Petals

look at that! (or better - listen to that.) started 2 years ago and last update just yesterday. channel name 'invite the light'. Nicoll's commentaries as audio.

'heard from...' is how it begins. say the following until it sinks in: 'I don't know, I don't know, I don't know...' that's all you have on that topic.

@Zigzag Idiot thank you.

@Chintan desai not wanting to be reborn is a typical Hindu thing. that's not a cult thing. be careful not to think that the truth is somewhere out there in cults and practices and the changing world. if it was, then it would not be worth much, would it? even if you get reborn ignorant, what could you do about it now? trust that what you do now matters and do your best, you have no other option anyway.

this seems to me to be a very good and important post. http://zenyogagurdjieff.blogspot.com/2013/07/will-and-reality-of-being.html

"The cause of this serious misconception was the disappearance from the common presence of your favorites of the possibility of the crystallization in them of those factors which actualize 'logical mentation' in three-brained beings. "And since they lack this 'logical mentation,' all of them, almost without exception, accept the statements of certain candidate hasnamusses affirming that they can obtain 'something' very beneficial for themselves through 'sport', and now believing these assertions with all their presence, and in the hope of obtaining this benefit, they give themselves up entirely to this sport. "None of these unfortunates know, or probably will ever realize, not only that this maleficent 'sport' of theirs brings them nothing beneficial but that, as I have just told you, owing to this sport alone, they shorten still further the duration of their existence, already sufficiently trifling without this." from 'Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson' (Gurdjieff) read that just yesterday, that's why I'm posting it. on the other hand, look at that slow motion of the first goal. I get goosebumps looking at it. 'poetry in motion' as somebody said.

G's voice if you go on youtube, you can read along in the video's description. it's called 'Mr Gurdjieff recorded christmas 1948'. I've seen that @Zigzag Idiot has already posted it. I'll just leave it here.

1. you are vulnerable. you can't talk that away. 2. from the blog: "If you are young and catch this virus, your chances of ending up in the emergency room is 1 in 5." I don't think that's what the statistic means. It means: of all the severe cases, 20% are aged 20-44. it doesn't mean of all 20-44 year olds having the virus, 20% are severe cases.

'The Path of Sri Ramana' by Sri Sadhu Om. go to Michael James' website 'happiness of being' and download it for free. it's probably the best work on self-enquiry (as taught by Ramana Maharshi) you will ever find. Sri Sadhu Om was Ramana's direct disciple.

@Globalcollective here is another perspective: http://maryshutan.com/ethical-considerations-of-spiritual-work-in-natural-disasters/

the 'finite player' wants to bring everything/all play to an end and so for him almost everything is in the way (including being forced to be a hermit). the 'infinite player' takes everything into the game.

I'm wondering whether anything in the relative domain could ever be 'explained'. one can of course describe how things work but a description is not an explanation. 'why is the sky blue?' - you could describe how it seemingly works using 'atmosphere' and 'light' and 'retina' but that does not explain why the sky is blue, does it? what would a satisfactory answer to @billiesimon 's question look like? I somehow can't think of one. so the best answer to every 'why?' is 'just because it is so' and all that is left for us is to describe and make the best out of how things work. is this wrong thinking on my part?

http://maryshutan.com/five-realizations-to-cut-through-the-spiritual-path/

@Keyhole in the beginning I was also a bit irritated when I read what she wrote about 'enlightenment' and other topics because I was used to the usual high-level non-dual stuff. but I like her nuanced approach and her calling one out for what one might term 'spiritual materialism'. but haven't read her books yet, only the blog.

thanks. short and concise statements are great because they can often create a depth that continuous text can't. I recommend 'The Nisargadatta Gita' by Pradeep Apte. it's available as a free download.

@Shaun 'Thinking and Destiny' by Harold Percival. interesting and weird book that I am reading at the moment. if you think about it, why would one assume that there is something like 'accident' or 'luck' or 'fate'? wouldn't it actually be plausible that there is an impartial law / laws governing everything just as the universe is governed by 'physical' laws? Percival contends that all events are the exteriorizations of thoughts by which the thoughts get 'balanced' if you learn from the events. overall, the aim is to free oneself from the grip of the body-mind, the senses and desire.

the fundamental question is, can he beat Trump? imagine him in a debate with Trump. given what I've seen of Buttigieg (I could be wrong) I get the sense that it is not going to end well.

@erik8lrl thanks. @Derek White knowing how is not the beginning but the end?

@mandyjw yes, thank you for reminding me of this. the transitoriness itself is not suffering, but resisting it and wanting permanence is. resistance is suffering. and above all the resistance to the shining forth of the Self. @Preetom that's kind. I'm trying my best.?

Ramana Maharshi as you probably all know always pointed out that happiness is your true nature. since 'you' are truly happy in deep sleep in which the world is not present, happiness must be intrinsic to what you are and can never come from the world. @mandyjw suffering is not a condition, rather, all conditions are suffering simply because they are conditioned and transitory. that's what @Preetom tried to say I guess.

Jeanne de Salzmann's 'The Reality of Being'. inspiring and intimate (it's from her notebooks).

@Forrest Adkins what does Ra mean by that?

I think that would get boring in the end because child's play is play in which there is no consequence. I would say that deep down one wants one's actions to have consequences and to take responsibility for them. that's where happiness or at least meaning is. and to the degree that we reject that responsibility we are not an adult and are not fulfilled (and 'fulfillment' is deeper than any 'happiness').

@Preetom thank you. a good post. made me want to find a certain quote again that I once read. this is the quote: "In our situation we only need an explanation of the realm of this world, which is the place of responsibility, trial, and works." "Know that since God created human beings and brought them out of nothingness into existence, they have not stopped being travelers. They have no resting place from their journey except in the Garden or the Fire, and each Garden and Fire is in accordance with the measure of its people. Every rational person must know that the journey is based upon toil and the hardships of life, on afflictions and tests and the acceptance of dangers and very great terrors. It is not possible for the traveler to find in this journey unimpaired comfort, security, or bliss. For waters are variously flavored and weather changes, and the character of the people at every place where one stops differs from the character at the next. The traveler needs to learn what is useful from each situation. He is the companion of the each one for night or an hour, and then departs. How could these be reasonably expected by someone in this condition?” "We have not mentioned this to answer the people fond of comfort in this world, who strive for it and are devoted to the collection of worldly rubble. We do not occupy ourselves with or turn our attention to those engaged in this petty and contemptible activity. But we mention it as counsel to whoever wishes to hasten the bliss of contemplation in other than its given realm, and to hasten the state of annihilation elsewhere than in its native place, and who desire absorption in the real by means of fana', obliteration from the worlds." "The masters among us are scornful of this ambition because it is a waste of time and a loss of true rank, and associates the realm with that which is unsuitable to it." -Ibn al Arabi

when I think about this and feel into it, it feels peculiar. like I am in an impossible thing (a 'miracle'). maybe you can reach the same intuition by contemplating it. it's the following: what does it mean for something to be 'self-existent'? don't necessarily try to get a verbal answer, but 'feel' into it. maybe try to apply it to the reality you find yourself in right now - could any of this exist without something being self-existent (to ground it)?