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Saturday, Sept 2


SKY and SARLO:


If I don't go all out in some predictable, gainful way, every
day, I find myself going all out in some unpredictable, ungainly, way.
For example, as long as I blade and/or jog and/or go for long walks,
attacking challenging and exhilarating tasks, all goes well. But if I
"slack off," in terms of physical and/or mental/spiritual exertion, then
my spirit/body invariably finds some other way to go all out, so to
speak. I may overeat, or stay up all night, or find some other "excess"
with which to expend "energy."

What then, I ask myself, of those ideals of effortlessness and
serenity, of gentleness and discretion, I so adamantly adhere to? The
Tao's constant refrain is "effortlessness." Buddhism extols calm
compassion. All religions prescribe harmony and moderation, a middle
path. But how can I deny, at this stage in my life, a love for intense
exertion that has resisted every advance, every insight into the
heights and depths of my soul?


SARLO:
No need to deny. Get intense, stay intense. It's good that you have
accepted. Go for it. I don't believe there is any contradiction between
the middle path and going for extremes. It may be simply that the middle
path is not your path and you *should* be going to dizzying extremes, or
it may be that you are meant to get exhausted by these extremes and then
collapse into the middle. Either way, no prob.
I am a confirmed middle-pather myself but didn't get here without going to
some extremes -- may have a few more to go to before I'm finished. I've
heard you mention Osho on occasion. I'm sure he would support you to
follow the movement of your energy here, whether it leads straight to
liberation or indirectly via exhaustion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MOLLER:
Thank you sincerely to NondualitySalon for offering this opportunity to bring
this message to all its subscribers.

I felt motivated to start this list because of the great diversity of topics
and discussions which the non-dual perspective has
developed over the past few years.

The ADVAITA-ASHRAM is in a way a specialised list for those who are a little
tired of reading the same non-dualistic arguments and
descriptions from all its possible perspectives. Here the emphasis is on
PRACTICE and the actual effect of this on our daily lives.
How to bring the non-dualistic viewpoint into the reality of daily activity,
through contemplation, meditation, integration and
mutual sharing.

Practice presumes the necessity for some work to be done. So in way we presume
the reality of the dualistic (Samsaric) condition in
which most of us live and function. Once this has been accepted and freely
agreed to, the focus shifts from speculative,
philosophical descriptions of the non-dual condition, to that of a profound
enquiry into the blockages we tend to bring to our
lives which so effectively obscure the revelation of the Wholistic nature of
our Being.

This list is NOT for erudite statements ABOUT the ULTIMATE condition of Being.
Rather it is dedicated to those who sincerely feel
the urge and passion for the work which may in truth lead them to the Truth of
Wholeness.

Absolutely all welcome who share this approach.

With love,

MOLLER DE LA ROUVIERE -Moderator

Advaita-Ashram@egroups.com

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

MANCHINE:

On another group we talked for quite a but about dreams and all of the dream
states that there are, and one thing that seemed clear was that recognition
of the particular dream state, only became obvious upon waking up from that
particular state.

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

MANCHINE:

Somebody said there were lines between countries, and well,
there aren't lines, but there are boundaries, but why? Because someone
says this is mine, that is yours. Soil on one side is absolutely
the same as soil on the other. The soils just doesn't give a shit
about what we think.

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

MARK:

As for past experiences of death, I have only hazy fragments to discuss,
but the sense is one of an amazing expansion, like being the butterfly
that emerges from the cocoon, or the adult eagle pushing in one swell
swoop from the egg. (but maybe this is fantasy, I don't really know)
These may well be birth images, but it seems like birth is a difficult
process and death is a natural and easy one. I am kind of looking
forward to seeing what it is like, actually, but I am learning to not be
impatient. I am concerned by how much fear our society has around
death and would like to address this somehow as I move into a new part
of my life. I'm thinking about volunteering at hospice. (so push me
folks!)

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

GENE and DAN:


D: >Blessed be, Gene.
>Shalom and greetings --

G: I reflect in a house of mirrors

>-- the unoccupiable space
> through which all motionlessly
> transforms by not transforming.

Each facet moves as I change my direction of gaze

>Never emerging, nothing
> to contend with, not
> even a "prior condition".

As my gaze steadies

>Neither source nor substance
> do I see.

I see only what I see

>There is nothing else: the thought
> of any emerging thing or underlying
> thing is just conniving, inference,
> an endless mist-ery,
> mist-er -- just mist-ification.

If I move

>No emergence, of which we are
> so proud, no re-entering, which
> we fear and crave.

My universe moves with me

>Splish splash, what's a bath
> when there is no tub?

Down the drain of death

>There isn't anything traveling
> from point a to point b.
>So there isn't a point a.

Transitioning to no transition

>And, then, what's this body
> but the afterimage of a dream
> that never occurred?

Upon stillness

>They crucified me once, to
> prove my body real.
>All they showed was their
> indifference to the recycling
> conditioning that is ignorance.

Is movement seen in stillness

>I misinterpreted a dream, once,
> as being a dream to be interpreted.
>I thought myself to be one who had
> suffered something outrageous.
>That thought was an evaporating
> mist, grounded only in its own
> attempt to ground itself.

Movement seen relative to itself

>Self-definition organizes this
> process, until it is revealed
> that only the attempt to organize
> the process provides a process.
>Then self-definition goes *poof*.

The end of autonomy

>Time necessitates my observation,
> my observation necessitates time.

One is all

>Neither time nor observation
> has any grounding -- a
> Cheshire cat has seen its
> day.


G: Is that cat 'on mushrooms', or was that only the Disney version?


DAN responds:

Ah, Gene Genie, mirror man
so it's a mushroom that I am.

Thought this was me funny hat,
if it's me funny head,
there's no difference alive or dead.

This mushroom cloud, exploding aloud,
for all to hear, too bright
to be dear.

Much room here - no walls in sight,
far is quite near, dark is light.

Mirrors hang without four walls,
so little is big, and large is small.

If gloom is with fear -
this mirrored room will clear.

Room is all, but no place
to hide.

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

DAN:

The amazing thing is that
even when the thoughts in
the book were dead,

It remained on the bookshelf,
completely intact,
as if preserving itself
for a nonexistent
posterity.

-- Fiction Al Account

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

M CHRISTOPHER:

i find so much Christ in zen
because there is so much
zen in Christ.

is His name not
love
and truth
and the way.......

and is that not
the point of zen......

Christianity has a place for the Sacred of Heart. Buddism is largely a cool
religion. But this too is a false dualism. There is neither one without
the other.


MARCIA:


And much, much more. There is so much in the inside
meaning of the gospels, one could spend a lifetime.

When I realized Jesus was a zen master and all this
stuff veiled over his teachings, I had both the love/heart
of my childhood and the intelligence of my journey
since.


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

MARCIA:

I remember the most profound Star Trek I ever saw.
I was very emotional but not in the ordinary sense.
It was the one with the Traveler and Wesley Crusher.
Dimensional shifting. Did you see that one? And the
other one with the Traveler where he saved his mother
by creating this portal for her. I was in tears on that
one I am sure because of the mother stuff. It seems
as if with enough ?????? energy, attention, being ??????
it is possible to hold something still enough to ......not
sure what I am stretching here for.


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

On the lighter side.....from SKY:


HOW DO YOU CATCH A UNIQUE RABBIT?
UNIQUE UP ON IT.
=============
HOW DO YOU CATCH A TAME RABBIT?
TAME WAY, UNIQUE UP ON IT.


(and)

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. "What majestic trees!
What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said himself.

As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes
behind. As he turned to look, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charge towards
him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder
and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He tried to run even
faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his
shoulder again and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping
frantically as he tried to run even faster, but he tripped and fell on
the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up and saw the bear right on
top of him raising his paw to kill him. At that instant he cried out "Oh
my God!"

Just then, time stopped. The bear froze, the forest was silent, the
river even stopped moving.

A bright light shone upon the man, and a voice came out of the sky
saying, "You deny my existence all of these years, teach others I don't
exist and even credit my creation to a cosmic accident and now do you
except me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a
believer?"

The atheist, ever so proud, looked into the light and said "it would be
rather hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all these years, but
could you make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice. As the light went out, the river ran, the
sounds of the forest continued and the bear put his paw down.
The bear then brought both paws together, bowed his head and said,
"Lord I thank you for this food which I am about to receive."

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