Power Of Source

How to be passersby

2012-01-31T17:04:00.004Z

The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own.

- Susan Sontag

Apropos sound alienation, thanks to TCG and Biblegateway for these interesting bible verses:

John 15:18-21

18 "If the people of this world [a] hate you, just remember that they hated me first."

19 "If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don't belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and that is why its people hate you."

I suspect that alienation is a necessary step towards Awakening.

Steps (and rest)

2012-01-19T16:56:00.002Z

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.

-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.

-- Ovid

What god can do

2012-01-17T11:15:00.001Z

Even God cannot change the past.

-- Agathon

I'm a little astonished at the postulates people are willing to put forth about what God can or can't, or will or won't, do. How can we possibly know? It's like amoebe claiming to know what humans can do.

As a simple example: let's say God changed the past so that ants became the intelligent race and ruled the earth, and humans numbered a few thousand, cowering in trees. Well, the present might change as well, and how would the inhabitants of this world know that it had ever been any different? Heck for all we know, ants were our masters until last week, when God got bored and changed it all.

Be a doubter

2012-01-10T18:40:00.001Z

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.

- Rene Descartes

the "Zebra Personality"

2012-01-09T13:35:00.001Z

Have you come across people, particularly various kinds of spiritual teachers, but also other kinds of leaders, who obviously have a lot of light and wisdom in them, but can also be nasty, vicious people? For example they will be very loyal to a friend, but if they decide that the friend have "betrayed" them, they will see him like the devil and treat him like caca.

I call them "zebra personalities". I see that in this lifetime they have made a jailbreak attempt from this world and the ego, and they made a very strong one and got very far, which is why they can be so inspired and inspiring.
But they only made it half the way. And because they are very strong people, their Ego is very strong too, and this sudden collision with The Light of Source made the ego freak out and go into super-high gear.

This mixes with the blessed part of their personality, and you get a person with almost no grey tones, only stripes of black and white. Thus the "zebra".

You would think that such light and such darkness could not co-exist in one person, and normally they can't, but we are talking about very rare, exceptionally strong and bright people, and they can hold together a functioning personality even though the conflicts between such strong light and darkness would tear a normal person apart.

Doing the Work Of Good is hard work

2012-01-07T15:09:00.002Z

I’m reading “Living with Miracles”, new book by D. Patrick Miller.

He quotes from the Course about how Harmless and Helpful goes together. I was reminded:

LR Hubbard said that a man is as happy and productive as he perceives himself to be dangerous to his environment.

He said he’d realized this after he'd been walking home one night, and he was threatened by three drunk sailors. He “handled” them in the violent fashion of one of his own fictional heroes, including a broken bottle into the face of one of them. And after that he said, he was super-productive and on top of the world for days!

You’ll notice that for this to be true, a person must be basically on permanent and essential war footing with the whole of the rest of creation.

BTW he may have just made it up (the fight), but doubtlessly it was in line with his beliefs. He saw himself as the greatest spiritual king of ages, battling alongside a ragged bunch of incompetent but lovable rascals against incredible odds, to literally save not only the Earth, but the whole universe and all universes beyond it from the otherwise inevitable slide into something which would make Dante’s Inferno seem like a day at McDonalds.

Literally, no irony, no metaphors, no exaggeration. Saving the *whole* of creation, by himself with a little help.

And his enemies were similarly great, of course, with “Xenu” being the yang to his Yin, the evil being of evil beings, who apparently also almost single-handedly engineered the “downward spiral” of the universes since time began.

And so it goes without saying that if you have to main and kill at little at times in order to achieve such ends as Saving Civilization, that’s trivial. Nay, admirable, because you did what you had to without hesitation or fear of reprisal.

Funny enough that last philosophy is echoed by many hard-science-fiction authors, like Robert Heinlein, Algis Budrys, van Vogt, Orson Scott Card, Jerry Pournelle…

Of course it’s just a slightly bigger vision of the whole “Dirty Harry” syndrome of the Ego’s, that if there’s evil out there, you kill it. And if you happen to find pleasure in such killing and maybe shoot a few times more than strictly necessary (notice how Dirty Harry movies (and "Unforgiven") always end in an orgy of shooting), then that’s of course only because you’re the Good Guy and you enjoy doing the Work Of Good.

And you know that you are the Good Guy because you are doing the Work Of Good. And, er, vice versa! Perfect logic!

And you know who the bad guys are, because they shoot first! Except of course at times when you, the Good Guy, has to shoot first to stop the Bad Guy from doing it. It’s all obvious and can be seen by everybody except those who are either Enemies or Traitors. (And the number of traitors which can stack up by a really great Good Guy is fabulous.)

Asking Big

2011-12-27T18:47:00.001Z

Laurie commented: "We ask too small."

It's a good point. Not long before I really encountered non-duality (in the form of The Disappearance Of The Universe), I was for a while into the whole Manifestation thing (which later hit big with The Secret). But I was already losing my interest in earthly manifestations like the trappings of success etc. So in the end, the only thing I really put my wish-force behind was wanting stronger communication with Everything.

Everything and everybody in the universe. But when it comes down to it, what's "everything" except Source, or God? So my rewards in that direction have gone into hyperdrive since then.

Full disclosure demands that I reveal that this does not necessarily mean an easier life, at least not for a while. To speed up spiritual contact also means to speed up the shedding and shredding of old, hard-packed energies full of beliefs and fear and anger and such. And this process can be highly stressful. But I do believe that there's an end to anything, except Truth.

One's own heart

2011-12-17T16:47:00.003Z

It is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals.

- D. H. Lawrence

"Cosmic Consciousness"

2011-12-14T02:21:00.002Z

Below is an excerpt from an interesting book, "Cosmic Consciousness".
It can be found on Amazon on paper or electrons. (Be sure to get the right one, by Richard Maurice Bucke, it's a century old.)

(Click for easier reading.)

Study assumptions

2011-12-11T18:13:00.001Z

Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.

— Idries Shah

One of the most basic and wise sayings I've heard.

Harder than you'd think, though. Because we all tend very strongly to confuse our assumptions with facts. That's why we assumed them after all.

Book: "Living With Miracles"

2011-12-04T13:31:00.001Z

D. Patrick Miller, the original publisher of The Disappearance Of The Universe, has a new book out: Living with Miracles (author's page and Amazon page).

I warmly recommend it both as a gentle and easy-to-read introduction to the Course, and paradoxically also, for me at least, further study around the basic ideas of the Course for more advanced students.

For example the book contains one of the best definitions I have seen of the "Holy Spirit" of the Course: "an intuitive communication link between our own seemingly limited consciousness and the unlimited consciousness of God".

"Intuitive communication link", that's just spot-on.

I asked D. Patrick:

What's the raison d'étre, amidst all the other books on the subject?

My previous book UNDERSTANDING A COURSE IN MIRACLES was mostly history and journalism, describing how the Course came to be and became influential, and providing a summary of its chief principles. I told a few personal stories of how it had affected me, however, and I noticed that those were the parts of the book most often mentioned by readers. So I thought there would be some interest in a book that focused on stories of how the Course had affected students, including myself. So it's a more personal book in that respect, and is more about the *experience* of ACIM than its history.

Thanks for the write-up! BTW I just published an e-book that provides an in-depth study of healing a relationship with forgiveness, entitled THE PERFECT MOTHER.

On gratitude

2011-12-02T17:11:00.001Z

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.

-- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Wow, what a cynical thing to say. I hope this was said by a fictional character, for a person must have had a poor life indeed to never had felt any real gratitude for anything.

I remember when I was around 7 or 8, all summer we went to the beach every day, we had a very nice beach nearby, all light sand, no stones etc. But I was afraid of getting my head under the water. A pal of mine, a year or two older, coached me into getting used to it, and swimming under the water became one of the most fun things I ever did. I got so extremely grateful to him that I kept saying I Love You to him, something Scandinavians are not wont to, being a very reserved people. I had to stop that since it embarrassed him. But that was real gratitude, somebody had really enhanced my life. And I certainly did not have any "hope of further favors", what would that be, teaching me mountain climbing? (In Denmark! Haha, the tallest place is like 1500 feet.)

Buy Bill book

2011-11-28T16:01:00.001Z

Right now Carol has a holiday sale on her book about Bill Thetford (recommended), Never Forget To Laugh. A good and fun bio, as well as a good book for learning about the Course and how to Let Go.

Thandie on the Self

2011-11-15T16:09:00.001Z

Thandie Newton shows that she's more than a gorgeous face, an interesting TED talk about Self and Otherness.

Doing a Total Restoration

2011-11-12T18:55:00.001Z

I think the most universal advice that I know of is that no matter what you do, live your life with deliberation and consideration.

And occasionally, take a breather and do a "Total Restoration", meaning reconsider *everything*. Your whole role and direction in Everything. And do it from the biggest perspective you can which seems real to you. Probably this will be expanding as time goes.

Personal upheaval

2011-11-12T17:55:00.001Z

"Between 1930 and 1990, a convenient and superficial brand of spirituality has been circulating and pretending to be the real thing. This form of spirituality has been most sharply characterized by a pervasive ego-gratifying and materialistic series of assumptions. The marketing of spiritual approaches to life during the 1970's and 1980's became highly sophisticated in conveying to consumers that a spiritual path or dimension is the icing on the cake of life, and does not require any deep soul searching or inward changes.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, a counter-movement has been emerging which is much more Earth-real and oriented toward core spiritual values. As this counter-movement gathers momentum, the truth that every spiritual aspirant must move through major and extended upheavals will become basic to our evolutionary planetary shift into the 21st century.

[Our aim] is to give support and encouragement to those who find themselves faced with a call to die to their old selves and to come alive in a vibrant new way. We wish to affirm with glad hearts that each individual is equipped with all that is needed to move through the planetary identity crisis and their own personal struggle and change. In no way can we float along with the comfortable insinuation that these radical transformations will be easy, or simply a matter of changing the paradigm of the way we look at things. Now is the time to set to work and serve [Mankind] with a whole heart."

... from the book Inside Planets by Elias Lonsdale. Thanks to Laurie.

Note the expression "major and extended upheavals"... I can attest to that, as can many of my friends and many of the teachers who I have studied. We're not talking kindergarten problems when we approach the real spiritual center. It counters the popular belief that as you make spiritual progress, your life will become better and better, easier and easier. It may do so for a while, and then one day the express bus smacks you as you cross the street. The Self's resistance to Truth is very, very strong.

"Live in the Now"?

2011-11-12T16:10:00.001Z

In the wonderful show Dead Like Me, Georgia complains: "Everybody says Live In The Now."

And I too feel that it is pretty useless advice. For one thing, the Now is no more real than the past or the future. There is no Now. Time is imaginary like space and energy.

For another thing, if you can live in the Now, I'm sure you're already doing it. It's like saying: "just be happy".

Stupid as that sounds, thinking about it I realize that there are actually people who do give that advice. "What do you look so sour about, smile!" So you're supposed to look happy so they don't feel bad?

And people who insist that others should be happy are always at best white-washing their own unhappiness. Why else would they care? And white-washing don't hold out in the rain, sorry.

Weekend quotes

2011-11-12T14:19:00.001Z

Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.

-- Bertrand Russell

Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.

-- Mark Twain

Backwards blind

2011-11-11T14:12:00.001Z

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.

-- Marie Curie

Yes, I noticed this many years ago. It is frustrating, it makes it feel continually like all the work is in front of one, even if one has made enormous strides in the past.

And at this point in time, I think anybody has made enormous strides. J says in The Course that we have crossed a great desert, now we merely need to wash the dust from our eyes to see it.

And I do believe it. Many years ago I had a vision of a great crystal arrow sitting in the bulls-eye of a great target. The arrow had been fired from the other end of the universe, at the beginning of time, and now is sitting dead true in the target, the job is done, we're just too confused to know it.

I was interested to read that writer Bernadette Roberts had virtually the same vision, only the "crystal" bit missing.

Can't push Love

2011-10-28T13:25:00.000+01:00

"All you need is Love, duh-dah-duh-du-dahh..."

That's a theme that universal in pop songs, films, and literature. And even many spiritual and self-help books, it's there, you just have to Love and everything will sort itself out.

But while it's literally true that Love is All, I don't think you can push it or enhance it. The real love, the only Love, belongs to Source, and it's far, far beyond the control of the Self.

A Course In Miracles says it very simply: "The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance."

It's good news if you think about it. You don't have to worry about being deficient in Love or about how to enhance it. Love is infinite, in you and everybody. All you need is to remove the blocks to your awareness that Love is there.
That this is much easier said that done is another story. :-)

ACIM in Chinese

2011-10-25T15:41:00.000+01:00

Congratulations and Well Done to Judith Skutch Whitson and her team, they are coming out now with a Chinese edition of A Course In Miracles. [update, see below] I don't think it needs to be said how important an event this is, politically, religiously, philosophically, spiritually, and just in terms of sheer numbers!
Chinese is a profoundly alien language to English, in form and in thought, and it must have been a colossal challenge and job to do this right. (Not that it's ever easy, they say that they target any translation of ACIM to take five years.)

They are also doing amazing work in the digital sphere, they now have The Course out in ebook format on many platforms, Kindle, Nook, Sony, Mobi, iPhone/iPad (via Kindle and BN, not iBooks), Android, and soon Google. I am into those things (ereaderJoy.com), and I can tell you it is not a trivial thing to develop an ebook, even though by rights it should be these days. Just for one thing there are apparently no tools which does a really good job of translating a regular wordprocessor file into any of the ebook formats, it has to at least be carefully edited and corrected manually.
I have the Course in Kindle format (reading mostly on iPad), and it's beautifully done.

Update:
I contacted Judith Whitson to see if I had it all correct. It turns out there are two different Chinese versions of the Course, one in the "Traditional Font" and one in the "Simplified Font".
Judith told me:
The first edition of the Chinese translation of A Course in Miracles was first published by the Foundation for Inner Peace in 1997. It was printed in the the Traditional Font and disseminated in all countries where Chinese was spoken except for the Peoples' Republic of China, where the Simplified Font is used. You are correct in assuming that there was also the timing factor in that a decade ago there was indeed resistance to the themes introduced by the Course on Mainland China.
The first edition was widely distributed through the efforts of a remarkable translator, Chiao lin Cabanne who then spent years in public presentations, teaching and traveling throughout Asia. Because of her efforts, the Course is now studied through dozens of groups in Taiwain, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Groups also started to spring up on the Mainland. Finally, this past year, Course was set into Simplified Font, approved by a publisher in Beijing and was printed last week for distribution in the Peoples' Republic of China.
So you see, Eolake, it has been a double phased effort.
It warms my heart that you understand the great commitment of love, time, resources and effort that are given these translations.
As best as we can estimate, this means that approximately 93% of the world's population is able to read the Course in languages of their choice.
Also, by the way, the Translation Program of the Foundation for Inner Peace is an equal effort of Dr. Kenneth Wapnick, who teaches the translators and Dr. William Whitson who manages the process. :>)
I hope this is helpful to you, and again, I am so appreciative that you let me clarify the process.
And you made me smile by recognizing in your excellent blog the size of the Course's electronic outreach through the ebooks we design and make available just as fast as we can! We are coming out with two more this year and I'll let you know when they are being launched.
"Love is the way I walk in gratitude".
Judy

Georges Duhamel

2011-10-18T12:55:00.000+01:00

I have too much respect for the idea of God to make it responsible for such an absurd world.

-- Georges Duhamel

Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.

-- Rabbi Julius Gordon

Axioms

2011-10-10T20:59:00.001+01:00

ax·i·om

noun

a self-evident truth that requires no proof.

a universally accepted principle or rule.

Logic, Mathematics . a proposition that is assumed without proof for the sake of studying the consequences that follow from it.

I find it interesting that we as humans even has a word for "a self-evident truth that requires no proof."

The best teachers, for instance Jed McKenna, stress that we cannot be certain of anything. Everything is based on belief, and a belief that you can't change is a trap.

Intelligence and faces

2011-10-07T23:31:00.001+01:00

I find it very interesting how intelligence is reflected in a person's face. Intelligent people have a very specific tension in the face, particularly around the eyes. You can almost literally see the focus of their mind.

Y's beautiful dream

2011-10-02T23:42:00.003+01:00

My artist friend Y wrote this awesome dream to me. I’m almost envious of it.

Eolake

===

Y wrote:

I had a really strange and interesting dream.

I was back at a house where I grew up... except it was quite different.. and there were a lot of people there who I did not know or recognise, but it didn`t seem strange to me, as I was the age I am now, and I seemed to take it forgranted that they were living there in the present tense outside of my dream.

Anyway, it was night time, and dark outside, and we all were outside the kitchen door at the back garden.

I saw a faint glimmer of light in the sky, and began to look for it again.. no-one else had noticed it.. as I stood looking, I saw the most beautiful sight.. ( in my dream, I had decided that it was an alien space ship )... it was transparent with areas of flickering almost neon light, like a deep sea jelly fish, but it was in the shape of a Giant Manta Ray, and gracefully and slowly moving through the dark sky just as a Manta would move under water, with it`s long tail extended behind it.

I kept telling other people to look, but they didn`t seem to be able to see it.. and they made jokes about me seeing things... But I felt so happy at being able to see this beautiful thing of wonder... this organic spaceship / creature... in all of its beauty.

Anyway, that's how the dream ended... with me just standing staring at this wonderous thing in the night sky, and feeling so privileged and happy.

- Y

Clumsy forceps

2011-10-01T17:52:00.001+01:00

The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it.
- H. G. Wells

====

... And that's just human truth. I feel that Universal Truth may be as far beyond a human mind as the galaxy is to an ant.

Speaker, Gangaji

2011-09-30T22:07:00.003+01:00

This speaker, like Adyashanti and Jed McKenna, is a good example of that characteristic we often see in advanced teachers: an interesting way of speaking: Slowly, and without any force whatsoever. Sort of distracted. Sort of disinterested. And these small pauses all the time.

Not surprising characteristics, if we look at what awakening is supposed to be: a strong subjective perception that the universe does not exist, it's a dream. So any strong interests and intentions in the Universe will have gone, naturally. And probably the direct perception of The Light/Source all the time explains the appearance of distractedness.

Gangaji:

Adyashanti:

Eye of the beholder

2011-09-29T18:31:00.002+01:00

People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder,' and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves. - Salma Hayek

J saves

2011-09-29T04:34:00.000+01:00

Jesus saves. That's why credit crunches don't bother him much.

Previous PoS title

2011-09-26T21:29:00.001+01:00

Here is a dubious previous use of the title of this blog, Power of Source.
I think Hubbard was a very good writer, I much enjoyed his SF epic Battlefield Earth (the book, not the movie) and the ten-volume satire Mission Earth (though in retrospect it was sometimes needlessly violent on the part of the Big Hero). But as a musician, I really don't know... He had the belief that if you just believed you could do something, you really could, training or no training (his words), there was no excuses, and that's what he told his mostly untrained musicians in this band.

What place is holy?

2011-09-26T20:51:00.000+01:00

Two buddhist monks recently set themselves on fire as protest against the Chinese government. And the Daily Llama (sorry, it's a Python mag. I meant Dalai Lama) is in a battle of words with the same, about who can choose his successor. So in short, they're still in battle.

Like it was said in The Disappearance Of The Universe: "what would make one place holier than another? They are all part of the same dream." The buddhists could save themselves a heap of trouble by just settling down in any peaceful country which would have them, and practice their Releasing, Advanced Forgiveness, and connection with Source.

Similar stuff on a smaller level: some years ago I imagined that one day I'd build or buy a big and very cool house. But since then it has become less and less interesting, especially since finding nondualism in the book mentioned above. All the interesting stuff is happening Inside anyway. And by living in a small and cheap place, I don't need to work as much, leaving more time to practice advanced forgiveness (giving up conflicts). Also it lets me save up for retirement and a rainy day, giving a little more peace of mind, and the ability to donate to causes I believe in. (While I try to keep in mind that since the world and money are both illusory, it's the love behind the giving which counts. If you do it out of guilt solely, not much is moved on a spiritual level. (The Soul Of Money.)
Eolake

A Spear of Light, A Lens Onto the World

2011-09-15T12:13:00.001+01:00

Here’s a cautious notation, mostly a “record of research”, since it’s just the latest perception, and far from confirmed.

I got the perception last night that I finally got a handle on the form and position of the “Big Pain” I have long struggled with, sometimes seeming like a headache, but usually oddly unfocused. It seemed to be a sharp spear going into the middle of my spine, up the back, and hitting the top of my head from inside.

More meditation on it mutated the view so it seems to be the energy of “god’s light” which is the spear. My role is to be a channel, or seeming more accurately, a “lens” for it, for some reason this is symbolically or somehow going out through me vertically upwards. The entrance through the spine is very much in doubt, maybe there isn’t really an entrance at all, maybe the illusory Personality (Individual Consciousness) is collecting The Light from all around or from Beyond, and focusing it in the World.

I have been a functioning lens at some times and in some functions, but the reason it’s painful is obviously that I am too blocked by energy, beliefs, ego, all that junk.

The overall Process is the unblocking of that channel to the lens, like water flowing through a hole (interesting that “hole" is like “whole"), and slowly but inexorably making the hole bigger, until the damn dam is all gone.

I suspect that this process mostly takes place on a much bigger plane, but how this is related to the body and its space I have no clue.

It seems for some individuals that they have some human life to live after the dam is (practically?) gone, I believe this is to serve as a clearer lens for the light to shine on the rest of the world, for the benefit of still extant illusory individuals. Yeshua* is an obvious example, whereas Bill Thetford seemed to step out the moment he was “clear”.

But then there’s also evidence that individuals (or “their images” as the Course says) can continue as teachers on a higher plane after the final lifetime. And seemingly much more free of the linearity of Time in that state.

*"J" or "Jesus", see The Disappearance Of The Universe and here.
(Note, I'm not a Christian, but I try to learn from many teachers, and J was clearly a big 'un.)

Me and Buddha

2011-09-12T12:10:00.002+01:00

Me and Buddha, is it a thing?

Trouble is a Friend

2011-09-02T22:14:00.003+01:00

Trouble is a Friend, music video.

And it's true. If the Dream of Life was too pleasant, we would never Think very much about it, and so never wake up.

ACIM lessons in audio

2011-09-01T13:18:00.000+01:00

Gene Bogart has made excellent audio recordings of the ACIM workbook lessons. Warmly recommended. You can use them for free, but if you can, donate some, I think he has done the movement a big favour.

What we fear

2011-08-26T23:44:00.000+01:00

What is it we fear the most?
Non-existence.
Symbolised most often by death.
What do the three greatest monsters, Dracula, The Mummy, and Frankenstein's Creature all have in common? They are all dead! They are walking death.

We fear that apart from Source we don't exist. And it's a particularly hard thought to face up to, because it's true!

Of course the truer truth beneath that one is that not apart from Source, we DO exist, and it's a much better life. No comparison.

"Nothing really matters"

2011-08-25T23:05:00.001+01:00

A few years ago, shortly after I'd started studying nonduality and the idea that what we call "life" is a dream, and doesn't exist, I saw a therapist for some back pains I had. The therapist, pretty much out of the blue, told me about another patient of his who had terminal cancer, and how this guy had told him: "nothing really matters". I don't know why he told me that. I guess he is a person who operates very intuitively.

Here is an interesting short article about Steve Jobs, written upon Steve's stepping down as CEO of Apple (but staying on staff) in August 2011, due to ill health. This guy was phoned by Steve, on a Sunday...

...we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I've already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve.

"I've been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I'm not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn't have the right yellow gradient. It's just wrong and I'm going to have Greg fix it tomorrow.

A great leader cares about things a great deal. But somebody who cares that strongly about every tiny little detail is just bound to make himself sick sooner or later. The mind and the body just can't handle that much tension.

A wise man said that the estimation of the importance of a datum is as important as the datum itself. And I think that datum is one of the really important ones.

Conjecture

2011-08-25T17:18:00.003+01:00

To be willing to die for an idea is to set a rather high price on conjecture.
- Anatole France

Isn't "conjecture" a wonderful word?

conjecture -- con·jec·ture
[kuhn-jek-cher]
–noun
1.
the formation or expression of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof.
2.
an opinion or theory so formed or expressed; guess; speculation.

We believe things so fiercely because they are all conjecture. If they were true, there would be no need for strong belief.

Where you're going?

2011-08-20T11:51:00.000+01:00

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.
-- Laurence J. Peter

Somewhere else than what?

When I was young, I protested mightily against the Eastern idea of letting higher powers take over control and direction of your life. I had been taught that control was all and it was absolute. And there was no excuse for not controlling every bit of your life, and more than that, it should actually extend to everything around you. They call it "responsibility".

In recent years I've learned that this desire comes only from the ego. And what's bad about it is:

it's simply not possible. The ego can control a lot, with enough power, but never even close to Everything.
If you can, it won't make you happy. It will only make you sad control freak trapped by fears of anything changing. (Which it will. No emperor every ruled more than a few decades.)
As an ego, we basically don't know anything. Just look at one little area: all the different theories about what's good to eat and what's not. We know nothing.
The "higher forces" are really our Higher Self. From an ego viewpoint, it can often feel like an outside influence, but it is Us, only from a universal viewpoint, which does know everything, and knows what's best for the Whole.

So, my belief is that if you have to apply a lot of force to get "your will", you're probably fighting your Higher Self, and... well, guess who is the biggest and baddest? Give up sooner and be happy sooner.

Lorre thought

2011-08-15T17:45:00.001+01:00

"When I was in the shower this morning, I thought: If we assume a Big Bang beginning of the universe, then every molecule, every atom, every proton, every electron, every quark, every wavelength, every vibration, every multi-dimensional string, every everything that makes up everything else shares an ineffable property of pre-Bang Oneness. Assuming that, then every everything is always moving in one of two directions: either away from that primordial state, or returning towards it. We feel these quantum movements. Moving away is experienced as loneliness, fear, anger and despair. Returning is experienced as one or more of the infinite variations and gradations of what we call love. Now, while some might say that equating the miracle of human feelings to the meandering of sub-atomic bric-a-brac robs them of their mystery, the truth is quite the opposite. Connecting our fundamental experience of life to the great mystery of existence ties us to the eternal within our every waking moment. We are not separate. We are made of the same stuff that existed at the beginning and will exist at the end. Therefore, the question we must each ask ourselves is simple: "In what direction am I moving today - towards oneness, or away from it?" When I was done reflecting on this, I stepped out of the shower, toweled off, and, while glancing at the mirror, pondered a new thought: 'I have a pretty nice ass for a guy my age.'"
- Chuck Lorry vanity card 112

God will

2011-08-13T20:44:00.000+01:00

God will and man can, forgive anything and anybody which has love. And any and all of God's creatures has love.

---
This came with or maybe after a dream I had.

A short overview

2011-08-07T08:03:00.002+01:00

One might say that there is Source (god), who is infinite and One.

And then there is an illusional mind, which has deluded itself into thinking it is separate from Source. This of course is *intensely* traumatic, which has necessitated the further illusion of Time to deal with it bit by bit.

A further dealing mechanism is that the Big Mind, in order to further communication (which is symbolic of contact with Source) has split itself (still illusions) into billions of “mini-Me’s”, separate little consciousnesses, which battle out the conflicts of life, all symbolic of the main one, the apparent separation from god/Source. So we are all illusionary characters in one big dream.

One wake-up step is becoming aware that you are One Mind with everybody else. Another and later and ultimate is the Big Mind giving up the separate illusory existence and becoming one with Source. (Like it’s been all the time.)

Hyper-active minds

2011-08-06T04:35:00.000+01:00

I’m reading a book called Introvert Power. Amongst other things, the author observes (with clinical evidence) that the minds and brains of introverts are more active than those of extroverts. Which is why introverts tend to get over-stimulated when going out, or being in busy places, or otherwise being emotionally "aroused" as the psychs call it.

The more progress I make, and the more I learn, the easier it is for me to process mental phenomena, ideas, and energy. And this, for me, means that the mind is becoming more and more active, so far. And I've become more and more introvert, needing less and less stimulation to start the mind going. The issue is more often to stop it going, or even slow it down!

I'm wondering by the way, for an individual: is becoming a Totally Clear Channel (for energy processing) and Having All The Energy Processed, All Done, two different phenomena which occur at two different times? (If so, I guess the latter happens first, and I'd guess the second would happen not long after, in the same lifetime.) I think we should know much more about these things. Who's in charge!?!

Sphinx And Medusa

2011-08-05T05:16:00.003+01:00

Sphinx And Medusa
Clark Ashton Smith

The old constraint of an essential bond
Hath linkt them in my mind: opposed they stare,
Twin silences, that through Time's Otherwhere,
The ruinous past, thus each to each respond,
One with mysterious gaze that sees beyond
The straining suns, calm as the voidness there;
And one with eyes like deserts of despair,
Flameless as granite, clear as diamond.

They gaze across the past... Yet thought must see
That eve of time when man no longer yearns,
Grown deaf before Life's Sphinx, whose lips are barred;
When from the spaces of Eternity,
Silence, a rigorous Medusa, turns
On the lost world the stress of her regard.

-----
I looked up this poem because Tim Powers borrowed the last words for his excellent book The Stress Of Her Regard.
Medusa reminded me of the Holy Spirit (or Higher Self) regarding the Universe from outside it, from "the end of time".

Aliens, conspiracies, and whatnot

2011-08-04T02:17:00.001+01:00

Years ago I was for a period interested in humankind’s developments, possible aliens, conspiracies and all that. But now I more believe that The Universe is a dream, and that includes *everything*, including "higher levels", what happens in other dimensions or between lifetimes, whatever, it’s all a dream. And as such, what happens in the dream takes second place (a distant one even) to just the fact of realizing it’s a dream, and on waking up from it, to reality.

There *is* a reality outside the Universe, but since it is not within space or time, or limited (defined) by them, it can’t be understood by human minds.
It can partly be perceived. People who occasionally have flashes of light in the peripheral vision, may have started on that road. The light is a symbol of Reality, or Home. (Which is One.)

For what to do to help along the awakening process, I recommend the book The Disappearance Of The Universe.

And two more

2011-08-03T11:03:00.002+01:00

Every time we say, "Let there be!" in any form, something happens.
-- Stella Terrill Mann

Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.
-- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Quotes 2 Aug

2011-08-02T09:07:00.002+01:00

Of one thing I am certain, the body is not the measure of healing - peace is the measure.
-- George Melton

Friends, in my experience, are like ladies' fashions. They come and go with the seasons, and are rarely of such stout stuff as bears repeated wearing.
-- Stephanie Barron

My new Buddha statue

2011-07-27T19:31:00.003+01:00

I've never had any religious iconery about, or much truck with religion generally, but there was a specific Buddha statue which my parents had for lord knows what reason, which I quite liked. So I've looked for it for two years, and finally found it (I didn't like any of all the others), except bigger. My parents' version was only like six to eight inches (15-20 cm) tall, this one is 16! (40cm.) Big fellah. And it's vintage, rusty and everything, I like that.
So I bought it directly from China at a reasonable price. Apart from nobody ever answering any of my emails, it went perfectly, after a couple of weeks, I got a shipping confirmation (which didn't have any data, but from the price I could figure out what it was), and only like 4 days later I got it. I'm very pleased with it. Here are my own photos of it.

(Click for big pics)
(Fujifilm X100 at 800 ISO)

I have a soft spot for the serenity associated with this and with the buddha, since serenity is a major goal of mine.

"This Too Shall Pass"

2011-07-15T14:05:00.000+01:00

New animated ebook for iPad, This Too Shall Pass.

I like it. It stresses the ephemeral and impermanent nature of all things in time and space.

A happy and serene character says words to this effect: “I never let my livelihood, or lack of livelihood, interfere with every opportunity I have to live richly. I do all I do with a mind which has let go”.

The last words there I feel are central to good spiritual teachings. And while I'm sure there is an end to that journey, one will know when one is there, and until then, all the central lessons must be learned not just once, but many many times. One should not think this means one is dim, only that one is now learning on a higher level, from a higher perspective.

Impossible

2011-07-06T16:56:00.002+01:00

We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.
- Ray Bradbury

Burned biscuits

2011-07-02T17:59:00.001+01:00

[Thanks to Henry]

When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!

Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that ugly burned biscuit. He ate every bite of that thing... Never made a face nor uttered a word about it!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits every now and then."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!"

As I've grown older, I've thought about that many times. Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

[source unknown]

An amusing spectacle like a game or a dream

2011-07-01T04:22:00.001+01:00

[Thanks to Signalroom]

"One who has seen his true nature no longer regards life as being full of menace and misery as most people do. His previously mistaken sense of personal volition and responsibility has disappeared in such freedom and joy that life is now just an amusing spectacle like a game or a dream, in which he has no real part."
-- Ramesh Balsekar

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom

2011-06-22T11:33:00.000+01:00

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
-- Soren Kierkegaard

----

I think he may be right. I think anxiety, perhaps severe, is one of the fields of razor wire you have to crawl through on the way to freedom.

Simply because freedom is kept *out* with fear, so there's no way around it.

Run into god

2011-06-12T23:22:00.000+01:00

From my friend Signalroom:

Today I was walking up the dirt road
and suddenly, for no reason, began to run.
I was running to enter God more fully.
This was my experience --- my lungs
nearly burst in pain, my heart
Pumped harder in response --- so much
love happened. It rained --- increased life --
Love, I was seeking God -- meaning -- something --
but that simple run made a furnace of my
chest, and through the wall of my lungs
I entered the Impossible, happy.
He smiled broadly within my cells.
Today life got bigger :)

"Fear-based beings"

2011-06-11T14:39:00.001+01:00

In my studies in recent years (centering around non-duality), I’m learning that change-resistance comes from Fear, and about how Fear is a *much* bigger component of us than we are aware of. You might virtually call us “fear-based beings" rather than “carbon-based beings”.

In Jed McKenna's second book, it is said that all human emotions are really variations of Fear, like white light going through a prism and appearing in different colors, though still having the same source.

Judging

2011-05-31T15:35:00.002+01:00

"No one can judge on partial evidence. That is not judgment. It is merely an opinion based on ignorance and doubt. Its seeming certainty is but a cloak for the uncertainty it would conceal. It needs irrational defense because it is irrational. And its defense seems strong, convincing, and without a doubt because of all the doubting underneath."
-- A Course In Miracles lesson 151

The wounds of others

2011-05-31T15:25:00.002+01:00

"When we are aware that our partner has emotional wounds, and we love our partner, we certainly don't want to touch her wounds. We don't want to push her to heal her wounds, and we don't want her to push us to heal our wounds."
- The Mastery of Love

Jesus by Chopra

2011-05-30T15:57:00.000+01:00

"Jesus", a novel by Deepak Chopra. The story of Jesus' own path to enlightenment. Warmly recommended. Obviously very contagious, as any novel about any profet is bound to be. We humans tend to believe things strongly donchaknow?

Mystic Moon

2011-05-22T17:19:00.000+01:00

Read a couple of interesting stories about the Weird World we live in, here.
While some teachers like Arten and Pursah might say strange phenomena like crop circles etc etc are just distractions to keep your attention fixated on the universe, I feel that on some level they can be helpful, to show you that the universe is not physical, but subject to the mind (and Mind). That is a big part of the journey, even though ultimately yes, you have to say: "heck, it's all illusion anyway, no part of it is more important than any other part".

I want everything

2011-05-15T17:29:00.002+01:00

"My parents are always saying to me: 'go to college, Bruce, get a little something for yourself'. What they never understood is that I want Everything." - Bruce Springsteen

The World You See

2011-05-08T10:41:00.007+01:00

The world you see holds nothing that you need to offer you; nothing that you can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you joy. Believe this thought, and you are saved from years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair. No one but must accept this thought as true, if he would leave the world behind and soar beyond its petty scope and little ways.

Each thing you value here is but a chain that binds you to the world, and it will serve no other end but this.

A Course In Miracles, Lesson 128

Lesson 129 starts:

Beyond this world there is a world I want.
This is the thought that follows from the one we practiced yesterday. You cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there is something else to hope for, you will only be depressed. Our emphasis is not on giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace.

[...]
It might be worth a little time to think once more about the value of this world. Perhaps you will concede there is no loss in letting go all thought of value here. The world you see is merciless indeed, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with you, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate. It gives but to rescind, and takes away all things that you have cherished for a while. No lasting love is found, for none is here. This is the world of time, where all things end.

Is it a loss to find a world instead where losing is impossible; where love endures forever, hate cannot exist and vengeance has no meaning? Is it loss to find all things you really want, and know they have no ending and they will remain exactly as you want them throughout time? Yet even they will be exchanged at last for what we cannot speak of, for you go from there to where words fail entirely, into a silence where the language is unspoken and yet surely understood.

===
I find it interesting indeed that J speaks of a world beyond the world, and *yet another* realm beyond that… As if any of us would not find the first one to be more than we had ever dared dream of.

"This is the world of time, where all things end.”

It is funny how we usually don’t think about that. Perhaps because it’s so universal that we take it for granted.
If you manage to amass a fortune, it’s very hard work to hold onto it against thieves, taxes, inflation, expenses... If you marry miss Universe, in twenty years she’ll probably have lost her looks and her cheer. If you win Olympic gold, next year somebody else will be the winner.

Kissing by the waterfall

2011-04-19T20:29:00.000+01:00

Another real life story from my friend. - Eolake

Yesterday around noon I went up to the waterfall behind our houses. The air was sparkling yesterday, we had had a big rain the day before, and finally, a sunny day . . . . The Falls were THUNDERING, just pounding, and the sunlight coming through the woods and through the water was just gorgeous. There were rainbow colors coming through the water! I thought I was on some kind of drug, but no, it was Reality, fresh and clear. There was a father with his two sons playing around up there, it was cute. I sat on a huge boulder directly facing the falls and swung my legs over and just stared at the power of water. There was even a thick ice formation, still turquoise, behind the falls, and the sun shooting through the ice, then through the curtain of water, I tell you, it was stunning. I turned my head briefly and saw, down by a huge cave-like rock, two women kissing. They were very attractive, in their 20's, and they looked VERY in love . . . I noticed the father up ahead was trying not to look at them, lol . . . When I saw them I thought, "hmmm, well, okay." Then, the next thought "lesbian" entered my mind, bringing a kind of heavy, dark mist. An unease, a shame.

Immediately Awareness came to the forefront, a spotless Mirror, and the thought dissolved instantly into the pristine fresh atmosphere of the waterfall, of the father and sons, of two people kissing . . . . Suddenly I was filled with such huge JOY, as if Christ Himself were smiling and the ONENESS of LOVE in our midst. I was caught up in what felt like a smile of the Universe. Not a judgement abided in this space. Not a single thought, label, fear or shame was present. Just total joy at us all together, in beauty, in love.

For me, to be naked these days, is to be utterly free of judgement.
No good or bad, no right or wrong, just Life presenting itself as it is. Reality here is alive, almost sexy, visceral, strengthening.
Ever-new.

Honestly, I'm glad somebody had the sense to be kissing in that
stunning place ......

love,
Laurie

NFTL wins awards

2011-04-19T19:49:00.000+01:00

Never Forget To Laugh has already won two awards. I wouldn't be surprised if they keep coming.

The Joy of newness

2011-04-16T23:54:00.000+01:00

This was written by a friend of mine who is going through amazing, though sometimes turbulent, spiritual changes (by all reports, real breakthroughs are often very turbulent). It expresses some of that which I'm going towards/searching for, and which I can feel is out there. - Eolake

Where have I been? I feel like I have been far far away.
Perhaps in thought-heaven. But the mobility is coming back,
all the senses opening their windows again, like women in Italy leaning out, great simple beauty, I can hardly believe it.

Truly wanting to be here. Smelling things as though for the first
time. This is not bliss. This is not excitement. Wood held by fire is not excited. But what LIFE! Where before I was dead, now I am alive. That's almost all I can say. I have almost returned to the joy of my second-graders when they are let out of school.

It is like tasting clover honey after living in Sweet n' Low land.

I feel the deep need to grow herbs. I was making salad dressing tonight, chopping garlic, thyme, squeezing lemon, the scents were
wild. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, I mean, what is special here?
People have been cooking for centuries. Only I feel like a child who has come back home to the earth, to real food, scents, sounds.
It is all registering as love. When I was a child I felt at home on earth, I was ecstatic to run around in the green grass in Spring.
It is like that!

A friend just broke up with her boyfriend. We went to the wine-tasting, something I had always avoided. Wine tastings. Today, the oysters,
the taste of a new wine, flirting with life, no more afraid of the
energies of male and female. Now, it is originating within, and being mirrored without... The server, the wine store owner, lifted my spirit with his humor. We were laughing despite her earlier despair. I bought a bottle from Israel, a Pinot Noir I had never tried. I thought it fitting for Holy Week.

Alive from the dead, Jesus moving beyond the churches. This is the true Easter, for me. Having already burned to ashes in the Void,
by a great miracle of Grace finding oneself like a little girl, only only mature now and free and adult, droplets of creative juice returning like old, old friends. "I thought you were gone forever!!" Tasting new life in everything, like a wine, like a friend.

Great great gratitude. eminent and creative. Thank you my Lord.

Laurie

Too many problems...

2011-03-20T09:20:00.001Z

"No one could solve all the problems the world appears to hold. They seem to be on so many levels, in such varying forms and with such varied content, that they confront you with an impossible situation. Dismay and depression are inevitable as you regard them. Some spring up unexpectedly, just as you think you have resolved the previous ones. Others remain unsolved under a cloud of denial, and rise to haunt you from time to time, only to be hidden again but still unsolved.

All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem, and therefore not to let it be resolved. If you could recognize that your only problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance."

- ACIM, Lesson 79

Having new eyes

2011-03-19T20:38:00.001Z

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes”. - Marcel Proust

"The Universe Is A Dream"

2011-03-12T21:30:00.003Z

Thanks to Lenore for pointing to this comic book which explains the Course and non-duality in visual language.

Lonely paths

2011-03-10T17:55:00.002Z

Nobody can tell you if what you're doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.
-- Hugh Macleod, How To Be Creative: 5, 08-22-04

Courtesy

2011-02-13T15:44:00.001Z

"There are ways of treating others in which only consistent courtesy, even in very little things, is offered. This is a very healing habit to acquire."
-- ACIM, urtext

Advanced communication?

2011-02-11T12:18:00.001Z

I’ve always taken for granted that humans probably have the most advanced communication in the universe.

But I’ve realized how ego (species) centric this is. Quite apart from the likelihood of other races in this and other galaxies being far more advanced than ourselves in all ways (it’d be weird if they weren’t), we can even speculate that some animals may have communication we couldn’t understand even if we had a translator, because their minds and concepts and perception apparatus may be totally different.

Hell, even plants or microorganisms may communicate on advanced levels.

Or there may be minds in the hearts of suns or gas giants, or living in space between galaxies, or in spaces we don’t know about because human-visible light doesn’t show them.

And of course, communication implies spiritual progress towards enlightening.

(Thanks to Arthur C. Clarke for stories which inspire such thoughts.)

Thoughts about pain

2011-02-10T11:06:00.000Z

It is my current theory that Pain is energy phenomena surrounding the flickering back and forth between an Inside viewpoint and an Outside one. (Inside The World that is. Which is an apparent “outside” Source.)

If you have only one of those, there is no pain. Of course, the inside one alone is not possible, because there’d be no life, the world being illusory.

The more aware one is of both viewpoints, the greater the awareness of the pain is (but not the pain itself, that diminishes proportional with the shift towards the outside viewpoint).

I guess body pain is symbolic of the “real” one.

BTW, body pain is a Forgiveness Lesson, because suffering makes the Ego more willing to give up its fortified viewpoint. If all seemed well, it'd have no reason to change its mind.

Time and Purpose

2011-02-04T12:57:00.002Z

I think you may like the post and quotes I have just posted here (on my mainstream blog).

Depression has a truth to it

2011-02-02T18:07:00.004Z

Jed McKenna maintains that Depression is virtually a required stage to go through if one is to arrive eventually at awakening and happiness. Because the idea of happiness divorced from Source is nonsensical.

ACIM digital editions

2011-01-29T09:46:00.000Z

I recommend the digital editions of the Course. I have the Kindle version, and it's perfectly executed.
It is excellent that the publisher, Foundation for Inner Peace, is going with the times, despite all the work and money it must take. Many other movements still only have their works available on paper, mostly for fear of copyright issues, specifically the fear that many people might get copies for free. In my opinion this is counter-productive. Experience shows that widely available digital editions (even free ones) aid sales, not hinder them.

"Illusions"

2011-01-21T19:23:00.000Z

Did you ever read Richard Bach's "Illusions"? It's a beautifully inspired little book, and even quite funny too.

Non-perfection

2011-01-20T13:02:00.000Z

Only God/Source is perfect. So to strive for perfection in anything while we are still human is fruitless, and probably just comes from a fear of criticism.

We have problems receiving help

2011-01-18T18:41:00.001Z

If you go down the street and give somebody five bucks, most people will say thanks and some will be very happy.
But if you gave them a thousand bucks, virtually nobody would take it. And if you convinced them to take it, most would feel so guilty that they couldn't enjoy the gift.

You can't know everything

2011-01-16T15:08:00.000Z

This is my belief: so long as you're still human and in a body, you can't possibly know or be aware of everything. The human mind is way, way too small.
So maybe the best thing to do is just give up trying to predict what will happen and what you will do in the future, and just give over control to the Higher Self.

Power and skills of communicating

2011-01-16T06:46:00.002Z

I just came to think of one of my early proofs of non-physical communication:

In a course room many years ago I was doing some Communication exercises with a female co-student. And in the middle of it I got a… a certain male physical reaction, let’s say.

For a short while I tried to calm myself, thinking: ah, you’re just hot and bothered because you like Tina (I really did).
But then I realized that anything happening had to be related to the drill, I was not *that* bad at concentrating. And the purpose of the exercise was to make her give out strong, clean communications without distractions.
So I got the courage to say to her: “I feel some communication vibe which does not belong in the exercise.”
She nodded, but my reaction did not pass.

So I stepped up my courage one more notch and said: “sorry, the thing I feel is a sex vibe coming in.”
And she said” “Oh!”

And she continued the exercise… and my physical reaction disappeared instantly!

I had been certain I was not generating it. And she was so much master of her communication that she was able to stop it instantly once she became aware of it. I loved that.

-----
Tina was a lovely, lovely person. She also had a little kid, I think he was about four years old. One day in the garden, she was walking away, and he was trying to talk to her, but she didn’t hear him. So this tiny kid raised his voice just enough and said: “Tina! Are you listening to me?!” She was stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. This kid had way more communication skill and power than most adults! Wow.

He didn’t say “Mom”, he used her name. And he did’t throw a tantrum or anything, he just communicated powerfully and precisely.

He was also much better than I have been at any age. I am meek and don’t like to interrupt. One day in a busy airport bar I was trying to get a bottle of water, but the waitress for some reason overlooked me. I was trying to get her attention, but didn’t succeed. And a bright stranger next to me said to me: “dude, you just don’t have any impinging power.” And he was totally right.

I think the trick is to have impinging power without being rude or angry about it. If you are friendly and polite, people will not get offended if you interrupt. I guess in those days I had too much suppressed anger, so I became meek to compensate.

Uncertainty is good

2011-01-16T05:20:00.006Z

I had major problems for a few years, because I had started being uncertain about everything. I had an opinion, and somebody would come along and make me see the opposite viewpoint too.
I saw it as a failure and weakness.

But now I see that it was a blessing. The way to progress is be able to change your viewpoint. And when you do that, there is always a period of uncertainty, either very short or longer. And you just have to live with it for a while. Like many other problems on the Path, just... ride it out, like an illness.

I think that an important aspect of making progress is the willingness to learn. And to challenge one's own beliefs.

I like to occasionally stop up totally, and just relax and expand my mind. And try to take stock over my whole life, with as broad perspective as possible, always (and that changes). Am I really doing what I want? What's the best for me? For the world? Is there something missing?

Continually pressing on instead of thinking might make it more likely to make you a millionaire, but think of the most famous millionaires you know: how many of them seem happy? How many of them struggle with depressions and drugs? So will money solve your life?

Update:
Like a friend just commented: how do you know if one's new beliefs aren't also false? Well, me, I take it on faith that if one continues the process, at some point in the end one will arrive at the truth. How can it be different?

This also means it's good to resist the temptation to judge oneself for being "wrong" before. It's easier to move on if one just sees it as a long, continuing process, where every step was necessary.

On George Bush and softness

2011-01-13T10:07:00.002Z

"Don't confuse being 'soft' with seeing the other guy's point of view."
-- George Bush, "All the Best, George Bush Sr"

... Now... George Bush, Jr even more than Sr admittedly, has been for me and many other progressive-minded people in the world one of the biggest and most spectacular and wonderful forgiveness-lessens we have had. The sheer hate that family inspires some (and love in others) is awesome. :-)

What I think GB is saying here is that often when a "liberal" (in the US meaning, meaning left wing) person is seeing somebody else's point of view (like somebody not liking being invaded by the US I guess), then he is not really being understanding or advanced, he is being soft, which means he's useless and ineffective. (He might be saying the opposite, in context.) I would guess he thinks that to be effective in life one has to be hard and take responsibility, and if one has to kill 100 lives to save a thousand, one just has to do it.
The Dirty Harry school of politics as it were.

Funny enough I agree with it.
But where it fails is in instances where, for example, the revenge wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) for the 9/11 incident (fall of the World Trade Center) cost 50 times as many lives on both sides as they avenged, and even then they did not solve the problem of terrorism.

To me personally anyway, it seems that as I progress and get rid of hard emotions and take more personal responsibility, I do get softer, and I get more and more of a tendency to see the other persons viewpoint.

Laughter is release

2011-01-09T22:18:00.000Z

Sometimes when you point out a truth, people will laugh. But they may be doing it because the truth resonated with them, and out of release of mental pain rather than because they thought you were making a joke.

What I believe is fact

2011-01-06T00:49:00.000Z

A film I saw had a character who was very much into some movement which taught that it was not what others did to us, it was only our ideas about those things which make us upset.

And he was very busy trying to teach this to his family. They should forgive everything others had done, because their upset was only in their head. But the remarkable thing was that when the talk was about what others had done to him, his answer was always "no, that's not belief, that's fact".

Quite funny and good observation. We all have this tendency. It's so obvious to us that what others believe is subjective, and what we believe ourself is absolute fact.

Cohen quote

2011-01-05T03:46:00.000Z

"I am not the one who loves, it's love that seizes me."
- Leonard Cohen

Changing beliefs takes time

2011-01-05T03:01:00.000Z

A favorite hard-rock song, "N.W.O" from Ministry has a sampled quote from George Bush Sr:
"What we are looking at is good and evil, right and wrong."
I'd guess that this was an argument for why it's right to go to war. If the "enemy" is evil and wrong, and you are good and right, then there's nothing to question about it, is there?*

And a religious man once illustrated that psychiatry is evil by pointing out that part of their goals is to eradicate the ideas of Right and Wrong.

I'm more and more coming to believe, though, that everything in the world, including Right and Wrong, is solely based on beliefs. It's hard to believe this, since our feelings about what is right or wrong are very, very deep and very, very strong.

Some people say "God hates homos". Well, do you really know this? Have you had a personal audience with God where he told you this? Are you really sure it was the God?

They'll quote the old testament to prove it. But the old testament also say that you can sell your daughter into slavery and you must not touch pig-skin, and many such things. So do you believe all it says, or are you selecting what fits with your feelings about the matter?

Now, this post is not about homos. I'm just trying to illustrate what Jed McKenna says: apart from "I think, therefore I am", there is not a single thing or belief in life we can really be totally sure about.

One should be willing to test any and all belief and ideas one has, including "facts" like one is a human on Earth.

It is not easy though, and takes a long time, because all the beliefs are packed together with old, hard-packed emotion, which tends to blow up in one's face when one challenges a belief. That's why it takes time.

* Of course the opposing belief, that Bush (either of them) is wrong and evil, is also based solely on a belief then.

Opened by wonder

2011-01-02T12:43:00.000Z

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.
-- Gerry Spence

Cold or warm?

2010-12-31T19:31:00.001Z

Orson Scott Card had an interesting observation, I think it was in the sequel to his famous science fiction novel Ender's Game: one character talked about another person as being very cold. Another character replied: "then imagine how hot even the slightest warmth will seem to her."

I think that's important. I realized years ago that there is no such thing as coldness. There are only various degree of warmth.

And further, one should not be too impatient with a cold person, whether that person is another or oneself. Because too much warmth too fast simply is painful. Things take time. All that matters is willingness, and things will happen.

Oh, and related: Emma Thompson I think it was, in a DVD commentary, commented on a character that she was stone cold and "the kind of person who processes nothing, she will be the same at death as she was as child", or words to that effect.
I agree it will seem that way. But think of an ice cube. If it's close to zero degrees C, it melts when it warms up, and change is visible. But if the cube is markedly colder than that, it warms up, but no change is visible. Yet.

Mixed thoughts

2010-12-31T16:12:00.000Z

"Look, the guy was angry. Ever been there?"
(By a friend explaining to others that they didn't have to rally behind for attack by another.)

I think it helps the ego to understand a "reason" for forgiveness, and thus can help progress, if you find a good explanation. In this example, remembering how you feel and act when really angry can help forgive the anger of others.

"Onward, ever onward."

Said by a teen girl who was brain-damaged by a violent rape, and could hardly talk or walk. Yet she progressed on with good courage.
Wherever you are, that's where you start.

The best way out is always through.
-- Robert Frost

Self-explanatory?
Face things. Takes courage, but it's how it works.

Even the best of friends need time apart.
-- Mark Heath

I got very sad and confused when I no longer was in contact with people who used to be close friends. But I'm starting to see the whole game as a big, complex progress which we can't overview from a human viewpoint, and if you're apart, it may be with good reason, and you'll always meet again in the end (though maybe not in this lifetime).

I began to have an idea of my life, not as the slow shaping of achievement to fit my preconceived purposes, but as the gradual discovery and growth of a purpose which I did not know.
-- Joanna Field

Couldn't have said it better.

---
My own thoughts recently:

It all starts with the intention. It might take time to see the results though.

Good to remember, so you don't get discouraged when it takes time.

A few quotes

2010-12-30T08:53:00.000Z

The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.
-- Harold Taylor

Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life.
-- W. E. B. Du Bois, last message to the world, 1957

If we can connect in some tiny way with a human that doesn't agree with us, then maybe we won't blow up the planet.
-- Nancy White

-----

Re: the first one, you can consider that as either "become the best you can and beat all the others," or progressing to higher levels of mind or such. I like that, works on many levels.

"Apres moi, le deluge"

2010-12-29T08:02:00.000Z

"Apres moi, le deluge"
Loose translation: After I've left, chaos will reign.

Really? Wow, what power! :-)

From this article:
"In my heart of hearts I consider that many pompous expressions, though execrable, pass for true among the human race and are frequently repeated by the people, as for example: “Let them hate me, so long as they fear me.”

Cindy Lora-Renard

2010-12-29T02:53:00.001Z

The Disappearance Of The Universe author's Gary Renard's wife Cindy, interviewed.

Check out her song Summer And Smoke on iTunes (long preview!), it's dang good. For real.
Here are the full songs of some.

Reciprocity

2010-12-28T09:54:00.000Z

I just heard that anthropologists are fond of reminding us that reciprocity is essential to gift-giving. You have to give something back, in other words.

You know, I don't think so.

In the ego's world, it's essential. In the free world, has no relevance at all.

A friend of mine (Hi Carsten) once said something very wise, on the subject of help, not gifts, but surely related:

"If you have to somebody back when they have helped you, then it's not help, then it's just business."

Exactly.
In the wonderful movie As Good As It Gets, the Helen Hunt character, who has gotten very big help from the Jack Nicholson character, asks him after he asks for a big favor: "are you saying accepting your help obligates me?" And he says: "I don't think there's any other way of seeing it."

I'm sure he doesn't. And the character, brilliantly played by Nicholson, is a highly neurotic person and deep in the ego's world, although he has love (and literary talent) which is clearly working its way out.

The Roads to God

2010-12-17T22:43:00.001Z

They say there are thousands of roads to god. And I believe it.
I think though that a couple of the most important ones are:

Observation
Advanced forgiveness
Communication
Envisioning Oneness

Re Observation: the ego and the evils of life persist mainly because we can't face them. A major part of most good therapies and philosophies is look directly at things and see them as they are. Just observe them, and without judgment. (This can take a while to achieve though for many subjects.)

Advanced forgiveness is a big subject, but has much to do with Letting Go of things, especially negative emotions, and things one is attached to for better or worse.

Any communication, in the broadest sense of the word (including perception) is a gradual breaking of the belief in separation. Each little communication heals the separation a little bit. This is basically what the universe was made for, it's a big Communication Machine.

Especially when one is getting closer to Awakening, one might get perceptions of Oneness. Of Unity. Often associated with white light. These perceptions sometimes can be helped along by envisioning Oneness on purpose.
I believe this is a great accelerator of the awakening process, but it is also very disturbing to the Ego, which believes falsely that it (you) *is* separated from Oneness (God), and that it has to remain so, because daddy is soooo p***d off. The depth and intensity of the Fear that the idea of contact with Oneness engenders is incredible, it defies any description.
That's why it takes such a long time.

humble truth

2010-12-10T18:11:00.002Z

Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.

-- Thomas Paine

No opinions

2010-12-08T20:43:00.000Z

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all.
-- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

People tend to play a bit fast and loose with the "nothing is more ... than" expressions, but apart from that, he has a point.
Now the question is, is this apathy/ignorance, or enlightenment?
The bottom mirrors the top in many things.

You get what you want

2010-12-05T13:29:00.000Z

Another favorite:

I will receive whatever I request.

No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous. Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed about the things he wants...

A Course In Miracles, Lesson 339

How to make goals

2010-12-02T14:57:00.000Z

A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.
-- Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

Now this is very true. But don't forget one thing: Almost all the goals are goals in the Ego's world. The dream world. And they won't make you happy.
And further, the ability to doubt is essential to rising above the beliefs which keeps us trapped in this material world. People who never doubt anything may become emperors, but they don't meet god/Source.

We all have impact

2010-12-01T20:07:00.001Z

The first paragraph is from Gary Renard's newsletter:

HUGH PRATHER, 1938 - 2010
Over seven years ago I did my first radio interview. At that time The Disappearance of the Universe had only been out about six months, and I had just conducted my first Workshop in Boston two weeks before. The interview was on Wisdom Radio, and the guy interviewing me was Hugh Prather. Hugh had written a famous book called Notes to Myself in 1970, and it had sold millions. I managed to make it through the interview, with a big assist from the Holy Spirit, and then after that Hugh and I had a few moments to chat. I asked him if he could give me any helpful hints about going out and speaking to a crowd, which he had done thousands of times. He simply said, "Don't make it about you. Make it about them. You want them to have the information and experience that you have to offer. Forget you're even there. Make it about them getting the communication. If you forget about yourself and focus on the message then you'll be fine." That piece of advice proved to be very helpful to me at the time. I never got to meet Hugh in person, but I'm grateful to him for taking the time to be kind to me and give me advice. We all touch so many lives, and sometimes we have more of an effect on them than we realize. Hugh made his transition two weeks ago, but communication never passes away. Thanks, Hugh.

Right. Think of how many people may think about something you said or did, without you being aware of them thinking about it. And then add to this, like the Course says, "Communication is not limited to the small range of channels the world recognizes" (M-25.2:2). In fact, personally I believe that by far most communication is outside human perception.

What it adds up to is, like Steve Jobs expressed it, "a ding in the Universe" which is far larger than we may know.

- Eolake

Power vs greatness

2010-12-01T19:31:00.001Z

We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.
-- Stewart L. Udall

Celebrate!

2010-12-01T11:40:00.002Z

This is funny, just received this joke:
===
"Just look at this body," boasted the fit old man to the group of young people. "Every morning I do fifty push-ups and thirty sit-ups and walk two miles. I'm fit as a fiddle! And you know why? Because I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't stay up late, AND I don't chase women!"
He smiled, his eye gleaming.
"And tomorrow, I celebrate my 95th birthday!"
"Oh, really?" said one sarcastic youngster. "How?”
===

It’s funny because Saturday I was feeling particularly good, and I remembered Pursah had said that J says when you have nothing to forgive, don’t chase it up, instead celebrate the fact… And I had the same problem: how!? I don’t drink or party.
How do you celebrate when earthly "pleasures" no longer are interesting to you?

I looked up celebrate, and found out one definition is "to make known publicly; proclaim”. So I wrote about thankfulness.

Note that I don't think there is anything sinful or destructive about any of those things, it's just that they don't interest me very much, never did much, and do less and less.

(I used to say: "I don't smoke, drink, or chase cars".)