manitou

The wonderful thing about meditation is that it's the first step toward constant awareness. When somebody has meditated over decades and learned to still the mind upon demand, I find that they have the choice of their thoughts, their words, their actions. Stilling the mind elevates to the point that we can actually pull ourselves up and out of the stream of human happenings, and then see them with the longer dynamics. Clarity is achieved. When enlightenment occurs, the mind no longer wanders out of control. It is clear, it is still, it is placid. You have tamed it.

LOL. That was my thought too.

there is a place in Kashmir, I think, where there is a St. Issa buried. It is guarded by the family who lives there. It is maintained by many that St. Issa was none other than the body of Jesus. I wonder if there is a connection to "IS"

I'm currently reading a book that is making my head spin - It's Time, Space, and Knowledge, (A New Vision of Reality), by Tarthang Tulku. I'd love to share part of it, to help me understand what the heck he's talking about. I feel that it's important page 124 "It is possible to discover a 'lower time' which is the appearing and transforming of the subjective, objective, and peripheral components that constitute a 'situation'; also, 'lower time' is such that these components cannot be either successfully abstracted from the momentary situation or isolated from one another. The abstraction and isolation or independence that are commonly felt are themselves components of what 'time' bears. This subtle but potent 'time' must be understood if we are ever to attain true harmony with our world and control over our own lives. "The 'time' that operates our realm is the particular version of Great Time which is allowed through a specific focal setting on the openness of Great Space.' This 'time' is 'local'; it is the dynamic expression for our lower space. Local capacity for opening to reality is limited (in practice); so a realm appears with 'us' as the observers of a world of things and circumstances. All this is actually given by 'time', but is seen rather as a world of isolates whose states and patterns of interaction can be conveniently indexed by ordinary time. Local partitioning (by 'time' presents time in terms of units arranged in a past-present-future scheme. "This past-present-future structure (and emphasis on moments) has the effect of appearing to cover all the possibilities for expression, all available time for storing events and for having experiences. We cannot depart from this series; we are unable to break through the inexorable pattern of time 'marching on'. Thus, we may feel both controlled and frustrated." * * * * * So - I've got a few questions. I barely made it through high school. 1. When he says that time is 'local', does that mean he is referring to something so mundane as a time zone? Or is it more like 'this very moment is the same moment all over the world'.? 2. Am I right in assuming that Great Time is temporally challenged? That Great Time must morph into day-tight compartments to allow the circumstances to unfold? I think the reference to a 'specific focal setting' is a good way of putting it - our range of physical experience is limited by what our senses tell us. This is of particular interest to me because of the type of deep healing that I do. It's done by tapping the memory from childhood that got the snowball originally rolling, and drawing the plumb line to today and why they're manifesting what they're manifesting. To do an imprint which reverses the original memory, I have to 'see' the dynamics I'm dealing with - more often than not, I'll have to 'transcend' the factor of time, just like the author said, and see the person's dynamics without the interference of time. All laid out there on the same table.... Any further understanding from anyone would be greatly appreciated!

The Victorious Ones. Perfectly said, Patrul.

Jesus did say something about fearing not what the morrow would bring; for today has more than enough baloney happening all on its own.

Those who used to be with us are here now. Those who are here now are here now. Those who have yet to be born are here now.

I think this is exactly what I was remembering - but I couldn't load the page.

The scientists working with the Hadron Collider have found that that when smashing atoms, the particles will go into the future, stay in the present, and go backwards in time as well. This is so wonderfully mind boggling.

He's really good, CT. thanks!

You emphasized the word 'particular'. Do you think of the immortal being as having a separate form from you?

That's funny. I never got the message from Castaneda that the personal history was erased. Instead, I got the message that your personal history must be inspected to look for points in your life that changed you in some big way. In essence, I saw it as the same thing as doing a personal inventory, much like doing the steps of recovery. Maybe Luxin's mysterious tenant is a man with a painful past. How did he come to live in your house?

That's the way Tulku refers to it - as overlays. He also analogizes the process to individual cells in a movie reel. The individual cells, if I understand him correctly, are as you say - almost a photograph, a situation, a moment in time. What I wonder, is if those individual cells (which aren't a continuous flow) are put together by our brains to make it 'appear' that time is moving along smoothly. Just as our eyes 'fill in' the blind spots in our vision. Our brains are really talented about making things make sense when our input doesn't actually give us sufficient information. I like to think also about the fact that, if it weren't for the fact that this planet and other heavenly bodies were 'rotating', there wouldn't be any sense of time at all. Sometimes I wonder if the fact that half the planet is dark as the other half is light is a way that the planet sleeps, always energized because of the periods of rest. A yin-yang of the planetary brain. So, as I see it, rotation is the key. And that rotation is a remnant of the big bang (if that is still the theory?). And the big bang was an idea coming to fruition, the accumulated ideation bursting forth and supplying the energy for the planetary rotation. How incredible this all is.

I'll bet my youth was every bit as mis-spent as yours was I am in awareness of the buddhist thought you speak of. I'm trying to pin down a particular spin of 'local' that is used in metaphysical writings. I can't remember at the moment how it applies - but it's there somewhere. It's not quite 'local' in the traditional sense. It's a different dynamic. It was used by the old metaphysicians of the 1880's - 1940's. I think you're right about the point of focus. One of the things Tulku talks about is this phenomena being a result of our point of focus. The inference being that there are countless other points of focus that we can't sense. I can't remember where I saw this - maybe Avatamsaka Sutra - "all of time and space is yours". I think of that often. One of the ways of developing the sense of Great Space or Great Time is to remember that whenever you're looking into the eyes of another human or some other critter - that you are gazing into the eyes of 'god', the Awareness. Even if that person is less than impeccable, you're still looking into the eyes of the creator/maintainer/planner, another version of You.

This seems particularly profound to me. It acknowledges in simple terms the reality that 'we are the creator'. When he says 'for I am the only one in the world', it seems to point to the oneness of all.

The book is a mind bending experience because of the vastly multiple planes of both time and space. I just got to the 'time' section. My mind is still boggled from the 'space' section. Our ignorance doesn't limit us, I don't think. I think the thing that actually limits us is our conditioning.

Such an important point. The thing we seek is experiential, and any attempt to grasp it using the mind (believing) won't get the essence of it. That's why I 'believe' the questions "Do you believe in God?' and 'Do you believe in Santa?' are one and the same.

Morbidity is totally welcome here.

I don't know if this dynamic would be helpful or not, but there is no mention on this thread of the inner work required to prepare the soul for the garden. If there are too many inner conflicts and conditionings, virtue won't arise on its own. (Getting burned means you had expectations)

Can a metaphysician participate? It might be that the concept of 'self' is meant to be destroyed as much as possible, as self and ego are pretty much the same thing. Self realization, or enlightenment, doesn't happen until a person has permeated themselves down to the core, and filed off those inner buttons that can inflame us. This renders us capable of reacting to any situation in any way we choose - totally unrestricted. It happens that we become no longer at the mercy of emotions, nor do we have to 'rebel' in the opposite direction, because the rebel that remains within us finally grows up. The rebellion tendency is such a point of pride with some folks; yet it is the very thing that prevents them from clarity. As I see it, the true self is who we are without ego or without conditioning. It is the pure essence, that thing which calls us to itself throughout our whole life - regardless of the variety or strangeness of the paths that got us here. I think that in the end, they all go to the same place - who We truly Are.

You can see this in a dramatic way when you find yourself in the position of saving a life. Suddenly it's not 'me' and 'the girl across the restaurant'. When the choking starts, the soul screams "US!"

How about the decision to make the first move?

I agree with this. I think the concept of lust is a mental construct. It's placing a judgment, a spin, on the perfectly natural desire to mate. My long metaphysical journey has led me to believe that all 'It' wants to do is enjoy itself, regardless of what that may be. It wants to experience, to feel - but puts no 'rights and wrongs' on it. It's us humanoids that categorize it, causing the drama. The undercurrent of lust, as I see it, often happens when the object of our lust is unavailable or unsuitable. That may throw it into a slightly different category. For example, I experience lust when Steve, Silent Thunder, or Michael Sternback are on a thread I'm on. I assume they're either unsuitable or unavailable.

And the idea of 'wanting' a personification is dual. We are the personification of the entity.

Is this the same as wei wu wei?