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Wednesday, November 14

JODY AND HARSHA

JODY:

An 'abiding presence' is nothing more than a pose.

The Self is beyond caring and not caring, but the apparent
individual is never beyond these. No matter how much 'abiding'
we are doing, we will always be called by life to be human.

HARSHA:

Beautifully put Jody. It is no one's fault in using such terms like "abiding
presence" and all. These seem to have become part of the nondual lingo. To
be authentic and natural is simply to be yourself. Physically, mentally,
emotionally, etc. There is no point in carrying the additional burden of
"abiding presence" or enlightenment, etc.

I will pass this on to HarshaSatsangh as well.

If wisdom was inconsistent with being human, it would not be true wisdom.
The Truth of the Self is both obvious and subtle. It's subtlety lies in its
being so obvious that it is overlooked. It is deep, but its depth is not
separate from the surface.

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RASHMI

This morning I was reading something that said that when there is
life there is no death and when there is death there is no life. Just
like when there is light there is no darkness and when there is
darkness there is no light. So what do I have to deduce from this?

No difference -will that do?

JAN BARENDRECHT

The darkness remains darkness - light is only perceived when photons touch the eye.
As light does travel freely in space (darkness), the darkness is not affected
by the movement of light in it. That the mind easily interprets otherwise could be
called "hoodwinked by the senses" - the mind being one of them.
Likewise, awareness is not affected in any way by life forms and their vicissitudes.
Not surprisingly, "peace" cannot be "enhanced" or even "shown" by sentient life - as can be
observed,
sentient life is what more than often seems to veil it :)

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JAN BARENDRECHT

ANAGRAMMATICALLY POINTED AT

leadership - idle phrase
talented man - lamented ant
God bless America - obliged massacre
clever politics - rip collectives
sunny delight - nightly nudes
more on ethics - other incomes
the greatest business - huge interests as best

biped animal - I'm a blind ape
average man - amen, a grave
as married man - remains drama
an omnivore - naive moron
enlightenment seeker - the meek, gentle sinner
matter and space - apeman detracts
fiery snake - sneaky fire
like and dislike - I killed sane kid
experienced yogi - I index creepy ego
nondualist in space - speculation and sin
this and that i am - hitman said that

______________________________________________________________________

JAN SULTAN

There is no difference between Jesus, Moses,
Muhammad, Krishna, Buddha and the humble ant or
even a mosquito. These are all manifestations of
God.

After the events, Hitler and his victims were
congratulating each other [in heaven] for playing
their parts so well. Actually [don't tell anyone or
they will think you are mad] it was God who was
playing all the parts.

Of course, you will want proof for the above
statements!? It is very simple really. Just find
out Who is playing You!! How? Simply follow a
genuine mystical path.

Hint: When you are driving a car and someone bumps
into your car, you'll say, "That **** hit me! Well,
he did not hit you, he hit your car. We are so used
to our body/minds that we assume these are us. In
reality our body/minds are just vehicles that allow
us to exist in this dualistic world. So if somebody
punches you ... say, "Hey! Why did you hit my
body?" Slowly a wedge will be driven and you will
prise yourself free from your mistaken
identification [solely] with your body/mind.


Here is Rumi saying something similar:
----------------------------
The spirit is like an ant, and the body like a grain of wheat
which the ant carries to and fro continually.
The ant knows that the grains of which it has taken charge
will change and become assimilated.
One ant picks up a grain of barley on the road;
another ant picks up a grain of wheat and runs away.
The barley doesn't hurry to the wheat,
but the ant comes to the ant, yes it does.
The going of the barley to the wheat is merely consequential:
it's the ant that returns to its own kind.
Don't say, "Why did the wheat go to the barley?"
Fix your eye on the holder, not on that which is held.
As when a black ant moves along on a black felt cloth:
the ant is hidden from view; only the grain is visible on its way.
But Reason says: "Look well to your eye:
when does a grain ever move along without a carrier?"

"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Camille and Kabir Helminski
Threshold Books, 1996

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SU GANDOLFF

PAINTED MASKS

Thank you, Collette. You said: "The mask is painted
to try to present to the world what is deemed
acceptable." Yes, if I am off-center and cannot
admit it or have noone to cry to, I feed my
self-hatred. I know from experience and from the
support of others I respect that disappointment is
a great teacher, and I try to remember this and
allow that process to unfold. I allow my self
moments of blaming and anger and coming to
conclusions, moments of fear that this world of
change will suddently stagnate while I am
uncomfortable, confused, etc., and then I begin to
sit, because I don't have a choice. And I gently
remind myself to notice bodily sensations, listen
to the sounds in the environment, notice some of
the thoughts... not to worry about whether the heat
and expansiveness are physical, spiritual, or
whether I'm losing my mind...

I was in a lot of pain yesterday. Today the back of
the head feels tingly and exposed, like the brain
is just under the skin. I dreamed about Allen
Ginsburg. He gave me some kind of an old, ripped-up
wrapper with little pictures of himself on it; he
knew he was dying and was just giving things away.
Smiling, and giving things away. He couldn't speak,
but used some sort of an augmentative communication
device. I wanted to be like him. Happy at peace and
joyfully giving it all away.

Hagiography, related: Two people in particular that
I knew who died at the World Trade Center on
September 11th are trying to set an example for me
too. Quiet, humble, living one day at a time,
leading by example, doing service in their
communities, pillars of gentleness and strength,
both unmarried heterosexual men older than myself,
one black, one white. I didn't know much about how
they lived their lives before they died, only the
impression they gave. One was a fire captain who
was in the marines in viet nam. At his funeral at
St. Patrick's Cathedral, a friend of his said that
he had said of himself: I am an angry man, but
underneath the anger is sadness, and underneath the
sadness is unconditional love, and underneath the
unconditional love is innocence. It's not the words
so much as the fact that he knew who he was that
gets me. He was guiding some severely burned people
down the stairs of the second building that
collapsed when he died, knowing that that building
would come down too. When he entered the building,
a fellow firefighter asked, "You're not going in
there, are you?" He replied, "Are you crazy? That's
our job."

They didn't have it all figured out either. Just
woke up in the morning and did their jobs.

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