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A New Earth: by Eckhart Tolle

Discussion in 'Eckhart Tolle' started by bashmaki, Aug 21, 2008.

  1. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    :)

    Nothing to say, just a smile :)
     
  2. Breath

    Breath Member

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    use the mind in such a sharp and effective way

    The more I meditate, the more I can see my goals changing into acceptance of what is. There are things I still want to attrack, but these « wants » seem to be more in resonance with to good of my family, less centered on mere ego needs. I feel my power to attrack things I want is more powerful since I meditate. But there is something greater than just the ego (although it includes it) that operates. A force, intelligence far greater than mine. As I start to surrender to it, to what it wants from me, the things that I want to attrack are for the good, for the growth of my soul. So I don't see a contradiction between the Secret and Meditation: just a power increased by meditation.

    I also have renounced to fully understand these things on the « though » level. When you surrender to a greater force, your true self, many intellectual debates are not necessary anymore: they emanate from the mind while what I am trying to be a vehicle for is pure consciousness, a presence without words. Words are just pointers, useful sometimes, but just pointers. To get lost in our minds is the trap to avoid. With total humility I am trying to let the force work through me. And I have noticed that, when I need the mind to express something, it is now more clear and powerful, a tool that can become very effective. Teaching at University, I can assure you I experienced quite a struggle over this issue. I feel now my lectures are more clear. God it's pathetic to see how the ego, even if very sophisticated, can become a dead end, so full of itself, full of vanity « my research » « my book », with to little respect and true interest in others. I thought I should quit, that meditation was becoming incompatible with my job. Now I simply ask the Force to use me in order to help students to grow. This force knows better, and as I said, knows how to use the mind in such a sharp and effective way.:p
     
  3. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    reading back to the part where Darren said
    I suddenly realised that I have been using the LOA allready.

    Halfway through the year, I got a huge, no let me rephrase that HUGE bill from the IRS. I couldn't cough up the money, so I had to make a deal with them, resulting in me having to pay 3000 euro's every month for a couple of months.

    This caused great worry for me at that time, becaust my thought was "where am I going to get 3000 euro's a month ! "

    Apparantly, the answer was given, because a month after my first payment I got a deal with the Royal Dutch Navy resulting in: you guessed it, around 3000 euro a month !

    I was so deep in worry at that time, that I never realised that I must have attracted it, because what are the odds of something like this happening "out of the blue".

    I can remember when I was younger I always had this thought "things allways seem to work out for the best" and usually it did !
    Then I had a troublesome time around 2003 and I dropped that faith, and with it came the struggle ! Around that same time my fear of death crept in now that I think of it. I have experienced an increasing level of discomfort from fears, fear of going bankrupt, fear of my financial situation, fear of phone calls from people who might want money, fear fear fear.

    Since the many things that have been handed to me the last couple of days in this forum ( it is almost too much all at once, so many wonderfull pointers and guidelines ) are starting to take their effect on me, I am feeling a shift happening inside, as if a new insight is surfacing... not sure how else to describe it..

    My fears have either dropped to a level where I can't feel them anymore, or maybe they are non-existent, but I feel a lot better than I have in months, if not years. It is just a small step, but that's how the greatest journeys all started, with one small step !

    I can't thank all of you enough for posting your thoughts, beliefs, experiences and insights in the forums...
     
  4. Bhavya

    Bhavya Member

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    It's great to hear about your progress, Edwin :):)
     
  5. Breath

    Breath Member

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    Fear really spoils everything

    «My fears have either dropped to a level where I can't feel them anymore, or maybe they are non-existent, but I feel a lot better than I have in months, if not years. It is just a small step, but that's how the greatest journeys all started, with one small step !»
    It's very inspiring to read you Edwin!
    Fear really spoils everything. If your fears dropped to a level where you can't feel them anymore, «or maybe they are non-existent» that is so great. I truly wish it was the same for me!
    I have to feeling that FEAR is what can stop us from attracting what we want. I wonder if it's not THE basic negative emotion underneath all other negative emotions. Edwin, did you accomplish that - get rid of your fears - through meditation?
    I guess that, if you're feeling fear, you are releasing in the universe a vibrationnal frequency that counteracts the positive demand you give to the universe. Since our true self doesn't know fear, I suppose that's one reason why it's so important to be in touch with our true self in order to attract what we want without obstacles.:rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2008
  6. Tiago Basilio

    Tiago Basilio Member

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    Just want to be one more of those who thank D. James Albert for his kind and helpfull explanations: thank you :)

    TB
     
  7. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    Yes, through meditation for more than a year, but also reading Eckhart Tolle's books, a book by Paul Wilson "the Quiet", but also the many many many inspiring threads in this forum, with all the wonderfull contributors here that bring new insights, links to online teachers, and recommendations for other good books... This forum is a blessing !
    Now that it is gone it feels like it ( fear ) has been like a big rubber block in between the contact points that seem to connect between the "ego" and something deeper, I don't yet know what it is, but there seems to be a great calm and peace that makes all my previous worries seem so insignificant, ridiculous even... It's like I never realised that life just happens, and worries won't change the situation I am in at that time... sorry that is the best description I can give of what I feel at the moment. Mind you, it seems like a breakthrough when I write about it like this, but the only real difference I feel now is that it seems as if I am meditating all the time, at first I could only duplicate this feeling of peace during meditation.

    Breath, if you want to experience the same, all you have to do is meditate and read through these wonderfull posts here, and eventually the insight will come to you too. Maybe sooner than me, or later, but the moment will come. The only thing holding you back when it comes to releasing fear is, how much are you prepared to let go of self-torture through fear.
    I liked to feel very sorry with myself you know ;)
     
  8. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    I have to quote Gus from another thread:
    Yesterday has been fear free, today I am sorry to say, isn't.
    Darren and Gus pointed out that the fear probably comes from fear of death, as it is the basis of all fears. During the night, when the light is gone, it seems to be a bit easyer to fall into the trap of fear.

    Not sure how to do this, but I know I can overcome fear of death in the end. I know that my fear of death is not so much fear of death, but more fear of the unknown, the "what comes after". Most scary is the thought that there might not be anything after, that all I have done, lived, feeled, is just wasted into nothingness, and that particular thought makes my life as I live it today seem very insignificant, useless, as well as all of the "accomplishments" of other human beings.

    On the other side, I know that every person who has gone a step further up the ladder of enlightenment talks about the fact that they know, feel, realise that the soul or whatever you wish to call it is eternal, "it has always been and will always be" is something I frequently come across. Paul Wilson talked about that animation cartoon " La Linea " an Italian cartoon made by the shape of a little man ( with a temper ) in a horizontal line:
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    He said this is a great analogy for man. The line represents our soul, the shape of the man our body's.
    The shape of man is part of the eternal soul, and it comes up and it disappears, but the line is always there, unbroken.

    However, all this is wisdom from books, not from experience. I feel a bit stuck at the moment. I will only get further if I drop fear, and I can only drop fear at the moment that I Know my soul is eternal, that higher realisation that so many people talk about after they dropped fear :rolleyes:

    Back to meditation ;)
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2008
  9. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    James, a small question for you.

    You gave the example of "I am attracting better business every day" for the mindbeat and focussing your attention on during the day.

    However, is that specific enough ? Wouldn't it be more specific to focus on, for example, an amount of money ?
     
  10. D. James Albert

    D. James Albert Member

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    Hi Edwin,

    There are a couple of different perspectives on your question that I need to comment on, for your question actually covers more than one single element of the attractive process.

    First, the key principle behind the effective impressing of a single thought upon the Celestial Mind is the isolated focus of that thought. In terms of money, if you isolate a specific amount with constant attention during your wakeful state, then you actually support that intention by isolating a second impression at night that involves the supportive idea that you are consistently moving towards the realization of the wakeful intention. In other words, during the day you reinforce an intended amount as a goal, and during the night you reinforce the idea of constant movement in that direction. You might view this as something like during the day its "heres the amount I intend" and at night its "and heres how I'm getting there". With Mindbeat, to reinforce constant movement you do not need to re-reinforce the amount - you are already doing this in other ways during the day.

    Secondly, you've raised the Mindbeat process for attracting better business in your question. You should also realize that this Mindbeat impression is not simply about attracting more wealth, although it is obviously underpins it. It is also about the process of how you attract that wealth. What is the point of attracting more money if it happens in ways and means that are not ways or means that resonate with you or that are not ways and means that will remain true after the intended amount has been realized? Attracting better ways of receiving what you want, and achieving a more harmonious state of business as you improve the platform upon which your finances are derived are some of the elements I'm referring to.

    With regards to being specific with your Mindbeat process, yes, it would be great if you could formulate an affirmation that is specific to your intention as opposed to a general one. There is certainly nothing wrong with doing so. However, I suggest doing so is something left to the individual, and not something I would recommend to everyone. One of the reasons I say this is because Mindbeat works best when the affirmation is recited in rhyme, and most people find it difficult to recite dollar figures in rhyme. Also, amounts of intention rather than words of improvement can be quite distracting and may serve to break the rhythmic process from remaining in tune with the ticks of the clock. Naturally, if you are able to do this, then perhaps you can make it work well for you. I am one of the people that can't. For me, if I weave dollar figures into my Mindbeat I inevitably lose the association of the statement to the ticks of the clock. This seems to be the case for most people. If you can come up with an example affirmation that works with specific dollars, then by all means. But even then I offer one other caution.

    A part of the Mindbeat process involves selecting a statement that has no conflict with thoughts of the conscious mind. If you perform Mindbeat upon a specific dollar figure intention, what can happen is after a certain amount of time, if the actual amount has not yet arrived for you, then you may find the Mindbeat process becomes more difficult to maintain. Your conscious mind will begin to say 'this is stupid' or 'this isn't working' or 'that amount isn't coming' and other such statements of rebellion, and thereby detract from the effectiveness of the process. This is a likely thing to occur because usually the conscious mind is unable to see how that amount has a possibility of appearing, and this becomes more true if after a while it hasn't seen evidence to provide it reason to believe that amount is likely. The longer it takes, the more likely the Mindbeat process will break down. A more general statement of positive improvement negates the potentiality of this arising. Remember, this is different to your daily attention upon the intention of achieving a certain amount of money. If you have a goal of earning a certain amount, your mind stands less chance to rebel at it as your intention is not a statement that it's coming as much as its an intention to make it come.

    I would never argue that being as specific as you can at all times offers the most benefit - this really goes without saying. However, it must always be borne in mind that sometimes there are times and places for certain types of ideas to be expressed, and times and places for other types of ideas. When we know rhyme works best as you fall asleep, I suggest keep it to a general rhyme reflecting the idea of improvement that is easy to keep in mind as you fall asleep, and keeping it specific when your mind is awake and alert. Both methods, when performed together day and night, are synergistic.

    So in a nutshell, I prefer to recommend that during the wakeful state the attention of the mind be set upon the specific intention, and during the sleeping state the attention of the mind is set upon the idea that it is moving in the right direction. If you are diligent in your daily attention, your Celestial Mind will not have any blur around what the notion of general improvement is towards.

    If you have further questions feel free to fire away. :)
     
  11. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    Thanks ! :)

    The main goal I have set out for myself is to end my debts. I am not sure if I will want to stay a locksmith after I have had enough moments of enbrigtenment as you like to call it. I think you must have read about my little moment last monday, which as I am now starting to realise has changed quite some of my views of the world as I thought I knew it.

    I can't step out of my business as it is today, because ending my business would mean bankruptcy, which means financial trouble not only for me, but also for those who trust me to pay them back. I consider that stealing ( at least when I end my business myself ) and I don't want to do that. I am not too happy with the speed of which I can pay people back, or the height of the amount I owe people.

    My first goal is to break even. After that, I will await what my purpose in life will be, keep the business or sell it. I am fine with both.

    Of course I need a certain amount to break even. But maybe I can focus on the amount in the daytime, and for the mindbeat, I can make a rhyme with something like the following content: " I attrackt better business to break even " or something ?
     
  12. D. James Albert

    D. James Albert Member

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    This doesn't sound like a very empowering goal to me. What is there to inspire you in this goal? Don't get me wrong, eliminating debt is an important intention if you've allowed yourself to become overwhelmed with it. But, it is a very limiting frame of mind to have it as your main goal and in fact can invoke the Law of Reversed Effort (attracting more debt). Consider reframing your main goal to be one that implies that you have no debt. For example, perhaps you have $50,000 in debt. If your main goal was to generate $100,000, would that not imply that you would have $50,000 in cash and no debt? Would it not also be more empowering to think of obtaining $100,000 than to think of obtaining just enough to cover your bills - which means, essentially, that you would have zero dollars anyway?

    Have you always wanted to be a locksmith? Does the work you perform as a locksmith inspire you greatly, allow you to bound out of bed in the morning, and have you working all night long by choice because you love it? If not, then being a locksmith is not what you want to do, and you can move on from contemplating that question. If it does, then you are already doing what you want to do, and again have no further need to contemplate the question. I did read about your enbrightenment experience. Interesting that it occurred whilst brushing the teeth. From experience, moments of total awareness often occur whilst we are centred on a physical experience. It's sort of ironic that the physical can be used for such a non-physical experience :D For me, I get what you experienced quite often from simply washing the dishes! You mentioned that it may be once in a lifetime experience. Let me just say if you've had such an experience, and you continue along your path as you clearly already are, you'll find out soon enough that it won't be the last :D

    I think here you've already answered your earlier question about whether or not being a locksmith is your true calling. You are already thinking of how to get out, and so clearly you have other interests that resonate more with you. Now, I don't know anything about your business, about what its value is, about how much it owes, about whether or not you could sell it right now - debts and all, and just walk away. But its clear its not for you, and we've already established placing your attention upon breaking even isn't going to help either. It sounds like you need to do at least two things.

    First, ask yourself what you'd do if you had the choice. What, right now, would you rather be doing than what you are doing. What is the thing that, if you had all the money in the world, you'd be doing above all else. What is it that inspires you, that interests you above all else. Usually this will be something related to the very natural talents you were born with (for someone born with the natural talent of painting, it would be something in artistry, for someone who is a natural wordsmith it would be writing, and so forth). What is yours? The idea, of course, is to firmly set your attention upon what you truly would love to be doing - the thing that you'd never question 'should I or shouldn't I' but instead would always say 'this is what I want to do - this is me.' Don't worry about the how, defining the what is the most important first step.

    Second, with what you want to do firmly defined and your attention upon it, you will have a transition period of moving from where you are to where you want to be. Accelerate the transition by articulating definitive goals in your mind. What exactly would you need to move comfortably from where you are to where you want to be? Would you keep the business itself but begin to diversify, allowing the business as it is to actually fund the business as it will be? Would you begin to take action that will create good platform upon which to sell your existing business so that you can start the new one or such that it would allow you to at least find work doing what you love, whilst you work to making it your new business? Define it exactly. If its a certain amount of cash, such as $100,000, then make that you goal. If its a certain amount of weekly sales that will contribute to a business evaluation that is sufficient in value to sell your business and eradicate your debts, the set the weekly sales as your goal. If it is a certain amount of net income that you define that is necessary to be channeled from your current business earnings into an investment towards the new business model that relates to what you really want to do, then set that as your goal. I'm sure you're getting the picture. Above all else, set what you want as your goal and set your attention upon how to get there. Don't set what you don't want (ie. a certain amount of debt) and dont place your attention upon how to get there. Subtle but important differences.

    Lastly, I would like to make a comment on bankruptcy. I find your approach to the notion of bankruptcy very noble, however I would add bankruptcy is not the evil monster the mainstream paint it to be. I completely agree that if you can find a way out of your debt then do so with strength of character. However, I would also consider to whom your debt is owed. If you owe money to other people whom, like you, rely on that money for their continued living, then yes I completely agree that you should strive to honor your obligations in their interests. Of course, you can do this during and even after you transition into your new business or new vocation, so honoring those obligations doesn't have to hold you back. Don't feel that you can only pay back debt as long as you continue to do what you are already doing.

    But, I would also ask if the money is owed to a bank or large scale financier. If a high proportion of your debt or even all of it relates to financial institutions who are already reaping mega-profits off the struggling backs of many, then I would leave bankruptcy as an option on the table. In my earlier career, I worked for three banks in high profile positions. I have seen first hand the level to which banks squeaze profits from the average citizen, and the absurdities of thought that underpin the achievement of billions of dollars of profits. Trust me when I say that whatever you owe to the bank it will be chicken feed to them and, even more so, it is not money that they themselves ever owned. Banks make absurd profits off the struggles of the average person without concern for the welfare of those individuals - they are just numbers generating numbers. They will glady sack thousands of their own if it means increased shareholder value in the short term. They will gladly automate their systems to increase profits, add fees to increase profits, and so on and so on. Banks have ongoing projects running at all times attempting to determine how to take more and more money and continue year by year profit growth - despite already posting record billion dollar profits year by year. Bankruptcy is a system designed to press a reset button to help people who have gone down the wrong path in life more easily and to set their life back on the right path whilst they still have the option to change things. The only stigma, the only fear associated to bankruptcy that exists is applied by the financial sector itself, but it is an illusionary fear because money itself is an illusionary construct designed to represent material aquisition in a world where real money is just numbers in a system, nothing more. I know of many people whose lives would have been doomed to struggle, despair and disappointment had they not simply said, "The banks will not struggle without my repayment, but my life will suffer if I do not escape it", and who subsequently declared bankruptcy and set themselves back on the path to an inspired life rather than living to repay debt. There is no nobility, and no honor amongst the profit turning machines that exist as legal entities in their own right. If you've seen the documentary The Corporation, you would understand that nobility and honor and 'corporation' don't generally go together and, when it comes to banks, especially so. Trust me when I say bankruptcy means nothing other than a new and fresh chance at life. My only caveat is, if you decide to declare bankruptcy, resolve that everything you do from this point forward will be without debt. That is, if you can't afford it, you can't have it. If you resolve this, then bankruptcy means nothing, for essentially all bankruptcy really does (after it has vanquished you of your financial obligations) is place a moratorium on your ability to acquire more debt. If you have no intention of having more debt, then even when your period of bankruptcy expires, you will find no difference in your life than when you were bankrupt.

    I would like people to realize that bankruptcy is an idea designed to help people, not hinder them. Most of the banks you know were probably around before you were born, and will probably be around after you die. Make the most of your life by making the most of what the system offers you. Bankruptcy is a tool to help you if you have allowed yourself to get to a point where you are overwhelmed by debt. It is a tool designed to remove the stress of financial overburden, stress that has led to health problems and suicides of many, many people. Long term debt can severely hamper your ability to experience life and, once you realize you don't need debt, it is time to leave debt. You only live once.

    Edwin, have you watched the movie Zeitgeist Addendum? If you have not, here is a link.

    Zeitgeist: Addendum

    Set yourself two hours aside to watch an excellent documentary that attempts to expose the true nature of the financial system. I'm not saying you need to declare bankruptcy, but I am suggesting that if you feel bankruptcy is a form of stealing, when it comes to owing debt to the established monetary system, you might be able to view it as a Robin Hood kind of theft that takes from the machinistic systems of modern society that strain the lives of humanity and gives back to your own life. This movie may help with this kind of broader perspective.
     
  13. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    Thanks James !

    The way I formulated this yesterday was a bit in a "doom and gloom" mood.

    Actually, the work itself, the people I meet and all I experience in the daytime is perfect for me, or at least it would be if it wasn't for the financial troubles and all that comes with having a business of my own.

    Facing my fears means coming to grips with the idea that I might go bankrupt, but I don't want to. The job itself is way too much fun !

    Also, the business itself is booming ( 25% sales increase in 2008 ) and if it weren't for those IRS guys with their additional taxes I would have in fact resolved half my debts in the last year.
    Talking about ending the business after resolving the debts also came from that, I have been fighting to get my business back on its feet since the recession in 2002. I am succeeding, but it has been taking 6 years allready, and I want to be able to expand my business in fact, not having my growth limited by financial troubles.

    I really like my job, and even tho I have a talent for painting and cooking, which I enjoy doing a lot as a hobby, both these talents are not my goal.

    Constantly hitting the wall, expecially last year, where at the start of the year I was sure that 2008 was going to be the year where I would take off with my business, and later on, after all the taxes bringing my company even more in trouble instead of overcoming them, left me depressed.
    I have to admit that I am just feeling sorry for myself, but it is also hard to stop worrying and regain a positive attitude to get back on the road.

    However last monday night, with the experience I spoke of earlyer, got me thinking.
    If I would be able to end my fears and worries, by finding a way to have the deeper truth I saw monday incorporated in my every day life, the job itself would become highly enjoyable again.
    Now I got myself thinking that I hate my job, which I don't, all because I have been doing this for 6 years now with a tight stomach from anxiety and worries.
    I took over the business from my father, I grew up in it, it is what I like !

    However, there are changes that are going to have to come to make it "my ideal dreamjob" and I guess these changes are so big, that it would be a different kind of job in my experience.
    So I am going to focus on making it my dreamjob instead of waiting for it to come.

    For this, I need more money than just to overcome debt, and the amount I need will be resonating in my mind during the daytime like you told me to :)

    Thanks James, not only did you make it clear to me again that I actually like my job, you also inspired me to start making the changes I need !
     
  14. D. James Albert

    D. James Albert Member

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    That was great to read, I'm glad you found something in my post to help inspire you. Sounds like you're starting to get definite about what you want, which is awesome! :)

    Do me a favor, still find time to watch
    Zeitgeist: Addendum
    if you haven't already. Its an awareness builder.
     
  15. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    Will do so tonight !

    thanks again !:)
     
  16. Montana Keith

    Montana Keith Member

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    Excellent

    Edwin & Darwin,
    I sure appreciate this exchange the two of you are having. I'm learning so much from it. The following quote from Darren reminded me of something I read recently.

    START QUOTE: "I did read about your enbrightenment experience. Interesting that it occurred whilst brushing the teeth. From experience, moments of total awareness often occur whilst we are centred on a physical experience. It's sort of ironic that the physical can be used for such a non-physical experience For me, I get what you experienced quite often from simply washing the dishes! You mentioned that it may be once in a lifetime experience. Let me just say if you've had such an experience, and you continue along your path as you clearly already are, you'll find out soon enough that it won't be the last." END QUOTE

    A few years ago I discovered a short story entitled "Big Music" by Margaret Prescott Montague (1878-1955). The story resonated with me deeply. I decided to do some research on Ms. Montague. I discovered that back at the start of the 20th century she was a regular contributor to a magazine called the The Atlantic Monthly. It seems that nearly 100 years ago The Atlantic Monthly served people then much as this Project Meditation forum is serving us now.

    In The Atlantic Monthly in an article entitled "Twenty Minutes of Reality," Ms. Montague describes an "enbrightenment" experience she had. Readers wrote in and described similar experiences they had.

    Note. If anyone is interested, I have posted both the short story "Big Music" and the booklet "Twenty Minutes of Reality" on my blog. Here's the address: Contemplative Remembrance

    Anyway, when you mentioned that you often experience "enbrightenment" while doing dishes, it reminded me of the following reader's experience in "Twenty Minutes of Reality."

    The Permanent Ecstatic

    What is wrong with my psychology? Why does one very gifted person, with a pen to express what he feels, receive as a vision the psychic experience of joy and the inner conviction that Good is at the bottom of everything which another very ungifted person, with no power of self-expression, has felt with more or less intensity — generally more — ever since her first conscious awakening of thought; but which, until she read "Twenty Minutes of Reality," she always regarded as merely the normal mental attitude of the normal human being?

    As I read this very beautifully written article I said, "Of course." "Why, naturally," "Of course," at the ending of so many paragraphs that, at last, I found myself gasping in amazement that any living man or woman should have thought an experience of twenty minutes of reality a thing of sufficient import to write about—it almost took my breath away. But I'm glad they did. For I have been imprisoned in egoism. All my life long (I am forty-four years old), from the age of five years when I danced madly around the first Christmas tree I can remember, shouting "Joy, Joy, Joy!" I've known more than twenty minutes of this unveiled naked reality every humdrum day I've lived—and, up to now, I supposed I was just like everybody else, and that everybody else was like me, excepting misanthropes, valetudinarians, Standard Oil magnates, vivisectionists, and kings who, of course, we all know were born blind.


    Note. Misanthrope-a person who hates or distrusts mankind. Valetudinarian-a person of a weak or sickly constitution. Vivisectionist-a person who engages in minute or pitiless examination or criticism.

    I supposed every normal person heard this undertone of Joy—this unseen but always felt Reality of things, beating and throbbing underneath the horrible and sad, underneath even the monotonous and dull (which is worse than the horrible because less impressive and intense).

    I am a very ordinary woman, living a very ordinary life, my days (the bulk of them, at least) given up to housework — tending my furnace, cooking, dusting, washing dishes; but somehow these duties are never really gray; in the heart of them there's always a glow.

    Whenever I tend my furnace I feel a thrill of wonder as I think of the shiny black coal coming out of this miraculous earth, and of the brave, toiling lives of sturdy men that have been spent and sacrificed down in the mines to dig out that very coal so that I can tend my furnace. I really love my coal bin (except when I see it lowering!) for I always feel as though it brought me so close to a big Reality—close to God and close to man. It's like a tremendous link. The Beauty of things I don't find quite so poignant when I'm washing dishes, though there is always a bird warbling in the lilac bush outside my kitchen window or a streak of sunlight on the vines to make me feel the glad wild joy at the heart of life —and did it not sound like too great a silliness, I could truthfully say that I have given way, day after day, to an ecstasy of wonder at the fresh clean water in my dishpan, and have stood, like a gaping idiot, sometimes for several moments, gaping at it as though it were Niagara Falls—and so it is, only a "little less." From the eternal mystery of the stars down to my very dishpan it's all so thrilling, so outside of ourselves, so God- put-together, that there never has been, to me, any "commonplace." The rain pattering on my roof always makes something warm swish around in my heart just as it does when I hear Schumann-Heink; it seems perfectly unescapable, this endless consciousness of Joy and Beauty. As to Eternity it's always made me chuckle. I've always counted on an aeon with Walt Whitman and John Muir, several aeons with Balzac, Dostoievsky, and Burns, the evenings of aeons with The Atlantic, the mornings with Seveik's Violin Finger Exercises, and no charitable organizations anywhere to interfere with the wholesome joy of selfishness and to make one feel elately dutiful and Righteous. Eternity is only fair.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2009
  17. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    Zeitgeist is quite an eyeopener indeed, I am really stunned by the implications of it all. I used to think that inflation was good, the only way a healthy economy operated. It turns out that it is the only way our sick economy works :eek:

    I do have another question regarding the enbrightenment/LoA thang Darren.

    In the thread "a brief moment" in the chatterbox, the LoA also comes into the picture, as the way to reach enlightenment.

    In this thread the similarities between LoA and (the road leading towards) enlightenment, or as you like to call "enbrightenment" Darren, rise to the surface.

    I found a small travel-alarmclock that "ticks" 2 days ago while cleaning up my daughter's room, and started the mindbeat exercise the very same night.
    It is quite powerfull, as I can remember dreaming this night that one of my customers offered me an amount of 100.000 euro's for a service I need to provide. Even in my dream did I realise that the amount of money was rediculous for the the service provided, but it clearly is a sign that the mindbeat is working.

    However, I have come to the realisation that I am undoing all my LoA work in the daytime. You see, I have a lot of people I need to pay a monthly amount of money.
    I am constantly ( really constantly ) worrying about where to get the money, what if it doesn't come in time, how can I pay people in time, what will happen if I can't...
    When thinking about your debts, you are creating more of them right ?

    Is there a trick to bypass my mind aside enbrightenment ? I have come to grips with the idea that enbrightenment will come when it comes, when I am ready. However until I am there, I will have to accept fear. It is fear that is holding me back at the moment.

    Darren, you told me that all fear can be brought back to one fear, fear of death.
    I realise that I still am afraid of the concept of death, but I have no idea how to face my fear.
    I have tried it before, and it left me even more scared instead of less. This however was a few years ago, and the way I see the world today has changed quite a bit, also thanks to last monday. That is why I was so unpleasantly surprised to see that tuesday morning, my fears had returned to me again, crippling me, while I had felt and seen the immortal... well not "me" but the "I Am" underneath it all.

    Maybe I missed the point...
    Duality is the way of the mortal world, ups must have downs, Yin and Yang.
    I need to overcome fear to make the LoA work, and the only way a sleeping mind like mine can overcome fear is by making the LoA work :confused: What the "bleep" do I mean ?
    I kinda forgot the question but I have written down what I am thinking about, and I think you know how to interpret this Darren.

    Oh, and I forgot to thank you for all your patience and help :) I really enjoy reading back all your posts :cool:
     
  18. blueskygal

    blueskygal Member

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    Repetition Frees the Artist Brain

    "From experience, moments of total awareness often occur whilst we are centred on a physical experience. It's sort of ironic that the physical can be used for such a non-physical experience For me, I get what you experienced quite often from simply washing the dishes! You mentioned that it may be once in a lifetime experience. Let me just say if you've had such an experience, and you continue along your path as you clearly already are, you'll find out soon enough that it won't be the last"

    Interesting how experience dovetails. Brushing your teeth and washing the dishes are rhythmic activities. Here is a quote from "The Artists Way" which I am currently involved with in which the author talks about what stimulates our "artist self"

    "Any regular repetitive action primes the well.. "Why do I get my best ideas in the shower?" an exasperated Einstein is said to have remarked. Brain research now tells us that this is because showering is an artist-brain activity.... Showering, swimming, scrubbing, shaving, steering a car - so maky s-like-yes words! - all of these are regular, repeititive activities that may tip us over from our logic brain into our more creative artist brain. Solutions to sticky creative problmes may bubble up through the dishwater, emerge on the freeway just as we are executing a tricky merge."
    Julia Cameron - the Artists Way

    I find this to be true of me - I often get creative ideas while swimming or in the shower!

    Edwin, you are clearly someone who likes to work the hands - locksmith, cooking, painting.
     
  19. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    Very true Blueskygal !

    The good thing is that, now that you told me this, it actually helps me twice, because when ever I start to think about a problem, I know that I will have to find a job to do, as this will trigger my "artist brain" ;)

    Now to find a way to get the LoA working in the daytime like I asked Darren in my previous post.
     
  20. Edwin

    Edwin Member

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    yesterday I had another enbrightened period, much like the one I had the previous monday, only longer, and it isn't completely gone today.

    It came after I took steps to end much of my financial worries by writing my suppliers a letter in which I proposed a plan to pay them back in solid terms.
    As soon as I had spoken with my suppliers, the weight of anxiety and worries were lifted from my shoulders, and I realised that I had taken the first active step towards my goal of changing my business to the goal I set for it. I felt a strange feeling of restlessness, energy being released that I didn't know had been sucked out of me by worries, raw and uncontrolled. I couldn't sit still, had to move. Luckily it was about time to go home:

    While riding my bike home ( physical exercise again ) I started to feel my body tingling again like I had one week ago, as if it was resonating with life, especially at the end of my breath, where it got stronger.
    I keep feeling the fullness of all, it's as if the physical boundaries of my body are gone, and I am part of everything around me.

    I didn't see much people, and it was dark, otherwise they would have been wondering why this guy was both smiling and crying while riding his bike in the rain :p

    It stayed with me the entire night, and got even stronger while meditating before going to bed.
    I expected it to be gone again the next morning, but it wasn't. It was a bit less, but not gone, and after some time it got stronger again.

    Today, I took my second step, and wrote down the following sentence:
    "I am attracting 100.000 euro's with a big project."

    This felt so very good, that I kept writing it down again and again, focussing and keeping my awareness on the pleasure of writing as well as to what I was writing.

    After that, I wrote down " 100.000 euro's " on a post-it note, and stuck it to my computer monitor. Every time I check my mail, or the messages in this forum, my eye catches that post-it note.

    "I am attracting 100.000 euro's with a big project" makes me feel good, because I know the reason for asking it is valid one to me, and resonates with that feeling that started yesterday while riding my bike.
    This is the amount of money I need to both end all my debts as well as have enough money to never have to rely on a bank again. After having seen Zeitgeist, I feel that banks are criminal organisations that I want nothing to do with ever again.

    I am wondering tho, am I doing it correctly ? it feels good, so I must be doing something right, but maybe I can add to it or make it more effective still ?

    I am also doing the Mindbeat exercise, and chose "better business every day" translated to Dutch of course.
     

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