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("Thoughts from the Portuguese of
Fernando Pessoa",
translated by Thomas Merton) love,
John

When my gaze is clear
I think and write
the way flowers wear color,
yet less perfectly is
my mode of expression
for I lack the divine simplicity
of being entirely myself
and nothing more.

When I look
I am moved--
and I am nature--
the breeze rising lightly--
a wind going by.

I do not bother with rhymes.
I have no philosophy.
If I talk of nature, that is not because
I know what nature is
but because I love it.
My village creek is
great because it's free.

The best mysticism is simple
and does not think.
It lives on the top of a hill
in a lonely whitewashed house
and sings to the rivers.

The flying bird leaves no trace
nor marks the earth with her track.
She flies by the mystery of things.

And as for the sun each morning--

It rises on time.
___________________________________________________________________

This plant on my desk shifts slightly,
as an unknown breeze touches only one
leaf.

Look at all the shades of red and orange
that the sun throws on the gray clouds
as it sets...

Dan

~ Feel all these breezes and shades
of life moving through this body
each moment....
xan
____________________________________________________________________

You indulge in
Self improvement

And

All you have to show for it
Is an improved self.

--Ram Tzu
_______________________________________________________________________

Andrew's Song
by O.H.

andrew dearest, i see you standing on that ridge, looking
out over
ragged peaks, wind blowing, fog rolling in, you remain
still, strong,
and on the breeze, a voice, (along with a whiff of pepperoni
and extra
cheese) comes up from the valley, haggard but true, singing
just to you:

lalala...Why this feeling?
Why this glow?
Why the thrill when you say hello?
I must tell you what my heart
knows is true.
Mr. Wonderful, that's you!

lalala...Why this trembling?
When you speak?
Why the joy when you touch my cheek?
I must tell you what my heart knows
is true,
Mr. Wonderful, that's you!

lalala...And why this longing
to know your charms
to spend forever,
here in your arms.

lalala..Oh, there's much more
i could say,
but the words keep
slipping away,
And i'm left with only one
point of view.
Mr. Wonderful, that's you.

lalala..One more thing,
then, I'm through.
Mr. Wonderful!
Mr. Wonderful!
Mr. WON...DER....FUL!
I....love....you.
____________________________________________________________________

SARLO:
While i am still dreaming and snoring in the realm of
duality, i may as well take advantage of the privileges of
the realm, one of which is to say how it is for me. There's
plenty of time -- can you say eternity? -- to not
discriminate when i wake up in the beatitude of nonduality.

DAN:
Dear Sarlo, Your post strikes me as quite on-target, and I
take your reference to the realm of duality as ironic humor
- duality is included and transcended by, not contradicted
by nonduality - Nonduality as reality is not opposed to nor
outside what is commonly considered as "duality" - It's
Oneness that manifests by using what we call "twoness" and
"manyness" - hence it's the ending of dualistic
interpretations, not the ending of perceptual
differentiation - it's just that the separable subject and
object are no longer "in" perception.
Discrimination is therefore key - nonduality without
discrimination is like a diet of cotton candy - it isn't
healthy and isn't wise. In fact, it's in the midst of
discrimination that nonduality is found - a naive love that
can't discriminate is like trying to have oneness without
diversity - it's potentially harmful. Love and wisdom are
two sides of one coin.
__________________________________________________________________

TONY:
Can one get freedom/moksha with desires?
It brings up other questions:

XAN:
- In moksha what is one free from?
- What is desire?
- Can one get free without the desire for freedom?
- Is it the same for everyone?
- Does one still get desires with moksha?
- Who measures freedom?
- Does dualizing sound like fun?

TONY:
How are innate tendencies/samskaras effected by non-dual
success?

XAN?
Wait and see No guarantees
__________________________________________________________________

DAN:
Waking up is now. As now is all there is, waking up is all
there is. There is nothing other than waking up.
There is no separate subject who needs to, or can wake up.
Trying to get from this now to another now is the only
ignorance there is. It is ignorance because there is no
separable self to get from this now to that now. As there
is only now, there is no one experiencing now. Now alone,
no subject experiencing it, no object being experienced.
Now alone - no perception "of" now "by" someone - No object
of perception. Perception alone, this alone.
___________________________________________________________________
FRANK MAIELLO (brought to us from the Advaitin list by
Harsha)

really, the importance of coming to terms with all these
ideas, has to do with how to release the Mind from doing
battles. and the battles concern our ancient addiction to
making judgments. once this habit is broken and dissolved,
we can then live in choiceless awareness and simply BE. we
can then rise above ideas of being 'this such way' or 'that
such thing,' and simply primally *BE*.

therefore, the philosophical approach i've been attempting
to convey [in apprehending the nature of perception] is, to
me, the most effective for achieving this end. the one you
outlined by deutsch, to me, fails to consider or convey the
reality component within the Appearance category.

let me try once more to explain [this admittedly difficult
and sometimes hair-splitting categorization process. but,
if we keep in mind, the whole purpose of involving ourselves
in this effort, is to RELEASE THE MIND FROM ITS OBSESSIONS
WITH JUDGMENTS...source of all limitation and thus
suffering. it is the mechanism [of maya] that is responsible
for the appearance of names and forms (which are *in of
themselves* mithya or unreal) which is the real constituent
involved in the world-projection in/of brahman (i.e. the
leela).

the changeful/temporal effect (appearance or mithya)
has a changeless/timeless causal foundation (maya).

*however*--and this is the point of what i see as the common
misunderstanding-is that even the appearance aspect,
although fleeting, has a real component. that the mithya
aspect uniquely comes in due to our taking the appearance of
names and forms as real *apart* from their source in
brahman. and this is where delusion occurs [and the
metaphors 'barren woman's son,' etc. applies].

it's interesting that 'illusion' has a parallel meaning in
the english language as 'maya,' insofar as its possessing
real and unreal components; which is why interpreting the
statement: 'the world is an illusion' as something that is
utterly unreal, is so misleading, causing as it does
therefore a very fundamental duality.

the ego-Mind, in its obsession to get caught up in battles
in terms of attractions and repulsions is due to this
misunderstanding. Jeddu Krishnamurti's popularizing the
vedantic concept of choiceless awareness speaks to this very
issue. that is, no matter what or where the Mind goes, it
is immersed in satchidananda. that our reactive judgments
of its adventures (viz. that what we're witnessing is
compulsively being categorized as real or unreal- that
internal struggle!--based on a condensed, exclusive focus on
the Particulars, instead of their holistic effulgent Source
in brahman) is the real culprit sustaining our internal and
ancient struggle.

here's [an amusing, perhaps, in its doggedness value]
collection of my past attempts to convey the central idea of
the Mind's obsessive-compulsion with limitation.

the Particular can never have any weight, since it can never
be considered something unto itself and apart from its
source in brahman.

really the root of our problem is getting captured by
Particulars and thus becoming disconnected through that
capture, which is what leads to the duality or plurality of
our awareness. therefore the method has to address that
process of being captured.

the ancient exclusivity-trap has become, over time, a
permanent dynamic in our field of awareness, and is thus
permanently set and continuously snares us into the belief
that each Particular is experienced as apart from its source
in brahman.

it's a matter of liberating the awareness from the trap of
Particulars.

it's a matter of disengaging our habit of allowing the
Particulars to set their exclusivity-traps on our
awareness. in other words, our awarenesss moves into a
given Particular and we allow that to cause us to forget its
[and our] substratum which leads to our suffering.

namaste
__________________________________________________________________

GILL EARDLEY (responding to a broadcasted request for
information)

Bernadette Roberts is still alive and gives occasional
retreats in California. Her address is:

Bernadette Roberts
1901 1/2 Montana Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90403

The above information is from:
http://spiritualsearch.webprovider.com/bernadette_roberts.htm

love, gill

editor: also see http://www.nonduality.com/berna.htm
____________________________________________________________________

LARRY:
Greg, I'm having trouble understanding "no separation" in
your exposition of the various yogas. It seems to me that
even in no self, no inside/outside,all the same state there
is still stuff and therefore space between the stuff even if
the space and the stuff are both consciousness stuff.

GREG:
I'm forgetting the post you're referring to. So let's see
if I can respond anyway....

Right there, in that object-less state, with no
subject/object distinction apparent, there is no stuff or
gaps between stuff. Later, looking back, one might say it
was totally vivid moment like a beautiful sunset or a
thrilling movie or great sex or our favorite music. Looking
back, one seems to see gaps between that moment and the
next, etc. But in that moment there were no gaps. That's
the free-sample kind of thing.

LARRY:
For some, there is even the quality of heightened vividness,
vividity! Dramatic, DISTINCT, difference. Spectacular
separateness. There's just noone home to get excited about
it. What about THAT???

GREG:
This is more like the witness state. This is a very nice
place, and like you say it's very vivid, everything is
lighter and more transparent, the colors are brighter,
sounds more full, thoughts more clear, etc. This is
compared to the field of experience that seems to be
siphoned through a separate "me" or "mind." But like you
say, there is still stuff, and gaps between stuff. There's
stuff, but it's not anyone's stuff.
___________________________________________________________________
HENRY

I have had my own different teachers and I never have
attacked any of my teachers. I do not understand why so
many feel that they have to attack their teachers. These
very attacks by the students on the teacher, may be why the
teacher gets sick and dies. In america, the teacher gets
blamed for everything wrong, but no one every blames the
students.

HARSHA

Ultimately, the problem is not the guru (even though he or
she might be totally confused). The problem is the
imagination that leads people to believe that salvation lies
somewhere other than where they already are.

JAN BARENDRECHT

who would even want to be a teacher, now that everyone who
saw a glimpse can and will start teaching? The Internet has
taken over verbal teaching and there is so much already that
many lives can be spent in nondual detached enjoyment of
digesting wisdom :)
__________________________________________________________________

BRUCE MORGEN

"Sanat's World News"
http://swnews.net/ --
__________________________________________________________________
MARCIA

I am driving my teenager somewhere. She is upset about
something totally absurd. I am tempted to get upset back
cause I am the recipient of her hormonal imbalance. This
would truly be a trip to the funny farm as anyone, who has
ever gotten upset at an upset teenager, knows.
I relax, bring attention to the coming and going of my
breath, and feel a pulsing in my crown chakra. Because of
the intensity of the temptation to get upset, the pulsing in
the crown chakra is very strong. I have noticed this
repeatedly. That the more intense the temptation the more
intense the pulsing. It is "as if" there is a direct
connection and something is getting digested.
_________________________________________________________________

Who am i?
I am god. No, really.

I just appear to be a fifty year old male of anglo saxon
descent. I just happen to appear about 6 feet tall, 195
pounds, blue eyed, brown hair and so forth. But i really am
god. No kidding.

Don't ask me for any big miracles. Don't even think about
it. I don't do any big miracles. If you want wine, buy
some. If you're dead, get buried. I have done those things
and more. But that was other times, other needs. Besides,
raise one person from the dead and you get a name and it
doesn't matter 'cause the person is still going to die
sooner or later. Feh.

If you want little miracles ok. Just smile. Just be kind.
Just learn how to change a diaper full of diahrea! Help out
a stranger. Give without asking for a reward. Volunteer
for something.

So why did i come here as this person? I wanted to! I also
came here as you and you and you and you and you ..... and
you and you. Whether i believe me on this point or not
doesn't matter. Nope, not at all.

Now i look around and everything and everyone i see is me.
But i do not expect anyone to believe me. Most of me is not
aware that i am me. And you know what? That is just the
way i like it!

Every once in a while i wake one of me up just to take a
look around.
This is a damn fine cool place. Glad i made it! Heck, i am
glad that I AM it!

Now you may be asking why i made this place and what the
meaning of it all is. The short answer is - because i could
and it means what it means - it just is!

There is more to this than i am going to tell you. But i
will say this about that. There is nothing you can do to
wake up. It's just something i do to me for random kicks.
So, if you know you are me, enjoy! If you do not know you
are me, enjoy!


HAHAHAHAH and HOHOHOHO!
Peace - and Love Abiding - Michael
_______________________________________________________________

MELODY

For some useful information on Dynamic Meditation, including
what may well be some important caveats, see
http://www.clipper.net/~calder/Osho.html

His caution of not holding one's hands up over one's head is
an interesting one.

When I let the body 'go'...simply allow to move as it
will....I find that my hands naturally lift above my head
for extended periods. I notice that 'lifting' seems to open
up an energy flow....like the turning on of a closed
faucet. This I notice not so much in the Dynamic
Meditation, but in the Nataraj Meditation (which is
basically a dancing meditation)

As with all things, the key seems to be: follow the body's
cues... listen to one's own inner guidance first and
foremost.

When the body says "enough" then I quit . The clock and the
instructions should be seen as "guides" and not as
instructions "cast in stone".

I have been advised that the Meditation "NadBrahma" is quite
effective as well, though certainly "tamer" and less
strenuous than the other two I've tried....and I look
forward to experimenting with that one.

One thing I really like about the Nataraj is that along with
'opening' channels, it can give you quite an aerobic
workout, calms the mind considerably and yet....the
movements are always new...fresh,
unexpected....unorchestrated....really "now".
_________________________________________________________________

MELODY QUOTES OSHO

"The methods of the Bauls are very simple. They say that if
you can dance, many blocks will disappear from your being --
because when a person dances and really moves into dance,
and becomes movement, then he becomes liquid. Have you not
seen it? If you have seen somebody lost in dancing, can't
you see it? that he is no longer solid? He is flowing.
The solidity is gone; he has become liquid. This liquidity
melts the blocks. So dancing is the Yoga of the Baul; he
dances for hours together. When the moon is in the sky in
the night, the Bauls will dance the whole night -- because
for them the moon is a symbol of their Beloved, Krishna.
They call Krishna "the moon". When the moon is there they
will dance, and they will dance madly. And this dance is
not a performance. It is not for somebody else to see. If
somebody sees it and watches, that's another thing." ~ Osho
_________________________________________________________________

GENE POOLE

Why do we do this thing of wearing masks? Why do we not
simply expand into our own potential, have our desired
reality, and the 'devil take the hindmost'? What do we
gain, by playing such richly textured and complex games with
ourselves and each-other? What is the payoff? Why, the
payoff is 'safety', of course... as provided by the
programme of the machine, which ignores this moment, to
connect yesterday to tomorrow. Like trolls, we hide in the
dark under this 'bridge', and become the very force which we
fear; we become the very threat, to which the machine is
programmed to respond. Now, is this whole thing a racket,
or what?
___________________________________________________________________
TONY O'CLERY

We move from thinking we are our own thought, to realising
we are God's thought and eventually we realise there was no
thought at all. This I believe is the end result of the
teachings.If you are a Human Animal you can do all the
things that animals do-mate,eat,sleep,defend whatever.If you
are an Aspiring Human Being you have to change yourself from
an animal.You have to take on Ahimsa,not killing an animal
to eat its meat.

Human Beings are like a flower,a flower bursts into creation
and it gets to a certain point,at the end of the day when it
closes its petals and it goes back in again.Human Beings are
the same,not every flower bursts into creation and comes
back in at the same time.Some close earlier some close
later,the person still coming out into manifestation,they
are more likely to be a Human Animal.If they have decided to
close in the petals and come back;whereas they are more
likely to be an aspiring Human Being.

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