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Sometimes we agree, and have no idea just how differently we are both looking at it.
Sometimes we disagree and have no real idea that we are basically saying the same darn thing.
i love this. marriages and empires have collapsed over the former; hellish strife and suffering have occured due to the latter. this is going right into my big book of life notes.
But, if we continue to talk of these things, sometimes one, or both, of us can clear away the cobwebs of habitual thought that had taken up residence in our mind, and thus far gone unnoticed.
This is the whole purpose of Satsang.
satsang sounds like another way of describing the three-fold jewel if i've got my buddhist concepts right. >ahem<
anyway... i'm not sure where to go with that previous conversation. pretty-much everything i've learned about life is in harmony with the view that enlightenment is a series of realisations, not an ultimate destination.
having said that, i see nothing wrong with your argument and your POV on the situation. it has meaning for you... less so for me. i guess i could do a run-down of the specific ways that your argument doesn't resonate with me in the interests of the sangha, heh.
do you know if monks or people at buddhist centers dedicate time to discussing / debating this kind of thing? in the interest of improving their technique / sangha, presumably..?
G: Do you know if monks or people at Buddhist centers dedicate time to discussing / debating this kind of thing? in the interest of improving their technique / sangha, presumably..?
S9: First of all, let me say that I am not expert in Buddhism, and that there are others here who could better answer some of your questions, esp. about what nuns and monks do, or do not do. However, I do remember Aaki saying something about debates at his monastery or sangha, if I am not mistaken.
G: Satsang sounds like another way of describing the three-fold jewel if I've got my Buddhist concepts right. >ahem<
S9: How would you describe in your own words, the three-fold-jewel?
G: Pretty-much everything I've learned about life is in harmony with the view that enlightenment is a series of realizations, not an ultimate destination.
S9: There are two main schools that disagree on this topic, slow and instant Enlightenment/Realization. I try to speak directly from my own personal experience on this, and not an opinion about two things, which I merely read about. But, then 'subject opinions' are still opinions too, aren’t they? We rapidly translate what we believe we are experiencing into our opinions. So, rely on your own experience in these matters is MY very best advice.
However, I do not see Realization as a goal/destination, as that would be far too lineal for my way of seeing it. Insights certainly do trickle in. But, at some point, it seems that we reach a critical mass, if you will, and the whole world turns upside down. Realization is not just one more insight. Put this idea on a back burner for now. Someday these words may prove helpful to you.
G: I guess i could do a run-down of the specific ways that your argument doesn't resonate with me in the interests of the sangha, heh.
S9: Only if you are moved to do so, my friend. Trust your own instinct.
Joeseph Campbell: "Follow your bliss."
I have a spiritual friend that I have been traveling beside for decades. We share with each other, constantly, both what we think we have learned and our personal insights. To me this has acted like a high-octane fuel, and moved me along rapidly.
...I do remember Aaki saying something about debates at his monastery or sangha, if I am not mistaken.
i would trade a golden fly on the wall in order to hear those dialogues. look at all the output being sold on CD's, DVD's and the like and tell me that such monastic conversations are less valuable than that... material.
and it doesn't even matter which practice / religion you're talking about, don't you think? for people who've dedicated most of their lives to pursuing metaphysical issues, wouldn't most of their conversations be utterly fascinating?
S9: How would you describe in your own words, the three-fold-jewel?
i only have what i've picked up, which is buddha-dharma-sangha.
buddha moved me deeply from tezuka's graphic novel, the dharma is something which i attempt to slowly sublimate, and the sangha is currently this forums, although after i move to the midwest in a month, is something i'm looking forward to participating in locally.
S9: There are two main schools that disagree on this topic, slow and instant Enlightenment/Realization. I try to speak directly from my own personal experience on this, and not an opinion about two things, which I merely read about. But, then 'subject opinions' are still opinions too, aren’t they? We rapidly translate what we believe we are experiencing into our opinions. So, rely on your own experience in these matters is MY very best advice.
However, I do not see Realization as a goal/destination, as that would be far too lineal for my way of seeing it. Insights certainly do trickle in. But, at some point, it seems we reach a critical mass, if you will, and the whole world turns upside down. This is not just one more insight. Put this on a back burner for now. Someday these words may prove helpful to you.
firstly, you have been a wonderful source of clarification on so many of these issues. so i want to thank you. i mean, i -do- thank you. thank you.
secondly, i understand the concept of critical mass and have directly experienced that phenomenom myself, in my own way. but what to you suggests that this concept has currency in buddhism?
and if you feel that such an event happened with siddhartha, don't you rationally conclude that it happened to others as well, such as yshua, mohammed and others?
S9: Only if you are moved to do so, my friend. Trust your own instinct.
thanks, S9. george harrison said "all things must pass" with an album for an exclamation point, so i'm going to go with that.
I have a spiritual friend that I have been traveling beside for decades. We share with each other, constantly, with what we think we have learned and our personal insights. To me this has acted like a high-octane fuel, and moved me along rapidly.
sounds incredible. do you live out of your backpack, then? would love to read your blog or whatever there is relating your experiences.
joseph campbell is my guru, btw. although i'm looking for others...
G: People who've dedicated most of their lives to pursuing metaphysical issues.
S9: I think many of us laymen are doing this too. Don’t be overly impressed by the robes and shaved heads.
G: …conversations be utterly fascinating?
S9: I am like a moth to a flame (of Truth). So yes, fascinated is a good word. : ^ )
G: Buddha-dharma-sangha.
S9: example/scripture/fellowship?
G: Firstly, you have been a wonderful source of clarification on so many of these issues. so i want to thank you.
S9: I see you like a sponge, so ripe, so ready, that if it weren’t me, it would certainly have been someone else.
G: i understand the concept of critical mass and have directly experienced that phenomenom myself, in my own way. but what to you suggests that this concept has currency in Buddhism?
S9: Currency gives the impression that there is something to gain. Actually, we come to understand/remember what who we are/ what we have been, all along. Wipe the dust from our eyes.
G: if you feel that such an event happened with siddhartha, don't you rationally conclude that it happened to others as well, such as yshua, mohammed and others?
S9: Many, many others. Buddha is an honorific name given to such persons. Gautama was just a man, like you. Gautama ‘Woke Up.’
G: do you live out of your backpack, then?
S9: No, I am ‘trailer trash’ living on a 13-acre farm. Just a simple life. ; ^ )
G: would love to read your blog or whatever there is relating your experiences.
S9: Sorry, no blog. Just my incessant and endless postings here. (The crowd groans.)
G: joseph campbell is my guru, btw. although i'm looking for others...
S9: Read Meister Eckhart. There is none better IMO.
thanks, S9... i like being a sponge, although my intent runs way ahead of my actual ability to absorb things. if i had the stamina i would love to be here every day continuing each conversation to fruition... testing, meditating on and discussing the perspectives and insights other people are sharing. i hate being so scattered about a subject that matters deeply to me, but health issues tend to get in the way of being more active. i know i'm going to forget / have already forgotten many of the discussion and concepts here, but them's the breaks. my third eye is going to have to do the bulk of the learning, i guess.
speaking of "third eye"... do you see any merit to reading that wacky thing from the 50's? an online colleague recommended it, but i'm not sure whether i want to invest the effort...
> example/scripture/fellowship?
that's my understanding.
13-acre farm. sounds interesting. what is your farm like?
re: eckhart. could you recommend a podcast or online video of people involved in his work or discussing his teachings? i'm working on chopra right now, but wouldn't mind fitting in a little or this or that.
G: I like being a sponge, although my intent runs way ahead of my actual ability to absorb things.
S9: Welcome to the human race. ; ^ )
I personally have so many interests, and things that I want to get to, that I could use a personal secretary (which I don’t have) to organize all my scrapes and notes about what I want to get to, and often never do. But, I forgive me.
As far as remembering, ah forgetting goes, well, that only gets worse as you age. So smile, and get used to it. We do well, if we can enjoy ourselves in any given moment.
By the way, wisdom isn’t about accumulation, thank God.
G: If I had the stamina I would love to be here every day continuing each conversation to fruition... testing, meditating on and discussing the perspectives and insights other people are sharing.
S9: Yes that, and you should see the reading that I am falling behind in.
I have a friend that reminds me when I worry about not getting to things, that it is better to enjoy things so much you can’t get to them all, rather than to have nothing that rings your bell at/all.
; ^ ) Or, “Die with your boots on.” There was a famous writer who said, “I want to die mid-sentence.”
G: I hate being so scattered about a subject that matters deeply to me.
S9: Don’t worry. Everything that happens is exactly the right thing to happen, and at exactly the right time.
My guru used to say, “Sit back and enjoy the ride.”
Sometime we learn vastly more from our weaknesses, than we do from our strengths.
G: Health issues tend to get in the way of being more active.
S9: I’m sorry to hear that. Sickness is one of the great teachers. Listen to it and learn everything it wants to give you.
Old age and death are the other two. You will meet them all. As we all do. : ^ )
Realization is not a product of memory, so you will not be cheated.
G: 13-acre farm. sounds interesting. what is your farm like?
S9: 2 acres are a lawn, little manmade ponds, indigenous trees, and gardens, (including flowers/vegetable/berries of all kinds/ and a fruit and nut tree orchid. Most of the work on this place was sweat equity as we enjoy playing in this way.
Some people call this ‘hobby farming’ as we are not really reliant on it for subsistence.
The forest supplies us with plenty of wood to burn, and heat our home. We like to live like we are a part of ecology, with our land, and so have a compost heap to enrich our soil from our own garbage and what is left over after harvest. It is a simple life, but abundant in every way.
G: re: eckhart. could you recommend a podcast or online video of people involved in his work or discussing his teachings?
S9: No sorry. But I Googled: Eckhart, podcast. There seems to be many of them.
G: speaking of "third eye"... do you see any merit to reading that wacky thing from the 50's? an online colleague recommended it, but i'm not sure whether i want to invest the effort...
S9: It is very light reading. But, if you enjoy a light read, close to a favorite sitcom on TV, that is just pure fun, go for it. : ^ )
aw, don't fall in love with cliches, S9. there is a gamut ranging from those on the lower end of the dunning-kruger scale to those who consistently strive beyond their means. in effect, those that are more capable tend to assume that other humans wrestle equally with concepts that flutter in their grasp, but those skilled people turn out to be wrong again and again.
so, the only way the phenomenom is true is in the concept, not the effect. and from your experience you should know how much that actually happens. yea, and i kind of went off on a tangent here...
S9: But, I forgive me.
there is something wonderful that i'm currently struggling with.
S9: By the way, wisdom isn’t about accumulation, thank God.
awesome! in fact, on one of my occasional trips, a specific message i received was to go ahead and forget everything i'd discovered of critical importance... reason being, because it will wind up lending future empowerment to those same messages when they are rediscovered one day.
how do you like that process?
S9: Sometime we learn vastly more from our weaknesses, than we do from our strengths.
that is the whole point... in the sense that that is the key to unlocking all the areas of ourselves that we thought were set in stone. and that's vastly understating the situation, frankly.
S9: 2 acres are a lawn, little manmade ponds, indigenous trees, and gardens, (including flowers/vegetable/berries of all kinds/ and a fruit and nut tree orchid. Most of the work on this place was sweat equity as we enjoy playing in this way.
ah, gentleman farmer. brand me with covetousness. what a sweet life from someone stuck in cities and hating civilisation.
S9: The forest supplies us with plenty of wood to burn, and heat our home. We like to live like we are a part of ecology, with our land, and so have a compost heap to enrich our soil from our own garbage and what is left over after harvest. It is a simple life, but abundant in every way.
that is the only sensible way to live if we are people of conscience, and the lack of such is the reason that (unless something drastic happens) civilisation is going to collapse and humanity will quite possibly go extinct not too long from now. siddhartha predicted all of this IMO but we are concretely proving it out, so to speak.
anyway, bravo. farm life is greatly undervalued in its hardship IMO, even for the gentleman farmer.
S9: It is very light reading. But, if you enjoy a light read, close to a favorite sitcom on TV, that is just pure fun, go for it. : ^ )
well, i like the idea of the english plumber who fell out of a fir tree and hit the ground as a tibetan lama. also gotta love the idea of one of his books being entirely dictated by his cat, fluffy whiskerfingers or whatever it was. i mean, it doesn't get much better than that...
warm bath water with an infusion of fragrant green salts to lend your soul some ease,
G.
(hmm, i seem to be in a somewhat saucy mood tonight)
S9: Actually clichés are a guilty pleasure of mine. : ^ ) I see them like some might see favorite old songs.
Many of them have longevity, simply BECAUSE they do have common everyday wisdom in them, a little like folk wisdom does, or home remedies, and my grandma said stories.
So, you will have to forgive me my idiosyncrasy, or not. Either that, or you could pray for improvement in my character. But, don’t hold your breath waiting for said improvements. ; ^ )
I hope you know that I am just joking with you.
I thought of another book you REALLY might enjoy, ‘The Path with Heart,’ (A guide through the perils and promises of spiritual life) by Jack Kornfield. It is what I call Spiritual Psychology (my own term) Another guilty pleasure of mine. Oh, I’m such a ‘devil take care’ person.
Hope you are feeling some better after you soak in green salts. Do you get that salt from ‘Green eggs and ham’? (Kids book, by Dr Suess)
i extracted that salt from a knotty pine,
i wurfled and burfled until it was mine,
i wouldn't dare to kid, my dear old S9.
actually it's "batherapy" from queen helene. beats the pants off of every other bath infusion i've tried, although a handful of dried oatmeal is equally wonderful in a different kind of way. batherapy is very calming for the end of a hard day and smells 'minerally' and spa-like in the european spa sense, although some people might not like that smell. hopefully this image isn't blocked by bandwidth controls:
S9: I hope you know that I am just joking with you.
G: the joking is even better than the cliches. keep it up.
re: kornfield,
i'm looking for podcasts right now so i can listen to them when going on errands and doc appt's and such. also for when i'm sitting at the PC and doing something else. the chopra instruction is starting to hit a repetitious phase, so i'll be ready for kornfield of something else soon.
Have you ever tried Epsom salts, ½ cup into the hot bath water has a drawing action, which relieves pains, and I don’t believe it will argue in any way with your present treatment, as it is only magnesium. And, it is cheap.
Also, an herb that relaxes, especially at night for a good nights sleep, is Valerian capsules1000mg. Sold in Wal-Mart over the counter. They really helped me with my migraines, because pain makes us tense up, and exacerbating the pain in this way. Whereas, as if you are relaxed, mind and body (it works on both) you will hurt a whole lot less.
I have been taking these little tablets for years now with absolutely no side effects.
I am not a doctor, you understand, so not actually prescribing anything. I am just saying what works for me. Hope this helps you some, if you try it. : ^ )
Would you like some good quotes from Jack Kornfield’s book?
Have you ever tried Epsom salts, ½ cup into the hot bath water has a drawing action, which relieves pains, and I don’t believe it will argue in any way with your present treatment, as it is only magnesium. And, it is cheap.
Also, an herb that relaxes, especially at night for a good nights sleep, is Valerian capsules1000mg. Sold in Wal-Mart over the counter. They really helped me with my migraines, because pain makes us tense up, and exacerbating the pain in this way. Whereas, as if you are relaxed, mind and body (it works on both) you will hurt a whole lot less.
tried them many years ago repeatedly and have found many better safe alternatives, two of which i mentioned.
but the individual body responds to what works...
Would you like some good quotes from Jack Kornfield’s book?
Comments
satsang sounds like another way of describing the three-fold jewel if i've got my buddhist concepts right. >ahem<
anyway... i'm not sure where to go with that previous conversation. pretty-much everything i've learned about life is in harmony with the view that enlightenment is a series of realisations, not an ultimate destination.
having said that, i see nothing wrong with your argument and your POV on the situation. it has meaning for you... less so for me. i guess i could do a run-down of the specific ways that your argument doesn't resonate with me in the interests of the sangha, heh.
do you know if monks or people at buddhist centers dedicate time to discussing / debating this kind of thing? in the interest of improving their technique / sangha, presumably..?
G: Do you know if monks or people at Buddhist centers dedicate time to discussing / debating this kind of thing? in the interest of improving their technique / sangha, presumably..?
S9: First of all, let me say that I am not expert in Buddhism, and that there are others here who could better answer some of your questions, esp. about what nuns and monks do, or do not do. However, I do remember Aaki saying something about debates at his monastery or sangha, if I am not mistaken.
G: Satsang sounds like another way of describing the three-fold jewel if I've got my Buddhist concepts right. >ahem<
S9: How would you describe in your own words, the three-fold-jewel?
G: Pretty-much everything I've learned about life is in harmony with the view that enlightenment is a series of realizations, not an ultimate destination.
S9: There are two main schools that disagree on this topic, slow and instant Enlightenment/Realization. I try to speak directly from my own personal experience on this, and not an opinion about two things, which I merely read about. But, then 'subject opinions' are still opinions too, aren’t they? We rapidly translate what we believe we are experiencing into our opinions. So, rely on your own experience in these matters is MY very best advice.
However, I do not see Realization as a goal/destination, as that would be far too lineal for my way of seeing it. Insights certainly do trickle in. But, at some point, it seems that we reach a critical mass, if you will, and the whole world turns upside down. Realization is not just one more insight. Put this idea on a back burner for now. Someday these words may prove helpful to you.
G: I guess i could do a run-down of the specific ways that your argument doesn't resonate with me in the interests of the sangha, heh.
S9: Only if you are moved to do so, my friend. Trust your own instinct.
Joeseph Campbell: "Follow your bliss."
I have a spiritual friend that I have been traveling beside for decades. We share with each other, constantly, both what we think we have learned and our personal insights. To me this has acted like a high-octane fuel, and moved me along rapidly.
Warm Regards,
S9
and it doesn't even matter which practice / religion you're talking about, don't you think? for people who've dedicated most of their lives to pursuing metaphysical issues, wouldn't most of their conversations be utterly fascinating?
i only have what i've picked up, which is buddha-dharma-sangha.
buddha moved me deeply from tezuka's graphic novel, the dharma is something which i attempt to slowly sublimate, and the sangha is currently this forums, although after i move to the midwest in a month, is something i'm looking forward to participating in locally.
firstly, you have been a wonderful source of clarification on so many of these issues. so i want to thank you. i mean, i -do- thank you. thank you.
secondly, i understand the concept of critical mass and have directly experienced that phenomenom myself, in my own way. but what to you suggests that this concept has currency in buddhism?
and if you feel that such an event happened with siddhartha, don't you rationally conclude that it happened to others as well, such as yshua, mohammed and others?
thanks, S9. george harrison said "all things must pass" with an album for an exclamation point, so i'm going to go with that.
sounds incredible. do you live out of your backpack, then? would love to read your blog or whatever there is relating your experiences.
joseph campbell is my guru, btw. although i'm looking for others...
G: People who've dedicated most of their lives to pursuing metaphysical issues.
S9: I think many of us laymen are doing this too. Don’t be overly impressed by the robes and shaved heads.
G: …conversations be utterly fascinating?
S9: I am like a moth to a flame (of Truth). So yes, fascinated is a good word. : ^ )
G: Buddha-dharma-sangha.
S9: example/scripture/fellowship?
G: Firstly, you have been a wonderful source of clarification on so many of these issues. so i want to thank you.
S9: I see you like a sponge, so ripe, so ready, that if it weren’t me, it would certainly have been someone else.
G: i understand the concept of critical mass and have directly experienced that phenomenom myself, in my own way. but what to you suggests that this concept has currency in Buddhism?
S9: Currency gives the impression that there is something to gain. Actually, we come to understand/remember what who we are/ what we have been, all along. Wipe the dust from our eyes.
G: if you feel that such an event happened with siddhartha, don't you rationally conclude that it happened to others as well, such as yshua, mohammed and others?
S9: Many, many others. Buddha is an honorific name given to such persons. Gautama was just a man, like you. Gautama ‘Woke Up.’
G: do you live out of your backpack, then?
S9: No, I am ‘trailer trash’ living on a 13-acre farm. Just a simple life. ; ^ )
G: would love to read your blog or whatever there is relating your experiences.
S9: Sorry, no blog. Just my incessant and endless postings here. (The crowd groans.)
G: joseph campbell is my guru, btw. although i'm looking for others...
S9: Read Meister Eckhart. There is none better IMO.
Friendly Regards,
S9
thanks, S9... i like being a sponge, although my intent runs way ahead of my actual ability to absorb things. if i had the stamina i would love to be here every day continuing each conversation to fruition... testing, meditating on and discussing the perspectives and insights other people are sharing. i hate being so scattered about a subject that matters deeply to me, but health issues tend to get in the way of being more active. i know i'm going to forget / have already forgotten many of the discussion and concepts here, but them's the breaks. my third eye is going to have to do the bulk of the learning, i guess.
speaking of "third eye"... do you see any merit to reading that wacky thing from the 50's? an online colleague recommended it, but i'm not sure whether i want to invest the effort...
> example/scripture/fellowship?
that's my understanding.
13-acre farm. sounds interesting. what is your farm like?
re: eckhart. could you recommend a podcast or online video of people involved in his work or discussing his teachings? i'm working on chopra right now, but wouldn't mind fitting in a little or this or that.
G: I like being a sponge, although my intent runs way ahead of my actual ability to absorb things.
S9: Welcome to the human race. ; ^ )
I personally have so many interests, and things that I want to get to, that I could use a personal secretary (which I don’t have) to organize all my scrapes and notes about what I want to get to, and often never do. But, I forgive me.
As far as remembering, ah forgetting goes, well, that only gets worse as you age. So smile, and get used to it. We do well, if we can enjoy ourselves in any given moment.
By the way, wisdom isn’t about accumulation, thank God.
G: If I had the stamina I would love to be here every day continuing each conversation to fruition... testing, meditating on and discussing the perspectives and insights other people are sharing.
S9: Yes that, and you should see the reading that I am falling behind in.
I have a friend that reminds me when I worry about not getting to things, that it is better to enjoy things so much you can’t get to them all, rather than to have nothing that rings your bell at/all.
; ^ ) Or, “Die with your boots on.” There was a famous writer who said, “I want to die mid-sentence.”
G: I hate being so scattered about a subject that matters deeply to me.
S9: Don’t worry. Everything that happens is exactly the right thing to happen, and at exactly the right time.
My guru used to say, “Sit back and enjoy the ride.”
Sometime we learn vastly more from our weaknesses, than we do from our strengths.
G: Health issues tend to get in the way of being more active.
S9: I’m sorry to hear that. Sickness is one of the great teachers. Listen to it and learn everything it wants to give you.
Old age and death are the other two. You will meet them all. As we all do. : ^ )
Realization is not a product of memory, so you will not be cheated.
G: 13-acre farm. sounds interesting. what is your farm like?
S9: 2 acres are a lawn, little manmade ponds, indigenous trees, and gardens, (including flowers/vegetable/berries of all kinds/ and a fruit and nut tree orchid. Most of the work on this place was sweat equity as we enjoy playing in this way.
Some people call this ‘hobby farming’ as we are not really reliant on it for subsistence.
The forest supplies us with plenty of wood to burn, and heat our home. We like to live like we are a part of ecology, with our land, and so have a compost heap to enrich our soil from our own garbage and what is left over after harvest. It is a simple life, but abundant in every way.
G: re: eckhart. could you recommend a podcast or online video of people involved in his work or discussing his teachings?
S9: No sorry. But I Googled: Eckhart, podcast. There seems to be many of them.
G: speaking of "third eye"... do you see any merit to reading that wacky thing from the 50's? an online colleague recommended it, but i'm not sure whether i want to invest the effort...
S9: It is very light reading. But, if you enjoy a light read, close to a favorite sitcom on TV, that is just pure fun, go for it. : ^ )
Warm Regards,
S9
aw, don't fall in love with cliches, S9. there is a gamut ranging from those on the lower end of the dunning-kruger scale to those who consistently strive beyond their means. in effect, those that are more capable tend to assume that other humans wrestle equally with concepts that flutter in their grasp, but those skilled people turn out to be wrong again and again.
so, the only way the phenomenom is true is in the concept, not the effect. and from your experience you should know how much that actually happens. yea, and i kind of went off on a tangent here...
S9: But, I forgive me.
there is something wonderful that i'm currently struggling with.
S9: By the way, wisdom isn’t about accumulation, thank God.
awesome! in fact, on one of my occasional trips, a specific message i received was to go ahead and forget everything i'd discovered of critical importance... reason being, because it will wind up lending future empowerment to those same messages when they are rediscovered one day.
how do you like that process?
S9: Sometime we learn vastly more from our weaknesses, than we do from our strengths.
that is the whole point... in the sense that that is the key to unlocking all the areas of ourselves that we thought were set in stone. and that's vastly understating the situation, frankly.
S9: 2 acres are a lawn, little manmade ponds, indigenous trees, and gardens, (including flowers/vegetable/berries of all kinds/ and a fruit and nut tree orchid. Most of the work on this place was sweat equity as we enjoy playing in this way.
ah, gentleman farmer. brand me with covetousness. what a sweet life from someone stuck in cities and hating civilisation.
S9: The forest supplies us with plenty of wood to burn, and heat our home. We like to live like we are a part of ecology, with our land, and so have a compost heap to enrich our soil from our own garbage and what is left over after harvest. It is a simple life, but abundant in every way.
that is the only sensible way to live if we are people of conscience, and the lack of such is the reason that (unless something drastic happens) civilisation is going to collapse and humanity will quite possibly go extinct not too long from now. siddhartha predicted all of this IMO but we are concretely proving it out, so to speak.
anyway, bravo. farm life is greatly undervalued in its hardship IMO, even for the gentleman farmer.
S9: It is very light reading. But, if you enjoy a light read, close to a favorite sitcom on TV, that is just pure fun, go for it. : ^ )
well, i like the idea of the english plumber who fell out of a fir tree and hit the ground as a tibetan lama. also gotta love the idea of one of his books being entirely dictated by his cat, fluffy whiskerfingers or whatever it was. i mean, it doesn't get much better than that...
warm bath water with an infusion of fragrant green salts to lend your soul some ease,
G.
(hmm, i seem to be in a somewhat saucy mood tonight)
G: Don't fall in love with clichés, S9.
S9: Actually clichés are a guilty pleasure of mine. : ^ ) I see them like some might see favorite old songs.
Many of them have longevity, simply BECAUSE they do have common everyday wisdom in them, a little like folk wisdom does, or home remedies, and my grandma said stories.
So, you will have to forgive me my idiosyncrasy, or not. Either that, or you could pray for improvement in my character. But, don’t hold your breath waiting for said improvements. ; ^ )
I hope you know that I am just joking with you.
I thought of another book you REALLY might enjoy, ‘The Path with Heart,’ (A guide through the perils and promises of spiritual life) by Jack Kornfield. It is what I call Spiritual Psychology (my own term) Another guilty pleasure of mine. Oh, I’m such a ‘devil take care’ person.
Hope you are feeling some better after you soak in green salts. Do you get that salt from ‘Green eggs and ham’? (Kids book, by Dr Suess)
Peace,
S9
i wurfled and burfled until it was mine,
i wouldn't dare to kid, my dear old S9.
actually it's "batherapy" from queen helene. beats the pants off of every other bath infusion i've tried, although a handful of dried oatmeal is equally wonderful in a different kind of way. batherapy is very calming for the end of a hard day and smells 'minerally' and spa-like in the european spa sense, although some people might not like that smell. hopefully this image isn't blocked by bandwidth controls:
S9: I hope you know that I am just joking with you.
G: the joking is even better than the cliches. keep it up.
re: kornfield,
i'm looking for podcasts right now so i can listen to them when going on errands and doc appt's and such. also for when i'm sitting at the PC and doing something else. the chopra instruction is starting to hit a repetitious phase, so i'll be ready for kornfield of something else soon.
peace,
nic.
Have you ever tried Epsom salts, ½ cup into the hot bath water has a drawing action, which relieves pains, and I don’t believe it will argue in any way with your present treatment, as it is only magnesium. And, it is cheap.
Also, an herb that relaxes, especially at night for a good nights sleep, is Valerian capsules1000mg. Sold in Wal-Mart over the counter. They really helped me with my migraines, because pain makes us tense up, and exacerbating the pain in this way. Whereas, as if you are relaxed, mind and body (it works on both) you will hurt a whole lot less.
I have been taking these little tablets for years now with absolutely no side effects.
I am not a doctor, you understand, so not actually prescribing anything. I am just saying what works for me. Hope this helps you some, if you try it. : ^ )
Would you like some good quotes from Jack Kornfield’s book?
Friendly regards,
S9
but the individual body responds to what works...
only if they instantly transport me to nibbana.
G: only if they instantly transport me to nibbana.
S9: Ah my friend, I can see that you are on the fast track. : ^ )
I can remember when I thought the very next sentence that I read might transport me to Nirvana. Such passion. This path can be a delightful journey.
Respectfully,
S9