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aturday, September 15

SU GANDOLF

The list of unaccounted for coworkers of mine has
stabilized at four. They are David, Courtney,
Melissa and Karen. I will be attending a memorial
service for my dear colleague David next Saturday.
He leaves a wife, a daughter and twin sons. David
called his wife Tuesday from his cell phone after
the second tower (ours) had been hit, saying he was
trapped on the 83rd floor. He said he was with two
women; we presume one was Karen and don't know who
the second one was. Melissa was with the people who
got out of the building as they came down the
stairs; we do not know why she didn't make it out.
Nobody had seen Courtney that morning; he may have
been on his way in to work...

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Thanks,
Greg.


_________________________________________________________________

JERRY KATZ

"Realization of the Self is the greatest help that
can be rendered to humanity. Therefore, the saints
are said to be helpful, though they remain in
forests. The help is imperceptible but it is still
there. A saint helps the whole of mankind, unknown
to them."
--Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Saint is doing 'the work that is in front of
him or her'. So are the people of New York and the
world leaders. So are the terrorists. Doing the
work in front of 'you' is playing one's role in the
world dream and it is the support and creation of
the world dream.

Self-enquiry can be the work in front of a person.
Not religious ritual or duty to God, but
self-enquiry. Eventually self-enquiry becomes no
work at all, but while it is the work in front of a
person, everything else is a light involvement
(although still passionate and challenging).

When self-enquiry becomes straight abidance, that
is, no work at all, then there isn't even
involvement. Things appear to be happening and
getting done. And what world dream? Then one can
even breathe underwater and there is understanding
of life and death, then 'blink' and the holodeck
that stages the world dream is a gone nothing on
the thunder deck.

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

Within religious and ethnic groups there's already
in-fighting and hatred. I even know a guy who has
divisions within himself, inner turmoil. Have you
ever heard of such a ridiculous thing?


_________________________________________________________________


GARY MERRILL

WISDOM OF INSECURITY

Is our search just a search for security? An answer
in which to take refuge.

Is there such a thing as security at all? If not
then we are constantly building castles in the
sand.

This attempt at security seems a common thread
through the culture of the world - national
security, religious security, family security. Also
personal security, whether that be called 'being
rich' or 'being enlightened' makes little
difference, always being something and the activity
to protect that something.

But the price of seeking security seems to be ever
increasing insecurity as nation is divided against
nation, group against group, individual against
indivdual. Enlightened against unenlightened :-).

So to be simple, what is the actual case now, the
truth now? Is there any security now appart from
what the mind invents? If the mind ceases to take
refuge in anything then surely it is facing life
just as it is, in truth. Then the illusion and trap
of security starts to become apparent, that any
security must be limited, impermanent. The mind
then may give security its place, in building a
home for example, without closing the mind.

The 'self' can be seen as the attempt to be and to
become and the selfless state our birthright once
freedom is accepted.

Is this just too much to ask of an individual,
faced as one is with all the violence and fear in
the world? I can only wonder what other choice
there is.

Gary (with due respect to pioneers AW Watts and J
Krishnamurti)

XAN

Is there any security now apart from what the mind
invents? If the mind ceases to take refuge in
anything then surely it is facing life just as it
is, in truth. Then the illusion and trap of
security starts to become apparent, that any
security must be limited, impermanent.

~ As I see it, all the 'negative emotions' -- fear,
hatred, anger, abandonment -- arise from the
helplessness inherent in having forgotten the truth
of ourselves. And humans tend to avoid the sense of
helplessness at all cost, hence the search for
'security' anywhere they hope to find it in the
appearances of this world.

There is only one place of safety.... in the simple
truth of essence, Self, truth, beingness.

BRUCE MORGEN

The search for psychological
security, for an eternal and
invulnerable "me," is the
very source of violence.

_________________________________________________________________

ERIC

I am a little surprised at so many following
(lemmings???) the company line here on retaliation.

Aside from the fact the america has been despised
for many years, for amongst other things, it's own
terrorism, american's in general remain extremely
blissfully unaware.

I spent some time this week on the local university
campuses, here in the midwest, and was surprised at
how independently younger folks are taking this
news, in more than a few circles.

__ __ __ __>

some reoccurring opinions overheard : "what if it
is some much lesser known, and much more capable,
and very well connected *group*?"

"did america not start this, anyway?"

"how does retaliation, and responding as america
traditionally does to these situations, offer us
any more safety?"

__ __ __ __<

The non-dual understanding available is not to
respond to 'what ever' from an emotional level:
i.e.: an eye for an eye; but of *hearing* these
*events* in full context.

War is a very nasty thing, economic and otherwise,
folks.

__________________________________________________________________

KHEYALA


The intensity that gives rise to craziness and
violence......what is it?

The intensity that gives rise to craziness and
violence in me......how is it different from that
in the Taliban?

I have feared this intensity and have resisted it
by trying to avoid it outside of myself and control
it inside of myself with all of my might. And even
if I have had relative success in avoiding it or
suppressing it for the moment (at the price of
loads of life-energy and love) it comes back sudden
and furious when I least expect it. How is this
different from the military methods of security and
the terrorist attacks?

The helpless lack of control and the inability to
avoid this intensity increases the resistance to
it, and in doing so, increases the craziness and
violence.

What is the solution?

A solution would be needed if there indeed was a
problem. I guess am calling "craziness and
violence" the problem. But really, they are not the
problem. They are the result. They are the result
of the resistance to the intensity. If there is no
resistance to the intensity, then what?

If there is no resistance, then there is no
craziness and no violence.

There is just the intensity. There is just the
fire. The fury and power and purity of the fire.

I have no idea what would happen.


___________________________________________________________________

GLORIA AND KHEYALA

Dear Nina,

Considering that in a very real sense, the "world"
is your body, all this happening is your own self.
In any case, there is no difference, as there is no
separation of you from the world. As a very
personal relationship, this cannot be overstated.

Love, Gloria

Dear Gloria,

Your letter pretty much incapacitated my body and
mind and I found myself just staring at the screen
here. Then I started writing. I just sent a letter
called, "Thoughts on Violence." Thank you for your
powerful reminder.


Love, Kheyala


___________________________________________________________________________

MICHAEL READ

PAIN

Why does it hurt?

So that we may learn compassion.

Why must we learn compassion?

To give life meaning.

Does life have a meaning?

Yes and no.

Yes, because?

To know meaning is to participate in the
magnificence of existance.

No, because?

Everything arises and fades away in the
magnificence of existance.

Is knowing meaning the cause of pain?

No. Knowing meaning is the way we experience and
understand pain.

What about love and hate? Where do they fit in?

They are expressions of the magnificence of life.
As emotions they aid us in defining and identifying
what causes us pain. They also help us into a state
of mind/emotional awarenss that helps us to avoid
what we find painful or helps us to overcome that
pain.

Again, it goes back to learning compassion.

What about spirit/path/religion/god and that sort
of approach to life?

Pain is the prime motivator here, also.

What can we do about pain?

First, accept it when it happens. Second, don't
whine about it when it happens to you. Third, see
through it. It will end in time. Fourth, don't try
to replace it with pleasure. Fifth, do not blame
anyone for the pain - not even yourself. Sixth, do
what you can to stop it.

____________________________________________________________________

BRUCE MORGEN

If you prepend the phrase
"Sh'ma Yisroel," which means
"Hear, oh Israel," you have
the central and only essential
Jewish prayer. Any observant
Jews at the WTC who had the
opportunity died with it on
their lips.

It's strikes me how similar
this is to Islamic prayer.
Moses, the inventor of
Judaism, and Mohammed, the
inventor of Islam, were
cousins, descended from
Isaac and Ishmael, the sons
of Abraham, who Muslims
call by his birth name,
Abram. Abr(rah)am was born
and lived much of his life
in what is now called Iraq.
When Moses first fled Egypt,
according to the Torah he
found shelter among
descendents of Ishmael and
chose his wife from among
them.

The roots of the kinship
and emnity now at play in
the world go back to a time
near the dawn of recorded
history.

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