Whew! It’s thrilling to read the type of conversations smart people are having. I do think the divine feminine tends to lean into agreeableness, not to placate or to avoid conflict, but to fit each entity’s attribute in the right place of the giant puzzle.
I have to go read the full convo on Guy’s post and listen to the music. But I’m so intrigued.
We need more spiritual posts and YT videos that are as well rounded. For those who can’t see that every conflict happening on our worldly stage is a reflection of our spirit, it’s just a matter of time.
So well put, Tonika. I know you sometimes listen to the videos also and I think you'd like this one. On the ones that are more idea-based than research, I tend to record first, then write. It feels more genuine, to me, doing it that way. But then I put more quotes into the text version and leave out some of the ideas, to make room.
What I didn't put in to either was the masculine side of the brain as the Christ-mind. In the gnostic gospel of Thomas, it says the Christ is the one who sees the Christ in everyone else. And I think the feminine side of the brain is the spirit-whisperer that is One with God. The trick is to keep going between both of these.
Putting this in terms of the rational and intuitive, the 'grammar' seems like the intuitive feminine side that's spatially oriented, then going to the rational-masculine side of logic to test ideas out. And back and forth.
I think my rhetoric style is feminine in terms of 'being scrupulous in not attacking people' but masculine in 'being relentless in challenging ideas.' I've often been accused of being 'conflict-attractive' rather than conflict-adverse.
So happy to have you reading me and Guy! I love having so many friends in common.
I'm so glad to have been a part of the thrill of the in a conversation. I was deeply inspired by Tereza's willingness to look inside and outside to deepen the investigation of my (our?) perceptions and misperceptions. And to see how the problem of language adds to that challenge. A wonderful dialectic, perhaps in the spirit of the Greek's methodology that Tereza has described here so well.
Happy reading! And then to consider Chuang-Tsu's thought that, paraphrased, we use words to catch an idea that is beyond words, and so it is important to let go of the words once the idea has been caught.
Yay Guy! I was eagerly awaiting your attention. And I love that Chuang-Tsu quote! I've said before that words are fossilized metaphors that once captured something living but have ossified around that idea so it's a shadow of its former vibrant self. But they're all we've got ... until we're ready for telepathy!
My best friend often says that we have a caveman vocabulary when it comes to describing the spiritual, the supernatural, our origins, or the miraculous; that we use words that are frames for the mental model of the main stream narrative and so they fail to express what we really mean. As you guys have mentioned before, this is why art, music, dance, poetry, etc are so important to that connect that deeper understanding. I think McGilchrist’s left brain-right brain Oseas speak to that as well. Left brain has the directory of words with definitions and etymology and all that, but right brain breathes in the spirit that expands our real understanding.
Excellent point from your friend and from you. All of the global languages are vocabularies of conquest, they have violence built into them. I mentioned in one of my comments that I can't use the phrase 'rule of thumb' since Guy told me it was illegal for men to beat their wives with anything that was more narrow. I don't know if you saw this episode, but the capacity of indigenous languages to express things we can't really interests me: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/when-words-die-worlds-die
Aug 25, 2023·edited Aug 25, 2023Liked by Tereza Coraggio
Yes, for sure, thank you VA and amigo.
As I'm exploring yogic-Gautama ideas, I'm discovering that that also applies to the expression of our body as spirit incarnate. Fascinating because it is our 'narratives' of *our* individual stories we hang on to, with varying degrees of needy grippiness, that we use to create, and are in turned formed by, the familial and societal stories we are willing to die by.
Tereza might say that that is evidence of the dream nature of our place in the natural word. I would suggest that the narratives create and are informed / transformed by our dreams. Everything is interwoven.
A means to by-pass the truth-words trap is to concentrate on how our wordless actions impact ourselves and the environment, regardless of the dream nature of existences.
Great discussion! Love it.
All the best, with peace, respect, love and gratitude.
I am missing some of the context here, so this stuff gets a bit too heady for me, but I’ve been questioning goal of my stories and narratives lately, so I feel open to whatever that merges. And to your point about concentrating on our wordless actions- I run a theatre company called Silent Theatre in which we often perform with no spoken words and have discovered that the loudest truths are spoken in the silences and hidden in the subtext.
Hi again Tereza, So I am trying to understand your understanding about why if this isn't a dream God has to be evil. I have heard you speak about it many times now, but have yet to grasp your sound reasoning. I need a simplified explanation. I will say that I love to sleep and I dream constantly. I know that my dreams are of future events or future feelings that may come my way. Sometimes they happen that day or can be years away more like a dejavu. PS I agree100 percent the importance of words/vocabulary and grammar for communication.
Thank you for asking that, Helene! These are difficult concepts because they go contrary to everything we've thought before, so it does require expaining.
I would put it in the reverse--the possibility that the world is a dream opens up the potential that there is a God and God is entirely loving. How that could be logically possible has stumped theologians since Medieval days as the Theodicy Triangle. Out of three statements, only two can be true: God is all-Good, God is all-powerful, Evil exists. If God is all-Good, why would He create Evil? If Evil exists without God's control of it, how can God be omnipotent?
But even if we throw out Evil as not existing, we're still left with an unfair world of pain and suffering, often inflicted by people created by God, in His image. What's seen as the 'test of faith' is someone shouting, "How could God do this to me?" If God can intervene in the world but instead let all those children be burned alive in Lahaina, that God would be a monster.
So what theologians often come to is some theory for why God can't intervene--this is a test, God wants us to prove ourselves. As a mother, I find those motivations still monstrous.
That this could be a dream IF we're not separate minds is a theory that fits all the data points. It's logically consistent with the facts and can't be disproven through logic or evidence. And it's the only perfectly valid reason that God wouldn't be able to intervene. IF this world isn't real, God's intervention would make it real--horrors! It's like it's a padded cell where we're working out our insanity without being able to hurt ourselves or anyone else. A blip of time and space that doesn't exist in the middle of eternity and infinity.
And I love your experience of dreams (and know Guy will too). Blurring the line where we wake in the dream to another dream makes dreaming SO important as a metaphor and a strong hint for how we can wake up!
Thank you. So a few things come to my mind other than who wrote the lyrics of row, row, row your boat? "Life is but a dream" :)
Everyone's realty is different and is a result of the decisions a person makes based on their perception and knowledge at the time of the decision. Even some intuition may be a factor in the decision making.
As a mom I try my best to guide my children into adult hood with as little mishaps as possible but you cant live their life for them. I only hope the wisdom I was able to impart to them will enable them to do the same with their kids. Maybe God is like the macrocosm of that microcosm.
And I hope there will be some further awakening after we die?
Also evil is only someone thinking about themselves. Its a form of selfishness. Maybe God doesn't see evil the same way we do and maybe he sees a person dying in a less tragic degree also.
Well, I'd have to go back to the Four Agreements to be precise with your words. If everyone's reality is different, reality doesn't exist. It becomes a nonsense word with no words left to describe What Is. Somewhere, Reality Is apart from your and my perceptions of it. The degree to which our perceptions are more or less true is how close they come to Reality. Otherwise, there's no yardstick to measure perceptions.
My perception, however, is that you're a great mom who's fair with her kids and wouldn't set up one to thrive and another to lead a miserable life. Has God done the same with us?
I'm not much concerned with death (although I hope not to be tested on that with my daughters) as I am with pain, particularly inflicted. I'd still reserve the term evil for someone who causes others to cause pain, like those who made the plan and paid off the players to incinerate Lahaina. I would say that's beyond selfishness and not even on the same scale. Few of us, I think, are capable of that, which is good news.
I am still having a hard time understanding/ visualizing the concepts. What 4 agreements? I have the miracle course book but have not opened it yet.
I know the Maui Fire is murder plain and simple. I can not come to any other conclusion based on the pictures, chain of events, players, evidence etc... It reminds me of the stories of Mt Vesuvius. But the greed for the land at any cost is a form of selfishness, just a very extreme form that we label evil. I am starting to think that drugs play a huge role in so much of the evils we are seeing.
Do you know Dr. Quan Le at the rising tide foundation.net? I would love to listen to a conversation between you both about God/ Logos. You both are the people I look up to.
Oh wow, you have A Course in Miracles. By comparison The Four Agreements is a cakewalk but comes from a similar viewpoint. Maybe I should have told you that before you made the Big Blue Book commitment? I did this video on it, on the eve of my daughter's wedding: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/the-four-agreements.
And what a lovely compliment! I don't know Dr. Le but I'm sure I'm in good company in your esteem ;-)
That was a great episode! You are so cute. So now I am really excited. What makes it so exciting is I try my best to subscribe to the agreements already. I guess it was part of my dogma, until you simplified it, remember I am borrowing yours. I probably should get the 4 agreements first. I am already doing health and logical experiments practically everyday. But there is another factor. I am going to be a real grandma as my daughter just found out she is pregnant. Now I am not just the mother in law grandma I am the real deal! There is a difference. Its a little scary because its a new role to play and I want to do my best. Thank you for all the goodness you give to the world.
Great explanation. And relies wholly on manufacturing, in a sense, a God-thingamajig as explanatory of all. That is grounded or required, I think, in the postulate of triumvirate of logos. However Sophia is missing, in it, and may be the source beyond words. With some challenges, I've come to the idea that this kind of argument is wonderfully intellectually appealing to most of us — as my recent word-fest amply shows — I now think that it really is a distraction. And I have been recently so surprised to find that Gautama has the same idea. Paraphrased, when asked about how to know the truth about life, death, and the whole damn thing, who to trust, and what to do, he answered, paraphrased: consider what you read and hear, about what will be the effect. For some actions will create discomfort and suffering, while others will alleviate pain and suffering. The truth lies in that difference, and wisdom is the ability to see how what we think, speak and do is the creation of the 'good' (benevolent 'God') or the 'bad' (malevolent 'God', aka 'devil.')
The idea that this is a 'test' has no appeal to me at all. Was Job actually tested, as put forward by both Satan and the unconscious God? Hmmm. I think that this is an interesting question, one that I have just begun to explore with more detail and after many more years of life since I first looked at Job in the late 1980s(?).
More brain/spirit/soul/body stimulation, the grinding away of the impurities (aka 'shadow-laden ore) in a movement towards integration.
The value of my experiments in reality, to me, is that they keep coming back with the same message--there's nothing to fear. I suspect that, without fear, we'd always choose to create joy and wellbeing. Why not? So there's a very practical aspect.
I'm responding to myself here so it will go to Guy and Helene. I woke up today with a thought for how I'm confusing the issue. The question isn't whether you believe the world is One Mind Dreaming, the question is whether it's possible. Is it a hypothesis that fits all the known data points and potentially explains all phenomenon?
I just did a search on Creation vs. Evolution and, although it no longer says how many hits it got, I'd suspect 100's of 1000's. There are billions of people who, if pressed, would say they believe one or the other to be true. For the 99.999%, these are the only two options.
So if there's a third possibility, that's big. It's putting the cart in front of the horse to ask yourself if you believe this. You don't need to believe in both Creation and Evolution (or directed evolution vs. spontaneous evolution) to accept both as theories.
So if we're not separate people but One Mind, is it possible that the world is our collective dream? Yes or no?
I'm so glad. I used to always lose subs when I posted on spirituality on YT. But I agree with Sasha that we need to keep speaking our truth and scrutinizing it with logic and rigor. Love your stack name, btw, Heather. I never noticed that before.
I hope not! I think you have a loyal following. I often lure my readers in by talking trash about famous people (jk but critiques get the most hits) and then I slide in my woo-woo woman, as someone termed me on JJ Couey's chat stream ;-) The coiner of that term has since become a sub, and it's one I claim proudly.
Where is the incentive to act if we view everyone as morally equal. Even if true external to this world, it is has no meaning here on earth. We are split apart as intended. To create differentials, which in turn creates life/action
Hi, Russel. I'm not sure what you mean. I've been trying to view everyone as morally equal for many years now and it hasn't changed how I act. I don't think I've ever done things because other people would view them as moral or not. I think I'd have been much more susceptible to the "people wear masks and get vaccines because good people care about others" psyop.
When I see other people as me in another role, I'm more motivated to change the circumstances that have made them act that way. And I don't have the barriers that "things just are this way and they'll never change." Or that I'd have to change the minds of 7-8 billion people before things could get better. If I feel like everyone would do what I would, if given the chance, it lets me focus on system change as I do in my book, rather than being paralyzed by inaction and taking care of me and mine in a hostile world. Judging other people doesn't serve me. What are your thoughts?
Awesome post Terreza! The nature of Reality is in itself a very big topic. Interesting that you have at the center of it the discussion about the differences of perception from a female vs a male frame of reference. In my background, we have the [Feminine] Divine Mother as Prakriti; it is an outward force, then the [Masculine] as Purusha; it is an inward force. This can be similar to Yin /Yang.
The Purusha is essentially a silent observer and it's role in the existential reality is offering the permission for everything to be. The Prakriti is the creator force, destroyer force, learning force and embodies wisdom. Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Kali and Mehishvari (I probably don't have the correct order).
The male mind vs female mind is probably very much influenced by this element of perceptual difference, yet both are fully capable of finding One. Since both are aspects of the Wholeness of Being.
Ultimately the knowledge that Unites is the True knowledge.
Here's a little bit from my guru Sri Aurobindo whom Guy appreciates:
A spirit who is no one and innumerable,
The one mystic infinite Person of his world
Multiplies his myriad personality,
On all his bodies seals his divinity’s stamp
And sits in each immortal and unique.
From Savitri his epic poem. I put a little bit more of it in my last post:
Nefahotep, that's an amazing post. It articulates everything I was trying to say and more. I don't know how I missed it, except it was the day I got back after three weeks and had a houseful of daughters, a rare occasion these days. I'm glad that I did wait to read it until after I'd written mine or I'd have felt redundant.
I didn't realize that Rumi said that about being the ocean in a drop. It's the analogy I often use, and have somewhere in a poem I wrote. Another example of the One Mind.
And Very Interesting about the Delphic Epsilon and "when you give a pledge, trouble is at hand." The Iroquois Nations had that same concept and were never obligated to go into battle, yet were the most brave. And alliances for 'mutual protection' are the easiest to subvert with false flag attacks.
Thank you, Nefahotep. Is your background Hindu? That's fascinating that masculine is inward and feminine is outward, I would have thought the opposite. But it may correspond to the idea of Reality I was 'playing with.' IF this world is our dream and in Reality we're the Word that's with God and the Word that is God, how is that gendered, metaphorically?
I think that God is the masculine stillness, the sperm, if I can be that bold, the waiting. I think that we're the Feminine, the ever-expansive, ever-creating Womb of God. Not destructive but Mother.
I love the Sri Aurobindo excerpt. That captures the one-in-many concept beautifully!
My cultural background is Hindu, not by blood. I was born here in the US. I am actually a cultural mix of inspirations. My family went to live in India for a while when I was about 3. Up bringing was exclusively based on Sri Aurobindo's yogic concepts. I was never involved with any religious groups.
As far as concepts for "Word that's with God and the Word that is God" ----- It is said that the universe was born from a single sound. 🕉 "AUM" this is embodied as both frequency and vibration, stretching out across the body of Time.
So, in that sense the "Word" that is God is the movement of creation. It also proves out in the study of Quantum. This essentially means that the "word" is intangled and everything has a female and a male modality to it. Rupert Spira explains this non dual thinking concept quite well. If you search YouTube for him, he has quite a following.
Ah, I share your pain. I've been ranting on Down the Wombat Hole about the 16-story buildings they're planning for 26 acres between downtown and the Boardwalk here in Santa Cruz. And the 5 stories of 53 units above 3000 sq ft of commercial space that will replace my little hippie neighborhood Food Bin--tiniest grocery ever. I'm counting on the apocalypse to happen first.
Sounds like a 15 minute city. I think there may be a snag in the plan. Some places are emptying out, people are moving if they can. Those big developments would need to be rented.
I like little hippie type neighborhoods, nice and peaceful usually.
Where I am, there are dozens of low income housing projects going in. I'm hoping to move before the residents arrive.
"So, in that sense the "Word" that is God is the movement of creation. It also proves out in the study of Quantum. This essentially means that the "word" is intangled and everything has a female and a male modality to it. Rupert Spira explains this non dual thinking concept quite well. If you search YouTube for him, he has quite a following"
Yes. Well put. And I have found Spira to be eloquent and clear in his thinking and expression. Great recommendation, Nefahotep.
Jung makes the great observation about the book of Job that Sophia is missing within the unconscious God who accepts Satan's challenge/bet. In a sense, Jung argues, Job becomes the projection hook of God's anima by which wisdom can become born into the manifestations of God. It was subsequent to Job that Sophia had presence in the Bible. Fascinating stuff. As mentioned elsewhere, I'm in the very early steps of re-considering Job and Jung's answer to him.
And your explanation of the Prakriti and Purushi is superbly done and connects perfectly with the dialogue.
Aug 25, 2023·edited Aug 25, 2023Liked by Tereza Coraggio
Yes. I spent about 30 years of pretty intense study of him and many others from his 'school.' In particular Mare-Louise von Franz. Enjoy the dive into the collective unconscious, the shadow, anima/animus, individuation, and so much more. Are you familiar with Jung having been the psychologist for one of the AA founders? The 12 steps of the xAs are basically a concise summary of Jung's psychoanalytic approach to healing: life is bigger than us, take personal responsibility, and live your meaningful life, which is most readily found in being able to ease the suffering of others. Easing the suffering of others begins by embracing our own suffering, for then it becomes the bedrock upon which our empathy, compassion and appropriate action are able to be effectively made manifest.
I had to cut the story, it was too long, so here is the last part I hope your read and enjoy it:
I could tell you of the time and old indigenous woman would visit me. We didn't speak the same language. We could only look at each other intently, smile, and make faces. Sometimes we would hug or caress our faces and hair. There was no eroticism whatsoever. She would visit sporadically and I would share food and tea with her. I enjoyed her wonderful presence and always when enough was enough she would touch my hand and give me such an exquisite look with her eyes and her smile and quickly leave. That went on for some years, but one day I found her lying on the ground not far from my house, she was dead and I buried her.
Oh, I cannot tell a lie. That was not a real story, that was just another lie. I can imagine all sorts of incidents, but they aren't real. Of course, fiction is not expected to be real. I need to lighten up.
I have lived my quiet. uneventful life and now suddenly it seems, I am old and maybe will die soon. It is not hard for me to accept this even though I love life so much, and have so much to look forward to. We all must accept this when it happens. What else can we do? It's part of the agreement isn't it? Here, I am gifting you with life, but it's not forever. ok? Enjoy it, if and while you can.
****************
Aha! I found this old manuscript just now, after so many years. I must tell you that I am still alive. The ancestral medicine worked, my tumor disappeared and so far has never returned! Now, I have a story to tell you.
Shortly after I had recovered, I was visited by an official looking man who had found my house and knocked at my door. I welcomed this unexpected visitor in and offered him some of my homegrown tea and a little biscuit I had just baked from sweet potato flour that I had made, with a squib of homemade marmalade from our fruit tree. Instead of sugar, I used the syrup of jicama that I had also made from boiling down the jicama root which I grow, for over 10 hours. I could tell by his expression that he was delighted. After some pleasantries he told me that he represented the park service of the government and that he was sent to tell me that my house was to be leveled since it was on park land without a permit. I had one month to move.
This affected me worse than the pancreatic cancer diagnosis. I had lived here peacefully for over 40 years. At first I couldn't think of what to do. Then I remembered that I had a younger sister by 10 years who lived in another country and with whom I had had no contact in all this time.
Our ancestors come from Lithuania and we have an unusual last name. I decided to try to find her on facebook and sure enough I did. I thought I did. She was an old lady and I hardly recognized her, she had very refined features though and she looked as beautiful as an old lady could look. I decided to contact her.
I told her who I was and about my situation and after a flurry of exchanges, she invited me to visit and possibly stay with her. Her husband had died 9 years before and she lived alone in a lovely place just outside of a small city.
We had always gotten along when we were younger, though I was much older than, not so much now and we had gone our separate ways. She had been a brilliant student and gone on to become an early brain scientist and had achieved acclaim in her field having focussed on how the brain could create thoughts. When AI first got developed her work was what helped scientists develop AI into what it is today.
When I arrived she graciously greeted me and we really hit it off. I have always been a very tranquil and likeable person before I became a hermit and I guess I still was. I was smitten by the calm intelligence that she radiated effortlessly. I moved into her extra bedroom and became the handyman and gardener. I always gave her whatever space she needed to enjoy her solitude, but we spent many evenings together listening and dancing to music. Our musical tastes differed somewhat, she was more inclined towards opera and classical music and I love African, reggae, rock and roll, Qawwali, flamenco, many, many different genres that I introduced her to and we would dance wildly together often.
But most of all, we enjoyed our conversations that were so profound, unique, and witty. We soaked each other up, so to speak, after both of us had been living solitary lives (she, since her husband, a professor, had passed on.) I am speaking of her as though in the past, because this has all passed, but we are still enjoying life in our nineties.
I think if you are reading this you must know how the world has changed and what it went through. So I won't elaborate on that. Suffice it to say that after RFKjr revealed to the world how the Dept. of Defense of the United States had been using very advanced direct energy machines to cause earthquakes, burn cities, even the twin towers of 9/11 and were guilty of the most horrific crimes against humanity. Humanity rose up together along with aid from the military and captured the criminals which was a huge network, but especially the hidden perpetrators that came to light after the first wave of arrests and ended their centuries long dominion.
All governments were restructured from vertical to an extremely transparent horizontal form which was and is virtually incorruptible. Democracy took hold, really for the first time, with citizen participation and autonomy of every city and village under a confederated social contract that embodied all human rights and dignity.
AI has been utilized for the good of humanity and war is now a thing of the past as we live peacefully through collaboration and cooperation.
Yes, we are one big happy family at last and we are more humane than merely human. With the non-conditional love that has become universal, it seems that everyone is really happy and living fulfilling lives. It is incredible. I am so glad to still be alive.
Just for fun, I will add a short, short story that I wrote which was inspired by my diagnosis. My first comment is below this one.
My Story (FICTION)
As I stared into the mirror while brushing my teeth I wondered am I really this kind, thoughtful, and caring man that I imagine myself to be or the absurd looking fool I see as my reflection? But just then I thought I heard the crackling sound of someone's footsteps approaching by trail to my small dear house deep in the woods, and was that a light I saw through the window at my side? It was late at night. My heart jumped to a nervous rhythm, since I had recently heard of some very violent intrusions by a gang of thieves in these parts, as I was quite alone and without any defenses. The door was well locked, so I looked for my machete. And then another cracking sound. I waited, but nothing happened. It must have been the wind, I thought to myself and the light could have been a lightening bug, and my heart returned to normal.
Then I thought, perhaps I should make an appointment with the dentist in town. It seems at least 6 months since I had had my teeth cleaned. But then I remembered that earlier this week I had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and it probably wasn't necessary after all.
I am one who hates to feel fear and usually I never do. The news of my impending death I had taken so blythly, I thought. I was already quite old, 82, but had enjoyed such
good health for so long that it came as quite a shock, but I felt that I had no choice but to accept it, since it made no sense to tear at my hair and jump up and down, and scream.
Everyone at some point comes to this realization, unless they are struck down suddenly without any warning. If there were nothing at all after I passed from this life, it wouldn't be hard, since I would be unable to miss anything. But I like to imagine the possibility of transmigration of the soul, something similar to what occurs in my dreams. In my dreams I am never the me that I see in the mirror or the me that I am so accustomed to. No, I am always somebody else, but the me inside that other person is always the same me that I have been throughout my life. Maybe this is a hint as to what is to come, the transmigration of the soul.
I try hard to notice the moment that I fall asleep in order to be aware that I am dreaming, to do lucid dreaming, but every time I fall asleep forgetting to notice. Lately, my dreams have improved. For quite awhile it seemed that most of my dreams involved some kind of impossible dilemma that I had to resolve. Like trying to find where my car was parked and having completely forgotten where it was and even what it looked like, and being in a strange town to boot, as an example. I wake every night to urinate a few times as a result of an enlarged prostate and I try to remember what I was dreaming which I often am unable to do most of the time and instead what instantly comes to mind is that I have cancer of the prostate and may not live but a few months more.
But I know that I must not think like this, that these kind of thoughts will only exacerbate the problem as I have recently learned that depending on one's thoughts, whether they are fearful or loving, the brain secretes chemicals into the bloodstream which causes the cells to behave happily or to contract as way of protecting me, which would aid the growth of the tumor in my pancreas.
I must have faith in the woman who is well known in our village as a healer using ancestral techniques as she is my only hope. She has given me a complicated protocol involving many medicinal plants, fruits, and some vegetables, which requires drinking vast amounts of liquids. In the beginning she gave me an egg to rub over my body, particularly on the areas of my concern, then broke the shell so that the egg fell into a glass of water, and she proceeded to "read" the action of the egg to come up with the correct diagnosis. There was a red spot on the egg and she said that that was the tumor, and then as though receiving instructions from the divine, delivered the precise protocol and ingredients that I would need to heal. She had already cured a few others who had cancer.
I have lived for many years now in a small cabin deep in the forest away from most all humans about 5 miles from the nearest town. I have become very independent. I grow my own food (vegetarian), have a running stream right behind my house with very clean water, and all the tools I need to maintain and construct. I even have access to the internet through satellite, a small nest egg from my earlier existence that covers all my expenses until I die, which may be soon. The weather here is spring-like all year around.
I could be lonely, but actually I truly enjoy my solitude. I have so much freedom to do as I please and since I am curious about so many things, I never get bored. My dreams both real and sleeping, fascinate me. Sometimes I do get confused between being awake and dreaming. Recently, my dreams have had unsolvable problems and dilemmas that only brought me happiness when I wake up to be free of the conundrum as is the example above. When I was young, I had lots of flying dreams where I would be flying, but unfortunately that hasn't happened for about 70 years now. I even had one dream that had the most beautiful music imaginable and totally original. The implication of being able to create such divine music even if only in a dream was stunning.
Dostoyevski's Dream of a Ridiculous Man really captured my heart when I was young and I had wanted to make it into a one man show. I memorized the first 7 pages, out of 26, but never did it. In those days I lacked the confidence and thus the resolve, which I have since cultivated. I had the idea of doing a one man show playing all the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, a favorite of mine, but I never played even one character.
I have always venerated the "ridiculous" and wanted to become a really funny clown. Not like all those red nosed cloying types that everyone loves to hate since they lack all nuance and are only barely funny, but more like an original clown in the spirit of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. But that too, I never really did.
I believe that everyone has a "ridiculous" aspect that they either keep hidden or are completely unaware of. I would like to live in a world where everyone is unbearably funny, can you imagine, we would be laughing our asses off all the time. We would have to take a "serious" break to keep our bellies from hurting. After all, there really is so much to be serious about. But that would be exactly the opposite of what exists now everywhere. There is a pall of seriousness that hangs over civilization like a thick smog.
Oh, I could go on and on. I know that I am really just talking to myself, maybe someday you or someone will find this manuscript and the possibility of a dialogue could occur, but it will be far too late. I am my best company. If you are reading this, you are probably thinking ok, enough, where is the story? And I say, does there have to be a story? There have been writers who could write books or plays and there would be no real "story". I forget their names, but they exist. It's possible to write something that has no story, but I guess I am like you, I like a great story. Dostoyevsky wrote the greatest stories and Salmon Rushdie could also spin out incredible stories all intricately woven together. I could never come close to them.
I could tell you of the time an incredibly beautiful young woman was knocking at my door and insisting to be allowed in and immediately starting kissing me wildly...until I woke up. That's a brief story taken from a real dream. No, it's not enough, I realize that.
Living as I do alone far from others, not much story stuff actually happens. I only have my imagination and dreams. I could make up stories about encounters with animals, like how a bear once came to my house. I was rather scared and didn't know what to do. I ducked into the kitchen and grabbed some food and brought it out and offered it to the bear and he gently took it from my hand and ate it. We became friends after that. But no, that is not a story worthy of anything, it is merely a lie.
So much to read, and I don't have the time, even before my recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, I am far too busy with many projects as an activist and a founding member of a mostly latino eco-community (chambalabamba.org).
My spiritual path started in the early sixties when I experimented with LSD and discovered that there is much beyond the mundane realities. Now, I no longer seek, but rather evolve. I live my spirituality every day. That is, to serve others, serves myself best and to cultivate unconditional love for all. Now, I am 78 and have enjoyed supurb health for years and live a very healthy lifestyle, so this diagnosis about 2 weeks ago was a shocking surprise.
My only hope is a woman in our pueblo who is a wizard with "ancestral medicine" which confirms some of the latest findings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_4JxOuMHLQ&t=1654s). And I need to spend my time resting, following her complicated protocol, getting the pancreas and related organs massaged by her with herbs and earth, and focussing all my attention on my interior while maintaining a positive attitude. Part of this follows Bruce Lipton's research about how the thoughts affect the body. So, I probably won't be participating much more in this discussion because I have to concentrate on this and stop all my activities and participating in all my diverse projects.
I just want to add that in our community it is very important that we maintain an awareness and sense of responsibility of the whole while at the same time keeping our focus on our areas of responsibility. It is about both the "We" and the "I". I think that this should be the same everywhere in the world, while deepening our unconditional love for all and our personal connections which is the foundation for the community.
I will add a short, short story that I wrote which was inspired by my diagnosis in the next comment as there is not enough room here.
Thank you for sharing your diagnosis and your stories with me, Mofwoofoo. I watched the 3-min video made about you, to get more of a sense of you. I'd seen some of your YTs but for anyone reading, let me post this link to your lovely (and fun to say) community Chambalabamba: https://chambalabamba.org/about.html.
At first, I was going to say 'I'm sorry about your diagnosis' but I don't know that's true. Not that I wouldn't be sorry but more that I should be sorry. I just don't know. I don't know what the scriptwriter wants you to experience next, where you would be of the most use in bringing about this next dream that helps us wake up to Reality.
Maybe you serve the Wholly Spirit best in that joyful, playful, loving body of Mofwoofoo, keeping everyone from being too serious. It seems to me that those things you say you haven't done were not as interesting as what you have, seeing your colorful, dancing oasis that sprang up from your intent. Your red nose suits you.
Maybe it's the ministrations of the indigenous healer that needed to be brought into your life. You needed more touch, not just from young women or old women in your dreams. You need to be the center of attention, intention. It's time to receive. And maybe the miracle cure will set you on a new path with even more conviction that nothing is as it seems.
Or perhaps you will be most joyful and useful as the diffuse Mofwoofoo. I've read that those who saw the self-immolation of Tibetan monks felt that their spirit multiplied, flew into every person. I don't believe we reincarnate as a new baby, I think resurrection is inclusive and continuous. You were never that body. You've always been the Creator of All That Is, just like Me, just like We.
My youngest daughter has a question she's asked all of us: what do you want me to do on the day you die? My answer has been, "Look for me everywhere. In every person. In every living entity. In every sight and sound. I'll be there, more present than I was before."
Whatever happens will be right for you. I recognize that it's easy to say that when I'm not the one facing possible death, and I can't say I wouldn't be afraid to leave what I know and love. But my experience in all other things keeps teaching me there's a purpose and everything's moving us forward towards our beginning, as paradoxical as that seems.
Keep heart and keep me connected to your journey, if that feels right.
In a way I am thankful for this diagnosis because it brings to the fore a block that I have had my whole life without really being aware of it. Part of the protocol is for me to spend all my time focusing on my interior, the pancreas, colon, liver, etc. and shine my love on them. This is not easy. Also, my healer Enma, told me that I have a block (not material) inside and that that must be removed. So now, this night I realized that the block was my ability to love fully. I can love by my words and actions but it's not coming through from the feelings, I am not really effortlessly radiating love. I must discover how to do this if I am going to survive is what I believe. I will be working on this today.
I think that this is the block that blocks all of humanity and that this is the transformation that is needed.
I'm certain that your transformation will radiate through the Mind that holds all of us. And by that I mean the living transformation because that's All that Is, Mind coming back to itself.
My Course in Miracles lesson for today is "My present happiness is all I see." It says, "This is the day I seek my present happiness, and look on nothing else except the thing I see. With this resolve I come to You, and ask Your strength to hold me up today, while I but seek to do Your Will."
This is a great elaboration / continuation of our word wrestling with the ... the ineffable and ephemeral.
And synchronicity or not, a couple of days ago I was introduced to the Gospel of Thomas via my yogic-Buddhist scholar, Micheal Stone. So great to see you reference Thomas here.
From my Aug 21st transcription of Stones' podcast:
"I highly recommend a great text that I’ve been reading lately, called the Gospel of Thomas. Has anybody read this? It’s like the most Zen text. And one of the lines in it says ‘First you must find it. When you find it, it troubles you.’ …
"First we notice we have all these ingrained thoughts. And how we organise our experience. That’s what you’re doing on your cushion. I say ’Notice your breathing’, but really you’re noticing ingrained habit. First [it is our choice] to see that’s a thing. And then we’re troubled. Right? You come to a workshop like this, you sit walk, sit walk. Think it’s going to be peaceful. But actually you end up really troubled, like, what a mess! What a mess! You see you’re thinking. ‘Oh, that’s inherited from my father.’ ‘That’s inherited from the 70s.’ ‘That’s inherited from being Canadian.’ You see these cultural social family patterns. And it troubles you. [Hmmmm. Synchronicity with my email to [my sister] about [our mother's heavy handed use of] ‘Instant Karma’ yesterday, and her fascinating reply today. Right when I’m getting ready to deep dive into [mother] and me. Fascinating.]
Wow! As I was writing this, Eric Burden and War’s amazing song ‘Spill the Wine’ came up from the next essay playlist I’m ‘playing’ with. All about a dream! Lol! Life (whatever that is) has a delightful sense of humour. Enjoy: https://youtu.be/MYCRIykylOc?si=ZuDWPqoOXACeNPy6
And great quotation from Steiner. He’s been coming up in my radar lately. And, synchronicity(?), I’ve begun revisiting The Book of Job, Jung and Peterson’s thoughts on it at the request of my BiL who asked me to participate in a men’s discussion group he’s starting up.
“It isn’t an amusement but the most important thing we can be doing, if we’re tired of the way things are.” Gautama Buddha says almost the exact same thing. And that means introspection with the courage to see who we are, in our totality, without any self deception or illusion. (Jung’s so-called ‘shadow work). And this is almost impossible to do in isolation, and so thank you for being here to help us all with this important, perhaps most important task each of us are to engage if we want ‘things’, or perhaps even *anything* to really change. Our dialogue has propelled my deeper exploration into ‘mother’.
And that is one of the best covers of Amazing Grace I’ve heard! Great inclusion. And that reminded me of an amazing metal cover of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ https://youtu.be/giKRecwNJxM?si=GzIOmbWExPAqLzMK.
Really great continuation of the investigation of being alive, Tereza. Thank you. Namaste:
Somehow your substantial response got saved for last in my order-of-reply. Fitting!
I love the Gospel of Thomas. Thomas, btw, means double, Didymus or twin. Whose twin? Perhaps Judas. Another story for another time.
The gnostic gospel I've studies most deeply is Philip. I have a few chapters written of Revolutionary Mystics and How to Become One. I matched each verse from Philip with lines from ACIM and mystical poems from East and West, and wrote an essay synthesizing them.
Yes, I thought of your study group when I noticed my Peterson video talked about Job. I'll check out the music links when I put away my laundry and have another excuse to dance!
sin, repentance. purification. the cross, transformation in Christ- the Saints like saint Bernadette or saint Edith Stein. Look at the photos of these women - you can see God in them. which developed to the end - fulfilled.
Whew! It’s thrilling to read the type of conversations smart people are having. I do think the divine feminine tends to lean into agreeableness, not to placate or to avoid conflict, but to fit each entity’s attribute in the right place of the giant puzzle.
I have to go read the full convo on Guy’s post and listen to the music. But I’m so intrigued.
We need more spiritual posts and YT videos that are as well rounded. For those who can’t see that every conflict happening on our worldly stage is a reflection of our spirit, it’s just a matter of time.
So well put, Tonika. I know you sometimes listen to the videos also and I think you'd like this one. On the ones that are more idea-based than research, I tend to record first, then write. It feels more genuine, to me, doing it that way. But then I put more quotes into the text version and leave out some of the ideas, to make room.
What I didn't put in to either was the masculine side of the brain as the Christ-mind. In the gnostic gospel of Thomas, it says the Christ is the one who sees the Christ in everyone else. And I think the feminine side of the brain is the spirit-whisperer that is One with God. The trick is to keep going between both of these.
Putting this in terms of the rational and intuitive, the 'grammar' seems like the intuitive feminine side that's spatially oriented, then going to the rational-masculine side of logic to test ideas out. And back and forth.
I think my rhetoric style is feminine in terms of 'being scrupulous in not attacking people' but masculine in 'being relentless in challenging ideas.' I've often been accused of being 'conflict-attractive' rather than conflict-adverse.
So happy to have you reading me and Guy! I love having so many friends in common.
Hola, Visceral.
I'm so glad to have been a part of the thrill of the in a conversation. I was deeply inspired by Tereza's willingness to look inside and outside to deepen the investigation of my (our?) perceptions and misperceptions. And to see how the problem of language adds to that challenge. A wonderful dialectic, perhaps in the spirit of the Greek's methodology that Tereza has described here so well.
Happy reading! And then to consider Chuang-Tsu's thought that, paraphrased, we use words to catch an idea that is beyond words, and so it is important to let go of the words once the idea has been caught.
Yay Guy! I was eagerly awaiting your attention. And I love that Chuang-Tsu quote! I've said before that words are fossilized metaphors that once captured something living but have ossified around that idea so it's a shadow of its former vibrant self. But they're all we've got ... until we're ready for telepathy!
I’m ready for telepathy. 😂
My best friend often says that we have a caveman vocabulary when it comes to describing the spiritual, the supernatural, our origins, or the miraculous; that we use words that are frames for the mental model of the main stream narrative and so they fail to express what we really mean. As you guys have mentioned before, this is why art, music, dance, poetry, etc are so important to that connect that deeper understanding. I think McGilchrist’s left brain-right brain Oseas speak to that as well. Left brain has the directory of words with definitions and etymology and all that, but right brain breathes in the spirit that expands our real understanding.
Excellent point from your friend and from you. All of the global languages are vocabularies of conquest, they have violence built into them. I mentioned in one of my comments that I can't use the phrase 'rule of thumb' since Guy told me it was illegal for men to beat their wives with anything that was more narrow. I don't know if you saw this episode, but the capacity of indigenous languages to express things we can't really interests me: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/when-words-die-worlds-die
I’ll check it out right now.
You were right, video was totally up my alley. Thanks for the nudge. I left a comment there.
Yes, for sure, thank you VA and amigo.
As I'm exploring yogic-Gautama ideas, I'm discovering that that also applies to the expression of our body as spirit incarnate. Fascinating because it is our 'narratives' of *our* individual stories we hang on to, with varying degrees of needy grippiness, that we use to create, and are in turned formed by, the familial and societal stories we are willing to die by.
Tereza might say that that is evidence of the dream nature of our place in the natural word. I would suggest that the narratives create and are informed / transformed by our dreams. Everything is interwoven.
A means to by-pass the truth-words trap is to concentrate on how our wordless actions impact ourselves and the environment, regardless of the dream nature of existences.
Great discussion! Love it.
All the best, with peace, respect, love and gratitude.
I am missing some of the context here, so this stuff gets a bit too heady for me, but I’ve been questioning goal of my stories and narratives lately, so I feel open to whatever that merges. And to your point about concentrating on our wordless actions- I run a theatre company called Silent Theatre in which we often perform with no spoken words and have discovered that the loudest truths are spoken in the silences and hidden in the subtext.
Hi again Tereza, So I am trying to understand your understanding about why if this isn't a dream God has to be evil. I have heard you speak about it many times now, but have yet to grasp your sound reasoning. I need a simplified explanation. I will say that I love to sleep and I dream constantly. I know that my dreams are of future events or future feelings that may come my way. Sometimes they happen that day or can be years away more like a dejavu. PS I agree100 percent the importance of words/vocabulary and grammar for communication.
Thank you for asking that, Helene! These are difficult concepts because they go contrary to everything we've thought before, so it does require expaining.
I would put it in the reverse--the possibility that the world is a dream opens up the potential that there is a God and God is entirely loving. How that could be logically possible has stumped theologians since Medieval days as the Theodicy Triangle. Out of three statements, only two can be true: God is all-Good, God is all-powerful, Evil exists. If God is all-Good, why would He create Evil? If Evil exists without God's control of it, how can God be omnipotent?
But even if we throw out Evil as not existing, we're still left with an unfair world of pain and suffering, often inflicted by people created by God, in His image. What's seen as the 'test of faith' is someone shouting, "How could God do this to me?" If God can intervene in the world but instead let all those children be burned alive in Lahaina, that God would be a monster.
So what theologians often come to is some theory for why God can't intervene--this is a test, God wants us to prove ourselves. As a mother, I find those motivations still monstrous.
That this could be a dream IF we're not separate minds is a theory that fits all the data points. It's logically consistent with the facts and can't be disproven through logic or evidence. And it's the only perfectly valid reason that God wouldn't be able to intervene. IF this world isn't real, God's intervention would make it real--horrors! It's like it's a padded cell where we're working out our insanity without being able to hurt ourselves or anyone else. A blip of time and space that doesn't exist in the middle of eternity and infinity.
And I love your experience of dreams (and know Guy will too). Blurring the line where we wake in the dream to another dream makes dreaming SO important as a metaphor and a strong hint for how we can wake up!
Thank you. So a few things come to my mind other than who wrote the lyrics of row, row, row your boat? "Life is but a dream" :)
Everyone's realty is different and is a result of the decisions a person makes based on their perception and knowledge at the time of the decision. Even some intuition may be a factor in the decision making.
As a mom I try my best to guide my children into adult hood with as little mishaps as possible but you cant live their life for them. I only hope the wisdom I was able to impart to them will enable them to do the same with their kids. Maybe God is like the macrocosm of that microcosm.
And I hope there will be some further awakening after we die?
Also evil is only someone thinking about themselves. Its a form of selfishness. Maybe God doesn't see evil the same way we do and maybe he sees a person dying in a less tragic degree also.
The golden rule should reign supreme!
Well, I'd have to go back to the Four Agreements to be precise with your words. If everyone's reality is different, reality doesn't exist. It becomes a nonsense word with no words left to describe What Is. Somewhere, Reality Is apart from your and my perceptions of it. The degree to which our perceptions are more or less true is how close they come to Reality. Otherwise, there's no yardstick to measure perceptions.
My perception, however, is that you're a great mom who's fair with her kids and wouldn't set up one to thrive and another to lead a miserable life. Has God done the same with us?
I'm not much concerned with death (although I hope not to be tested on that with my daughters) as I am with pain, particularly inflicted. I'd still reserve the term evil for someone who causes others to cause pain, like those who made the plan and paid off the players to incinerate Lahaina. I would say that's beyond selfishness and not even on the same scale. Few of us, I think, are capable of that, which is good news.
I am still having a hard time understanding/ visualizing the concepts. What 4 agreements? I have the miracle course book but have not opened it yet.
I know the Maui Fire is murder plain and simple. I can not come to any other conclusion based on the pictures, chain of events, players, evidence etc... It reminds me of the stories of Mt Vesuvius. But the greed for the land at any cost is a form of selfishness, just a very extreme form that we label evil. I am starting to think that drugs play a huge role in so much of the evils we are seeing.
Do you know Dr. Quan Le at the rising tide foundation.net? I would love to listen to a conversation between you both about God/ Logos. You both are the people I look up to.
Oh wow, you have A Course in Miracles. By comparison The Four Agreements is a cakewalk but comes from a similar viewpoint. Maybe I should have told you that before you made the Big Blue Book commitment? I did this video on it, on the eve of my daughter's wedding: https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/the-four-agreements.
And what a lovely compliment! I don't know Dr. Le but I'm sure I'm in good company in your esteem ;-)
That was a great episode! You are so cute. So now I am really excited. What makes it so exciting is I try my best to subscribe to the agreements already. I guess it was part of my dogma, until you simplified it, remember I am borrowing yours. I probably should get the 4 agreements first. I am already doing health and logical experiments practically everyday. But there is another factor. I am going to be a real grandma as my daughter just found out she is pregnant. Now I am not just the mother in law grandma I am the real deal! There is a difference. Its a little scary because its a new role to play and I want to do my best. Thank you for all the goodness you give to the world.
Great explanation. And relies wholly on manufacturing, in a sense, a God-thingamajig as explanatory of all. That is grounded or required, I think, in the postulate of triumvirate of logos. However Sophia is missing, in it, and may be the source beyond words. With some challenges, I've come to the idea that this kind of argument is wonderfully intellectually appealing to most of us — as my recent word-fest amply shows — I now think that it really is a distraction. And I have been recently so surprised to find that Gautama has the same idea. Paraphrased, when asked about how to know the truth about life, death, and the whole damn thing, who to trust, and what to do, he answered, paraphrased: consider what you read and hear, about what will be the effect. For some actions will create discomfort and suffering, while others will alleviate pain and suffering. The truth lies in that difference, and wisdom is the ability to see how what we think, speak and do is the creation of the 'good' (benevolent 'God') or the 'bad' (malevolent 'God', aka 'devil.')
The idea that this is a 'test' has no appeal to me at all. Was Job actually tested, as put forward by both Satan and the unconscious God? Hmmm. I think that this is an interesting question, one that I have just begun to explore with more detail and after many more years of life since I first looked at Job in the late 1980s(?).
More brain/spirit/soul/body stimulation, the grinding away of the impurities (aka 'shadow-laden ore) in a movement towards integration.
Gracias.
The value of my experiments in reality, to me, is that they keep coming back with the same message--there's nothing to fear. I suspect that, without fear, we'd always choose to create joy and wellbeing. Why not? So there's a very practical aspect.
I'm responding to myself here so it will go to Guy and Helene. I woke up today with a thought for how I'm confusing the issue. The question isn't whether you believe the world is One Mind Dreaming, the question is whether it's possible. Is it a hypothesis that fits all the known data points and potentially explains all phenomenon?
I just did a search on Creation vs. Evolution and, although it no longer says how many hits it got, I'd suspect 100's of 1000's. There are billions of people who, if pressed, would say they believe one or the other to be true. For the 99.999%, these are the only two options.
So if there's a third possibility, that's big. It's putting the cart in front of the horse to ask yourself if you believe this. You don't need to believe in both Creation and Evolution (or directed evolution vs. spontaneous evolution) to accept both as theories.
So if we're not separate people but One Mind, is it possible that the world is our collective dream? Yes or no?
So much to think about! Enjoyed this very much!
I'm so glad. I used to always lose subs when I posted on spirituality on YT. But I agree with Sasha that we need to keep speaking our truth and scrutinizing it with logic and rigor. Love your stack name, btw, Heather. I never noticed that before.
Really? You would lose subs when you posted on spirituality? That's intriguing to me!
And I'll see if that has happened to me after posting our dialogue!
I hope not! I think you have a loyal following. I often lure my readers in by talking trash about famous people (jk but critiques get the most hits) and then I slide in my woo-woo woman, as someone termed me on JJ Couey's chat stream ;-) The coiner of that term has since become a sub, and it's one I claim proudly.
LoL! Woo-woo woman!
And with that, another song comes to mind! Is argumentation to be rendered nought by references to old songs?
Superstition, Steve the 'woo-woo' Wonder:
https://youtu.be/0CFuCYNx-1g?si=EUvhB93-gIaqAHo4
Who could argue with that song? Just get up and dance!
Ah yes, I was indeed dancing to it! Devil worship? LoL!
Occasionally I have as well..... but that's Ok. Not everyone is ready for some of the deeper discussions that come from Spiritual Experience.
Thank you!
Where is the incentive to act if we view everyone as morally equal. Even if true external to this world, it is has no meaning here on earth. We are split apart as intended. To create differentials, which in turn creates life/action
Hi, Russel. I'm not sure what you mean. I've been trying to view everyone as morally equal for many years now and it hasn't changed how I act. I don't think I've ever done things because other people would view them as moral or not. I think I'd have been much more susceptible to the "people wear masks and get vaccines because good people care about others" psyop.
When I see other people as me in another role, I'm more motivated to change the circumstances that have made them act that way. And I don't have the barriers that "things just are this way and they'll never change." Or that I'd have to change the minds of 7-8 billion people before things could get better. If I feel like everyone would do what I would, if given the chance, it lets me focus on system change as I do in my book, rather than being paralyzed by inaction and taking care of me and mine in a hostile world. Judging other people doesn't serve me. What are your thoughts?
In the beginning was the Word. I love that phrase.
There is a reason the breath is of such importance in meditation, eastern religions, martial arts, health generally.
Yes, me too. I'm really glad you came over to my stack to read this. It was everything swirling around in my head during our earlier conversation.
And yes on the spirit-breath. Respirate, re-spirit.
Awesome post Terreza! The nature of Reality is in itself a very big topic. Interesting that you have at the center of it the discussion about the differences of perception from a female vs a male frame of reference. In my background, we have the [Feminine] Divine Mother as Prakriti; it is an outward force, then the [Masculine] as Purusha; it is an inward force. This can be similar to Yin /Yang.
The Purusha is essentially a silent observer and it's role in the existential reality is offering the permission for everything to be. The Prakriti is the creator force, destroyer force, learning force and embodies wisdom. Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Kali and Mehishvari (I probably don't have the correct order).
The male mind vs female mind is probably very much influenced by this element of perceptual difference, yet both are fully capable of finding One. Since both are aspects of the Wholeness of Being.
Ultimately the knowledge that Unites is the True knowledge.
Here's a little bit from my guru Sri Aurobindo whom Guy appreciates:
A spirit who is no one and innumerable,
The one mystic infinite Person of his world
Multiplies his myriad personality,
On all his bodies seals his divinity’s stamp
And sits in each immortal and unique.
From Savitri his epic poem. I put a little bit more of it in my last post:
https://nefahotep.substack.com/p/severing-our-political-ties-and-finding
Nefahotep, that's an amazing post. It articulates everything I was trying to say and more. I don't know how I missed it, except it was the day I got back after three weeks and had a houseful of daughters, a rare occasion these days. I'm glad that I did wait to read it until after I'd written mine or I'd have felt redundant.
I didn't realize that Rumi said that about being the ocean in a drop. It's the analogy I often use, and have somewhere in a poem I wrote. Another example of the One Mind.
And Very Interesting about the Delphic Epsilon and "when you give a pledge, trouble is at hand." The Iroquois Nations had that same concept and were never obligated to go into battle, yet were the most brave. And alliances for 'mutual protection' are the easiest to subvert with false flag attacks.
Thank you, Nefahotep. Is your background Hindu? That's fascinating that masculine is inward and feminine is outward, I would have thought the opposite. But it may correspond to the idea of Reality I was 'playing with.' IF this world is our dream and in Reality we're the Word that's with God and the Word that is God, how is that gendered, metaphorically?
I think that God is the masculine stillness, the sperm, if I can be that bold, the waiting. I think that we're the Feminine, the ever-expansive, ever-creating Womb of God. Not destructive but Mother.
I love the Sri Aurobindo excerpt. That captures the one-in-many concept beautifully!
My cultural background is Hindu, not by blood. I was born here in the US. I am actually a cultural mix of inspirations. My family went to live in India for a while when I was about 3. Up bringing was exclusively based on Sri Aurobindo's yogic concepts. I was never involved with any religious groups.
As far as concepts for "Word that's with God and the Word that is God" ----- It is said that the universe was born from a single sound. 🕉 "AUM" this is embodied as both frequency and vibration, stretching out across the body of Time.
So, in that sense the "Word" that is God is the movement of creation. It also proves out in the study of Quantum. This essentially means that the "word" is intangled and everything has a female and a male modality to it. Rupert Spira explains this non dual thinking concept quite well. If you search YouTube for him, he has quite a following.
That's fascinating about the female and male modalities, thanks for the reference.
And you're much closer than I thought. But it's really going to ruin the mystique to find out you're in New Jersey.
No, I am in California unfortunately it's just as bad as NJ.
Ah, I share your pain. I've been ranting on Down the Wombat Hole about the 16-story buildings they're planning for 26 acres between downtown and the Boardwalk here in Santa Cruz. And the 5 stories of 53 units above 3000 sq ft of commercial space that will replace my little hippie neighborhood Food Bin--tiniest grocery ever. I'm counting on the apocalypse to happen first.
Sounds like a 15 minute city. I think there may be a snag in the plan. Some places are emptying out, people are moving if they can. Those big developments would need to be rented.
I like little hippie type neighborhoods, nice and peaceful usually.
Where I am, there are dozens of low income housing projects going in. I'm hoping to move before the residents arrive.
"So, in that sense the "Word" that is God is the movement of creation. It also proves out in the study of Quantum. This essentially means that the "word" is intangled and everything has a female and a male modality to it. Rupert Spira explains this non dual thinking concept quite well. If you search YouTube for him, he has quite a following"
Yes. Well put. And I have found Spira to be eloquent and clear in his thinking and expression. Great recommendation, Nefahotep.
Jung makes the great observation about the book of Job that Sophia is missing within the unconscious God who accepts Satan's challenge/bet. In a sense, Jung argues, Job becomes the projection hook of God's anima by which wisdom can become born into the manifestations of God. It was subsequent to Job that Sophia had presence in the Bible. Fascinating stuff. As mentioned elsewhere, I'm in the very early steps of re-considering Job and Jung's answer to him.
And your explanation of the Prakriti and Purushi is superbly done and connects perfectly with the dialogue.
Thank you.
Jung is quite riveting. I want to set aside some time to read more of his work.
Yes. I spent about 30 years of pretty intense study of him and many others from his 'school.' In particular Mare-Louise von Franz. Enjoy the dive into the collective unconscious, the shadow, anima/animus, individuation, and so much more. Are you familiar with Jung having been the psychologist for one of the AA founders? The 12 steps of the xAs are basically a concise summary of Jung's psychoanalytic approach to healing: life is bigger than us, take personal responsibility, and live your meaningful life, which is most readily found in being able to ease the suffering of others. Easing the suffering of others begins by embracing our own suffering, for then it becomes the bedrock upon which our empathy, compassion and appropriate action are able to be effectively made manifest.
I had to cut the story, it was too long, so here is the last part I hope your read and enjoy it:
I could tell you of the time and old indigenous woman would visit me. We didn't speak the same language. We could only look at each other intently, smile, and make faces. Sometimes we would hug or caress our faces and hair. There was no eroticism whatsoever. She would visit sporadically and I would share food and tea with her. I enjoyed her wonderful presence and always when enough was enough she would touch my hand and give me such an exquisite look with her eyes and her smile and quickly leave. That went on for some years, but one day I found her lying on the ground not far from my house, she was dead and I buried her.
Oh, I cannot tell a lie. That was not a real story, that was just another lie. I can imagine all sorts of incidents, but they aren't real. Of course, fiction is not expected to be real. I need to lighten up.
I have lived my quiet. uneventful life and now suddenly it seems, I am old and maybe will die soon. It is not hard for me to accept this even though I love life so much, and have so much to look forward to. We all must accept this when it happens. What else can we do? It's part of the agreement isn't it? Here, I am gifting you with life, but it's not forever. ok? Enjoy it, if and while you can.
****************
Aha! I found this old manuscript just now, after so many years. I must tell you that I am still alive. The ancestral medicine worked, my tumor disappeared and so far has never returned! Now, I have a story to tell you.
Shortly after I had recovered, I was visited by an official looking man who had found my house and knocked at my door. I welcomed this unexpected visitor in and offered him some of my homegrown tea and a little biscuit I had just baked from sweet potato flour that I had made, with a squib of homemade marmalade from our fruit tree. Instead of sugar, I used the syrup of jicama that I had also made from boiling down the jicama root which I grow, for over 10 hours. I could tell by his expression that he was delighted. After some pleasantries he told me that he represented the park service of the government and that he was sent to tell me that my house was to be leveled since it was on park land without a permit. I had one month to move.
This affected me worse than the pancreatic cancer diagnosis. I had lived here peacefully for over 40 years. At first I couldn't think of what to do. Then I remembered that I had a younger sister by 10 years who lived in another country and with whom I had had no contact in all this time.
Our ancestors come from Lithuania and we have an unusual last name. I decided to try to find her on facebook and sure enough I did. I thought I did. She was an old lady and I hardly recognized her, she had very refined features though and she looked as beautiful as an old lady could look. I decided to contact her.
I told her who I was and about my situation and after a flurry of exchanges, she invited me to visit and possibly stay with her. Her husband had died 9 years before and she lived alone in a lovely place just outside of a small city.
We had always gotten along when we were younger, though I was much older than, not so much now and we had gone our separate ways. She had been a brilliant student and gone on to become an early brain scientist and had achieved acclaim in her field having focussed on how the brain could create thoughts. When AI first got developed her work was what helped scientists develop AI into what it is today.
When I arrived she graciously greeted me and we really hit it off. I have always been a very tranquil and likeable person before I became a hermit and I guess I still was. I was smitten by the calm intelligence that she radiated effortlessly. I moved into her extra bedroom and became the handyman and gardener. I always gave her whatever space she needed to enjoy her solitude, but we spent many evenings together listening and dancing to music. Our musical tastes differed somewhat, she was more inclined towards opera and classical music and I love African, reggae, rock and roll, Qawwali, flamenco, many, many different genres that I introduced her to and we would dance wildly together often.
But most of all, we enjoyed our conversations that were so profound, unique, and witty. We soaked each other up, so to speak, after both of us had been living solitary lives (she, since her husband, a professor, had passed on.) I am speaking of her as though in the past, because this has all passed, but we are still enjoying life in our nineties.
I think if you are reading this you must know how the world has changed and what it went through. So I won't elaborate on that. Suffice it to say that after RFKjr revealed to the world how the Dept. of Defense of the United States had been using very advanced direct energy machines to cause earthquakes, burn cities, even the twin towers of 9/11 and were guilty of the most horrific crimes against humanity. Humanity rose up together along with aid from the military and captured the criminals which was a huge network, but especially the hidden perpetrators that came to light after the first wave of arrests and ended their centuries long dominion.
All governments were restructured from vertical to an extremely transparent horizontal form which was and is virtually incorruptible. Democracy took hold, really for the first time, with citizen participation and autonomy of every city and village under a confederated social contract that embodied all human rights and dignity.
AI has been utilized for the good of humanity and war is now a thing of the past as we live peacefully through collaboration and cooperation.
Yes, we are one big happy family at last and we are more humane than merely human. With the non-conditional love that has become universal, it seems that everyone is really happy and living fulfilling lives. It is incredible. I am so glad to still be alive.
Just for fun, I will add a short, short story that I wrote which was inspired by my diagnosis. My first comment is below this one.
My Story (FICTION)
As I stared into the mirror while brushing my teeth I wondered am I really this kind, thoughtful, and caring man that I imagine myself to be or the absurd looking fool I see as my reflection? But just then I thought I heard the crackling sound of someone's footsteps approaching by trail to my small dear house deep in the woods, and was that a light I saw through the window at my side? It was late at night. My heart jumped to a nervous rhythm, since I had recently heard of some very violent intrusions by a gang of thieves in these parts, as I was quite alone and without any defenses. The door was well locked, so I looked for my machete. And then another cracking sound. I waited, but nothing happened. It must have been the wind, I thought to myself and the light could have been a lightening bug, and my heart returned to normal.
Then I thought, perhaps I should make an appointment with the dentist in town. It seems at least 6 months since I had had my teeth cleaned. But then I remembered that earlier this week I had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and it probably wasn't necessary after all.
I am one who hates to feel fear and usually I never do. The news of my impending death I had taken so blythly, I thought. I was already quite old, 82, but had enjoyed such
good health for so long that it came as quite a shock, but I felt that I had no choice but to accept it, since it made no sense to tear at my hair and jump up and down, and scream.
Everyone at some point comes to this realization, unless they are struck down suddenly without any warning. If there were nothing at all after I passed from this life, it wouldn't be hard, since I would be unable to miss anything. But I like to imagine the possibility of transmigration of the soul, something similar to what occurs in my dreams. In my dreams I am never the me that I see in the mirror or the me that I am so accustomed to. No, I am always somebody else, but the me inside that other person is always the same me that I have been throughout my life. Maybe this is a hint as to what is to come, the transmigration of the soul.
I try hard to notice the moment that I fall asleep in order to be aware that I am dreaming, to do lucid dreaming, but every time I fall asleep forgetting to notice. Lately, my dreams have improved. For quite awhile it seemed that most of my dreams involved some kind of impossible dilemma that I had to resolve. Like trying to find where my car was parked and having completely forgotten where it was and even what it looked like, and being in a strange town to boot, as an example. I wake every night to urinate a few times as a result of an enlarged prostate and I try to remember what I was dreaming which I often am unable to do most of the time and instead what instantly comes to mind is that I have cancer of the prostate and may not live but a few months more.
But I know that I must not think like this, that these kind of thoughts will only exacerbate the problem as I have recently learned that depending on one's thoughts, whether they are fearful or loving, the brain secretes chemicals into the bloodstream which causes the cells to behave happily or to contract as way of protecting me, which would aid the growth of the tumor in my pancreas.
I must have faith in the woman who is well known in our village as a healer using ancestral techniques as she is my only hope. She has given me a complicated protocol involving many medicinal plants, fruits, and some vegetables, which requires drinking vast amounts of liquids. In the beginning she gave me an egg to rub over my body, particularly on the areas of my concern, then broke the shell so that the egg fell into a glass of water, and she proceeded to "read" the action of the egg to come up with the correct diagnosis. There was a red spot on the egg and she said that that was the tumor, and then as though receiving instructions from the divine, delivered the precise protocol and ingredients that I would need to heal. She had already cured a few others who had cancer.
I have lived for many years now in a small cabin deep in the forest away from most all humans about 5 miles from the nearest town. I have become very independent. I grow my own food (vegetarian), have a running stream right behind my house with very clean water, and all the tools I need to maintain and construct. I even have access to the internet through satellite, a small nest egg from my earlier existence that covers all my expenses until I die, which may be soon. The weather here is spring-like all year around.
I could be lonely, but actually I truly enjoy my solitude. I have so much freedom to do as I please and since I am curious about so many things, I never get bored. My dreams both real and sleeping, fascinate me. Sometimes I do get confused between being awake and dreaming. Recently, my dreams have had unsolvable problems and dilemmas that only brought me happiness when I wake up to be free of the conundrum as is the example above. When I was young, I had lots of flying dreams where I would be flying, but unfortunately that hasn't happened for about 70 years now. I even had one dream that had the most beautiful music imaginable and totally original. The implication of being able to create such divine music even if only in a dream was stunning.
Dostoyevski's Dream of a Ridiculous Man really captured my heart when I was young and I had wanted to make it into a one man show. I memorized the first 7 pages, out of 26, but never did it. In those days I lacked the confidence and thus the resolve, which I have since cultivated. I had the idea of doing a one man show playing all the characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, a favorite of mine, but I never played even one character.
I have always venerated the "ridiculous" and wanted to become a really funny clown. Not like all those red nosed cloying types that everyone loves to hate since they lack all nuance and are only barely funny, but more like an original clown in the spirit of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. But that too, I never really did.
I believe that everyone has a "ridiculous" aspect that they either keep hidden or are completely unaware of. I would like to live in a world where everyone is unbearably funny, can you imagine, we would be laughing our asses off all the time. We would have to take a "serious" break to keep our bellies from hurting. After all, there really is so much to be serious about. But that would be exactly the opposite of what exists now everywhere. There is a pall of seriousness that hangs over civilization like a thick smog.
Oh, I could go on and on. I know that I am really just talking to myself, maybe someday you or someone will find this manuscript and the possibility of a dialogue could occur, but it will be far too late. I am my best company. If you are reading this, you are probably thinking ok, enough, where is the story? And I say, does there have to be a story? There have been writers who could write books or plays and there would be no real "story". I forget their names, but they exist. It's possible to write something that has no story, but I guess I am like you, I like a great story. Dostoyevsky wrote the greatest stories and Salmon Rushdie could also spin out incredible stories all intricately woven together. I could never come close to them.
I could tell you of the time an incredibly beautiful young woman was knocking at my door and insisting to be allowed in and immediately starting kissing me wildly...until I woke up. That's a brief story taken from a real dream. No, it's not enough, I realize that.
Living as I do alone far from others, not much story stuff actually happens. I only have my imagination and dreams. I could make up stories about encounters with animals, like how a bear once came to my house. I was rather scared and didn't know what to do. I ducked into the kitchen and grabbed some food and brought it out and offered it to the bear and he gently took it from my hand and ate it. We became friends after that. But no, that is not a story worthy of anything, it is merely a lie.
So much to read, and I don't have the time, even before my recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, I am far too busy with many projects as an activist and a founding member of a mostly latino eco-community (chambalabamba.org).
My spiritual path started in the early sixties when I experimented with LSD and discovered that there is much beyond the mundane realities. Now, I no longer seek, but rather evolve. I live my spirituality every day. That is, to serve others, serves myself best and to cultivate unconditional love for all. Now, I am 78 and have enjoyed supurb health for years and live a very healthy lifestyle, so this diagnosis about 2 weeks ago was a shocking surprise.
My only hope is a woman in our pueblo who is a wizard with "ancestral medicine" which confirms some of the latest findings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_4JxOuMHLQ&t=1654s). And I need to spend my time resting, following her complicated protocol, getting the pancreas and related organs massaged by her with herbs and earth, and focussing all my attention on my interior while maintaining a positive attitude. Part of this follows Bruce Lipton's research about how the thoughts affect the body. So, I probably won't be participating much more in this discussion because I have to concentrate on this and stop all my activities and participating in all my diverse projects.
I just want to add that in our community it is very important that we maintain an awareness and sense of responsibility of the whole while at the same time keeping our focus on our areas of responsibility. It is about both the "We" and the "I". I think that this should be the same everywhere in the world, while deepening our unconditional love for all and our personal connections which is the foundation for the community.
I will add a short, short story that I wrote which was inspired by my diagnosis in the next comment as there is not enough room here.
Thank you for sharing your diagnosis and your stories with me, Mofwoofoo. I watched the 3-min video made about you, to get more of a sense of you. I'd seen some of your YTs but for anyone reading, let me post this link to your lovely (and fun to say) community Chambalabamba: https://chambalabamba.org/about.html.
At first, I was going to say 'I'm sorry about your diagnosis' but I don't know that's true. Not that I wouldn't be sorry but more that I should be sorry. I just don't know. I don't know what the scriptwriter wants you to experience next, where you would be of the most use in bringing about this next dream that helps us wake up to Reality.
Maybe you serve the Wholly Spirit best in that joyful, playful, loving body of Mofwoofoo, keeping everyone from being too serious. It seems to me that those things you say you haven't done were not as interesting as what you have, seeing your colorful, dancing oasis that sprang up from your intent. Your red nose suits you.
Maybe it's the ministrations of the indigenous healer that needed to be brought into your life. You needed more touch, not just from young women or old women in your dreams. You need to be the center of attention, intention. It's time to receive. And maybe the miracle cure will set you on a new path with even more conviction that nothing is as it seems.
Or perhaps you will be most joyful and useful as the diffuse Mofwoofoo. I've read that those who saw the self-immolation of Tibetan monks felt that their spirit multiplied, flew into every person. I don't believe we reincarnate as a new baby, I think resurrection is inclusive and continuous. You were never that body. You've always been the Creator of All That Is, just like Me, just like We.
My youngest daughter has a question she's asked all of us: what do you want me to do on the day you die? My answer has been, "Look for me everywhere. In every person. In every living entity. In every sight and sound. I'll be there, more present than I was before."
Whatever happens will be right for you. I recognize that it's easy to say that when I'm not the one facing possible death, and I can't say I wouldn't be afraid to leave what I know and love. But my experience in all other things keeps teaching me there's a purpose and everything's moving us forward towards our beginning, as paradoxical as that seems.
Keep heart and keep me connected to your journey, if that feels right.
In a way I am thankful for this diagnosis because it brings to the fore a block that I have had my whole life without really being aware of it. Part of the protocol is for me to spend all my time focusing on my interior, the pancreas, colon, liver, etc. and shine my love on them. This is not easy. Also, my healer Enma, told me that I have a block (not material) inside and that that must be removed. So now, this night I realized that the block was my ability to love fully. I can love by my words and actions but it's not coming through from the feelings, I am not really effortlessly radiating love. I must discover how to do this if I am going to survive is what I believe. I will be working on this today.
I think that this is the block that blocks all of humanity and that this is the transformation that is needed.
I'm certain that your transformation will radiate through the Mind that holds all of us. And by that I mean the living transformation because that's All that Is, Mind coming back to itself.
My Course in Miracles lesson for today is "My present happiness is all I see." It says, "This is the day I seek my present happiness, and look on nothing else except the thing I see. With this resolve I come to You, and ask Your strength to hold me up today, while I but seek to do Your Will."
Hola, Tereza.
This is a great elaboration / continuation of our word wrestling with the ... the ineffable and ephemeral.
And synchronicity or not, a couple of days ago I was introduced to the Gospel of Thomas via my yogic-Buddhist scholar, Micheal Stone. So great to see you reference Thomas here.
From my Aug 21st transcription of Stones' podcast:
"I highly recommend a great text that I’ve been reading lately, called the Gospel of Thomas. Has anybody read this? It’s like the most Zen text. And one of the lines in it says ‘First you must find it. When you find it, it troubles you.’ …
"First we notice we have all these ingrained thoughts. And how we organise our experience. That’s what you’re doing on your cushion. I say ’Notice your breathing’, but really you’re noticing ingrained habit. First [it is our choice] to see that’s a thing. And then we’re troubled. Right? You come to a workshop like this, you sit walk, sit walk. Think it’s going to be peaceful. But actually you end up really troubled, like, what a mess! What a mess! You see you’re thinking. ‘Oh, that’s inherited from my father.’ ‘That’s inherited from the 70s.’ ‘That’s inherited from being Canadian.’ You see these cultural social family patterns. And it troubles you. [Hmmmm. Synchronicity with my email to [my sister] about [our mother's heavy handed use of] ‘Instant Karma’ yesterday, and her fascinating reply today. Right when I’m getting ready to deep dive into [mother] and me. Fascinating.]
Wow! As I was writing this, Eric Burden and War’s amazing song ‘Spill the Wine’ came up from the next essay playlist I’m ‘playing’ with. All about a dream! Lol! Life (whatever that is) has a delightful sense of humour. Enjoy: https://youtu.be/MYCRIykylOc?si=ZuDWPqoOXACeNPy6
And great quotation from Steiner. He’s been coming up in my radar lately. And, synchronicity(?), I’ve begun revisiting The Book of Job, Jung and Peterson’s thoughts on it at the request of my BiL who asked me to participate in a men’s discussion group he’s starting up.
“It isn’t an amusement but the most important thing we can be doing, if we’re tired of the way things are.” Gautama Buddha says almost the exact same thing. And that means introspection with the courage to see who we are, in our totality, without any self deception or illusion. (Jung’s so-called ‘shadow work). And this is almost impossible to do in isolation, and so thank you for being here to help us all with this important, perhaps most important task each of us are to engage if we want ‘things’, or perhaps even *anything* to really change. Our dialogue has propelled my deeper exploration into ‘mother’.
And that is one of the best covers of Amazing Grace I’ve heard! Great inclusion. And that reminded me of an amazing metal cover of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ https://youtu.be/giKRecwNJxM?si=GzIOmbWExPAqLzMK.
Really great continuation of the investigation of being alive, Tereza. Thank you. Namaste:
🙏❤️🙌❤️🙏
Somehow your substantial response got saved for last in my order-of-reply. Fitting!
I love the Gospel of Thomas. Thomas, btw, means double, Didymus or twin. Whose twin? Perhaps Judas. Another story for another time.
The gnostic gospel I've studies most deeply is Philip. I have a few chapters written of Revolutionary Mystics and How to Become One. I matched each verse from Philip with lines from ACIM and mystical poems from East and West, and wrote an essay synthesizing them.
Yes, I thought of your study group when I noticed my Peterson video talked about Job. I'll check out the music links when I put away my laundry and have another excuse to dance!
sin, repentance. purification. the cross, transformation in Christ- the Saints like saint Bernadette or saint Edith Stein. Look at the photos of these women - you can see God in them. which developed to the end - fulfilled.