manitou

Thank you, Everything, for a great post. I too am a musician and have seen my music evolve as my understanding has. Since I became Kundalini active, I've developed the ability to place my hand on the keyboard, usually the lower register of a C and G, and just let the chord resonate. I can feel 'something' come up my arm and I start to feel a beat; then the music comes; at first, very simply; then by the end of the song, much more complicated. I know someone else has developed that here on this forum too, I just can't remember who posted it originally...was it you? I too am of the opinion that the perfection of the Tao within music is that moment of silence when the conductor has his baton raised in the air before the concert begins. Everything beyond that is elimination of possibility.

Still just not hearin' the love.

Oh holy shit. my 67 year old husband and I bought some of the salvia off one of the internet sites last year; just wanted to give it a try once, we do dabble in the shamanic. At first we chewed it, like it suggested. We both laid back, nothing happened. Then we decided to smoke some. All I remember is that I was sitting up on the couch. That's the last I remember, being a human. Suddenly I was a tarantula. Joe says I slid off the couch onto the floor, walking on my heels and my elbows. I started scrambling across the front room and toward the front door. I don't have a clue where I was going. The next thing I remember Joe was kind of holding me down on the floor. We tried it one more time, this time we were on our rocking chairs with the hound out on the front porch (we're in Appalachia, you know). We smoked a little bit, and suddenly we both had the immediate urge to hit the dirt and lie on the porch. In a fetal position. Then that was it. We came out of it. Strange stuff. I can see how it can really be something if it's used in the right way with someone who knows what they're doing. This stuff we got from Bouncing Bear Botanicals or some online store is probably pretty unpredictable. As though that stuff could be. I won't be doing the salvia again. I'm too old, and sanity has become a very fine line for me anyway.

I am really of this opinion. I think the hunters and foragers of course ate everything they found at some point in time. I believe these were the beginnings of thought bubbles that have evolved and continue to this day. The indigenous of old had time to stare at millfoil twigs and cracked turtle shells. Their observations were that everything is in alignment, that we follow the ways of nature. The old Toltecs would stare at 'energy running through the universe' for hours. As one who loves the shamanic perspective, I have often pondered what this means. I had a flash, one day as I was staring at a reflection coming off a piece of chrome - you know, how you can see the energy circle out and away from the object? And if you look at it, sometimes you can see the energy reverse its flow. I imagine the only thing shiny enough for the ancients to see this type of energy flow would be off water! The same reflection idea, where you couldn't see it if you looked right at the sun, but you can see it in reflection. Ah. We have lost so much.

Guys, any chance we can slip over to the right brain? The funny thing about enlightenment is that you can almost feel the love emitting from the enlightened person's words.

I think you're spot on on this. I don't think it makes any difference at all, though some would argue. Some are so caught up in framework that they are unable to release. I often refer to the Tao Bums as the Room Where All Paths Meet.

Aaron, if that beautiful expression came through your channel when you were exhausted after work, I would give good money and hang outside your bedroom window to hear what you sound like first thing in the morning. My thoughts are so very similar to yours - I would love to add my thoughts to a few of your words. "I sometimes wonder when I first began to think of myself as not simply an I, but as a being that existed within a body, a consciousness connected to a physical form." The very same presence dwells inside me too; I sometimes even picture my insides as a giant amoeba in human form. Because the same presence dwells within both you and I and everyone, whether they realize it or not. It is this amoebic essence that is all One. I am you and you are me. Females are males and males are females. After I had a few years sober in AA, I found myself going every Tuesday night to hear one particular old nearly blind man speak; it wasn't a speakers meeting, but it was just understood that old Herb would just begin to talk. Actually, it was more like he would channel. Metaphysical beyond belief, the spirit of the One, things I had no understanding of at the time. But his soul captivated me. One day I ran into him up at the Krotona Library in Ojai, California. He and his wife were pouring over some huge tome, and at that moment, Herb looked up and saw me. He recognized me right away, but I'll never forget the look on his face. Like he'd seen a ghost. He said quietly, "Do you know there are souls in the sun?" He looked astounded and looked back down, and I left. I was with someone else and didn't want to disturb Herb any further, and I was still trying to process what he said. Which I've never really been able to do. Something has niggled in the back of my mind about that ever since I saw him that day in maybe 1984 or 1985. I've never forgotten what he said, because I've never been able to understand it. But if you think about it, the sun is the perfect analogy for how we are connected. The sun is our connecting essence and we are the individual rays. You could even say we are all joined at the hips and everything else is our individual illusion. But do you think it remotely possible that the sun is where the spirit and the physical combine? That the sun is the collective soul residence for our solar system, expressing outwards? And that it continues to express outwards through the molten bit of sun in the center of the earth? That we are merely the most recent manifestation that looks like it's either on the eve of total destruction or the dawn of a new age? After several months of Zen I stumbled across Alan Watts "The Book" and it was there that a gradual spark of understanding took place. I understood on an intimate level what I really was, that I wasn't simply a being within a body, but I was the body and the universe and everything that existed. At first this was just an intellectual understanding, but then it happened. I was sitting in my bedroom on my worn out mattress, trying to find a comfortable place to begin reading a book when suddenly it all made sense. It was literally like a bolt of lightning hit me, a sensation moved through my body, like electricity, every bit of me felt tingly and I just knew. The one that did exactly that for me was The Impersonal Life, by Anonymous. Same wonderful conclusion and same wonderful sensation of the tumblers finally falling into place in the very back of your mind. Once that seed of Awareness has been planted, the knowledge gets more and more wearable every day as the years go on. See part of my problem was my inherent disbelief in God or any sort of higher power that worked within the framework of this Universe. Someone asked the question, "what created the Gods?" I, however, in my state of "enlightenment" was baffled, because I knew, without a doubt that there was no God, at least not how others conceived of it. How could I reach enlightenment if I did not believe in Samsara, or Krishna, or any type of higher power, where did my enlightenment come from and if it didn't come from "God" then where did it come from. My personal observations are that atheists that I've known and loved can quite easily become highly aware because they don't have all the framework to ditch. Our egos are involved in our spiritual framework, most particularly the more knowledgeable that we get. We'll find a rut, furnish it, and move into it. It wasn't some human looking being that sat on a golden throne deciding what was good and what was bad, rather it was a force that permeated the entire universe, a force that was every bit as real as my own thoughts are. That force was consciousness. It is for this very reason that the best movie scene ever written, ever conceived of, in my opinion, was the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and the gang discover that there's merely a man behind the curtain. What a bummer. Throws all the responsibility on us. I am the alpha and the omega, and in being the alpha and omega it would be very easy to fall into the illusion that I am God, but I don't believe that to be true, anymore than I believe an apple tastes like an orange, rather I understand that I am distinguishing between the apple and the orange. The dichotomy of all this is that we actually are in some sense, but it must be utilized from a point without ego. This is what all the inner work is about, this is the centerpoint to where self-realization takes us. We manifest everything from the inside out, from that connected part of all of us; we are ALL shamans, sages; but we don't know it until it is experienced. Everything that exists now is a necessary part of the existence in this universe, because there is a reason for us all to be here. I remember something The Impersonal Life said about enlightened ones, when in awareness, can enter a restaurant and their auras automatically elevate the auras of everyone in the room. Do you notice sometimes that the level of happiness in a place is somehow different when you leave from when you came in? I suppose the same is true in reverse as well - if an angry man with a gun strapped to his belt comes in and sits at the counter, I suppose pretty much the opposite would be true. Do I know that reason, well you wouldn't like the answer I have to give, at least I don't think you would. The reason isn't that we each have this higher purpose to do good or help our fellow man, rather the reason is that the collective conscious has created us, nothing more. We are all born from this collected conscious. Why? I think it's merely to be a part of the physical universe, to have a vessel for the expression of consciousness. Also, this is where the straw dog analogy would come in. The Tao treats all men as straw dogs - the rain falls equally upon the good and the bad. Those of us who were born into Christianity and were programed from birth to see things as good or evil, right or wrong...I think we had a particularly good model of how Not to be to become self-realized. Consciousness has no physical form, yet everything physical comes from it. Consciousness can not be felt or touched, yet without it we could not feel or touch anything. Consciousness is the totality of everything. When I say I am you and you are me, I do not mean that I am physically you and you are physically me, but rather that we are all one thing without even knowing it. We were just talking on another thread about how by themselves, ants are rather stupid creatures, as they will pull against each other from opposite ends of an object. But in their anthill, acting in concert, they operate as a brain! All operations are attended to with various roles, and they even collect and maintain livestock! Sometimes I've even had thoughts about the brain-like properties of those huge mushroomy masses that are under much of the land. The earth is all wrapped up in this Oneness thing too, there are just too many metaphors to ignore, as far as human nature and the forces of nature. The molten mass in the middle? A chunk of the sun from long ago? This goes back to the soul in the sun (or fire?) thing which just makes me sound crazy so I won't say too much more about that until one day if it ever happens to click into place, lol. When you understand this on a deep level your perception of the world changes. My connection to you is very intimate, because we are more than just brothers and sisters, we are each the totality of existence. If I help you, then I am helping me. If I love you then I am loving me. If I cannot love you, then I can never love myself. It's that simple. Compassion arises from this awareness because you understand that you are not simply being compassionate out of selflessness or true love, but rather because there is no logical reason not to be. And it's just the little things. The little kindnesses. Also, you forgot to add that if you can't love yourself, then you cannot love me. Loving ourselves is the big enchilada, and the hardest to overcome. Thank you, Aaron, for taking the time to share your enlightened thoughts. I truly loved reading it. Barb

Pointing at the moon - how often we hear this phrase used, we use it ourselves. I guess I've always thought that 'the moon' was a metaphor for that which can not be put into words; as though a master could take the student no further than a certain point with words; that the student had to do his own inner journey past that point. But I just had a thought two nights ago when that incredible large full moon came up over the horizons of the hills of Appalachia. First of all, my heart about stopped, it was so beautiful. And then I was sort of cosmically zoomed to China, a place I was lucky to go to about 15 years ago. But I remember seeing the full moon somewhere in China, and feeling suddenly AT HOME because I was looking at the very same face on the moon that I saw back at home in the U.S. I can't tell you how that changed the moment for me; how just seeing something familiar from back home, even if it's on the other side of the earth. It was a spiritual moment for me. What I'm getting at, is maybe that's what 'pointing at the moon' means? That the face is All One, regardless of where we stand on the planet, or with our point of view when it comes to various religions, practices, or philosophies. I'd love to hear your ideas.

I like that story, Dagon. It can be expanded in a slightly different way too. The fact that she tried so hard for such a long time is also a point here. At some point on the journey we need to stop filling our minds with left brain information and just let go and let the right brain take over. Even self-awareness eluded her until the pail broke. She had been looking at the moon in the pail, contemplating it in a sense. When it all broke, she realized that wasn't the moon at all! She was free to look up and see the real moon, to Experience it. The experiencing of the moon is the metaphor for suddenly internalizing all she had studied; when the bucket broke she bacame enlightened both from the weight of the bucket, and also from the structure of everything she'd learned. She suddenly Saw and felt the Essence.

Thanks for bumpin' your thread, Apeche. Gives me a chance to post another. Apparently I crave the attention. NO ANSWERS HERE Is it not possible That time is an illusion, A creation of our linear minds To bring order to chaos? Is it not possible That a mere man named Einstein was on to something When he proved that time is curved And intersects with space? Is there a chance That time curves back upon itself In a huge unbroken circle, Past and Future being but illusions of our own creation To explain the ever-present Now? Could it possibly be that our vision is terribly hampered By the stage of evolution Of the rods and cones of our eyes Or the limited capacity of our minds? What of the sonar universe of the bat? What of the audible universe of the dog? The migratory instinct of a bird? Or the drive of the salmon? Are these not proof enough Of other planes of existence? Is it not the ultimate arrogance To believe ours to be the only anthill? Does it not seem likely That Science and Philosophy are merely Walking up the same hill on opposite sides; Perhaps to find at the point of synthesis That Thought is the basis for Energy? Is it not probable That religion is a creation of man's mind Craving answers to the unanswerable, To give form to no-form? Is it Truth or Legend That to Jesus is assigned by some a virgin birth? For to the lovers of Buddha To Buddha is also assigned by some the very same. Could this be a manifestation of our need To bring a God of our understanding to earth? Could not the Truth be The common need to Understand, Uniting all men ot thought, religion, and science In search of that which We have not quite yet evolved to see? Is it not possible that we share the same soul, Our apparent separation into visually distinct bodies Only an illusion? Could it be that our One Soul is in fact an entity That evolves upward toward the light? Could it be that there is a Uniting Intelligence Ever propelling us upward? Whether called Love, Compassion, or the Theory of Attraction Once tapped, it lights our way Creating order from chaos? I merely Know and cannot prove that these are truths; The ringing assent of my own heart my only proof. And do I even have the words to explain this to another? I wish I did; I do not. Barb Ortega

There are so many different ways of looking at alignment on this forum. Often times it seems to involve the physical alignment involving the organs and their effect on the body, the TCM way of looking at the holistic body. I always feel at a bit of a loss when talking about that type of alignment; I know nothing of TCM. But to me, the alignment that is referred to (or at least partially referred to here) is the clarity one achieves by knowing himself inside out. I like the mention of this as the 'inner power' in this verse; it's an inference that the inner power is always there and has always been there; it's up to us to clear the road so the inner power can get out.

I would say, first of all go in with a Do Nothing mindset. Respond in kindness, always. Also, go in deciding you're going to love them, no matter what they think about you. Love them anyway. No worries.

Ulises, that was beautiful and insightful beyond words. I like to think that good character and integrity are what we do when no one is watching.

Marbles, I've got crocuses.

This is what is so wonderful about this forum. Yes, I could just as easily be a pantheist, if I wanted to stick an -ist after my name at all. I often refer to The Tao Bums as the room where all paths meet. Shamans end up here, buddhists, self-realized, we have everything. For me, pantheism just sort of fits in with shamanism as to the oneness with nature thing; but without any sort of duality. Our dogs are four-leggeds. We are two-leggeds. Trees are one-leggeds. It's all the same evolving nature of which we are part.

Good point, Aaron. I didn't mean 'it's all beautiful' in a cockeyed optimist sense; I meant it more in the 'it's all good' sense; that there is ultimately order in everything and for us to fear conditions is to not trust that there is an Intelligence in place at all. As for the childlike wonder, I'm exactly in agreement. The less devious we become on the inside, the less conniving, the more childlike we become, a return to innocence of sorts. As for trying to describe the Void, the closest metaphor I can come up with is The Latency.

Marbles, is it too lengthy to post? I'd LOVE to see what you've come up with.

We've gotta figure these out. i'm looking at the second picture down, where the men are discussing something. First of all, they're subterranian, although they are obviously successful in a worldly way. The man in the brown coat (which is somehow reminiscent of a monk's robe on the sleeve) is gesturing to the young boy and saying something to the others. The others are seriously considering what he's saying. The young boy up on the next level seems to be wearing an acolyte's robe, perhaps a subconscious tie-in (on the artists' part) to a Catholic upbringing that the artist is trying to transcend. The man in the brown coat speaking, may well be saying that we must become 'as a child' in our hearts to ascend to the next level of spirituality, a theme which the Nazarene would talk about. Right behind the young boy is a step upward, most visible in the triangular profile to the right of the boy. The boy is not yet up on that level, but it does appear that the woman being elevated in the cage is being 'enlightened'. The cage is enlightening her up, plus she doesn't seem to be subject to the laws of gravity either. As so often in paintings of this nature, much of the painting is represented as a game board, as though this thing called life is nothing more than a big game. If someone has an alternate suggestion to that, please come in with it. I'm not sure about this at all, just taking a guess. I'm thinking that all the stairs that lead upward into the sky on the left side of the painting are paths and studies that take you virtually nowhere. The thing that does seem to take you somewhere is the wide dirt path that's partially obscured by the boy; it runs in a meandering fashion back to the pyramid. I'm not quite getting the essence of what the man sitting there means. He appears to be reading something. Do you think that the burning tree is supposed to represent a burning bush? (If it does, I'm not sure how this would fit in with the theme of what else he's trying to depict; to be sitting there reading something (probably a tome) next to a burning tree or bush has me at a bit of a loss. Unless it means that the burning bush metaphor is further explained by the smoke blowing to the left and off the canvas, rendering it somewhat irrelevant, and the answer lies beyond, in the pyramid. Or maybe the burning bush in a more positive light depicts the Fire Within, as Castaneda would say - or the flame of Tao within us all. Maybe that's what it means; that he must discover the flame within himself before he can continue to the pyramid. Not being an Egyptologist, I just know there's a wealth of substance here that I'm not seeing. But as pyramids were built for the Pharoahs, and the Pharoahs were reputed to have developed their third eye and psychic abilities, this may just bring to the fore the path available to all of us. This painting is intended to show this materialistic and successful society that there is much that they are missing if they don't seek the Source.

I think it's sentient in the sense that we appear (at least on this level) to be the apex of the sentient evolution; it is through us that the Tao is able to experience itself. It sees, it hears, it smells, it touches, it tastes Maybe the Tao is becoming a mirror of itself through our sentience, sort of like cell division or something. Who the heck knows? The secret to all this is that yes, we are the Tao in its fullest expression on earth. And yes, we can choose the outlook with which we choose to view life. As a thing of beauty, as a thing to be rebelled against, as a thing of love of everybody and every thing, or as hateful and sarcastic folks who see nothing but that around them. As artists, or on the other end, as critics who are afraid themselves to be criticized by others. But the evolution does continue, and as far as I can see, it's a thing of beauty, despite the evidence to the contrary. From where we stand here on the earth we see only the dark underbelly of the Tao; that which is not visible to us, unless we ascend in our understanding, is the upper part of the cloud of the Tao; the part that is beauty, airiness, etherial, sunshine. Elevated thoughts, loving hearts. There are people like this all over the world. There are many on this forum. Those who have managed to ascend to the etherial part of the Tao have very much to say about how this world runs; perhaps our consciousnesses are connected by a golden ring of understanding; a ring that holds the structure in place.

What a beautiful post. It reminds me that within the Tao there is a Latency, the blueprint for what is manifested. The oak in the acorn. You said: It is almost like an ant is a single brain cell and a colony of ants becomes a full brain. Just last week I had a sort of vision where collectively our subconscious holds this whole thing in place; after all, we use such a small portion of our brains for conscious purposes. All of our subconsciouses are somehow one big subconscious, was how I interpreted it. I am thrilled to know that there is something in nature (your anthill analogy) that follows this template.

Interesting observation. Yes, the dualism in the West is palpable. Because our bible-thumping brothers believe they are separate from God and that God will forgive all, they place little emphasis on self-discovery or even attempts to be kind, in many cases. I'm here in the middle of a gaggle of a whole bunch of 'em. Gossip here is an art form, judgment runs rampant, and prejudices handed down from family to family are absolutely revered. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find a way to love each and every one, despite my repugnance to their attitudes. I do choose to accept it. Some days are easier than others.

I've never used mushrooms but would love to. Never ayahuasca either. But I did reintroduce cannabis into my life a few years ago for PTSD reasons. I didn't smoke it like an idiot, like I did when I was a kid - just enough to keep the anxiety level within manageable limits. What I found as a side effect was that it produced a real nice mind expansion when it came to seeing spiritual connections. It's as though it places you on a perch that you don't normally sit on and see things from a different perspective. This just can't be described to someone - it's almost like the Tao. All it takes is one or two drags off a smoke to see exactly what people are talking about. The first remark is usually "Wow! Oh, yeah!", as though it's a place they remember but haven't been to for a very long time. I wouldn't close off my mind to mind altering substances if used wisely - not like an immature teenager. Personally, I think things like cannabis and mushrooms and those substances that come out of the ground were given to man for a reason. It's only Big Pharma that wants to keep it illegal...."Let US combine something together for you and sell it to you....No, be sure you don't smoke that shit that God gives us free for the asking."

It's amazing how synchronicity works, particularly when you look behind you. I had the opportunity to work the steps of recovery thru alcoholism, which started the internal process of self discovery. This aligns so clearly with the recapitulation that Carlos was required to do for years! To look at each and every setting in his life, his relationships, his wrongs, the junctions in his life that could easily have become a separate reality. The impeccability, I carry as the 11th step of recovery - to continue to take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it. This must relate to the impeccability of the warrior. I just feel so strongly that so many of us on this forum dwell in the room where all paths meet. It is so wonderful.