Nonduality Salon List Highlights, #389

Highlights #389

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Oh, lookit me! I'm so separate from myself :=))))))

Oh, lookit me! I'm so connected to myself. :"))))

GAHD! I'm laughing so hard I can harldy type!

You know, the I AM is having a ball with us! Ain't we a hoot!

HAHAHAH and HOHOHO!

Peace - Surrender Dorothy! - Michael

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and there is duality
don't believe there isn't
not even for a nanosecond.
All is one
and one is inclusive of two
Believe it or not.

harharhar and chuckle chuckle snort snort guffaw guffaw!
........matthew

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Once upon a time a magician took a young lion from the wild.
A lion that, had it been left in its natural habitat, would
eventually have dominated the other lions of the savanna.
The magician turned this beast into a man and
trained him in the arts of war.
As you can imagine the lion became a magnificent
warrior; stoic, heroic, and fierce.
Then just as the magician was about to send
his creation forth into the world, he was taken by
a peculiar notion and decided to train the lion/man
in the way of Being and Consciousness and see
what this warrior would make of such subtle
instruction. And as one would expect he made
a weapon of sorts of enlightenment itself
with which he slayed the minds of learned men.
Then after some years of this futile endeavor
the magician came to him again and said
"Enough of this. You have spent all your time
cutting things in two either with swords or words.
Now become a weaver.
And the Lion/man said I have no interest in weaving.
"All the better, " said the Magician. "Do something
that is not in your nature."
And the Lion said, "Very well, teach me weaving."
The magician responded, "I can't. It's not something
that magicians know. So you must teach yourself."
And the lion did teach himself and eventually learned
to weave wondrous fabrics, so fine that they where
much sought after. But strangely, some of the householders who
bought his work found certain threads in them insulting
and threatening, and were troubled by them.
One day a shepherd (who was unaware
of the former relationship between the village weaver
and the magician) brought a shawl he had purchased to
the magician because he believed it had an evil spell on it.
The magician was proud of the lion/man when he saw
the cloth he had woven. But the householder said
look here, look at this thread, it is mocking, it is threatening me.
The magician said, "Don't be afraid there is no curse here
it is just that the weaver has spun this thread of his own essence
and mixed it in with the rest and the essence never changes
throuhout life. It is your essence that recognizes the fierce and fiery
nature of this thread and shies from it. But the weaver has
given you a great gift in this thread. The wolves who with their
duplicitous cunning are
always bleeding your flocks of the most precious lambs will not come
near if you wear this shawl.
And it was true. In time the shepherd was able to utilize the shawl
and he lost no more lambs.

(c) 1999 Carlos Dwa

If it were not for the higher possibilities in humans -- seeing what is going
on
would be intolerably obvious.

(c) Carlos Dwa 2000

As one gets older
life gets less real
and more meaningful.

unless

(c) Carlos Dwa 2000

Surrender is an act of egoism.

Carlos Dwa

After listening to another one of his teacher's
seemingly obscure yet enticing utterances one
seeker showing uncharacteristic backbone said,
"Ok, just give me one example of what you're
talking about. Give me one example of something
that is meaningful but useless."

Without hesitating the randy old goat said,
"Past realizations -- or worse -- other peoples
realizations that you either agree or disagree
with."

The seeker said, "Well I really don't know
if I agree with that. I find both my own
past realizations and those I read about
very useful."

The old guy just smiled as if to say,
"Guess I could be wrong then."
You see, he knew strawmen shouldn't get
all heated up 'cause they could combust.

(c) Carlos Dwa 2000

May the cosmic revelations of your youth
become the mundane wisdom of your old age.
May realization be your thirst
and your fulfillment.

Carlos

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I'm putting a note on my door at work "The obvious is ALWAYS worth a
second look."

Love, Mark

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I reached a real impasse when I was about
21. Couldn't go forward or backward.
Nothing worked to get me what I wanted to
get, which I suppose was actually to be
grounded in Reality. I had glimpses of This,
but was frustrated that they passed. And
nothing seemed useful, including spiritual pursuits,
sex/romance, academic-career stuff. The future was drained
of color, nothing appealed, support was lacking,
the truth turned out in major ways to be lies,
my frantic antics reached a roadblock, and death
was an inescapable and very present reality.
"Me" was clearly grounded in nothing but anxiety,
and my being was defined by a future that had
no reality. Then, everything fell away.
Reality crumbled.
Gradually, it reintegrated, just putting one foot
in front of the other. And that's how it is now,
one foot in front of the other, nothing to understand,
and the pointless emptiness is now a boundless vista.

Love,
Dan

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Hi Mary,

this one is by mark:

You say it's now or never
I say it's now forever
If it's never never, then tell me how
Can it ever not be now?

Love, Mark

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>Andrew Cohen from "Halfway up the Mountain, Premature claims to
>enlightenment" by Mariana Caplan.

D: Thanks for sharing this, Matthew.

>Many mistakenly feel relieved from the burden of responsibility for
>their own behavior because of erroneous conclusions drawn from their
>spiritual experiences of no-separation. Realizing that "everything is
>the Self", they concluded that therefore there was nothing and nobody
>to be responsible for.

D: What does it mean to say they realized "everything
is the Self" and then concluded something?
This is bogus. There is no conclusion from it.
There is just *being* it. What does he mean
about being mistakenly relieved of their burden
of responsibility for their actions? Does he
mean that people who feel burdened by the
responsibility of their actions will behave more
responsibly than those who don't? Baloney.

>In this way of thinking, responsibility
>implies duality, and any notion of responsiblity is therefore seen to
>be an expression of ignorance. In this view almost any mode of
>conduct becomes acceptable- when one proponent was asked why he
>habitually acted rudely and with dishonesty, he said "oh that is not
>real, that's just my personality."

D: It's a valid point. It reminds me of Hassan al-Hussein,
master of assassins, saying "Nothing is true,
everything is permitted." The catch here, though,
is that in true emptiness, there simply isn't a motivation
to hurt another. Why would there be?

I remember what Lao Tzu said about civility and
good manners. Beware what is really going on
when people harp on the importance of behaving
civilly. The truly civil ones don't make
speeches about how others need to behave more
civilly. There's a hidden agenda here somewhere ;-)
To equate enlightenment with the ability to
follow society's ideas about morality, civility,
and responsibility is equally as erroneous as
saying "I can do whatever I want because nothing is
real, it's just the personality, etc."

> Another student said, "Nothing matters because it is all the Self".

D: Yes, shut that student up. What does he mean
taking my place in telling people what is really
true?

>Others have answered with incredulity when asked about responsibility
>for behavior, "How can there be responsibility for Freedom? Who's
>responsible?".....

D: It's an unanswerable question.
The thing is to go beyond opposites,
beyond believing there's a right
or wrong answer.
Andrew reminds me of a military instructor,
"There's the right way, the wrong way,
and there's Andrew's way."

Many people do have profound experiences when
>exposed to such teachings, but the teachings usually have the effect
>of enslaving a person to a deluded view that they ae completely free
>simply because they had a glimpse of the fact that there never could
>have been a separate entity who could be bound in the first place.

D: Does the view enslave the person who has had
just a glimpse, or does the person enslave him
or herself?? If I take a glimpse as Totality,
and believe that my belief is the truth, who
is "responsible"?? This blaming of the view
for enslaving the person seems ironic,
considering the earlier statement
about responsibility. Why doesn't he just say,
"this view doesn't appeal to me?"

You know, he almost comes off sounding like this:
"As an enlightened person, let me say that enlightened
persons need to have the right view of enlightenment,
which is to say, "my" view, and if they don't have this
view they are deluded, which I can say because my
view is that I'm not deluded and I know who is deluded."

>It
>is at this point that the Advaita view, as it is frequently
>proclaimed these days, becomes completely ridiculous. Such a view can
>make a person extremely confident, because any difficulty can
>be "Advaited" by saying that it is all unreal or all the Self anyway.

D: Well, obviously, saying "all is unreal," or
"all is the Self" is meaningless.
You might as well say "all is the color gubbly",
or "everything is mud".
However, the point is to go beyond views.
It's not a matter of having *any* right view.
But I don't hear him saying that.
Although there certainly is something
to be said in speaking to genuine responsibility,
not taking simplistic solutions,
he just doesn't hit the point that
taking any belief as reality is erroneous.
Thus, he implies that there is a right belief
that can be taken as reality.
He's consistently implying that there is
a right view, and it's his.
Has a hollow ring as heard here,
the hollow ring of the "authority's" position.
Bob Dylan had it right:
"Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters."

Love,
Dan

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>I realized that I needed to separate from being separate
>to be whole.
>
>Marcia

Hee hee.
If being whole is to be separate
from being separate, then
being separate must be to
be healed from being whole.

Nondually speaking, being separate
must be included in
nonseparation, not separate
from nonseparation.
To be separate is to be nonseparate,
to be nonseparate includes
separation.

So, without any separation
between us, let us individually
separate from separation.

It's because Reality
isn't here, that we can be.
It's because it separated from us
that we are us.
So It's separation is *truly*
nonseparation and Love.

Ah, if they could only *see*
this, they wouldn't waste
their time and energy
trying to see Oneness,
trying to make
everything One!

Blessed be,
Dan

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...Real surrender
is extracted. A moment of objective conscience.
The split second when you see what a total idiot
you have been thinking you can do this thing
called surrender. Surrender of one's concept
that one can surrender. A moment when true
surrender becomes possible.

Marcia

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NDS

Hello ALL...

Here is a brief report on my weekend retreat to the 21st annual
Gathering of Healers, (also called 'the healing gathering') near
Tonasket, Washington.

Tonasket is a tiny town far north of Spokane, several hours of
driving, much of that through the extensive Spokane Indian
Reservation, much green and rocks, creeks and deer.

I am driving north in my Chevy van, which I have outfitted with a
nifty removable camping arrangement, a tiny mobile home, quiet and
powerful. I am conscious of gasoline prices, my V8 engine, I drive
evenly, listening to an audiobook, cassette tapes of a story by Dean
Koontz, "Dark Rivers of the Heart". Night has fallen, I am wary of
deer entering the roadway. I sip coffee enriched by an exotic Chines
herb extract called 'Lo Han Quo'.

Up the final hill, to the communally owned land, dodging rocks and
ruts, tired but pleased for a trouble-free trip. The gatekeepers
greet me; they are young and do not recognize me. I drive across the
mowed field, park parallel to the edge, and retire to my cozy bed. I
fall asleep to the lulling sounds of wind and midnight congas.

Awakened by rocking... good heavens, it is dawn, and storming, high
winds and rain pummel my metallic cocoon, I look out the window to
see sodden hippies running after their tumbling tents, tarps
flapping, rain drums in sheets and rolls on my steel roof. Well, at
least the rain will keep the dust down, but will this storm blow
over? By ten, all is well... wind continues, but rain has stopped.
Sun shines.

I make coffee, breakfast, wash up, head to the 'nirv center' of the
gathering to read the announcements, many hugs and greetings on the
way. Old friends, seen yearly, this is some kind of commitment that
we all have, informal, tribal I guess. I make the rounds, check the
kitchen sanitation (excellent!) and the first-aid teepee (well
stocked with both modern and traditional remedies) and ask my usual
questions, beginning to collect any epidemiological data. I dread
contagion of dysentery, knowing the high probablility of asymptomatic
carriers being in attendance. So far so good, no reports of diarrhea.

The wind continues, tarps demolished, this is unusual, people are
saying that it means something spiritual, like some cleansing force.
Hypothermic hippies huddle around the main fire, unable to play moist
drumheads, taking the morning toke, cadging rides to the upcoming
Montana Rainbow Gathering, practicing their slurred 'egoless' speech
patterns.

I sit beneath a lodgepole pine, in the lee of a natural rock wall,
talking with a friend, and soon a small crowd has gathered to share.
It is all about the latest updates and upgrades to the human
operating system, about what has become obsolete, what is new, and
what endures. I moderate by disabling idealists, giving space to the
sincere upcoming, wary of the hypomanic survivors of last night's XTC
trips. Being old and set in my ways, few bother to argue with me,
which is a major benefit of being an elder. After a few hours, we
disperse, in search of food. I return to my van, set up my kitchen,
cook grits and coffee, eat a few hardboiled eggs, finishing with Feta
cheese and crackers and a nice sip of Merlot. Evening is spent is
pleasant socialization, a very mellow sharing time, fine friends.

Sunday morning is clear hard sun, baking mud to dust. The morning
routine, then to relationship. I attend several sharings (called
'workshops'), finally one by Digital Deb, she is a Mac user, the
local webmistress [link] <http://www.planettonasket.com/index.html>.

She sings a song; she is an accomplished guitarist, has a very nice voice...

Linguistic Relativity

by :Digital:Deb

Linguistic relativity
What you hear and what you see
May not be the same to me
Linguistic relativity.

We store information into slots we define
By learning a language, programming our minds
Linguistic relativity, linguistic relativity
Connotative, denotative, function and formal
Cultures create meaning, its perfectly normal

Linguistic relativity
What you hear and what you see
May not be the same to me
Linguistic relativity.

But we can talk and communicate,
There may be a fence but there's always a gate
Linguistic relativity, linguistic relativity
Language influences the mind and its perceptions
We make up new words to describe new conceptions, uh huh...

Linguistic relativity
What you hear and what you see
May not be the same to me
Linguistic relativity.

Language is changing, adapting, rearranging
Language is coming from mind.
Language is coming from mind
Language is coming from mind
Language connects all our minds.

copyright Deborah Vester 1993

Linguistic Relativity - Spokane - Peaceful Valley 1993

I tell her that I will post her song to NDS. She may join our list.

On my way to the closing circle, a man on a bike skids to a halt,
tells me to go to the sweat lodge; a young girl is having a seizure
of some kind. I hurry down the hill to the shaded glade, she is
laying, covered, naked, shaking. I diagnose and prescribe crackers,
lacking an IV of glucose. Her blood sugar had plummeted due to
skipping meals, smoking herb for the first time, and then taking an
extreme sweat. Upon deeper interview, I learn that she is epileptic,
on meds, and rebellious; her ideas of spiritual purity lead her to
skip her meds. I advise regular meals and taking her
Dilantin/Phenobarb as prescribed. She is soon sitting up, eating and
drinking water and joking. I think she has learned something valuable
about how to manage her special vulnerabilities.

I pack my things, hugs, tears, goodbyes, until the fall Barter Fair.
Promises to stay in touch. I am encouraged by the acceptance of
Internet; I pointed out that 'Luddites do not have websites'.

I return via the Keller ferry, a free crossing of the Columbia river,
and am home by 10:30 PM. I check my email and go to bed.

==Gene Poole==

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Planning continues for a mystic tour of Peru and Chile:

I'm waiting for information that should come this week,
so that I can start to form a clearer program.

I'm going to aim for about 10 people, if it gets bigger
than that, most probably it would be better to manage
activities in smaller groups of up to 10.

Of course, this is non-profit, as it is, the cost will be
steep enough, just to get here.

This won't be some stuffy event. The idea will be to
let a strange mystic land and mother nature, open a
passageway to the spirit of Grace.

I'll keep filling you in as information comes in.

Dave

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