manitou

@ForestofHappiness, I just popped onto the link you offered. The very first part of it stopped me in my tracks! I'd never thought of it this way before. THIS: "Happily, there is a wonderful definition in Tibetan that captures its true meaning: Tib. རྟག་ཆད་དང་བྲལ་བ་, tak ché dang dralwa, which translates as: ‘free from permanence and non-existence'." The idea of freedom from non-existence is a gentle way of saying freedom from death. Freedom from permanence is a little hazier. What would that really mean? Freedom from continual rebirth? Or freedom in the knowledge that this is really all an illusion, seeing as we're only .00000000000001% here?

That is quite wonderful. Everything is Everything. I'm not sure a person could understand this without at least a layman's understanding of quantum physics (Tao of Physics,, or The Holographic Universe)

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, with Jamie Lee Curtis. Did you see it?

I was fascinated by this, I've researched it previously. What you say is true. The atom is composed of .00000000000001% matter, 99.999999999% space. 13 zeros, 13 nines. It's phenomenal, when you think about it. Were it not for the spinning motion, we would be a little pile of dust to be swept up on the floor. It appears that motion and life are the very same thing. The planets are in motion, creating night and day. No motion, no time. Wow.

Not so much. It fits right in with everything else. Actually, it would be a pleasant break from the current trend lines.

I agree, Thrice. I think it is just an entity getting to know itself. Why? Eh.

Problem is you're a lot more intelligent than I am. I honestly don't quite understand what you said here. Posit: God is indeed evolving. It evolves through the DNA of humans, plants, animals. It's all one. Your premise is based on the idea of linear time, and linear time is an illusion, as previously discussed. And I think you're absolutely right an the need for removal of ego concerns before enlightenment. It's a really tough process, and very few are actually willing to go through it. A process where you go back through your entire life and look for your f-ups, and make amends to those folks. It's a humiliating process, no fun whatsoever. But OMG, a very enlightening process. God-being, as you say. And, as it turns out, that is how God manifests. Through us. We're It.

Fascinating article, thanks! The words 'next gen sequencing' popped out at me. I'll bet that has to do with the fact that time really isn't linear, that it's all here now. Past, present, future? Here now.

Yup.

It's obvious. Handicapped people can only cross between 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM. Unfortunately, it's only on Saturday and Sundays.

We are god.

That's the dual way of looking at it, I suspect. Here's the thing. We're not really here. The atoms in our body are 99.9999999999999 (13)% space. The molecules in our body, the same. The organs, the same. The whole body, the same. We are only .00000000000001% here. And I'll bet that that .00000000000001% will break down to absolutely nothing also, when our instruments get there, if they're not already. Those tricky little spinners make it seem like we're here, but if those puppies were to stop spinning (and the earth were to stop turning!), the whole thing would just go pppfffttttpphh!!!! Life and movement seem to be the very same thing. But in the end, it's thought. Whose thought? "God's" thought. Where's God? Lounging on a cloud? No. It's is the intelligence of DNA, it keeps evolving. The same intelligence that keeps the rotors rotating in the right order and at the right time. It is the supreme intelligence, which we carry in our genetic codes. It's Us. Our individual part is to learn how to get ourselves out of the way so the Real can shine through. for some reason, it reminds me of turning a sock inside out.

Maybe this has already been discussed - I haven't read the whole thread. This is a great point, I think. That's the thing with Christianity. It's a repetitive celebration of the same lore year after year. And it's arguable if the facts are historical or not, but at the very least it's lore that people believe because they want to believe it. It's a comfort, to think that there's something greater watching out for you. But alas, the grown up brain, in some incarnation, must come to the realization that we are on our own - we ARE the intelligence that we hope is looking out for us. But in another way, the seeker realizes that the thing he's looking for isn't out there at all, it's in here. The warm area inside me that I perceive to be 'me' - it sits in my chest - I realize that you too have the same warm area of sensation within you. We all have the same thing, because we are all the same thing. Just cells of the same body. I think that's pretty great. When I look into your eyes, I'm looking into my eyes.

When I was a kid, I couldn't get enough of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Strange things about books, they have a way of laying your life out for you. I must have really internalized this book, because my entire life seemed to reenact over and over the love relationship she had with the troll. I wish I were kidding.

As do many other forms of Control.

A needy sort.

Deep healing of life dynamics are a whole different matter. If it can be figured out what the body is trying to say to you, the dynamic that created the manifestation (dis-ease) can be reversed. This is a deep healing used by both Christian Science and shamanic practitioners. For example, there was a lady who suffered from a withered hand (I read this in Mary Baker Eddy's book). The 'diagnosis' was made that the hand had withered from her chronic stinginess, and they found that she had a particular memory that would pop up at appropriate times - a memory about 'not getting enough' as a child. Memories such as these remain with us seemingly forever, they pop up periodically, and there's probably no emotion attached with the memory, because it has not been processed to this point. The trick is to do something (a ceremony is helpful) to reverse the memory. In other words, in this particular case, I would have her re-enact that moment of deprivation in her young life (couched in ceremony, I use a native american backdrop, usually) and then I would help her change the memory. I might act out the part of the parent who deprived her, initially (or maybe a friend), but this time to do it so that the need is met this time - i.e. re-enact the parent giving something in abundance to the child. Sometimes it needs to be repeated a few times, and hugs often abound after the ceremony. Just acknowledging the dynamic within themselves goes a long way to changing the behavior, but bringing it into the 'physical' with ceremony is powerful. (I'm sorry, lol, I can't remember if this worked for the nice Christian ladies or not!) I do find that getting my own ego out of the way prior to any ceremony or physical reenactment is crucial. I find that approaching this in 'all-oneness', i.e. 'I and You are the very same being', this takes the healer/patient aspect out of it, ego is leveled. It's all so very subtle, but there's something to it. As I see it, it's all mind. It starts there, it's governed there. It manifests from there. That's the area that needs to be addressed, in the 'long dynamic' game.

I find that just regulating the breathing and noticing the difference in temperature of the inner nostrils upon breathing in and breathing out. That's the way I can get to the void (without thoughts), it's very effective and doesn't take but a few seconds until the mind is clear and still. When acting in Wei wu Wei, it's important to remove as much of the ego as possible, and I find that getting there is also through this same process. Stilling the mind, not thinking of self, realizing that everything around you, and everyone, is You. Sitting in thoughtless meditation brings clarity to mind, almost like the inside of a beautiful crystal church with sunbeams lighting the altar. That's what I see in my mind's eye, and any decision can be made from this place where ego has been transcended. Once this place has been reached (through practice in meditation), this is combined with the character having been purged of conditionings. It takes a while.

Hi Da Vid, As I see it, the ultimate purpose of meditation is to still the mind so that there is no inner dialogue. I don't think it matters which religious structure one is attached to at the moment. Ultimately, you may disregard and transcend all religious structures. The ultimate clarity seems to come when the mind is capable of being stilled, when needed. It took me years to be able to do this, maybe there is a better system than just killing thoughts as they come into mind, as I did. But regardless, it seems to have worked. The other component of clarity, as I see it, is to remove prior conditioning that causes you to have opinions one way or the other. Once these conditionings are removed, there is no need to react in negative ways. Things don't stick in your craw any more.

Ego and clarity are on opposite sides of the spectrum. This thread is heavily weighted in one direction.

Excellent post, Tommy! I think this is what it's all about. When I first got sober 42 years ago, I wasn't remotely spiritual, or care about any of this metaphysical stuff. I just needed to quit drinking and quit slowly killing myself. I jumped into the steps of recovery, which is a process in which a thorough and fearless personal inventory of our character 'defects' must be made. And then they must be removed, by a painful process usually involving making amends to people I had forked over in the past. This is a huge undertaking, one that has lasted my entire sober life, and it keeps evolving. But I keep getting better. Removing those conditionings that make me react in anger, frustration, sarcasm....any of those things that are in my way...has been my path since the beginning of this endeavor. What has evolved is someone who is in much acceptance (not perfect acceptance, but it gets better as I continue the practice) of the things crossing my path in life. I have come to realize that you and I are not separate at all; we are merely the same soul that has gone through different conditionings, making it appear separate, as we have manifested our outer selves. In the Big Book of AA, there is a thing called The Promises. It says something like 'If you are earnest in these steps, you will meet SOME OF US as we 'trudge the path of happy destiny'. What I take this to mean, 42 years after first reading it, is that some of us will get to the point of clarity - of enlightenment, if you will - and see life unfiltered by ego. Of course not everybody will be earnest about this, most will just want to stay sober, and that's enough. But there are those of us who were born seekers, apparently, and this has been a tried and true path for doing the elimination of character that is needed. But that's only one path. Any path that emphasizes earnestly striving to become a better person by removal of excessive ego is going to end up in clarity, depending on how seriously one takes it. Thanks for sharing!

When there are no more reactions because the blockages have been removed, this is a good way to judge our own progress. If we're constantly angry, there is much inner work that needs to be done.

Time is planetary rotation. Memory notices.

Someone mentioned earlier that enlightenment can't be defined. I agree. It is like a taste that can't be described, it must be eaten. There has been much cogitation on this thread around the subject of enlightenment. The kind of knowledge used on this thread has pretty much all been head knowledge, which isn't enlightenment. That's 'knowing about stuff'. Enlightenment is What You Become. It no longer is a head trip, and it matters not whether you still have remnants of religions inside you. It is obtained by soul searching and getting those things out of the way that have been imprinted since childhood. You walk around with the 'good of all' being on your mind more than it ever way, because you realize that each and every person you see is 'god', is You! And it seems to deepen and deepen, as your connection with the Whole deepens to the point that your whole being becomes infused with it, more day by day. The post-Enlightenment life is a practiced in merging this Whole Love into your life, regardless of whether you're a social worker or a sewer worker. I'd love to hear @Dwai or @SilentThunder describe their post-E life, and how it has changed. Or anyone else with a post-E life. It seems to be that how you wear this thing is a learning process day by day. But it's no longer a book-learning thing. It's more of a 'how to love life' proposition. The odd thing is to walk around with this secret, this magnificent secret, that very few in the world know. Men have been put into rubber rooms for less.

Thanks you so much, Gerard! I have finally realized that the 'buddhalands' spoken of in the Amakansaka and Lotus Sutras are none other than the individual universes.