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Wednesday, December 6


TERRY MURPHY

Awareness and environment are generally guest and host, but we can
create our own environment, and that is host with host.

as Omar says:

Ah Love, could thou and I with Fate conspire,
To grasp this Sorry Scheme of Things entire.
Would not we shatter it to bits and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire?

The "Heart's Desire" is the joseph of the heart, the qalb of the qutub,
the adam of your adam, the deepest pit of your heart where the Divine
dwells. It is your Will (Will as opposed to will, as Self is opposed to
self); it is in this Will that is the plan of construction, the
blueprint for the creation of the new garden of eden. If we were to
collectively take the responsibility, we could transform this planet
into a garden and a park. Ultimately we will all have to do this
consciously, however much we already conform to the divine Will
unconsciously.

aloha, terry

_____________________________________________________________

CEE

dear friends,

here is a quote from The Eye Never Sleeps by Dennis Genpo Merzel

"What is so special? We are all just ordinary. But someone who is
completely ordinary, that is an extraordinary person! It is said that
when an ordinary person becomes enlightened, he or she becomes a sage;
when a sage becomes enlightened he or she becomes an ordinary person."

cee

____________________________________________________________________

MARK OTTER

this is from a book of Achaan Chah's teachings, compiled by Jack
Kornfield and Paul Breiter:

Don't Imitate

We have to be aware of how people tend to imitate their teachers. They
become copies, prints, castings. It is like the story of the king's
horse trainer. The old trainer trainer died, so the king hired a new
trainer. Unfortunately, this man limped when he walked. New and
beautiful horses were brought to him, and he trained them exquisitely -
to run, to canter, to pull carriages. But each of the new stallions
developed a limp. Finally, the king summoned the trainer, and seeing
him limp as he entered the court, he understood everything and
immediately hired a new trainer.
As teachers, you must be aware of the force of the examples you
set. And, even more important, as students, you must not follow the
image, the outer form of your teacher. He is pointing you back to your
own inner perfection. Take the inner wisdom as your model, and do not
imitate his limp.

________________________________________________________________________

mirror, mirror on the wall,
who's the least dual of them all?

Love, Mark

Or:
mirror, mirror of the all,
who is the dancer at the ball?

Love,
Jan

_______________________________________________________________________

DAN BERKOW RESPONDS TO TERRY MURPHY

TERRY

"I" am not attached to what I am saying, it is my providence, as your
work is yours. "I" am not being constructed or held by what I am
saying, quite the contrary. You are hanging on to your individuality
here in this conversation,

DAN

Or maybe it's my individuality hanging on to me. Who's to blame,
individuality or me? Someone must be to blame. As you're clearly not to
blame, it must be me, or my individuality.

TERRY

where as I am trying to point to the possibility of enlightened minds
*consciously* working together to *create* values for the future.
Submerging their individuality.

DAN

Submerge it before it multiplies. Bad, individuality. Stop being there
when you just gum up the works. I'll hold its head underwater, you push
it into the tub.

Speaking plainly: individuality is not the problem. self-contradiction
in being, is. true individuality is the unique moment as is. the fact
that there is no separated individual there doesn't mean it's against
individuality. far from it. it's not against anything. although "you"
sound like you've taken an anti-individual stance. it is
authoritarians, nihilists, and systems of group-think that are
preturbed by individuality.

individuality is not individualism. the uniqueness of this moment
transcends any belief system, be it individualism, totalitarianism,
communism, socialism, existentialism, Buddhism, or schismism.

snip We should not be providing answers, we should be helping people
find the right questions.

"Shoulds" are introjected beliefs that try to maintain themselves as
existents by forcing and imposing on situations.

TERRY

This was the essential point. You certainly are one of the 'masters'
(or pundits? - can you describe your self?) on this list.

DAN

No. Others try, but always fail. Not seduced by description, I don't
bother trying.

TERRY

You generate reams of material which all speak to the same point you
make above.

DAN

Those who think it's the same point, and think they understand it, are
those who've only glimpsed the intellectual surface.

TERRY

For the most part, that sort of material is probably useful to many
people, because people tend to make a lot of assumptions and then rush
off to save the world with them. Causes like, 'save the children'
attract them, when actually there are way too many people on the planet
already. The vast majority of people need to examine their inner
territory and learn who they are before trying to exercise their
powers. "Creators are cold" says Nietzsche. The tao te ching speaks of
the people as 'straw dogs' and notes that "nature faces with equanimity
the decay of its fruits." None of these "I"s has any particular
significance, yours or mine or anyones.

DAN

Equanimity is nature. There is nothing to face. This is equanimity.
Thus, there is no fixing the world. The Tao doesn't fix the world, the
Tao is the way.

To not overextend oneself -- here is the Tao. Neither "I" nor "you"
have the way. Thus, the way is the way.

TERRY

I know this. I have spent many years speaking of spiritual subjects to
people, speaking of the emptiness of the ego. I also spent many years
living in a commune where we had some success actually *living*
brotherhood. There is individual talk to other individuals aimed at
reducing their attachment to individuality; there certainly is a place
for that sort of 'preaching.' There are many on the list to whom such
ideas are liberating, so god bless you in your work and I hope you
carry on with it.

DAN

And bless you, in your work and in your play. In activity and in rest -
blessed be.

TERRY

What I am trying to do is something different. Like Nietzsche, like the
I Ching, I am talking to the superior man, to the enlightened ones (as
well as the little ones, who will inherit). Unlike the ancient masters
or the modern ones, it appears to me that there are actual enlightened
beings walking around with us, that there have been many people who
have awakened in the last twenty-five years, even a few on the nds
list. People like yourself.

DAN

Sheer flattery. Thanks, but no thanks. I ate a big spicy lunch of
Mexican food, and I still have some work to do before I leave for home.

TERRY

The sort of teaching that you do, while technically correct, may be
something of a rut, my friend. Some of us are not dominated by our egos
and don't need to be informed of the insight that you exclusively
promote.

DAM

The above statement is truly a gem. Thanks for shining your egoless
insight my way. So many gems of egoless insight shared here on NDS,
hope all of us ego consumed folks aren't blinded. By the way, I
acknowledge I'm just an ordinary guy sharing whatever there is to be
shared here. There is no exclusive claim here. Just walking my
individual way, one foot in front of the other.

TERRY

Some of us may have something for *you* to listen to (recall the HIK
quote about us all being disciples and there being no individual
teachers).

DAN

I love listening. All ears.

TERRY

My experiences in communal living have convinced me that group action
is *far* more powerful in altering minds (raising consciousness) than
individuals preaching out of their own enlightenment.

DAN

Mao Tse Tung was convinced of the same thing.

From here, there's no interest in being powerful so as to alter minds.
There is interest in sharing of opening, joy of expression, communing.

TERRY

Jesus, Muhammad and the Buddha all had groups around them, but their
groups had very little effectiveness, except as support for their guys.
I mentioned Vivekananda because of the extraordinary interaction
between Vivekananda and Ramakrishna, and the success of their 'poor
boys' even in the political arena. That two such congenial and elevated
minds were able to coordinate their energies was a foreshadowing of the
possibilites that may exist when numbers of enlightened people can work
together, in a practical way, to elevate the spirituality of humankind.
Practical aspects of this idea include the buddhist style promotion of
goodness in accordance with the individual's own lights (this is
'skillful means,' of course). Further than this is the idea that whole
communities, even nations could be based on spiritual principles (the
Sarvodaya Self-Help Movement, tragically cut short by the Sri Lankan
civil war, comes to mind).

DAN

Your utopian idealism is noted. Utopian idealism is a straw dog, which
will be consumed by the ritual fire -- as nature, which is the fire,
remains as equanimity.

TERRY

This is visionary stuff, Dan. Not preaching or poetry or suggestive
ideas. Can you see the difference? If your philosophy has you so high
that practicality is lost, then you are putting all your energy into
foliage and none into your roots; ideally the roots go as deep as the
tree goes high. I am speaking of possibilities that have never before
been possible, because too few people could understand the sort of
thing you were saying above, and no internet to bring them together.
But the fact that you feel it desirable to say it *to me* makes me feel
that you are missing the point, not seeing me clearly. I saw completely
through my ego more than thirty years ago, when virtually no one knew
what I was talking about.

DAN

Quite an accomplishment, I'm sure. As for me, it's enough to be your
friend. Whether my responses here generate any opening or not (and if
not, toss 'em), friendship is good enough. As long as you can stop your
transpersonal trashing of my ego long enough for a few friendly words
to be exchanged.

TERRY

You are perhaps familiar with the sutra of Hui-Neng; perhaps with the
philosophy of Hegel. The 'dialectic' recommended by hui-neng to his
disciples involved bringing up the 'other side' to anything that was
being expressed, thus to complete a whole. Talk of the absolute and he
would bring up the phenomenal; speak of the phenomenal and he would
bring up the absolute.

DAN

And so it goes...

TERRY

Philosophies such as yours dominate this list,

DAN

If you see my philosophy on the road, kill it!

TERRY

and when I approach my natural tendency is to try to turn some of this
lovely energy into practical channels, because that is what I see as
dialectically the antidote or completion of these ideas.

DAN

And I see utter impracticality as the antidote for your practicality.
So it goes.

TERRY

At this point, 'practical channels' does *not* refer to going out and
saving the children, without thinking about it. The start of
practicality for spiritual movements in the global village is for
enlightened people to begin to examine the scope of the problem, not as
individuals but as participating members of a greater whole, a
'more-than-human' (vs 'all-too-human') construct of originally
separated minds who realize they are separate no more. I know you think
this is a step behind where you are coming from, but I would say it is
a step beyond (as a cart follows a wheel, or a shadow follows a form).

DAN

You say what you say, and I say what I say. And nature looks at both of
us, licks its chops, and says, "Hiya, straw dogs."

TERRY

New ideas are never understood and accepted very quickly. You have a
fixed view and you cling to it.

DAN

Damn it! Exposed again!!

I'm so embarrassed -- how will I ever live this down?

TERRY

That which frees us, in the course of time, may become a hindrance; the
buddhist metaphor is of a man who constructs a raft to cross a river,
and once across, insists on carrying the now useless raft on his back.
I hope you are getting a glimmer of what I am saying here.

DAN

I hope so, too. Let us pray for my strength.

Love, Dan

_______________________________________________________________

JERRY AND TERRY

Hi Terry,

I've isolated a few lines from your letter to Dan, and here they are:

-----------------------

my natural tendency is to try to turn some of this lovely energy into
practical channels, because that is what I see as dialectically the
antidote or completion of these ideas.

My experiences in communal living have convinced me that group action
is *far* more powerful in altering minds (raising consciousness) than
individuals preaching out of their own enlightenment.

That which frees us, in the course of time, may become a hindrance;

------------------------

I believe that what you call your natural tendency is the natural
tendency of the dream/matrix/reality in which we find ourselves.

I am with you in pushing the agenda of practicality. When I mentioned a
few weeks ago starting the Nonduality political party, it wasn't all in
jest. On the NDS website there are many articles promoting activism.

I hear you calling for coordinated effort. Effort as a group. I renew
the call for the Nonduality Party. Some may consider it humorous. It is
humorous. No reason why we shouldn't be laughing all the way to bank on
the other side of river. It's healthy to laugh at self, being,
existence, seriousness, reality, while saving the world. The greater
the humor, the more that can be done.

This can all be started here and now. It begins with acceptance of the
form of organization, which is not an easy thing considering I dare say
many would consider themselves too free-spirited. On the other hand,
your dialectic antidote may come into play here. Perhaps our
independence has become a hindrance. Perhaps it's time to organize. If
that happens, Terry, I ask you to spend a lot of time here and to be
very involved. You could be getting some very powerful wheels moving.

aloha,
Jerry
________________________________________________________________

GLORIA LEE

Of possible interest to some here, Time magazine has an article on
spiritual
innovators.
Byron Katie and the guy who set up Beliefnet.com are two of them. You
can
also make your own nominations. Innovators in other fields are also
quite
interesting.

http://www.time.com/innovators

_________________________________________________________________

ED ARRONS

Dan wrote: "individuality is not individualism. the uniqueness of this
moment
transcends any belief system, be it individualism, totalitarianism,
communism, socialism, existentialism, Buddhism, or schismism."

Just missed one of the bases here:

You forgot ismism. :-)

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