Zigzag Idiot

Thanks,,@fridjonk

We're all a bunch of narcissists and egomaniacs. Especially the so called "experts",,,, We're all this and even more! ? The Self of the Average Individual is Deeply and Fundamentally Narcissistic Narcissism is a very general, basic element of ego life. The self of the average individual is deeply and fundamentally narcissistic. The complete resolution of narcissism will elude us until the achievement of self-realization. All that conventional psychotherapy can do is alleviate symptoms resulting from severe disturbances of narcissism, and, when successful, can help the individual to reach the level of the narcissism of everyday life. To proceed further and address this fundamental narcissism, only spiritual development will make a real difference. We also believe that understanding the spiritual nature of the self can help us to understand even the severe forms of narcissistic disturbance. This perspective can help us to see that we cannot separate our psychology from our spirituality, our psyche from our spirit, for we are fundamentally whole. Our self is one self, and cannot be dichotomized into a spiritual or “higher” self and a psychical or psychophysical self. The Point of Existence, pg. 46 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissism 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 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissism-everyday-life The Gap Between Encountering True Nature and Being True Nature This is the gap between encountering true nature and being true nature, between recognizing that spirit is and recognizing that spirit is what you are. It is a movement from a dual encounter with true nature to a nondual one. It is also the movement from experience to realization. The Alchemy of Freedom, pg. 38 Characteristics of the Narcissistic Constellation We will present this group of states and experiences in the reverse order from the sequence one encounters in the process of working through narcissism, assuming that this reverse order is the order in which these states arise in the process of alienation. We call this group of states, conditions, and structures of the self, “the narcissistic constellation” : 1. The disconnection of the self from its essential presence manifests as a profound and deep wound to the self. It is as if the very core of the self is yanked out from within it. This is the specific narcissistic wound, the hurt that expresses the pain of this fundamental loss, and reflects the actual state of loss ..... 2. Alienation from the Essential Identity leads to the loss of the profound sense of value and preciousness intrinsic to the sense of one’s identity with Being. Value is a quality of Being which, when lost, leads to a loss of self-esteem. When we are in touch with Being, self-esteem is experienced as an intrinsic feature of the self, as part of one’s inalienable human inheritance ..... 3. The alienation from the Essential Identity results in narcissistic emptiness. This feels like a deficient emptiness, the specific deficiency being the feeling of absence of the sense of self. It is the loss of identity ..... 4. The emptiness and the wound make up one structure, the emptiness wound. The emptiness and the wound are intertwined elements of narcissistic alienation. The emptiness-wound is where the hurt and vulnerability are felt ..... 5. Reactions to this injury include narcissistic rage, envy, and depression. The rage has specific narcissistic features, such as lack of empathy and a sense of entitlement ..... 6. The narcissistic injury, that is, the emptiness-wound and its various associated affects and reactions, is covered over by the self-identity, through the identification with self-images and their associated affects. The overall structure of self-identity is sometimes experienced as a shell around the deficient emptiness. This shows very clearly that the experience of being an empty shell—which is reported frequently by individuals suffering from narcissism—refers to the psychic structure of self-identity, and that the emptiness inside this shell is the direct consequence of the alienation from the Essential Identity ..... 7. One does not usually experience the shell directly as a shell; if she did, she would be aware of the deficient emptiness. The more she becomes aware of the truth of her identity, the more likely she will become aware that she is a shell, and the more aware she will become of the emptiness. The usual experience of what we are calling the shell is the sense of self characterized by a specific feeling of identity. Because of the normal feeling of identity, the ordinary individual is not directly aware of her fundamental narcissism. As she becomes aware of her fundamental narcissism, she will recognize that her feeling of identity is based on a structure which she can perceive directly as an empty shell. This will usually make her feel phony or fake. 8. The more narcissistic the person, in other words, the greater the distance from the Essential Identity—indicating greater narcissistic injury in childhood—the more her identity is based on the grandiose self. The Point of Existence, pg. 216, 217, 218 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-constellation Disconnection from Being Narcissistic emptiness involves disconnection not only from the Essential Identity, but from Being as a whole. It is the absence of self-realization. It is the gap between our essential nature and who we take ourselves to be. It is the great chasm separating our experience in the conventional dimension of experience from the fundamental ground of the soul. It is the emptiness of narcissistic alienation itself. The Point of Existence, pg. 334 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-emptiness Cause of the Narcissistic Impasse The narcissistic impasse is caused by confusing a phenomenological difficulty with a psychodynamic issue. The fact that experiencing the self through a self-representation alienates it from its ontological truth becomes confused with conflicts about separation involving a certain object relation. Understanding this situation is important for self-realization. Whether one can work through it determines whether one moves from dual to nondual experience of essential presence. The student may start feeling that what he truly longs for is just to be himself, merely to be, without even caring to conceptualize what he is being. He just wants to simply be, and that is all. This clarity leads to greater realization of the Essential Identity, and greater differentiation in the properties of this experience. He experiences his essential nature in many ways now, expressing the various functions of this true identity. Sometimes there is a sense of completeness. The act of being himself, which is not an activity, feels complete. The presence has no gaps. The center has no attitudes. It is just a complete existence, which is a perfect act of being. There is no familiar sense of self or no self, no sense of size or quality. At other times he feels he is nothing, but a wondrous nothing. No characteristics, no perspective, no position, and no attitude. It is total freedom. This nothing feels like a fertile nothing, a potential for experience, any and all experience. In other words, the soul recognizes itself as pure openness to experience, the actual possibility for experience, the free potential for experience. The Point of Existence, pg. 350 Cause of the Narcissistic Impasse The narcissistic impasse is caused by confusing a phenomenological difficulty with a psychodynamic issue. The fact that experiencing the self through a self-representation alienates it from its ontological truth becomes confused with conflicts about separation involving a certain object relation. Understanding this situation is important for self-realization. Whether one can work through it determines whether one moves from dual to nondual experience of essential presence. The student may start feeling that what he truly longs for is just to be himself, merely to be, without even caring to conceptualize what he is being. He just wants to simply be, and that is all. This clarity leads to greater realization of the Essential Identity, and greater differentiation in the properties of this experience. He experiences his essential nature in many ways now, expressing the various functions of this true identity. Sometimes there is a sense of completeness. The act of being himself, which is not an activity, feels complete. The presence has no gaps. The center has no attitudes. It is just a complete existence, which is a perfect act of being. There is no familiar sense of self or no self, no sense of size or quality. At other times he feels he is nothing, but a wondrous nothing. No characteristics, no perspective, no position, and no attitude. It is total freedom. This nothing feels like a fertile nothing, a potential for experience, any and all experience. In other words, the soul recognizes itself as pure openness to experience, the actual possibility for experience, the free potential for experience. The Point of Existence, pg. 350 There is No Total Freedom of Mind so Long as One is Depending on Mind for Identity This can become a trap—what we term the narcissistic impasse—in which the student isolates himself physically or psychologically from situations or individuals that may be useful to him. This position indicates the absence of complete understanding of self-realization, the student thinking of it as a kind of mental autonomy. He is not seeing that the issue is not the influence of others, but how this influence is carried to the self. Regardless of how free his mind is, its very foundation—its concepts and words, its language and way of knowing—are all learned from the collective psyche. So there is no total freedom of mind as long as one is depending on mind for identity. More important, one must come to understand what Krishnamurti says above, that the problem is thought, that it is the mind that is the channel of influence. So freedom is not a matter of having one’s autonomous mind, it is not a matter of freedom of mind, it is, rather, a matter of freedom from mind. Mind as knowledge from the past is the barrier, even if the ideas and insights are totally one’s own. Seeing ourselves from within and through impressions from the past is what separates us from the purity of simply being. The Point of Existence, pg. 349 Plus more,,,, https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-issues Provocation of Narcissistic Rage The narcissistic individual, or the normal individual at this phase of development, is prone to intense anger, an irrational rage, which may take the form of acute explosions or be chronic and vengeful. This narcissistic rage is provoked by the slightest—real or imagined—narcissistic insult, such as not being seen, understood, or appreciated, in the way one feels he deserves. Narcissistic envy may arise; one hates anyone who has (or seems to have), a rich inner life or external acclaim and feels pain about not having what the other has. The Point of Existence, pg. 327 A lot more here https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-shame and here https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-supplies as well as here https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-transference Also,,, https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-vulnerability https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/narcissistic-wound

Fell asleep six hours ago not having pushed the submit reply button. Probably wasn't making much sense but I'll hit the send button now anyway. The moon looked weird and beautiful tonight. I see so many people under enormous stress. Every now and then, I'm one of those people. In the last year, I've experienced a lot of dry eye which is new to me. Also cataracts, especially in my left eye. I was looked at like an escaped convict when I went into Walmart this morning without wearing a dust mask. My sister just called from the Hospital parking lot. My Grandmother-(Ma) was taken there from a nursing home. They won't let my sister in because of Covid hysteria and ensuing rules. Ma has become especially fragile the last few days. She grew up living in sawmill shacks in a hard country of extreme seasonal changes. She had to share a pair of shoes one winter with another sister. This meant if they both left the house, they had to take turns wearing the shoes to wherever they were walking. There are many similar stories of hardship in her past. Now, she may die in that hospital alone under fluorescent lights because of all this soulless herd mentality that's going on. My sister was really pissed off when she called. Maurice Nicoll referred to life on Earth as a pain factory.

The Strength to Be It by Dr. Jim Rosen ©2020 Dr. Jim Rosen You really have the right to be selective and spend your time with the people who like you the way you are. According to psychologist and author Jess Lair, “We make our spiritual quest with the clues and resources life gives us. One of the clues is the people who like us the way we are. In their presence we come to discover who we are and get the strength to be it.” How many people? We need just one or two close friends at a time, less than a handful in a whole lifetime. With these few, we share our thoughts, our feelings, our perception of the world, our ups and downs, our laughter and tears. From these few, we learn that we are loved no matter what, and we develop the strength to do what feels right and important on the inside.

If I tried to describe or define my understanding of what Faith is and it's operation, Almaas's description of the quality of basic trust comes to mind Glossary of Spiritual Wisdom Excerpts about Basic Trust Attuning to Reality Basic trust is the soul's way of attuning to a fundamental law of reality, the fact that our sense of existing as a separate and isolated entity is false, that our ego experience of isolation and helplessness is an illusion based on identification with the world of physical manifestation. Knowing that we are all part of one reality means that our true nature is not defined by ego experience in the physical body and cannot be fundamentally hurt or destroyed. If the individual soul is in touch with this reality of non-separateness, then it will reflect that by functioning in a way that expresses this knowledge. Facets of Unity, pg. 24 Basic Trust Enables You to Completely Stay with Experience As we have seen, when you are trying to make something happen, you are not trusting the natural order; you don't trust that Essence itself will manifest in the way it is needed. The first point of departure from this trust is always a rejection of the now. To apply the perspective of basic trust, of true will, you must have the complete confidence that staying completely with what you are experiencing in this moment, will result in what needs to happen, without your having to think about a certain outcome. When the confidence is there, your awareness of exactly what is happening in you will allow you to see that your organism will do the best it can in the situation. Your mind, however, doesn't allow that complete Presence in the now; it thinks it knows what is best for you, but of course it knows only what has happened in the past, and can lead you only in ways conditioned by your history. Diamond Heart Book Two, pg. 118 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/basic-trust After copying and pasting these two excerpts (of seven total) about basic trust, I wondered if he had any quotes on Faith in the Glossary. He did. Tying in the idea of recognizing guidance more. Faith and Guidance This brings in another consideration, which is that we not only need to be open to the Guidance, we also need to have faith in it. We need to have confidence in its efficacy and capacity; otherwise, it won't guide us. Or if it is already guiding us, we won't know that it is guiding us. We have faith in our guidance when we have the trust that it will take us to the places we need to go. Faith is the confidence and trust that the Guidance will send us in the right direction, that it won't deceive us, won't lie to us, and won't put us into situations that we can't handle. If we don't have this kind of faith, our openness to guidance is limited, which will limit the capacity of the Guidance to help us. Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg. 230 https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/faith ACIM's view of faith in conjunction with guidance from the Holy Spirit is very similar.

No Sometimes No Yo, I mean snesh,,, The strange attractor in Chaos theory make Flow, God, Unity Consciousness, understanding and meaning discoverable. Great clip and channel also at first glance. I'm going to have to watch this movie. Thanks @Marc Schinkel

One thing in common between the movie The World According to Garp and Larry McMurtry’s Novel Some Can Whistle. They each contain an intense combination of Hilarity and Tragedy, Anyone feel free to Nominate candidates for this category ,,,,

I was struck by Joe Dispenza and Bruce Lipton's emphasis on the significance of the placebo effect a few years ago when I first started Listening to them. @electroBeam I agree with you also on the real and beneficial effects of emotional mastery or emotional purification as I've heard it termed in learning about it and gradually applying it in my inner world. The untangling of thoughts and emotions can bring about a continuity of consciousness which is often missing to a degree by the time we get into early adulthood after the tumult of adolescence and it's mostly unrealized. Not that emotional mastery addresses all ailments or health irregularities but it's such a huge thing. For me and I believe most people, it's a hard fought battle that doesn't happen all at once. After a few years of working on myself I realized that just because something in my life situation sucked, I didn't have to take it personally and negatively which can then drag others down whom I come into contact with. Not saying that I'm completely free of automatic or mechanical reactivity now, but for years I had no idea of the extent to which I bitched and complained about most everything and the continual fallout from it. Emotional purification adds reality to the notion that 'the kingdom' is at hand.

I believe that was a first on this thread. The posting of a symphony orchestra. Thank you, @seeking_brilliance . That was nice. I listened to it as I did some work around the house. Listening to more country music lately, mostly of the older variety, I ran across a Willie song that I'd never heard before.

I'm going to make a controversial statement. The less of a personality that someone has, the more awakened they are. This is actually taught in the Fourth Way. I've just worded it in a blunt way. I've often pondered why more people aren't drawn to the Teachings of Hameed Ali Almaas. His understanding is so comprehensive Like this guy who makes these condensed and very informative YouTubes on Fourth Way concepts that I've posted just underneath.Neither one have much of a personality. Consider also Eckhart Tolle. He really doesn't have very much personality or maybe I should say he doesn't have a big personality. There are many distinctions to be made here. Such as the notion of attaining the 'Pearl beyond Price' in which our raw personality or ego is slowly transformed over time through a multiple series of awakenings. I think maybe Eckhart Tolle fits our idea in the west of a 'spiritual person' and that might account for some of his popularity. Almaas was born and grew up in Kuwait and has a Middle Eastern flavor of an accent and sometimes what to a lot of us sounds like peculiar way of phrasing or pronunciation of some words. What I've stated can't be taken as a blanket statement either. Sadhguru has what I would characterize as a powerful personality. And then there's Osho,,,,, While on the the subject of terms with multiple usages like Ego, Personality, Love, etc., I value Emerald Wilkins knowledge and understanding on her Diamond Net channel. She strikes me as someone who has studied and worked a lot on herself as all Teachers in general must. And of course I value and completely enjoy Leo's explanations. Even if he spends 3 hours doing it or perhaps especially because he makes such drawn out and through distinctions in his talks. All the Teachers I've mentioned address this subject of personality, false personality, ego, essence, personal essence ,,,, in different ways but similarly. Yet, it seems the majority of people almost tune out these particular messages in a way. In general I think the more Teachers You allow yourself to be open to, the better it is for your advantage in learning and acquiring perspectives because at the core of each of us is a multidimensional being.

In ACIM, I remember Jesus saying through Helen, as channeler,that any attitude other than peace or joy could be considered egoic. That comes fairly close to a definition. I've quoted that before but I forgot where in the book that it's written. I need to look up where to make sure I'm getting it tight. Added. A working Music link up above concerning the dream I wrote about this morning.

Bits of my confused time in life as a Scientologist I did some fairly bizarre things as a Scientologist in training. I guess you could call it a rather paradoxical organization because they have quite effective techniques that liberate one from certain insecurities while at the same time manipulating and orchestrating you to vow allegiance for life and convincing you to start shoveling all of your worldly assets into their possession. I'll mention two situations. One was a Course referred to as Training routines #1, or something like that, that took around a week to complete. One of the last exercises I had to complete was to sit face to face with a teacher or if not available, an advanced student and stare directly into their eyes without blinking for a full fifteen minutes. Do you know how difficult that is? After struggling with not blinking many times which meant restarting the timer, a moment would come when the other person's face would start distorting into hideous images like they were becoming deformed and turning into some hellish looking monster,, stuff like that. This was after about mid Course where you had to stare blank faced while the other would do everything in the world to make you crack up laughing or grimace, frown, etc. They would crack hilarious jokes, scream obscenities at you, pick their nose,,,, all kinds of things. Going through all this really did increase my confidence in ways though. How could it not? I cant remember if it was this same Course or another but I was given the task of shouting orders as loud as I possibly could at a glass ashtray. So as not to disturb the other students and the organizational staff working at their desks on the phone trying to generate recruits or maybe trying to coerce some other gullible poor bastards like me into advance paying on their next course that would change their life forever in a wonderful way. So, we go into an adjoining room that's basically a hollow core door and walls with no insulation. I might as well been out there sitting in the middle of everybody because my instructor kept staying on my ass about not yelling loud enough. It was absurd commands also that I was having to scream at this fairly large glass ashtray. When we walked back through the door it seemed every person without exception couldn't help but stare at me for a moment. Some with disturbed looks or worse yet some with pity and embarrassment for me. To say It was very awkward would be an understatement. Enduring that absurd humiliation at least burned away a part of my reserved nature and any kind of dignity that my ego tended to carry around. These people have a tenacious discipline hammered into them. I would almost rather have Navy Seals pursuing me than to be in the crosshairs of this bunch with their small army of ruthless hack lawyers. You can't imagine the respect I have for Leah Remini and other former Scientology members who now openly and defiantly bow up and take on this Cult. In no way do I want to actively join in on that campaign against them. I'm just thankful to have gotten free from it. It did though whittle away some of my semi-conscious grandiose self importance. Castaneda's Don Juan advised that one could go in search of a petty tyrant who would help one to reduce one's own self importance. I certainly yet inadvertently did find one!

Sometimes words won’t flow from me but I get fulfillment and contentedness from just listening to music. As most everyone knows Kris Kristopherson can’t sing very well but he is an excellent songwriter. Recently I heard this particular performance for the first time and really enjoyed it, I may have mentioned this before and probably have because I’ve noticed my increased tendency to tell stories I’ve already told before. This song was a part of a vivid dream I once had. It wasn’t exactly a lucid dream but it was so real In feeling that upon awaking the next morning I almost felt like a changed person. In the dream I was singing this song accompanied by an band and small orchestra in front of a huge outdoor audience. Something I would never do because Im not really that much of an outgoing person but it felt SO REAL! I never especially liked the song before the dream. It was just another eagles song I had heard all my life. But after the dream though it really held a special place in my heart and being. In the dream I felt the pleasureof hitting all the notes just right and experiencing the satisfaction in doing so. A grateful kind of satisfaction. Even though the song itself has a rather sad tone about it.

Not sure if you welcome questions and comments from others. If you'd rather not, let me know and I'll hide this. In short, just two items. 1.In relation to the above quote, It tickled me a few years ago when Episcopal Priest Cynthia Bourgeault refereed to this kind of volunterism as opposed to genuine altruism as "dogooderism". 2. A quote- "The absence of Joy is slow suicide" - Ocke de Boer

If a parody is ever created about Actualized.org, this would make a great lead in song. ?

@ARMeeeeRA That is a great question, And one which is very relevant in dealing with others. It has been a conundrum for me as well. I'm afraid there's a large percentage of the population, even in the spiritual or work on Self community, that don't realize the extent of projection which takes place with all its subtleties. Rarely it seems that one is able to point out others projections without them getting highly offended. More often than not I tend to just kinda go silent in as non-offenseable a way as possible and the with some silence and space given, the other may bring up the issue again later. It is at this time with some skillful means, it seems there's a possibility of reopening the subject in a way that certain things can then be addressed.

Jims mini column from week before last is probably my all time favorite. Forgiveness has never really been a popular message. If it were, the world we live in would probably be completely different. When I consider the heart of the Teaching that Christ brought, two words come to mind. Mercy and forgiveness. Overlooking others transgressions. Letting go and wishing others well. Turning the other cheek,,, nonaggression,, The World of the Ego by Dr. Jim Rosen ©2020 Dr. Jim Rosen ?? We call it our “identity.” We call it our “personality.” We try to make it into something we consider special, and then we cling to what we have made. As if we can really make ourselves. We fashion these egos of ours, but we do not make the Self. You don’t make your Self and I don’t make mine. Think of the ego as your little self in a little body on a little planet in the middle of a huge ocean of universe. The ego is indeed the little self. It gets its feelings hurt easily. It feels threatened, and then it gets scared and angry and wants to retaliate. It gets in little power struggles. It thinks it needs approval and recognition from other little egos. It’s unsure and insecure, but it tries to act like it knows what it’s doing. And then it wants to blame everyone else for its mistakes. You do not have to rely on that little ego. By its nature, it is unreliable. Do not accept the idea that your ego is you. Do not believe that that is all you are. We are just passing through these bodies, learning and growing from our experiences here on this earth, on our way to our Higher Self. You know what you are really capable of. You know there is a real person inside of you who can love so deeply that the people you love are a part of you. You know that you can see right past their errors and shortcomings, and peer into their hearts. You know the joy this brings to you and to them. You know all this from the moments of really experiencing it. And because you can touch it and experience it for even a moment, you have the proof of who and what you really are.

My friends weekly mini column. I liked his message last week so much that I'm reposting it below this weeks. Swallowing Little Pills by Dr. Jim Rosen ©2020 Dr. Jim Rosen The drug culture. It’s past time to give it serious consideration. Not the culture of illegal drugs, but our lawful drug culture. The multi-billion dollar business of prescribed, mood-altering medications - mood elevators, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, tranquilizers, anti-anxiety drugs. “These pills never really solve anything; they only obscure it. Is it wise, for example, to make yourself feel secure when you’re really in danger; or happy when you have reason to grieve; or full of energy when you body is fatigued… A person overwhelmed by anxieties that have no discernible cause needs to get to a therapist… Tranquilizers may facilitate his therapy, but if they prevent him from embarking on it in the first place, they are doing him harm.” (from Walter McQuade and Ann Aikman’s book, “Stress”). In this age of doing things faster and faster, perhaps it seems reasonable to try to fix your life by swallowing little pills. Perhaps not. Letting Love Out of the Cage by Dr. Jim Rosen ©2020 Dr. Jim Rosen You sit there and you want so much for somebody to love you. You think to yourself, “If only someone could see the real me… if the world could see all the love I have inside, then surely they’d love me.” You stay there, keeping all that love caged inside. And you want… for someone to magically see through your exterior and love the real you. And you hold onto the belief that “When love comes my way, then I’ll be free to express myself. My heart will be liberated.” But it is the outward expression of love that makes you feel alive, that gives you the feeling of belonging to life. First you must give love, then you receive it. First you liberate your heart… first you let the love out… first you let the world see the person you are on the inside.

It’s kinda odd but listening to mellow or sad songs In the morning sometimes helps me to process an undefined heaviness, let go of a worry cycle and then feeling lighter, go On about the day.

Becoming paranormal The Experience of Peace Descending in Our Inner World This development of the subtle capacities occurs specifically through the activation of the Black latifa, at the center of the forehead. The arising of this essential aspect means the opening up of this center, which we experience as the essence of peacefulness—a quiet and still presence, satin-smooth and luminously black. It is the presence of consciousness as stillness. Our mind becomes quieter, and at times completely still and clean. The totality of our consciousness—the whole experiential field of the soul—is stilled. This is the experience of peace descending in our inner world. The descent of peace brings up a new quality of Essence, with all of its properties and capacities to support our inquiry, but it also activates the subtle centers, the subtle capacities of perception. The primary perceptual center is the Black latifa, at the center of the forehead. It is also the center of the operation of the Diamond Guidance itself. During inquiry, the Guidance tends to operate as a presence at the center of the forehead. That is why you get clear and crisp in your head when you understand something. Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg. 315 Hameed's term of the Diamond Guidance is just the phenomenalogical description of the decent and guidance of the Holy Spirit which he also describes it acting as the optimizing thrust of Being. It's felt as a slight pressure in the forehead. To simplify, observing ourselves as we really are and not as we would wish to be or appear to other people to see us is the process of 'coating our higher Being bodies.' I appreciate Ocke de Boers to the point, and also folksy description of the chakras. Nature completes our lower chakras but it requires effort on our part in "unfolding to completion our upper chakras or energy centers.

"A relaxed body = an honest body"- Red Hawk The following is a good article written by Heather Ruce, giving practices in which she quotes Red Hawk quite a bit. May 26, 2020 from https://northeastwisdom.org/ I trimmed a little of it out,,,, We will continue to observe ourselves without judgment and without changing what is observed. We will add in Red Hawk’s third principle of self observation which is with attention on bodily sensation and a relaxed body. Although we have been working with sensation already, we are going to stay with this—it takes practice. Red Hawk says that observing ourselves in this way frees up our attention “so that it is not captured and consumed by the body’s force of habits, but is free to choose from aim, not mood.” Most of us are at the whim of our moods which determine our attitudes and behaviors. We identify with our moods and they affect us, we are not free. He says: Mood is like the weather—a cloud in the sky is not my concern, nor can I do anything about it but nearly observe it; likewise, mood is the inner weather, a cloud which is passing through the inner sky. It is not me, it does not need to affect me in any way, and just like the cloud, it is not any of my business or concern. Thus, for a mature soul, mood does not decide attitude. I am free to choose my attitude at any moment, regardless of circumstances internal or external. The task this week is to remember yourself and to observe your moods without judgment, without changing what is observed, and with attention on bodily sensation and a relaxed body. When you observe your moods as weather, with attention on bodily sensation and a relaxed body, what do you notice about the quality of presence in your intellectual center? Do you notice a clearer mind? What is the sensation of energy moving in your body like? Is it like the sky in which the weather of mood is moving through? Can you identify the sensation of the mood in your body—the “cloud which is passing through the inner sky?” What do you notice about the quality of presence in your emotional center? What feelings that arise? Week IV This week we will work with Red Hawk’s fourth principle of self observation which is ruthless self honesty. He says this means telling the truth about ourselves no matter how poorly it makes us look, otherwise “we join the mass of humanity, whose main concern is looking good in front of others.” This kind of honesty produces humility. We all have an image of ourselves, how we see ourselves. It may be an admirable image, seeing ourselves as caring, full of integrity, intelligent, etc.; or it may be a deprecating image of ourselves as inadequate, lacking value, bad, and so on. Neither image is accurate because it is incomplete. We pretend, putting on masks in front of others to preserve or overcompensate our self-image. Red Hawk says: It is these habits of behavior which contradict this self-image which my lying prevents me from seeing and suffering. When I practice ‘ruthless self honesty’ I will learn what ‘voluntary suffering’ means, because I will begin to see my contradictions without lies or judgment, simply as they are in me. And I will suffer. The Work asks me to stand in this pain, doing nothing, trying to change nothing, judging nothing, simply feeling the pain totally without judging it good or bad, right or wrong. Simply stand in the pain and allow it to be sensed throughout the body. Emotional or psychological pain is energy in the body. Nothing else. The body knows what to do with the energy but only ‘when I do not interfere.’ Our task is to continue to observe ourselves without judgment, without changing what is observed, with attention on bodily sensation—a body at ease—and with ruthless self honesty. As we see our contradictions, we will engage voluntary sufferingbuilding our nervous system’s capacity to stand in the pain and allowing it to be sensed as energy in the body. When you observe with ruthless self honesty, what do you notice about the quality of presence in your intellectual center? Do you notice a clearer mind? What is the sensation of energy moving in your body like? What do you notice about the quality of presence in your emotional center? What feelings arise? Week V We have spent the last four weeks deepening our experiences of self-remembering and self-observation and will now spend the next four weeks working with trying to observe more specific things within ourselves. This time provides a great opportunity to work in this way, as there are many different energetic pulls in varying directions within our current political climate and the ever changing Covid-19 crisis. One of the classic phenomena we can observe within ourselves is “unnecessary tension in the body,” something that Cynthia often talks about in wisdom schools. Unnecessary tension in the body is simply any tension that is not necessary to engage for the task or activity we are doing. We can observe ourselves in both small and large ways. I often observe myself with unnecessary tension in my face especially when trying to learn something challenging or in my shoulders or legs when I am doing simple tasks around the house such as cooking, cleaning or gardening. I am also noticing unnecessary tension in my body in regard to how this pandemic is unfolding. I want to invite us not only to observe the unnecessary tension in our individual bodies but the collective body. This pandemic continues to reveal the reality of our interconnectedness that we often know but do not experience: we are one body. It is enough to just notice the unnecessary tension in the body throughout our week as we continue with self-remembering, locating our bodies in space and time through sensation. We will observe without judgment, without changing what is observed, with sensation, and with ruthless self honesty. Red Hawk says: Noticing is enough. These things will tend to regulate themselves if I do not fight, judge, condemn, or interfere with them. They exist for a reason and that reason is that they served me, at some point in my life, as protection. No need to condemn them. Simply relax and notice them as they arise, without trying to ‘fix’ them or ‘do something’ about them. He reminds us of Heisenberg’s uncertainly principle, which says: the act of observation changes the thing observed. Although noticing/observing your own body and the collective body may be enough, may it make some room for each of us to know what is the individual path that supports what is most organizing and coherent for the whole body. What happens in each of your centers—intellectual center, emotional center, movement center—when you observe the unnecessary tension in your individual body this way? when you observe the unnecessary tension in the collective body this way? I invite you to share any observations you have below as you work with these tasks. posted by Heather Ruce, May 26, 2020