--- In [email protected], t3rinity <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > > > I personally am suspicious of my own personal experiences > in > > > > > > many cases... > > > > > > > > > > I completely understand... > > > > > > > > Explain it to unc... > > > > > > Uncle, Lawson is completely suspicious about his own personal > > > experiences in many cases. > > > > Maybe, but I'm suspicious for my own reasons, not because > > someone told me to be. :-) > > > > The bottom line here, guys, is that both of you > > Why do you say both of you? I didn't make Lawsons point really.
No, you did not. I was overgeneralizing. Sorry. > > rely on > > the testimony and advice of people you consider "experts" > > for how to live your daily lives, and how to achieve your > > spiritual goals. You tend to follow the experts' instruc- > > tions to the letter, > > Maybe you got a wrong impression there, at least with regard to me. That is almost probable. This is the Internet, people trying to make sense of squiggles on the screen. I apologize if I have mistranslitered some of yours. > do very much what I find most conducive myself. E.g I have no fixed > meditation time, no fixed way of meditating - meditation goes very > much by itself. From what you have told here about yourself, I pbly > do much less manipulation with regard to meditation than you do or > anybody here does. Cool. > > and when they pay off and you have > > a "good experience," you give the credit to the expert, > > or to formula he/she sells, or the God he/she rboepresents. > > I am very grateful for having recieved certain transmissions, which > had an unmistaken effect. But this has nothing to do with any > instruction or following it. Its simply an unmistaken transference > of experience. That's an interesting distinction that I can agree with. Thanks for pointing it out. > > Me, I just muddle through, make my own decisions, and > > have really neat spiritual experiences anyway. > > But I also make my own decissions > > > Face it, > > there is nothing more threatening to the person who > > "does everything right" than the person who "does every- > > thing wrong" and has the same kinds of experiences that > > the do-it-right-ers have. > > I doubt we have the *same* experiences. We have different ones, > so what. No there is nothing challenging about it, since I am > not acting from the mind. What I do there is simply no choice > in it, and if I would live alone, there would also be no choice > in it. Another interesting distinction. And a good one. > But if it makes you proud living in the urban > spiritual jungle alone, so be it. Proud, schmoud. As you said above, "There is simply no choice in it." I live the way I am drawn to live, in the environment I believe offers me the best spiritual teaching "bang for my buck." For you, that's a "spiritual community." For me, right now, it's the everyday world of Paris, 2005. I can run into more valuable spiritual teachings on the way to the market in the morning than I used to find in all those years in lecture halls. > > It gives rise to the heretical > > idea that, in the world of spiritual practice, "formulas" > > for realizing enlightenment may just be something to > > distract the seeker while the realization unfolds itself > > to itself, and that what you actually do on a daily basis > > to cultivate that realization doesn't matter a bit. > > Not for me really. But then its hard for you to concieve of a > spiritual trip with a mentor that is unlike the ones you know, > where there are no clear-cut guidelines and instructions. A > totally non-verbal relationship. It's not hard for me to conceive of at all. That's YOUR projection onto me, Michael. I've had such spiritual relationships. I don't have one now. Neither state was better or worse than the other. I am not looking for a teacher. To you -- quite obviously based on how many times you bring it up -- that indicates a deficiency on my part. It's just how things are, dude. If I ran into some- one tomorrow who blew my socks off in a way that I could not resist -- "There is simply no choice in it" -- then that's what I would have no choice about. But I don't seek that. I don't seek anything in par- ticular except to be open to whatever presents itself to me. Since I really don't believe that working with a teacher is inherently better than not, I don't seek teachers. I don't avoid teachers. Formal spiritual teachers are basically *irrelevant* to me right now, because I have so many spiritual teachers in front of me on the streets of Paris. Unc To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
