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Nondual Highlight Issue # 1413 Editor: Christiana
LiveJournal.com
sathanas65 - Heretic Priest
Nonduality group
Spirituality
is like endless billboards
in the desert
announcing a desert
up ahead
without billboards
Art: Aimea Saul: Wounded http://imagerybyaimea.tripod.com
Leo Hartong http://www.awakeningtothedream.com
Be the way you are.
The following story landed one
day in my mailbox. I don't know it's
origin or author, but it is a great pointer to total
acceptance and simply
being who or what you are; even when you're considered to
be a
crackpot.
A water bearer in India had two
large pots, each hung on the ends of a
pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots
had a crack in
it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered
a full portion of
water.
At the end of the long walk from
the stream to the house, the cracked
pot arrived only half full. For two years this went on
daily, with the
bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water
to his house. Of
course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments,
perfect for
which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed
of its own
imperfection, and miserable that it was able to
accomplish only half of
what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it
perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the
water bearer one day by the stream. I am ashamed of
myself, and I
want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver
only half my load
because this crack in my side causes water to leak out
all the way
back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do
all of this
work, and you don't get full value from your
efforts," the pot said.
The bearer said to the pot,
"Did you notice that there were flowers only
on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's
side? That's
because I have always known about your flaw, and I
planted flower
seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we
walk back,
you've watered them. For two years I have been able to
pick these
beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you
being just the way
you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the
house.
Joyce spiritual-friends@yahoogroups.com
"The sun with all those
planets revolving around it and dependent on it can still
ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the
universe
to do." Galileo
courtesy of Xan
There is in the body a current of energy, affection and intelligence, which guides, maintains and energizes the body and mind. Discover that current and stay with it. Nisargadatta Maharaj
Art: Aimea Saul: Winter
Stuart Davis:
musician, singer, punk monk and the man who inspired
Ken Wilber's main character in his novel
"Boomeritis". Stuart's
http://www.twistedmystic.com site is devoted to the interplay of
mysticism and art.
from Three Questions
In an effort to get a sense of
the vast multiplicity of mystical
apprehensions and perspectives available in the local
manifestation of
reality, Stuart has personally taken it upon himself to
probe the psyches
of select individuals with no less than three (3)
penetrating querys,
laying bare the souls of his subjects and the which
exposing to public
view in our forum. Not for the weak of knee nor timid of
spirit.
Question # 1) Why is there a
Universe? In other words, why does the
Absolute manifest at all, why does the Infinite unfold
the finite, or Reality
generate reality?
Steve Dinan The official poet of TwistedMystic.com
One: Well, speaking as the
Absolute, I found the overall scene in the
Cosmic Cafe rather boring before deciding to create some
guests for
the party. Have you tried having a party by yourself? It
just doesn't cut it.
The witty banter, the tantalizing possibility of
seduction, the groan from
a double-entendre, the spewing of neo-Marxist philosophy,
the
embarrassed silence after passing gas and the
possibilities that
emerge in relative reality are simply infinite. Abiding
as the
Omnipresent, Infinite, Omniscient Being is grand for a
while, but I was
looking for a little more spunk. A bit more pizzazz.
After a bit of pushing
and pulling of the vast fabric of Consciousness voilá I
could hide me
from Me. And the games could begin.
Incidentally, this is why I find
sex so fascinating. It was really one of the
premier inventions in that long slog of evolution up to
humanoids. Sex
allows beings to straddle BOTH realities: relative and
Absolute. We
are simultaneously separate beings and then, for a
moment, we die
into each other with exquisite pleasure. The illusion of
separation
dissolves. And yet, to experience that rapture, we are
still limited to
being a separate self. We are both simultaneously. That's
the great
attraction; we're not stuck on either side of the divide;
the tedious
sameness of the godhead or the confused anarchy of the
dualistic
world. We become whole and full. That's why if I had to
distribute one
metaphysical postulate that really holds true, it is that
"God loves to
have sex with God." Eros is the fundamental creative
juice in the
universe.
Shared by Joyce spiritual-friends@yahoogroups.com
A friend who is smarter than i
shared this elsewhere many months ago.
Each time i read it, i learn something new. 
21 Ways to Stay in the
Peace From Byron Katie
Compiled by Mary Lynn Hendrix
Introduction
The following are simple, yet powerful practices that can give you new ways of looking at your life circumstances, and in that, create new possibilities for making choices that will bring you greater alignment with your personal integrity. These exercises are developments of "The Work(TM)" which Byron Katie offers in seminars to provide clarity of mind and honesty of heart which ultimately leads to peace.
1. Reversing Judgements
Practice noticing when you judge
or criticize someone or something.
For example, in a grocery store line, you might be
impatient and think
the person in front of you is disorganized and rude.
Quickly turn your
judgment around and ask yourself: "Is it just as
true about me? Am I
rude? (Am I rude sometimes; to others - or to myself?) Am
I being rude
inside of me when I think they are rude?" This
exercise takes your
attention off the "other" and places your
attention on you. Forgiveness
naturally results. Placing the blame or judgment on
someone else
leaves you powerless to change your experience; taking
responsibility
for your beliefs and judgments gives you the power to
change them.
Remember, beyond the appearance of who it is you are
looking at, it is
always God disguised, standing in front of you so that
you can know
yourself. Reversing judgments allows complete
forgiveness.
Forgiveness leads to awareness of one's self, and
reestablishes
personal integrity.
2. The Three Kinds of Business
Notice when you hurt that you
are mentally out of your business. If
you're not sure, stop and ask, "Mentally, whose
business am I in?"
There are only three kinds of business in the universe,
mine, yours, and
God's. Simple! Whose business is it if an earthquake
happens? God's
business. Whose business is it if your neighbor down the
street has an
ugly lawn? Your neighbor's business. Whose business is it
if you are
angry at your neighbor down the street because they have
an ugly
lawn? Your business. Life is simple, it is internal. So,
count, in five
minute intervals, how many times you are in someone
else's business
mentally. Notice when you give uninvited advice or offer
your opinion
about something (aloud or silently). Ask yourself:
"Am I in their
business? Did they ask me for my advice?" And more
importantly,
"Can I take the advice I am offering and apply it to
my life?"
After working with the practice
of staying out of other's business, try to
stay out of your own business as well. Hold lightly
whatever you think
you know about yourself. "I am contained within this
physical body. Is it
really true? Can I really know that it's true? What do I
get by holding that
belief?" There is a widespread belief that we are
our bodies, and we
will die. "Who would I be without the belief?"
4. "Detaching" from Your Body/Your Story
Try speaking about yourself, for
a period of time, in third person, rather
than as I or me. Instead of saying, "I'm going to
lunch", say "She's
going to lunch", (referring to yourself), or
"This one is going to lunch."
Do this with a friend for an hour, the afternoon, or the
entire day.
Eliminate the use of all personal pronouns (I, me, we).
Refer to yourself
and the other in third person. For example, "How is
that one (or this
one) today? Does he want to go to the park?"
Experience impersonally
the body, the stories and the preferences which you think
you are.
5. Speaking in the Present Tense
Become mindful of how often your
conversations focus on the past or
future. Be aware of the verbs you use: was, did, will,
are going to, etc.
To speak of the past in the present is to reawaken and
recreate it fully
in the present, if only in our minds, and then we are
lost to what is
present for us now. To speak of the future is to create
and live with
what is but a fantasy in our minds. If you want to
experience fear, think
of the future. If you want to experience shame and guilt,
think of the
past.
6. Doing the Dishes
"Doing the dishes" is
a practice of learning to love the action that is in
front of you. Your inner voice or intuition guides you
all day long to do
simple things such as doing the dishes, driving to work
or sweeping
the floor. Allow the sanctity of simplicity. Listening to
your inner voice
and then acting on its suggestions with implicit trust
creates a life that
is more graceful, effortless and miraculous.
7. Listening to the Voice of the Body
The body is the voice of your
mind, and it speaks to you in physical
movement as muscular contractions - as twitches, twinges,
tickles and
tension, just to name a few. Become aware of how often
you move
away from peace or stillness. Practice stillness and let
your body
speak to you of where your mind contracts, no matter how
subtle the
flickering contraction may be. When you notice a
sensation, inquire
within, "What situation or contracted thought is
triggering this physical
sensation? Am I out of alignment with my integrity in
this circumstance,
and if so, where? Am I willing to let go of this belief
or thought that
causes my body to contract?" Listen and allow the
answers to guide
you, and return to the peace and clarity within.
8. Reporting to Yourself
This exercise can help in
healing fear and terror. Practice reporting
events to yourself as if a circumstance you find yourself
in is actually a
news story and you are the roving reporter. Announce
exactly what your
surroundings are and what's happening "on the
scene" at that very
moment. Fear is always the result of projecting a
re-creation of the
past into the now or the future. If you find yourself
fearful, find the core
belief and inquire: "Is this really true that I need
to be fearful in this
situation? What is actually happening right now,
physically? Where is
my body (hands, arms, feet, legs, head)? What do I see
(trees, walls,
windows, sky)?" Impersonalizing our stories gives us
an opportunity to
look at circumstances more objectively, and choose our
responses to
what life brings. Living in our minds, believing our
untrue thoughts is a
good way to scare ourselves to death, and it can appear
in form as old
age, cancer, degeneration, high blood pressure, etc.
9. Literal Hearing
Practice listening to others in
the most literal sense, believing exactly
what they say, and do your best to resist falling into
your own
interpretations about the information they share with
you. For example,
someone might compliment you on how beautiful you are,
and you
interpret that as an implication that the person has
ulterior motives. Our
interpretations of what we hear people say to us are
often far more
painful or frightening than what people actually say. We
can hurt
ourselves with our misconceptions and our thinking for
others. Try
trusting that what they say is exactly what they mean:
not more, not
less. Hear people out. Catch yourself when you want to
finish a
sentence for someone either aloud or in your mind.
Listen. It can be
amazing to hear what comes out when we allow others to
complete
their thoughts without interruption. And, when we are
busy thinking we
know what they are about to say, we are missing what they
are actually
saying. You might want to consider these questions:
"What can be
threatened if I listen and hear literally? Do I interrupt
because I don't
want to really know what they have to say? Do I interrupt
to convince
them I know more than they do? Am I attempting to portray
an image of
self- confidence and control? Who would I be without the
need to
possess those qualities? Is there a fear of appearing
unintelligent?
Would people leave me if I heard them literally, and no
longer engage
in manipulative games?"
10. Speaking Honestly and Literally
Speak literally. Say what you
mean without justification, without any
desire to manipulate, and without concern about how
another may
interpret your words. Practice not being careful.
Experience the
freedom this brings.
11. Watching the Play
See yourself in a balcony,
watching your favorite drama about you and
what distresses you. Watch the story on the stage below.
Notice how
you have seen this drama performed hundreds, perhaps
thousands of
times. Watch this until you find yourself becoming bored.
The
performers are having to exaggerate their parts to keep
your attention.
Notice when you get honest with your boredom, you get up
from your
seat, leave the balcony, exit the playhouse and step
outside. Always
know you can re-visit. Who would you be without your
story?
12. Watching a Second Version of the Play
Write your story from the eyes
and mind of another. Write as many
different versions with as many different outcomes as you
like. Notice
what you notice.
13. Exercising Polarity
If you find yourself dwelling on
a negative thought, practice going to the
opposite positive extreme or polarity. When you catch
yourself slipping
back into negativity, choose again to return to the
positive polarity and
be present with your conscious choice; feel the truth of
it. There is only
love, and what doesn't appear as love is a disguised call
for love. It is
your birthright to live in the positive polarity of love
and truth.
14. Self Loving Process
Make a list of everything you
love about someone and share it with
them. Then, give yourself everything that is on the list.
You may also
recognize that what you love about someone else is just
as true of you.
Then allow the fullness of it to be expressed in your
life.
15. Coming from Honesty
Practice moving and responding
honestly. Laugh, cry, scream, and
speak as it is genuinely true for you in each moment. Be
a child again;
act in full integrity with your feelings. Don't let
beliefs compromise your
integrity. For example, practice leaving a room honestly
without
manipulating those you leave behind with a polite excuse.
Live your
truth without explaining yourself.
16. Asking for What You Want - Giving Yourself What You Want
Ask for what you want, even
though it may feel bold or awkward.
People don't know what you want until you ask them. The
act of asking
is a validation of the awareness that you deserve to have
what you
want. If others are unable or unwilling to accommodate
your request,
give it to yourself.
17. Awareness of You
Recognize that the one in front
of you is you. Beyond all appearances
and personalities is the essence of goodness, which is
you.
Remembering your presence in all form will bring you
immediately into
the present moment, in awe of the fullness therein. The
person before
you will become an opportunity to know yourself. The
heart overflows
with love and gratitude, humbly saying, "Oh yes,
this person or situation
is here for me to learn about who I am."
18. Self Gratitude
For a simple twenty-four hours,
stop looking outside yourself for
validation. On the other side of that you become the
experience of
gratitude.
19. The Vanity Mirror
If you want to see who you are
not, look in the mirror. Use the mirror
once a day only. Who would you be without your mirror?
20. Beyond Justification
Begin to notice how often you
explain or justify yourself, your words,
actions, decisions, etc. Who are you trying to convince?
And what is
the story you are perpetuating? Become aware of your use
of the word
"because" or "but" when you speak.
Stop your sentence immediately.
Begin again. Justification is an attempt to manipulate
the other person;
decide to be still and know, and BE CAUSE.
21. The Gift of Criticism
Criticism is an incredible
opportunity to grow. Here are some steps on
how to receive criticism and benefit from it. When
someone says you
are "wrong, terrible, sloppy," etc., say,
either in your mind, or aloud to
that person, "Thank you." This thought
immediately puts you in a space
where you're available to hear and to use the information
in a way that
can serve you. After the criticism, ask yourself,
"Do I hurt?" If the
answer is "yes", then know somewhere within
you, you believe the
criticism also. Knowing this gives you the opportunity to
heal that
portion which you find unacceptable within yourself. If
you want to
cease to be vulnerable to criticism, then heal the
criticisms. That is the
ultimate power in letting go of every concept. Being
vulnerable means
you can no longer be manipulated for there is no place
for criticism to
stick. This is freedom."
Art: Aimea Saul: Washing feet
NDH reader responds:
Earl McHugh
Dear Gloria,
I have seen RamDass on retreats
( where he, like I, was a student and
have heard him talk - before the stroke). He has come a
long way from
his days as a high-priest of the drugged -out movement
and credit is
due for the useful teaching he has done as well as his
personal major
reformation. That said, we should also consider the fact
that out of the
60s came a terrrible legacy of idealizing extreme
narcisism, hostility to
government, worship of group rights as opposed to
individual rights
and extreme disrespect for logic and factual analsis
instead of
touchy-feelyisim, etc ( excuse the neologism). He is
right that those
thoughts are around today and seem to dominate our
universities
where political correctness has virtually destroyed
freedom of speech.
The heirs of the 60s want free speech only for their own
point of view
and demonstrate, often with violence, to prevent others
from speaking
their mind. I had to say these things because,
regrettably, none of the
writers interested in the spiritual side of life who
appear on your site
recognize this point of view, except perhaps to ridicule
it.
Snips from an article in the Village
Voice submitted by Mary Bianco to
NDSN@yahoogroups.com
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0302/asantewaa.php
Mind Body Spirit by Eva
Yaa Asantewaa For Adults Only Radical
Revisions of the Spiritual Life January 8 - 14,
2003
Beloved, gaze in thine own
heart," Yeats advised. "The holy tree is
growing there." Yet many seekers of spiritual growth
seem—as
another poet, Pamela Sneed, would say—more afraid of
freedom than
of slavery. We yield our power to glamorous, sometimes
unscrupulous
authority figures or invest big bucks in the promise of
Enlightenment
Made Easy or search for a spiritual family to lavish us
with the love we
desperately crave. Now controversial authors Mariana
Caplan, Andrew
Harvey, and Alan Clements reveal their own longings and
crises of the
soul while challenging Americans to wake up and grow
up.
Mariana Caplan:
Halfway Up the Mountain: The Error of Premature
Claims to Enlightenment (Hohm Press, 1999)
.... an angry, unsparing
dissection of self-deception among spiritual
teachers and explorers. admits that she herself has
stumbled upon
nearly every misstep along the spiritual path, all
colorfully related in her
new Do You Need a Guru?,
... she detailed her strategy for "conscious discipleship."
... We have a tremendous
possibility for the development of a spiritual
culture of integrity in the West," she said.
"But in this age of fast food
and Disney World, spiritual warriors need practicality,
deep
skepticism, and a willingness to struggle."
Andrew Harvey:
The Sun at Midnight: A Memoir of the Dark Night; The
Direct Path (2001)
... Today, Harvey considers the
guru-disciple system fundamentally
toxic. He advocates that seekers forge their own direct
path to the
Divine through prayers and practices originating in
everything from
mystical Christianity to shamanism.
What frightens Harvey now is the
ascendancy of the Republican
agenda since 9-11, and its dire consequences for all
humanity and
nature. "We are going into a period of the dark
night," Harvey
proclaimed in a recent talk at Soho's New York Open
Center. "We are
co-creators, not mere slaves, and we are left free to
choose either the
world of cruelty or the world of love."... "The
future of the planet hangs
on two words—mystical activism. Without it we burn
out, dry out,
disheartened by the onslaught of evil and
ignorance." Religion, he
declared, is "bankrupt." The new age? "A
narcissistic coma." And
gurus? "Nothing less than the mafiosi of the
soul."
Alan Clements: was the first Westerner to become a Buddhist monk in Burma. In Instinct for Freedom: Finding Liberation Through Living, his new book, he was also, he says, "more addicted to more substances than anyone I ever met in my life, with at least 10 different 'me's' inside crying for center stage." Today, having left monkhood and celibacy far behind, he's no longer even a Buddhist, he says. "I'm a lover of freedom." Like Harvey, Clements totally rejects the guru model. "It's the old paradigm out of Asia, commodified and turned into income. Open the window and look at God yourself without a filter!"
... his spoken-word performance
Spiritually Incorrect remains his
preferred method of insurrection, melding sociopolitical
views,
individualistic spirituality, and a personal,
discomfiting rawness that
can be felt across a room. Clements says he uses his
performances to
"question the systems that birthed me and challenge
the boundaries of
my own conformity."
Spiritually Incorrect is
"my way of saying how fucked it is to have a
spiritual life; it fucking hurts to be alive today—most
of the time," says
the man whose 32 years of Buddhist practice have landed
him a
broken heart and a feeling of marginalization, neither of
which he
regrets. Authenticity trumps happiness—you know,
that thing that
Americans feverishly pursue. "We have to have
respect for remorse,
guilt, shame, transgression, worry, judgment,"
Clements asserts.
"These are healthy signs. Allow them to
stay."
From of Tom Kenyon's writing
http://www.tomkenyon.com/articles/holographic_universe.htm
Passage into the Holographic Universe
Another part of the mystery, in
regards to brain function, came into 
focus when I came across the recently published work of
Andrew
Newberg, M.D., author of Why God Won't Go Away. Using
advanced
neurological monitoring devices, Dr. Newberg was able to
identify an
area of the brain that seemed to be crucial in mystical
experience. He
and his associates looked at brain activity in various
meditators. Some
were Christian mystics, some were yogis, some Buddhists,
etc. Dr.
Newberg collected meditators like some people collect
baseball
cards. He gave each subject a button. When they touched
into the
deepest state of meditation they were familiar with, they
would push it.
This marker would be set against the
"real-time" readings of the brain
to see if there were any commonalities in brain states.
And there was.
Regardless of the tradition, spiritual lineage or methods
of meditation
used, the same area responded.
This common point in the brain
was identified as the
orientation area.
This neurological center is responsible for orienting us
in space. When
we walk across the room, for instance, the orientation
area coordinates sensory information to help us avoid
bumping into things. During such moments the orientation
area is very busy routing sensory signals. Its cells are
very active. But
during states of meditation, the orientation area went to
sleep! Its cells were simply not processing sensory
information. It was, in other
words, no longer attending to the perception of external
space.
I think that this radical shift in the orientation area is probably due to a shift in attention. By design, meditation is a process of attending to internal space. One lets the perception of external space drop away. And what's left are experiences from the source of internal space itself – the mind.
Art: Fred Casselman: God of Grace http://www.earthecho.com
Pete to AdvaitaToZen@yahoogroups.com
This is poem sent to the Advaita
y Zen list by Skogen. I translated it
and added a piece about silence from B. Roberts.
Silencio Así como del fondo de
la música brota una nota que mientras
vibra crece y se adelgaza hasta que en otra música
enmudece, brota
del fondo del silencio otro silencio, aguda torre,
espada, y sube y
crece y nos suspende y mientras sube caen recuerdos,
esperanzas,
las pequeñas mentiras y las grandes, y queremos gritar y
en la
garganta se desvanece el grito: desembocamos al silencio
en donde
los silencios enmudecen.
Octavio Paz
***
A great poem, Skogen, the depth
of this poem lets us see the peace
Octavio achieved. Forgive the punt ( Paz means peace in
Spanish).
You have a great talent to pick poems. You should publish
your own
anthology.
Silence As when from the depth
of music,
A note vibrates grows and wanes
Until in another music blends
In this way, pours from silence
Another silence, a steeple, a
sword
That soars and grows and lifts us
And while it soars, it lets go
Of memories, and hopes,
Of lies big and small
And we want to cry and in our
throat
Dies the scream:
And we end in the silent
Where all silences are mute.
Octavio Paz
---
This is from the book 'The
Experience of No Self "by Bernadette
Roberts. A book worth reading.
"Through past experience I
had become familiar with many different
types and levels of silence.
There is a silence within; a
silence that descends from without; a
silence that stills existence; and a silence that engulfs
the entire
universe. There is a silence of the self and its
faculties of will, thought,
memory, and emotions. There is a silence in which there
is nothing, a
silence in which there is something; and finally, there
is the silence of
no-self, and the silence of God.
If there was any path on which I
could chart my contemplative
experiences, it would be this ever- expanding and
deepening path of
silence.
On one occasion, however, this
path seemed to come to an end, when
I entered a silence from which I could never totally
emerge. But I must
preface this account by saying that on previous occasions
I had come
upon a pervasive silence of the faculties so total as to
give rise to a
subtle fear. It was a fear of being engulfed forever, of
being lost,
annihilated, or blacking out and, and possibly never
returning."
Art: Aimea Saul: Contemplation