limitation of identity and the dream world...

Magdi Em Be

(facebook)

Identity is a limitation. You don't need to argue about it or analyse it. 

Just see it. See the limitation of being identified. 

Being identified as a person, as a man, 

as a woman, as a father, mother, as a human, 

as a body mind, as whatever. It is limitation. 

Don't argue about it. Don't analyse it to death. 

When you see it, you can be free of it. 

Because of your identification habits, you will not be free

 immediately, but it is a good start. When you are still arguing about it, 

 thinking about it, analyzing it, you remain uncertain, 

 unclear and you remain in your identification, 

you remain in your limitation and you continue to pray for salvation. 

You are beyond all this. Beyond the world, 

beyond the body, beyond the phenomenal world.
Just see it and be on the way to re-cover 

your true freedom, your true wisdom, your true Self.
Who cares how you put it as long as you do it. 

You don't need to wait for someone else to do it for you, 

to make you free.

~0~

Magdi Em Be

When you concern yourself with the dream and analyse the dream, 

you are in dreamland and do not awaken.
You engage your mind in worldly analysis and 

hope this will lead you to the heart but it won't. 

It will entertain you but will not remove the thorn of separation

and the illusion of mortality. Your love for the personal story 

keeps you engaged in it and limits you to it.
You can engage your mind in higher reasoning, 

like Shri Atmananda guided many to.
The inquiry into your true nature is a higher inquiry 

and not a mundane one. Like the explorers of the New World 

who had a higher vision, you need to look beyond the horizon of your mind, 

beyond the worldly events that attract you.
The truth that you seek is not visible to the senses 

and is not available to the mind. It is the seemingly hidden 

vastness that reads these words, that is infinite and border-less 

... remaining formless, it takes on all forms.
You know it as you are it ... but you can only celebrate it 

when you wake up to it, when you wake up to your true Self. 

The celebration is like no other. 

Like the lost child that makes her way back to the castle.

~0~

making space for surprises

“I'm choosing 

happiness over suffering.
I'm making space 

for the unknown future 

to fill up my life 

with 

yet-to-come surprises.”
~Elizabeth Gilbert

the beauty of procrastination...

David Whyte

PROCRASTINATION

is not what it seems. What looks from the outside like our delay; our lack of commitment; even our laziness may have more to do with a slow, necessary ripening through time and a central struggle with the core realities of any endeavor to which we have set our minds. To hate our procrastinating tendencies is in someway to hate our relationship with time itself, to be unequal to the phenomenology of revelation and the way it works its own quiet way in its very own gifted time, only emerging when the very qualities it represents have a firm correspondence in our necessarily struggling heart and imagination.

Procrastination, when studied closely, can be a beautiful thing: a parallel with patience, a companionable friend, a revealer of the true pattern, already, we are surprised to find, caught within us; acknowledging for instance, as a writer, that before a book can be written, most of the ways it cannot be written must be tried first, in our minds; on the blank screen, on the empty page or staring at the bedroom ceiling. Procrastination enables us to understand the true measure of our reluctance.

An endeavor achieved without delay, wrong turnings, occasional blank walls and a vein of self-doubt running through all, leading eventually to some degree of heart-break, is a thing of the moment, a mere bagatelle, and often neither use nor ornament. It will be scanned for a moment and put aside. What is worthwhile carries the struggle of the maker written within it, but wrought into the shape of an earned understanding.

Procrastination apprentices us to the very nature of our own reluctance, to understand the hidden darker side of the first enthusiastic idea, to learn what we are afraid of in the endeavor itself; to put an underbelly into the work so that it becomes a living, satisfying whole, not a surface trying to manipulate others in the moment.

Procrastination does not stop a project from coming to fruition, what stops us, is giving up on an original idea, because we have not got to the heart of the reason we are delaying, because we have not let the true form of our reluctance instruct us in the way ahead. To procrastinate is to be involved with larger entities than our own ideas, to refuse to settle for a too early, underachieving outcome and choosing to wrestle with something worthwhile, like Job with his angel, finding as Rilke said, 'Winning does not tempt that man, This is how he grows, by being defeated decisively, by greater and greater beings.'

PROCRASTINATION: excerpt from The Reader's Circle essay series. ©2012: David Whyte.

spiritual discernment...healing

Joel Goldsmith

We are dealing not with conditions 

but with mental concepts, 

and when they hit up against the truth, 

the concepts dissolve and disappear 

just as light 

coming into the room 

dissolves darkness, 

yet the light 

does not dissolve the darkness 

because

 there is no such thing as darkness.
To God 

the dark and the light are the same. 

Anything of a physical nature, 

whether it is negative or positive, 

evil or good, 

is the same in the eyes of God:

 illusion or nothingness. 

When 

both ends of the stick are recognized 

by us as being unreal, 

then we can say the same thing. 

Sickness and physical health, 

darkness and light, 

sin and purity are one and the same. 

They are all mortal illusion, 

all nothingness, 

the dream.

Spiritual Discernment: the Healing

the one self...

There is only the one Self.
An unchanging, unmoving Silence.
It is not waiting.
And it is not contemplating.
It is not reflecting.
It is not inquiring.
It is not resting.
All this could be perceived as modes of the mind itself.
What is that which is not in gear?
It is not a state.
It is not in between states.
It is not the gap between thoughts.
It is not a gap.
It cannot be done or undone.
For Itself, there is no such thing as practice.
No such thing as contemplators, meditators or
attainers of It.
Hidden, yet nothing can hide It.
Revealed, yet nothing can see It.
Self-knowing, yet It is without knowledge.
Self-realized, yet It is without mind.
Blessing itself, yet It is beyond duality.
Being, yet It is beyond being.
Unfathomable, unconquerable, ungraspable.
Who or what is there?
Beyond sin and beyond righteousness.
It announces itself as the sense 'I am' inside the body.
But It is even beyond 'I' and beyond body.
Ungraspable, yet attention and the pure intellect
may recognize and acknowledge It.
Being revealed but it is not revealing.
Recognizing Its all-pervasiveness, joy fills the Heart.
Intelligence dances.
Peace is very happy.
The universes prostrate themselves,
yet their Lord they cannot see.

~ Mooji

December 2013
www.mooji.org

clarity...

"Do not follow the ideas of others
but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.
Your body and mind will become clear
and you will realize the unity of all things."
~ Dogen ~

wikipedia.org/dogen

pure awareness and our unchanging self

"All appearances are impermanent and 

can therefore be stripped away, 

whereas your true 

Self as pure awareness

 is timelessly present and unchanging.
You can keep removing, 

sweeping aside, 

discarding appearances 

until nothing is left to remove and 

even the very concept of removing itself disappears.
Finally 

even the concept of a 'remover' 

gets dissolved and one comes to see 

That which is beyond all notions

 remains timelessly present.
That, the unchanging awareness,

 is your Self.
This is the Truth."

~ Mooji

December 2013
www.mooji.org

transparency

“To remain transparent to light is a commitment to our true nature. 
It means the willingness to open and empty ourselves of darkness, 
of resistance, of the barriers we have to being vulnerable. 
By this we come to serve our depths, our true and radiant nature.

‘My mind is full of light, my heart is full of light, 
my soul is full of light, my limbs are full of light.’” 
~Sufi Alayhi

~From Felicia Norton and Charles Smith, An Emerald Earth

_/\_Peggy @ ECUMENICUS

~0~

Silence is the absolute poise 

or balance of body, mind and spirit. 

~ Ohiyesa ~

speaking about Presence vs from Presence

"All the great spiritual teachers throughout history were mystics, and the source of their awareness of spiritual truth was the result of Enlightenment and the transformational Realization of the Reality of Divinity as the subjective knowingness that ensues from advanced consciousness by virtue of being at One with the Known. Thus, the Avatar does not speak from knowing "about" but from the actual Presence within, which radiates forth and constitutes the Essence of that which replaces the mind as the source of understanding and Knowingness (the classic Purusha). The process whereby this transformation occurs has been described in the history of each saint, sage, and divine teacher and is often included in the scripture itself." 

 David R. Hawkins TRUTH vs. FALSEHOOD, p. 365, 366

buddha at the gas pump

"There is always the next step on the journey...
After the awareness of oneness
comes the station of servant hood.
How can this awareness be used
in service to the whole?
Be used in service to life?" 
~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee 

Rick Archer interviews Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee on Buddha at the Gas Pump. 
Listen to the complete interview here: http://batgap.com 

p.s. 
How could genuine awareness of oneness not be used in service to the One? 
At that point, what else is there truly? 
Just to be in the One-ment in Joy...moment by moment

I AM constantly talking with you...

“I am so close, I may look distant.
So completely mixed with you,
I may look separate.
So out in the open, I appear hidden.
So silent, because
I am constantly talking with you.”

~Rumi

internal unchanging peace and joy...

"You must come to the stage that when you go out from here, you remain effortlessly marinating inside your being all the time. Outwardly, there may be activities, but internally, you remain the unchanging peace and serenity. It is only then that weary and tired beings can take rest in your presence. If you are easily set on fire and agitated because of the events around you, you are not sufficiently established in the Self so that others can take rest in your presence or recognize themselves in your reflection. The sage's presence and being is the light of the world. Of course, all this is not your job, it is simply your joy."

~ Mooji
December 2013
www.mooji.org

romancing your soul...

Romancing Your Soul

from facebook

"There was a time in life I was lonely, unhappy and had very low self-esteem. I thought if I only found someone to define me, someone to fill the holes within my heart, everything would be okay. After the hard break-up of my fourth in a series of bad relationships I realized I was the common denominator. That is when I stopped looking for someone else to define me. I stopped wanting someone else to make my life worth living. I took over the job myself because I must love me first, to love others well."

Blessings, Regina
www.RomancingYourSoul.com

About: 

Regina V. Cates is a spiritual teacher and author, positivity junkie and cheerleader of soul. She is co-founder of Romancing Your Soul, whose mission is to empower you to lead with your heart to transform your relationships from worrisome to WONDERFUL!

high vibes...

Findhorn Foundation 

at Findhorn Foundation

Eileen’s guidance:
"Every time your vibrations are raised you help to raise the vibrations of the world. Yes, every time you step into those higher realms you help to lift and bring more light into this darkened world. So, you see how vitally important are those times of absolute stillness when these cosmic forces can work in and through you. It really does help when you realize what is happening and become aware of this tremendous power."
 

To read the entire text: http://www.findhorn.org/lists/guidance/2013/12/20/

with love, Sasha

life is an echo...

Zen Mama 

Thursday's ZEN TIP: 

 

"Life is an echo. 

What you send out, comes back. 

What you sow, you reap. 

What you give, you get.

What you see in others, exists in you."
~Zig Ziglar

open the love window...

"At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door
and open the love-window.
The moon won't use the door,
only the window."
~Rumi

keeping our heart safe...

Soulful Nature

facebook

"Breathing in, I am aware of my heart.
Breathing out, I smile to my heart.
If we practice this a few times,
we will realize that our heart
has been working hard,
day and night,
for many years to keep us alive.
Our heart pumps thousands of gallons of blood 
every day,
without stopping. 
Even while we sleep, our heart
continues its work to bring us 
peace and well-being.
Our heart is an element of peace and joy, 
but we don't touch or appreciate it. 
We only touch the things that make us suffer, 
and because of that, 
we give our heart a hard time 
by our worries and strong emotions, and
by what we eat and drink. 
Doing so, we undermine 
our own peace and joy. 
When we practice breathing in and
becoming aware of our heart,
breathing out and smiling to our heart, 
we become enlightened. 
We see our heart so clearly. 
When we smile to our heart, 
we are massaging it with our compassion. 
When we know what to eat
and what not to eat, 
what to drink and what not to drink, 
what worries and despair we should avoid,
we will keep our heart safe."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~

the ease of the breath of receiving...

Crimson Circle

via facebook

“The breath of receiving is something that I encourage all of you to do the first thing in the morning and the last thing of the day. It is one of the easiest things that you will do.

The breath of receiving is not forced. It is a choice. The moment you take that breath of receiving, you open yourself to all of the gifts that the physical Earth, the physical universe, the heavens and all of the dimensions have to offer. When you take that breath of receiving, it opens all of the pathways and all of the corridors so that the energies, the consciousness, and then all of the specific aspects, all of the specific elements can come in to serve you.

It should be no struggle at all. It should be one simple conscious breath, or many if you choose. You don’t have to beg for it. You don’t have to worry about your technique. It should come from the heart.

The moment you take that breath of receiving, an amazing process starts. The process starts at a high consciousness level, a multidimensional, inner personal level that begins opening you up. It is done in the form of consciousness, which is perhaps the highest form of anything. And again, remember consciousness itself is not energy. Consciousness works with energy.

Consciousness is the master of energy. Consciousness helps to stimulate energy, which has been resting in a neutral state waiting for its orders.

When you take that breath of receiving, it activates. It activates all of the energies, and it works its way from consciousness into what you might call electrum ... energy ... energy that can then finally be brought also from the crystalline states. Crystalline states are the idea states activated by the choice of receiving. It comes from consciousness through crystalline through electrum and then into the material, into your known reality. It makes its way, if you choose, through the breath, very simply and very efficiently into your life. And then there is very little that you need to do.

So, some of you have been experiencing this. The less you push, the more things happen. The less you worry about things and trying to force them, the easier it gets. The less you battle with things, the smoother your life goes. The less you try to do those little old hocus pocus things like imagination and mantras and verbalizations and mind games, the easier things become. You could simply make choices in your life and you could enjoy your life and watch how everything comes to you. It manifests.

This is not what you would call a theory. This is the way that consciousness and energy work. They have always worked this way and they will always work this way. Consciousness is divine. Divine is the Master, and the Master sums up all of the energies to serve it. You are consciousness. You are the Master. You take that breath of receiving.”

Adamus
The Quantum Leap Series:
SHOUD 7: "Nhahyu"
March 1, 2008

filling the void....

Rumi

"There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?"

~~~~~~~

 "You are already that which you are seeking.
The game of life is to recognise this."
~ Mooji~

~~~~~~

 Zen Mama
"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."
~Confucius~

~~~~~~

"Let go of what has passed.
Let go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don’t try to figure anything out.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest."
~ Tilopa ~

words of Love...

"The words that make the rose bloom were also said to me.
The words told to the cypress to make it grow strong and straight,
The instructions whispered to the jasmine,
And, whatever was said to the sugarcane to make it sweet,
And, to the pomegranate flowers to make them blush,
The same thing is being said to me."

~Rumi~

searching for God...

Uma Anmangandla 

(via facebook)

"Our life is a series of demands for comfort, for security, for position, for fulfillment, for happiness, for recognition, and we also have rare moments of wanting to find out what is truth, what is God. So God or truth becomes synonymous with our satisfaction.

We want to be gratified; therefore truth becomes the end of all search, of all struggle, and God becomes the ultimate resting place.

We move from one pattern to another, from one cage to another, from one philosophy or society to another, hoping to find happiness, not only happiness in relationship with people, but also the happiness of a resting place where the mind will never be disturbed, where the mind will cease to be tortured by its own discontent.

We may put it in different words, we may use different philosophical jargon, but that is what we all want...a place where the mind can rest, where the mind is not tortured by its own activities, where there is no sorrow."

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti ~

joy...

Woman

"We are not here to debate the rightness or the wrongness of what you...or anyone chooses. We are not taking sides...for or against anything. We are here to help you understand that your life can be as wonderful  as you allow it to be.

It all depends upon the thoughts that you choose. And, therein lies the basis of anyone's success: How much do I choose thoughts that bring me joy?" ~ Abraham

Abraham-Hicks

our true worth...

Jeff Foster Quotes

"Each moment is sacred, because it contains no time.

Every breath is holy, because it is the only one.

Every feeling is worthy of your kind attention, because
it is a complete and unrepeatable expression of life itself.

Never forget your unlimited nature, your vastness, your true worth."

~ Jeff Foster

opening to Life...

Soulful Nature

"Enough.
These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now."

~David Whyte~

like a leaf falling from a tree - let go. ahh.

(with minor adaptations...)

"S/he let go. Without a thought or a word, s/he let go. S/he let go of the fear. S/he let go of the judgements. S/he let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around the head. S/he let go of the committee of indecision within. S/he let go of all the right reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, s/he just let go. S/he didn’t ask anyone for advice. S/he didn’t read a book on how to let go. S/he didn’t search scriptures. S/he just let go. S/he let go of all the memories that held back. S/he let go of all the anxiety that kept from moving forward. S/he let go of the planning, and all of the calculations about how to do it just right. S/he didn’t promise to let go. S/he didn’t journal about it. S/he didn’t write the projected date in the Day-planner. S/he made no public announcement and put no ad in the newspaper. S/he didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. S/he just let go. S/he didn’t analyze whether s/he should let go. S/he didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. S/he didn’t call the prayer line. S/he didn’t utter one word. S/he just let go. No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked or praised. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, s/he just let go. There was no effort, no struggle. It wasn’t good, wasn’t bad. It was what it was and is just that. In the space of letting go, s/he let it all be. A small smile came over the face…a light breeze blew through. And the sun shone, the moon rose forever more."
~ Ernest Holmes

Monday Morning and Mooji

"Mind offers you a life with death at the end of it.
But the Heart offers you life without end.
You choose.
If you choose Heart, then you become Heart.
When you become Heart, mind will also become Heart.
But you must make the first move."
~ Mooji
~~~~~~~~~~
"The Self cannot be the outcome of any evolutionary movement."
~Mooji
 ~~~~~~~~~~
"Don’t study. If it happens, let it happen. But don’t be dedicated to study.
Be dedicated to drown yourself, to disappear, to vanish in the Absolute Self.
With such an attitude one moves from death to everlasting life."

Mooji (on facebook)

metamorphosis...

"The person merges into the witness,
the witness into awareness,
awareness into pure being,
yet identity is not lost,
only its limitations are lost.
It is transfigured
and, becomes the real Self.
the sadguru
the eternal friend
and guide."
~Nisargadatta Maharaj

Divine Love as Modus Operandi. Why Not?

"Love.. Divine and True is unconquerable and irresistible. It goes on gathering power and spreading itself until eventually it transforms everyone it touches.

Humanity will attain a new mode of being and life through the free and unhampered interplay of pure love from heart to heart.”

~ Meher Baba

innocence...

"I am younger each year at the first snow.
When I see it, suddenly, in the air, all little
and white and moving; then I am in love again
and very young and I believe everything."
~ Anne Sexton ~

feeling God

Crimson Circle 

via facebook

“Do you hear the words “I am God also” or do you feel it as an intimate, deep, loving experience?

Mm, good question. It sounds nice to say “I am God also,” but it’s very mental. But how many of you have actually experienced it?

There are a lot of concepts of God. I don’t necessarily like the word ‘God,’ but I use it here because it’s a common term. There are a lot of concepts of God out there, and actually, frankly, the ones who teach God know the least about God. Absolutely. The ones who are the fanatics, the extremists, the righteous, they know the very least about God. They’re teaching from a book. They’re teaching from their mind, their rules, their limitation, their sense of need for their internal suffering and their rules.

Why other humans allow them to teach about God, I do not know, other than perhaps most humans have this distorted view.

The concept of God in this world is perhaps one of … it is one of the top three things that are the most imbalanced about consciousness right now – the concept that God is somewhere else; the concept of God as a father; the concept of God having any rules or giving a damn what you do. The concept of God is manmade. The ones who are at the pulpits, the ones who are calling for the rise of arms have not experienced God.

You cannot study God. You cannot construct a God. You can only experience it. And when you do, it is a deep and intimate experience, an experience that you’ll probably not even want to talk about. It is so beautiful, so personal, it would almost be a distortion to talk about it with others.

That’s why in the old times there was no word or name of God, because it was known by a few that it is something so personal that you can’t talk about it.”

Adamus
The Discovery Series
SHOUD 1: “Discovery 1”
September 7, 2013

the Process of Pivoting

Karen Salmansohn, best selling author:

"Anytime you feel a negative emotion, stop and say: Something is important here; otherwise, I would not be feeling this negative emotion. What is it that I want? And then simply turn your attention to what you do want. . . . In the moment you turn your attention to what you want, the negative attraction will stop; and in the moment the negative attraction stops, the positive attraction will begin. And—in that moment—your feeling will change from not feeling good to feeling good. That is the Process of Pivoting. -Abraham

(By the way, I love this word "pivoting." Sometimes if something challenging happens in my day, I tell myself I need to pause - and pivot to a new thought and new action. I actually use the word "pivot" as a mantra - to get myself to change focus to something positive that I can think and do!)"

Mooji on "Discard your old skin-find your true nature"

Closing out one year and beginning another - 
great time for reflection and pondering
-what has REAL value?

Mooji:

"Deny yourself.
Turn away from the ego's self-interest
and the psychological identity.
Keep sweeping it aside.
For a while it may seem that if you reject the ego,
there is nothing else there to experience.
Ego, as personal identity, seems all you know.
But this isn't true, for as you are discarding your old skin,
you are finding your true nature and Self.
And you are discovering that what you are discarding
is a tiny bubble in the ocean of the real and imperishable Being. "


~ Mooji

December 2013
www.mooji.org

Hafiz on Prayer

"I should not make any promises right now,
But, I know if you Pray
Somewhere in this world
Something good will happen."
~ Hafiz [Joy]

Staying with I AM...

by  Ramana Spencer:

"The mind gets bored with staying with "I Am"...just existing...
Nisargadatta said he stayed with the "I AM",
the feeling of existing for three years.
He stayed there without adding anything to it,
more and more, till it fell back into its Source.

The mind gets bored with staying with "I Am"...just existing...

Here is my prototype practice!
It's a compromise.....
Because, I am is boring to the mind;
Ready?"

To see the entire post click on the following link...  

facebook.com/contactramana

Stay Connected to Big Heart

"Keep the little heart consciously connected
to Big Heart or the Source of Love Itself,
and you will never experience lack of Love...
no matter what seems to happen or seems to not happen."

~Me~

_/|\_

Time to Integrate/Come Home via Crimson Circle

Crimson Circle

“You can stop trying so hard. You can stop being afraid. It’s all right there in you – not me, in you – the knowingness, the I Am. The knowingness it’s time to come home. Time to come home to the I Am, to the awareness. Time to integrate, just time to come home.

Isn’t it funny that you had the knowingness that it was time to come home to the I Am, but you got in a car and went off on a long journey. Oh, home was right there, absolutely right there. I guess that’s why I say it was just perfect, in a way. Exactly where you should be.

Eh, you kind of had to go through all of the trials and tribulations before you just wore yourself out and said, “Oh, here I am.” So you stop the searching. There should be a law against spiritual searching. There should be a law against laws, so …

Oh, spiritual searching, it’s an industry, you know. It’s a distraction. I guess it’s an experience. It’s frustrating, because it’s all right if you’re doing the spiritual searching and you’re aware that you’re just searching for the sake of searching. It gets a little sad when you’re doing the searching and you think it’s real and you think it’s actually going to get you somewhere.

No, home – home is calling you. Home is within. No place to go. No words to hide behind. Nothing to do. Nothing to fix. Just coming back home.

Without buts. Without the buts – “But what am I going to do when I walk out the door?” Not a damn thing. You can go about gossiping if you want, drinking, carousing, searching, thinking, battling. When you walk out that door today, you’re going to do it at least aware that you’re doing it, at least aware that you don’t need to do it, at least aware that it was that knowingness that called you, that’s still calling. It’s still there, and there’s not a damn thing you need to do. Nothing.

Take a good deep breath. Try to stay in your body.
Let go of some of that tension. Oh my, the tension about awakening and enlightenment. The stress. That’d be a good song – Stress of Enlightenment.

If I had told you, if Tobias had told you twelve years ago you don’t need to do anything, you would have still gone out searching. You’d have still gone broke, had health issues and all the rest of the stuff. So I guess you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be right now. Right now.

Home is calling all the time.”

Adamus
The Discovery Series
SHOUD 3: “Discovery 3”
November 2, 2013

My Take on Breaking Amish - Fake or Real?

Recently, I came across a photo and article of Kate (one of the "stars" of the Breaking Amish show) posing for Maxim's, and I heard myself thinking that it looks like someone at Maxim's said "There's a buck to be made here." Reading some of the comments on that article lead me to do some online searching about Breaking Amish. Seems people are seriously wondering about the reality of this reality show. Last night, I actually broke down and spent a "hefty" $1.99 to see the first episode of Season 1 on you tube. After watching the first episode and just to make sure, I also bought the second episode.

So far, I have to say that the show is both fake and real. More fake than real, I believe. I don't doubt that there were heart-wrenching scenes upon departure of the individual from their family, but I doubt that the scenes in the show are the real scenes but instead are loose re-enactments, if that.

First, a few questions. How realistic does a reality show actually have to be? And, who determines this? Much about the Amish, Mennonites, and plain people remains cloaked in mystery to many people. People are interested in the mysterious. It's easy to see how a reality show such as this came about. Americans love to be entertained. Personally, I thought the title Breaking Amish following Breaking Bad was a bit cheesy when I first heard of it, but that's really not that important.

So here goes...my first thoughts in watching the first episode were "who is taking these photos?" Most Amish aren't permitted to have themselves photographed, much less filmed.  To me, the interviews of the individual stories of "getting away dreams" are staged and filmed way after the fact. Same goes for the "saying goodbye to family" scenes. No one would have been there to film any of that in the original events. So, there's that.

The second thing that had me curious was how did these five individuals end up meeting? Two came from the same community in Punxatawney so it's pretty safe to assume they knew each other beforehand. But who coordinated the New York hotel meeting? Did some "mysterious force" just tell all five simultaneously to pack it up and leave for that specific hotel in New York at the same time? Seriously.

Rebecca seems pretty sure of herself in picking up the phone and calling the hotel to request another bed to deal with the sleeping situation. "So not happening" is what she said about sleeping with another girl. I don't believe that would have been original for someone who is just fresh off an Amish farm. The real deal in her situation would never even have thought to call and request another bed. Most Amish probably don't even know what a lesbian is.

The boys talking about pretty girls, and one saying he's seeing a lot of "skanks" in New York - not real, in my opinion. Talking about skanks is an expression of the more experienced, and not that of a hay seed who just walked away from an Amish farm and shoveling manure, imo.

Then there is the matter of back stabbing almost immediately. If you had five Amish converging in a big city like that for the first time I believe there would have been much more of a "the five of us surviving against the world" thing going on. But, I could be mistaken.

As with the Amish, there is also a lot of confusion about the Mennonites. Sabrina speaks about the Mennonites as having cars and radios, etc. That is true for the Mennonites she grew up with. They are an off-shoot of the Old Order Mennonites.  The Old Order Mennonites do not own cars, radios, TV and definitely not upright pianos, as was seen in Sabrina's home.  How do I know this? Because I was born into and grew up in an Old Order horse and buggy Mennonite family and community.

I made my exit years ago. My ears are always perked for the stories of other "plain people" who also yearned for the freedom to experience a different life. In their shoes, at that age, I might have sold out to the alluring glitter of fame, too. Who knows? It wasn't what I was after though. I was more interested in the freedom to swap out false religious ideas in pursuit of genuine spiritual teachings. The freedom to dress in clothes that are seasonally comfortable, own and drive a car, listen to classical music, etc. - all that's very nice too.

It's doubtful that I'll watch the rest of the first season, but I do have an idea for a new reality show...."Breaking Fake". ;-)

Here's a quote from A Course in Miracles that seems apropos right now..."Do you want freedom of the body or of the mind? For both you cannot have. Which do you value? Which is your goal? For one you see as means; the other, end. And one must serve the other and lead to its predominance, increasing its importance by diminishing its own. Means serve the end, and as the end is reached the value of the means decreases, eclipsed entirely when they are recognized as functionless. No one but yearns for freedom and tries to find it. Yet he will seek for it where he believes it is and can be found. He will believe it possible of mind or body, and he will make it serve his choice as a means to find it. Where freedom of body has been chosen, the mind is used as means whose value lies in its ability to contrive ways to achieve the body's freedom....
Chapter 22, section VI. The Light of the Holy Relationship, paragraph 1 and part of 2.

beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing

"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense."

~mevlana jelaluddin rumi - 13th century

There are No Small Upsets

"There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing
to my peace of mind." (W-5:4:3-4)

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NASA and the Benefits of Sun Gazing

What is Sun Gazing?

Sun gazing (also known as sun-eating) is a strict practice of gradually introducing sunlight into your eyes at the lowest ultraviolet-index times of day – sunrise and sunset.  Those who teach the practice say there are several rules to the practice.  First, it must be done within the hour after sunrise or before sunset to avoid damaging the eyes. It is important to only look at the sun when it is orange or red according to the ancients. Looking at the sun when it is yellow or white, or uncomfortable in any way is not recommended.

Second, you must be barefoot, in contact with the actual earth – sand, dirt or mud; and finally, you must begin with only 10 seconds the first day, increasing by 10 second intervals each day you practice.  Following these rules make the practice safe, says sources. For the entire blog post see:

nasa-confirms-super-human-abilities-gained-through-sungazing 

 ~~~

I was one of those very active little kids that doesn't eat much. My grandmother, who meant well enough - or that's how I choose to spin it - urged me to eat. She would say "You can't live on wind puddings and walk arounds! Eat!" She didn't "know" my source of "fuel". I mean, I didn't either at the time. I remember when going to grade school and using the swings at recess, facing the sun I would go as high as I could, close my eyes and see all the colors of the rainbow vividly. I thought that everybody could see them. I told my friend Rachel. She tried, and said she didn't see them.

~~~
P.S. ..apparently the NASA article authenticity is debatable. It just makes sense to me that there are (admittedly just a few) people who have the ability to process the suns rays directly, as opposed to the majority of us having learned to get it indirectly through food. Btw, fossil fuels are ancient sunlight. Using solar bypasses years and years of time. Maybe people can regain the ability to bypass time too.  

Discover the Gift

Live A HEADLESS Life.

"MOVE AS A TOTAL BEING AND ACCEPT THINGS. LIVE A HEADLESS LIFE."

~ Osho 

"You carry your wound. With the ego, your whole being is a wound.  And you carry it around.  Nobody is interested in hurting you, nobody is positively waiting to hurt you; everybody is engaged in safeguarding his own wound. Who has got the energy? But still it happens, because you are so ready to be wounded, so ready, just waiting on the brink for anything.

You cannot touch a man of Tao. Why? ... because there is no one to be touched. There is no wound. He is healthy, healed, whole. This word whole is beautiful. The word heal comes from the whole, and the word holy also comes from the whole. He is whole, healed, holy.

Be aware of your wound. Don't help it to grow, let it be healed; and it will be healed only when you move to the roots. The less the head, the more the wound will heal; with no head there is no wound. Live a headless life. Move as a total being, and accept things.

Just for twenty-four hours, try it - total acceptance, whatsoever happens. Someone insults you, accept it; don't react, and see what happens. Suddenly you will feel an energy flowing in you that you have not felt before. "

~Osho

Oriental Heron Zafu Cover Thrift Store Treasure

This morning I had a number of stops scheduled for my shopping itinerary. 

World's Attic Thrift Store is where I was going hunting for black and gold buttons 

for a set of Bridesmaid Zipper Purses that are partially made - just waiting for the perfect buttons. 

With only two items on my list for the thrift store I fully intended to "hit and run". 

(har har! where have we heard that before?)

 I did find really great buttons for the purses. And more!

Three, metal "My Album" Button Covers

These are just too darling for words! They measure 7/8" W. x 1" H. each.

I don't know yet what I am going to do with them, but they were coming home with me. For sure!

And, THEN there is....

Oriental Zafu Slipcover

Heron Zafu

 Made with stretchy fabric and a zippered back, it fits one of my zafus perfectly.

I absolutely love the tucked perimeter, times two!

Dyeing fabric with Sharpies and alcohol filmed at the Houston Quilt Mark...

I do believe a portal just opened up into a whole 'nother world!

 I discovered the youtube presentation (below) after I made this zafu...

Canvas Zafu with Sharpie Pen Artwork

From Yard Sale Placemat to Bridesmaid Purses

A few Saturdays ago the church across the street was having a community yard sale. I spotted two placemats that interested me - a lot. I didn't know why, but sometimes you just have to go with it. I'm sure many of you  know what is meant by that. Anyway, from this...

Placemat and Supplies

 

 

to this...

Bridesmaid Zipper Purse in Gold, and Chevron Trim

 

 

using...

Assorted Yellow Yo Yo's

Chevron twill tape trim from Fabric.com

Yo Yo's from etsy store krzyqltr

Vintage Coat of Arms button - my button box

Close - up of Yo Yo,  Chevron Trim and Button

Interior and Gold Ribbon Zipper Pull

Dreams within Dreams

by Sarah Nolt (Notes) on Friday, May 24, 2013 at 10:58am

~ Leo Tolstoy's Letters
"...now our whole life, from birth to death, with all its dreams, is it not in its turn also a dream, which we take as the real life, the reality of which we do not doubt only because we do not know the more real life?"

Forgiveness 24/7

"Whatever you're upset about happened, and is over ...

so get over it already " ~ David Hawkins

Your (and my) entire past is over.

Breathe in. The past can touch us not. (acim)

Breathe out. It's always NOW when we practice surrendering

everything that just happened. Forgiveness 24/7.

The Wrong Key

The Wrong Key

by Sarah Nolt (Notes) on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 10:19am

The words "Love is the Key that Opens Heaven's Door" have been going through my mind this morning....parts of a song I learned as a younger person. I have occasionally thought about how this is the wrong key. Now, I'm going to verbalize it. Not that there is anything actually wrong with Love as a Key. It's just that that is not the key. Forgiveness is the Key. Heaven IS Love, or the state of Love, our original pre-body state as Spirit. 

~~~

Forgiving little grievances, imagined or otherwise, is nice, but it's not the Master Key. The kind of Forgiveness that is needed is the kind that sees that all one's thinking and seeing as an individual had been based on erroneous thinking and seeing. Individuality is based on...well, based on being an individual - separate and apart somehow from other individuals... uniquely better than, or uniquely worse than even. 
~~~

Conversion to a major (or minor) religion is not a key, either. It can be helpful. Mostly, though it ends up being just  more mental constructs and edifices. Ultimately, at some point those walls will have to come down too. 
~~~

Sepia Dream

Early this morning I had a dream that woke me up. First of all, in real life, I cannot swim - not even float. Last time I checked anyway! In the dream, I was crossing a river by walking on a long bridge that it seemed I crossed often. I was very familiar with it. There were no guide rails at the sides. It seemed like "they" had been re-doing the bridge, and the only way I could see where I was going was a straight thin line in the middle of the road. It was dusk, with everything in sepia colors. The farther I walked the less clearly I could see the line. It became snowy. The road, the river, the scenery all blended more or less into one seamless experience. The line disappeared. The bridge was now at the level of the river. Then I began to see patches in the snow. I could still faintly see the bank on the other side. Too late, I realized what the patches were. Holes. I stepped into a hole and sank down beneath the surface. I thought, OK...so this is where I finally have my drowning experience. I've had a lifelong fear of drowning in water. There was some kind of purple plaid wool encapsulation surrounding me, and much to my surprise I found I could actually breathe. My lungs were not filling up with water.  Still not quite trusting in the fact that I could breathe there I felt if I stayed still and just let myself be there I wouldn't use up the oxygen in my lungs or body. Then I woke up, and it was 5:00 A.M.
~~~
Despite my lifelong fear of some day drowning this dream was not frightening.
~~~
Drowning in Love is not to be feared.
~~~
The Bridge has been redone recently. It's easier now to crossover.

~~~

Yellow Rose from Circe's Garden

Happy is the New Wealthy

"Learn to like what doesn’t cost much. Learn to like reading, conversation, music. Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking. Learn to like fields, trees, brooks, hiking, rowing, climbing hills. Learn to like people, even though some of them may be different…different from you. Learn to like to work and enjoy the satisfaction doing your job as well as it can be done. Learn to like the song of birds, the companionship of dogs and cats. Learn to like gardening, puttering around the house, and fixing things. Learn to like the sunrise and sunset, the beating of rain on the roof and windows, and the gentle fall of snow on a winter day. Most of all, learn to keep your wants simple and refuse to be controlled by the likes and dislikes of others." 

~ Lowell C. Bennion

~~~

Basket of Greens gratis Circe's Backyard  Garden

 

 

(Lettuce, Carrot Tops and Onion Tops)

Surface Tension and Humor

Last night, as I was doing a sink full of dishes by hand (yes, manually in this digital age - somehow, I  like it - most of the time) and scrubbing a kitty food plate I was remembering how my most recent ex - boyfriend told me the reason dish soap works for cleaning dishes, etc. is because it breaks the surface tension of the dirt. Once broken, it can be removed easily. Actually, I still don't get the chemistry aspect of why dish soap breaks the surface tension of dried-up food on a plate and not the plate too?  But, hey! I missed out on high school, and didn't get to chemistry on the way to acquiring a GED. I get that it works because I've seen it in action...a lot. Back to last night, and my dishwashing musings...it occurred to me that surface tension is what holds this world together. That thought lead to another thought. When my siblings and I were little kids we fought like many kids do. If it got out of hand, in my experience, I would find my dad and report to him that my brother was fighting me.  What I wanted was for him to make my brother stop fighting. His answer though invaluable always angered me then. He would invariably say to me, "It takes two to fight, but only one to stop fighting. You can stop the fighting any time you want to. Just walk away."

~~~

Walk away, and it's over. Break the surface tension.

~~~

Sometimes people complain that "Peace is boring. Who wants it?" Well, that's just it. Who does want it? Certainly not the highly individualized sense of self - for it needs tension for its very existence. Push/pull.

~~~

Humor goes a very, very long way in breaking surface tension. It can...when we choose to laugh instead of taking everything so effin' seriously.

~~~

Rose Colored Glasses vs Rose Colored Vision

~~~

"Looking through rose colored glasses has been given a bad rap, 

and rightly so. 

However, there is another kind of Rose-Colored Vision...

the kind that practices Quantum Forgiveness - 

on purpose."

~~~ 

Louis Philippe Rose

~~~

Mooji on Presence vs persons

~~~

"I never get tired of Presence, but persons become a strain."

~ Mooji

8th of April, 2013
www.mooji.org

~~~

I have to admit "persons" DO become a strain. I become a strain to myself!

Easy does it! 

~~~