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34 posters
The Chalice of Wisdom - Part 1
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Being Misunderstood
by JAREK CZECHOWICZ
Sadness, confusion, and even conflict can arise when you discover that much of what you believe has been distorted, misrepresented, or misunderstood by another person. However being misunderstood can actually be a great blessing, and if you look beyond the initial burden the problem brings then you might see a doorway to awakening.
To retain your sense of individuality, to even exist, there have to be many differences between you and everyone else, and all other things. Full and complete understanding requires you to give up your sense of personal identity, and there are very few people, if any, who are prepared to do that. You might say that misunderstanding is part of the price you must pay for having a sense of individuality.
My definition of individual is: indivi – dual, the indivisible-duality.
As long as you think that you are separate from others then you will have agreement and disagreement, understanding and misunderstanding, and you will look for ways to explain and clarify what you mean. Remember times you’ve said, things you didn’t mean to say, didn’t want to say, or regret saying. Whether you intended saying it or not, it happened. It just came out. Normally that’s seen as a mistake, an error, or as signifying something else, like a Freudian slip. However it actually reveals reality manifesting quite independently of how we think it should be.
Relationships provide a perfect setting to become aware of how indivisible-duality presents itself as the individual. Two people can be going along just perfectly in a relationship until something goes wrong. They suddenly discover that they don’t share the same understanding, which can lead to unnecessary conflict. What arises is reality, whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not. Life seems to be a combination of what you think should happen and what really happens, and sometimes the two coincide to suit the individual or the couple.
As an individual you are often divided against yourself, for example when you don’t know what to do, or how to decide, or when you criticise and congratulate yourself. At the same time you are the indivisible-duality, and you can know that whenever you’re not thinking. There are many times when you’re not thinking but the mind tends not to notice or remember them.
From the space or state of non-thinking you can notice more easily the very things that understanding tries but fails to fully accomplish. Both thinking and non-thinking arise in a state of pure awareness or pure consciousness. Do you know that you exist? If the answer is yes, then you are in that pure state. You became more aware of it for at least the split second that you stopped thinking as you checked to see if you exist. It is in this pure and natural state that you are the indivisible-duality manifesting as the individual, and so are your partners, friends, and enemies.
If your sense of individual identity is threatened, and you are unaware of indivisible-duality, then each misunderstanding holds the potential for conflict. If you are aware that your partners, and your potential enemies, are also the indivisible-duality, then the possibility of misunderstanding is diminished. And there’s no possibility of misunderstanding turning into conflict when both sides are aware of their true nature.
Next time you seek to understand or to be understood, see if you can sense yourself as part of the other and the other as part of you. You might see that there is only one indivisible-duality manifesting as two. The understanding you want from another person cannot be found in them, it is actually found in knowing your true nature, which is also their true nature, and the source of love.
Peace
Jarek Czechowicz
Love Always
mudra
by JAREK CZECHOWICZ
Sadness, confusion, and even conflict can arise when you discover that much of what you believe has been distorted, misrepresented, or misunderstood by another person. However being misunderstood can actually be a great blessing, and if you look beyond the initial burden the problem brings then you might see a doorway to awakening.
To retain your sense of individuality, to even exist, there have to be many differences between you and everyone else, and all other things. Full and complete understanding requires you to give up your sense of personal identity, and there are very few people, if any, who are prepared to do that. You might say that misunderstanding is part of the price you must pay for having a sense of individuality.
My definition of individual is: indivi – dual, the indivisible-duality.
As long as you think that you are separate from others then you will have agreement and disagreement, understanding and misunderstanding, and you will look for ways to explain and clarify what you mean. Remember times you’ve said, things you didn’t mean to say, didn’t want to say, or regret saying. Whether you intended saying it or not, it happened. It just came out. Normally that’s seen as a mistake, an error, or as signifying something else, like a Freudian slip. However it actually reveals reality manifesting quite independently of how we think it should be.
Relationships provide a perfect setting to become aware of how indivisible-duality presents itself as the individual. Two people can be going along just perfectly in a relationship until something goes wrong. They suddenly discover that they don’t share the same understanding, which can lead to unnecessary conflict. What arises is reality, whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not. Life seems to be a combination of what you think should happen and what really happens, and sometimes the two coincide to suit the individual or the couple.
As an individual you are often divided against yourself, for example when you don’t know what to do, or how to decide, or when you criticise and congratulate yourself. At the same time you are the indivisible-duality, and you can know that whenever you’re not thinking. There are many times when you’re not thinking but the mind tends not to notice or remember them.
From the space or state of non-thinking you can notice more easily the very things that understanding tries but fails to fully accomplish. Both thinking and non-thinking arise in a state of pure awareness or pure consciousness. Do you know that you exist? If the answer is yes, then you are in that pure state. You became more aware of it for at least the split second that you stopped thinking as you checked to see if you exist. It is in this pure and natural state that you are the indivisible-duality manifesting as the individual, and so are your partners, friends, and enemies.
If your sense of individual identity is threatened, and you are unaware of indivisible-duality, then each misunderstanding holds the potential for conflict. If you are aware that your partners, and your potential enemies, are also the indivisible-duality, then the possibility of misunderstanding is diminished. And there’s no possibility of misunderstanding turning into conflict when both sides are aware of their true nature.
Next time you seek to understand or to be understood, see if you can sense yourself as part of the other and the other as part of you. You might see that there is only one indivisible-duality manifesting as two. The understanding you want from another person cannot be found in them, it is actually found in knowing your true nature, which is also their true nature, and the source of love.
Peace
Jarek Czechowicz
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.”
- Paulo Coehlo
Love Always
mudra
- Paulo Coehlo
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Q4: "Is our True Self Changeless Awareness?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79BaY4FZ8_4
Love Always
mudra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79BaY4FZ8_4
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Divine Suicide: How to Bring Light to a Friend in Crisis or Breakdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYYSR3Qni8o
Love Always
mudra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYYSR3Qni8o
Love Always
mudra
Brook- Posts : 3469
Join date : 2010-08-21
Age : 71
"In the essence of universal love, there are no boundaries attached to it, and it cares little how others think of it. Some resent and hate it because they don't get it. Some doubt it because they have doubts about themselves. Some embrace it because they understand it, and know it was them who need to be humble, and compassionate for love to enter their being. True love, knows no boundaries."
~
Anthony Velone
(just one who cares enough to say so)
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Thank You Brook.Brook wrote:
"In the essence of universal love, there are no boundaries attached to it, and it cares little how others think of it. Some resent and hate it because they don't get it. Some doubt it because they have doubts about themselves. Some embrace it because they understand it, and know it was them who need to be humble, and compassionate for love to enter their being. True love, knows no boundaries."
~
Anthony Velone
(just one who cares enough to say so)
So true .
Love for You
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
Sanicle- Posts : 2228
Join date : 2011-02-28
Location : Melbourne, Australia
Yes, yes, yes.....and on more than just this level. 
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE
by Jeff Foster
In my short life, I have known the passing of myriad states, experiences, belief systems, identities, conceptual fixations. I have identified with many roles, all of which, at one time or another, I mistook for who I really am, losing my sense of humour, humility, and ultimately my humanity, in the process.
I have been the suicidal depressive, the lost soul seeking answers to my never-ending questions, the seeker of a future spiritual enlightenment, the chaser of states of bliss, confusing experiences for the ground of experience itself. I have been the excited one, the blissed-out visionary, the ecstatic one, the exhausted one, the homesick one, the one in absolute despair, sometimes all at the same time. I have been the enlightened guru, imagining that it was my job to awaken the un-awakened, remove the pain of others, knock sense into the ignorant world, save humanity from itself. I have imagined that the answers were mine, that the questions were 'theirs', that I was 'finished' in some way, and 'they' were still works-in-progress. I have been the angry anti-guru, criticizing gurus and their spiritual paths and teachings, secretly at war with the dreams of others, not realizing that the anti-guru is the biggest guru of all, and the 'non-role' is the heaviest role, and it was only my dream that others' dreams were somehow wrong for them.
I have been a numb, lifeless, detached, transcendent non-entity, an 'ego-free being', subtly putting down others for 'still having a self' or 'still being a person' or simply 'not getting it yet'. I have been 'pure awareness', not a person at all, dryly lecturing others about 'pure awareness' in a lifeless, impersonal, detached way, devoid of any kind of heart connection. I couldn't see that even this was yet another identification - the 'pure non-person'. The subtle works of the ego!
I have known the passing of all of these roles, these states, these beautiful fragments of the tapestry of life, none of which can begin to define the vastness or timelessness of the Presence that I am, that you are, that we all are beyond our mind-created roles. Yet I do not reject the fragments, nor cling to them - they are all intimately known, familiar visitors, deserving of love, not rejection. But all these identities have at one time or another separated 'me' from 'you', separated the 'one over here' from the 'one over there', divided teacher from student, guru from disciple, lover from the beloved, expert from novice, and healer from the healed, when in fact, these divisions never happened, ontologically-speaking. I am what you are. And so, in the end, as in the beginning, I can only meet you as a friend, as a profound equal, a fellow wave in the vast ocean of life, and remind you of what you already know in your heart of hearts - that we are oceanic. This is poetry, not a fixed, regurgitated teaching or history lesson. This is music, not a dry lecture about something called consciousness. This is dance, not logic - an alive silence - and even as these words are being typed, I know that none of them are true, but all of them are alive, and that's what really matters.
I'm not saying "I used to be identified with all these things, but now I'm totally clear and non-identified". Do you see, that's the old enlightenment myth rearing its beautiful head? The image of "the finished one" - another beautiful cosmic joke! I'm saying, there is no such thing as "finished" at all, here in the vastness of you, for who would provide the reference point, and who would actually care?
Only the mind deals in beginnings and endings, finished or unfinished. Life is too fresh for time.
Be what you are. Indefinable, undefined, open.
Love Always
mudra
by Jeff Foster
In my short life, I have known the passing of myriad states, experiences, belief systems, identities, conceptual fixations. I have identified with many roles, all of which, at one time or another, I mistook for who I really am, losing my sense of humour, humility, and ultimately my humanity, in the process.
I have been the suicidal depressive, the lost soul seeking answers to my never-ending questions, the seeker of a future spiritual enlightenment, the chaser of states of bliss, confusing experiences for the ground of experience itself. I have been the excited one, the blissed-out visionary, the ecstatic one, the exhausted one, the homesick one, the one in absolute despair, sometimes all at the same time. I have been the enlightened guru, imagining that it was my job to awaken the un-awakened, remove the pain of others, knock sense into the ignorant world, save humanity from itself. I have imagined that the answers were mine, that the questions were 'theirs', that I was 'finished' in some way, and 'they' were still works-in-progress. I have been the angry anti-guru, criticizing gurus and their spiritual paths and teachings, secretly at war with the dreams of others, not realizing that the anti-guru is the biggest guru of all, and the 'non-role' is the heaviest role, and it was only my dream that others' dreams were somehow wrong for them.
I have been a numb, lifeless, detached, transcendent non-entity, an 'ego-free being', subtly putting down others for 'still having a self' or 'still being a person' or simply 'not getting it yet'. I have been 'pure awareness', not a person at all, dryly lecturing others about 'pure awareness' in a lifeless, impersonal, detached way, devoid of any kind of heart connection. I couldn't see that even this was yet another identification - the 'pure non-person'. The subtle works of the ego!
I have known the passing of all of these roles, these states, these beautiful fragments of the tapestry of life, none of which can begin to define the vastness or timelessness of the Presence that I am, that you are, that we all are beyond our mind-created roles. Yet I do not reject the fragments, nor cling to them - they are all intimately known, familiar visitors, deserving of love, not rejection. But all these identities have at one time or another separated 'me' from 'you', separated the 'one over here' from the 'one over there', divided teacher from student, guru from disciple, lover from the beloved, expert from novice, and healer from the healed, when in fact, these divisions never happened, ontologically-speaking. I am what you are. And so, in the end, as in the beginning, I can only meet you as a friend, as a profound equal, a fellow wave in the vast ocean of life, and remind you of what you already know in your heart of hearts - that we are oceanic. This is poetry, not a fixed, regurgitated teaching or history lesson. This is music, not a dry lecture about something called consciousness. This is dance, not logic - an alive silence - and even as these words are being typed, I know that none of them are true, but all of them are alive, and that's what really matters.
I'm not saying "I used to be identified with all these things, but now I'm totally clear and non-identified". Do you see, that's the old enlightenment myth rearing its beautiful head? The image of "the finished one" - another beautiful cosmic joke! I'm saying, there is no such thing as "finished" at all, here in the vastness of you, for who would provide the reference point, and who would actually care?
Only the mind deals in beginnings and endings, finished or unfinished. Life is too fresh for time.
Be what you are. Indefinable, undefined, open.
Love Always
mudra
Sanicle- Posts : 2228
Join date : 2011-02-28
Location : Melbourne, Australia
Well, that says it all about the whole 'guru trip', doesn't it. My guess is that those who are still on that path will only think that Jeff couldn't have reached the stages of attainment he thought he did though, and dismiss his words.
My hope for him is that he's found his sense of humour again and has a quiet, compassionate chuckle at himself about his journey at times, as we all need to be able to do, and that he's truly found the peace he was searching for.
My hope for him is that he's found his sense of humour again and has a quiet, compassionate chuckle at himself about his journey at times, as we all need to be able to do, and that he's truly found the peace he was searching for.
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Sanicle wrote:Well, that says it all about the whole 'guru trip', doesn't it. My guess is that those who are still on that path will only think that Jeff couldn't have reached the stages of attainment he thought he did though, and dismiss his words.
My hope for him is that he's found his sense of humour again and has a quiet, compassionate chuckle at himself about his journey at times, as we all need to be able to do, and that he's truly found the peace he was searching for.
I appreciate your loving energy Sanicle. I am sure in the grand tapestry of life we weave Jeff appreciates it too.
The very best to You too.
Much Love for You
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
"Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections."
-Katherine Paterson
Love Always
mudra
-Katherine Paterson
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
I don’t care if the song I sing is the ‘best’ song or not, and it surely isn’t a song that will resonate with everyone, but it is a song that fits who I am totally, and it feels like a deeply truthful song, forged in the fire of my own life experience and tested time and time again in a vast range of situations and circumstances, and so I can speak with total conviction about it – not a mental conviction that separates but a conviction of Being that includes – and I have seen what happens when others hear this truth deeply and resonate with its heart strings. I may not identify strongly as a teacher, and I may not be interested in gaining followers or fame or huge piles of money in the bank, but I do adore this teaching, and trust it absolutely, and know it to be true, and love to share it, and I know how it saved my life, and how it saves others, and not only saves them, but wakes them up, and not only wakes them up, but awakens the simple joy of existence, and a fearless yet loving attitude towards whatever comes their way, and provokes the belly laughter of the Buddha in the most unlikely of places. It turns dust into gold, for those who are ready for the deepest discovery of their lives.
~ Jeff Foster Image: Kimera Jam
I Love You Jeff.
Thank You so much for being You
Your work certainly resonates with me.
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
All appearances are impermanent and can therefore be stripped away, whereas your true Self as pure awareness is timelessly present and unchanging.
You can keep removing, sweeping aside, discarding appearances until nothing is left to remove and even the very concept of removing itself disappears.
Finally even the concept of a 'remover' gets dissolved and one comes to see That which is beyond all notions remains timelessly present.
That, the unchanging awareness, is your Self.
This is the Truth.
~ Mooji
Love Always
mudra
You can keep removing, sweeping aside, discarding appearances until nothing is left to remove and even the very concept of removing itself disappears.
Finally even the concept of a 'remover' gets dissolved and one comes to see That which is beyond all notions remains timelessly present.
That, the unchanging awareness, is your Self.
This is the Truth.
~ Mooji
Love Always
mudra
mudra- Posts : 23307
Join date : 2010-04-09
Age : 70
Location : belgium
Eckhart Tolle - - -The Power of Now Audiobook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL8zR5WpiH0
Love Always
mudra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL8zR5WpiH0
Love Always
mudra