--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's a phrase that appears in almost every spiritual > tradition. Sometimes it's invoked as a fearful warning > ("Don't focus on negativity"), and sometimes as a more > useful teaching ("You have a *choice* as to what you > focus on; that choice *determines* your state of > attention and the possibilities open to you.") > > I'm bringing it up because I can't help but notice that > several folks here (I don't really need to list them, > do I?) seem to be heavily focused on all the Bad Shit > goin' down on this blue-green ball in black space at > this particular moment in time. The wars, the inequities, > the manipulations behind the scenes and, of course, the > manipulators themselves. Everybody seems to have their > own set of Bad Guys, the ones who are really "behind" > all the Bad Shit. > > In some of these folks, I occasionally detect a bit of > compassion -- a sense of feeling badly for the victims > of the Bad Shit and wishing there was some way to help > them. But, to be honest, most of the time I don't get > that at all. What I feel is more like *habit*. > > It's as if some of these folks *have* actually become > what they've been focusing on. Post after post after > post after post about the Bad Shit, as if writing about > it to an Internet forum is going to actually *do* any- > thing to stop it. There's a lot of "blame assignment," > but rarely any suggestions as to how to actually stop > the Bad Shit itself. > > And, sadder, it seems to me that the folks who have > developed this habit of focusing on the Bad Shit have > *also* lost to some extent the ability to focus on > the Nicer Shit. It's as if the folks who write post > after post after post after post about the wars and > the starvation and the people without health care > and the manipulators and the manipulated *don't* > write as often about the wonderful and uplifting > experiences they have in their own lives every day. > > Well, duh. > > What you focus on you become.
Barry, this posting week, of your 20 posts, 15 have been about Bad Shit of one kind or another--more local, as it were, i.e., putdowns of other posters here or of their spiritual trips, but definitely not the Nicer Shit. (A couple have been a mixture--about Nicer Shit but with putdowns worked in.) Are you excluding this kind of "local" Bad Shit from your critique above, or are you perhaps in need of taking your own advice? > Just as a suggestion, some of you guys might want to > try alternating your focus. I'm not suggesting that > you stop writing about shape-shifting reptilians and > evil Freemasons or even more evil Bushies or the > horrendously evil Democrats or even Ann Coulter (a > shape-shifting reptilian if there ever was one). > > No, if you get off on that stuff, go for it. But just > as an experiment in the power of focus, and as an > experiment in seeing what gets activated in yourself > (not to mention your Self) *when* you focus on some- > thing, you might want to try, every so often, to > write about something that turns you on and uplifts > you. Trouble is, if you do this, Vaj will accuse you of posting occasional Nicer Shit to distract attention from the Bad Shit that's your real agenda. > > Write about the Bad Shit, and click the Send key, > and then assess your state of attention. Then write > something about the great surf session you had this > morning, or the inspiring film you just watched, or > how amazing it is to watch your kids playing, or the > clear, shiny meditation you had last night, click the > Send key, and then assess your state of attention. > > Just a suggestion. What you focus on you become. There > is a *choice* implicit in this age-old one-liner, and > that choice can make all the difference. >
