I wonder what we mean by attitude. Why do we want an attitude? What does attitude mean? Taking up a position, coming to a conclusion. I have an attitude about whatever it is, which means I have come to a conclusion after study, after examining, after planning, after probing into the question. I have come to this point, to this attitude, which means that very assumption of an attitude is resistance; therefore that in itself is violence.
We cannot have an attitude towards violence or hostility. That means you are interpreting it according to your particular conclusion, fancy, imagination, understanding. What we are saying is: is it possible to look at this hostility in oneself, this creating enmity in oneself, this violence, this brutality in oneself without any attitude, to see the fact as it is? The moment you have an attitude you are already prejudiced, you have taken a side and therefore you are not looking, you are not understanding that fact within yourself.
So, Sir, to look at oneself without an attitude, without any opinion, judgment, evaluation, is one of the most arduous tasks. In this looking there is clarity and it is that clarity which is not a conclusion, not an attitude, that dispels this total structure of brutality and hostility.
- Talks in Europe 1968 Amsterdam 5th Public Talk 22nd May 1968
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Surrendered Action
Positive Thinking, an ancient healing mental science, has become yet another modern western world escape from facing the real and the actual. A ripe example of Spiritual Materialism, this living within the same capitalistic acquisitive money dominated society, using psychic/mental powers for personal gain alone. The new age perspective is just another more avant garde take on evangelical gospel abundance preaching; and even more to the point, of the legendary invulnerable macho capitalist mentality.
Many years of ruthless unrestrained self-aggrandizing destruction to the very planet that sustains and gives us joy, the current economy collapsing, and the mental illness rate of those who are unable to live up to the present standard... self-condemnation and loathing just for having limits and negative thoughts, in other words, seeing, feeling and acknowledging this unkind highly imperfect world as it is. The consequence of all this negligent careless optimism, of thinking we can get away with anything we please and it will all be alright, is the current world situation of today. Where "The Secret" and other such ideas are concerned, there is really nothing more wasteful and destructive than thinking that the Earth's resources are inexhaustible.
In the end, using psychic powers for material gain is bound to create conflict and disharmony, if only in the sense of increasing the alienation and rampant consumerism of the present age. What you resist persists, so fighting negativity creates only greater inner conflict. The only positive attitude one needs is a total acceptance of the present moment, regardless of what goes on and how one is feeling. Yet in the acceptance of less than positive feelings that arise one learns to shine most affirmatively from within.
Surrendered Action is the willingness to let go of all plans, all self-centered motivations and desires, for the simple purpose of a wholehearted engagement with the present moment. Though plans and desires for fulfillment are not erased entirely, these remain in the background of consciousness, manifesting in good time as one becomes increasingly grateful for the wealth and abundance that already is. It is saying... I choose connection over separation, and the next action step is always the most essential and primary.
Joel
Many years of ruthless unrestrained self-aggrandizing destruction to the very planet that sustains and gives us joy, the current economy collapsing, and the mental illness rate of those who are unable to live up to the present standard... self-condemnation and loathing just for having limits and negative thoughts, in other words, seeing, feeling and acknowledging this unkind highly imperfect world as it is. The consequence of all this negligent careless optimism, of thinking we can get away with anything we please and it will all be alright, is the current world situation of today. Where "The Secret" and other such ideas are concerned, there is really nothing more wasteful and destructive than thinking that the Earth's resources are inexhaustible.
In the end, using psychic powers for material gain is bound to create conflict and disharmony, if only in the sense of increasing the alienation and rampant consumerism of the present age. What you resist persists, so fighting negativity creates only greater inner conflict. The only positive attitude one needs is a total acceptance of the present moment, regardless of what goes on and how one is feeling. Yet in the acceptance of less than positive feelings that arise one learns to shine most affirmatively from within.
Surrendered Action is the willingness to let go of all plans, all self-centered motivations and desires, for the simple purpose of a wholehearted engagement with the present moment. Though plans and desires for fulfillment are not erased entirely, these remain in the background of consciousness, manifesting in good time as one becomes increasingly grateful for the wealth and abundance that already is. It is saying... I choose connection over separation, and the next action step is always the most essential and primary.
Joel
Thursday, April 8, 2010
River of Life
I don’t know if on your walks you have noticed a long narrow pool beside the river. Some fishermen just have dug it, and it is not connected with the river. The river is flowing steadily, deep and wide, but this pool is heavy with scum because it is not connected with the life of the river, and there are no fish in it. It is a stagnant pool, and the deep river, full of life and vitality, flows swiftly along.
Now don’t you think human beings are like that? They dig a little pool for themselves away from the swift current of life, and in that little pool they stagnate, die; and this stagnation, this decay we call existence. That is we all want a state of permanency; we want certain desires to last forever, we want pleasures to have no end. We dig a little hole and barricade ourselves in it with our families, with our ambitions, our cultures, our fears, our gods, our various forms of worship, and there we die, letting life go by – that life which is permanent, constantly changing, which is so swift, which has such enormous depths, such extraordinary vitality and beauty.
Have you not noticed that if you sit quietly on the bank of the river you hear its song – the lapping of the water, the sound of the current going by? There is always a sense of movement, an extraordinary movement towards the wider and the deeper. But in the little pool there is no movement at all, its water is stagnant. And if you observe you will see that this is what most of us want: little stagnant pools of existence away from life. We say that our pool-existence is right and we have invented a philosophy to justify it; we have developed social, political, economic and religious theories in support of it, and we don’t want to be disturbed because, you see, what we are after is a sense of permanency.
Do you know what it means to seek permanency? It means wanting the pleasurable to continue indefinitely, and wanting that which is not pleasurable to end as quickly as possible. We want the name that we bear to be known and to continuous life in the stagnant pool; we don’t want any real changes there, so we have built a society which guarantees us the permanency of property, of name, of fame.
But you see, life is not like that at all, life is not permanent. Like the leaves that fall from a tree, all things are impermanent, nothing endures; there is always change and death. Have you ever noticed a tree standing naked against the sky, how beautiful it is: All its branches are outlined, and in it its nakedness there is a poem, there is a song. Every leaf is gone and it is waiting for the spring. When the spring comes it again fills the tree with the music of many leaves, which in due season fall and are blown away; and that is the way of life.
But we don’t want anything of that kind. We cling to our children, to our traditions, to our society, to our names and our little virtues, because we want permanency; and that is why we are afraid to die. We are afraid to lose the things we know. But life is not what we would like it to be; life is not permanent at all. Birds die, snow melts away, trees are cut down or destroyed by storms, and so on. But we want everything that gives us satisfaction to be permanent; we want our position, the authority we have over people, to endure. We refuse to accept life as it is in fact.
The fact is that life is like the river: Endlessly moving on, ever seeking, exploring, pushing, overflowing its banks, penetrating every crevice with its water. But, you see, the mind wont allow that to happen to itself. The mind sees that it is dangerous, risky to live in a state of impermanency , insecurity, so it builds a wall around itself: the wall of tradition, of organized religion, of political and social theories. Family, name, property, the little virtues that we have cultivated – these are all with the walls, away from life. Life is moving, impermanent, and it ceaselessly tries to penetrate, to break down these walls, behind which there is a confusion and misery. The gods within the walls are all false gods, and their writings and philosophies have no meaning because life is beyond them.
Now, a mind that has no walls, that is not burdened with it own acquisitions, accumulations, with its own knowledge, a mind that lives timelessly, insecurely – to such a mind, life is an extraordinary thing. Such a mind is life itself, because life has no resting place. But most of us want a resting place; we want a little house, a name, a position, and we say these things are very important. We demand permanency and create a culture based on this demand, inventing gods which are not gods at all but merely a projection of our own desires.
A mind seeking permanency soon stagnates; like that pool along the river, it is soon full of corruption, decay. Only the mind which has no walls, no foothold, no barrier, no resting place, which is moving completely with life, timelessly pushing on, exploring, exploding – only such a mind can be happy, eternally new, because it is creative in itself.
Then you won’t try to fulfill yourself through anything, seeing that the pursuit of fulfillment only invites sorrow and misery. That is why you should ask your teachers about all this and discuss it among yourselves. If you understand it, you will have begun to understand the extraordinary truth of what life is, and in that understanding there is great beauty and love, the flowering of goodness. But the efforts of a mind that is seeking a pool of security, of permanency, can only lead to darkness and corruption. Once established in the pool, such a mind is afraid to venture out, to seek, to explore; but truth, God, reality or what you will, lies beyond the pool.
Do you know what religion is? Religion is the feeling of goodness, that love which like the river, living, moving everlastingly. In that state you will find there comes a moment when there is no longer any search at all; and this ending of search is the beginning of something totally different. The search for God, for truth, the feeling of being completely good – not the cultivation of goodness, of humility, but the seeking out of something beyond the inventions and tricks of the mind, which means having a feeling for that something, living in it, being it – that is true religion.
But you can do that only when you leave the pool you have dug for yourself and go out into the river of life. Then life has an astonishing way of taking care of you, because then there is no taking care on your part. Life carries you where it will because you are part of itself; then there is no problem of security, of what people say or don’t say, and that is the beauty of life.
J.Krishnamurti on "The River of Life" (Think on these Things Ch. 17).
Now don’t you think human beings are like that? They dig a little pool for themselves away from the swift current of life, and in that little pool they stagnate, die; and this stagnation, this decay we call existence. That is we all want a state of permanency; we want certain desires to last forever, we want pleasures to have no end. We dig a little hole and barricade ourselves in it with our families, with our ambitions, our cultures, our fears, our gods, our various forms of worship, and there we die, letting life go by – that life which is permanent, constantly changing, which is so swift, which has such enormous depths, such extraordinary vitality and beauty.
Have you not noticed that if you sit quietly on the bank of the river you hear its song – the lapping of the water, the sound of the current going by? There is always a sense of movement, an extraordinary movement towards the wider and the deeper. But in the little pool there is no movement at all, its water is stagnant. And if you observe you will see that this is what most of us want: little stagnant pools of existence away from life. We say that our pool-existence is right and we have invented a philosophy to justify it; we have developed social, political, economic and religious theories in support of it, and we don’t want to be disturbed because, you see, what we are after is a sense of permanency.
Do you know what it means to seek permanency? It means wanting the pleasurable to continue indefinitely, and wanting that which is not pleasurable to end as quickly as possible. We want the name that we bear to be known and to continuous life in the stagnant pool; we don’t want any real changes there, so we have built a society which guarantees us the permanency of property, of name, of fame.
But you see, life is not like that at all, life is not permanent. Like the leaves that fall from a tree, all things are impermanent, nothing endures; there is always change and death. Have you ever noticed a tree standing naked against the sky, how beautiful it is: All its branches are outlined, and in it its nakedness there is a poem, there is a song. Every leaf is gone and it is waiting for the spring. When the spring comes it again fills the tree with the music of many leaves, which in due season fall and are blown away; and that is the way of life.
But we don’t want anything of that kind. We cling to our children, to our traditions, to our society, to our names and our little virtues, because we want permanency; and that is why we are afraid to die. We are afraid to lose the things we know. But life is not what we would like it to be; life is not permanent at all. Birds die, snow melts away, trees are cut down or destroyed by storms, and so on. But we want everything that gives us satisfaction to be permanent; we want our position, the authority we have over people, to endure. We refuse to accept life as it is in fact.
The fact is that life is like the river: Endlessly moving on, ever seeking, exploring, pushing, overflowing its banks, penetrating every crevice with its water. But, you see, the mind wont allow that to happen to itself. The mind sees that it is dangerous, risky to live in a state of impermanency , insecurity, so it builds a wall around itself: the wall of tradition, of organized religion, of political and social theories. Family, name, property, the little virtues that we have cultivated – these are all with the walls, away from life. Life is moving, impermanent, and it ceaselessly tries to penetrate, to break down these walls, behind which there is a confusion and misery. The gods within the walls are all false gods, and their writings and philosophies have no meaning because life is beyond them.
Now, a mind that has no walls, that is not burdened with it own acquisitions, accumulations, with its own knowledge, a mind that lives timelessly, insecurely – to such a mind, life is an extraordinary thing. Such a mind is life itself, because life has no resting place. But most of us want a resting place; we want a little house, a name, a position, and we say these things are very important. We demand permanency and create a culture based on this demand, inventing gods which are not gods at all but merely a projection of our own desires.
A mind seeking permanency soon stagnates; like that pool along the river, it is soon full of corruption, decay. Only the mind which has no walls, no foothold, no barrier, no resting place, which is moving completely with life, timelessly pushing on, exploring, exploding – only such a mind can be happy, eternally new, because it is creative in itself.
Then you won’t try to fulfill yourself through anything, seeing that the pursuit of fulfillment only invites sorrow and misery. That is why you should ask your teachers about all this and discuss it among yourselves. If you understand it, you will have begun to understand the extraordinary truth of what life is, and in that understanding there is great beauty and love, the flowering of goodness. But the efforts of a mind that is seeking a pool of security, of permanency, can only lead to darkness and corruption. Once established in the pool, such a mind is afraid to venture out, to seek, to explore; but truth, God, reality or what you will, lies beyond the pool.
Do you know what religion is? Religion is the feeling of goodness, that love which like the river, living, moving everlastingly. In that state you will find there comes a moment when there is no longer any search at all; and this ending of search is the beginning of something totally different. The search for God, for truth, the feeling of being completely good – not the cultivation of goodness, of humility, but the seeking out of something beyond the inventions and tricks of the mind, which means having a feeling for that something, living in it, being it – that is true religion.
But you can do that only when you leave the pool you have dug for yourself and go out into the river of life. Then life has an astonishing way of taking care of you, because then there is no taking care on your part. Life carries you where it will because you are part of itself; then there is no problem of security, of what people say or don’t say, and that is the beauty of life.
J.Krishnamurti on "The River of Life" (Think on these Things Ch. 17).
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The State of Negation
Krishnamurti: Religion is not separate from life; on the contrary it is life itself. It is this division between religion and life which has bred all the misery you are talking about. So we come back to the basic question of whether it is possible in daily life to live in a state which, for the moment, let us call enlightenment?
Questioner: I still don't know what you mean by enlightenment...
Krishnamurti: A state of negation. Negation is the most positive action, not positive assertion. This is a very important thing to understand. Most of us so easily accept positive dogma, a positive creed, because we want to be secure, to belong, to be attached, to depend. The positive attitude divides and brings about duality. The conflict then begins between this attitude and others. But the negation of all values, of all morality, of all beliefs, having no frontiers, cannot be in opposition to anything. A positive statement in its very definition separates, and separation is resistance. To this we are accustomed, this is our conditioning. To deny all this is not immoral; on the contrary to deny all division and resistance is the highest morality. To negate everything that man has invented, to negate all his values, ethics and gods, is to be in a state of mind in which there is no duality, therefore no resistance or conflict between opposites. In this state there are no opposites, and this state is not the opposite of something else.
Questioner: Then how do you know what is good and what is bad? Or is there no good and bad? What is to prevent me from crime or even murder? If I have no standards what is to prevent me from God knows what aberrations?
Krishnamurti: To deny all this is to deny oneself, and oneself is the conditioned entity who continually pursues a conditioned good. To most of us negation appears as a vacuum because we know activity only in the prison of our conditioning, fear and misery. From that we look at negation and imagine it to be some terrible state of oblivion or emptiness. To the man who has negated all the assertions of society, religion, culture and morality, the man who is still in the prison of social conformity is a man of sorrow. Negation is the state of enlightenment which functions in all the activities of a man who is free of the past. It is the past, with its tradition and its authority, that has to be negated. Negation is freedom, and it is the free man who lives, loves, and knows what it means to die.
-Freedom, Love and Action Eight Conversations
Questioner: I still don't know what you mean by enlightenment...
Krishnamurti: A state of negation. Negation is the most positive action, not positive assertion. This is a very important thing to understand. Most of us so easily accept positive dogma, a positive creed, because we want to be secure, to belong, to be attached, to depend. The positive attitude divides and brings about duality. The conflict then begins between this attitude and others. But the negation of all values, of all morality, of all beliefs, having no frontiers, cannot be in opposition to anything. A positive statement in its very definition separates, and separation is resistance. To this we are accustomed, this is our conditioning. To deny all this is not immoral; on the contrary to deny all division and resistance is the highest morality. To negate everything that man has invented, to negate all his values, ethics and gods, is to be in a state of mind in which there is no duality, therefore no resistance or conflict between opposites. In this state there are no opposites, and this state is not the opposite of something else.
Questioner: Then how do you know what is good and what is bad? Or is there no good and bad? What is to prevent me from crime or even murder? If I have no standards what is to prevent me from God knows what aberrations?
Krishnamurti: To deny all this is to deny oneself, and oneself is the conditioned entity who continually pursues a conditioned good. To most of us negation appears as a vacuum because we know activity only in the prison of our conditioning, fear and misery. From that we look at negation and imagine it to be some terrible state of oblivion or emptiness. To the man who has negated all the assertions of society, religion, culture and morality, the man who is still in the prison of social conformity is a man of sorrow. Negation is the state of enlightenment which functions in all the activities of a man who is free of the past. It is the past, with its tradition and its authority, that has to be negated. Negation is freedom, and it is the free man who lives, loves, and knows what it means to die.
-Freedom, Love and Action Eight Conversations
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Presence of Being
Where no self-clinging exists, no preference for pleasure over pain nor for winning over losing, no reminiscence of good old days now gone, nor for the unrestrained anticipation of days to come*, here is Presence. A common theme of "going with the flow" most would agree on, although even as the stream pushes up against many a boulder it still goes "with the flow". To express preference for anything other than what is, really goes "against the flow". To observe and confront life immediately, without choice or mental manipulation, is to go with and be "in the flow".
When the moving stream stops to form a little stagnant pool it is akin to us using the spiritual path as an escape and excuse to not face and go with what IS. The cocoon or sanctuary self-created, a resistance to the natural and joyous flow of creation, because reality has "become too hard" and one would rather hide out in a fantasy world of one's own. The only way past is through, to go beyond something means to be with it, giving total attention, not repressing or replacing the current reality view, with its pain sadness or depression, with something else more positive or pleasant. Distraction is what we do naturally and easily, it is not a way out or forward but only a quick fix (necessary at times for saving face or staying calm and cheerful at work).
Presence free from pleasure and pain, ideation and mental creations, yet at the root of them all. Seems that joy or pleasure through the senses and psyche flow freely when there's no preference for these over pain or hardship. The beauty of a setting sun is fleeting and transient, inner awareness alone remains always constant, assuming many diverse shapes colors and forms, dissolving and recreating endlessly...
Much of what we call pain or suffering is really just an addiction or attachment to pleasure and comparing the present with golden moments of the past; and/or always planning for or looking forward to pleasurable times ahead. "Living for the weekend and vacations", so to speak.
Beyond the Bliss Sheath is Pure Presence only, which is another way of saying Pure Peace & Positivity.
Joel
*Reminiscence (at times) is a part of immediate presence and being, as is having exciting future plans. The point is to not be stuck in the potential mind traps of memory and anticipation.. and sentimentally or nostalgically always wanting to repeat the experiences (actually just memories now) of the past.
When the moving stream stops to form a little stagnant pool it is akin to us using the spiritual path as an escape and excuse to not face and go with what IS. The cocoon or sanctuary self-created, a resistance to the natural and joyous flow of creation, because reality has "become too hard" and one would rather hide out in a fantasy world of one's own. The only way past is through, to go beyond something means to be with it, giving total attention, not repressing or replacing the current reality view, with its pain sadness or depression, with something else more positive or pleasant. Distraction is what we do naturally and easily, it is not a way out or forward but only a quick fix (necessary at times for saving face or staying calm and cheerful at work).
Presence free from pleasure and pain, ideation and mental creations, yet at the root of them all. Seems that joy or pleasure through the senses and psyche flow freely when there's no preference for these over pain or hardship. The beauty of a setting sun is fleeting and transient, inner awareness alone remains always constant, assuming many diverse shapes colors and forms, dissolving and recreating endlessly...
Much of what we call pain or suffering is really just an addiction or attachment to pleasure and comparing the present with golden moments of the past; and/or always planning for or looking forward to pleasurable times ahead. "Living for the weekend and vacations", so to speak.
Beyond the Bliss Sheath is Pure Presence only, which is another way of saying Pure Peace & Positivity.
Joel
*Reminiscence (at times) is a part of immediate presence and being, as is having exciting future plans. The point is to not be stuck in the potential mind traps of memory and anticipation.. and sentimentally or nostalgically always wanting to repeat the experiences (actually just memories now) of the past.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Simple Observation
Life is a very complex problem and you can't forget the complexity of it by saying 'I won't look at it'. One has to approach it extraordinarily simply, and no formula must be there, no ideology, no choice - mere observation.
- Talks in Europe 1967 -
To search after something is not to search; to seek truth is not to find it. We escape from ourselves through search, which is illusion; we try in every way to take flight from what we are. In ourselves we are so petty, so essentially nothing, and the worship of something greater than ourselves is as petty and stupid as we are. Identification with the great is still a projection of the small. The more is an extension of the less. The small in search of the large will find only what it is capable of finding. The escapes are many and various but the mind in escape is still fearful, narrow and ignorant. The understanding of escape is the freedom from what is. The what is can be understood only when the mind is no longer in search of an answer. The search for an answer is an escape from what is. This search is called by various names, one of which is devotion; but to understand what is, the mind must be silent. - Commentaries On Living Series II Chapter 10 Devotion And Worship
- Talks in Europe 1967 -
To search after something is not to search; to seek truth is not to find it. We escape from ourselves through search, which is illusion; we try in every way to take flight from what we are. In ourselves we are so petty, so essentially nothing, and the worship of something greater than ourselves is as petty and stupid as we are. Identification with the great is still a projection of the small. The more is an extension of the less. The small in search of the large will find only what it is capable of finding. The escapes are many and various but the mind in escape is still fearful, narrow and ignorant. The understanding of escape is the freedom from what is. The what is can be understood only when the mind is no longer in search of an answer. The search for an answer is an escape from what is. This search is called by various names, one of which is devotion; but to understand what is, the mind must be silent. - Commentaries On Living Series II Chapter 10 Devotion And Worship
Friday, April 2, 2010
Written Collage: Spring Musings
CLARITY - PERSPECTIVE - POSITIVITY
In adjusting the lens through which I look at certain things/people/situations and events, those seen as unpleasant or undesirable, suddenly it all becomes clear. It was only the distortion and fogging of the lenses that kept me confused and disillusioned for so long... I now make it a priority to clean and shine these regularly.
In a discussion w/ friends on facebook: It is true that a change of perspective works wonders, if truly one can get a solid and serene perspective on why things happen as they do. At work I can continue to look up on situations as part of that service to others (however difficult at times) which I agreed on, signed up for, and have made no effort as of yet to walk out on it. I can endure the painful emotions that come up just a marathon runner would endure that last mile... without complaining or becoming reactive.
The important point to realize here is not to blame either oneself or the environment, but to see the crises or conflicts that come up as the inner-outer karmic phenomena that it is, it originates from BOTH and from neither exclusively. The Inner is the Outer and vice versa... Truth and Falsehood rely entirely on the Unity versus Separation factor (respectively), of the inner self & outer world.
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WHOLEHEARTEDNESS - DEVOTION - COMMITMENT & PURPOSE
*Pure Devotion* transcends the time devoted to various interests and activities. A wholehearted involvement with the work at hand, without awareness of time passing. A love of something becomes so powerful that "finding the time for it" is not even an issue; this in contrast to all other acts performed out of necessity for survival.
Where survival and mundane concerns are concerned, for most of the world at least, there is an abundance of "I have to do this" in a poverty stricken world. Therefore, we try to devote as little time to this hard reality as humanly possible... we seek shortcuts or to win the lotto so that we never have to work again. This is not the case with PURE devotion, which means "I want to devote as much of my life as humanly possible to this person, thing, project, etc, that I love so dearly.
Subject: Do it now!
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and endless plans.
That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
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WORK - DISCIPLINE - PRACTICE & SERVICE
Everything is really simple but nothing worthwhile in life ever comes easy.. So many Americans equate the word 'work' with their crappy jobs or as something to be done out of duty alone. So far as I'm concerned, alongside relationships and friendships and learning about life (reading, writing, travel), *my work*, not my job or "duty to society", is the only thing worth living and struggling for. Wilhelm Reich said man has three fundamental needs, "Work, Love and Knowledge".
With regard to this present job at the public library, it is falls under the "right livelihood" category and is of service (however little) to the community; so the fact that I am overworked and underpaid is an opportunity for me to give back what has been given to me, especially in harder times. An opportunity to serve others, impersonally, is a part of the overall "work"... just not all of it! Also the will to survive and have basic comforts, yet this motive is only at the base of a man's working existence, for he lives for a much greater purpose than survival alone.
**Note: My Work and Practice are the concrete practical extensions of my Innermost Pure Devotion and Wholehearted sense of Purpose, of Joy & Love & Meaning.
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GRATITUDE - CONTENTMENT - ABUNDANCE & INNER PEACE
In spite of all the minor setbacks that do and will occur, I really could not be happier (or luckier) than I am right now... For this I am grateful, very fortunate and quite content. Because I have all that I need to live and the potential (or choice) to expand, to do and have more... I have learned in better moments to be happy with what I have, without need for outside comparisons and beyond all forms of measurement, be it material wealth or otherwise. This most **central desire and intention** is in fact already manifesting, in such a positive way that I need not have anything external "to show for it", content with the unfolding creative evolutionary process as is...
JDZ
In adjusting the lens through which I look at certain things/people/situations and events, those seen as unpleasant or undesirable, suddenly it all becomes clear. It was only the distortion and fogging of the lenses that kept me confused and disillusioned for so long... I now make it a priority to clean and shine these regularly.
In a discussion w/ friends on facebook: It is true that a change of perspective works wonders, if truly one can get a solid and serene perspective on why things happen as they do. At work I can continue to look up on situations as part of that service to others (however difficult at times) which I agreed on, signed up for, and have made no effort as of yet to walk out on it. I can endure the painful emotions that come up just a marathon runner would endure that last mile... without complaining or becoming reactive.
The important point to realize here is not to blame either oneself or the environment, but to see the crises or conflicts that come up as the inner-outer karmic phenomena that it is, it originates from BOTH and from neither exclusively. The Inner is the Outer and vice versa... Truth and Falsehood rely entirely on the Unity versus Separation factor (respectively), of the inner self & outer world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
WHOLEHEARTEDNESS - DEVOTION - COMMITMENT & PURPOSE
*Pure Devotion* transcends the time devoted to various interests and activities. A wholehearted involvement with the work at hand, without awareness of time passing. A love of something becomes so powerful that "finding the time for it" is not even an issue; this in contrast to all other acts performed out of necessity for survival.
Where survival and mundane concerns are concerned, for most of the world at least, there is an abundance of "I have to do this" in a poverty stricken world. Therefore, we try to devote as little time to this hard reality as humanly possible... we seek shortcuts or to win the lotto so that we never have to work again. This is not the case with PURE devotion, which means "I want to devote as much of my life as humanly possible to this person, thing, project, etc, that I love so dearly.
Subject: Do it now!
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and endless plans.
That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
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WORK - DISCIPLINE - PRACTICE & SERVICE
Everything is really simple but nothing worthwhile in life ever comes easy.. So many Americans equate the word 'work' with their crappy jobs or as something to be done out of duty alone. So far as I'm concerned, alongside relationships and friendships and learning about life (reading, writing, travel), *my work*, not my job or "duty to society", is the only thing worth living and struggling for. Wilhelm Reich said man has three fundamental needs, "Work, Love and Knowledge".
With regard to this present job at the public library, it is falls under the "right livelihood" category and is of service (however little) to the community; so the fact that I am overworked and underpaid is an opportunity for me to give back what has been given to me, especially in harder times. An opportunity to serve others, impersonally, is a part of the overall "work"... just not all of it! Also the will to survive and have basic comforts, yet this motive is only at the base of a man's working existence, for he lives for a much greater purpose than survival alone.
**Note: My Work and Practice are the concrete practical extensions of my Innermost Pure Devotion and Wholehearted sense of Purpose, of Joy & Love & Meaning.
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GRATITUDE - CONTENTMENT - ABUNDANCE & INNER PEACE
In spite of all the minor setbacks that do and will occur, I really could not be happier (or luckier) than I am right now... For this I am grateful, very fortunate and quite content. Because I have all that I need to live and the potential (or choice) to expand, to do and have more... I have learned in better moments to be happy with what I have, without need for outside comparisons and beyond all forms of measurement, be it material wealth or otherwise. This most **central desire and intention** is in fact already manifesting, in such a positive way that I need not have anything external "to show for it", content with the unfolding creative evolutionary process as is...
JDZ
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