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Friday, February 22, 2002

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JOYCE SHORT
Shri Garlicji teaching


After recent garlic chat I discovered clove of garlic
budding on window
sill-little green shoot growing turning into weak rays
of Canadian winter
sun. It seems quite fine with where it is at, no
struggle to grow quickly,
no trying at all, it seems perfectly content and
present. Joyce's mind now
worrying about whether Joyce should now plant little growing garlic in a
pot. Little garlic seems quite unperturbed. It did occur tho, that
whatever way is found, in the living or in the dying-there is no other place
but the light. So I stopped worrying about wee plants and all sentient
beings.

Laugh,
Joyce


NINA

Joyce, you have garlic, I have sweet potatoes.

Two varieties, actually, growing quite happily in a dark corner of my
kitchen.

There is no light there, really, despite the short forays into
incandescancy while I much about with kitchen stuff. No natural light,
at any rate. Well, no matter, the sprouts keep themselves quite happily
entertained and busy, from what I have observed.

(My husband has stopped asking me if I ever plan on throwing those
things out. He knows the answer - we have to find out where this
leads!)

Last summer, I took them out on the balcony and took their photograph.
It is attached to this post. That, I think, is the only real light
they've tasted in... um... nearly a year?

In this case, where does the light come from, Joyce? I am full of
questions..

Nina

DAN the shaman man

For Nina-from a blind friend who is physicist and shaman. Enjoy. Joyce


Well, do you want the physics answer, or the spiritual answer?

Physics:

Atoms are bundles of protons and neutrons, surrounded by clouds of
electrons in what are called energy states. If you add energy to an atom,
electricity, heat, sound in some cases, just most any energy, you excite
the electrons. The little buggers go into what is called a higher energy
state, they get a real buzz on.

But, like most erstwhile lovers, they tire after awhile and fall back to
their normal energy state. that energy is not lost, when the electrons
return to "normal", a little teeny photon is given off. Photons are
electromagnetic energy. If they are in certain wavelengths, they are
visible light.

If they are in other wavelengths, they are maybe ultraviolet light, radio
waves or even x-rays.

So, light comes from excited electrons. In a fluorescent lamp, a little
filiment glows with the voltage from the wall. This produces a lot of
electrons buzzing around the inside of the tube. The inner surface of the
tube is coated with rare earth elements from the high numbers on the
periodic table of elephants...elements, I mean. Those elements glow when
they get excited, so the fluorescent bulb glows.

The sun gives off light because of the thermonuclear reactions inside, they
produce so much heat that they also make light, and we see.

Spiritual light:

This is the real light, physical light is nice, but some of us cannot see
it and are none the worse off.

Spiritual light happens when something inside of us gets excited, like the
electrons, but far more diffuse and impossible to pin down in an experiment.

This light floods the mind and fills the soul, it links us to everything
that exists because it is the same. Just as everyone who sees a beautiful
full moon is linked in the seeing, all having spiritual light are linked in
an even closer manner.

Good question, fun to think about,

Take good care,

Dan


NINA

Ah, yes, thanks!

Sometimes, light just appears out of thin air - one moment not
accessible, just a mute glass tube mounted above a series of
progressively deeper shelves, the next moment, you wiggle the switch
(for the umpteenth time) and PReStO! something happens and you, and
your study, and your poor, languishing cyclamen (given as a gift,
begrudgingly and somewhat guiltily and poorly maintained no fault of
mine just what happens in DIM Seattle) are cast into illumination
that suddenly clears away a depth of 8 months of hardcore Seattle SAD
to such a degree that you take to sunning yourself in that formerly
dark backroom beneath the previous tenant's (very
curious) "improvement" to your apartment (you can bet they weren't
growing cyclamen), simply because your eyeballs feel so fresh and
HeY! it must be good for you, because look at that cyclamen, it is
blooming again and its not supposed to bloom until next summer and
the next thing you know your skin also has a bloom to it and your
libido is back and you don't mind drudging home from work 45 minutes
one way in that PERPETUAL drizzle 500' UPHILL the whole way because
you know you'll get your growlight fix as soon as you get home.

Well, you know you're in trouble with your light addiction when you
start avoiding your friends and reorganizing your schedule so you can
spend more time with that 4' long tube and the juice it emits.

Enlightenment at cost.

Good thing I moved to the south. Addiction hides out easily here...

erf,
Nina


ERIC BLACKSTEAD

Joyce & Friends,

Yes, it might be that there is one that thing unites us all:

those who believe in non-effort or those who believe in sadhana and
discipline; those who believe that the nondualist path is simply a
matter of "recognition" or those who believe that it will be the
final out come of all sadhanas and realizations, regardless; those
who believe that Sakti carries us to Siva, or those who believe, like
Shankara, that Sakti is Maya and Siva can only be approached with the
one pointed effort to reject all else...

that one thing being that at some point, even if only for a while, we
must stop "worrying about wee plants and all sentient beings", and
give it all over to someone or something else, be it a Greater Power
or a lesser power, but in any case, some other power.

yours in the bonds,
eric


MARK OTTER

...and my recommendation is that you all hand it over to me...

Love, Mark
ps (you were talking about money, weren't you?)
~~~

Dear Listmembers, Guests, and Holy Matrons,

I was recently, on this list, called an opportunist.
I would like to make it perfectly clear that I have no
idea what an "oppor" is, but I would be happy to tune
yours for a small fee.

Love, Mark

JAN B.



i'm a devotee
no matter where i'm going
prayer goes with me
no matter what will happen
whether sleeping or awake
faith remains untouched

what outshines all lights
what throws shadows from the sun
for this light i long
whether pleasant or with pain
whether sleeping or awake
both in prayer and in song

and when in the bathroom
i remain a prayer too

Jan

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