Here and Now...What's Happening?

**Marianne** · 13th July 2012 17:44

Robert Wilkinson of Aquarius Papers has a post today that I found interesting. To find if you have planets in the 'hot zones' look at your natal chart. You can get a free one at www.astrodienst.com -- look on the side at the grid and it'll tell you the planet's sign and degree; for example, my moon is 7 Leo, which means it falls within that 3-7 Leo hot zone.

I only posted the first 3 paragraphs, and there are three more at Robert's site, if you're interested.

Astrology in July 2012 - The Grand Irrationality In Motion Triggering the 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse by Robert Wilkinson

Yesterday through Sunday Venus is triggering the Grand Irrationality. It is biseptile Neptune and triseptile Pluto, showing we’re all at a fork in the road wherever we have Taurus, Gemini, Libra, Capricorn, and Pisces in our charts. It also gives us “Venusian hints” about late July through late August, a time that will bring us karmic comebacks, closures, and openings related to last Summer’s Solar Eclipse in Gemini.

I’ll be posting an update on the Grand Irrationality in the near future, since some new fans of the site may not be familiar with this pandemic global phenomenon in play for the past 17 years. Expect this time to bring important shifts, choices, and changes that will alter the course of destiny wherever Venus, Neptune, and Pluto are in your chart. The configuration is anchored by Neptune in Pisces septile Pluto in Capricorn, and is set into motion every time a planet makes a septile, biseptile, or triseptile to either of these outermost transpersonal planets.

Right now the hot zones are approximately 7-11 Capricorn, 29 Aquarius-3 Pisces, 20-24 Aries, 12-16 Gemini, 3-7 Leo, 25-29 Virgo, and 16-20 Scorpio. If you have a planet or sensitive point in any of these zones, you’re going through some important decisions and changes that will affect your future in powerful ways.

http://www.aquariuspapers.com/astrol...r-eclipse.html

21st Century Astrology – What is the Grand Irrationality and Why is Everything So Strange?
http://www.aquariuspapers.com/astrol...o-strange.html

© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson

FYI - astrologers customarily add 1 degree on either side of a range ... so the Leo hot zone, for ex., would be 2-8 degrees. Same for the others, add a degree each side.
Ulli, did I get that right? Please correct if you see fit. xx
Edit: Ulli says no need to add a degree. (see her post next page) thx

**Samsara** · 13th July 2012 17:51

We have many butterflies here in the Outaouais Valley. Where I was last weekend, higher in the mountains, there where many Monarchs flying all over the place. I had never seen so many. A most beautiful sight.

What we are starting to need badly is some rain. It is coming.

**RunningDeer** · 13th July 2012 18:06

Posted by Jenci (here)
Hi Paula,
We incarnate on this planet, at this time, in human form so we get to experience all of this. My guess is that it is only the 'human being' which gets to experience such a vast, diverse range of thoughts, emotions and feelings. This is our gift of this lifetime.

Yes, fear may feel heavier in comparison to another emotion such as joy but it is only our fickle minds which label the feeling as bad and something we wish to avoid and therefore wish for others to avoid.

Freedom is not about freedom from human feelings, it's about freedom to experience human feelings.

When we realise that this life is about the experience, we can find extraordinary peace and perfection in the heaviest of fears, anger, despair, sadness, horror, loneliness.....

Jeanette

Thank you, Jeanette,

If I’m understanding correctly what you wrote then this is new information for me. I’d like to run it by you. But what happened when I was working on it, another question came up.

When we realise that this life is about the experience, we can find extraordinary peace and perfection in the heaviest of fears, anger, despair, sadness, horror, loneliness.....

Part One:

My belief was that by standing right in the heaviest of fear, anger, despair, etc., it then brings me to a place of expansion where extraordinary peace is because of the willingness to allow the pain.

But I think this is the missing piece for me. What I understood from you was: while IN heavy experiences, there IS extraordinary peace, too. So if I lay this out as two visuals - old and new understanding:

#1 old - a large circle of peace. Inside there’s the small circle of heaviest experiences.
#2 new - one large circle where it’s a blending of all experiences. Some coming to the forth while others subside.

So live all experience without the labels, only experiencing. There may be awareness of intermittent ranges of feelings including peace that may come to the fore. Don’t even make peace the end goal. Just allow and feel and be aware of the whole dance. Make no claims to any of them. It all comes and goes.

Part Two:

While chewing on your teaching, another question came up. It’s the one that’s been with me since I signed on to Avalon.

The Set Up:

If I am here to experience the freedom of all feelings, then where does the I AM come into play? My understanding is that because I experience all feelings then at some point this personality drops away into reveal that I AM. But I don’t make that the life goal. My “job” is to live all ranges of experiences. Just be whatever flows in that moment.

So if by living all experience which includes interacting with and assisting humanity, then there’s a sincere and natural unfoldment of I am part of the Allness which then opens to only All.

The Paradox:

I am a physical being living in the physical world here to experience and grow through and with others. Yet, from the greater perspective there’s only ALL that I am a part of.

How do I reconcile? I’m both? Does it depends from which perspective I’m seeing from? Namely, once I see that I am the All, then get down to the business of allowing this physical body to experience these physical moments.

I have experienced watching the body at play/work without attachment to end result. That it too was/is a part of the Greater Self. So is this also why I am here in this physical body? Knowing both as one and the same?

I’ll stop here, before we are all really the All/One/Absolute.

With Gratitude and Heart,

Paula

PS Sorry for the length. It was 4 times this many, many hours ago.

**another bob** · 13th July 2012 18:22

Hiya Paula!

I know you addressed your inquiry to Jeanette, and I'm sure she will be providing you with some excellent wisdom on the matter! In contemplating the issue for myself, I put together an essay some time ago which also addresses the inquiry, and so I'm offering it here for consideration too.

Many of us involved in this kind of investigation have realized that a good way to understand the world of humans is to understand oneself, not in an intellectual way, or even in an emotional or so-called spiritual way, but just drilling down into the depth of our prime motivation, the “core story” – what’s expressed most commonly in the sense of predicament and dilemma that we have come to identify with as “our life”. It may be discovered there that there is, at the root, something like an innocent misunderstanding, a simple case of mistaken identity.

What is being pointed at conceptually here is really the evolution of consciousness itself. This human drama is not a mistake. Most of the cherished “spiritual” teachings infer that this human life is some kind of error or unfortunate occurrence - something to transcend, make right, or escape from, some sin or even something of the nature of a stain – primordially tainted. But if we really inquire into this, we can see that consciousness has taken form for an obvious reason. It has come into form so that it can be conscious as form. That's the beauty of this amazing human birth. Consciousness can become self-aware through this human form. It can not only become self-aware, but can finally manifest naturally through form, through human-ness, in the way that we act in the field of space and time – awake, joyous, and free.

To be "liberated" from being a human being is not the point at all. The consciousness itself has an impulse to manifest itself in the world of space and time or it simply wouldn’t. This is where some confusion enters in -- when consciousness takes form and tries to become self-aware. It seems to be a risk that consciousness takes in its maturation process, or its evolving into becoming truly self-aware through form. It is simply a matter of getting confused about its true identity:

Formlessness appears as form, but then it thinks that it is that form, separate and divided from all that is perceived to arise within the sphere of consciousness itself. From this, a lot of suffering can and does arise, the labor pangs of Itself in the effort (Hero’s Journey) to "remember" its True Nature, and then to manifest it as Full Incarnation, Complete Embodiment. To be able to have this realization function in the world seems to be the true call of evolution, and simultaneously it is already accomplished. Isn't that amazing! Truth is easier than fiction.

Ultimately, the manifestation is a creation. It's a birthing from an act of indescribable Love. It's certainly not some terrible mistake that we need to escape from into some hopeful place where we will finally be able to be what we are -- we can be nothing but what we Are!

We have also all seen that, if this inquiry takes one into the head it will feel very dry, very intellectual. If it stays grounded in one's natural heart-feeling being, it won't seem in the least bit abstract. In fact, it is actually quite marvelously, joyously drenched in the juiciness of life, in whatever way life may be expressing itself this moment, this moment in which all is contained, the entire history of itself, at this pinpoint of attention, humbly called: now.

In the place where consciousness is really unified, where it sees the true nature of both formlessness and form, such phrases as "I am That" are actually true. It "becomes perceivable" in apperception. This not a paradox, since one's sense of self "expands" to include everything. Here nothing is really outside of the indivisible molecular presence of itself. This view of unity consciousness is much vaster than the view of formless consciousness (see Tozan's Five Ranks in Zen). One needs to go beyond mind into one's own direct experience to really hear this, or else it just becomes more stale spices added to the conceptual stew of faux-nondualism.

It would initially appear that this experience of unity consciousness is complete, once there is the realization that "I am That", "I am everything". It may seem that there is nothing more to see. Many relax here, and why the hell not?

And yet if inquiry proceeds further, there is something very simple to recognize. Even in this unity consciousness there is an awareness of this unity consciousness. There is a very simple wakefulness of it, in which this unity consciousness is arising. This awake-ness has no qualities whatsoever. No bliss, no peace, no presence - not even consciousness. Sometimes this "Original Face" is called Emptiness. Yet it is even empty of any qualities of emptiness. Here there is no self or Self, which are both immediately recognizable as fantasies of interpretation on perception. It is not even a state of consciousness, and yet it does not cancel that of which it is prior. Discursive mind cannot go there, because it is before that stage of attention.

Separate self-consciousness, Formless consciousness, Unity consciousness are all arising within this, are all birthed within It. They are actually illuminated, or seen through, and thus become "liberated" from fixated identification within this, evolving to the point of giving up the struggle to support any fixation at any level of consciousness.

Since everything arises from this wakefulness, there is nothing that needs to be eliminated. The only "problem" that ever arose was the fixation on any level. From this wakefulness, all states are gathered in one vast embrace of unspeakable, undeniable Love, and are seen to co-exist simultaneously, non-exclusively. When this is truly and deeply Seen, and all fixation has been undermined by such Grace, the realization flows that this wakefulness, which one IS, is in Love with all states of consciousness.

It does not need to hide in egoic consciousness, in formless consciousness, in unity consciousness, in peace or bliss - it loves them all. It functions through them all. Then they all begin to dance! At this point, our only question is, “How could we ever have imagined it to be otherwise?”

**Ernie Nemeth** · 13th July 2012 18:49

Posted by another bob (here)

Posted by Jenci (here)
We incarnate on this planet, at this time, in human form so we get to experience all of this. My guess is that it is only the 'human being' which gets to experience such a vast, diverse range of thoughts, emotions and feelings. This is our gift of this lifetime.

Yes, fear may feel heavier in comparison to another emotion such as joy but it is only our fickle minds which label the feeling as bad and something we wish to avoid and therefore wish for others to avoid.

Freedom is not about freedom from human feelings, it's about freedom to experience human feelings.

When we realise that this life is about the experience, we can find extraordinary peace and perfection in the heaviest of fears, anger, despair, sadness, horror, loneliness.....

"In the sutras [Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures] they..call the five passions something to avoid, to reject. Nevertheless, "rejecting" the five passions still implies dualism, a limitation - accepting the positive and rejecting the negative - and this is by no means the way to overcome the dualistic condition. Conversely, the higher tantras [in Vajrayana] understand that poison can be used and transformed into medicine to transmute our impure vision into pure vision...Dzogchen does not stop even at this concept, instead adopting the principles of self-liberation. The transformation of the poisons of the passions into wisdom requires the dualistic consideration of "poison" on one side and "wisdom" on the other. It is as if we were "playing" at transforming something. As the dualism remains, this cannot be the ultimate solution. According to the principle of self-liberation, without necessarily maintaining the dualistic notion of "poison" and "wisdom," the practioner perceives passions and wisdom on a par. Whichever passion arises, the practioner remains in the natural condition, without creating or judging. This is the fundamental point of self-liberation, the final aim of Dzogchen."

~ Chogyal Namkai Norbu

We are constantly creating. As beings of One Mind we share our creations via ideas or thoughts. We have become so good at the game that our bodies can transmit ideas by its posture and movements. As created beings we are always limited in some regard, owing to the fact of the chain of authority that did not originate with us. That is the mystery of life. Life continues to create, ceaselessly. Yet because of the mystery of life those creations are misconstrued. Confused by our misunderstandings we pull the limits of creation down about our ears, thereby limiting our potential. And so creation continues, unabated and unsullied. Our creations also continue, sometimes without our knowledge, until we once again realize our potential and regognize what we have wrought.

Just some thoughts.

**RunningDeer** · 13th July 2012 19:46

Thank you, Bob,

This is helpful. I’ve narrowed down the parts that are new and/or forgotten. I’ll put what I can in my own words. I wanted to get this post out to thank you. Too, it’s a helpful reminder to enjoy the ride. Increase awareness, reduce the crazy study. Play more. Allow consciousness to play with form.
Hearts and Gratitude,

Paula

“It does not need to hide in egoic consciousness, in formless consciousness, in unity consciousness, in peace, or bliss - it loves them all. It functions through them all. Then they all begin to dance! At this point, our only question is, “How could we ever have imagined it to be otherwise?””

“What is being pointed at conceptually here is really the evolution of consciousness itself. This human drama is not a mistake.”

“...we can see that consciousness has taken form for an obvious reason. It has come into form so that it can be conscious as form. That's the beauty of this amazing human birth. Consciousness can become self-aware through this human form. It can not only become self-aware, but can finally manifest naturally through form, through human-ness, in the way that we act in the field of space and time – awake, joyous, and free.”

“To be "liberated" from being a human being is not the point at all. The consciousness itself has an impulse to manifest itself in the world of space and time or it simply wouldn’t. This is where some confusion enters in -- when consciousness takes form and tries to become self-aware. It seems to be a risk that consciousness takes in its maturation process, or its evolving into becoming truly self-aware through form. It is simply a matter of getting confused about its true identity.”

“Ultimately, the manifestation is a creation. It's a birthing from an act of indescribable Love. It's certainly not some terrible mistake that we need to escape from into some hopeful place where we will finally be able to be what we are - we can be nothing but what we Are!”

“We have also all seen that, if this inquiry takes one into the head it will feel very dry, very intellectual. If it stays grounded in one's natural heart-feeling being, it won't seem in the least bit abstract. In fact, it is actually quite marvelously, joyously drenched in the juiciness of life, in whatever way life may be expressing itself this moment, this moment in which all is contained, the entire history of itself, at this pinpoint of attention, humbly called: now.”

“In the place where consciousness is really unified, where it sees the true nature of both formlessness and form, such phrases as "I am That" are actually true. It "becomes perceivable" in apperception (assimilate into idea) . This not a paradox, since one's sense of self "expands" to include everything.

“It would initially appear that this experience of unity consciousness is complete, once there is the realization that "I am That", "I am everything". It may seem that there is nothing more to see. Many relax here, and why the hell not? “

“And yet if inquiry proceeds further, there is something very simple to recognize. Even in this unity consciousness there is an awareness of this unity consciousness. There is a very simple wakefulness of it, in which this unity consciousness is arising. This awake-ness has no qualities whatsoever. No bliss, no peace, no presence - not even consciousness. “

“Separate self-consciousness, Formless consciousness, Unity consciousness are all arising within this, are all birthed within It. They are actually illuminated, or seen through, and thus become "liberated" from...”

“Since everything arises from this wakefulness, there is nothing that needs to be eliminated. The only "problem" that ever arose was the fixation on any level.”

“When this is truly and deeply Seen, and all fixation has been undermined by such Grace, the realization flows that this wakefulness, which one IS, is in Love with all states of consciousness. “

Posted by another bob (here)
It does not need to hide in egoic consciousness, in formless consciousness, in unity consciousness, in peace or bliss - it loves them all. It functions through them all. Then they all begin to dance! At this point, our only question is, “How could we ever have imagined it to be otherwise?”

**RunningDeer** · 13th July 2012 19:59

Posted by Ernie Nemeth (here)
We are constantly creating. As beings of One Mind we share our creations via ideas or thoughts. We have become so good at the game that our bodies can transmit ideas by its posture and movements. As created beings we are always limited in some regard, owing to the fact of the chain of authority that did not originate with us. That is the mystery of life. Life continues to create, ceaselessly. Yet because of the mystery of life those creations are misconstrued. Confused by our misunderstandings we pull the limits of creation down about our ears, thereby limiting our potential. And so creation continues, unabated and unsullied. Our creations also continue, sometimes without our knowledge, until we once again realize our potential and regognize what we have wrought.

Just some thoughts.

Thank you, Ernie,
I've added this to my "food for thought" list. There's a part of me that watches as this knowledge plays hide and seek.

Grrrrr!

I've got it and then it's gone. I know I know, but I'm thinking about it rather than allowing it to rest in my bones.

Hugs,

Paula

**Mark** · 13th July 2012 20:15

AB, of course you would have to add a vid of my second favorite Rat Packer:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BC9L-qCcSz4

They were something else. And it was a different world back then, but without them - The Chairman, Dean and Sammy - it would be a different world now.

Great song!

WF, I really like your interpretation of FEAR! That's the way to rise above it!

WCBD: ~ big soulful hug, spirits intertwining, rising, fluid-plasma-gas of etheric oneness, coalescing, signaling ... gnosis, synthesis to separation, shock of materialism through descent, awakening through heart opening, emanating magnetic love, thumping, resonating, pervading all life ~

I'm only in the last few months becoming totally at ease with who I am and where I am in life, WCBD. It is a blessing to experience peace, no matter the state of the people and world around me. I am grateful for the beautiful souls I seem to be meeting and interacting with and the space of co-creation we all seem to share for whatever time or reason, it all feels quite fateful, as if this were all meant to be for some larger, grander reason. Flowing into each day brings revelations, doesn't it!?

Anchor, beautiful descriptions, very well said. It is wonderful to feel your purpose coming in loud and clear, I think many of us are sensing same and waiting with bated breath, even though, as you said, there is really no need to wait as all is ready NOW. Perhaps it is a nod to the material world and the illusion of time and space that we respect the paradigm and don't all just become super-hero bodhisattva devas or divinities, hm?

Astrid, sounds like you are doing some important work, not only for yourself but for the world, as the spiritual work that we engage in emanates outwards from us to affect those closest to us and within our personal spheres of influence. Do your thing!

Ulli, glad your work came through! Woo hoo!!!

Marianne, BREATH! LOL isn't it wonderful the way the universe works with us?! And thanks for the astrology stuff! I've been there before but forgot about the link to Astrodienst, they give you a lot of information for free, but I see they've changed it a bit, so it's hard to find the straight natal chart they used to give out. Maybe I just can't find it yet??

When we realise that this life is about the experience, we can find extraordinary peace and perfection in the heaviest of fears, anger, despair, sadness, horror, loneliness.....

Jenci, beautifully said and SO true. Ah, the limitations of language, but the necessity of using it in order to impart a sense of what is real ... i get it! LOL Lot of butterflies up here, I'm noticing these ones that look like Monarch's, they're orange with black markings, I'm guessing they are, but I don't know if Monarch's come this far north. Some brilliant yellow one's also, and a few other types. All of these species seem to be leaving the planet due to the times, I really respect and am honored by those who have stayed this long, despite the state that we've left the globe in.

1inMany, hmmmm ... energy sent. You are extra-sensitive, I hope your immediate environment (people and place) is conducive to the peace that you require during these times.

Conversely, the higher tantras [in Vajrayana] understand that poison can be used and transformed into medicine to transmute our impure vision into pure vision...Dzogchen does not stop even at this concept, instead adopting the principles of self-liberation. The transformation of the poisons of the passions into wisdom requires the dualistic consideration of "poison" on one side and "wisdom" on the other. It is as if we were "playing" at transforming something. As the dualism remains, this cannot be the ultimate solution. According to the principle of self-liberation, without necessarily maintaining the dualistic notion of "poison" and "wisdom," the practioner perceives passions and wisdom on a par. Whichever passion arises, the practioner remains in the natural condition, without creating or judging. This is the fundamental point of self-liberation, the final aim of Dzogchen."

AB, Thanks as always for your clarity and scholarly assistance. Shamatha, the meditation I use exclusively, is a part of the Vajrayana traditions, if I'm not mistaken. Coming through Shambhala, I am not certain of the Buddhist lineage of any of the things I practice. Lojong mind training and Tonglen though, which I practice daily, are definitely a part of this tradition and the Mahayana vehicle. They say it is the fast track and I can attest to the power and effectiveness of 'sending and taking' and 'resting in non-physical abiding', expressions of both relative and ultimate bodhicitta.

**WhiteFeather** · 13th July 2012 20:40

A Gift For You Samsara. The movies coming out in August. Should be Bliss.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OGI2ZnEUTFE

**Jenci** · 13th July 2012 21:22

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer (here)

Thank you, Jeanette,

If I’m understanding correctly what you wrote then this is new information for me. I’d like to run it by you. But what happened when I was working on it, another question came up.

When we realise that this life is about the experience, we can find extraordinary peace and perfection in the heaviest of fears, anger, despair, sadness, horror, loneliness.....

Part One:

My belief was that by standing right in the heaviest of fear, anger, despair, etc., it then brings me to a place of expansion where extraordinary peace is because of the willingness to allow the pain.

But I think this is the missing piece for me. What I understood from you was: while IN heavy experiences, there IS extraordinary peace, too. So if I lay this out as two visuals - old and new understanding:

Yes, the peace is already here while in the heavy experience and when that is realised then the heavy experience or "bad" feelings will not be resisted nor will peace be grasped at as something to attain beyond the feelings.

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer

Part Two:

While chewing on your teaching, another question came up. It’s the one that’s been with me since I signed on to Avalon.

The Set Up:

If I am here to experience the freedom of all feelings, then where does the I AM come into play? My understanding is that because I experience all feelings then at some point this personality drops away into reveal that I AM. But I don’t make that the life goal. My “job” is to live all ranges of experiences. Just be whatever flows in that moment.

Personality is uniquely inherent in all of us and doesn't drop away but ego - an activity of grasping and resisting - can fall away. When there is no grasping and resisting, experiences and feelings can come and go without story attached to them as to why they are good or bad, or why they need to be held onto or avoided.

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer

The Paradox:

I am a physical being living in the physical world here to experience and grow through and with others. Yet, from the greater perspective there’s only ALL that I am a part of.

How do I reconcile? I’m both? Does it depends from which perspective I’m seeing from? Namely, once I see that I am the All, then get down to the business of allowing this physical body to experience these physical moments.

The "I am" is what you already are and have always been and this is what you have been discovering as the sense of "I am" is growing for you.

Going back to the point of your last post and you said

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer
I'm ready for the time where only Light is experienced by All.

If the "light" is what you already are and always have been then a good line of inquiry would be question this idea that becoming the "light" is what we are here for.

Posted by another bob
Ultimately, the manifestation is a creation. It's a birthing from an act of indescribable Love. It's certainly not some terrible mistake that we need to escape from into some hopeful place where we will finally be able to be what we are -- we can be nothing but what we Are!

Like Bob says, this is what I have come to realise through inquiry. This human existence is not something that I need to escape from nor does anyone else because the whole purpose of this life, is to have this experience.

I really admire your sincerity in your inquiry Paula.

Jeanette

Guest · 13th July 2012 21:46

Posted by 1inMany (here)
Anyone that has a healing touch, would you please send help for my head? It will either explode or implode. Or I will dip into the heavy duty pharmaceuticals. And I'm not talking about aspirin. My healing touch isn't doing it.

Wondering if this is the result of yesterday's X-flare...whatever it is, I am unable to function.

Love and Gratitude to all,

Good strong organic peppermint tea helps with headaches

Unrefined seasalt in a warm bath helps with solar flares

Love

Nora

**another bob** · 13th July 2012 21:55

Posted by Rahkyt (here)
Shamatha, the meditation I use exclusively, is a part of the Vajrayana traditions, if I'm not mistaken. Coming through Shambhala, I am not certain of the Buddhist lineage of any of the things I practice. Lojong mind training and Tonglen though, which I practice daily, are definitely a part of this tradition and the Mahayana vehicle. They say it is the fast track and I can attest to the power and effectiveness of 'sending and taking' and 'resting in non-physical abiding', expressions of both relative and ultimate bodhicitta.

It's really great to hear that you have taken this time-tested approach to your ongoing evolution in consciousness, Brother!

Shamatha (calm abiding) is the essential foundation for meditative experience, and particularly for techniques like Tonglen. Coupled with Vipashyana (insight), we have the two arms of effective practice in the Buddhist scheme of training.

Here's a brief article (from Shambala) discussing these two complementary methods:

http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.ph...=3572&Itemid=0

The contemporary teacher Adyashanti describes a similar synergy between mental stabilization and penetrating insight:

"The two biggest prongs of what I teach are number one, to abide and number two, to inquire deeply. To abide simply means to let everything be as it already is. For most individuals it is extremely challenging in the beginning to simply let everything be as it is. In order to do that, we cannot hold on to any preference for our experience to be any particular way. Most spiritual people are doing anything but that. They are trying to make their experience be a very specific way. So they end up with a sort of spiritual slavery. Abiding is simply letting everything be as it is. Paradoxically, when we let everything be as it is, even if our experience is very uncomfortable, the first thing that starts to come into our experience is a great peace and calm. When this peace and calm comes into our experience, there is a sense of not being so hemmed in by our experience. There is an experience of more vastness.

It's from that place of true abidance that we can begin to inquire. Abidance without inquiry usually doesn't produce much, except a good feeling. But when abidance is coupled with true and authentic inquiry .... what I mean by inquiry is curiosity, a real curiosity about the true nature of one's self, or who am I, or what is life? When those two are coupled, then inquiry adds a very dynamic quality that simple abidance doesn't necessarily have in and of itself. It's the dynamism of simple abidance coupled with a passionate inquiry into the true nature of one's self or reality that provides the ground for awakening to most likely occur."

**Belle** · 13th July 2012 21:59

So nice to have you back, Nora. I've missed you.

So much wisdom in the Village...and so freely shared. Love it.

Lots and lots of butterflies of all kinds around here lately. Last Sunday, as the family gathered to celebrate my husbands birthday, a Monarch butterfly flew around us for a bit and landed on the ground in the center of the circle we were sitting in. It stayed for almost 10 minutes, wings very slowly opening and closing, before it flew off. Guess it couldn't stay for cake.

Wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. Mexican stuffed peppers and garden salad for dinner. Yum!

**another bob** · 13th July 2012 22:03

Posted by Jenci (here)
When there is no grasping and resisting, experiences and feelings can come and go without story attached to them as to why they are good or bad, or why they need to be held onto or avoided.

Thanks, Sister!

That's the whole teaching in a nutshell, and if applied sincerely, very rapid flowering will occur.

"It's easy --

grasp at nothing,

turn nothing away."

~Ashtavakra Gita

**laperle** · 13th July 2012 22:05

Thank you Jeanette.

Before we can see that we are ' We Are ', we also have to experience the phase of 'I am' an individual/ego etc. Because without duality, we can not combine the two to become one. Because that would indicate that there is no motion, and no experiences and also NO LIVE. The energy of light and love won't be able to circulate. There will be nothing to experience! This is in 'my' point of view (on this moment

)
Without the movement between I am --> we are --> I am --> we are, we have a silence. The energy won't be able to circulate. It's like the four seasons of live and of our planet/universe. We are the summer, understanding we are not alone, we are complete. Then autumn arrives, and decade into pieces starts. Finally 'we' dies alone ( is that so ?

) No, than we start ALL OVER AGAIN!!, Only than we have learned that we have to go to the 'we are' phase....and so on, and so on.. Light - dark - light - dark - light......any resemblance with the period we are right in at this moment concerning nature, pollution and all the changes we are in ?

Maybe I'm correct, maybe I'm incorrect. I love to read more inner sights from you all.

**another bob** · 13th July 2012 22:15

Posted by laperle (here)
Thank you Jeanette.

Before we can see that we are ' We Are ', we also have to experience the phase of 'I am' an individual/ego etc. Because without duality, we can not combine the two to become one. Because that would indicate that there is no motion, and no experiences and also NO LIVE. The energy of light and love won't be able to circulate. There will be nothing to experience! This is in 'my' point of view (on this moment

)
Without the movement between I am --> we are --> I am --> we are, we have a silence. The energy won't be able to circulate. It's like the four seasons of live and of our planet/universe. We are the summer, understanding we are not alone, we are complete. Then autumn arrives, and decade into pieces starts. Finally 'we' dies alone ( is that so ?

) No, than we start ALL OVER AGAIN!!, Only than we have learned that we have to go to the 'we are' phase....and so on, and so on.. Light - dark - light - dark - light......any resemblance with the period we are right in at this moment concerning nature, pollution and all the changes we are in ?

Maybe I'm correct, maybe I'm incorrect. I love to read more inner sights from you all.

Greetings, laperle, and welcome to the Village!

**mojo** · 13th July 2012 22:35

You were weaving a patchwork of experiences Rahkyt...

**Samsara** · 13th July 2012 22:43

Posted by WhiteFeather (here)
A Gift For You Samsara. The movies coming out in August. Should be Bliss.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OGI2ZnEUTFE

LOL Thank you Brother. I've been waiting for this one to come out. It will be out in October in Canada...

Much Love.

**RunningDeer** · 13th July 2012 23:05

Hi Jeanette,

Thank you. I've been feeling like I'm going backwards. I've lost all that I thought I once understood. But your statement sheds light, "The sense “I am” is growing for you."

“...Personality is uniquely inherent in all of us and doesn't drop away but ego - an activity of grasping and resisting - can fall away...”

Ah-ha moment - personality is not ego! Sweet ring to this...

”If the "light" is what you already are and always have been then a good line of inquiry would be question this idea that becoming the "light" is what we are here for.”

My simple answer is I am Love/Light/Absolute. But forgot. Once that’s discovered, then it’s waves and pulses of Love/Light/Absolute mixing, blending, touching, whirling. Then ego jumps out from under the bed and sings, “tra-la-la”. Busted. Flowery, fake, adjectives, made up words. Stop. For now, permission granted for silence.

Awareness of the question, “What’s beyond the adjective silence? Not Silence, because it’s just another adjective... (For Now, just shut up.) Note to self: this is not a race.

Peace and thanks,

Paula

Posted by Jenci (here)