bee
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Post by bee on Apr 26, 2016 6:28:06 GMT
"Your job is not to seek love, then,
but to be it,
know it as your essence,
feel it infuse your very being,
hear it drip from your in-breath,
and shimmer through your out-breath.
Call off the search. Love is You."
Jeff Foster
Life Itself is always our teacher, which means we are our own teacher.
We are both, the student and the teacher.
Today turning left (which is similar to turning right in US) at an intersection governed by lights, I had the OK to turn left and in so doing a vehicle did a U turn and nearly collected mine.
Now it was plain there was a not a 'U turn allowed' sign displayed so it's against the road rules.
Life as the teacher still catches me out at times, it did then.
Weeks ago I nearly got collected in a roundabout when I was so close to the exit while a driver who just entered almost hit the rear-side of my vehicle. At that time I was so very thankful that nothing hit me and I was safe, and that energy stayed with me for hours. It was a good feeling thanking that nothing happened even though I was so close to a bad accident.
However it wasn't so today.
A little later after the near miss this afternoon from the U-turner I realised I missed the opportunity to thank and so I also missed out on the experience and benefit of what we get in return whenever we are truly thankful.
There is always something to be thankful for, and my life experience has taught me that thanking anything is consciously knowing and being the love that Jeff Foster writes about.
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Kolomo
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Post by Kolomo on Apr 26, 2016 12:10:58 GMT
good point bee
"The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need in order to open your heart."
-
Pema Chödron
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tony
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Post by tony on Apr 28, 2016 12:45:46 GMT
A comment on the statement by Clouddust "It does if 'What Is,' .. is a person*!..." [April 22 post] which followed my comment "'What Is' means 'Everything that Is', the Whole: It doesn't love anything first or last; it doesn't have preferences or grant favours. It is Love (no separation) by virtue of being in and identical to all things. One can't know this by hearing or reading about it, but It can be 'known' in Stillness (when the thinking about it stops)."
[*By 'person' I understand an individual human being who lives somewhere on this planet, that I can name, interact with and get to know.]
The view that 'What Is' (an expression used to point to Truth, irrespective of what I think, know or understand) "is a person" reflects, it seems to me, a perspective based on things, objects, etc. actually being separate or having independent existence. This may well be the case, but it makes 'What Is' (the Whole, All There Is, the One No-thing, etc.) just another object, instead of being the essence of all objects. It raises the fundamental question of where and how to find, see, meet, experience, and interact with that person! The 5 year old will ask 'can you please take me to where he/she lives so I can meet him/her?' The cheeky adult can also ask 'can you please give me his/her phone number so I can call?'.
I am not saying that equating 'What Is/God/Truth/...' to a person is wrong. I am saying that it is a perspective based on an un-examined assumption (separate self-existence). Unless it can be backed up by 'and here he/she is...' it remains an act of imagination, of belief.
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Post by clouddust on May 2, 2016 17:11:04 GMT
Hi All,
Yes, Tony, take the concept out of the 'human understanding box' and think.... in your heart; the still quiet voice; everywhere and in us. Both universal and personal. |
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tony
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Post by tony on May 5, 2016 13:31:32 GMT
Because we use words (even when pointing to what is beyond words), we need to be true to them. So, 'everywhere' must necessarily include all space and all things in it, from a blade of grass, to a hair on a cow's back, to an amoeba, and to 'us'. We are not outside of 'everywhere'. In the same way, the personal is not outside of the universal.
I'm emphasizing that because it's important not to imply duality where there is only Unicity. The analogy is that of the temperature scale: hot and cold are not different 'things', but different states or manifestations of the one thing. My nose and my toe are different aspects of the one thing (my body). The dualistic fallacy, i.e. objects existing independently in their own right, comes about when one thinks of hot and cold, nose and toe, etc. as different in substance. They exist, of course, but only as manifestations of That which is the ground of their existence. If That did not exist no thing would exist. Conversely, every 'thing' is only made of That.
The point of the above is to be clear that the Still Small Voice is none other than What We Are, an aspect of the Universal Body (body, mind and spirit). I agree that it is essential to come out of the 'human understanding box' (trying to understand with logic, reason, thought, concepts, etc.) and come from the Heart, the boundless, formless centre that Knows without knowing.
Apologies if I sound picky and fussy about language-ing, but we are not discussing objects of perception (forms, shapes, colour) but conditions of Being. It's about clarity in expressing what we know to be the case.
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Kolomo
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Post by Kolomo on May 9, 2016 1:00:17 GMT
Cool, welcome back to probably one of the most laid-back forums, so laid-back that it looks like it’s going to peter out anytime, yet, it refuses to die.
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tony
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Post by tony on May 12, 2016 7:27:26 GMT
Hi angelssix, because we are not discussing things face to face, but through writing, this type of subject matter can and does sound confusing and does not 'make sense' for some (but not for others). A face to face interaction is obviously a more flexible way to clarify things as they are spoken.
I believe that if someone makes sense to you, it is likely that you share the same level of understanding, the same language-ing and way of expressing what you know, and possibly a similar background with that person. That helps to be on the same page. When that is not the case, it may feel like the other person comes from another planet!
I know that you have said a few times that what I write does not make sense, and that's fair enough, but I also have some difficulty clarifying what it is that does not make sense to you. I have written so many posts right across all topics raised here, that I would not know where to start to address "what it as opposed to what is not".
I suggest two approaches: (i) select a sentence, paragraph or a whole post, that does not make sense to you and ask a specific question about it. I would then try to rephrase it or make it clearer; (ii) someone else (e.g. Kolomo) could reinterpret the passage for you (after they have made sense of it!).
Give it a try.
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bee
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Post by bee on May 23, 2016 15:29:01 GMT
angelssix that's a good subject to bite into, so a question for all here -
What is the truth?
Is there really an end point of any particular example?
If the answer is no ... then can it be anything other than circular?
If anyone is interested in exploring this then pick any examples you like out of the uncountable and let's see what we may find.
Here are a few to kick-off with to see if there really is an end point in any of them :-
Rain
Day
Life
Happiness
Travel
Stand
Love
Can anyone find an end point in any of these, if so I'm interested what it is.
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Post by clouddust on May 24, 2016 23:13:39 GMT
Hi Bee,
Are you asking what is truth or what is the end of the words you've listed?
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bee
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Post by bee on May 25, 2016 0:33:11 GMT
Truth is universal and applies to reality.
"What Is" is truth.
But what Is It that allows the truth of all beingness?
Is this where we could use the word love?
If so, then the word love is not 'Love', that is, not until the love is unconditional.
Therefore there cannot be an end point in 'Love', because being unconditional 'Love' has no goal.
It has no desire for an outcome.
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tony
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Post by tony on May 25, 2016 12:41:13 GMT
Yes! What Is (All There Is, God) is Truth, which also is Love and Beauty. They are the three aspects of the One No-thing, Reality, which is one and the same as this thing and that thing (e.g. me, you, everyone, the moon, the cat and the dog, etc.). The Noumenon is the phenomena. Truth is the word used to point to what has no separation, i.e. Love. That is why it was said (St John of the Cross) that God is Love and Love is God. This cannot be known by the 'small mind', which discriminates between a 'me' and an 'it' as if they had separate self-existence. It is known in the Stillness that comes when we transcend (but allow) the personality, the likes and dislikes, love and hate, etc. One of the ways to experience Stillness as one's own nature is to follow the recommendation of Jesus Christ by loving thy neighbour as thyself, i.e. loving without conditions. The Buddha recommended the direct experience of Stillness (i.e. the practice of Meditation).
Angelsix, I have tried a few times to respond to your posts in an attempt to be clearer and find less paradoxical and contradictory ways of expressing things. Eventually it occurred to me that I'd be repeating myself and use the same expressions and points that I have been using on this Forum from day one. So, I'll stay with what I have already said. However, I could emphasize even more that the subject matter of these discussions/dialogues is such that it involves paradox and apparent contradiction: it will not always 'make sense'. The fact that I exist also does not make sense, I simply do. It's both obvious (how can I deny it?) and a mystery.
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tony
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Post by tony on May 28, 2016 5:06:54 GMT
More on 'making sense'. We humans, especially those brought up in the West, want a level of certainty (kind of yes or no) in answering the fundamental questions of 'life and death'. We feel uncomfortable if the answers don't fit a certain rationale. So, with the example of the man giving directions pointing to the right place, we expect that that scenario applies in all cases, i.e. that for every question, doubt, inquiry we have there will be someone who can give a plain answer.
This is clearly not the case in most people's lives. Douglas Adams made fun of that human characteristic with his '42' answer to the question of 'what is the meaning of the universe?'.
Life's complexity, What Is, what actually happens, is in another dimension to the explanations we have for it. When we eventually live life just as it is, without 'shoulds' and should nots', no questions arise about it. I AM that I Am is an unambiguous way to put it.
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bee
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Post by bee on May 28, 2016 14:58:14 GMT
To repeat with a slight modification:
What's wrong with this moment WHEN I don't think about it?
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tony
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Post by tony on Jun 2, 2016 14:08:07 GMT
That is a useful twist to Sailor Bob Adamson's original pointer "What’s Wrong With Right Now? If You Don’t Think About It!?". It's well worth discussing and teasing out. In my experience, Sailor Bob's pointer is all one needs to work on in the process of transcending the ego level of consciousness. In my understanding:
"What’s Wrong With Right Now?" is a plain and profound way to refer to It, That, Truth, What Is, What Is Always Already the case, and all the other names for God. It's capitalized to distinguish it from a distinct moment in time, a 'now'. It's safe to take it as literally as possible, i.e. that no matter what is happening, nothing can be wrong with Right Now.
That also includes, necessarily, when I think about it, i.e. my delusions. All objects, whether physical or mental, arise within Right Now, therefore any thought we may have can only come from That (as Source). Right Now also means This Present Moment, which is Time-less, Eternal (outside of the perception of time).
"If You Don’t Think About It!?" reflects the realization that if we fall for conceptualizing 'Right Now', then the phenomenon of fixed self, of separation, good and bad, likes and dislikes arises. That phenomenon therefore is also in the Present Moment. It's another way of describing Non-duality.
If we (an active instance of that Right Now, therefore always already living as It) see the world through the lens of thought, of an imaginary fixed self, then the Present Moment is perceived in a dualistic setting and all objects appear to exist independently of each other.
Meditation (as was described and discussed in other posts) is the direct way to be Right Now: one is not fooled in identifying with the imaginary fixed self.
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bee
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Post by bee on Jun 4, 2016 23:08:23 GMT
A really good explanation of the realness of existence Tony. Once this is understood and lived one realises there is nothing wrong in life.
It's Life living through us all, and Life Is this moment. The past and future are the dualistic fragments that we mistake for the realness of Now.
____________
This moment -
How many actually experience 'The Moment' without realising they are doing so; experiencing life without thinking about it.
We do it on and off all the time, but it's obvious we are not conscious when we are doing just that -
"The experiencing without the thoughts".
So I like to sense what is wrong with this moment 'when' rather than 'if'...
Simply because with an if I am not as free in allowing the consciousness of Now to be, I am suggesting to myself (self-hypnosis) that it may be hard or even impossible.
In changing the if to when it is easier to allow the practice of being conscious in This Moment (meditation).
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