Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment

I'm reading McKenna's second book. I really resonate with his being super-bored with trivial humans and trivial concerns. I am too, have been for a long time. And I'm getting emotional gains by accepting the idea that this is OK, not something I should be ashamed of.

This is related to something from his first book: a young woman is talking to him, and she is broken up about the fact that wherever she goes, she does not fit in. He tells her that she should push aside the curse aspect of this, and look for the blessing aspect of it. She has a big breakthrough on this.

I love this guy for being 100% unconcerned with what people think of him. This is really rare, shockingly rare. (Most people who think they are this way simply enjoy offending or shocking, which is just another way of caring what people think.)

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A quote:
"Crazy is a numbers game.... when enough people are doing it... it's no longer crazy."
Truer words were never said. For instance, the beliefs of Scientology are crazy because it's a small religion, but the beliefs of Christianity are not crazy because it's a big religion. Watching football is not crazy, but watching trains is. Being turned on by boobs is not crazy, but being turned on by feet is.

More turtles

Old parable: a student comes to his teacher and asks what does the world sit on. The teacher says, it sits on a big turtle. The student asks, what does the turtle sit on? The teacher says another turtle. The student asks, what does that turtle sit on? The teacher says one more turtle. The student asks what does that turtle sit on then? The teacher yells, it's turtles all the way down!

I think this speaks for most religion and most science. You won't find the true nature of the universe by analysing the universe, all you will find are more turtles.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I'm soft in the head

For many years I seemed to lose the ability to hold a firm opinion or belief. And for a while I thought this was a disability. After all, we admire people with strong beliefs. Imagine a politician who changed his mind all the time, do you think he would be elected for anything?

But now I realize that my newfound tendency to not hold tightly to any belief or insight is actually a great strength when it comes to spiritual progress. Because there's no way in hell you're going to arrive eventually at absolute truth without going through a great number of lesser "truths" on the way, and the faster you can let go, the faster will be your progress.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The dark cloud

Something which McKenna touches upon and which I think I have too: the "happy life" approach to spirituality (that spiritual progress will always make you happier) is negated by the fact that when we are in a deep depression is when we are closer to truth than ever. Source is beauty of course, but in this world it is hidden behind a very deep and very black cloud of overwhelming fear and despair.
We don't get closer to Source without passing through that evil cloud.

Belief Systems

"Belief systems are simply the devices we use to explain away the unthinkable horror of no-self."
- Jed McKenna, Spiritual Enlightenment, the Damnedest Thing

Insanity

From the point of view of the Holy Spirit (or an enlightened being), the Ego is clinically insane. 
From the point of view of the Ego, the Holy Spirit (or an enlightened being) is clinically insane. 
There is no compromise or reconciliation. 

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A survey

A survey about how you see things in your mind's eye.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Moksha

I think I like the term "liberation" (moksha) better than "enlightenment", because the latter implies some sort of superiority.
Also, "enlightened" does not carry much intuitive meaning for me, whereas I can certainly understand the desire to be liberated.

Or maybe "awakened" is better? Heck, I don't know. It's like a caterpillar trying to find a word which makes it clear what it's like to be a butterfly.

Monday, January 19, 2009

The Iron Piggy Bank

I dreamed that I was back in school and I'd written a report which was pretty good, but they made me do it all over because they knew it could be much longer and deeper if I just put some work into it.

And I woke and stayed in bed in the half-awake state where I often do my best intuitive thinking, if thinking it can be called. I realized it was true, I am very lazy.

Oh, I get the job done if it needs to be done, but every corner that can be cut without too much damage, I cut it. Back in school for instance, I could have been an A+ student, but I was always only a B student, because... what's the point?

So I figured this was something I needed to change, and knew that I could if need be.

But then I got a perception that it was different. That perhaps I should see my laziness in a different way.

I suddenly saw it as an iron piggy bank which I was clutching to my chest and holding onto.

And I carried the laziness/piggy bank with me for a long way, and it became bigger and bigger, and finally opened and yielded a huge wave of gold so big it washed me out the door.

The gold was Love and Spirit, and my laziness is only refusal to use more time and energy than necessary in The World. And the time and energy thus saved went towards the spiritual savings account and have paid big dividends.

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... I had another dream during a long nap this afternoon. I wasn't gonna tell about it until friends encouraged me.
Partly because I didn't think it meant anything much.
But thinking about it a little now, I think the symbolism is glaringly obvious, and I must have had real resistance not to see it!!

I was going in a private airplane (inside it was more like a house) towards some destination where we had some kind of important mission.
The pilot was a beautiful girl, though there was no kind of romantic interest.
The control room was apparently so advanced that it also served as a kind of kitchen, and she prepared a meal or something.

And in the back was a kind of bedroom, and I took a long nap while we flew, very relaxing, and I woke up a couple hours later and we had progressed most of the way, and the whole thing was just very pleasant.

The message: let the Higher Self steer, and relax!
In fact, at least for me: the less I "work" at it and the more I relax, the smoother the journey goes. 

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hightower

Wisdom is what's left after we've run out of personal opinions.
-- Cullen Hightower

Monday, January 12, 2009

Me or others

Men, said the Devil,
are good to their brothers:
they don’t want to mend
their own ways, but each other's.
- Piet Hein

Saturday, January 10, 2009

We're all mad

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
-- Mark Twain

The secret of un-straining

Update: I think I have observed something important about this: I'd been wondering why the pains or troubles usually seemed to return later, and why this drill could be so difficult. "Habit" of thought does not explain such a powerful block.

But Fear does. It is my perception that one retreats into contraction and pain when one is running from fear. Another 'solution' is to go unconscious, on one level or another. And in my case, it seems that the pain was something I created myself in order to *not* go unconscious from Fear, in order to keep functioning. (I sort of compressed my mind/energies so the "gears" ground together.) Fear is the problem underlying pain, much more basic. 

The fear goes very deep, because really it's the fear of God or Source or The Light, and it's there because we have the false idea that we have separated from it. All human fears are based on this single fear. One could say that the whole trip of lifetimes since the beginning is slowly handling this fear, letting the holy spirit or higher self break it down bit by bit. So it's not something which is handled in a week. 

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This can be used both for physical troubles and emotional ones, even some that seem to have obvious "causes".

What Roger Linden talks about in the video below, a few minutes in, has been of tremendous assistance to me after he trained me in a phone session a few weeks ago. I have already become more relaxed and happy, and productive.

You relax and unwind, and you experience what you are experiencing (pain, fear, whatever), without backing off from it, but also without reaching out to it. There will usually be some tension or pain in the body to go with it. And you let your mind become softer, and monitor your breathing. It will be restrained if you have tension. So you just let yourself become softer and gentler more and more, while you experience what you're experiencing, letting go of resistance. Letting it be as it is.

[Partial transcript below]

It is trickier than it sounds, but it gets easier, the effect is cumulative it seems to me. It is worthwhile to stick to it for a while! It is amazing to me that for me at least, I *very* quickly fell back into holding my breath all the time, and it takes quite some discipline to continue being aware of breathing, and to continue to just do it, despite pain or other discomforts.

Don't focus on anything, rather you should de-focus.
Relax. Breathe. Let go.
Maybe the free breathing is enough. Just keep breathing is the essence.

Some may find it helpful, though, to see the mind's energy field as it stretches way out as a big web or tangle of tree-roots, and to let it untangle and become looser, bigger, and freer.

Becoming bigger and softer as a being. (Overlooking for the moment that what you really are is not physical, not even energy.)

The theory is that pain, suffering and blocks stem from contraction and tension. Some very intense pains have sometimes been released by this technique.

This may not undo the ego directly, but I find it's much easier to focus on your advanced forgiveness if you're not tangled up in pain or fear! :-)
Part of advanced forgiveness is unflinchingly watching and seeing the ego exactly as it is, and that is a fearful thing. Learning to dissipate that fear makes the process easier.


Partial transcript of the video:

Interviewer: "It takes a lot of energy or will to change the juggernaut of a thought pattern …"

Roger Linden: That can be [the way it is] … or you could just release your breathing. Because the juggernaut of thinking patterns is sustained by contraction in the body … and one of the most obvious effects of that is a restriction in your breathing. So if the breathing is released, just in an ordinary way, the intensity of thought patterns will ease …

It is impossible to have that juggernaut going unless there is some restriction in the breathing.

So learning about something like that … learning how to let the breath be easy … to let the mental focus soften … the mental focus is simply contraction … With a little practice—and the practice is essentially stopping the strain, which is effortless, life becomes easier and more comfortable. It’s hard work to suffer.

… The breath is not the only key, but it is one of the keys, and it is the most obvious, and the easiest to communicate immediately. Essentially, it is about the breath … but the breath and strain around the eyes and the tightening in the body and the solar plexus and the back of the head and neck—all of that comes from the assumption that “there is somebody inside, doing something.” So when one senses there’s a ‘me’ in ‘here’ (head), there is a little contraction that reinforces that. And that I’m doing something, I’m focusing attention here or there, and there’s contraction.

When people learn that this can soften or ease, then it is harder to suffer. There is a pull to get back into contraction, because it’s such a habit … but there is also a desire for the well being.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Lurv

The important thing was to love rather than to be loved.
-- W. Somerset Maugham

It may seem obvious to somebody who's been near the non-duality spirituality for a while, but it's not many years ago I read a book explaining that the solution to life's problems is Unconditional Love. I guess it didn't explain it well enough for me, because my thought was: "sounds cool, but where do you get some of that?"

Old and new spirituality

"...the old way is the hierarchy has the authority. Church authorities tell you how to worship in church and how to behave outside of church. The new spirituality is that you are your own best authority as you work to know and love yourself, you discover how to live a more spiritual life. The old is God and the path to worship him have already been defined and all you need to do is follow the directions. The new is being able to listen within for your own definition of spirituality, your deeper longings are the compass on the search. And the old says that there's only one path it's the right way and all other ways are wrong. And the new spirituality says that many paths lead to spiritual freedom and peace. You have a rich array of gems from which to draw illumination.
The world's religious traditions, mythology, psychology, healing methods, scientific wisdom, your own experience and that you can begin to string a necklace all your own."

- "The Seeker's Guide", Elizabeth Lesser

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According to survey, only 30% in the US now believe that their own religion is the "one and only true path". I'll bet that number was a lot bigger a few decades ago.

What is progress

On my other blog I have posted a short article about what is Progress In Life?

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Religion and spirituality

Oprah talks about how she reconciled spirituality with her religious upbringing, a issue I'm sure many struggle with. (It's part of a long interview with Eckhart Tolle.) Even if we are not religious, we all have some kind of beliefs that we were suffused with during our upbringing. We are hippies or conservatives, atheists, hindu, protestant, whatever. And it takes courage to go beyond your beliefs, because there is always a period of confusion and fear until you get a new belief.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Bill Hicks



Of course since it's not real, ultimately it does not matter whether we spend the money on food or on bombs. Waking up is all that matters.