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To all the people who kill what they love...

Posted on Sep 2nd, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan

A flash of inspiration hit today. 

I was talking with a loved one about a friend, and the child she was raising… and the people she had needed, and alienated.  It occurred to me, simply, how the very things and the very people she had needed were the people she sought to dominate, to control, and how this had cost her the relationships with those things and people…

And suddenly, it hit me, how often I’ve seen that dynamic.  In my life, and in human history. 

Think about it.  Haven’t you?

Isn’t the world just full of people setting fire to what they care for? 

Those who want romantic love, and when they get it, act in ways that are obviously antithetical to being in a healthy, loving relationship?

Those who want freedom, sometimes from parents, sometimes from other relationships, and when they get it, sell it away at their earliest convenience and first chance, to a situation where they are controlled?

Those even who crave money so much that when they get it they spend it all away?

What is it about us human beings?  I find myself wondering this…

Now that it seems so clear to me, that a major issue of our world is people destroying, willingly or unwillingly, the very things they want, in terms of resources, relationships, opportunities.  It usually is subtle destruction.   99 times out of 100, the destroyer finds many things to blame the loss on… a scapegoat, some other person, in a way that accepts no personal responsibility for the sense of loss they feel. 

Does not the abusive wife or husband destroy what they love?  Does not the abusive parent?  Does not the dictator, who claims to love his people, kill them? 

What is it about this world, in her previous and current stages, that humans have made for ourselves?  Why do we do this?

Is it fear? 

Lack of belief in our self-worth? 

And… how can we help each other to stop? 

I’ll let you know if I find answers to these questions.  In the meantime, I welcome all discussion on the topic.  Do you agree with my assertion, that the world is full of people who love so much they feel they must smash what they love against the rocks?

Ultimately, I suppose, it comes down to control…

…or perhaps recent events have led me to think so—as (admittedly, in my view) people recently have loved my independence, and my point of view, and wanted me around, but would react with violent anger when I chose to honor my beliefs, and not bow to their way of seeing things in a way that I believed sacrificed myself and my right to a worldview… and became so angry about my ‘resistance’ that I could not be around them…

How sad it is, being near, or being one of, the people who destroy what they love…

…And here’s to the people who honor what they care for…

…is it not an issue, also, of attachment?  It was interesting to me, the other day, to watch, again, the first three episodes of star wars, which I do not think were really artistic successes, but which did do something very interesting—Anakin Skywalker, as a character, killed what he loved as well.  Why? 

Attachment. 

He couldn’t let go. 

Is it so simple and complicated as attachment? 

Is it attachment that causes us to burn our loves down?

I guess the Buddha thought so…

But attachment starts in ego…

If you love a butterfly, do not put it in a jar.  If you love a relationship, love it knowing that at any moment it can end.  Love it because the other in that relationship is a butterfly, who cannot be put into a jar, metaphysical, ideological, or physical.  They, as are you, are always free, and must always be, for that which you love to remain.  If you love music, don’t limit what music is, should be, or can be… you will eventually cause a narrowness of mind that will negate your enjoy ability, so busy you’ll be judging.  It tends to happen… I heard once a musician lament that the more he learned about music, the less he enjoyed it.  Is this not tragic?

And if what you love goes, it goes… impermanence is real… all things we see know and feel are temporary.  This can be a source of understanding of beauty, or it can be the cause of anxiety, and the anxiety will bring loss… it can do no different.

So enjoy it while it’s there!  Cherish it.

As Abbey Lincoln says, “Throw it away… live your life, live your love, each and every day-- keep your hand wide open, let the sunshine through-- you can never loose a thing, if it belongs to you…”

If you love a flower, leave it in it’s home soil.

Is this so hard?  Why do we kill what we love? 

Is this what we are currently doing to the earth herself?

How can we change?

And so, to all those people, I can say I have learned great compassion.  I hope, one day, that you learn.  I hope that day comes soon.

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Just a thought

Posted on Sep 6th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
What would happen if organizations and people who had money donated money instead of wasting money?

On one hand, you have... drought. 

On the other hand, you have this...

Hmmmmmm


Aliens, as we speak, are looking down at earth discussing this little planet, who's most 'intellegent' species seems to have some very odd priorities.
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The culmination of all wisdom?

Posted on Sep 7th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
Can it be found in the words of a people not known for their wisdom, but ego and conquering?

"ceize the day."

What they didn't say is: how can you seize the day if you hands are already full? 

First, you have to release... be unattached to all else...


EDIT:

if you saw this earlier, there would be an unfortunate mispelling.  Long ago I was diagnosed with a mild learning disability.  Mostly I have it under control, but words that sound the same and spell differently are always tricky for me.  You could say I'm one of those who rue the day old webster decided there should be one way things are done.

 It wus mor fun in the dais of eld... wen speling was opin to interpretation
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Imaginary Conversation with Woman Sitting in Park

Posted on Sep 16th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
Me:  Hi.  Would you mind, or enjoy, some company?

Woman on Bench:  This is the problem with the world.  A girl can't sit on a park bench without someone assuming she want's company.  

Me:  Actually, I'm not assuming, I'm hoping.  If I were assuming, I wouldn't have to ask.  I'm asking because I don't know: and when you don't know something, it's better to ask then assume.  

BenchWoman [BW]:  You think so?

Me:  I know so.  For example, I'd like to think that somewhere, at some point in my life, I'll pass a woman sitting on a bench who really WOULD like to have a brief and enjoyable conversation with someone like me, right at the exact moment I'm passing.  Kind of like a fate thing.  But if I never ask, I'll never have the conversation.  Even worse, if I just assume that every woman sitting on a bench is her, I'll sit down next to a whole bunch of women who don't want to be bothered, creeping tons of innocent strangers out.

BW:  Yes.  And this truth is even more interesting considering-- you're not actually talking to me.  I mean, yes, you saw me sitting here on this bench (I saw you walking by, you know,) but instead of sitting and asking if I'd like some company, you kept walking.   

Me:  I did.  Isn't life funny that way?

BW:  It is.  What's also interesting is that, although you feel no remorse, some people would consider the fact that you are imagining speaking to me so thoroughly a form of regret.   To clarify, as you know, what you are doing right now isn't talking to me, it's writing a blog on a computer in which you are imagining talking to me.  You're using your creative-writing skills to have a conversation with someone you never actually spoke to.  And even more unusual... it's not a sexual thing!  You never even got close enough to see what I look like.  The obvious question would be: why?

Me: Why go through all the effort?  Why have I been thinking about this conversation that never happened enough to make it happen in my imagination?

BW: I suppose you could put it that way, yes.

Me:  Because when I began idly imagining this talk, it was very interesting and I wanted to continue.  the blog is a good way to do that, and it will also share it with others if we discuss anything interesting again.   It had gotten pretty interesting, and what became a meaningless exercise that occupied my mind during a walk became something, perhaps, slightly more.

BW:  Fair enough.  So what were we talking about that was so interesting?

Me: very meaningful things.  I think you asked me what kind of woman I hoped you were, and I said: 'I hope you are the kind of woman who doesn't value her beliefs.  But instead values her right to believe.'  

BW:  ...And I said: "huh?"

Me:  ha ha.  Yes.  You asked for elaboration.  

BW:  And managed not to wonder if I should be offended.  

Me:  And I said: "perish the thought!"  The reason I would be glad to meet you if you don't value your beliefs can be found in an number if ideas.  As Hesse said, anything that is true, the opposite idea is also true, and that all truths are really half truths.  I love this idea from Hesse, and this is true, and it is also false.  Some ancient greek type-- Plato, maybe-- said that all we are doing is watching shadows of reality on a cave wall.  And I agree with how, in this quote, he has found a meaning out of the world that's always hidden from us.  And as every twelve year old in the modern world eventually wonders, how do we know we aren't the only real person surrounded by robots?  Or a million other possibilities which we cannot disprove, but act as if they're impossible simply on faith?

BW:  Oh comeon.  You had me until the bit about robots.

Me:  I agree, it's highly unlikely that the world is not full of people, but robots, and that you I or anyone is secretly the victim of a big conspiracy.  But my point is that there's no way to be absolutely sure of anything.  The kid who asks that question about the robot and his or her friends have gone on thousands of conversations to that end... At best, we believe what we believe because we know that's our lot in life, or we're worried about the absense of belief-- that is, if we believe it to the exclusion of other things, including the belief's opposite.

BW:  Try that again.  But make sense this time.  

Me:  What if everything people believe is true, but it's true because they believe it?  Everyone thinks they believe something BECAUSE it's true, but what if it's really the other way around?  What if believing something makes it true?

BW:  Is that possible?

Me:  Some people think it is.  Herman Hesse, for example, as I said, wrote that there's no such thing as a full-truth, only a half-truth, because the opposite of any true statement is also true.  I'm paraphrasing heavily, from Siddhartha, but that's the basic idea.  

Now, if that's true, than what people tend to do is to  chose which half-truths they resonate the most, then go about their lives, acting as if that half truth is the full, complete, only truth on the matter.  

BW:  I see.  So to get back to the point, you hope I am a woman...

Me: who is willing to see t he duality of all truths.  to discard an idea you hold at any second, because it can only hope to be as correct as it is false.  And if the beliefs we have are not 'true or false,' the only way we can judge them is as 'useful or unhelpful' ... to literally treat them as discard-able building-blocks of experience.  I like talking to people like that, but they are very rare.  

BW: But if beliefs aren't really true or false, why would this imaginary woman believe anything?  Why wouldn't she just be a nihilist?

Me:  Because... well, ask yourself.  Have you known many deeply happy nihilists?  Or are they all kind of... out of control in some way?  Almost desperate?  

If it's all the same anyway, in that our beliefs can never really be completely true or false, whatever we believe... is useful only in how far it takes us, and how happy it makes us.  then we should chose the happy truths, the ones that make us feel good, and others too.  

conversely, the people who both recognize the shiftiness of ideas and beliefs and find happiness tend to be the wise types of the world... often practitioners of Zen or some other virtuous way that demands mind control, and uses mind-control to tend reality as a beautiful garden.  And if we get to chose, doesn't it make sense to be the zen reality gardener, and not the nihilist?  

BW:  Right.  It's only logical.  But it's also a bit crazy.  Did you do that?  Try to garden your beliefs?

Me:  Yes.  And I found that eventually, something really interesting happened.  

BW:  What?

Me:  Hm... how to explain.  Simply put, the idea that 'all truths are only half true' is, as the idea itself would suggest, both true and false.  

BW: ...THAT'S the simple way to put it?

Me:  Yes.  That way contains all the nuances of the truth, which are themselves simple but difficult to communicate across belief structures.  If you believed exactly what I believe, you'd know just what I'm saying.  

Basically, every person you'll ever meet, more than anything, is the sum-total of their beliefs.  About the world, other people, everything.  

And everything we see is a biproduct of this perception.  Now, I recognize that these are all only half truths, but if you follow their logic and believe in the LOA, it would tell you that the law of attraction will act...

BW... to reinforce whatever we believe!!!

Me:  You got it!  So we'll see in large what we expect to see, and our beliefs will be self perpetuating.  But still, there's something beyond that.  

BW:  A higher truth?

Me:  I'd say so.  But I'd more call it a higher consciousness.  Made up of everything, and inside everything... including inside the perspective of you and me.  If only we knew where to look for it, and how to hear it, and be inside of it...

Well, the way to get inside of it is to garden one's thoughts and beliefs towards finding that higher consciousness.  If one goes about it as a spiritual quest or journey, one can find it... it's inside all of us.

But look at the time!  I've been sitting here for a while: I really must go.  This imaginary conversation has been fun.  

BW:  It's been the best!  Toodles!

Me:  'Toodles?'  Really?

BW:  You're imagining this conversation, so you have no one to blame for that deplorable bit of slang but yourself.  But I have a last question.  Seriously, why did you imagine this?  Why did you write this?

Me:  The truth?  On the chance someone just like I imagine you to be will find these words, and if they don't make sense immediately, some sort of impression will be left.  Because I live to see you all awake, and dancing in the rain.   
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Crouching Pathway, Hidden Yoga

Posted on Sep 17th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
I was listening to Eckhart Tolle this morning.  It was nice.  

I think Eckhart's very wise and is nobly continuing the work of sage... one of those who go around telling people about the nature of things... it's the most difficult, transmutable and shifting subject in the world, and Eckhart makes it so clear and easy to grasp!  And this is true skill.  

And there are a number of others like Eckhart... but still I wonder if something's being left out of the conversation...

Because if we're talking about the search for spiritual understanding and peace, there's a yoga (spiritual practice) that literally EVERYONE who we remember for their spirituality are doing, but aren't always telling their listeners about.  (The cads!  lol)

And they do it because either consciously or unconsciously they know what a great yoga it is.  And to a degree I really wonder if this practice in and of itself doesn't represent in a way a glass ceiling of spirituality, given what it actually is comprised of and succeeds in doing energetically.  In a way, it's at the base of everything.  What is it?  

Simple service...

But I'll start at the beginning.  By creating another fictional person... this time a character, not a co-dialogue haver.  This character's name is Sally.

Sally grows up in your average upwardly mobile family.  As an adult she is successful in her life, but lacks an deep happiness she always searched for.  Sally comes  across the type of ideas spoken by Eckhart Tolle, and other teachers.  They seem to say to her, "Sally, the way to happiness is spiritual development." 

Sally says: "cool."  Sally decides that, as she wants happiness and believes these guys have the way, she is seeking the way.  She asks for more money in her job, and more support for her family and more harmony in her personal life.  She gets it all.  (the end)

Sally is beautiful, and Sally is OK.  I want to come out right here and say: in no way is the following meant to be an attack on Sally... but it is hard not to recognize that Sally, in joining and carrying out her desire for spiritual advancement, has only done them for selfish reasons-- to better herself.  

Is there anything wrong with this?  No.  But when I see people like her out in the world, I generally wish they had a better understanding of the Crouching Pathway, Hidden Yoga... Simple, selfless service.  I'd want Sally to know she had a choice...

Lets go to the Law of Attraction briefly... The LOA can be summed up in a way by what Jesus said: As you Sow, so shall you Reap.  "The secret" has nothing to do with the paper one's dreams are written on: it has everything to do with the thoughts and actions those who believe in the secret think and do after they've written their dreams, sure that they'll get it.  Those thoughts and actions are what attracts reality: which is why Buddha stressed "Right thought" and "Right action."

Sally, in those thoughts and actions, unintentionally was using the spiritual lessons in service of her ego.  She wanted a better life for herself: but without expanding her fundamental ideas of her self's relationship to the other, she defined 'a better life' narrowly... as more happiness, deeper spiritual joy... a basic ability to enjoy life.  And as she asked, she was given.  

She did not consider that even financial wealth (that, relatively, all middle-class Americans have) is dependent on a system, and that system is dependent on many more people not having financial  than have it.  Can there not be some net karmic effect for the rich?  Every luxury is dependent on someone's misery... One might about this net karmic effect when one considers the fact that many of the spiritual paths promote the cessation of wealth... including Buddhism and that suggested by Jesus Christ.  

Sally also did not consider the differences between the interface of the Law of attraction in those that ask and do for themselves and those that ask or do for others.  

She also did not consider that Spiritual Practice is ultimately about transcending the self, and this means, to a degree, being unconcerned with one's own happiness.

Consider: Sally desired happiness for herself, and happiness for herself was the main reason she acted, her whole life.  

To a degree she attracted happiness for herself, and that degree was directly mitigated by how much and how often she attracted unhappiness for herself by causing or being an unwilling contributor to the unhappiness of others.  

Sally was reasonably happy, as a result, for when she learned spiritual practice, she learned how to cause happiness for herself without contributing to the unhappiness of others.  What she attracted was mostly good things and mostly good emotions, and luckily for her, there was never a grander cosmic plan that conflicted with her desires.  (For rest assured, as often as a car window is smashed to get to a fire hydrant, humans accidentally place our desires in the way of a grander design, and then have their desires, to some degree or other, smashed)

Now consider: Sally 2.

Sally 2: desires happiness for herself, but realizes that "herself" is actually an illusion.  She is part of everything.  Sally 2, therefore, desires the happiness of everything, and through that, she feels she will find it in herself.  

Sally 2 sees others in her world... unhappy.  It only logically follows that Sally should try to help them somehow.  Sally 2 spends much of her life in service to others, and her 'personal legend' becomes what Sally 2 does in service to the universe in this manner.  

As for the Law of Attraction and how it worked for Sally 2-- for one, her desires are rarely out of place with the grand design, because her grand design and that of the universe share the central goal of "happiness for everything."  

Furthermore, when Sally 2 acted to bring others happiness, whatever happiness they found returned to her via the LOA.    

Being more in flow with the universe, and living the belief that there is a reality beyond our egos, sally is free to spiritually develop as far as she wants.  She has not given away her things, but has transcended ownership, and most of the ego-based thinking that mires every idea given to us by this modern world.  

And all she had to do for all this beauty, ( a life which she would never give up for anything) is truly, spontaneously and truly do things for others, without thought of (physical or metaphysical) reward... 

You know that Eckhart Tolle book on your shelf, that made such a difference in your life?  Think about it, and about simple service, and think of what a difference he's made for everyone.  He's doing the hidden yoga right now.  

So am I.  


hm, actually it's not such a great secret... the hidden Yoga has in truth been advocated for centuries, everywhere.  so why don't we see it more?  Why don't we use it more?  It's as if millions of people are ignoring the greatest type of pie there is-- the one flavor of pie that is the unquestionable favorite kind of pie for everyone who ever tries it-- because they don't believe anybody who tells them: "this is the greatest pie in the universe."



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Vibration 101

Posted on Sep 22nd, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
Those who know, do;

Those who know, but do not do, in actuality do not know either.  Their mind is conflict.


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What is hanging in the balance?

Posted on Sep 22nd, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for September 22, 2008:

: )  

Your next life...

consider: when a train leaves the station, does it wait for the passengers?  No: usually, their is some communication to the effect of: "hey, this train is leaving.  If you're coming, get on."

Life can be like trains as well.  In a large fire or natural disaster, all the animals get some sort of sense message: "hey, this forest is about to burn, abandon your territory."   In tidal waves, the animals seek high ground; during earthquakes, they run as far as they can go.  

I wonder: when the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs struck, did any animals try to hide in the ground?  

When the changes that will occur in our lifetimes happen, we will need the mental flexibility and peace to deal with them in ways that will allow us to go where we want to go, not where we fear to go.  

For those who are left at the station, so to speak, will have to wait for the next train.  It'll be quite a long wait.   


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Tagged with: QaR, beginning, balance, equinox, equipoise, thresholds, fall, passages

How do you prepare for the unknown?

Posted on Sep 27th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for September 27, 2008:

You don't.  To prepare for the unknown is kind of an oxymoron.  If it weren't unknown, it could be prepared for, and the very reason the question is important enough to ask is because, fundamentally, it is impossible to prepare for the unknown.  

A rich man who was very paranoid once feared thieves so much that he built an impenetrable house.  It was in against a small hill, so there was only one direction from which you could enter the house.  he had dogs and guns and slept with his eyes open.  He lost his house in an unexpected earthquake, and died a short time later.  

If only he'd have been out living life rather than worrying about the future... but I suppose that's too much to ask.  

Flexibility, attention to the world around you and a clear head are generally good ideas tho.  
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Tagged with: QaR, uncertainty, unknown, coping

Something I wrote in a pod recently...

Posted on Sep 28th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
I wanted to preserve it for a while, and leave it up here.  



Some say that if you hear mysterious music when you are walking in a forest, you must follow the music.  

If you do, you will find some difficulty, much beauty, and the marrow of life.  

If you don't, you will never hear the music again… 

I think that's a little harsh, but

I do know that when the universe is calling

it is wise to pick up the phone.  

Follow your heart… and send us postcards from the road now and then.  

: )
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On television and movies

Posted on Sep 28th, 2008 by Alan : Life to life. Alan
The things which appear on these screens we all love so much are nice, but it's very good to remember they bare little to no resemblance to your actual world, whatever they are... there is a good deal of distance between your life and what you see in commercials and movies.  The only real meaning our narrative images have was that someone, usually many people, cared enough to go through the arduous task of creating them, and as a result the heart souls and beliefs of the makers lay in the fabric of the narratives.  

Sadly, these days, most do so for money,  and almost all that lays in the fabric of the medium is whatever research said you would  watch long enough to make them some money: and is therefore simply an exersize in greed, excess, and/or the lowest common human denominator.  Although admittedly sometimes these are fun to watch too.

I guess that's why there's so little truly immortal art...

I would think this is obvious, but life is so full of evidence to the contrary.
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