Winter's Discontent Lingering...

 Now is  the winter of our discontent

made glorious summer by this sun of York;

...

Why, I,in this weak piping time of peace

have no delight to pass away the time

Shakespeare, Richard III, spoken by Gloucester

Unlike Gloucester and the characters he is speaking about I am not deformed, I have not seen great sorrow in war. I have not just stepped off the battle field to rejoice in a time of peace.  Yet, winter has passed and  summer is chrirping and shining all around me...it is a time to rejoice and laugh and play ... but  I feel winter's discontent lingering. I am having a challenging time just settling into this "discontent" lately.  I know why.  I have samskaras emerging and I have been asking and praying for their release. Yet, there is a sense of agitation as they come up and the world around me crumbles just a tiny bit more. There is a sense of not doing enough in some areas and of doing too much in others. This task that I did take on...the book...has been taking up my time and I seem to be losing my way with it a bit...getting attached perhaps to the fruits of action? ...I don't know.  I see on the calender it is mid August and I ask, "What have I done besides work on this thing my mind still tells me I had no business writing?"  The house around me is a mess...never did the deep cleaning I told myself I would do , "once this book is done."  Never got the other books out as I was intending to do, "once this book is done"; never put in that extra bit of oompf in my attempt to help my children...(the book was an easier challenge), so I told myself I will give it the old college try  "once this book is done."  I never focused on my own health rejuvenating routine. I told myself I am going to take two weeks to juice, increase cardio, and see if I can drop pounds and cholesterol..."once this book is done". Now I want the book done!! I want it out there helping in anyway it can. I feel my intention for it  was pure, the effort was exactly what I needed...I enjoyed most of the process creating...though there were moments I got lost in ego frustration...it was good and well worth the time and effort. But lately I find myself going to it to escape, only to realize the door is rusted shut and I cant get out . :) Such is the way when we seek anything outside ourselves as the solvent for our interior friction.  There really no open escape hatch. The only way out is through!

 I am working on the audio component necessary to make it a read along book. (Even if I cannot combine the two in one interactive book...I decided I will create an audio book to act as an audio companion for an e book, and a a hard copy book), Now...that is a lot of book and a lot of work. I have the voice and speaking ability...I just don't have the  equipment.  My sound proof booth is a walk in closet and even there...despite my signs and my pleads for people not to come into the room when I am recording...they do...and I have to record again and again and again. Sigh! That is a complaint!! lol I am starting to sound  like Gloucester on his self pity binge, aren't I?  

I have, however, been making it a point to sit with this interior friction more and more...to allow it...to experience it and to wish feverently for it to arise and come out of me once and for all. I know when it is gone and I am clean and pure inside...it won't matter what I do or don't do, what I am spending my time on and what I am not.  It won't matter if it is winter or spring....I will be okay...Life will be okay...all will be okay. 

 I wake up from each sitting with a few tears in my eyes but not the release that is needed.  Oh well, even that I accept as a part of my karmic path. I am still very much committed to healing through yoga.

It is all good! 

Religion Meant to Help Us Conquer the Inner Man

 It is good and very grand to conquer external nature, but grander still to conquer our internal nature. It is grand and good to know the laws that govern the stars and planets; it is infinitely grander and better still to know the laws that govern the passions, the feelings, the will, of mankind. This conquering of the inner man, understanding the secrets of the subtle workings that are within the human mind, and knowing its wonderful secrets, belong entirely to religion.

Vivekananda, Complete Works, 2-5 Jnana-Yoga

Religion is meant to help us heal, purify. understand and over come the limitations of the human mind. It is there to help us understand God...the Source of Consciousness.  We often get it all wrong and distort and twist it so it helps us conquer everything out there without taking ownership of the inner world.   We mix up and cling to this idea of God. 

Then there is the yogi who knows, God alone is real.

Hmm! 

Chit Shakti. Consciousness and energy emanate from the same Source and that is God

Michael Singer

You were created so God could experience creation through you! Self-realization is the greatest connection with God.

 All is well.

Michael A. Singer ( August 12, 2024) God: From Belief to Realization. https://tou.org/talks/

The Habit of Discontent

 Discontent, blaming, complaining, self pity cannot serve as a good foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make. 

Eckhart tolle

Discontent  is a habit.  It is a habit we have been conditioned to feed. I can attest to that by examining my own mind, and upon observing the discontent of others around me. I hear the resounding, "There is something missing; there is something not right!  I must seek, seek, seek, I must do what I can to change it.  Others and Life  must do and be exactly the way I need them to be as to not aggravate this state of discontent in me ! If I am discontented there must be a reason for it...you, it, they, the world is not behaving and is to blame." 

Who is discontented? Habit mind, of course, And what is habit mind?  Eckhart Tolle describes it as, patterns of your mind that are a part of your personality. It is the ego, the conceptual identity.  A yogi may describe it as the samskara layer of self ( with a lower case 's') but it isn't who you are...not at all. 

There exists in every human being the possibility of realizing there is in you the potential of a deeper level of consciousness...

How do we get there, according to Tolle? The present moment, of course. 

All there ever is in this moment, is the present moment...we experience life through it...acknowledgment of the present moment is absolutely vital....when you do the habits of you personality gradually subside. (paraphrased)

[This is]  living in  alignment with the "isness" of now. This means the thinking mind slows down and you acknowledge the now and whatever arises in the now, including... and especially the samll things in the present moment...just steps as you walk, the handling of the object, making a cup of tea,... ackknowledge the aliveness of everything ...

We have lost that connectedness with the present moment, with the "isness" of now because we have identified with a hungry ego that  is constantly trying to feed its discontent.

We are not the ego, it is just something we, as the consciousness that underlies the manifestation of everything we observe, is observing. 

We do not need to be lost in this habit. We can instead find peace in the here and now.  We can recognize who we are at teh deepest level. 

All is well. 

Eckhart Tolle (August 11, 2024) This is why you are discontent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OumC2xYq8Mk&t=3s

Eckhart Tolle (August , 2024) 

...

Are You Evolving?

You can help evolution by participating in it.

and

You can get better by practicing evolution.

The two quotes above are from Michael A. Singer's podcast centered around this well heard line, Earth is  a place where souls are sent to evolve.

What is evolution and what is a soul? 

When we speak about evolution in this way, we are not speaking of the Darwinian survival of the  fittest and physical adaptation...we are talking about a deeper more lasting evolution that goes beyond body and mind.  We are talking about consciousness, the essence of who we are at the deepest level, which is the soul. Evolution is a pulling away from false identity and  remembering who and what we are.  It is all about being able to fall back from the distractions of the external and internal (thoughts and emotions) world and learning to stay in the seat of consciousness.  I see it as waking up from  a fog of amnesia or dementia  and saying, "Oh I am not that.  I am This. I never left the seat , my attention just wandered away for a moment." 

 The outside world and our mental ones have a great pull and sometimes they pull consciousness into them, so much so that consciousness gets lost and over identified with these things. It believes it is the body, mind, and all the drama the body and mind are creating and experiencing.  It forgets what and who it is and therefore,  the Seat it is sitting on. If we could stay in the Seat and simply observe what is happening 'out there' , (and in our minds and hearts) objectively, without judgement  or attachment...we would not have this false sense that we  left the Seat. 

So the goal of the soul's evolution then, is to bring its attention  back to Itself sitting on the Seat. It is about realizing it isn't what it thought it was as "little me". Next, it is about once again seeing Itself as that light of  consciousness that was shining on the "little me", not the little me.  It is about being aware that we are awareness.

If we could experience Life from a grounded and aware position on the Seat of Consciousness, we would be able to handle all of it.  There would be no more resisting, preferring, selecting, or avoiding. We would simply be able to watch and experience all that was gong down in front of and inside of "this human", enjoying it all. The soul is that which never leaves the  Seat of Consciousness. The full experience of being in that Seat is evolution.

We are here on Earth to participate fully in this evolutionary dance...to practice the steps, which will involve just as much goofing up as it will getting it right, until we remember who and where we are.

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer ( August 11, 2024) Evolution: The Ability to Handle Reality

Keeping the Door Open

 It is not your task to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. 

Rumi

If you don't close the door it stays open...you have the ability to "not close" that door. 

I think I can say now that most (or at least half) of the stuff I encounter passes through...even big things.  Maybe, it is even easier for the big things to pass through than some of those smaller ones I still get all tangled up in.

We need to stop closing the door to new stuff. We need to commit to keeping the door open.

Then we use our will to allow the samskara to come up as we accept the pain that comes with it. Let's not push it back down and the big stored stuff will go on its own.  

I am going to work everyday to let go of these blockages. 

That's a good mantra.

All is well.

Michael A. Singer ( August 8,2024)Traanscending the Cause of Preference https://tou.org/talks/

Just Rambling

 

 

A beam of light 

captured in a glass,

confined to

a tiny vessel,

 it shines 

on a small slither of world.

Creating shadows,

it flickers and ducks

when each breeze of Life 

passes through.

Rather than a ray 

of glorious eternal light,

 it is now

 just a dim lamp

fearing that it will 

be blown out

at any time. 

Absolutely no connection or thougt...just came out

I had a preference

and there was commotion...

I felt the need to do.

I took a breath

and stilled myself

and asked the question "Who?"

I jotted down those lines as I was listening to Michael Singer's podcast from yesterday this morning. I woke up thinking about all the writing projects I meant to fnish this summer...the book I just finished was just one project!! I wrote two other books this year related to my tutoring experience and writing...and I promised myself I would have them revised, edited and sent out.  Did I? Nope. I wanted a chap book out there. Nope!  I really wanted to work on the novel I decided to revamp ...a very meaningful project and what I assume will allow for a lot of samskara release in me.  So many ideas are coming to mind on how I can rework it...had such an inspiration this morning.  Yet, I put all the other " writing work" above it.  Hmm! 

Anyway...just rambling.  Have a yoga class in a few...going to leave you with my jumbled thoughts. ( ir what some may call, "Flight of ideas".)

All good.

Michael A. Singer ( August 10, 2024) Transcending the Cause of Preference. https://tou.org/talks/

All is well 

Listen

 Just listen and allow yourself to be breathed.

Offering a very imperfect awareness video below. I mean, I as the human who created it and "starred" in it (with the supporting actor role going to a birthday bouquet I received lol) am judging it as imperfect and flawed ...but the message isn't. It is a helpful practice should you care to get past the apparent imperfections.

All is well!

The Zest Of Creating Things New

 

True happiness comes from the joy of deed well done, the zest of creating things new.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Two Breaths Away From Done

I am almost done a four month writing project and I am happy to be so! I will also miss the zest I experienced while I was creating.  I love creating!!

I am so close to finishing this book, this learning package, this project...whatever you want to call what I have been so dilligently working on since May. Yesterday I forced myself to sit to get all the writing and exercises that were left  done! And at midnight I walked away.  I have to fix the conclusion I wrote in my blurry eyed desperation to finish. Not good-lol I just need another run through, another tweak here or there (of course the tweaking can get a little cra-cra...one change leading to another and another and another lol.) I don't want that.  I want this to be done.  It is time. 

 I also have to tidy up my reference list which is very, very long lol and I am not even sure what format to use: APA, MLA, or just the rough citation style I use here. Does it really matter, I ask myself.  Is it going to go anywhere but here?  I mean I did get referred to an agency that might need this stuff from one of the university presses I sent it to. It is being reviewed.  Of course, since I sent that proposal I made a 100 little improvements and discovered another 100 little areas that were less than perfect,  on what I sent, as is the way but man...I want it done and placed. I  just want to wrap up this little bundle in a nice pretty blanket, make sure it is clean, well fed, and happy as I drop it off at a new home that will look after it... where it will grow and be of  good use to the world. Then I can say, "My work is done!" 

A Rejection Poked Samskara

I got a rejection today as I am in the midst of finishing up.  Not from the agency, but from  another university press I sent a proposal to.  I am so used to rejections and know the insignificance of each rejection in terms of the impersonal nature of them. I do know that it often has little to do with the offering or the writer but a matter of lining up exactly with the expectations and the needs of that press at the exact time those needs emerge. Statistically, there is a very low probability of that...especially with a small press that only puts out a few publicatons a year. And a university press?  They need the initials behind the name.  Though I know all that and know how silly it is to personalize a rejection,  there is still a tiny, weeney little bit of me asking "Am I not a good enough writer? Is my offering not good enough? I should have  my masters and a PhD before I try to publish such a thing? How silly it was for me to put all this energy into this...me of all people. Who did I think I was?" 

Though it was a weak and tiny, little voice saying all that, one I just want to smile at and pat on the head, I heard it. It triggered...well gently poked...that samskara of "not enough" in me, making it growl a little bit before rolling over. Sigh! Just  a little poke but I felt it. Just a little growl and a little roll but I heard and felt it. I feel some doubt about whether or not I should expect publication.

The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt.

Sylvia Plath

I am just glad that the self-doubt didn't surface fully  until it was time to make visible what was  created and not so much during the process itself. 

The Ultimate Fruit

  I don't want to push that feeling experience  back down.  I would love for that samskara to wake up completely, come up roaring in protest if that is required to push its way  to the surface ...be felt and experienced fully...and then pack its bags and leave.  That would be the ultimate fruit of this action if there were to be any. 

Creativity and Service: Not About Me

I told myself when I began, and I meant it, "This is not about me but what I can give.  I am not going to be attached to the fruits of this action, to the outcome.  I am just going to follow this pull I have to offer something, to write and work on this project everyday, just enjoying the process of creating something of value,  and what ever happens happens." 

The Zest of Creating

And it was a lovely process with a selfless intention. This human got something from it too. I felt purpose and meaning.  I love to learn and I learned so very much.  I love to teach and I enjoyed the process of teaching...even if I never have a student in this proverbial classroom. :) I love to write and I wrote. So, as it all comes to an end...and the finished product sits in front of me... I need to stay detached from whatever happens with this that was created. It is not about me. It just came through this body and mind. I enjoyed being the conduit. It was fun. It is all good.

Making it Visible?

I am kind of inspired by a line from Oprah Winfrey

Make visible, what without you, might perhaps  never have been seen.

I will make it visible.  Maybe there is something here that will benifit many. I would like to think so.  Regardless of what happens, I am glad I was open to that little pull that said "Write this book. Allow it to be seen."  I am glad I could relax and be the perfect conduit for it to come through

Hmm! All is well. 

Progress Report

 Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.

Oscar Wilde

My learning journey began with discontent. Did yours?

As an educator for many years, checking progress at frequent intervals a long the learning journey, became something I naturally did and do. I find myself checking my own progress every now and again as I learn in this Earth school where souls come to evolve. 

What I am checking for is how I am progressing away from the personal and into the impersonal. Am I getting anywhere there? Yes! 

Michael Singer gave an example of what the impersonal part of us does  when it comes across an accident. A few years ago, D. and I were travelling behind someone who was obviously impaired, driving and swerving through traffic wicked fast. Their truck literally went off the gravel on the side of the rode and high  into the air for quite a distance, over an embankment,  hit a tree, and nosedived to the ground landing on the hood.  As soon as it landed I was out of our car...D. didn't even have time to stop the car, and running toward the scene. Without fear, or any thought at all really, I was on top of the  car attempting to get to the driver. A truck driver going the opposite direction had stopped and before I knew it he was pulling me out of the smoking car so he could shut of the ignition before the thing caught on fire. ( I never thought...my only focus was on getting to the driver). I tended to him until the ambulance arrived. He miraculously survived. When they were ready to take him, and after I was questioned by police, I walked away and a bystander said to me..."maybe you should wash off some of that blood".  I looked down and I was covered ...my new blouse was ruined...It was then that I kind of came too. I never once thought of HIV or Hep during the experience...like I said, I never thought of much. Infact, I, as this me,  wasn't there.  

Later someone commented about my experience as an emergency room nurse kicking in. I knew that wasn't completely the case either. Though the skills I learnt will always be with me, I hadn't worked in that way for decades and I was never a great ER nurse lol...always too anxious about what might come through the doors or what the doctors might say. Though I was pretty smart, this neurotic person I was then, was always in the way of me doing the job I was more than capable of doing. 

After years of yoga and internal healing there I was responding in the purest of ways to a life event that had unfolded in front of me. There was no neurotic, selfish little me in the way. There was no personal self.  It was completely impersonal.  To this day I always go "Wow!" when I think of that. Not because I as a person did something great, brave  and heroic...I didn't...not at all..Tthis "me" did nothing because there was no person called "me" there. 

I could also say I am progressing in my detachment more and more from the personal self in my relationships.  I do not expect others to make me happy...not at all. Sometimes, I am happier around others, especially, my grandchildren  and sometimes, I find myself uneasy around others but I do know that no one out there is responsible for that happiness or lack of. People can still hit my buttons but I know fully that is only because I have yet to get rid of all my buttons.  I used to be a "romantic" and now I see that as something reserved for my favorite poets who wrote during the romantic era. The love I seek is much deeper and it isn't going to come from outside of me. My relating to others has changed dramatically.

That being said, though I feel great compassion for others I am quite detached from drama...to the point  that when people come to me with their personal woes...that seem so trivial and insignificant to me now...I do not respond in the way they want me to.  I feel great love and compassion, concern for them as they suffer but I also see the unecessity of it. I am often accused of now being "cold and detached". I usually reply by saying," You are half right. I am detached...but I am feeling warm and detached." That usually doesn't go over very good. 

I do find myself in the dharma flow more.  I just want to help and serve in a significant way before my time in this life ends. I really do not want it to be about "me" anymore.  I see how this "me" is simply in the way of my peace and the world's peace.

Though I am advancing,  I do see though that I am not a true depersonalized yogi at this point.  I still have some attachments.  I still have a big fat nosiy ego chirping away in my ear. :) Albeit, much less than ever before, I still feel challenged and pulled down into the muck and mire of human drama from time to time.  I also know I still have a lot of samskara to get out of this vessel so I can become as pure as I hope to be. I have a ways to go yet....but I am getting there.  I am getting there.

My progress report for this final term review might say something to the effect,

"This human is progressing nicely on her learning journey. She has accomplished many of the tasks put before her as part of the curriculum.  Still needs to improve in certain areas...must be reminded to work on this, that, and the other thing.  But she is a keen and motivated student with a genuine desire to learn. For that reason, she is a pleasure to have in the classroom.  Wishing her all the best on the next lag of her journey.  Keep up the good work!!"

Of course, the teacher won't spoil the mood by mentioning that I have been in third grade for a few decades lol

What might your progress report look like at this point? Kind of neat to think about it, isn't it?

All is well! 

Micahel A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( August 5, 2024) Letting Go-Bridging the Gap Between Personal and Impersonal.https://tou.org/talks/

The State of "I Am" and the "Directionless Direction"

 Ego seeks more and fears to be less.

Eckhart Tolle

As I observe the experience this human is having trying to adjust to the realization that nothing out there is going to give this being that I am, (what  ego  erroneously thinks), that "It" needs, I came across these videos. As I caught myself stopping, or at least greatly slowing down, the adventure and "more"  seeking this human has done most of its life;  and then  feeling  lost without the ups and downs it has become so used to, a little "bored" and "less than", maybe,  with the  the experience of neutral...these videos seemed to reach out to grab my attention. 

I was glad, first of all, to discover that this "thinking there should be more" is a common experience at this part of the waking up process. That an adjustment is happening.

You see, I thought there was something wrong with me for not caring so much to go out and look for experiences this summer. (We usually make summers all about seeking new experiences: travelling, exploring, kayaking around the Fundy rocks, hiking, repelling down cliffs, zip lining, horse back riding, tenting, and golfing  different greens throughout the province etc.). I also thought there was something wrong with me for where I seem to be emotionally: not feeling overly happy or overly sad... in the neutral zone between those emotions. I thought there was something wrong with me for thinking that what I am doing here and now...with the writing, the yoga,  walking around the yard and the people in my immediate environment (and no offense I could not care who I was with right now)...was enough. What I do is not that important to me anymore...and I have been questioning if that was unhealthy. We got asked to go on a short trip with D.'s family and I found myself thinking, whereas I would have jumped at the opportunity for any summer adventure before, " Why would I go? I know I won't find anything on that trip that I can't find right here and now." I questioned again, "Is there something wrong with me?" 

Then, I came across these videos, and was immediately comforted by the shared truth that it was ego who was questioning, seeking more, and fearing less...not who I am. It was ego that wanted all those adventures. It was ego that compares itself to others doing more, having more, looking like more...and says, "I am not enough...do something!"  It is ego that is missing the ups and downs of Life's emotional Roller coaster ride and that is finding it hard to settle into this state of neutrality.  Ego likes to "react" to Life and when I don't, it feels unsettled.

Hmm!

I knew deep within me, as confirmed by these videos, that it is okay to be in this state of neutrality...more than okay.  And I don't have to go out and seek more to attempt to appease an ego that will never be appeased or to redeem an ego that will never be redeemed enough.  It is ego, not being, that is uncomfortable with this state of neutrality.

But ego is just a self concept, isn't it?  It is just an "idea" I have (or had) of who Iam. It isn't who I am, is it? I do not have to add anymore to this mental construct of who I erroneously think I am, do I? 

"What is", is enough!

"I am"...the experience of true being...is more than okay with peaceful neutrality ...which is equanimity...because that is what it is.

Rupert Spira said to another questioning if their state of neutrality was enough in the below video, somewhat paraphrased:

No objective experience can give you what you truly want. Realizing this truth can lead to despair...but there is another directionless direction where you can find the peace you are looking for...

Just say to self, "I am" ...that is your experience...don't add to it...just, "I am"...know the experience of being...if you are certain of that "I am" than you are being...

Go into the experience of being...that is the peace [that passes all understanding].  ..that is the Kingdom of Heaven you are looking for.

Hmm! Well, it got me thinking. What about you?

All is Well.

Rupert Spira (July, 2024 ) "Why Is Simply Being Not Enough for Me?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjRnrPCT-M8

Eckhart Tolle ( August 4, 2024) " Eckhart Tolle on Identity: Who Are You Really?"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S2PLRGOx3g

Eckhart Tolle ( August 2, 2024) How to appreciate your life without getting attached. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IRUMpPm3iI

Surrendering to the River

Every energy inside you is meant to go to God...surrender to the energy flow.

Michael A. Singer

I once white watered the Penobscot with some friends (and a guide). In our instructional session before hitting the big water (and it was big...class 5 rapids) the guide instructed, "If by chance you fall in, just lay back with your feet up and let the waters take you. Do not fight or struggle against the current.  The more relaxed you are the less likely you will be to get hurt."

I see that now as a metaphor for Life.  The river is Life...taking us to the ocean.  It is the perfect Shakti flow taking us to Self, God, the Source of everything.  ( I truly do not care what you call it.)The class five rapids we sometimes travel down are what Singer refers to as "the commotion of emotion"...it is a mixed up flow as the energy destined for the Source gets snagged on rocks and other things creating a disturbance in that intended peaceful flow.  It is the effect of samskaras! We get caught up in all our stored stuffed as we naturally proceed to the Ocean. We forget where we are heading and  fall into the drama. We struggle against it; we resist it; we fight the waves and we get pretty beat up as we do. We suffer.  If we learn to relax, however, and do exactly as the guide instructed us to on that day decades ago, we will get to where we are going. The problem isn't the river; it is our resistance to it. Lay back, put your feet up, and surrender to the River of Life.

Hmm! Something to think about. 

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( August 4, 2024) Understanding Supression, Expresson, and Transmutation. https://tou.org/talks/

Detachment

 He who would be serene and pure, needs but one thing, detachment. 

Meister Eckhart

I went to bed thinking about detachment; I woke up thinking about detachment; and I meditated with this idea of "detaching" in mind.  Then I came to the listening part of my practice and what did I stumble upon but a video from Eckhart Tolle on...you guessed it!... detachment. lol.

Whatever it is that I am experiencing these days is unfamiliar to me.  I am waiting for the day when that sense of walking on unstable ground disappears.  I spent most of my life being pulled into the vortex of drama my mind creates.  Now, I am detached in a way I never was before...in a way I never dreamed of being detached. This novel experience  is a little unsteady. I am still very much in this world, moving around, "doing" things etc., but I don't seem to be attached to anything I do. I am not attached to this life...if that makes sense.  I definitely do not want it to end any time soon, but I know I would be okay if it did??  I am by no means immersed into the realm of sat chit ananda, feeling peace and joy, and bliss...all the time. In fact, I am not overly happy. At the same time I am not depressed.  I find moments of great peace over the simplest of things. I am consistently grateful, and I am being pulled down into the muck and mire of human drama less and less.  I appreciate nature, art, science, literature much more than I ever did. Still there is this neutrality to my observing and experiencing now. It doesn't bore me.  It gives me peace.  I guess, this is what the Buddha referred to as equanimity. 

In this state, I have no "desire" to do anything more than what I am doing.  This summer sitting here working on this book ego constantly reminds me I have no business writing, getting out to the yard to sit amongst the trees and the birds, to spend a day a week  completely absorbed by my  three grandchildren, to practice yoga daily: hatha (my classes and my individual practice), kriya (every morning I follow Yogananda's directions because I so want to free myself from these samskara blockages within me), jnana/bhakti ( they kind of go together for me as I listen, read, study, and write about what I am learning) and mostly karma yoga which is becoming a natural part of my life now....is enough. My life as it is right now, as boring as it may appear to others, is enough. 

I don't think about doing more...I don't seek to do more.  I have such little FOMA as I hear of others doing more.  This that I do is enough because this who I am as I do is more than enough.   I really get it now that nothing 'out there' is going to give me anymore than I already have.  

I am asked, "Do you want to go golfing?" and though I like golfing, I hear myself saying..."Oh I don't know...maybe someday."  It is not that I lost interest in golfing...I just lost this false idea that mastering the skill of golf  is going to give me that little extra something I thought I needed. It won't. The same with trips away, eating in  restaurants, going on adventures...I am not amiss to doing any of these things but I am somewhat detached to the doing of them.  It is like a 'take it or a leave it' scenario for me.

 When it comes to people...I am detached.  It isn't that I love the people in my life any less...I just seem to need them less and I know they don't need me in the way their mind's are telling them they need me. I don't need them to need me.  I am truly wanting them to realize they do not need me as much as they think they do. I have no false ideations that they are "mine", and  there to serve me in some way anymore. I also don't own their problems.  I mean, I see things so differently when they are sharing their problems with me...I see the bigger picture and I am not pulled in to the drama near as much as I used to be.  I do feel the pain but I am not lost in it. I see...truly see... that others are not able to give me anything that I don't already have inside me so I cling to no one! I see that I cannot give them anything other than what they already have inside them. I also see that they do not have the power to pull me down unless I jump into their drama.  I don't jump.  

I am much less attached to "things" too. Grateful I have a roof over my head, but I do little to make this house appear a certain way to appease others. I feel less and less ashamed of this appearance of " having less" that is obvious around me now.  I don't have a car.  For the longest time I heard myself and others saying, "Oh you need a car.  Women your age need a car. Not only is it a sign of your social status, but you need something to get you places.  You cannot depend on others to drive you everywhere." I am really not missing a car and don't seem to care if I ever get one.

Less and less attached to what I am writing... I am finding peace in the realization that I will probably never be recognized as a writer in a legitimate way.  Still, I write...I write for the sheer joy of writing and giving something back. I write more and write better even without that attachment. It is pouring out of me! Hmm. 

 I still have challenges and life events to deal with...they show up...I look deeply at them...I feel what needs to be felt...I do what needs to be done ...and then I allow it to pass through. My healing is everything to this human now because I see it...I truly see it as the best thing I can do for the suffering around me. And I do sense and feel the suffering in the world much more than I ever did. Being aware of and experiencing is different than being attached! 

 Just last night I watched a lovely movie on Prime, "Arthur the King" and it triggered a host of stored pet grief and other things within me.  I cried like a baby. I said, "Great...I am going to use this as a part of my practice."  I simply allowed the tears and whatever was trying to come up to come up.  I became acutely aware of the suffering of so many beings on this planet: of all species, of my loved ones, of people I didn't know. of animals, of everything.  I felt it all...not in the usual context..."how does this apply to me"...but with this realization that it all applies to "me"...and none of it applies to "me" cuz there really is no me. I felt so much tremendous sorrow for a minute that had little to do with "me". It was so pure and selfless...  from a position of detachment, I simply observed and experienced the energy of this sadness flowing through this human...until it passed through. And what was passing through was not apathy or indifference, but authentic compassion for all those who were suffering.  Now, that is detachment!

I don't know. A psychiatrist might say I was suffering from depersonalization...and though I might agree that this is a form of depersonalization...I would not deem it as a problem. Depersonalization and detachment are wonderful steps toward true healing.

All is well in my world. 

Eckhart Tolle ( August, 2024) How to Appreciate Your Life Without Getting Attached. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IRUMpPm3iI

Yoga: Controlling the Ripples of the Mind

 If you practice all the yogas you will reach a state where the mind won't disturb the consciousness.

Michael Singer

The above line spoken by Michael Singer echos Patanjali's ancient teaching:

If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience Yoga."

What are those yogas starting from the most exterior to the deepest?

• Hatha yoga
• Karma Yoga
• bhakti Yoga or Jnana
• Jnana Yoga or bhakti 
• Raja ( Samadhi)

Hatha Yoga: I have been practicing and teaching hatha yoga for many years.  It does amazing things for body and mind...increasing flexibility of both mind and body, openening up the energy channels in invisible ways and creatng a certain peace other exercise routines do not. 

Karma yoga is working for selfless service...every act you are doing can be an act of selfless service...I find myself practicing karma yoga more and more. The writing of this little book was such a sweet and unexpected expression of this yoga that took me beyond myself.  It kept me so busy, so much work, but there was so little me in it...it felt freeing.  I was not sure where it was going to go and what would happen to it as I was working on it. I was not attached to the fruits of my action. That is karma yoga.  I have yet to master karma yoga though because I realize when it comes to submitting and publishing..the "me" pops back up. Sigh!

Bhakti yoga: The yoga of the heart...or devotional yoga is sweet. It is being in love with that unseen Source beyond everything.  The more I use my mind and study as in Jnana yoga ...the more this love develops and the more it develops the less I need my mind.  Jnana yoga is using the intellect to get beyond self. Both Jnana and Bhakti seem to go together.

Raja Yoga: takes us to Samadhi, the highest yoga, which is merger with this SOurce of everything.  Though I am not actively trying to get there...I am opening and releasing this veil of "me" that is in the way more and more everyday...so who knows...maybe someday this incarnation will experience true Sat Chit Ananda. 

Regardless, if I ever get close to Samadhi or not...I do want this "me" out of the way and I guess that intention alone makes me a yogi.

What about you? Where do you fit in as a yogi? 

All is well in my world.

Michael/A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( August 1, 2024) Exploring the Paths of Yoga. https://tou.org/talks/

Stepping Back

You don't have to fix the mind. You just have to take a step back and be the one who is noticing.

Michael A. Singer

If you have spent any time at all in the "labatory of soul research" as Yoganada referred to meditation and inner contemplation you have come to see just how cra-cra the personal mind can be.  It is like a manic street performer, screaming for our attention, "Over here!  Over here!  Look  what I am doing over here!" and man we go...we use this amazing mind to follow the crazy everywhere it takes us. We focus on this tiny spec of "me", which is only a concept, right?, at the  exclusion of all the other things we could be using this mind to focus on. Then when we do not like what we see, we say, "Hey mind!  Fix this." We ask a very unstable and disturbed mind to fix  the mind.  Huh? We end up creating  an even  more neurotic and unstable mind when we do that.  

We do not have to fix the mind! 

What we have to do is step back and away from the crazy and observe what is going on.  Step away from the mind and simply notice what it is doing. As soon as we step back and  observe...we realize we are not that which we are observing.  We realize we are not the crazy mind...we are just observing it.  We begin then to lose that attachment and overidentification with it...we become "less crazy" , we become less "me" focused.  We begin to see and experience more than what we have been narrowly focusing on all our lives.  There is freedom and liberation in that.  That is what yoga gives us.

Singer refers to it as a trap door that sets us free.

Stepping back and becoming the objective observer of our mind is the first and biggest step to freedom.

All is well!

 Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( July 29, 2024) Stepping Back fromthe Personal Mind. https://tou.org/talks/

On Tip Toes

 

On Tip Toes

On tip toes, I leave my bed

Quietly I peak around each corner

preparing  my finger-biting amygdala

for what might pop out

from the dusky shadows that linger.

I try to soothe its busy chatter

and ancient,speech pressured warnings

by promising a smooth path,

one free of demons, and villians,

and unexpected surprises,

as we tip toe along.

But the day awakens

and morning calls. 

Glorious golden reds 

and warm soothing rays

splash over this tiptoeing form.

A  melody of a thousand tiny voices

singing and giggling in perfect harmony

emerges from the silence.

And the pure, untainted 'what isness' 

of the day

invites this human, 

and this that I am,

to join its playful antics.

Oh how I am tempted 

to leap forward 

into the light and joy 

that is held out  to us 

with tiny, dimpled hands...

but ...

this human,

with its fear,ful recitations,

its life-weary psyche,

and its tip toeing body, 

heavy with the to-do list 

it drags along,

heeds the internal warnings

and pulls back.  

For some reason,

I drop my eyes 

from the early light

and  follow it,

my annoying companion,

back into the shadows,

away from the morning's 

playful invitation.

 I bury my focus instead 

into the many 'must -dos' 

this human gets busy checking off

from its never ending list.

I sigh 

and the world echoes

the  grief

of this that I am.

 © Dale-Lyn, July 2024

Detachment and Desirelessness

 Attachment is the source of all our pleasures now. We are attached to our friends, to our relatives; we are attached to our intellectual and spiritual works; we are attached to external objects, so that we gain pleasure from them. What again brings misery but this very attachment? 

Vivekananda

Singapore bots are fading away...numbers dwindling down to zero and it is all good. I always preferred the quieter and smaller social gatherings to the larger. Though I can stand in front of large crowds to speak, I don't like big  noisy parties.  I find it too stimulating.  I can teach large classes but I prefer tutoring one on one.  The energy of too many people at once gets to me....the energy of too many numbers ( even if it all just bot activity) on my stats gets to me too. 

I like to focus on people one on one. (My readership is probably one on one lol...thank you reader.) My daughter, for example, had a belated birthday celebration for me at her place yesterday and though it was very nice I would much prefer a one on one with each individual that was there.  And the gifts...so lovely and thoughtful...but I feel a little overwhelmed by them when I look around my house.  As people I care about know...I love flowers...but I look about my house now and it feels a bit like a wake. So, so beautiful...each and every flower and I am so grateful for every kind thought...I am ...but I feel overstimulated by it all.  I am not sure if it is triggering an old samskara of unworthiness and being undeserving or if it is just reminding me of how "detached" I have become. A bit of both, I guess, but leaning heavy towards detachment. I woke up this morning thinking of detachment and desirelessness.

Detachment and desirelessness?

I don't know what I want anymore?  I don't know what I truly desire? If anything.  I had people ask me what I wanted for my birthday and I sincerley said, "I don't know.  Please just don't fuss over this.  Get me nothing." So my allowing gifts and birthday celebrations was because they felt like they needed to do something...it was for them. I was very very grateful for the thoughtfulness of all...but it never felt "right". I was not attached to any of it.

There was a time in my life where I would have looked to be honored in such a way as a show of how much I was worth to others.  I would take pictures of my flowers and gifts so I could cling to them or even show ppl on social media how others were validating my worth. I see now how unsubstantial that was. It was just something that reinforced this concept I had of "little me". It also helped to prevent some samskara triggering. There were times I went without that validation and it hurt this idea of "little me" deeply.  Now that I have it in abundance...I don't...want it? I just want peace...and somehow and for some strange reason this interfered with my peace...the physical world's pleasures are somehow interfering with my peace in many more ways than a birtday recognition. 

We have to detach ourselves to earn joy. If only we had power to detach ourselves at will, there would not be any misery. That man alone will be be able to get the best of nature, who, having the power of attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach himself when he should do so. Vivekananda

I don't know what I want from this physical world anymore...if anything. Alan Watts taught that if you didn't know what you wanted this was desirelessness and meant you were on the path to enlightenment.  I am not sure I am any further ahead than anyone else lol but he also said we don't want for two reasons. You don't want because you already have it or you don't know who you are.  Hmm!  I already have what I need inside me...I do know that.  I am not sure exactly how to get it to come out from under all the junk I stuffed on top of it...but I know it is there.  And I don't know...I mean I don't know at the nonconceptual level ...who I am yet. Working on both of these things.  I also know at some deep level now that this world cannot give me what I need. I am in this world but not of it. Knowing this leaves me feeling very strange. (I can almost hear you saying...." Yeah...you are strange all right,  crazy lady?")

So what do I want? Answering that question quickly and without truly knowing if it was coming from ego or deeper, I would say "Peace...I want peace."  I want to be able to be at peace no matter what.

How do we find unconditional peace? We detach and let go. We become desireless.  So, it is taking me ( as the little me and as the deeper I)  around in one big circle, isn't it? So how, in this circle, do we go about life if we have no wants or desires except for peace?

Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly; work, but be not attached; be not caught. Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it, however  great the pangs of misery you feel if you were going to leave it....(Vivekananda: 2.1 Work and its Secret)

We give, not for the sake of return, but for the sake of giving. We cannot be attached to the fruits of our actions.  I get that too...I really do...so awkwardly and still very unsure of myself as this diminished "little me" I continue to give, expecting nothing in return. Or do I? 

It is somehow awkward to give though...like this book I felt compelled to write to help others speak English so their lives, already challenged with so much, is easier. I felt great joy writing it. I felt peace writing it.  I enjoyed the time I spent writing it and the intention and motivation behind my writing it felt pure. Yet, when it comes to passing it on ego steps in...shamer ego...to say things like, "Who do you think you are writing a book outside your skill set and then  sending it off to someone who probably doesn't even want it? " There was peace in the writing of it when the intention was giving...not so much peace in the actual giving? 

I have yet to detach from some things obviously.  Am I desiring something from this process and from what I created?  I don't know. Hmmm!

I know this also transposes into our relationships.  I know I am detaching in some strange way from others as well.  I do not love them any less...I just seem to love all more...if that makes any sense.  I do not just want to serve a selected few...I want to serve all.  Hmm! So strange...I know.

...when he did not tie his soul to any particular voice and submerged into it...then the song of the thousand voices consisted of a single word...from Siddhartha

So much to think about.

All is well. 

Herman Hess. (n.d.) Siddhartha. Amazon Edition.

Swami Vivekananda ( n.d.) Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda; (2.1 Work and Its Secret.) Kindle

Wiara/ Alan Watts ( 2023) Alan Watts-Let Go of Attachment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndbmP5C-gK8

Transmute

 To transmute energy, we must first become conscious of it.

Unknown

Imagine living in a state of perpetual bliss no matter what is happening around you.  Well, yoga,  is a practice that can take us there.

How do we transmute energy from the lower state most of us are stuck on to a higher? 

A quick guide to the transmutation of energy...bringing it up

1. recognize when energy  is down...when consciousness is staring down
2. pull back, detach, be aware you are aware
3. allow for cleansing and purification. a. start by not putting more in that will need to be cleaned up...stop reacting, resisting, supressing and repressing; b. be aware, allow, and encourage samskaras to come up and out
4. learn to handle what is going on now! "I can handle this!"
5. Kriya yoga

All is well.

What I Caught in the Intellectual Net

Great minds think a like: 

I mean I know my personal mind is not great but the One Universal Mind we all share is : )  

Let's look at the thoughts of two minds that I resonate with on the topic of there being one field, one ocean, one consciousness that we all emenate from. Let's start with Michael Singer's explanation of Yoga:

• the quantum field is that stillness from which things get agitated and make ripples and waves building the universe...
• the waves are the agitation of the ocean...but they are still the still ocean...
• matter is just somthing that enemates off the wavelets of light and sound etc
• yogis knew it was all energy thousands of years ago and science is just catching up
• the purpose of my life is evolving so I can let things eneter my consciousness and be okay with them
• God experiences God
• The world of sense pours into the yogi and leaves him as it found him...srene, content, at peace
• do your best at all times to stay seated in the seat of Self and to raise your energy...to be conscious. Breathe, and raise it up.
• The Self is not neutral...it is ecstatic...

Alan Watts, uses, the same type of analogy in his description of Zen Buddhism

• Zen is not a philosophy...not an intellectual net on which you are trying to catch the fish of reality
• in this unverse is one great energy but there is no name to attach to it...we tried God
• the basic energy in Buddhism ...suchness...tat taum aussi...one tat ...10,000 things, one suchness
• the very nature of energy is  to be like waves with troughs and crests
• you are a playing of that energy
• energy is eternal delight ( Blake)
• You're that
• to be able to drift like a cloud and flow like water is the truest goal for the soul

So not only do we see the merging of two minds but the merging of two great fields of philosophy [though we know we cannot really put "what is" into conceptual frameworks ( intellectual nets) appropriately by calling them "philosphophies"]. 

If only in my own tiny intellectual net...I love when  truths come together as one.

All is well.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( July 25, 2024) Consciousness: The Creator and the Experiencer. https://tou.org/talks/

Alan Watts/ T & H Inspiration (July, 2024) Trust the Universe-Alan Watts on Finding Zen.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBmuvR9QYLs

Evolving and Experiencing

Be comfortable Experiencing the Uncomfortable

Michael A. Singer

To begin this morning's entry I just want to shout out to Michael A. Singer for appeasing my writer's confusion a bit.  I am always going off about writing for the sake of writing while the Self in the Seat smiles and nods along and while  my ego sits in the little chair in front of it saying , "Yeah right!!! As if!!!"

...an artist expresses their being onto form and consciousness rejoices in hearing it back...the artist is their own true audience

I know the Self has something to say and do through these tapping fingers that I don't understand yet and may never understand in this lifetime, and that brings me here with the less than perfect poetry.  I do not want to give the false impression, however, that I am so evolved I have no writer's ego and I only write to express Spirit lol. I do have a big fat, super chatty ego. Big time. I get pulled down into it many, many times.

Still, I have to say that I am evolving...far, far from enlightened...but still evolving.  I am at a higher level than I was  a few years ago. I see and feel that so plainly with how Life seems to be blowing right through me a lot more than it used to.  Oh...stuff still gets snagged on the Samskara splinters that line my mind and heart...but much less than they ever did. I see it too in my approach to writing. 

That, according to Singer and the true yogi masters, is a sign of healing and evolving. I am still struggling to get out of elementary school lol...especially with my writer's ego...but I am getting there. 

I am getting more and more comfortable expereincing the uncomfortable in all avenues of my Life.

What about you?

All is well in my world.

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( July 25, 2024) Consciousness: The Creator and the Experiencer. https://tou.org/talks/

Happy Birthday to This Human I Call Me

All through Life your physical body will age. But your energy body need not age-you can keep it like it was just born.

Sadhguru.

Happy Birthday to this human I am experiencing Life through.

Does that sound a lil cra-cra or what? 

But really, I have evolved enough to know that I am not this 61 year old body, this psyche, this personal mind with all its challenges and its limited perception of the world. I am not all the "happenings" going on inside it and outside it. Then who the heck am I? 

I am the one, in here,  observing this human move around through the 61 years it moved around. I am not this shell.  I am that which gets to experience Life through this human I call me.  It is amazing from this angle...much more amazing than it is from the worm's eye view I have when I get all caught up in being this human. Truly...a much better view.

So, I am grateful ...so grateful for this human with its wrinkling skin and its greying hair; its quick and creative brain function, its ability to laugh and cry, whisper or scream...for all the experiences it had so far...the painful and the joyful...its successes and its oh so many mistakes and  failures. Man it is all so good. 

What do I want this year as a birthday gift from Life? I just want a little more shakti flowing freely through me. That means a little more cleansing and a little more peace.  That is what I want for both this "I am" and this human. Do I ever sound like a yogi, eh? 

Go figure lol.

Happy Birthday Human...thanks for getting me to this point.

All is well

Two Foundational Truths

two foundational truths....

you were born

and you are going to die

on this speck of dust

spinning around

in infinite space

It is no ordinary speck of dust

but one that sings to 

the being blown into the

space between your first breath 

and your last

with bird song and laughter

ocean wave and soothing breeze

that performs in front of you

a brilliant drama

of actors coming and going,

currtains opening

curtains closing

with a host of spell binding comedy

and tragedy  

in between

that offers you amazing art 

to see and touch and taste

around every corner

brilliant canvases 

with flowering splashes

of the most amazing purples, reds and yellows

popping up  on a background 

of abundant green that doesnt seem to end 

blues of every shade

reflect the light of

a brilliant star

93 million miles away 

and well planned  strokes

of  contrasting whites and greys

soothe the over stimulated mind

as it tries to take it all in

Oh...the tastes you can taste 

as you feed this body 

that swirls and dances you around

ripples of salty and sweet

sour and bitter

offering your tongue

and your being

a tapestry of texture to explore

And the endless smells 

that tantalize and taunt

stirring up sweet and 

not so sweet memories

stored in the recesses 

of your amazing brain

You can touch

you can hold

you can feel the essence of yourself

oozing from the pores 

of all the other beings

that pass by

as you run your fingertips

over the miracles you encounter.

This speck of dust

you were breathed into

for a blink of an eye

on eternity's clock

is your  Eden

You think you have fallen 

from this garden

but you haven't

You are just too busy staring

at your wrinkling skin

and worrying about what your neighbor 

did or didn't do, said or didnt say

focusing on how you appear 

and what others might think

you wring your hands 

while you drip a litany of complaints

into the precious air 

you claimed as your space 

 you pace back and forth

in the mental cell you created

but you don't see the Eden 

you never left

Eden has gone nowhere

the dirty veil of your resistance, 

selecting and preferring

simply hides it from you

and now 

in that tiny span 

between your birth 

and your death

instead of enjoying 

and exploring,

loving and serving

giggling with delight

you are making 

a bloody mess

of this gift 

you have been given.

Wake up! 

And see  that this speck of dust

you are spinning on

is the  Eden

you never left

 two foundational truths

you were born and 

you will die

Your last breath is coming

there is no way of preventing 

the inevitable

Wake up and 

live before you die.  

©Dale-Lyn, July, 2024

Not great but this is how she came out lol. All is well

Inspired by:

Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( July 23, 2024) Exploring Foundational Truths. https://tou.org/talks/

Beholding the Glory

"[The] Self -existent [One] has [created] the [senses as turned]...to the outer world.Those therefore who [seek] outside will never find that [which is within]. There are the few who,wanting to know the truth, turn their eyes inward and in their own souls behold the glory [of the Self]." (Katha Upanishads, II.i.1.)

Vivekananda, Complete Works, page 231, Kindle

Are you one of the few wanting to know the truth?

Michael A. Singer basically opened his podcast from yesterday (I am a day behind in my listening) with what I read before going to bed and what I heard Alan Watts speak about in my meditation this morning. This  reminded me of the teachings of Uell S. Anderson and it was like...Wow! All these teachers are coming together to point to this one truth. There is one truth in one mind and we are all that mind! 

I could see how all these teachings echoed what Vivekananda taught and his teaching came from the ancient Vedas of the East. Introducing these teachings to the close-minded West and the Christian mindset that still believed/believes the insurrection and the Holy Wars were justified, must have been such a challenge for Vivekananda and Yogananda and others.  Yet, there was such a simple truth in these teachings, as the above quote alludes to....that when one is willing to truly listen they cannot help but turn their eyes inward. 

Singer started by saying how all teachings are some how related and then he talked about how our perceptions are illusions in a sense ...only there because of our sense organs.  As part of the guided meditation I listened to today, Watts too explained how the outside world is actually inside. What we are perceiving and experiencing is just a result of sensory neurons and the interpretation made by the brain.  It is an inside game. Non-duality, what Vivekananda and Vedic teachers taught, is all about this internalization of the cosmos...the creation of all in the mind. 

I am the soul, the ever free; [I] never was bound. Time is in me, not I in time. God [as a concept...my input] was born in my mind. 

Page 231

Everything else, is not a delusion, but an illusion. We are so busy focusing on matter, we do not see Spirit. We are seeing a snake where there is only rope and reacting as such. 

We are never deluded. We always know truth, only our reading of truth is mistaken at times. You can perceive only one thing at a time. When I see the snake, the rope has vanished entirely. And when I see the rope, the mistake has vanished. It must be one thing

Both Singer and Watts shared today that consciousness, the One universal mind, gives meaning to everything. Focus on seeing the snake and you live in fear. Fovus on seeing spirit and what is beyond all matter, including all mind stuff and you see reality.  Focus on seeing the rope (or the lines on the road) and you live in peaceful neutrality. 

We need to remember that there is something very powerful within us...interpreting all this sensory information we are taking in. It is not the brain or the body doing the actual observing and experiencing. As Singer says, the mind is much higher than the brain. We are that Universal Mind.  We are not the body, the personal mind, or what it perceives. We are much greater than that and we are untouched by what is happening to "this human" out here  with its forever firing neurons. ...

Just as my soul is [to] my body, we, as it were are the bodies of God. God-souls-nature-it is one...Mind is something [which is] neither force nor matter, yet begetting force and matter all the time.  In the long run, mind is begetting all force, and that is what is meant by the universal mind, the sum total of all minds.

page 231

As if reading the book along with me, page by page, Singer goes onto say how pranayama ( breath work) is one means of anchoring us to that Universal Mind so we don't keep leaving it. This chapter I am reading in Vivekananda's great works is about pranyama. Ironically, breath was also the focus in today's meditation, again with the purpose of keeping us anchored to Universal Mind.

So we as part of the universal mind are souls here to evolve. We are going to make a lot of mistakes as we do.  We are constantly going to get pulled away from universal mind and get lost in the dramas of personal mind again and again. Instead of trampling down the self with self when we do that, we can honor and appreciate each learning opportunity that comes with our mistakes. 

Be thankful that the dumb part of your mind[personal mind] made you smarter [brought you back in a round about way to Universal Mind].

Michael Singer

Use every opportunity in life you can, to turn the eyes inward to behold the glory that is there. 

All is well! 

Uell S. Anderson (1977) Three Magic Words. Wilshire Book Company.

Michael A. Singer ( July 21, 2024) Learning to Handle Reality. https://tou.org/talks/

Swami Vivekananda ( ) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 1.4.3-1.4.21. Kindle

(I have been reading this book for years now and I am only halfway through volume one.  Can you imagine how big this book would be if it was in hardcopy? lol)

oops...just noticed I left my notes up lol

No Readers?

 No Readers

"Why do you write when 

you have no readers?  "

A writer with no readers

is better than 

a breather with no breath, 

a heart with no beat,

a being with no soul,

and a life with no joy.

For witing

is the  breathing,  

and the heart beat

of this form.

It is the song of this soul.

It is the joy in this Life

I have been given. 

The reader,  to this being, then

is no more than 

a hand holding  a mirror up

that reflects back what I am,

catching my breath

in foggy patches

to show me I am still  alive. 

If I already know what I am,

and that I am still alive,

do I really need a mirror?

No, it is not  so much a question 

of what this writer needs. 

Maybe one should ask instead:

Does the reader need 

the mirror 

this awkward and shaky 

writer's hand

holds up?  

© Dale-Lyn, July, 2024

Ooops! On another poetry bender lol.  Sometimes, it just keeps coming out of me lol. Anyway...not sure who I am apologizing to  because as the poem above suggests I have "no readers"...well I know I have a few ...thank you! 

All is well!

It is the All

 You are not bound. No one was ever bound. [The Self] is beyond. It is the all. You are the One; there are no two. God was your own reflection cast upon the screen of Maya. ...As you unfold yourself, the reflection grows [clearer]. 

Vivekananda, The Complete Works, page 231, Kindle Edition.

Another One

 

Weeding by the root. 

Fear and desire,

weeds overcrowding 

your mental garden,

have one root.

Dig it up.

Don't bother mowing over them,

burying them deeper into the earth.

They will just come up again

and again

and again

strangulating the precious

harvest

of your mind.

You will not see through 

this overgrowth

to the light that shines 

upon everything

if your gaze  is hidden 

in the busy work 

of your resistance.

You will not feel the rain 

refreshing the soil

encouraging  all 

green things to grow;

you  will not  hear  

the soothing song of breeze

nor will  you feel the touch

of its gentle fingers

if you are busy

trampling down what is.

Don't bother. 

Juust trace each prickly thing

back to its root

and pull.

Dig  up the one root

of  fear and desire

and set your garden free.

© Dale-Lyn, July 2024

Inspired by the line from the below video where Singer says, "Fear and desire have roots"...than out this came. 

All is well.

Michael A. Singer ( July 21, 2024) Growing through Fear and Desire. https://tou.org/talks/

All is well