rootseeker.org - -- Weekly Notes II

Notes for Lecture FOURTEEN

The joy of ‘being’ ANE 213 - Is the joy of being conscious ... and when you recognize it, this awakened consciousness will ‘take over from 'ego', and will begin to run your life.

Entrances to the Divine ANE

Stillness 255 - The joy of ‘being’ is the joy of ‘being conscious’ - Little things leave room for ‘inner space’ - It fress us from bondage, brings simplicity into our lives - The Source Being is ‘stillness’ - Your ‘returning ome’ to the Unmanifested is ‘birth’ (M.Eckhart) - Feel the stillness, keep that ‘portal’ open.

Acceptance 295ff - The attitude that for now: ‘this is what the situation asks from me’ - Acceptance is not ‘passive’, rather it is ‘active’ and ‘creative’ - When you ‘accept’, you must do it ‘from the inner space’, connected with the Source Being of life’s energy.

Enjoyment - Is also an entrance to the divine - Joy is the ‘dynamic aspect’ of being - Joy and ‘doing things’ - You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present, any activity that is not just a means to an end.

Enthusiasm - The word comes from Greek en and theos = ‘in’ and ‘God’ - being possessed by the Divine - Gives the awareness : you don’t hve to do it all by yourself - The Source Power makes it possible - It will bring great ‘empowwerment’ - Enthusiasm and ‘ego’ - It does not allow ‘identification’.

Why women are closer to enlightenment PoN 164 - Women (as mothers) closer to their body and easier open for their ‘being’, and the Being - They virtually ‘embody the Unmanifested’ in the birth of any child.

Searching vs Finding the Divine - Abraham an example - Searching and finding have a parallel in: “lose yourself to find yourself” - Patterns that prevent this process - Where ‘stillness’ plays a role - Sufi: ‘I am a hole in the flute that the Breath of the Divine moves through’.

Practical spirituality is ‘salvation’ - To recognizing the ‘now’ as the place/time where life happens is: liberating/saving.

Contemporary thoughts about God/Divine - Tolle: Through the ‘present moiment’ you have access to ‘the Power of Life’ - Lately efforts have been made to kind of ‘place’ the ‘divine’ in the human.

Kingsland and his progressive view on the God-concept -

Geering about the ‘traditional Christian God’ - A ‘bird-view’ of the development: Celsus, Gnosticism, Aristotle, Aquinas, Ockham’s nominalism, some contrasts, secular humanism and its new way of talking about God (Tillich) -

Borg: TGWNK 11ff an inadequate view of God is more serious (dangerous) than atheism -

Spong’s definition of a non-theistic God - The name “I AM” given to Moses -

Fowels : the Divine expressed Itself “as me” -

Wilber’s One Taste - Feeling of Being, not an experience, but a vast ‘openness’, an ‘infinite spaciousness’ - About the Source Being -

Kushner : don’t look for it elsewhere, you already ‘are’ it!

A ‘New Earth’ of spirituality not an ‘utopia’ - ‘Outer’ and ‘inner’ purpose of the universe - Our ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ purpose are to work toward ‘transforming the world’ - Tolle about: It’s No Utopia! - Utopia looks to the future for salvation - But looking for salvation in the future is looking for our own ‘mind concept’ - Book of Revelation talks about : “A new Heaven and a new Earth” - They are arising within in you at this moment.

A final thought - ‘Non-judgemental reasoning, common ground for higher consciousness, will lead to the ‘God-planned” Utopia.

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Notes for Lecture THIRTEEN

Inner space/body, doorway to the divine - Transformation happens through the ‘body’... “Your whole body will be filled with light” - Tolle’s sermon on the ‘body’ - How Wilber backs it up - We can not ‘contact’ the Being - The Presence of the Being is ‘felt’ as a great background sense of Freedom and Release - Fowler: your highest bliss and eternal fulfillment already exists within you - The ‘real-self’ is satisfied to know and experience that you are connected with the Ultimate Reality, the Ground of your being.

A Union that is universe connected - Practical spirituality has as its basis the workings of the universe, the ‘universe story’ is ‘our story’ - Tolle about this - ‘We are the self-expression of the universe’ - That’s how important you are! - In the universe we are invited to find the Being - What an Upanishad says about this - Don’t call it “finding” God, It was never “lost” (Tolle) - Living in the ‘now’ offers one-ness with the ‘One’ - no duality.

Breakthrough - [Read from the Handout “Meister Eckhart” Part 3 “Breakthrough” - We will walk through it in class giving an opportunity for questions and observations]

Fowler’s vision - ‘That personal realization’ - How he pictures it : a moment, a fragance, a glimpse, a curtain opening - The theory about spirituality is a ‘theory’ no longer anymore - You will learn to see the core of who you are - And : who you are NOT - If there are times that it fades away, the Reality remains - You may not be able to bring it back into conscious awareness whenever you want, but neither can you ever, ever, possibly, forget it.

The joy of ‘being’ - Is the joy of being conscious ... and when you recognize it, this awakened consciousness will ‘take over from 'ego', and will begin to run your life.

Entrances to the Divine

Stillness - The joy of ‘being’ is the joy of ‘being conscious’ - Little things leave room for ‘inner space’ - It fress us from bondage, brings simplicity into our lives - The Source Being is ‘stillness’ - Your ‘returning ome’ to the Unmanifested is ‘birth’ (M.Eckhart) - Feel the stillness, keep that ‘portal’ open.

Acceptance - The attitude that for now: ‘this is what the situation asks from me’ - Acceptance is not ‘passive’, rather it is ‘active’ and ‘creative’ - When you ‘accept’, you must do it ‘from the inner space’, connected with the Source Being of life’s energy.

Why women are closer to enlightenment -

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Notes for Lecture TWELVE

In Sufism - Islam’s mystical development - Sufism was to verify a Reality beyond the intellect - The Jesus-connection - Being in love with God, halmark of Sufism - While ‘heaven’ had a place, God was ‘mysteriously identified with the inmost self - Islam=surrender.

Forms of Christian mysticism - God-‘knowledge’ vs god-‘experience’ - Meister Eckhart - Zukav’s experience (a story) - Thomas Merton - The 'highest ambition' lies beyond 'ambition', t.i., it lies in the 'letting go' of that uncontrolled 'ego-self', which seeks its own influence and status in one way or another.

Truth: relative or absolute? - Words can only point to the truth - The very ‘being’ that you ‘are’ is: Truth - The “I am” of Jesus is our ‘I am’ - Being in the ‘now’ you are connected with the ‘Source Being’ - Paul’s quote - Living from the ‘truth within’.

Finding the divine Presence in the now - Nature as revelation of the Divine - Newell’s thoughts on Celtic prayers - Wilber about the Spirit - Conscious contact with our ‘inner body’ happens in the ‘now’.

A parable and the inner body - Two men build a house: one on rock, the other on sand - Application.

Inner space/body, doorway to the divine - Transformation happens through the ‘body’... “Your whole body will be filled with light” - Tolle’s sermon on the ‘body’ - How Wilber backs it up - We can not ‘contact’ the Being - The Presence of the Being is ‘felt’ as a great background sense of Freedom and Release - Fowler: your highest bliss and eternal fulfillment already exists within you - The ‘real-self’ is satisfied to know and experience that you are connected with the Ultimate Reality, the Ground of your being.

A Union that is universe connected - Practical spirituality has as its basis the workings of the universe, the ‘universe story’ is ‘our story’ - Tolle about this - ‘We are the self-expression of the universe’ - That’s how important you are! - In the universe we are invited to find the Being - What an Upanishad says about this - Living in the ‘now’ offers one-ness with the ‘One’ - no duality.

Breakthrough - [Read the Handout “Meister Eckhart” - so we can discuss it in class - especially: Part 3 “Breakthrough”]

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Notes for Lecture ELEVEN

The spiritual aspect of God - In Judaism during the Exile Jews were without Temple and ritual - Prophets pointed to the ‘God-within’ - Jesus reacted against ‘observation’ to be ‘on the good side of God’ - Kingdom of God is ‘within’ - Jesus’ ‘Golden Rule’ was like to one of Hillel : ‘Do to others what you want them to do to you’ - Jewish Kabbalah tradition renewed this spiritual aspect : the Shekinah, ‘awareness of the Presence of God within’ - God left hints about his inner life.

In Gnosticism of early Christian writings - Gnosis is ‘knowledge of deeper, inner, spiritual truths - Not a conceptual knowledge, but by ‘direct experiece’ - Basis for this kind of knowledge : the acceptance of the ‘inherent divine nature’ of man - Gospel of Thomas sample - Even in the gospels there are hidden signs of gnosticism (Mt and Jn).

[Jesus a gnostic? ] - Yes and No - What kind of Gnostic? - Not part of a group - As savior : what kind? - as ‘healer’.

In Celtic spirituality - Some history - Pelagius and Celtic spirituality - not in line with St. Augustine’s original sin - Rejected by the Church, it still survives.

In Sufism - Islam’s mystical development - The Jesus-connection - While ‘heaven’ had a place, God was ‘mysteriously identified with the inmost self - Islam=surrender.

Forms of Christian mysticism - God-knowledge vs god-experience - Meister Eckhart !!! - Zukav’s experience (a story) - Thomas Merton - The 'highest ambition' lies beyond 'ambition', t.i., it lies in the 'letting go' of that 'ego-self', which seeks its own influence and status in one way or another.

Finding the divine Presence in the now - Newell’s thoughts - Observing the body ‘from within’ - Wilber - Conscious contact with our inner body’ happens in the ‘now’.

A parable and the inner body -

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Notes for Lecture TEN

India - Buddha 563-483 bce - At 29 Gotama left his father’s house that felt to him like a prison - He started the life of a ‘renouncer’ - His goal was to find the ‘blissful liberation’ of nibbana - He looked for a teacher - Did not find real transformation in their teaching - Left teachers behind and joined the ascetics - He came to realize that severe penances didn’t do it either - He detected his ‘ego’ and its cravings - Also learned to rely on his own ‘insights’ (of the real ’self’) - Told his disciples never to accept a doctrine ‘on faith’, or at ‘second hand’ - Only a teaching that was an authentic version of their ‘self’ would lead them to extinction of the ‘ego’ and to the ‘freedom’ of the nibbana - For the Buddha a ‘personalized’ God was too limiting - It was his teaching that a person who loves the ‘true self’ should not harm the ‘true self’ in others - The sages and the Buddha revealed the ‘new potential’ in human nature - It is possible to live in a world of pain and be at peace.

God-connection in traditional theology - Introduction - believing in a ‘particular God’ - or: just ‘believing in God’ - How to word an experience of God - Some testimonies: Robinson, Borg - What Jesus taught - Rahner’s statement: “In our relationship with God, we have to come to the point that we feel that God is with us, standing silently behind us, just so long as we don’t try to name him; we should not look around for him either, the moment we do he vanishes.”

God in cosmic/evolutionary theology - God as an ‘encompassing Spirit’, t.i., all is in God - Different naming of God: creative energy, ultimate life force - source of being - God as matrix , mother, ‘womb-like source’ (O’Murchu) - Evolutionary theology challenges the traditional assumption: ‘God must always be ruling’ - At-one-ness of God in creation - Note read it as: ‘at-one-ment’, which is similar to ‘atonement’=returning, becoming ‘one’ again - A God who is vulnerable, or a God ‘in charge’? - Evolutionary theology : God is totally involved in the evolution process - All creation is innately spiritual.

Jesus a gnostic? -

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Notes for Lecture NINE

D) Empathy

Greece - Athens still governed by the nobility but could be challenged by the ‘People’s Assembly’ - It allowed the ‘sacred revelation’ of the select few to become ‘public domain’ - Heraclitus discovered ‘introspection’ by advising people to look deeper to find the ruling principle of nature - The experiment of the ‘triremes’ led to ‘transformative changes’ since Greeks had to ‘turn their backs’ to the past - It demanded self-sacrifice - Salamis (480) in a time of suffering-they had to leave their city and holy places behind to be destroyed by the Persians - it led to the victory over the Persians in the Gulf of Peloponnesus - The ‘tragedies’ as a symbol of finding the ‘correct view’ in time of tragedy - They became a ‘developing spirituality.

India - Karma/action - The endless cycle of death and rebirth urged people to ‘act’, in order to determine their next life - They struggled to find a ‘way out’ - The spiritual malaise was intensified by the social crisis - People started to turn to the ‘renouncers’ and looking for a leader, an ‘enlightened one’, who had become aware of a different dimension of existence - Mahavira was such an ‘enlightened one’ - His teachings - How he saw the enlightened state of being - By behaving differently it would bring people a change in outlook - Approach all with friendship, goodwill, patience and gentleness - Everything has a ‘sacred life force’ within.

E) Concern for everybody (450-398)

Israel - The ‘return’ - Nehemiah’s rebuilding of temple and city walls - Ezrah’s reading of the Torah - Jewish religion reaffirmed as a ‘religion of the Book’.

Greece - New ideas in Athens - Natural scientists - Sophists - Had a desire for liberation, autonomy and individualism - A reminder of ancient teachings of the past, except they had no desire for personal radical transformation - They concentrated on what they ‘were’, not on what they might ‘become’ - Socrates - What kind of a person - Purpose of his teaching: to bring people to a better understanding of themselves - In practice it became a form of ‘surrender’ - Socrates considered himself to be a ‘midwife’ in assisting bringing truth to birth - ‘Life that is unexamined, is not worth living’ - Socrates and his ‘daimon’, a divine presence - His death.

China 485-221 Brought great changes - From being ‘ritualized’ it became ‘militarized’ - The ‘warrior-peasant’ (cf Greek hoplite) - Mozi and non-violence - His view on sacrifices and extravagance - Noticed the poverty of the many - Took their side - ‘Others must be regarded as the ‘self’ was his form of the Golden Rule - Mozi was more interested in ‘justice’ than in ‘feelings’.

India - Buddha -

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Notes for Lecture EIGHT

God-connection (spirituality) in antiquity - A look at the main ‘principles’ that shaped the god-connectedness in ancient spiritual thinking - in: China, India, Israel, Greece.

The principles are: a) kenosis/surrender - b) knowledge - c) suffering - d) empathy - e) concern for every one.

C) Suffering 600-530

In all areas there was period of ‘great suffering’ - needed: to be awakened from ‘day-dreaming’ or the ‘usual way of thinking’

Israel: Experience this in the Exile to Babylon - Jeremiah and Ezekiel and their messages - Warning and consoling promise - Babylon became an occasion to re-write Israel’s history with a radical and advanced interpretation of its traditional sacred symbols - Ezekiel’s mystical vision - Note on: P J E D : 4 biblical interpretations.

Greece: Athene’s return to ‘right-order” of Greek society - Sharing responsibility for the disorder.

India: A new philosophy: Samkhya - its ideas about cosmos and evolution - a godless philosophy - Perusha: the essence of the human being, not the soul - Rather the ‘self’ - In the beginning purusha entangled with ‘nature’ (ego) - As long as we were confined within the realm of prakrti, nature, we remained in ignorance of the eternal dimension of our humanity. But purusha and prakrti were not enemies - Job of spirituality: to disentangle each person’s ‘self’ from the ‘ego’ embrace - Deep down the human yearns to be liberated - How did purusha fall into the toils of nature (ego) ? - Original sin? - The ideas of Samkhyra born from the circles of ‘renouncers’, who had discovered the

inner light’ pointing to their true inner ‘self’ - Reflection: We and our ‘ego’ - Many still hope to save their I-ego for a survival in heaven - Our true ‘self’ want to be free - Samkhya was an a-theistic teaching - It was not seeking ‘god-connection’, but the freeing of the ‘real self’.

China - Was rushing toward anarchy which let to the desire to be free from domination - More egalitarian structure - Law-code available for all - ‘Moderation’ became in decline - Taste for luxury - ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ - Way of Heaven became endangered - First meeting with Kong Qui (Confucius)

D) Empathy - the Golden Rule 530-450

China - Role of Confucius - Was to blunt and honest to be a politician - Became an inspired teacher, determined to train other to do what he himself could not accomplish - Some details about his personality - “Only one, who bursts with eagerness do I instruct', he said, 'only one, who bubbles with excitement do I enlighten” - His effort to make the Way of Heaven known again - Confucius was an ‘innovator’, re-animating the Old to gain knowledge of the New - He was not interested in theological chatter, but concentrated on ‘this world’ - He brought the religion of China ‘down to earth’: how to live right in the here and now - He wanted people to become fully conscious of what they were doing - He took ‘egoism’ out of the rites - Holiness was inseparable from ‘altruism’ - His ‘golden rule’.

Israel - - Cyrus became the symbol of empathy by allowing the Jews to return to their homeland - The ‘Servant Song’ of 2^nd Isaiah contained the vision of ‘suffering’ and ‘surrender’, leading to ecstacy, t.i., ‘stepping out’. Cf CfG xii

Greece - Athens still governed by the nobility but could be challenged by the ‘People’s Assembly’ - It allowed the ‘sacred revelation’ of the select few to become ‘public domain’ - Heraclitus discovered ‘introspection’ by advising people to look deeper to find the ruling principle of nature - The experiment of the ‘triremes’ led to ‘transformative changes’ since Greeks had to ‘turn their backs’ to the past - It demanded self-sacrifice - Salamis (480) in a time of suffering-they had to leave their city and holy places behind to be destroyed by the Persians-led to to victory over the Persians in the Gulf of Peloponnesus - The ‘tragedies’ as a symbol of finding te ‘correct view’ in time of tragedy - They became a ‘developing spirituality.

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Notes for Lecture SEVEN

Where and how to find the Divine - A quote - Stillness is the ‘language of God’, the rest is bad translation - Stillness is another word for ‘space’ - It has ‘no form’ - It is: to be conscious without thought - You are never more essentially, more deeply yourself, than when you are still ! - The reality is completely different - What all keeps us busy? - There is no substitute for finding ‘true purpose’ - It’s not in what you do, but what you are - Inner purpose concerns ‘being’ - To be ‘awaken’, to be ‘aware’ - The physical body as a ‘doorway’ to ‘inner space’. PERSONAL NOTE

Who/What is God? - see HANDOUT - for your reaction in class

God-connection (spirituality) in antiquity - A look at the main ‘principles’ that shaped the god-connectedness in ancient spiritual thinking - in: China, India, Israel, Greece.

The principles are: a) kenosis/surrender - b) knowledge - c) suffering - d) empathy - e) concern for every one.

A) Kenosis/surrender 800-700 - or: renouncing, emptying, self-abandonment - We call it: ‘Letting go’

Israel: Amos the voice of the God of Israel (texts)

China: ‘Restrain’ and ‘moderation’ became watch-words

India: the ‘renouncers’ achieved ‘internalizing religion’ by becoming aware of their own ‘being’ - the start of a ‘transformation’.

B) Knowledge 700-600 - as enlightenment

India: enlightenment by peaceful conquest of ‘inner space’ - Leading to: Brahman, the Ground of one’s being - Liberating the human from the ‘terror of mortality’ - First meeting of the ‘perusha’ - It’s a process of becoming fully ‘self-conscious’ - An awareness beyond words - The story of the salt in the glass of water.

Greece: Sparta and its citenzens, the ‘uniform-ones’ - subservient to the ‘polis’ - An interesting but different interpretation of ‘kenosis’/surrender - Hesiod: Should there be ‘prideful selfishness’ or ‘justice’? - The military innovation of the ‘hoplites’, the individual warrior - created new equality - Team-work meant giving up ‘personal glory’, a form of ‘kenosis’.

China: A foundation was laid for future spiritual development by creating a ‘society of gentle-men’, t.i., people living a life of ‘moderation’ and ‘self-control’ in a spirit of ‘yielding’ - with as purpose: forming one into a ‘fully human person’.

Israel: Experienced a ‘change of course’: a sort of restoration, but also the beginning of the ‘religion of Israel’ - Josiah and his desire to serve Yahweh ‘exclusively’, became a ‘declaration of independence’ - The finding of the ‘Scroll”, the book of the Law, the Torah - Caused a strict return to the Law – ‘Yahweh worship’ became a ‘religion of the book’.

C) Suffering 600-530

In all areas there was period of ‘great suffering’ - needed: to be awakened from ‘day-dreaming’ or the ‘usual way of thinking’.

Greece: Athene’s return to ‘right-order” of Greek society - Sharing responsibility for the disorder.

India: A new philosophy: Samkhya - its ideas about cosmos and evolution - a godless philosophy - Perusha

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Notes for Lecture SIX

The discovery of ‘inner space’ - A Sufi story - The ring with inscription: “This too will pass” - ‘Non-lasting, ‘non-attachment’ - Not being attached, and enjoying it more!! - Detachment leads to ‘inner space’, becoming conscious of the “I Am” - The all-important question is: At this moment, can I sense the presence of my 'inner space', which really means, can I sense my own presence, t.i., the presence that I AM, ... a 'being'? - Acceptance of the ‘now’ aligns you with your ‘inner space’ - Jesus: ‘Lose yourself to find yourself’ - The true primary purpose of your life is not in what you do, but in what you are, your ‘being aware’ - The peace that comes from inner space is the peace of the ‘divine in you’ - When 'inner space' is present in your life, you can enjoy things, experiences, and the pleasures of the senses, without losing yourself in them, without inner attachment to them, without becoming addicted to the world.

Recognizing ‘inner space’ - Watch not to become aware of yourself as an ‘object’, a ‘thought-form’ - it’s not who you ‘are’ - You can find ‘inner space’ by letting go of discontent, worry, anxiety, all those negative feelings ... telling yourself: ‘This too will pass’ - Where there is beauty or kindness, look for the background within yourself, that stillness and peace: it’s your ‘inner space’ - It’s the joy of ‘being’! - Be still, listen, be present! - Be aware of the stillness that follows the ‘I Am’ - Being aware of 'inner space', and of ‘who-you-are-in-your-essence', are one and the same - Lesson from a Zen Master.

Inner space and gnosis - Returning to ‘inner space’ is a return to the ancient spiritual knowledge of early Jesus-followers (Gospel of Thomas) - Gnosis = special knowledge, intuitive, inner approach to the presence of the Divine within - It’s a state of ‘being’ ! - Acceptance of the ‘essential, inherent divine nature of man’ (Celtic) - Some text of the Gospel of Thomas. [get yourself a copy of the ‘Gospel of Thomas’ from the internet. Link: www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhi Select: Patterson-Robinson translation]

Inner space and the Divine - Ultimate question NOT: Why am I here? - BUT: ‘Who’ - Who am I? Who is asking? - You are looking for the one who is looking ! - Abraham was simply told ‘to leave’ - Leaving everything behind is: to ‘be open’ ! - Not: to ‘believe in God’, but to ‘believe’ God = trust God [‘belove’ God - Borg] - The mystery cannot be explained, only ‘encountered’ - Something of the Holy One is hidden within - An TV comparison - The immensity of the universe - ‘If God is capable of such craft, he is to be desired for company!’

Who/What is God? -

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Notes for Lecture FIVE

Being in the ‘now’ is ‘salvation’ - Also: ‘practical spirituality’ is ‘salvation’ - Salvation is the ‘journey to the within’ - NOT the ‘arrival’, or the ‘having it’ (Funk) - So: Recognizing and accepting the 'now' as the place 'where life happens', is a liberating sensation or awareness, !! since it is the beginning of freeing oneself from the 'overpowering ego-mind’ - In other words: that 'recognizing and accepting of the 'now' as the place where life happens', can be the beginning of our 'real salvation' - There is no ‘salvation in ‘time’ (Tolle) - How the Christian concept of salvation is a ‘mind and time’ concept - You cannot be free in the ‘future’ - ‘Presence’ is the key to freedom - No use to look for that other salvation [cf Spong about afterlife in www.gcsmorespace.com under “Spong 2"] - Be aware: The 'Source Being', the 'divine-within-you', does not liberate you ... 'until ' you enter consciously into the 'now', and make yourself aware of ‘your one-ness with Being'. [the 'divine within you' let ‘ you yourself ’ liberate/save yourself] - Reason why Jesus said: ‘You will know (t.i. experience) the truth, and the truth will set you free - If all only would know how close they are to their own reality - How this salvation by connecting with the ‘divine within’ is a liberation - It also can be ‘healing’ - There is no salvation in ‘being religious’, and there is no salvation we can ‘possess’ or ‘attain’ - Application to an actual life situation - The role of ‘surrender’.

Outer space, inner space and ‘being’ - Universe ‘space’ - Our ‘inner space’ - They have affinity - Upanishads - Life ‘in the now’ = Kingdom Jesus mentioned - 2 letters for the name ‘Buddha’ - one means: ‘man, the other: ‘no’.

Inner space and the Divine -

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Notes for Lecture FOUR

The secret of happiness - The story of the 'ego' is so often expressed in: "If only" - The ego doesn't know that your only opportunity for being at peace is: 'being in the now'. Or maybe it does know it, and it is afraid that 'you' may find this out. Peace, after all, is the end of the ego - To be at peace now, is making peace with the present moment - Makes you accept ‘life in the now’, and how to handle ‘life’ - Opposition to the-way-life-is-at-the-moment, in the now, is typical coming from the ego - Recognizing ‘negativity’ in oneself leads to peace - Awareness of ‘negativity’ is not ‘failure’, it is success: you see it for what it is - Can one be free of ‘ego’? - “Free of” NO - Free from “Controlled by” YES - Depersonalizing oneself from the ‘ego’ helps to accept ‘emotions’ for what they are - Personal history is not more that a story, of secondary importance, not the basis for your sense of identity.

True happiness proof of immortality - How true happiness is proof of immortality - ‘Ego’ part of a ‘split personality’ : a ‘conceptional self’, and; the ’real self’ or the “I am” - “My life”: You don’t have life, you are life - So, what happens when we die? - [GCS ‘My being will forever be ‘with the Being’] - My 'ego' is not satisfied with such answer, it wants more details - I, the 'Self', is at peace with the reality!

The joy of ‘being’ - What ‘pollution’ is on the outer level, ‘negativity’ is on the inner level - “What happens” is the most unstable thing in the universe - Our ‘being’ is stable, does not change - Therefore: the joy of being!

Outer space, inner space and ‘being’ - Universe ‘space’ - Our ‘inner space’ - They have affinity - Upanishads - Life ‘in the4 now’ = Kingdom Jesus mentioned - 2 letters for the name ‘Buddha’ - one means: ‘man, the other: ‘no’.

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Notes for Lecture THREE

The true identity beyond the ‘ego’ - The word “I” represents at once ‘the greatest error’ and ‘the deepest truth’, depending on how it is used - Illusion or reality - The ‘good news’: IF you can recognize it as an illusion, it will dissolve; it survives only if you mistake it for reality - How Tolle explains this: in the young child - how the “I” creeps in - leading to: Me and My story - Becoming aware of the ‘ego’ is a blessing, and even greater when you realize: you don’t have to be ‘possessed’ by it.

[HOMEWORK: read the story 'The Voice in the Head' ANE p.30f]

Identification - How this works for the ‘ego’ - Identify=making the same - How ‘advertizing’ is a damaging/destructive influence - Consumer society feeds the ‘ego’ - Notice; ‘No thing’ has ever anything to do with ‘who we are’ - Jesus: “Blessed are the poor” - Application.

From Descartes's error to Sartre's insight - Descartes: “I think therefore I am” had not discovered that the ego-mind is not ‘who we are’ - Sartre: “the consciousness that says ‘I am’ is not the consciousness that ‘thinks’ - Further explanation of his “Transcendence of the Ego” - When you are aware ‘you are thinking’, the awareness of that thinking is not part of the thinking - Many people live in their ‘thinking’ (without awareness).

The peace that passes all understanding - Sometimes people experience the new dimension of consciousness because of a tragic ‘loss’ - Further reflection - Why you can have ‘peace’ in a ‘loss’ - Consequence for ‘acceptance the reality of death’ - Whenever a tragic loss occurs, you can either: ‘resist/object’ or ‘yield’ - Application the “Lost ring story”

Peace as true happiness - How are you? - Answer can ‘express’ and ‘hide’ - Do you know the “I am” cannot be unhappy? - Therefore you should not ‘seek happiness’ - it’s illusive.

True happiness proof of immortality -

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Notes Lecture TWO - Sp II ‘11

Truth, relative or absolute - Some practical thoughts - Jesus about the ‘Truth’ - How to apply - Truth vs Law and commandments - The One Absolute Truth.

God-connection needs self-connection - To be God-connected one has to be ‘self-connected’ - To know yourself is the start of ‘practical spirituality’ - Learning from Delphi - Before you ask any other question, first ask the most fundamental question of your life: Who am I? - Getting to know the real ME.

Arising of new consciousness - Looking back into ancient history: Genesis, the Fall: the ‘bad news’ - The ‘good news’: transformation of the human consciousness is possible - The teaching of the ‘sages of old’ : recognizing that for many thousands of years a radical transformation of human consciousness has been seen as possible - How this new awareness evolved - Damaging influence of ‘religions’ : they became divisive, rather than unifying forces - Caused also: man to make God into his own image - The changes that have been taking place in past centuries in different forms - And lately in the renewed interest in ‘spirituality’ - Tolle, and at the Academy!

[HOMEWORK: read the story 'The Voice in the Head' ANE p.30f]

Identification - How this works for the ‘ego’ - and how ‘advertizing’ is a damaging/destructive influence - Consumer society feeds the ‘ego’ - Notice; ‘No thing’ has ever anything to do with who we are - Jesus’ “Blessed are the poor” - Application.

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From Descartes's error to Sartre's insight -

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Notes Lecture ONE - Sp II ‘11

Introduction - A continuation from Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’ to ‘A New Earth’ - ‘One-ness’ with the ‘divine’ will be discussed in more detail this semester - For the benefit of new-comers: short overview of past material.

Distinction between Religion and Spirituality - Necessary, since it is a basic principle of the course material - Religion and ‘believing’ - Spirituality does not flow from formal religion, but was part of the ‘human’ since ancient times - Religion: generated by ‘wisdom of culture’ - Spirituality: ‘inborn gift’, not to be acquired, but to become aware of - God can be experienced.

Where/why ‘religion’ might have failed us - Religion as ‘God-connectedness’ can become ‘church-connectedness’.

Purpose of the Spirituality course - Not to teach: how to be spiritual - but to enhance the meaning and essence of spirituality - and offer means to discover ‘deeper spirituality’.

The God (concept) Question - Tolle and Fowler’s quotes - We might need to ‘update’ our God-concept. [cf Handout 7 The God Question]

Thoughts from Armstrong - Religion of the ancients - Development of their god-concept - It was not ‘visual’, rather ‘internal’ - Rites and their place - Respect for the ‘spirit’ - Meaning of the ‘sacrifice’ - The sacrifice as ‘creative’ - Important observation: “The prophets, mystics, philosophers, and poets of ancient times, were só advanced, and their vision was só radical, that later generations by applying these teachings, tended to dilute the 'vision' of the ancients, because it was just too radical.” - No ‘doctrine’ was involved in their ‘god-concept’ - Pressing toward ‘human consciousness’, a ‘transcendent dimension in the core of our being’ (not super-natural).

Does God have a future? - Which God? - About the theistic God - Atheism.

AN EXERCISE

Truth, relative or absolute - Some practical thoughts - Jesus about the ‘Truth’ - How to apply - Truth vs Law and commandments - The One Absolute Truth.

God-connection needs self-connection -