~~~~~~~Walking In The Spirit~~~~~~~

 

 

The man of Tao acts without impediment,
He harms no other being by his actions,
Yet he does not know himself
to be kind and gentle.

He does not struggle to make money...
And he does not make a virtue of poverty.

He goes without relying on others,
And does not pride himself
on walking alone.

The man of Tao remains unknown.
Perfect virtue produces nothing.
No Self is True Self.
And the greatest man is nobody.

 Chuang Tzu

~~~Living In This World of Magical Thinking & Maya~~~

 

   Conflict exists between various desires, not between light and darkness. There can never be struggle between light and darkness for where there is light, darkness is not, where there is truth the false is not. When the self divides itself into the higher and the lower, this very contradiction begets conflict, confusion, and antagonism. To be aware of what is and not escape into fanciful illusion is the beginning of understanding. We should be concerned with what is, the craving for self-expansion, and not try to transform it, for the transformer is still craving, which is the action of the self; the very awareness of what is brings about understanding. To be aware from moment to moment brings its own clarification. The desire for achievement and recognition prevents awakening; the sleeper dreams that he must awaken and struggles in his dream, but it is only a dream. The sleeper cannot awaken through dreams; he must cease sleeping. Thought itself must be aware of creating the structure of the self and its perpetuation. One who is earnest must discover for himself the truth about self-perpetuation.  Jiddu Krishnamurti, Ojai, California | Third Talk in The Oak Grove, 1946

   So the battle between good & evil is an illusion? That all comparisons of one with another have no merit whatsoever? That all desire for the self to expand it's horizons to envelope things as they actually are just an impossible dream? That all the drama thought creates has no meaning? That the fullness of life is there when you are not? What does this imply about our individuality? Our selves? Our personalities? Do they continue on into the next life? Or are they just parts we played in this current lifetime on Earth?

    Is there anything really to lose?

 

   Ramakrishna said he was just the dust on his servant's servant's shoes.

   The ego can't even take credit for the act of  abandonment.

   Robert Adams put it this way: The knower is the last to go.

   Is there nothing you can do?
 

   Or as Sri Ramana Maharshi put it: "I am" alone is; and not "I am so and so", or "I am such and such". When existence is absolute it is right; when it is particularised it is wrong. That is the whole truth.
 

   You just can't dream your way out of a dream.
  "There is no use in trying." Bob Dylan

   Does the ego have any value at all?

    I've lived most of my life in images & illusions & dreams. My childhood. My days as a religious fundamentalist. My time as uncle plaything to my brother's children. It's the...magical thinking...of the individual who believes in...the innocence...of the worlds that thought creates....weaving it's dreamworlds....over a lifetime...that last...like bubbles...only for for awhile.

    Eventually we all wake up. The fact that we do has no dependence upon the individual and his or her capacities, it's just that the dream is not reality, and that reality comes upon us all like the dawn. And when you see that you've been asleep? Dreaming? The creator of your own illusions? You also see everyone else is dreaming their own dreams.

    Why else would a world of maya exist except to dream?
    So creating a place where illusions can exist for awhile?
    But why do we dream?

   Is it that we could stay awake no longer?

   

~~~Who Can Lead Us Out Of This Mess We're In?~~~

  

 

   Society is not changed by example. Society may reform itself, it may bring about certain changes through political or economic revolution, but only the religious man can create a fundamental transformation in society; and the religious man is not he who practices starvation as an example to impress society. The religious man is not concerned with society at all, because society is based on acquisitiveness, envy, greed, ambition, fear. That is, mere reformation of the pattern of society only alters the surface, it brings about a more respectable form of ambition. Whereas, the truly religious man is totally outside of society, because he is not ambitious, he has no envy, he is not following any ritual, dogma or belief; and it is only such a man who can fundamentally transform society, not the reformer. The man who sets out to be an example merely breeds conflict, strengthens fear, and brings about various forms of tyranny.
   It is very strange how we worship examples, idols. We don't want that which is pure, true in itself; we want interpreters, examples, masters, gurus, as a medium through which to attain something - which is all sheer nonsense, and is used to exploit people. If each one of us could think clearly from the very beginning, or re-educate ourselves to think clearly, then all these examples, masters, gurus, systems, would be absolutely unnecessary, which they are anyhow.

         
   Madras, India | 2nd Public Talk 15th January 1956

~~~~What's Our Problem?~~~~~~~

 "Relationship is our problem, and not the idea about relationship not at any one particular level but at all the levels of our existence."

 

 

    Jiddu Krishnamurti

A Modern Parable of The Prodigal Son

Lewis Alcinder and John Wooden

John Wooden and Bill Walton

John Wooden and Bill Walton

Kareem Abdul Jabbar and John Wooden




What can you say about people that you never knew? Never met? Only watched on TV? UCLA's dominance in college basketball paralleled the consciousness known as The '60s in American Culture~~~from 1967 to 1975~~~and the tale of two centers pictured above told the story. Both of these big men over the years revealed themselves to be philosophers at heart~~~and both had their lives touched by a man who became more like parent~~~than a coach. The preciousness of the unconditional love that they shared is obvious~~~even through the crassness of American Media and sports entertainment bent only upon winning and money. When you are young you really can't appreciate just how precious knowing a man such as John Wooden is~~~but it sinks in over time. It's The Pearl of Great Price~~~something that when you realize how rare it is~~~you will sell everything that you have just to possess it. Such character is a rare thing here in The Great American Spiritual Desert~~~but these two love stories have been obvious to see~~~even through the TV. And Bill? He was The Prodigal Son. He tested his coach~~~but Wooden never held it against him ~~~and the love that grew between them was something to behold. Walton went to visit Wooden three months before his death and when he walked into the room Wooden exclaimed: "Oh No. Not you again." I'm sure there was a twinkle in his eye and smile on his face when he said it~~~they had been close for years and Bill had even taken his children to visit his old coach so that they could see for themselves what he had told them about for years. "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." is the Wooden quote attributed to Walton. We all should be so lucky to have a man such as John Wooden in our lives~~~unconditional love is a rare thing in a world gone mad. It not only changes you~~~it truly saves you. And as for Kareem? We all know the prodigal son seems to get more attention~~~but just take a good look at the picture of the two of them holding hands. Love has no comparisons.

The Way We Live Is Insane~ & this great TV Show documented it~~THE WIRE - 100 Greatest Quotes (spoilers)

Jack Shephard RIP 5-23-2010 TV Show Lost

"There Is No Use In Tryin' " Bob Dylan

Psychic Bubbles

Today is the 6th of May 2010 and these days we're all aware of The Housing Bubble and The Financial Bubble and even remember The High Tech Bubble of some ten years ago. Bubbles, and what is it about bubbles? Even the literal ones that float through the air on a mid-summers day? It isn't a long journey before they pop~~~and disappear.

Bubbles are inflated by hot air or true belief and there's not much difference between the two~~~and their illusions only last for so long. They are houses built on sand. Bubbles can never stand up to the test of reality for very long. They exist only as long as the surface tension holds them together~~~or the tension involved within a network of false belief~~~take your pick.

Political and Religious Cults are living within bubbles too. Psychic Bubbles. It is True Belief of a spiritual kind that is The Best Drug of All~~~and when these bubbles pop civilizations fall and cultures disintegrate. The essential duality of the universe that we live in provides a tapestry that allows maya and illusion to flourish~~~with many thanks due to thought and it's limitations. Yeah we can live the lie~~~but only for so long. That's the beauty of it~~~death always brings us back to reality.

So creation is all about bubbles~~~even the universe of which we are a part~~~is an expanding bubble. Becoming somebody is a bubble~~~for some day if you live long enough to have Willard Scott say look who's 100 years old today~~~he probably won't mention what you did for a living~~~but that you like prunes in the morning~~~or something like that.

What is the basis for bubbles? Even though they are temporary~~~they do exist for a short while. Is it greed? Ambition? Stinking thinking? False Hope? Or just a very long Hail Mary Pass? But? Maybe bubbles are memories of the way things used to be? Reminders of where we came from? Harbingers of a reality of where we used to be? So what is real and what's illusion? One thing is for sure around here though~~~bubbles exist within the consciousness of all of us~~~it's just who we are~~~none of us gets it all right~~~and the bigger and deeper the bubble~~~the bigger the pop.

Searching for The American Dream

Is there a Yellow Brick Road that true believers of The American Way can follow? To a Bright and Shining City set high upon a Hill? America? Merica? The Promised land? Or maybe that's just The Repressed Feminine walking hand in hand with All That We Lack? Courage, Brains, and a Heart. Wizard of Oz, or no, America lacks the courage to admit she was founded upon The Genocide of The American Indian and The Enslavement of Other Human Beings. America has brains, as we all know, but it is Thought that is destroying our planet. The Multi-National American Corporation has been granted super individual rights, as those of a human being within our society, and it is at The Doorstep of these Corporate Entities that the rape of indigenous cultures, the extinction of species, and the destruction of the environment lay. America has spawned a managerial class of these Psychopathic Groups of People bent on profit and having no human values whatsoever~~~except the craving for The More. Yeah, Dorthy you're skipping up The Yellow Brick Road, but good luck on finding a Shining City on That Hill. Remember Love Canal? The cigarette executives and their spiel? The S&L fiasco of The 80's? Enron? Coal Mine disasters? All the car company CEO's flying to DC in their separate jets to ask for bailouts? The health care reform Tea Partiers screamin' like Holy Bejesus? The Wall Street Smart Boys makin' bets that Americans would fail? Well? Is there a Moral to This Story? Yeah. America has No Morals. Just a bunch of laws, and Obama would impress me~~~as he cleans up All The Shit That Texas Dumb Fuck left behind~~~instead of shakin' his head at the health care smucks and the investment mechanical monkeys and the crazy assed fundamentalist republicans~~~if he could somehow someway get a Heart into that silly assed American Corporate Strawman. Barack~~~if you're really gonna set things right~~~you're gonna have to require Corporate America to adopt the values of the human beings they serve. Otherwise? There just gonna be more and more messes.

Hey Mike This Guy Has A Plan To Beat You

Yeah everybody has a plan until they get hit in the face.

Mike Tyson

Where Is Your Treasure?

Is your heart's fulfillment really rooted in this world? Have you found what you're looking for? Are you satisfied? Have you found peace and fulfillment in the temporal things of this life? Or has meditation opened the door to another way of living for you? Another world? I heard it once said that you don't join the movements of God~~~You're Ushered In~~~and there are many gurus, cults, and religions that want you to join them so that they can show you the way. When I was young I used to think that living the spiritual life might be that easy, but as in the picture above, we all go it alone~~~and the spiritual life is not to be found by joining a group. Sure there are fellow pilgrims you meet along the way, and even groups that refresh you on your journey~~~but only for a time. No matter how it comes at you the spiritual life is all about grace from God~~~Manna From Heaven~~~and the timeless spirit of our creator is in every fleeting moment. Such immortality is a living thing~~~always flowering~~~anew. It's the only thing that sustains the spiritual pilgrim as he or she meanders through this world~~~and really~~~it's the only thing that sustains the whole universe~~~that we are only but a part of.

All life in the spirit begins by asking the questions in your heart directly of God, for timeless questions are like spiritual seeds, and what is planted by the spirit grows by the spirit~~~one step, one moment at a time~~~and it's a journey back home, that is always perfect, even in it's imperfections. Krishnamurti said that Truth Is A Pathless Land when he dissolved the group gathered around him and called this solitary process, this spiritual sojourn~~~The Flowering of Aloneness~~~but in actuality? You are never really alone, for~~~All is One.

Insight upon insight change the way that you see and value this life, even impacting your long-held identities, as consciousness is no longer tormented by all the conflict involved in personal becoming~~~and self's achievements. Thought has limits. Death has beauty. Fulfillment requires nothing. Being nobody is everything. Meaning has escaped society's boundaries, for that which now nourishes and sustains you~~~is no longer of this world.

Like an innocent child be true to your heart and you will find more than you ever desired~~~at a price you never imagined that you could pay. The spiritual life? It's a living relationship with God~~~the proverbial Pearl of Great Price. And for those of you that would judge all this as delusional? Well it may be~~~but if you take a good look at the world around you~~~how insane is that?

The Torch of Evil that continues from Generation to Generation

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Even in death, we want to be important, to our vanity and pretence there is no end. Everyone wants to be somebody or be associated with someone who is somebody. Power and success, little or great, and recognized. Without recognition they have no meaning, recognized by the many or the one who is dominated. Power is always respected and so made respectable. Power is always evil, wielded by the politician or by the saint or by the wife over the husband. However evil it is, everyone craves for it, and those who have it want more of it. And that hearse with those gay flowers in the sun seems so far away and even death does not end power for it continues in another. It's the torch of evil that continues from generation to generation. Few can put it aside, widely and freely, without looking back; they have no reward. Reward is success, the halo of recognition. Not to be recognized, failure long forgotten, being nobody when all striving and conflict has ceased, there comes a blessing which is not of the church nor of the gods of man. Children were calling and playing as the hearse passed by, never even looking at it, absorbed in their game and laughter.

Krishnamurti's Notebook

Paris, September 7, 1961