From a site visitor: “It seems to me that by touting natural living and discounting all of the spiritual work that some people do, you might end up discouraging people from doing some of the things they need to do along the way. My mind is almost always racing, but it stops when my friends and I meet to do our morning meditation. I know I’m being helped by doing meditation and using some of my spiritual accouterments. For example, the bell I ring at the beginning of a session automatically resets our minds to a different level of consciousness and prepares us for entering the no-thought state. If I miss a session, my mind races all day, and to encourage anyone to give up something that deprives them of that kind of benefit is not in their best interest.”
F.: Ah, where to even begin a response. Maybe at the beginning:
It seems to me that by touting natural living and discounting all of the spiritual work that some people do, you might end up discouraging people from doing some of the things they need to do along the way.
If you read the entries on the site with awareness, you know that no claim is made that the shift from belief in the “I” to residing as the Absolute happens as a single step. The “way” is a process that requires completion of seven steps, not one. Natural living happens after all “Seven Degrees of Separation from Reality” have been transitioned, and the invitation is to complete all of the steps. Never is there any discouragement from completing all seven steps which amount to "doing all the things" proteges "need to do along the way." [The pointers offered about “doing some of the things you need to do” is this: after completing all of those steps and Realizing Fully, there is no more “doing”; it is understood that there is no do-er; there are no more “needs”; and there is no more “you.”] Never have persons been encouraged to abandon "doing the things they need to do along the way." To the contrary, this pointer was offered earlier this month:
“…pray all the prayers that you think you need to pray; knell, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate as much as you think you need to kneel, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate; read all the “holy” books that you think you need to read; visit all the “sacred” sites or “sacred” men that you think you need to visit; chant or hum every chant or hum you think you need to chant or hum; ring every bell you think you need to ring; and burn every stick of incense that you think you need to burn. But when you are done with all of that, realize that you--and all persons who are fixated in a stage and are playing their religious or spiritual roles--are mistaking the dawn for the noon.”
“The way” you referenced is a multi-step “journey,” and never has anyone been encouraged to skip any of the steps along the “path.” The opposite point has been offered: no step can be skipped if one would Realize Fully. The religious or spiritual roles have to be played, but they are not the noon-time that you seek (and that you likely believe you have found). They are but the dawn.
My mind is almost always racing, but it stops when my friends and I meet to do our morning meditation.
Consciousness—being energy—will always be in motion, but if meditation is employed as intended (to provide a quiet setting for considering pointers in a way that leads to understanding the Teachings and to Full Realization and then to AS IF living) then the consciousness that moves will be the pure consciousness, not the contaminated consciousness. The result will be that you will have no remaining “mind” to do its racing, and the stillness will not be a temporary morning respite; instead, the stillness will be the more typical condition during the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
F.: Ah, where to even begin a response. Maybe at the beginning:
It seems to me that by touting natural living and discounting all of the spiritual work that some people do, you might end up discouraging people from doing some of the things they need to do along the way.
If you read the entries on the site with awareness, you know that no claim is made that the shift from belief in the “I” to residing as the Absolute happens as a single step. The “way” is a process that requires completion of seven steps, not one. Natural living happens after all “Seven Degrees of Separation from Reality” have been transitioned, and the invitation is to complete all of the steps. Never is there any discouragement from completing all seven steps which amount to "doing all the things" proteges "need to do along the way." [The pointers offered about “doing some of the things you need to do” is this: after completing all of those steps and Realizing Fully, there is no more “doing”; it is understood that there is no do-er; there are no more “needs”; and there is no more “you.”] Never have persons been encouraged to abandon "doing the things they need to do along the way." To the contrary, this pointer was offered earlier this month:
“…pray all the prayers that you think you need to pray; knell, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate as much as you think you need to kneel, bend over, stoop, or lie prostrate; read all the “holy” books that you think you need to read; visit all the “sacred” sites or “sacred” men that you think you need to visit; chant or hum every chant or hum you think you need to chant or hum; ring every bell you think you need to ring; and burn every stick of incense that you think you need to burn. But when you are done with all of that, realize that you--and all persons who are fixated in a stage and are playing their religious or spiritual roles--are mistaking the dawn for the noon.”
“The way” you referenced is a multi-step “journey,” and never has anyone been encouraged to skip any of the steps along the “path.” The opposite point has been offered: no step can be skipped if one would Realize Fully. The religious or spiritual roles have to be played, but they are not the noon-time that you seek (and that you likely believe you have found). They are but the dawn.
My mind is almost always racing, but it stops when my friends and I meet to do our morning meditation.
Consciousness—being energy—will always be in motion, but if meditation is employed as intended (to provide a quiet setting for considering pointers in a way that leads to understanding the Teachings and to Full Realization and then to AS IF living) then the consciousness that moves will be the pure consciousness, not the contaminated consciousness. The result will be that you will have no remaining “mind” to do its racing, and the stillness will not be a temporary morning respite; instead, the stillness will be the more typical condition during the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
