Saturday, September 25, 2010

LIVING SMALL (Or, At Least, Smaller?) Part One

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An Advaita forum focusing on Realisation, enlightenment, non-duality, Real Love, peace, freedom, Your original nature, abiding naturally, the Oneness, the Nothingness, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here, there is nothing that is believed, so there is no one here who wants you to believe anything, either. Here, the invitation is to be free of all that you have been programmed, conditioned, acculturated, and domesticated to believe so that you can be free, period.

F.:Many around the globe have always "lived small." Others around the globe are now being forced by their economic circumstances to live smaller, and are adjusting.

In the U.S. - the land of the planet's greatest offenders of "living large" and "living way too large" - many are being forced to "live smaller" and are hating every second of it. [See the 20 September 2009 post for a discussion of "de-accumulation vs. the desire for more space"]

They are marching in the streets in protest, tossing out ignorant and corrupt politicians but (in their persona-inspired fears and desires and anger), are replacing them with even more ignorant and even more corrupt personages.

Like an infant who had begun to enjoy a dessert, only to have it taken away, there is more screaming and whining and crying than most on the planet could imagine, all because persons are being forced to live smaller. Such is the typical reaction when those living beyond their means are forced to try to live within their means.

As mentioned, living small is the norm for most persons on the planet. In the post referenced above, here is a portion of what was shared:

Recently in an osteria in Firenze, a seat was taken on a backless stool that was about 14” square and at a table that was just shy of being 2’ square. There were ten such table-stool arrangements in a small space which—in the U.S.—would have only had four tables that were double or triple that size and where the notion of suggesting that patrons should sit on a backless stool would be unheard of.

At the next table, which was only inches away, sat two people who would soon introduce themselves as Giorgia and Stafano. They had watched as two different couples—all clearly from the U.S.—came in at different times over a period of a few minutes and began rearranging the furniture, pushing together two tables in order to have more space.

Everyone already seated was exposed to the over-sized noise-footprint of their tirades as they stormed out after management made clear that they could not commandeer double the space that was offered to everyone else. Yet that is obviously their modus operandi at home and was the modus operandi they were trying to follow abroad.

Giorgia, after a time, leaned over and asked, “Are you also from the U.S.?” When answered in the affirmative, she asked, “Do you find these accommodations acceptable?” When the reply was that “the accommodations are completely acceptable,” she smiled and introduced herself and her companion Stafano.

A delightful exchange marked the remainder of the meal shared with them in that comfortable, dopo-("after")-Americano-interruptus setting. As self-ish, non-Realized persons/personas move through the relative existence, they demand more and more but enjoy less and less, even as they "succeed" at their efforts to take, to take over, and to accumulate.

They want more of this and more of that (including many seekers who want “more knowledge” and who desire to be "more spiritual"). Many in ego want more space. They want to make more noise. They want more attention. They want more things. More and more and more. Accumulation, accumulation, accumulation. Post-Realization, all of that ends because Realization is always accompanied with—or followed by—de-accumulation.

Here, living small was the model from early on, sleeping on a couch for years in a small two-bedroom home, waiting for a decade for a sister's departure for college so that a bedroom of "my own" could happen. (I would not know until years later after exposure to persons living in "the nicer parts of the city" that we had been viewed as "slumdogs.") Living with Grandmother in her small house in the woods of east Texas also reinforced the normalcy and comfort of living small.

Many of the visitors to this site are living small already. If you are not among them, have you ever seriously considered the possibility? If living in the West, the answer is probably, "Not really."

The Western mentality endorses accumulation - the Eastern philosophies promote de-accumulation; the Western mentality encourages leaving a large footprint in terms of noise, space taken, environment depleted - the Eastern philosophies encourage leaving a small footprint;

the Western mentality touts freedom of speech - the Eastern philosophies endorse freedom from speech; the Western mentality endorses living large - the Eastern philosophies promote living small; the Western mentality values moreness - the Eastern philosophies value lessness. Today, here, nothing is valued as much as...nothing.

Moreover, living small deals not only with the size of one's abode or the amount spent on "essentials vs. luxuries." When living small happens alongside sanity and reason, smallness is preferred in every aspect of one's existence.

More love, more lovers, more sex, more money, more land, more company, more companies, more partners, more spouses, more possessions, ad infinitum...all (post-Realization) give way to lessness.

Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)

Much of what Louise has shared has resonated with many site visitors. to that end, some have inquired recently if Louise offers the online Advaita Internet Course. The answer is, "Yes."
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IT'S ALL BULLSHIT (And Why Knowing It Sets You Free)
SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY (Recovering What Religions Lost)
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THE MEDITATION GUIDES
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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
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THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "PEACE OF MIND" (There Is Only Peace if You're Out of Your Mind)
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LIBERATION
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THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
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FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)
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CONSCIOUSNESS/AWARENESS: The Nature of Reality Beyond Self-Realization (Peace Every Day When Abiding as The Absolute)
[Allows the seeker to understand the functioning of the totality, the manifestation, and what is involved with the un-manifestation]
FROM THE ABSOLUTE TO THE NOTHINGNESS
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Received 19 August 2010 from one that just completed the entire course:

I would like to extend deepest appreciation towards you for these teachings that you have offered. It has been most valuable towards what may not have been revealed throughout this manifestation labeled "anthony." Understanding Truth and finding words for gratitude are one as is all. Thank you again for pointing "me" to THAT and the understanding that came as well. Hopeful for future "contact"! Sincerely, Anthony M. W.

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THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WARS


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Please enter the silence of contemplation.

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