manitou

Funny you should say that. I'm about to buy a whole gaggle of watercolor supplies - my first thought was Amazon. And then I thought, no - pay a little extra and support one of the local folks in town. Actually, probably a lot extra.

I think those dark nights of the soul quicken us somehow. Glad you're back to yourself.

"trying to marry all the natural philosophy I'd studied for years and "knew" to be true" I think that's wonderful. That's exactly what I've done as well. You are definitely in the right place. If you ever want to discuss alcohol (I'm a recovering one, 39 years sober) please PM me. I've been right where you are with the drinking thing.

$36 to $131? Holy moly. I hope you enjoy it Just reading the little description you posted, sounds awesome. My current practice is to try and shed thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow. The ghost can change its fate.

I have a constant tinnitus ringing, for some years. I have taught myself to see it as the sound of the Dao, or the sound of "shine". I don't know if this is true or not, but it certainly helps me tolerate it.

Maybe desire is what we experience when we fall out of total alignment. Desire is an inner indication that something is missing. But in reality, nothing is missing.

How would they frame them? No words learned yet. And because of that, I am guessing a baby doesn't really experience linear time as such. As to the smile, it refers to the place in the DDJ, if you're familiar, where the sage is in the same mental place as a baby before it learns to smile. In other words, prior to conditioning.

Personally, I think an enlightened opinion would be to have no opinion....

Really excellent point, IMO. I had an experience driving across the desert where there was a very unusual vision involving 'lines' around everything, connecting everything to everything else. At the same moment, I felt like I had all the answers to everything! - and it was all so obvious. But 30 seconds later? I couldn't remember any of it, hard as I tried. Good point about the struggle over time. My perspective that this struggle over time involves self examination, resulting in self realization.

I think that's true of DDJ translators as well. Better understanding through triangulation of multiple sources.

Self realization - seeing through the ego and conditioning to realize who you really are - A transparency borne of self examination

There's a fellow that lives close by whose name is Kevin Millis. He and Glen Morris get together often, I believe Glen is Kevin's student, or was at one time. I met Kevin and his wife through walking the dogs. They invited me into the house, and at one point Kevin started showing me some Bujinkan Ninja movement. We had no discussion prior to that about the DDJ, Buddhism, Daoism, or anything. But when Kevin started moving, it was the DDJ personified! And I recognized it immediately. I asked Kevin "Are you familiar with the Daodejing?" And he replied, oh yes - it's the basis for martial arts movement. I didn't know that at the time. All I knew is that Kevin demonstrated an economy of movement that was incredible - and every single principle of the DDJ seemed to be exposed underneath. And sure enough, it was.

I have a friend like that. He does exquisite modern paintings with a Native American theme. His works were collected by Pres. Reagan and also the King of Sweden. I asked him once where he found his creativity, and he did a little twirl right in front of me and placed an invisible hat on his head. Said it was his Picasso hat. It was that simple.

(Reason for edit: Nungali said it all)

Maybe you should use Earl Grey's friend as one of the scary things.

That kind of flatulence control is really quite impressive.

I was thinking more along the lines of having some fun for a few days. Surprise the other half with a trip to the lake? Just forget all about this stuff. Then come back, reset, and allow your path to unveil, one day at a time. Be kind to everyone. If you want to think about something, think about how our egos push us to achieve something by trying all these methods. It may be that self realization is right around the corner for you. It's between you and your ego, as it is for all of us. We have to realize the place of Nothing within us. It is then that the inner voice can be heard and the dynamics seen. You will see who you really are, and why you have nothing to fear about anything.

There's a lot of duality here. In other words, you are seeing demons and looking for God, perhaps. I think that might be part of the problem. Please consider the possibility that there is no God outside of ourselves. There are no demons either. Any gods or demons are constructs of our mind, and our mind is missing the point. The Intelligence is all One. The thing that describes this best for me, is when I learned that when a fetus is forming, all cells produced are exactly the same cells. There is no differentiation when the fetus is forming. What determines whether a cell becomes a fingernail cell, a blood cell, a lung cell - it all depends on how they line up with each other at the time of the fetus formation! This is the Intelligence I'm talking about. It is within everything, both seen and unseen. An enlightened one will not be making judgments of good or bad, angels or demons. He will realize that it is All One - and that we are the sensory addition to the life it is expressing. How many times in your life have you considered something that happened 'bad', only to have it turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you? Can you take a little break from your meditations and open your mind to a different scenario where there are no angels or demons?

That would explain their horrible breath.

You can merge in or out any time you wish. You're either sitting on the fence watching the parade (silent mind) or participating in the parade. Chop wood, carry water. If you choose the parade for a while, put your back into it. Be fully present. Immersion into a task is truly one of life's blessings. I don't consider that wei wu wei is something we walk around with all the time. It's good that your meditations have gotten you to a place of silent mind. But the wu wei is something we 'do' - or more accurately - 'not do'. I think it usually applies to the wisdom of non-action as another dynamic is occurring. The one Doing Nothing on the situation will not change the dynamic or try to control the situation. All things blow by. Occasionally something comes right at you. You have to move it out of the way - this is when you choose the way of agape love (not Eros) in making a decision. I think you'll find that you use this place of oneness is a place of rest. Just waiting at the doctor's office can turn into a mental spa.

Yes, my darling! That's it exactly!!

Yes, I am. I am including myself in the equation.

White cats are notoriously deaf. I had one and it pushed ALL my dinnerware onto the floor, broken. It was that afternoon she turned into an outdoor cat.

Oh I forgot. CON: You've gotta speak into his good ear.

Seeing as this thread is titled An End To The Intellect, you little twerp, I will give you a little further explanation of why I am standing there with my nose in the air while he tries to give me flowers. PRO: There was a current of energy that was really something. PRO: He was a great watercolor painter. PRO: He was really funny. CON: This guy's heading into health problems. I can see his knees need replacing, and his swollen lower limbs are probably indicative of poor circulation. To make this work, I will have to uproot my life in Palm Springs, which I love, and go back and live in some chilly cabin on the east coast so I would have the privilege of being a nursemaid to this geezer. He's also a bit heavy and out of shape and sort of pre-diabetes. The very biggest CON: We did discuss the idea of meeting each other in different places on the planet. That could be fun. I said "I'd really love to spend some days at the Grand Canyon". His response: "That sounds great! Will we be tent camping on the dirt?" I immediately replied that "No, we will be staying in that pretty hotel on the rim" Neither one of us brought that subject up again. So I'm afraid, my young and ardent little friend, the sensibilities of maturity are based on many years of not knowing what I did or didn't want. (Although he did call just now and it was really nice to talk to him. Damn.)