A final farewell to the Misty Project Avalon from one who has severed his head

[Ultima Thule]

Posted by Cristian (here)
Interesting...

I've come to realize the fact that farewell posts may not be the way to go.

You know, displaying your ego one final time , taking your toys and leaving.

It's just not "a letting go " thing it's an ego thing . Farewell posts are ego driven.

I decide when to leave and I leave.

Still the old I you were trying to escape all life.


And you can choose to not be online anymore...but that was never the problem . Is not the online that kept you from enlightenment. It was still you ; online , offline ...it will still be you.

Not related to you Bright, there is also the "next place" concept.

Next place is always better. Because Avalon is being censored by Bill and the mods team. You just can't see the truth because of them. Not because of you...

Is never about you...

There are various other forums and that's a good thing. Bad thing is , in the end, there is the same outcome. Whatever forum you are on is very nice and cozy until it reaches your ego. Then is time to move on to the next cozy place- usually with a goodbye post.

It was never about you...

I find that pointing out to others that they have an ego-issue may not be the way to go either.

I find that Brights post was one of the most honest, touching and sincere in the lot encountered in Avalon, a sad loss should it not have been written and shared.

UT

[Aspen]

I am fairly new on the Forum (since Sept 2014) and only read a few of Bright Garlick's posts, but also find it sad that another person is leaving. I wonder if the indigenous and concept of the Talking Circle might be helpful in guiding Project Avalon forward? It includes many of the values that have been outlined by Bill Ryan in the formation of this online forum. But perhaps some of the other common practices and approaches in talking circles could also be helpful? Talking circles process was developed over thousands of years in indigenous communities in North America. Maybe they were used on other continents too, I don't know. I think the honest form of expression that is available on the internet is a strength, but perhaps more guidelines could be developed to keep the experience safer for people emotionally so that people do not feel abused? Here is a website that teaches about talking circles and how they have been used online as well. http://firstnationspedagogy.ca/circletalks.html http://www.livingjusticepress.org/in...5E8B4599FE7%7D
http://healingchicago.wordpress.com/guide/

The way I understand it is the talking circles always place value on the relationships being developed above the value of finding the solution or truth about the topic being discussed. Perhaps they can help inform the community building is supposed to be one of the values of this forum. there are also different kinds of purposes for the circle process. The idea is consensus decision making where everyone has an equal voice. There is that dynamic here on Avalon and that is what I like (everyone has the chance to state their opinion) In indigenous circle process there is respect and a lot of listening. You are to listen carefully to the preceeding persons before responding. |that is often missing on Avalon, people don't have the time to read all the posts before responding. In indigenous circle process there is a facilitator to keep the process safe for everyone, but that doesn't really happen very well online. There is a lack of privacy and confidentiality. In indigenous circle process spirituality and ceremony are included to help create a sacred space. I wonder how we could do more of that on the Avalon Forum? There are the indigenous values of:
sharing, caring, and determination to see things through that also need to be part of a healthy circle process. How can we promote that on Avalon? Just some ideas that came out of a workshop I attended on the weekend.

Hopefully the lose of great members who have been great contributors will not be in vain. The problems seem to arise because of conflict. Conflict is inevitable and maybe we need to learn to "do" conflict better on this forum. Conflict has the great potential to lead to transformation and positive change. Hopefully Avalon will continue to rise to the occasion and become a safer place where conflict can be handled in constructive ways.

[Mike]

if i had to reduce the OP to one sentence, it would be this: overly sensitive guy leaves the forum because he had an argument with another member.

whats new?

aside from its length(even tho i normally skip longer posts, i read the whole thing), its really no different than any of the other unnecessary 8 trillion farewell posts we've seen here over the years.

though often cloaked in magnanimity, it has nothing to do with the forum members - its everything to do with the individual leaving. its emotionally manipulative - it makes a martyr and a hero out of the person leaving, and in this case a villain out of the members the person leaving has argued with. and that sticky residue stays for a while. no matter how wonderful and brilliant the villain is from here out, they'll still be regarded as the evil jerk whose responsible for the 'retirement' of bright garlick (who [if we've learned anything here] will be back in no time by the way...if he even retires at all)

what we have here is a sanctimonious OP, cloaked just enough in spiritual wisdom to hide (barely) the fact that its really intended as a put down of 2 other members. look, if you wanna take a shot at another member, just do it man. please spare us the ceremony. sure, there is a lot of wisdom in the OP, but in this context its all subterfuge.

im not saying youre a bad guy, bright. you seem like a warm-hearted man with one hell of a life story to tell. theres some knowledge there we can all benefit from. but im always so confused when people leave the forum like this, coining it a nasty environment and one full of bad attitudes etc. me, personally, ive never known a more sedate, pleasant, easy-going place (on-line anyway) than avalon. its amazing - people have an argument or 2 and they get totally spooked and off they go. and i cant help but wonder what their real lives are like, where they live and so forth. look, i dont live in Compton or anything, but if you cant stand the heat of a contentious thread on an on-line forum, you wouldnt last 2 minutes in my world. not 2! maybe the majority of people here really are from other worlds. i dunno...

see, this is the problem with living sedate, isolated, quiet lives free from outside influence. its often mistaken for a spiritual existence, but the reality is *youre just living at a lower level*. instead of correcting your weaknesses, you're indulging them in a soft environment. so, inevitably, when youre thrust into an uncomfortable situation - even a disagreement on an internet forum - you dont know how to deal with it. it represents a big issue for you. i think this, sadly, represents a large portion of our membership here. threads like this are proof of that; they happen all the time!

often what seems like cruelty at the time is compassion, and vice versa. when i was a kid and i was getting too whiny or soft, my grandfather would whack me in the head and tell me to "toughen up". and man im glad he did. if i indulged all that sentimentality id be a dead man by now...if not physically, then definitely emotionally. and look, im not some emotional robot either. i get weepy watching 'dancing with the stars'! but theres a sensitivity here that is so damaging and unproductive...so deeply ingrained and pathological that it makes me lament the future of the human race, if indeed we (alt community) represent an important part of it.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Mike (here)
see, this is the problem with living sedate, isolated, quiet lives free from outside influence. its often mistaken for a spiritual existence, but the reality is *youre just living at a lower level*. instead of correcting your weaknesses, you're indulging them in a soft environment. so, inevitably, when youre thrust into an uncomfortable situation

Hey, Mike, with respect to this one paragraph, I'd not call it weakness. It's about self-respect and love for oneself. If you can't do that then you're a magnet for crappola. It's boundaries that say, 'No, that's not acceptable'.

Living a sedate, isolated, quiet life free from outside influence does not have to be only for a spiritual existence. Isolation is the restriction of freedom to be me. By choice, I live a quiet life. I can come and go as I please. I listen to nature’s music without competing with a blasting baseball game in the next room. I have freedom to set my pace to fast, medium, slow or full stop in every moment if that’s my pleasure. I don’t have to be around cantankerous cranks not because I am spiritual but because life experience has taught me that I don’t like being around them. And I choose not to put up with it. They suck at my life energy. I don’t have to waste anytime with ego-centric, self-centered, judgmental narcissists.

I choose not to be the target of someone’s misplaced anger and rudeness. Let them find another teacher or mirror. Why should I choose to fit into a world that’s dying when I can live in an environment of tolerance, patience, acceptance of differences, non-judgement, agree to disagree, no passive aggressive games? And yes, I’d be the first to say there aren’t many there, myself included at times. It’s not too much to expect that all demonstrate honest effort, change and admit to mistakes (to and for themselves).

That's the world I'm here to create. I’m still figuring things out. But I’m 100% clear that I’d rather spend my entire life alone than to spend one hour with anyone that chooses not to be respectful, forgiving, compassionate, sharing and Love, (the big kind). I’m not talking about perfection. We’re human. I say…before entering…check the ego at the door.

RunningDeer <3

[Rocky_Shorz]

remember that first time you were mad storming out promising to never see your family again...

until you feel the twisting in your tummy, an ache that can't be cured, a loneliness you've never felt before, you call your family and the moment they say hi....

everything is better?

Avalon is a piece of you now, saying bye, off to do other things is good, but leave the door open for when you want to pop back in and share how things are going...

I'm not saying bye, because its too final...


but I will say see ya...

[Flash]

Your dad gave you too many smacks on the head Mike so that you would not even realise you had too many.

Empathy is not your strong point truly, although I can see from your point of view some justified reasoning. But I do think you are missing quite a bit for the over all analysis.

Don't whine guys, be strong, do not - I repeat - do not feel what you are feeling, be a man.

And no, sensitivity does not kill, you would not be dead by being sensitive. This is a thoroughly engrained false belief implanted by patriarchal societies. Sensitivity does not kill. Over victimisation stop the action however.

[Mike]

hey paula, i understand entirely what you mean. look, youre talking to the biggest loner on earth!

when i can, when i cant stand the sight of another human face, ill sometimes shut the blinds and take 2-3 days to myself. to recharge the batteries. its crucial for balance.

but, i believe strongly that its crucial for people to be exposed to the cranks and narcissists from time to time. its akin to the little kid who plays in the sandbox and by doing so develops immunity to disease etc. because if youre not exposed you won't be ready to deal with any sort of controversy when it occurs.

im not suggesting anyone go out and deliberately seek pain. and my point wasn't really to be applied to retirees who are now - deservedly - taking a break from life's bullsh!t to relax and live life on their own terms. thats exactly what ill be doing when i can. you were a teacher, so i think its safe to say youre properly immunized and no longer need this type of exposure agreed?

2 people come to mind. a friend and a former boss. my friend won't watch scary movies. ok, fine. and even tho hes the first to whine and complain, he'll be the first to run if someone around him does same ("i dont like that energy" he'll say, totally ignorant of his hypocrisy). a certain song or tv show or bump in the road will lead him to a bad mood. he avoids certain people and places like the plague..which can be smart sometimes but awfully constricting when damn near everyone disables you emotionally. he will only watch certain tv shows, and by that i mean like 2 or 3. the wrong show will throw him into an emotional tornado that might last for days. he once accused me of "ruining his life" by taking him to a scary movie ('23' with jim carrey...not that scary actually). it f#cked him up for a month. no joke. anyway, he thinks he's being clever by living like this and avoiding all and every bit of discomfort; i think he's living on egg shells...he's a barely contained emotional disaster. when he came to visit me here in NY from California, and his weird, precious routine was interrupted, he totally unravelled. he lives a sheltered life, and from where im standing, its very unhealthy. maybe an extreme example, but you get the point.

my boss...
a wonderful woman. but the job was wearing her out. i understood. it was wearing me out too, and i was only the assistant manager. she'd talk non stop about wanting some time off to "practice her spirituality". thing is, she was a shut in. on weekends she never went anywhere. she was scared of life. her idea of practicing her spirituality was to sit in a secluded room to meditate. here's the irony: she was practicing her spirituality all day long without even knowing it - she was wonderful with the people that came to the shop, and would often take 20-30 mins out of her busy day to uplift or assist someone with their personal lives. id marvel at her patience. she was one of the most compassionate people i ever met. but still, even after i brought all this to her attention, she'd lament the lack of spirituality in her life. she kept singing the same mantra "i need time off to practice my spirituality..." and here she was, one of the most spiritual people id ever met! she just didnt know it.

my point is: spirituality is practiced best in the real world; not in some stuffy room on a computer.

[Mike]

Posted by Flash (here)
Your dad gave you too many smacks on the head Mike so that you would not even realise you had too many.

Empathy is not your strong point truly, although I can see from your point of view some justified reasoning. But I do think you are missing quite a bit for the over all analysis.

Don't whine guys, be strong, do not - I repeat - do not feel what you are feeling, be a man.

And no, sensitivity does not kill, you would not be dead by being sensitive. This is a thoroughly engrained false belief implanted by patriarchal societies. Sensitivity does not kill. Over victimisation stop the action however.

you mean my grandfather. it was my grandfather who gave me too many whacks on the head.

actually, empathy is one of my strong points i think. i wont even kill an insect. except cockroaches.

no, i have lots of empathy. maybe to a fault. what i dont have is patience for pointless, emotionally manipulative threads like these. youre going to ask why i comment then, right? i comment because they're stupid and someone needs to point out that theyre stupid, so i thats what i do. sometimes i feel a little guilty about being a little harsh, but i feel worse if i dont say anything. so thats why i comment.

im not blindly suggesting everyone "be a man" and ignore their emotions etc. im suggesting we all stop acting like huge pussies. sensitivity, just like anything else in excess, is unhealthy. and this thread is nothing if not oversensitive.

my 2 cents

[Aspen]

I deal with sensitive people every day and hope I am sensitive enough to help them. The lady I work for teaches us that 68% of the people in the world today are not sensitive beings. Dabrowsky studied this. He calls it the Theory of Positive Disintegration. He was a Polish scientist who spent time in Russian prison camps and noticed that it was the sensitive people who seemed to thrive in some odd way. He believed that trauma can help provide break throughs that help us grow spiritually. He thought that the third category of people (emotionally sensitive people) should be the leaders because they were able to be connected to their emotions, and have empathy for others. They would be ideal for finding solutions that work for everyone. Their biggest weakness was to take on other peoples problems as if they were their own. So in order to evolve into the fourth type of human (even rarer) one has to develop a healthy form of detachment. So you still care about everyone, love them, but with very healthy emotional boundaries in place, and realizing that other people need to take responsibility for solving their own problems. I guess sometimes that might mean leaving a forum where you feel unsafe and leave it up to the people on the forum to create safety for others so that future members are not hurt.

I think what Don Miguel's teaching about the second agreement (in his Toltec Wisdom teaching about the Four Agreements gives us - healthy detachment. One piece of advice that has really helped me to survive in a world full of people with insensitivity is the second agreement "Don't take anything personally." It has really given me so much freedom and I highly recommend it for others. If everyone followed it we would be more patient with each other and avoid placing so much energy into being victimized. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0..._2806618.html?

For example last night we had trespassers on our property, three vehicles with young people in them insisting that a friend had told them it was okay to use an old logging road on our property. Our property is clearly marked with no trespassing signs everywhere. My husband was livid and out there telling them to leave, phoning the police, etc. He was so angry he could not sleep. I told him, they are teenagers that are self centered and out for a joy ride. They don't have any concept of how stressful this it to others. They would do this to anyone who bought this place - don't take it personally!" I went to bed and slept well. . . . . It doesn't always work but it has helped me a lot. In the chapter about this teaching Don Miguel says, "even if someone was holding a gun to your head" don't take it personally. You never know what drove the other person to do this. You don't know what version of reality they are living in.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Mike (here)
often what seems like cruelty at the time is compassion, and vice versa. when i was a kid and i was getting too whiny or soft, my grandfather would whack me in the head and tell me to "toughen up". and man im glad he did. if i indulged all that sentimentality id be a dead man by now...if not physically, then definitely emotionally. and look, im not some emotional robot either. i get weepy watching 'dancing with the stars'! but theres a sensitivity here that is so damaging and unproductive...so deeply ingrained and pathological that it makes me lament the future of the human race, if indeed we (alt community) represent an important part of it.

To put it mildly, I got whacked in the head, too. I have a sneaky suspicion that alls it did was contribute to learning disabilities and short term memory loss. I don’t mean the denial kind.

Though, the thwack in the head method was a great teacher of how not to be and how not to treat any living thing. It was a great teacher for an unwavering determination to hold on to inner spirit and the discovery of inner fortitude.

Yes, self-respect means standing up for what you believe. Which includes standing in your sovereign space. Where there’s no question left that’ll haunt like “I shoulda said this. I coulda done that.”

Any form of abuse are examples of a world that’s dead. People carry old programs of ’stiff upper lip,’ ‘get tough,’ ‘no pain, no gain,’ ‘don’t cry’ 'my way or the highway' and 'when I say jump, you ask how high"'. It’s time to bust out of those lower vibrations. Do that and one lives in spontaneous higher thought, love, health, regeneration and surrounded in nature’s music.

Thwack in the head, passive-aggressive banter and know it alls…it’s all the same on forum or in the street. If one’s off center, it’s not for me to get tough and tough it out. It’s for the person to log off or step aside and reconcile the puss of his/her own thoughts and deeds.

RunningDeer <3

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Mike (here)
no, i have lots of empathy. maybe to a fault.
my 2 cents

In Mike’s defense, I personally know he’s a respectful, kind, emphatic, generous, bright guy. Which is why I am comfortable with my post to him. He’s a great, big teddy bear, who happens to have a poke-poke side to him.

<3

[thepainterdoug]

bright/ a farewell to you and great post. I tried to reach out to you on one of your posts. I wrote you a private e mail i believe i found on your site. I was hoping to hear from you but never did. Perhaps you never saw the e mail.
its immaterial now.
i truly wish you all the best/ doug

[Mike]

Posted by RunningDeer (here)

Posted by Mike (here)
no, i have lots of empathy. maybe to a fault.
my 2 cents

In Mike’s defense, I personally know he’s a respectful, kind, emphatic, generous, bright guy. Which is why I am comfortable with my post to him. He’s a great, big teddy bear, who happens to have a poke-poke side to him.

<3

you forgot handsome, but i'll let it slide otherwise a pretty accurate description. i hope that comes thru in my posts! very un-buddhist of me to to brag about a predominantly buddhist concept, but i think im pretty darn compassionate. i really do!

im more than comfortable with your posts to me - theyre great! if youd never disagreed with me, we'd have likely never become friends. it was quite a while ago, but in an almost identical thread that you basically told me i was out of order for saying more or less the same thing im saying now that was a good thing.

anyway, enough about me

[A Voice from the Mountains]

OP says his girlfriend saw millennia into the future for the government, and it was essentially the same as today. I just wanted to throw in that the US government had programs looking into the future around the 60s and 70s and the things they saw didn't happen.

Project Camelot covered this type of stuff and it became apparent from multiple sources that there really are parallel timelines and versions of reality, and different individuals experience different timelines based on what their consciousness is oriented towards. The military was seeing crazy disasters and wars because that's what they were obsessed with. I'm sure not everyone will believe this but that's fine, I just wanted to throw in my two cents.

[Nasu]

Bright, I am very sorry you feel unable to live here, with this group. I am more inclined towards Mike's opinion, no doubt dew to all my slaps on the head as a child too.. I hope life opens up for you.. I cant help but feel this is not a spiritual epiphany but rather a last word before you slam the door... My last words are I love you, be happy on your path, may it rise up to meet your feet...x... N

[Poly Hedra]

I was absolutely disguisted with that thread response and it made me quite angry too. And what was said was basically - your beliefs are not indicative of intelligence - way out of line.
I dont know about the rest of you but I would lose my patience too, especially when you are sharing something so personal, putting yourself out there to be shot down.
We all have egos, like it or not, it is all about ego, how can it not be???? We are alive, living here on this earth, until we die we still have an ego, maybe even after we will still have an ego.

I have never really had to put myself out there because I dont have any extraordinary experiences to share, just a normal cretin living my tiny existence. Some people can handle it, some people need self preservation and a need to not involve themselves in any conflict, some need conflict. I have never gotten in any disagreements with people here because I have learned to walk away and not involve myself in the bullsh!t.

By the way, I am far from enlightened, just a meat eating, fag/weed smoking collection of insecurities and hang ups, thats fine with me. I say what I think and Bright can say what he thinks.

At the end of the day someone was being a complete douche, that is what happened and I dont blame Bright for saying F^&k this!

See ya round Bright.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by bsbray (here)
OP says his girlfriend saw millennia into the future for the government, and it was essentially the same as today. I just wanted to throw in that the US government had programs looking into the future around the 60s and 70s and the things they saw didn't happen.

Project Camelot covered this type of stuff and it became apparent from multiple sources that there really are parallel timelines and versions of reality, and different individuals experience different timelines based on what their consciousness is oriented towards. The military was seeing crazy disasters and wars because that's what they were obsessed with. I'm sure not everyone will believe this but that's fine, I just wanted to throw in my two cents.

One school of thought is that those inorganic time lines are breaking down because the false constructs cannot exist in the higher frequencies that are present. As you point out, different individuals experience different timelines based on what their consciousness is oriented towards.

IMO, there’s an uptick with people feeling anxious, fearful, and snapping at one another. It’s in part because unrecognized and unresolved emotions and hurts. Rather than bemoan, see it as an opportunity to set free all that’s been in lock down all the way into cellular levels. The pains of the past don’t need to be felt like the original experience(s). Allow all to naturally surface. If you don’t there’s a good chance a person, situation or thoughts may trigger you at inappropriate times.

Conversely, do the work. Watch for signals like thoughts and feelings that debilitate, fears, the need to control, sadness, depression, anger, rage, sleeplessness, or behaviors such as over eating, over spending, and over working. When patterns are recognized and acknowledged it no longer sits in the subconscious causing havoc. Once it’s brought out into conscious awareness, you make the choice to dissolve, defend or deny. Own it, let it go and it goes poof. Defend or deny, it’ll slink right back into darkness in wait to charge and score.

One is rewarded by doing the inner work. They naturally gravitate to what’s organic, fair, truth, and love. By staying present and centered your GPS points in synchronistic directions. You’ll be impervious to choose what does not fit the higher frequency. Frequencies that you’re actively participating in through wholesome choices in all aspects of life.

It's worth the time and effort. The rewards are exponential. In my opinion it's one of the reasons why we're here. Gut the implanted and programmed inner rot. Then move on to live and grow through enrichment of inner self, relationships, creativity, experimentation and nature. (to name a few)

RunningDeer <3

[WhiteFeather]

Although i wish you would stay with us B.G. And if you must leave your family, i give you this song, again.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i5tJvY_P9vg

[araucaria]

Posted by Mike (here)
my boss...
a wonderful woman. but the job was wearing her out. i understood. it was wearing me out too, and i was only the assistant manager. she'd talk non stop about wanting some time off to "practice her spirituality". thing is, she was a shut in. on weekends she never went anywhere. she was scared of life. her idea of practicing her spirituality was to sit in a secluded room to meditate. here's the irony: she was practicing her spirituality all day long without even knowing it - she was wonderful with the people that came to the shop, and would often take 20-30 mins out of her busy day to uplift or assist someone with their personal lives. id marvel at her patience. she was one of the most compassionate people i ever met. but still, even after i brought all this to her attention, she'd lament the lack of spirituality in her life. she kept singing the same mantra "i need time off to practice my spirituality..." and here she was, one of the most spiritual people id ever met! she just didnt know it.

my point is: spirituality is practiced best in the real world; not in some stuffy room on a computer.

Mike, you make a good point, but it too is not without irony. You see, a busy day on the computer is the real world for many people, in the sense of what they do for a living. And it will often include uplifting or assisting people with their personal lives. I think the broader point is that there is nowhere else to get away to, but that is notably because our here & now is expanding to become global and beyond global. If you are suggesting that there is no real (need for) seclusion because the same effect is obtained without it, then it surely works both ways: your computer room cannot be as stuffy as you make it out to be; it has doors and windows open to the outside world, there is no possible separation there either. In other words, practising spirituality is not a part-time hobby, it is an integral part of being human, and the lesson is that there is no getting away from that, no matter what you do. But under our dualist regime, the opposite is also true: there is no getting away from the physical either. There are two escape routes but ultimately no escapism, just balance. I’d say your boss was correct in thinking she was lacking balance: as you say, what she was doing was wearing her out, meaning it was not viable beyond the short-term.

[donk]

Perhaps it says as much about the culture of the forum itself that one feels they can only express how they truly feel (especially about “popular” posters) on the way out the door** (and doesn't feel that even THEN they can say it directly)…as it does about the individuals?

**Not to mention the reaction of the farewell post?

me, personally, ive never known a more sedate, pleasant, easy-going place (on-line anyway) than avalon.

Me either…but also, that’s just ONE dimension of this multidimensional place….I’ve also never known….well, I’ll leave it at: not all is always exactly as it seems…