There is a distinction between intellect and intelligence. Intellect is thought functioning independently of emotion, whereas intelligence is the capacity to feel as well as to reason; and until we approach life with intelligence, instead of intellect alone, or with emotion alone, no political or educational system in the world can save us from the toils of chaos and destruction.Knowledge is not comparable with intelligence, knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not marketable, it is not a merchandise that can be bought with the price of learning or discipline. Wisdom cannot be found in books; it cannot be accumulated, memorized or stored up. Wisdom comes with the abnegation of the self. To have an open mind is more important than learning; and we can have an open mind, not by cramming it full of information but by being aware of our own thoughts and feelings, by carefully observing ourselves and the influences about us, by listening to others, by watching the rich and the poor, the powerful and the lowly. Wisdom does not come through fear and oppression, but through the observation and understanding of everyday incidents in human relationship.
Education and the Significance of Life, pp 65-66
In our search for knowledge, in our acquisitive desires, we are losing love, we are blunting the feeling for beauty, the sensitivity to cruelty; we are becoming more and more specialized and less and less integrated. Wisdom cannot be replaced by knowledge, and no amount of explanation, no accumulation of facts will free man from suffering. Knowledge is necessary, science has its place; but if the mind and heart are suffocated by knowledge, and if the cause of suffering is explained away, life becomes vain and meaningless. And is this not what is happening to most of us? Our education is making us more and more shallow; it is not helping us to uncover the deeper layers of our being, and our lives are increasingly disharmonious and empty.Information, the knowledge of facts, though ever increasing, is by its very nature limited. Wisdom is infinite, it includes knowledge and the way of action; but we take hold of a branch and think it is the whole tree. Through the knowledge of the part, we can never realize the joy of the whole. Intellect can never lead to the whole, for it is only a segment, a part.
Education and the Significance of Life, p 66
J.Krishnamurti
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Love That Will Not Die
*I find this warrior approach to be the counterbalance to our western ways which can be one-sided in the self-empowering extroverted attitude toward life and spirituality. On the other hand, to quote Wayne Dyer "we cannot shame or impoverish ourselves enough to rescue others from their lot", and one must be in a strong position and condition to be most of service... to oneself, intimate others and society at large.
Jdz
"Spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of a mountain. We leave our attachments and our worldliness behind an slowly make our way to the top. At the peak we have transcended all pain. The only problem with this metaphor is that we leave all others behind. Their suffering continues, unrelieved by our personal escape.
On the journey of the warrior-bodhisattva, the path goes down, not up, as if the mountain pointed toward the earth instead of the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward turbulence and doubt however we can. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain , and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of bodhicitta. Bodhichitta is our heart -- our wounded, softened heart. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die. This love is bodhichitta. It is gentle and warm; it is clear and sharp; it is open and spacious. The awakened heart of bodhichitta is the basic goodness of all beings".
Pema Chodron ~ "Comfortable with Uncertainty" (chapter 1, pages 1-2)
Jdz
"Spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of a mountain. We leave our attachments and our worldliness behind an slowly make our way to the top. At the peak we have transcended all pain. The only problem with this metaphor is that we leave all others behind. Their suffering continues, unrelieved by our personal escape.
On the journey of the warrior-bodhisattva, the path goes down, not up, as if the mountain pointed toward the earth instead of the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward turbulence and doubt however we can. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain , and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of bodhicitta. Bodhichitta is our heart -- our wounded, softened heart. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die. This love is bodhichitta. It is gentle and warm; it is clear and sharp; it is open and spacious. The awakened heart of bodhichitta is the basic goodness of all beings".
Pema Chodron ~ "Comfortable with Uncertainty" (chapter 1, pages 1-2)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Thinking About Self Doesn't Serve
THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF DOESN’T SERVE
Have you ever noticed how useless your thoughts about yourself are? Many of them are an attempt to define you as this or that: I like this, not that; I want this, not that; I feel this, not that; I believe this, not that. Thoughts about yourself define yourself—at least for the moment, since they are often changing: Sometimes you like or want or feel or believe something, and sometimes you like or want or feel or believe something else. Your sense of self changes with thoughts about yourself. You create your sense of self through thoughts about yourself, but this sense of self is always changing. It isn’t stable or consistent. Moreover, it’s made up: One day, you define and imagine yourself one way, and another day, you define and imagine yourself another way.
Do you need thoughts about yourself to exist or to function? You obviously don’t need them to exist because you still exist even when you are not thinking about yourself and when you are asleep. Do you need thoughts about yourself to function? It’s a little trickier to see that you don’t need these thoughts to function either, but if you look closely at this, you discover that many of your actions are spontaneous and do not stem from a thought first. In fact, a lot of thoughts are thoughts about action that has already taken place (the past) and thoughts about actions that have yet to take place or may never (the future), none of which are relevant to now. The rest are primarily thoughts that accompany your actions, that evaluate what you’re doing, remind you of what to do next, complain about it, argue about how to do it, and any number of other thoughts.
Do you need these thoughts to accomplish what needs to be done? They often make you less efficient because you are less present to what you are doing, or hinder or complicate rather than facilitate what you’re doing. They may cause you to doubt yourself as you’re doing something or question why you are doing it or give you pros and cons to doing it that can confuse you. When you really begin to notice what’s going on, you see that thoughts about yourself, including what you should or should not do and when and how, are not necessary and are, in fact, often problematic.
Thoughts about yourself create the false self, and you don’t need the false self to function, although you are programmed to believe you are the false self and that these thoughts are necessary to function. You are programmed to believe a lie! What an amazing thing this is! That is why this world is called an “Illusion” by those who see through this Illusion. The illusion is that you are this self and your thoughts are true and helpful. The Illusion leads you to believe that the false self is what is living your life, when in fact, what is living your life is responsible for creating everything, including the illusion that you are who you think you are. The key to seeing through the Illusion is noticing your thoughts and how inconsistent, untrue, useless—and negative—they actually are. You use the capacity to be aware of your thoughts to free yourself from the illusion that they are true.
Seeing that thinking about yourself doesn’t serve is a crucial step in seeing through this Illusion because that is all the false self is—thoughts about itself. Once you start ignoring your thoughts about yourself, that is, once you stop thinking about yourself, you discover that you never needed these thoughts and that they only take you away from what is true and real—the experience of your real Self living in this moment and moving spontaneously and naturally through life. You never needed any of these thoughts about yourself. You have always been living this life in spite of these thoughts. This that you are has allowed you to believe the Illusion while it has continued to be alive through you and move you in its own way through life. There comes a point in everyone’s evolution when it is time to wake up from this Illusion and experience the truth of who you are. This must be the time for you.
Gina Lake
www.radicalhappiness.com
Have you ever noticed how useless your thoughts about yourself are? Many of them are an attempt to define you as this or that: I like this, not that; I want this, not that; I feel this, not that; I believe this, not that. Thoughts about yourself define yourself—at least for the moment, since they are often changing: Sometimes you like or want or feel or believe something, and sometimes you like or want or feel or believe something else. Your sense of self changes with thoughts about yourself. You create your sense of self through thoughts about yourself, but this sense of self is always changing. It isn’t stable or consistent. Moreover, it’s made up: One day, you define and imagine yourself one way, and another day, you define and imagine yourself another way.
Do you need thoughts about yourself to exist or to function? You obviously don’t need them to exist because you still exist even when you are not thinking about yourself and when you are asleep. Do you need thoughts about yourself to function? It’s a little trickier to see that you don’t need these thoughts to function either, but if you look closely at this, you discover that many of your actions are spontaneous and do not stem from a thought first. In fact, a lot of thoughts are thoughts about action that has already taken place (the past) and thoughts about actions that have yet to take place or may never (the future), none of which are relevant to now. The rest are primarily thoughts that accompany your actions, that evaluate what you’re doing, remind you of what to do next, complain about it, argue about how to do it, and any number of other thoughts.
Do you need these thoughts to accomplish what needs to be done? They often make you less efficient because you are less present to what you are doing, or hinder or complicate rather than facilitate what you’re doing. They may cause you to doubt yourself as you’re doing something or question why you are doing it or give you pros and cons to doing it that can confuse you. When you really begin to notice what’s going on, you see that thoughts about yourself, including what you should or should not do and when and how, are not necessary and are, in fact, often problematic.
Thoughts about yourself create the false self, and you don’t need the false self to function, although you are programmed to believe you are the false self and that these thoughts are necessary to function. You are programmed to believe a lie! What an amazing thing this is! That is why this world is called an “Illusion” by those who see through this Illusion. The illusion is that you are this self and your thoughts are true and helpful. The Illusion leads you to believe that the false self is what is living your life, when in fact, what is living your life is responsible for creating everything, including the illusion that you are who you think you are. The key to seeing through the Illusion is noticing your thoughts and how inconsistent, untrue, useless—and negative—they actually are. You use the capacity to be aware of your thoughts to free yourself from the illusion that they are true.
Seeing that thinking about yourself doesn’t serve is a crucial step in seeing through this Illusion because that is all the false self is—thoughts about itself. Once you start ignoring your thoughts about yourself, that is, once you stop thinking about yourself, you discover that you never needed these thoughts and that they only take you away from what is true and real—the experience of your real Self living in this moment and moving spontaneously and naturally through life. You never needed any of these thoughts about yourself. You have always been living this life in spite of these thoughts. This that you are has allowed you to believe the Illusion while it has continued to be alive through you and move you in its own way through life. There comes a point in everyone’s evolution when it is time to wake up from this Illusion and experience the truth of who you are. This must be the time for you.
Gina Lake
www.radicalhappiness.com
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Clear Seeing & One-Pointed Attention
I SEE therefore I AM and WILL think/feel/do in alignment with pure seeing and being...
Seeing is Direct Knowing & Feeling, or the Essence of Being (potential energy)
Being (kinetic energy) is Vitality, Thinking & Feeling, Doing & Becoming
Doing is Having... which is the fulfillment of Being, Feeling and Seeing... Read More
...and so it goes in a continuous and regular (yet ever changing) cycle of evolution and self-unfolding...
Beliefs and ideals are just confounding mental clutter, escapist, abstract and unnecessary. Clear seeing and direct attention is all one need be mindful of because only with this very REAL foundation can God (Love) be known...
From this foundation I can say that in the light of clear seeing, that which I once thought to be ideal is in fact REAL, here and now...
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson
JDZ
Seeing is Direct Knowing & Feeling, or the Essence of Being (potential energy)
Being (kinetic energy) is Vitality, Thinking & Feeling, Doing & Becoming
Doing is Having... which is the fulfillment of Being, Feeling and Seeing... Read More
...and so it goes in a continuous and regular (yet ever changing) cycle of evolution and self-unfolding...
Beliefs and ideals are just confounding mental clutter, escapist, abstract and unnecessary. Clear seeing and direct attention is all one need be mindful of because only with this very REAL foundation can God (Love) be known...
From this foundation I can say that in the light of clear seeing, that which I once thought to be ideal is in fact REAL, here and now...
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson
JDZ
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Time is like a river flowing endlessly
Time is like a river flowing endlessly, but man has broken it up into three parts: the past, the present, and the future. The past is heavily burdened, and the future he does not know. Giving significance to life, a life that has no meaning, no purpose, no beauty, he says, “Let me live in the present.” He invents a philosophy of life of the present. But to live in the present, man must understand the past and the future. It’s a movement; you can’t take this river and say, “ I live just there.” It’s like a river that is flowing, and in this stream of time man is caught. Unless there is an end to time, there is no ending to sorrow.
Every human being is caught in time. I am not talking about time by the watch, chronological time which does influence thought, but of time at a different level, time as a movement of the infinite past, moving through the present to some future. As long as I am caught in that, there is no end to sorrow. I say to myself, “I’ll be happy tomorrow; I’ll escape from my present misery, my deep inner psychological disturbance which brings about sorrow. I’ll gradually get over it, forget it, rationalize it, escape from it or invent some future hope.” But to end suffering I must understand time. Time must come to an end, because thought has created sorrow, thought is time, thought has said, “I’m lonely; I’m of incapable of functioning; I’m not loved; my ambition, my capacity is not fulfilling itself. I must have time to do this, and time to achieve, to become, to change.”
J K The Collected Works vol XVI, pp 141-142
Every human being is caught in time. I am not talking about time by the watch, chronological time which does influence thought, but of time at a different level, time as a movement of the infinite past, moving through the present to some future. As long as I am caught in that, there is no end to sorrow. I say to myself, “I’ll be happy tomorrow; I’ll escape from my present misery, my deep inner psychological disturbance which brings about sorrow. I’ll gradually get over it, forget it, rationalize it, escape from it or invent some future hope.” But to end suffering I must understand time. Time must come to an end, because thought has created sorrow, thought is time, thought has said, “I’m lonely; I’m of incapable of functioning; I’m not loved; my ambition, my capacity is not fulfilling itself. I must have time to do this, and time to achieve, to become, to change.”
J K The Collected Works vol XVI, pp 141-142
Sunday, August 2, 2009
One Part Fire, Another Part Earth
*Some Facebook Quotations addressing Idealism and Realism, Abhyasa and Vairagya...
Life is one part Fire another part Earth, one part courage another part pragmatism, one part idealism another part realism, one part creation another implementation, one part Spirit another part Matter, one part expansion another part confinement, one part eternally living another part eternally dying, one part visionary another part observational, one part self-affirming another part ego denying...
Constant Awareness minus self-consciousness equals eternity and immortality...
There is an escape, a truth and a salvation which cannot be found in the dogmatic idealism of any church or religious beliefs about any kind of afterlife... It is presence, pure and simple, a willingness to live and be...
Love is "immersion into the creative process, wholeheartedly"... or so I believe!
Made the decision that there is no death, no absolute ending, just like the false notion of brain cells dying and not reproducing, this a myth and propaganda they try to scare and dis-empower us with... There is only LIFE and an infinite span of time, potential and resources. Death and limitation are the two biggest lies of all, because people don't understand what they mean... MORE LIFE!!
Life is one big long ass neverending party... The main objective is to keep dancing, keep creating and always hold you head high...
In search of the master key, first sentence reads.... "Thought is energy. Active thought is active energy; concentrated thought is concentrated energy. Thought that is concentrated on a definite purpose becomes power".
The inner storm has passed after having washed away the poisons that were temporarily lodged in me... anger/pride, greed/desire and delusion. Many thanks to friends here who've helped me regain a clearer more balanced perspective, in response to recent rants. Been finding out over the years that acting dumb is a better learning experience than acting as though I have all the answers...
"Live from your Heart, you will be most effective"... I believe the secret is in allowing all things to be, whether mind approves or disapproves. You cannot get over something self-destructive (yet pleasurable) by repressing it with ideas of right/wrong. If for example, you have trouble with drinking or overeating then to indulge yourself to the point of illness, until YOU SEE WHY this is not your true heart's desire"
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson
JDZ
Life is one part Fire another part Earth, one part courage another part pragmatism, one part idealism another part realism, one part creation another implementation, one part Spirit another part Matter, one part expansion another part confinement, one part eternally living another part eternally dying, one part visionary another part observational, one part self-affirming another part ego denying...
Constant Awareness minus self-consciousness equals eternity and immortality...
There is an escape, a truth and a salvation which cannot be found in the dogmatic idealism of any church or religious beliefs about any kind of afterlife... It is presence, pure and simple, a willingness to live and be...
Love is "immersion into the creative process, wholeheartedly"... or so I believe!
Made the decision that there is no death, no absolute ending, just like the false notion of brain cells dying and not reproducing, this a myth and propaganda they try to scare and dis-empower us with... There is only LIFE and an infinite span of time, potential and resources. Death and limitation are the two biggest lies of all, because people don't understand what they mean... MORE LIFE!!
Life is one big long ass neverending party... The main objective is to keep dancing, keep creating and always hold you head high...
In search of the master key, first sentence reads.... "Thought is energy. Active thought is active energy; concentrated thought is concentrated energy. Thought that is concentrated on a definite purpose becomes power".
The inner storm has passed after having washed away the poisons that were temporarily lodged in me... anger/pride, greed/desire and delusion. Many thanks to friends here who've helped me regain a clearer more balanced perspective, in response to recent rants. Been finding out over the years that acting dumb is a better learning experience than acting as though I have all the answers...
"Live from your Heart, you will be most effective"... I believe the secret is in allowing all things to be, whether mind approves or disapproves. You cannot get over something self-destructive (yet pleasurable) by repressing it with ideas of right/wrong. If for example, you have trouble with drinking or overeating then to indulge yourself to the point of illness, until YOU SEE WHY this is not your true heart's desire"
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson
JDZ
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Keeping up to Speed
You've got to stay up to speed with the leading edge creator that you are... Do you know that when you get out here in this new place and you conclude some new desire do you know that the heavens part and All That Is flows toward that new leading edge place and that once that happens, do you know that you're not ever going to be happy again unless you get up to speed with it? And do you know why that is?
Because we are all IMMEDIATELY up to speed with it. You carved the path, Source rushed in and you cannot bear to be left behind.
Ohhhh... that is so big. To manage your energy you've got to stay up to speed with the leading edge creator that you are. You cannot go back. There is no going back. You cannot be less than you've become. Once the desire has hatched you've got to get up to speed with it. [Sigh] We could leave it there for the rest of eternity.
- Abraham-Hicks –
Because we are all IMMEDIATELY up to speed with it. You carved the path, Source rushed in and you cannot bear to be left behind.
Ohhhh... that is so big. To manage your energy you've got to stay up to speed with the leading edge creator that you are. You cannot go back. There is no going back. You cannot be less than you've become. Once the desire has hatched you've got to get up to speed with it. [Sigh] We could leave it there for the rest of eternity.
- Abraham-Hicks –
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