#1106 - Sunday, June 16, 2002 - Editor:
Gloria Lee ______
KHEYALA on NDS
A Father's Day Memoir
June 16, 2002
Driving to town with Jim and Ananda for a Father's Day
dinner at Maria's I glanced back to see Ananda peacefully
looking out of the window. I found myself reaching back to
put my hand on her knee and she responded by resting
her hand naturally on top of mine. Then suddenly flashing
back 25 years ago, buckled into the backseat of my
parents Oldsmobile, I saw my dad's furry arm reaching
back for my knee, only to be met with my own small hand
landing softly on his.
What startled me back to this Father's Day car ride to town
was the instant recognition of the intro to one of my dad's
all-time favorite songs on the radio! The enchanting
melody of Weekend in New England rushed into my whole
being like a big wave. My eyes filled with tears as I felt the
hugeness of my father's loving presence embracing all of
us.
______
GENE POOLE on NDS
Consider 'ego' to be 'capability'
Consider 'identity' to be 'preferences'
Wrong use of capability does not call for
diminished powers of capability-
Wrong use of capability is initiated by identity
If identity is rectified or purged, capability has
no master!
Identity 'causes' actions, but identity alone
cannot 'do' anything; it is our ability to move
which is called into play by the preferences
held by identity.
Identity is the rider; ego is the horse.
A toxic rider will abuse his horse;
eventually, the horse will rebel and
throw the rider.
Remember that ego is immunity and is a
proper thing, not to be slighted
Powerful ego ruled by reasonable identity
is 'OK', because reasonable identity will
recognize ego for what it is and will love and
have compassion for it and nurture it...
***
Preferences are acquired over time and
form the structure we refer to as 'personality'...
*** 'Capability' is commanded by preference ***
To consider destroying 'capability' is foolish
when all that is required is to unplug the
preferences
All of the force summoned by identity comes
from ego; ego is the power by which identity
enforces its whim
Remove the whim and there is no manifestation
of ego
Natural ego is quiescent; manifestation of force
is initiated by what is perceived to be inimical to:
The continued existence of the body
AND/OR
Identity
Humans have lived for millions of years and
have seldom understood the relationship
between the summoned force of ego
And the summoner, the one made of preferences.
Raw basic physical existence of living body
requires immunity;
The human psyche is the invisible flower of
immunity; the _ability to differentiate_ is the
talent of the immune system
The 'mind' and 'awareness' and 'sense of
separate self' are all emanations of the
immune system;
OR
The body and the immune system are all
emanations of the mind; mind is characterized
by the talent/ability of creating distinctions:
Mind/awareness of the transparent nature
of reality is excited by the possibilities of
creation; it is a constructive force
And is sometimes called 'imagination'
This is the important part to understand
This fabulous powerful system; self-healing
self-defining self-motivating self-imagining
Hijacked and corrupted by an identity which
is the product of millennia of deceit, ruthless
competition, narcissism;
Does immunity have the power to expel this
toxic identity?
Yes... and the self-healing power of the psyche
is called ego.
Don't mess with it.
So the difference exists and is not only semantic
Ego is not identity
Identity exists as memory
Memory can be rectified; this is well known
and is the major part of psychotherapy.
Identity is experience "remembered"
"recorded" "verified" in an ever-growing
pattern of certainty; eventually identity
becomes 'crystallized' and what is called
a rigid character structure results.
What chance did any of us have
as children
when our lives were informed by
so very many rigid character structures
called parents teachers authority etc
It is natural that we would emulate the
majority of those in power
and thus long for a 'finished' 'perfected'
identity...
==Gene Poole==
______ BOBBY G from HarshaSatsangh
Dance is structured around the possible movements of the
body and gravity. Art and beauty are visible where the
mental can become visible through the dancer or artist.
Patanjali was the greatiest dancer of his time according to
Iyengar in 'Raja Yoga'. After I wrote that message to you I
had a visual in my mind so I quickly drew it.
dance image by Bobby G ______
SHAWN from HarshaSatsangh
one of my favorite painters
go here:
http://www.scottburdick.com/2002scott14.htm
_____
JOHN R LOGANIS from HarshaSatsangh
I'm jumping in the middle of this ...
Some of these questions that devil us, like "where is
consciousness",
are all a dead end -- that is why there seems to be futility.
Let's
put a different view and get out of the box ---
In the beginning and in the end it is very simple, our wanting to
analyze makes it complicated.
There are facts and
there are ideas about the facts.
The ideas are the stories we tell ourselves about what is going
in
the experience. The ideas are like a map, and THE MAP IS NOT THE
TERRITORY. That's it.
To make a clear distinction, in the theory of perception,
the "facts" correlate with "sensation", and
the "ideas" correlate with "perception".
[My use of the words "sensation" and
"perception" is very specific.
In studies in Biotechnology and Human Engineering it has been
discovered that there are over 169 specific senses each with
characteristics which make each "sense" distinct from
the others. For
reference see L. J. Fogel, BIOTECHNOLOGY, chapter 17 as I recall.
Further I am out of the box here as well....I note that there are
physical senses (169 or more), and there are other subtle senses
including emotional, mental, and yes, psychic and spiritual
senses
which are available only in states of consciousness altered from
ordinary material or physical realities.]
Sensation comes from some kind of "contact",
perception comes from past experience with sensation or from
learned
experience as related by others.
When one creates a flow chart of the perceptual networks one
finds
that in the "sensation" experience it is very simple.
Contact sends a
signal through a nerve (or some other path of least resistence);
the
signal is received by other nerves and are combined with the
effects
of other nerves from the same or other sensory nerves. The
combinations reach areas of "awareness" in the brain.
This is basically pretty straightforward -- then evolution rears
it
complexity. "Perception" takes place and complicates
things
enormously. How? By giving "meaning" to the experience.
Survival
mechanisms are in place which ask questions (metaphorically
speaking)
such as --
Is this sensation dangerous or safe?
Is this sensation desireable or undesireable?
Is this sensation like some previous sensation or complex
experience?
What else is going on at the same time as this sensation?
Is this familiar or something new?
Notice the influence and filtering of the information about the
sensation coming from previously stored information about
previous
experiences (memory). These memories can a act as conditioning
mechanisms which can and often do distort the sensation into
something other than what it is.
Also note that the "memory" aspect is only a coded
image of the past
experiences -- in simple terms our simple sensation has been
conditioned and is now an image, a map. It is this
"map" which gives
us the "meaning" in our sensation/experience -- AND THE
MAP IS NOT
THE TERRITORY.
Most of the time we are experiencing the maps and not our direct
experience -- and the "story" (another name for
"map") begins very
quickly due to our evolution and our desire originally for
survival.
If you are still with me thus far, I am ready to deal with the
emptiness.
Our search is futile because the "essential self" has
recognized that
it is dealing with maps and stories and not with reality. In Zen
this "essential self" is called (among other things)
THE UNBORN.
Unborn because the story has not yet been added!
The "emptiness" comes from the feeling that we are not
dealing with
reality -- and that feeling is the doorway to the breakthrough we
are
looking for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The "futility" is the precursor to realization. We
realize the
emptiness of most of our experience -- and the reality is in
entering
the empty places.
Be still. Be quiet.
These are the keys. Not permanently. Ramana Maharshi tried to
make
stillness and silence permanent and nearly died for his troubles.
Then why, Be still; Be quiet.
Because then awareness can allow reality to appear.
We experience, then comes the story. Let it come!
After the story is told, there is nothing more to say or do.
In this emptiness, in this pause, reality appears, truth appears.
Since it is reality and truth, there is at last peace.
Peace because This is real and not a story.
In this Peace there is no self and yet nothing is left out,
because
It is all here and everything is included.
This is the process...
we experience (the fact), then comes the story (idea), we wait
for
the story to end, and then we experience the fact (reality,
truth).
If we become involved in the story -- then we must just wait for
the
story to end, and the peace returns.
There is nothing to supress or control; the mind is not the
enemy, it
is just doing its job; and it is not complex at all.
When we let the story end, we experience the wonder and majesty
of
Life and All, beyond our stories which lead only to complexity,
fear
and anxiety. We discover that Life really is like a river and we
enjoy the ride instead of needing to be somewhere or another.
It is really not hard -- we just make it hard.
It is really easy and the truth is always really simple and
clear,
just here and now. If not here, where, and if not now, when?
