Zigzag Idiot

The energy experienced when I wrote the last post was something else. A little manic perhaps but that’s ok. I’ve always been that way periodically. What felt like everything’s wonderful and I’ll never have any problems again felt miraculous which also describes the events of that day.But life on earth being what it is. Nothing stays the same. Problems of different kinds will always reappear and have to be dealt with but I’m at peace with that. For the time being anyway.

Have you ever had an area of life in which the more you talk about it, the crazier you sound? Imagine this happening in 3 different areas of life at the same time. Time slows and then heaves forward. Odds seem near hopeless. Something recognizable yet mysterious then sweeps through and then everything is fine and the quality of life felt lived has a fresh and miraculous feel to it. You feel courage and trust but you know this life is still just a short while but that’s ok.

@SgtPepper Don’t be too quick to put them in a box. You might be surprised and please don’t take this response personally ,,,,, Many of them practice Centering Prayer meditation which is quite similar to the practice of Zazen. There’s an embrace of The Gospel of Thomas which the Catholic and most of the Protestant Churches won’t go near because ,,,?? the Nicean council didn’t approve in 325 ad to help coalesce the Roman political situation.??? Their humility comes in the form of controlling their tongue in the presence of self righteous fools and others who exhibit forms of false bravado with the practice of “bearing the unpleasant manifestations of others.” The Contemplative movement of today has its roots in early Christianity with the Desert mothers and fathers and also the Russian Orthodox Church if I’m not mistaken. Many of the great Christian mystics have been scattered along these same lineages. Cynthia Bourgeault a leader in the Contemporary Contemplative movement humorously coined the phrase do-gooderism in describing the all too well known phenomena that many of us witness in today’s churches and civic organizations. To top off my not so fluffy retort In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus said, "Don't worry too much what the outside of the cup looks like, You only drink what's inside." "Do not let fundamentalists come between you and God's love. They are like dog's guarding a cow's trough. They protect food they don't eat from animals that are starving." (Paraphrased)

For me, sitting with it, when done successfully can often create some inner space. Feeling whatever you feel fully without repressing but not acting on it. Not being reactive. This is often very difficult despite it sounding so simple. Martin Butler had a podcast recently that might be really applicable.

Regarding: Is feminine really related to submisiveness? Submissive seems derogatory although maybe it can be used in instances where it isn’t. The Teachings I follow would use the term passive. To me, passive is a term which can describe a way of being that denotes great strength, non reactionary, judicious, or having equanimity.

From the get-go, they have no being or very little and very little understanding as well and the knowledge that they do have is conventional worldly knowledge and of little use. As in - B. S. degree = Bullshit M.S. degree = More shit PhD = Piled higher and deeper In becoming overloaded and packed full of conventional knowledge they get lopsided in a more fixed way which is devoid of being, a necessary ingredient for true understanding. In having very little being, they remain earthbound with very little data in their Causal body which seeks to resolve disparities. Conventional knowledge only seeks to reinforce the vested interests of its overly mental conceptual knowledge. These people are like unguided projectiles and as such they radiate a harshness that that repels the very substances that would start to heal them and make them whole. People who have being have understanding in their Causal body which seeks to resolve disparities and as such they emanate instead of radiate. This is a very incomplete explanation that I would love to expand on. The people who radiate and read this may become highly agitated and try to peck me to death. The people who emanate might experience their curiosity becoming aroused and may have a smile start to form. They possess more being and are more in touch with their heart. People who radiate are low on the scale of being. Lashing out in negativity they set themselves apart. People who emanate can have compassion for people who act like jerks because they have seen it in themselves at some point and have moved beyond. At least just a little. The path to actualization is arduous and it naturally destroys self Importance.

A.H. Almaas has studied and used the findings of Margaret Mahler quite a bit in his Work. He divides narcissism into different categories. Below are a few of his quotes about Narcissism from his glossary. If you want to dig further, here is the page from his glossary containing 13 different listings about Narcissism. https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/alphabetical?alphabet=14 Approaching the Dimension of Essential Presence We Inevitably Confront the Narcissism Inherent in Our Disconnection from that Presence When a person is working on self-realization, this narcissism is increasingly exposed; in fact, it is usually aggravated for some time. When we approach the dimension of essential presence we inevitably confront the narcissism inherent in our disconnection from that presence. The success of the work on self-realization depends, to a great degree, upon successfully resolving the arousal and intensification of narcissistic manifestations. The narcissism of everyday life is much more ubiquitous, much deeper, and much more significant than we usually allow ourselves to see. However, it dissolves steadily in the deeper stages of self-realization. Full self-realization completely eliminates this narcissism, for it is not natural to the realized self The Point of Existence, pg. 27 Complete Resolution of Narcissism Requires that We Cease to use Self-representations for Self-recognition Before we embark on this exploration, we need to address the significance of the above discussion with respect to narcissism. Our observation that the deepest root of narcissism is the absence of self-realization and the additional observation that in full self-realization the normal sense of identity dissolves, combine to give us a deep insight about narcissism: The presence of the normal identity is the root of narcissism. This implies two further insights, at different levels of the self. The first is that not only is normal identity fundamentally weak and vulnerable, but its very existence is responsible for this weakness, and thus it cannot become completely stable. In other words, the normal self (or more accurately, the ego-self) is inherently narcissistic because its identity is inherently weak and vulnerable. This weakness is due to the inevitable incompleteness of the self-representation, and therefore cannot be eliminated as long as the self-representation forms our sense of identity. Second, since the fundamental narcissism of everyday life is an expression of normal identity, complete resolution of narcissism requires that we cease to use self-representations for self-recognition. The Point of Existence, pg. 129 No Conventional Self is Ever Free from the Narcissism of Everyday Life (Fundamental Narcissism) We call this fundamental narcissism “the narcissism of everyday life” for no conventional self is ever free from it. However, this may bring up the question of how this dissolution of identity is related to the condition of fragmentation or disintegration of identity, which is, under normal circumstances, a manifestation of pathological narcissism. The main difference between the “death of the self” in self-realization and the disintegration of identity in pathological narcissism is that the former is a developmental achievement based on the greater strength and flexibility of identity, while the latter is a developmental difficulty resulting from an extreme weakness and brittleness of the identity. There is no sense of the normal self in both conditions, but the former is a state of equanimity of the self for being fully itself, so fully itself that there is no need for self-reflection, while the latter is a painful and deficient state of the self, where it feels disconnected from its depth and fullness. The former is a state of self recognition not based on any representation, for it is recognizing what is actually present, while the latter is a state where there is no self-recognition of any kind. The Point of Existence, pg. 525

The Flip Side of Depression by Dr. Jim Rosen ©2021 Dr. Jim Rosen When you get depressed, you pull into yourself. You withdraw. You don’t want to be with people or even do things that normally give you pleasure. You experience a lack of energy and a lack of feeling. It becomes difficult to concentrate, and ordinary daily activities become hard to perform. It's as if your body and mind are shutting down. But why? What purpose does it serve? Actually, depression can have a couple of very useful purposes. To put it simply, you get depressed because you have unmet emotional needs. The depressive lack of energy is a signal that whatever you’ve been doing hasn't satisfied those needs. And the depressive withdrawal from the outside world is the mind’s way of getting you to look inward. Mentally it places a mirror in front of you and asks you to examine yourself. So depression signals the need for change. If you are willing to look within and make the changes, your release from depression is learnable, treatable and curable.

I remember the phrase post coidal depression from when I was in Scientology years ago. Just having known that it’s a common phenomena has been a help at times I believe. It’s the healing just through observation thing. Now I remember. The phrase is ‘awareness is curative’ that I was trying to remember. One thing in particular about Stan Grof that I admire is his inclusion of Scientologist or probably to be more exact, ex-Scientologist and their take on things in his overall gathering of wisdom. Despite Scientology being what it is, as a cult to put it bluntly, there are interesting concepts that can be brought out of it that the conventional culture won’t even consider. Charles Tart is another who does not exclude the opinions of Scientologists. Both Tart and Grof have been and are pioneers in the field of trans personal psychology.

@kinesin As an outside spectator just running into this thread. I would say he probably strongly disagrees with how you characterized or framed his statement that you referred to. Just my guess.

To ,,,, you know who,,,,, Excuse me and never mind. ? ?‍♂️??‍♂️ ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,?

https://acourseinmiraclesnow.com/ ACIM got mentioned in Top Christian Spiritual Resources. To not overcrowd it in the long run is my reasoning for starting this. Forgiveness and letting go of greivences is not a very popular message but it's at the core of ACIM. The theme of Leo's latest video. Can you let go of things?

I’ve always felt reassured by a couple of the lines in this song. “Cause you’re the joke of the neighborhood” “Why should you care If you’re feeling good” “Well, take the long way home” “Take the long way home”

I think of Cynthia Bourgeault as the Alan Watts of our time. She was one of the first women to become an Episcopal Priest in the 1970’s. She’s been a long time student of the Gurdjieff Work and her many of her online courses are flavored from that perspective. Her books are very helpful for those who were brought up in Fundamentalist Christianity and are in need of making peace with their roots. Especially The Wisdom Jesus and The Heart of Centering Prayer. Even those who are not Christian would enjoy them IMO. Her latest book , Eye of the Heart is pretty mind blowing. She’s already pointing to the third tier of Spiral Dynamics.

I don’t know.

Superego - the internal critic is often the internalized voice of the father or mother. Disengaging from the Superego It is relatively easy to see that much of our opaqueness, much of our lack of openness, much of our stuckness, is due to the attacks of the superego—ours and other people’s. These are the criticisms, the put-downs, the comparisons, the judgments, the devaluations, the blaming, the shaming, the rejection, and the hatred that the superego levels at you in all kinds of situations. Here the Red latifa can specifically be used in the service of inquiry, by giving us the strength to defend against the superego. Initially, we need to defend ourselves against these attacks by directly confronting them. This can happen through challenging the superego’s authority—by telling it to back off. Such an internal confrontation requires great strength and intelligence. Later, when the Red Essence is more readily available, it becomes possible to disengage from self-judgment simply by clearly discriminating it for what it is and not going along with it. Disengaging from the superego is, in essence, a separation from your parents—the parents you long ago internalized and have lived with in your mind ever since. This disengagement allows you to see more clearly what is there in your experience, because if you’re entangled with these attacks, you won’t even know what you’re experiencing or what has caused the attack in the first place. Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg. 279 More excerpts about superego here- https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/superego A book that was a help for me Soul without Shame by Byron Brown

There’s some good talent here among us.

A couple of things I’ve found useful for being more mindful: Sensing the feet or hara. Sensing the physicality that is. Helps keep me out of my head. The feet are good because so many nerve endings plus the pressure while standing or walking makes them easier to sense. Keeping a good bit of attention on my peripheral vision. Which means split attention. It quietens the mind,,,, When done successfully I won’t have a startle response to about anything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Sheldrake

Bozo the clown As a kid I never cared for Bozo the clown. Thought he was only for kids much younger than me or the simple minded. That changed as a teenager. I’m referring to the show where a bunch of kids would go into a tv studio and sit on some benches that looked like small bleachers. In between showing of cartoons Bozo would talk to the kids and ask them questions. Perhaps I had never paid enough attention but I began to have a real appreciation for Bozo’s wit. He would ask kids questions that would lock them up like a Zen koan. Questions like, “Do you like chocolate cake or is it just a pretty good day today?” Or “What’s your favorite sea creature or would you rather look out of a telescope?” Or maybe- “Do you appreciate all the great things your Mother does for you or just the really good things?” You could watch the kids hung up in bewilderment and it was hilarious. I did a google search hoping to find some more of the kind of questions he would ask but had no luck.

I noticed the Tami Simon interview with Ken Wilber, Kosmic Consciousness on the shelf behind Hameed on this video. This is a great set to have and listen to repeatedly. I had to anyway. This was about 2004. I was totally lost about 10 minutes into most of the cd’s. Slowly, over time I lost count on the number of times I replayed them . After 2 or 3 years I could finish many of Ken’s or Tami’s sentences as the interview played. On the inside of the folder is a handy index on the subjects talked about on each cd. It’s where I learned most of my knowledge on Spiral Dynamics . I was enjoying Leo’s latest video earlier today. As he talked about Spiral Dynamics, I realized I’ve had a shadow in SD blue. Actually, Leo’s talk helped me to realize more of what it is to have a shadow at one of the levels. I’m watching/listening to this video again this evening. Trying to finish it. Leo talks about leaded gasoline that was outlawed in the late seventies. I use to burn this stuff in my little motor bikes. A Honda 90 and then later a Yamaha 120. The cow trails were my one lane roads as they wove all over the ranch.

One Thing You'll Never Be Tortured By by Dr. Jim Rosen ©2021 Dr. Jim Rosen “The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.” (Merlyn, the magician, speaking to young Arthur in “The Once and Future King” by T. H. White.) Perhaps there is something that you need to learn that you have been resisting instead of allowing. Accepting it, allowing it, letting it in will help calm your distress.

Another good one from Ram Dass and it’s under 40 minutes. He speaks about special relationships in the same way that ACIM does.plus much more.