- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
January 4, 2013 at 6:11 am #606122
realvalueremodelerParticipantDecisions, decisions. Life is all about making decisions, one after another. Guess with all that practice, we should be pretty good at it. But after reading some recent blog entries, we seem to struggle over making the “right” decision.
I’ve been around for awhile, 60 some years in this incarnation, and have always been interested in the big questions about life, i.e. why we’re here, what is the purpose of life and how do we achieve it, and how come I always get stuck in the slowest check-out line? I’ll also claim to have a rudimentary understanding of brain anatomy and functioning.
Here are my suggestions about making choices:
According to Landmark Education: Give up the notion that there is ever an unequivocal “right” answer to any question. Who can say what the right thing to do or not do from your unique point of view at that moment? So go ahead and make your choices, and forgive yourself for not “knowing” what may have been the perfect choice.
Neal Donald Walsh in one of his Conversations with God books relayed this advice: Ask yourself, “What would Jesus do now?” What would you do now if you were in JC’s shoes, completely filled with love and compassion for yourself and your world?
Going a little deeper, from the Bhagavad Gita, the epic saga from ancient India, Lord Krishna advised Arjuna, “Yogastah kuru karmani”. This can be translated as “Established in Being, perform action”. In other words, first become established in the underlying field of pure, bliss consciousness that resides at the basis of human thought and understanding, then perform action. When action is performed that has arisen from thought that is grounded in the supreme intelligence of natural law, the results of those actions will produce only life supporting effects, simultaneously producing the greatest benefit for the individual and his/her environment.
Philosophers, psychologists and our own intuition tell us that we are only using a small fraction of our mental potential. Our brain wave activity, as demonstrated by EEG waves, is usually as discordant as the individual orchestra members warming up for a concert. Until we bring the full potential of our brain fully “online”, we are going to have to live with mediocre decisions. We’ll need to be satisfied with the adage that “to error is human”. Our intellects like to think that they can conjure up the solution but they are always operating in the field of change and they’ve been tricked into believing that the world of our senses is the ultimate reality. They will continue to vie amongst themselves, with the hope that someday they can out “smart” the others.
I’ll leave you with one last quote from the Bhagavad Gita: Only when we are free of the three gunas, i.e. the three relative forces of creation, maintenance and dissolution, can we truly become free (to choose). My recommendation? Get beyond the three gunas. Find your vehicle to experience and stabilize that which is at the never changing, eternal level of life and the doubt and frustration will disappear. There, now you get to choose. In this new year, may all your choices bring you happiness and life’s sweetest rewards.
January 4, 2013 at 6:19 am #781704
JoBParticipanti sure hope somebody gets benefit from these posts
January 4, 2013 at 6:25 pm #781705
JanSParticipantJanuary 4, 2013 at 6:56 pm #781706
DBPMemberHe might be copying from his own writing that was posted somewhere else, but that’s not nearly as bad as plagiarizing someone else’s stuff.
The reason it’s hard for some people to connect with this style, I think, is that it’s rather vague and doesn’t seem to be related to specific events or aspects of the writer’s experience. I have sympathy for this guy because I often write in the same style.
Besides that, I welcome messages like this because they’re very positive, even if the details are kinda hazy.
January 4, 2013 at 7:12 pm #781707
SueParticipantIt actually reminds me of the spammy messages with the hyperlinks embedded in them, except this one is missing that.
January 4, 2013 at 8:58 pm #781708
realvalueremodelerParticipantDear Post Followers.
I understand that my posts do not fit the usual profile. However, my intent is to offer subject matter that is beyond that which is in the mainstream. What I’d like to share is an area of life that is, on the one hand, completely transcendental, but has the potential to alter life as never before. I realize that very few of us are interested in such seemingly pie in the sky.
But I care dearly about the quality of life on the planet. As long as I believe that I can offer some flicker of light to dispel some darkness, then you can count on me to keep busy trying to start that fire.
January 4, 2013 at 9:23 pm #781709
DBPMember–Right, but isn’t this like glibly telling people: Don’t worry. Be happy!
It works for a while, but then, so do anti-depressants. Eventually you’re going to come up against some bleak aspect of reality that just won’t budge, no matter how long you sit there grinning at it. Then what do you do?
Pssst! I know the answer to my own question, but I’m pretending I don’t, to make things more interesting.
January 4, 2013 at 9:42 pm #781710
megMemberRealvaluemodel,
Carry on. I like your posts content. Esp. that there are no right answers.
No one is in charge of anything… really no one is in charge of anything, especially of ideas. Every idea on the planet – every so-called truth – just a product of Human Imagination. As Ben Smythe says, Every one of us, every animal on this Island, is a unique, one of a kind Mutation. Nature NEVER makes copies.
January 4, 2013 at 10:59 pm #781711
megMemberDBP, I know you have the answer already, but I can’t resist ;)
Good reality, Bad reality – isn’t it all just one Single Reality?
On this Island, amidst your kin the animals, you are born (or hatched)- HOORAY! Then you die – BOO HOO! It is ALL one reality. It is hideous and glorious, at once.
When facing a bleak aspect of this one Reality I’m living (and dying), I must ask myself “What am I really really FEELING, not thinking, about this?” And then with respect for my inner knowing, wait for the feelings to rise in answer to my question.
“Oh thats what I’m really feeling…and that.” And then, as with a crying child when you gently stroke their back saying, “It’s okay honey, you’re going to be okay.”
Does this change the reality? Maybe, maybe not. But it can give me powerful insight into my real feelings, which can help untether my mind from the control of premises and beliefs that lie to me about my feelings and lead to anger and depression. In that way it does change the reality.
January 5, 2013 at 5:22 am #781712
realvalueremodelerParticipantI am firmly entrenched in the belief and understanding that we’re all surfing this wave called human evolution. We’re all here to someday realize that we are all That, the absolute, infinity, pure bliss consciousness, unbounded awareness, God. We can arrive at this awakening by being at the mercy of the ocean and be jostled around by the waves of life and eventually (count on many lifetimes) we will still arrive at the shore. I am here to share the discovery that there is a boat of knowledge available to speed us along, lifting us higher and higher above the influences of the waves and deliver us to that inevitable goal with grace and ease. I’ll be sharing the details at my two presentations next week.
January 5, 2013 at 5:52 pm #781713
DBPMemberI think we’re all in agreement that pure bliss consciousness, unbounded awareness, etc. are good things.
OK, maybe not hooper . . . but anyway, the issue is this: How do we get from “pure bliss consciousness” to making the RIGHT decisions back here on earth? Isn’t that what the OP was trying to work out?
Or are you guys suggesting that the whole concept of right and wrong is irrelevant? ‘Cuz if so, I’m gonna to have to go ahead and sort of . . . DISAGREE with you on that.
Yyyyyeeeeehhh.
Let’s say you’re at some tricky little decision point in your life. Maybe two good friends of yours are quarrelling and it’s threatening to break up the friendship. What do you do? Whistle a happy tune and tell them to bliss out?*
Or say that someone you know is spending the milk money on drugs, but if you blow the whistle on them, they’ll rat you out for cheating on your wife. What then?**
See, life’s full of very real – and very thorny – problems. And these problems are not going to go away simply because we ignore them in favor of being serene. Ultimately they will crash the gates of our serenity like so many Russkies battering down the door to Hitler’s bunker.
************************************************************************************
* I know the answer to this one.
** I don’t know the answer to this one.
January 5, 2013 at 6:27 pm #781714
dhgParticipantI think there was a Tyrone Power movie and a Bill Murray movie about this…
January 5, 2013 at 7:10 pm #781715
dobroParticipantAlthough Mr. Modelers’s rhetoric sounds like new age doubletalk designed to rope people into some kind of “free lunch” seminar, he has a valid point.
“So go ahead and make your choices, and forgive yourself for not “knowing” what may have been the perfect choice.”
We don’t always know if we’re making the right choice in many situations but you still have to screw up your courage and make a choice nevertheless. Otherwise paralysis sets in. He’s not talking about making problems go away, he’s talking about dealing with them as best you can, having some belief in a “higher force” (god, universal conciousness, whatever you call it)to help you, and not beating yourself up if you end up being wrong.
Presenting “problems”and asking what’s the right or wrong decision has nothing to do with the point. It’s just a way to start a new argument over the hypothetical problems and miss the point.
Still wondering, tho, when we’ll get the time and location of the “presentations” and how much they cost. All of this information is available for free, you know. Read Lao Tzu.
January 5, 2013 at 7:38 pm #781716
realvalueremodelerParticipantIf you are curious about my presentations, I do them monthly in WS. Go to the WSB Events calendar and search for Transcendental Meditiation. The presentations are free. Due to the nature of the course of instruction, the goals of the organization and the investment of time by the teachers in their training and in the students, a course fee is usually but not always required.
January 5, 2013 at 7:47 pm #781717
DBPMemberDefinitely agreed on the not beating yourself up thing, dobro. But you can get that message across to someone in just a few words; it doesn’t require meditating, attending a seminar, or even reading a book. So we’re agreed on that too, I guess.
Appealing to a higher power can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who’s doing the appealing. Usually, when people pray, they’re not seeking enlightenment, they’re just asking for God to bless what they were going to do anyway, with or without His permission.
January 5, 2013 at 8:41 pm #781718
realvalueremodelerParticipantHey DBP. I enjoy hearing what curious thoughts are zinging across your consciousness.
Whether it’s prayer or some form of meditation, I believe people “go within” to seek some deeper insight into their situation. According to my experience and the experience of my students, the subtler levels of thought expose and unfold more intelligence and creativity. As these new areas of consciousness become accessible, wiser, more compreshensive solutions present themselves. We get to play with more cards in our hand. Decisions come out of a deeper resevoir of possibilities. Our full mental potential begins to come online.
January 6, 2013 at 2:10 am #781719
JoBParticipantrealvalueremodeler
“If you are curious about my presentations, I do them monthly in WS. Go to the WSB Events calendar and search for Transcendental Meditiation. The presentations are free. Due to the nature of the course of instruction, the goals of the organization and the investment of time by the teachers in their training and in the students, a course fee is usually but not always required.”
selling something?
January 6, 2013 at 3:31 am #781720
velo_nutParticipantDrink beer, eat hot wings and watch football.
January 6, 2013 at 3:59 am #781721
Genesee HillParticipantI am still very upset that the speed limit on Admiral Way south of the viewpoint is 30 MPH. Nothing else in life matters to me. Nothing.
I might make an exception for cheap, strong beer, though.
January 6, 2013 at 4:39 pm #781722
dobroParticipant“Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.”
– Lao Tzu
January 6, 2013 at 8:26 pm #781723
realvalueremodelerParticipantDoP…”Selling something?”
Right you are my bright little star. Ever since someone “sold” me on this 40 years ago, I’ve been spreadin’ the news… more happiness, health and fulfillment can be yours. I do in-depth presentations upon request.
January 6, 2013 at 8:56 pm #781724
realvalueremodelerParticipantDobro…
Lao Tzu, Rumi, and others over time have described the human condition and plight oh so poetically and accurately. As a dyed in the wool pragmatist, I’ve always been more attracted to how to get from the stiff to the soft and supple. Everyday life beats us up and wears us down, stress and fatigue causing damage and distress to the mind and body. I haven’t noticed where thinking or contemplating or praying has enabled us to reverse life’s debilitating effects.
I’m all about the “kingdom of heaven lies within” AND that is accesible to all.
January 6, 2013 at 9:37 pm #781725
DBPMemberThere are two kinds of consciousness:
Consciousness of what happens inside the self.
Consciousness of what happens outside the self.
If the two are out of balance, ya got trouble.
Acting without thinking causes one kind of trouble.
Thinking without acting causes another.
Shazam!
–Lao Dbp
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.