manitou

OldDog, it is a testament to TDB. Although I've met a dozen Bums in person, it pales compared to the soul sharing that is done on this forum. We have been old-soul friends for a long time, and we know each other, in some important ways, better than our own families may. So glad you found your way here.

Thank you Rene. Your observation means a lot to me. The strange thing is how many others of the same understanding I'm running into. Suddenly. I met a man sitting on a park bench wearing only a pair of shorts and a wife beater Tshirt. He looked like he was freezing. I walked up to him and told him I lived only a block away, can I go get you a flannel shirt? He said no, he was waiting for someone. But he strolled with me to the other side of the park. I'm not kidding you, I'm pretty sure I was talking to an incarnation of the Buddha. Things like that are happening often now. Did you run into the same?

Thank you for these beautiful words. I hope that my capability of appreciating continues to broaden. And the same wish to you

Funny how the ninja thing came so late in my metaphysical career. It's as though I had to see the Dao in physical action to truly assimilate it. I had a similar, but not so dramatic, thing happen at around 7 as well. My friend and I were laying on the grass and just staring into the sky. I suddenly got swept away by the vastness of it, pulled in, like a big swoon. Not dissimilar from how it felt the other night. The threads, truly an interesting way of coming together. Just hearing the right thing at the right time unlocks another tumbler in the lock. The thing of most value on this forum, to me, is finding the common truths in so many different points of view. I've been here for about 10 years, and I will attest to this forum being the very best thing to smoothing out the rough edges in our character, to softening the opinions and ego. I came in combative, in a sense - sure of my opinions (pretty much remnants of my Christian era) to something which is accepting and loving of the Whole. There is no wrong answer, ever. It's just a manifestation of our conditioning at that moment, and as such is subject to change as wisdom accrues.

It's nothing more than a realization! That's all. And I guess we get the realization when everything comes together. The inner feeling was kind of the same jolt I felt when my father told me there was no Santa Claus. Only a little more positive.... Bewildering, for sure (That emoticon was for the ninja Bujinkan involvement wrapped up in all this)

It sounds exactly like what happened to Carlos Castaneda when Don Juan, the nagual, first started working with him. Horrible excretions from every possible place.

Bujinkan looks to me like a ballet, almost. What an intertwining of the Dao and the physical plane. Just to see it awakened something. I wish I was young enough to take training. But every time I see him he shows me a few things. As I am a retired cop, I do have a certain amount of strength, courage, and know-how that needs to be tweaked with Bujinkan. I am internalizing the blending of the physical with metaphysical right now. I don't know how all this will fit into the physical. I feel like I've gotten a treasure trove worth of training from him already, just from a few sessions.

That happens to be the book that he loaned me. He's got it highlighted, and he's mentioned many times in the book as someone Glenn Morris trained under. He's even put tabs in certain areas that he makes reference to. He has a beautiful leather cover on the paperback book - tooled leather with clan symbols all over it. The book has been so used, that just holding the book emits a warmth or love. There's no explaining it. I feel honored to have it in my house. I suspect that what happened to me is related to my running into him. Kind of like catching satori from another.

Funny thing is, a person doesn't need to check or compare it with anyone else's experience. You just know a moment of satori when you have one. There will be no doubt in your mind. It's unbelievable...it'll totally rock your world. I just thought Bucke's background was a bit humorous.

LMAO wandelaar. I clicked on yer link. Did you include it because Richard Bucke was formerly the superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane??

Thank you, TwinFlame - that makes perfect sense,, particularly the last part about the hair being channels for release of emotions. I lost my husband of 35 years a little over a year ago and I've been horribly distraught all year. This has been the same time period that my hair has thinned. I'm feeling human again, finally - and will address this problem thru diet (and I think I'll do some microcosmic orbit specifically around the head and scalp to energize the follicles).

Now you've got me captivated. When you say you cyclically cleansed away (specifically) hair loss, what method did you use for this? Are you doing a microcosmic orbit with focus on the scalp or other areas? My hair's getting too thin to suit me

I think you're right on there. We manifest and attract what we need throughout our life, even if it appears as temporarily negative. Your partner is indeed your mirror, IMO.

Are you sure?

Good point; as to random events not correlating with anybody's character and therefore can't constitute the choices of somebody. But looking at that from another position, Time is not actually linear. It's the thoughts in our heads that make time appear linear. In reality, it's always Now. So, thinking of Time as being vertical, or all piled up on itself, all events have already happened and are Now. The randomness comes into the equation when we think in linear time. @rideforever - the thing that determines how our life unfolds within this linear time structure of thoughts, is the quality of our thoughts. If our thoughts are dwelling on not liking things or judging things as bad, this will determine a negative outcome of our lives beyond that point. It will just create more of the same. I'm sure you've heard the expression that Enlightenment can happen in the blink of an eye. When that sudden realization does occur, people stop taking things so seriously or judgmentally because they see all of this as the big play that it is. The realization I speak of is the inner punch we receive when we realize (not 'learn', but realize) who we really are. This is called self-realization. Suddenly we realize our role in this big play; merely to experience the sensory and to enjoy what life has to offer. Life becomes so much easier - nothing stands in our way. It's all Thought, and we are The Thinker.

Nicely said, wandelaar. Better to totally focus on the project at hand, even if it is cleaning the toilet. To find a way to experience the joy of doing it; to realize what a privilege it is to be in body and have the ability for the sensory enjoyment of it. And to stop judging what's in front of it as good or bad, or enjoyable and not enjoyable.

@desmonddf - If you consider the mass of an atom, it is approximately 99.99% space. The actual matter in that atom is infinitesimal - and I'm guessing that the better our instruments get, the more science will realize that it's all Thought anyway. That being the case, we are also 99.99% space. The mystics have known for thousands of years that the spiritual plane and the physical plane are one and the same. And at some point, if we're lucky and earnest in this lifetime, we get to discover who we really Are. Your question, as I see it, is apples and oranges. Your brain is obviously a very good one. Welcome to the Bums.

I think something like free will can be exercised when previous conditioning and the outsized ego has been removed. In the purest sense. There may not be a human alive who can exercise 100% free will, but the more unencumbered we are, the more behavioral options are open to us. Reflex can go both ways. Reflex can be used as a result of conditioning, or it can be used instinctively to protect ourselves from, say, a thrown rock at us. As to "believing", I think that's for kids. It starts with Santa.

I like that; free will is present when intent and awareness are unified. This co-exists nicely with the next paragraph 'so the person gets obsessed with being somehow distinct from others and feeling personally achieved and distinguished'. If a person is obsessed with being distinct from others, they are not yet an enlightened being, as they don't understand that the ego needs diminishing. When the ego is diminished, that's when awareness can expand to align with intent. Very nice IMO, Aspen.

'The varnish tree is useful, and therefore cuts are made in it". My mom used to read to me "The Giving Tree", written by Shel Silverstein, when I was young. I always cried because there was nothing left but a stump - and folks were still using it to sit on

Yes, Summerhill! That's the one Anthony DeMello was speaking of. I guess it's not in England, it's in the U.S.

Excellent reference, Song of the Dao. What a fine addition you are to the forum. So if I'm reading the master right, he is saying to not-do on a massive scale? To let nature take its course, to let the karma catch up with the bad ruler? He seems to be inferring that unless and until one can get inside the mind and motive of the opponent, all other methodology will be a fool's mission; and the desire for interfering in the name of virtue will cause the depletion of virtue? Ah, the ego wins again. This statement from your referenced article reminds me of turning on the news every morning: 'I have heard that the ruler of Wei is in the vigour of his years, and consults none but himself as to his course. He deals with his state as if it were a light matter, and has no perception of his errors. He thinks lightly of his people's dying;

I think knowing when to stop and letting someone else have the last word is a way of removing yet another chunk of ego within. Those moments create a tinge of momentary pain but yield long lasting results in enlightened development. You actually are the winner in a much larger game. Continual engagement with an opponent only serves to heighten our illusive sense of separation from that entity.

A year or two I heard of a school, maybe in England, that allows children to do exactly what they want. In fact, I heard this in one of Father Anthony DeMello's CD's. (Thanks, Steve!) He talked of the extraordinary success derived from letting the kids either go to class or not, take whatever they want - it reminded me of the upward motion of awareness once it has been even slightly awakened.

I had something happen the other day that was as a result of an intentionally blank and meditative mind, no chattering. Just awareness. That is when I can hear 'the voice', although not a spoken one. More of an off-the-wall urge that comes from out of nowhere. I was driving down a boulevard and I noticed a seemingly homeless man, long white beard, sitting on a curb in the middle of the block. He had behind him a grocery cart filled with recyclable plastic, he wasn't begging. He was just gazing down at the street in front of him. The urge I instantly got was 'Give that man $20.00'. I circled the block, pulled up in front of him, took out a $20 and walked up to him. I said 'It looks like you're life's a little rough right now, would you accept a gift from me?' His response was to give me a big hug (his beard was wonderfully soft) and gave me a toothless smile and said 'I can't believe it. Twenty dollars is exactly what I need!' I dunno. There's Daoist philosophy in there somewhere.