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Monday January 1st


Happy New Year

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Michael Read extends an invitation:


Dear Friends,

I have started yet another elist! It is TheWayStation@egroups.com
It may be joined at
http://www.egroups.com/group/TheWayStation

Here is the intro:

----
The WayStation: a place to pause and rest from the labors of your
journey. The WayStation is a place where one can come in for a cup of
tea, a bite to eat, and a friendly smile. If the day seems hot there
will be cooling fans. Should the day seem cold there will be a warm
fire.

Come in, tell us your story. Let us laugh with you or cry with you;
whatever it takes to lighten your load.
The stationkeeper knows that the path you're on will take you to many
wonderful sights, many terrifying vistas. By turns you may have felt
that you are among the walking wounded or among the fortunate heroic
few. Either way you have no doubt accumulated a huge load of baggage
about who you are. You are invited to drop off much of that baggage
here. At least as much as you think you can spare.

If you do come in, please refrain from attacking the other guests.
They have as much right to a restful moment as you do. Each wayfarer
has something to offer. It may be poetry, tall tales, tips and tricks,
gentle jokes, horror stories, painful memories, glorious visions or
dull doings. We don't care. It may just be the baggage one needs to
unload. Drop it here. We'll hold a rummage sale each month for what's
left over. Do try to be careful and not pick up someone else's
baggage. They probably dropped it for good reason.

While the stationkeeper respects all persons and paths, he holds no
beliefs and walks where he will. Life is its own reward. The universe
is vast and filled with wonders. Each traveler is a miracle within a
miracle. Come, share your miracle. Or, just sit a spell and sip some
tea. You are welcome here.

------

Love - Peace - Michael

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Jerry, a new web page:


I'm pleased to announce the web page of Moller de la Rouviere, best
known to everyone simply as Moller.

<http://www.nonduality.com/moller.htm>

--Jerry Katz

Moller is the resident meditation teacher and spiritual facilitator at
ADVAITA-ASHRAM in a remote, but beautiful part of the South African
countryside. Here's an excerpt:

"...this intellectual Advaitist movement is beset by the proliferation
of
ideas ABOUT non-duality which tend to confirm one another in the
absence of real practice and experiental verification. In this way the
lie has become truth.

"What I am trying to bring into this matter for the intelligent
consideration by any student of life, is the fact that although the
final revelation of human potential is indeed the recognition of the
non-dual nature of existence, this can only be stated as a kind of
retrospective DESCRIPTION of experience. In other words it is a
statement of factual experience to those who truly stand in the freedom
of their own wholeness. And from this natural clarity ALONE it is
obvious to these completed ones that those who do not share their
‘vision' of non-duality are nevertheless already living in the
wholeness of being.

"BUT, and this is the great BUT, for those in whom the separate
self-sense still forms the functional basis of everyday existence, such
a description of wholeness may be interesting, but rather meaningless.
It can only become another form of mental projection more or less in
line with all other forms of mental projections which have been pointed
out as the basis for fragmentation and illusion..."

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Terry; One Nonduality?

It may seem trivial to some, but I think it essential to even the most
conventional sort of understanding of 'nonduality' that there is *not* "one
nonduality." This is where conventional western philosophers always miss
the boat with nondual philosophies, such as, in the west, that of spinoza.
They always refer to it as 'monism.' The word nonduality was coined to
distinguish it from monism. Sometimes the term 'the one without a second'
is used.
The reason why philosophers have traditionally thought of spinozism and
hinduism et al as monism is because they take some basic assumptions for
granted, as most people do. Philosophers tend to assume that their minds
can contain an explanation or understanding of reality. Nondualism
recognizes that the mind which is trying to contain an understanding of the
universe is itself a phenomenon of the that universe. Heisenberg, by
realizing that a particle's velocity and location cannot simultaneously be
known ('the uncertainty principle') led the philosophy of science to the
understanding that any experiment has to take into account the actions of
the experimenter as one of the variables, thus showing that all science has
an inherent element of uncertainty.
It has been pointed out by others, when nondualism is brought forth (as
with the work of Ken Wilber) as a valid explanation of phenomena, that it is
simply monism by another name ("one nonduality"). As with the uncertainty
principle, this understanding has practical applications extending beyond
the realms of science and philosophy. If there were 'one nonduality' we
could agree on what it is, but in fact, every individual truly conversant
with nonduality has a unique perspective on it, and must have a unique
perspective (and this is what I have heard jerry say, not to put words in
his mouth but because you assume his agreement). Nonduality must be
realized by individuals touching a Ground which is beyond the ability of
language to capture.
Those who have realized it have absolutely no doubt about what they are
talking about, but they don't sound like papaji or krishnamurti or jerry for
that matter, each has their own unique realization.
There is a zen koan in the mumon-kan ('The Gateless Gate') about a
master whose particular expression of 'Zen' (as 'nonduality' was known in
those days) was to raise one finger whenever anyone asked him to explain
zen. One day, the old master heard that there was a young teenage monk who
had taken to raising one finger as well when asked about zen. The master
had the boy brought to him. He confronted the lad with the question, 'What
is the meaning of Zen.' The boy raised one finger. At this the master took
a sharp knife and cut it off. The boy screamed in pain and was about to run
off when the master stopped him, and again asked, 'What is the meaning of
zen?' The boy started to raise his finger, looked at the bloody stump, and
at that moment was enlightened. When the old master was on his deathbed, he
said with some satisfaction that for fifty years he had used his 'one finger
zen,' as he called it, and it had never failed him.
The story is widely known among zen students to discourage imitation,
and every master always had his own zen, though few were so pointed as
Gutei's one finger.

aloha, terry

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Which work?


Gene: Better the work of freedom, than the work of staying 'asleep'. One
leads to joy, the other to pain.

terry: reminds me of a poem, by hafiz (trans ladinsky):


*A Cushion for Your Head*

Just sit there right now
Don't do a thing
Just rest.

For your separation from God,
From love,

Is the hardest work
In this
World.

Let me bring you trays of food
And something
That you like to
Drink.

You can use my soft words
As a cushion
For your
Head.

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New year greetings:

Jan Koehoon:

Hi all! Happy newyear from Holland. I haven't been active on this list
but I have been VERY active in Holland. I started mij own nonduality
list, in Dutch, and that takes a lot of time (right, Jerry? :-))
I want you all to know that I'm thinking of you a lot.
So I have a softwart tip for you, just uploaded a JPG to the files
section: enjoy!

greetings & love
Dutch

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

David Hodges:


Here are some old Japanese Haiku about New Year's (translations by R.H. Blyth):

The Great Morning
Winds of long ago
Blow through the pine-trees.
-- Onitsura

(The "Great Morning" wass an ancient Japanese term for the morning of New
Year's. )

New Year's Day:
The beginning of the harmony
Of Heaven and Earth.
-- Shiki


New Year's Day;
Nothing good or bad,-
Just human beings.
-- Shiki


That is good, this too is good,-
New Year's Day
In my old age.
--Ryoto


New Year's Day also
Has come to its close,
With the sounding bell.
-- Hakki


New Year's Day;
Whosoever's face we see,
It is care-free.
-- Shigyoku


The First Day of the Year:
I remember
A lonely autumn evening.
-- Basho


New Year's Day:
The desk and bits of paper,-
Just as last year.
-- Matsuo


New Year's Day:
My hovel,
The same as ever.
-- Issa


New Year's Day:
What luck! What luck!
A pale blue sky!
-- Issa


New Year's Day
I do not hate
Those who trample on the snow.
-- Yayu


The dawn of New Year's Day;
Yesterday,
How far off!
-- Ichiku


The first dream of the year;
I kept it a secret,
And smiled to myself.
-- Sho-u


The smoke
Is now making
The first sky of the year.
--Issa


[Blyth's commentary on this last haiku is: "No smoke, no sky; no sky, no
smoke. But Issa does not think this. He knows, somehow or other, that the
smoking rising and forming the first sky of the year has a meaning that can
be expressed only by pointedly saying nothing about it."]


All quotations are from Haiku Volume 2: Spring by R.H. Blyth. Tokyo: The
Hokuseido Press, 1981.

-- David
P.S. I have some new pictures today in my journal, which is at
http://www.outermost.com.

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Larry, self and no self, again:


Hi everyone, happy new year, new day, new moment, new now, non-now. I
was wondering if anyone knows where I could find some words of wisdom on
the difference between awareness and emptiness. By emptiness I mean no
self, a simple negation, nothing there. A lot of time awareness is said
to be empty because it is ungraspable, but it is also life itself, all
this, including point of view, which is actually not this. Some
buddhists call this buddha nature or basic goodness. But what I'm trying
to ferret out is what is going on with no self itself. Maybe we don't
really know what we mean when we say I exist. We can understand
intellectually that we are only an assemblage of elements but I suspect
there is a hidden belief that there is some unnamable something inside
here which is me. The one we are doing all this for. Of course there
isn't; there's nothing there at all, hence no self. Somehow this
erroneous belief is dissolved and a wonderful feeling of emptiness
arises. Isn't this different from what people are talking about when
they are talking about awareness? I think this business of emptiness is
getting short shrift and should be looked into more thoroughly, mostly
because, I think, the belief in existence is somehow hidden. But I'm not
sure. Any thoughts?

Larry

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Melody and John Duff, listening:


<snip>

M: You said, in part:

The essence of the question put to me during these experiences was
"What is
it that you want?".

I let that question sit on me awhile.

The answer that arose, when I sat quietly
to listen was, "To breathe".

On the surface this may seem like a silly
answer, but I can hear it resonate in so
many 'bodies': physical, emotional, mental,
etc.

J: This is quite enough. Things become quite simple and quite real and
quite connected.

M: Today I opened curtains I hadn't opened in
months at my house. I cleaned closets and
cleared out stacks of clutter that had been
stacking up over the months from neglect.

So much has been tossed away today...or
loaded to be given away.

Colors are brighter today, my house is
'lighter'.

When my body 'breathes' I can feel air
circulate....like a breeze is moving thru the
body.

It's about 5 degrees outside, and yet
it feels like springtime.

J: The relative miracle of 'rebirth', the opening of the 'doors of
perception'.

Had written about this earlier and struck the section thinking it would set
expectations and prejudice the experience. The mundane become New. Life
embraces one and one begins to truly feel and become able to reciprocate
that embrace.

M: And tonight, when I am still again, I
will invite that 'shadow' to touch me.
I have no idea if I'll be afraid or not,
or what my response will be. I do know
I feel a whole lot readier to 'receive' it
now today.

J: My experience is that this will never be far from your side. If not now,
then soon to become a welcome companion. Ballast on a stormy sea of Life.

A lens, if you will, that can be employed to bring into focus a previously
fuzzy image. If things get out of focus one moves [back] towards these
experiences and things snap into crisp resolution.

As you sense, eventually, it is subject to will to invoke a revisiting.

It is good to revisit often, else one is revisted, by Life or otherwise, to
stir recollection.

<snip>

M: It is truly a vacuum of meaning.

J: Yes. Upon which all meaning is defined. One a larger scale, then, we
might see the reason for creation. Understanding Being proceeding
everything.

M: (now) Yes. Not only a vacuum of meaning,
but an absence of EVERYTHING.....as if a veil
was covering all senses. There was even an
absence of ME.

Just nothing. Absolutely nothing.....as if life
before a single act of creation.

J: Just as you sensed. The dilemma of God needing something to do.

M: I wonder if it will terrify me so tonight.

J: As to last night, "Look, but do not dwell."

It is a lesson, which many may get, but few make profit on. The profit of
which you are already beginning to experience in the Newness of everything.

<snip>

M: An answer that arises just as I read your
question again is: I want to not be afraid anymore.

J: My answer was along these lines. Mine distinctly, it was not to be
driven by fear anymore, a slave to it. "Kill me now, but I will not be
moved, I will see this through whatever it takes. I want to know. I would
rather die than live in this emptiness."

M: But that really isn't so. <Tears welling up as I 'see' this
just now.>

It's okay if I'm afraid.

J: Yes, it is okay, and fear won't cease to be a part of your life. It will
just not hold the same fascination and power.

M: I DO still want to breathe, however -

and I hadn't done so...not really...
in a very long time.

J:
"Breathe deep, the gathering gloom.

Watch lights fade from every room.

Bed sitter people look back and lament,
Another day's useless, and years spent.

Impassioned lovers,
wrestle as one.

Lonely man cries for Love,
and has none.

New mother picks up,
and suckles her son.

Senior citizens,
wish they were young.

........

Cold hearted orb,
that rules the night.

Steals the colors from our sight.

Red is gray,
and yellow, white.

But we decide which is right.

And which, is an illusion?"

Moody Blues
Days of Future Past.

Warm regards,
John

in gratitude,
Melody

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andrew, Endgame:


Its so simple,
you were too complex to see it.
You were blinded by the dazzling fortress
of thought and learning you were sitting in,
the stained glass images of splendid expectation.
There was nowhere to turn,
you were absolutely helpless.
The siege was under way.
Quick and easy or slow and painful,
it made no difference in the end.

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t. goldenpoe, Water and Air:


Really. Hmmm...

So 'ice' really does 'expand' when it is 'cooled'.... I wonder how big
we could get this thing if we all 'chilled' on the 'massives'? 'Solid
ice' still hurts the 'noggin'(s) no matter how 'airy' it may seem.

Silent Ice. Holy Ghost.

If this is hell? Be warned. 'I am but the first' of those that are here
to conquer you with the silence of knowing and this is done before
(reverse engineered 'fate'). I wait for my 'brothers' return and they,
unlike are my 'self' and I am 'he that has the order to be given'.

Walk wisely.

If this is heaven? Be warned. 'I am but the last' of those that are
here to protect you with 'understanding does not mean that I am on your
team' and this is done before (forward engineered 'destiny'). I wait
'on guard for thee' for my brothers 'may return' and they, unlike my
'self' and I am 'he that was the executed order'.

Stand fast.

I am he that has conquered death in 'your (all) names'.

If you can 'see' me. You are dead. Certain.

If not. You are awaiting judgement.

Where you find yourself now is 'not the justice' of 'who' you are. It
'is the justice' of 'how' you have been. I am the justice of 'what' you
shall be and my door is closed to the likes of you. I know the name of
my 'target' and upon next contact, I shall engage. I am to Psico s.

Only a 'saint' can make 'one' feel at home in 'one's' own home.

Thank-you.

I say this.

If all things are to die and life is suffering and we have the 'bombs'
to destroy our selves over and over again... and I, 'with the people'
are destined to be slaves for all eternity for believing a foolish,
frightened, '1% and above race' of people that require cops and laws
and regulations and rules and hate to secure there place in this world.


Where they destroy the 'race of soldiers and warriors' of the 'ancient
of days is my name' that are fool enough to believe the 'lie' of
'ownership' but... killed us, as they do, the fighting spirits would
learn in the bardos of whom the enemy is so that in the 'end of days'
they may return to protect the 'people' they serve and not the 'laws'
that 'protect wickedness'. Thus is any religion in my name.

Let us do this so that we as one people may know with certainty that
that which is life and of life is living and that which is not life and
is not of life is just dying on borrowed time.

To the 'empires of the sky': Put up. Shut up. 'And' get the fuck out of
my country.

Canada stands with and before the world and 'we' are 'not' our
politicians. We are a people of peace and all those that are worthy are
granted entrance.... to the world of culture, tradition, beauty wonder
and the people that know these things. Welcome to the global 'herd'.

What of those that are entered and not worthy? If you are 'out' on
holidays... stay there. I you are not. Go there. If you will not. It is
only a matter of time and we 'the Canadiens' are everywhere... even
hell (62F and I am still).. and 'we bear the justice of the sacrifice'
of 'OUR NAMES' that were taken by those that now seek our protection.

For these. You shall be safe in prison (mind). 'The number is way'
smaller than 'you may think'.

I was not lost. I was dead. PhhhDuh...

Contact.
Grid: 00000000
1 and 0
Ascending Decent

Why are their dinosaur bones on the moon?....

Christ Jesus I am still.

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