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Post by Shawn on Aug 27, 2013 18:59:20 GMT -5
Sometimes when I look at the boards, I think "What have I done?" I notice with a mix of amusement and disappointment the number of posts on the different forums: - Only 380 posts in the "spiritual friends" board (which was the original purpose of this site)
- 125,000 "general spiritual discussion" posts
- Nearly 8500 "unmoderated discussion" posts (a board started only a few weeks ago and which has become an ego-parading cockfight)
- 4000 posts about "spiritual teachers"
I suppose my original intent of helping people to meet face-to-face with others has been supplanted by technology such as Meetup, so in that respect I shouldn't be surprised. And I was very happy to meet a couple of people at a recent TAT meeting who are members of this site... so perhaps there are a few meetings that have materialized from this place. Maybe it's not so bad.... Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? Are people questioning themselves, or bolstering their opinions on the backs of others? BTW, I'm considering adding the phrases "there is no one to get enlightened," "there is no enlightenment," "you are already enlightened" and "there is nothing to do" to the list of banned words.
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Post by laughter on Aug 27, 2013 19:05:32 GMT -5
Technically, you haven't done anything, as there is no doer!
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Post by topology on Aug 27, 2013 19:15:58 GMT -5
Sometimes when I look at the boards, I think "What have I done?" I notice with a mix of amusement and disappointment the number of posts on the different forums: - Only 380 posts in the "spiritual friends" board (which was the original purpose of this site)
- 125,000 "general spiritual discussion" posts
- Nearly 8500 "unmoderated discussion" posts (a board started only a few weeks ago and which has become an ego-parading penisfight)
- 4000 posts about "spiritual teachers"
I suppose my original intent of helping people to meet face-to-face with others has been supplanted by technology such as Meetup, so in that respect I shouldn't be surprised. And I was very happy to meet a couple of people at a recent TAT meeting who are members of this site... so perhaps there are a few meetings that have materialized from this place. Maybe it's not so bad.... Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? Are people questioning themselves, or bolstering their opinions on the backs of others? BTW, I'm considering adding the phrases "there is no one to get enlightened," "there is no enlightenment," "you are already enlightened" and "there is nothing to do" to the list of banned words. I've found value here, but my sense of value and yours may not line up. ;-) I can't speak for anyone else. The board serves a niche which may not be the niche you intended, but there is nowhere else I found that allows people to interact so freely with each other. Your current forumite infection may not have general appeal. But there are regulars here that come here for the culture growing in this petri dish. Is there anything in particular you wish would stop on the forum? What is growing right now is stable, meaning you know what to expect. If you apply selective pressure and enforce an agenda, who knows what you'll get as a result and then what will happen when the selective pressure is no longer applied.
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Post by laughter on Aug 27, 2013 19:18:00 GMT -5
it lives it walks it talks and it breaths and when dust kicks up it even will sneeze what is the thing that I have made? this monstority of, a snidely man-cave?
who are the ones that prance around here? some with a scowl, some spreading cheer others dismiss purpose and bliss and do so with a flash of hubris
food it does soar, oh through the air! but the besmudged stand with nary a care as the pudding it gets caught in the hair some slip on the floor and cry "hey that's not fair!"
sometimes a line will magically rhyme though indavertance surely will shine thousands of chimps caught in a room clickety-clack till the day of mans doom!
now and again a sane thought does waft up through the madness to be held fast by those that race in a fashion so blind to escape accident ever sublime
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Post by topology on Aug 27, 2013 19:19:01 GMT -5
Technically, you haven't done anything, as there is no doer!*face palm*
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Post by laughter on Aug 27, 2013 19:26:54 GMT -5
Technically, you haven't done anything, as there is no doer!*face palm* Ha! ha! ... the world would have been saved laughter's cheesy poetry but for this non-doing of his ...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2013 19:39:14 GMT -5
it lives it walks it talks and it breaths and when dust kicks up it even will sneeze what is the thing that I have made? this monstority of, a snidely man-cave? who are the ones that prance around here? some with a scowl, some spreading cheer others dismiss purpose and bliss and do so with a flash of hubris food it does soar, oh through the air! but the besmudged stand with nary a care as the pudding it gets caught in the hair some slip on the floor and cry "hey that's not fair!" sometimes a line will magically rhyme though indavertance surely will shine thousands of chimps caught in a room clickety-clack till the day of mans doom! now and again a sane thought does waft up through the madness to be held fast by those that race in a fashion so blind to escape accident ever sublime very good Mr laugher... enjoyed that a lot.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2013 19:47:34 GMT -5
Sometimes when I look at the boards, I think "What have I done?" I notice with a mix of amusement and disappointment the number of posts on the different forums: - Only 380 posts in the "spiritual friends" board (which was the original purpose of this site)
- 125,000 "general spiritual discussion" posts
- Nearly 8500 "unmoderated discussion" posts (a board started only a few weeks ago and which has become an ego-parading penisfight)
- 4000 posts about "spiritual teachers"
I suppose my original intent of helping people to meet face-to-face with others has been supplanted by technology such as Meetup, so in that respect I shouldn't be surprised. And I was very happy to meet a couple of people at a recent TAT meeting who are members of this site... so perhaps there are a few meetings that have materialized from this place. Maybe it's not so bad.... Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? Are people questioning themselves, or bolstering their opinions on the backs of others? BTW, I'm considering adding the phrases "there is no one to get enlightened," "there is no enlightenment," "you are already enlightened" and "there is nothing to do" to the list of banned words. You did well to bring all these friends together, to show off what it is that thunders forward purifying its domain. Dont worry, if you hadn't done it One of them would've. Re, "there is no one to get enlightened" "there is no enlightenment" "you are already enlightened" "there is nothing to do" "Nothing could be done-better."
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Post by runstill on Aug 27, 2013 20:02:45 GMT -5
Sometimes when I look at the boards, I think "What have I done?" I notice with a mix of amusement and disappointment the number of posts on the different forums: - Only 380 posts in the "spiritual friends" board (which was the original purpose of this site)
- 125,000 "general spiritual discussion" posts
- Nearly 8500 "unmoderated discussion" posts (a board started only a few weeks ago and which has become an ego-parading penisfight)
- 4000 posts about "spiritual teachers"
I suppose my original intent of helping people to meet face-to-face with others has been supplanted by technology such as Meetup, so in that respect I shouldn't be surprised. And I was very happy to meet a couple of people at a recent TAT meeting who are members of this site... so perhaps there are a few meetings that have materialized from this place. Maybe it's not so bad.... Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? Are people questioning themselves, or bolstering their opinions on the backs of others? BTW, I'm considering adding the phrases "there is no one to get enlightened," "there is no enlightenment," "you are already enlightened" and "there is nothing to do" to the list of banned words. Oh that's why 'spiritual friends' is at the top of the list... this is a very unique place in that its allowed to go in what ever direction it does with very little interference, I haven't seen that on any other forum. Your characterization of this place is accurate , but amongst the minutia there are many pearls, its very easy with one finger to scroll past the non-sense. If I have a concern it would be for some one that has had a spiritual experience with out any prior understanding and ended up here looking for guidance, god forbid....lol. Thank You for the forum Shawn
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2013 20:08:48 GMT -5
Its important to get the words right, if youre going to communicate!
Why it's important to understand English
I had a bunch of Canadian dollars I needed to exchange, so I went to the currency exchange window at the local bank. I stood in the short line.
Just in front of me was an Asian lady who was trying to exchange yen for dollars and she was a little irritated. She asked the teller, 'Why it change?? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I get hunat eighty?? Why it change?'
The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Fluctuations.'
The Asian lady says, 'Fluc you white people, too!'
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Post by desertrat on Aug 27, 2013 20:51:22 GMT -5
Its like turning your kids loose in to the world . You just got let them do there own thing . ( more or less )
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Post by silence on Aug 27, 2013 20:56:32 GMT -5
Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? It's like 95% intellectual cleverness. The fact that the rest is so rare makes it so valuable. Or some such thing.
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Post by quinn on Aug 27, 2013 20:59:22 GMT -5
Sometimes when I look at the boards, I think "What have I done?" I notice with a mix of amusement and disappointment the number of posts on the different forums: - Only 380 posts in the "spiritual friends" board (which was the original purpose of this site)
- 125,000 "general spiritual discussion" posts
- Nearly 8500 "unmoderated discussion" posts (a board started only a few weeks ago and which has become an ego-parading penisfight)
- 4000 posts about "spiritual teachers"
I suppose my original intent of helping people to meet face-to-face with others has been supplanted by technology such as Meetup, so in that respect I shouldn't be surprised. And I was very happy to meet a couple of people at a recent TAT meeting who are members of this site... so perhaps there are a few meetings that have materialized from this place. Maybe it's not so bad.... Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? Are people questioning themselves, or bolstering their opinions on the backs of others? I think there's value here, Shawn. For one thing, this is where I heard about TAT and got to attend the meeting last spring. And SIG too. But besides that, there have been quite a few conversations that went deep. The free-wheeling atmosphere, while it can be a pain in the neck sometimes, also means that people will tell you what they think regardless how uncomfortable it might make you. That's a rare commodity (in my neck of the woods). Some are not here to question themselves, and some are but don't do it publicly. Always hard to tell with that one. YES!!
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Post by tzujanli on Aug 27, 2013 21:36:40 GMT -5
Greetings..
Hi Shawn: You are performing a very admirable public service.. this forum reminds me of group therapy for people addicted to talking, to seeing their thoughts in print and getting reactions to those thoughts.. now, it is of no small consequence that the subject for 'talking' is Spirituality, and that people are fairly passionate about that subject, since it points to the essence of people's self-awareness.. i don't know your thoughts or feelings, but i sense that that there is frustration with the lack of sincere sharing, the give and take, and thoughtful respect for the options presented to those interested in Spirituality, their essence..
I am reminded of a discussion we had, years ago, at one of the 'Spiritual' Meet-ups, it went something like this: someone asked. "what happens after death?", upon which the discussion went much as it does here, but unlike here i kept quiet and just listened for about 15-20 minutes as people told each other what they believed/thought would happen, and some even took authoritarian position of absolute knowing/truth.. i don't know the best label for it, but i say that i had an insight, a realization that resonated with all that i knew/believed/understood, but which hadn't been part of my understanding previously.. it was very calming and reassuring, so when the facilitator said, you're unusually quiet, Bob, what's your perspective?
"It is after death, as it is before birth", was my 'insight' and my reply.. "right", he said.. "cool, but what is that"?, he asked.. and, here's what was so calming and reassuring, i said "I don't know".. it was the liberation of not knowing, believing, understanding, or feeling obligated to say stuff to sound as if i did 'know' that was calming and reassuring.. i could just look and pay attention, unattached to a belief or result, and that opened-up a vast richness in perception and interaction, allowing potential to manifest without insisting this or resisting that.. which is not to say that i didn't and don't call BS when it appears..
I sense that whatever we were before we were born into this physical experience is randomly manifested into a uniquely independent body/mind perspective of itself.. where you/me/we/us have tangible interactive experiences of 'what we are', and in the "as above, so below" cliche, the same way we are 'addicted' to talking about it, what we 'are' is addicted to the physical experience of itself, hence the limitation of duration, 'death'.. yep, pure speculation, but it is consistent with what i understand in this 'perspective', and i don't have to be 'right'.. because, after 'death', after this physical perspective expires, it will be as it is before birth.. does this physical experience make a difference, yes.. i don't know about making a difference after 'death', but it makes a difference to what we 'are now', individually and collectively.. it is my understanding that the interactive collective synergizes into a more complete experience of 'itself' than is possible as an individual, with the potential to experience itself as itself, as it 'is', now.. this is 'my' understanding of 'Spirituality'..
So, thanks Shawn, the therapy is useful.. it allows us to interactively experience each others' understandings, and if we are sincerely interested in what we 'are', whittle away at what we 'aren't'..
Be well..
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Post by enigma on Aug 27, 2013 22:02:59 GMT -5
Sometimes when I look at the boards, I think "What have I done?" I notice with a mix of amusement and disappointment the number of posts on the different forums: - Only 380 posts in the "spiritual friends" board (which was the original purpose of this site)
- 125,000 "general spiritual discussion" posts
- Nearly 8500 "unmoderated discussion" posts (a board started only a few weeks ago and which has become an ego-parading penisfight)
- 4000 posts about "spiritual teachers"
I suppose my original intent of helping people to meet face-to-face with others has been supplanted by technology such as Meetup, so in that respect I shouldn't be surprised. And I was very happy to meet a couple of people at a recent TAT meeting who are members of this site... so perhaps there are a few meetings that have materialized from this place. Maybe it's not so bad.... Is there value here, or are most people just killing time with intellectual cleverness? Are people questioning themselves, or bolstering their opinions on the backs of others? I think there's value here, Shawn. For one thing, this is where I heard about TAT and got to attend the meeting last spring. And SIG too. But besides that, there have been quite a few conversations that went deep. The free-wheeling atmosphere, while it can be a pain in the neck sometimes, also means that people will tell you what they think regardless how uncomfortable it might make you. That's a rare commodity (in my neck of the woods). Some are not here to question themselves, and some are but don't do it publicly. Always hard to tell with that one. YES!! I suggest replacing "There is no one to get enlightened" with "You're phucked", and "There is nothing to do" with "STFU".
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