Why do otherwise sane people read huge roadside billboards? Because their minds want to be spun. Not because there's any pertinent info there.
All people, to believe they're doing anything useful with their lives, must believe they are part of some great tradition, religious, philosophical, metaphysical, etc. Which is, spinning.
Whereas, to see what's really going on, you CAN'T be part of some tradition, because if you are, you're seeking to be spun.
Now, there is a reality to these traditions, it stirs something in all people - as all traditions are, admittedly, about 'waking up', 'mindfulness', 'living in the here and now'; but notice, none include the missing term, 'mentally'. Waking up mentally; Living in the here and now mentally. That is the Direct Way to experience.
If 'mindfulness' (or 'self remembering') strikes you as being IMPORTANT, because it has a known, long tradition, with many extant and easily obtainable books, and groups of people following them, would it still strike you the same way even if you did not know about it's tradition? Is it the historical tradition that strikes you genetically, or is it the idea itself that strikes you?
The 'tried and proven' seems to be the reason why such ideas strike people, but it's so much more than that. People get lulled, after considerable time 'on their ways', into being somewhat satisfied with their results - meager as they are - and it becomes detrimental to them. When you find some 'method' that seems to work - whatever they called it (notice, it's always named by someone else...) - wear that sucker out, and then look for something else, directly. Of course, that means you have to be at the point of being able to invent your own (you can't be looking around for someone else's billboards.)
When you get good, you can sometimes be done with certain methods in a day or two, and really start movin'.
(an "escape hatch" for those so-inclined to squeeze through.)
First, you must "get really small,"
then you can pass through anything,
even "death" and "life."
But always remember, a "back door" is NOT an "escape hatch."
Everything produced here is
© "Praybob in Nirvana"
Friday, December 26, 2003
Doing
The only place doing has any importance or significance is between the ears. You can do many things, and not do many things, with the body - you can raise your right arm right now (see?), you can lower your arm too (see?), but what you can't do, and what you'll likely never be able to do, is do your thinking, the way you can do your breakfast, do your drive to work, do your christmas shopping. That which comes out your mouth or fingers, happens in the same way balls roll down hills. (Until, you can remember the First Story.)
Why is waking up so difficult for so many? It's not so difficult for the body, at 7:15 a.m. when the clock radio alarm goes off to that noisy rock station. Once it "learns" how to set the clock, and the alarm time, and the station number, and push the start button, it can literally and totally forget about it - and even a forgotten alarm clock works perfectly every day. (The body knows it's First Story, that's why it can learn.)
Yet, a person hears about, gets excited about, changing his mental state, acquiring a state of mindfulness, mentally - from being asleep up there, to being awake, mentally - and can't get past the initial realization that "I was asleep right then." This is like the body, hearing the alarm go off, but going immediately back to sleep - such a body, would never get out of bed. Such a mind, operating as described above (self-observation), goes immediately back to sleep -as such, the mind never gets out of itself.
There is nothing pulling the mind out of itself, the way a big, foreboding "something" pulls the body out of bed - dying, starving, freezing, etc. The physical world pulls the body out of bed, because the DNA knows it's own First Story - "without food/shelter you die!!"
There must be created something to pull the mind out of itself, in an exactly similar way - to remain conscious. And that, is knowledge of the First Story - not the body's, but a new one (that bears repeating, a NEW ONE!!)
Why is waking up so difficult for so many? It's not so difficult for the body, at 7:15 a.m. when the clock radio alarm goes off to that noisy rock station. Once it "learns" how to set the clock, and the alarm time, and the station number, and push the start button, it can literally and totally forget about it - and even a forgotten alarm clock works perfectly every day. (The body knows it's First Story, that's why it can learn.)
Yet, a person hears about, gets excited about, changing his mental state, acquiring a state of mindfulness, mentally - from being asleep up there, to being awake, mentally - and can't get past the initial realization that "I was asleep right then." This is like the body, hearing the alarm go off, but going immediately back to sleep - such a body, would never get out of bed. Such a mind, operating as described above (self-observation), goes immediately back to sleep -as such, the mind never gets out of itself.
There is nothing pulling the mind out of itself, the way a big, foreboding "something" pulls the body out of bed - dying, starving, freezing, etc. The physical world pulls the body out of bed, because the DNA knows it's own First Story - "without food/shelter you die!!"
There must be created something to pull the mind out of itself, in an exactly similar way - to remain conscious. And that, is knowledge of the First Story - not the body's, but a new one (that bears repeating, a NEW ONE!!)
The First Story
Spin. The First Story, is spin. This Universe has a spin. Someone telling conscious stories - as only a Human can - is always completely aware of the First Story. And it is the First Story that spins the tale, just as a spiders' web is it's own First Story. One is, one's own, First Story. Spin.
Now, it's called many things by the audience - from essence, to personality, to false personality, to real I, to Self - but it remains what it is, Spin.
All people are born, having been told, whispered to, by Life, the First Story... and, one's genetics begin the spinning process; and is the way DNA spins around the First Story - "It self" - emerging sometime later, as bug, buffalo, or little boy, each perfectly capable and willing to tell the tale.
--------
Teachers, are those with direct access to the First Story, and do not reveal that First Story to anyone living or dead. It remains, in actuality, a Secret, and is the source of all human-based ideas regarding, "secrets" - secret codes, secret words, secret rites, secret teachings, secret groups, secret societies.
It is the failing of all who would hear their teachers, to attempt to devote precious energies, to discovering their teacher's Secret (his, First Story), and the only success available to such devotees, is hearing their own First Story - and keeping it entirely secret, which, by their continual failure at such, is the source of all human-based ideas regarding, "new information", "new teachings", "new systems", "new ideas".
Teachers, do not have, nor teach, NEW anything. They keep the NEW internal, unrevealed. Only their audiences repeat, write down, and re-transmit what they hear, and call it, "The Teaching, System, Religion, Philosophy," etc., and is the source of all human-based ideas regarding, Christianity, Buddhism, Fourth Way, Advaita, they-named-it-so-they-can-talk-about-it.
Now, it's called many things by the audience - from essence, to personality, to false personality, to real I, to Self - but it remains what it is, Spin.
All people are born, having been told, whispered to, by Life, the First Story... and, one's genetics begin the spinning process; and is the way DNA spins around the First Story - "It self" - emerging sometime later, as bug, buffalo, or little boy, each perfectly capable and willing to tell the tale.
--------
Teachers, are those with direct access to the First Story, and do not reveal that First Story to anyone living or dead. It remains, in actuality, a Secret, and is the source of all human-based ideas regarding, "secrets" - secret codes, secret words, secret rites, secret teachings, secret groups, secret societies.
It is the failing of all who would hear their teachers, to attempt to devote precious energies, to discovering their teacher's Secret (his, First Story), and the only success available to such devotees, is hearing their own First Story - and keeping it entirely secret, which, by their continual failure at such, is the source of all human-based ideas regarding, "new information", "new teachings", "new systems", "new ideas".
Teachers, do not have, nor teach, NEW anything. They keep the NEW internal, unrevealed. Only their audiences repeat, write down, and re-transmit what they hear, and call it, "The Teaching, System, Religion, Philosophy," etc., and is the source of all human-based ideas regarding, Christianity, Buddhism, Fourth Way, Advaita, they-named-it-so-they-can-talk-about-it.
Life is a con game
And not just a confidence game. And not just a conspiracy game. But a monstrous Game nevertheless.
And humans are the players upon the field of it's choosing, fighting battles they didn't plan for, nor are able to win. Humans are designed to fail, and knowing this - from birth till death - they acquire and manufacture stories compensating for their plight.
Life presents itself to humans as being beneficial to the aims and needs of individual humans, and all individual humans take whatever happens to them, personally. When they perceive something as being "not in their best interest", they even manufacture stories to believe it is beneficial - it's the old "turn the other cheek", cheek.
But, there is very little that is truly, beneficial to the aims and needs of individual humans - beyond their pittance share of food, air, water, and sexual escapades. Once those meager needs are met, he has a life time of repaying a debt he believes he owes - that Life gave him IT'S confidence, and well wishes, so he must do the same for Life.
And so the herd of humanity, self-civilizing slaves that they are, pursue the lofty goal of becoming even more deeply embedded in the herd, even to the point of teaching others how to do so, more rapidly.
The con: a guy offers to give you the shirt off his back, if you should ever be without yours, so, to repay his confidence in you (that you will repay that kindness), you give yours to him - and away he disappears into the night, with you there feeling happy, fulfilled, and willing to live another day.
It's a Conspiracy, those thoughts about what's going on - they aren't yours to believe or disbelieve, they are Life's, and they are being force fed to every human on the planet, who says "please," and "thank you." without ever catching on.
And humans are the players upon the field of it's choosing, fighting battles they didn't plan for, nor are able to win. Humans are designed to fail, and knowing this - from birth till death - they acquire and manufacture stories compensating for their plight.
Life presents itself to humans as being beneficial to the aims and needs of individual humans, and all individual humans take whatever happens to them, personally. When they perceive something as being "not in their best interest", they even manufacture stories to believe it is beneficial - it's the old "turn the other cheek", cheek.
But, there is very little that is truly, beneficial to the aims and needs of individual humans - beyond their pittance share of food, air, water, and sexual escapades. Once those meager needs are met, he has a life time of repaying a debt he believes he owes - that Life gave him IT'S confidence, and well wishes, so he must do the same for Life.
And so the herd of humanity, self-civilizing slaves that they are, pursue the lofty goal of becoming even more deeply embedded in the herd, even to the point of teaching others how to do so, more rapidly.
The con: a guy offers to give you the shirt off his back, if you should ever be without yours, so, to repay his confidence in you (that you will repay that kindness), you give yours to him - and away he disappears into the night, with you there feeling happy, fulfilled, and willing to live another day.
It's a Conspiracy, those thoughts about what's going on - they aren't yours to believe or disbelieve, they are Life's, and they are being force fed to every human on the planet, who says "please," and "thank you." without ever catching on.
Do you get energy from conversation?
This is a constant "debate" amongst people. Do you get energy from conversing with other people? Do you get energy from thinking about topics (talking to yourself)?
Most, upon hearing these questions, would immediately answer, "YES! what could be more obvious.", and they'd be right, except for one thing. That's not the end of it.
Oh, it's the end of it for them, of course - they already believe that they get "new energy" from conversations, so they pursue them, engage in them, even join email lists, and post 10 times a day everyday, all from the belief that such engagement, produces "new energy" in them. But, (kindly and gently) force them to keep considering the question, and you'll see how limited is their capacity for understanding "what's going on."
There's more going on in this dynamic. It is not possible to determine the direction of the flow of energy, when it's flowing, anymore than it's possible to "know where the river is, >>right now<<." About all consciousness can say, is that the river is one and eternal, at least until it dries up, but then there's the Big River, until it dries up, but then there's the Universal River of Energy...
Humans believe they get energy OUT OF THE PROCESS of conversation (with themselves and others), but it's not true; they expend energy in that process. Energy only comes into the system in one way - from direct experience. Like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon at sunset, and experiencing something - then, during and afterward people want to snap photos, and talk about their Great Canyon vacation, and that Superb Sunset. They're reliving a direct experience, and convinced absolutely that they're squeezing new energy out of their memories, but they are not. Remembering energizes, or activates circuits that have already been laid down, like railray tracks, and they're just taking the trip all over again, except this time, without their physical body in tow. All the energy is still there, of course, in the direct experience, but they can't squeeze into it, or anything out it, by talking about it further. Memory is one thing, talking about it another.
If you can begin to see this, it's like a bit-switching circuit, that flips first this way - allowing energy to flow in - and then that way - allowing energy to flow out - and this process is known by humans, as "conversation", and "talking to oneself", and more derogatorily at times, imagination, daydreaming, lost in thought, absent-mindedness.
This bit-switching circuitry in the frontal lobes, enables conversation, and what comes out your mouth, and into your fingertips, is the RESULT of something, not the cause of something. And the flip-flop-flip is progressing in sequence with the normal breath, though at a much higher frequency, about a 30th of a second each way (much faster when it's operating on all cylinders). Seeing, talking, hearing, seeing, talking, hearing and it goes by so fast, that the conversation seems continuous - like a movie theatre film in progress.
It's a huge eye-opener, and mind-clearing experience, to realize when it's happening, that a particular sentence is occurring without any help from "you" whatsoever, that the possibilities of eventual word selection and sentence construction are almost infinite as to their possible resulting form, and that the words and phrases are being pulled down off the shelf in a way unknown to you. (That is, that prior sentence could have been said in an almost INFINITE number of ways, and no human ever knows what he is going to say next - the sentence has more control over it's final construction, than you do!)
And if this doesn't beat all, it all works perfectly whether you're "asleep" or "awake" (in the "esoteric" sense). Everybody on the planet can and does engage in copious (COPIOUS) amounts of inner conversation and social conversation, and they don't have to be enlightened, or even on their way to being enlightened, or even interested in being enlightened. The machinery of Life, the living machine, moves in mysterious ways, but only to the many who are asleep at the wheel.
~~~~~~~~
ps- therefore, all stories are absolutely irrelevant, because they're after the fact, arising out of the direct experience which evoked them, and that experience is a singular, even personal, experience, and can hardly be communicated to someone else; hey, you'd just have to have been there.
pps- "edge of the Grand Canyon" = "edge of the Universe" = "edge of Consciousness". And peering out across those unknown spaces can only be experienced, not imagined, nor dreamed up, though everybody believes that through conversation they may be able to.
Most, upon hearing these questions, would immediately answer, "YES! what could be more obvious.", and they'd be right, except for one thing. That's not the end of it.
Oh, it's the end of it for them, of course - they already believe that they get "new energy" from conversations, so they pursue them, engage in them, even join email lists, and post 10 times a day everyday, all from the belief that such engagement, produces "new energy" in them. But, (kindly and gently) force them to keep considering the question, and you'll see how limited is their capacity for understanding "what's going on."
There's more going on in this dynamic. It is not possible to determine the direction of the flow of energy, when it's flowing, anymore than it's possible to "know where the river is, >>right now<<." About all consciousness can say, is that the river is one and eternal, at least until it dries up, but then there's the Big River, until it dries up, but then there's the Universal River of Energy...
Humans believe they get energy OUT OF THE PROCESS of conversation (with themselves and others), but it's not true; they expend energy in that process. Energy only comes into the system in one way - from direct experience. Like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon at sunset, and experiencing something - then, during and afterward people want to snap photos, and talk about their Great Canyon vacation, and that Superb Sunset. They're reliving a direct experience, and convinced absolutely that they're squeezing new energy out of their memories, but they are not. Remembering energizes, or activates circuits that have already been laid down, like railray tracks, and they're just taking the trip all over again, except this time, without their physical body in tow. All the energy is still there, of course, in the direct experience, but they can't squeeze into it, or anything out it, by talking about it further. Memory is one thing, talking about it another.
If you can begin to see this, it's like a bit-switching circuit, that flips first this way - allowing energy to flow in - and then that way - allowing energy to flow out - and this process is known by humans, as "conversation", and "talking to oneself", and more derogatorily at times, imagination, daydreaming, lost in thought, absent-mindedness.
This bit-switching circuitry in the frontal lobes, enables conversation, and what comes out your mouth, and into your fingertips, is the RESULT of something, not the cause of something. And the flip-flop-flip is progressing in sequence with the normal breath, though at a much higher frequency, about a 30th of a second each way (much faster when it's operating on all cylinders). Seeing, talking, hearing, seeing, talking, hearing and it goes by so fast, that the conversation seems continuous - like a movie theatre film in progress.
It's a huge eye-opener, and mind-clearing experience, to realize when it's happening, that a particular sentence is occurring without any help from "you" whatsoever, that the possibilities of eventual word selection and sentence construction are almost infinite as to their possible resulting form, and that the words and phrases are being pulled down off the shelf in a way unknown to you. (That is, that prior sentence could have been said in an almost INFINITE number of ways, and no human ever knows what he is going to say next - the sentence has more control over it's final construction, than you do!)
And if this doesn't beat all, it all works perfectly whether you're "asleep" or "awake" (in the "esoteric" sense). Everybody on the planet can and does engage in copious (COPIOUS) amounts of inner conversation and social conversation, and they don't have to be enlightened, or even on their way to being enlightened, or even interested in being enlightened. The machinery of Life, the living machine, moves in mysterious ways, but only to the many who are asleep at the wheel.
~~~~~~~~
ps- therefore, all stories are absolutely irrelevant, because they're after the fact, arising out of the direct experience which evoked them, and that experience is a singular, even personal, experience, and can hardly be communicated to someone else; hey, you'd just have to have been there.
pps- "edge of the Grand Canyon" = "edge of the Universe" = "edge of Consciousness". And peering out across those unknown spaces can only be experienced, not imagined, nor dreamed up, though everybody believes that through conversation they may be able to.
Enlightenment News
I don't read the Enlightenment News section of the Worldwide Inquirer tabloid anymore, having grown a third ear some time back - which starts to twitch vigorously whenever within earshot of more-of-the-same-ol-same-ol. Some of these reporters out there, writing for the Enlightenment News section of the tabloids, can't tell a _New_ story anymore because they're locked into _Old_ stories they've told so many times before - and my third ear can hear whenever even they don't believe their own schtick.
You see, it's not what people say that matters - all those Masters and Teachers and the countless, would-be nameless-except-for-their-continual-self-serving gurus, saints and self-realized doctors of the same disease they're spreading ("You're not enlightened, but I can make you so - in 30 days, or your money back!") - it's that they keep talking the talk, and greasin' the engine.
The sooner one recognizes the background NOISE for what it is, the sooner one can start hearing something _New_, and start writing (thinking) for their own pleasure, not someone else's.
You see, it's not what people say that matters - all those Masters and Teachers and the countless, would-be nameless-except-for-their-continual-self-serving gurus, saints and self-realized doctors of the same disease they're spreading ("You're not enlightened, but I can make you so - in 30 days, or your money back!") - it's that they keep talking the talk, and greasin' the engine.
The sooner one recognizes the background NOISE for what it is, the sooner one can start hearing something _New_, and start writing (thinking) for their own pleasure, not someone else's.
Alpha and Omega
There is a good reason, Shangri-la, Nirvana, Heaven, et al, are concepts only, not physical places - things that can be touched. It's so that people will chase after them utilizing the only tools they have - words, nouns and verbs, fiction, prose and poetry - and since no one can prove them (words) wrong, the chase continues apace.
In the end and the beginning, the omega and the alpha, it doesn't matter what people say or what they talk about, it only matters that people keep talking. It doesn't matter where the car goes, it only matters that their engines keeps running - and in these climes (mass confusion), it's best to keep it running all the time, lest you may never start it up again.
Now, of course, it is allowable that a few people can let their engines come to a temporary full stop (as long as most - 99.999999% -don't; so, if you've done your math, that's about six thousand people worldwide, give or take). So, it doesn't matter whether you're talking Advaita or Zoroastrianism or anything in-between, the purpose of all these topics, A-Z, is to keep all the engines running, as they should - being apparently in the best interest of Life itself.
In the end and the beginning, the omega and the alpha, it doesn't matter what people say or what they talk about, it only matters that people keep talking. It doesn't matter where the car goes, it only matters that their engines keeps running - and in these climes (mass confusion), it's best to keep it running all the time, lest you may never start it up again.
Now, of course, it is allowable that a few people can let their engines come to a temporary full stop (as long as most - 99.999999% -don't; so, if you've done your math, that's about six thousand people worldwide, give or take). So, it doesn't matter whether you're talking Advaita or Zoroastrianism or anything in-between, the purpose of all these topics, A-Z, is to keep all the engines running, as they should - being apparently in the best interest of Life itself.
Thursday, December 4, 2003
"Work Language"
Most people who get caught, physically, by the allure of a mystical teaching or system (including the Gurdjieff system, the Advaita system, and many others), also get constrained, mentally, by the language used by those who study the "Bibles" and follow those systems.
Although followers of systems each have their own "special language", which is supposed to allow them to converse with others like themselves - you know, the flock they fly with - and presumably to be understood, it, strangely, often inhibits them from discussing even the same ideas they are deeply interested in, with others not familiar with, or unwilling to use, their own "special language."
Just the opposite should really be the case: the more adept one is with their particular verbal form of communication, the better able they should be at discussing the same ideas with those who don't subscribe to their particular dialect (and dialect is surely what it is - we all speak English, afterall.)
Language is a tool, when probably used, not a straight-jacket - which it surely is for many people, who become further confined by its usage, not freed by it.
Consider: there are two, count 'em', TWO flows or persuasions in Life, viz. the efforts men make to "get enlightened", to "wake up", to "become conscious". The first flow is based upon a person acquiring a "work language" which, according to some external authority, contains "the knowledge" of that teaching, and through which certain people, becoming educated in "the knowledge", presume (hope) to "discover the truth" (about themselves and everything else). The second flow - very, very rarely seen (if ever) - is that kind of revolutionary Activity that could only be described as, the continuing Struggle to keep language (any language, ALL language) from strangling one's Understanding.
People "of the first flow" - from Christians, to Buddhists, to Fourthwayers - can not talk to "others" outside their groups, about those specific ideas which they "hold dear" and practice so diligently; their often expressed reason being, those "others" don't have either the "work language" or the "work being" to hear, let alone, comprehend, let alone Understand them.
People "of the second flow" - those rebellious explorers of consciousness, here and there - most definitely CAN TALK TO ANYONE ANYWHERE with no problem whatsoever, about any and all ideas they "hold dear" (though "holding dear" is NOT a phrase such a real rebel would ever use himself -it's included here only as a counterpoint to the previous paragraph, to make the idea clearer - in fact, real rebels hold NO IDEAS DEAR whatsoever. Period.)
Almost everyone - followers of Fourth Way, Buddhism, Advaita, Christianity, etc., on email lists, groups and/or forums - falls into the "People of the first flow" camp, and therefore, their language literally strangles their understanding, because it confines it, limits it, and none of them has even a glimmer of that fact -believing everything for them is "progressing right on schedule". Were this NOT the case, there would be absolutely no need whatsoever for the multitudes of religions, teachings, and systems extant on this planet, leading to the Confusion of Tongues in the land of nod (pun intended), and ultimately to the "cat & tongue problem" exhibited by so many people.
Notice the general lack of participation on email lists which discuss the intangible subjects in which people like us are interested. People open up threads, start "conversations", but always the same people make all the effort and do the replying. This rarely changes over time. The active remain active, the passive remain passive, and so even if a group consists of 10, 100, or 1000 people, the percentage of active contributors remains a very small percentage. This is due to the built-in constrictive nature of "work language".
But, it's an illusion. Work language is not necessary, nor required, to discuss the important ideas associated with waking up, getting enlightened, or reaching liberation. These ideas are the most important ones man has to deal with, and English is quite sufficient a tool with which to discuss the realizations one periodically makes along the way. Believe it, or not.
Although followers of systems each have their own "special language", which is supposed to allow them to converse with others like themselves - you know, the flock they fly with - and presumably to be understood, it, strangely, often inhibits them from discussing even the same ideas they are deeply interested in, with others not familiar with, or unwilling to use, their own "special language."
Just the opposite should really be the case: the more adept one is with their particular verbal form of communication, the better able they should be at discussing the same ideas with those who don't subscribe to their particular dialect (and dialect is surely what it is - we all speak English, afterall.)
Language is a tool, when probably used, not a straight-jacket - which it surely is for many people, who become further confined by its usage, not freed by it.
Consider: there are two, count 'em', TWO flows or persuasions in Life, viz. the efforts men make to "get enlightened", to "wake up", to "become conscious". The first flow is based upon a person acquiring a "work language" which, according to some external authority, contains "the knowledge" of that teaching, and through which certain people, becoming educated in "the knowledge", presume (hope) to "discover the truth" (about themselves and everything else). The second flow - very, very rarely seen (if ever) - is that kind of revolutionary Activity that could only be described as, the continuing Struggle to keep language (any language, ALL language) from strangling one's Understanding.
People "of the first flow" - from Christians, to Buddhists, to Fourthwayers - can not talk to "others" outside their groups, about those specific ideas which they "hold dear" and practice so diligently; their often expressed reason being, those "others" don't have either the "work language" or the "work being" to hear, let alone, comprehend, let alone Understand them.
People "of the second flow" - those rebellious explorers of consciousness, here and there - most definitely CAN TALK TO ANYONE ANYWHERE with no problem whatsoever, about any and all ideas they "hold dear" (though "holding dear" is NOT a phrase such a real rebel would ever use himself -it's included here only as a counterpoint to the previous paragraph, to make the idea clearer - in fact, real rebels hold NO IDEAS DEAR whatsoever. Period.)
Almost everyone - followers of Fourth Way, Buddhism, Advaita, Christianity, etc., on email lists, groups and/or forums - falls into the "People of the first flow" camp, and therefore, their language literally strangles their understanding, because it confines it, limits it, and none of them has even a glimmer of that fact -believing everything for them is "progressing right on schedule". Were this NOT the case, there would be absolutely no need whatsoever for the multitudes of religions, teachings, and systems extant on this planet, leading to the Confusion of Tongues in the land of nod (pun intended), and ultimately to the "cat & tongue problem" exhibited by so many people.
Notice the general lack of participation on email lists which discuss the intangible subjects in which people like us are interested. People open up threads, start "conversations", but always the same people make all the effort and do the replying. This rarely changes over time. The active remain active, the passive remain passive, and so even if a group consists of 10, 100, or 1000 people, the percentage of active contributors remains a very small percentage. This is due to the built-in constrictive nature of "work language".
But, it's an illusion. Work language is not necessary, nor required, to discuss the important ideas associated with waking up, getting enlightened, or reaching liberation. These ideas are the most important ones man has to deal with, and English is quite sufficient a tool with which to discuss the realizations one periodically makes along the way. Believe it, or not.
Systems
Although there are countless systems, teachings, religions, philosophies, etc., out there in Life to feast upon, there seems to be a few which have "risen to the top" of the heap of garbage that litters the landscape of "self- improvement technologies" available to all those "inquiring minds" out there. Two, in my opinion, stand out: the Fourth Way and Advaita, seem to be the most sublime, intelligent, and self-consistent, though they couldn't be more different in their approaches. The Fourth Way stresses effort, and "creating a soul" (or, consciously evolving that which is not already existent), while Advaita stresses non-effort, "realizing the Self" (or, realizing that which is already perfectly existent.)
Some people may have heard about both, at the start of their "spiritual journey", and gravitated to one or the other. But, no matter which way one goes, there are very similar milestones along the way - the first being, the excitement at hearing/reading some new ideas, the almost feverish acquisition of books/tapes/videos of the presumed "leaders" and historians and biographers (living or dead), and the attempted commitment to "do the work" however described in those books/tapes/videos, sometimes - though not always - even moving on to locating a group and qualified teacher, joining up, and staying awhile. Likely, most of those subscribed here, experienced a similar set of initial steps.
After having studied the Fourth Way, alone, then with some few friends, then in a group with a teacher for almost 10 years, I found it absolutely necessary to leave, for various reasons having to do with certain realizations I was having regarding the ideas. Had it not been for the fact that I found another person some years later, whom I met with, listened to intently for some years, I never would have discovered the limitation the Fourth Way represents - be that Gurdjieff's version, Ouspensky's version, Collin's, Nicoll's, Bennett's, Pentland's, Orage's, or any of the numerous entities that purport to know something.
All systems are interesting presentations, and fill a void that many people have who want a "new inner life", but ultimately fail all those who attempt them, regardless what they say to the contrary. The founders of their respective systems may have certainly achieved something significant, but their followers? Highly doubtful. A person should be able to realize that, if not, they may never realize it, and it becomes more difficult with time.
The central idea of absolutely ALL systems/teachings is this: man is incapable of knowing himself as he is, because he can't awaken as he is, and all the theories he holds about himself, the world, Life, his possibilities, are just theories he can't verify as he is, even the ones he "acquires" by reading, from supposedly esoteric sources. The systems suggest you can change, and give you certain methods to start that process - self remembering and self observation being the chief ones (though those terms are fungible and go by many, many different names - chanting, meditating, mindfulness and many others.) But they all come down to one thing, man does not understand that what he thinks he is studying - and it could be anything, Fourth Way, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, whatever - is a distraction at best. What he must start studying, IS THE THING DOING THE STUDYING.
99% of people who hear that, miss it, or dismiss it, or want to argue with it. 1% or less, instantly have a new realization of the correctness of that statement. It's NOT the system (nor "yourself" -features, characteristics, flaws) that you need to study, it's the thing doing the studying. The mind.
No one can possibly give you any more instruction than that, and no one would dare CHARGE you money to hear more instructions, who was capable of telling you more. There are no foundations, no schools, no gatherings, no flocks out there that could guide you or lead you to the "way" to study the thing doing the studying - you must discover that on your own, or it's worthless. Other people's clues sound interesting, when you first hear them, but immediately - as with all things - you forget them, don't employ them further, because you have no control over what flows through your mind from moment to moment. That is, you can not think intentionally for any length of time, and that's precisely what you must learn to do - think more than you have to, about everything.
Here's one BIG HINT you can play with: remember the old maxim, "as above, so below"? Well the updated, more powerful version reads, "as without, so within." Everything you see out there in the world -politics, art, philosophy, psychology, religion, human strife, war, you name it - is reflected in the mind, that is, the same forces which enable those external phenomena to be witnessed by humans, can be witnessed internally, and all of them lead to the condition from which you want to be freed - sleep, mechanicalness, stupidity, lack of will, etc. That is, you are (everybody is) a "city/state", with all the same institutions, allegiances, power struggles, forces in play, consisting primarily of a leader and followers, the powerful and the absolutely powerless. That is, again, a partnership, between the force of power in you, and powerless in you, all trying to gain the upper hand. That dynamic can not change, must not be changed, until it can be changed ALL AT ONCE, by the emergence of a REAL POWER, which remains hidden to the powerful and the powerless, yet is capable of full and absolute control.
Here's another BIG HINT: don't talk about yourself, don't give interviews to anybody including yourself, don't tell anyone how you're doing - in a word, forget about yourself - you're unimportant in the grand scheme. Concentrate all your efforts on thinking more than you have to about the external world of man, of Life and it's interactions through man (including you of course), as if "knowing Life" was a more important maxim than, "knowing yourself", as if "the unexamined Life of Life is not worth living" was a more important maxim than, "the unexamined life of me is not worth living."
This is a major shift in your power of attention, what to attend to, and believe it or not, you can learn MUCH MORE about yourself and your possibilities when you learn to do that, than you'll ever learn studying a system, Gurdjieff's way, Buddha's way, Jesus's way, Lao Tse's way, or any way.
Some people may have heard about both, at the start of their "spiritual journey", and gravitated to one or the other. But, no matter which way one goes, there are very similar milestones along the way - the first being, the excitement at hearing/reading some new ideas, the almost feverish acquisition of books/tapes/videos of the presumed "leaders" and historians and biographers (living or dead), and the attempted commitment to "do the work" however described in those books/tapes/videos, sometimes - though not always - even moving on to locating a group and qualified teacher, joining up, and staying awhile. Likely, most of those subscribed here, experienced a similar set of initial steps.
After having studied the Fourth Way, alone, then with some few friends, then in a group with a teacher for almost 10 years, I found it absolutely necessary to leave, for various reasons having to do with certain realizations I was having regarding the ideas. Had it not been for the fact that I found another person some years later, whom I met with, listened to intently for some years, I never would have discovered the limitation the Fourth Way represents - be that Gurdjieff's version, Ouspensky's version, Collin's, Nicoll's, Bennett's, Pentland's, Orage's, or any of the numerous entities that purport to know something.
All systems are interesting presentations, and fill a void that many people have who want a "new inner life", but ultimately fail all those who attempt them, regardless what they say to the contrary. The founders of their respective systems may have certainly achieved something significant, but their followers? Highly doubtful. A person should be able to realize that, if not, they may never realize it, and it becomes more difficult with time.
The central idea of absolutely ALL systems/teachings is this: man is incapable of knowing himself as he is, because he can't awaken as he is, and all the theories he holds about himself, the world, Life, his possibilities, are just theories he can't verify as he is, even the ones he "acquires" by reading, from supposedly esoteric sources. The systems suggest you can change, and give you certain methods to start that process - self remembering and self observation being the chief ones (though those terms are fungible and go by many, many different names - chanting, meditating, mindfulness and many others.) But they all come down to one thing, man does not understand that what he thinks he is studying - and it could be anything, Fourth Way, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, whatever - is a distraction at best. What he must start studying, IS THE THING DOING THE STUDYING.
99% of people who hear that, miss it, or dismiss it, or want to argue with it. 1% or less, instantly have a new realization of the correctness of that statement. It's NOT the system (nor "yourself" -features, characteristics, flaws) that you need to study, it's the thing doing the studying. The mind.
No one can possibly give you any more instruction than that, and no one would dare CHARGE you money to hear more instructions, who was capable of telling you more. There are no foundations, no schools, no gatherings, no flocks out there that could guide you or lead you to the "way" to study the thing doing the studying - you must discover that on your own, or it's worthless. Other people's clues sound interesting, when you first hear them, but immediately - as with all things - you forget them, don't employ them further, because you have no control over what flows through your mind from moment to moment. That is, you can not think intentionally for any length of time, and that's precisely what you must learn to do - think more than you have to, about everything.
Here's one BIG HINT you can play with: remember the old maxim, "as above, so below"? Well the updated, more powerful version reads, "as without, so within." Everything you see out there in the world -politics, art, philosophy, psychology, religion, human strife, war, you name it - is reflected in the mind, that is, the same forces which enable those external phenomena to be witnessed by humans, can be witnessed internally, and all of them lead to the condition from which you want to be freed - sleep, mechanicalness, stupidity, lack of will, etc. That is, you are (everybody is) a "city/state", with all the same institutions, allegiances, power struggles, forces in play, consisting primarily of a leader and followers, the powerful and the absolutely powerless. That is, again, a partnership, between the force of power in you, and powerless in you, all trying to gain the upper hand. That dynamic can not change, must not be changed, until it can be changed ALL AT ONCE, by the emergence of a REAL POWER, which remains hidden to the powerful and the powerless, yet is capable of full and absolute control.
Here's another BIG HINT: don't talk about yourself, don't give interviews to anybody including yourself, don't tell anyone how you're doing - in a word, forget about yourself - you're unimportant in the grand scheme. Concentrate all your efforts on thinking more than you have to about the external world of man, of Life and it's interactions through man (including you of course), as if "knowing Life" was a more important maxim than, "knowing yourself", as if "the unexamined Life of Life is not worth living" was a more important maxim than, "the unexamined life of me is not worth living."
This is a major shift in your power of attention, what to attend to, and believe it or not, you can learn MUCH MORE about yourself and your possibilities when you learn to do that, than you'll ever learn studying a system, Gurdjieff's way, Buddha's way, Jesus's way, Lao Tse's way, or any way.
"Interesting"
"Interesting" is an interesting word. You could look it up in the dictionary, the thesaurus, the encyclopedia, but why bother - you already know what it means and use it a lot.
But do you? I think not.
What is interesting, and to whom? Why is something interesting to you, and yet objectionable or un-interesting to another? If something is genuinely interesting, why is it not interesting to everyone with a brain, who can perceive what you perceive?
If you were not interested in this list, and the subject matters referred to herein, you would likely not be here. You'd get bored or irritated and leave. So are you really interested? Or is something else occurring?
What if "interest" is a molecular transfer of energy in you that you are not totally aware of, yet feel - the way you feel heat on the skin, or a pinprick? What if you could control what you are interested in? What if you could move the energy in you from one place to another, and benefit in some unknown way?
That would mean that you either could be interested in EVERYTHING, or NOTHING - your choice. You would not be driven by such interests, you'd be driven by your own inner desire for the directed movement of energies, from one place to another, for a purpose of which only you were aware.
What if such a capability would allow you to SEE things, that others don't see, and thereby extract information which goes unextracted by the masses. In that way, you would not need any particular external source to stir your interest - which is, presently, without such capability, the only way you derive enjoyment out of life at all. If you're not interested in religion, you'll not spend hours a day reading religious books. If you're not interested in sports, you'll not spend hours a day reading about sports.
Also, and this is key, if you're not properly interested in Enlightenment, you'll never achieve the benefits pointed to by those whose interest is real, or essential. You'd be, what is derogatorily described, a dilettante. Dilettantes do not achieve anything, because they can not extract the pith - the important or essential part.
They are still driven by "interest" and they have no comprehension of What they are interested in, nor Who is actually interested.
But do you? I think not.
What is interesting, and to whom? Why is something interesting to you, and yet objectionable or un-interesting to another? If something is genuinely interesting, why is it not interesting to everyone with a brain, who can perceive what you perceive?
If you were not interested in this list, and the subject matters referred to herein, you would likely not be here. You'd get bored or irritated and leave. So are you really interested? Or is something else occurring?
What if "interest" is a molecular transfer of energy in you that you are not totally aware of, yet feel - the way you feel heat on the skin, or a pinprick? What if you could control what you are interested in? What if you could move the energy in you from one place to another, and benefit in some unknown way?
That would mean that you either could be interested in EVERYTHING, or NOTHING - your choice. You would not be driven by such interests, you'd be driven by your own inner desire for the directed movement of energies, from one place to another, for a purpose of which only you were aware.
What if such a capability would allow you to SEE things, that others don't see, and thereby extract information which goes unextracted by the masses. In that way, you would not need any particular external source to stir your interest - which is, presently, without such capability, the only way you derive enjoyment out of life at all. If you're not interested in religion, you'll not spend hours a day reading religious books. If you're not interested in sports, you'll not spend hours a day reading about sports.
Also, and this is key, if you're not properly interested in Enlightenment, you'll never achieve the benefits pointed to by those whose interest is real, or essential. You'd be, what is derogatorily described, a dilettante. Dilettantes do not achieve anything, because they can not extract the pith - the important or essential part.
They are still driven by "interest" and they have no comprehension of What they are interested in, nor Who is actually interested.
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