|
|
Post by sharon on Aug 12, 2023 2:06:30 GMT -5
In four days time, a very special young man will be 80 years old. And this thread is an opportunity to leave your own messages to a man that has influenced all of us in his own way. I'd like to wish Zendancer a most wonderful and memorable week. And to thank you personally for continuing to expand your own knowledge and in turn all of ours.  Happy Birthday Bob  |
|
|
|
Post by laughter on Aug 12, 2023 6:45:35 GMT -5
.. just gonna' leave this here ..   |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2023 21:53:52 GMT -5
Advanced Happy Birthday Zendancer! I've never encountered anyone quite as determined and persistent as you are. You are one of the intelligent guy I have ever faced in the internet forum. Though we differ in argument, I love you from bottom of my heart. 5 Days ago I celebrated 70th birthday to my Father, now here for 80th birthday of you, ooops older than my father. Though I'm in my thirties and you're in your eighties, However, the idea of engaging in a discussion with someone of more mature age never occurred to me. Your understanding and responses make it feel as though I'm conversing with someone of my own generation . Love live zendancer!
|
|
|
|
Post by zendancer on Aug 24, 2023 10:16:56 GMT -5
Many thanks to everyone! *bows in appreciation*
I'll have to say that the posters on this forum are some of the best writers I've ever encountered on any other Internet forum, and I always enjoy reading the posts that appear here. Interacting with other people seriously interested in non-duality frequently leads to new insights that I talk about during interviews and presentations at places like the TAT retreat center and elsewhere. Tolle appears to be correct in his optimistic view regarding more and more people waking up to THIS, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.
This has been a wild month, and for those who want to see the oldest guy here jabbering about non-duality, one can go to YouTube and plug in his name. On August 19 I talked to Rick Archer at batgap.com, and that discussion should appear shortly. Hopefully it's interesting, but since I haven't seen it, I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that people will find it so. It was fun to find out that Rick also loves skiing and hiking in wilderness areas as much as I do, and ironically he's climbed the same trail up Mt. Audubon where my spiritual search came to an end, and he has also summited many of the same mountains I have (including Long's Peak).
The TAT Foundation is preparing to issue a new edition of Pouring Concrete this month through Amazon in both a paperback and ebook version, and that book has been updated and expanded with more information about ATA-T and a short epilogue. Hopefully newbies to ND will find it helpful as well as interesting.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2023 0:28:51 GMT -5
80 years. A mere drop in the ocean of infinity! Have a wonderful birthday Bob.
|
|
park
Junior Member
Posts: 62 
|
Post by park on Aug 25, 2023 7:44:55 GMT -5
Bob, you continue to amaze and inspire. Happy birthday!
|
|
|
|
Post by stardustpilgrim on Aug 26, 2023 22:34:16 GMT -5
.. just gonna' leave this here .. That looks brown, it's not old enough. All phones way back then were black. And there were no area codes. To phone long distance you had to go through an operator. But a nice try. (And I'm only 71). His phone as a kid would have been served by iron wire, two iron wires about 3/16 inch thick. When I did line clearance for Southern Bell 1976-79, with Asplundh, we ran into some iron wire phone lines out in the country, and within the Charlotte city limits even. These fed a single house, called a drop. Happy Birthday ZD, look forward to reading your book. I found my old copy. It looks somewhat personalized. No autograph, but on the last page an email address. In pen, handwritten: bob@midtenn.net I assume an old address. 3. The Dharma doesn't need my help in being expounded.  |
|
|
|
Post by laughter on Aug 27, 2023 0:06:57 GMT -5
.. just gonna' leave this here .. That looks brown, it's not old enough. All phones way back then were black. And there were no area codes. To phone long distance you had to go through an operator. But a nice try. (And I'm only 71). His phone as a kid would have been served by iron wire, two iron wires about 3/16 inch thick. When I did line clearance for Southern Bell 1976-79, with Asplundh, we ran into some iron wire phone lines out in the country, and within the Charlotte city limits even. These fed a single house, called a drop. Happy Birthday ZD, look forward to reading your book. I found my old copy. It looks somewhat personalized. No autograph, but on the last page an email address. In pen, handwritten: bob@midtenn.net I assume an old address. 3. The Dharma doesn't need my help in being expounded. It happened in 1984! |
|
|
|
Post by laughter on Sept 3, 2023 9:13:37 GMT -5
On August 19 I talked to Rick Archer at batgap.com, and that discussion should appear shortly. Hopefully it's interesting, but since I haven't seen it, I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that people will find it so. It was fun to find out that Rick also loves skiing and hiking in wilderness areas as much as I do, and ironically he's climbed the same trail up Mt. Audubon where my spiritual search came to an end, and he has also summited many of the same mountains I have (including Long's Peak). Quite the elevated discussion! Rick had some interesting and in a few instances even funny reactions, like at 58:02 and 121:03, there were many of these moments of cool mirth, and lots of classic Bob on THIS and ATA. Don't know if it was edited but the early story about recognizing the building after you first started counting breaths .. I always liked the one about noticing how the squirrels that you thought had all been hunted down were still around. There were many interesting moments that could serve as jumping off points for threads, and I might come back to that. One of these that I'll put right here is your explanation of the "-T" in "ATA-T". "are thoughts actual?" .. considering this, the first thing that comes to mind is some more of that serious mirth. But, if I muster up enough of a straight face for a moment, what I would have said to the guy was this: it is undeniable that the thought is happening. There is thinking. But, no, thoughts are not actual beyond that the process happens, and is happening in the moment. There is a potential existential insight into thinking. Thoughts have no substance, and they can be thought of (pun intended) as sourced from entirely within your own mind. That last point implicates the existential question : "what is the source of thoughts?", that is as pure a form of the question that one can encounter, but from a personal perspective, the implication to the nature of thought is clear: they are empty. In that emptiness, in the space absent thought, is infinity. Rick's reference to Blake was inspirational. So I would have answered that no, thoughts are not actual, and also they have the potential to obscure. |
|
|
|
Post by zendancer on Sept 3, 2023 17:52:33 GMT -5
Laughter: Good point! Thoughts happen but they aren't actual in the same sense as a tree. Nevertheless, at the time I got asked that question it dawned on me that I could use the term "-T" (minus thoughts) to make a distinction between mindfulness (+T) and what I was suggesting. People have made the criticism that ignoring thoughts in favor of direct sensory perception isn't remaining open to "all that is" which would include thoughts and feelings. My POV was, "Hey, I spent 20 years thinking about this stuff without finding a single answer, so thinking didn't do much good."
It was only recently that I noticed the line in the Gospel of Thomas where Jesus told his disciples, "The Kingdom is both inside of you and it is outside of you," and that statement suggested that it doesn't matter which direction one looks--eventually the inside and outside are both seen to be products of cognition and everything collapses into E's "little greasy spot" with no discernible boundary between the two. It's pretty funny in retrospect.
|
|
|
|
Post by inavalan on Sept 3, 2023 20:29:24 GMT -5
Gospel of Thomas: - (3) Jesus said:
“If your leaders say to you, ‘Look the Kingdom is in the sky!’
then the birds of the sky will be there before you.
If they say to you, ‘It’s in the Sea,’
then the fish will be there before you.
Rather, the kingdom is inside of you and outside of you."
|
|
|
|
Post by Reefs on Sept 4, 2023 0:05:39 GMT -5
On August 19 I talked to Rick Archer at batgap.com, and that discussion should appear shortly. Hopefully it's interesting, but since I haven't seen it, I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that people will find it so. It was fun to find out that Rick also loves skiing and hiking in wilderness areas as much as I do, and ironically he's climbed the same trail up Mt. Audubon where my spiritual search came to an end, and he has also summited many of the same mountains I have (including Long's Peak). Quite the elevated discussion! That was really enjoyable to watch! Thanks for posting! zen people = spiritual athletes |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2023 0:46:48 GMT -5
On August 19 I talked to Rick Archer at batgap.com, and that discussion should appear shortly. Hopefully it's interesting, but since I haven't seen it, I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that people will find it so. It was fun to find out that Rick also loves skiing and hiking in wilderness areas as much as I do, and ironically he's climbed the same trail up Mt. Audubon where my spiritual search came to an end, and he has also summited many of the same mountains I have (including Long's Peak). Quite the elevated discussion! Rick had some interesting and in a few instances even funny reactions, like at 58:02 and 121:03, there were many of these moments of cool mirth, and lots of classic Bob on THIS and ATA. Don't know if it was edited but the early story about recognizing the building after you first started counting breaths .. I always liked the one about noticing how the squirrels that you thought had all been hunted down were still around. There were many interesting moments that could serve as jumping off points for threads, and I might come back to that. One of these that I'll put right here is your explanation of the "-T" in "ATA-T". "are thoughts actual?" .. considering this, the first thing that comes to mind is some more of that serious mirth. But, if I muster up enough of a straight face for a moment, what I would have said to the guy was this: it is undeniable that the thought is happening. There is thinking. But, no, thoughts are not actual beyond that the process happens, and is happening in the moment. There is a potential existential insight into thinking. Thoughts have no substance, and they can be thought of (pun intended) as sourced from entirely within your own mind. That last point implicates the existential question : "what is the source of thoughts?", that is as pure a form of the question that one can encounter, but from a personal perspective, the implication to the nature of thought is clear: they are empty. In that emptiness, in the space absent thought, is infinity. Rick's reference to Blake was inspirational. So I would have answered that no, thoughts are not actual, and also they have the potential to obscure. Oh that's zendancer! Good to see you zendancer! |
|
|
|
Post by laughter on Sept 4, 2023 4:04:26 GMT -5
Laughter: Good point! Thoughts happen but they aren't actual in the same sense as a tree. Nevertheless, at the time I got asked that question it dawned on me that I could use the term "-T" (minus thoughts) to make a distinction between mindfulness (+T) and what I was suggesting. People have made the criticism that ignoring thoughts in favor of direct sensory perception isn't remaining open to "all that is" which would include thoughts and feelings. My POV was, "Hey, I spent 20 years thinking about this stuff without finding a single answer, so thinking didn't do much good." It was only recently that I noticed the line in the Gospel of Thomas where Jesus told his disciples, "The Kingdom is both inside of you and it is outside of you," and that statement suggested that it doesn't matter which direction one looks--eventually the inside and outside are both seen to be products of cognition and everything collapses into E's "little greasy spot" with no discernible boundary between the two. It's pretty funny in retrospect. Chuckled about the 20 years. .. and yes, that notion about the direction of attention, it's directly applicable to what you explained to Rick about the difference between sitting (quiescent) and walking (active) meditation. Regardless of your reason for adding it, "-T", is an excellent emphasis in terms of the doing of the shifting. From my own experience with these activities, I'd say that the critics about "remaining open" have a point, but it's a two-sided coin. Best just to do it instead! |
|
|
|
Post by Damian3 on Sept 18, 2023 16:39:50 GMT -5
Happy belated birthday Bob.
Thanks so much for your help.
I loved the interview with Rick. There was still so much more he could have asked you about.
I hope you are well. Damian
|
|
