Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Individual versus Common Truth(s)

This is not to say that common truths should go unappreciated and be left in the past. Rather, when something is learned it becomes automatic and instinctive, so to repeat it mentally is just adding more thought clutter and taking the focus away from learning something new. Repetition has its importance in practice, though it can dull the mind when one remains too fixated on a given idea.

We all are learning different common truths at various times in our lives, and an experience in/of the present that is unique. So there is a short and very enlightening time of coming together and saying "yes, I understand and really like what you are saying"... and then just as we are unique in our individual experience and expressions, the matrix of truth or reality that we see it through must modify that common understanding so to be meant more and more specifically for that person only to receive and understand.

What is most true for a given individual, at any given moment, need not receive approval or affirmation from the outside... there should be enough coming from within, from very the source of each individual being.

Today's Status:
"Most common truths/insights shared, either from others or myself (although usually correct) do not appeal so much anymore... when you hear the same affirmations a million times over it seems pointless/repetitive to keep saying and hearing what is known already. This is why understanding is becoming more of an individual experience, very specific to the moment I AM in though not usually relevant to others"...

JDZ

Reversed Perspectives - Solution Oriented Living

"Operation Solution", eye on the prize (outcome visioning) is so far successful, the vision or "big picture" makes each individual step forward more effective and practical, enjoyable and prosperous...

Most common truths/insights shared, either from others or myself (although usually correct) do not appeal so much anymore... when you hear the same affirmations a million times over it seems pointless/repetitive to keep saying and hearing what is known already. This is why understanding is becoming more of an individual experience, very specific to the moment I AM in though not usually relevant to others.

In putting the greatest emphasis on life as I choose and will it to be, eye on the prize, etc... reality (choiceless awareness) is seen with astonishing clarity, with the eye of attention, so nothing remains hidden. This is because no excessive and distorting thoughts about reality are making reality it into a problem, and with this clear seeing comes immediate action in alignment with the dream...

I come to this understanding as most crucial and central, because almost everyone I know seems either too much in the dream world, without hardly any grounding, while others are too grounded and lacking faith beyond the physical. I continue to insist that although the dream is central, one cannot possibly detach from the immediately perceived ... environment and surroundings, except to detach from one's thoughts about it. A clear presence in the real world is what provides the foundation upon which dreams are built...

It is certainly time to start looking for a better job when the universe makes it circumstantially impossible to enjoy or feel appreciated at this one. Rather than complain and view it as a problem, I now focus all my attention on the seeking of a positive solution... To be passive and "accept the reality" is NOT the answer when a positive change IS possible...

There are only solutions, no problems... so rather than think of what you want to get rid of (or get over) focus on the end result, of what is when the other is not...

The need to look at your current situation from a different perspective. The Hanged Man creates change by acting passively and accepting fate. By surrendering control and making yourself vulnerable, you will facilitate change in your life. In order to see the bigger picture, you will need to take a step back.

Life is so light, the moment you even just think of it there is weight, mass, matter, and all the (unwanted) karma to go with it.

JDZ

Friday, June 26, 2009

Journaling

Carelessness (or inattention) is mine only enemy


As the Dalai Lama succinctly says (in Live at Central Park), "Enemy is Guru"... I thought for years that my neighbors were enemies, and I left feeling a relatively positive relation with all, no harm no foul, water under the bridge, etc... I thought my landlord was the biggest thorn in my side, and realize now that it was his nagging difficult ... Read Moreinfluence that caused this tremendous spurt of personal growth/progress, allowing for a whole new start elsewhere, with a new friend or landlady who has been very supportive and helpful.

There are the over confident types with strong conviction, wishy washy confused lost souls who have none, and then there's folks like me who say "I honestly don't know" and then learn to enjoy the mystery of unknowing...

In the midst of this great ocean of unknowing I am finding my inspiration! I believe my upcoming book will become a reality... I dont have to know, believing is enough :)

Answers we get are more in the way of images, intuitions and feelings that are moments of believing without having to see it with our eyes or hear with our ears... it is the great hope that exists within, which cannot be made evident, this coinciding with the believing that anything is possible... yet if God were to come down and give us a ... Read Moreguarantee that it is, then where would the fun and adventure be in that? I used to seek a definite answer to deep questions like who am I and what is my ultimate destiny... now I give thanks for the X Factor, the law of uncertainty!

JDZ

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Uranus and Freedom from the Known - Transcending Jupiter-Saturn Consciousness

Jupiter shows us where a man or woman can just flow and be authentically oneself, within the social context of role playing, and naturally a lot of good comes out of this. This accompanied more often than not (in the average individual) with shadows of arrogance, carelessness or extravagance, an overly-cavalier and/or self-indulgent attitude toward life and (in some cases) a refusal to own up to what one chooses not to see in oneself. Out of control drunken behavior being a clear example of Jupiterian energy at its lowest half-cocked vibration. Jupiter, at its highest function, is the guide or philosopher who gives one an encouraging approach of positive inspirational thinking as a guide to living, with an optimistic outlook.

Saturn shows where it is not always okay to be freely self expressive, setting limits, enforcing rules and restrictions, adhering to codes of conduct, being fully accountable for daily responsibilities and having restraint or discipline. It is what we face each day based on the awareness that man or woman is not so perfect and free as the over-confident Jupiter has him/her thinking he/she is. There are skills to learn to make a living, errors and problems to be fixed , healing and growth that come through struggle and effort, or the discipline of a regular practice. Saturn's approach is modest and self-effacing, forever showing us how we can "do it better or right".

The excesses of Jupiter are tempered and there is a willingness to admit to a Reality or Truth (the outer planets) much greater than oneself alone. As large as the Sun is, and it's fullest expression via its largest planet Jupiter, is is but one Sun in a Universe of infinite others, and the capacity to learn new truths, explore new lands, and expand beyond anything one previously thought IS indeed a possibility! The first step to humble self and be willing to learn, inquire, see more to life beyond limits of the individual ego and personality perspective(s).

Chiron the wounded healer is a bridge from the middle to outer planets... it indicates a need for total healing and transformation that one must go through as a result of experiences in the world (Jupiter & Saturn). It is the crisis point where one must face the inner wounded aspects of oneself to go further beyond, to see clearly and act intuitively. Chiron is the key to Uranian cosmic consciousness.

It is only at URANUS, after having endured and gone beyond Chiron's testing ground, that the insight to life is clear. It is here that we are truly objective, feel the four winds, tempering Jupiter with Saturn, enlivening (or enlightening) Saturn with Jupiter, knowing when to switch back and forth, sometimes in the mundane physical world of Saturn other times in the formless spiritual realm of Jupiter.

What Uranus reveals intuitively to each individual has to be personally experienced, yet it's Truth differs slightly from Jupiter in that the Cosmic Wisdom beyond what one already personally knows (via Jupiter) reveals a truth previously unknown, and which is most relevant to the present moment or matter at hand.

JDZ

Monday, June 15, 2009

Liberation

Liberation = Knowing and feeling THIS moment that everything I have ever said and thought, have done or failed to do, is already said and done... Meaning it is irrelevant with regard to "who I am" (or "what is") now, so I choose only to give relevance and continuity to that aspect of "my past" which is capable of creating the most good..... (to be continued)

The dream, the ideal and the vision, all are actual, here and now... there is no such dualistic reality as "realism vs idealism" as both are true only in their unity/integration and falsely deluding when viewed in isolation. No ideal outside of what is, and no concrete reality outside of the dreamy visionary realm of eternity..... (to be further continued)

When the primary motivation and aspiration of my life is no longer to be impressive, or admired as something exceptional and competitively victorious over others, it becomes a genuine pure desire for humility and sanity, good health, inner calm abiding and the peculiar form of enlightenment where ego and self importance are entirely abandoned and dissolved in favor of simple well being...

JDZ

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Wanting to Awaken

When it’s time to awaken, a longing for awakening arises from deep within us. This longing comes from Essence and spurs on our spiritual growth. However, it is often co-opted by the ego, which sees awakening as an opportunity to be special, to feel good, to finally get what it wants, or to escape life. When the desire to awaken is co-opted by the ego, the result is suffering, as with every other desire the ego has. To the ego, how we are and how life is right now never seems good enough. It seems flawed and lacking the ingredients for happiness. This is the ego’s constant state, a state of discontentment. People often suffer greatly over wanting to awaken, as they suffer over every other desire, because desire by its nature takes us out of the moment, where contentment—and awakeness—are possible, and into a dream of something better in the future, which creates an experience in this moment of lack and, therefore, discontentment.

It’s natural to want to escape this state of discontentment, and that drives us along the spiritual path toward awakening. Suffering does eventually wake everybody up. But what we may not realize when we are ego-identified is that our discontentment is caused by longing for something else—for spiritual awakening or whatever else is desired—not by the actual absence of anything. There’s so much to be grateful for right now, but the ego doesn’t see this. When we are able to acknowledge what we are grateful for about our current circumstances, we drop out of the ego and into Essence and experience contentment—awakeness.

The good news is that you don’t have to have a spiritual awakening to experience awakeness. If you want to experience what it’s like to be awakened, then just be here right now and not in your thoughts about now, about the past, about the future, or about what you want. Just be here right now. Do you want awakening enough to give up (i.e., ignore) your thoughts about yourself and your desires, which are just more thoughts? That’s all that is required, really. Do you want awakening enough to just be present in this moment?

The ego doesn’t want to be present in the moment, and it doesn’t want to give up thoughts about “me” because it would no longer exist, since it exists only as thoughts about “me.” The “you” that you think of yourself as and all the desires that go with that are just thoughts about “you.” What’s really alive and living this life is not a thought but a Being, while the thoughts about “you” are the self you pretend to be—a masterful, but false, disguise for this Being. When, for even a moment, you stop thinking this “you” into existence by being involved with stories and self-images of yourself and, instead, experience the Being that you are, you are awake. When you live from this place, it is said that you are awakened. But isn’t it wonderful that, in any moment, you can choose to experience awakeness by simply choosing to disregard and not identify with thoughts about yourself and with the desires of the ego.

The process of awakening is a process of learning to dis-identify with the egoic mind (i.e., the false self) and identify instead with the Being that you are, who is here right now and always has been—looking out of your eyes and breathing and moving your body. Who else would be doing these things? The “you” that you think you are stops existing as soon as you stop thinking, so how can that be who you are? The false self, or ego, comes and goes with thoughts about “me,” “my life,” and “what I want.” When you are involved with thoughts about “me,” then you exist as this “you,” and when you aren’t, then you exist as Beingness.

The process of awakening is facilitated by meditation because meditation trains you to detach from the egoic mind, or false self, and experience Being, or Essence. The more you meditate, the easier it becomes to detach from the egoic mind in your daily life and express your Being. So, do you want to awaken enough to make time to meditate? The ego doesn’t want to meditate, so you may have to overcome its resistance because, naturally, it doesn’t want to disappear, and that’s what happens in meditation.

The longing to awaken will motivate you to do things that support awakening. It will drive you to attend spiritual gatherings, read spiritual books, meditate, question, do healing work, be quiet, and just be. It is a force that will take you Home, but you have to listen to it. When you do, it feels fulfilling. The egoic mind, however, might tell you that you don’t have time for these things or that they aren’t enough or aren’t making a difference or are too difficult or that the teacher is flawed. It will try to interfere with the natural process of awakening. It’s good to be aware of how the ego tries to hinder this process, while at the same time enflaming your desire to awaken in a way that causes you to suffer.

You don’t have to suffer over awakening because everyone is waking up in exactly the way and at exactly the time that is best for him or her. And you especially don’t have to suffer when you realize that in this very moment you have the capacity to experience awakeness simply by choosing to be here now in the present moment without involvement in the story of “you.” Do you want to awaken enough to choose being awake in the moment to being lost in the dream of “you”?

Gina Lake
www.radicalhappiness.com
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Friday, June 12, 2009

Life is a Total Thing

"We may rationalize death. Seeing old age coming upon us—gradual senility, losing our memory, and so on—we may say, “Well, life is a process of birth, growth, and decay, and the ending of the physical mechanism is inevitable.” But that doesn’t bring deep understanding of what death is.Death must be something extraordinary, as life is. Life is a total thing. Sorrow, pain, anguish, joy, absurd idea, possession, envy, love, the aching misery of loneliness—all that is life. And to understand death, we must understand the whole of life, not take one fragment of it and live with that fragment, as most of us do. In the very understanding of life there is the understanding of death, because the two are not separate". Jiddu Krishnamurti The Collected Works vol XIII, p 185

**The above excerpt/paragraph is not to be simply accepted or agreed with unconditionally; rather it requires an experiential process of finding out for oneself. However it is most encouraging to think that by fully understanding what life (in "the light of day") really is, personally and trans-personally, one comes to know and understand, more clearly and with deep inner peace, what the other (mysterious & unknown reality) is.

J D Z