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Post by Shawn on Feb 12, 2009 19:10:31 GMT -5
To seed the introduction pot, I figure I'll go first. I'm Shawn, the webmaster for spiritualteachers.org and administrator of this forum. I've spent the last nineteen years heavily involved in spiritual work. Currently, I spend a lot of time helping the TAT Foundation. I serve as co-editor of the TAT Forum ( tatfoundation.org/forum.htm), a trustee, and frequent session leader at their quarterly meetings. You won't see me posting much, but I keep an eye on things (with help from lightmystic!) and welcome your suggestions. |
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Post by satyagrahi on Apr 21, 2009 21:48:53 GMT -5
 Glad to find a group that is spiritual enough to interact in a more tolerating, loveable, manner. It seems that mystics & spiritualists of different creeds are more likely to be amiable, and considerate of others views whether or not they are agreeable, or, maybe, just not so well understood. Some-one wrote " It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought, even if it is disagreeable".  "Religion is man made-while Love is God made.
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Post by Peter on Apr 22, 2009 7:04:06 GMT -5
Hmm, well we do 'kick-off' on occasion, but that's not happened for a few months now.
Welcome to the board Satyagrahi.
Can I ask what your current practice consists of? What steps are you taking to 'empty out' (as you stated in another thread)?
Best Wishes,
Peter
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Post by firewalker on Apr 24, 2009 15:23:05 GMT -5
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anna
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Post by anna on Jun 16, 2009 11:23:35 GMT -5
hi . . . i just found this site and i'm looking for douglas harding enthusiasts in atlanta georgia. most of my spiritual journey has been spent in the works of joel goldsmith. i have been profoundly moved by the writings and message of douglas harding and would like to find similar minded individuals. i am grateful for this site and the opportunity to meet and share.
annaromano1@yahoo.com
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Post by Peter on Jun 16, 2009 15:59:01 GMT -5
Welcome Anna.
I'm sure you'll find some fellow Harding enthusiasts in Atlanta, wrong side of the pond for me I'm afraid.
Were there any ideas from Goldsmith's works that you found particularly helpful? I've not read anything by him yet.
Kind Regards,
Peter
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anna
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Post by anna on Jun 16, 2009 18:47:23 GMT -5
hi peter . . . i feel like joel goldsmith's work is a remarkable teaching. the letter of truth is spelled out so clearly with definite principles that lead to a clear understanding of the nature of god, man and the universe and the nature of error . . . a truly magnificent guide to waking up to our true nature. all of the books are great. i started out with practicing the presence and worked up to parenthesis in eternity and the thunder of silence.
i'm glad i had those goldsmith years before i discovered douglas harding, although i don't know if anything can prepare you for douglas harding. trying to get rid of a personal, false, finite sense of self is such a struggle and douglas harding just whacks it off. c.s. lewis called harding's work "a celestial bomb". that's pretty accurate. "the headless way" is seemingly radical, yet so natural and simple.
sorry you're on the wrong side of the pond . . . but that can't be true. surely there's only one pond and it's indivisibly infinite. love and joy, anna
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anonji
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Post by anonji on Jun 17, 2009 8:21:32 GMT -5
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anna
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Post by anna on Jun 17, 2009 17:26:27 GMT -5
thank you anonji for putting the info out on goldsmith's "the infinite way", which will make it available to those who are interested. have you studied goldsmith's writings? i see you are a new member to this site, as i am also. anna
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anonji
Junior Member
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Post by anonji on Jun 17, 2009 18:03:21 GMT -5
I only looked at his book yesterday. Thought I would post a link so others could find out for themselves. I don't have a opinion on his writings at this point.
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Post by hcspirit on Jul 5, 2009 23:45:51 GMT -5
Hello. I am, well, deliberately highly anonymous on the net. I concede only that I'm a late middle-aged blogger living in northern New England who is not really as grumpy as might be suggested by the blog I write about spiritual nonsense, www.hardcorespirituality.org. I'm here because I appreciate the audacity -- and good common sense -- of rating spiritual teachers. There's way too much nonsense, way too much pretending, and way too much parroting without comprehension out there. It would be the stuff of comedy if so much of it wasn't hurting a lot of people who enthusiastically but naively get mixed up in it. |
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Post by Peter on Jul 6, 2009 1:46:03 GMT -5
Welcome to the board, HCS. I look forward to perusing your site later today.
"Parroting without comprehension" yes indeed, but it's a lucrative business, isn't it? I get annoyed with teachers who mix in a bit of maths/physics into their teachings and present formulaes that prove this that or the other, and of course "scientists have recently confirmed this all to be true in quantum mechanic experiments"!
Any influences that you'd like to admit to, or would that give too much away?
Kind Regards,
Peter
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Post by Peter on Jul 6, 2009 9:14:32 GMT -5
Nice blog, HCS That's the first time I'd come across the Just World Fallacy formally formulated, although I was aware of the dangers of 'deserved karmic consequences' thinking going awry. I liked your turn of phrase - here for example: Rather than ask you to post here when you next make a posting there, you've chivvied me into upgrading my browser and learning how RSS feeds work. I might even add one to my own site now... Happy posting Peter PS Your "Leave a Reply" sections are currently appearing twice per page, and returns a blank page when used. |
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Post by lightmystic on Jul 6, 2009 10:42:17 GMT -5
Hey hcspirit. Welcome to the forum! Thanks for posting your blog, I particularly enjoyed your article on spiritual narcissism. That really hits the nail on the head and explores a point that most people miss in my opinion. And that's pretty funny, considering it's really the only point they need to look at ultimately. It's also interesting to look at those that take it the other way - the "I'm not good enough approach." Again, it's all about "me" and "my" lack and how "I" will never be good enough to make it to Enlightenment, etc. etc.. The same ego dressed in rags instead of robes. Really amazing how this stuff can manifest so many different ways.... Again, welcome to the forum... Hello. I am, well, deliberately highly anonymous on the net. I concede only that I'm a late middle-aged blogger living in northern New England who is not really as grumpy as might be suggested by the blog I write about spiritual nonsense, www.hardcorespirituality.org. I'm here because I appreciate the audacity -- and good common sense -- of rating spiritual teachers. There's way too much nonsense, way too much pretending, and way too much parroting without comprehension out there. It would be the stuff of comedy if so much of it wasn't hurting a lot of people who enthusiastically but naively get mixed up in it. |
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Post by hcspirit on Jul 7, 2009 15:45:52 GMT -5
Eeek One of my influences has been my formal training in physics and mathematics. I agree though that gurus who make claims of quantum physics this and quantum physics that are ridiculous. In fact the more one knows of actual quantum physics the sillier they look. I don't argue that science has "proven" anything about spirituality. In fact I argue that science *cannot*. Science is a method for discovering quantifiable, objectively discernible, truth. Spirit is, almost by definition, Truth that lies beyond the quantifiable, rational, mundane set of truths. No one who has sat at a particle accelerator, crunching endless streams of data, rubbing shoulders with real live particle physicists, could possibly confuse a physicist with a mystic. There's no mystery to me why one of the professions with the highest percentage of atheists is physicist. That said, science and mathematics are valuable to me in two ways. One is that, when you're looking for truth beyond the reach of reason, you'd best have a good grasp of reason so that you can recognize the difference between insight, and fantasy and wishful thinking. The other is that while modern physics and mathematics does not and cannot prove anything at all about spirituality, like many great works of art and literature, or heroic acts of love, it can evoke something of the transcendent. Physicists don't, when engaging in physics, sit around and ponder the meaning of any of the oddities that come out their equations (contrary to a whole lot of bad pop science out there). They believe that the story of physics is that of ever more accurate approximations of reality, and that weird things, anomalies, and contradictions will either be resolved in some future iteration of physics, or may be unresolvable and thus outside of science. Mathematicians, on the other hand, don't believe what they do is necessarily connected in any way to reality. They believe they are creating beautiful patterns governed by logic that, by happenstance, can sometimes be applied to the real world. Mathematics is badly misplaced as a science, though I doubt mathematicians are eager that funding sources grasp this. Mathematics is the one respectable form of conceptual art. But when one takes off one's reason and logic hat one is free to contemplate those questions physics won't ask, and try to peer at the patterns beyond the patterns of mathematics. Math, especially, reminds me of conceptual artist Walter De Maria's "Vertical Earth Kilometer" -- there's so much more evoked by math than appears on the surface. Other than that, well... my biggest influence was getting hit upside the head (metaphorically) by something not-material when I was a teen angrily plotting something awful, and in an instant given a very different direction and (for lack of a better word) a set of rules to guide me. This is why I'm intransigently "spiritual but not religious" -- I have tried to hide away in other spiritual practices, but sooner or later (mostly sooner) I had to get away from them. Mine picked me, I didn't pick it, that which selected it for me is not amenable to playing a game of hide and go seek, and it has no name, texts, teachers, or organization. |
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Glad to find a group that is spiritual enough to interact in a more tolerating, loveable, manner. It seems that mystics & spiritualists of different creeds are more likely to be amiable, and considerate of others views whether or not they are agreeable, or, maybe, just not so well understood. Some-one wrote " It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought, even if it is disagreeable". 
"Religion is man made-while Love is God made.
