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*Awareness*

Larry: I forgot what we're calling
ultimate truth.

Jerry: Stop! Stay right there!
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James Bean sent this:


"Love is a pervading principle. Had it not been present everywhere, the
world would not have come into existence. It is Love that creates, it is
Love that multiplies, and it is Love that finds room for every body. We are
born, we live, we die, and are absorbed in Love, for God is nothing but
Love. Had there been no Love, there would have been no God. Had there been
no God, there would have been no Love. Love and God are the same thing."

"They say 'Love is blind,' and it is quite so, for, where there is Love,
there is no reasoning and no wrangling of words. Love is its own proof. It
requires no proof for its Presence or Existence."

--- Baba Faqir Chand
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Klaus Wieben: *Einen Augenblick*

Hello,

Einen Augenblick is like saying: “ just a moment “.
What does this moment hold? Nothing ?, this moment right now stretched into
eternity holds eternity.
I am utterly and totally consumed by this moment,I am filled by it to such an
extent that I don’t exist . But who is talking ?,where do these thoughts come
from ? A paradox within Non-duality ?

Sharing a moment touched by thought,has it become duality ?
Love Klaus
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There is only this moment.
It doesn't even express itself, ever.
To whom would it express itself?

Our thoughts don't divide this moment
from itself.
Our thoughts only think they can divide
this moment.
Once this is seen, is ended
the illusory centrality
of thought in its self-contructed domain.

And this moment, this undefined
instant - merely all that is,
what can be said about it?

Love,
Dan
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dear one,

making ourselves a separate somebody
we urgently strive for something else
gridlocked by the form of our own identity
we never quite make it to the unity hotel


just one deep clear look at this ancient folly
blows us right off the map of making a self
in the boundless freedom of our true nature
the concept of unity never occurs

love, cee
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~ And therein lies illusion!
What you think you really are is not what you are. What appears to be a
personality within a skin is just an idea, or collection of ideas.
xan


I agree, but if I understand this correctly, everything is still real in
the sense that misunderstandings are real misunderstandings and realness
itself is to some extent a misunderstanding but also not. Or something
like that, I think?

Larry


~ Yes, stuff happens, no doubt about it.
The mind thinks, understands, thinks it understands ......
What do you identify as yourself?

Xan
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Gene:



Greetings, Gloria. You spoke to me, and I reply:


> >
> >Gene: Yes, Dan. It is helpful to see boundaries this way.
> >
> >Boundaries maintain distinction. It is well and good to be able to
> >see also, properties which are held to be _similar_ or even
> >identical. Boundaries themselves have this property; every boundary
> >indeed defines what is distinct, and by doing so, opens the
> >possibility of perceiving what is similar or even identical.
> >
> >This is a very subtle point to make; I am saying that boundaries can
> >be seen to exist as challenges to perceive that what is apparently
> >distinct, discrete, or separate, are also similar or even identical.
> >
> >My conversation about skin as boundary, offers this challenge, and
> >Terry and Tim have risen to it. I hope to successfully communicate
> >that 'even though' we are within our self-distinction-maintaining
> >boundaries of skin (and ego), that such boundaries are (superficial)
> >challenges to see that "we" are actually similar or even identical.
> >
> >Language is a set of filters (properly called grammars) which are
> >used exclusively to create distinction; it is difficult to use
> >language in a way that makes distinction work to illustrate
> >similarity.
> >
> >"Things are not as they seem; nor are they different".
> >
> >Discussions of similarity use distinction-creating words to 'prove'
> >similarity by a process of eliminating difference, to the point of
> >revealing similarity. In reality, only words create this distinction,
> >but few speakers have mastered the art of using words in a manner
> >that does not inherently lead to separation. If we could 'learn to
> >talk' in a manner that could transcend the usual inherent effect of
> >words, we could speak without creating illusory boundaries between
> >ourselves.

> Dear Gene,

Hi Gloria...

> Glo: This suggestion of yours really intrigues me. Given that
> this very subject, verb, object structure that is the
> basis for most languages happens to have a high
> correlation with the way our brains and perceptions are
> hard wired, this speaking is difficult. The brain is a
> difference engine, or difference detector, as you have
> often pointed out...the source of our language is our
> thinking process itself.

Gene: Gloria, what you say above seems to be true, but I would like
to point out that while 'the source of language is our thinking
process itself', that language itself my also shape this thinking
process. In fact, some students of human systems have speculated that
language has a much greater shaping effect on the thinking process,
then does our hard-wired brain itself. I would point you to the
various links on Jerry's page, that deal with the concept of the MEME.

The MEME (pronounced 'meem') is 'contagioned' between speakers of a
given language; like a virus, it replicates itself in each newfound
host. Having taken root, it is then further transmitted to others,
and so on. This process has forwarded from the dim past, the most
dysfunctional 'ideas' (read 'assumptions') that we have to deal with
today. Chief among these dysfunctional assumptions is the presumption
of 'racial superiority' and its handmaiden, the assumption of
individual 'superiority' and 'inferiority'.

Language as driven by these central themes of 'superiority', has
become a system of passwords which if used properly (IE, speaking in
submissive or dominating voice, as is deemed socially appropriate),
allow the upward climb on the monkeybars of hierarchical social
strata. Used in this way, language communicates LESS of content and
MORE of social privilege. It might even be said that our cultural
'religion' of Narcissism is itself a meme, embedded in language, and
transmitted as 'a sense of entitlement' from parent to child. The
child who picks up on this meme, becomes one of the newly renowned
'children from hell', a tyrannical king or queen at age 7, to be
featured on daytime TV shows as living symptoms of our culture's
'moral decay'. In reality, these kids are simply enacting the 'deal'
which their parents have unwittingly passed along from their own
bosses/Top Monkeys. "Language as password" is what we have here; and
the robotic reaction of speaker and hearer is what we here in the NDS
have vowed to 'awaken from'.

> Glo: The presumption of a subject
> having these perceptions, for example, is so pervasive. To
> see differently and know how to transcend that programming
> is not easy, to say the least.

Gene: I know the 'password to your heart' if I can read your
submissive or dominating tendencies, as you embed them in your
language. Beware; we all do this, unwittingly. A skilled student of
human nature makes the most effective 'con-man', due to ability to
read these embedded signals. Most of the 'false gurus' of history
have had this talent 'in spades'. It is so easy to exploit people,
when their system of permissions/passwords is 'worn on the sleeve',
sometimes proudly.

I am saying that if we intend to take language-use to a higher level,
that we must become aware of just how language is being used right
now, today, and why this form of usage is so prevalent. The
discussion of boundaries can be resumed at this point, because our
system of permissions/passwords is conveyed as the initial
_agreements_ made with our parents (who of course are the living
agents of their culture), before we as children acquired the talent
of speech.

Our initial agreements, made during our pre-verbal phase of
existence, form the basic CRITERIA which is the template of identity.
ALL subsequent agreements MUST conform to this basic criteria, or
identity will shatter and fail.

The common, daily experience of _challenge to identity_ is easily
seen by example here in NDS. We can see open disputes, challenges,
claims and counterclaims, all for the purpose of MAINTAINING
IDENTITY. 'Attackers' and 'defenders' are both working as powerfully
as they are able, to make _self and other_ rigidly conform to the
basic criteria of the _original agreements_.

THE FAMILY 'WAY':

In the field of psychology, our constant 'patching' of identity is
called by a special word, "compensation". The event of
"decompensation" is defined as 'psychosis'. Loss of identity is thus
defined in our (western) cultures as _insanity_. Yet, here in the
NDS, we are determined to jettison identity, for the event of
realization of a 'larger, common 'SELF'. It is no surprise that all
of the 'spiritual traditions' advocate some form of this
'conversion', usually defined as 'God-Realization' or something
similar.

I will point out that the most successful 'religions' are those that
state that 'God is Love', that the Great Spirit creates and nurtures
us all. Sadly, most of those 'religions' also have included special
_criteria_ by which God's love is parcelled out to individuals, based
upon those persons conformance with such criteria. I direct your
attention to the most basic of criteria, right now; that being, that
submission to Greater Authority is the guarantee of acceptance and
thus love and nurturing BY that Greater Authority. This meme is often
enforced violently.

BEWARE NOBODADDY:

Those in our culture (and our list!) who are the most deeply
'infected' by the Criteria of the Greater Authority, will always
demand _submission_, before granting acceptance and love.
Traditionally, such deeply infected individuals have acted as 'God's
Gatekeepers', and have been known as 'priests' or 'prophets'. Entire
civilizations have come under their sway, as you know. The
authoritarian 'tendency' exists in everyone, be it manifested as
dominance OR submission.

> Glo: As you said below, it is
> more often evident in poetry, or unconventional speech.
> There are some here on our list who do exemplify this and
> it is certainly evident when one sees it, the artistry of
> it. If the "place" from which one speaks is a more
> unified vision ("assumption of
> similarity")....an_all_seeing_eye... is this what you mean
> by not seeing (or being deceived) by illusory boundaries?

Gene: Basically, yes. Our greatest heros are those who are
'anti-authoritarian', in the sense that they are neither submissive
nor dominating. This is why 'Lucifer' is such an attractive
character; the original 'rebel', eternally reveling in hell, embodies
(mythically) those attributes which characterize resistance to
'authority'. The 'Luciferian tendency' is found mainly among those of
us who are creative and expansive; this tendency is the counterpoint
to the 'One Way Only' authoritarian 'representative of all-powerful'
state of contraction.

Carl Jung illustrated how these wildly disparate poles of Being, the
expansive VS contractive impulses, may eventually be 'wedded' in the
process of the 'mystical wedding'. This event is also known as 'loss
of identity' and being 'reborn' as 'greater than before'. We admire
those who have had this powerful transformative 'experience', for
their speakings and writings are typically _inclusive_ rather than
_exclusive_. We are validated and assured by such speakers, whose use
of language has been transformed in the same process which
obliterated the _criteria of the original agreement_. Yes, I am
saying that what characterizes the 'nondual realizer' is the event of
the obliteration of all foundational assumptions of criteria of
_acceptance_. Try to understand this basic point; when all criteria
of acceptance have been dissolved, there is no longer an issue of
acceptance, and by extension, no longer an issue of DOMINATION or
SUBMISSION.

For such a one, Being itself is a given. What is given is a gift, and
the gift is 'grace'. Life itself is seen as the 'goal', already
accomplished by grace. In this context, there is no conflict.
Further, one in this position, perceives that 'nothing is wrong', and
that what had been perceived as 'wrong' with the 'world' was merely a
side-effect of fanatical _maintenance of identity_.

HABITUAL IDENTITY HINDERS HUMANITY:

The irony of the 'human condition', good friend Gloria, is that our
ongoing 'compensations' keep us in the prison of the 'god of
authoritarianism'. Rather than experience 'primary Being' as the
foreground of life, compensation keeps us safely locked up in bitter
cycles of submission and dominance, around and around, until
something happens to smash identity to 'pieces'. Of course, we must
maintain our _original agreements_ and that means that we must
enforce our Sacred Criteria not only upon ourselves, but also on
everyone we meet. If we let just ONE soul escape, and our Empire of
Identity (the world-dream) will surely be shattered!

> Glo: Especially in view of your recent comments about necessary
> boundaries. I would really like to hear more from you
> about how to "learn to talk" in the way you have pointed
> at here. Differences which make no difference between us?

Gene: To speak, without the expectation that any 'doing' will be
accomplished, is the art of the poet. To simply express words as
painting imagery, laden with personal meaning, will be as profound as
that meaning is to that one. Others, reading or observing, will feel
something of this expansive expression, and will report being 'moved'
(and not necessarily in a pleasant way!).

SPEAKING WITHOUT DOING, DOING WITHOUT SPEAKING:

Words spoken with the intent of 'doing', are really a diatribe, a
launching of force _at_ perceived resistance. Always, such attempted
'doing' is _in service of_ the need to maintain identity. What is
perceived resistance, is actually simply _difference_, and when
difference is spoken "of" OR "to", criteria of _acceptance_ is what
is being stated. We can see that clearly here in the NDS.

> Glo: Overcoming habitual ways of unexamined speech assumptions
> comes to mind, what else? I liked your biological example
> of permeable membranes in cells, where the boundary lets
> in and out selectively, where the process both protects
> and allows life.

BAD 'DEALS' REPLACE GRACE?

Gene: Yes. My attempt is to show how those who are caught, via their
unwitting maintenance of identity, in the 'black iron prison' of the
gods of authoritarianism, will always point to 'ego' as the 'what is
wrong'. I point out that 'ego' is simply a mechanism, not identity
itself, and that when 'ego' has been co-opted to be 'in service of'
maintenance of identity, that it is the _type and style of
compensation_ that is the problem, not 'ego' itself. Ego, like skin
and membrane, protects and allows life. If enlisted in the task of
Narcissistically dominating others, this mechanism can be employed as
a fist, rather than the open palm of union. Handshaking that is based
upon _criteria of acceptance_ is a judgement of _worthiness to live_;
and we have all been birthed into a culture in which such judgements
have been put in place, to supplant the gift of Grace, life itself.

> Another idea that intrigues me is how every sentence "has"
> to have a subject..an actor noun. Our brains appear to
> make us seek for causation in everything we observe. You
> call it "me." I call it "you."

Love,
Glo

Gene: Yes, you come to the crux of the issue here.

There is a little 'joke routine' that I do sometimes in my classes.
I ask, "If you are not me, raise your hand". Most people raise their
hands, of course. I then ask those who raised their hands if they are
me or you. If they say "I am me", I exclaim: "Well, if you are me,
why did you raise your hand, when I asked if you were 'not me'?"

If they say I am "You", I exclaim: "No, you am you, and you are me!"

I do this to illustrate how we so automatically switch 'persons' in
our habits of speech. I am of course BOTH me and you, 'depending upon
who is speaking'. It is forgotten that every person is both me and
you, simultaneously. In this forgetting is the key to allowing the
graceful dissolution of identity. If remembered, moment to moment
always, wonderful perceptions will follow.

It should be noted that embedded in this habit of language, the habit
of suddenly switching 'identity' from 'me' position to 'you'
position, is the veritable separator of which you inquire.

It is very sloppy to say that 'there is no you and no me'. It is
accurate to say 'I am me and you', because our slippery, invisible
identity, based upon _social criteria of acceptance_ is both poles of
Being, both self and other, at the same time, always. Speaking from
this space of universal identity, I am able to have both parties at
once, both self and other. I am conscious of this.

If we forget this vital bit of knowledge, we need to carry maps of
TWO universes; and this is called 'duality'. Simultaneous you and me
is 'just one map' and is thus 'nondual'.

My 'map of other' is filled with the monsters who have bitten me,
treacherous swamps of ravenous crocodiles lusting for my blood. Using
this map, I live in fear.

My 'map of self' is filled with the humiliating failures of a
lifetime, losses, and the inevitable 'failure' which is 'mortality',
my decrepitude and eventual 'death'. My personal map 'needs' to be
used to 'navigate' my map of 'other', because only then, can I be
certain that I am _positioning myself correctly_.

If I have only one map, there is no self and other, there is only
Self, the unified, resolved map, the one that calls for no special
_positioning of myself_. In this map, there are no 'gods of
authority' and no 'punishing devils'; in this map, I am free, but in
this map, freedom is NOT an issue, because the counterpoint of
freedom, which is _imprisonment_, is absent. Absent one pole, is
absent the other pole. Without polarity, no criteria is of any use.

Thank you, Gloria, for this opportunity to practice this speaking to
your listening.


==Gene Poole==

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