manitou

I feel honored.

....so this can NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN

Do you eat it daily?

I like resurrecting old Jesus threads too. (the forum, not the clothes) I think Jesus may have been working wu-wei on the whole crucifixion thing. If it is as it is written, Jesus went up to the Garden of Gethsamane and had a word with his higher self, and when he Saw the path before him, he allowed it as opposed to running from it. At the time Jesus walked the earth, the Silk Road was hugely impactful everyone. Different philosophies became exposed to each other for the first time. To me, in looking at the Nazarene with a long lens, transcending the lore, there is an Eastern master there. There is much conjecture that he went to India during his teens or early twenties. There is a grave located in Kashmir (I think), which is guarded by a local - to guard this grave which that whole area believes is St. Issa, or Jesus. I'd love to write more about this but my dog is whining and wants dinner. If anybody wants to play, I'm in!

I've always liked Krishnamurti. He's sort of the General Honore of metaphysical masters. This was a good quote from the video: "Loneliness is the product of self centeredness."

That would be so excellent. I don't want to play Bridge because I would have to say the name.

One eight hundred Owning (tee hee) And I'm also tired of hearing "At the end of the day...."

I missed this when you posted it. This is an exquisite video, thanks so much for posting it, Anand. I'll be watching it throughout the year. Auld Lang Syne is a melody that brings the most beautiful memory to me, of being in the penthouse restaurant of a hotel in Shanghai on new years eve, with a small group of photographers. It would be our last night together. A small musical group started playing, with stringed instruments I wasn't familiar with. I went over to them and tried to communicate 'Auld Lang Syne? He didn't know English at all. But I started humming it, and his face lit up and they started playing it on those old stringed instruments. We all stood at the window, looking out over the night lights of Shanghai, with our arms around each other's waist and slightly swaying to Auld Lang Syne. How can you forget something like that? A moment I'll never forget.

Yes. Threesomes do count. When I first went to AA 40 years ago, they had me come up with a 'power greater than myself.' I had no religion, so the power greater than myself I used was Gravity. The concept was not one I'd ever thought about, but I figured if it could hold my feet onto the ground it must be pretty great. I was pretty flippant about it, actually. And now here I am, 40 years later, giving serious thought to gravity once again. Only this time it feels intimate, and I can feel and appreciate its presence. The law of attraction, the attraction of the earth to its children, maybe? And the mysterious pull of a black hole, seen only by its event horizon. Gravity, mutual attraction, love....regardless of the form it takes.

"Rural people want to be known for pulling their weight, not people who have to be taken care of, or who are jokes, or who are bigots. They may not vote the way you want them to vote. But if you run into a ditch in front of a Trump voter's house, they're still going to find a way to pull you out of there and they're going to offer you supper." (Rural life and Hollywood: Christian Science Monitor)

Beautiful music. It did sound like the spirit of water. In giving this topic (of a moral universe) some more thought, I don't think morality is the right word. That infers a judgment. But Love? I think that mutual attraction is the basis of it all, and call it love, magnetism, or electromagnetics, - all is based on this gravity-type attraction. And I think this is why wu-wei works. When we take our hands off something and trust that it will straighten out on its own, it does - because the universe knows the perfect situation (which is already in existence because time isn't really linear). And when we trust the universe to handle something for us - well, I've never been disappointed. It may not be the way I thought it would come out, but always better.

Thank you so much for taking the time for that wonderful response. And I do trust it.

I am dead serious about this. Maybe some others will be at the same place I am. Or if you're not yet, you probably will be. My 92 year old mom has full blown Alzheimers, she's in a really good facility. She doesn't remember me or my brother, her grandkids, nothing. (Although she does remember all old music and lyrics from the '40s, which is how I bond with her now) I fear that I am developing the same problem. I have very little short term memory any more. I don't look much to the future any more. I'm in a strange hovering place that really requires that you focus on the Now. It's very much the same as being in Consciousness, in the place of I Am, but less blissful. When I remember to be In Consciousness, which I do to different degrees throughout the days, I feel great. But this seems to be a push-pull between the two: Consciousness vs. Dementia. The way I have learned to protect myself from making ridiculous mistakes, or missing appointments (which I do a lot) is to focus on the Now as much as I can. That way, I can still bring a little organization into my daily routine, but it's difficult. My mind is sort of blank now, much of the time. But the short-term memory loss is getting horrible, and this is getting serious. I woke up the other morning, couldn't find a particular bra, and found it in the refrigerator 20 minutes later. That's the sort of things I'm talking about. If you lived with someone like this, you'd worry too. But I am finding that staying In Consciousness (out of necessity, in this case!) brings an end to the confusion. Things do truly fall into place. But I step out of it for a few hours unintentionally? Everything turns to doo-doo. So I thought I'd just pass on the 'live in the now' information to anyone getting up there, or living with or caring for old folks.

Could you give an example of your mind forgetting the usual way of doing things? I ask because on one hand it sounds like you're likely to become an advanced meditator - having control of the monkey mind. But it's a little disturbing that your mind forgets the usual way of doing things. What kind of things? Do you have trouble with the here and now?

I don't think the second head grows until about a year later.

BTW, thank you for remembering this old thread and suggesting the Lions Mane. I will give it a try. If I remember to take them.

Why don't you two get a room??

In my case, it's no doubt dementia - I am unable to remember anything from yesterday, for the most part. For future activities, I depend on notes taped around the house and striking off each day of the calendar. I have to look several times a day at my calendar to remind me what day it is. On the other hand, my inner vision has increased, perhaps because there are no heavy thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow. I don't know if this is dementia or sheer nirvana. I have made peace with my own soul, I have made all the amends in life that I felt that I had to make, and, as Castaneda would say, I try to be as impeccable in my thinking and actions as possible. As a meditator for 40 years, my mind isn't the monkey mind any more. I do get to choose how high I want my thoughts to be, and I prefer them to stay on the high side, although a tiny bit of the old cop does rear her head periodically. She' can be a bit fun. I have developed an inner vision which accompanies the effortless life I now have. It is an alignment that I can 'see' - it happens in my mind with triangles for some reason - and there is a place of spiritual clarity which is centered on the I Am consciousness within. It takes a while to be able to retain this consciousness and it will start maybe a few minutes at a time - but with practice it increases and consciousness can be constant. I don't know if there is a real relation between the lack of memory (or inability to plan, which seem to be different sides of the same coin) and the further development of a more vertically-oriented understanding. It seems to me that one would affect the other - or maybe everyone going into dementia experiences this other dimension to some degree. I don't know why I felt compelled to write this. I probably sound awfully arrogant. But here's what I've recently learned - like maybe within the last year: When you reach a place on your path where you know you are merging with whatever the heck it is - that your conditioned identity is dropping away and you are ready for the next step: Don't let ego stop you. More specifically, don't let fear of sounding egotistical or being afraid that you sound crazy. Either one of those, don't let fear of anybody's opinion stop you. It's like deciding to pick up a robe and put it on. I think the rest of our life, then, becomes an exercise in dealing with the ramifications of the momentous and enlightening new understanding that we have. I have gotten much better at surrendering to life completely. I've gotten pretty good at not-doing, and that is what I do with the dynamics in my life that are less than what I want them to be. Truly, by dropping control and surrendering to the order of the universe - handing the situation over in surrender - something magical happens. Things that you thought would never possibly straighten out, straighten out. But in order to get to the point where this magic works well, the more clarity you have inside, the more you will see. Otherwise you're 'looking through a glass darkly'. But no. The memory's worse now than when I started this thread.

The Dao treats us as straw dogs. There is no moral judgment. There is no need to judge or be judged, as it is all the Dao. It's only a matter of stripping our conditioned selves to our essence. We are It. Dogma which teaches separation of any kind will ultimately be transcended because it is structured by man's mind. Anything exclusionary, including religious identity, must be released.

'Don't react' is powerful when used in the right context. The buttons inside us that are pushed - those very buttons are the things we have the power to remove. As to the mental fear of lack, I think this could be reversed with developing the habit of gratitude for what one has.. It sounds like you're seeing difference already, as you indicate that your manifestations are changing. This is one incredible life adventure when we decide to align ourselves with the Dao, or whatever one chooses to call it.

There's no doubt about that. It is the most difficult thing I've ever done too. Challenging our own dearly-held long standing beliefs is earth shattering. When I first got sober and started the steps, it was like tearing myself apart. It was very painful at the beginning because my emotions were vested in the 'Barbara' I had built. (Or more likely, was built for me by parents, etc) The huge realizations come fast and furious at the beginning. Then the process gets more subtle, and there is no more pain involved in discovering a wayward thread within. Instead, it's more like 'isn't that interesting?' The mere awareness of a flaw or tendency that you can see is getting in the way, often the awareness alone is sufficient to alter your reactions, if one is sincere in their desire to evolve.

I've read and re-read this and can't quite see through the convolution. Is Mr. Brassier saying he reveres the heretic, or the revolutionary? And where would that leave those that come up through the 'direct knowledge' route? (i.e. self realization)

The learned and noble disciple, however, who has regard for holy men, who knows the teaching of holy men, who is well trained in the noble doctrine, understands what is worthy of consideration and what is unworthy. And knowing this, he considers the worthy and not the unworthy. He wisely considers what suffering is; he wisely considers what the origin of suffering is; he wisely considers what the extinction of suffering is; he wisely considers what the path is that leads to the extinction of suffering. (MN 2) In my view, it equates to when the Nazarene told his disciples to 'keep their eyes up high in the hills'. It really seems to be a process wherein we retrain our thinking. When the thinking is higher, free of unnecessary judgment of others and criticism, life changes dramatically. We're no longer dragging around regrets of yesterday and fears of tomorrow, and we see that the antics of some are just that; antics. It becomes possible to see the amusing side of life all the time. I was driving down the street yesterday and was overcome with a wave of joy, just noticing momentarily the beauty of the desert. I nearly had to pull over. Knowing that 'I am That', knowing that it's all one big beautiful life and we're just one little part of it. Sometimes it's overwhelming...

I think that fear of death lies at the bottom of all these fears. Maybe not in a direct way each time, but found if looked for. Even losing material things - this is still symbolic of diminution and ultimately loss of life.

This disturbs me. I thought we had a full minute. This actually happened. I was in a department store with my dear sweet mother and I observed a chocolate truffle on the floor, under a table of clothing. I pointed it out to mom and kiddingly said 'I dare you'. She snatched that thing up and popped it in her mouth without even breaking stride. She was about 80 at the time. She too followed the medical advice offered above by Steve. If it doesn't kill you, it just makes you stronger....