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Friday October 20, 2000




Dear Gene

Blown away by these
Absolutely to the point observations
To me a perfect example to me of what NDS is

I experience, part of me out there
At this point in time
Coming in to break whatever institutionalisation might have been creeping
in.

Feeling what you write - the mind quietens
And I am breathing deeply

Anywhere within duality, humanity,
Mind is going to want to create something
Fixed what it knows, so that it can relate to it.
'Now I've got it'. 'Know I've got it.'
'I want to tell you what I know.'

And being human in NDS
We're not separate from that
The mind is going to come in and want to create structure and rules and
viewpoints and react
Because that is what it does.

And being true to truth and ourselves
This means, from time to time, breaking everything

Your letter does this
Cuts through the mind and the separation

Of anyone presuming that they know
Or thinking my way is the best
That I know more than you.

And the beautiful irony is
Is that we will build up the structures
Time and time again
And knock them down

I'm noticing how I notice people on the 'panel'
Rarely setting themselves apart
Rarely assuming any fixed identity
Ready instead to include all the identities
Coming not from any position of setting themselves up
Being wiser than that
But out of - dare I say it - love

Yes, if I come expecting anything from NDS
Or wanting to prove my point
Or needing anything
I will go away the same.

Thank you
Non-institutionally yours also

Alexandra

______________________________________


Hi Sandeep,

You posted from Adi Da, in part :



The Man of Understanding


<snip>

" His quality is an offense to those who are
entranced, elsewhere, contained
in the mechanics of experience, asleep, living as various forms of
identity,
separation and
dependence. He is acceptable only to those who understand."


The use of the words "offense" and "acceptable" are
interesting.

I just bought the book "Knee of Listening",
based on Liliana's recommendation a few weeks
past, and when I opened it casually, and let the
pages fall as they may,

these were the first words my eyes read,

"I am here to receive, and kiss, and embrace
everyone, everything -
everything that appears, everything that is."

With this, his statement about being 'offensive'
is given a wider context.

I suspect that when he "kisses" what
is known by the "entranced"

as a tyrant, or a thief, or just a
'horse's ass',

that could be seen as rather 'offensive'
to those that don't 'understand'.

love,
Melody

________________________________________________

"Somebody once said.."

All illusion was originally reality.

love,
andrew

___________________________________________________

Harsha
> Is this a standard netism

Bruce:
Could be, I dunno!

Harsha:
> or did you work
> it out from scratch?

Bruce:
Yup -- it wasn't hard to
infer given the context.
____________________________________________________
Sri Bruceji, it is once again time to acknowledge your natural brilliance. I
had no clue as to the meaning of GMAFB. Also, I want to show a delayed
appreciation for your explanation of what hoisted on one's own petard meant.
You deserve a wider audience brother, perhaps as a newspaper columnist like
Sydney Harris who used to write a most interesting column on things he
discovered while looking up totally unrelated things.

Love
Harsha

____________________________________________________________


Dear Matthew,

Yes, I get that you're talking
about the world of persons who
speak as individuals with feelings
and with assumptions that
there are others there
involved and related.

And yes, I live in that world too.

And although conceptual, consensus, and
conventional, it is not to be dismissed,
avoided or minimized.

If you feel it necessary to share some
personalized impression you have of me,
fine. I'll read it. But so what?
I've never met you. I don't know
you in a personal way.
I've read what you posted and life goes on.

And with regards to wanting
to tell others who haven't
invited it about perceptions
of their "blind spots":

If ME desires to tell you something
about your blind spots, and
you haven't requested this,
ME can take the opportunity
to look at the desire
to tell someone out there
what their blind spots
"really are". How does
this work for ME?

When I read unsolicited personalized feedback
offered to various posters, along with
venting emotions, projecting an image of knowing
everything about everybody, and trying to have
personalized encounters -- I take it with a grain
of salt. It often comes across as unresolved
personal issues that are unlikely to
find resolution here, in a forum based
merely on words arising on a screen. Que sera, sera.

As far as loved ones in my life,
assertive communication with
caring and empathy works,
rarely blaming or
aggressive confrontation.

If one feels disappointed that someone didn't
meet one's image, I suggest discussing that in terms
of one's own feelings regarding disconfirmation
of images and expectations, rather than imposing that
image and insisting that someone else's shortcoming
is involved.

Listening is essential.
Real listening.
Not blaming, criticizing,
haranguing, image-promoting, etc.

Do I claim that I am perfect, beyond
any shortcoming, never passive or
aggressive? No.
Do I claim to be free of all introjects
and to never project? No.

I do know an unprojected reality.
It isn't the property of "Dan", nor
does it make "Dan" into a perfect being.
It animates "Dan's" awareness as Awareness.
It doesn't depend on Dan, nor is there
any anchor in Dan's reality for it.

The fact that That animates this now, as
we speak, is my Peace. It doesn't belong
to me or anyone. This Peace which we can't
give here with our words, animates this typing.
It animates your typing.
It animates the opinion that I voice,
and it animates the opinion that you voice.
Although impersonal, it is in no way
divorced from the personal.

As I see it, opening to the numinous
as inclusive of the personal, conventional,
day to day means not to need, not to have
to get, nor to eliminate wanting or desire.
It is transformational in the sense that
love is present. Right here, now, in this
day to day stuff as is.

By the way, yes, there are times that I do
request and offer feedback about
blind spots with someone who is a lover,
friend, or family member.
And indeed, feeling level communication
is important in those relationships.
And in an atmosphere of
caring, respect, mutuality.

Love,
Dan

____________________________________________________

And finally, in spite of all the apparent
ME's - there is only one core efforting
that forms as ME.

So yes, what you say about that fits for
me with what I was saying.

The conceptual human mind which
"produces" us all as body-minds has this
ME-effort as center for the
process that results in
conceptual reality
being construed as reality.

If seeing this ME-activity is at root
the same ME, that the many ME's
are ME, there can be ending
of the ME with clear-seeing
here, now.

(Not seen by ME.
Seen by That from which the
conceptual human mind arises.

Directly seeing - Awareness.)

If you ask me how do I, Dan, know
this - I'd have to say I don't.

If you ask how can I prove this,
I can't.

It can only be proved directly, here
now, without ME present.

ME doesn't see through ME, nor through
all the apparent ME's.

What sees through ME, sees through all
ME's, is just this, who you are.

That's it.


Love,
Dan

___________________________________________________________


Hey NDS:

Ken is an Camaldolese Oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict (a monk) who
publishes poetry on one of the Thomas Merton websites I monitor. It seems
apposite to the vituperative brinkmanship at NDS these days. Everybody needs to
take a valium or maybe a draught of sacramental wine from the chalice of
humility.

"Yet with nobler reason 'gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue not vengeance."
-Shakespeare

Anyway, Ken's poetry is lean and clean and to the point.

fufi

White Wolfe


God speaking...

when someone
comes to me
and says
'i love you'
i consider
this is God speaking.

when someone
comes to me
and says
'i am angry with you'
i consider this is
God speaking.

sometimes love,
sometimes anger,
--always truth,

therefore, always
God
to see me through.

ken phelan

___________________________________________________

THE SAME LIGHT IN ALL

When in meditation we discover that we are a soul of Light, not far behind
hopefully will be the realization that all souls are Light, that all
life is One. There is an inherent oneness and unity of all life that
can be realized. "Love your neighbor as yourself" is a saying of Christ
from the New Testament. A Hindu or Vedic translation of that verse might
be: "Love your neighbor as your Self (Atman)." Self-realization via a
meditation practice leads to not only a transformed perception of our
own true identity, but allows us to also behold others in a new Light.
We see that same Light in all creation. Or as Master Rajinder Singh said:
"As the soul journeys into the beyond and experiences it's relationship
with God it has a great realization. It sees each living thing, whether
human, animal, or plant, as a part of God. It sees that there is a soul
in every living thing. Once we experience that we are all part of God,
we begin to see God's Light shining in all."

("Inner & Outer Peace Through
Meditation," by Rajinder Singh, Element Books)

James

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