old fast, even to the biggest gold-diggers. Spiritual men (in my particular case, it would be more metaphysical) are incredibly sexy. Religious men can be the unsexiest things in the world. Guys who spend all their time thinking about how to get laid are the unsexiest things in the world. Getting into another's soul, another's psyche, is the sexiest thing in the world. Men who understand the Tao from the inside out and actually practice it? Woof. Please believe me....none of this has anything to do with a woman's moon cycle. There may be temporary ups and downs having to do with sexuality, but this is the fools gold stuff. That's what you're spending your time on, Non - fool's gold. I say this with love in my heart for you. I mean no offense and wish you the best. Barbara

The first part of Lin Yutang's version is interesting: Tao is absolute and has no name. Though the uncarved wood is small, It cannot be employed (used as vessel) by anyone This interpretation seems to analogize the Sage with uncarved wood, as many have done. The Sage is one who lives within the awareness of the Tao. By being in awareness of the Tao, you are incapable of being manipulated by any other, as you are already in the place of utmost simplicity, the uncarved wood. This is an interesting take on it, I think. I've seemed to have wu-wei on the brain lately; but within the confines of humans practicing 'not doing', they will find that the world works of its own accord. That their lives work of their own accord. This is so horribly unscientific, but I just Know that this pattern works in my own life when I get out of the way. When I follow intuition and instinct and keep my left brain out of the equation, things actually sort of magically happen; physical, real life, way too synchronistic timing....those sort of things. Or looking to the physical world, to nature, to birds and bees and butterflies, to transport ourselves into the place of Oneness with everything. As the Sage asked for at the hot dog stand, 'I'll have one with everything...." I think the concept of the names arising is pretty much how the deterioration through the ages began. The Oneness was lost, was separated in appearance. The illusion began, in some cosmic energetic universe that is unseen to us but very much attached to and part of us. Along with names came judgment, came the concept of good and bad, light and dark, yes and no. I think this chapter is telling us that the wise ones, the Sages, will always find the middle way, will stay in balance, and they will stay out of danger because they know when to keep their mouths shut and 'never be the first'. I wish I'd known this when I was much younger, for what it's worth. Woulda saved a lot of road rage.

I agree with you here, Aaron. The trick is to not judge it at all. It just Is. When the concept of good and evil arise, the Tao is lost.

Another reason the snake should be embraced rather than resisted, is because the snake, as a totum animal, is representative of change. The snake sheds its skin, changing, growing. Although we're talking about the snake of Kundalini here, I think the analogy is still valid. To embrace change, to not cling to the moment. Your point about the reference points in our lives seems very valid. To lose our personal history goes a long way to being in the Here and Now and living in the Tao.

I was wondering that too. I'm still laughing. Great photo.

I'm from the truth is within us school. My thoughts are these: All is One, we are all One, we all share the same Truth. It is contained at the very basis of our human nature; it is up to us to do the internal housecleaning to get down to that truth. Having said that, I think we all live in separate realities. Even if we are standing next to each other and looking at the same rock, that rock is going to look slightly different from where you stand to where I stand. We think we're looking at the same rock, but we're actually looking at a different version of the same rock. I see our separate lives as circles of individual 'reality' that somehow connect together to share the same truth. The truth, as I see it, is best expressed in Love. Love, or positive attitude, or the power of attraction, or compassion....whatever you want to call it .... seems to be the yeast that makes the bread rise. Our choice is always our attitude. A chronically negative and critical attitude will produce a negative life worthy of criticism. A chronically positive live, with a choice of positive outlook and Love, will produce new opportunity daily and ensure a modicum of happiness.

LOL, you do sound just like Andy Rooney. I'm listening to Donald Trump railing about Obama's birth certificate. Is that swoop-haired money monster actually thinking about running for president? Jeez. And yes, you've called it correctly. I am a sexy old thing. So's my 86 year old mom. She has the men at the retirement home drooling. At least I think that's why they're doing it.

Perky.

I sometimes think that's a convenient tool to gloss over things people should be responsible for themselves. Believing that their life is taking a dump because of the position of a planet is way beyond victimhood. It elevates it to an art form. I hope you're doing well. It's been one grey day after another up here in Ohio. Spring better happen soon, or I'm outta here. I've got confused crocuses and daffodils.

That was so beautifully stated, Otis. It was spoken by one who has truly done battle with the inner self. Sometimes I think those of us that came up through life through horrible situations, through alcoholism, through drug addiction, even finding themselves in prisons; these people tend to be very fortunate if and when their feet ever land on the Path. In order to overcome their addictions they have to do so much inner work on themselves, the ego busting, looking at the same unpleasant truths that you were speaking of. It's after that point that their eyes turn to something more beautiful. This is why I truly understand how each and every path can lead to the room of perfect love. Even the really nasty paths. Thanks again for the post.

Seth - thanks a million for taking the time to explain as much as you did. I really appreciate it. Apparently I was a bit forgetful when I posted the second question, lol. Seems to be happening a lot lately.

My form of healing has more to do with looking inside a person from the inside out. I help them triangulate the memories, do an opposite imprint, on that which they have been manifesting, whether that thing is a physical malady or an undesirable situation. I have found that doing it attached to ceremony is powerful to the person being worked on. I also lay hands on - I used to do more of the quantum touch method, but I found that the most intense energy comes out of my hands directly on the skin, or my body touching theirs in some way, perhaps just sitting on a couch and touching arm to arm. Getting the person being worked on to be as open as possible, to think as little as possible, is the trick. I try to synchronize my breath with theirs, to become as one person. Sometimes while in this state we will together do an inner smile on all their organs, one at a time. If there is something, such as a cancer, I talk directly to the spirit of the cancer. I always do it with love, always ask it nicely to move on down the road please...that it has no further business being in this body. I've worked with two cancer patients - one died, the one I'm working with now is iffy from day to day, but often responds to doses of positive energy. I try and talk to his body, to have his body manifest healthy cells rather than the cancer cells; my belief is that our bodies manufacture these things as a result of inner feelings that it's responding to, like guilt, shame, hate. From a holistic point of view I will try to address that as well, if the person is willing to discuss their ongoing feelings. The one I am working with now is not very receptive to the inner work - has never seen the necessity for 'going in'. But he does respond well to ceremony. I am of the firm belief that what a person is manifesting today, at this time, is what he has actually 'wanted', whether they see it or not. It is the current manifestation of the person that gives the shaman one place to put a leg of the triangulation.

In this issue of EnlighteNext Magazine, there is a dialogue between Wilber and Cohen having to do with Was the Buddha Only Half Enlightened? For those not familiar with these two men, Andrew Cohen is the publisher of EnlighteNext, and the article refers to him as a GURU, then defines guru as (n. Sanskrit): one who teaches spiritual liberation from his or her own direct experience or realization. The other man, Ken Wilbur, is described as the PANDIT within the context of the magazine, or (n. Sanskrit): a scholar, one who is deeply proficient and immersed in spiritual wisdom. He describes himself as an intellectual samurai. Before I post part of the article, I just wanted to mention the above because it infers a big different in perspective of the two gentlemen. One is self-realized, one is learned by outer means. WAS THE BUDDHA ONLY HALF ENLIGHTENED? Question: Ken, I've heard you say that the Buddha wasn't as enlightened as an enlightened person today. In thinking about that, I've encountered a lot of different definitions of what enlightenment even is. Can you please explain what you mean? KEN WILBER: Well, this is a controversial point, but there's a good reason why I continue to make it. What I've actually said is that Gautama Buddha was only half as enlightened as a modern sage has the potential to be. And to understand why that is, we have to look at a couple facts. First, we have to understand that reality consists of two fundamental dimensions: the realm of emptiness and the realm of form. Emptiness is the timeless, unmanifest ground of being, and realizing that primordial emptiness has traditionally been what spiritual enlightenment is all about. That's what the Buddha called nirvana. It means nothing is arising. It's a state of consciousness essentially similar to deep dreamless sleep, in that there's no pain, no self, no suffering, no desire - none of that. It's a place of peace, stillness, and freedom beyond the turmoil of manifest existence. And discovering that unmanifest emptiness has always been seen as the one way to find liberation from samsara - the wheel of pain and suffering, birth and death. Now, Gautama Buddha realized emptiness perfectly, so from the point of view of that traditional understanding, he was enlightened. He experienced a perfect oneness in consciousness that transcended the multiplicity of manifestation, time, and form. But about eight hundred years after the time of Gautama, an extraordinary gentleman by the name of Nagarjuna came along and pointed out that if you're serious about finding ultimate oneness, then you can't just be looking for nirvana divorced from samsara, because that's still dualistic. You have to be looking, instead, for the union of nirvana and samsara, the union of emptiness and form, the union of the unmanifest and the manifest, which Nagarjuna called Nonduality. This realization ushered in the whole Buddhist Mahayana revolution, summed up in the famous declaration of the Heart Sutra: "That which is form is not other than emptiness; that which is emptiness is not other than form." And this dramatically changed the way liberation was thought of. No longer was it thought of as escaping half of reality and hiding in the other half, but uniting both halves, finding an enlightenment that included both the freedom of emptiness and the fullness of form. All of a sudden, you're no longer just enlightened to the nature of your own consciousness inside here, looking at a separate world outside there. You're no longer looking at a mountain, you are the mountain. You're no longer looking at the sun, you are the sun. You're no longer touching the earth, you are the earth. Galaxies circulate through your blood and stars light up the neurons of your night, and you are one with all of this. So that's the first point - the Buddha realized emptiness, but as far as we can tell, he didn't realize the fullness of non-duality, or becoming one with all of form......." Surely this can provide us with some cerebral jerky?

Or maybe you just planted a seed that will bear fruit some years from now. You never know.

I would go a step further and say to stop believing the stories we tell us about ourselves. Our inner dialogue. To stop swimming in the ego satisfaction of what we do for a living, how many initials we have after our names. I was a cop for 15 years, this is a MF'er of a perceived identity to drop. And it can still pop up at a moment's notice when I'm not looking. Our perceived greatness. Our perceived smartness. Our ego. Our advice. Our pride. Our arrogance. These too all come out of stories we tell ourselves and believe. Be here now, and live in the moment. This is all we have.