NOTES for Lecture FIVE - Practical Spirituality I - ‘10
The ultimate truth of who you are is not: ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’ - but ‘I AM’
How do I became aware of ‘being’? - Being is ‘the identity of your essence’ - You become aware of ‘being’ when you are present to yourself, in the ‘now’ - Create ‘inner space’ by being in the ‘now’ - Once you have discovered that moment of ‘presence’ you can fall back on it - It’s in the ‘now’, in the ‘present moment’, that ‘life happens’ ! - How Sartre corrects Descartes: the consciousness that says ‘I am” is not the consciousness that ‘thinks’ - There is a ‘being’ behind the ‘thinker’ ! - It’s all an ‘in the body’ experience - ‘In the body ’ our ‘presence’ becomes our ‘identity’ ! - When resisting what happens in the ‘now’, you will be at the mercy of the ‘ego-world’ - Your goal is not to ‘arrive’ somewhere’, but to be aware of ‘where you are’ - If you can accept what 'IS', - in the here and now - and if you can accept that thát is best, - you are enlightened ! - For Jesus it is ‘salvation/liberation’, for the Buddha it is ‘the end of suffering’ - The role of meditation/contemplation - ‘Power of now’ is liberating you ‘from your thinking’ - ‘Presence’ will transform your state of consciousness - ‘One with life of the moment’ is most important - Make it your friend ! - Living in the now is ‘making inner space, is giving your Self more space - You only get to know your mind, the workings of your mind, if you keep an eye on it 'from the presence of the now'! Be an observer ! - ‘Awakening’ is the realization of ‘presence’ - Once you start observing the mind, you are ‘present’ - Where before you might have dwelt 'in time', and paid brief visits to the 'now', have now your dwelling in the 'now', pay only brief visits to past and future when necessary for practical aspects of your life situation - Always say ‘ yes ’ to the present moment.
And where do I become aware of ‘being? - In the ‘now’ - Meister Eckhart: ‘Time’ is what keeps the ‘Light’ from reaching us’ - When we dare to stop ‘time’, t.i. accept what is happening in the ‘now’, we become aware of ‘being’ - The more we put this into practice, the deeper we will touch our 'inside', our 'real self', where we know our 'being' is. - If we let go of the time-element, we will have inner peace - It’s our choice - Be aware and say or think: 'I am'; don't add anything to it, don't pay attention to the mind that wants to 'label' it - Just be aware of the stillness that follows the 'I am' - Sense the simpleness of 'being present' (!), which is 'your being' - 'Stillness is the language God speaks, and everything else is bad translation'
Surrender - acceptance of the ‘now’ - Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment - In the ‘now’, in the absence of ‘time’, all your problems dissolve - Acceptance of the ‘now’ is a form of ‘surrender’, it involves a ‘letting go’ - Some wisdom-sayings that can be helpful: 'THIS TOO WILL PASS' - 'IS THAT SO?!' - 'MAYBE' - Inner surrender and acceptance does not mean: no action on the ‘outer level’ can be taken - ‘Resignation’ is not ‘surrender’ - The judgement to act , coming from the ‘now’ is also coming from ‘inner wisdom’, consequence of god-connectedness - Tolle’s illustration.
Results of ‘being in the now’ - Becoming aligned with the creative power of the universe - It brings 3 gifts: Peace, Joy, Enthusiasm - Some reflections on each - Source of ‘enthusiasm’ from Gr en + theos , freely translated: god-connectedness - Feel yourself as an opening through which the energy flows from the Unmanifested Source of Life -
‘I am a hole in the flute that the Divine Breath moves thru’ (Sufi)‘
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NOTES for Lecture FOUR
To know yourself - beginning of practical spirituality - Shakespeare: ‘to thine self be true’ - You cannot be true to yourself if you don’t know yourself - ‘Who am I’ is the big question - Remember the early exercise! - Knowing yourself is not what you ‘think about yourself’, or: what others think of you - ‘You are not your mind’ ! - Human psyche exists of ‘ I ’ and ‘me’ (=myself=ego) - What is the ‘I’? - Do I ‘have ’ life or ‘am ’ I ‘my life’ ? - ‘Having life’ is the original delusion of separateness, the source of the ‘ego’ (Tolle) - You ‘are’ life, rooted in ‘Being’ - A reflection on death (leaving life).
Where do I find the Self? - The real self is rooted in ‘being’, in one’s ‘existence’ - That self-awareness is of the utmost importance - Can some one give you that self-knowledge? - No, because you already ‘have’ it, but you must become ‘aware‘ of it - Awareness of the ‘real self’ will lead to awareness of the ‘divine’ , ‘the Spirit of God dwells within you’ - First thing needed is: to recognize: you are not your mind - It’s not what ‘you think of your self’ that makes ‘ you ’ ! - Descarte thought so: “I think, therefore I am” - The real you is the one who is the ‘onlooker’, the ‘mind-watcher’ - What ‘I AM’ , the ‘I AM’ ... is really the ‘self’ - Once you become the ‘mind-watcher’, you are becoming ‘your self’.
How do I find the Self? - In: ‘who you are’ , in your ‘being’ - A comparison - Don’t try to understand ‘being’ - If you do, your mind is working! - Just ‘be’ ! - The greatest miracle is the ‘experience of the essential self’ - prior to any words, thoughts or mental labels - It’s the truth about yourself that ‘will set you free’ - The joy of being = the joy of ‘being conscious’ = enlightenment - Tolle sees it as: ‘being at one’, namely ‘with Being’ - Fowler’s thought: ‘Keep and use this vision’ - You ‘have it’ because you ARE - It cannot be taken away - it might ‘fade away’, but it is always there.
How do I became aware of ‘being’? - Being is ‘the identity of your essence’ - You become aware of ‘being’ when you are present to yourself, in the ‘now’ - Create ‘inner space’ by being in the ‘now’ - Once you have discovered that moment of ‘presence’ you can fall back on it - It’s in the ‘now’, in the ‘present moment’, that ‘life happens’ ! - How Sartre corrects Descartes: the consciousness that says ‘I am” is not the consciousness that ‘thinks’ - There is a ‘being’ behind the ‘thinker’ ! - It’s all an ‘in the body’ experience - ‘In the body ’ our ‘presence’ becomes our ‘identity’ ! - When resisting what happens in the ‘now’, you will be at the mercy of the ‘ego-world’ - Your goal is not to ‘arrive’ somewhere’, but to be aware of ‘where you are’ - If you can accept what 'IS', - in the here and now - and if you can accept that thát is best, - you are enlightened ! - For Jesus it is ‘salvation/liberation’, for the Buddha it is ‘the end of suffering’ - The role of meditation/contemplation - ‘Power of now’ is liberating you ‘from your thinking’ - ‘Presence’ will transform your state of consciousness - ‘One with life of the moment’ is most important - Make it your friend ! - Living in the now is ‘making inner space, is giving your Self more space - You only get to know your mind, the workings of your mind, if you keep an eye on it 'from the presence of the now'! Be an observer ! - ‘Awakening’ is the realization of ‘presence’ - Once you start observing the mind, you are ‘present’ - Where before you might have dwelt 'in time', and paid brief visits to the 'now', have now your dwelling in the 'now', pay only brief visits to past and future when necessary for practical aspects of your life situation - Always say ‘ yes ’ to the present moment.
And where do I become aware of ‘being? -
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NOTES for Lecture THREE
Creation - In essence is: “us” in relationship to all beings, nature, what we see, and don’t see: galaxies and black holes - Meister Eckhart’s experience - Creation in its core is about ‘relation’, ultimately relation with the essence of God, ‘god-connectedness’ - Creation is the ‘offspring’ of the god-head, a ‘footprint of the divine’ - Also can be a resurrection experience: finding the ‘new life’ in our deepest ‘self’ - M.Fox’s description - How extravagant, how wise and at the same time, how fragile is creation! - Therefore: Be green!
What is spirituality - Comes from ‘spirit’, what is meant by ‘Spirit’? - God as ‘Spirit’ - Spirit in languages - God’s Spirit and creation - Spirituality is a ‘spirit-filled path’ - What is remarkable about the ‘path’ - We must be ‘emptied’ to be able to walk the path.
Creation spirituality - is that special ‘path’ we are invited to take - It is a ‘choice’ we make - More about creation connectedness - In ancient times and in the ‘native’ peoples - How it found reflection in the Hebrew Bible, and from there in Jesus’ teachings - And in mystical experiences - How the ‘church’ reacted against those experiences.
At home with nature - Our ancestors were connected with ‘nature’ - Their intuitive sense was of an ‘alive planet’ - They recognized a ‘life force’ in the forces of nature, and so the nearness of divine power - All this gave them a sense of harmony - As humans we have the ability to become aware of that ‘spiritual wellspring’ - It is a natural divine endowment.
Reconnecting needed - with the cosmos and the planetary womb, that begets, sustains and nourishes us - The divine meaning of creation is not derived from us, humans, creation itself is the source and wellspring - By reconnecting with the universe story we will be reconnecting with that inner, vital, divinely bestowed energy that will drive us toward a sense of purpose and meaning in our lives.
Spirituality and the creative universe - Teilhard the Chardin: 'Unless it receives a new blood transfusion from matter, t.i., 'creation', Christian spirituality may well lose its vigor, and become lost in the clouds' - The new cosmology has become a tangible reality - We need to keep on listening to it.
First look at ‘practical spirituality’ - Tolle: ‘Most of us live on the brink of insanity because our thoughts are running away with our lives, they have hijacked our consciousness, our ‘essential being’ - We have difficulty to find the ‘real self’ - Ego keeps us from awakening to our life’s purpose - The mystics: to ‘know’ God we must go beyond ‘thinking’, beyond ‘creeds’, ... to find God in ‘presence’ - Some practical hints in the use of The Power of Now - 1) don’t try to find things in the book that look interesting (ego) - 2) discipline your reading.
To know yourself - beginning of practical spirituality -
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NOTES for Lecture TWO
The Dance - How Fowler sees the emerging universe as a ‘dance’ we are invited to join - We may have to shed a lot of ‘fears’ and ‘inhibitions’, many of religious nature.
Spiritual Universe - What the long spiritual tradition is teaching us - How the spiritual universe is a ‘revelation’ showing how the drama of the Divine is unfolding itself in the evolving universe - Swimme: You have to learn to ‘listen’ to the universe to ‘hear’ it - It is in the unfolding orchestra of creation we can feel and sense with our pe-historic ancestors the ‘divine presence’ - The Divine LifeForce permeates ‘existence’ in its ‘entirety’ - Revelation is accomplished ‘in history’ - We have to make ourselves ‘open’ for this revelation.
The Universe Story - In the universe all parts form a ‘whole’ in a web of inter-connectedness with the ‘Source’ or ‘Being’ - That is the story the universe tells us - How the story was told in antiquity - Not by words, but by way of ‘hand, drums, dance and chant’, seeking in that way communication with the ‘divine: god, goddess or gods - This form of communication needs the ability to ‘listen, rather than to ‘speak’ - ‘To listen’ is also what the new story of the sciences is asking us to do
The universe story Our Story - Planet Earth and its brilliance - It has as aim: celebrating the joy of existing - Earth a marvelous self-expression of the universe, because of our ‘human consciousness’: the human is a special mode of conscious self-awareness of the universe - The ‘birthplace’ of the universe - How it was found and how the ‘finders’ expressed themselves - Hubble, Einstein, their reactions (gcsmorespace,com -> Einstein) - It was their ‘listening’ to the photons patterns that ‘came to them’ - That listening has to become ‘ours’ - The human is the space, created in the universe-process, for hearing and celebrating the stories of the universe that fill the universe - This is our sacred story - Wilber: the evolution story of the universe simply shows: ‘Spirit in anction’, ‘God in the making’, which ‘making’ is destined to carry all of us straight to the Divine - We are invited to engage not with life ‘on’ Earth, but with the life-form that ‘is’ Earth.
Creation -
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NOTES for Lecture ONE
Introduction
Why distinction between religion and spirituality - Religion means here ‘formal religion’ the ‘institution’, not ‘one’s religion’ - Spirituality doesn’t come from religion. It predated it - In ancient times the term spirituality didn’t exist - the term ‘religion’ was used indicating: ‘god-connectedness’ - That’s what spirituality has as a goal: awareness of, openness to the Spirit - In general: organized religion was generated by ‘the wisdom of culture’ - Spirituality is an ‘inborn gift’; not needed to be acquired, but to become aware of.
Where and why religion has failed us - Being ‘god-connected’ is more important than being ‘church-connected’ - Many ‘church people’ have not come to understand this - ‘God-connected’ also means: a need for being ‘self-connected’.
EXERCISE: [you can started now as ‘homework’ if you wish] BEFORE GETTING TO KNOW THE REAL SELF - ASK YOURSELF (AND JOT DOWN) : WHO AM I ? HOW DO I SEE MYSELF, WHAT CAN I TELL ABOUT MYSELF?
Important for now, but even more when looking back at it later on in the course.
Spirituality as getting to know the Real Me - Temple at Delphi: gnoti seauton - ‘Know Thyself’ - If you want to find God, live with a ‘god-connectedness’, you need to get to know first your Real Self - Tolle, when realizing “I cannot live myself” wondered: Am I one or two? Maybe only one is real! - Each one has an ‘ego’ and a ‘real Self’ - How can we find the real Self? - Can somebody give it to me? NO, because you already have the ‘real Self’, you only have to discover it. Become ware of it ! - And that will offer the opportunity to find God.
Basis for Practical Spirituality - Quantum Theory - Some data - Scientific findings have many benefits for us humans and the planet - Einstein’s relativity theory - opens a new view of another world with mystery and fascination - Some modern books that can help us understand.
Emerging Universe - Universe has its own story to tell us - Difference between ‘created’ and ‘emerging’ universe - ‘Created’ God is on the ‘outside’, divine providence - ‘Emerging’ the universe is ‘emerging continuously in a time development sequence from ‘within’ - God acts from ‘inside out’, is ‘internal causal force’ , ‘Life Giver’.
The Dance - How Fowler sees the emerging universe as a ‘dance’ we are invited to join - We may have to shed a lot of ‘fears’ and ‘inhibitions’, many of religious nature.
Spiritual Universe -
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Notes for Lecture FOURTEEN - Sp II
"You always already are enlightened Spirit, and therefore to seek Spirit is simply to deny Spirit. You can no more attain Spirit than you can attain your feet or acquire your lungs." Wilber OT 31
Contemporary thoughts about God/divine -
Tolle: ANE 267 Through the present moment, you have access to the power of life itself, that which has traditionally been called "God." As soon as you turn away from it, God ceases to be a reality in your life, and all you are left with is the mental concept of God, which some people believe in and others deny. - Even belief in God is only a poor substitute for the living reality of God manifesting every moment of your life -
Kingsland in Gnosis : 'Christianity, as we know it, has in its essence little to do the vision of Jesus, which is about 'individual gnosis', or 'enlightenment' - His look at the 'formation of Christian theology': Dogmas are formulated by men, with primitive ideas about the cosmos - A Quote! -
Geering - his overview of the history of the 'death of (the traditional) God' - Then his question: Can Christianity survive without the traditional theistic image of God? - Borg : 'An inadequate view of God is more serious than atheism' ! - Two concepts of God, 1) supernatural theism - God a Person, and 2) Panentheism: God transcendent and immanent (Paul Tillich) -
Robinson in Honest to God - God is the 'Ultimate Reality' - The fundamental theological question consists not in establishing the 'existence' of God as a 'separate entity', but 'in pressing through in ultimate concern' to what Tillich calls 'the ground of our being' -
Eckhart - Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things. Every single creature id full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God -
Spong - There is a new 'God-thought' , which is creating new 'God possibilities', that invite us to journey more deeply in a new direction ... God is the ultimate source of life. Spong also sees the non-theistic God ... having become aware that the God we once saw theistically as 'a being', a person, can now be seen as a symbol of 'Being Itself'. "I AM" (Being), says the Bible is the name of God. -
Fowels - His story! - 'you are an eternal 'expression' of the Existence', or, translating the latin root of that word 'expression': you are the 'out-pressing of the Eternal Existence, which is God -
Wilber - 'It's not quite right to describe 'One Taste' as a 'consciousness' or as an 'awareness', because that's a little too 'heady', too 'cognitive'. It's more like the simple 'Feeling of Being'. You already feel this simple 'Feeling of Being': it is the simple, present feeling of 'existence' ('I am') ... The simple 'Feeling of Being', - which is the simple feeling of 'existence', - is the simple Feeling of 'One Taste'... this Feeling is Spirit itself, Godhead itself -
Kushner - holy words - from the Bible or spiritual text - are intimately related not only to what God means, but even to who God is, and who we are' ... you already 'have' (or rather 'are'), what you are looking for' ... when reading scripture don't look for a a lot of possible meanings of a verse, but be aware of s 'journey into the self' of the one who is reading.
A New Earth not an Utopia Tolle: The universe has an inner and outer purpose inseparable from yours. The 'outer purpose' is to create form and experience the interaction of forms: the play, the dream ... The 'inner purpose' is to awaken to its 'formless essence'... Then comes the reconciliation of 'outer' and 'inner' purpose: to bring that essence'/'consciousness' into the world of 'form', and thereby 'transform the world'. That 'transformation' is the task allotted to us. ... The core of all failing visions lies in the dysfunction of the 'old consciousness', namely looking to the future for salvation ... The foundation for a new earth is a new heaven, that is: the awakened consciousness ... A new heaven and a new earth are arising within you at this moment, and if they are not arising at this moment, they are no more than a thought in your head and therefore not arising at all - Jesus: 'non-judgmental reasoning' is the common ground of higher consciousness, Utopia would come of itself.
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Notes for Lecture THIRTEEN - Sp II
Why women are more open for 'enlightenment'
How practical spirituality is ‘salvation’
Final Section will be about:
- Contemporary thoughts about God/divine
- And so: A New Earth is not an Utopia
The joy of being - In the 'inner space' - Not an 'object' you can look for - It's space that 'opens up' - A stillness - A 'sweetness of being' - The joy of 'being conscious', which is 'empowering'.
Entrances to the divine - Inner space opens those 'entrances' - Whenever you are so 'present', you will become 'transparent' to some extent to the light, that is: the pure consciousness that emanates from this Source - It is not separate from 'who you are' - Finds its origin in the 'universal life energy' - You will feel it as a deep sense of peace somewhere in the background, a 'stillness' that never leaves you, no matter what happens on the outside - This 'connectedness' is 'enlightenment'.
An Exercise
Why women are closer to enlightenment - Women 'feel', they are more 'in' their body, naturally closer to 'being', potentially closer to 'enlightenment' - The female in ancient cultures - O'Murchu's 'matrix' - The Dao: 'Being, mother of the universe', explained - Women virtually 'embody the 'Unmanifested' in the birth of a child - Ancient Goddess, Divine Mother - All this versus the traditional, patriarchical, controlling authority figure of God - Mind-energy is hard and rigid, 'being energy' is soft and yielding - Mind runs civilization, Being is in charge of all life.
'I am a hole in the flute that the breath of the Divine's breath moves true' ANE 301
Feel yourself being 'an opening' through which energy flows from the unmanifested Source of all life, 'going through you' for the benefit of all ANE 305
Practical Spirituality is 'salvation' - Living in the 'now' frees from the tyranny of the ego-mind - The beginning of 'real salvation' - "You will 'know' the truth, and that truth will set you free" (Jesus) - The 'knowing ' is also 'eternal life', because it is 'God-connectedness'.
Contemporary thoughts about God/divine -
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Notes for Lecture TWELVE - Sp II
Looking at the Syllabus: - we will skip (lack of time)
- Other entrances to the 'divine' AND
- 'Searching for' vs 'Finding the divine'
NOT however - Why women are more open for 'enlightenment'
AND - How practical spirituality is ‘salvation’
Final Section will be about:
- Contemporary thoughts about God/divine
- And so: A New Earth is not an Utopia
Union that is universe connected - Reaching back: universe story, our story - Emanating from the 'universal intelligence' - Becoming conscious of the reality of our 'being' aligns us with the higher consciousness - We 'are', to enable the divine purpose of the universe - Upanishad: 'In the beginning there was 'Being' alone - All creatures have their root in 'Being' - Tolle: 'I don't call it 'finding God', because how can you find what was never lost: 'the very life you are'? . . . The amazing and incomprehensible fact is not: that you 'can' become conscious of God, but ... that you are 'not conscious of God' - No subject-object relationship, only 'one-ness' - 'God-realization' is the most natural thing.
Breakthrough - Meister Eckhart see Handout - The essence of God is 'birthing' - Fowler's thoughts: A vision of the 'core self', the whole cosmos, the sweep of history, it all applies to us personally - 'One-ness' is from now and forever, because the 'awareness of the Source' - You are: the 'external expression of Existence' - There will be times that you forget about it, but the fact that you glimpsed the 'Reality' remains - You cannot possibly forget it, since it is what you 'are' - It is the grand process of the Eternal Being 'unfolding Itself in the clay of human form', and in a history where 'It returns slowly, inevitably into an awareness of Its Life within matter'.
The joy of being - In the 'inner space' - Not an 'object' you can look for - It's space that 'opens up' - A stillness - A 'sweetness of being' - The joy of 'being conscious', which is 'empowering'.
Entrances to the divine - Inner space opens those 'entrances' - Whenever you are so 'present', you will become 'transparent' to some extent to the light, that is: the pure consciousness that emanates from this Source - It is not separate from 'who you are' - Finds its origin in the 'universal life energy' - You will feel it as a deep sense of peace somewhere in the background, a 'stillness' that never leaves you, no matter what happens on the outside - This 'connectedness' is 'enlightenment'.
An Exercise
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DISCUSSION - Friday Dec 4th.
PS. [from Ruth] Subject: library directions
Start out going NORTH on PENNSYLVANIA AVE/DE-52 toward MT VERNON AVE. Continue to follow DE-52 N. 0.7 miles
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto MONTCHANIN RD. 0.2 miles
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto BARLEY MILL RD/DE-141. 0.6 miles
Turn LEFT onto POWDER MILL RD/DE-141 N. 2.1 miles
Stay STRAIGHT to go onto FOULK RD/DE-261 N. Continue to follow DE-261 N. 1.8 miles
1300 FOULK RD.
Friends-Brandywine Hundred Lib
1300 Foulk Rd, Wilmington, DE 19803
We will be in a meeting room on the 2nd floor; have the room from 10-12:30. The library opens at 10.00 . If anyone wants to bring in a large coffee pot, we are permitted to do that. We also can bring in any food that we want (as long as we clean up, of course!) [Ruth]
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Notes for Lecture ELEVEN - Sp II
"I think 'prayer' is the moment you feel God is with you. That's what prayer is. It is 'recognition' and a 'connection'. You don't need to say words to have this 'connection'." Sr. Annunciata Yang
Truth: relative and absolute - Only 'one' absolute Truth - Human action can reflect the Truth - 'Truth' inseparable from 'who you are' - The very being you are is: Truth - Jesus: 'I am ... the truth...' - The "I am" is the essence of every person's identity - Our 'god-connectedness' - When in touch with the 'divine within', actions and relationships will reflect the oneness with the Source of Life - Laws etc, are necessary to keep in line 'those', who are cut off from 'who they are', cut off from 'the Truth within' - The simplicity of 'the truth', of 'life itself', is: 'disconnecting' oneself from the ego-mind (atonement, 'letting go', & 'returning' which leads to at-one-ment, god-connectedness).
Finding the 'divine' in the 'now' - Creation as the place of revealing the Source of Life (Celtic prayers) - Some quotes - How 'practical spirituality', being in the now, gives us an 'opening for', and a 'grasp of' the divine within ourselves - Importance of the 'inner body'.
A parable - the inner body - Building on 'sand' or on 'rock' - The 'rock ' and the 'now'.
Inner body, inner space: doorway to the 'divine' - 'Transformation' happens 'through' the body - Body should be controlled by 'ego' - Tolle's 'sermon of the body' - Wilber on contact with the 'unmanifested One' - The Presence of the Being is 'felt' only as 'a great 'background sense' of Freedom and Release from all objects' - Fowler's observation: The 'real Self' is satisfied to know and experience that you are 'connected' with the 'ultimate Reality', the Ground of your being.
Union that is universe connected - Reaching back: universe story, our story - Emanating from the 'universal intelligence' - Becoming conscious of the reality of our 'being' aligns us with the higher consciousness - We 'are', to enable the divine purpose of the universe - Upanishad: 'In the beginning there was 'Being' alone - All creatures have their root in 'Being' - Tolle: 'I don't call it 'finding God', because how can you find what was never lost, 'the very life you are'? . . . The amazing and incomprehensible fact is not: that you 'can' become conscious of God, but ... that you are 'not conscious of God' - No subject-object realationship, onle 'one-ness' - 'God-realization' is the most natural thing.
Breakthrough - Meister Eckhart see Handout - The essence of God is 'birthing' - Fowler's thoughts: A vision of the 'core self', the whole cosmos, the sweep of history, it all applies to us personally - 'One-ness' is from now and forever, because the awareness of the 'Source' - You are: the etrnal expression of 'Existence' - There will be times that you forget about it, but the fact that you glimpsed the 'Reality' remains - You cannot possibly forget it, since it is what you 'are' - It is the 'the grand process of the Eternal Being unfolding Itself in the clay of human form, and in a history where It returns slowly, inevitably into an awareness of Its Life within matter'.
The joy of being -
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Notes for Lecture TEN - Sp II
The spiritual aspect of God
In Judaism - "They all will know Me, the least no less than the greatest" - Jesus' kingdom message - Jewishness of his Golden rule.
In kabalah - Zohar about the nature of God - God's presence.
In gnosticism of early Christian writings - Gnosis=deeper, spiritual knowledge, based on direct experience - Involves knowledge of oneself - Based on principle of the 'essential inherent divine nature of the human' - Links God with humanity.
Jesus a gnostic? - Depends on the understanding of 'gnostic' - Not as a member of a gnostic sect - But, yes, he was because he taught one could know God in Wisdom and Presence - Jesus and the 'gnostic spark' .
In Celtic spirituality - Its emphasis on 'nature experiences' - Its connection with Pelagius (vs Augustine).
In Sufism - It's experience of verifying a reality that lays beyond the reach of the human intellect - Islam=surrender leads to the experience.
In forms of Christina mysticism - Mysticism: the experience of the divine - An adjustment to the 'theistic-God-concept' - It is more than what doctrine offers - An experience of the 'divine' as an 'emerging force' leading to 'transformation' - Humanity is longing to touch 'that force', and to shed, to let go of, all that interferes with this 'clear contact'.
Application to 'practical spirituality - Cupitt's observation (text is under "Handouts"): ethics/morality horizontal, t.i. an authoritative code of Law from above that resonates in conscience - OR: ethisc/morality regulated by correct human relations (vertical ) based on 'love is the fulfillment of the Law', resonates in the heart. - Discussion
Truth: relative and absolute - Only 'one' absolute Truth - Human action can reflect the Truth - 'Truth' inseparable from 'who you are' - The very being you are is: Truth - Jesus: 'I am ... the truth...' - The "I am" is the essence of every person's identity - Our 'god-connectedness' - When in touch with the 'divine within', actions and relationships will reflect the oneness with the Source of Life - Laws etc, are necessary to keep in line 'those', who are cut off from 'who they are', cut off from 'the Truth within' - The simplicity of 'the truth', of 'life itself', is: 'disconnecting' oneself from the ego-mind (atonement).
Finding the 'divine' in the 'now' - Creation as the place of revealing the Source of Life (Celtic prayers) - Some quotes - How 'practical spirituality', being in the now, gives us an 'opening for', and a 'grasp of' the divine within ourselves - Importance of the 'inner body'.
A parable - the inner body - Building on 'sand' or on 'rock' - The 'rock ' and the 'now'.
Inner body, inner space: doorway to the 'divine' - 'Transformation' happens 'through' the body - Body should be controlled by 'ego' - Tolle's 'sermon of the body' - Wilber on contact with the 'unmanifested One' - The Presence of the Being is 'felt' only as 'a great 'background sense' of Freedom and Release from all objects' - Fowler's observation: The 'real Self' is satisfied to know and experience that you are 'connected' with the 'ultimate Reality', the Ground of your being.
Union that is universe connected -
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Notes for Lecture Nine - Sp II
India - Buddha (563-483) - Siddhatta Gotama, at 29, felt himself like a prisoner in his father's home - The 'gods' gave him a helping hand by sending 4 symbols of 'suffering' to him - Touched by that grim cycle of suffering, Gotama left home to become an 'renouncer' - Told his disciples not to accept any teaching that does not tally with their own experience, 'never take any doctrine on faith, or second hand' - Giving in to the endless desires of the ego might lead people to seeking anew kind of existence - Depleting oneself of egotism and being full of compassion is a extremely difficult task, but brings to birth a different kind of human being - The Buddha not concerned with a personalized concept of God of gods - Such concern he saw as an unskillful assertion of the ego' - Buddha's stand on creation and the existence of God - His version of the Golden Rule - About the importance of 'inner space' - How Buddha was an example of 'transformed humanity' by cutting the roots of egotism to activate what was 'dormant'.
God and god-connection in traditional theology - [cf\NCR\ Chittister The God who beckons [was given out as Handout in class] - See also God vs Man published in www.gcsmorespace.com -> 14] The choices we have to make - Jesus did not give us 'theology' - How the testimony of writers can help us - What our concept of God, the sacred, the Spirit entails, has major consequences.
God in cosmic/evolutionary theology - The 'encompassing Spirit' - God more than the universe, yet the universe is 'in God'; makes God being 'right here' - Life as fundamentally one - Divine energy is open-ended - Cannot be limited to 'religious categories' - Different names for God - Relational matrix - 'At-one-ness' of God with creation - (At-one-ness, at-one-ment, can read as atonement=returning, becoming 'one' again) - All creation is innately spiritual.
The spiritual aspect of God
In Judaism - "They all will know Me, the least no less than the greatest" - Jesus' kingdom message - Jewishness of his Golden rule.
In kabalah - Zohar about the nature of God - God's presence.
In gnosticism of early Christian writings - Gnosis=deeper, spiritual knowledge, based on direct experience - Involves knowledge of oneself - Based on principle of the 'essential inherent divine nature of the human' - Links God with humanity.
Jesus a gnostic? - Depends on the understanding of 'gnostic' - Not as a member of a gnostic sect - But, yes, he was because he taught one could know God in Wisdom and Presence - Jesus and the 'gnostic spark' .
In Celtic spirituality - Its emphasis on 'nature experiences' - Its connection with Pelagius (vs Augustine).
In Sufism - It's experience of verifying a reality that lays beyond the reach of the human intellect - Islam=surrender leads to the experience.
In forms of Christina mysticism - Mysticism: the experience of the divine - An adjustment to the 'theistic-God-concept' - It is more than what doctrine offers - An experience of the 'divine' as an 'emerging force' leading to 'transformation' - Humanity is longing to touch 'that force', and to shed, to let go of, all that interferes with this 'clear contact'.
Application to 'practical spirituality -
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Notes for Lecture EIGHT - Sp II
[While covering 'Suffering' (600-530), 'samkhya' was mentioned in India. Question was asked: Was this the time of Buddha? Below you will notice: 'it was indeed' - ALSO: I started to cut sections in the material to make it possible to cover all as planned. Was painful, but needed to be done!]
Greece - Athens and its Council of 500 - A most 'egalitarian civil order' - Proper education could avoid 'brute force' - 'Saving revelation' not just for a select few, but now 'en mesoi', in the center, available for all - Heraclitus : 'You must look deeper to find the 'logos', the ruling principle of nature' - Introspection - Transformational changes needed 'turn one's back on the past' - Demanded 'kenosis', self-sacrifice - Hoplites and 'Salamis' - A moment of suffering, an opening for change - Expressed in the 'tragedies' - Life is 'dukkha', painful, unsatisfactory - All this at the heart of developing spirituality.
India (late 5th c.) - doctrine of 'karma', endless cycle of 'incarnation' - People looked for a solution - Besides a spiritual crisis there was also a social one - Reaching out to the 'renouncers' - Mahavira's teaching - Liberation only, if people 'don't harm there fellow creatures' - Brings enlightenment - By learning to behave differently they found their outlook changed, and became aware of the Life Force all around.
Concern for everybody (450-398)
Israel - The returned exiles back in Jerusalem - A period of 'restoration' - Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem - and Ezra renewed Torah teaching - Jewish religion became for the second time a 'religion of the Book' with a more 'exclusive' attitude.
Greece (450) - A major intellectual shift - Greek natural sciences with fanciful cosmologies - The Sophists - Reaching out to the common folks - But: no interest in 'personal transformation (as in India) - Strong sense of the potential of the human being, no interest 'where it would lead' - Socrates, details about his life - He was convinced he had a 'mission': to bring people to a better understanding of themselves - Purpose 'not': to pass information, but to 'de-construct' people preconceptions - "Putting yourself in place" - From there: to find the truth within oneself - Socrates 'midwife': bringing the truth to birth - Socrates' death story.
China - Warring States (250 yrs) - Lead to fundamental change of society - From being 'ritualistic' China had become 'militaristic' - The 'warrior peasant' major factor - All this intensified quest for new religious vision - Mozi (480-390) of great influence in the change of the Warring States - Had high original ideas about 'non-violence' - Also had a strict pragmatic view on ritual, pointed to its excesses - His 'Golden Rule' - More radical than Confucius - No 'benevolence toward the whole human race' could degenerate into 'collective egotism' - Mozi's view on religion.
India - Buddha (563-483) -
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Notes for Lecture SEVEN - Sp II
Suffering
Greece - Solon's advice to people in Athens - 'Disorder' was caused in some way by all - Divine punishment for 'human selfishness' - Combined effort could restore peace and security - A breakthrough.
India - Its 'symkhia', t.i., reflection leading to discrimination - It taught a process of evolution, but without a 'god' (a god-less philosophy) - 'Purusha', person, the essence of the human being, a 'divine-self' within, a 'being' - Originally only seen as the 'nature' of the human being - This 'nature' wants to liberate itself - Impact of the 'renouncers' - Symkhia and its conquest of 'inner space' - Role of the 'ego' - Note; the teachings of symkhia was an 'atheistic' teaching - It was simply developing the natural capacity of the human person, becoming more fully aware of one's own nature.
China - 6th c. time of civil wars - Political and social structures disintegrated toward anarchy - Also moving toward more egalitarian civil order - Law code formulated and published - Contempt for ritual observance was noted - Moderation in decline, taste for luxury increased - Not enough to go around - Scorn for the Way of Heaven endangered the entire cosmos - No use 'to pray to heaven', "the way of man is what is near us" - Appearance of Kong Qui - later called by his disciples 'Kong-fuzi' (Confucius) who became the beginning of China's 'transformation'.
Empathy - 530-450
China - More about Confucius - As a 'commoner' he could not 'establish the Way (dao) - Conf failed in politics - saved him for becoming a spiritual leader, a wandering scholar - Some details about his way of living - He looked for one quality in his students: "Only one who burst with eagerness, do I instruct; only one who bubbles with excitement, do I enlighten" - Conf saw as the best solution: return to the traditions with the 'rites' who had worked so well at one time - Spirit of 'yielding' - Instead of fighting for power, correct behavior must be the rule - Conf not an 'original thinker, but an 'innovator' - His view on the 'gods' - The value of silence - He brought the religion of China 'down to earth' - Instead of concerning themselves about 'afterlife, people must learn to be good here below (sic!) - Everybody has the potential to be a 'fully developed human being' - Not 'born' that way, but trying to go beyond 'what he is', and become what he 'supposed to be' - Conf wanted people to be fully conscious of what they were doing - He systematically took 'egotism' out of the rites - Spiritual education helped people to get beyond the limitation of 'egotism' - Holiness is inseparable from 'altruism' - "Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you"
Israel - Cyrus allowed the Jews to return home: symbol of 'empathy' - 2nd Is and the 'man of sorrows' - Israel reminded: pain was an ever present reality, but 'kenosis', the surrender of the Servant led to 'exaltation' (Jesus).
Greece - Athens and its Council of 500 - A most 'egalitarian civil order' - Proper education could avoid 'brute force' - 'Saving revelation' not just for a select few, but now 'en mesoi', in the center, available for all - Heraclitus : 'You must look deeper to find the 'logos', the ruling principle of nature' - Introspection - Transformational changes needed 'turn one's back on the past' - Demanded 'kenosis', self-sacrifice - Hoplites and 'Salamis' - A moment of suffering, an opening for change - Expressed in the 'tragedies' - Life is 'dukkha', painful, unsatisfactory - All this at the heart of developing spirituality.
India -
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Notes for Lecture SIX - Sp II
Who/What is God? the excercise!
Traditiona understanding Spiritual understanding
Old Friend
Creator Love
Force Spirit Goodness
Jesus Woman Being
Heaven Justice Presence
Infinite Bi-gender Home
Old Man Compassionate
Almighty Truth
Peace
Divine
God-connection (spirituality) in antiquity - Chine, India, Israel and Greece - Principal concepts: 'kenosis', knowledge, suffering, empathy, concern for others.
Kenosis - or surrender, renouncing, emptying, self-abandonment
Israel - Amos: 'I hate your feasts' - Justice and equity first.
China - Lavish sacrifices replaced by strict ritual law - Restraint and moderation - Internalization of the 'rites'.
India - Some became deliberately 'homeless' - The 'renouncers' - Man's 'atman', his 'inner self' asks for 'interior sacrifice' - Internalizes religion - Renouncers were determined to discover the 'Absolute' by becoming aware of their own 'being' - They were seeking 'enlightenment' and 'awakening'.
Knowledge as 'enlightenment.
India - The Upanishads towards peaceful conquest of inner space - External ritual replaced with strict introspection - The discovery of the 'inner heart of his own being' would let the human enter 'Ultimate Reality' - Human beings were becoming more fully 'self-conscious' - Wilber's thought (cf www.gcsmorespace.com Go to Wilber A spirituality that transforms) - Making oneself free of desire and attachment is difficult - Example of 'salt in water' - Its conclusion: And you are 'that'.
Greece - How Hesiod stirred Greece's society - For him 'justice' was at the center - About the 'Hoplites' - How they change war-fare - Collectiveness the new ideal - It contained some 'kenosis'.
China - A foundation was laid for spiritual development by creating a society of 'gentlemen', people who lived graciously with moderation and self-control - Theirs was a spirit of 'yielding' - But it would only work by giving oneself thoroughly - Would lead to the 'transformation' into a 'fully human person'.
Israel - the 7th c. was a 'change of course' - the beginning of the religion of Judaism - The story of King Josiah - Finding of the Book of the Law - Became a cause of great change - But it made also the religion of the Jews a 'religion of the Book' - Later in the West (Christianity) religion also became a religion of the written text (sola scriptura- scriptures only).
Suffering (600-530) - In all areas considered there was a period of great suffering before changes could take place.
Israel - found it in the Babylonian exile - It became a step toward complete transformation; God was with them, and could be experienced in their hearts (Jer) - In Babylon there was no cult or temple - Ezekiel first had to suffer before he was able to announce the great news: Yahweh had come to live with his people.
P J E D - During the exile th Jewish history was being 're-written' - 4 Interpretations:
Priestly (P) , Yawist (J), Elohist (E), Deuteronomist (D).
Greece - Solon's advice to people in Athens - 'Disorder' was caused in some way by all - Divine punishment for 'human selfishness' - Combined effort could restore peace and security - A breakthrough.
Inida - Its 'symkhia', t.i., reflection leading to discrimination - It taught a process of evolution, but without a 'god' (a god-less philosophy) - 'Purusha', person, the essence of the human being, a 'divine-self' within, a 'being' -
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Notes for Lecture FIVE - Sp II
A little excercise....
Inner space and gnosis - Gnosis: that special 'knowledge', the intuitive inner approach to the presence of the 'divine within' - Not taught, but acquired in inner spiritual journey - The divine light 'embodied in Jesus', is shared by all humanity - God's image is hidden within everyone, though most are not aware of it - G o Thom texts.
Inner space and the 'divine' - Kushner on 'life: not 'what', or 'why', but 'Who' - 'Who am I' - 'Who is asking'? - You are looking for the one who is looking - It takes: 'leaving everything behind', being 'de-tached'.
Where to find the 'divine' - About 'silence' - Stillness makes one 'conscious' - makes one able to reach the 'being' - True life not found in the 'outer level' - True life is not concerned about what we 'do', but about what we 'are' - Inner purpose concerns 'being', outer purpose concerns 'doing' - Although 'inner space' has no 'form', it is intensely 'alive', connected as it is with the Unmanifested Source: the Being, some call it 'God'.
Who/What is God? [the excercise!]
God-connection (spirituality) in antiquity - Chine, India, Israel and Greece - Principal concepts: 'kenosis', knowledge, suffering, empathy, concern for others.
Kenosis - or surrender, renouncing, emptying, self-abandonment
Israel - Amos: 'I hate your feasts' - Justice and equity first.
China - Lavish sacrifices replaced by strict ritual law - Restraint and moderation - Internalization of the 'rites'.
India - Some became deliberately 'homeless' - The 'renouncers' - Man's 'atman', his 'inner self' asks for 'interior sacrifice' - Internalizes religion - Renouncers were determined to discover the 'Absolute' by becoming aware of their own 'being' - They were seeking 'enlightenment' and 'awakening'.
Knowledge as 'enlightenment.
India - The Upanishads towards peaceful conquest of inner space - External ritual replaced with strict introspection - The discovery of the 'inner heart of his own being' would let the human enter 'Ultimate Reality' - Human beings were becoming more fully 'self-conscious' - Wilber's thought (cf www.gcsmorespace.com Go to Wilber A spirituality that transforms) - Making oneself free of desire and attachment is difficult - Example of 'salt in water' - Its conclusion: And you are 'that'.
Greece - How Hesiod stirred Greece's society - For him 'justice' was at the center - About the 'Hoplites' - How they change war-fare - Collectiveness the new ideal - It contained some 'kenosis'.
China -
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Notes for Lecture FOUR - Sp II
'The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough' - Rabindranath Tagore
Being in the 'now' is salvation - Practical Spirituality is salvation - Recognizing and accepting the 'now', as the place where life happens, is liberating - Can be the beginning of real 'salvation' - Salvation as 'forgiveness of sins' and 'making it to heaven' is a mind concept - Tolle: 'You cannot be free in the future' -
HOME WORK: Please read Spong's thoughts about Afterlife - find it in www.gcsmorespace.com - go to: Spong 2.
[Spong just published: "Eternal Life: A New Vision Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell"]
You will receive in class Rabbi's Moss' Jewish view on the subject.
The Source Being, the 'divine within you', cannot liberate you 'until' you enter consciously into the 'now', make yourself aware of 'oneness with Being' - Jesus: 'The truth will set your free' - to be understood as: 'knowing the truth' will set you free' - Is the 'knowledge' of the Gnostics, the 'enlightenment' of the Buddha, and the 'truth' of Jesus - It is also 'eternal life', being with God, one with the 'divine', right now - How it can liberate when we have 'ailments' - We are in 'good hands' when 'connected' - Salvation is not in our 'doings'. It's in the 'now' - What Tolle says [PON 219] - The secret is in 'surrender' + 'acceptance' - Yes, practical spirituality is salvation, is liberating.
Outer space, inner space, and being - The mystery of outer space - Inner space, who you are, has affinity with outer space - What the Upanishads say - [Tolle] Just as the Being behind 'space' enables all things to exist, and just as without silence there could be no sound, so you would not exist without that vital formless dimension, the 'being', who you are - Tolle's story - 'Thing-ness' and 'no-thing-ness', 'form' and 'denial of form' - 'Form' is not 'who you are'.
The discovery of 'inner space' - A Sufi story: a king was looking for balance, serenity, wisdom in his life - The box with the ring - Inscription: 'this too will pass' - In 'bad' and 'good' times the understanding of these words will bring peace - 'Non-lasting', 'non-attachment' - Does not mean you cannot enjoy the 'good' - You can: while they last, be 'de-tached' ! - Detachment leads to 'inner space' - 'Inner space' is consciousness of "I AM" - It frees from 'dependency on form' - Through complete acceptance of the 'now', you become internally aligned with your ‘inner space’, which is the essence of the 'now' - So in some way you have 'to lose yourself' as the ‘form presented by the ego', to 'find/gain' your 'real self' inside - Jesus: 'Lose your life to find it' - You are never more essentially, more deeply yourself, than when you are still, let go of 'form' - 'This, too, will pass' helps you to became aware that there is 'space' around what is happening - You can enjoy and honor the things of the world without giving them the importance and significance they don't have - Makes 'self-created' suffering come to an end (liberates).
Recognizing 'inner space' - Don' 'seek' it as an object or experience - Become aware of the 'inner space' you already have, but haven't recognized - Letting go of the 'negative' in you will open up 'inner space' - Once you sense it, it will 'deepen' - It's often found in the 'insignificant' - The Zen lesson.
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Notes for Lecture THREE - Sp II
The secret of happiness - 'Ego' story: "If only..." - Peace after all is the end of the 'ego' - Peace is found in the 'present moment', the 'now' - It's where 'life happens' ! - The secret of success and happiness: 'be one with life in the now' - The 'ego' will say: "But...." - The 'ego-reactions' making unhappiness - To end misery you have to start with yourself, take responsibility for your inner state at any given moment - Awareness of 'negativity' - Turning away of what the 'ego' offers, is 'becoming yourself' - Can one be free of 'ego'? - No, but one can 'control' it, prevent its tyranny, t.i. by awareness and observation - You become the light of 'presence'.
True happiness proof of immortality - Every 'ego' is schizophrenic, split personality - You live with a mental image of yourself - There is no 'my life' - You 'are' life - You cannot lose your life that you don't 'have' - So what happens when we die?
The joy of 'being' - What pollution is on the outer level on out planet, 'negativity' is on the inner level - The 'affluent world' is more identified with form, more trapped in 'ego' - Form changes constantly - Depth of life is in 'being', found in accpetance of the present moment - Brings true happiness.
Being in the 'now' is salvation - Practical Spirituality is salvation - Recognizing and accepting the 'now', as the place where life happens, is liberating - Can be the beginning of real 'salvation' - Salvation as 'forgiveness of sins' and 'making it to heaven' is a mind concept - Tolle: 'You cannot be free in the future' - [see Spong Afterlife in www.gcsmorespace.com - go to: Spong, Afterlife] - The Source Being, the 'divine within you', cannot liberate you 'until' you enter consciously into the 'now', make yourself aware of 'oneness with Being' - Jesus: 'The truth will set your free' - to be understood as: 'knowing the truth' will set you free' - Is the 'knowledge' of the Gnostics, the 'enlightenment' of the Buddha, and the 'truth' of Jesus - It is also 'eternal life', being with God, one with the 'divine', right now - How it can liberate when we have 'ailments' - We are in 'good hands' when 'connected' - Salvation is not in our 'doings'. It's in the 'now' - What Tolle says [PON 219] - The secret is in 'surrender' + 'acceptance' - Yes, practical spirituality is salvation, is liberating.
Outer space, inner space, and being - The mystery of outer space - Inner space, who you are, has affinity with outer space - What the Upanishads say - [Tolle] Just as the Being behind 'space' enables all things to exist, and just as without silence there could be no sound, so you would not exist without that vital formless dimension, the 'being', who you are - Tolle's story - 'Thing-ness' and 'no-thing-ness', 'form' and 'denial of form' - 'Form' is not 'who you are'.
The discovery of 'inner space' - A Sufi story: a king was looking for balance, serenity, wisdom in his life - The box with the ring - Inscription: 'this too will pass' - In 'bad' and 'good' times the understanding of these words will bring peace - 'Non-lasting', 'non-attachement' - Does not mean you cannot enjoy the 'good' - You can: while they last, be 'de-tached' ! - Detachment leads to 'inner space' - 'Inner space' is consciousness of "I AM" - It frees from 'dependency on form' - Through complete acceptance of the 'now', you become internally aligned with your ‘inner space’, which is the essence of the 'now' - So in some way you have 'to lose yourself' as the ‘form presented by the ego', to 'find/gain' your 'real self' inside - Jesus: 'Lose your life to find it' - You are never more essentially, more deeply yourself, than when you are still, let go of 'form' - 'This, too, will pass' helps you to became aware that there is 'space' around what is happening - You can enjoy and honor the things of the world without giving them the importance and significance they don't have - Makes 'self-created' suffering come to an end (liberates).
Recognizing 'inner space' -
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Notes for Lecture TWO - Sp II
The true identity beyond the 'ego' - 'I', the greatest error, and the greatest truth - error: as a mis-perception of who you are, it's an illusion - If you recognize the illusion, it will dissolve, and 'who you are' will emerge - Tolle: 'I' a sound or thought - The child's experience - Most of the time it is not 'you' who speak or thinks 'I', but the 'ego-mind' - Recognizing this can lead to the discovery of the 'real Self' - You will be able to 'face' the 'ego' Homework; Read the story 'The voice in the head' A New Earth (ANE) 30-34
Identification - Ego likes to identify (from idem and facere - making something the same) with 'my identity' - For a child it 'a toy', for an adult ...... (have your pick) - I can lose myself in what I 'have', is the fate of the 'ego' - How 'adds', commercials, work on the 'ego' - When you can limit yourself, you have shown there is another 'self' in you, the 'real Self' - " 'No thing' has ever anything to do with who we are" - Jesus: Blessed are the poor .... Comes down to 'letting go' - A pitfall !
Homework: Read 'Lost Ring' ANE 38-41 We want to hear what you have learned from it.
Fram Descarte to Sartre' insight - Descarte: 'I think, therefore I am' - Sartre came to realize: the consciousness that says 'I AM', is not the consciousness that 'thinks' - When you are 'aware' of thinking, that 'awareness' is not 'thinking' - It is the 'I AM' that is 'aware ! - If not, you are like in a dream.
The peace that passes all understanding - A 'loss' can lead to new consciousness - I have not 'lost'.... I still 'have', or rather 'are' myself - This can bring deep peace ! - The loss of forms around you, can collapse the 'ego', tied to forms, and brings out a sense of 'being', of what you 'are', I AM - Whenever a tragic loss occurs, you either resist/object, or you yield - You will be either bitter/resentful, or wise and loving - If no action is possible/requested, you can rest in the peace and inner stillness that comes from surrender - Rest in God, in the Being. (Remember the 'Lost Ring')
Peace as true happiness - I am 'just fine', can be 'role-playing' - "I am unhappy", and the ego - Why you should not seek 'happiness', it's illusive - Well-being and inner peace are the source of true happiness.
The secret of happiness - 'Ego' story: "If only..." - Peace after all is the end of the 'ego' - Peace is found in the 'present moment', the 'now' - It's where 'life happens' ! - The secret of success and happiness: 'be one with life in the now' - The 'ego' will say: "But...." - The 'ego-reactions' making unhappiness - To end misery you have to start with yourself, take responsibility for your inner state at any given moment - Awareness of 'negativity' - Turning away of what the 'ego' offers, is 'becoming yourself' - Can one be free of 'ego'? - No, but one can 'control' it, prevent its tyranny, t.i. by awareness and observation - You become the light of 'presence'.
True happiness proof of immortality - Every 'ego' is schizophrenic, split personality - You live with a mental image of yourself - There is no 'my life' - You 'are' life - You cannot lose your life that you don't 'have' - So what happens when we die?
The joy of 'being' -
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Notes for Lecture One - Sp II
Introduction - Why the distinction between 'religion' and 'spirituality'? - It's a matter of being either 'religion-connected' or 'God-connected' - Spirituality does not flow from 'formal religion' - It was part of us human beings from the beginning , since ancient times - Spirituality is that 'primitive human search for the meaning and purpose of life' - It requires an openness to, and awareness of the movements of the spirit(s) - God can be experienced - While spirituality is that 'inborn gift', religion can be seen as the wisdom that culture generated.
Where and why religion might have failed us - Many who are 'religious' have not become aware of their spiritual heritage, somehow they are 'in exile' - Religion easily makes us 'church-connected', while we are called, and have the desire to be 'God-connected'.
Truth, relative and absolute - Relativism: there is no absolute truth to guide human behavior - Absolute truth not to be found in doctrine and theology etc. - These are made up of 'thoughts'; they can point to the truth - "the finger pointing to the moon is not the moon" (Buddhist) - In the service of the Truth religious teachings become 'signposts', 'maps' to assist in 'our spiritual awakening', t.i., free us from our 'ego-mind' - Human action can reflect the Truth, or: it can reflect 'illusion' - Can the Truth be put into words? - Yes, but the words are not 'It', they only point at 'It' - Jesus "I am the Truth", and: my 'I am' - The 'I am' includes 'the God within', the 'Atman', the 'indwelling God' - Paul's quote: "In him we live, we move, and have our being" - The Truth and the 'ego-mind' - A story that explains a lot - Why mystical experience was frowned upon.
God-connected, 'self'-connected - 'Self-connected': to know yourself is the beginning of 'practical spirituality' - The 'gnothi seauton' (Know Thyself) of the temple in Delphi - People came to get answers for their problems and questions - No outside advice could help them unless they first would get to know themselves - 'Know Thyself', before you ask any other question, first ask the fundamental question: who am I? - If you want to find God, if you are looking for God-relationship, you need to get to know yourself first - It is 'in' your real Self, your 'inner' self, that you can find the 'divine'.
Arising of new consciousness - The 'old' consciousness was of failure, Adam's sin .... - Over many thousand of years a radical transformation of human consciousness has been seen possible - Toa, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jesus .... The impact of he 'sages of old' - They pointed at the possibility of awakening from the 'normal', but 'wicked' human existence - Religions that later developed were based on the wisdom of the 'sages', though they became divisive, rather than unifying forces - Tolle brings it down to our level - How the God-concept is 'man-made' - Some of the power that could transform is being regained [spirituality course] - It helps looking at the 'divine' in a new way - But it has to start with knowing out own Self first.
The true identity beyond the 'ego' -
- Practical Spirituality I - ‘10
