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Considerations, research, highest potential, optimization, doing, fixing, improving, striving, practice. Have you done any "spiritual practices" that have seemed to change your life? Daily Life! (seems real to me)
Heartfelt: a Description of a Navajo Peacemaking Process
Recently I watched an interview on conscious-tv with a man called Eric Gross. In enjoyed the interview. And what I especially liked was his description of a peacemaking process by a native American tribe, the Navajo. This description is a separate segment at the end of the interview. When you click this link it starts at that point: http://youtu.be/nOgXs7PfuuA?t=52m7s
What touched me was the reply of the mother when being asked ¨do you love your son?¨ Her reply was: ¨I don´t know¨ There is a deep groundedness to this, free from spiritual idealism about how things should be. And being free from this idealism the heart tends to open. Perhaps there can even be situations in life where someone is being asked the same question and the answer will even be: ¨no, at this moment I don´t love this person.¨ Maybe it´s not a great place to be in, but it´s honest and when dealt with in a gentle way it can be felt in the heart. And even deeper at the roots.
But as you can hear in the video the ¨I don´t know¨ is not being indulged in, although it´s welcome in it´s totality. Rather this contraction is embedded within the sense that there always is a natural connection between people.
2012...?
What about 2012? Do you have any opinions about that?
Somewhere in december 2012 the Maya-calendar ends(something along those lines.) In a lot of New Age circles this ´end-date´ is being interpreted as the dawning of a better world. Perhaps through some sort of energy shift.
A few times I visited this ayahuasca-circle. The first time I went there I liked the setting very much. There was some New-Age stuff on the side, but it wasn´t necessary to go along with these stories, that were being told prior and after the ayahuasca ceremony. I was only there for the medicinal tea and the safe atmosphere in which to undergo it´s effects.
But when I went there a few weeks later the talking about 2012 became more prominent. There were plans to go to some remote place somewhere in Europe to start up a more permanent base that was free from ´the matrix.´ A sort of light center that would be able to resist the ever growing cosmic storm until December 2012.And when I went there a year later for the third time the plans were pretty concrete. At that point I knew I wouldn´t go there anymore. It didn´t feel right to me. Perhaps I would still be drinking ayahuasca if it wasn´t for that 2012 stuff. But from a clean-cut Non Dualist perspective this probably is a good development. :) This was all a few years ago.
I happened to read on a site from the/a Deeksha movement, which I´m not at all familiar with, that they take October 28, 2011 to be the real end-date of the Maya-calendar. So perhaps the party is on quite soon.
Inelia Benz
I've read untold books on metaphysics/spirtuality, and since the coming of youtube I've watched countless more videos, but I doubt that I've ever encountered any story more incredible that this (courtesy of a friend at batgap)
Double Rainbow All the Way
How can you not love this guy!
I think it´s great that a video like this has had so many views. even if a lot of comments are ´wtf-ish.´ It´s a good spirited video. I don´t believe if you would act this out with two fake rainbows that it would have the same positive vibe.
And, as it goes (I´ve recently learned) with these kind of ´hits,´ it has been ´songified.´ Also quite nice:
There is a certain lack of coolness to all of this - and somehow that´s pretty cool :) , but in an authentic, natural way.
More on "Conceptual Pointlessness"
I posted this at Batgap, but thought I'd repeat it here, for my NNH cohorts who don't play in that playground. Also perhaps elaborates on Peter's original "Conceptual Pointlessness" thread, whose title I've shamelessly plagiarized.
More thought/wave forms re: why do we bother with all this seemingly pointless, yet playful, conceptual gamesmanship?
I suspect that most of us who end up here in the batgap forum using concepts and language to discuss esoterica such as non-duality, no-self, Cosmic Consciousness, Awareness, the ground of Being, or even just the fundamental nature of human experience, etc, are speaking from a level of understanding that tells us concepts, words, labels, etc, are symbolic representations of a state of existence that exists independent of all such interpretations, and which due to their inherently relativistic and dualistic limitations can never hope to unambiguously capture or convey that transcendent reality. We also no doubt understand, if only in an abstract way, that in the realm of boundless, spaceless timelessness, all of this seemingly linear conversation is essentially happening simultaneously, with no actual back and forth, because ‘back and forth’ requires time and space. And yet we do it nonetheless.
Perhaps the reasons why can be expressed in a relative sort of way as follows:
video: artwork by Alex Grey
Perhaps this might be of interest to some folks. A video journey through Alex Grey´s ´art gallery´, which is called the chapel of sacred mirrors.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6827097227365303858#
It´s kind of a meditative journey. So you have to be somewhat in the mood to enjoy this. I personally haven´t watched it in one sitting.
Sometimes I´m in awe of his art, and then a few days later I find myself not at all attracted to his use of ´weird colors´ and so on. But whatever your opinion is, you just have to appreciate his outstanding technical skills.
[ btw: this is an example of a topic that would fit nicely in a ´lounge/anything goes´ kind of area. But the ´duality-section´ will do fine also as the subject matter is pretty much spiritual - and thus very serious! :) ]
Thoughts on ego vs. no-ego
This time, I will put the disclaimer up front. These are my speculations. I offer only an invitation to consider them, debate them, or criticize them, but no absolute ‘Truths.”
In order for our ‘Divine’ consciousness (our natural state of non-physical essence) to experience a created 4 dimensional world of separate appearances, it must of necessity also create a body-mind, i.e. a vehicle through which to perceive and experience this apparent separate ‘reality,’ thereby of necessity creating a separation between self and not-self. Like all impermanent appearances in this cosmos, this body-mind which is designed to experience and interpret the space-time world of separate, relative appearances, is also by design impermanent.
Enlightenment Does it matter?
Now and then one hears or reads declarations or observations from our fellow journeyers, seekers or otherwise, regarding the ‘wisdom’ of those who have apparently seen the ‘Light,’ as opposed to those poor less developed souls who are seemingly still deluded and in the dark. One imagines some such lament as: “If only they knew what I know; if they would just see it my way, they also could see the light.” Sometimes, one even starts a practice, or a spiritual teaching, so that others can join in and learn to see the light and speak the truth. Then sometimes they become missionaries, or crusaders, and all hell breaks loose. And that’s all fine; they all have their place and role to play -- albeit the success rate is not always encouraging, and the drop-out rate is often tellingly high.
But one senses that such distinctions as: true-self vs. illusory-self, enlightened-self vs. unenlightened-self, etc, are all just the same old dualistic trap of ‘self vs. not-self,’ or ‘us vs. them.’ Are they not just more discriminatory relativistic labels, categories and beliefs? It seems that as soon as there is a sole identification or attachment with one or the other, once again, that vexing, exclusive, dualistic state of rejection, judgment, distrust and fear, which one has spiritually endeavored to leave behind, suddenly reappears. But alas, it would be hypocritical judge the judges in the dualistic state. Same damn trap!
Ockham's Razor
I really like this concept in philosophy, and it is used quite often to trim the fat and get to the gut/core of a dialog/dialectic. I am posting this for sharing; not interested in debating this or anything like that, just thought it was a fine tool for sharing, and/or possibly working in your personal process of sadhana - if you see a way that 'this somehow does something for you' - as Richard says often (or something like that). Here is a long quote about Ockham's Razor, and it is sourced from my philosophy master. Yes, I have a master (guru if you like) for study in dialog and dialectic (Paul Newall - owner of "The Galilean Library"). It pays to develop ones 'skill' in the articulation of our Heart, and all the ways it loves to communicate through us. By the way, my name at the linked forum is "Da Fire". Enjoy and God bless.
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http://www.galilean-library.org/site/index.php/page/index.html/_/essays/...
QUOTE FROM LINK ABOVE
Ockham’s Razor, otherwise called the principle of the economy of thought, is invoked often in debate, usually to discount one or more theories on the basis that another exists which is simpler or more parsimonious. In this essay we shall consider this principle, its domain of application and some associated philosophical concerns, using examples from the history of science to illustrate some of the points at issue.
The Simplest Explanation
Feeding the angry pig
Quote from angryidiot: " I know for sure as clear as a day, that while I sleep today , eating like a pig, there are people who must not have eaten for days. And that is why enlightenment, realisation, GOD and also DEVIL all all are lies and worth shit."
My friend reminds me of yet another story ... I'm fond of stories, you may have noticed:
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes inside people.
He said, "My son, there is a battle between 2 "wolves" inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
"Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
So I suppose one could just take a 'fearless' stand, stop eating like a 'pig' and feed the starving people instead. No need to wait for some non-existent God to do it.
What does one have to lose, except one's own precious life?