--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> 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?
Well, duh. *Of course* my advice was meant for me as well, dummy. However, I did *NOT* have you in mind when I wrote this; everyone I had in mind is a guy. But (surprise!) you seem to have perceived it as some kind of slam against *you*. (Either that or you slipped back into your habitual "Gotta trash Barry...gotta trash Barry" mindset, and decided to do so *whoever* the post was about.) Thus I thank you for your didactic example of the *dangers* of focusing on what one perceives as Bad Shit (moi) to the extent that one becomes a tad...uh...full of shit themselves. :-) Why not correct this impression that some folks have of you and post one of your *own* shiny and uplifting and inspiring experiences? I'm sure that for someone who has been practicing the fastest, most effective form of self discovery on the planet, there must have been one in recent days. Or weeks. Or months. Or years. Whatever... don't let the timeframe limit you...share some- thing shiny with us that you didn't find on the Web or in a book, written by someone else.
