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Nondual Highlights Issue #1712 Tuesday, February 18, 2004 Editor: michael
Skepticism Irreverance Humor and Kindness and
http://cdn-images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004R6A7.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
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As I've Matured...
I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can
do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in. 
I've learned that one good
turn gets most of the blankets. 
I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just
jack asses. 
I've learned that whatever
hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they
are more screwed up than you think. 
I've learned that
depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
I've learned
that it is not what you wear, it is how you take it off. 
I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the
sweaty things. 
I've learned that ex's are
like fungus, and keep coming back. 
I've learned age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
I've learned that I don't
suffer from insanity, I enjoy it. 
I've learned
that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are
celebrities. 
I've learned that
artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. 
I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in
your house, one of your kids did it. 
I've learned that there is
a fine line between genius and insanity. 
I've learned
that the people you care most about in life are taken from you
too soon 
and all the less important ones just never go away. 
And the real pains in the ass are permanent.
Pass this along to 5
friends...trust me, they'll appreciate it. Who knows, maybe
something good will happen. 
If not...tough.
As Always ... Keep grinning ... it makes people wonder
what you are up to...............
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Over the years I've studied with a number of gurus. Too many probably. Indian gurus, American gurus, self-proclaimed gurus and gurus who didn't consider themselves gurus at all. I learned from all of them. What I learned is still unfolding years after moving on to other things. I suspect it's supposed to be like that. A good guru winds you up and it takes years to unfold what was wound. There are times I think I got it and then find I did and a lot more I didn't know I got. It only became clear much later. Sometimes decades later. Who knew? I've studied with gurus I never met in the flesh. That one still perplexes me from time to time but the results don't lie. This is a strange journey.
The other day I came across something the Dalai Lama said/wrote: Not only can I not recall my experiences in my previous lives, sometimes I can't even remember what I did yesterday. I love that. Humility, I've come to believe, is one of the true signs of a true teacher. One must be sincere to be truly humble. False humility is ugly. True humility is beautiful, to me. There's a freshness about it. There's a difference between being childlike and childish. True humility is childlike. Open, sincere, fresh all the time. What the Dalai Lama said smacks of true humility. I can't tell you how many people I've met imagined themselves to be spiritual teachers. Seems over the past thirty years they've become a dime a dozen. They claim to know everything. It's strange to me because the longer I live and the further I travel on this path the more aware I become how much I don't know. I mean really don't know. I don't even have a clue. I'm clueless! But I'm satisfied with not knowing because knowing comes from not knowing.
Life is a process not a destination. I commented that somewhere today. I learned that somewhere, from someone. I no longer know from whom or when. I am grateful to all my teachers and gurus. I love them all. I'm pretty sure they're pleased I love them. It is, after all, what one must do when one really gets it.
more at: http://jamesworld.typepad.com/files/2003/07/gurus.html
http://www.goma.demon.co.uk/meaning/wiseman.html
Everybody Say OMMMM
By Sleela Salahuddin
Well, I'm like reading this really awesome book, Hare's Zen and the Art of Fingernail Painting, and this guy comes to the door. He is all, knocking, you know. So, I'm like, "Chill, there's a doorbell, just PRESS it, alright?" So he's just standing there with this paper in his hand and, I don't know, asking, "Are you Sunflower, totally fine babe, Smith?" And I'm like, "Yeah." And he, like, gives me this paper that says, "Sunflower promises to dumbly obey this guy someday." So I like sign the paper and give it to him and he leaves. Just like that. And then I'm sort of sad. And then I look at my book and I'm all happy again. It is such an awesome book. I'm reading the chapter, "101 Good Guru Goodies." Reading is so awesome. Paper is like, I don't know, textured. May be I need a guru.
the rest of the story at: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~write/2000/spring/fiction/ommmm.shtml
http://dharmathecat.com/episod1.htm
For those Dharma The Cat Fans
> Generally, when people
study teachings and follow someone such as
> Nisargadatta it because they see something in the teacher
they
> want. I would like to know what if anything anyone sees in
> Nisargadatta they want for themselves?
>
hi patricia,
this idea occurred to me as well. in the past, when i observed
some
devotees and their gurus, i tried to make a connection. for
example,
goofy type of people, do they choose a goofy guru? or are they
really choosing? when nisargadatta appeared as ramesh's guru,
what
did ramesh see in maharaj? wayne liqourman's guru is ramesh but
as
far as i know, wayne does not feel that way about nisargadatta.
so
the pattern does not always fit.
another example: it's tempting to say that since francis lucille
used
to be a french scientist, his fans are scientific types who're
into
dry version of advaita...but this is not always true either.
do we idealize certain qualities and look for those attributes in
a
guru and in our beloved. is that also how we fall in love? those
idealized qualities may not even be our own ideals...but what's
been
worked out in the evolutionary program. i don't really know how
it
works. it's a mystery to me.
when i read a few chapters from "i am that," something
interesting
happened and maharaj's words kept repeating themselves in my mind
and
love was born in my heart for maharaj. is maharaj my guru? i have
no
idea. am i following maharaj's teachings? i don't even know if
maharaj has any teachings to follow other than his consciosness
(or
rather identity) shifting sayings...that point to
consciousness...so
even the word guru does not always fit the pattern.
there may be some truth to your question. perhaps gurus give us
certainty and conviction about ultimate reality...the certainty
that
we desire? it's sort of hard to imagine a fumbling woody allen
type
of a guru, who's not sure about anything.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nisargadatta/message/8629
For Swami Beyondanda fans: http://www.wakeuplaughing.com/index.shtml
Swami’s State of the Universe for 2004 “Wake Up, America!” Wake Up Laughing, and Wake Up Loving
Greetings, and happy new year! And even though it’s a brand new year, you know what? It’s still now. A later now, but still now. Last year I predicted the book “The Power of Now” would be the next big thing -- and it was. And with more and more people learning to be in the now, I will make an even more radical prediction: Living in the now will be the wave of the future, until time itself becomes a thing of the past.
How’s the Universe? Just Fine,Thanks.....(Click Here to Read More)
For the skeptic in us all: http://www.skepdic.com/contents.html
From abracadabra to zombies - a skeptics view of things metaphysical.
Tha' tha' that's all folks!
but remember, it's nicer to be nice than not nice