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morning wind
through willow leaves -
September arrives

layne

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Gone are the good old romantic days with long bearded, wise
men from India.
Here we are,
expressing the same thing,
(that those wise men have never been able to say either),
having fun,
congesting our inboxes.

Love,
Mirror

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aleks: i cannot hear the silence
i am the silence
i do not feel the flame
i am reduced into


I am the paradox
the "all of the above"
I both hear and am the silence
I both feel and am the flame
I am that which is dissolving
And that which is dissolved into
And the movement of dissolution
I am the mystery and the clarity
I am suffering and I am healing
I am temporary and eternal
The false and the true
I have not been able to find
I Am Not ...

aleks: nothing which i cannot know--

Because I am all and nothing


xan


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I attended satsang with John Sherman tonight. He's been told
to speak in meetings by his teacher, Gangaji, though he says
he has nothing useful to say.

John expressed gratitude for Gangaji's "finding" him while
he was serving 18 years in federal prison, through a video
satsang-in- prisons program. He said his prison years were
a great gift because the usual supports for the mind and all
ideas about controling one's personal situation are taken
away, so mind energy itself is magnified. Whatever happens
in prison is taken very seriously, especially when there is
a spiritual focus.

John has a quiet and strong presence. I could just see him
succeeding in bank robbery. I could also see "he" has mostly
disappeared.

He told us that in the space of neither going toward
anything or away from anything, the magnificence of oneself
can be found.

Nothing has the meaning we think it has - in fact nothing
has any meaning at all. All appearances come and go in the
vastness of what is real and are manifested by it. We are
puppets, only appearing to be speaking and acting on our
own, but there is no one here to be doing anything.

John told a story of having been put in "the hole" unjustly,
some time after his awakening began, and being brought
before a review board to determine his next destiny.
Sitting there, handcuffed, guarded, condemned as worthless
scum by rigid prison authorities he had an experience of
seeing that consciousness itself was behind each of the
masks in a perfect performance. On the way back to lock-up
a guard asked him, "How can you be happy about all this?"
John said, "This silent heart is always here."

He emphasized Gangaji's teaching of uncompromising
inclusivness. The traditional teaching of neti neti - not
this, nor this, is instead "yes this, and this also".

love xan
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Meditation daily practice and periodic nudges from the
Mahayana and Advaita folks and some friends to talk to from
time to time and just share thoughts, wishes, dreams,
confusions and confessions. Now thats really cool!

--Alan
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you
...and I like most 'Beings' throughout history have remained
stuck in the Human Condition by seeking to resolve problems
instead of dissolving the cause of them. All cures are
adding to the confusion...I need to be still now and just
let the dust settle all around.

Much Love, Skye
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When the physical form has no where to go and no one in it
or outside it - what can be said then? You can't reach God
by believing, and when "the Absolute" is obsolete, who will
there be to tell the tale?

--Dan
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...the void is not void of anything; Without expanding or
contracting, an image of me is projected by nothing, into
nothing -- which remains eternally full..

--Dan

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Is there any connection between the attainment of
supernatural powers (siddhis) and Liberation (mukti)?
Enlightened enquiry alone leads to Liberation. Supernatural
powers are all illusory appearances created by the power of
maya (mayashakti).
Self-realization which is permanent is the only true
accomplishment (siddhi).
Accomplishments which appear and disappear, being the effect
of maya, cannot be real. They are accomplished with the
object of enjoying fame, pleasures, etc. They come unsought
to some persons through their karma. {Know that union with
Brahman is the real aim of all accomplishments. This is
also the state of Liberation (aikya mukti) known as union
(sayujya). }

--Ramana, contributed by Alan

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Dead and alive are terms that can only relate to perceivable
life-forms. Now one can show the mind but it can be known by
its functioning. If the functioning mind is dead or alive
is irrelevant. Air cannot be directly perceived; it can be
indirectly known when it is flowing (intensity: wind) or
carrying (quality: odor, smoke). Likewise, with the mind.
It is known by the flow of thoughts (intensity) and emotions
(quality). Between the thoughts is the supreme silence. It
will pass the threshold for recognition when thoughts leave
no echo and feelings are not kept running around (in
circles), but are allowed to rise and subside naturally. It
is that simple.

--Jan

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