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Rob Rabbin joined the Salon, and these are selections from
the introduction of his book, Mentored in Silence:

"This book is a collection of sutras. Sutras are aphoristic
depth charges, terse statements lobbed into the psyche where
they silently explode and cause all conventional knowledge
to implode, leaving a quake-pulsing-shimmering aftermath of
uncontrollable freedom and spontaneity."

"I name the freedom and spontaneity of the mystery of
existence 'meditation'.

"In this book, meditation does not refer to a practice,
technique, or path; it does not refer to a means; it does
not refer to an imagined end or idealized state of
consciousness. It does not imply even a trillionth of a
millimeter of movement from here to there."

"Meditation is the very fact of life, so immense that only
silence can approach."


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A lot of fun and excellent humor was featured on the Salon
today, and I post only one piece, contributed by Jan:

From an unknown source: The GirlFriend Software, Version 2.0


I'm currently running the latest version of GirlFriend and
I've been having some problems lately. I've been running
the same version of DrinkingBuddies 1.0 forever as my
primary application, and all the GirlFriend releases I've
tried have always conflicted with it. I hear that
DrinkingBuddies won't crash if GirlFriend is run in
background mode and the sound is turned off. But I'm
embarrassed to say I can't find the switch to turn the sound
off. I just run them separately, and it works okay.
Girlfriend also seems to have a problem coexisting with my
Golf program, often trying to abort Golf with some sort of
timing incompatibility.

I probably should have stayed with GirlFriend 1.0, but I
thought I might see better performance from GirlFriend 2.0.
After months of conflicts and other problems, I consulted a
friend who has had experience with GirlFriend 2.0. He said
I probably didn't have enough cache to run GirlFriend 2.0,
and eventually it would require a Token Ring to run
properly. He was right - as soon as I purged my cache, it
uninstalled itself.

Shortly after that, I installed GirlFriend 3.0 beta. All
the bugs were supposed to be gone, but the first time I used
it, it gave me a virus anyway. I had to clean out my whole
system and shut down for a while.

I very cautiously upgraded to GirlFriend 4.0. This time I
used a SCSI probe first and also installed a virus
protection program. It worked okay for a while until I
discovered that GirlFriend 1.0 was still in my system. I
tried running GirlFriend 1.0 again with GirlFriend 4.0 still
installed, but GirlFriend 4.0 has a feature I didn't know
about that automatically senses the presence of any other
version of GirlFriend and communicates with it in some way,
which results in the immediate removal of both versions.

The version I have now works pretty well, but there are
still some problems. Like all versions of GirlFriend, it is
written in some obscure language I can't understand, much
less reprogram. Frankly I think there is too much attention
paid to the look and feel rather than the desired
functionality. Also, to get the best connections with your
hardware, you usually have to use gold-plated contacts. And
I've never liked how GirlFriend is totally
"object-oriented."

A year ago, a friend of mine upgraded his version of
GirlFriend to GirlFriendPlus 1.0, which is a Terminate and
Stay Resident version of GirlFriend. He discovered that
GirlFriendPlus 1.0 expires within a year if you don't
upgrade to Fiancee 1.0. So he did, but soon after that, he
had to upgrade to Wife 1.0, which he describes as a huge
resource hog. It has taken up all his space, so he can't
load anything else. One of the primary reasons he decided
to go with Wife
1.0 was because it came bundled with FreeSexPlus.

Well, it turns out the resource allocation module of Wife
1.0 sometimes prohibits access to FreeSexPlus, particularly
the new Plug-Ins he wanted to try. On top of that, Wife 1.0
must be running on a well warmed-up system before he can do
anything. Although he did not ask for it, Wife 1.0 came
with MotherInLaw which has an automatic pop-up feature he
can't turn off.

I told him to try installing Mistress 1.0, but he said he
heard if you try to run it without first uninstalling Wife
1.0, Wife 1.0 will delete MSMoney files before doing the
uninstall itself. Then Mistress 1.0 won't install anyway
because of insufficient resources.
_______________________________________________________________________

Here's Melody, writing what seems like a country song in the
crude:

I was speaking to the 'predictability' of people's
postings.....even amongst those who say they live
'spontaneously'. :-)

I'm speaking from a space of being sick of reading the same
old posts over and over again, and yet wondering why in the
hell do I keep reading them? :-)))

I'm speaking from a space where I feel as though I'm wearing
12 layers of coats, and yet haven't the slightest motivation
to try taking them off, even though I'm sweating bullets.

In other words, Kristi, 'never mind'. :-)
____________________________________________________________________

Here are two dazzling starts who form their own
constellation:


I have decided, in explanation of your absolutely delightful
sense of humor, perceptions and style, that you must have
fully integrated left and right brain function....those
synpases just keep poppin' everywhere...and boy are we lucky
to be within range of their snap and crackle...and such
gentle, gentleness...I've said it before, pale face, but, I
love you.

Love, Kristi


hi kristi, it's all done with mirrors! i *have* no brain, i
don't think. oh well. i have been laughing since birth. i
actually went through a phase in college where i tried to be
morose-- people thought that was funny too. when i was
defending my master's thesis, one professor looked over his
regulation english prof glasses and quipped:"and just what
is a young thing like you going to *do* with our master's
degree!" (a bit patronizing, eh? :) i told him and the
thesis committee: "er, i dunno. i think i'll go back to
workin' my corner. . ."

i have my very dreadful serious moments--- somewhat akin to
the valley of the shadow of death, and all that. but things
do not strike me as dead-serious-permanent at all. like the
wind that passes and messes up your hair, but the house
doesn't fall down. and if it does, there's always the
yard. i have thrown up my arms in the air, and said,
"whatever! and what's it all about, alfie? " sort of like
saying, "oh god, why have you forsaken me?" and receiving
the answer in punchline form. yes, god has a rubber
chicken. i don't even see this as optimism. i've been able
to keep things lite as i cared for friends with aids, and
for my family. that has been grace using me, big time. and
dare i reveal one of my biggest secrets:
i feel peace.

but you know how some people are said to have been "raised
by wolves?" i was raised by poets. mama would wake me
every morning speaking a different language to keep me on my
toes. my dad, on his deathbed asked for a viking funeral,
and was smiling through it all. i was lucky to have an
exceptionally wonderful childhood.
yes, we're aliens.

& i love you , too, and am glad that we're both smiling--
being smiled. . .
love and blessings, aleks
_____________________________________________________________________

Two days ago, I was babysitting Leah, the five-year-old
daughter of a friend. Leah and I are good pals. She was a
little edgy that night, and at one point started to cry,
wanting to know when her Mom would be back.

Trying to console her, I stroked her hair and whispered as
reassuringly as I could, "Leah, your Mom will be home in
exactly one hour."

Leah straightened up, stopped crying, looked me dead in the
eyes, and asked, "When is an hour? Is that now?"

--Rob
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This is a fragment of one of Rob's poems, from his book:

Within the typhoon of meditation, there is no subject, no
object no raincoat, no rain, no wind, no blown-apart
buildings.
Within meditation, there is nothing else, no other.

Somehow, we've got to get used to this fact as the essential
fact of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


To live life as a walking meditation....to move in the space
of no object, no other, leaves room to see the canvases that
others paint....the beauty and sheer majesty of every tree
and every human being in their own right, in their own
natures, unstained by my projections and associations.


Love, Kristi
_____________________________________________________________________

Hello Salon:

I had the good fortune to spend some time with Jean Klein, a
truly beautiful human being. Sadly, he passed away a year
ago. I wanted to share some of his wisdom, and so I offer
the following two quotes from Mr. Klein.

With highest regards,

Rob


"When you really see that what you are looking for is
yourself, and when you find, after many years of looking
down every path, trying all systems, all techniques, that
you are what you are looking for, it is a tremendous
revelation. Because when you really see it, you see that
all these ways and experiences and techniques are only
objects. You can find them but you can never find the
subject, because the subject can never be objectified. You
clearly understand that there is nowhere to go. This is a
revolution in your life." - Jean Klein

"The willful ego is only one aspect of the mind, and the
mind cannot change itself. It can never bring about a
change by analyzing and choosing, excusing, explaining,
criticizing or concluding. Most of the time action is only
reaction caused by fear, anxiety, and desire. These are
aspects of a mind which works like a kaleidoscope that can
only rearrange a fixed number of pieces, a mind sustained by
the ego. When the ego is abandoned, there is only silent
awareness, total presence. This silent presence frees us
from the patterns fabricated by the ego, thus opening out
before us a whole new world of energies." - Jean Klein

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Dear Gene and Glo and Tim and everybody inbetween:

This is the point of non-dual perception....which is
actually mono perception, the perception of goodness in all
things. Cynicism and idealism are the same; hatred and
attack are love disguised; methods of teaching and
transmission change as the state of universal consciousness
requires; without our consent or even awareness; resistance
blocks awareness, but ultimately leads to awareness of the
nature of resistance; dual perceptions lead to the search
for non-dual experience, which leads to a state of awareness
of the totality of goodness, which seeking for goodnes, per
se, will not disclose,......Aiiiiieeee, there is a God, and
He is Us and the process by which we seek to understand the
lack of need to understand.

Yatahe...and God saw what He had made and said...It is good!

Love, Kristi

__________________________________________________________________

Jerry wrote:
We're together in a roller coaster car, screaming our way
down a black hole leading to real dissolution.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know what I like about roller coasters?
They start and finish at exactly the same spot.
You don't really get anywhere, yet the ride is worth it!

With love,

Mira
*Mirror*

___________________________________________________________________

There was a time that I wouldn't miss a book about
enlightenment, awakening, self realization. But from the
moment awakening happened, I realized that I am the very
subject of all those books.

--Mira
_____________________________________________________________________

To the degree that we ever feel called upon to see the
surface of a person...and not to look beyond the disguises
that the ego places on the holiness or wholeness or
perfection in each of us, we fall victim to the same
processes that we criticize or take offense with. We are
always looking in a mirror. Responses of fear or threat or
anger or hurt always refer to the capcity within us to hold
those reactions.....they do not refer to the state of mind
of the other person...although we hold tight to the belief
that we are responding to another's" inadequacies"...we are,
in fact, only seeing our own.

This is such a radical idea because it calls on us to accept
total responsibility for our emotional states. It is the
ultimate act of rejecting the notion of victimness...and in
the process it rejects the idea of a perpetrator. Given our
cultural disposition, dominator values, we hardly know how
to act when the idea of a perpetrator is removed. And yet
we do....and each instance that reveals the dominator within
us, is just another step to realizing how little that role
serves us.I think we have yet to work out the intricacies of
how one responds to attack in another....in order to restore
the vision of wholeness and the experience of peace.

It is well to say, that it is all love...and
it is....But, if we are honest, I think we will admit that,
at different times, our response has been to guard,
constrict, separate, or withdraw....in the face of certain
threads and conflicts....constriction is always a precursor
to attack...whether we articulate it or not, we carry it
somewhere in our lives....it is constriction and separation
that is the subject of these "lessons" or experiences....not
the relative behavior of a given individual.
We are free to respond any way we like, any way that comes
naturally, but, I think, part of the process of healing, is
the recognition that we are also free to recognize that the
impulse to separate is a limitation on our own awareness and
awakening. We are free to heal others as we heal
ourselves....that healing occurs when we see beyond the form
of criticism or judgement to the essence of the person who
is asking to be loved...even as they may claim they need no
such thing.

The mind that is at peace and joyous in its own awakening
will never see a need to attack or criticize or
condemn....these are contrary to the nature of the awakened
state of mind.....they do occur within the process of coming
to that state as a permanent condition of
consciousness...but when they occur, they are evidence of
the ego mind....not the realized mind.

Namaste Kristi
____________________________________________________________________

As you recognize your own worth, so will others, and your
life will be a blessing to all who come in contact with
you. And they in turn will love you and bless you.

Harsha

_____________________________________________________________________

I'll tell you another story about Fingal (who is kind of the
same guy as Fintan). One day he was walking along through
the woods. And he was hungry. He came to a pool on a
river, and sitting on the riverbank was an old man sitting
by a fire. He sat down and warmed himself by the fire and
said to the old man "I'm hungry, have you got anything to
eat."
The old man said "No, but there's a salmon in this pool and
I'll tell you how to catch it." So Fingal caught the salmon
and the old man showed him how to roast it on the fire. And
when it looked like it was done, Fingal poked it with his
finger. And the moment his finger touched the salmon, he
fell into a dream and all the knowledge in the world was
revealed to him. Because the salmon was the salmon of
knowledge, which had grown fat on the hazelnuts from the
five hazelnut trees that grow in the very deepest part of
the ocean, at the very root of the world. When he woke up
from his dream, the old man was gone, so he ate the salmon
and continued on his journey.

andrew
_____________________________________________________________________

Here, let me put it to you guys another way, so as not to
confuse you.
If you even had the least little bitty inkling of how
profound this non duality and this whole business of
enlightenment, that we speak of here really is, you'd be
shitting your pants. Chances are your mouth would drop open
so far you couldnt' speak for a week, maybe never.

I'm off to the symphony

____________________________________________________________________


A tree is only a just a tree when we come to it devoid of
previous experience. If, as a child, a tree fell on me, I
would have a very different perception of trees than one for
whom trees only ever provided shade or a climbing place.
When I look at a tree, I don't see a tree, I see an idea
about a tree that my life experience has taught me.
Awakening confers the capacity to see the "tree" devoid of
personal associations...and the tree is "good." A clear mind
allows us to travel in Plato's world of ideal form.....and
so it is with people. Our minds become clouded with our
perceptions of a person, based on our past experience which
is also the product of perceptions, not truth. If we are to
see a tree clearly or a human being clearly, we are given
the power to come to each encounter clear and open...without
expectation or association.., this is love,..without the
past standing as a guard to cast a threatening shadow on the
present experience. This is what it means for there to be
no here or there or then or now....it is to move into the
resonant experience of beingness that is timeless and not
bound by perception....this is open to anyone at anytime
regardless of the event, place, thing, or person with which
one comes into relation. It does not require that the
"other" has the capacity to do this.....

--Kristi

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