Zigzag Idiot and the ladder of Objective Reason

[Zigzag Idiot]

The gruesome video above may have not been authentic. Here’s some intimidating footage of bombs being dropped on a roadway. War is stupid. Sometimes necessary I guess. I felt my expressions about the possible future of the U.S and world economies were clumsy. Anyhow the pace of our changing world seems to be speeding up with A.I., robotics, and nanotechnology.

I don’t like killing anything. I’ll kill red wasps, scorpions, some spiders and 2-3 kinds of poisonous snakes. I killed a red wasp with a fly swat the other day. It’s pretty do-able. A friend of mine used to hunt them with a BB gun. 
Have a nice evening,,,

 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Don’t ya love these,,,,?

[Zigzag Idiot]

Synchronicity = an accident that is waiting to happen. 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

One of Our Deepest Attachments is to Our Self-Image

How does attachment manifest throughout our lives? It manifests in all areas, in all corners, at all levels, in all its gradations. One of our deepest attachments is to our self-image, both how we see ourselves and how others see us. Our self-image is who we think we are, how we want to be, what we want to have in our life—whether it’s a house that looks a certain way, a certain lover or mate who fills certain criteria. “I’m a good person and deserve this,” or “I’m a bad person.” The self-image we are attached to is often negative. Everyone has some negative self-image. If you’re attached to being good, then you’re always finding proof that you’re a good person. You might be attached to a self-image of being good, strong, powerful, rich, beautiful, popular, being married, single, etc. This is the most superficial layer; and it’s where most people live. The most common level of consciousness is focused on this superficial image level.

Diamond Heart Book II, pg. 51

 

Source of Self-image can be Revealed by Essence 

This is where Essence is valuable; it will give you the knowledge and understanding that no one else can. If you deeply investigate the issue of self-image, you'll come to the essential aspect that corresponds to self-image. When this happens, you will experience Essence in a way that has no self-image; instead there will be space, openness, inner spaciousness. This is the essential aspect that was lost when you developed the self-image and believed that the self-image was who you truly are. The self-image always has a boundary -- physical, emotional or conceptual. When you experience space, you experience yourself as being without boundaries, without definition, just openness. 

Diamond Heart Book II, pg. 36

[Zigzag Idiot]

Looking without expectation 

Faces are everywhere 

Their voices are heard but are mostly outside of Time

The messages are heard as lies mostly and are not in agreement with the world

The messages of the voices from the faces ,,,,,

Are they a more involved psychological projection?

Am I dipping into the collective unconscious?

Intuition whispers this to me 

Who knows,,,,,

Who knows?

Only those who are not in a place of concern it seems

They have no vested interest in having a body

Rare is the individual who has a body and hears some of these messages from the voices of the disconnected faces.

I only know of one such person but the messages he hears are not the same ones I hear.

He is a poor listener most of the time and to be honest, I think he’s crazy.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

                       Karma Yoga
The essence of the idea of Karma-Yoga is to meet with unpleasant things equally with pleasant things. That is, in practicing Karma-Yoga, one does not seek always to avoid unpleasant things, as people ordinarily do. Life is to be met with non-identifying. When this is possible, life becomes one's teacher; in no other sense can life become a teacher, for life taken as itself is meaningless, but taken as an exercise it becomes a teacher. It is not life that is a teacher, but one's relation through non-identifying makes it become a teacher. Nothing can change being so much as this practice - namely, to take the unpleasant things in life as an exercise. (Maurice Nicoll, Commentaries, Vol. 1)

I listened to this a couple of times today. When working and listening to a YouTube I’ll often play it twice because I’ll usually miss bits of it, 

Below is another that I recently listened to. I like the gal who gives the introduction,,,

Enjoy the life all you can and don’t try to change how you feel. Every feeling you have is correct. There’s a lesson in every feeling we experience.

 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Realization can arrive quietly and in an unexpected way,,,

What almost inevitably happens? We start napping again by losing the inner quiet that was encountered through understanding.
Becoming identified with some idea, emotion, or physical object in our outer world brings back distortions.

That’s how it seems anyway.

Interesting part of my I CHING reading this morning.

Line 6. He meets with firm allegiance, and is still further bound. The King introduces him to the western mountain.

"He" in this line refers to the person who has been freed from a loyalty spell that has bound him to the collective ego. The king refers to the Sage, that reintroduces him into unity with the Cosmic Whole, which is here represented by the "western mountain" as a place of harmony. This line informs him that through following the Sage and his inner truth, he has left behind the turmoil of the parallel reality, where opposites rule.

The idea of attaining peace, as presented by the collective ego, involves retreating from the everyday world, spending hours in contemplation or meditation, and engaging in ascetic practices. Such efforts come from spiritual ambition, which possesses a person once he has adopted the flattering self-image of "being spiritual," or "becoming a superior man "

"The king introduces him..." can refer to this kind of self-flattery, but also to someone who, through such flattery, has devoted himself to becoming the best scholar, athlete, competitor, etc., as mentioned in the main text of this hexagram. This line informs him that he has created a fate by following the path that leads to attaining recognition by the collective ego. He can free himself of that fate by ridding himself of the self-image he has adopted, and asking the Sage for help to restore him to the Cosmic Whole.

From:  I CHING The Oracle of the Cosmic Way

[Zigzag Idiot]

4th of July

 Digging out a storm cellar and moving around some old railroad ties, I sweated out 3 different changes of clothes today. I put each change of clothes into the shower and stood on them and let the soapy water run over them so that they wouldn't stink as bad, having had a prewash and not stinking up the bedroom and utility. Late in the afternoon I took my tools and drove to a friend's house to help him change out a tire on one of his front wheels. I was out of practice with this kind of chore. There were 3 of us and we were working clumsily against one another but finally prevailed. Midway, we took a break.   He doesn't have running water at his house. He has an old hand dug well about 50 foot deep. He lowered a bucket down and brought up some refreshing water that had a great taste!   About five buckets he brought up. The temperature of the water very cool. We filled our drink containers several times and took turns pouring the water over one another to cool off. Getting water out of that old well was a neat experience. 

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

From the teachings of A.H. Almaas

What is Ontology?

Diamond Approach Teachings About: Ontology

Activities Don't Have an Ontological Presence

This is a very important difference. It means that emotions don't really exist except in the sense that activities exist. They are activities, and activities don't have an ontological presence. Essence, on the other hand, is not an activity. As we saw in chapter 1, essence is a presence, and its basic quality is its existence as an ontological actuality, as a “suchness.” An emotion is an activity that starts and ends, whereas essence is a presence. An emotion is like the movement of water, the activity that is the motion. The motion of water is not the water. Water can be still, without motion. Essence, on the other hand, is like the water. It exists whether there is motion or not.

Essence with the Elixir of Enlightenment, pg. 26

Ego is a Structure or a Structured Process Whereas the Pearl is an Ontological Presence

The pearl is the real, complete, balanced, and rounded personality that psychologists believe they are talking about when they are discussing the ego. We must remember that the ego is a structure, or a structured process, whereas the pearl is essence, which means the pearl is an ontological presence. We call it the personal essence because among all the essential aspects it alone is personal. It is experienced as having a personal flavor to it, in contradistinction to impersonal. All aspects of essence, even love and kindness, are impersonal. But the pearl is personal. And this is its miraculous quality, totally unexpected and unfathomable. Some people interested in inner development try to become objective and impersonal, to move away from identifying with the personality. The personality is personal, and so the personal feeling is mistrusted and avoided. However, the pearl beyond price feels personal without being the personality. It has the capacity to make a personal contact with another human being and still be free, totally unconditioned, free from the past and its influences.

Essence with the Elixir of Enlightenment, pg. 162

Essence is an Embodied Presence, an Ontological Actuality

There are other classes of mental experience that are customarily regarded as the experience of essence when in fact they are not, such as the experiences of insight and intuition. In psychotherapy, for instance, one might have an insight about oneself, about others, or about the nature of reality. It often occurs as a flash of illumination and is accompanied by a sense of expansion and certainty. Such insights can provide valuable information and affective satisfaction. Still, the experience of insight is not itself essence, not yet. An insight is an event, and essence is a presence. An insight is an experience of understanding a specific truth, whereas essence is an embodied presence, an ontological actuality

Essence with the Elixir of Enlightenment, pg. 21

Essence Reveals Itself as the Ontological Nature of All Existence

This essentialization can include all aspects. So the soul’s action can be intelligent, compassionate, clear, steadfast, etc., in a total and full way. And this action can be physical, expressive, or mental. She is presence of essence, but also a dynamic living presence whose morphogenic transformations express the pure perfections of true nature. In this transformation the soul has progressed from the stage of the human soul, the attainment of the second journey, to the stage of the angelic soul, or the essential soul. The second side of the development of nonduality in the journey in presence has to do with essential presence manifesting its ground of true nature. Essence here reveals itself not only as the ontological nature of the soul but as the ontological nature of all existence, all manifestation. True nature begins to reveal its omnipresence, disclosing that it is the ground and nature of everything. This appears as true nature revealing its boundless and formless dimensions that transcend the limited boundaries of the ego-self, even the individuality or personhood of the soul. The soul does not experience herself here as an individual soul, but as a boundless and nonlocal presence that transcends all spatial extensions, as eternal nowness that transcends all time, and as a mystery that transcends all determinations. She is all and everything, she is Reality.

The Inner Journey Home, pg. 225

It is Possible to Experience Ourselves as the Actual Ontological Presence that We Are

Our experience of ourselves can be transformed from identifying with our mental self-images to having awareness of less contingent, more fundamentally real aspects of the self. It is possible to arrive at a place where we can experience ourselves as the actual phenomenon, the actual ontological presence that we are, rather than as ideas and feelings about ourselves. The more we are able to contact the actual presence that we are, the less we are alienated in a superficial or externally defined identity. The more we know the truth of who we are, the more we can be authentic and spontaneous, rather than merely living through concepts of ourselves. Among the many methods that shift the quality and depth of experience, those used by religious and spiritual traditions are more effective in contacting deeper dimensions of the self, with a more thoroughly developed understanding of these dimensions and their significance for living life than those used by the newer science of psychology. However, psychology has contributed powerful new knowledge about the human being that allows us to systematically work through the barriers to these deeper levels of self, especially the barriers to integrating these levels into one’s identity. In particular, the current understanding of narcissism is very useful for the process of inner realization, the process of learning to contact and appreciate the deeper levels of our nature and allowing these dimensions to actually affect our identity

The Point of Existence, pg. 7

 

Ontological Presence

It is possible to arrive at a place where we can experience ourselves as the actual phenomenon, the actual ontological presence that we are, rather than as ideas and feelings about ourselves.

The Point of Existence, pg. 7

 

There are 8 or 9  more excerpts here 

  https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/ontology

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

A very enjoyable YouTube combining Gurdjieff, Sheldrake, Nicoll, Jung, Lazlow, and others,  rendering a thoughtful, meandering description of a whole pile things sitting next to, and within, a stack of holons.

May everyone reading this be cursed with some kind of problem or inconvenience today which results in an unexpected growth or insight which broadens your perspective and adds a degree of understanding which correlates in a certain proportion to the suffering experienced from said curse. So that the sensation of time being warped results without the effect of memory loss which is usually a side effect of time warp growth phenomena. 
A blessing/curse of a certain kind must be long winded. Don’t axe me why results are often shattering.

Have a good bad day in a heyoka kind of way.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

These are my take-aways,,,

True wisdom is understanding.

Understanding comes about from a combination of knowledge and Being.

Beingness and presence are lacking in the contemporary civilization. Time is taking precedence over space where knowledge and information are dominant juxtaposed to Being. Thinking is more often dominating over feeling. 
Open up to your feelings by becoming empty-headed. Get out of your head by putting attention on the physical sensation of your feet. It can also help to role play a very stupid person. 
Allow feelings to surface from a place of innocence. A relaxed body is an honest body.

Short attention span theatre is eroding the character quality of patience in a fast paced world.

Technology is increasing the prevalence of depression in humans.

Before you become big hearted in a practical way, you have to experience indulgence and actually observe yourself being a selfish, impatient asshole. It’s not so much the experience of gluttony and satiation but observing it in real time which can aid the healing of addictions in a more enduring way opposed to current culture’s strategy of subtle or blatant shaming. Don’t let other people divide you against yourself.

Aloha,,,

[Zigzag Idiot]

Pretty wild,,, 9 minutes 

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Obvatyl=householder - A somewhat balanced human being who can interact and get things done in the world. When they become disillusioned with life and the trappings of materialism. That is the possible entrance into the “Work”, with a head start.

A teacher once said to me, “the Work is for Losers”.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

On 7/4/2024 at 10:47 PM, Zigzag Idiot said:

4th of July

 Digging out a storm cellar and moving around some old railroad ties, I sweated out 3 different changes of clothes today. I put each change of clothes into the shower and stood on them and let the soapy water run over them so that they wouldn't stink as bad, having had a prewash and not stinking up the bedroom and utility. Late in the afternoon I took my tools and drove to a friend's house to help him change out a tire on one of his front wheels. I was out of practice with this kind of chore. There were 3 of us and we were working clumsily against one another but finally prevailed. Midway, we took a break.   He doesn't have running water at his house. He has an old hand dug well about 50 foot deep. He lowered a bucket down and brought up some refreshing water that had a great taste!   About five buckets he brought up. The temperature of the water very cool. We filled our drink containers several times and took turns pouring the water over one another to cool off. Getting water out of that old well was a neat experience. 

                                                                                                                              Update

My friend showed up the other day and said he'd been sickly. 

He also said he'd pulled a dead decaying rat out of the well.

The well we had drank out of on July 4th.

  I said, " damn". 

[Zigzag Idiot]

There are so many lines of development that can be worked on in Actualizing one's potential that I decided in the past to not pay much attention to some of them. For instance, I'm a terrible speaker for the most part. Especially in front of an audience.  Having to speak in front of an audience is a common phobia. I'd say especially so for those who are more introverted.  If you try to be everything to everybody, there's a chance you'll just get overwhelmed and end up disappointed with yourself.

These people who always say that you need to push out of your comfort zone to make yourself grow. Well, how about me increasing my ability to confront those who say this? Why not? 

I've always rooted for the underdog. So, I'm going to make arguments in favor of those who would rather not speak and be in opposition to those extroverted brash attention whores who are in love with the sound of their own voice.

I do come off as a little too harsh and cynical sometimes. One characteristic of an enneatype 6 is overcompensating. I try to at least observe that tendency. As well as the appearance of cynicalness. In the past I've noticed how a cynical attitude will produce a near constant low-grade guilt. Wishing people well, especially those who you might find offensive is a good counter balance for cynicism. It lifts a burden and changes my inner world when I can honestly have this frame of mind towards everyone. Then again, if I get angry and bitch at someone,,, well it just happens. It means I reacted instead of responded. We're all human. So don't beat yourself up when you miss the mark and behave in a way that you regret. Observing one's mistakes instead of justifying why you did it, makes you grow. That's a Fourth Way concept.

[Zigzag Idiot]

On 1/28/2019 at 10:22 AM, Zigzag Idiot said:

Who am I?

Where am I?

To let go of my personal history is to walk out of a prison.

Not an easy thing. Working on myself requires continual effort because I/We forget.

It means beginning again, thousands of times. Encountering elements in shadow work which send me into reaction and forgetting requires self forgiveness. To 'sit with' something difficult is to eat and digest it's energy. A saying in the Work is that - sometimes I eat the bear and sometimes, the bear eats me. 

Forgiving myself is practice for forgiving others.

Forgiving others is practice for forgiving myself.

Red Hawk - "Apology and forgiveness are acts of Conscience. These are the acts which clear Conscience and allow it to grow. They feed Conscience. What gets fed, grows-that is the law. Apology and forgiveness are sacrificial acts, done in the service of something higher and finer, something which cannot be named but may be sensed, felt, and experienced. A real man, a human being, is known by his reactions. He is known not by what others say about him, but what he says about others. He is known by his acts of kindness and humility. He is known by his ability to apologize and forgive. This is how non-judgmental love manifests in reality. The conscious management of the survival instinct is the practice of a lifetime. It never ends. It comes to me as a result of remorse and fear of hurting others, which have brought about the aim of kindness in me."

 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Dave Chapelle is extremely intelligent .His willingness to say anything combined with a capacity for mimicry that,,,,, what is it?  His mimicry is an act of embodiment. No?  Makes him hilarious anyway.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

Eschatology is the study of the end of the world, the end of human history, or the end of the current age. It is a branch of theology that deals with beliefs about death, judgment, and the final fate of humankind.  

The term eschatology comes from the Greek words eschato(s), which means "last", and -logy. It was first recorded between 1835 and 1845.  

Eschatology is a topic of interest in many religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In Christianity, eschatology is concerned with the Second Coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the Last Judgment. For example, Christians believe that Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection will lead to the resurrection of believers on the Last Day.  

The concept of eschatology has also been applied to the religions of nonliterate peoples, ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures, and Eastern civilizations.  
 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

We're all somewhere on the scale of crazy

We all have different masks that we wear. Don't we? Consider the small muscles of the face,,, Sometimes you might notice a certain tension in your face. Maybe your concentrating on a detail oriented task. Or perhaps you're in a restaurant and happen to notice a baby being fed one spoon after another by her mother but the child is resistant. This produces that phenomena where by watching you start opening your mouth as the mother opens her mouth while putting the spoon closer the child's face.

In both instances, you are in a state of identification.  In how many ways can we be identified? I would wager that it would be limited and not endless but none the less a very high number. I may be wrong ,,, I don't know for sure. Throw in intensity of identification which would indicate a deeper state of "attachment" or more shallow state of being identified.

I'm not a very expressive person outwardly and by nature, I'm more introverted than extroverted. But the sometimes exaggerated or hyperbolic way I express the attitude of my inner world, often with a degree of irreverence. This makes for a problem for some people who have known me all my life but really don't know me. In the last 20 years I've experienced an inward transformation of sorts but there are still many character flaws that crop up. In actualizing one's potential there are many possibilities in both vertical growth and horizontal growth. As far as I can tell,  there is no perfect person achievement award to be had, but there can be an inner quiet that formerly was rarely felt. This inner quiet has a quality of Self remembrance connected with it. But not always,,,, Everyone of us has to move out of the condition of being an unguided Gollum, of sorts. Gollum was very identified with the ring. with "precious", in Lord of the Rings.

"Conscious suffering is the medicine to make the automaton surrender to the permanent witness," -Ocke de Boer

From there one must self initiate and bring the mind into the heart.