text:
This is a series of wisdom and mystical knowledge that will be examined... This knowledge will show the hidden teachings of Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef also known as Jesus the Christ but will also include esoteric knowledge from the Mystics of all religions and philosophies... All of these Mystics will ask you to find the ' Source of All ', and to ' Know Thyself '... Enter into the most important experience of your life...
' Freedom '...
It is a myth that [when I'm truly enlightened] I can rest in some assuredness that I will never again feel insecure, or feel fear, or feel doubt, or feel those emotions that we don't want to feel.
Forget it. That's not it. That's the pipe dream. That's the opium that's sold to the masses. And they eat it up and they never get there, and they end up disillusioned.
That's not how it works. Freedom is never freedom "from." If it's freedom "from" anything, it's not freedom at all. It's freedom "to."
Are you free enough to be afraid? Are you free enough to feel insecure? Are you free enough not to know? Are you free enough to know that you can't know?
Are you free enough to be totally comfortable, to know that you can't know what's around the next corner? How you will feel about it?
How you will respond to it? That you literally can't know? Are you free enough to be totally at ease and comfort with the way things actually are? That's freedom. The other thing is the ego's idea of freedom."
' When death comes '...
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower; as common
as a field daily, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.
- Mary Oliver -
(New and Selected Poems 1992)
' Our own perceptions '...
We must find the Overself through our own perceptions,
that is, through our own eyes--or never.
It will not suffice to believe that we can go on seeing it through the eyes of another man--be he a holy guru, or not.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 3: Independent Path > # 290 Paul Brunton
' Happiness is never your own '...
"You are concerned with your own happiness and I am telling you that there is no such thing.
Happiness is never your own,
it is where the "I" is not insecure."
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Emptiness and Kadag '...
Without the mind itself seeing its own "kadag" (pristinely empty) nature through the intrinsic prajna of emptiness, reifications of all kinds will proliferate endlessly.
Prajna wisdom knows all thoughts, emotions, attachments, sensations, perceptions, objects, karma, vasanas, causes of suffering, identities, persons, loved ones, life forms, bodies and universes; are all empty, meaning they have never arisen because no cause for their arising has ever occurred. They are all no more than the mind's mistaken grasping for some sort of reliable solidity where none can be found at any time.
"All objects of the senses—visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tangible—as well as the objects of the mental sense power—in sum, all phenomena that appear to the six senses, are the object of negation. They're all hallucinations. The entire world, even the Dharma path, hell, god realm, positive and negative karma, and enlightenment, were made up by your own mind. Your mind projected the hallucination of things existing from their own side.
This hallucination of inherent existence is the foundation. Then, on top of that, you pay attention to certain attributes and label "wonderful," "horrible," or "nothing much." When you think, "He's awful" and get angry, you label the person an enemy. Not aware that you created the enemy, you believe there is a truly existent one out there and project all sorts of other notions on him."
Lama Zopa on Prasangika View
' The purpose of prayer '...
The true purpose of prayer is not to keep asking for some benefit each time we engage in it,
but rather to express the yearning of the underself for the Overself,
the attraction felt by the ego living in darkness for its parent source dwelling in light.
-- Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 2: Prayer > # 118 Paul Brunton
' Peace , power , happiness '...
"Peace, power, happiness, these are never personal states;
nobody can say "my peace," "my power"-
-because "mine" implies exclusivity which is fragile and insecure."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' A life not copied '...
Let him stand in his own place, and not seek to occupy that of another.
Let him find a life that is real, and not copied.
But such admonitions are good only so far as he has already come into communion with the Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 3: Independent Path > # 101
Paul Brunton
' Happiness is strange '...
"Happiness is strange;
it comes when you are not seeking it.
When you are not making an effort to be happy,
then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there,
born of purity, of a loveliness of being."
― Jiddu Krishnamurti
' It is only tuesday night '...
And yet the vision that I see are the elements of mind control that speak lies and false flags..
Are the other humans awake to deception ?..
War hides under the screaming of words..
It is so strange that Divine Consciousness would visit the yin and yang of Dreams..
But, this is the balance of Intellect that decides which road to travel..
To Know the True Path, many dead ends are entered..
Knowing that life is short for the human experience, we must not fear the future..
We are not the future, We have always existed as this moment, this Now..
We remain the Observer and thus, do not feel pain..
The voltage of the hologram runs down, to be recharged by desires..
Desires are the prison that promises happiness and yet delivers fear..
' Reincarnation '...
"The memory of the past unfulfilled desires traps energy, which manifests itself as a person.
When its charge gets exhausted, the person dies.
Unfulfilled desires are carried over into the birth.
Self-identification with body creates ever-fresh desires and there is no end to them unless this mechanism of bondage is clearly seen.
It is clarity that is liberating, for you cannot abandon desire unless its causes and effects are clearly seen.
I do not say that the same person is reborn.
It dies, and dies for good.
But its memories remain and their desires and fears.
They supply the energy for a new person."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' The Crown Chakra '...
The Crown Chakra and Final Realization of Buddhahood in Dzogchen
"The reason for this is that the ushnisha (upper crown chakra) has no size, but pervades the ultimate expanse. When the mind dissolves into the chakra of the ushnisha (upper crown chakra), buddhahood is attained."
"In the teachings of the Great Perfection, the essence-drops are described as rising up, being piled vertically above the head (third vision). And when the mind dissolves into the chakra of the ushnisha (upper crown chakra) the "exhaustion" of phenomena in suchness (chos nyid zad sa, fourth thogal vision), buddhahood, is achieved."
From end notes of "The Treasury of Precious Qualities" by Jigme Lingpa
"Buddha's ushnisha, the protuberance on the top of his head, is not made of flesh and blood, but represents the opening of the 'spacechakra'. It is also known as the "crown chakra of great bliss." Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche
From Dilgo Khyentse's The Heart of Compassion: Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Boddhisattva (translated by the Padmakara Translation Group)
"The ushnisha (gtsug tor), or crown prominence, one of the major marks of a fullyenlightened Buddha, is usually represented in paintings and statues as a protuberance resembling a topknot in size, but is said to rise up from the top of a buddha's head to the infinity of space........... In the thogal practice of the Great Perfection, the ushnisha corresponds to the five-colored lights and buddhafields that manifest above one's head as the infinite display of sambhogakaya realization" (footnote 89, p. 248 Heart)."
This single post above is the most essential and secret teaching in Dzogchen. It's the key to understanding everything. Decipher it and ask questions as needed. This "space chakra" is our Mind of Clear Light.
If you close your eyes, just notice where your thoughts and day dreams are appearing. They are appearing in the emptiness of your awareness. Aren't they?
When you open your eyes, what you are seeing is also appearing inside your "head", because eyes can't see. The images you see are generated within your "empty" crown chakra along with sounds and all perceptions, thoughts, sense of self and feelings. They appear and disappear like momentary clouds in an empty sky.
Your true identity is that "empty aware space" in which all of life is appearing. You never change, have never changed and will never change. You are always a Buddha.
Let your active mind relax and dissolve into its own awake and aware emptiness; then this will be known.
-Jackson Peterson
' An invitation beyond the mind '...
"The true spiritual urge or yearning is always an invitation beyond the mind.
That's why it's always been said that if you go to God, you go naked or you don't go at all.
It's the same for everybody.
You go in free of your accumulated knowledge, or you are forever unable to enter.
So an intelligent mind realizes its own limitation, and it's a beautiful thing when it does.
When you stop holding on to all of the knowledge, then you start to enter a different state of being.
You start to move into a different dimension.
You move into a dimension where experience inside gets very quiet.
The mind may still be there chatting in the background, or it might not, but consciousness is no longer bothering itself with the mind.
You don't need to stop it.
Your awareness just goes right past that wall of knowledge and moves into a very quiet state."
~ Adyashanti
Emptiness Dancing
' Two cannot go there '...
Approaching the Self is like walking on a razor's
Two cannot go there, you can't even bring
your mind or a thought.
So the only One who can
help you is Self.
Anything that touches this Flame
becomes Flame.
Touch a Sage and you become
a Sage,
knowing Self you see only Self and this
Self is your Teacher.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' Phenomena '...
All phenomena are completely new and fresh,
absolutely unique and entirely free from all concepts of past, present and future.
They are experienced in timelessness.
-HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
' The personal ego '...
The personal ego of man forms itself out of the impersonal life of the universe like a wave forming itself out of the ocean. It constricts, confines, restricts, and limits that infinite life to a small finite area. The wave does just the same to the water of the ocean.
The ego shuts out so much of the power and intelligence contained in the universal being that it seems to belong to an entirely different and utterly inferior order of existence. The wave, too, since it forms itself only on the surface of the water gives no indication in its tiny stature of the tremendous depth and breadth and volume of water beneath it.
Consider that no wave exists by itself or for itself, that all waves are inescapably parts of the visible ocean. In the same way, no individual life can separate itself from the All-Life but is always a part of it in some way or other. Yet the idea of separateness is held by millions.
This idea is an illusion. From it springs their direct troubles. The work of the quest is simply this: to free the ego from its self-imposed limitations, to let the wave of conscious being subside and straighten itself out into the waters whence it came. The little wave is thus reconverted into the infinite Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego >
Chapter 1: What Am I? > # 102
Paul Brunton
' Progress is irreversible '...
"All real progress is irreversible.
Ups and downs merely show that the teaching has not been taken to heart and translated into action fully."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Absorption into Overself '...
First, he has a vague feeling of being attracted towards the Overself.
Then he bestows more attention upon it, thinks of it frequently;
at length attention grows into concentration and this, in turn, culminates in absorption.
In the end, he can say, with al Hallaj:
"I live not in myself, only in Thee.
Last night I loved.
This morning I am Love."
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 329
Paul Brunton
' That is all '...
"We live in illusion and the appearance of things.
There is a reality.
We are that reality.
When you understand this,
you see that you are nothing,
and being nothing,
you are everything.
That is all."
- Kalu Rinpoche
' By knowing what is not '...
By knowing what is not, the sage knows what he truly IS.
Polarity, which modern science confirms as existing in all manifestations of life even in the most minute atomic and sub atomic particles of the universe, is an expression of an intimacy of love that cannot be described in words.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' We meet today '...
"This body is not me.
I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born, and I have never died.
Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars, manifestations from my wondrous true mind.
Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.
Birth and death are a game of hide and seek.
So laugh with me, hold my hand, let us say good-bye, say good-bye, to meet again soon.
We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
' Surrendering to the Divine '...
Such a prudent aspirant will surrender himself to no exterior organization but only to the interior Overself.
He will permit no human group to annex his will and direct his thought,
for they are to serve the Divine alone.
-- Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 4: Surrender > # 40 Paul Brunton
' This is the short way '...
"The sheikhs are the pourers of the wine and the dervish is the glass.
Love is the wine.
By the hand of the wine pourer, the glass — the dervish — is filled.
This is the short way.
Love could be offered to one by other hands.
This is the short way."
-Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak al Helveti al Jerrahi
Love is the Wine: Tales of a Sufi Master in America
Threshold Society
' The Self is everywhere '...
Our sense of being is the quality of the quintessence of food and the shape of the food material is taken by us as our form.
Your Eternal nature is without the sense of being.
When the vital breath leaves the body, it becomes inert.
It is like the extinguishing of a flame.
Does the flame go anywhere?
When the body drops, there is no going anywhere.
At the so called birth, there is no coming from anywhere.
The Self is everywhere.
It does not leave any space to travel to.
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nothing is Everything 12/7/1979
' Self-reliance '...
The rarity of competent teachers in the world, and especially in the Western world, forces seekers to practise self-reliance and cultivate independence, unless they are willing to accept substitutes for competence or join organizations making unsubstantiated claims.
The Overself will not neglect determined seekers and through circumstances, events, books, or otherwise gives them the particular guidance or instruction needed at a particular time.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 3: Independent Path > # 90 Paul Brunton
' Dispassion and Detachment '...
"What you need will come to you if you do not ask for what you do not need.
Yet only few people reach this state of complete dispassion and detachment.
It is a very high state, the very threshold of liberation.."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' To attain Gnosis '...
Enlightenment, Realization, or Gnosis is nothing that can be attained through any of our conventional ways of knowing. This is because conventional knowledge is based on imaginary distinctions, which we take to represent reality. The Reality that Gnosis reveals, however, is non-dual, and without distinctions. To the extent that we reify the distinctions of conventional knowledge as inherently existing entities and objects, they act as veils to our Realization of this Non-dual Reality. Thus, to attain Gnosis we must surrender our belief that conventional knowledge gives us knowledge of Reality. This is why the Taoist sage, Lao Tzu, asks:
When your discernment penetrates to the four quarters Are you capable of not knowing anything?
And why the great Sufi poet, Rumi, writes:
Where should I seek knowledge? In the abandonment of knowledge.
Because as Zen Master, Suzuki Roshi, explains:
If you want to understand it, you cannot understand it. When you give up trying to understand it, true understanding is always there.
Now many seekers take such teachings to mean that, in order to attain Gnosis, we must stop trying to grasp reality through formal philosophical modes of thinking. This is certainly true, as far as it goes. The trouble is, it does not go far enough. What Gnosis demands is something much more radical. The Christian mystic, St. John of the Cross, explains:
Those are decidedly hindered, then, from attainment of this high state of union with God who are attached to any understanding, feeling, imagining, opinion, desire, or way of their own, or to any other of their works or affairs, and know not how to detach and denude themselves of these impediments. Their goal transcends all of this, even the loftiest object that can be known or experienced. Consequently, they must pass beyond everything to unknowing.
In other words, it is not just our philosophical knowledge that must be surrendered. We must surrender belief in any of our conventional ways of knowing - including those everyday, `common sense' ways of knowing we take so much for granted.
This is easier said than done for two reasons. The first is that our most primitive forms of knowledge are based on elementary distinctions which, under normal circumstances, we are not even aware we are making. Consequently, before we can surrender our belief in all forms of knowledge, we must first become mindful of those subliminal mental processes on which knowledge itself is founded.
The second reason is that even the creation and acquisition of our most sophisticated forms of knowledge is by no means a dispassionate affair. Except in the rarest of cases, it is motivated by a desire to in some way enhance and protect ourselves. The more we think we know about the world, the more we feel we can control and manipulate it to our own ends. By the same token, the less we think we know, the more we feel lost and vulnerable. Consequently, the prospect of surrendering our belief in all forms of knowledge is quite frightening, for it means we must be willing to enter a state of such profound unknowing that we literally no longer have the slightest idea of who we are, or where!
- Joel Morwood
' What is '...
Presence is a quality of welcoming, open awareness, which is dedicated simply to "what is."
There can still be someone who is aware and there is that of which they are conscious - the sound of running water, the taste of tea, the feeling of fear, or the weight and texture of sitting on a seat.
And then there can be a letting go of the one who is aware, and all that remains is presence.
All of this is totally without judgment, analysis, the wish to reach a conclusion, or to become anything.
There is no mentation and no expectation.
There is simply "what is."
- Tony Parsons, from As It Is - The Open Secret of Spiritual Awakening
' In the waves '...
There are several signs
in eyes that see all the way to the ocean. Bewilderment
is one. Those who study foam and flotsam near the edge
have purposes, and they'll explain them at length!
Those who look out to sea become the sea,
and they can't speak about that. On the beach
there's desire-singing and rage-ranting,
the elaborate language-dance of personality,
but in the waves and underneath there's no volition,
no hypocrisy, just love forming and unfolding.
- Rumi
Version by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1993
' The Overself's take-over '...
The Overself's take-over is not always the same but changes with the time and the occasion,
the person and the place.
It may be gentle, quiet, almost unmarked at first,
or it may be like a tremendous force, commanding and irresistible.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 6: Experiencing a Glimpse > # 2 Paul Brunton
' I am '...
Refuse all thoughts except one:
the thought `I am'.
The mind will rebel in the beginning,
but with patience and perseverance it will yield and keep quiet.
Once you are quiet,
things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally,
without any interference on your part.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' This Nothing '...
"Let go this 'everywhere' and this 'everything' in exchange for this
'nowhere' and this 'nothing'.
Never mind if you cannot fathom this
nothing, for I love it surely so much better.
It is so worthwhile in
itself that no thinking about it will do it justice.
One can feel this
nothing more easily than see it, for it is completely dark and hidden to
those who have only just begun to look at it.
Yet to speak more
accurately, it is overwhelming spiritual light that blinds the soul that
is experiencing it, rather than actual darkness or the absence of
physical light.
Who is it then, who is it then, who is calling it 'nothing'?
Our outer self, to be sure, not our inner.
Our inner self calls it 'All',
for through it he is learning the secret of all things, physical and
spiritual alike, without having to consider every single one separately
on it's own."
-The Cloud of Unknowing
' The case for Grace '...
The case for Grace is that only the Overself can tell us what the Overself is,
can teach us about itself.
The ego-intellect cannot do so;
the senses certainly cannot;
and ordinary experience seems far from it.
-- Notebooks Category 18: The Reverential Life >
Chapter 5: Grace > # 97 Paul Brunton
' This love '...
This sense of affection, this love, this quality cannot be cultivated,
cannot be practised, cannot be brought about;
but it must happen as naturally as breathing,
as fully with great joy and delight as the sunset.
- J. Krishnamurti
' The beginning and end of thoughts '...
The voice of Jesus haunts my thoughts as He says;
" The Kingdom of God is within "..
Therefore, the Truth of Reality is only found within the beginning of thought and ends within the end of thoughts..
As you think, therefore, you are..
Thought is the Creator of manifestation..
To end the manifestations, you must end thoughts..
Thoughts are the frequencies of desires..
To end the dreams, you must stop creating dreams..
To search within is to leave the egoic desire for existence..
To search within is to be alone with God...
' Space and Time '...
As you integrate you become one,
and your needs become one accordingly.
Unified needs lead to unified action,
because this produces a lack of conflict.
You cannot behave effectively
while you function on different levels.
However, while you do,
correction must be introduced vertically from the bottom up.
This is because you think you live in space,
where concepts such as "up" and "down" are meaningful.
Ultimately, space is as meaningless as time.
Both are merely beliefs.
The above quotes are from the book
A Course in Miracles.
' To know It is to BE It '...
When thought, discipline and experience have done their
utmost and finally accept utter defeat,
they then cease to
function altogether.
That state is beyond both words and
It is neither one thing nor another.
The Absolute
noumemon cannot be experienced.
To know it is to BE it.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
"A Net of Jewels"
Ramesh S. Balsekar
Advaita Press, 1996
' Perceptions '...
We must find the Overself through our own perceptions,
that is, through our own eyes--or never.
It will not suffice to believe that we can go on seeing it through the eyes of another man--be he a holy guru, or not.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 3: Independent Path > # 290
Paul Brunton
' The mind '...
"The mind cannot know what is beyond the mind,
but the mind is known by what is beyond it."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Realization of the Overself '...
The attainment of realization of the Overself is extremely rare,
and the aspirant should not expect to do so in one limited lifetime.
However, since its Grace is unpredictable,
no one can say that it is impossible in a particular case.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 127
Paul Brunton
' Sitting and Forgetting '...
Jackson Peterson posted on Facebook
From the Taoist text:
"He whose house is peaceful and stable will emit the heavenly light."
The "house" is the mind.
The "heavenly light" is the emergence of wisdom.
The mind is the vessel of the Tao.
If the "house" is empty and calm to the utmost, the Tao will reside there and wisdom will emerge.
Wisdom comes from your original nature.
It is not something that comes to exist just now.
This is why it is called the "heavenly light."
' Equanimity towards everything '...
There are dream consequences
for the bad acts committed in the dream,
and while you still take the dream to be the reality,
you will suffer the consequences
of your bad behavior.
Do no evil and have no hate.
Have equanimity towards everything.
- Annamalai Swami
' When personal identification vanishes '...
When personal identification vanishes, all that then remains is a sense of presence without the person, which gets translated into a feeling of life as total freedom.
The ultimate understanding can come neither by straining to hang on to the material pleasures of the world nor by making efforts to seek and grasp the infinite Absolute.
It comes by recognizing that the universe is the objective body of the subjective SELF.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' I have given the world, You '...
"To repeat Your name is to string pearls together.
The pleasure in your manifested form is always new.
I have ceased to desire the unembodied God.
Your worshippers do not seek liberation.
With You, it is still possible to give and to receive.
What use is the place where a dish sat when it is taken away?
Tuka says, 'Give me the gift of freedom from fear.
After all, O Lord who pervades the world, I have given the world You."
Abhangs (A Short Collection) Poem by Sant Tukaram - Poem Hunter
' A place of expenditure '..
Return from existence to nonexistence!
You are seeking the Lord and you belong to him.
Nonexistence is a place of income;
flee it not!
This existence of more and less is a place of expenditure.
' Self-lighting Light '...
I came to this birth and rebirth universe
and found the self-lighting light.
If someone dies, it's nothing to me,
and if I die, it's nothing to anyone.
It's good to die,
and good to live long.
- Lalla
14th Century North Indian mystic
From "Naked Song"
Versions by Coleman Barks
Maypop, 1992
' Appearing in Consciousness '...
I do not negate the world.
I see it as appearing in consciousness,
which is the totality of the known in the immensity of the unknown.
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
I Am That
' The meaning of the Quest '...
What is the hidden metaphysical meaning of the Quest?
It is that the infinite self in man finds that it cannot achieve adequate self-expression in the finite and imperfect life of the world.
The ego may try as it will, do what it may, but the bliss, wisdom, serenity, and perfection that are the natural attributes of the Overself, in the end elude its every move.
There is ultimately no alternative except to let go of searching and grasping the outer world, and retreat within.
There, deep inside its own being the journey to enduring satisfaction will thenceforth be.
This is the Quest leading to discovery of Overself.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 1: What the Quest Is > # 39
Paul Brunton
' Call no man, your father '...
"And call no man your father upon the earth:
for one is your Father, which is in heaven."
-Matthew 23:9 (KJV)
Think about these words of Jesus when you give the title of Father to religious leaders..
Perhaps, the title of brother or sister is more appropriate for these leaders,
as humility will arrive with the acknowledgement of sameness...
- thomas
' The clearing of doubts '...
A doubt arises and is cleared.
Another arises
and that is cleared, making way for yet another;
and so it goes on.
So there is no possibility of
clearing away all doubts.
See to whom the doubts
Go to their source and abide in it.
they cease to arise.
That is how doubts are to be
- Sri Ramana Maharshi
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"Be As You Are"
The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
edited by David Godman
Arkana, 1985
' The Subconscious Mind '...
Much of our emotional and cognitive landscape is projected into consciousness from subconscious dynamics driven by stimulus/response conditioning, as is our dreams at night.
Our personality is shaped by past experiences and conditioning. Our thoughts and actions are driven by embedded patterns that remained fixed in subconscious memory due to prior mental impressions.
For instance, a girl who was sexually molested when very young may have problems with sexual intimacy for her entire life. Or a child who almost drowned when a baby, may have a lifetime fear of water and swimming.
All fixed preferences have become subconscious patterns that the mind doesn't even have to think about during a moment of "choosing". "You" don't choose, the mental process does.
The most important of the various fixed patterns in the subconscious is the well-defined "sense of self identity". This sense of self then becomes a somewhat permanent filter over the lens of all experience and a kind of movie director. The mind then believes this bundle of conditioning to be it's actual "self". It's the feeling and thought of "me". But it's no more real than an identity in last night's dream.
It is only this mentally created personality dynamic that is seeking enlightenment and liberation from its suffering. It is only this personality dynamic that gets attached to a teaching tradition and teacher as well as believing that various practices will be beneficial. But we must ask "beneficial for whom?".
Remember, the personal self, the seeker, is ONLY a bundle of concepts and emotional feelings as a subconscious mental construction. All practices and studies leading toward "enlightenment" will never result in a benefit, because the one that would benefit is imaginary.
So fundamentally, the problem isn't the problem; rather the one who owns the problem is the only problem, and that "owner" doesn't exist.
This is why I always ask "who" is seeking or who is suffering or who is there to do a practice or who is there to attain enlightenment. It's obvious here that, that "who" is a figment of conditioned imagination only.
Here, when that cessation of subconscious selfing happened suddenly, the self-identity just vanished due to a subconscious shift. There no longer was anyone as a personal self with a personal story present. The personal self disappeared, like waking from a dream but without waking up into an awakened self.
The concepts of death and suffering no longer had meaning because there was no longer anyone there to die or to suffer. It was an amazing freedom in a realm of infinite and vast, aware emptiness that belonged to no one and that was not known by a personal self.
It is only this moment of complete personal absence that has true meaning. This is what the Buddha experienced that he called anatta or no self. This is the liberation in which the one seeking liberation vanishes.
The "true self" is pre-self. The personal self identity is merely temporary (and always changing) neural brain activity.
-Jackson Peterson
' The Overself '...
The Overself is not merely a transient intellectual abstraction but rather an eternal presence.
For those who have awakened to the consciousness of this presence,
there is always available its mysterious power and sublime inspiration.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 2: Inspiration > # 69 Paul Brunton
' Dreams are thoughts '...
Bad thoughts make bad dreams
and good thoughts make good dreams,
and if you have no thoughts,
you don't dream at all.
- Annamalai Swami
' Life is often our greatest teacher '...
I find that this is often overlooked within the context of spirituality. Many of us are using our spirituality as a way to avoid life, to avoid seeing things we really need to see, to avoid being confronted with our own misunderstandings and illusions. It is very important to know that life itself is often our greatest teacher. Life is full of grace—sometimes it's wonderful grace, beautiful grace, moments of bliss and happiness and joy, and sometimes it's fierce grace, like illness, losing a job, losing someone we love, or a divorce.
Some people make the greatest leaps in their consciousness when addiction has them on their knees, for example, and they find themselves reaching out for a different way of being. Life itself has a tremendous capacity to show us truth, to wake us up. And yet, many of us avoid this thing called life, even as it is attempting to wake us up. The divine itself is life in motion.
The divine is using the situations of our lives to accomplish its own awakening, and many times it takes the difficult situations to wake us up.
The irony is that most human beings spend their lives avoiding painful situations. Not that we are successful, but we are always trying to avoid pain.
We have an unconscious belief that our greatest growth in consciousness and awareness comes through beautiful moments. We may, indeed, make great leaps in consciousness through beautiful moments, but I'd say that most people make their greatest leaps in consciousness in the difficult times.
This is something a lot of people don't want to acknowledge—that our greatest difficulties, suffering, and pain are a form of fierce grace. They are potent and important components of our awakening, if we're ready for them. If we're ready to turn and face them, we can see and receive the gifts that they have to offer—even if the gifts sometimes feel like they are being forced upon us. Whether the circumstance is illness, the death of a loved one, divorce, addiction, problems at work—it's important to face our life situations in order to see the inherent gifts that are available.
~ Adyashanti ~
The End Of Your World
' Who is your Father ? '...
"And call no man your father upon the earth:
for one is your Father, which is in heaven."
-Matthew 23:9 (KJV)
Think about these words of Jesus when you give the title of Father to religious leaders..
Perhaps, the title of brother or sister is more appropriate for these leaders,
as humility will arrive with the acknowledgement of sameness...
- thomas
' Wherever man lets Him '...
"'Where is the dwelling of God?'
This is the question with which the rabbi of Kotzk surprised a number of learned people who happened to be visiting him.
"They laughed at him:
'What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of His glory?'
"Then he answered his own question:
'God dwells wherever man lets him.'"
-Martin Buber
The Way of Man: According to the Teachings of Hasidism
Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1998 (1950), p. 40
' You can never 'know' Truth '...
You will never "know" the Truth.
You can only "Be" the Truth.
There is no "knower" that's really separate from
the Truth that's being known.
The ego says that it wants to experience the
Truth, but it survives more by saying "no" to the
truth than it does by saying "yes" to it.
However, consciousness is truth, itself, and so
it needs no one present in order to validate it.
Life is just as it is.
There's nothing more than "just this."
And, quite amazingly, there's nothing else than
"just this."
- Chuck Hillig
' The Kingdom of Heaven '...
A letter from P.B. to P.B.:
(1) It is not the tyranny of the ego which is to be removed most of all--although that is a necessary part of the Great Work - nor is it that the ego must be uprooted and killed forever--although its old self must surrender to the new person it has to become.
No--let it live and attend to its daily work but only as a purified being, an ennobled character or quietened mind, an enlightened man--in short, a new ego representing what is best in the human creature.
He will still be an "I" but one that is in harmony with the Overself - a descriptive name that ought to be kept and not discarded. So do not in your writings attack the ego as so many do, but lift it up to the highest possibility.
(2) The teachers increase daily and ask others to follow them. The teachings multiply and the books about them too. They are not your concern. Let them do their very much needed work.
But you are to enter a new and different rhythm and tell such as will listen that they need not be forlorn, lost, or without hope because they find none to appeal to their heart or mind.
They are asked only to follow the God within themselves, for "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."
P.B. - give this message while giving all proper respect and honour to the teachers of today and yesterday. Those who feel alone in this matter or who can only walk outside the groups on an independent path should be reminded that there is a God within them who can guide and help them if they turn to him.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 0: Introductory Paras > # 1
Paul Brunton
' The Beloved '...
"If you are a real and genuine lover,
you must be accustomed to doing your utmost to fulfill the orders of your beloved,
even at the risk of your life.
Of course,
it is just possible that your beloved may deign to come to you."
Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak Al-Jerrahi Al-Halveti
The Unveiling of Love: Sufism and the Remembrance of God
Tr. from the Turkish by Muhtar Holland
NY: New Traditions International, 1981, p. 184
' The prescription for happiness '...
The sense of attainment of objects of desires will not
give happiness. This gives bondage.
It is absence of
desire which brings happiness.
It is only desire which
disturbs eternal peace and rest.
This desire is the disease
of mind;
live without it and be happy.
Happiness is true
Self and is always here.
The prescription for this happiness
is to simply be quiet.
- Papaji
"The Truth Is"
Sri H.W.L. Poonja
Yudhishtara, 1995
' The listener disappears '...
When you listen not to the superficial meaning of words of Truth but in such a way that the listener in you disappears along with the speaker, then the real meaning of the words can sink in deep and your misunderstanding will disappear by itself.
There is nothing else to be done.
Until the storm of conceptual thinking subsides and the mind learns to rest in a fasting state, one's true nature must remain unknown and inaccessible.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Perfection '...
"Perfection is a state of the mind, when it is pure.
I am beyond the mind, whatever its state, pure or impure.
Awareness is my nature;
ultimately I am beyond being and non-being."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Relativity '...
Basic truth is
When you go to the core
of the Principle
we all are One.
Once you
the Absolute,
is just your
playing cards.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' One eternal NOW '...
The notion that the truth will be gained, that happiness will be achieved, that the Overself will be realized at the end of a long attempt must be seen as an illusory one.
Truth, happiness, and the Overself must be seen in the Present, not the future, at the very beginning of his quest, not the end, here and now.
It is not a matter of time.
This is because time is a trick the mind plays on itself; because the past, the present, and the future are all rolled into one eternal NOW; because what is to happen has already happened.
-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation >
Chapter 5: Balancing the Paths > # 216
Paul Brunton
' Basic truth '...
Basic truth is
When you go to the core
of the Principle
we all are One.
Once you
the Absolute,
is just your
playing cards.
- Swami Amar Jyoti
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
"In Light of Wisdom"
Swami Amar Jyoti
Truth Consciousness, Boulder, Colorado, 1983
' Time and space '...
"Time is in the mind, space is in the mind.
The law of cause and effect is also a way of thinking.
In reality all is here and now, all is one.
Multiplicity and diversity are in the mind only."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' personal self dissolves '...
In this deep stillness wherein every trace of the personal self dissolves,
there is the true crucifixion of the ego.
This is the real meaning of the crucifixion,
as it was undergone in the ancient Mystery Temple initiations and as it was undergone by Jesus.
The death implied is mental, not physical.
-- Perspectives > Chapter 24:
The Peace within You > # 59
Paul Brunton
' There is nothing else '...
"The mind creates time and space, and takes its own creations for reality.
All is here and now, but we do not see it.
Truly, all is in me and by me.
There is nothing else.
The very idea of "else" is a disaster and a calamity."
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
' A trajectory '...
So, as I see it, it doesn't really matter whether an awakening is instantaneous or continuous. It matters in the sense that there is a trajectory—nobody's heart will be totally fulfilled until that perceiving from the point of view of truth is continuous—but what is seen is an awakening, whether it is sustained or not.
This glimpse of awakening, which I call nonabiding awakening, is becoming more and more common. It happens for a moment, an afternoon, a day, a week—maybe as long as a month or two. Awareness opens up, the sense of the separate self falls away—and then, like the aperture on a camera lens, awareness closes back down. All of a sudden that person who had previously perceived true nonduality, true oneness, is quite surprisingly now perceiving back in the dualistic "dream state." In the dream state, we're back in our conditioned sense of self—in a limited, isolated sense of being.
The good news is that once a moment of this clear seeing has actually taken place, the aperture of our awareness can never completely close down again. It may seem like it has closed down completely, but it never quite does. In the deepest part of yourself, you don't ever forget. Even if you've only glimpsed reality for a moment, something within you is changed forever.
Reality is nuclear; it's incredibly powerful. It's unimaginably potent. People can experience a flash of reality in the time it takes to snap your fingers, and the energy and the force that enters into them as a result is life altering.
Just one moment of awakening begins the dissolution of one's false sense of self and, subsequently, the dissolution of one's whole perception of the world.
~ Adyashanti ~
The End Of Your World
' Permanent Illumination '...
That with one breakthrough in awareness,
all would be known and comprehended,
all questions answered,
all personal shortcomings obliterated,
is the usual conception of this experience.
But there is some wishful thinking here.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 8: Glimpses and Permanent Illumination > # 2
Paul Brunton
' Clarity and Earnestness '...
You need both clarity and earnestness for self-knowledge.
You need maturity of heart and mind, which comes through
earnest application in daily life of whatever little you have
There is no such thing as compromise in Yoga.
If you want to sin, sin wholeheartedly and openly.
Sins too
have their lessons to teach the earnest sinner, as virtues –
the earnest saint.
It is the mixing up of the two that is so
Nothing can block you so effectively as compromise,
for it shows lack of earnestness, without which nothing can be
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Dzogchen '...
Many times I have been rightly called an "Absolutist" in regards to my presentation of the Buddha Dharma and especially Dzogchen.
In Dzogchen one takes the "absolute" or ultimate truth as the path.
To understand what this means we have to define what is meant by the absolute or the ultimate truth in Dzogchen.
The greatest authority on this topic in Mahayana Buddhism, is unquestionably a Buddhist teacher called Nagarjuna who lived during the the second century.
He suggested that we can delineate reality into two categories for philosophical discussions: the ultimate truth and the conventional truth.
He wrote that the ultimate truth is "emptiness" (sunyata) and the conventional truth is fiction (prapañca).
The fictional or conventional/relative truth is our conceptual constructions that we take as inherently, objectively real and self-existing on their own side, independent from our own mind as being their sole source.
Nagarjuna writes concerning "conventional reality":
"Any horns there, on a rabbit's head are just imagined and do not exist. Just so, all phenomena as well are just imagined (conceptually constructed) and do not exist."
Nagarjuna points out in his "Praises to to the Dharmadhatu" that this ultimate truth of emptiness isn't just a void emptiness but that it is a "mind of clear light" as the absolute Buddha Nature called the Dharmadhatu.
"The Dharmadhatu was never born, nor will it ever cease. At all times it is free of all afflictions; at the beginning, middle, and end, free from stain."
He further clarifies:
"The Dharmadhatu is not the self. It is neither man nor woman either; and being beyond everything perceivable, just how could it be thought of
as a self?"
Dzogchen recognizes the only real truth as the Buddha Nature or Dharmadhatu itself. We only take refuge in the Dharmadhatu which is our own aware consciousness (yeshe). Dzogchen is the only Buddhist path that takes the ultimate truth or absolute as its unique path.
That means the Dzogchen skilfull means is to point only to the ultimate or absolute truth itself ignoring all fictional narratives.
All other Buddhist paths point to some level of fiction, which is why they consistently fail. If one is trying to get to Rome by a path that leads in the wrong direction, yet promising to arrive in Rome some day; one's path travelling could prove arduous, depressing and fruitless. And most practitioners and teachers I have met in over 50 years of path travelling myself, none have arrived in Rome; free of suffering and liberated from the mind's self-binding, two-fold ignorance (Belief in a fictional self and belief in any objective reality).
That's why I am an Absolutist, and only interested in pointing out the shortest route between here and here.
-Jackson Peterson
' Consciousness '...
We read in the Bhagavad Gita of Arjuna's cosmic vision.
He was given a glimpse of a part of the universal order, the World-Design, the World-Idea. Others who have had this glimpse saw other parts of it, such as the evolution of the center of consciousness through the animal into the human kingdom, an evolution which is recapitulated in a very brief form by an embryo in the womb.
Consciousness may expand into infinity or contract into a point.
Some have had this experience through mystical meditation and others through physical chemical drugs, but the point is that they are temporary experiences of the fact that we live in a mind-made world, that the time orders and space dimensions are mental constructs and are alterable, that consciousness is the basic reality, that it can assume many different forms, and that ordinary, average human consciousness is merely one of those forms.
This tells us why the insights of the seers like Buddha differed so greatly from those of ordinary human beings.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself >
Chapter 6: Experiencing a Glimpse > # 368 Paul Brunton
' Our Original Mind '...
Our Original Mind is always calm and serene. Waves of thought and perceptual appearances come and go. No appearance remains in our mind. The cognitive space in which these appearances come in go, remains calm and serene.
Experience through the secondary consciousness of mind, appears either on the subjective pole or on the objective pole; or both.
The subjective pole appearances of mind are: identity, "me", "selfness" and the "self-feeling".
The objective pole of the mind's appearances are: "other", "independent objects", "things", "persons" and independently existing entities.
In simply observing the arising and dissolution of the bi-polar appearances, its is noticed that the aware observing of these appearances doesn't "come and go". As consciousness orients more and more into this pure observingness, the subjective and objective appearances of mind at first become less dense and convincing. Eventually their empty and transparent nature is perceived.
Seeing this empty and transparent nature of subjective and objective appearances is the realization of two-fold emptiness.
That perception of two-fold emptiness is the way reality is experienced in the Original Mind.
Relax as the already present Original Mind: naturally aware, changeless and serene.
-Jackson Peterson
' Completely surrender in It '...
You as ego, cannot really care for yourself.
Something has already announced Itself: I am here, inside. TRUST.
Now a change has come over you and you can no longer be your old self.
Just be aware of Inner Presence and completely surrender in It.
It is not for the devotee to know or to assess what is going on.
Do not make any conclusions at all.
There is a sense that something powerful is present within you.
If you have surrendered yourself, it is not your business anymore to take control of your life.
Leave it all to the Power and Presence.
-Sri Mooji-
' Surrender to it '...
The words of the book can carry you to a certain point in consciousness.
When this is reached you can go farther and higher only by closing the book!
It has served you well but you must turn now to a new source.
Let thoughts come into quietude;
intuition will take their place:
a holy presence will be felt:
surrender to it.
-- Notebooks Category 7: The Intellect > Chapter 3:
The Development of Intellect > # 271
Paul Brunton
' Words of deceit '...
You will face the media malaria..
As within the Dream ,you are experiencing a battle between forces..
This Yin and Yang still keep you within wondering..
It is only Tuesday and yet I stir the hornets nest..
You will hear many words of deceit..
Do not fear, all Truth will be known..
Truth is all that exists..
The rest of the pain returns to dream..
Truth returns to Love...
' The wrong diagnosis '...
Never think of yourself as sick.
It's the wrong diagnosis.
Body may be sick,
mind can be sick,
but You, the Self, can never be sick.
You can never be harmed or injured.
And here in Satsang,
I am directly showing you this
so that you will come to know it, not just believe it.
And body can be healed;
mind can come back to its natural state.
But You can never be sick.
You are the formless and ever-perfect Self.
- Mooji
' Devoid of concepts '...
The void that is REALITY is THAT which is devoid of any concept of reality.
The very effort to see into one's own nature is the obstruction to it.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Nature and Need of Mysticism '...
Let it be stated clearly that mysticism is an a-rational type of experience, and in some degree common to all men.
It is an intuitive, self-evident, self-recognized knowledge which comes fitfully to man. It should not be confounded with the instinctive and immediate knowledge possessed by animals and used by them in their adaptations to environment.
The average man seldom pays enough attention to his slight mystical experiences to profit or learn from them. Yet his need for them is evidenced by his incessant seeking for the thrills, sensations, uplifts, and so on, which he organizes for himself in so many ways--the religious way being only one of them. In fact, the failure of religion--in the West, at any rate--to teach true mysticism, and its overlaying of the deeply mystic nature of its teachings with a pseudo-rationalism and an unsound historicity may be the root cause for driving people to seek for things greater than they feel their individual selves to be in the many sensation-giving activities in the world today.
Mysticism is not a by-product of imagination or uncontrolled emotion; it is a range of knowledge and experience natural to man but not yet encompassed by his rational mind. The function of philosophy is to bring these experiences under control and to offer ways of arriving at interpretations and explanations.
Mysticism not so controlled and interpreted is full of pitfalls, one of which is the acceptance of confusion, sentimentality, cloudiness, illusion, and aimlessness as integral qualities of the mystical life--states of mind which go far to justify opponents of mysticism in their estimate of it as foolish and superstitious.
The mystic should recognize his own limitations. He should not refuse the proffered hand of philosophy which will help his understanding andtrain his intuition. He should recognize that it is essential to know how to interpret the material which reaches him from his higher self, and how to receive it in all its purity.
The belief that the neglect of actual life is the beginning of spiritual life, and that the failure to use clear thought is the beginning of guidance from God, belongs to mysticism in its most rudimentary stages--and has no truth in it.
The world will come to believe in mysticism because there is no alternative, and it will do so in spite of mysticism's historical weaknesses and intellectual defects. But how much better it would be for everyone if those weaknesses and defects were self-eliminated.
He has so learned the art of living that the experiences of everyday life yield up their meaning to him, and the reflections of daily meditation endow him with wisdom.
If it be asked, "What is the nature of mystical experience?" the answer given very tersely is, "It is experience which gives to the individual a slant on the universal, like the heart's delight in the brightness of a May morning in England, or the joy of a mother in her newborn child, in the sweetness of deep friendship, in the lilt of great poetry. It is the language of the arts, which if approached only by intellectual ways yields only half its content. Whoever comes eventually to mystical experience of the reality of his own Higher Self will recognize the infinite number of ways in which nature throughout life is beckoning him. The higher mystical experience is not a sport of nature, a freak phenomenon. It is the continuation of a sequence the beginning and end of which are as vast as the beginning and end of the great cycle of life in all the worlds. No man can measure it."
The Yoga Vasistha states, "There are two kinds of paths leading to liberation. Now hearken to them. If one should, without the least fail, follow the path laid down by a Teacher, delusion will wear away from him little by little and emancipation will result, either in the very birth of his initiation by his Guru or in some succeeding birth. The other path is where the mind, being slightly fortified with a stainless spontaneous knowledge, ceaselessly meditates upon it, and there alights true gnana in it, like fruit falling from above unexpectedly."
There are primary and secondary levels of mind and consequently primary and secondary products. The former are insights, the latter are intuitions.
Sages speak from the highest level; mystics contemplate, while genius speaks, writes, paints, and composes from the secondary levels.
Primary consciousness is exalted but calm; secondary consciousness is exalted but excited. The first does not change its settled mood, but the second falls into rapture, ecstasy, and absent-minded reverie.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest >
Chapter 1: What the Quest Is > # 62
Paul Brunton
' All Forms '...
Just as a forest conflagration (itself a single body of flame) assumes innumerable forms, so does the formless, nondual Consciousness assume all forms that compose the universe.
The guru is a great mystery to whom neither criteria nor inferences of any nature can apply.
He is, indeed, the objective expression of the Absolute, living beyond all sense of duality, and cannot, therefore, be factually regarded as an object of worship.
He is not an object but all objects, including the worshiper.
-A Net of Jewels
Ramesh S. Balsekar
' Sin '...
Human sin derives from human ignorance of the Presence which is always within man.
Who that is aware of It could possibly transgress,
could oppose Its benignity or forget Its teaching of karmic come-back?
-- Notebooks Category 6: Emotions and Ethics >
Chapter 1: Uplift Character > # 381
Paul Brunton
' Your responsibility '...
You are responsible only for what you can change.
All you can change is only your attitude.
There lies your responsibility.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj
' Terrorism '...
Let us speak of this mind and soul..
This soul is seeking happiness not within this life,
the heaven of the killer is deemed to be sacred..
If you sacrifice human life to me,
you will be held above others, says the voice of division..
This destruction of the material world is the voice of jealously..
It is almost humorous that the 'nightmare' would control the mind..
But, this is where we stand..
These 'mind control' programs determine the fate of others and self..
Therefore, why do you participate in pain ?..
You are now entering a period of 'media mind control',
I hope that You will survive it...
' Does the ego die ?'...
In true awakening, there is neither a death nor a transcendence of ego. Instead, the location of self is released from its entanglement with the unconscious ego (in other words, the conglomeration of conditioned mental, emotional, and physical responses). Liberated from the prison of egoic identification, the sense of "I-ness" becomes nonlocalized and unattached. Having recognized awakeness as the inherent nature of all that is (including the self), the self becomes an "awake I," undefined and unrestrained by relative reality.
Another way of saying this is that the self experiences itself as inseparable from the totality of existence. While certain survival-based impulses continue (protecting the body from danger, the impulse to eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, or rest when tired, and so on), these now happen without interference. They simply happen as life's natural and intelligent movement toward what needs attention while form is alive. The "awake I" is therefore free to respond intelligently and creatively to the moment, and this gives you access to a power that is at one with life itself.
So what happens to the ego in all this? From one perspective, nothing changes. The ego continues to operate, to keep form alive. From another perspective, everything changes. In the process of liberation, the once unconscious ego transmutes to an evolved or "aware ego" and gives itself in service to the "awake I." In other words, the ego stops being the master and bows down to awakeness.
So, yes, in awakening there is a death. There is a death of the self-identity that is wrapped around ego. But there is also a birth of a whole, integrated human being that includes both the surface sense of self as a separate entity (the self that is born and then dies) and the deeper layer of undifferentiated beingness (the self that was never born and can never die).
Awakeness embraces the paradox of self and no-self. There is no conflict in this apparent duality. While the mind finds this intolerable, the heart abides in unfathomable acceptance. When the silent mystery of spacious acceptance becomes overridingly preferable to the habitual struggle of making sense of it all, the search for a mythical state of enlightenment comes to an end. However, the ever-unfolding deepening into authentic awakening never stops.
This is an excerpt from Embodied Enlightenment: Living Your Awakening in Every Moment by Amoda Maa Jeevan, published by New Harbinger Publications. Copyright 2017.
' Humanity's Awakening is Divinely Willed '...
Within the illusion the only constant is change. You all know this, but you do need to remind yourselves that change is part of the illusion, an aspect of time which is the linear coefficient of the illusory concept that you chose to construct and maintain.
Now that the foundations or underpinnings are collapsing, changes are occurring ever more rapidly. And these changes are especially noticeable in relationships, from personal or family ones to intergovernmental ones.
Change is an aspect of evolution and you are all evolving, and your evolution is basically along a spiritual path, even though vast numbers of you appear to have no spiritual interest or awareness, apart perhaps from believing that anything spiritual is unreal, the result of unbalanced emotional needs being pandered to due to a sense of loneliness, unacceptability, and the fear that that engenders.
Those needs are indeed very prevalent among those who are consciously attempting to follow a spiritual path, and may well indicate the initial signs of a growing awareness that there should be, and indeed is, far more to life than the generally accepted three dimensional materialist egoic drive for more of anything and everything that brings pleasure to your human form.
And, deeply asleep and dreaming, as most humans are, that makes perfect sense. Anything that appears to provide safety, security, and pleasure to the individual is obviously something that is well worth working for.
Over the last few decades more and more of those who live in the apparent safety and comfort of the materialistically successful parts of the world are becoming increasingly aware of the vast contrast between their way of life and that of the billions who live without basic needs – clean water for drinking and cooking, food, shelter, clothing, and essential sanitary facilities.
They are truly concerned with that vast gulf between the relatively well-off and the impoverished. The gulf between the inordinately wealthy and the "rest" is an altogether different matter because those extremely wealthy and deeply asleep ones consider themselves entitled to their seemingly privileged lives in their egoic unawareness of the fact that they are even more dependent on others than are other people! They too will awaken.
This awareness has led to a powerful desire and intent to "balance the playing field," so that everyone on Earth is treated with the honor and respect to which every created being is entitled precisely because they are the beloved children of God. That growing awareness is an aspect of the awakening process in which every single human being has a part to play, a task to complete.
It is also very clear that a vast number have absolutely no memory of their pre-incarnational and individual commitment to assist in humanity's awakening process.
It was clearly understood in the spiritual realms that many, after arriving on Earth as humans, would indeed have forgotten their pre-birth promises. And that is why there are so many incarnate on Earth at this moment. Because the numbers of you presently incarnate are so enormous there is absolutely no possibility of the awakening process failing to unfold as divinely planned and ordained.
You could, in your "amusing" human terminology, say that the divine plan for your awakening has an "overkill" provision. That is, because of the enormous numbers of you involved, there is absolutely no way that it can be unsuccessful because enough of you will remember your pre-ordained tasks and will deliver as promised.
As we in the spiritual realms keep telling you directly, and through the numerous channels we most graciously honor and respect, humanity's awakening is divinely willed and intended, therefore it most certainly will be achieved.
It already has been achieved, but because of your myopic view of life, focused, as it mostly is, on the illusion and the games you are continuing to play there, you are not seeing the big picture, the Divine Picture, in which all live in joy, peace, and harmony, at One with each other and with God. That is the state in which you were all created, and that state has NEVER changed, and you have never left it!
What is occurring all over the world is the rapidly growing realization that there truly is no such thing as separation! Yes, you are individuals in form, individuals in very definitely separate bodies, but large numbers of you are now becoming aware of the fact that everything is intimately connected and INSEPARABLE! Therefore everything you think, say, or do, affects everyone else, even if you, as humans, cannot actually see this occurring.
God is infinitely wise, compassionate, loving; He is all-knowing because He IS. AND He created You like Himself. Therefore, when you designed and constructed the illusion in which you now find yourselves living as small and basically insignificant individuals, you had all His skills and competences, you just chose to use them in an extremely different and unloving way.
You chose separation as a life-style, as a way to prove that you were independent of and had no need of your Source. But, because there is only the ONE, that was something that could only be disproved, as indeed it has been. Consequently to attempt to live as separate and disconnected beings is not only impractical, it is impossible and extremely painful, as you are now becoming intensely aware.
Life is truly a most joyful experience unless you choose that it be otherwise. This is not to blame those of you who are not fully joy-filled – the vast majority of humanity – it is just to remind you that you have free will because Love, God, does not impose, direct, or control. Therefore your choices, even if you seem unaware or in denial of the possibility that you could have made choices that would cause you so much pain and suffering, are never overruled.
To awaken is to realize that you are free and that life, existence, your conscious awareness is yours to use in any manner that you choose.
The truth of this appears to make no sense at all when you find yourselves in situations or relationships that are extremely painful and from which there is no obvious point of exit. But the point of exit is the moment at which you choose to engage fully with Love. When you do this fear, and all that arises through it, loses its power over you, power it never really had. You just chose to be powerless, i.e. fear-filled.
The whole concept of divine intervention in your lives, a god judging and punishing you for your misdemeanors, is a purely human invention. You were created perfect and that is unchanging. But as humans in the illusion, playing games of separation, inadequacy, and worthlessness, you needed a judge to make those calls.
You were emotionally and psychologically unable to accept your own negative self-judgments about your choice to separate from Source and the intense and ongoing pain that choice provides, and so you invented a system of rewards and punishments.
Following on from that you built a societal power structure or pecking order into which each was fitted according to his popularity or craftiness, with the possibility of rising up through that system available, but only for a few, while the rest had to accept their subordinate placement and behave as ordered by the authority figures that the system recognized and supported.
The idea was to destroy all sense of personal autonomy, and it has worked extremely well. Even those at the highest levels of the system live in fear of relegation or even total banishment. You see this happening all over the world as people who were in positions of power are criminalized for corrupt activities that are generally no different from the activities of those who judge and condemn them.
This is obviously an insane way to live, and now, finally after eons of pain and suffering, people are allowing themselves to become aware of this. It is your awakening process. Initially there is a strong urge to have those seen as responsible stand trial and be punished, which is what has been going on for eons.
What is happening now is the growing awareness that these old ideas just do not work, plus the awareness that all are responsible for this ongoing insanity. Therefore, to move forward, instead of judging and punishing, open, honest, and clear communication is required leading first to understanding the whys of this insanity, then to reconciliation, and finally to forgiveness.
In the illusion all have sinned, all are sinners, and when that is accepted by all healing can take place. For there is no sin and there are no sinners, that is all part of the nightmare you have been dreaming. Love always and only loves and cherishes, that is Reality.
Basically you, the human collective, has made the choice and set the intent to cease playing the games with which the illusion presents you, games that demand deceit and violent competitiveness which always lead to further pain and suffering, and return to operating from your true nature, Love. Within the illusion, of course, that takes time. Fear is endemic and has to be acknowledged and released. Choosing to engage with Love makes that possible.
It is only the collective choice not to be loving that has held you seemingly locked into the nightmare. Yes, as humans you all want to be loved, but, because of your choice to experience separation, deep within you feel yourselves to be unlovable and you expend enormous amounts of energy seeking Love from someone else "out there," where you will not find It, because there is no "out there."
Once again, therefore, I would remind you to take time out daily to "go within," to the depths of your beingness, and uncover or disclose the Love that is there awaiting your acceptance of It. You are all infinitely loved in every moment of your eternal existence, the only block to Love is your refusal to accept yourselves completely unconditionally as God does.
Once you open in acceptance you will find yourselves releasing your hold on attitudes and behaviors that are in any way unloving, you will find yourselves seeing Love or the call for Love in others, and you will be powerfully moved to respond to them with Love.
As you settle into this new way of being you will find that you have fewer and fewer reasons to reject or judge others, as you recognize within them the pain and suffering that you underwent before you chose to align with your true nature.
Be Love, offer Love, and open yourselves to receive the Love that is your divine heritage.
With so very much love, Saul.
"Saul via John Smallman: Humanity's Awakening is Divinely Willed and Intended, Therefore It Most Certainly Will Be Achieved," June 3, 2017,
' Asleep in the daytime '...
This world is a dream, don't be deluded;
if in a dream a hand is lost, it's no harm.
In dreams, no real damage is done if the
body is maimed or torn in two hundred pieces.
The Prophet said of this apparently substantial
world that it is but the sleeper's dream.
You've accepted this as an idea, but the spiritual
traveler has beheld this truth with an open eye.
You are asleep in the daytime; don't say this is
not sleep.
- Rumi
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
' They see buddhas '...
All of this a union vast and spacious,
And all those skilled in realizing this
Do not see consciousness,
they see pure wisdom,
Do not see sentient beings,
they see buddhas,
Don't see phenomena,
they see their essence,
And out of this compassion just emerges.
- Milarepa, a Song of Realization
' The same life flows '...
Without self-realization no virtue is genuine.
It is only when you arrive at the deepest
conviction that the same life flows through
and that you ARE that life,
you can begin to love naturally and
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
' The dream world '...
The dream world contains all the relevant features of the
"actual" world.
But the continued appearance of a thing
is not proof of its reality, regardless of whether it appears
to the dreaming mind or the waking senses.
Only with the
dissolution of all appearance does one awaken to the
ultimate Reality of the Self.
- Ramesh S. Balsekar
' What is a True Person? '...
"As I see it, there isn't so much to do. Just be ordinary—put on
your robes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing." -
Master Linji, Teaching 18
Insight can't be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal
expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened
understanding can't be found by devoting ourselves to the
study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find fresh
water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our
clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch
with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha
and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment. The
person who has nothing to do is sovereign unto herself. She
doesn't need to put on airs or leave any trace behind.
The true person is an active participant, engaged in her
environment while remaining unoppressed by it. Although all
phenomena are going through the various appearances of
birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn't
become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate. She
lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing,
walking, lying down, or sitting. She doesn't act a part, even the
part of a great Zen master. This is what Master Linji means by
"being sovereign wherever you are and using that place as
your seat of awakening."
We may wonder, "If a person has no direction, isn't yearning to
realize an ideal, doesn't have an aim in life, then who will help
living beings be liberated, who will rescue those who are
drowning in the ocean of suffering?" A Buddha is a person
who has no more business to do and isn't looking for anything.
In doing nothing, in simply stopping, we can live freely and true
to ourselves and our liberation will contribute to the liberation
of all beings.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, "Simply Stop," Fall 2007 Tricycle From
Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go (2007) by Thich Nhat Hanh
' To realize self '...
"This question haunted me all my life and suddenly it hit me:
'There is no self to realize.
What the hell have I been doing all this time?'
You see, that hits you like lightning.
Once that hits you, the whole mechanism of the body that is controlled by this thought is shattered.
What is left is the tremendous living organism with an intelligence of its own.
What you are left with is the pulse, the beat and the throb of life."
~ U.G. Krishnamurti
' Freedom '...
Such a small word to describe happiness..
How can I describe your nature to yourself ?..
I can warn you of the impediments called ego..
Freedom is the non-fear of future..
Freedom is the space of non-desire..
So many words to describe that which You Are..
You Dream within worlds of fear and Love..
Who am I to speak to you of Freedom ?..
I am You, this is why We speak..
We have never left that which is Real..
We only Dream...
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Creating a picture frame appearance
MX Beaded Glazing is a contemporary alternative to conventional façades, which uses an externally beaded frame option to create a 'picture frame' appearance.
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Glazing options. MX BG can carry 30mm to 36mm glazing
Flat or faceted. Available as a flat façade or faceted up to 3º
Externally glazed. The top and bottom beads are pop-riveted to the fixed frame for additional security
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Replacement glazing. A single carrier frame can be easily removed from the inside for replacement glazing using a special tool.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Blended family adventures and loving our new life! (while also co-parenting with an ex who used to abuse us.)
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Trust is a hard thing to do
4 comments:
Having trust is one of the hardest things we can do as mothers (IMHO). Especially in your circumstance. Trust in the week end and try not to look too far into the future. That only causes more worry. I know because I used to do that all the time---LOL. Congrats on your little puppy's 1st Birthday!!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks so much, Lisa!!! :). We had a great celebration with her...and the girls seemed finally 'settled' home...and now they go away for the holiday week end. Definitely stretching my trust muscle these days... <3. Thanks again for your stopping by!Delete
I'd like to throw him in a cage with my ex. Oh. Yeah. Not supposed to say that. Sorry Jane.ReplyDeleteReplies
😂 thanks for your understanding words! I laughed even though I know it's just so crazy 😳 Hugs to you!Delete


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Monday, March 18, 2013
The most trusted man in America, part 2
I graduated from college in 1969, right at the end of one of the most turbulent decades in our country's history. During a time when authority figures of all kinds were being challenged, one man (above all others) was considered to be the most trusted man in America:
When I last wrote about Mr. Cronkite,the man who was considered to be the most trusted man in American in today's world was Jon Stewart, whose "news" is broadcast on Comedy Central.
As a society, we've become increasingly cynical over time. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, our "believability ratings" of 13 news organizations (national newspapers, cable news outlets, broadcast TV networks, and NPR) has declined dramatically in the last 10 years. Significantly, there's a marked difference by politically party affiliation, since Republicans are much more cynical about the news they receive than Democrats. By itself, that may help to explain why Congress currently has the lowest approval rating it has held in the last 40 years.
Since fame is fleeting, you may be interested to know that Jon Stewart is no longer the most trusted man in America, even though his wit and insight on current topics is still dead on. In 2013, the title of "the most trusted person in America" is held by the man pictured below:
His speech at the Democratic National Convention last September was viewed favorably by most people (with the exception of die hard Republicans), but there are a number of other factors that have contributed to his enhanced status with the American public:
1) his willingness not to hate those who tried to destroy him, and thus involve former enemies in his causes
2) his ability to mobilize scholars and funders from around the world to tackle serious problems as part of the Clinton Global Initiative
3) his ability to convey complex matters in language people can understand
4) the "halo effect" due to Hillary's work as Secretary of State
5) the political right has become even more extreme since the days when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, and has far less credibility than it did 20 years ago
If you've got the time, reading Clinton's 2004 autobiography ("My Life") will give you a better understanding of the man. However, since even the paperback edition of the book is 969 pages long, it will be a formidable task for most people.
It's more than a little telling that Ken Starr, in 2004, expressed regret for his politically motivated investigations of Bill and Hillary Clinton. It's also significant that Clinton's nemesis in Congress, Newt Gingrich, is now considered to be the most disliked politician in America.
You may or may not agree that Bill Clinton is the most trusted person in America, but his life story confirms the fact that all of us can achieve amazing things in life if we don't let life's inevitable setbacks get us down. Somewhere, over the rainbow, our dreams CAN come true.
Posted by Tom Brennan at 3:03 PM
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Thursday, Oct. 30
(Please click for the forecasts for Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.)
Chinese Lunar Dates: Earth Rat Year 10th Month 2nd Day
Advice of the Day: When in doubt, say no.
SUIT: Bed positioning, Burial ceremony, Ground breaking, Haircuts, Long journey, Long journeys, Marriages, Match-making, Meeting friends/networking , Moving house, Moving/repairing the kitchen stove, Pray for good fortune, Prayer and worship, Putting up roof beams, Seeking medical treatment, Wine-brewing
AVOID: Construction of well or water/ sprinkler systems, Legal actions
AUSPICIOUS AGE: 46, Rabbit
CONFLICT AGE: 40, Rooster
Today is a Gui (Yin Water) Mao (Rabbit) Day.
Yin Water Rabbit Day
Shelly Wu Associates at chineseastrology.com
Today is a Gui (- Yin Water) Mao (Rabbit) day.
Best day for: Wood Dog
Worst day for: Fire Rooster
Energies of the day: "SHENG" Rising Upwards, Advancement
A good day for: Putting plans into action, gatherings, travel, fine arts /culture
A bad day for: Domestic Strife, emotionality, overindulging


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Yesterday's post featured the chocolate mousse I made for the fiance's birthday last year. But I didn't mention what the meal was! He requested my Vegan Cordon Bleu again this year; I think he wants it to be his special birthday meal every year!
I didn't even bother with my beurre blanc sauce this year; the flavor of the vegan cordon bleu was enough.
Tonight we head to upstate NY for our wedding weekend! eeee


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text:
Such ignorance and incompetence are now so systematic and widespread in the British public service that if they are not the result of deliberate policy, they might as well be. In fact, there is now a profoundly catalytic relationship between the intellectual, moral, and economic corruption of the British public service and the degeneration of the national character. Which among all the various factors came first and is therefore ultimately causative is not easy to say; as usual, I suspect that intellectual error is at the root of most evil.
When I was a civil servant, I devised my 'rule of three'.
A third of civil servants do useful work (and they are extremely good at what they do).
A third of civil servants do useless work (work which does not need to be done).
A third of civil servants do not work.


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Now back to my latest project.
It's already a fact - I have sewn my first trousers.
I am not sure why it took me so long to try my hand at making trousers. Somehow I always ended up making tops and dresses and never trousers or shorts. I suspect it was my conviction that it wouldn't be easy to achieve a good fit.
Well, starting with toddler trousers was a good point as they were more undemanding to make.
I drafted the trousers pattern myself. If you have followed me you would probably know that I don't like using shop bought patterns. It takes half of the pleasure of the whole process.
For my first trousers I chose not to make a front opening and insert a zipper. I added elastic on the back waist and incorporated two pleats on each front side. I thought this would make trousers look more stylish and less babyish.
I had a dilemma whether to attach a separate waistband or just to fold at the waist. Well, I decided on the second option. And guess what?.....I forgot to put the fusible interfacing to the waistband. This is the second time I forget about the interfacing when making a garment! I am really mad at myself for being so forgetful.
There is a little pocket flap on the back, without a real pocket. Toddlers don't need pockets on the back, right? They can't even reach them!
|"These trousers are so comfortable that I can exersise in them!"
|"I can run really fast in them!"
|"They are not making my bottom look too big, aren't they?"
|"This photoshoot is exhausting!"
For the trousers I used lightweight green cotton fabric which I bought from Bulgaria not long ago. It was for clearance and was unbelievably priced at 2 leva/metre which was around 80pence/metre. Now I wished I had bought all of it. I was told that it was cotton but the cheap price makes me wonder whether it could be polycotton instead. Next time when I go to Bulgaria, I intend to stock on some more cheap fabrics. The downside is that I can't actually find good printed cottons. There are mainly polyester and single-coloured fabrics.
|"Ok, I am off now!"


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Other than holding the ball too long on that sack in the red zone, man...Flacco looks SHARP!
That pass to Heap was just further evidence to me that Heap is nearing the end. It hit him cleanly in both hands in stride with a step on his man and he dropped it.
If Washington had anymore speed, that would have been a TD.


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Dropped: in a shopping cart at a little shopping centre in Oosterheem Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.Number of toys: 1 owl
Made by and dropped by: Ilona
When: August 20, 2010
And Ilona says: Pattern can be found here: hammerandthread.blogspot.com/2010/07/owl-stuffies-tutoria...
I couldn't take a picture of the spot, as it was quite busy. An older man found him soon, but didn't understand the tag and dropped it back in the shopping cart. So I'm curious who adopted him after all!


text:
|Director Kevin Barker discusses a scene with Brad Dourif in Last Kind Words
- Director's Vision: To make Last Kind Words for the cost that we hoped for we needed to take a visual approach similar in look to Blair Witch Hunt, or some other down and dirty project. However, this wasn't Kevin's vision for the film. As he spoke with his cinematographer it became clear that Kevin wanted to highlight the beauty of Western Kentucky and to make a film that was genuinely great to look at. This would require a much bigger crew (of course, we settled for only a slightly bigger crew) and a larger equipment package. The plan was just to use reflectors in the forest, but eventually we paid for a few extra generator days to be able to have better lighting options. We also needed to have a jib shipped out from Los Angeles (cheaper than renting one locally), a condor, and other toys. Fortunately fellow producer Amy Miller agreed with Kevin's vision and was able to make some financial magic happen to get some additional cash for the project.
- Travel Costs: It turns out that we couldn't stay at Mook with our expanded crew so we had to look elsewhere. The nearest hotel that could accommodate us at a decent rate was over a half hour drive away. Because we were an hour and a half from Louisville we even had to put up local crew. Almost all of our crew came in from elsewhere, however, because we didn't have the network needed to get willing low pay crew from nearby. We had crew from New York, California, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska and a caterer from Virginia. We rented out an entire motel for the crew which turned into quite the party, but the crew travel/lodging costs alone was $20,000.
- Mr. Brad Dourif: Once we started talking about spending more to make it more of a "real" movie, we started talking about finding a name actor for the lead role. Brad Dourif was an early consideration and his agent was really great to work with. However, he insisted on a rate quite a bit higher than we had budget for, so we had to make an adjustment there. Dourif delivered a dynamite performance and having him in the role certainly helps as we sell the film.
As the producer it was my job to keep abreast of these expenses and to warn Amy, who was handling more of the investor side of the team, about them as they arose. I had several nights when after number crunching I had to knock on her door to bring her more bad news. The news was always, "If we want to make this movie like we're currently making it, we're going to need to do this..." (followed by something that would cost more money).
But we always agreed that it was worth it to try to make the movie the way we wanted to make it, as long as we could figure out how. Thanks to a very skilled director (Kevin), a very crafty Executive Producer/Producer (Amy), a brilliant cinematographer (Bill Otto), a skilled 1st AD (Eric Sheehan) and a great cast and crew, we were able to endure a very hard and taxing shoot and make a pretty good film.
But we always agreed that it was worth it to try to make the movie the way we wanted to make it, as long as we could figure out how. Thanks to a very skilled director (Kevin), a very crafty Executive Producer/Producer (Amy), a brilliant cinematographer (Bill Otto), a skilled 1st AD (Eric Sheehan) and a great cast and crew, we were able to endure a very hard and taxing shoot and make a pretty good film.
|This is not what micro-budget filmmaking looks like.
As I prepare projects now I make the considerations above before moving forward. It's important that everyone is on the same page as far as vision goes. If we had wanted to make LKW on a micro budget we could have. We could have shot in upstate New York or another rural area that could actually house us, that would be closer to a film center where we could easily have gotten equipment and crew. We could have given it a down and dirty look without jibs or dollies. But, then again, the film ended up costing much less than most (though more than we initially planned) and its beautiful look and high production value is one of the strengths of the finished film.
The key lesson, however, is simply don't think you will be able to have a slick, polished looking film on a micro budget. If your vision is to make something stunning, you have to budget for it.


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Now, you're probably wondering... where are these freebies?! So glad you asked! April's freebie is a a place value game called Super Star:
|A fun game to reinforce greater than/less than and place value skills for first graders
In case you missed them, here are the freebies from February and March:
|February's Freebie: "Barn Owls" Emergent Reader
|March's Freebie: Helen Keller Fact Writing Activity
This one isn't a "First of the Month" freebie, but it's another THANK YOU to you! My first graders have enjoyed playing this place value game to reinforce hundreds grid skills. I organized it in a binder by placing each puzzle and matching cards into individual sleeves. I put the record sheets into sleeves also, so students can use whiteboard markers in order to save paper!
|"Fill the Nest" free place value game
Follow my store to receive notifications when new freebies become available! If Pinterest is more your style, I've got you covered there, too.
Thank you so much, and I hope these freebies make planning a little easier for you :) Happy teaching!
-Erika Utz
Little Owl's Teacher Treats


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The hospital wants to turn off his life support machine. Charlie's parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, disagree. They have the opportunity to take Charlie to the United States to undergo experimental treatment which might, just might, prolong or improve his life. They managed to raise over $1 million for this purpose but the hospital said 'No.'
The case was taken to the UK Supreme Court and they sided with the hospital. The court said there was no benefit to taking the child to the USA and his suffering would only be prolonged. Then Charlie's case went to the European Court of Human Rights. They also agreed with the hospital and UK Supreme Court.
'The domestic courts concluded that it would be lawful for the hospital to withdraw life-sustaining treatment because it was likely that Charlie would suffer significant harm if his present suffering was prolonged without any realistic prospect of improvement, and the experimental therapy would be of no effective benefit,' the said the court.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, though expressing sympathy for the parents, declined to intervene. Johnson's spokesperson said, ' … it was right that decisions continued to be led by expert medical opinion, supported by the courts, in line with Charlie's best interests.'
The court decision paves the way for the hospital to turn off the machine at any time. The goal is for Charlie to 'die with dignity.' Yet, it is really time for Charlie to die?
The World Is Watching
Though Charlie's parents have failed to persuade the hospital, courts, or their government, they succeeded in attracting world attention. Thirty-seven members of the European Parliament (MEP) expressed their support for Charlie's parents to take their son to the USA. They wrote to PM Theresa May to express their 'deepest concerns about the outrageous outcome and Charlie's case, which infringes Europe's most fundamental values, particularly the right to life, the right to human dignity and personal integrity.'
Their letter continues: 'How is it then possible that even today, in the 21st century, in times when we ourselves designate our era as one which respects fundamental values of life and human dignity, that the United Kingdom does not act in the best interest of its citizens? Is this truly the way we want to go?' they asked. The implied answer is 'No.'
Pope Francis has offered the Vatican's children's hospital Bambino Gesu, which would take care of Charlie for the rest of his life. US President Donald Trump has offered to help in any way possible.
Two Issues to Consider
The tragic story of baby Charlie raises a variety of issues. While some will say 'It's complicated,' in other ways it is amazingly simple. Two issues we need to address.
The one was raised by the 37 MEPS: The right to life. All civilisations encourage the fostering and preservation of life, if for the simple reason that without it there is no future. While leaving aside the issue of abortion, it is still generally agreed that life must be protected. The hospital and courts could argue that there is 'no hope' and that prolonging life is prolonging pain.
However, there is another way to look at it. If there is a chance, however small, to bring hope and healing, then a 'life-affirming position' is that opportunity should be taken. Taking Charlie to America sends a message that life is a priority, even if it is an uphill battle. Apparently, there is a boy in America who had a similar disease and is now 6 years old. An Italian child in a related situation has been treated and is surviving, too. Even if Charlie does not make it, the experiment in the USA could learn value insights to could help other children. If Charlie's parents and the world can say, we done everything in our power, we fought a good fight, that would be a victory in itself.
Another fundamental issue has to do with parental rights. Who is better positioned to determine what is in 'the best interests of the child?' Is it the parents or is it the state? If we believe in the importance of family, and that parents are the best ones to raise their children, then ultimately it is the parents who should decide what is best for their child. A government-run and funded health care system provides universal benefits but it also takes away the decision making from the parents. It is the hospital, bureaucrats and the courts that decide what is in the child's best interests. Basically, it is the old adage: He who pays the piper calls the tune.
Is it in a child's 'best interests' to have the life-support machine turned off when there is the promise of treatment elsewhere? Is its the child's best interests to die in a hospital room when they could die at home in the warm environment of parents?
When it comes to your child, who do you want to decide what's in their best interests? With Charlie Gard, as well as everything else, it is time to 'watch and pray,' and, when necessary, take action.
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