Newbie

[imwaknup]

The 3 bases of my personal pyramid of power (good one, huh!) are AA, Radical Honesty, and the Presence Process (Michael Brown.) At the apex is my friend and goo-rue, Billy Butenhoff, chief BS artist of the Christ Center of Divine Philosophy in scenic OKC, OK.

My past spiritual connections are primarily of the Indian Rhadha Soami lineage, which I'd like to see addressed (and evaluated.)

An interesting link is the Neural Surfer, and some great links and blog discussions at "The Daily Now."

Glad I found ya'll. Why is there no Contact Us link?

RickyRAT

[Peter]

Hi Ricky, welcome to the forum.

Mar 4, 2009 8:33:29 GMT -5 imwaknup said:

Glad I found ya'll. Why is there no Contact Us link?

Well "Us" is really just "Him" (Shawn) and he doesn't seem to get a lot of time for email. If you scroll down to the bottom of the front page of www.spiritualteachers.org you'll see a line that says:

Post questions, comments, and suggestions to the Website Feedback Board

Presence Process sounds like it might be up my street, I'll check it out - thanks.

Cheers,
Peter

[borogers]

hello all... I have read most of Dr. Hawkins' material and have found it to be the most impacting and changing for my life ( along with ACIM ) . It seems that I am always in battle with my ego and I will continue to do so until it subsides. Dr. Hawkins is one of the only people who makes me cry... which I thank him for!

[lightmystic]

Welcome to the forum borogers and imwaknup. I look forward to the opportunity to chat with you guys.

[satyagrahi]

What did I do here ? It's been wanted to find contact(s) of like minded spiritual, mystical type people. My study path has been somewhat irregular as reading Dr. Wayne Dyer to Zen type meditation, to Gnosticism. Waking up is like going to sleep; It's intended and prepared for, but one has to "empty out" of all matters to attain that blissfull nothing-ness!

[tejsuren]

just raising to the expectations of the universal consciousness which has been bugging me since childhood to wake up to its call......my fav reads are of eckhart tolle, SirShree, Nisargadatta Maharaj,..................looking ahead to learn and share the experienced of Self ;D

[lightmystic]

Welcome to the forum!

[unsure]

Hi, so i'm not sure of what to do on here.
I am not sure if I want to join this or not.
I am unsure of if I completely understand what a Spiritual Teacher is.

would someone please explain this to me.

my email is [e-mail]

[Peter]

Hi Unsure

There are few rules here other than to avoid being abusive. Just say what you think, either by starting a new 'thread' or continuing an existing one as you have done above.

You don't have to 'join' as such. Make one post at a time, decide if you want to make another. There's really no need to create a username/become a member, but it does make posting easier as you avoid the security checking.

I found this link helpful: www.spiritualteachers.org/guidelines.htm

I wouldn't worry about trying to completely understand anything. Like playing any game, just pick up the basic rules, then start playing and you'll work out the rest of it as you go along.

Best of luck!
Peter

[vacant]

Hey all, first a big thank you to Shawn for running this thing, and staff and all contributors.

For a long time I've deplored not being in contact with like-minded people, and resigning to going it alone. Maybe nothing wrong with that, but slightly worried at times about missing out on that company which a lot of teachers seem to recommend. In particular I was wondering where on earth I could find this "confrontation" to my self-indulgence that Richard Rose advocates —and if I remember right also Bob Fergeson, by extension I would assume—. Something in me certainly has a bit of resistance to that confrontation word (surprise surprise), I even once wrote "Confrontation is the unfortunate plight of a lesser mind" (dont ask!)

Now it's a great feeling to bump into this forum, my first ever, looks like it might be inhabited by some very useful company. Some great interchanges in here! Just at the moment, I can't think of much to post, but I'm gobbling up the reading, kind of like going through the FAQ's before anything else. Could this be a little gold mine along the way? Anyway, please to meet yous —as it were.

[lightmystic]

Welcome to our forum vacant!

I will look forward to chatting with you....

Jul 20, 2009 10:21:31 GMT -5 vacant said:

Hey all, first a big thank you to Shawn for running this thing, and staff and all contributors.

For a long time I've deplored not being in contact with like-minded people, and resigning to going it alone. Maybe nothing wrong with that, but slightly worried at times about missing out on that company which a lot of teachers seem to recommend. In particular I was wondering where on earth I could find this "confrontation" to my self-indulgence that Richard Rose advocates —and if I remember right also Bob Fergeson, by extension I would assume—. Something in me certainly has a bit of resistance to that confrontation word (surprise surprise), I even once wrote "Confrontation is the unfortunate plight of a lesser mind" (dont ask!)

Now it's a great feeling to bump into this forum, my first ever, looks like it might be inhabited by some very useful company. Some great interchanges in here! Just at the moment, I can't think of much to post, but I'm gobbling up the reading, kind of like going through the FAQ's before anything else. Could this be a little gold mine along the way? Anyway, please to meet yous —as it were.

[Peter]

Welcome to the board, Vacant.

Do you think you currently have self-indulgent behaviours? Could you give an example?

Don't ask

That's actually quite funny since you've implied that you're ready to try a little constructive confrontation. What do you think about your "lesser mind" statement? Is it something you still consider to be true?

What would you say are the qualities possessed by a "greater" mind?

Cheers,
Peter

[vacant]

Peter, true that I kind of asked for it, thank you.

Strangely, both subjects that you question call for a semantic clarification. English is not my mother tongue and I often misjudge the resonance some the expressions I use will have. When I said self-indulgence I was not particularly referring to behaviors as such, but more to wallowing in the small self, believing in it without noticing. That is a major stumbling block on the way to reality and I suspect it's where a little confrontation from fellow travelers might come in handy because we all know we can easily point at the tiny piece of straw in our neighbor's eye while failing to notice the massive pillar in our own. I think that you call it "constructive confrontation" to underline a well wishing intention, but properly "deconstructive" while still well wishing might be more what's called for, since I'm near convinced that I need shedding and discarding more than building.

Now that said, we could also chat about my "self-indulgent behaviours"... and one that springs to mind is more than a hint of gluttony toward alcohol, and it probably deserves some exploring and communicating. As a matter of fact it's been my intention to discuss that from the moment I registered on this board. But rather than including that in the Newbie thread I first want to search other topics here to see if there is already a relevant one going on or if I should start a new one. I'll let you know.

About the "lesser mind" thing, I knew I was on shaky ground when I posted that! Hence don't ask, the feeling being that was then and things have moved on. But to respond anyway, I really did not mean mind as what's often called that in spiritual books, ie the voice in the head, the tool of ego —that mind has no greater nor lesser, no better nor worse, just a pain in the you-know-what— but more like mind-set or disposition, like when I say "I'm in a mind to let it go". In that sense, a lesser mind will often resort to confrontation to mask insecurity and lack of generosity when perhaps a greater mind would turn to understanding and letting be. Honestly though, I do not feel there is great mileage in analyzing in depth what was a kind of poetic observation (accurate or not) well in the past; I doubt I would write it today.

Does this do it?

[lightmystic]

Wow, you are very clear. I have suspicions that positive confrontation with you is going to be very useful, and great fun for everyone.....

Jul 21, 2009 13:27:54 GMT -5 vacant said:

Peter, true that I kind of asked for it, thank you.

Strangely, both subjects that you question call for a semantic clarification. English is not my mother tongue and I often misjudge the resonance some the expressions I use will have. When I said self-indulgence I was not particularly referring to behaviors as such, but more to wallowing in the small self, believing in it without noticing. That is a major stumbling block on the way to reality and I suspect it's where a little confrontation from fellow travelers might come in handy because we all know we can easily point at the tiny piece of straw in our neighbor's eye while failing to notice the massive pillar in our own. I think that you call it "constructive confrontation" to underline a well wishing intention, but properly "deconstructive" while still well wishing might be more what's called for, since I'm near convinced that I need shedding and discarding more than building.

Now that said, we could also chat about my "self-indulgent behaviours"... and one that springs to mind is more than a hint of gluttony toward alcohol, and it probably deserves some exploring and communicating. As a matter of fact it's been my intention to discuss that from the moment I registered on this board. But rather than including that in the Newbie thread I first want to search other topics here to see if there is already a relevant one going on or if I should start a new one. I'll let you know.

About the "lesser mind" thing, I knew I was on shaky ground when I posted that! Hence don't ask, the feeling being that was then and things have moved on. But to respond anyway, I really did not mean mind as what's often called that in spiritual books, ie the voice in the head, the tool of ego —that mind has no greater nor lesser, no better nor worse, just a pain in the you-know-what— but more like mind-set or disposition, like when I say "I'm in a mind to let it go". In that sense, a lesser mind will often resort to confrontation to mask insecurity and lack of generosity when perhaps a greater mind would turn to understanding and letting be. Honestly though, I do not feel there is great mileage in analyzing in depth what was a kind of poetic observation (accurate or not) well in the past; I doubt I would write it today.

Does this do it?

[Peter]

Jul 21, 2009 13:27:54 GMT -5 vacant said:

When I said self-indulgence I was not particularly referring to behaviours as such, but more to wallowing in the small self, believing in it without noticing.

Oh yes, wallowing can definitely be self indulgent. Self pity is the obvious example, although it takes a while to see how that works out in terms of what the pay-off for that behaviour is. What's the pay-off in restricting oneself to the small self - a sense of safety perhaps? Is it a way of absolving oneself of responsibility?

I'm near convinced that I need shedding and discarding more than building.

Yes indeed. I meant constructive as in 'helpful', but I think letting go of sacred cows is the way forward.

One that springs to mind is more than a hint of gluttony toward alcohol, and it probably deserves some exploring and communicating.

That's definitely a conversation I'd like to contribute to, and a couple of other forumites have also mentioned alcohol recently. It's only been discussed in passing to date - it probably deserves it's own topic.

perhaps a greater mind would turn to understanding and letting be.

The word 'greater' could be mis-understood here as either meaning 'the higher self' or 'the better person'. I like the term skillful as it doesn't necessarily imply a position of superiority (see one of my own failings discussed below) and it's more obvious that while one can behave in a skilful way in one area of life, it's quite possibly to behave in a completely unskilful way in another!

Honestly though, I do not feel there is great mileage in analyzing in depth what was a kind of poetic observation (accurate or not) well in the past; I doubt I would write it today.

Ah, but you did write it 'today'. Do you genuinely think there's no mileage in it, or is it more that you don't want to discuss your past - and all the more reason to if so! What it brought up for me (which is why I asked you about it) is something that I dislike in myself - a whispering voice of superiority. There's a small part of me that looks down on people who...well, pick any behaviour that you might consider 'lower' and that's it. So while I'm trying to see myself clearly, I also have to see that that attitude is present and accept that before I can change it. Well, that may not have anything to do with your writing so I'll leave that there for now.

Jul 21, 2009 13:27:54 GMT -5 vacant said:

Does this do it?

Yeah, cracking .