Quote:
Originally Posted by VinceField
Some may confuse my frankness and directness for hostility, but I'd like to make it clear that I wish the best for Gem and everyone else I engage in conversation with here and I don't say things that I believe will hurt anyone in any way. Not sure if you were referring to me Chris, but I thought I'd put that out there anyway. I think it helps to read the actual words and see how they apply rather than trying to guess what everyone's intentions are. It's very easy to take something the wrong way through this particular medium of interaction.
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I believe that you do wish the best, and appreciate your frankness, and even though I find personally directed commentary distasteful, I don't take it to heart, and it's very clear, or if it isn't clear I'm making it clear now, that there's no authority who deems the rightness or wrongness within any point of disagreement or contention (not Jesus or Buddha or any person present), and retaining a self awareness of where inflation of that ego balloon occurs is of benefit to us all.
I also understand that people feel adverse toward points of disagreement or contention and resist difficult or heated conversations, and mostly prefer to be nice, but there is a cold face to truthfulness which is demanding of sincerity.
The meditation, in practice, isn't the incense clouds, petals, scented candles and free hugs, it's a very direct way of facing the truth of yourself, which is almost invariably difficult, and in terms of desire, that self inquiry will take everything you've got, literally, until there's nothing left of you, but this doesn't start when you take your posture or end when your meditation time has expired; it pervades every minute detail of every moment of your life, and this thread is a continuation of that meditation, of that life, not a respite from it, not an escape from it.
The systems and the practices are like asides, and we engage in these to the same degree of superficiality or depth as we engage in any other activity, and if not completely engaged, the moment is gone, and the quiet stillness of being is sucked along with the endless attachments of thought.
There is no time when a practice begins, and no time when it ends, there is only practice, there is only life, and the time spent in formal postures is time well spent, though it is as significant or as insignificant as any other undertaking.
A time comes where the psyche exhausts itself and the entire life becomes fruitless goalless and empty as the person can no longer endure being party to the perpetual motion of the mind, and then the retreat begins, as the person surrenders to whatever may come, understanding the futility of taking action to direct the flow of thought's current and the futility of reacting to the arousal of thought and sensation, and every part of the psyche from the most solid to the most subtle of it, releases from its lodgings and is swept away, until finally, the thought has nothing to cling to or attach to or get caught on, and there's free flow.
People will come with the religious tenets and antiquated systems and if the inclination is such, go in that direction, but the understanding must be there, that the inclination must be directed toward what is truely loved, and not what what is most tempting, most pleasurable, or guided in avoidance of the things that are hated, but absolutely directed toward that which is most loved. This is of the deepest integrity where walking in the truth will uproot and destroy all things held dear along with all things that torment you and cast them into impermanence, and everything that defines you which can no longer be maintained or upheld is reduced to utter choicelessness in full view of the inevitable being.
This ends my rave, and I hope it entertains you.