Pitfalls on the path

[sean]

[neimad]

nice. thanks for sharing.

 

and these are all pitfalls ON the path..... not to mention all the pitfalls that exist to draw an individual OFF the path entirely.

 

anyone who thinks that achieving liberation is not an intsense and constant struggle is deluded (thats not to say it isn't worthwhile or enjoyable).

[neimad]

desire. fear. frustration.

 

 

however these are pitfalls that hold us OFF the path.... sean listed pitfalls that can occur whilst ON the path.

[Trunk]

I'm curious to hear her descriptive points of a healthy path.

[Ian]

[cloud recluse]

This is the one that bothers me.

 

Right there with ya.

[Callan]

Really good stuff!

Great to see this written down so clearly.

 

Just two or three more and I'll have the full set.

[voice]

Well, you know where hunters set pitfalls...along paths.

 

The "Way" is not a "Path".

 

Better to avoid paths, which is why we are TaoBums and not Taoists.

 

Chris

[Yoda]

The belief in pitfalls is the primary cause of pitfalls on the path, imo.

[Callan]

Well, you know where hunters set pitfalls...along paths.

 

The "Way" is not a "Path".

 

Better to avoid paths, which is why we are TaoBums and not Taoists.

 

Chris

 

 

How about if we called it pitfalls of the "Way" in that case.

 

 

The belief in pitfalls is the primary cause of pitfalls on the path, imo. smile.gif

 

 

Not believing in them doesn't really take them away.

However maybe we don't need to think of them as pitfalls. Either way most people are going to go through some or all of them. THey're challenges. Places in our consciousness we have to learn to deal with one way or another. Pitfalls because we can fall into them and get stuck there for a while until we learn how to deal with them.

[RedFox]

Interesting list. In my own case, I'd have to admit that whatever of those pitfalls I have and do display while on the path, I had before I ever started. Its just that I expressed them in possibly different ways, that would have different labels in another psych model.

 

I might even be able to say that those same imbalances prompted me to begin walking on the path in the first place, that they're what found it alluring to me. Have to chew on that a little longer.

 

I'm not sure if I'd call them pitfalls, exactly. Maybe they're more like stages of healing of the fractures in our consciousness. If we use cultivation or meditation practices to add energy to our system (for whatever reason) these unconscious patterns become more pronounced, and we start to express them more obviously. Either we see it (in meditation or our behavior), or other people see it in our behavior... either way we eventually get feedback about it. Once we're fully aware of it, we can begin changing it. If/when we choose to... maybe that's what is being called the pitfall, not everyone chooses to make the course correction on a timetable that other people can observe.

 

Ugh, still too early for this s***! back to bed!

[Ian]

If we use cultivation or meditation practices to add energy to our system (for whatever reason) these unconscious patterns become more pronounced, and we start to express them more obviously. Either we see it (in meditation or our behavior), or other people see it in our behavior... either way we eventually get feedback about it. Once we're fully aware of it, we can begin changing it.

 

 

Yes! Thank you.

I'm been toying with this thought for years now.

It's a dilemma. A lot of teachers say not to increase energy until your garbage is gone. But then it's hard to know where the garbage is that's stopping you getting rid of the garbage!!

 

I've never heard it put as honestly as you have here. Energy addition to highlight the issues. So long as the revealed issues don't get confused with the desired results.....

[RedFox]

Yes! Thank you.

I'm been toying with this thought for years now.

It's a dilemma. A lot of teachers say not to increase energy until your garbage is gone. But then it's hard to know where the garbage is that's stopping you getting rid of the garbage!!

 

I've never heard it put as honestly as you have here. Energy addition to highlight the issues. So long as the revealed issues don't get confused with the desired results.....

 

Glad it makes sense to somebody.

 

Its the only way the healing tao system made sense to me. I'd be drawn to orbit practice, i chuan and other energy practices all at the same time. But when energy got too high, it'd start to drive me insane, the racket in my head would just be too loud. Then i'd have a period where i'd ditch all those and do things like emotional fusion. But that never worked for very long, never seemed to have the juice to make more than a little progress. I'd get so far then kinda just wallow in whatever I dug up.

 

Dancing back and forth between energy practice and fusion seems to work a little better for me. Develop a little energy/strength, handle low lying issues, which shores up the internal structure a bit. Then basically, rinse and repeat, gradually going deeper.

 

For some reason it didn't make sense until Winn got me looking at Peter Novak's work, and reframing my desired results. I dont buy all of Novak's model, but it got me seeing "the garbage" as symptoms of fragmentation. That got me looking at it as a need to reintegrate what was appearing in my shadow side, rather than try to toss it out or maintain enough energy to keep it buried or something.

 

Eehh.... I may still go insane this way, but I'm much happier about it now!

[Callan]

Glad it makes sense to somebody.

 

Its the only way the healing tao system made sense to me. I'd be drawn to orbit practice, i chuan and other energy practices all at the same time. But when energy got too high, it'd start to drive me insane, the racket in my head would just be too loud. Then i'd have a period where i'd ditch all those and do things like emotional fusion. But that never worked for very long, never seemed to have the juice to make more than a little progress. I'd get so far then kinda just wallow in whatever I dug up.

 

Dancing back and forth between energy practice and fusion seems to work a little better for me. Develop a little energy/strength, handle low lying issues, which shores up the internal structure a bit. Then basically, rinse and repeat, gradually going deeper.

 

For some reason it didn't make sense until Winn got me looking at Peter Novak's work, and reframing my desired results. I dont buy all of Novak's model, but it got me seeing "the garbage" as symptoms of fragmentation. That got me looking at it as a need to reintegrate what was appearing in my shadow side, rather than try to toss it out or maintain enough energy to keep it buried or something.

 

Eehh.... I may still go insane this way, but I'm much happier about it now!

 

Interesting. I've worked a lot with a teacher who does group work where he channels energy which pushes a lot of garbage up to the surface and then the group moves through this over the course of a few days, helping people who get stuck in places and teaching people how to work with things for themselves as we go.

Sounds similar to what you're talking about.