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Jan Barendrecht

ºWhat is required to wake up?
ºWhat can you do within the dream to wake up?
ºNothing.
º ******* Da Free John

Thanks for the laugh - why believe anyone saying "i am in a dream" at
all? That belief only adds to the long list of suffering, which,
according to Gurdjieff, is difficult to give up already.

BTW, Gurdjieff is right, the fat guy is wrong <laugh>

"A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his
suffering."

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There are those that preach various forms of mental preoccupation and
subtle preoccupation. They are all the same. They are all doing the
same thing. They are serving the dream. They are not the Self of
Reality. They are not what the true Guru is, what the Great Siddha
truly is. The man of understanding, functioning as Guru, is an
awakener. He is always already awake. He couldn't care less about your
urges and demands within the dream. He refuses to satisfy them. I would
rather beat you on the head with a stick than give you an experience
merely to console you. I have no intention of satisfying anybody here.
All the demands for satisfaction that you bring are frustrated here.

*** Da Free John --

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Ed Arrons

The growing trend of political and economic oligarchy has me thinking
anew about the benefits of real community. Admittedly, community, in
the real and fullest sense, puts this old hippie in a nostalgic mood :)
...

...which led to a train of thoughts in which I wondered how important
real community is to one's integrity, to being a whole Self. And, to
what extent internet communication can fulfill the need for "real"
community.

And, further consideration led to wondering whether technology and real
community might be incompatible. Indeed, though technological
"progress" may offer "connectedness" in a limited form, it also
bolsters an ever deepening breakdown of community and separateness. It
is also apparent that technology lends itself to political and economic
uncertainty: witness, the past presidential election, the questionable
health of the economy, and the California energy crisis -not to mention
a wide array of environmental difficulties.

This is not to suggest a summary dismissal of technology; rather to
observe more thoughtfully where we are going with it, and how a more
human, more community oriented approach to technology might develop.

Yet, how easy it is, especially for nondualists, to use this internet
technology without thinking of the consequences! :) ...Ed

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