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Tim Gerschmez, Looking at Clouds

When I look at a cloud, I am the screen onto which the image of the cloud
is projected. I am the unchanging background on which this changing image
appears. There is nobody who sees, and nothing external to me. There is
only a projection, and the screen. The projection appears upon me
(consciousness).

Could it not be said that the blank cinema screen is in fact the images
projected upon it, as long as such images persist? Therefore, I am the
cloud as well as the screen upon which its image is projected.

Ultimately, I am also the power (or light) by which the image of the cloud
appears projected onto Myself. This I cannot grasp, however - how I can be
both the changeless background upon which the cloud appears, and the
changeless power which projects the cloud. Either the analogy falls apart
at this point, or the perspective simply remains that of the changeless
screen. There is no way to tell.

Either way, I remain what I am.

Tim
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Dave;


I reach out to touch it, pulling on millions of lines of invisible fabric
The hand outstreched expecting to feel a touch in response...
the same one that I see in my dreams
and here like there, that which I am
floats suspended in this magical web


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James Bean has some archived audio;


Greetings Everyone:

I just found out that the Wisdom Radio Network has archived a few more
editions of my radio program, Spiritual Awakening. To hear them go to:
http://www.wisdomradio.com then click onto "archives," then click
"Spiritual Awakening." If you have the G2 or G7 Real Player, you're ready
to go.

Peace,

James

· (SA) "Swami Ji Maharaj, Saint of Agra, India"
· (SA) "The Lost Books of the Bible, Part One"
· (SA) "The Lost Books of the Bible, Part Two"
· (SA) "Developing Your Own Meditation Practice"
· (SA) "Eclectic Words and Music (No. 1)"
· (SA) "The Yoga of Love - Becoming A Lover of the Beloved"

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Marcia, 4


Four is an interesting number esoterically.

Every manifestation is the result of three forces; active, passive, and
reconciling. Four is the manifestation.

What usually happens is the reconciling force and the first
force get confused and the first force ends up being mistaken
for the manifestation and the reconciling force does not
get seen. In Gestalt psychology, for example, the total
manifestation is due to the inherent patterning factor whereas
really the inherent patterning factor is only the third force
and not the whole cigar. :-)

Marcia

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Jerry, spiritual books


I was thinking that the books that I have valued most are
not the pretty and expensive ones found in Chapters, nor are
they the same ones found in used bookstores. They're they
ones that fall apart at the seams, the ones printed in India
or photocopied and bound by a print shop or self-published.

Specifically, I'm thinking of Nisargadatta's I Am That,
which is hardly a slick and pretty book; or Da Free John's
Basket of Tolerance, which was photocopied and coil bound in
a print shop; or Richard Oddo's Sharing of the Heart, which
was self-published and written in long hand in a naive style
(I'll send some selections); or Avadhuta Gita or Ashatvakra
Gita, which were inexpensively printed and bound in India.

When it comes to starting a publishing house, why not think
mainly about publishing good and unusual works and eschew
the fanciness? There are probably enough people who want
mainly substance simply set forth, to support such a
publishing house. Just as people spend as much to see a low
budget film as to see a big budget one, I feel they will do
the same with books. The approach could certainly work in
the spiritual field.

Jerry

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Larry and Dan, Butterfly Tea

Your conventional cup of tea is both eternalistic tea and nihilistic tea
in that it is regarded as a thing in itself and essentially meaningless.
Middle-way tea, on the other hand, is seen to be not a thing in itself
and meaning rich. Can we skate on that or is it not enough to go on?

Larry

Butterfly tea is made
by drinking one sip
at a time.
Thus, the cup opens by itself.
Millions of butterflies
arise from each
drop of steam.

When there is nothing to
skate on,
Butterflies find the path
of least resistance.

Ahhh!

-- Dan --


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Mary, Mark, Kristi, Love


It's Easter Sunday. Beautiful blue skies and lovely pines trees. The
air is good and as I sit out on my deck I hear the tinging of wind
chimes. Peaceful.

Then some thoughts: I love these trees. Then, you sure don't love them
when the wind is blowing and you think they'll come crashing down on
your roof. You sure don't love being among them when there is a fire.
So I see conditions on that love.

I continue thinking of what Byron Katie said once. She said she didn't
know what love was. When her husband asked her if she loved him, she
thought a moment, looked inside herself, couldn't work up a feeling,
and said no, not at this moment. Then she noticed that when he did
something for her, a feeling would come over her and she would say,
"Sweetheart, I think I love you now."
She says we "love" when we get something that we want from someone.
Conditional love I guess. Yet I see her as an expression of love.



And I started thinking about unconditional love, how it is not in my
life and about how many posts are signed "with love" or "in love" or
"love" plus the name of the person.

The Course says there can be no Love in this world but only a
reflection of this love.

So I ask all of you who care to answer. What is your definition of
love? How does it manifest in your life? I know what it feels like to
be angry, to be fearful, to be peaceful (sometimes). I can say I love
my husband, my children, my friends. and God. (can I really say I love
God?) But is that the kind of love you
all mean when you sign with "love" at the end of your posts?

I've heard the expression "be love". Is that the same as unconditional
love? My guess is that it is. When you have no conditions on anyone,
is that when love just
expresses itself? If that is the case, then I guess I have not
experienced Love.

I asked my husband just now to define love. He said "caring,
concern."

And everything we say about love, is it true? or just what we believe
or want it to be. I ask because on another board people say they
believe in love and that it is the only truth.

And that Observer, The Silent Witness, does he/it/she love?

If no one wants to pick up this thread because perhaps it has been
discussed ad nauseum before, it's okay. I had a nice opportunity to
express my thoughts on this Easter Sunday.

Mary

P.S. I have entertained the possibility that love is undefinable.

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


Hi Mary,

I love your post. (huh?)

Easter Sunday was cloudy and brisk here, but still a lovely day. When I
look at a cloudy day and feel the desire to say "Ahhhhhh....", that
feels like love to me. When I'm stopped in my tracks by the sight of a
baby's eyes and just have to grin, that feels right. I've been
listening to Dissidenten's version of "A Love Supreme". I like the way
that feels too. What makes a grin appear spontaneously? (but then it
could just as easily be tears.) I don't know what it is, but I
recognize it when it's present. Stopping to feel the present brings it
up. I guess there may be conditions, but does that make it ersatz? I
don't think so. I am continually mentioning the word "practice". I
don't feel the sweet pleasure of a loving feeling continuously, but
when it wells up, I enjoy noticing it, and it seems to me that doing so
makes it rise up more often. So if it's conditional, so what? Enjoy it
and relax into it. If someday it stays, wonderful. If it doesn't stay,
it'll come back. I trust it.

Scott Peck defines love as the desire for the spiritual growth of
another. I wish this growth for everyone, and when I get angry at some
idiot that just did something which offfends me, it helps to remember
this desire for his/her growth. (and this makes me grow...) When I
sign my posts "Love, Mark", I mean simply that I want the best for you,
and believe that the best for you is also the best for me. I'd like to
see all actions motivated by this love, but I can only take charge of my
own actions, so out of love for you, and for me, I try to notice my
motivations and transform those that don't fit. It seems fundamentally
selfish to me, but that's okay too, because it's all Self. This kind of
thinking seems to make sense when I'm feeling a sense of love. I see
I'm circling around it, so perhaps it is indefinable. (But who cares,
ain't it grand?)

Love, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Dear Mary:

you wrote:

When you have no conditions on anyone,
>is that when love just
>expresses itself?

I had this experience once......with a person......a street person,
alcoholic, addict,...somehow I "saw" him beyond all that stuff........and
Knew him....and Loved him.......I had NO expectations of him and heard his
stories as metaphor for something more centrally true about him than the
details of his very sordid life......I can remember holding him and feeling
a gratitude so huge it brought me to tears......I thought only thank you,
thank you, God, for having allowed me to love this way. I delighted in him
and basked in his presence and wanted/expected nothing from him. I have felt
this way only with my children when they were infants...and this love, which
had as its object this man, was greater still, if such a thing can be
quantified. I saw many things differently in that state of mind. I was
homeless then and time had little or no meaning. It was definitely a time of
living the notion that all that you need will come.....and that to want what
you need, instead of needing what you want, is profoundly freeing......a
time of absolute in the moment presence....and then that perception passed,
and with it the quality of the experience changed, almost overnight.

I will never forget that sense, and, truth be told, I am haunted by the loss
of it...and still hunt secretly for it in my days and in my nights.

Love, Kristi

(the "love" in love, kristi, to me signifies a holding place for that
experience, and the offering of it, if only in rememberance, to all who live
and love and breathe and struggle and share.)

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