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[Apech]

*

 

As you walk the

 

Spiritual path

 

It widens

 

Not narrows

 

Until one day

 

It broadens

 

To a point

 

Where

 

There is no

 

Path left at all.

 

*

 

 

Which explains why none of us have a clue where we are.

[ThisLife]

Which explains why none of us have a clue where we are.

 

You could look at that idea of knowing where we are from the two different viewpoints. One comes out quite truthfully, as exactly what you've just said.

 

The other says, (paradoxically, of equal truth),... is that we ALWAYS know where we are :

 

(1) "Here", and

 

(2) "Now".

 

{Anything we try to add on to those two words, of course, is mere speculation and theorising}

 

*

Edited January 6, 2014 by ThisLife

[Marblehead]

The only thing I know for sure regarding this is that I am always wherever I am.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Marblehead

[ThisLife]

The only thing I know for sure regarding this is that I am alwaus wherever I am.

 

I once read what was perhaps a different way of saying a similar thing to what you've suggested, (I forget who the author was, or his exact words). But the gist of it was that there is only one thing we can say with complete truth, that we actually 'know'. And that is :

 

"There is consciousness, (or awareness, if you prefer),.,.. here."

 

Anything else is just an idea placed on top of this truth, like a slide placed on an overhead projector.

 

*

Edited January 6, 2014 by ThisLife

[Apech]

I once read what was perhaps a different way of saying a similar thing to what you've suggested, (I forget who the author was, or his exact words). But the gist of it was that there is only one thing we can say with complete truth, that we actually 'know'. And that is :

 

"There is consciousness, (or awareness, if you prefer),.,.. here."

 

Anything else is just an idea placed on top of this truth, like a slide placed on an overhead projector.

 

*

 

A power point.

[Marblehead]

"There is consciousness, (or awareness, if you prefer),.,.. here."

And science is still trying to completely understand what consciousness is. Yes, awareness; self-awareness, for the human animal.

 

So yeah, beyond consciousness (self-awareness) everything else is dependent on other factors including even our five senses (they can malfunction). All life is conscious in one manner or another, be it mental, chemical or some other means.

 

We seem to be sliding toward a discussion of objective and subjective reality. Hehehe.

 

 

But I am still where I am.

[ThisLife]

A power point.

 

 

In one way it's clear that I should update my antiquated thinking and get into tune with the times. After all, overhead projectors went out with snail mail and LP records.

 

But on the other hand, older technology had a very distinct advantage,... you could see how it worked. I mean, we all are completely familiar with and use computers on a daily basis. But what do our eyes and sense 'know' about how they work ? They're simply immobile black towers or a laptop's dead plastic screen and keyboard. Everything happens invisibly, and at the speed of light.

 

Overhead projectors however, offer a wonderful opportunity to understand by analogy. Just as the visible light source of the OHP creates an image of whatever slide we place on top of it,.... so, we could say, the light source, (consciousness}, brings into experience whatever coloured transparency, (internal as in our personality traits, genetic make-up, etc).... or external, (as with apparent happenings impinging on us from the outside world), that we happen to place upon it.

 

We can even get some further mileage out of the analogy by positing that though it is the same, one universal consciousness moving through each one of us that allows us all to experience this form of consciousness we call 'life',.... the obvious differences we see between our own experiences, talents, abilities, experiences, etc, and those of our neighbour... are caused NOT by a difference in essence, but by a different set of slides placed on a different OHP. The same light runs through every machine.

 

 

AND, to stretch it even further, just as the very first moving pictures were made by quickly flipping through a series of still photos,.... so we could say this ever-advancing dynamic that we call "our life", could be seen as just the pattern made by the particular sequence of all the individual slides that get projected into experience by consciousness acting through our OHP, (our individual body/mind mechanism. aka,...'me' and 'you')

 

Now whose to say that old technology doesn't have its advantages, eh wot ??!!

 

*

Edited January 6, 2014 by ThisLife

[silent thunder]

The only thing I know for sure regarding this is that I am always wherever I am.

I'm with marble on this one... I always know two things for certain...

Where I am and what time it is...

 

I'm here and it's now.

[ThisLife]

I'm with marble on this one... I always know two things for certain...

Where I am and what time it is...

 

I'm here and it's now.

 

I'm glad we've found a common place where at least the three of us are connected. It sometimes strikes me that often we humans are so occupied with either concepts about what we want, or don't want now and in the future,... or concepts about what we either regret or feel happy about in the past,... that the sheer obviousness of this 'here and now', somehow gets taken for granted. Like the air we breathe. Who ever thinks about the air we breathe ?

 

Anyway, I can feel myself falling back into my perennial default state, which has turned me into a tremendous 'pain in the ass' to a great many of my friends, (those few that are tolerant enough to remain so despite this dreadful habit of mine). And that is, of course, that I'm once again starting to sit back and make noises like I might just possibly know something about life.

 

God,... save me from this pompous place ! If you rescue me from this sad fate I promise I'll try really hard to be a nicer sort of guy!

 

I came across this mantra once which I think, (if I was truly in sync with the times) I would have tatooed down my forearm where I would read it every time I looked at my watch :

 

*

 

"It isn't easy to keep your mouth and your mind open at the same time."

 

*

Edited January 7, 2014 by ThisLife

[Marblehead]

*

 

"It isn't easy to keep your mouth and your mind open at the same time."

 

*

Yep. Sometimes we just need to shut the fuck up.

 

(I'm not a real good example of this though.)

[silent thunder]

I was once given some great advice when I started bartending.

Eyes open, ears open, mouth shut.

 

I followed that for about 0.2 seconds lmao...

My gab earned me quite a few regulars and quite some nice jingle.

 

Recently though I've found the real value of that advice and it applies to when I'm emotionally compromised.

Then silence and contemplation are invaluable.

[Marblehead]

Recently though I've found the real value of that advice and it applies to when I'm emotionally compromised.

Then silence and contemplation are invaluable.

Worthy of repeating.

[ThisLife]

I was once given some great advice when I started bartending.

Eyes open, ears open, mouth shut.

 

I followed that for about 0.2 seconds lmao...

My gab earned me quite a few regulars and quite some nice jingle.

 

Recently though I've found the real value of that advice and it applies to when I'm emotionally compromised.

Then silence and contemplation are invaluable.

 

That was a really interesting story, thank you for sharing it. For me, hearing little snippets about the lives of people I talk with is really necessary. Without it, this queer method of computer-aided communication, (where we never see the other person, have no idea what they look like or who they are, where they live, what they're interested in, or even what their name is),... well, it leaves me feeling as disconnected as someone who watches so much television that they start talking to the machine as if it were a real person. The very real perils of 'virtual reality'.

 

Anyway, regarding what you were saying,... like yourself I wouldn't have been able to follow your friend's worthy advice either. I'm just too much of a natural-born windbag to have a chance of success on that front.

 

But the point you made about keeping silent when you've been emotionally compromised,... it sounds right, but your turn of phrase I'm not sure I've decoded correctly. It's not one I use myself.

 

Do you mean, keep silent "when your feelings have been hurt by someone" ?

 

If so, I'm not sure on that one. I feel it certainly would not be the best option in every situation. For myself, that is. It would depend on my relationship with the other person, what type of personality they have and how they react, the nature of the situation that caused the hurt feelings, etc.

 

It also raises the interesting question of whether we can decide in advance what our reaction to any given situation will be. There's so often a rather alarming gap between what I feel I 'should' do,... and what I 'do' do.

 

Very often I feel that this idea that probably most of us have,... that "I" have a body and "I" have a mind. My two 'possessions', my two 'servants',... isn't this perhaps just a fantasy that appears to me, and is perhaps the cause of this gap ? Whenever a decision is called for, my mind just does whatever it does. Afterwards, my "I" steps up and confidently claims that IT made the decision, did the action, spoke the words, etc.

 

Anyway, time I slammed on the brakes to my runaway fingers. Or at least, chop the connection to my fizzing and popping grey cells. Time to make dinner,... homemade chili con carne with fresh scones straight from the oven. I've found before that that's the best way to transcend a windbag's pseudo-psychology. Connect a short circuit to his stomach !

 

Bon appetite !

 

*

Edited January 7, 2014 by ThisLife