I've been reading a blog called Anti Teachings For Young People (http://anti-teachings.tumblr.com,). There's a lot of great content there for people interested in stuff like western-zen, no-mind, ego-death etc..
Recently, they made a post indexing a bunch of videos about THE SELF. I've been slowly working through them, and finding them very enjoyable, so I'm sharing the link with you cats:
http://anti-teachings.tumblr.com/post/14987178227/self-and-the-new-year
Let us know if you find a video in there which is particularly interesting!
I went to bed last night pondering this video:
The Dissolution of Identity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5qgbANGFsI&feature=related)
He talks about a spiritual transition...
You begin [any spiritual quest] with Insight, Revelation, Epiphany, etc, that's the learning phase, the exciting part at the beginning when you're discovering your spiritual vocabulary.
But what happens after the revelation? He says that after you have this unique insight to the self and the spirit, there's another step... you have to become that person that you discovered. It's like I said the other day (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=31220.msg1132612#msg1132612), shutting off the robot is only the first step. Operating without the robot is a lot more difficult, and as Adyashanti says in this video, it's not as flashy or exciting as the period of revelation and insight.
Putting this into more Discordian vocabulary:
The fun part is the moment when you learn to spot the bars of the black iron prison.
Once you see the obstacles you've created for yourself, you can figure out how to out-maneuver them, to escape them, to reinvent the self.
But you always end up in another prison cell, right? There's always another self...
As they put it in the movie
Waking Life ----
QuoteThe idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving. (It saves on introductions and goodbyes.)
What if there is a way to program the robot to operate in
mindfulness mode?
I tried, for a while, tying a string around my finger. And every time I noticed it, I'd pause, quiet my thoughts, then return my attention to what I was thinking of. I was teaching myself to interrupt the endless chain of thought and response. I should note that I didn't do so well -- it worked for a while, but I eventually gave it up.
I wonder if there's a better way to keep that mindfulness meme at the front of consciousness.
did you tie the string to your finger everyday?
I did something similar when I was cutting back on Things that Will Make Me Dead Faster intake a few months back, but I'd just write "Get Well Soon" on the back of my hand every morning.
I actually found this was really effective in getting me to think about what I was eating/drinking/smoking, and the other thing is that with something like that it's not just you that has to notice. You're reminded every time you meet someone new, it's bound to come up in conversation, even with people who know what you're doing, they seem to remind you every time they notice as well. The icing on the cake, is that (probably cause it's quite a novel behavior) friends and co-workers also notice when you forget to write it on!
As soon as read what you'd posted I thought I could start writing "Watch Yourself" on my hand, but maybe you should try it :)
I did the string thing for a few days, but it was really annoying (which, unfortunately, is the point), then I tried something else -- drawing a little circle on the web between my thumb and forefinger. I think some Buddhists do it that way, the circle is supposed to remind you to be mindful.
I stopped drawing the circle when it had become peripheral, something else that blended into my environment.
My current mindfulness activity is Fractal meditation. I'm the only member [to my knowledge] of a Fractal Cult (http://www.scribd.com/doc/42678527/Fractal-Cult-Pamphlet-DRAFT-1). In the Fractal Cult, we treat the Mandlebrot as a symbol for the universe: infinitely complex, recursive, beautiful.
Every time I go to the bathroom, I fire up the fractal browser on my phone. I'll spend a few minutes diving into a fractal, noting the similar shapes at every level of magnification. That's a good centering meditation for me.
I think repetitiveness seems to be the point of meditation.
You just do one action that keeps you mindful, and you do it every day. The more you will do it (in the chronological meaning: days, months, years, decades,) the more subtle will became the barrier between robotic existence and the awake state, till it finally will disappear entirely one day. In the end, it all boils down to will and perseverance, IMO.
I have read somewhere a comparison of spiritual development to the growth of grass - you don't notice, however it keeps growing. Another example of this are the words of the Dalai Lama, who said in some of his books that the result of spiritual practice must be revised after decades of work. You don't look at your progress in the perspective of a month, or a year, but in the perspective of a decade - something very close to this was written there.
Quote from: Slurrealist on January 03, 2012, 07:37:42 PM
I think repetitiveness seems to be the point of meditation.
You just do one action that keeps you mindful, and you do it every day. The more you will do it (in the chronological meaning: days, months, years, decades,) the more subtle will became the barrier between robotic existence and the awake state, till it finally will disappear entirely one day. In the end, it all boils down to will and perseverance, IMO.
I have read somewhere a comparison of spiritual development to the growth of grass - you don't notice, however it keeps growing. Another example of this are the words of the Dalai Lama, who said in some of his books that the result of spiritual practice must be revised after decades of work. You don't look at your progress in the perspective of a month, or a year, but in the perspective of a decade - something very close to this was written there.
Well, that explains why I can't grow a lawn.
Thanks for the links Cram.
___________________
Mindfulness takes time to integrate into the doing.
When Adyashanti sais, "allow it to happen" at the end, it reminds me of a passage about 'push and pull' i read last year. Pushing with full force will only get us so far, but at some point we can enter a state where we allow the universe (for lack of better words) to pull us, or maybe we pull our selves? - simply by letting go and allowing it to happen; again simple doesn't mean easy.
And mindfulness is not a state of being for me, it's more of a state of doing, a certain type of attribute that can go with all doing. Continued practice makes it easier to attain, and longer to uphold.
While I can see the attraction to "no mind", I prefer "no brain". I've been in my version of Satori for about 10 years now, and it barely hurts at all.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 03, 2012, 07:38:39 PM
Quote from: Slurrealist on January 03, 2012, 07:37:42 PM
I think repetitiveness seems to be the point of meditation.
You just do one action that keeps you mindful, and you do it every day. The more you will do it (in the chronological meaning: days, months, years, decades,) the more subtle will became the barrier between robotic existence and the awake state, till it finally will disappear entirely one day. In the end, it all boils down to will and perseverance, IMO.
I have read somewhere a comparison of spiritual development to the growth of grass - you don't notice, however it keeps growing. Another example of this are the words of the Dalai Lama, who said in some of his books that the result of spiritual practice must be revised after decades of work. You don't look at your progress in the perspective of a month, or a year, but in the perspective of a decade - something very close to this was written there.
Well, that explains why I can't grow a lawn.
:spit:
Quote from: Cramulus on January 03, 2012, 07:18:53 PM
I did the string thing for a few days, but it was really annoying (which, unfortunately, is the point), then I tried something else -- drawing a little circle on the web between my thumb and forefinger. I think some Buddhists do it that way, the circle is supposed to remind you to be mindful.
I stopped drawing the circle when it had become peripheral, something else that blended into my environment.
My current mindfulness activity is Fractal meditation. I'm the only member [to my knowledge] of a Fractal Cult (http://www.scribd.com/doc/42678527/Fractal-Cult-Pamphlet-DRAFT-1). In the Fractal Cult, we treat the Mandlebrot as a symbol for the universe: infinitely complex, recursive, beautiful.
Every time I go to the bathroom, I fire up the fractal browser on my phone. I'll spend a few minutes diving into a fractal, noting the similar shapes at every level of magnification. That's a good centering meditation for me.
Space Cowboy has a circle tattooed around one of his knuckles.
I've been watching some videos from this guy U. G. Krishnamurti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO6jVdUWwN0
In this video, the interviewer is asking Ug about how to help the poor.
U.G. FLIPS OUT at him. He accuses the interviewer of trying to exploit the poor for his own career. He turns the entire conversation towards the interviewer's selfishness and self-aggrandizement.
Quote"Why do you want to use ME for your self-aggrandizement? You are not interested in the common man. You are not interested in humanity. You are not starving. So why are you talking about the starving man? What are you doing to help him? You don't want to help them. You want to use him, to fly around the globe, and collect money."
This guy reminds me of one of Roger's past lives, the taoist teacher Lin-Ji. Lin-Ji enlightens people by shouting at them and beating them with sticks. U.G. has a firm grip on that stick. He pulls the rug out from under people who
thought they were being altruistic.
They call him a "spiritual terrorist". :lulz:
Holy fuck Cram, this is a treasure trove. ..
Ug is just fantastic,
some of the videos made me either laugh my ass off
or send me into hours of quiet contemplation.
Crossjumped to "Life's a videogame",
again I'm sitting there - rethinking, reprogramming,
blowing my mind, then sucking it, then blowing it again.
This will take some time to read, watch, tear apart, digest, ???
i started with Krishnamurti vs Newland, always the sucker for a good fight
the old fellow didn't strike me as a particularly pleasant man, but the reaction, or rather lack of, of the reporter was telling
it put me in mind of the man tolle, here's a bizarre introduction to his thought
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oORUehs4s7Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oORUehs4s7Q)
and here's him pontificating likeably about death:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWXpPGL55No (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWXpPGL55No)
although this is worth taking into account:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbq1trGHlCA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbq1trGHlCA)
or is it?
there's a good few topics in there
as for me, i do take comfort in the occasional spiritual teacher who doesn't smile all the time
then i started in on RAW, but couldn't quite hack the coppenhagen interpretation and all that, so i clicked on to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTYA5wXfdCo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTYA5wXfdCo)
which is pretty close to what i call hi jinx
and ended up clicking some more until i found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBUISw8wdY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBUISw8wdY)
which was utterly fascinating, all 105 minutes of it
thanks
once again, youtube = institutionalised serendipity
REAL SILENCE IS EXPLOSIVE
You can never understand the tremendous peace that is always there within you, that is your natural state. Your trying to create a peaceful state of mind is in fact creating disturbance within you. You can only talk of peace, create a state of mind and say to yourself that you are very peaceful — but that is not peace; that is violence. So there is no use in practicing peace, there is no reason to practice silence. Real silence is explosive; it is not the dead state of mind that spiritual seekers think. "Oh, I am at peace with myself! There is silence, a tremendous silence! I experience silence!" — that doesn't mean anything at all. This is volcanic in its nature: it's bubbling all the time — the energy, the life — that is its quality. You may ask how I know. I don't know. Life is aware of itself, if we can put it that way — it is conscious of itself."
- UG Krishnamurti
Quote from: Cramulus on January 09, 2012, 09:25:06 PM
REAL SILENCE IS EXPLOSIVE
- UG Krishnamurti
lovely, thanks
somehow i finally clicked play on the streaming pad thingy...
it rendered me speechless, only to sit here, listening to it over and over to take in every little nuance.
(especially since it reminds me so perfectly of an attempted, yet sadly-failed process from last year, which ultimately brought my last relationship to an end)
Whenever I look at you, I do not see you.
I see an origami of your age, your job, your class, your gender, your sexual orientation, your race, your nationality, your religion, your beliefs, your thoughts, your past, your future.
Labels upon labels. Conditionings upon conditionings. Time upon time. To look at you is not be with you, but to relate with the images, ideals, and impressions I have made of you.
To look at you is not to interact with you, but to interpret you. Sizing you up. Fitting you in a category. Molding you after my thoughts. Turning you into an object of my interest. Comparing you to my standards. Breaking you into analyzeable parts.
Transforming you into something compatible with my beliefs.
To look at you is to get trapped in the skin of our mental projects about each other.
We read the script of the conventions and the traditions of our society, performing an addictive, convenient drama.
A persistent pattern of relating, indelibly imprinted in deep recesses of our minds.
To look at you is to separate myself from you. I am your other and you are mine. Mine for you have become something I can own, and therefore I can control.
As my other, you are a prisoner of my expectations and demands. To look at you is as vindictive, persistent, deceptive, and subtle as its identical twin. Look at me. To look at you is to kill you.
I'm tired of being your murderer.
I resign.
Now I am just here.
With totally naked eyes looking beyond you, connecting with you not with words, thought, nor beliefs, but with the brilliance of the burning silence of our unmediated presence. And in this space I listen to the melody, smell the fragrance, relish the rapture, and feel the warmth of what you are as you unfold.
And not as how you were folded by your conditionings, by my thoughts, by my desires, by my interpretations.
Quote from: Cramulus on January 09, 2012, 09:25:06 PM
REAL SILENCE IS EXPLOSIVE
You can never understand the tremendous peace that is always there within you, that is your natural state. Your trying to create a peaceful state of mind is in fact creating disturbance within you. You can only talk of peace, create a state of mind and say to yourself that you are very peaceful — but that is not peace; that is violence. So there is no use in practicing peace, there is no reason to practice silence. Real silence is explosive; it is not the dead state of mind that spiritual seekers think. "Oh, I am at peace with myself! There is silence, a tremendous silence! I experience silence!" — that doesn't mean anything at all. This is volcanic in its nature: it's bubbling all the time — the energy, the life — that is its quality. You may ask how I know. I don't know. Life is aware of itself, if we can put it that way — it is conscious of itself."
- UG Krishnamurti
Hell. Yes.
I know what he means, too. The sort of peace I know is the sort that is spontaneous and energetic. It's as if I, suddenly, have this well of energy to draw upon, yet my mind is clear and fluid. It is not lethargic and still at all, it is volcanic, just as he said.
Life is active, death is passive?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V-mkia0RE6A
The Illusion of the Ego - Alan Watts
Quote"We must abandon completely the notion of blaming the past for any kind of situation we're in and reverse our thinking and see that the past always flows back form the present. That now is the creative point of life. So you see its like the idea of forgiving somebody, you change the meaning of the past by doing that...Also watch the flow of music. The melody as its expressed is changed by notes that come later. Just as the meaning of a sentence...you wait till later to find out what the sentence means...The present is always changing the past."