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#3524 - Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - Editor:
Gloria Lee
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Follow
the Difficult Path
Our difficulties are not obstacles to the path; they are the path itself. They are opportunities to awaken. Can we learn what it means to welcome an unwanted situation, with its sense of groundlessness, as a wake-up call? Can we look at it as a signal that there is something here to be learned? Can we allow it to penetrate our hearts? By learning to do this, we are taking the first basic step toward learning what it means to be open with whatever life presents us. Even when we don’t like it, we understand that this difficulty is our practice, our path, our life.
–Ezra Bayda, from Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life (Shambhala)
Now is the Time
Do you live as though you have all the time in the world? Having all the time in the world is an illusion. You never know what might happen—an accident, an illness, or a disaster. If you only had moments to live, would you change your priorities? What would you do? Where would you go? How you would interact with your family, friends, loved ones—even strangers? But truly: Why are you not doing these things now?
–Arnie Kozak, from Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants (Wisdom)
Be Still and Know
Imagine perceiving the world through Stillness. It's like God
looking at his/her/its creation . Ohhhh . Beautiful! And you see
there's a goodness present that pervades the entire Universe.
What is that Presence? -- it's your Presence. There isn't the
Presence of God and you. There's only Presence. It's arising from
within you.
And so you know at first hand, not as a belief, that there's a
goodness that pervades the entire Universe, a benevolence. And
you
know it, not as something external to you, but as your very
essence.
That means that's who you are.
You are that power, that goodness, that aliveness, that
Stillness.
beyond that temporary form in which you appear for a flash ... a
brief time ... and then it's gone. And that's the deeper meaning
of
the Old Testament saying, 'Be still and know that I am God.'
That I am and God are one.
From a recorded talk by Eckhart Tolle in Portland, Oregon ~ 23
May
2000.
posted to TheNow_2 & Wisdom-l
Story
about Anthony Damani and Paul Brunton *WG is Wisdom's Goldenrod Center
You may recall that after Anthony passed on, one of our members
of noted esteem went to see the Dalai Lama and was given some
advice for WG pertaining to the functioning of the Center in
Anthony's absence. This was quite a while ago but to the
best of my memory one of the items mentioned was that there
should be room in the Center for both Academicians and
Practitioners if we want it to flourish. There was much
discussion about this (it seems like quite a few years
worth), and even now one can still hear emotional
exclamations such as, "Oh! They're only concepts.They are
not the experience." Etc., etc. etc. What I
found of special note is that the following excerpt has
Anthony, before he passed away, commenting
precisely on what His Holiness referred to later on, except
terms also used by PB and Anthony were metaphysics and
meditation.
Here it is: --
PB: -- Where we speak either metaphysically or meditationally of the experience of pure consciousness, we mean consciousness uncoloured by the ego. (Perspectives P. 278)
Anthony: -- This is just a story, a fairy tale: -- I've just come out of a deep meditation, and I experienced myself to be pure consciousness. I had dismissed all thought, and in the dismissal of all thought what remains is this immaterial, unobjectifiable consciousness that I am. And I talk to you and tell you about it. Now, I'm coming to you from a direct experience of it, and I'm explaining [it] to you, or trying to explain [it] to you, and you would say, "Well, you got that from meditation."
Now another person comes along and repeats identically what I have said, but he hasn't had the experience, but he knows theoretically what it should be all about. He's coming from a metaphysical point of view. In other words, he's coming from the point of view of a theoretical understanding, and the other person is coming from a practical experience of what it should be like. But , they should both be accurate in the sense that this is what you really are like, this pure consciousness. . . . . One is basically coming from the point of view of the practitioner; the other is coming from the point of view of the theoretician.
You remember the Buddha pointed out that the combination of these two is ideal: the man who understands this and the man who experiences it.
posted to Wisdom-l by Bert
To penetrate into the essence of all being
and significance,
and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for
the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing in the
world of forms - truth, love, purity and beauty - this is
the sole game that has any intrinsic and absolute worth.
All other incidents and attainments can, in themselves,
have no lasting importance.
- Meher Baba
---
gill
http://allspirit.co.uk
http://twitter.com/allspirit
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How Can I Explain? By Ivan M.
Granger Beloved,
they want to know: |
Free Recorded Talks
http://dharmaseed.org
Jack Kornfield and Mark Coleman have good ones. posted to
Wisdom-l by Mark Scorelle