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Post by zin on May 14, 2016 19:04:13 GMT -5
I think there is a general level of understanding in humanity and awakened ones may be supposed to raise this level : ) Sometimes understanding something may pull 'beneficial influences' to a certain area.. (but this is just my idea). I could mention charity work, too but it is not necessary to say it I think. I get the feeling from what he's saying that these "bigger situations" may not appear beneficial. Whether or not they will be isn't said (sort of inferred), but I suspect they will. Part of the quote: "The more awake we become, often the more capable we are of having life hand us bigger and bigger situations as our capacity to accept and embody our spiritual essence grows. So life can and does respond to that growth, and in many ways it tends to demand more and more from us." Adyashanti He may be talking about events which happen to individuals (illness, accident, various losses) but I took it more from a collective view. It may be like this, sometimes inevitable big social events happen and one may be 'drawn to be there'. It is like if you are on a boat on a stormy weather you put the young ones into more safe places and strong people into remaining areas.. Maybe life makes use of awake people like that. Of course one may gain something personally from this experience, too... but it is more about the whole of humanity. (I tell it as an interpretation) As to whether the big events are really beneficial, I don't know. Maybe they are 'designed' for growth or maybe they are simply inevitable... By the beneficial influences I was implying helpful influences but I admit it sounds a bit mystical : ) Yes I have some experience about that. However it didn't happen in the way I would expect 'understanding settling things'. One example may be I was quite anxious about putting my daughter into the best near school when she was starting school - this happened but one year later her teacher left, next year the school changed its structure, next year the whole class was sent to another and far away school (and there's more  )... And I understood that many influences enter into a situation when the scale gets bigger. Of course this is an obvious fact but I was unable to accept it emotionally. In the end this far away school turned out to be much better than the one she had left... There may be other kinds of settling, too, of course... |
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Post by quinn on May 14, 2016 19:37:58 GMT -5
I get the feeling from what he's saying that these "bigger situations" may not appear beneficial. Whether or not they will be isn't said (sort of inferred), but I suspect they will. Part of the quote: "The more awake we become, often the more capable we are of having life hand us bigger and bigger situations as our capacity to accept and embody our spiritual essence grows. So life can and does respond to that growth, and in many ways it tends to demand more and more from us." Adyashanti He may be talking about events which happen to individuals (illness, accident, various losses) but I took it more from a collective view. It may be like this, sometimes inevitable big social events happen and one may be 'drawn to be there'. It is like if you are on a boat on a stormy weather you put the young ones into more safe places and strong people into remaining areas.. Maybe life makes use of awake people like that. Of course one may gain something personally from this experience, too... but it is more about the whole of humanity. (I tell it as an interpretation) As to whether the big events are really beneficial, I don't know. Maybe they are 'designed' for growth or maybe they are simply inevitable... By the beneficial influences I was implying helpful influences but I admit it sounds a bit mystical : ) Yes I have some experience about that. However it didn't happen in the way I would expect 'understanding settling things'. One example may be I was quite anxious about putting my daughter into the best near school when she was starting school - this happened but one year later her teacher left, next year the school changed its structure, next year the whole class was sent to another and far away school (and there's more )... And I understood that many influences enter into a situation when the scale gets bigger. Of course this is an obvious fact but I was unable to accept it emotionally. In the end this far away school turned out to be much better than the one she had left... There may be other kinds of settling, too, of course... Interesting. Thanks for a different perspective on "bigger things". I had read it as more challenging things on a personal level, but your way makes sense too. I sometimes think that the more waking up that goes on globally, the more fierce other things get - the weather, politics, wars, so that there seems to be more polarization. Reminds me of meditation in the first few years - things got quieter and quieter, then revved up crazily. This passed eventually, but it seemed like what they call the throes of death. A little morbid, I know.  The example with your daughter - are you saying it was more like the reverse? Things settled understanding? |
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Post by zin on May 14, 2016 19:46:03 GMT -5
Part of the quote: "The more awake we become, often the more capable we are of having life hand us bigger and bigger situations as our capacity to accept and embody our spiritual essence grows. So life can and does respond to that growth, and in many ways it tends to demand more and more from us." Adyashanti He may be talking about events which happen to individuals (illness, accident, various losses) but I took it more from a collective view. It may be like this, sometimes inevitable big social events happen and one may be 'drawn to be there'. It is like if you are on a boat on a stormy weather you put the young ones into more safe places and strong people into remaining areas.. Maybe life makes use of awake people like that. Of course one may gain something personally from this experience, too... but it is more about the whole of humanity. (I tell it as an interpretation) As to whether the big events are really beneficial, I don't know. Maybe they are 'designed' for growth or maybe they are simply inevitable... By the beneficial influences I was implying helpful influences but I admit it sounds a bit mystical : ) Yes I have some experience about that. However it didn't happen in the way I would expect 'understanding settling things'. One example may be I was quite anxious about putting my daughter into the best near school when she was starting school - this happened but one year later her teacher left, next year the school changed its structure, next year the whole class was sent to another and far away school (and there's more )... And I understood that many influences enter into a situation when the scale gets bigger. Of course this is an obvious fact but I was unable to accept it emotionally. In the end this far away school turned out to be much better than the one she had left... There may be other kinds of settling, too, of course... Interesting. Thanks for a different perspective on "bigger things". I had read it as more challenging things on a personal level, but your way makes sense too. I sometimes think that the more waking up that goes on globally, the more fierce other things get - the weather, politics, wars, so that there seems to be more polarization. Reminds me of meditation in the first few years - things got quieter and quieter, then revved up crazily. This passed eventually, but it seemed like what they call the throes of death. A little morbid, I know. ?  joke Yes when I read now it more looks so - but maybe there was a bit of interaction, with acceptance I got calmer and events got calmer.. |
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Post by quinn on May 14, 2016 19:54:38 GMT -5
Interesting. Thanks for a different perspective on "bigger things". I had read it as more challenging things on a personal level, but your way makes sense too. I sometimes think that the more waking up that goes on globally, the more fierce other things get - the weather, politics, wars, so that there seems to be more polarization. Reminds me of meditation in the first few years - things got quieter and quieter, then revved up crazily. This passed eventually, but it seemed like what they call the throes of death. A little morbid, I know. ? joke I have this thing about the spiral. Whenever I see that form, I'm drawn to it. The more involved I am with spirituality the more I see spirals everywhere. Acceptance --> calm --> more acceptance --> more calm and, in the words of Buzz Lightyear...  |
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Post by zin on May 14, 2016 20:01:17 GMT -5
A little? joke I have this thing about the spiral. Whenever I see that form, I'm drawn to it. The more involved I am with spirituality the more I see spirals everywhere. Acceptance --> calm --> more acceptance --> more calm and, in the words of Buzz Lightyear... And then in the "beyond" new problems arise!  (I am not familiar with this character but he looks positive!) |
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Post by quinn on May 14, 2016 20:12:57 GMT -5
I have this thing about the spiral. Whenever I see that form, I'm drawn to it. The more involved I am with spirituality the more I see spirals everywhere. Acceptance --> calm --> more acceptance --> more calm and, in the words of Buzz Lightyear... And then in the "beyond" new problems arise! (I am not familiar with this character but he looks positive!) "Toy Story" - animated children's movie but one I enjoyed as much as the kids. |
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Post by zin on May 14, 2016 20:17:20 GMT -5
And then in the "beyond" new problems arise! (I am not familiar with this character but he looks positive!) "Toy Story" - animated children's movie but one I enjoyed as much as the kids. OK! (philosophising: we're kids, too  ) |
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Post by laughter on May 14, 2016 20:59:00 GMT -5
To be born as a human, to take this particular form, is to be challenged. Even for the awakened ones, life is not always smooth. As I like to remind people, even when enlightenment comes, even when you realize the innate and natural freedom of being, it doesn't get you a pass on life. It doesn't mean you're never going to go through anything difficult. Quite the opposite. The more awake we become, often the more capable we are of having life hand us bigger and bigger situations as our capacity to accept and embody our spiritual essence grows. So life can and does respond to that growth, and in many ways it tends to demand more and more from us. ~ Adyashanti, Falling into Grace That is not very inviting! |
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Post by laughter on May 14, 2016 21:00:21 GMT -5
Yes, even a little frightening! Such a killjoy.  Not that it matters even a teensy bit, but I don't really believe it. Makes morer sense to me that the capacity to remain connected and present despite whatevertheheck is happening doesn't really mean that more shiola is going to be flung ones way. It may, but not necessarily. E.G. less arguing (literally). When you're not afraid of engagement, it's more likely to happen. No woo-woo explanation required. |
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Post by laughter on May 14, 2016 21:30:33 GMT -5
"Most cases are thought to be caused by the herpes virus" Yes I hear what you're saying re the fearlessness factor. I can see how that would do a whole lot of shiola stirring. Methinks there would also be a better ability to not-choose-one's battles, though. Less drive to hurt reactively. Even though the fearless factor may incline one to tear off the bandaid here and there. Props to you if you can make sense of these (my) (b)rambles. Yeah, herpes is a pretty interesting virus. People can go their whole lives not even knowing they have it because they don't get symptoms. So what brings it out? Stress - the 21st century catch-all. Maybe resistance is more accurate? Byron Katie was asked about illness and she said she doesn't go there, it's too complex. So maybe I shouldn't go there either. My meditation teacher, when waxing on the Buddhist stuff, says, "Before you speak ask yourself 3 questions. Is it kind? Is it helpful? Will it be heard?" How this jives with the 'in the flow' stuff, I don't know. How it jives with authenticity, I don't know either. I figure it's a good set of questions for when you have a lot of crap in your head, so it doesn't get spewed. That's someone specifically speaking from the teachers role. If every conversation is approached that way there'd be no dialog unless the other was a student. |
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Post by quinn on May 26, 2016 19:30:17 GMT -5
If we are spiritual practitioners, one of the things that we hope for is the dissolution of ego. We recognize the pain of the egoic state, and we hope we won’t be confined to it forever. But awakening itself is not the same as egoic dissolving. We can wake up whether the ego has dissolved or not. In fact, very strong and even destructive egos can awaken. Awakening begins the process. The result of the awakening— its fallout or aftermath—is a radical dissolving of ego.
This does not mean that the ego will be in cooperation. The ego may resist this dissolution with everything it has. It may bring out the entirety of its arsenal. Nevertheless, the process has begun. And ultimately, once you’ve had a glimpse of reality, there’s nothing you can do to stop the ego from dissolving in time.
But this dissolution, when it takes place, can be very disorienting. Awakening itself can be very disorienting. Everything you thought was true, you now see is not. The person you thought you were, you now see you are not. That itself can be blissful and a tremendous relief, and it can simultaneously be experienced as disorienting. “Who am I going to be now? What’s going to move me? What’s going to motivate this human being?”
Of course, if one is fully awake, one does not have these questions. But that is rare initially. For most people, there is a further process after awakening. So for most people these questions remain. There are no pat answers that a spiritual teacher can give, because any answer would just be turned into another goal by the ego. What’s more useful is to understand that to be disoriented is part of the process of awakening; it is natural to be disoriented, because everything is new. You are new, your perception is new, and your perception of everything and everyone has now changed.
The disorientation arises because the mind is struggling to orient itself in a new context. It’s like you are falling out of a plane. If you just let yourself fall, there is no problem. But as soon as you start to grasp at space as if to find your bearings, you feel very disoriented; you realize you don’t know which way is up and which way is down.
So disorientation is not necessarily inherent in the awakened view; it arises from the mind trying to find orientation.
But one of the keys to the awakened view is that there is no orientation. Reality does not need an orientation. If there is an orientation, it is the orientation of a deep sense of relaxation, of allowing everything to be. Literally, you find your orientation through not trying to find your orientation. You find your orientation by letting go totally.
There’s a phase in which we let go, and there does not immediately appear to arise in our consciousness a new energy that will move our lives. Of course, this energy exists and is moving through us all of the time; it is the energy of nondivision. It comes straight from the source, without being distorted. But there is often a gap between the dissolving of our ego motivations and the arising of this energy in our consciousness. So we may go through a period of wondering what new energy will move us along after awakening.
~ Adyashanti ~
The End Of Your World
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Post by silver on May 26, 2016 21:56:35 GMT -5
Not that it matters even a teensy bit, but I don't really believe it. Makes morer sense to me that the capacity to remain connected and present despite whatevertheheck is happening doesn't really mean that more shiola is going to be flung ones way. It may, but not necessarily. E.G. less arguing (literally). When you're not afraid of engagement, it's more likely to happen. No woo-woo explanation required.Is that an inside-out version of the old "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," or something? (I've always been fond of that saying.) |
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Post by anja on May 27, 2016 14:23:09 GMT -5
Adyashanti is just another victim of what I use to call: the enlightenment-trap.
There is no such thing as being more (or less) spiritually evolved as anybody else, because, like Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj use to say, "I came to the conclusion that spirituality is as dis-chardable as dish-water."
And AFTER the dishes are done, by the dishwater, IF the dishes are done, what matters only is: ART. And not spiritual (crap) talk.
In christian terminology someone like Adyashanti would be considered as...well....gone of the edge. Lost in talking nonsense to people who haven't contemplated enough yet. He's just another snake-oil salesmen and that's just fine with me. But I prefer substance. And substance is expressed in ART only. And proper ACTION.
And exposing what needs to be exposed: The overall bad conditions we all live in by living in a merely capitalistic society that only is interested in perpetuating itself as a vampire-system, sucking the blood of the innocent. And he, Adyashanti is one of the ones who also is an energy sucker by talking crap about spirituality and charing money for his lame and utterly boring non-comedy-show.
Disgusting!
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Post by silver on May 27, 2016 14:30:16 GMT -5
Adyashanti is just another victim of what I use to call: the enlightenment-trap. There is no such thing as being more (or less) spiritually evolved as anybody else, because, like Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj use to say, "I came to the conclusion that spirituality is as dis-chardable as dish-water." And AFTER the dishes are done, by the dishwater, IF the dishes are done, what matters only is: ART. And not spiritual (crap) talk. In christian terminology someone like Adyashanti would be considered as...well....gone of the edge. Lost in talking nonsense to people who haven't contemplated enough yet. He's just another snake-oil salesmen and that's just fine with me. But I prefer substance. And substance is expressed in ART only. And proper ACTION. And exposing what needs to be exposed: The overall bad conditions we all live in by living in a merely capitalistic society that only is interested in perpetuating itself as a vampire-system, sucking the blood of the innocent. And he, Adyashanti is one of the ones who also is an energy sucker by talking crap about spirituality and charing money for his lame and utterly boring non-comedy-show. Disgusting! I appreciate your comments. I ask myself if people (not unlike him) bought their own snake oil - so they're innocent in a way. It's why I was drawn to Buddhism once I studied upon it for a year or so. Buddha said we have to think for ourselves - in a nutshell - I think it serves as both a disclaimer and a downright golden piece of wisdom for the ages. |
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Post by anja on May 27, 2016 14:41:01 GMT -5
Yes, but being able and willing to think for oneself is not something that just falls into ones lap by chance. It is something one must pursue, the ability to think....to realy think for oneself. And proper thinking is problem-solving. Else it is just this: More bla-bla-bla for the sake of sustaining an evil system by being a confirmed member of it.
By the way, I like the Buddha too. He rejected his position as a prince for the sake of truth. That is what I consider courageous and heroic.
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)... And I understood that many influences enter into a situation when the scale gets bigger. Of course this is an obvious fact but I was unable to accept it emotionally. In the end this far away school turned out to be much better than the one she had left... There may be other kinds of settling, too, of course...
)
