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#2808 - Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, May 7-8-9, 2007 - Editor: Jerry Katz
The Nondual Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
One: Essential Writings on Nonduality: http://nonduality.com/one.htm
This is a GIANT three-day issue. Some really nice things in here. Thanks to all the gifted contributors ... and readers!
And The Soul Moves
Vicki Woodyard
The soul moves and the ego has to follow.
Christ moved and Jesus had
to follow; that is the crucifixion road for the ego. It never
wants to
go, but if it was in the lead, nothing meaningful would
ever happen.
I remember when my ego tried to wiggle out of its promises to
take
care of a dying husband. It was so tired and angry and broken. It
only
wanted someone to care for it, to say "there, there."
It didn't happen
that way until the very end and it was soul that spoke to me.
Soul is still speaking and darned if it doesn't speak in silence.
It
has no words with which to motivate me; it has no physical eyes
to
penetrate my thick defenses. No, it manages to push me off cliffs
of
courage that I would never set one foot upon. It is that
determined to
break the mold called "me." So far it has not
succeeded. But soul
never gives up. It calls to us in the dead of winter, when the
blinds
are drawn and blankets muffle our shivering bones. "Draw
back," the
ego calls, "draw back. Something awesome is upon us."
The spiritual journey is into the desert and into the tiger's
mouth of
the absolute. The partial does no good when life and death hang
in the
balance. It is one or the other; take your choice. And no one
cares or
sees that you are being called to take up your cross. It doesn't
matter; you must go. The ego's fifteen minutes will soon be up.
And then the silence fructifies not crucifies. The desert in
blossom
is the soul being raised the third day. Not into fame but into
glory...not into high noon but into the timeless. Not into
fortune
but into love. Everything you have ever done in your life is
consumed
in the firepit of compassion...forgotten and hallowed, forgiven
and
consoled. This I have heard. And yet the soul that moves the ego
into
death is not proud but determined. It will have its way. And the
soul
moves and the ego is no more.
Vicki Woodyard
http://www.bobwoodyard.com/speaking.html
Peter Fenner's Radiant Mind:
Several videos with Peter Fenner on YouTube. Here is one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rSWd-R1117s
I hear Radiant Mind is a very good program that lasts nine months in its formal aspect. The people that go through the course stay in touch afterward. There is also a teacher's training program for Radiant Mind graduates. There is a three day introduction to Radiant Mind in Montclair, New Jersey (near NYC) next weekend. Details below:
INTRODUCTION TO RADIANT MIND IN NEW
YORK CITY AREA
with Michael Shandler
In order to give people an
opportunity to experience the core principles and practices of
Radiant Mind we have designed a THREE DAY INTRODUCTION TO
RADIANT MIND.
The INTRODUCTION TO RADIANT MIND workshop explores the experience of intrinsic freedom: the state in which we are aware, relaxed and able to fully embrace all experiences, emotions and thoughts without distortion or the need to escape them. Themes will include:
• Bridging the Conditioned and Unconditioned Mind.
• Simply Sitting: the Art of Natural Meditation.
• Non-dual Contemplation: Sitting in Presence, favoring neither speech nor silence.
• Understanding Core Fixations and Primary Biases: How we distort experience and perpetuate suffering.
• Expanding the Preference Bandwidth.
• Deconstructive Conversations and Meditative Inquiry
“I wholeheartedly
recommend these workshops to you. In these workshops, Michael
Shandler will lead you directly into the experience of Radiant
Mind and offer you opportunities to directly explore several key
principles and practices of the 9 month Radiant Mind Course.”
Peter Fenner
Fees: $300 USD
-
Montclair, New Jersey May 18 - 20, 2007
The workshop
is limited to 15 students. In order to reserve your spot, please
send a
deposit of $150 to The Yoga and Meditaton Center of Montclair, 9
Patton Pl., Montclair, NJ 07043. Questions? Call 973-746-6707.
For more information and registration details click here http://www.radiantmind.net/introduction_rm_michael_s.htm
It was a jealous God who
split us
in two,
cast out
like unknown shores and
intimate skies
dark with clouds,
thick with the music of
Thunder,
the crescendo of human
bodies
softly sleeping
under an Acacia tree,
awakening,
we thirst
we are hungry,
we are pregnant with Silence.
-Anna Ruiz
"Vashisht, India is famous for its hot sulfur
springs. Inside the grounds of the Vasistha Temple there are two
hot spring pools that are free. They can get a bit dirty.
There are also clean hot springs at the Hot Bath
Complex about a ten-minute walk from the downtown, going towards
Manali. There are private baths here for Rs 35 a person for 30
minutes. The springs are supposed to have good health benefits,
and they certainly feel good. Open 7 am to 1 pm and 2 to 9
pm."
The above is the "after" the bath snap..."before" was not so pretty! All I can say is that after a week of train, bus and autorickshaw rides; hotels that promised hot water, only to offer a bucket full, this abundant use of water almost seemed obscene...almost! Being led to the feet of Vashista Rishi in 1988 has come full circle at the feet of Shri Anandi Ma this past March. Ma is the lineage holder of shaktipat given to Lord Rama by his Guru, Vashista Rishi. www.dyc.org
Crow spoke to me this morning
May your fields be blessed
and bountiful
May your home be bright
and free of darkness
May your body be bright
and full of life
The leaf falls
Does that make the tree
less than it is
So shall you drop many
bodies on your way
You are never less than you are — Infinite possibility.
Spent Sunday at a wonderful Peace Powwow in San Juan
Bautista, CA. Still under the influence of the drums and beings
encountered!
AMMA is coming to San Ramon, CA
ashram June 5, 2007. Visit www.amma.org for Her schedule.
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR will be in Pomona, CA for Guru Purnima July 22-29, 2007. Visit www.artofliving.org for all the details.
anabebe57 sends
the following: Forwarded from ChristianDruids group:
What a great story...
Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal
by Naomi Shihab Nye
After learning my flight was
detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: If anyone in the
vicinity
of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, Please come to the gate
immediately.
Well -- one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went
there. An older woman in full
traditional Palestinian dress, just like my grandma wore, was
crumpled to the floor, wailing
loudly. Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What
is her problem? We told her the
flight was going to be four hours late and she did this.
I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly. Shu dow-a,
shu- biduck habibti, stani stani
schway, min fadlick, Sho bit se-wee?
The minute she heard any words she knew -- however poorly used -
She stopped crying.
She thought our flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to
be in El Paso for some major
medical treatment the following day. I said no, no, we're fine,
you'll get there, just late.
Who is picking you up? Let's call him and tell him. We called her
son and I spoke with him in
English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on
the plane and would ride next to
her -- Southwest.
She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun
of it.
Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic
and found out of course they had
ten shared friends.
Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some
Palestinian Poets I know and let them chat
with her. This all took up about 2 hours. She was laughing
a lot by then. Telling about her life.
Answering Questions.
She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies -- little
powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed
with dates and nuts -- out of her bag -- and was offering them to
all the women at the gate.
To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a
Sacrament. The traveler from
Argentina, the traveler from California, The lovely woman from
Laredo -- we were all covered with
the same Powdered Sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.
And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge
coolers -- non-alcoholic -- and the two
little girls for our flight, one African American, one Mexican
American -- ran around serving us
all apple juice and lemonade and they were covered with powdered
sugar too.
And I noticed my new best friend -- by now we were holding hands
-- had a potted plant poking out
of her bag, some medicinal thing with green furry leaves. Such an
old country traveling tradition.
Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought,
This is the world I want to live
in. The shared world.
Not a single person in this gate -- once the crying of confusion
stopped -- has seemed apprehensive
about any other person.
They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.
This can still happen anywhere.
Not everything is lost.