i have leary's books and allan watts..and i know the work of richard alpert,,,
, all this chatter about what is zen and what is not zen and who is "better" at zen and who is not...is childish banter...the nitty gritty is zen is zen is zen. ..you either get it or you don't... many do not...looking at the wider world..who is a zen person and they don't even know it ...one does not have to sit cross legged and "blow ones mind into some sort of "state" ...realisation from what i have gathered is realisation..it either happens or it does not.. .washing bowls and panting to top of mountains...huh? ..i live on a mountain top...i see ..what do i see? what do you see? making a thousand rules as to "how to achieve" realisation will that get you "there".. .i find sometimes walking in a crowded supermarket..i get the zen moment..it comes at in a flash..the realisation...and it's like woh. ..now tell me am i off my tree?...we are all "correct" in what we are expressing in this forum. ..cos we are all at different stages of enlightenment. . no one person is more than another. .we are who we are and at the place we are is where we are now...and it is the place...and that is that. .so let's" move forward" as they say...and help each other rise above the banter and find the "buddha tree of enlightenment". .. who's with me? ..thank you all for your tremendous imput ..i myself have learnt a great deal..and still am learning. .. have i reached the top of the mountain to find there is no mountain? peace be with you all. merle Bill, I attended one of his lectures many years ago. He was originally one of Timothy Leary's fellow experimenters with LSD. I also met Leary a few times in San Fran back when... Edgar On Sep 5, 2012, at 11:02 AM, William Rintala wrote: > > >I've read, all that I have been able to find, everything written by Ram Dass >(born, Richard Alpert), from "Be Here Now" through "The Only Dance There Is" >to his most recent book "Be Love Now". His work "Be Here Now", 40 years >ago, was my starting point on the journey that has lead me to this forum. His >new book rehashes a lot of stuff that was in his earlier works. What's new >is the last section where he presents the lives of several Hindu Saints. In >each case the Saint displayed behavior that I think would get most of us >locked up in a padded cell or admitted to an ICU and put on heavy doses of >medications. It seems, however, that this crisis was essential for the Saint >to become fully realized. In reading about them I am reminded of the story >of Eckhart Tolle's biography where " For the best part of two years in the >early 1980s a man in his mid-30s would sit on a park bench in Russell Square, >central London, and in a state of deep bliss watch the world go by." Descriptions sound almost as if he had had a schizophrenic break. > >My question to the Forum is "is madness a precursor to enlightenment?" > > Bill not Bill! > > > > >Find what makes your heart sing…and do it! > >
