manitou
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Everything posted by manitou
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It was crowded out by absolutely nothing.
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Or 'Alive when Dead'
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I no longer have one of those
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It's all happening Now.
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Like a baby before it learns to smile.
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I'm ready.
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Salvation from what?
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so beautiful
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It's all subjective. Right and wrong, good and evil, are from one's own perspective. When the true self is found, there is no question. Looking to holy books or holy people for answers is no longer viable. It's intrinsic and it comes naturally.
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LOL. How excellent! The beginner's mind!
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I love Lin Yutang's translation. What is, is. Nature is kind and unkind, depending on the beholder. We all share the same entity within. Only our conditioning separates us. That Thing inside us that Knows, that exists as awareness, is not affected by kind or unkind. It sits at the base of our being. It wants to Experience. It wants to experience seemingly good and seemingly bad. Our conditioned selves are the straw dogs. The essence we share is the true self. I've been in some nasty depressions in my life. And as depressed as I would get, there was always an awareness at the bottom of it that knew that I was choosing to be depressed. Ego chooses to be depressed. And as to murder and things like that - does it really matter on which day we die? It's going to happen one way or the other. Our bodies are the straw dogs, not our essence. It goes on. It always has been, and always will be. I've heard it said that death is like slipping out of a tight shoe. To do 'good' may be the very same as doing harm. I'm very familiar with alcoholism, and this is a case in point. One thinks they may be being kind to the alcoholic; perhaps a wiser person would see it as enabling the alcoholic to remain sick. No, I don't think there's good and evil. Just Is-ness. Enlightenment, in the final run, is the elimination of making that judgment. Of making any judgments at all.
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I'm not real sure the author of that Wikipedia article is a self realized one. But they did get it on this paragraph: Individuals are encouraged to practice self-cultivation by detaching themselves from their desires and ego, and attain a mindful awareness of the non-self. Chán and Zen Buddhist scholars emphasise that the key in self-cultivation is a "beginner's mind" which can allow the uncovering of the "luminous mind" and the realisation of innate Buddha-nature through the experience of sudden enlightenment.[5]
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Hi Mig, All I know about Daoism is that which is written in the DDJ, and I've studied maybe 5 or 6 different translations. The translations are only as good, IMO, as the spiritual understanding of the translator. In other words, to what degree have they gone within themselves to arrive at self realization? Your observation about wanting to discuss more of the cultural aspect of Daoism is valid. And this is why I always post in General Discussion instead of the Daoist or Buddhist categories. In my experience, all paths lead to the same place, and it is from this place that I try to stay in consciousness. I came across the DDJ at a yard sale in 1981, and it changed my life and my limited dogmatic view from that of Jesus Loves Me This I Know, to the Oneness of all paths. From the One, the dynamics of any path can be discussed, although as you say, the cultural aspect is missing. As far as I can see, they pretty much all end up being an exposition on the Nature of Matter. I am in full accord with @Nungali when he says that the essence is found in cross reference. I think this is also why it's important to study the DDJ from different translators, too. Translators are trying to convey that which can't be conveyed in words, and the most functional way I have found to comprehending it is by reading between the lines - i.e. finding the commonality between the translations. Every translator has different backgrounds, and will of course see things according to their conditioning. So I think triangulation is the very best tool to understanding something as abstract and profound as the DDJ. And Nungers, when he mentions the cross reference of all paths, is pointing to looking for the essence. I think it can be applied in both situations. Personally, I think that too much dogma makes Jack a dull boy.
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The Dao is a bellows. We are patterned after the Dao. We are the Dao. You may have gone about as far as one can go intellectually on all this. Now the bellows wants to go in the opposite direction. It wants to go inside you, to examine your conditioning, to penetrate the egoic self, to remove the old beliefs. The reverse geyser, as Nungers would say. This is where self realization will be found.
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By saying god will do anything, are you inferring that there is a right and a wrong?
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The intelligence is either everything or it is nothing. You're still seeing it as something separate.
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My take is that we are the intelligence. The same intelligence that tells all the identical cells in the embryo how to line up differently so that they will be different organs. The cells are all the same. But a fingernail cells lines up differently than the cells in an eyeball. What is evolution if not the supreme intelligence you speak of? It's not separate from us. It's within us, pushing outward. It's the intelligence that enables matter to retain its form.
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Thank you so much, Michael.
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@steve, This says it for me, exactly. I guess I felt that I had to write something because my attendance has been so spotty over the past months. But it's because of you, and Nungers, and Dwai, and the others I mentioned, that I wanted to write 'something' to explain my absence. We've known each other soul to soul for too many years to just drop off the planet. I remember when Songs of Distant Earth did the same thing - I was so sorry to see him go, it almost made me cry. But when it gets harder and harder to sign on, for some strange reason, it just seems like 'pushing it' isn't a viable answer. I too started deleting my posts before posting them. What is it? Not ennui. I don't know. Maybe when certain consciousness is reached, it's too repetitive or something. But I appreciate the fact that you hang in here anyway and shine your light for us. As we all do. I suspect that I'll be around. I've got lots of art works to do now, and maybe an art hiatus is what I need. I probably couldn't stay away from my loved ones here for very long. Maybe I'll just turn into Marbles and wisecrack (as though I don't already). Love you!
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And this affirms that all systems, all paths, all religions end up in the same place. I watched Gandhi again a few weeks ago. At one point, a reporter asks him if he is Hindu. Gandhi replied, Yes. I am Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian.... There is one thing I would like to ask you, Nungers. Reverse geyser? Does it have to do with character traits you are eliminating, rather than expressing? Or does it have more to do with your toilet flushing in the opposite direction than mine?
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There is another component that is needed. Inner work. There is much in the steps of recovery that parallels the first 32 degrees. Those of us who finally get it are called Cosmic Masons, according to Manley Hall - even if we didn't take the exact same path. Many masters can be found within the halls of recovery.
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That's the key.
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Your dreams come to you because your higher self is pointing you in a direction; it is always working to give you the experiences and dreams that you need to achieve what it wants; it wants to fully express the Consciousness in your being. Your dreams don't give you wrong information, they are interpreted wrong.
