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Saturday, Jan 6


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TERRY shares a poem from Hafiz:


*The Mule Got Drunk and Lost in Heaven*

The
Mind is ever a tourist
Wanting to touch and buy new things
Then toss them into an already
Filled closet.

So I craft my words into those guides
That will offer something fresh
From the Hidden's Tavern.

Few things are stronger than
The mind's need for diverse
Experience.

I am glad
Not many men or women can remain
Faithful lovers to the unreal.

There is a kind of adultery
That God encourages:

Your spirit needs to leave the bed
Of fear.

The gross, the subtle, the mental worlds
Become as a worthless husband.

Women need
To utilize thekir superior intelligence
About love

So that their hour's legacy
Can make us all stronger and more clement.

Sometimes a poem happens like this one:

The mule I sit on while I recite
Starts off in one direction
But then gets drunk

And lost in
Heaven.

hafiz/ladinsky

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To reach the Mahamudra group click:

http://www.egroups.com/group/mahamudra

--uarelove

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GENE POOLE:


Early morning outlook


Yes, as I 'look out', I see all around me, in 360-degree,
three-dimensional splendor, all of this.

No matter where I look, I am the one who is looking, and what I am
looking at is distributed equally all around me. It is as though I am
in the middle or center of a vast sphere, whose bounds I do not see.

If I look up or out, what I see is gradations of form and emptiness;
objects in space. I know (or have been told) that all 'form' is more
space than matter; and that all matter is actually motion; motion
appearing as form, and all form in gross motion, (as in) the spin and
orbit of planets and stars.

So what is 'there' is actually, motion in emptiness, 'like unto'
'thought in awareness'.

Movements in awareness, thoughts in emptiness, what is it?

It is this, looking out, seeing this three-dimensional splendor,
seeing movement in emptiness, as though from the center point of a
vast sphere.

If this is movement, what is stillness?

Stillness is the ground from which movement operates.

Movement (only) is, in relation to stillness, and is known by
stillness.

So we have two 'poles' at the most basic level of Being; stillness
and movement.

Each is known by the other, as heat is known by cold.

But as heat and cold are also one, known as 'temperature', so also is
movement and stillness one, known as... what?

Movement and stillness, the most basic, is known as 'Yang' and 'Yin'.

Yang moves in Yin, movement in space. Yet, space births movement,
space being the stillness which is the ground of movement. So,
emptiness originates movement, it is its mother, and the child of
emptiness is movement.

Child of emptiness
Moving incessantly
Seeking your mother

Whose womb
You have never left
When will you arrive?

Never having left
Unable to arrive
You spin ;

Is your name Quark
Photon
Electron?

I observe your agglomerations
Called 'matter'
Distributed in space,

Every agglomeration
Seeking something
All matter attracting

All matter,
A seeking
Known as 'gravity',

Is there security
In mass, even knowing
That enough mass

Equals great heat
Launching you again,
Another round of movement;

Attaching again,
Again launched
As movement

In space;
Relations of objects
scheduled, predictable

Relationship
Of seeking particles;
A platform

From which
To explore space
Seeking mother

Limitless womb,
Space for all children;
No-one is ever born,

Yet,
Everyone
Is ever-born.

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

GENE & JERRY:


Stillness knows,
Movement does not know;
Stillness knows movement.

Movement informs stillness,
Stillness space
In which movement moves.

Space of stillness
Experiences movement
In the most intimate ways,

As interior phenomenon
Called 'emotion'
And 'thought'...

Emptiness cannot touch
Movement,
Though it surrounds it always;

Either blessed
Or condemned,
Is space;

Movement
Being either curse,
Or blessing...

If curse,
Space contracts,
Gripping pain;

Or if blessing,
Space expands,
Letting go...

Blessing or curse,
Difference is:
Contraction or expansion.

Space knows movement,
Movement does not know;
Emptiness knows object.

Emptiness of space
Contracting, is movement;
Space becoming movement,

Loses awareness as movement,
Gains awareness as space;
Space is aware of movement,

All movement being in space,
All movement being in stillness,
Awareness knows movement;

Does awareness
Know emptiness
As well?


Jerry:
I'm sitting here in the early morning (for a Saturday) and savoring
your
sensibilities of space, emptiness, stillness. How can anything be
known
by anything? The richest knowing is the last moment of balance before
the tightrope walker plunges into the abyss. The deepest knowing is
the
scream on the way down -- OM -- through the emptiness.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DAN and SARLO:


Sarlo:
That depends on what the meaning of "is" is.


Dan:
Cute, yet profound, President Sarlo.
I am voting to impeach you,
although whether you "were"
ever President at all certainly
depends on what the meaning of
"is", is.


Sarlo:
Indeed. I have nothing to be but being itself. And let me say this
about
that. I did not, will not, would not and even could not have sex with
that
woman.


Dan:
"Is" properly speaking can't be said to
have a meaning, as all meaning
depends on "is".
Without "is", there can't "be" meaning
or meaningful communication.
And without "is not" there can't be
negation of meaning.
And without negation of existing meaning there
can't be new meaning.
So "is not" is as necessary to (new) meaning, by
being able to make meaning meaningless,
as "is" is, by being able to make present
meaning be.


Sarlo:
And furthermore, "meaning" is meaningless without "meaninglessness."

Dan:
"Is" and "is not" are profoundly playing "partners"
allowing life, death, and the ever-present
birth of meaning from/as unknownness.

I live where "is" kisses "is not" ...
where "is not" is, and "is" is not ...

Sarlo:
I believe i've got it:

["is" <=> "is not"] => all logic is based on assumptions that have
nothing
to do with reality, therefore resistance is futile. Take me to your
leader.
Fizzle! Sput! Awwwwk!

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

Announcing a new egroup:

Sri Arunachala

If you have in interest in Mount Arunachala click
http://www.egroups.com/group/SriArunachala
then look upper left and click subscribe.

The group is for anyone who has an interest in
Mount Arunachala.

After subscribing please feel free to post:

*The Teachings of Bhagavan Ramana about
Sri Arunachala.

*Stories about Sri Arunachala

*Your experiences regarding Sri Arunachala

*Practical information about visiting Arunachala
both for short term visits and also for long term
living such as:

*Where to find short term and long term
accommodations.

*What to bring, what to wear.

*Tips for foreigners who wish to visit or live in
India
Culture, Customs, etc.

*Where to find services in Tiruvannamalai
i.e. internet connection, a good doctor (MD) etc.

*If you have visited Sri Arunachala and
Sri Ramanasramam please tell us about your visit.

*If you have or are living long term near
Ramanasramam please post and tell us about your
experience.

*Sri Ramanasramam news and events

*Information regarding the status of efforts
to preserve the area around Mount Arunachala.

<snip>

Sharing practical information regarding long and short

term visits to Tiru, Sri Ramanasramam and
Mount Arunachala is one of the purposes of
the Sri Arunachala egroup.

Therefore if you have any such information please
do join the Sri Arunachala group and post such
information.

Devotees of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi are welcome
to use this group as a forum to communicate with
each other and share their experiences etc.

To join the Sri Arunachala egroup click
http://www.egroups.com/group/SriArunachala
then look upper left and click subscribe.

If you have any difficulty subscribing to the group
send an email to:
Infinite_Freedom@talkcity.com
saying you would like to subscribe to the
Sri Arunachala egroup and include your e mail address.

For more information about
the new Sri Arunachala egroup click:
http://home.talkcity.com/GaiaWay/Infinite_Freedom/ARUNACHALA.html

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

WHITE WOLF:

...white wolfe has been in one of his long, dark winter nights for
sometime now...he has been hiding in a snow cave listening to the
dialogue between his mystic mind and sacred heart...

...love manisfests itself in all creatures...the non-dual arises from
and embraces the causal...the causal arises from and embraces the
subtle...the subtle arises from and embraces the psychic...what are
the moral responsibiites of those those who have arisen from whatever
level to whatever level to those who are ahead and those who are
behind...without the lower there is no higher...without the higher the
lower ceases to have purpose and meaning...without the love of the
higher for the lower the higher ceases to exist..the lower must
respect the higher...the higher must cherish the lower...to leave the
attachments of self and embrace detachment in becoming the Self is to
experience eros blossoming into storge blossoming into phylia
blossoming into agape...it is to walk the stations of the way of the
cross...greater love results in greater compassion results in greater
suffering...the first noble truth is suffering...

"Many individuals intuit the Over-Soul (or higher) and yet unpack that
intuition, interpret that intuition, in terms merely or solely of the
Higher Self, the Inner Voice, the care of the Soul, interior
Witnessing, the Universal Mind, pure Awareness, transcendental
Consciousness, or similar such Upper-Left Quadrant terrms. And
however true that aspect of the intuition is, the unpacking leaves
out, or seriously diminishes, the "we" and the "it" dimensions. It
leaves out the social and cultural and objective manisfestations: it
fails to give a seamless account of the types of community and social
service and cultural activity that are inherently demanded by a higher
Self; it ignores or neglects the changes in the techno-economic
infrastructures that support each and every type of embodied self
(whether higher or lower or anything in between); it ignores the
overall objective state of affaris or objective reality that does not
detract from Self but is an unavoidable aspect of that Self's very
manifestion.
The idea seems to be that if I can just contact my higher Self,
then everything else will take care of itself. But this fails
miserably to see that Spirit manifests always and simultaneously as
the four quadrants of the Kosmos. Spirit (at any level) manifests as
a self in a community with social and cultural foundations and
objective correlates, and thus any higher Self will inextriccably
involve a wider communityexisting in a deeper objective state of
affairs. Contracting the higher Self is not the end of all problems
but the beginning of the immense and difficult new work to be done"

-Ken Wilbur, Sex, Ecology and Spirituality

...we are all called to be bodhisattvas and to manifest
bodhicitta...^^~~~~

further up and further in,

white wolfe
Meditations on Pentecost in the Age of Misery



I sit and await stillness and silence

in the false darkness of the clouded sky at twilight.

Slowly the blue and white canvas melts, fades

into emptiness.

The symphonic chorus of the universe resolves itself

into tranquility.

I sit in the infinity of limitless space,

the eternity after one breath ends and before another begins.

Suddenly, as the last darkness that will ultimately envelope the first
light,

He who is the Sacred Heart,

as if suspended on a Crucifix of teeming blue light,

She who is Avalokiteshvara,

sitting as if upon the moon floating in the empty firmament,

are before me.



I ask him,

Why must I suffer

He says to me,

So you will understand Love.

I do not reply.

He says,

You must love all my Creatures as you love true Self.

I say, I do not understand

He says,

You must die to self.

You must take up your cross and follow me.

You must live in the world but not on the world.

You are not the Lord of Creation but its Steward.

I am the Son of the Father who is the Light of the Universe. You must
become as I am.

Then and only then will you have Peace.

I am the Way of Love.



I say to her,

What must I do to stop suffering

She says to me,

You must cleave to the light but hold to the dark.

You must become an empty vessel.

You must allow the suffering I send you to carve you into a vessel of
Love

Then and only then will you be able have compassion on all Creatures.

I am the Daughter of the Mother who is the Darkness of Creation. You
must become as I am.

Then and only then will you have Joy.

I am the Womb of Compassion.





I say to them,

I am weak.

As One they speak to me,

We are strong enough to suffer for you so that you may join us in
Love.

We are here to Love you until you join us in Compassion for all
Creatures.

Touch our Sacred Heart and you will become Love.

Call our Secret Name and you will become Compassion.

As One they speak to me.

You are not yet one of the gods.

You are something more than just a creature, but you are still a
Creature.

You are one among the many, but the many are the one.

Just as We are not one, but two, not two, but One.

Until the one is ready to surrender to the many this remains the Age
of Misery.

Humility is the beginning of the endless journey from Suffering into
Joy.

Let go of self interest. Awake! There is no self. Take up your
Cross and follow me.

The fields are ripe to harvest. There is much work to be done before
the end of time.



They are gone.

I remain pierced, wounded by light.

I am still, enveloped by darkness.



She who is the Bodhisattva.

He who is the Christ.

Their names and faces are many through the ages.

In stillness and silence I remain,

remain dark and empty.

The emptiness of the false dawn washes into the fullness of endless
days.

The symphonic chorus of the universe lifts its voice in jubilation of
a new beginning.

I am in the in between time of eternity.

The time after one breath ends and before another begins.

And now I am not the same as I was.

I have been called to a new life and given a new name.

I have been called on a journey and there is no going back.



Lamb of God have Mercy upon us.

Kwannon Bosatu show us the way of Compassion.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus grant us Peace.

Make us worthy of fulfilling the Promise of Creation.



My name and the name of the journey are the same.

And that name is Love. I fall into your arms my Immortal Beloved.

As it was, is now, and ever will be world without end.


Mark Christopher Valentine

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DAVE:

A short rant:

This week, more than once, the question of "conservation of energy"
has come
up (for me), directly or indirectly, with perhaps the central focus
being on
"being able to observe and identify when the energy is being
misdirected".

Perhaps one of the most difficult things to do is to get to a point
where
one has a conscious awareness of ones actions in order to be able to
evaluate them. Indeed, it is like being in a dream where it seems that
the
events are so absorbing that one doesn't even think to evaluate what
is
going on. I remind myself in one instant to maintain awareness, and
less
than 4 minutes later, I'm "out" again!

This effort to maintain awareness, seems to pass through phases, where
at
first, it's pretty much a forced effort, and with a pretty low success
rate.

This low success rate either inspires a greater effort, not to let
something
beat you, or it is dropped. In my case, I looked for little tricks to
help
remind me to redirect my focus, walking a certain way, triggering off
of
particular events etc. The pure effort of redirecting focus to
awareness
probably had more effect than actually evaluating my motivations for
doing
things. I guess it showed me that I spent a great deal of time
immersed in
whatever much more limited but densly draining focus. To me anyways,
it was
more important that the focus was liberated, than in what puny
processes
where occupying it.

Could be a good point. Is it really important where I waste my time,
or is
it enough to realize that you are wasting it?

One could say that simply dismissing like that, could mean that one is
not
fully processing. On the other hand, that which goes un-processed,
will come
back to haunt you, it does eventually need to be processed. In an
atmosphere
where one is more continuosly aware of what is going on though, this
processing will happen more fluidly. A point however, which needs to
be
emphasized here is "of WHAT, should we be aware", and this is
important. If
we are aware of what process is going through our minds, and how that
relates to experiences in the past, or aware of how "I" get so
distracted so
easily, this is a direction of energy away from the reality of
"being".

What I think this says, is that to me it seems more important to get
to
where one is able to maintain a more consistant awareness of just
being.
(Obviously a whole set of explanations are needed here to expound the
beneift of this as the prime focus). The principal reason for
directing the
focus of awareness in "just being", is because that's where it's been
identified that the truth lies.

Sometimes, there is so much effort at evaluating the self that the
focus
overrides or hides
the objective.

I remember a time here in traffic. I had been advancing well in my
ability
to maintain awareness.
All of a sudden I saw myself cursing someone who had cut me off. I
realized
that I had been torn from my connection, and automatically in the
"reconnection", perhaps in 1/4 of a second the whole act of fingering
someone was evaluated, processed and seen for all of the infutility
that it
represented, not so much as a mentally processed and meticulously
evaluated
phychological event, but as a distraction from something infinitely
more
imprtant. The act was so pathetically puny, I had to laugh. And to
think
that I let it tear me away like that!

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

CHUCK H:

Stepping *gently* into the abyss (emptiness), "I" feel as if "I" were
form
observing the abyss and then suddenly there is no form and there is
only the
the abyss (emptiness). The sudden insight and recognition that this
Void,
this No-thing-ness, this Isness, this Thusness is the abyss within Us.
You/We/Us are the abyss (emptiness). Just a nothing thought. Boy,
that
Nothing is really Something! ;-)

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